Mystery of The Night

Ch. 5

Morning had finally came, and Isabella and Jack were both sound asleep on the couch. They ended up watching the whole Saw Series and accidentally fell asleep on top of each other. Jack was still sitting up against the couch, his head dropped back against the cushion while Isabella was had her head on his lap, laying on her side. Jack was the first to wake, he slowly arched his back and started to stretch his arms, he then finally opened his eyes and almost jumped realizing that he's not back at his hideout. He quickly looked side to side and then looked back down to see Isabella sound asleep on his lap. Jack was in shock at first realizing that he fell asleep at Isabella's apartment and had the sudden urge to want to push her off of him and run. His mind was screaming at him to just go grab a knife from the kitchen and stab her but that suddenly changed as she softly shifted her body around, her face nuzzling into his stomach. Jack couldn’t help but smirk down at her, as he softly grazed his fingers through her hair, remembering how the rest of the night went after that little situation.

During all of the scenes where it would get good and gory, while she was still sitting on his lap and his arms were still securely around her waist, she would hide her face into his neck. Jack couldn’t help but find this hilarious since her Job is nothing but blood and mayhem, the autopsy scene in the last movie is what really irked her, she couldn’t even watch that entire scene and would wrap her arms around him and hide her face. Jack was thoroughly amused, in a way he had to admit it was kinda cute that she was so sensitive to those certain things, while he was completely comfortable watching every movie straight through and not even flinch. She was right about the movies they were spectacular, he almost wished that Jigsaw was a real man so they could team up together, he even fancied the idea of throwing Batman into one of those games, now that would be amusing. Even though he felt completely comfortable being with her the whole night and actually had a good time, he still couldn’t help the yearning to want to rip her lungs out, or to want to watch every inch of her blood pour out of her.

He couldn’t grow soft no not right now, there has to be a weakness so he could break her. That's why he's here right? He didn’t plan to have a romantic evening with her, he wanted information and rarely got any because he was too enthralled to have her close to him, well that would change. Just then, Isabella stirred once again and slowly opened her eyes, feeling completely warm, she felt her face nuzzle against a cottony fabric and noticed it was black. She then slowly moved back to realize that it was someone's stomach and her head was resting on someone's lap. She then slowly moved her head up to see Jack staring down at her, looking deep in though as one hand was playing through her hair, and the other arm was draped across the couch. Isabella instantly gasped and quickly rose up from his lap. "Jack! I'm sorry I… I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you." Jack then slowly shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, we both kinda drifted off I guess."

He shrugged, Isabella frowned feeling completely embarrassed. "Still I'm really sorry, your back must be killing you." Jack then shrugged, he had to admit his back was a little sore but it was nothing from the usual. "Look I said it's no problem and it really isn’t alright?" he said a little sternly, he then noticed the look Isabella gave him and sighed. He then gently placed a strand of her hair behind her ear and then leaned up and kissed her forehead. "It's really ok Izzy. We did nothing wrong so there is nothing to be sorry about." Isabella then slowly nodded, giving him a small smile and then leaned up and pecked him on the lips. Jack smirked at this and was going to lean back towards her and give her a more proper kiss until she quickly rose up from the couch and started to stretch her limbs.

"Jack I'm going to go take a quick shower, and once I'm done I'll make us some breakfast ok?"

Jack then slowly nodded, having the sudden urge to throw her into that shower and have his way with her. "Alright." Was all he could say, as he watched her smile over at him and then walked back towards her bedroom. Once she was officially out of sight, a dark smirk morphed on his lips 'Good I can go snoop around while she's taking a shower' he then heard the shower start, and he then quickly rose up from the couch and started to walk around her apartment to find anything he could about her.

Just then, music then started to play a song he has never heard before.

When you were here before

Couldn't look you in the eye

You're just like an angel

Your skin makes me cry

You float like a feather

In a beautiful world

I wish I was special

You're so fucking special

But I 'm a creep

I 'm a weirdo

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here

Jack, instantly stopped his investigation hearing her sing to the song. It's funny how the lyrics sort of meet his situation, his whole life everyone called him a freak or crazy or a psycho and what would it make any difference if she felt the same way? After all his Wife felt that way and ended up leaving him.

I don't care if it hurts

I want to have control

I want a perfect body

I want a perfect soul

I want you to notice

When I'm not around

You're so fucking special

I wish I was special

Jack then started to walk up to her fireplace mantel and looked over at the photos of Izzy when she was younger; he had to admit that she was cute when she was younger. He then instantly stopped his thoughts, what the hell is he doing!? He's the fucking Joker he can't get soft over some woman who he finds tantalizingly attractive, he was getting way to deep, no he has to kill her right now he can't have her messing with his mind like this! Jack then quickly walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a small but sharp knife, and hid it in his jeans pocket while he was still listening to her sing along with the song that oddly enough related so much to what he felt after Janie left.

But I'm a creep

I'm a weirdo

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here

He then leaned up against the wall that was right next to Isabella's bedroom door, he softly sighed to himself and closed his eyes allowing the memories of his past flowing through his mind.

She's running out again

She's running out

She run, run, run run

Run.

Suddenly visions of Janie came to his mind as to how she left, all this time he was trying to prove to her that her scars didn’t matter, he wanted to prove to her they meant nothing but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t enough.

Whatever makes you happy

Whatever you want

You're so fucking special

I wish I was special

But I'm a creep

I'm a weirdo

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here

I don't belong here.

Just then, the song finally finished, and Isabella finally stopped the shower. He heard her shower door open and knew that she was probably getting dressed. He then heard her shuffle around, and then saw her bedroom door swing open, Isabella then finally walked out and jumped when she saw Jack standing beside her door. "Oh bloody hell!" she gasped as she placed her hand over her heart; Jack smirked thoroughly amused that he scared her. He noticed that she was wearing a white spaghetti stringed tank top and a pair of blue jeans.

Her hair was still wet but combed; he figured that she was trying to hurry so she could make some breakfast for him. He also had to admit that even without makeup, she was still beautiful, that pang that he would keep feeling around her was starting to come around again. "Sorry did I scare you?" he said in an eerily amused voice, his hand in his pocket fingering the knife he kept. Isabella softly smiled over at him and slowly shook her head.

"Nah luv just surprised me is all."

Jack nodded, slightly disappointed that he didn’t scare her, she then walked over to the kitchen and leaned down to grab some pans from her cupboard. Jack then leaned over a bit to catch a glimpse of her, and thought he saw something but it was gone in a quick flash when she rose back up to place the pans on the stove. "So um, that's an interesting song that you were playing… is there any relevance to that song?" he asked, almost wondering if it was her way of telling him that she thought he was a complete freak. Isabella quickly looked back at him and saw the sneering smirk he had on his lips, realizing what he meant by relevance.

"No… well um actually yes. I guess I can kinda relate to the words I suppose."

Jack was completely caught off guard. "How could you ever relate to the words of that song? You're this perfect little thing that no one ever would want to get rid of." He said condescendingly, Isabella immediately stopped what she was doing, 'he thought I was playing the song because of him.' she thought to herself. "Actually you wouldn’t believe how much I could relate to that song." she said a little softly, Jack then scoffed starting to grow irritated. How the hell could she ever know!? If she only knew how people look at her, if she only fucking knew what it was like to be called a freak, and a psycho.

Sure, most of the time, he couldn’t blame people from calling him those things, after all he is the Joker but still it infuriated him to know that she thinks that she could categorize herself as to something he was looked at as his whole life. "Oh really… Please Do tell as to how you know what it's like to be a freak?!" Isabella then started to grow irritated, how dare he condescend her. "There's a reason why I don't usually wear spaghetti string tank tops all the time, there's a reason why I don't like dating people that very often and there's a reason why I don’t want you to fully know what I am alright!?" she spat back at him, Jack then started to grow furious does she even know!? Does she really honestly think that some sob story is really going to make him feel bad for her!? Please she had another thing coming.

Jack then quickly grabbed her arm and roughly shoves her up against the counter and traps her with his arms on either side of her, his face mere inches from hers. "You don't know what it's like." He growled. "You don't know what it's like to have an abusive father, or to have your wife walk out on you and purposely abort your child because she couldn’t stand the sight of you. You have no fucking clue what it's like to be looked at as something people disgust." He said in an eerily dark tone, Isabella glared at him and roughly shoves him away.

"Oh I don't know… Really. That's interesting! Since I did have an abusive father! I did have men walk out on me because of what I am! I may not have had the same situation but I had something! If you only knew what I bloody had to go through you'd shut that damn mouth of yours!"

She yelled, Jack then gritted his teeth and roughly shoves her back up against the counter, trapping her again and then leans down placing his lips against her ear. "Then fucking tell me." he darkly whispered. Isabella shuddered, as he placed his hands on her sides, Isabella glared at him but knew that he wouldn’t stop until she finally told him, she then allowed out a soft sigh and started to tell him everything.

