Harley Quinn~Crazy in love

Chapter 1- Work never ends

As the morning light streamed through my curtains and onto my bed, I could not help but grimace, burrow back down under the covers and wish that I could enjoy a few more precious hours of sleep. It was always the same nightmare that kept me up half the night and I had tried so many times distract myself from it. I'd say it was just a dream and it couldn't hurt me,but every time it awoke me I knew going back to sleep was hopeless. The nightmare had been on my mind for months now, ever since I was employed at Arkham it had been bouncing round my brain until my sleep deprivation made me feel like one of my own patients and that I was infact going somewhat crazy. It never occurred to me to talk to someone about it, after all it was just some stupid nightmare right? An illusion that made me feel on edge but overall could not do me any harm at all, with being a doctor I could not afford to spend so much time pondering bout the effects this illusion was having on me. My patients were the one's needing help,not me, I could cope just fine on my own... but I do wish I could at least sleep for more than 4 or 5 hours. Slowly I untangled the duvet from my body then stared at the ceiling for several minutes so my eyes could adjust to the daylight. The alarm was going to go off soon I could just tell; that screeching sound which detached me from my thoughts and gave me some willpower to get up and go have a shower then get dressed for work. I was rather enjoying my new life at Arkham, it was an unusual routine filled with violence and quite a few gruesome images but for some reason I was quite content working there. Every one of my patients fascinated me it was almost a shame they had to be cured;all the stories they told and facial expressions were like watching a movie come to life before my eyes. There had not been a time in this job where I had thought of how dull and boring it was, for me it was a dream come true to even be working along side all them other respected doctors! Just before the alarm went off on my phone I instantly reached over and cancelled it, I was always awake before it even went off there was really no point in setting it but it was just a force of habit I guess. I made my way towards the shower with a few small arm stretches, letting my eyes wander over to all the newspaper clippings which hung on my notice board that I had had since I was kid. My family use to think I was crazy for doing it, especially my sister who would sometimes even rip up the clippings for spite. I wouldn't even have done anything wrong,she would just do it without knowing how much it hurt me.One by one my fingers traced over the crumpled edges as I reread the stories again like I did most mornings, the board contained all the newspaper articles I had been interested in over the years and in the middle was an article with my picture right in the middle that said "DR. Harleen Quinzel- the golden haired girl with a golden plan for Arkham Asylum" as the caption. It was the first article I had ever been in and to be honest I was glad the newspaper only had positive things to stay about me, unlike others who had not been so kind to me. It reminded me of why I was at Arkham and how exciting it was to have such an opportunity to help the mastermind criminals and stop them from doing wrong, like I was some batman but in a lab coat. Surrounding that main article were one's involving other villains and their crazy schemes from the past, some I had treated and some I wish I could... that joker had been running mad round Gotham for years and we can't just rely on batman to save the day each time. I reckon if I had perhaps even one hour with him I could change him, the man needed to be reasoned with and the doctors need to realise that they could not treat him like a freak and feed him medicine all the time; that would never get him to talk and open up! The next time he ends up in arkham I just hope they make me his doctor, there would be plenty more positive articles about me that's for sure. Whilst I showered I daydreamed bout the possibility of me being his doctor and me actually curing him, all my research would have paid off and I would probably get enough money to retire in the future! The press would go wild I would be practically an idol in Gotham, front page news on every newspaper... maybe even Bruce Wayne the billionaire would give me some praise and buy me a nice fancy meal. Then again Mr. Wayne barely knows how to spell his own name I doubt he would even understand what I had done and all the hard work I had put into it. He was just like all the other men in Gotham; smart, arrogant and probably a secret psychopath. Once I stepped out the shower I did my make up and tied my blonde hair up into a bun so it did not cover my face. I then threw on my white shirt and smart black jeans that had hung on my chair (I was too lazy to actually hang them up) and took one final look at my reflection in the mirror as I pulled on my coat. With my glasses on and my lab coat I looked like a real doctor, someone showing intellect and hope to the people which is ideally what I wanted to look like even if deep down I knew it wasn't me. Maybe the nightmare was... no no it was just an illusion I need to keep reminding myself this. I hastily grabbed the keys from the bowl in the hallway and locked up my apartment before starting my stroll to work and easily catching up with Dr. Joan Leland who I had spotted walking further ahead of me. She lived only a few blocks away and was a colleague of mine who I was quite fond of, she was nice and always had a calm head on her which often made me feel more at ease then before. "Morning Harleen! You seem quite eager this morning" she grinned at me, running a hand through her dark hair and swapping her briefcase to her other hand so she could pull my arm to slow me down. I smiled easily back at her and slowed my pace down to match her own stride. "I just wanted to catch up with you Joan! Besides the early bird gets the worm" she shakes her head at me laughing. "Crazy girl. You won't be saying that in a few months time. With all these cut backs at arkham there won't even be a cup of coffee to keep you so active, it's such a shame it was once such a proud building if only the inmates weren't so... demanding. Especially your plant girl" I gave her a suspicious look as we reached the building and scan both our passes to get in, the security guard gives us a cheery hello and I wave back carelessly, more thinking bout what she had just said. "Ivy is a lovely girl she just... cares deeply bout the environment. Besides she is making great progress and that is all that matters isn't it?" I ask her and she nods opening her office door and leaning against the frame. "I suppose it is, the less of the freaks we have here the better. When do you next have her?"

"I have her this morning actually, but I need to visit Dr. Alyce first she wanted to speak with me." Her eyebrows raise slightly at the mention of Jeremiah Arkham's second in command, the two of them never had seen eye to eye. "if this is about cutting our crappy coffee you better give her hell" and with that she closes her door leaving me to giggle in the corridor until I decided it was best to go find Alyce. She wasn't a woman who enjoyed being kept waiting and when she spoke to me on the phone last night she sounded urgent. I was extremely curious bout what she had told me, it was vague and left me completely clueless as to what she told me. I hope she is not firing me, I do love this job and everybody here I couldn't bare to give it up. Arkham is my home now, people may see me as a workaholic but to me my work never ended. I didn't want it to end. I stopped by at my office to pick up some files and notice there's a reminder on my desk to go to her office immediately, she seems really desperate to talk to me she even broke into my office to leave me the message. I hope she hasn't noticed how bare it is, I just haven't had time to add some personal touches and my work just appears to be covering everything! I pick up the note and shove it in the top of my pocket feeling more curious than before.What on earth did she want to talk to me about?