Chapter Text
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Silence stretched through the entire room, maybe the entire hospital. It was hard to tell when your heart was beating so loudly in your ears and all you could see was the painted face in front of you. He lifted the cigarette back up to his lips and took a drag, the crackle of the paper burning pulling your eyes down to the glowing tip. When he blew the smoke out above your head, you frowned.
Despite the joy and relief upon seeing him, you were still annoyed for some reason. Glancing around his shoulder, you could see the cop still laying on the ground. He had rolled onto his side and was groaning in pain.
As much as you didn’t like the guy, and as much as he was an asshole to you, that didn’t mean he deserved to die. You pursed your lips and looked up into Arthur’s face once more. There was still a smirk on his face, but he was staring down at the handcuffs keeping you attached to the bed rails. He reached down and plucked his finger along the chains.
“Arthur,” you said quietly, but he didn’t lift his eyes to you. His hand trailed up from the cuff around your wrist, along the inside of your arm and you shivered. Why did he have to do this when you wanted to talk? It wasn’t fair how easily he could make you forget about things. You lifted your chin in defiance and pulled your arm back, though it didn’t get far. It did make his eyes flicker up to yours, however.
“Are you hurt?” He asked, reaching up to cup your face. For a second, almost too quick for you to notice, you saw a flash of Arthur behind the paint and Joker facade. It was gone in a flash but you leaned into his touch to savor it.
“No. I’m on painkillers.”
“What happened?”
Your eyes snapped open and met his. Though he didn’t pull his hand away from your face, you moved away and looked down at the floor. “I was shot.” From the hallway, you could hear footsteps approaching. It didn’t make the words die on your tongue and you searched Arthur’s eyes. “And you left me.”
“Boss,” a voice said, pulling neither of your attention away from each other. “We don’t have much time here.”
“I didn’t want to leave you.” He ignored the man at the door and after a moment, the guy turned and gave you some space. Your eyes darted to the hallway where one of them had turned the cop onto his back and put the heel of his boot at his throat. When Arthur spoke again, you closed your eyes. “This was the only way.”
“I wouldn’t have left you.”
He sighed and shuffled backward on the tile, bringing the cigarette to his lips for one final drag before dropping it to the floor. He stepped on it with the toe of his shoe and pushed a hand through his hair. You could almost feel the agitation coming off of him in waves and it made you swallow tightly.
“I’m here now.”
“I know,” you whispered, ducking your head. “And I’m happy to see you but you shouldn’t have come back for me. It’s too dangerous.” You weren’t making much sense, but you couldn’t sort your thoughts out. There was too much chaos around and time was ticking down, pressuring you to say everything you had been thinking about the past few days.
Arthur dipped his head to meet your eyes and as he straightened, you followed him with your gaze. He was smiling and it made your heart swell. He reached out with both hands and brought them gently to your face, brushing your hair back with his thumb.
“You’re angry with me for leaving you and now you’re angry for me coming back for you.”
“I’m not angry. I’m just...scared.”
As soon as the word left your mouth, he was wrapping his arms around your shoulders and you sucked in a trembling breath against his chest. It felt so good to be back in his arms, to feel him, to smell him all around you. You wanted nothing more than to cling to him and feel safe, even if it was for just a few seconds.
With a deep breath, you turned your head and looked at the blue tile of the walls in the corner of the room. The words Gordon had said to you echoed through your mind. He abandoned you …
“They told me you left me because you didn’t need me anymore. That you used me to break free.”
Arthur turned toward the door, not letting you go or addressing the things you had said to him. “Get the keys to the handcuffs,” he snapped to whoever was standing out there listening.
There was a groan from the hallway and a hiss of curse words from the fat cop as he struggled to hold onto the handcuff keys. They were snatched from his hands and with quick, short steps, one of Joker’s men entered the room. He was at the side of the bed and you blinked in surprise by the clown mask still on his face.
With a quick click, the cuffs released and your arm fell to your side, finally free. The wounds around your wrist from pulling against the metal for so long and so hard stung and you brought it to your chest with a hiss of pain.
“We gotta go,” the guy said in a hushed tone and you noticed Joker nod out of the corner of your eye. The two of you were alone once more and he took your wrist in his hands, turning it over to kiss the inside of it.
“We’re always running out of time,” he murmured before lacing his fingers between yours. “I promise to make it up to you when we get home.”
Home …
The sound of it made your entire body feel as if it were floating. He could have taken you anywhere at that moment and you would have gladly followed. Without looking up at you, he turned on his heel and pulled you by the hand out into the hallway.
You were surprised by how many men were waiting for him. There had to be at least ten, all wearing white clown masks with tufts of green hair sticking out. Some had been altered, painted with blacks and reds to make them more menacing and you stared with wide eyes at each of them. What in the world they must be thinking of you at that moment…
It brought a smile tilting the corner of your lips up and you lifted your head up to meet Arthur’s own smirk. The Joker and his girlfriend. You adored the way it sounded in your head, though neither of you had established any title for each other. Maybe you didn’t need to.
