Chapter Thirty Four

I stood at the edge of the graveyard.

There were funerals being held. I could see the crowd of people gathering round. I could make out Harley sobbing loudly. And then there were just people who'd heard about the bodies on the news and were coming to see.

Jack Napier's coffin wasn't on my mind. Neither was Jeb's. Why wasn't Ari ever buried? The poor kid.

Speaking of poor kids, one of them was standing next to me, obviously not caring squat about his father. But nonetheless, he watched from far away. A couple of people had come up to him and said 'I'm sorry for your loss.' He'd told them not to be as it wasn't his loss.

Some guy in a suit walked up to us. He extended his hand to the Joker. 'Bruce Wayne. I knew your father.'

The Joker glanced at his hand and, after a moment, shook it. 'If you knew him then why're you here?'

I nearly elbowed him and told him to be somewhat respectful, but that was something I'd do to Nudge or Iggy or Total: and they were around Jeb's coffin, looking down at it. The littler kids were unsure of whether to cry or glare so they were settling for something in-between.

Jeb, who had saved our butts countless times, who had made us go to be when we tried to stay up and watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who gave us food, who was basically a dad, who taught us how to fight, who had let us out of the School, let us fly, let us live, who had loved us, who had disappeared, who had betrayed us, who had been shot, and who had died.

This Bruce Wayne guy gave the Joker some lip quirk that I guess was his idea of a smile. 'Wanted to see if the guy could actually die.'

'You and me both,' said the Joker. Barely anyone seemed to notice the scars at the moment. Everyone seemed too focused on the dead.

Bruce Wayne nodded. Seemingly the end of the conversation, he walked past us and then didn't matter anymore in my world.

The Joker looked down at me. I held onto his arm tightly. It was overcast today, rain looking like it could fall any minute, everything grey and black shadows melded in with the original green or red or blue. Everything just seemed calm. Most people would say rain is depressing. It's actually refreshing.

'You probably should say something,' the Joker said, a little gruffly – which meant he was trying to be 'understanding' and hating it. The things this guy does for me. 'Say goodbye. Something.'

I felt the corners of my lips rise at exactly how cute this was that he was trying. 'I don't really want to.'

The Joker grimaced. 'You had, uh, some good times with this guy, right?' He licked his lips and immediately stared at the ground.

I let go of his arm and kissed his cheek. He rolled his eyes but didn't say anything which meant he was actually really happy that he'd scored that.

I walked up to the coffin, standing with the flock, and the other people who had come to pay their respects to these 'poor, innocent souls'. Yeah, like Jack wouldn't be burning in hell right now.

But Jeb. I don't know where Jeb would be. I didn't want to.

I stared down at the white roses and heard the steady thunk, thunk, thunk of rain hitting wood. I could see the drops falling through the air.

'It was nice to know you in the beginning,' I found myself whispering. 'But you should have died the first time. You would have left a better imprint.'

Angel wove her fingers with mine. There were a few tears running down her face. I guess she'd decided to cry.

I didn't know what I felt. I felt like Jeb had been a great parent, but so had I. And I was fifteen.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and Tony said quietly, 'Are you okay?'

I squeezed my eyes shut. Forget about me trying to be a parent. Tony already did an okay job of that. He was still a little kid most of the time (but that meant he could hang out with us easier), like when it came to pizza or things that explode (not in the vicinity of his house, as he'd told Gazzy after something we now remember as the Oven Incident, thank you Fang for the name), but at the end of the day the thing that mattered was that he cared. Like, really cared. About all of us. Enough so that he could know when we were doing something we shouldn't be doing and things like that. There was a time when I wished Jeb had been my real father, but I doubted anyone could beat Tony Stark AKA my dad.

Oh, God, I just said 'dad'. Phew, that was weird.

I looked over at him and nodded. 'I'm fine.' The people had started to clear away so no one really cared that a billionaire superhero, six kids, a talking dog and an ex-super villain were standing around. Well, maybe not ex; he was probably just taking time off.

Or was he? Jack was dead.

I glanced over at the other coffin, which Harley was still standing at, her eyes red and puffy.

Now I was incredibly aware that Jack was dead.

'Are you sure?' Tony asked. 'We can go.'

I looked up at him and then at the other kids. Fang nodded.

'I think we're done here,' I said honestly. Did I have anything else I wanted to say to Jeb? I shivered at the thought of him in that coffin. It was unbelievable. He was finally dead. Finally.

And it didn't really matter, did it? Ari was with his father. Now maybe they could get to know each other, without the Erasers and the labs.

But to my ultimate surprise I saw the Joker was suddenly standing next to Harley, staring down at the coffin. Angel threw her flowers into the hole.

The rain grew heavier. I looked up at the Joker, who shook his head in disgust at the coffin. He looked back at me.

