Harley in Hiding.

[HarleyCharlotte]

Harley had loved Mistah J for years but the night she spent in a filthy bathroom as the pregnancy test turned positive everything changed. It was profoundly sobering to know she was going to be a mother. This realization hit her hard and Harleen knew she could not stay with the mad man no matter how much she loved him. Her child had to come first and Mistah J was dangerous for a child. As he slept that next day she packed up her things and went on the run. 

She was on her own for a year or so bouncing across the country and getting a surprising amount of charity once her belly was showing. She even found a real nurse to help her give birth and let her rest a couple of days but still now she had a loud fussy infant to feed and care for. 

Harley named her daughter Lucy and managed to get some free baby stuff from one of those crisis pregnancy centers but it was not a replacement for having a home or safe place to sleep. Eventually, she found herself back in Gotham and Ivy was back in Arkham so she knew the only other one she could trust was Eddie.  And so she set about to track him down via some old henchmen she knew that used to work with him. 

Today was the day she found herself finally on the Riddler's door step. Lucy started to fussy again waking up as Harley knocked on the door waiting nervously.

[Edward Nygma]

Edward sat on the floor of one of his safe-houses; a small shady appartment. He'd have to stay indoors for a few days, as he had for the last couple of weeks, since he'd only recently escaped Arkham Asylum.. Which was frustrating because the whole point of escaping out of Arkham was so he wouldn't have to be cooped up in one space anymore.. Edward didn't do well with boredom. Boredom led him to analyze his own thoughts; to reflect on himself. And that was something that couldn't happen.. Because most of the time when that did happen he'd end up spiraling into a violent tantrum or even psychosis.

So instead he kept himself as busy as he could with the usual thing; work. Projects. In this case the project was building a robot. It was laying in front of him, along with several tools and wires and metal scraps. Edward pressed a few buttons on his tablet and then.. "Yes!" he called out pleased, as suddenly the robot began to came to life. It started to hum from within and it opened it's green glowing eyes. It tried to sit up too.. But just as the robot made it half way, the glow suddenly disappeared from it's eyes and it dropped back to the floor like the dead weight it was.

"No! NO WAKE UP! You stupid..- STUPID!" He gave a kick against the thing; only to hurt his big toe in the process. "Ow! DAMNIT!" He moved over to his makeshift bed - a matrass on the floor, - and let himself fall on it, clutching his foot. "IDIOT!" he cursed at himself, closing his eyes.

Just as he did the doorbell rung, though. Edward laid still for a while, pondering who it could be. ... He'd told no one about this place except for Scarecrow and Penguin. As far as he knew, Scarecrow was still locked up in Arkham. ... Penguin? But he never visited him personally. He always called him up and invited him to come to the iceberg lounge. ... Had the police found him?

He quickly moved his hand under his matrass and retriever a gun from it. Loading the gun, he slowly walked up to the front door. Quietly, not to alert anyone he was actually home, he looked through the peeping hole at the door to see who it was. ... It wasn't who he'd been expecting.

He opened the door; though not too far. And he held his gun behind the door just in case the Joker was lurking about too.

"Harley? .. How did you find me? Where have you been? I haven't seen you in..-" A strange sniffling sound interrupted his sentence, and he looked down to spot the baby in Harley's arms. "... Oh."

[HarleyCharlotte]

Harley shushed the baby and bounced her trying to get the little one to shut up. "Heya Eddie..can we come in before she wakes the whole street?" She looked tired and worn out because she was. this baby barely slept and having been on the run for such a long time made things only worse. AS the baby wailed louder Harley started to break down herself but she fought not to cry right now.

"Please Eddie...I really need ya ta help us out..I know you're probably busy or hidin out but I don't have any else place left.  I can't keep running...Mistah J's got lackeys all over looking fer us now..." Despite her best effort, a lone tear rolled down her cheek as the former clown princess shifted the baby on to her shoulder.

[Edward Nygma]

When Harley asked if they could come in Edward frowned and looked around to make sure no one was watching them. "I'm.. Eh..- I guess?"

Okay maybe it wasn't as gallant to let her in straight away. But he was kind of caught on a crossroad. Harley was his friend, sure. But Edward really couldn't afford being seen or heard right now, and a crying baby was going to pose a problem for that.