"My father was a Vampire… He ended up meeting my mother at a bar one night and fell in lust with her. He was determined to have a child, and he felt that she would be the perfect choice. He wanted a son to bare his name, to be proud of but then I came along. He grew furious and figured that since my mother did the job he had set out for her, he then snapped her neck and drank her dry. He was disgusted by me because I wasn’t what he wanted, and ended up having a nanny take care of me. I rarely ever saw him unless he wanted to take out his anger on me or just because he wanted to torture something, he figured what's the big deal? I'm his daughter whose going to go against him? So… that's when he decided his new project, he ended up building this room in our basement filled with nothing but torture devices… You see Jack, he used to only call me Isabelle instead of Isabella and you knew when he was coming for you because he would sing this bloody little nursery rhyme he made up for me."

She said softly, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Jack then arched his brow wanting her to continue. "What did he sing?" Isabella then looked up at him, her eyes now glowing. "Isabelle, Isabelle. Why are you trying to hide from hell? Come and See, Come and See what a true monster your father can be." Jack wanted to shudder from the words even if he was a child that would have terrified him as well. "How old were you?" Isabella then closed her eyes and gently shook her head. "He started all this when I turned six. He used to strap me to a table and carve symbols onto my skin while I was awake." She then started to show him the scars, she lifted her tank top up to show him the J that was carved on her left side of her abdomen, Jack then looked down and softly traced the J and slightly frowned.

"His name was Joshua; he said it was his way for the world to know who I belonged to."

Jack for some reason felt a very recognizable rage; she then slowly pulled her shirt down and then turned around and lifted her hair up to show a heart with a dagger slicing through it in a horizontal fashion on her neck. "This is the symbol of their clan… I was their pet, they did what ever they wanted to me." she said softly, Jack's rage was growing even more, he wanted to kill these people more than anything in the world, how was she so sane and stable!? She then slowly moved her spaghetti strap on her right shoulder to show him the large initials JFR.

"His initials, he had a thing for branding people as you can tell."

She then lifted the back of her tank top to show on her lower back the words. Mai yr caddug beunydd, nodedig chi haelfrydig. Jack frowned as he grazed his fingertips over her scars. "What does it say?" he said in a very low tone, Isabella sighed as she gently pulled her tank top down and gently turned towards him. "It's Welsh for May the darkness set you free." Jack slowly clenched his fist, his teeth gritting he knew his father was a drinker and a fiend but her father deliberately did this to her on purpose. He used her mother to bare him a child and when it wasn’t the type of child he wanted he tormented her because of she wasn’t created the way he wanted her to be.

"I swear if I ever see your father I'll kill him."

Isabella frowned and then gently placed her hand on his cheek. "You won't have to worry I already killed him." Jack was completely caught off guard by her words, he knew that she was a fighter and was a very good assassin but he knew that she probably never killed a human being in her life, and this completely shocked him.

"When I turned sixteen, I grew stronger and the wounds he would create on me would suddenly disappear. I started to become more bloodthirsty and had all this pent up rage in me, so one night while he was sleeping and walked into his room and bluged him with a club and stabbed his heart with the dagger he used to carve into me. I then noticed that he turned into dust and that scared the hell out of me… And that is when Maverick came in. Maverick ended up explaining to me what I am and what I'm supposed to be to this world and since then he was my trainer, for mind, body and soul. I honestly believe if he wasn’t around I'd completely lose my mind, I'd probably would fuel on hate and destruction but because of him he helped me see the brighter part of the world, he showed me that even though I'm this monster I can use it to my benefits. I'm not good nor evil Jack… I'm the wildcard, whatever I am, I am if I believe someone should rightfully die then I'm along side of them, if I believe that it's ridiculous for their death I'll be the first to say it. I try to stay away from humans, I try to stay away from relationships but for some reason when I saw you at that bar, I felt something I never felt before in my life. Believe it or not I felt like maybe you of all people could truly understand me, maybe that’s why I'm so ok in telling you this, maybe that's why I'm so ok with inviting you to my place before even really knowing you or even falling asleep on you. There's just something about you."

Jack was taken a back, no one has ever said that to him in his life, nor did he really care to hear it. However, when those words came out of her lips, he had the sudden urge to kiss her, and that's what he did. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and crashed his lips against hers. Isabella gasped against his lips, completely surprised by this action, thinking that he'd probably be running out of the door but he didn’t he was standing right here passionately kissing her. She then gently wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. Jack then gently grazed his fingertips under her tank top to feel her soft warm skin, he felt the J that was scaring her flesh and softly traced it with his thumb.

Jack then licked the bottom of her lip begging for permission; Isabella willingly obliged feeling his tongue immediately sliding into her mouth, both tongues fighting for dominance. He was just about to lift her up and carry her to the couch until suddenly his cell phone then started to ring; Jack started to growl in frustration and quickly ripped his lips away from Isabella and grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and answered. "What!?" he said agitatedly, just then he heard one of his henchmen on the other line.

"Uh Boss? Is everything alright you never came back last night and we didn’t know if the chick killed you or not."

Jack allowed out an irritated chuckle as he placed his hand up against his forehead and started to rub it, he then started to move away from Isabella so she couldn’t hear the conversation. "No you idiot I'm not dead…" The Henchman then became confused. "Oh Good! Look Boss I'm sorry to be calling you when you're busy but something had came up and we need you here to see to it!" Jack then sighed irritably; he swore he had hired idiots at times.

"Fine. Fine. I'll be there in 20 minutes."

He said gritting his teeth, as he slammed his phone shut. He then quickly turned around to see Isabella cooking some eggs, toast popping out of the toaster. "Look Izzy, one of the men I work for needs me to overlook on something's, so I'm unfortunately am going to have to head out." Isabella then looked over at him and smiled as she grabbed a plate and walked over and buttered the toast really quick and placed the two eggs she cooked over the toast, making an egg sandwich she then walked over to him with her plate and handed him. "Breakfast for the road." Jack then smirked at her.

"Our first date and you're already making me breakfast."

Isabella then shrugged. "Eh. I figured that since you were nice enough to hear my story and not go running out the door I figured the least I could do is make you something to eat before you head out." Jack's smirk then grew even wider as he wrapped his free arm around her waist and gave her a kiss on the lips. "I'll be here tonight I promise." Isabella then instantly frowned. "Oh uh I won't be here tonight, I have some things I need to do tonight." Jack then frowned. "What exactly do you have to do?" he asked his arm tightening around her waist.

"Just some odds and ends things. Then, I'm going to go out to dinner with my old friend and such so I can't really cancel I haven’t seen them in years."

Jack then nodded, figuring that there was no harm in that. "Oh I see I bet she's really excited to see you then." Isabella then hesitantly looked up at him. "Uh he actually." Jack then frowned; he definitely did not like the idea of Isabella going out with some other guy when he's the one trying to get her to fall for him. If another guy comes in she may fall for them and not want to spend any time with him and then his plan will go down the drain, plus he just didn’t like the idea of her being with anyone else, she was supposed to be him and no one else's. "Really? And who is HE?" Isabella then sighed.

"Jack it's really no big deal. I don't even understand why it's even a big deal."

She then saw the glaring look Jack was giving her. "Bloody hell fine. It's Bruce Wayne alright? We're going out to dinner, he's my old friend, so don't worry about it." Even though she was lying to him, Bruce wasn’t an old friend and she really did feel a connection to Bruce she just didn’t want to hurt Jack's feelings. Jack was nice enough to spend his entire night with her and hear her talk about her whole entire past, she just didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was going on a date with another man.

Especially since he's hyper about his scars he would probably figure she was just being nice out of sympathy and that was one thing she didn’t want him to think. She really liked Jack she did, and she really enjoyed his company, plus he was one hell of a kisser it's just she really didn’t know what to make of him. He was hot then cold and he seemed to get very agitated over certain things but after what he told her of a spec of his history she really didn’t blame him.

She wasn’t lying when she told him that there was just something about him that made her feel completely comfortable, she really enjoyed his company even though this was their first date but it just felt right. He felt right to her, she just didn’t know though, she really had a connection with Bruce but yet she has this wonderful connection with Jack, it just didn’t make any sense. Jack gritted his teeth, placing his plate on the counter and placing his other arm around her, pulling her tightly against him.

"So… the reason why you don't want me to be here is because you're going to spend a romantic, intimate evening with Gotham's latest playboy!?"

He asked sarcastically, Isabella frowned and shook her head. "No Jack. I told you we're just going out for dinner that's it luv, nothing else." Jack then gripped her chin and lifted her head up giving her a searing kiss. "It better be all that it's going to be." He said darkly, he then releases her, a dark smirk on his lips seeing the look in her eyes as he picked up the sandwich she made for him and took a bite out of it.

"Mmm Izzy now this… This is good."

Isabella slowly nodded, trying to contain the rage that was going through her. She wasn’t able drink any blood since he's been here so she was just about ready to pounce him and sink her fangs into his neck. That's the main reason why she wasn’t fighting him, or was arguing with him she was too afraid that the creature inside of her would do something, something unimaginable. Jack took this completely differently, he was very amused that she was threatened by him and then started to walk back up to her and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Now I have to get going I'll call you alright?"

