Paper Planes

XXIV

"The only love that I really believe in is a mother's love for her children."
—Karl Lagerfeld

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"Would you like a glass of wine?" Ember offered, shuffling around the somewhat messy kitchen.

Michelle stood beside the island counter, her feet planted firmly on the ground as her brightly colored fingernails toyed with the strap of her purse.

"That'd be lovely." She smiled, her eyes scanning the disheveled home as Ember retrieved a nearby unopened bottle of wine from the counter.

Joker and Horton had gone out, according to the simple text message that he'd sent Ember while she was still at the café. She took their departure as an opportunity to invite Michelle over.

She was such an idiot.

"How about we take a seat in the living room?" Ember said, thrusting a half-full wine glass into Michelle's clutch as she waved her over. Michelle hesitantly followed, her legs wobbling slightly as she trailed closely on Ember's heel.

Eight years.

It has been eight agonizing years since Michelle had seen her precious boy. Although she hadn't given birth to him, or even raised him, she loved him with every fiber of her being, regardless of the things he's done. The moment his face appeared on the Gotham Nightly News, clad with that gaudy greasepaint she'd found in his bathroom, her heart had nearly exploded. See hadn't seen his face in an eternity, and to be able to see those alluring scars on her television was indescribable. He called himself the Joker, and her mind instantly wandered back to the sea of joker cards he'd tossed onto the dining room table the day he'd threatened to kill her.

"So," Ember began, plopping down on the sofa as the wine in her glass sloshed from side to side, nearly spilling from the cup as the womans eyes widened. "Tell me about what happened to Jackson."

Michelle took her spot on the opposite end, the glass resting on her knee as she studied Ember's paper plane necklace. Her heart physically hurt at the sight of it, Jackson's face flooding her mind as she hastily pushed the thoughts away.

"I just can't believe you're Ember," Michelle stammered. "I've heard so much about you. How did you two find each other again?"

Ember took her bottom lip between her teeth, shakily setting the wine glass onto the coffee table as she crossed her legs.

"I was walking home from work and I took a shortcut behind Arkham. I kinda caught him escaping so he kidnapped me and planned on killing me, until he saw my necklace and realized who I was."

"Did you know who he was?" Michelle pried, her heart hammering in her chest at the visual of Jackson reuniting with the love of his life.

"No." Ember frowned, twiddling her thumbs as a stray strand of dyed blonde hair fell into her eyes. "He looks different with makeup on. And I didn't know he had scars."

"So how did you find out it was him?" Michelle added, feeling rather nosy as Ember shifted in her spot.

"His necklace fell out of his shirt," Ember dryly explained. "He made me take off his makeup and I recognized him immediately, even with the scars. I'm surprised I never recognized his eyes, I spent so much time staring into them when I was younger. I guess the thought of the Joker being my teenage love was never even an option before then."