Impossible Love

Chapter 6: A Manipulated Promise

She reached for Joker's face as the men slunk out of the room. "Oh, my God, Jack, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." She couldn't stop telling him how sorry she was, tears streaming down her face again. She put her face on his chest—his body once again strapped in the straitjacket—and listened for his heartbeat. It was faint, but it was there. She breathed a slight sigh of relief. She held the back of his head up with her hand and caressed the side of his face as his eyes tried to open.

"Hey, Doc," he said, attempting to show his metallic smile while his eyes opened in small slivers. "Nice of you to make... an appearance." His voice was quiet and raspy.

"Shhh, shhh... Don't try to talk, Jack," she said, using his real name again. "I'm here to help you. You're safe with me now."

As if he realized that he could finally relax, his eyes closed and the muscles in his body began to loosen. He let out a soft exhale.

She needed to get him out of there immediately and up to his cell. She ran to the hallway looking for the old red phones used to make emergency calls to the medical staff. She found one far down the hall and picked it up only to be confronted with static. "Hello? Can you hear me? This is Dr. Quinzel!"

"I'm having a... time... you... where..." the voice crackled on the other line.

"I'm in the sub-basement. Send two orderlies right away! Send Dr. Evans! Send the on-call doctor! Sub-basement!" she yelled into the phone as loudly as she could.

"Okay... orderlies... on-call doctor right now..." the voice said breaking up. Harleen hoped that her request worked. She could have moved the Joker on her own, but she wanted other people to see with their own eyes that this had happened.

Just a few minutes later, she heard a disturbance in the stairwell and several sets of steps rushing down.

"He's in here! Follow me!" Harleen shouted as two orderlies and Dr. Evans emerged into the dark hallway with flashlights.

Leading them back to the room, she explained that she found the guards torturing Joker with the electroshock machine. "I suspected this, but I didn't know, I swear! It was the god damn guards. I knew they were up to something. I think Edwards is in on it, too," she looked at Dr. Evans, tears welling in her eyes. She hated not being in control of her emotions in front of her co-workers, especially when she was supposed to be a professional psychologist.

Dr. Evans sighed heavily, "This could undo some of the headway we made in the past two days, but at least he is probably still feeling the effects of the muscle relaxants. All right, let's get him back upstairs. Do you want me to admit him again?" He turned to Harleen.

"No, let's get him in his cell. I want him out of his jacket. No shackles either. He'll need a few extra blankets. And an extra pillow, too," she requested.

Dr. Evans used his stethoscope to listen to his heart. "It's not real strong, Harleen. Are you sure you don't want to admit him?"

"No, Henry," she responded. "I think he would be more comfortable in his cell since it is familiar. But can you have someone grab an AED and get me some epinephrine just in case?" Harleen was intent on keeping him in his cell because she wanted to be alone with him.

"Sure, we can do that," Henry responded bobbing his head up and down, his big mustache covering the concern in his lips. "Let's get him out of here," he said to the orderlies, directing them to take the Joker up to his cell.

*****

Upstairs in Cell 16, the orderlies removed Joker's shackles and jacket before placing him gently on his bed with two pillows beneath his head under Harleen's watchful eye. Harleen helped spread out the blankets on top of him. The muscle relaxants given to him earlier in the day when he was in the infirmary had clearly had an effect on him and may have helped mitigate damage done by the electroshock machine as Dr. Evans had suggested.