Straying out of Sanity

"There, you look good," I heard Jared say and I turned away from my reflection in the mirror on the closet to briefly glare at him.

"I look like a whore in a business suit," I stated and turned back to my reflection. Indeed I did look like a whore in a business suit. I blamed it on the super red lipstick and overkill black Jared put on my eyes, covering up most of the purple that was there before. But then again I'm sure that the suit's pinstriped jacket (which only had one button that was set a few inches above my navel and created an extreme V) and the bright red satin tank top with lace trim, which ended up showing way more of my chest than I was comfortable with, wasn't helping either.

"Well at least you look older," I heard Leo state behind me on one of the two beds in the room as Jared started 'perfecting' my hair, which he had somehow managed to slightly curl with a ton of mousse and hairspray and a random flat iron before putting it up in a ridiculous half up style that was created out of an army or very well hidden pins and clips.

"Yeah, she looks like she can maybe pull off... Oh I don't know... Twenty three now," Jay laughed, followed by Mitch, Leo, and his two friends (whose names I learned were Tommy and Jamon).

"At least I don't look like a sixteen year old," I replied smirking and heard Mitch trying to suppress laughter.

"Hey!" Jay yelled angrily, "I do not look like a sixteen year old!"

"You actually do," Laurel told him, half laughing.

"I do not!" He retorted.

I rolled my eyes at Jared through the mirror we were in front of and he barely laughed, shaking his head. A few seconds later he finished with messing with my hair.

"Okay get your shoes on woman so we can leave," Jared told me and I made a face at the shoes Joker decided to give me. The red sole matched nicely with the red tank top and they did look pretty but the fact that the heel was three, maybe four inches, tall was a turn off for me. For one I could not, for my life, walk in heels and not look awkward and another thing was that if I put those on I'd be near six feet tall.

"Do you think Joker was tryin' to make you look like a whore?" I heard Leo ask when I sat on the bed to slip on my heels. "I mean you didn't look so bad from the back but now..." he stared laughing.

"Shut up Leo!" I yelled at him as his friends started laughing too, and so did Jay.

I slapped the back of his head since he was closest to me and he gave an, "Oww!" and rubbed the spot where I had hit him.

"Baby," I muttered and then looked up at Jared.

"Well come on, lets go," he told me as everyone else in the room stood up.

"I can't walk in heels," I told him plainly and he sighed.

"Come on," he took a step forward, taking my hands and pulling me up. "Jesus Christ you got tall," he laughed because I was now a tiny bit taller than him with the heels. "Just hold onto me."

"Yeah and what am I gonna do when you're not with me?" I asked as we left the room, following everyone else.

"I don't know, you're gonna have to suffer I guess," he told me and then made me let go of him. "How bad do you walk?" he asked and I showed him. It was his turn to laugh at me now before saying, "Try keeping your legs closer together and... maybe take smaller steps?"

"Yeah that helps," I said sarcastically and grabbed hold of him again so we could catch up with everyone else.

"Are all of you going?" I heard Laurel asking when Jared and I did catch up.

"Probably," Mitch replied to her and looked back at Jared helping me walk before rolling his eyes at me.

"Yeah, we should go find Tom," Jay told her.

"I don't need Tom to babysit me!"

"Its not babysitting its so you don't get crazy bored without me," I smiled at her.

"I won't get crazy bored without you, I've been with you constantly for the past week and a half," Laurel told me and I gave her an offended gasp.

"So you don't want to hang out with Tom then?" Mitch asked her.

"No I never said that! I said-"

"That you basically don't want to hang out with Tom," Jay interrupted her.

"NO! I never said that! I said-!"

"That you don't wanna hand out with Tom. Jesus Laurel we get it already," I teased her further.

"Fine! I'll go hang out with Tom! You guys are jerks," she said, stomping away from us.

We all laughed once she had gone and Jared said, "You three are jerks," still half laughing.

"She'll get over it," I told him as we reached the stairs leading to the Entrance type place with the stairs. I didn't even realize we had passed the elevator.

"I can't go down those," I whined.

