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.. I'M A GOOD PERSON, YOU KNOW
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There's a moment of comfortable silence between Edward and Harley before he opens his mouth to ask a question he's had since she told him about her crazy plan. There are a number of questions he has, truly, but this one is the one he wants the answer to the most.
"Why," he asks her from his spot in the passenger seat of his shiny Volvo. "Why are you.. saving these animals..?"
Her blue orbs flicker over to him for a split second before returning to the road, the loud sound of dogs panting and cats meowing behind her filling her ears. "I just," she starts, speaking slowly, "found it really sad, you know? To see them in their tiny, little cages an' stuff.. I know what it feels like, and, luckily, I was saved. So I thought I'd do the same for them. Maybe it'll help balance my karma or something.."
The car is silent as Edward thinks about her response.
".. I'm a good person, you know," she says suddenly, looking over at him after stopping behind a line of cars as the deck of a bridge goes up in front of them. "Is that so hard to believe?"
He smiles a smile that makes her insides turn. "Not at all.."
And she smiles back. "Plus, maybe this good li'l deed will put me back in Santa's good list," she laughs, though she sounds completely serious.
He shares her laughter, though it quickly flattens once he notices how serious she is about her statement. "You don't.. actually believe in Santa Clause, do you, Harleen?"
She just smiles at him and shrugs. "Why wouldn't I..? I know he's real, and so is his little workshop. I think it's, like, this massive building thousands of feet above the North Pole, held in the air like.. like a castle on a cloud made of magnetic waves and children's dreams"
He silently stares at her as she continues to describe her idea of Santa Clause's workshop. Her thought of it sound beautiful to him. If only it were true.. Once she finishes telling him how she thinks the magical workshop is real, he can't help but let out a laugh, and she does too.
After a few minutes, their laughter slowly simmers down, their different-colored eyes glued to one another. They catch their bodies leaning into each other, an invisible but powerful force inching them together. They get closer and closer.. so close to meeting their burning desires.
Gotham's well-known jester closes her beautiful, blue eyes and moves her small hand over his stone cheeks, their lips connecting. A little part of her always knew this would happen and that things would always turn out this way. Ever since she saw him in Belle Reve, cold and cornered up into her cage, she just knew. She takes a moment to calm herself; with her luck, she would accidentally ruin the kiss and his self-control.
But Edward feels confident in this.
He gently takes her face in his icy hands and continues to kiss her, forcing down the real desire he feels with her; to claim her. He uses only half of his energy with Harley, anymore than that can hurt her. His arms drop to her knees, then snake themselves around her torso, pulling her closer to him.
His actions are the cause of Harley's reminder to breathe. Their shared kiss has literally left her breathless, but she doesn't care and decides to ignore her human needs. Edward is her only necessity right now. Her tattooed fingers move to his auburn hair, pulling his face closer to hers as the sun shines into the window and heats up her skin; more specifically, the "Joker 4 Ever" tattoo on her middle finger. She opens a single eye once feeling the hot sun and smiles against his lips. She's going to have to change that. She sinks back into the kiss, feeling him move his hands down to her waist.
And as they're about to deepen the kiss, they feel something wet slide up the sides of their faces. So they pull away from the steamy kiss and look over to find the rescued Australian Shepard panting in the backseat with the other cats and dogs. He barks and nods at something in front of them. They turn, seeing that the bridge is starting to go back down. Edward and Harleen look at one another and erupt into a fit of laughter.
"Edward," she whispers after a moment of laughter, her tone soft and quiet, something he's never heard.
"Yes, Harleen," he answers back, adjusting a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
"I really liked that," she giggles, her unnaturally ghost-white face now flushed.
She is sweating, the heat of the kiss getting to her, and she knows it would've only gotten worse if their activity progressed. She feels the warmth in her cheeks and her breathing is a bit off, but she likes it.
She feels alive.
He smiles at her, and it seems like his smile the only thing that is pulling her back to earth. "I really liked that too," he responds softly.
For the rest of the day, Harley and him are seen giving out the rescued pets to the people of Forks; friends they've met in town, some of Harley's co-workers from the circus, homeless men and women whom are in desperate need of company, and her boss, Mr. Bobbinsky, and his large, Russian family. More than half of the animals have been adopted, though the other half haven't.. And they need a home, so Harleen will provide.
Edward and her are now back home, walking up the stairs as a herd of cats, dogs and birds excitedly follow them up and into the upstair's hallway. Edward is holding onto a one-year-old, golden retriever with an injured leg, smiling at the blonde as she leads the way. He's never been in this side of house. Whenever he used to visit, he'd either enter through Bella's bedroom window or through the front door and stop at the living room, as demanded by Charlie Swan.
"How did'ya manage to herd the cats," Harley asks out of nowhere, genuinely interested in how he managed to collect the runaway cats.
He chuckles and nods. "Nepeta cataria."
Her face wrinkles into a silly expression, and he laughs out loud. "Nepeta - wha," she asks, her confusion evident.
"Catnip," he answers simply, smiling down at her.
She forms a small "o" shape with her mouth. Then, another question rings through her mind. "And the birds?"
"Panicum mili -"
The blond throws her arms up in fake exasperation. "Aw, forget it!"
Edward laughs at her silly reaction, the both of them stopping in front of her bedroom door. Luckily, neither Bella or Charlie have returned home. He would offer to take in some of the animals, but that probably wouldn't work out so well with a house full of blood-sucking vampires. He watches as she places her hand on the doorknob and turns it, about to head on inside. "The smaller animals should be on the top floor. It would be a bad idea to bring all the dogs up there," he glances at a clearly blind dog being guided by the helpful Australian Shepard. "They look ravenous."