Men with shovels were staring at us. 'Anything you'd like to say?' one of them asked.

The Joker looked down at the coffin. 'He wouldn't care about anything I'd have to say.'

'That kind of guy,' said one understandingly. Or what he thought was understandingly.

'He was a bastard who spent most of his life destroying others,' the Joker said finally, surprising the shovelers. I tried not to smile. Harley threw her arms around the Joker and wailed over her loss.

'He was a good guy at first,' said Iggy, staring blankly at the ground.

'At first,' Fang repeated.

'At first,' Gazzy agreed.

'At first,' Nudge said, nodding.

Total's yip sounded amazingly like 'At first.'

'At first,' Angel whispered, burying her head into my jumper.

My flock looked at me as I stared at the coffin. 'At first,' I said firmly, and it sounded as if I had sealed the deal. Tony's grip on my shoulder tightened. I swallowed. 'He helped us a lot,' I said steadily, 'and tried to do what's best for us. He just didn't know what that was and he got help in all the wrong places.' I found myself thinking of how the Joker had been shot, of how Ari had died. 'But now he's dead and nothing can change that. I can forgive, but I never, ever forget.'

The flock all nodded. The rain was basically soaking all of us now, turning dirt to mud. Without speaking to one another, the flock, Tony, the Joker and I all turned and left the men to their work. As we were walking away I heard Harley give a tiny sniffle and finally, the sound of a shovel slipping into dirt then dirt thudding onto wood.

--

'So, that's over,' Tony said, watching me cautiously as I hung up my dripping coat. I nodded slowly. I could hear the others in the living room. Or I could hear the flock and Ella in the living room. Mom, being a vet, had actually gotten a really good job as a pet doctor. She was really amazing at it, apparently, so I felt glad for her. I didn't know if the Joker was just being silent. My stomach went a little crazy every time I thought of him.

I knew Tony was watching me intently so I said, 'I'm fine.' And made a big move from the front door to the entryway that led to the kitchen and living room.

'No, you're not,' Tony said, matter-of-factly, moving in front of me. We both knew I could kick his ass without trying, but like I was going to. I mean, even if we both hated each other I wouldn't, because he's got a bloody metal suit that withstands, like, tank missiles or whatever, and has many a built in weapon and quite possibly its own theme-song by Ozzy Osbourne, so he could just kill me later.

But since we didn't hate each other, I just didn't want to kick his ass.

'Of course you're not fine,' Tony said, crossing his arms. I looked up at him and shrugged. 'It's just weird. To see. Stuff like that. I mean, I know death. Lab freak, thank you very much –'

'Don't talk like that,' Tony said sharply.

I gave him a small smile. 'It's just – Jeb. It's finally hit that he's dead. It's kinda weird. He was like a –' I couldn't say father could I? Not in front of Tony.

But to my surprise, Iron Man cut in.

'Like a father to you and then he screwed you over?'

I nodded.

'Huh, been there, done that, know where you're coming from,' said Tony, rolling his eyes. When I blinked at him, he shrugged. 'I'll tell you about it some other time.'

I nodded again and then, for some reason I guess I'll never understand, I hugged him. I could totally feel the arc reactor, which is amazingly cold might I add.

'Whoa,' Tony said, obviously surprised. 'Where's all this coming from?'

'Shut up,' I told him and he chuckled, hugging me back. 'Your heart is freezing, by the way.'

'Oh, thank you, loving daughter, I'm glad you were here to tell me.'

The door opened and Mom walked in. Within a second, me and Tony were standing two feet away from each other. She looked at both of us and said, 'Hugging?'

'Absolutely not,' said Tony.

'Nope,' I said.

She crossed her arms.

'Yes,' said Tony.

'Uh-huh,' I said.

Mom sighed. 'I fell in love with a maniac.'

Fell in love? Ah, the romance of it all – it was surprisingly fun to be around. Until they started making out, then it was gross.

So that was why I left three minutes later.

The living room looked how I'd left it; crazy and full of kids. Fang was on the couch, Gazzy next to him, Angel was talking to Total and a non-listening Gasman, Iggy was lying across all of them with most of his weight on Fang just to annoy him, Nudge and Ella were on the carpet, talking over the TV, which appeared to be the news, asking 'Where Had the Joker Gone?' and 'Who is Max Ride's new boyfriend? Is it possibly the one from Christmas? Oooh!'

'Where's the Joker?' I asked.

'In your room,' Fang said. Gazzy smiled at me, a cute little smile. I smiled back. 'What did you do?' I asked him, ready to hear about whatever thing he'd blown up.

'Nuthin',' said the Gasman. 'I'm just happy.'

Okay, I could tell when the Gasman was lying. And this wasn't lying. So basically I did a Grinch and my heart wound up three sizes too big, or whatever. I found myself so thankful for this flock, so thankful for this family, so thankful for this home, so thankful for this amazing assortment of personalities, because I loved them all so much.