Isabella then slowly nodded; Jack smirked and then lifted her head up so he could look into her eyes. "Izzy?" Isabella looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "Don't take to long to call me alright?" Jack couldn’t help but chuckle and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. "Don't worry I wont, but I really got to get going." Isabella nodded, her smile starting to grow. "Alright well I'll see you soon." Jack then smirked at her as he walked over to grab his jacket. 'Oh you have no idea' he thought to himself.

"See you soon Izzy."

He said as he opened the door and walked out of her apartment closing the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Isabella allowed out a large sigh, it's not that she was thrilled that Jack was gone, that part she was kinda upset about since she was really starting to like him, but he had his moments and what worried her is that now he knew about Bruce how would he react to the situation? Isabella didn’t know, she just hoped that things won't turn out for the worse. Isabella then quickly walked back over to her room and grabbed a white button down shirt with short puffy sleeves and then pulled on her boots and did her makeup really quickly and then quickly ran out the door, there was someone she needed to talk to before she would go have her dinner date out with Bruce.

XXXXXX

Isabella quickly walked over to the building where she was to meet up with her friend, she wasn’t able to talk to him much since she last seen him since she was so busy working out all the kinks with the men she was getting information from. Therefore, when she walked into the building she then walked up to the front desk and smiled over at the woman who was sitting there.

"Hello, my name is Isabella Raven and I'm here to see Harvey Dent."

The woman arched her brow. "Do you have an appointment?" Isabella then slowly shook her head. "No… I don't think he'll have a problem ya see we have been friends for quite some time." The woman then nodded and then picked up the phone and called him. "Hello, Mr. Dent? Yes. There is a young woman here who says that she'd like to see you." The woman then nodded against the phone. "Um her name is…" Isabella then quickly answered. "Isabella Raven." The woman arched her brow at her and then repeated her name. "Isabella Raven? Oh alright, yes she'll be right up." The woman then hung up the phone and looked up at Isabella.

"You can go right up Miss. Raven; he is on the 4th floor to the right."

Isabella smiled at her and quickly nodded as she started to walk towards the elevator. "Thank you." Isabella then pressed the button, walked into the elevator, and pressed the button for the fourth floor. Once Isabella made it to Harvey's floor, she then turned to the right seeing him busily writing something down as his office was scattered with files everywhere, she couldn’t help but smirk typical old Harvey he was always a scatter brain. "Bloody hell mate, you need a maid just for your own office!" Harvey quickly looked up at her and instantly smiled. "Izzy!" he quickly rose up from his chair and walked up to hug her, Isabella started to laugh and hugged him back.

"Hey Harvey, how's it going?"

Harvey smiled as he gave her a tight squeeze then released her. "Oh I'm doing alright. Going crazy with this Maroni case and trying to balance everything at once." Isabella then started to laugh. "Well you always had a knack for being the ultimate multitasker Harvey." Harvey smiled at her and gestured for her to sit down. "Yeah well with this job you have to be, please have a seat." Isabella then gently sat down in the seat in front of his desk while he walked back to his chair.

"You know Harvey, I'm so proud of you. You worked so hard to get this position and I know you're going to do great."

Harvey smiled at her as he sat down. "Thank you Izzy it means a lot to hear that from you." Isabella smiled at him as she leaned back up against her chair. "It's the truth Harvey, you truly deserve this." Harvey chuckled as he rested his elbows on his desk. "And once again thank you. So how's the whole researching thing going?" Isabella sighed as she slowly crossed her arms around herself.

"It's going… I ran into Maroni and it turns out that he hired the Joker to do his dealings with them, so right now I'm trying to keep up with the Joker and Batman."

Harvey then nodded. "How's that going?" Isabella then shrugged. "It's going, I have complete alliance with the Joker, and learning more and more about him. And Batman I'm slowly earning his trust, he's a hard one since he thinks that I'm too involved with the bad guys." Harvey then nodded. "I'm actually surprised that the Joker is doing an alliance with you, he seems to be a run on it's own type of man." Isabella then sighed. "I think he's curious by me. I completely confuse him and intrigue him so he keeps me around." Harvey then nodded. "I wonder how you're capable of doing that; he seems to have to tolerance for anyone." Isabella then shrugged.

"He's… Really hard to explain, his mind is genius but he's very scattered. I think it's because I show him something that most people don’t show. I know who I am and I'm not threatened by him and that makes him curious as to why I'm not scared of him, so I think he's trying to find my weakness but it's just not working so he accepted the fact that I can be as insane as he. So instead of trying to break me he's just working along side with me. Batman on the other hand is a hot and cold kind of person he's slowly starting to trust me and I believe if we have more run ins then he'll see that I'm really not so bad."

Harvey then smiled. "That's good! This is really good stuff Izzy keep up the amazing work!" Isabella nodded giving him a soft smile. "Will do, so how's yer lass? You two getting pretty serious?" Harvey then shyly smiled at her. "Yeah… she's amazing Izzy she's made me so happy." Isabella then giggled. "Aw Harvey that is so great! I'm so happy to see you this happy; she must be one heck of a girl!" Harvey then nodded. "You have no idea Izzy, you have to meet her she's my world." Isabella then started to laugh. "And I would love to! I cannot wait!" Harvey then suddenly smirked at her.

"So Izzy have you met anyone special yet?"

Isabella wasn’t able to meet his eyes, slightly embarrassed as she fiddled with her hands. "Well um yeah… I met two guys who I'm kinda interested in." Harvey's smirk then grew even wider and he jumped up and down his chair. "Oh really? And who may these men be?" Isabella softly smiled at him. "Well… The one guy I've met, his name is Jack. I met him at Ally's bar and I don't we kinda had our first date last night and we accidentally fell asleep on the couch." Harvey's smirk then grew. "So that's the story you're sticking with?" Isabella glared at him and then stuck out her tongue.

"Yes that is the story because it was true… He's really a nice guy I suppose he was nice enough to hear my story and not run away, and he allowed me to hide into his shoulder during the scary parts of Saw but there are just parts of him that makes me question him."

Harvey then arched his brow. "He doesn’t try to hurt you does he?" Isabella then quickly shook her head. "No. no. He's just I don’t know kinda possessive but after his past I can understand why. It's just he has his good sides and bad, and there's just something about him, I feel comfortable around him like I can tell him anything but then there's this really weird connection I get from him like he's hiding something or knows something I don’t and it's really bothering me." Harvey then started to laugh. "Well you always like the Dark, Mysterious kind of guys." Isabella then softly started to laugh.

"Yeah and don’t forget I have a thing for Bad boys… I have to admit you my taste in men are quite interesting."

Harvey then nodded agreeing with her. "Ok so that's one guy who is the other?" Isabella then sighed. "Well… his name is Bruce…" she was then instantly cut off by Harvey. "Please don’t tell me Bruce Wayne." He then saw the look on her face and groaned out of frustration. "Oh Izzy! The guy is a Tool; he does nothing but spends his money frivolously and dates this one and that one! You don't want to be with a guy like that." Isabella then frowned.

"Harvey trust me he's a good guy, what I've seen from him yesterday is completely the opposite of what you're telling me. I have a date with him tonight and I guess we'll see how that goes."

Harvey sighed as he leaned over his desk extending his hand out to hers; Isabella then leaned towards him and gave him her hand. "I just want to make sure your ok Izzy. You're my best friend over anything and I don’t want you to get hurt." Harvey said sincerely, Isabella smiled and was about to say something until they were both interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

Harvey and Isabella quickly looked over and saw Rachel standing there with her arms crossed staring at them curiously since they both were holding onto each other's hands when she walked in. "I'm sorry am I interrupting anything?" Harvey instantly smiled at her and then released Isabella's hand then rose up from his chair and gave Rachel a warm hug and a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey sweetheart… No you weren’t interrupting anything, remember that friend of mine I was telling you about?"

Rachel then slowly nodded. "Well I'd like to introduce you to Isabella Raven." Harvey smiled as he gestured towards Isabella who was now rising up from her seat. Rachel had to admit that she was sort of threatened by Isabella, especially since Isabella was absolutely beautiful. However, she remembered all the stories Harvey was talk about her and him and knew that they were strictly friends, Isabella was always like a sister to Harvey and he was always like a brother to her so she knew that there wasn’t much that she needed to worry about. Isabella then smiled at her and held out her hand. "Hello." She said in a friendly tone, Rachel couldn’t help but smile and gently shake her hand.

"Hi I'm Rachel Dawes."

Isabella then started to laugh. "Oh trust me I know, Harvey here has done nothing but talk about your praises." Rachel was starting to like her already. "Oh really!? Well that's interesting." She smiled, Isabella nodded as she retracted her hand and smiled over at Harvey and then back at Rachel. "Well I hate to cut this so terribly short but I need to go do a few things before I go on my date." Harvey then scoffed. "Yeah because you don't want Bruce Wayne waiting." He said distastefully, Isabella glared at him while Rachel looked at her incredulously.

"You're going on a date with Bruce."

