You Ought to Smile More

I woke early the next morning before Todd and got ready. I was finishing up my makeup when I finally saw him walk out of his room yawning. He looked at me for a second through his drowsy eyes.

“I didn’t think you came in last night,” he mumbled and scratched his stomach.

“Yeah it was late and I didn’t want to wake you,” Todd nodded and left it at that which I was thankful for. I left before he did to avoid any more questions he might have had for me.

Alice was waiting for me when I walked into the building and gave me my coffee. I mumbled a thanks and went into my office where a stack of papers needing to be signed were piled on my desk. I groaned and started reading through them.

My cell phone rang in my purse and I pulled it out and saw it was The Joker calling. Quickly, I glanced at the clock and it was almost 10:30. Why was he calling?

“Hello?” I asked softly.

“I just got a tid bit of information that didn’t make me very happy, Caprice,” he hissed. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply.

“You’re going to take your lunch break early, as in now!” the line went dead and I gulped, closing my phone shut. My legs were shaking as I stood up. He sounded pissed. Damn, and the police thought my lunch break was at noon. They won’t be able to save me!

I slowly grabbed everything I needed and my purse before walking out of my office.

“Ms. Mateo, where are you going?” Alice asked standing up behind her desk.

“I’m taking my lunch early,” I replied and walked outside into the cold and to the parking garage. Was I supposed to go to the ship yard? I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

“You take forever!” he growled from behind me. I turned around and stared at The Joker’s painted face. He didn’t look happy at all.

“We’re leaving now,” he wrapped his strong, gloved fingers around my upper arm and dragged me over to a black F250. I was thrown into the front passenger seat and he took off down the road.

“Where’s the van?” I asked softly.

“We’re having to switch vehicles up and relocate thanks to you,” he snapped and got onto the highway. I cringed and sunk further into the front seat. So he did know about the interrogation.

“They forced me to talk, Joker. I didn’t just spill my guts to them. The Batman is very violent and I'm pretty sure he left bruises,” I grumbled. The Joker raised an eyebrow and glanced at me.

“He hurt you?”

“Yeah I was too scared of what you would do to me, so I didn’t want to tell them. But he grabbed me and roughed me up a little,” I whispered. The Joker giggled.

“Oh this is good. Too good. The Batman knows you, but still wants to catch me so he has to be mean to you. I just thought of the perfect plan,” he chuckled. At least he was acting like the old Joker.

“Where are the dwarfs?” I asked noticing it was only us in the truck.

“They are finding me new men. I killed all the extras. They might squeal to the police, but I know my dwarfs won’t say a word.” He informed me.

“God, I feel like a bad guy now just talking casually with you about these sorts of things,” I groaned. The Joker smiled widely.

“Soon you’ll like doing them too. I'm slowly going to turn you into the perfect partner in crime,” he said happily and bounced a little in his seat.

“Not to burst your bubble, but once the police see that I'm missing, they will start looking for me.”

“I’m having Grumpy and Doc take your car and make it look like you were in a car accident and blow it up. Everyone will think that you’re dead,” he grinned like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I looked at him with my jaw dropped.

“B-But Todd and Alice! They’ll think I'm dead?! Who will run my magazine?!” I cried trying to come up with a solution. The Joker smacked his hand against the steering wheel.

“It’s already being done so there’s no use in whining over it,” he growled and we pulled up to an old mansion that has been empty for almost 10 years since the last owners died of old age. Everyone knew about this place, but it would be the last place to look for the Joker. It was on the border of the city, so it was out of sight of other people.

“Help me and grab a box from the bed,” he told me. I followed him to the tailgate and as he lowered it I saw a bunch of boxes with labels on them. He handed me one that said TOYS on it. I did as told and took the box inside the manner.

Sleepy was wiping his eyes and looking around. He saw me with the box and walked over.

“You must be Caprice,” he voice was deep and tired sounding. He led me into a room with other boxes that said things like TOYS, GUNS, KNIVES. I set it down with the others and walked out of the room.

The Joker was walking into another room with 2 boxes that said CLOTHES. It looked like they were moving like ordinary people.

I took a few deep breaths to relax myself. I still couldn’t believe that I wasn’t freaking out about the Joker “killing” me. Everyone would think that I was dead and no one would come looking for me.

I sighed and walked back outside to get another box. I got a box that said PLANS on it. I walked into the mansion and The Joker motioned me to follow him. I walked into the room where he brought the clothes.

“Set it down over there,” he seemed so calm and used to moving.

“Am I staying here?” I asked softly.

“Yupp, in here with me. I don’t want to let you out of my sight. You might try to signal for someone to come,” he added. My heart dropped.

“What about all my things at Todd’s?” I asked.

“I had Happy go there today and grab most of your things without making it look like they were missing. You’ll be fine,” he giggled and opened up the CLOTHES boxes. Inside were a bunch of his purple suits, but there were also regular jeans and shirts. It was weird seeing those things.

“I can't believe this is happening,” I whispered to myself.

“You better start, Doll Face because this is your life now. With me,” he stared me in the eyes and I sat down to help unload boxes. It seemed like I was on his good side for now and that’s how I wanted to keep it.

“Tomorrow you will start cooking, cleaning and all that jazz for us,” he said. I nodded not knowing what else to do.

“Gotham is in for a big surprise,” he chuckled and stood up. I did the same.

“Thanks for the help Doll Face,” he grabbed my face and smashed his lips against mine before letting go and leaving the room. I almost fell down. What the hell made him do that??