Stitched Together

Chapter Eleven
Scars

“Nice place you got here Doll,” The Joker commented dragging out her name. They walked up the stairs together, The Joker following a few feet behind her. Doll didn't respond but lead him to a door that was right across from where she stayed. She pulled a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the door then opened it. The Joker stood behind her looking over her shoulder. Doll shot him a look that made him raise an eyebrow innocently at her.

“You can stay here until you get your own place... I assume you'll do that sooner rather than later.” Doll commented as she stepped into the room and flicked the light switch on the wall beside the door.

The room wasn't much. It was almost identical to Doll's. It had a table in the middle of the room and a bed shoved into one corner of the room. It was another film operation room that had been turned into a bedroom. It even had a window that looked down at one of theater rooms. The theater room had seats torn out and the screen had been half way ripped down.

“Trying to get rid of me so soon?” The Joker asked as he walked around his temporary room.

“Something like that.” Doll answered leaning in the doorway watching him.

“Interesting.” He muttered as he pulled out a switchblade from the wall. “This yours?” He asked as he played with the blade.

“Yeah, I uh was giving the guy a warning.” She told him. This was Tanner's old room. The knife incident was his first and only warning and he learned quickly how to stay alive. In the end she didn't get to kill him but his loyalty to her cost him in the end. “He went to prison when I went to Arkham.” She explained.

“Ohh, a lover perhaps.” The Joker assumed with a large grin.

“Eww,” Doll said. “I would have liked to kill him but as far as henchmen go he was competent.”

The Joker and Doll stared at each in silence. They studied each other. Neither had met someone that they considered an equal. The silence was broken when a tentative knock came from the open doorway. Mickey stared at them both as he held two pizza boxes in front him. Doll turned her attention to him. He shifted his weight under her gaze.

“Here's your pizzas, boss.” He said. Doll walked up to him and swiped the pizzas from his outstretched hands.

“About time.” She told him her blue eyes twinkling. She watched him gulp. She loved making them squirm. It was just way too easy. She opened the box to make sure the order was correct- luckily for him it was. “You’re done here, get out!” She told him.

She laughed as he made a very fast exit. She quickly noted that she wasn't laughing alone. The Joker's laugh mixed in with her own. She stopped and turned around to face him. She dropped both pizzas on the table and pushed one towards where he was standing. Doll hopped onto the table and made herself comfortable with her pizza box setting in front of her. She watched in amusement as The Joker copied her and sat with his legs crossed in front of him on the table and the pizza she offered him opened in front of him. He watched her as she pulled off the pepperonis and ate them first. He continued to stare at her as he ate his own food.

“Do you always do this?” Doll spoke up suddenly. The Joker looked at her confused. Doll rolled her eyes. “You keep staring at me.” She explained. “Did anyone ever teach you that that's rude?” She teased.

The Joker started laughing so hard she half hoped he would fall off the table. She would defiantly laugh at that. Unfortunately he stayed sitting in his spot as he calmed himself down.

“Oh you're hilarious!” He told her with a large smile stretching his scars as he did so.

Doll thought that without the makeup he looked like a completely different person. His Glasgow smile wasn't as noticeable without the red paint enhancing it. He looked almost normal. She wasn't looking at The Joker she had heard about. He was missing his signature suit and his grease paint.

“I know, I'm to die for!” She giggled along with him.

“I'm sure a lot of people have found that out the hard way.” He said his voice going an octave lower. He sounded more masculine that way. The voice he usually spoke in was nasally and higher pitched.

“More then you know.” She replied as she took a bite of her pizza. The Joker didn't question her any further. They ate together in silence after that and once Doll was done she took her pizza and left to her room without a word of goodbye to The Joker.

The next day Doll was lying on top of the table in her room when she heard a large bang from downstairs. Sighing she got up and made her way downstairs to see what the fuss was about. When she reached the 'living room' area she found The Joker who she noted was wearing his face paint now and a normal blue suit. She also noted three of her men wearing scared expressions.

“What is going on here?” She demanded. She walked to where everyone was standing. She quickly found the answer to her question. Sprawled out on the floor was a very dead Mickey. He had been shot in the chest. She quickly realized that The Joker had done the killing. She stalked over to him and stood only a foot away. He watched her every movement.

“I know you're used to doing whatever you want and all but you see here I'm the boss. The first rule being if one of my employees is going to die I'm going to be the one to kill him. You understand that?” She told him and then waited for his response.

“You talk big for a little girl.” The Joker teased her.

“Don't kill any more of my employees. This is your last warning.” She told him before she turned and walked away. He laughed until he felt something sharp land in his leg. Looking down he saw she had thrown a knife right at him.

“Nice shot.” He commented as he pulled it out.

“Next time I'll really just shot you.” She told him. “And I'll have no regrets about it. Oh and stop calling me a little girl.” She told him before making her way back to her room.

“Well she sure knows how to welcome a guest doesn't she?” The Joker asked the three other men. The all looked at each other anxiously. The Joker tilted his head at them. “Are you scared?”

“Have you seen her?” One of them spoke quietly.