Isabella then slowly nodded. "Yeah we're going out to dinner; I just hope it's nothing to extravagant." Harvey then chuckled. "With Bruce everything is extravagant." It was Rachel's turn now to glare at him. "Harvey… don't be like that, Bruce is a good man and I think he'd be a good match with Isabella." Isabella softly smiled and gave them both a wave. "Well I'll be heading out I'll see you two soon." She said softly, Rachel and Harvey smiled at her and waved as Isabella started to walk off.

Once she was gone, Rachel then quickly looked over at Harvey. "Why are you being like this? I think it's nice that Bruce is taking her out." Harvey then glared at her. "Izzy isn’t some charity case Rachel. I don't want her to get hurt, and I know what his type is like. He's going to use her and break her heart and that’s the last thing she needs, she needs someone who'll truly care about her." Rachel then sighed.

"Look Harvey… I know you're being protective of her because she's your best friend but Bruce is mine and trust me he's not as bad as he seems."

Harvey sighed as he placed his hand behind his neck and slowly started to rub it.

"I hope so Rachel, I hope so."

XXXXXX

Meanwhile, while all this was going on the Joker had finally stormed into his hide out. The henchmen, looked at him somewhat surprised to see him walk in without his makeup and with the clothes he wore out last night, the Joker was furious that they interrupted his morning and was even more irritated that they couldn’t take care of a single plan for him. No one dared to say a word to him obviously noticing his sour mood. The Joker then stormed up towards his stairs and walked up into the room, as soon as he entered his room he instantly had a shoe thrown at him. The Joker gritted his teeth as he looked up to see Harley standing there furious with him.

"SO! DID YOU HAVE A NICE NIGHT PUDDIN!?"

She yelled, throwing another shoe at him.

"DID YOU ENJOY YOU'RE NIGHT WITH THAT SLUT!? HAD YOUR LITTLE FILTHY WAY WITH HER!? I BET SHE'S NOTHING AS TO WHAT I'M COMPARED TO RIGHT!? I'M SURE SHE IS ALL TALK AND NO GAME!"

She sneered; The Joker had enough and backhanded her. Harley gasped but then felt the Joker slam her into the wall a knife miraculously appearing right up against her neck. "Now you listen… and you listen good. I do NOT have to explain myself to you. And what had gone on with me and Izzy is none of your fucking concern you understand?" he said in a dark tone, Harley's eyes then widened when he said her nickname. "Izzy!? Mister J. what has gotten to you!? I used to be the one you came home to, I used to be the one you wanted to be in a relationship with and then that whore comes strolling in here and all you ever want to do is spend all your free time with her!! When are you going to realize that she's a two timing bitch and doesn’t give a care in the world for you!" just then the Joker started to slice the flesh on her cheek causing her to cry out in pain.

"Now, tah, tah, tah… why are you crying my sweet? You want me all to yourself and now you have me. What it's not what you expected? Not what you dreamed it to be? When are you going to realize that this is my domain, my world, MY city? So you have no right to sit here and tell me what I can and cannot do! Oh you will learn."

He then allowed out a dark chuckle as he continued to cut her cheek down to her lips. "You will definitely learn." He then quickly retracted the knife from her cheek and then licked the blood that was running down it. Harley's tears started to roll down her cheeks as she looked into his eyes, they were dark and murderous, she knew that what she had said set him off and should've known better.

The Joker smirked at the sight of her, loving to see her in pain and then quickly pulled her away from the wall and then roughly slams her back against it once again, he then finally released her and started to move away from her. "Get cleaned up you look like a mess." He said darkly and then stormed out of the room. Once he was gone, Harley then slowly slid down onto the ground and started to sob.

The Joker was now strolling down to the kitchen where his men were, the dark look still morphing on his face. His henchmen then quickly looked up at him when they saw his presence and knew that he wasn’t in a very good mood.

"We have a change of plans. I want a couple of you to bring Alessandra Carnegie here, she works at her club Trinity I want you to immediately bring her here, and I want a couple of you to come with me. We have a date that we need to disrupt." He smirked.

XXXXXX

Night had finally came, and Isabella was getting ready for the evening. Bruce ended up calling her and told her to dress up formally because he was going to take her out to his restaurant. Isabella was a little nervous since she's never been on a formal date before but decided that she'd go and spoil herself a bit. She ended going out buying a tight form fitting black dress, and then started to fix up her hair making it full of volume and wavy. She then gently applied her make up and placed on her earring when she heard her doorbell ring.

Isabella then quickly ran over to the door and opened it to see Bruce standing there in a very smart looking tux, holding some flowers. Bruce's eyes widened when he saw her standing there, she looked even more beautiful since the last time he has seen her. "Wow… you look amazing." He said incredulously, Isabella then gave him a soft smile. "Thank you Bruce, you look amazing as well." Bruce grinned at her and placed his hand in his pockets, starting to shift his weight side to side on his feet. "I uh, brought you these." He said shyly as he handed her a bouquet of roses. Isabella gasped and gave Bruce a wide smile.

"Oh Bruce these are beautiful! Please, luv come on in I'm going to put these into some water."

Bruce then nodded and started to walk into her apartment. "Wow you have a really nice place." Isabella then started to laugh as she pulled out a vase from the cabinet. "Oh thank you, I know it's not much but it's a nice place to live." Bruce grinned as he watched her place his flowers on her coffee table and then walked back over to her room to grab her shoes. "So… how long have you lived in Gotham?" Isabella then came out of her room strapping on her shoes.

"Oh not long actually probably close to a month now. My friend called me to come down here and help out with the crime in this city and so I came."

Bruce then nodded. "Well I'm really glad that you decided come live here." Isabella then smiled up at him as she grabbed her purse. "Well I'm glad now too because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have gotten to meet you." Bruce was surprised by her response, but was extremely happy as well. The more and more he had seen Isabella the more he has been starting to trust her, she was sweet and seemed awfully caring and to be honest he was looking forward to this date the whole entire day.

"I'm extremely happy for that too."

He smiled as he walked up to her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Isabella giggled, feeling like a schoolgirl around him. "So um, should we get going?" Bruce then chuckled, actually wishing they could stay at her place instead but then gently nodded. "Yes lets. I can't wait to show you my restaurant." Isabella then started to laugh, taking his hand into hers and allowing him to lead her out the door.

"Oh I'm beyond excited for that."

Once Bruce and Isabella got into the limo, they were now both snuggled up against each other. "You know… I have to tell you once again you look absolutely amazing." Bruce said softly, yet nervously. This was so completely odd the only time he's ever really felt this way for anyone was for Rachel yet Isabella was now coming really close.

He felt nervous around her and not cocky or confident he wanted to impress her dearly but he knew this whole side of life was far from what she was used to and was worried that she may get too overwhelmed by this kind of lifestyle. Isabella gave Bruce a soft smile and gently intertwined her fingers with his.

"Thank you… You know Bruce your so not what I expected you to be."

Bruce then arched his brow. "Oh really what did you think I was?" Isabella then started to laugh. "To be honest I thought you were going to be this big jerk who is a huge womanizer." Bruce couldn’t help but smile. "Oh really? And what made you change your mind?" Isabella then shrugged. "I donno when I met you yesterday I saw something more in you. You proved to me that your not this snobby good-lookin heir you actually put your heart into what you do, you care and it really made me realize that maybe you aren’t so bad, plus if Lucius could put up with you I guess then you aren’t that bad." She smirked Bruce then started to laugh.

"Yeah well trust me I can test his patients sometimes."

Isabella then shrugged. "I think everyone can especially me. I swear mate I probably almost caused him to have a stroke at times." Bruce then smiled. "Somehow that really doesn’t surprise me." Isabella then shrugged. "Well if you look at it from this standpoint, he was always like a father to me so he was or is still very protective over me. I guess I'm the daughter he never had." She said smiling over the memories; Bruce watched her intently and couldn’t help but smile as well.

Just then, the limo finally stopped in front of the restaurant, Bruce then quickly looked over at Isabella and smiled. "Well here we are." Isabella then instantly became nervous when she saw all the well to do's walk right in, their hands still connected Bruce then gently pulled her hand along with his as the driver opened the door for them. Bruce then helped Isabella out while she was looking around the surroundings.

"Thank you Alfred."

Bruce smiled, Alfred then nodded giving Bruce a warm grin. "Not a problem sir." Isabella then looked over at Alfred and gave him a soft smile; he could tell she was nervous. "Thank you." she said softly, Alfred then smiled over at her and nodded. "Not a problem Miss." Bruce then started to escort Isabella into the restaurant.

Once they were inside Isabella gasped at the beauty of the place, the architecture was stunning and it made her feel even more out of place. The restaurant was lit in warm colors and all the waiters were dressed in suits and ties while the waitresses were all dress in white button shirt, black pants and black ties. Everything was elegant and was running like a well-oiled machine, Isabella then was instantly cut off from her thoughts when she heard Bruce start speaking to her. "So what do you think?" Isabella then quickly looked back at over at him and grinned.

"This place is beautiful Bruce."