I opened my bedroom door and grinned when I saw the Joker sitting on my floor, his eyes closed and my radio on. It was playing some Nirvana song.

'I'm so happy

Because today I found my friends

They're in my head

I'm so ugly

That's okay cause so are you

We broke our mirrors...'

'Nice song,' I said.

'Kurt rules my life,' the Joker said, cracking open an eye.

'Right. So if Gotham figures out their most wanted villain listens to Nirvana, what's that going to do?'

'Nothing. They're all wondering who the guy going out with Maxine Stark is.'

I glared at him, closing the door as he snickered. 'They've finally learned to how say my name on TV and I'm very proud.'

'Yeah. D'you think they'll ever realise?'

'I don't know.' I sat down on my bed, so he was level with my knees. 'Look, I wanted to say something to you.'

The Joker smirked up at me. 'You've gotten bored of me already?'

'What? No! No, I want you to stay – basically... forever.'

The Joker snorted. 'Forever? Long time.'

I took a deep breath, ignoring all butterflies in my stomach. 'I like you.'

The Joker arched his eyebrows. 'I like you too,' he said slowly.

'No, I mean, like, I... feel like I. Um.'

To my surprise, the Joker pulled himself up onto my bed. My cheeks heated up. He noticed and smirked down at me. 'Yeah?'

I shrugged. 'Nothing.'

'No, go on, this is more fun than when I'm trying to get you to talk about your dreams with me.'

I shook my head, standing up. If I was near him, I would mess this up. 'Don't worry, you just ruined the moment.'

'There was a moment?' the Joker asked, amused. He licked his lips. 'Seriously, what's up?'

I stared at him. 'Now isn't the best time.'

'Huh,' the Joker said, staring at me. Then he frowned.

'What?' I asked. 'You only look that way when you're trying to figure out how to get to the toy at the bottom of the cereal boxes.'

'Well, just wondering when is the best time?'

I glared at him. 'Quite possibly never.'

He rolled his eyes. 'Once again, understand my jokes.'

'They're not funny.'

The Joker raised his eyebrows and said, 'Max. You're not making any sense.'

The corners of my mouth quirked.

'Was that a smile?'

'No.'

'That was a smile.'

'No, it wasn't.'

The next thing I knew he was standing up and grinning down at me. 'Yes, it was and that means I'm safe.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Sure you are. For now.'

The Joker smirked at me. 'Just say what you want to say.'

I stared at him. What did I want to say? I didn't know. I opened my mouth and out came, 'Do me one favour.'

'Uh-huh.'

'This is it, okay?'

The Joker looked interested. 'Sure.'

'Just stay, okay? Stay and don't get yourself killed.'

He looked at me in surprise. 'Wow, you must really like me.'

I avoided his eyes. 'Yeah, so?'

'Well, uh. I don't know. Just... why would you like me?'

I blinked at him. 'Because you're you,' I said after a minute. 'I like you because you're you. Does that help? What do you mean "why would I like you"?' Are you mental?' I held up a hand. 'Don't answer that. Of course I like you!' I couldn't believe him. How did that not get through to him?

But once again he laughed and put his hands on my shoulders. 'Max,' he said, grinning, 'relax. Or chillax. Why would someone say that, it's actually kinda annoying. Also, that whole thing leads onto the subject of chilli and chilly and Chile, what is wrong with those people?'

I stretched up and kissed him, throwing my arms around his neck and one hand messing up his hair. He responded and I tilted my head, feeling his hands on my waist.

'You are such a pain,' I told him, pulling back.

And something amazing happened. The Joker smiled. Like, an actual smile. Without the scars. And it wasn't a mean smile, or a smirk, or a fake one. It was one with alive brown eyes and no make-up. In fact, he had a few freckles.

And he looked majorly hot.

I felt my chest nearly explode and he pulled me down onto the bed, so I was basically sitting on him. I stared at him in surprise and he grinned. 'So you want me to stay?'

I nodded, a little dazed.

He sighed, like this was the biggest thing he'd ever been asked and it was so stressful. 'Well, I guess. I've got nothing better to do.'

'Oh, you are such a –' I began irritably, but he cut me off by pressing his lips against mine. So I guess he won that one, because my heart just went mental again and I forget everything except that I couldn't believe how happy I was.

So I guess being Max has its benefits.

--

Okay. I think it's done. This story is finally over. Jeez, that's weird, now it's... wow, sorry, just really weird.

If you think it ended on a weird note, then sorry. :) But thank you so much to everyone for reviewing.

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Thank you all and it was great to hear (read) reviews from you. I'm sorry if it ended a bit short but my friend said she liked it there and she was the one who threatened to steal shoes and so on, never mind, but it's been great. Thank you again.

-grimmylikesazrael, signing out :D