* J *

Part Eleven: Chapter 61: Sharing

...But it certainly was no sleepover...

The Joker watches intently through the glass of his cell as Bruce draws something into a syringe. "Hey, that's not exactly what I had in mind Bruce," the Joker raises his absent brows. "What are you planning to shoot me up with? I could have stayed at Arkham if I wanted that sort of thing."

"It's truth serum Joker. I'll only administer it if you'll allow me," Bruce says as he lays the syringe down. "I promise that everything you say will remain in this room until I take my last breath. There's just no other way to know if what you tell me is true or accurate. You've never managed to be consistent with your answers. I dont know if thats by accident or simply your own design. I have no malicious intent, I'm simply trying to help you J. Let me help you."

The Joker looks away, "I'll never understand why you're so convinced that I'm not a lost cause. Why do you try so hard? Have I not properly demonstrated my monstrous nature to you? Why put yourself through such terms of endearment? I forgive you for the whole vat of acid thing," he twirls his wrist nonchalantly.

"You might forgive me, but I can't forgive myself. By not trying to save you I have aided to your tyranny. I'm half guilty of every life you've taken, every life you've destroyed."

"Oh," the Joker nods, "And just what is my body count now? I lost track. Hahaha."

"Drop your bullshit jokes," Bruce sighs in exasperation.

The Joker frowns, "Why doesn't anybody ever get my jokes?"

"Because you're the only one who can figure out your twisted punch lines," Bruce folds his arms across his chest. "Joker...please help me understand you. Just when I think I have you figured out..." His eyes scan the Joker's face as his words fall short.

The Joker steps closer to the glass, "Why do you think my past will help you in any way. Trust me, what I remember of it, it's a pretty textbook background for a murderer of my caliber. And, I don't particularly care for recalling the events. They're things I'm all too happy to forget."

"I need to understand the...the reason for the madness in you," Bruce stands frozen, drawn in by the Joker's twinkling blue eyes. The Joker didn't blink much. It was easy to become hypnotized by them.

"I merely took the emergency exit," the Joker shrugs.

"Emergency exit?" Bruce asks.

"When you find yourself locked into an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, the only exit out of it is madness," the Joker barely says loud enough to be heard as he looks down at his hands.

"Let me help you find another way," Bruce says and tries to catch the Joker's eyes again. "Let me talk to Jack."

"I hate it when you call me that," the Joker growls and turns his back on Bruce.

"Then let me talk to the man who kissed me," Bruce sighs and can feel the tips of his ears inflame with heat.

"Why can't you just forget that?" The Joker hisses and punches the glass wall of his cell.

"Because I don't want to," Bruce whispers.

The Joker looks over his shoulder at the look on Bruce's face. "And why do you wish to remember? Because it confused you? Because your brain just has to make sense of it? Or is it because you got some sort of guilty pleasure from it?"

Bruce looks down, "All of the above," he mutters.

The Joker quickly turns around and approaches the glass again, "All the above?" He asks and can't hide the surprise in his tone.