Bruce then started to chuckle, as she continued to look around. "Well thank you Izzy, how about we go have a seat." Isabella then nodded as she continued to look around and started to follow Bruce towards the table. Bruce then instantly saw two people he immediately recognized and smiled. "Rachel fancy that!" he grinned; Isabella quickly looked over and saw Harvey and Rachel sitting together at a table. Rachel didn’t look very amused when she saw him. "Yeah Bruce fancy that." Bruce then grinned down at her and then gently placed his hand on the small of Isabella's back and softly pushed her right up next to him.

"Rachel, Isabella, Isabella, Rachel."

Isabella then smiled over at Rachel and waved. "Hey Rachel it's nice seeing you again." Rachel then smiled over at her. "Nice seeing you again too Isabella." Isabella then grinned at her and looked over at Harvey. "Hey Harvey you all enjoying your night?" Harvey then nodded, actually glad that he could now keep an eye out for her. "Hey Izzy, yeah we're having a nice night, you look wonderful." Isabella then smiled. "You too." Bruce arched his brow and then looked over at her. "So I take it you all met?" Rachel then nodded. "Isabella and Harvey are old friends and I ended up meeting her actually this afternoon." Bruce then nodded. "So Harvey's the one who called you to come help out with this town." He said with a little mischievous smirk towards Isabella, Isabella then nodded.

"Yeah actually he is."

Rachel noticed how uncomfortable Harvey and Isabella were becoming so she decided to divert to a different subject. "Bruce, this is Harvey Dent." Bruce then smugly smiled over at Harvey and shook his hand. "The Famous Bruce Wayne, Rachel's told me everything about you." Harvey said with a warm smile on his face, Bruce then smugly chuckles as he retracts his hand. "Well I certainly hope not." Isabella arched her brow at him, but he quickly then added.

"Let's put a couple of tables together."

Harvey then frowned as he looked around. "I don’t think they will let us…" Bruce then quickly shook his head. "Nonsense I own the place." He smirked as he gestured to one of the waiters, Rachel then arched her brow at him. "For how long? Three weeks?" Bruce then smiled down at her, while one of the waiters brought a table to place next to them. "How'd you know?" Rachel rolled her eyes, while Bruce helped Isabella into her seat and then sat right across from her.

"Now Isabella, Harvey has mentioned that you're a quite a fighter."

Isabella smiled over at her and nodded. "Yes actually, I have been training since I was sixteen, Harvey was actually training in law and politics while I started. His uncle was my trainer." Rachel then nodded giving her a warm smile. "It looks to be that you two are quite good friends." Harvey then nodded, giving Isabella a little smirk.

"Oh we were, she was like my little sister. Kinda like you and Bruce."

Bruce and Rachel then gave each other a look, which Isabella and Harvey noticed and then quickly looked away from each other. "So Izzy how are you like Gotham?" Bruce asked. "It's nice very chaotic town but hey it keeps me busy I guess. I've had a couple of run ins with Batman but other than that things have been going well the area is nice, people seem to be ok and my two best friends are here so I guess I'm golden." Rachel then gave Bruce a look. "Really so you had a couple run ins with Batman?" Isabella nodded.

"Yeah probably about two or three times."

Bruce was giving Rachel a warning look, while she was smirking at him. "Hm. That's interesting." Isabella then nervously shifted in her seat and nodded. "Yeah I guess so." Bruce then quickly looked over at Isabella and smiled. "So I was thinking, why don't you and me go to a opera next week?" Isabella looked over at him and shrugged. "We could do that or go to a movie, it'll save us some money." Bruce then started to chuckle. "Izzy we don’t have to worry about that i got it." Isabella then nodded her head a little mortified.

"Oh right I forgot."

Harvey frowned noticing how unease she was, this wasn’t her cup of tea. Isabella liked doing regular things like ordering pizzas and having movies night or playing pool or go out and train. She wasn’t interested in all the hoity toity sort of things, sure she had a love for literature and was very knowledgeable for certain things but she was never the type to be in the money crowd, she was more stabilized like him, maybe that's why they always got along. "So it's settled then, you and me will go see an opera." Isabella then smiled at him and shrugged.

"Or we could always go see Phantom or Sweeney Todd I heard those plays are fantastic."

Bruce then arched his brow. "You want to see a play about murdering psychopaths? If you want to see that just go around the back streets of Gotham" Isabella then quickly shook her head.

"They're not murdering psychopaths Bruce. They both had reasons for what they did. Erik as you would know as the Phantom was shunned from the world because of his face. He had a deformity masking the entire left side and had to hide in the bottom of the theatre until he met a girl who he fell madly in love with. That's when the chaos came, he loved her and wanted her to love him back but she fell in love with a man who was more perfect. Perfect face, was able to go out to see the light, and didn’t have to be afraid of the world. And this angered him, he wanted her to be with him to live in darkness but Roul was the woman's choice. As for Sweeney Todd he based everything on the revenge of his family. The judge ended up sending him away on charges for foolishness and 15 years later Sweeney was able to break out and ended up learning that his wife committed suicide because she was raped by the judge and his daughter was taken from him and being brought up by the same man."

Bruce smiled over at her, it seemed that she could relate to these two characters and it made him realize how different she really is, he hated acting like a smug asshole around her but he needed to prevent any thought or possibilities that could lead him to Batman. "So you condone their behavior?" Isabella then shrugged.

"Wouldn’t you do anything for you’re the ones you love? In all honesty how would you feel if you were disfigured and the world hated you for it, they looked at you as a sideshow… a freak? Wouldn’t you want to hate the world too? Wouldn’t you want to show them what you're really capable of? Love is a powerful, powerful emotion and there are so many levels as to how you could really love someone."

Rachel then smiled, she couldn’t believe how insightful Isabella could be. "And how many levels are there for Love?" Isabella looked over at her and smiled.

"Well there are three levels. Level 1 is just regular love, which you get over in two months. Level 2 is what I like to call big love in which you get over in two years, and then there is Level 3 the most highest and most dangerous love you can ever encounter." Everyone at the table smiled as she continued. "That love is great love. Great love changes your life it's the kind of love that you never get over a love where no matter how long you two have been apart or how long you two don’t speak to each other it's the kind of love that will literally kill you. People have died for this kind of love… and people have taken their lives for it, it is something that will never leave you till the day you die. So when you realize that you are experiencing one of these levels you have to ask yourself, which one is it? Is it just regular Love that you can get over in a month or two and figured it was fun while it lasted? Or is it Big Love where that one person made that indent in your heart but you are still able to live without them or is it Great Love the kind of love that you know you can't live without and literally changes your entire life because that one person is there with you. I'll be honest it's probably the hardest decision you'll ever have to make… but… in all of that heartache it really is the most rewarding."

Rachel sweetly smiled over at her. "That is beautifully thought out." Isabella smiled over at her, while Harvey chuckled. "Izzy was always the philosopher. To this day! I can picture her saying that to her son or daughter." Isabella then started to laugh, while Bruce gently took her hand and placed a soft kiss on her skin.

"That was beautiful." Isabella then quickly looked over at him and smiled. "Thank you, but that is exactly what I was trying to say. These two men, experienced that great love and would go to no lengths to honor or to prove to the women who turned their hearts how much they mean to them. Sweeney murdered all those people to gain revenge for his wife and the Phantom wanted to show Christine how much he meant to her, to show her who she truly needs to be with. So to answer your question I don't necessarily condone their behavior but I understand why they did what they did."

Rachel then smiled. "So Isabella have you ever thought of settling down and having some children?" Isabella was caught off guard by the question but nodded. "One day I'd love to have a little boy or girl to go running around my feet, but I'm not sure how soon that'll be. I always loved children and would love to have a couple." Harvey then smirked. "You were always the motherly type, I know you'll make a great mom one day. I just hope you don't decide to settle down here and have you're children in Gotham." Bruce then arched his brow at Harvey.

"I was brought up in Gotham and I turned out fine."

Harvey then looked over at Bruce condescendingly. "Is Wayne Manor in city limits?" Rachel then gave him a withering look, while Bruce was smugly looking at him. "The Palisades? Sure. You know as our new D.A. you might want to figure out where your jurisdiction ends." Isabella then shrugged. "I donno I actually find it fascinating that everyone here idolize a masked vigilante it's kinda amusing." Bruce then looked over at her, while Harvey shrugged. "Gotham's proud of an ordinary man standing up for what's right." Isabella then nodded.

"Oh and I don't blame them, I just cannot believe that there is someone that is willing to give up their lives to save others, personally it's intriguing. I mean there are you're regular day heroes but for someone to take their time away from their busy schedule to be there for others is amazing. Who exactly appointed the Batman?"

Harvey then shrugged. "We did. All of us who stood by and allowed the scum take control of our city." Bruce was now watching Harvey becoming passionate about the topic. "When their enemies were at the gate, the Romans would suspend democracy and appoint one man to protect the city. It wasn’t considered honor. It was considered public service." Isabella then started to laugh.

"Kinda like David and Goliath. They all wanted the strongest man to go out and fight the beast but the only one who could fight him was David. He was the only one to conquer the monster."

