Chapter Text
Later on after everyone had eaten and gotten dressed, they were sat in the living room on the floor about to do presents.
“Let’s give her the one Ivy got her first” Harley squeaked excitedly as she pulled out the metallic green present from behind her back, and instantly placed it down in front of the giggling infant. The child paused and looked at it in confusion for a second, before she pulled her pasty fingers out of her mouth and began investigating it.
The Joker watched his daughter fiddle with the paper as he looked at it suspiciously, “I’m still surprised she got her something.”
“Well she is her aunt after all” Harley responded happily, The Joker just continued to stare at the gift as if it was some kind of bomb. Harley ignored his expression and instead gave April a little hand by tearing the paper slightly. April’s face instantly lit up at the realisation of what she had to do, she quickly began shredding it with both her hands and gums. Inside she found a small black beanie hat with pointy ears, similar to batman’s cowl.
“What have you got, sweetie?” Harley asked in a high tone as she then made a small gasp and put it on her to get a better look. April giggled happily while waving her arms in the air. Harley chuckled at the gift but tried to hide it behind her hand, as she looked over to see Jokers reaction, she knew that Ivy probably did this intentionally.
The Joker did in fact, look slightly annoyed at this as he huffed and rolled his eyes “typical.”
“My turn!” Harley announced enthusiastically, trying to change his train of thought. She then placed the next item in front of the child who was still giggling and kicking her legs from her last gift. She squeaked even louder and bobbed up and down before advancing on the new present, which was wrapped in black and red stripy paper.
“She certainly got the idea of what she had to do fast” The Joker laughed, “she’s a smart one.”
“And she’s enjoying herself too” Harley chimed in.
Once April finally got inside it, she found a black dress with a purple and pink tutu skirt that had a purple smile on the front of it. April grinned happily as she then stuffed it in her mouth, and proceeded to suck on the fabric.
“No sweetie, you don’t eat it” Harley giggled as she quickly pulled the item from her daughter’s mouth, while The Joker threw his head back, laughing.
Harley then set the dress to the side so it was out of her reach, but as soon as she looked away, April pulled off her hat and was about to start chewing on that instead. The fact that Joker’s laughs grew even more, she quickly brought her attention back to the child to see why. “Oh no you don’t” Harley scolded lightly, as she snatched it out of her hands just as she was putting it in her mouth.
The Joker was practically lying down from laughing so much at this point. April’s eyes suddenly started to well up as she reached out for what her mother had just taken from her. That was until her father swiftly plopped his gift in front of her, once he was done laughing. The distraction definitely changed her intentions, as she immediately shut up.
“She must be teething, puddin”
“You think?” the Joker responded sarcastically as he then watched the infant attack the last gift, which had been done up in purple wrap. Inside was a homemade necklace using a silver chain, and had a small version of one of The Jokers Joker cards as a pendant. She looked at it for a second before waving it around like a lasso.
“That’s such a cute gift, puddin,” Harley awed. He glanced her way and ginned before he was suddenly pelted in the face with the necklace that had come flying through the air. He grunted in surprise before pulling his hand to his face, “What the-?”
Harley instantly snickered but again, tried her best to not show it. instead she looked down at April who had burst into hysterics from watching her dad get smacked with her new toy. She too then fell backwards from laughing, Harley then instantly moved to pull her into her lap.
“Ya know, you are so much like your daddy” She cooed down at her.
The Joker rubbed the area on his face before he grabbed the necklace and put it over the small child’s head. “For once, I didn’t intend to have this become a weapon, kiddo” he chuckled. “Or a chew toy” he added as he too stopped her from putting it in her mouth.
..........
Over the next few weeks, Joker and Harley had become increasingly busy. If having a one year old to look after wasn’t hard enough, they had discovered that someone had found the location of where they stash half of their stolen goods. This lead to The Joker going out every day instead of every other day, and Harley joining him more often as they needed all the help they could get when it came to this sort of dilemma. They weren’t sure who was to blame but they certainly knew that they had to make sure that nothing was stolen, and if it was, to get it back and wreak havoc in the process.
Ivy had found herself babysitting April a lot more often because of this. Before, she would only watch her every couple of weeks, but now it was a few a days a week. She wasn’t that surprised at this, as she knew that this would happen sooner or later. This was pretty much why their type didn’t have children; it’s all fun and games until something serious happens and it’s an ‘all hands on deck’ sort of thing. It was clear that the couple were stressed and tired, but Ivy didn’t have sympathy for them. She had sympathy for April. She had warmed up to Ivy more so than before, but she still hated seeing her parents less and less. It had started to take longer for Ivy to calm her down once they had gone, and she was constantly looking to the front door.
Harley tried to spend as much time as possible with her daughter, as she was mainly the one who cared for her. Joker however, was constantly doing something. Weather it was planning away in his study, commanding henchman or going out altogether. But he still helped out the best he could with April when Harley was busy doing her part of the job.
They had been hoping to avoid too much attention during this problem, but unfortunately things don’t always go as planned. The Joker went out one night with his henchman on a Job, while Harley stayed home with April. Ivy had had issues with some of her plants dying due to unknown causes, which is why she wasn’t able to babysit like usual.
Harley knew something was wrong when The Joker still hadn’t come home, even though it had already gone twelve. Her suspicions were soon confirmed when she checked the news, The Joker had been caught by Batman. Harley had stared at the TV screen is horror from what she had seen, and she instantly began to panic. She couldn’t exactly bust him out like normal, she didn’t have anyone to leave the baby with. The only thing she could think to do was wait for him to bust out himself, and kick his ass later for getting captured in the first place.