"Oh come on, quit being a baby! I swear I've never met a girl that can't walk in heels," Jay told me.

"Oh, fine. If its so easy," I said, reaching down to pull off one of my shoes, "then you walk in them!" and punctuated my sentence by throwing the shoe at him.

He turned to the side, in a poor attempt at dodging the shoe, and shrieked when it hit him. Yes, he shrieked, as in screamed like a girl, and attracted the attention of The Joker and Croc who were already downstairs, obviously waiting for us.

I was too mad to laugh at Jay for his girlie scream and reached down to get my other shoe to throw at him but Jared quickly grabbed me, locking my upper arms against my chest and Mitch grabbed the shoe from my hand. Leo, Tommy and Jamon were too busy laughing their asses off at Jay to do anything to stop me.

"Your mean!" Jay whined, holding his side. I wouldn't blame him actually; I threw that shoe hard.

I struggled out of Jared's grip and grabbed both my shoes from Mitch (since he had picked up the other one I threw at Jay) and said, "You're such an asshole, Jay. I swear to God," as I started down the stairs, holding my shoes until I got to the bottom. I doubt Jay heard me insult him though because when I looked up his eyes were huge and I figured he, along with Mitch, discovered how big Croc was. Jared, Leo and his friends had followed me down the stairs, with Mitch and Jay a bit behind. I grabbed old of Leo's arm, since he was closer than Jared, and I put my shoes back on, regretfully. Leo then took over Jared's job of helping me walk.

"You can't walk in heels," Joker said when I neared him. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Not really," I said, hoping he wouldn't flip out with this news.

"Well I guess I'm like your friend then," he stated before grabbing my arm and forcefully pulling me away from Leo, who was helping me walk now. He caught me off guard and I tripped and collapsed into his side when he pulled me away from Leo but he also caught me and held me up to make sure I didn't fall down. "I've never met a woman who couldn't walk in heels," he finished his statement, all the while giving Leo a glare that was a cross of warning and... jealousy?

No.

No.

Not jealousy.

Definitely not jealousy...

Right?

Joker then kept one of his hands on my lower back to help keep me steady. It probably helped just as much as me holding onto Jared's or Leo's arm but I still preferred holding onto something. Maybe because I might not trust this man.

By now we were in the garage but instead of heading for the van that a couple of other henchmen were already waiting in Joker whispered, "You're coming with me," and then led me up a slope, which was hell to walk up in my heels but Joker was patient and went slow for me, and then out one of the open garage doors. I looked back and saw Mitch giving me that same look he was this morning when I was wearing all that purple. I rolled my eyes and turned back around.

Croc and Leo were walking ahead of us now, since I was being so slow, and when Joker and I finally reached the top I saw them getting into a black Cadillac Escalade limo (which lowered drastically as Croc entered through the open door). I have to admit that watching Croc fit through the door was more amazing to me than the actual vehicle itself.

I heard The Joker chuckle next to me, probably realizing what I was thinking and led me up to the vehicle. He got in first, most likely to prevent me having to scoot over for him in my skirt and heels, which, I admit, was thoughtful of him. I got in after him and closed the door behind me.

And wow was all I could think. I've never been in a limo before. I mean I know that they're fancy but this was just... wow.

It was too much for me and I suddenly didn't know what to do with myself. I felt a light tugging on my hair and I quickly turned to look to my right and saw The Joker twirling a strand of my curled hair in one of his ungloved fingers. He looked over at me from a conversation he had started with Croc and was silently telling me to relax. I looked away from him, breathing in deeply before leaning back in my seat. After a few seconds I slipped my shoes off and kicked them to the side, out of my foot space.

By now we had left the long drive of the mansion and we were on a neighborhood road which was sparsely lined with other mansions. Of course the one thing that finally gave away where The Joker's hideout was was when we passed a vast empty lot with what looked like the new construction of a mansion.

"We're in the Palisades?" I asked aloud on accident.

"Where'd you think we were?" I heard Joker ask in return.

I turned away from the window to reply but I realized that I had no reply for him. I then shook my head and shrugged before turning back to watch the new Wayne Manor pass.