Rachel then nodded. "And the last man they asked to protect the republic was Caesar. He never gave up his power." Isabella then nodded. "It was actually taken from him, because his viewers found him too ambitious. If you become obsessed with Power and Ambition it could literally kill you." Harvey nodded. "It's like I always say you either Die as a Hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the Villain. Look, whoever Batman is, he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life doing this. How could he? Batman's looking for someone to take his mantle, just like you Izzy I know you're not going to want to fight for the rest of your life I know you want to be able to settle down and have a family and one day you'll be able to." Isabella then smiled at him.

"So you're saying someone like you Harvey should take Batman's place?"

She said jokingly as she took the menu and covered the top part of Harvey's face, Harvey chuckled as he pushed the menu away. "Maybe, if I'm up to it." He said with a warm smile. Isabella then smirked knowingly and decided to play around with him. "And what if you Harvey are the caped crusader?" Harvey then chuckled. "If I was you'd probably would find out by now, and if I were sneaking out every night someone would've noticed." He said softly as he took Rachel's hand. Bruce watched them both interact and then looked up at Harvey, giving him a very impressed look.

"Well you sold me Dent. I'm going to throw you a fundraiser."

Harvey then looked over at him completely shocked. "That's nice of you, Bruce, but I'm not up for reelection for three years. That stuff wont start for…" he was then instantly cut off by Bruce.

"I don't think you understand. One fundraiser with my pals, you'll never need another cent."

Just then, a loud crash was heard within the restaurant, gunfire following along with it. Isabella quickly looked over and saw the Joker and his henchmen-walking in. "Excuse me Ladies and Gentlemen… is there a Bruce Wayne and Isabella Raven in the vicinity." Isabella then groaned out of frustration. "Oh bloody hell!" The Joker then started to walk in further grabbing food from people's plates and picking up glasses of wine and taking sips out of them.

"All I would like to know is if Bruce Wayne and Isabella Raven are here… Actually if you all can just locate Isabella for me that would be just great."

He smirked; Isabella was about to rise up from her seat but Bruce grabbed her arm. "Don’t!" he hissed, Isabella glared at him and then quickly looked back at the Joker. "Ah I see you all are going to do this the hard way…" He then started to laugh as he licked his lips, walking in through the crowd of people who were staring at him fearfully.

"Alright then… if you all won't cooperate then I guess I have no choice."

A dark smirk then appeared on his lips as he held up what looked like to be a remote for something. "What I have in my hand here is a remote control that will blow up this entire restaurant and if I don’t hear or see anything at all about Isabella Raven or Bruce Wayne then I will blow this entire building up in the matter of 10 seconds." Isabella then quickly looked back at Bruce. "Just let me go, he won't hurt anyone if I go to him." Bruce then stubbornly shook his head.

"NO! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!"

Isabella glared at him and looked over at Harvey. "Harvey tell him I'll be ok." Harvey looked at her worriedly while the Joker then spoke up. "7 more seconds." Isabella then quickly looked back at Bruce. "Please! I can't let these people die!" Rachel then quickly nodded. "He won't hurt her; he obviously needs her for something." The Joker then spoke up again. 4 more seconds." Bruce then groaned out of frustration. "Fine… go! But be sure I'll find you." Isabella then quickly nodded.

"Time's up I guess it's time to…"

The Joker was immediately cut off when he saw a woman quickly stand up in a tight form fitting black gown. "That wont me necessary J." The Joker then grinned, and started to walk towards her. "Ah Miss. Raven, it's so good to see you I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything." Isabella glared at him and crossed her arms. "Like it would really matter to you." The Joker then chuckled as he licked his lips.

"No it really doesn’t, but the fact that I get to see you looking so stunning tonight definitely makes it all up."

Isabella kept her ground as he was now right in front of her, he then looked down to see Harvey, Bruce and Rachel and chuckled. "Sorry to disrupt your night, but I must be taking Isabella from you." Bruce then glared at him. "Leave her alone…" he said darkly, The Joker looked at him for a moment and started to hysterically laugh.

"Don't worry, I wont hurt her… much."

Bruce then quickly rose up from his seat but the Joker then quickly grabbed his knife wrapped his arm around Isabella, her back up against his chest with the knife's blade pointing directly against her heart, while his other arm was resting on her shoulder showing Bruce that he still had the remote in his hand. "Ah, tah, tah, tah… Not so fast… if you come any closer I will stab this knife into her heart and will blow up this entire building you understand?" Bruce stood his ground watching Isabella worriedly and noticed that she looked slightly worried as well; he knew she couldn’t do much since he had that remote and couldn't make any slight moves or the knife will penetrate her. The Joker noticed his hesitation and started to laugh.

"Very good Mr. Wayne, now if you excuse me we really need to get going."

He smirked as he started to pull Isabella with him. Bruce was about to move, but the Joker waved his remote. "Ah, ah, ah. We had a deal." He grinned as he continued to pull her back along with him, he then leaned his lips up against her ear as they continued to move backwards. "I have to admit doll you delicious in that dress." He said lustfully, Isabella then glared.

"Don't get any ideas you git."

The Joker then chuckled as they were officially out of the restaurant and ended up pushing her into the van, he then jumped in and slid the door shut. As he sat down he looked over at her and smirked noticing her sitting up against the wall of the van with her arms crossed glaring at him. "awww don't look at me like that doll, I can't help that I need my best worker here with me now can I?" Isabella then quickly took her shoe off and threw at him, the Joker quickly guarded himself and irritably sighed. "What is with you women and throwing shoes!?" Isabella ignored his question.

"You bloody git! How bloody dare you come in and humiliate me like that! If you needed bloody help you should've bloody called me!"

She yelled, The Joker chuckled as he went to grab her arm but she smacked it away, The Joker had enough and quickly rose up to grab her arms. Isabella started to thrash around and tried to kick him away and managed to do so causing him to fall onto the ground of the van accidentally pulling her along with him. Isabella ended up landing right on top of him, their faces mere inches from each other's. The Joker then wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her tightly against him and then leaned up and started to kiss her neck. Isabella gasped, feeling his hands starting to travel around her body. Isabella sighed and gently closed her eyes, her body feeling incredibly warm at that moment and realized what she's doing.

"J. please…"

The Joker ignored her and then turned her onto her back with him on top of her nipped and sucking her neck. "J. please stop!" The Joker continued to ignore her, his hands slowly moving up her body, his hand now moving inside the top of her dress cupping her breast. Isabella moved as he was teasing her with his thumb. She knew she needed to stop, but damn it felt so good, it has been way to long and then she realized who this man was so she roughly pushed him off of her and quickly sat up her back up against the chair, her knees up against her chest as the Joker quickly sat up almost dazed and irritated.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

He yelled, Isabella then glared at him. "You rip me out of my dates restaurant, then you threaten to kill me and all the people in the building if I don’t bloody go with you and now you're trying to pull moves on me! AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!? Sodding hell mate! I should have every right to bloody snap your neck right now!" The Joker then gritted his teeth. "Why don't you do it then? Drink every inch of me after you're done." Isabella looked at him slightly shocked, but immediately ignored it; it had to be a coincidence. "What do you need me for J. What did you bloody need me for to rip me out like that?" The Joker then sighed.

"What can I say I just missed you."

He said sarcastically Isabella then glared at him. "That is what you bloody took me out for!? Damnit J. I've had it! If you want me to continue working for you then you're going to have to stop this bloody shite! I refuse to go through this every time." The Joker stared at her very darkly as the van finally stopped. The Joker's henchmen then quickly opened the van's door waiting for their boss to give them an order, The Joker then looked over at them wearing a dark expression.

"Lock her into the room."

The men smiled and tried to grab her and pull her out but she was too strong and fought them off of her, one of the men managed to pull her out of the van but ended up having a broken nose for it. Isabella was about to kick the next guy until she felt something hard slam against her head knocking her out. The henchmen smirked hold a baseball bat while the Joker jumped out of the van, as one of the men were holding onto her. "Lock her up in the chains to make sure she won't run away." The men nodded, while suddenly another one came running up to him. "Boss! We need you're help we weren’t able to grab the other one." The Joker sighed out of frustration and shot the man who told him the news.

"Do I have to do EVERYTHING around here!?"

He growled, as he started to walk towards the van and jumped inside the drivers seat and sped off.

Harley watched them carry a limp Isabella into one of the rooms on the top floor; she watched them chain her up against the wall her arms held up above her head, her body leaning forward unconsciously. Harley was glaring at the unconscious woman, hating every inch of her. Once she was officially and securely chained, the men looked at each other curiously.

"Uh what were we supposed to do next?"

Mercer asked Jamison shrugged. "I donno but she is a real beaut, I haven’t seen something that pretty in a long time." He said as he stared at her lustfully, Evan then punched Jamison's shoulder. "Knock it off man, if the Joker finds out that you're staring at her like that he'll kill you for sure." Mercer then shrugged. "What's so great about her anyways? I mean yeah she's gorgeous but she's like every other bitch out there." Jamison then shrugged. "I can see why, she's a mystery and obviously must be good in bed hence the reason why he didn’t come back last night." Harley then clenched her fists listening in on their conversation. Evan then chuckled.

