You wanna know what I think?

Chapter 13

A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, etc. It makes me so happy to know that people actually like my version of the Joker. Some of you, in your last reviews, actually hit close on target with things that he has said in chapters previous.

Okay, I have no idea how this one is going to go over... It made me happy writing it, I just hope it pleases you too.

Thanks to Ripley10 for her hard work. :)

Chapter 13

Jane picked at a loose thread on the sheet that covered her. She had listened carefully to the doctor who had spoken to her, minutely describing everything left in Jane's system from the toxin. Some of it they had been unable to identify, and because of that she had to remain in the hospital until all her test came back clean. It meant regular blood tests and observation to make sure no damage resulting from the drugs.

She was lucky. They kept telling her that. She was lucky that so far none of the toxin had done any lasting damage, and to Jane's eternal relief, they had also told her that she had been unharmed in any other way. The cigarette burn and bruise on cheek were the only physical injury she'd suffered. The relief was overwhelming. It was like she was released from some dark prison of torment, but it was quickly followed by anxiety at the enormity of her errors.

Which Ron was currently making sure she understood completely.

"Are you listening to me?" he asked her quietly from where he was sat on a chair by the bed.

"Yes," she replied, but she didn't look at him, just concentrated on the thread.

"What were you thinking?" he sighed. "He's a monster, Jane, don't you realize this?"

"He's never done anything but look after me," she replied quietly.

"Well, he didn't exactly look after you with Crane, did he?" Ron said softly and watched her closely.

She frowned and tugged at the thread a little harder. "What do you mean?"

"If you'd come forward, told me, let me protect you properly, Crane would never have caught you. The Joker was too busy blowing up City Hall to protect you. He didn't seem to care about you much then, did he?"

"He came for me," she whispered and watched as the end of her finger turned bright red and cold from the circulation being cut off. She waited until the tingling started and then uncurled the thread, just to restart the process all over again.

"He fit it in between jobs. Jane, he doesn't love you, he can't love you."

"Am I under arrest?" she asked him, ignoring his last statement. Although she knew he was right, she wouldn't allow herself to think about it.

"I'm afraid you will be. As soon as the docs here give the all-clear and you can leave."

"And then?" She winced as she pulled the thread too tight.

"You'll go to trial and they'll order some sort of psychiatric evaluation. Then from there it will go back to the courts."

"Full circle, wouldn't you say?" She looked up at him and he had the grace to look away. "I'll be sent to Arkham, for what? What exactly have I done? Fed him when 'the law' was trying to torture him? Or perhaps it's for letting him keep me alive long enough to go to that kangaroo court and set Crane free."

"Jane, how much do you know about his plans?" he ignored her outburst and tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair.

"Plans? What plans?" she snorted, and then shook her head, sighing slightly. "I don't know anything about what he does. I never asked. I never wanted to know and he never wanted me to know. I was completely separate from what he did and the one time it merged, in the bank, he was not happy about it."