Lisbeth looked over to Brandon, a shocked look on her face, as Jonny hurried out the door after J.
"He...he..." she stuttered not able to finish her thought.
"He set you free, my lady. You can be free, with no consequences from him." Brandon said in awe.
Lisbeth stood up slowly, hitting away the arm that Hatter tried to extend to help her. She walked over to the closet and pulled out a small overnight bag.
"Lisbeth, you can't leave now. You need rest. Stay a few more days...a month, maybe."
Lisbeth shook her head. "I need to leave now, Brandon." She said forcefully as she threw her few pictures and trinkets in a bag.
Brandon sighed and stood up. "You are determined to do this now?"
"Yes." She replied in a firm voice.
"What can I do to help then?"
She flashed him a small smile. "Can you grab my old clothes? They are in the back of the closet."
She smiled when he brought them back to her. It would feel nice to be back in her old comfy clothes she thought as she slid them on. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt a pang of sadness.
I miss Daddy's clothes. This is not me anymore.
She tried to shake the thoughts away as she finished packing her bag. She had to stop a few times to breath deeply through a pain surge somewhere in her battered body, but she kept going despite Hatter's anxious and disapproving looks he kept giving her.
"I will come with you my lady." Hatter said quietly.
Lisbeth shook her head sadly. "Not now, Brandon. Harley needs you here. There is something different about her. She is not as strong as she used to be." Lisbeth watched her best friend's body sag. "But we are going to be together again, I promise. Red Thread."
They put their arms around each other and stood like that for what felt like forever until Lisbeth finally pulled away. "I have to go now."
She turned and walked through the door, Hatter trailing behind her. She gripped onto the bannister and gingerly started walking down. The pain got to her when she was almost to the bottom. She felt her legs give out and she tumbled down the last few steps. Hatter quickly ran down to her.
"Are you all right my lady?"
She was trying to stand up when her and Hatter heard slow footsteps on the stairs behind them.
"What is going on here?" They heard an icy voice say.
Lisbeth glanced behind her, fear in her eyes as she caught the cold face of J staring down at her. Then Jonny's worried face appeared.
"Are you okay, my lady?"
"She seems fine enough to leave." J snapped back to Jonny.
He stalked down the stairs, shoving Hatter out of the way and bending down so his face was inches from Lisbeth's.
"So anxious to leave me, that you couldn't even wait an hour after I gave you your freedom to leave me!" He growled at her. He saw her eyes glaze over and he felt her mind go somewhere far away.
She pulled away from him screaming. "Please...please...please don't hurt me again. Please just kill me."
Joker's face changed; the anger disappeared and all that remained was sadness. He fell back on the bottom step, his head in his hands.
"What the fuck have I done?" He muttered to himself over and over.
He saw Hatter stand up to go to Lisbeth, but he quickly stood up himself and put a hand out to stop the goon. He walked over to Lisbeth and picked her up in his arms. The more she fought and screamed and bit at him, the tighter he held her. He kept whispering in her ear. "It's me, Daddy; you are safe little one."
He held her tightly in the entryway until he felt the fight leave her and her body melt into his. He then carried her into the sitting room, and sat down in his large armchair, cradling her in his arms.
Lisbeth heard him whisper something but couldn't catch it.
"What, Daddy?" She said in a weak voice.
"I don't want you to leave."
Lisbeth felt herself break into tears as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I don't want to either...but I have to."
He looked in her eyes with the most vulnerable expression that Lisbeth had ever seen on his face. "Maybe you can learn to love me again."
Lisbeth pulled back in surprise. "Is that what you think? That I don't love you; that I hate you?"
J nodded. "I let that bastard get you. I let him destroy you. And then I couldn't even be the one to rescue you."
Lisbeth stared at him, her own eyes locked on his sadness-filled ones. "You think that is why I screamed when you tried to touch me? That I hate you??"
Before J could react, Lisbeth had pulled out of his arms and angrily got to the ground. "Ok then! The truth?" She yelled. "Right now it is hard to let anyone touch me; I just keep thinking of that sadistic fuck!" She quickly took off her flannel shirt holding out her arms.
"Look, Daddy! Look at this!!! This is why I thought you wanted me to leave; why I was so eager to leave. Look how destroyed I am."
J winced looking at all the bruises, cuts and burns on her arms.
She then threw off her hat, revealing her bloody bald patches. Next came her shirt and pants until her whole battered body was on display.
"This is why I was leaving! I am not your little doll anymore. I am never going to be again! I am ugly and broken!!" Tears started pouring
down her face. "Not only on the outside, Daddy! The surgery?? It was to stop the bleeding inside me from him raping me. I will never have children. He broke me inside too! Here!" She pointed to her stomach. "And here." She said a little more quietly, pointing to her head."
J seemed to break out of his daze at that. He stood up and walked slowly over towards her, taking her face gently in his hands.
"Do I look like the kind of man that needs children-that wants children, running around his house?"
He brought his lips to her forehead. "The rest of it; the rest of the damage, we can handle together." He brought his mouth to her ear. "Let me help you. Let me put you back together."
Those words were what she needed to hear. She broke down in sobs, letting J engulf her in his arms. He quickly scooped her up, pushing past Hatter and Jonny to bring her up the stairs, where he shut them up in Lisbeth's room.
Jonny patted his brother's shoulder and silently walked into the kitchen. Hatter let out a big sigh and leaned against the wall, his eyes shut.
No one heard the other blonde girl of the house quietly leave the dark corner of the hallway where she had been secretly listening. No one heard Harley shut herself back in her room, lay down on her bed with her hands around her stomach and cry herself to sleep.