Chapter Text
Harley Quinn stood against the wall of the cracked bathroom, staring in shock at the dreaded white stick that had just revealed news that would change her life forever. She had speculated this for a while, but just couldn’t find the nerve to see whether or not it was true. Not to mention she had a sick and dying Joker to look after, she just didn’t have the time.
She had seen him do some pretty reckless antics over the years, but she didn’t think he would go as far to inject himself with homemade, mutated titan toxin. The immediate effects didn’t kill him, neither did the transformation back to his old self. The after effects however, were killing him and fast.
It was a very hectic few weeks from that point on, trying to hunt down a cure and in the end forcing Batman to help, along with her starting to feel ill herself, with unusual symptoms no less. But the important thing is at least The Joker did get better, Nobody was sure if he was actually going to make it by the toll it was having on his body. He went straight back to doing his usual thing after that as if nothing had happened, while Harley faced her current fear of diagnosing her own problem.
She continued to blink down at the object, hoping the results would change. But unfortunately they remained the same, even after almost ten minutes had past. She wasn’t sure if this was what she wanted, a few years ago maybe, but now was a different story. She was more aware of the dangers of their lifestyle then before, and it made her views on wanting a family with The Joker less appealing. She knew that she wasn’t going to reach some epiphany right now as she has a staring contest with the inanimate object, so she took in a deep breath, chucked the stick in the small bin behind the door and left to properly think about it.
She spent a good few days deciding what to do, she wanted to weigh all her options. She quickly realised that the options revolved around one key element, whether or not she should tell The Joker. He was more than likely to dislike the idea of keeping it, even Harley wasn’t a big fan of the idea herself as she didn’t want to raise a child in their environment. Her next option is to get rid of it without telling The Joker, or tell The Joker and have him tell her to get rid of it. That was the more realistic set of options, but she wasn’t sure if she could actually do such a thing even under influence. The third option was adoption, The Joker probably wouldn’t see a point in that one so she knew he would favour the previous choices. The problem was that this seemed like her best bet, she even had a sister she could give it to, she couldn’t have children of her own after all.
She eventually reached a verdict; she would go and stay with her family, have the baby and let it be raised by her sister. The only thing she had left to consider was should she tell The Joker, or let him live blissfully unaware that he has a child. She was torn, she knew it would be wrong to not tell him, but on the other hand perhaps it would be for the better. His anger issues would be dangerous around a baby, as they are not for those with a thin patience. That and his intense obsession with Batman would prevent him from giving a child The attention it needs, if he had to choose between the two it’s obvious which one he would pick.
In the end she chose to keep him out of it, it was a very panicked decision that should probably be given more time, but she felt like she didn’t have long to dwell on what to do in case he got suspicious. One morning she hastily packed a large suitcase full of everything she felt that she needed, with shaking hands at the end of her and Jokers bed. Her heart was racing with adrenaline by the time she was done, and she had to try and compose herself before going in to see The Joker. She at least knew it would be best to tell him that she was going.
When she peered into his dark, dimly lit study, he was scribbling away at his desk like usual.
“Mr J?” she lightly called as she carefully approached.
“What do you want?” he responded quickly without looking up from task,
“I need to go visit my family for a while” she admitted as calmly as she could once at his desk. When he didn’t acknowledge this, she cautiously moved around next to him, leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the cheek, “I’ll see you when I get back.”
The Joker mealy grunted in response. She sighed to herself dismally as she straightened back up and headed for the door, giving him one last glance when she reached the exit, just to see if he’d looked up, but nothing.
....
“Harley!” The Joker bellowed later on that day as he searched the cluttered kitchen for food, “where is that girl?” he grumbled angrily when he was met with silence. He had a brief look around for her after not finding anything to eat, while continuing to call her name but the entire funhouse was quite. He stood near the main entrance, puzzled and in thought until Rocco, his right hand man happened to walk in to pass through.
“Rocco!” he shouted, startling the henchman. “Have you seen Harley?”
“Harley?” he repeated in confusion, “She left this morning in some kind of hurry, along with a suitcase.”
The Joker squinted his eyes as he looked to the side, “Oh yeah, she did mention something about leaving this morning” he recollected. He finally shrugged to himself before turning and marching off in the direction of his room.
He was now in the bathroom, searching for his hair products. He hadn’t got round to gelling his hair back that morning because he had come up with a new plan in his sleep, and had to quickly write it all down before he forgot it. He usually kept it either by the sink or on the shelf next to the severely scratched mirror, but it wasn’t in either of those places. He growled under his breath knowing that Harley had probably moved it. It was then that he spotted the familiar bottle in his reflection behind him, standing in plain sight on top of the wall mounted cabinet. He huffed at it when he turned around as if it was mocking him, before proceeding to grab it. Unfortunately he knocked off his hair mousse in doing so, which fell directly into the bin below with a thud.
He narrowed his eyes at the bin which hadn’t yet been emptied. “You have got to be kidding me” he mumbled angrily, “first she just up and leaves out of the blue without getting shopping, and now she hasn’t even emptied the bin.” He dumped the gel back on the sink where it belongs before crouching down to look for his rouge product. After fishing it out, he turned his nose up at the sight of a bunch of clumped up, wet tissue that had attached itself to it, along with a long white stick. At first glance it appeared to be some sort of toothbrush as he carefully peeled it away from the tissue, but after further inspection that is not what it was at all and his eyes grew wide. He dropped the tissue and mousse back into the bin carelessly with his eyes still glued to the test and stood up.
“Oh Harley” he breathed with disappointment as he continued to stare. He was very much aware that this thing was no doubt the reason for Harley’s sudden need to leave, and it was obvious that she was trying to keep it from him. He couldn’t believe she could be so dumb, thinking she can hide such a thing from him. He leaned his body against the cold sink with a sigh and kept reading the results over and over, until he came to a realisation. Not only did it inform him that she was expecting his offspring, but it also told him that she was nine weeks into it. He furrowed his brow with a half-smile, “This could be interesting.”