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A neutral card	By : WhitePaint Category: zMisplaced Stories [ADMIN use only] > Batman (All Movies) > Batman (All Movies) Views: 1549 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-A neutral card
- 2-part 2
- 1
- 2
Okay, guys, so after years of lurking around this site I finally found the obsession I have been waiting for to write a story about. It�s, as hundreds of fangirls will understand, the Joker. No surprise, really. This story is going to be pretty long in the end, that�s a promise. I always finish my stories. And yeah, there is an OC involved here. I declare that I am aware of the ever-threatening Mary-Sue danger and therefore try to make her not like one.

Anything else? Oh yes, this is settled in the movie�s universe. I promise you that the Joker�s going to turn up in the next chapter and that there will be no fluff in here. Not that I dislike fluff, but� erm� did I say that this is about the Joker?
I�m going to add some warnings later, but until now, it�s just a bit of angst.
So, now I�m wishing you lots of fun reading this. Would be nice if you�d leave me a teensy bit of a review if you like it or have constructive critic. Btw, I should stop talking. Enjoy!

********************************

A knock. Lisa sighed. It was eleven in the evening and she had hoped for a little quiet time at least until the next morning. She was way too tired to deal with a visitor now; the coffee in front of her was the fourth cup in two hours. And still files, files and � well, files in front of her that had to be done until eight am.

�Whoever it is, stay fuckin out! I�m trying to work in here!�

That was certainly no way to raise her popularity among colleagues, but at least it was the truth. Even though Henry had told her a thousand times that she should try to be more polite to her subordinates, sometimes she just didn�t have the nerve for it. Especially in nights like this. Maybe she should just quit the coffee. It seemed to make her aggressive.

�I fully understand, but can I have a quick word with you, Mrs. Gedden? It is urgent.�

She knew the voice from somewhere, but she couldn�t place it right now. Happened when people tried to speak through closed doors. Lisa sighed audibly to make sure the person would hear it and hopefully not steal more of her time than necessary.

�Get in already.�

The glass door opened and in came someone she couldn�t place under �subordinate� by any definition of the word. With a quick movement, she hid the cigarette she had just lit behind her back. One of these head-meets-desk decisions. He sure would not recognize that the room stank as if it had been scene of a very recent explosion. Not to mention the ashtray with about two packages of cigarette stubs in it. Goddamn it.

Lisa leaned back in her office chair. Whatever. He had agreed with her promotion, so he had to deal with the consequences.

�Good evening, commissioner. What can I do for you?�

Gordon looked as tired as she felt. He had been a glutton for work ever since Lisa had met him, but through the last weeks it had assumed alarming proportions. The wrinkles on his face had gotten noticably deeper and his skin looked slightly grey, as if it hadn�t seen the sun for months. The search for Batman couldn�t be easy, as well as cleaning up behind Gotham�s prettily painted crime queen. He really looked as if he could need a good night�s sleep for a change. Lisa was about to offer him to lie down on the couch she had placed in her office after her promotion, fully aware that she would probably spend more nights here than at home, but before she could bring out a word, he surprised her with a slight smile.

�I see you�re getting comfortable in here, doctor. I didn�t really expect you to be still in your office at that time, but I thought I�d try.�

Lisa shrugged. She was thankful that he didn�t greet her like Henry, telling her how awful she looked before anything else. She knew that her shoulder-long black hair looked as if it needed a wash and that her skin was probably in everything but a good condition because of all the cigarettes. She had had her reasons not putting up a mirror in here. But as long as all of the men working in this office were allowed to look awful, she�d take that freedom too. Just a matter of principle.

Gordon looked around, his eyes measuring the chaotic room stuffed with case files and books that she called her office.

�Lots of work?�

Now, that was a funny one. Even a blind man could have guessed, considering that he�d stumble over a pile of paper before even making his first step. Lisa threw her hair back and decided to try to be charming. At least something on her needed look professional.

