DC Comics novels--Harley Quinn by Paul Dini

Author:Paul Dini
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan

* * *

Harleen was worried.

Not biting-her-nails, thin-edge-of-hysteria worried but a constant hum of anxiety at the back of her mind, like an almost-headache. And not because everything wasn’t going well, but because it was.

After a month and a half, the Joker had gone from the Mad Clown Prince of Crime with a death wish for Batman to a man tentatively finding his way out of a psychotic fog.

Dr. Leland was so impressed with what Harleen had accomplished just with talking therapy that she had done what she said she wasn’t going to do—she had transferred all Harleen’s other patients to other staff members, bringing in part-time help as needed. There was enough room in the budget for anyone who didn’t require vacation time, sick time, health insurance, or any of the other benefits of full-time employment.

But Dr. Leland also made Harleen promise to speak up if the Joker’s therapy became overwhelming.

“While I can’t deny you’re accomplishing something that no one else has,” Dr. Leland said at a lunchtime meeting in her office, “I still have some reservations. Just because the Joker is benefiting from this concentrated therapy of yours—”

“Concentrated, full-immersion therapy,” Harleen corrected her between bites of the corned beef, pastrami, and capocollo hero sandwich she’d brought from home. The cafeteria food was, like all cafeteria food, uninspiring, except for the pudding cups, which she’d heard were a form of currency among the inmates.

Dr. Leland nodded. “Just because the Joker benefits from your concentrated, full-immersion therapy doesn’t mean it’s doing you any good. I don’t think you’ve considered how this is affecting you.”

“I’m fine,” Harleen assured her. “Better than fine—I’m super. Knowing a therapy program I developed is having a real effect on a hard-core criminal everyone else believed was hopeless—Dr. Leland, if there’s a better feeling than knowing you’re helping someone by doing the very thing you love to do, I don’t know what it is. You know what they say—if you can find what you’re most passionate about, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Dr. Leland gave a short laugh. “They say a lot of things, don’t they? Sometimes they’re even right. But sometimes they oversimplify things just to be pithy. Loving your work doesn’t mean it isn’t work. You loved gymnastics, didn’t you?”

“I still do,” Harleen said. “I get to the gym whenever I can. At least three times a week.” Which wasn’t actually true; the Joker’s therapy had cut into her workout time. But her boss didn’t need to know that.

“Well, good for you,” Dr. Leland was saying. “But it’s still a physical effort, isn’t it? And if you overdid it, you’d hurt yourself. You can even hurt yourself when you don’t overdo it. And certainly you must get bored with it sometimes—you’re not always in the mood for tumbling or cartwheels?”

Harleen’s nod was reluctant. “The Joker’s treatment doesn’t require that kind of physical effort from either of us. And I have yet to pull a muscle just from sitting and listening to my patient.”

Dr. Leland laughed again.

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