Harleen Part 18/?
Author: BlueSuede
Title: Harleen
Rating: NC17
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: Chloe/Bruce
Summary: Chloe is on a recruiting mission, trying to pin down Gotham's infamous Dark Knight. In order to learn more about him, she begins interviewing those he's captured. What will she do when the Joker escapes and begins targeting her?
Warning: sexually explicit content, moderate violence
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cheryljluv
First Chapter
Previous (Chapter 17)
Next (Chapter 19)
-18-
Bruce drummed his fingers impatiently, watching the court proceedings intently. He could feel his fingers itching for the Joker to make one wrong move. Just one, and he would have no problem putting him back in the hospital.
Of course, it was always hard to explain it away when Bruce Wayne did something heroic, but he would think of something clever. He always did. He would make it look like an accident.
…A painful, spine-fracturing accident that would incapacitate the Joker for life.
Before the trial had officially begun, before the Joker-who was far more interesting than Bruce-had been brought forward, Bruce had been ignoring the occasional heads craning back to see him, the whispers and second glances. They were all wondering what Bruce Wayne was doing at this trial to begin with.
When the press had swamped him outside the courthouse, he had brushed it off easily enough, tossing them that charming grin they loved to photograph and feeding them a heavy hint that he was trying to ask out the new female district attorney. It was cheap and he felt bad that the DA would have to deal with the insinuations for a while, but it had still worked.
For the dozenth time he checked his watch. When would they call their star witness to the stand?
Not that he was thinking about her. He was done thinking about her. Thinking about her would get her killed. He'd almost gotten her killed already, and he wasn't going to carry on with that; it was just wrong.
His carefully masked face began to scowl when he thought of Oliver Queen's phone call. Queen had some nerve telling him how to behave. As if he would be rude to her.
He wasn't telling you not to be rude, a voice said in his head. He was telling you not to be stupid. There's definitely a difference.
He dismissed the thoughts immediately. Queen thought he should ask Chloe to take him back. So did Alfred for that matter, although the butler never actually said it. He just looked it. Bruce folded his arms over his chest sullenly. It was all fine for the pair of them. They weren't the ones who would have to deal with the guilt if something happened to her. He would never forgive himself.
But if anyone could handle it, she could, the voice pointed out again. She leads a team of heroes.
Yeah, he added to himself, continuing the train of thought. She's already in danger every damn second. Hell if I need to add my problems to that.
He could almost hear Alfred in his head now.
"Don't you think that should be her choice?" Alfred would point out in that infuriatingly calm, sensible tone.
Of course it shouldn't be her choice. Queen was insane to let her anywhere near all this trouble. He certainly wasn't going to be party to that kind of idiocy.
"The prosecution calls Chloe Sullivan to the stand."
He looked up, his drumming fingers finally stilling. His tie suddenly felt tight and he tugged at it, hoping to God that she wouldn't spot him while she was up there. He did his best not to stare when the Bailiff pushed her in.
Look at that, he thought. She isn't even fully recovered yet. She's still in a wheelchair. One more week with me and she'd probably end up in a vegetative state at best.
Contrary to his hope that she might be so concerned with everything else happening that she wouldn't see him, the moment Chloe took her chair at the stand, her eyes met his. He saw the minutest surprise register there, as if somehow she really hadn't been expecting him, and her face paled, though whether that was because of him or the Joker, he couldn't tell.
She tore her eyes from him and they swore her in.
Why didn't I smile or nod or something? I didn't even acknowledge her. I wonder if she hates me yet.
"Miss Sullivan, please state in your own words…."
She forgot he was in the room. Through the course of the interrogation, both from the prosecution and the defense, Chloe never once glanced in his direction. He didn't blame her; he could tell reliving the experience with the Joker leering at her two yards away was taking its toll on her. She was strong though. Her story didn't falter once.
Even the rubbish about writing a book, he added mentally. Not that he dared hold any of that against her. After all, it wasn't as if he had a great deal of honesty in his life to begin with. He couldn't expect her to be totally forthright when she was protecting the same kind of secrets.
And it isn't as if she was lying to me because she wanted to. She was undercover, his conscience reminded him. Vaguely he wondered why his conscience sounded so much like Alfred.
From the stand, Chloe could feel her fortitude waning. The Joker, sitting there in his straight jacket was beginning to laugh, a low chuckle under his breath that reminded her of her first encounter with him. Only now there wasn't a wall of thick glass protecting her. She shook herself as the defense attorney asked her to please attempt to stay focused, his tone sounding as though he thought she wasn't taking this seriously.
Arrogant jerk, she thought silently at the lawyer, schooling her facial expressions and asking him to repeat his question.
"I said, Miss Sullivan," he rolled his eyes, prominently displaying what a useless invalid he thought she was so as to call her whole testimony into question, "Don't you think that the actions of my client call into question his sanity?"
Chloe stifled a sigh of frustration. As far as she was concerned, the Joker made insane people look boring. But that was the defense's strategy. The Joker's attorney had entered a plea of insanity on the clown's behalf. But Chloe was convinced that he didn't belong in a place like Arkham. It was like coddling him to call him insane. He thought it was a great big joke that society didn't even give him the treatment of an ordinary criminal, that instead he was sent to a padded cell where his mania was allowed to stew and simmer.
"I don't," Chloe answered firmly.
The lawyer gave her an incredulous look, then turned to the jury and started recounting the various symptoms his previous witness-a psychologist-had listed that proved that the Joker was a victim of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and sociopathy-all manifested to the most extreme possible extent in this one person.
"Excuse me," Chloe interrupted after a couple of minutes. "Is there a question in here somewhere?"
The judge nodded his agreement and told the attorney to get on with it.
"I'm only saying," the attorney said in a condescending voice, "Please tell me, Miss Sullivan, why you don't agree that my client is suffering from any of these disorders."
"He does-"
"He does?" The attorney drawled incredulously. "Miss Sullivan, may I remind you that you just stated that my client is perfectly sane."
"Mr. Simmerman," Chloe said coolly, "if you would allow me to speak more than two words, I will explain what I mean." She paused, as if daring the rude man to continue. "I'm sure you realize the percentage of people who experience mood disorders or personality disorders at at least some point in their lives is shockingly large. And yet, almost none of those people run off on a tangent and attack entire cities. Regardless of what psychological disorders the Joker may or may not be suffering from, I still believe, from everything I have seen, that he is completely in control of his actions. He's been sent away to Arkham Asylum before and nothing has changed. As long as he believes that his crimes will never receive true punishment, the Joker will continue his pattern of murder and chaos. If you want my personal opinion, constantly rewarding the Joker's behavior by not trying him as the criminal that he is is the real insanity in this situation."
At this point the Joker's laughter had grown so disruptive that the judge had to interrupt the proceedings to ask the bailiff to escort him out. Chloe was seething. It was all a facade. The joker knew that the simple trick of uncontrollable laughter had completely undermined everything she'd just said.
Chloe shook her head to herself, sighing when the defense attorney dismissed her with no further questions.
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Next (Chapter 19)