�Well, you leave me no choice with all the mentally instable guys you put behind bars lately. You should try to stop arresting people for at least one day. Would give me the chance to save my marriage.�

The old Jim Gordon would have given some kind of dry, sarcastic response, because he knew very well how much she loved her work behind all her complaints, but this exhausted version just gave her a tired, apologizing smile. Lords, that guy really needed a vacation badly.

�I�m sorry, doctor. I�m afraid I came to bring you more work.�

He held up a case file he had been carrying with him. Lisa sighed and this time she meant it. That thing was really bulky.

�Could you leave it here, please? First I�ll have to finish the McKanley case, the trial is tomorrow morning at nine. Give me a few hours afterwards and I�ll give you a first assessment in return. What about lunch tomorrow?�

He hesitated and she resisted the urge to kick her paper bin. It had enough holes already. She should have known that if the commissioner himself took the time to come bring her a file it could be no easy case.

�If you need it at your desk tomorrow morning, then I can call one of my assistants to come and go through it.�

Gordon frowned at her words and she decided to give humour another try.

�Don�t worry, they hate me already. It�s not as if you�re going to damage my reputation.�

This, finally, raised an honest smile from his face. He took the paper from the chair in front of her desk, placed it on the ground and took a seat.

�Actually, considering the given case, I was hoping you would give me a few minutes right now.�

He handed her the folder and leaned back to wait.

Lisa couldn�t even hold it in one hand. It was heavy, filled with hundreds of printed sheets and, considering the dog-ears in lots of them, no fresh copy, but a used one. Great. A top-secret case. She turned the first page around to look at the name printed there.

It was not that she hadn�t expected it, but actually reading the words standing there caused a sickening feeling in her stomach and her to shut the file resolutely.

She raised her view to look Gordon in the eyes.

�You�ve got to be kidding me, commissioner. I�m drowning in work here and you�re giving me the Joker?!�

He returned her indignant glance with calm authority.

�This would be prority, of course. If you decide to take it, I would make sure that the DA distributes your other cases among your colleagues.�

Lisa closed her eyes and the messy room in front of her disappeared into darkness for the first time since two days. She was glad that this office had huge windows. At least this way she could still remember the meaning of the word �sunlight�, a thing she would probably forget about if she threw another glance at the pile of papers in front of her. Her job was a lot of work, yes, and she had been prepared for it. But this was an entirely different league. The Joker. That guy she had unflatteringly referred to as the �flaming crossdresser� with her colleagues at lunch, before the situation had gone completely out of control. The guy that had set half of Gotham on fire. Goddamnit, the Joker.

Since he had been put behind bars she had pitied the poor bastards that would have to work therapeutically with him in Arkham, where he would end up without a doubt. She had expected that noone would even think of a serious psychological appraisal. Well, she had also always known that optimism would be punished.

Lisa opened the file again. There was a picture of him, looking exactly like she had seen him on the news, smeared paint all across his face, the hair green and greasy and that fucking devilish smile he must have used when he had kidnapped� She couldn�t think of it. She only knew that she would never make jokes about that man again.

And above the picture these two words. The Joker. Damnit, that guy didn�t even have a name! How in the world would she be able to find out if he could be held responsible for what he had done?

Lisa looked at Gordon again, who was still sitting in front of her, waiting patiently. She breathed in deeply.

�Commissioner, this is useless. You�ll never get through with it.�

He kept looking at her and she realized that he was serious. The thought of the trust he wanted to set in her made her dizzy.

�Jim, that guy is a complete nutcase! Everyone knows that! Everyone�s seen
him, everyone�s heard him. He is a freakin� megalomaniac without any touch to the world and no judge will ever hold him fully responsible!�

She realized that she had adressed him by his first name, a thing she hadn�t done since� that incident. She didn�t want to think about it, but she had to bring it up.

�Besides, no judge will accept me as an appraiser in this case. Rachel was a good friend of mine and that�s by far enough to get classified as biased. His defender will shred me!�

Gordon bowed forward and examined her face closely before he answered.