"You're not used to this kinda life, aren' you Emma?" I heard Croc ask. It was a bit shocking to hear him say my name. I mean of course he'd been with The Joker all morning and surely would've asked him about the situation he found us in this morning but I at least thought he'd call me Jill like The Joker does.

I turned back to look at his cramped but seemingly comfortable form, taking up the two seats near the back, where Joker and I were sat. "And what kind of life would you be referring to?" I asked, simply because I didn't know which he was referring to. The major two I figured were Crime or Luxury but I'm sure he could be talking about other kinds of lifestyles too.

"This!" he gestured around him of course the only things around him were the Limo's bar, the Joker and I, Leo who was across from him and to his right (near me) to keep out of Croc's foot space on the seats next to him, and three guys in the front. Two of them I didn't recognize but the third I easily recognized as the one guy Joker threatened to shoot over a week ago when I was shot in my leg and started having my nightmares again. Oh great.

"The life of mansions 'nd luxury 'nd money," Croc continued, pulling my attention back to him.

"On, no I'm not," I replied to him quickly, "I was living on the streets for two years before this."

"Well you cleaned up nicely, then," Croc told me and I wasn't sure if that was meant as a compliment or what.

"Um thank you," I said anyways, "I guess I have a lot to thank The Joker for I guess."

I glanced over at the Joker to see him smiling, as if he wasn't always with those scars of his, and he told Croc, "She guesses," making fun of my repetition.

"Heh," Croc laughed and they continued in their conversation, Joker still toying with that curled strand of my hair.

By now we had left the Palisades and were just beginning to cross the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge. There was nothing much to see outside my window but traffic, the Atlantic Ocean, more traffic, and part of Uptown Gotham and it's slums. None of this was entertaining for me, because this is where I had lived on the streets for two years. I started to fidget with my hands from the boredom rapidly descending upon me and looked up into the sky. The majority of the clouds in the sky looked black and angry as they swelled over the city. It was surely going to pour today.

The stares that the limo got as we drove through Uptown Gotham were slightly entertaining to me since I used to be part of this population and also because the windows were tinted and no one could see in. I bet no one would've guess that they were staring at a limo with a gigantic man and The Joker in it. These people were completely clueless.

About the time we were going to cross the Sprang River, some ten or so minutes later, I heard the clattering of plastic and looked over to see the Joker siting under about twenty or so pairs of sunglasses. There was a few more on the ground around his feet and his hands were on the open door to a compartment, that kind of reminded me of a glove box in normal cars, that also held a few pairs of sunglasses itself. He let go of the compartment's door, letting it loudly snap shut, before rummaging through the glasses. He picked out a pair of what looked like Parada sunglasses with a pink frame, sliding them onto his face.

He looked over at me and I immediately had to choke back my laughter because he looked absolutely ridiculous with pink sunglasses on, not to mention they clashed horribly with his green hair. I scooted closer to him so I could take the glasses off his face and rub the black and white face paint off of them before sliding them into place in my hair on top of my head. I then picked out a pair of retro white sunglasses, which looked significantly less expensive than the ones I had in my hair, and put those on him.

They were obviously meant for a chick but he actually pulled them off really well, probably because they were white and their lenses were black and in a way it was like his face paint.

He looked away from me and over to Croc who shook his head and laughed, "Heh heh."

He then looked up at the roof, which confused me and I looked up too to see that the roof in the limo was a mirror with little lights in it to light up the inside.

The next thing I noticed was my reflection and I instantly remembered that I looked like a whore in a business suit. I frowned at my appearance and tried pulling the tank top up a bit because from this angle anyone could clearly see down my shirt and see most of my breasts, and that anyone was The Joker. As I failed at fixing the tank top, I used the mirror to glance over at The Joker to see that he wasn't even paying attention to me until he noticed me looking at him.

He looked down from the roof to me for a second before looking back up to his reflection and laying his arm across the back of the seat we were on and the fingers of his left hand fell lightly onto my left shoulder as I looked back up to see my reflection too.