"So what do you think? Is he going to get rid of Harley and keep this one for himself?"

Jamison then chuckled. "Maybe he'll give us Harley to play with." Harley heard enough and walked in as if she came out of no where. The men heard her walking in and turned to face her. "Mister. J. called and he has given you all orders to do what you can to torture Isabella." Evan arched his brow.

"Why would he want that?"

Harley glared at him. "He said the main reason why he brought Isabella here is to torture her, and since he had to go get her friend he's going to torture her instead but gave the go ahead to torture Isabella." Jamison then frowned. "For some reason that doesn’t sound right." Harley then turned her glare over to him. "Don't question what the Joker said! Just do it!" she growled. The men then slowly nodded and pulled out the knives they had in their pockets. Mercer then walked up to Isabella and harshly slaps her across the face causing Isabella to quickly look up. She then instantly felt someone slam their fist into her gut causing her to groan out in pain.

"So bitch how does it feel?"

Jamison smirked as he quickly punched her in the face. "Does it feel good to have the shit beat out of you?" Isabella couldn’t even speak, she was to busy as to when she gets free from these chains what she was going to do to them. Mercer then took her by the hair and harshly slams her head into the wall.

"Your ours bitch."

He said darkly, Isabella slowly stared up at him a black eye now starting to form on her face and started to laugh. "Oh you have no idea…" she said darkly, the men looked at her confused as she continued to laugh. Evan then heard enough, grabbed his knife, then quickly grabbed her head, and then taunted her with the knife. "You know the boss made us research freaks like you, and you know what? I learned something very interesting." Isabella defiantly stared at him, not giving them an ounce of emotion.

Evan smirked at this and continued. "We learned that even though you get wounds you heal very quickly… well I think." He then stabbed his knife into her gut causing her to gasp in pain. "we can have a little fun with that." He said darkly into her ear, Isabella tried her hardest not to cry but the pain was starting to become unbearable. Evan then started to slit the flesh on her chest, blood rolling down into her dress.

Isabella gritted her teeth and was closing her eyes, trying to ignore the pain while she heard the whole room laugh at her. Evan chuckled into her ear as he slowly took the knife and allowed the blade to cut into her side leaving a large open gash ooze out with blood down her side. Isabella cried out in pain, breathing heavily

"How does that feel sweetheart"

Evan chuckled as he took the knife and started to slit her wrists with it and started to trace x's all over her arms. Isabella was immediately starting to become dizzy and felt the blood from her body leave her, everything become woozy and her vision was slowly started to blur, she was immediately starting to slump down, her body becoming too weak to hold her up. Harley was standing back smirking to herself as she watched Isabella being tortured, this is how it should've been in the beginning and now that it's happening everything all seems complete.

Evan looked up at her and saw her head bowed down and her eyes were closed allowing out shallow breaths. Evan smirked at his handy work and then slowly stabbed the knife mere inches from her heart. Isabella ended up screaming, sweat and tears rolling down her face. Evan then ripped the knife out of her seeing her pass out from the shock

"You will learn."

He said to her darkly, while he and the other men and Harley all walked out of the room, leaving the unconscious Dhampir hanging there with a pool of blood pouring down to her feet.

XXXXXX

A half an hour goes by when the Joker finally made it back to the hide out with Ally. He was able to get her by holding a knife up to her and threatened that if she didn’t come then her friend would be dead, so here they were… He driving the van while she sat in the back glaring at him.

Once he stopped the van, he then turned it off and jumped out and then walked over to the side and opened it up, Ally continued to glare at him but then jumped out. "Where is Izzy?" she said hotly, The Joker smirked at her and nodded his head towards the hide you.

"You'll see soon."

The Joker then licked his lips and roughly grabs her arm and yanks her into the hide out. Harley came rushing down the stairs and saw that the Joker had another woman. "Puddin what's going on!?" she said agitatedly, how is it that there has been more women than she could count coming to the hide out lately. The Joker then smirked at her and roughly shoves Ally forward.

"This is Izzy's friend Alessandra Carnegie. And if she wants to behave and do what we say, then nothing will happen to her precious friend Isabella."

Harley then instantly paled, she didn’t take into thought as to how the Joker would react if he found out what they did to Isabella and immediately realized that maybe her little revenge on Isabella wasn’t such a good idea. Ally quickly whirled around to glare at the Joker while his henchmen were standing there now a little nervously.

"I want to see Izzy! I want to make sure that you're word is true."

The Joker then smirked at her. "Fine, let's show her Izzy boys." The three men looked at each other nervously but nodded as they walked up the stairs, Harley, The Joker and Ally following in tow.

Meanwhile, while this was going on Isabella immediately woke up, the creature inside of her wanting to come out and gain revenge. Her mind was so swarmed with rage and hunger that any sensibility was out of the picture at that moment. She allowed out an inhuman growl as her eyes started to glow and her fangs began to morph, she started to pull on the chains, and would pull harder and harder, the chains starting to rip from the wall. Her body was still incessantly weak, but the rage that was surfing inside of her is what was keeping her strength. Isabella finally heard voices near the room she was in and allowed out a dark smirk as she officially ripped the chains out of the wall. Meanwhile, the three henchmen, Harley, Ally and the Joker were now standing beside the room she was in.

The henchmen looked at the Joker nervously before they opened the door. "Uh Boss, why don't we leave the vampire alone for a bit, let her suffer." Jamison said nervously, Ally then glared at him. "She's a Dhampir not a vampire you twit!" The Joker then started to chuckle.

"I think if we don’t show Miss. Carnegie Isabella anytime soon then you all are going to make nice meals for her."

The men looked at him nervously and were about to open the door until a arm starts punching through the wall and wrapped around Evan's neck.

Just then, another arm punches out of the wall and wraps around him as well and roughly pushes ihm against the wall, the wall falling into pieces showing Isabella morphed out as she quickly sunk her fangs into his neck. Ally gasped in shock.

"IZZY!"

She yelled, Isabella inhumanly growled as she clung Evan's body tightly to her. Harley stared in horror, while The Joker saw all the cuts that were on her body, Isabella ended up not liking Evan's blood and roughly throws him across the hall. She then quickly looked back at Jamison and smirked, Jamison instantly paled and quickly started running, Isabella quickly ran after him, she was now instantly in front of him causing him to scream and run the other way.

Isabella quickly caught him and harshly slams him against the wall and was about to sink her fangs into him until she was roughly pulled away from him. It turned out to be Ally who was glaring at Jamison. "Were you all the reason why she has all theses cuts on her!?" she said hotly, Jamison slowly and fearfully nodded his head. Ally then nodded trying to hold back her friend who was fighting to get out of her grip. She then wrapped an arm around her waist and then slit sunk her fangs into her wrist, causing the two conscious henchmen and Harley to gasp and placed her bleeding wrist near Isabella's mouth, Isabella instantly grabbed Alessandra's wrist and started devouring the crimson liquid.

Alessandra flinched at first feeling her sharp fangs penetrating her skin but the pain soon faded, Alessandra then started to feel dizzy and tried to push Isabella off of her “Isabella… ok enough…” she said softly as the Joker watched this situation intently. However, Isabella would have none of it and proceeded to drain her; Alessandra then shoved her friend off of her causing her to fall on the ground and morphed into her Dhampir face.

“I SAID ENOUGH!”

She shouted at her, Isabella growled and then jumped onto her feet and pounced her friend causing her to fall on the ground. Isabella then started clawing and punching her until she flipped her onto her back and pinned her wrists above her head. She then looked back at the Joker and Harley who were sitting there in shock and yelled an order.

“GET ME SOME IRON’S BEFORE I CAN'T HOLD HER ANY LONGER...”

She then noticed them still standing there staring at them, Alessandra sighed and then shouted “NOW!!” The Joker quickly looked over at Mercer who then quickly ran off to get some Irons and then came back. The Joker then clamped onto the two irons on her wrists so Isabella was restrained. Alessandra then jumped onto her feet but Isabella growled and then kicked her in the knees causing her to fall again.

The Joker found that completely amusing while Alessandra had enough and then rose to her feet again growling at her and then took the chain that connected the irons and dragged her back into what looked like to be the Joker's room since his clothes were all draped around the drawers and chairs… Ally then found a sturdy hook, then yanked Isabella onto her feet, and placed the chains onto the hook causing her to have her hands above her head. As soon as Harley entered the room she gasped trying to feign concern and then glared at Ally

“Don’t you think that this is a little inhumane?!”

She shouted Alessandra then turned to look at her, her Dhampir face still morphed out and glared at her. “Not unless you want her to kill everyone in this room…” Harley then frowned still not liking situation, The Joker then walked up to Isabella and noticed that she was now just hanging there and was completely passed out. The Joker then looked over at Alessandra and gave her a dark glare.

“Why did she attack one of my henchmen?”

Alessandra then morphed back to normal and then sat down in a chair knowing that they all will want an explanation.

“Mate… she’s still a demon… her body needs blood to survive and it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t feed on human's blood or she does. When we smell or sense it we need it… we desire it… some more than others… but since she was in such a weak state her common sense left her and her demon overtook her basically screaming at her to take it… it’s like treasure… a treasure that us demons desire. And I'm assuming you're goons and that wench over there decided to have a little fun with her, well it turns out that their little fun could've gotten them all kill.”