�Mrs. Gedden, I know very well that you and Miss Dawes were friends. And the judge will know too, that�s right. But there is noone in this town who is entirely unbiased in this case. Every other psychological appraiser in this building knew or was friends with someone for whose death the Joker is responsible.�

�Is that a guess or did you actually check?�

What a question. Sure he had checked before he had come here. And if the ever-busy Jim Gordon had put on the time to do that, than this case was more than important. Still, it was a huge coincidence. She had never even guessed that so many people had died. Maybe because everyone else but Rachel was a nameless face in her mind.

�Please answer me a question, commissioner. Why me? We have about twenty good psychologists here and most of them have far more experience than I do. Harvey Dent agreed to my promotion just four months ago and I didn�t have a really huge case until now. So why do you want me to do this?�

Gordon smiled slightly at her words and then grew serious again.

�I wouldn�t say so. You handled Dr. Crane remarkably well.�

�And that makes me what? Specialist for the super-psychopaths?�

She shut the case file once again, this time decided to decline this once and for all. She had just remembered the fact that there was a guy waiting for her to come home since three days. Who had spend hours and hours talking to her when she had been handling Crane, trying to distract her from the fucking mind games the doctor liked to play. She cleared her throat to speak clearly.

�Gordon, it may not look like it, but I have a life out there. I do my job, try to judge as neutrally as possible and then I go home. I don�t want any of my cases in my head when I close the door behind me. I�ve had enough problems leaving Crane behind and he didn�t kill one of my friends. �

The police commissioner nodded understandingly.

�If you really don�t want to do this, then I cannot force you. In every other situation the DA would insist, but this is something different. I won�t give this case to anyone who doesn�t feel able to handle it. But for several reasons, you were my first choice. Your parol in the Crane case was excellent and amazingly convincing, even though not to my liking.�

Lisa felt her cheeks growing hot.

�I�m sorry. I did what I thought was right. I knew you wanted him in prison, but I am still sure that the guy is better off somewhere psychologists can have an eye on him.�

�So am I.�

Lisa looked at the commissioner with utter surprise.

�When you handed me the case file, you said to me that I should make sure this guy didn�t end up in Arkham, didn�t you?�

Gordon stayed calm. That�s what she liked about him. The temper she couldn�t display in front of the people she questioned often broke out in privacy or in the near surroundings of her office. She had heard a lot of people questioning that she could be a good psychologist with those uncontrolled outbursts, but the truth was that she knew very well when to allow herself to vent her spleens on someone. Gordon was like a rock. Since their first meeting she had felt no necessity to hold back in his presence. He had seen her working with defendants and knew about her qualities. Like now, when he leaned back and watched her patiently.

�Actually, Mrs. Gedden, and I think I can tell you know, this was a little test, with Mr. Dents approval of course. It�s common practice with new appraisers. I was quite sure that Dr. Crane belonged in the insane asylum and the judge was too, so I thought I�d give you a little hint in the other direction and see if you�d do everything to keep the officials satisfied so shortly after promotion or if you would do the job the state has given to you.�

�Well, I guess I passed that one.�

Lisa�s words were dry. She had had a couple of sleepless nights over what to do and if she wanted to risk loosing her new beloved job so soon. Obviously this had been for nothing.

�So, you trust me and that is why you�re giving me this case? Maybe you should rather search for someone who bows to your assessment. I told you, I think this guy is a nutcase. If this opinion doesn�t change I won�t tell otherwise in the courtroom.�

Gordon nodded.

�You have been in here a very short time, Mrs. Gedden. All the other appraisers have stains on their white vests, situations in which they gave statements that rather sounded as if it was what the police or the DA wanted them to say. Not always their mistakes, but it comes with decades in this job. You haven�t. The judges still trust you to be neutral, especially after your amazing performance in Dr. Crane�s trial. What�s most important: Judge Deacon trusts you and he�s going to chair the trial. Therefore, I want you.�

Now the bin had a new hole. Lisa couldn�t believe what he was saying. It upset her that obviously her youth was more of a reason than her abilities, but she calmed herself down with the thought that Gordon would have never come to her had he found her less qualified than anyone else. She took up the file gain and looked at it.