At your feet, a cold, wet hand reached out and snatched your ankle, ripping through your thoughts. You jumped back and stared down at the cop’s angry, round face staring up at you. He had blood seeping out of the wound on his stomach, staining the front of his shirt and now it was on your leg.
“You fucking bitch ,” he hissed, drawing Joker’s attention down as well. “I’ll make sure you both fry for thi--”
A shot rang out beside you and your hands flew to your ears much too late to shield them from the sound. You blinked at the barrel of the gun and followed it up to Joker’s face as he turned to smile at you. He offered his elbow for you to take as if he hadn’t just put a bullet through some man’s head.
With your uninjured arm, you looped your wrist around his elbow and shook your head. He turned and steered you to the exit where two other men were standing guard by the stairwell. Once the ringing in your ears had stopped, you scowled up at the man beside you. He looked straight ahead, never backward or down to his feet and you admired his confidence. You wish you could feel such certainty in the face of chaos.
“Arthur,” you said, pushing your elbow into his side.
“Hmm?”
The door to the stairwell was shoved open and the two men standing guard rushed in ahead of your to make sure the coast was clear. It was bizarre how efficiently they all moved around Joker, as if his security and life were of the utmost importance.
As you followed them out into the stairs, you risked a glance back up to him. “You can’t just kill people like that. He wasn’t a threat to us.”
He didn’t respond and the look on his face made you almost nervous. He was telling you without even speaking that he can just kill people, whoever he wanted to. He kept his gaze straight and walked down the two flights of stairs where the doors were once more opened for him. Along the hallways, nurses and the hospital staff had all been corralled into one of the halls of the emergency room. They were sitting on the floor, some crying, others glaring up at the two of you while whispering to one another.
And right in the middle, no longer smiling his shit-eating grin, was Dr. Ramirez. He looked pale, as if he’d seen a ghost, and you kept your eyes on him as you passed. The frightened look on his face, the look that said his entire world view and cheerful demeanor was probably shattered, made you smile and you hugged Arthur tighter to you.
The emergency room doors had been shot open and tiny shards of glass littered the black rug that laid just inside it. You frowned and opened your mouth to tell Arthur that you hadn’t exactly had time to grab your shoes, but never got a chance. He bent down and scooped you right up into his arms and your breath left your lungs in a quick puff.
Several masked men ran ahead of you and two vans came screeching to a halt right at the curb. They each had ‘Arkham State Hospital’ written on the side, though most of it had been painted through with black paint. As much as you wanted to just take a minute to enjoy the feel of being carried in Arthur’s arms, you couldn’t help staring at your surroundings. An ambulance, parked in the circular bay of the emergency department, was on fire with the windows busted out and two night security guards were laying on the pavement in front of it, though they didn't appear to be dead.
All this destruction just for you.
When your feet touched back down, they were on the metal step of one of the vans and you ducked your head to take a seat inside. Arthur followed behind you and while you expected others to hop in as well, only a driver and passenger climbed into the front.
Your eyes darted out the open door of the van, the sound of distant police sirens making your pulse race, and you looked to the entrance of the hospital. The glow of the fire casting shadows on the brick and you held your breath. There was a split second of hesitation, of uncertainty that made you feel the urge to run.
You had anticipated all the things that could have gone wrong in the past few weeks. You were prepared to face the thought that Arthur had manipulated you into doing all of this, though it wouldn't have changed any of your decisions. You would have freed him, whether or not he loved you in return. If it had ended for you the night you broke him out of Arkham, if the bullet had ended your life, you wouldn't regret any of it.
But this.
This was something new, something you had never expected, something you couldn’t have ever prepared for and you were no longer in the safety of your own world. Even with all the uncertainty, all the obstacles you had faced to be with Arthur inside Arkham, everything had been on your terms, and because of your own decisions. Now, you would be in his world.
Your eyes slid to the right and met Arthur’s and the look in his gaze stole your breath away. There was so much behind his stare, so much that excited and frightened you and you felt your entire body relax into the seat at your back. Because in that moment, for the first time since you’d met him, he wasn’t Arthur, or Joker, or three different people all at once. He was just one man; the man you loved and though he would never be able to tell you the same, you knew he loved you as well. You could see it in his eyes, could feel it in the way he held you.
He was the man who risked his life just to kiss you, the man who killed the person who had hurt you, and the man who would kill anyone if they come between you and him. The corner of your lips lifted into a smile and he returned it, reaching up to press his palm against your cheek.
In that moment, there was nothing that frightened you more than being without him. At that moment, there was only you and him. The entire city, maybe the whole country, would think you were a fool for loving him, but that was fine. You didn’t care what anyone else thought.
The van pulled away from the curb, leaving the hospital behind it. Faintly, you could still hear the sirens cutting through the night but you’d be long gone before they arrived. You didn’t know where you were going, or what the future had in store for you, but you knew as long as you were with Arthur, with Joker, you’d be happy.