When Harley continued pleading he realized he'd been at similar. ... well, not similar, he'd never had to carry a baby around,.. but he had needed to rely on friends to make it through occasionally. That was Harley now, by the looks of it. And the tear coming from her eye was all he needed to see to be convinced.

"Sorry. Of course Harley, come on in" He held the door open for her. He gave one more quick inspection over the road and then closed the door behind him.

"This way," he told Harley,guiding her to the living room. And the living room.. was in shambles. "Sorry for the mess.. I wasn't expecting company," Edward mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. A mess was a bit of an understatement though. There were written papers everywhere scattered over the floor as well as broken pens, iron bolts, technical equipment, an endless ammount of newspapers, and empty bottles of booze. Come to mention it; Edward didn't look all that well either. Not his usual clean and fashionable self anyway. He was wearing an old grey sweater, some black sweatpants, he was unshaven, had large bags under his eyes and his hair was about as tidy as the room was.

"Please, have a seat," he said as he rushed over to the battered old leather couch to clear it off stacks of papers to make room to sit. "Eh... The.. heating doesn't work. I can get you something warm to wear, if you want."

[HarleyCharlotte]

Harley was relieved beyond words as he finally let her in. She slipped inside quickly with the fussy baby who got a little quieter once out of the wind outside. "Thanks so much Eddie...we appreciate this. An..well I've seen worse places...." She gave him a kiss on the scruffy cheek out of gratitude. It was true his place was a mess but right now his kindness meant more than anything to the frazzled woman.

"You don't look so great either Eddie. Are you okay?" ONe of the things about Harley was even when she was down and out her heart always went out to those she cared for. She worried about Edward Nygma despite her own situation. 

Well, I could use a sweater or somethin... my clothes kinda stink....literally. An if ya got a blanket fer lil Lucy.... maybe she'd  knock out for a while." Harley wiped her face and sniffled some. It was painfully apparent that her clothes were filthy and the baby was the only one even remotely clean in this room.

[Edward Nygma]

He offered a polite smile when Harley assured him she'd seen worse and kissed him on the cheek. Usually he wouldn't believe someone saying they'd seen worse places, but.. well.. this was the girl who dated the Joker. So in this case he took her word for it.

"Me? Oh yeah, right as rain." he commented as he went to a closet from which he retrieved some clothes Harley could wear and a blanket for the baby. He put them on the couch next to Harley.

"Can I get you a drink? I'm afraid I only have.. coffee, tea, hot chocolate and gin. But all should help with getting warm at least. You can change here while I go get it in the kitchen. But you can also use the shower, if you want. There's warm water, it's just the heater itself that's broken."

His head was swarming with questions he'd like to ask, but he wouldn't do so until he was sure Harley was at least in a bit more comfortable state to talk about it.

[HarleyCharlotte]

She gave him a raised eyebrow when he insisted he was fine but was grateful for the clothes and blanket. The blonde quickly put down the diaper bag from her shoulder and exchanged the old blanket for the new one. This calmed infant girl down some as her old blanket had been very worn and thread bare by now. She sat down a moment breathing a little and closing her eyes a moment before speaking again.

"Um...Eddie since ya offered. I could really use that shower but I need ya to hold Lil Lucy..please?" The little girl in Harley's arms was starting to nod off now that she was safe and comfortable. It was true that she had sensed her mother's weariness and anxiousness and so began her fussiness when they had first arrived. 

The former Arkham inmate yawned setting the infant girl in her lap. "Coco would be great. And maybe I can have a look at the heater once I am cleaned up...you wouldn't believe the kinda stuff I had to fix with Mistah J..." The weariness in her showed all over as if she was carrying a lead weight on her back that weighed her down.

[Edward Nygma]

Edward looked a bit taken aback by the question, looking from Harley to the child and back while somewhat nervously wringing his hands. "Eh.. When you say hold, you don't mean litteraly hold right? Just watch. 'Cause.. I can watch sure."

He didn't know the first thing about babies and felt reluctant to go even near her, let alone hold her. "Just eh.. lay her on the couch. And I'll make some coco and make sure she doesn't die. I mean.. whatever could happen. You know what I mean, right?"

He smiled crooked when she offered to fix the heater and shook his head. "Oh no, that's fine. I'm sure I could fix it myself. I've just been working on.. well.. other stuff." Elaborate schemes and death-robots always went in front of personal comforts.