�I guess your preference is to have him behind bars?�

Gordon cleared his throat.

�He will be behind bars anyway. That�s the most important thing.�

�Then why don�t you want him in Arkham? Wouldn�t it be better to just let him rot in a padded cell? With the necessary psychological treatment?�

Gordon looked at his watch as if he wanted to calculate how much time he still had. When he looked up again, a bitter expression had taken hold of his face.

�He will be in a single cell anyway. But we�ll have much more control over who has access to him when we don�t give away the responsibility for him to psychiatrists. And I believe that the ones who are responsible for what they�re doing should be treated that way.�

She leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. Something had happened in his encounters with the Joker, something that had changed him. This wasn�t the Jim Gordon she had got to know through the last one and a half years, this was a man who was still determined to fight crimes, but with an edge of bitterness to him, as if deep inside of himself he had come to the conclusion that his fight was useless.

�Do you think he�s responsible, Commissioner? That he�s just playing mad?�

He didn�t break their eye contact.

�Have you ever met the Joker, Mrs. Gedden?�

�I was lucky enough not to. But Henry told me a couple of things about the time he was locked away in your department.�

That was a slight understatement. Henry Gedden, her husband since four years, had worked under Jim Gordon while he had been in charge for his unit. For the last two months there hadn�t been a day he hadn�t talked about the search for the Joker.

Gordon nodded and then looked around as if he wanted to measure up her little room.

�Well, to come back to your question, I am fully convinced that he�s mad in some kind of way. But I am also convinced that he is responsible for what he�s doing.�

�That doesn�t correspond very well in criminal justice, Sir.�

�You�ll understand.� He hesitated a second, as if he was not sure about what he was going to say. And that was the short moment she caught a glimpse of what was burning inside of him. There was regret, deep regret, a thing he blamed himself for. Something connected to this case, a reason he wanted to see the Joker in a real prison instead of an insane asylum. He had reasons he wouldn�t tell her, but they were enough to convince him that this mass murderer who acted like the most freaked out person in the world, was indeed sane enough to be blamed for what he had done. Whatever it was. She�d probably never know. Maybe it had something to do with Rachel�s death.

Lisa and her had met a couple of years ago, Rachel had started working as a state attorney, delegating the cases to the appraisers at the same time Lisa had started working as an assisstant there. They had been almost the same age, two young women with the same goals and they had grown close over the time. Rachel had climbed up the ladder fast and two years ago on one of their weekly lunches, she had introduced Lisa to Jim Gordon, for whom she had immediately developed respect. She couldn�t tell why. It was just that he was so�decent. She had met a lot of cops before, but never someone who worked with so much belief in what he did, so much strength, so much commitment. He was his job.

And he had been the one to inform her of Rachel�s death, the first and only time he had called her Lisa. It had been unbelievable for her. Henry and she had been dining with Rachel and Harvey Dent just one month before, her friend had been laughing and showing all the signs that she had finally found the perfect guy for herself. It was the last time Lisa had seen her before that time had started, but just a couple of days before her death, they had had a quick talk in the court. Rachel had breathlessly told her that everything was upside down in the office and that she would call as soon as things were getting back to normal.

Two days later, Jim Gordon had entered her office, handed her new files as if that was a reason a newly appointed police commissioner would pay a psychological appraiser a visit and then told her calmly, but with undenieable hurt in his voice that Rachel Dawes was dead, killed by the Joker. He hadn�t been allowed to give her more details, but he had stayed long enough to calm her down with his presence. It had been the first time she had seen cracks in his shell, but it had not been comparable to his situation now. If his current state had anything to do with the Joker and if she could help him by taking his case, than she would do it.