She nods her head in understanding. "I'll stick 'em here in my room. It's mostly quiet."
"What about Bella," he asks.
"She's bound to find out," she laughs and shrugs her shoulders before opening her bedroom door.
Instantly, before either of them could step a foot inside, all of the animals come rushing inside, almost knocking them over. They're all quick to spot something sitting on Harley Quinn's bed, it's Bernie, the beaver. They hop up on the bed and pounce on the poor guy, thinking he's food.
"Oh, my God," Harleen is heard gasping loudly, horrified by the sight of her pet beaver being mauled by a dozen ravenous animals. "Bernie!"
"Let me go," Bernie, the stuffed beaver, demands, though his owner is the only one who can listen to his cries. "Let go, you filthy mongrels!"
Harleen runs up to Bernie and is about to remove him off the bed, but quickly stops. She's afraid the animals will attack her if she takes their "food" away from them. So, instead, she makes a lowering gesture with her hands. "Sit! Stay! Heel!"
The hungry cats and dogs ignore her and continue to chew on her dead beaver.
Hopeless, she looks over her shoulder and at Edward with fright and horror in her eyes. "Eddie, help! The dogs are devouring my beaver," she cries out. "Whatta we do? We gotta get Bernie outta there!"
Edward is calm, his lips formed into a tight smile. "Harleen, that's a stuffed, dead beaver. There's nothing to worry abou —"
"Edward, he's my best friend! Whadda we —"
Harley's cry out for help is then cut off by a loud bark coming from the foot of the bed. Edward and her turn their heads to find the gorgeous Australian Shepard barking at the hungry animals. And just like that, the herd of cats and dogs back down into submission and scurry away from the beaver.
".. do," Harley quietly continues her sentence, a small laugh escaping her lips before she turns to Edward with a shy smile.
His cold hands reach for hers, and they interlock, his smile the cause for her heart skipping. His beautiful, golden orbs travel from her hands to her face, his other hand moving to place a soft strand of blue and blonde hair behind her pale ear. "Merry Christmas, Harley."
Harley brings their interlocked hands up to her face, her lips planting a kiss on his thumb. "Merry Christmas, Mr. B-Man," she whispers, gazing into his hypnotizing eyes.
Together, they stand like this for a good minute before they hear the sound of the downstair's door opening. The sound is followed by Bella's voice calling out to the blond. Edward and Harleen stare at one another, drinking each other in before he pulls away from her and quietly makes his way to the window.
Harley watches him as he looks back at her and whispers a soft, "I'll be back tonight," before jumping out the window and landing on his feet. She stays silent, not knowing what to do next. It isn't until she feels a breeze blowing her hair away from her face that she turns to find Bella looking at her with horror.
.. She didn't see him, did she?
"Harley," she starts, her eyes the size of planet Earth. "Where the hell did these animals come from?!"
Later on that night, hours after they ate dinner, opened Christmas presents and listened to Charlie Swan freak out about the hoard of animals Harleen had brought into his home, Harley walks into her bedroom to find her cousin sitting on her bed with a small Dachshund dog laying comfortably on her lap. There are different-sized cats and dogs laying about the room, some on the beds, others nuzzled on the computer chair, another group laying on top of a bookshelf.
It's a complete mess.
The blond releases a sigh and makes her way to Isabella's bed, gently pushing away the animals so she can sit next to her cousin. She can feel Bella's suspicious eyes on her as she covers herself with the blanket and rests her head on her shoulder.
"I feel bad," she starts off with another sigh, feeling awfully guilty about the kiss. She hasn't been able to stop thinking about it.
A small knit forms in between Bella's eyebrows as she looks down at her cousin. "What's wrong?"
Harley slowly brings her head up to look at her, a pool of guilt consuming her entire soul and being. "Oh, Pud'.. You know how I went out today an' passed around all the animals..?"
Bella nods her head, and she releases another sigh.
"Well I wasn't alone. Edward went with me.. and - and I kissed him," she continues in a whisper. And it's official.. The bandage has been ripped off. She can't bring himself to look at her cousin's face, so she keeps her head down. "I'm sorry, Bellsies.. I totally broke girl code."
She fully expects Bella to be upset with her and scream at her, but instead.. she feels two arms wrap around her shoulders into an embrace. She's afraid she'll ruin this moment, so she stays still and quiet..
There's a moment of silence, before Bella responds to Harleen's confession. "Do you remember prom?"
She can only nod her head, her face buried into Bella's shoulder.
"Well, that night.. I did something bad, too," the brunette confesses to her cousin. "After Jake came and Edward left, we were dancing.. and we kissed. Alice had seen us, and she promised to stay quiet about it as long as I told Edward. And I did.. That's why he left the night of my birthday and also why he hasn't talked to me since then. I still call him.. and he answers, but he quickly hangs up. I've tried to apologize, but he won't hear me out. There are times when I miss him, you know.. but it's not the same whenever I'm around Jake. Ever since prom night, it was like he became the only thing I could think about. I've never felt that way about anyone, Harley.. And it's kind of scary."
Harley finally looks up at her, lightened by the smile on Bella's face. "Does he know how you feel?"
Bella looks down at her and laughs quietly, her head bobbing up and down into a quiet 'yes.' "He said that I'm not alone and that he felt that too."
"Oh, pud.." Harleen whispers softly. She carefully takes her hand and tenderly holds it, releasing a long sigh as she places her head on her shoulder.
Everything is finally out in the air, and they have finally made peace with themselves..
Alice was right. Things are changing.
FIN