[HarleyCharlotte]

Despite her being pretty tried Harley could not help but find his nervousness adorable. She sighed to keep from giggling blowing up some of her dirty bangs out of her face. "Sure...yeah just put her between some pillows and keep an eye out Eddie." What was it about babies that men scared so easily she thought to herself. 

The not dying comment caused an 'are you kidding me' look from Harley to him. With all the smarts Eddie had she had to shake her head at how justing being semi alone with an infant for 10 minutes could shake him so but to be fair he was kinda messed up when she got here so yeah.


"Other stuff eh? roboty stuff....I remember how ya love those robots and gadgets. Come to think of it I think the Bat stole a few of your ideas....cause well it was obvious he don't have that level of imagination." She picked at the towels a little before turning to go to the bathroom for her much needed shower.

[Edward Nygma]

He cleared his throat, putting his hands behind his back semi-casual and nodded. "Yeah. Will do." Although he left Harley up to the task of placing the baby. When she mentioned his robots and gadgets he couldn't help but smile enthusiastic though.

"A robot, yes. A new design. Lifelike! You'll love it! Once it's finished that is. Oh and I'm not surprised, the Bat steals my ideas all the time," he bragged. "Anyway, shower is through that hall, second door to the left. See you in a bit."

When Harley was out of sight he threw another look at the baby. It was fast asleep and probably wouldn't move for the next hour or so. But that didn't stop Ed from adding another few pillows to her side to prevent any possebility of her falling off the couch. Once he'd secured her, he headed to the kitchen to make hot chocolate for the two of them. He was still in the proces when he suddenly heard something coming from the living room. ... Crying.

"Oh dear.." he mumbled to himself, before heading back to the living room. The baby seemed absolutely fine, but still it was crying for some reason. "Hey, hey.. hush hush, it's alright.. What's the matter?" he asked in a gentle voice as he scooped closer to the baby. The baby, obviously, wasn't going to answer with anything but more crying.

".. No.. No no no, please don't cry. It's fine. Look!" He put his hands for his face for a moment and then opened his eyes to reveal his face. "Peek-a-boo!" The baby went silent and gawked at him for like three seconds before bursting into crying again; shattering Ed's relief.

"Oh dear, please stop.." he practically begged the baby now, to no avail. He swallowed nervously and sat down next to the baby. As if handling a sand-castle, he pulled the baby unto his lap and started rocking it slightly. "There, it's fine? See? Yes? .. No? How about.. eh.. a song? That's what they do right?"' .. God he hoped so. And for lack of any better ideas he started to sing to the child; the only song he could think of being a Radiohead song. And by some miracle, it did seem to work.

"Two jumps in a week, I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you boy?
Flying on your motorcycle, watching all the ground beneath you drop.
You'd kill yourself for recognition, kill yourself to never, ever stop.
You broke another mirror, you're turning into something that you're not.

Don't leave me hiiigh
Don't leave me dryy-yy
Don't leave me hiiigh
Don't leave me.. dry.."

[HarleyCharlotte]

After months of cold showers in shitty motels, Harley was thrilled to have a warm one. She took her time after closing the door to the bathroom and turned on the shower letting the warmth fill the room. Undressing she then slipped into the shower feeling the water cascade over her short frame. "MMmmm...thats the stuff." 


Picking up the soap she lathered up and made a little bubble bikini giggling as she surveyed herself. Softly she hummed some old beachy tune as she washed off the soapy bubbles. Harley thought about smiled and thought back on her last year of life. It had been rough and things were just starting to look up but eventually, she had to come out of hiding.

Next came her hair and the surprisingly nice smelling shampoo. "Mmm...someone got good taste or smell...." She lathered up her hair and rinsed it clean then washed off any other small spots left over. Once clean she let the warm water just relax her body. "A louder than intended moan of relaxed happiness came from her before she giggles and got out grabbing a towel.

Wrapping up her slender frame in a towel and then her hair Harley looked at herself in the mirror. With a deep sigh, the blonde groaned at her dark under eye circles. "Welp...maybe a nap later." After drying off enough she put on the oversized clothes they were more long than wide on her but were warm and comfy. 

Hair still wrapped up in a towel Harley padded back into the main living area and smiled to see Ed holding Lucy singing Radiohead of all things to her. The infant was cooing happily now and seemed to like this. "Aww ain't you a pretty picture."