It had been a long silence. Gordon hadn�t interrupted her thoughts, obviously guessing what they were about. Now he spoke again.

�Another thing, Mrs. Gedden. I didn�t want to tell you this, but I think it would be negligent not to. I chose you to work on this case because you have strong attachments.�

Now, that was unexpected. To break the upcoming uncomfortable silence, Lisa smirked, even if she didn�t feel like it.

�You mean the husband you didn�t give me time to see for the last three weeks?�

Gordon stayed almost alarmingly serious.

�What I want to say is that the Joker has a very strong presence. I�m not telling you that because I want to influence your judgement of him. I simply want you to be prepared for that. He�s a master when it comes to playing with minds.�

She smiled to calm down her upcoming nervousness.

�So am I. What a coincidence.�

Gordon looked back at her and then stood up.

�I assume you�re taking the case?�

She raised from her chair to shake his hand.

�What else could I do after you made me so curious? Will you send me a copy of the file tomorrow? I assume I can�t keep the original.�

She handed him the folder and was again surprised how heavy it was. Great. That was a way to keep work off. Just take another case when you�re already overloaded.

�I need a couple of appointments with him. It would not surprise me if it would take me a while to get him talking, so better make it eight, one hour each. How much time until the trial?�

He took the pile of papers and put it away into is bag.
Then he lifted it up and turned to her again.

�Three weeks. And, to be honest, I would be surprised if it took you more than one hour to get him talking. But I think you�ll need considerably more to get anything useful out of him. Just let me know, I�ll ask the DA to make the necessary arrangements.�

He headed for the door when her voice stopped him again.

�Did you find the place he was living in?�

Gordon turned around and she could see the approving look on his face.

�If you can call it like that. One of his followers led us to the place they were living in for the last two weeks before we caught him. It was an old warehouse. We barred it as a crime scene.�

�I want to see the place before I talk to him. Can you arrange that?�

He nodded.

�Sure. Is tomorrow afternoon alright?�

That would give her the chance to sleep glorious six hours. It was like a dream coming true.

�If you keep your promise and delegate all of my other cases I will be there.�

Gordon opened the door.

�Certainly. I�ll send you a message where and when.�

He paused.

�I wish you good luck, doctor.�

Lisa smiled.

�And I wish you a good night. Pronounciation on wish, Sir. You�ll never find that bat if you cannot keep your eyes open in the dark.�

And there it was again. She was enough of a psychologist to see that the mentioning of Batman caused an expression of bitterness to appear on his face before he closed the door behind him.

Lisa sat at her desk motionlessly for a few minutes after Jim gordon had left the room. What had she gotten herself into here? She had just agreed to spend a considerable amount of the next three weeks to get inside the head of the most notorious criminal Gotham had faced in a decade. And considering that this city was not exactly famous for its peaceful atmosphere, that was no small achievement.

Lisa knew that she had to call her husband. He wouldn�t be too excited. Well, that should win her the price for understatement of the century. He would hate it. In moments like this, she missed being single and being able to make her decisions without taking Henry�s opinion into account. She hadn�t given this a thought when she had promised Gordon to take the case and now she would have to give an account on herself.

She took the cellphone out of her jacket�s pocket and threw a quick glance at the watch. Almost midnight. Henry would probably still be awake, waiting for her to come home. Even if she hadn�t just agreed to take a new case she would have to call him to tell him that she was alright and that he should go to sleep. Henry would understand. He was a policeman and he knew very well how stressresistent and flexible one had to be in their business. With this thought, she dialed the number she knew by heart since five years.

The phone rang a couple of times and she was already about to hang up to not wake Henry in case he had already gone to bed. But then, after the sixth ring a sleepy voice answered her.

�Gedden?�

She had to smile involuntarily. They had loved to make a little game out of their phone calls the first months after their marriage, but this was not the time. She cleared her throat.

�Hey, it�s Lisa.�

�Who?�

She smirked. That was just like him. He wasn�t capeable of the smallest logical connections when one woke him too early.