“Oh trust me boys I've seen her.” He said his voice low before he busted out into a fit of laughter. The three men continued to shift nervously. They were relieved when he finally left them to go upstairs. They hoped it would be just Doll soon. They didn't sign up to work for both of them. Or Gotham could get lucky and one of them would kill the other.

“You think you're smart girl? How dare you embarrass me and your mother like that?” Anthony shouted.

Allison's parents had thrown a dinner party that night with several of their so called friends. Apparently her shy, timid attitude came off as being rude towards their guest. Her appearance also didn't help. She looked pale and overly tired. Their guest thought Allison was sick. Her parents thought she did it on purpose.

“I didn't mean to.” Allison said softly. Her father slapped her and she crumbled to the floor. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks and made her blond hair stick to her face.

“You should know better.” Her father told her before yanking on her and slamming her into the wall. Allison screamed when her back hit the wall forcefully. Her father let go of his grip on her and she slowly slid down the wall. She could feel blood running down her forehead from the impact.

“Go get yourself cleaned up. I don't want to see or hear you until morning.” Her father ordered before walking away.

Doll woke up in her bed breathing heavily. She looked around the dark room until she realized that she was in her bedroom at the house. She closed her eyes as she pushed Allison's memories away. She didn't want to remember. She had been with Allison through all of the pain. She had to hear Allison cry herself to sleep and cover the bruises with makeup. Allison was dead and that’s where she belonged. Doll was sure if she hadn't been there then Allison would have died a lot sooner. Wiping the sweat from her face Doll got out of bed and left her room to head downstairs.

The house had been reconstructed to work just like a real house. It had a section that was the living room, a kitchen, and even a few bathrooms with working showers. Doll headed straight to the kitchen's fridge and pulled a soda from it. She wasn't sure how long she sat at the kitchen table staring at the wall in front of her but she was startled when someone stepped into her field of vision.

“You sure are up early.” The Joker's voice dragged out. Doll's gaze snapped to his as he took a seat in front of her.

“I could say the same to you.” She threw back at him. She noticed with a smile that his makeup was smudged from sleep, she assumed. The white was rubbed off in a few places and she could see the pale skin underneath and the black and red had begun to bleed into what was left of the white paint. “You could use a new paint job.” She told him.

“I could say the same to you.” He mocked her. Unlike his, her face was completely bare of any face paint. Her scars naturally marking her pretty face. “You want to know how I got my scars?” He asked after a moment of silence.

“No, not really.” She said in a monotone voice. For once she wasn't in the mood for games. Her head was still spinning with Allison's memories.

“Oh come on Doll,” He told her. His nasally voice dragged out her name. “We can uh play show and tell.” He offered.

“I'm not really in a sharing kind of mood.” She told him.

“Aw, why so serious, Doll?” He asked as he stood up from the table.

She watched as he came to stand in front of her looking down as he towered over her sitting form. She continued to stare at the wall in front of him. She heard a clicking sound and she soon felt the cold metal of his switchblade upon her face. He traced the scars with the tip of the blade.

“Very interesting scars you got princess must have really hurt.” He told her.

Her blue eyes rose to meet his dark brown ones. His tongue slipped out of his mouth to touch his own scars. Doll gazed at him curious as she felt the blade leave her skin.

“Do you think you deserved yours?” Doll spoke up suddenly.

Her eyes still gazed straight in to his. His face scrunched up in confusion. He squinted his eyes as he tried to understand her question. Doll tugged on a piece of her blonde hair before speaking again.

“Your scars, did you deserve them?” She asked again nodding her head towards his mouth.

He still looked at her with the same look on his face. She almost laughed at the expression on his face. He almost seemed speechless.

“It's according how you look at.” He finally answered. She stood up from her seat finally and looked at him. She tilted her head curiously at him.

“And how do you look at it?” She asked him.

“Well, it made me who I am today, beautiful.” He whispered in her ear. She moved her head back to look at his face. She nodded at him in agreement. “What about you? Did you deserve yours...?” He questioned.

“Look at me; does it look like I could possibly do anything to deserve these?” She asked him, dramatically waving a hand in front of her face. It only took him a second before he busted into a fit of laughter.

“Oh now you're just too hilarious!” The Joker wheezed in between his laughter. He was finally able to compose himself again a few minutes later. “I know you're not innocent Doll. But I wonder did the scars come before or after? Were the scars the turning point for you? The nudge that made you?” He questioned her.

They stared at each other. The house was quiet and the only sounds they could hear were their breathing. The two stood only a foot apart with The Joker looking down at Doll as she looked up at him.

“I was here way before the scars.” She told him with a smirk. She shoved him roughly away from her making him stumble a few steps before he quickly got his balance. With a one last smug smile she left him alone in the kitchen as she headed back to her room.

The next day when Doll left her room she saw a note on her door being held by a knife. She quickly noticed it was the knife that The Joker had pulled from the wall in his temporary room. She read over the note quickly. The handing writing was small and messy.

Thanks for the room princess.
I'll be seeing you around.
J

Doll folded the knife shut and stuck it in one of her coat pockets along with the note. She was sure she was going to be seeing a lot more of The Joker now that he was free. She hoped she wouldn't regret letting him out. She hoped he understood when she told him this was her city and she was just letting him play.