The next day, April seemed to notice that her father was missing. She kept looking around and making a lot of loud noises. She was also a lot more adventurous than normal, Harley couldn’t get her to stay in one place because she kept crawling off. It was as if she was looking for him. It broke her mother’s heart to see her like this, it really made her think about how much she must have been doing this when with Ivy.
Harley wasn’t use to looking after April on her own for this amount of time before, and considering the infants recent behaviour it was definitely proving difficult. April became more and more restless as each day past, constantly making unusual noises and wondering where The Joker was. Harley just hoped that he would be home soon.
It had now been a week since The Joker was home, and Harley was exhausted from caring for April by herself. Ivy was still having issues in her garden so she couldn’t even visit, no matter how much Harley begged. She was currently sat in the living room on a late afternoon. April was on the floor, chewing her teddy while her mother sluggishly folded washing on the sofa. This was one of the few occasions where April was quiet, she hadn’t exactly calmed down in the last week. She had actually gotten worse and cried more often, but luckily she was distracted at the moment. They both missed The Joker, Harley hadn’t even slept much because of it. She just kept reminding herself how lucky it was that she wasn’t with him at the time, otherwise they both would have been dragged back to Arkham. Ivy would not have liked that at all.
Harley was then suddenly pulled from her thoughts by the sound of the front door being opened. She instantly sprung from her place and dashed towards the sound, allowing the folded washing to fall carelessly to the floor. She poked her head out of the doorway just in time to see The Joker stroll in, He seemed slightly out of breath but he held a huge relived smile on his face.
“PUDDIN!” Harley shrieked with glee as she ran towards him, He almost lost his footing from the force of her hug.
He laughed aloud as he hugged her back lovingly before she looked up at him, and crashed her lips on his. “You didn’t even give me a chance to say ‘honey, I’m home’” he chuckled down at her once she pulled away. “Did you miss me, pumpkin?”
She didn’t answer; she just stepped away and proceeded to place both her hands firmly on her hips. “What the hell, Mistah J?!” she snapped, “I’ve been worried sick!”
“Hey, I got out as soon as I could” he defended quickly with his hands now on his own hips.
“Well not soon enough!” she countered.
Their convocation was soon interrupted by April quickly crawling into the room, making a series of high pitched gurgles and giggles on her way to The Joker. His face changed straight away at the site of her and he quickly crouched down with his arms open, before picking her up in a big hug. She continued to giggle as she clung to his clothing like a koala. “Well, it looks like someone missed me” he cooed before nuzzling the top of her head.
“Have you any idea of the hell you’ve put us through?!” Harley continued.
The Joker looked up at her and frowned, “What do you mean ‘us?’” he asked, “April doesn’t care that much if I’m not about”
She glared at his statement, “you just saw how happy she was to see you.”
“She always reacts that way when she sees us, even if we’ve only been gone a few minutes,” he retorted before handing April back to her mother and walking past towards his wooden chest in the living room.
April whined from the loss of contact, as Harley watched him move. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked angrily, almost surprised.
“This thing isn’t over Harley, I don’t have time to rest now” He responded in slight annoyance as he fumbled in the box.
Harley pulled her lips tight as she continued to glare at him, “I’m trying to have a discussion with you here. The reason why she’s like this is because we aren’t around as much as usual!”
“That isn’t my fault!” he told her sternly as he shoved items into his duffel bag. “Do you think I wanted this to happen?” he asked angrily as he stood up straight. Her expression didn’t change as she stood with an unhappy infant in her arms, “you know, this probably wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have her.”
Harley’s jaw instantly dropped as April grew restless from the raised voices, “So what are you saying?” She then spoke, “that you wish she was never born?”
“No! I’m just saying that, I'm just pointing out that we could have avoided this” he corrected as he walked into the hall.
“Oh so it’s her fault!?!”
The Joker groaned audible with his back turned as he stopped at the door, “Yes it’s her fault,” he rushed out “now let me leave!”
Harley just stood there speechless, with tears threatening to fall but she tried her best to hide them behind her anger. April saw what he was planning to do and instantly began to properly cry and reached for him, as she squirmed in her mother’s arms. She kept repeating the same noise over and over, the same noise she had been making all day. Harley said nothing; instead just watched as The Joker continued to head for the front door in shock that he was ignoring his daughters cry. It wasn’t until she finally cried out “Dada!” that everyone stopped.
Her father snapped his head to look at her, astonished as she proceeded to repeat the word as it got his attention. Harley was also now looking at her in surprise; she didn’t know whether to be happy that her child said her first word, or be upset considering the circumstances. The Joker smiled softly and looked at her pitifully for a moment, before finally sighing as he put his bag on the floor and walked over. Once she was in his arms, she quickly clutched his cloths again and cried into his shoulder.
As he held her close he couldn’t help but consider staying. He shifted his eyes around the room as he debated his options. If he didn’t go, more problems could rise. But truth be told he didn’t really want to, He was extremely tired from just busting out of Arkham and hot-wiring a car to get home. Not just that, this was the first time he’d been captured since Harley was pregnant. He found himself missing home more than he thought he would, and he realised how much April had affected him. So if he did stay because April wanted him to, it would prove he really is going soft on her, but he still couldn’t help but favour the option.
Harley could see how conflicted he was by the look on his face, she chose to just wait it out as this was probably a good sign as she stood with her hands now clasped In front of her.
The Joker then threw his head back and groaned in defeat, “fine, I’ll stay.” Harley’s eyes lit up with joy, “don’t say anything” The Joker added quickly as he walked past knowing she was about to respond. She followed him into the living room as he slumped down into his armchair with April still in his arms. He glanced down at her as she had immediately fallen asleep, before laying his head back against the head of the chair and shutting his own eyes contently. “What a strange life I live” he muttered sleepily.
He was so worn out he didn’t even notice Harley pulling out her phone and taking a photo of the adorable moment.