�It�s Mrs. Gedden. Remember? Your wife.�

�I have a wife?�

Now she understood where he was heading. Henry wasn�t tired. That was just his way to show her that he was a little pissed. He didn�t yell at her, he never did, but he liked to mock her in situations like that. Lisa moaned.

�Idiot.�

She heard Henry�s voice again, not the slightest bit sleepy now, just with an amused tone. He knew that his message had gotten across.

�Sorry, sometimes it�s hard to remember. Can you tell me when she�s going to come home?�
She wished nothing more than being able to tell him that she was headed for her car and about to be back in their flat in half an hour. She missed his presence and she knew that he did vice versa. And she really wasn�t able to deal with marriage problems these days. She couldn�t afford a distraction like that. Henry knew that just as well and it was the only reason he didn�t bother her more.

�Listen, this is serious. Your former boss just walked in and guess what he did?�

�Giving you the week off for your fabulous work, I hope.�

She smirked. He had worked under Gordon for three years and knew just as well as she did that he expected his workaholic attitude from everyone else around him.

�Jim Gordon giving me the week off. What sounds wrong about that sentence?�

She heard him sighing.

�Okay, who did he give you this time to evaluate? Satan?�

�Close.�

That comment was followed by a very uncomfortable silence at the other side of the phone. She knew that he was thinking about all the guys that had been arrested through the last weeks and about who of them deserved such a definition. She knew that he had come to the right conclusion when she heard him breathing in deeply.

�He didn�t seriously give you the Joker, did he?�

�More or less so.�

Another long silence. Lisa could almost hear the thoughts going through his mind. His next words, spoken in a sharp tone, surprised her nevertheless.

�Liz, I want you to decline that case. That guy is trouble. Really, genuine trouble.�

She hated it when he spoke to in that tone. Hated it. It made her feel as if he was assuming that she couldn�t make her own, rational devisions. Yes, he was about ten years older than her, but this was no reason to treat her like a child. For this reason her next words reflected the impoliteness of his voice.

�How in the world did you make that sharp observation, Henry? Maybe because he blew the Gotham General up? Guess what? I saw that too. There was some kind of short notice on the news, remember?�

She heard him moving at the other end of line, as if he sat up from laying. Maybe he had already been in bed.

�Lizzie, I�m serious. I�ve seen that guy. He stayed in our department for four days and believe me, he is a raving lunatic. He drove our men there so crazy that we had to post guards for the guys that were watching over him. In the end there was noone who wouldn�t have given everything he owns to just shut his fucking mouth up.�

She knew it would make him angry, but she couldn�t suppress a smirk.

�Should make my job a lot easier. I�m getting paid to talk to people, y�know?�

�Decline it. I�m serious about this. This freak makes people mad.�

As if she didn�t know that. As if she wasn�t one of Gothams officially appointed appraisers. As if she wasn�t a fucking psychologist. What did he think had she done through her studies? Lying in a coma?

Lisa breathed in deeply to give him the answer matching her thoughts, but the immediate change in his voice when he spoke his next words made her change her mind.

�I don�t want that to happen to my wife.�

He was worried. Lisa always forgot about how nervous it made him that she spent considerable amounts of her work talking to the worst criminals of Gotham. If he hadn�t reminded her of this fact from time to time she had almost forgotten about it by now. It seemed so normal, so usual after all this time. She had never been a person haunted by self-doubts or someone who could be easily distracted from what was important to her. Therefore, she had always felt safe doing her job. Murderers were sitting in front of her all the time, manipulative, stubborn or threatening, but in handcuffs. And from the moment she entered the interrogation rooms she had learned to put up a barrier in front of her mind. They couldn�t reach her with what they were saying. She was used to hear discriminating words from them about her being a woman, a latino, a state employee or even just the person she was. But she couldn�t make Henry understand this, no matter how often she tried to explain it to him. So she decided to end this discussion, but a little smoother than she had originally planned.