The Joker sighed and saw that she was officially unconscious and then unhooked her from the hooks “let her rest… she’s been through way to much… she probably didn’t feed today and with that in common with your gits playful torture she probably couldn’t handle it and gave in to her inner demon.” Alessandra said infuriated with what just happened, The Joker then lifted Isabella up bridal style and carried her to his bed and laid her on top of the covers and then placed a blanket over her as she slept.

He then darkly looked over at Jamison, Mercer, Harley and Evan who was now conscious. "I'd like to have a word with all of you." he said darkly, they all nodded and started to walk out of the room. The Joker took one last look at Isabella and sighed. "You can have the room right next door; I believe she won't be up soon." Ally then nodded still furious.

"If she wakes up you tell me immediately."

The Joker didn’t respond but only nodded as he kept his eyes on the sleeping woman. Ally then started to walk out, leaving the Joker inside the room; he slowly walked up to Isabella and examined the damage. He saw the cuts on her arms and the nice slice that was draped across her chest. He frowned when he saw a stab wound mere inches from her heart and noticed that her wrists were slit as well. The Joker was becoming more and more furious as he saw another stab wound in her stomach and a nice gash that was slit on her side, he swore that he'd kill everyone that did this to her.

He then gently moved some of her hair away from her face and then leaned up and kissed her forehead. This definitely was not what he had planned when he took her from Bruce Wayne, he wanted to tease her yes, make her a little irritated and see how far they would go but not have her completely tortured like this. Yes there were times where he has thought of doing it to her, but what infuriated him more is that someone else did this to her, and it was not him.

She was his… She was his territory, his possession and the fact that someone touched what is his, blinds him with full rage. The Joker then rose onto his feet, started to walk out of the room, slowly closed the door, and then walked down the stairs. He saw all of them standing in the kitchen waiting for the consequences. The Joker had a look of murder morphed on his face as he slowly walked up towards them and then placed his palms on the table leaning towards them.

"Explain to me how this happened."

He said darkly, Jamison was the first to answer nervously. "Harley said that you called and wanted us to torture her sir." The Joker then turned his look towards her. "Is that so?" Harley refused to look him in the eyes, but knew that he was extremely furious with her. "With do all respect sir, what is the reason for having her around? I understand that she may be fun in bed but that's all she's really worth." Mercer said confidently, The Joker took no time and quickly pulled his shotgun out and shot him in the head.

"Any takers?"

He said darkly as he looked over at his two other henchmen. "Who was the one who did the torturing?" he asked, in a chillingly calm voice, Jamison then answered again. "That would be Evan sir… he's the one who did all the flesh wounds." The Joker then smirked and slowly walked up to Evan who had a towel against his neck. He then roughly grabs Evan holding a knife to his cheek.

"Wanna know how I got these scars?"

He then looked at Evan expectantly as he nodded his head seeing Evan's fearful look. "My father was…a drinker, and a fiend. One night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself; he doesn't like that. Not…one…bit. So, me watching–he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me, and says…" In a very dark gruff voice, "Why so serious?" he then continues, "He comes at me with the knife." He says it once again in a dark gruff voice "Why so serious?!" he then placed the blade into Evan's mouth "He sticks the blade in my mouth." The Joker the smiles at Evan as he leans back a bit, talking in the same dark voice. "Let's put a smile on that face!" He then looked back over at Harley and Jamison and smirked. "And… why so serious?" he then looked back at Evan and carved a Glasgow smile on his face, causing Evan to die from shock.

The Joker threw Evan onto the ground and looked over at Jamison. "Get rid of him." Jamison quickly nodded and then started to pull Evan's dead body out of the kitchen. It was now only the Joker and Harley, Harley stared at him terrified to see him slowly turn his head towards her. He then moved his body to face her and slowly started to walk towards her. He was now finally in front of her and stared down at her darkly and then immediately smacked her across the face, he then grabbed her by the arms and threw into the kitchen table causing the table to break with her on the ground.

The Joker then slowly walked up to her and slammed his foot into her gut. "So… you decided upon yourself to torture one of my workers…" he said in a darkly amused tone. Harley then started to cough "I did it so you could stop this obsession with her. She's clouding your mind Puddin, she's making you completely loose track to you're work." The Joker then sneered at her and grabbed her by her shirt and slammed her head into the cabinet and punched into her face, Harley then started to cry as the Joker kneeled down so he could be eye level to her.

"You know… I could kill you right now and not have a problem what so ever about it."

Harley then glared up at him, tears rolling down her cheeks. "And forget about me again? The actual girlfriend? I gave you the best ... bunch of months of my life!" The Joker rolled her eyes, while she continued. "I thought I could change you, Puddin. I thought maybe if I gave and I gave and gave, maybe you'd come around. Maybe be a little nicer. Stop treating me like your dog. But now I see it's you. You're the dog. Who needs to be put d…" she was then cut off by another punch in the face, and was immediately thrown across the room. Harley softly started to laugh as she gently rose up onto her feet. She looked up at the Joker and smiled while he stood there glaring at her, gritting his teeth.

"Oh Puddin... After all we've been through; you can go ahead and have your little whore because from now on you can say good-bye to this." She said indicating her butt. "Because you're not gonna see it any more ever." She then instantly stops and thinks. "Unless you run into me somewhere and it's me walking away from you. But even then ... I'll probably just ... you know ... back away."

She said hotly as she slowly started to walk backwards out of the hide out still glaring at him. He knew it was risky for her to leave, but at the same time he could care or less, he had another hideout just incase she decided to rat him out and more than likely he was planning on leaving this place anyways, he then allowed out a long sigh and then started to walk back up the stairs.

Once he made it to his room, he saw that Isabella managed to snuggle under the covers. He couldn’t help but smirk at this as he pulled off his jacket, then his gloves and his vest. He then placed them down on the chair near his closet; he then slowly walked up towards the bed and then pulled off his shoes and tie. And just threw them on the ground. He then pulled the covers back and laid down on his side gently pulling her against him. he heard Isabella sigh and couldn’t help but feel that pang again.

What the hell was the matter with him!? usually he wouldn’t care if his men tortured some woman but the fact that they did it to his woman infuriated him, she was his to torture if he'd like, she was his to touch, and she was his to decide whether she should feel pleasure or pain.

He knew that she was doing something to him; it seemed that every time he was with her, he wanted more which was completely odd since he hadn’t felt that way since Janie. It seemed that every time he'd see Isabella he always wondered what it would be like if they met before all this, before he became what he was… would things have changed? Would she still care? But in all actually he supposed it didn’t matter… as long as she doesn’t walk out on him, he would be ok.

XXXXX

The Next morning came, and the Joker felt Isabella softly moving around in his arms, he slowly opened his eyes and saw her laying beside him staring out at the bright window. "Good Morning." He said softly, Isabella didn’t move just continued to stare out.

"Morning…"

She said softly, The Joker instantly became concerned, she usually stronger than this, what is preventing her from being her usual strong and confident self? "Look…" he said softly. "I don't do this often but I apologize for what happened last night." Isabella then shrugged.

"Does it really matter J.? I am what I am… whether you made the order or not it just doesn’t matter, I'm a monster we all know this. And last night you all got to see the real side of me, I'm sorry that I hurt one of your henchmen… it'll never happen again."

She said quietly, The Joker then frowned. "What do you mean?" Isabella then slowly looked back at him, a serious look morphing on her face.

"Consider this my resignation."

She said a little more forcefully as she rose out of the bed. The Joker stared at her incredulously as she walked up to the mirror and stared at her reflection.

"I want Ally to leave with me. And I don't want to hear from you nor do I want to be involved in your little team anymore. I can't allow this thing in me to consume me and I hope you'll understand that, so I'm going to only tell you this once. You're going to let me and Ally go or I will make us leave by force."

She then turned to look at him and saw him just staring at her; she then sighed and then slowly walked up to him and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "It was fun while it lasted." She whispered and then walked out of the room.

Once he heard the doors shut, he knew that she was gone… he instantly felt that pang again knowing that she never wants to see him again and it hurt badly which made no sense he wasn’t supposed to care.

But for some reason the way she left reminded him so much of his wife, the coldness in her voice, the unemotional stares on her face. Most of all, he's been looking for a way to break her and what scares him even more is that maybe she is finally broken.

*****

A/N: So what do you guys think of the chapter? I know this chapter was kinda different, but I promise that it'll get better. The Joker seems to be at a battle of whims in this chapter he wants to hate Isabella and kill her but yet at the same time he only wants her to himself. He's very torn and so is she. I hope i'm not making him too out of character but i felt that if he met someone who could understand him how he would he react to it? Sorry it took me forever for updating, my schedule has been very busy lately. I promise the next chapter will be out soon. :)

Reviews are greatly appreciated and help motivate me to continue writing. I cannot wait to hear from all of you soon, and if any of you have any questions or suggestions don't hesitate to ask. :)