You Ought to Smile More

“I think that’s all of it,” I mumbled, wiping my forehead. Todd smiled and fell backwards onto his couch. We just finished unpacking my things. It’s been 3 days since the fight between The Joker and Batman. Todd practically forced me to move in with him until this thing with The Joker blew over.

“You have so much,” he whined and rolled onto his stomach on the couch. I laughed and sat down on his back.

“Hmphf, I’m too lazy to push you off,” he grumbled at me. I laughed and stood up. We took the day off so we could move my things.

“What do you want for lunch?” I asked walking into his kitchen.

“RAMEN!” he called from his spot on the couch. I laughed and heated up the water for the noodles.

“Oh, Rosalina was discharged from the hospital today so we need to get back to work tomorrow,” Todd said and I heard him turn on the news.
“ Hello, Gotham City. This is Katie Parker with Channel 4 News at Noon. The latest headlines are filled with The Joker’s schemes. Just 3 days he was caught fighting with Batman in the R.C. Apartment building. The Police weren’t able to put him into custody, but he appeared again today. At the Gotham City Bank, he managed to kill 12 people, wound 8, and blow up half of the building, taking most of the money with him.”

Todd clicked the power button and turned the TV off again. I quietly brought two bowls of Ramen noodles into the living room. We sat down and started eating our lunch.

“You okay?” he asked softly. I nodded and slurped up some noodles.

“Yeah, I think after that thing with Batman, he’ll leave me alone,” I answered. Todd looked at me a while more before going back to his food. When I finished eating, I took my bowl into the kitchen and loaded it into the dishwasher.

“I'm going to go take a shower and get some fresh air.” I called and went into the guest bathroom that was connected to the guest room Todd was letting me use.

I slipped my clothes off and stepped into the cubicle under the hot spray of the water. My muscles were sore from all the heavy lifting and unpacking and now it felt great just to finally get some relaxing time.

I rinsed my hair out and grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my body as I stepped out. I turned to the mirror half expecting there to be writing on it again, but it was just foggy like always. Wiping the mirror, with my hand, I cleared it off so I could see my reflection.

My brown hair looked like it was coated with a thick gel. I ran my brush through it and untangled it before blowing drying it. Then I went into my room and got dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans with black boots over them and a loose white blouse.

I went back into my bathroom and did my makeup and hair before going back into the living room where I saw Todd watching the news again.

“What’s going on?” I asked leaning on the back of the couch, above him. He glanced up at me and shook his head.

“It’s weird. Nothing big is happening. Things are too calm for Gotham,” he joked. I flashed him a smile and grabbed coat.

“Where are you going?” he asked sitting up.

“I told you I was going to get some fresh air after my shower,” I reminded him.

“Caprice, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he mumbled.

“I can't stay cooped up all day. It’s been three days already and I’m sure the media needs at least one picture of me to make sure I'm still alive,” I joked, but Todd didn’t catch the humor.

“Caprice…”

“Todd, I have my phone and I won’t be long. I’ll be gone 1 hour at the most. There are some really cute shops just down the block from here and that’s where I’ll be. Count this as work for out next casual look issue,”

“Fine, but 1 hour and that’s it,” he said caving in. I smiled happily and nodded.

“See you then, by Todd,” I rushed out the door and down to the stairs. Never trust those smalls elevators, things always go wrong in them.

I jogged down the stairs and out the side door of Todd’s apartment building. The sun was actually shining today and there wasn’t too much smog clouded in the air. It felt nice outside for once.

I walked along the busy sidewalks to the small shopping strip I told Todd I was going to.

The entire time I was looking at the clothing stores, I felt like someone was watching me. It was probably just a photographer so I ignored it and walked into a smaller store called, Sally’s Corner.

~*~

“Look, that’s her! Get the camera!” Doc growled out to Happy. The excited kid pulled the camera out of its case and started snapping pictures of Caprice as she stood in front of Sally’s Corner.

“Can we go back now? We know she likes to shop,” Grumpy complained from his seat on a metal bench that was across the street from where Caprice was.

“Stop whining. Boss needs these pictures today along with her new living place.” Doc explained feeling rather irritated with Grumpy’s sour attitude towards their mission.

“Yeah yeah yeah blah blah blah. She lives with her friend Todd who works with her, and she doesn’t really have that many friends. She hates that Rosalina chick and she owns a magazine. I think we have enough,” Grumpy mumbled. Doc glared at him and turned back to Happy who was just standing there.

“She went inside the store and I couldn’t get any more shots of her,” he said.

“Don’t forget that we need to get her background information,” Doc reminded them both.

“But I already did that while you and Grumpy were fighting yesterday,” Happy said with a bright smile. None of them were wearing their usual get ups or clown masks.

“What?” Doc asked the younger man.

“Yeah here it is,” Happy rummaged through the bag he brought with him to camera the camera in. He pulled out a manila folder and gave it over to Doc. Doc opened it and scanned over the contents.

“Family registry, D.O.B, parents, family, schools, health… Where did you get all of this?” Doc asked. Happy smirked evilly at both him and Grumpy.

“Boss doesn’t keep me around because I’m happy. I hacked into the government database back at the Gotham Library yesterday. Let’s go before Boss gets mad,” Happy said turning and walking back. Grumpy stood up with a bewildered expression and Doc couldn’t help but feel like he as been underestimating Happy for a long time.