[Edward Nygma]

While Harley showered, Edward continued singing to the baby, nearing the end of the song now. Edward could only hope she wouldn't immediatly stop crying again when he stopped. But to be honest he wasn't too concerned with that anymore, as he did like the song he'd chosen and he got carried away in singing it.

He got snapped out of it when he heard Harley's voice though and quickly stopped, looking up. "Oh! Harley, thank god. I mean, she's fine. I swear. But she wouldn't stop crying for some reason, so I just.. well.. Here.." He held up the baby now as if he were holding up as if it were a sacrifical lamb he really wanted to get his hands off of.

As soon as Harley had taken the baby over, he stood up from the couch, taking a moment to note how odd it actually was to see Harley wear his clothes.

"I'll just go get you that hot chocolate now." Edward skipped to the kitchen, where he continued making the hot chocolate, softly singing Radiohead's 'No surprises' to himself now that he got the hang of it.

"A heart that's full up like a landfill,
A job that slowly kills you,
Bruises that won't heal..

You look so tired, unhappy.
Bring down the government.
They don't, they don't speak for us.."

Eventually Edward returned from the kitchen with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, which he placed on the coffeetable. .. Well, after shoving away the mess of written papers that was laying on it.

Edward sat down next to Harley on the couch and spent a minute or so looking at the baby in silence. He needed the full minute to gather up the courage to ask the question he wanted to ask.

"So.. Is she..-? Well you know.. his?" Meaning the Joker of course.

[HarleyCharlotte]

Harley gave him a sideways look and shook her head. "Course she's fine...you're smart enough to figure out how to hold a baby. Besides once you relaxed you looked pretty darn natural there Eddie." She half teased him walking over taking her daughter as he held her up like Simba in the Lion King. unable to stop herself she hummed the movie's theme with a giggle. 

Once having her Lucy back in her arms the momma repositioned the girl and took a seat on the couch. The toothless little child gave her mommy a gummy smile and nuzzled in close. Of course, Harleen knew what that meant the kid was hungry. "OH alright...you thinkin with your stomach eh?" And so she lifted the sweater and the hungry infant latched on breastfeeding.

Seeing Ed return with the coco Harley smiled sniffing the chocolate in the air. At first, she froze at his question but there was no reason to not say the truth cause it was painfully obvious. "Yeah...not that he cared. Mistah...well he only took an interest when he decided the father thing 'might'  be fun...ya know his kind. Deep down I knew she'd never been safe or he'd get bored and dump us both. I couldn't risk that. "

It was true that even will all her issues and madness her maternal instincts had trumped everything. Even her love for the Joker. Harley  and her mother weren't close but she did get the importance of family especially now being a mother herself.

[Edward Nygma]

Edward couldn't help but smirk a bit bitter at that statemen. "Oh, I'm anything but a natural in these matters, I assure you."

After handing Harley the cup of hot chocolate, he sat on the chair opposite of her, warming his hands around the cup. He really did need to take a look at that heater.. Although the current cold had nothing to do with the shiver that run down his back when Harley discussed the Joker in a 'father' setting. That was one image he could do without.

"Well.. at least that means he won't kill you for cheating. He'll probably still try to hurt or kill you for leaving, though." - Edward had meant to be comforting, but the second part of his statement was blurted out before he could stop himself.

[HarleyCharlotte]

"Whatever ya say, Eddie.  I think your better than you think when you are tryin. Most people just need the right motivator." Harley observed sipping at her coco and glancing down at her feeding baby girl. Both his answer and her sweet daughter made the former clown princess smile. 

The coco and her warm little bundle of joy kept most of her warm but if Ed didn't get to the heater soon she was gonna take a wack at it figuratively and literally.  

It didn't take someone half as smart as either Ed or Harley to know the Joker was not the paternal type by any stretch of the wildest imagination. "Well it ain't like he's not before...course I didn' t have a good reason ta not be sweet-talked back though. Lucy is in a way savin me more than I am her." She rested the cup on the arm of the couch with a sigh looking over at Ed. 

"I really owe ya one for helpin us out." Harley was being serious then her daughter finished feeding and softly muled and the momma shimmed her shirt back down over her now cold nipple. "So much for a serious moment...." She chuckled manoeuvring Lucy into her lap who was dozing off to sleep with her meal now over.

Leaning over as her coco sat on the flat armrest  Harley found herself with her head on Eddie's shoulder yawning exhausted from all the stress and actual running of the past several months.

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