[gotham] i'm taking her home with me

[psychobabble]

Harleen Quinzel was born to a family that rapidly became a single father household after she joined it--her mother, suffering postpartum depression, slit her throat in the family bathroom.

Her father elected not to move, so that's the home Harleen grew up in--haunted first by her mother, and shortly after by Harleen as victim of her father's abuse. In her case, the sexual aspect was actually less damaging than the psychological breakdown and control her father imposed, which left Harleen locked in the state of a dependent, helpless child. She had no autonomy to speak of, only rote obedience: a good girl with good grades, good friends, and good extracurriculars, but no life of her own.

When she was fourteen, two things happened: the Joker struck Gotham, and Harleen fell in love.

A normal girl would have outgrown such an unhealthy infatuation in due time; some teenagers fixate on people they believe to be symbolic of rebellion, of their teenaged angst given form, and look back with embarrassment and shame on their youthful ignorance of consequences. Not Harleen. The Joker changed her, and not for the better. Chaos against order, violence against peace, madness against sanity--all of this made Harleen feel whole. She sent him fanmail, like many other disturbed individuals, but she sent it anonymously, only signed 'H'.

See, Harleen developed a plan. She wanted to be close to him. It was an all-consuming obsession that burned her through scolarships and psychiatric nursing programs, one that galvanized to fuck her professors when she couldn't overcome her depression enough to manage studying. Harleen wasn't stupid; she was just crippled by mental illness she refused to acknowledge as such.

Her intelligence was proven when she graduated and beat ever test of mental competency--she knew them inside out, she knew exactly what to say to get what she wanted, which was a job working with the highest profile inmates in Arkham as an intern. Especially the Joker. Their 'therapy sessions' soon twisted, because Harleen was so ready to twist. No one else wanted him, anyway, due to the high fatality rate for his doctors.

But not Harleen. (Harley Quinn, she told herself, and wasn't it just perfect? Wasn't it meant to be?) If he killed her, she considered it a good end.

When Bane took Gotham, the first thing Harleen did was unlock the Joker's cell.

And he left her.

And Harleen shattered.

Now, Harley Quinn tears as much havoc as she can manage over Gotham, trying to get the Joker's attention--he'll love her, she tells herself, if she does enough. If she proves herself. She just has to do better. His abandonment is a sign of love, isn't it? He's challenging her. So Harley will be chaos and death, so he'll see she deserves him, and everything will be all right.

In the meanwhile, Gotham will burn. She never loved it anyway.