*J* (the continuation)

Part Forty-Five: Chapter 340: Daddy Daughter Day

With a stretch, Jason awakes. He looks beside him and sees Harley still sleeping soundly. He rolls over and places a gentle kiss to her shoulder as he admires her beauty. He can feel a tug at the bottom of the covers. He looks and a smile instantly covers his face as he sees Lucy standing there.

"Hi sweetie," he says and sits up. "You hungry? Let's go get breakfast, you and me," he extends his arms out to her. She hesitates for a second but walks into his arms. And Jason could feel his heart sink in his chest. Of course she was confused by the way he looked. Look at how many men she already knew to have that face. Of course a third had to be confusing. But she came to him.

Lucy looks his face over closely. "Unk?" She asks, having noticed that his voice didn't sound like the Joker's. Jason tenses, not knowing what to say. "Not Unk Jessure," she pats his chest obviously saying that he wasn't her uncle Jester. "Look like daddy. Not daddy," she shakes her head at him.

Jason swallows, "Aren't you smart?" He smiles uncomfortably, "Actually sweetie, I'm your real daddy. I know I look just like daddy. But I don't sound like daddy, do I?"

"No," Lucy shakes her head.

Jason clears his throat and reaches for his cellphone. He presses something and turns back to Lucy. "How about now?" He asks sounding exactly like the Joker.

Lucy's little eyes light up, "Daddy?"

Jason brings a finger to his lips, "Shhh, it's just our secret baby girl," he tells her. He then sits her down on his lap as he sits in front of a table and mirror. On the table is several tubes of paint. "Daddy has to put on his makeup," he sighs in the Joker's voice as he motions to the different flesh tones, "What color should daddy be?" Lucy reaches out and picks a color. Jason puts it on a makeup wedge and starts to smooth it across his face, "I think this color will be best suited with a dark brown wig, what do you think my darlin'?"

"Yeah," Lucy nods and watches Jason apply the paint flawlessly. But by now, he's had enough practice to make it seem well rehearsed.

"Daddy reeeeally hates wearing this stuff, you know?" He says as he turns his ear more to the mirror and carefully gets inside of it. "But unfortunately, it will always be something that is required for daddy to...blend in."

"Daddy white," Lucy nods and watches closely every move Jason makes.

"That's right, daddy is white. And we don't mean that racially do we baby girl? Daddy is literally white," he continues to apply the paint. "Daddy wasn't always white. Did you know that?"

"No," Lucy stares.

"Well it's true," he nods, "Daddy didn't always look like daddy at all. I used to be someone entirely different named Jason," he explains to her.

"Jase," she says his name to the best of her ability.

"That's right, Jason Todd. Wanna know a secret? I was once Robin too," he smiles to her, his face magically transforming into Jack or Jake.

"Bin?" Lucy seems interested.

"Yes Robin. Flying through the night and taking out all the bad guys," he tells her with a Joker like animation. "Daddy's also the Red Hood."

"Red Hood," she says perfectly.

"That's very good baby girl," he gives her a loving smile. "Red Hood is what you'd get if you mixed Batman with the Joker. The Red Hood knows right from wrong. But he also knows that sometimes you have to bend rules to do what's truly right," he says distantly as he looks at Jack and Jake staring back at him. "Jack, Jake," he gives each a courtesy nod, "I guess we're all technically family anyway." He reaches out and picks up a color for his lips. "Does this color make my eyes pop?" He asks Lucy.