�Henry, I took the case and I�m not going to let Jim down. If you want to discuss my reasons, than we have to do it later. I�m still working on McKanley.�

He answered her almost pleading.

�Liz, I want you to come home. I haven�t seen you in three days and this needs a discussion.�

�I�m sorry.�

She was, and she hoped it would get across to him. Ever since she had taken this job, things had been difficult, but never as difficult as now.

�Really, I�m sorry, but we knew what that promotion would mean for us. Things are going to get better once these whole trials are through.�

Speaking of Harvey Dents left 547 trials harshly reminded her that she had about 321 of them still laying on her desk. She had to get back to work.

�Lizzie, you know I am not like that because I don�t want you to be successful. I�m very proud of you and I don�t begrudge you this huge case. That�s not it.�

�I know.�

Lisa really knew. She would have never married a man who wouldn�t have supported her carreer in every possible way. She was ambitious and she had never bothered to deny it. Maybe, she had to admit listening to the quiet voice inside of herself, this had played into the decision to take this case. Henry knew her just too well and that was exactly the reason he tried to talk her out of it.

�It�s just that you haven�t met this guy. Once you�ve taken up that case you won�t be able to put it down. And believe me, you�ll want to.�

Lisa sighed.

�I�ll live, Henry. I didn�t pass my final exams by letting murdering sociopaths into my head.�

�Neither did I. And still he got to me.�

Now she was getting impatient. They had had this discussion before, about Dr. Crane. The fact was that he was just a policeman, a good one, yes, but he hadn�t had to go through six years of studies.

�You�re not a psychologist, Henry. You haven�t been educated six years to keep your distance. That�s what it�s all about. I�m talking to people with sick minds on a professional basis. I knew what this job was about when I took it.�

�That�s what Harvey Dent said at our little dinner, remember? It didn�t help him much.�

Now, that was unfair. Henry was the cop. He was the one walking around with loaded guns at work.

�When it comes to Harvey, you have a better chance of dying like him than I do. Your unit chased after the Joker, what kind of feelings do you think I had when I sat in our living room waiting for you to come home alive?�

She tried to ease up the tense situation a little bit.

�In comparison to you cops my job�s a piece of cake. I�m just going to sit in front of him, trying to have a conversation while he�s wearing a pair of plushy, safe handcuffs. It�s not as if I�m going to have knife-throwing competitions with him.�

Obviously it worked. She heard a smile in his words.

�Better that way. You suck at knife-throwing.�

For a moment she hoped that their discussion was over now, but his voice quickly grew serious again.

�But, Liz, you know that this is not the point.�

She was unnerved. More so, she was unnerved, overworked, hadn�t slept in three days and didn�t have the time for this.

�I�m not going to treat him therapeutically, goddamnit! I�m not responsible for his mental health, I�m responsible to find out if there�s anything inside of him that deserves these words! And don�t you think I am enough of a big girl to have a few hours talk with a defendant, even if it is a mass murderer, without getting entirely mentally corrupted and starting to kill random people afterwards?�

She paused.

�Just in case that�s where you were heading.�

She heard Henry sigh at he other end. He had a day of hard work behind him too, she remembered and regretted her accusation immediately.

�This is no use, Liz. I don�t want to fight with you at twelve a�clock in the night.�

She smirked involuntarily.

�Alright. I know you prefer twelve o�clock in the noon.�

�We�ll meet tomorrow, okay? I�m home at around eight and you try to come along as soon as you can.�

He always ended her arguments with words like this, but she knew that this wasn�t over yet. When she�d finally found the time to come home he would want to discuss this again. Gods, she had to go home. She had almost forgotten what he looked like.

�I�ll give my best. Sleep well.�

�I wish I could say the same to you. Love you, Lizzie.�

The way he said these words always made her melt. He never wasted them, they were always spoken them in a tone that didn�t leave any doubt they were true.

�Love you too. Goodbye�
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A neutral card