Will You Be My Daddy? ~Joker Fanfiction~

Thirty-Five

Madeline woke up in a bed that wasn't hers for the second time. She was disoriented for a moment before she realized that she was back in the same room in Bruce Wayne's mansion. They really brought me back to the same place after Auntie Selina broke me out the first time? Rich people are dumb.

The girl sighed, sitting up in the bed and bringing her knees up to her chest. She rested her chin on her kneecaps as she replayed the scene from earlier in her head. The painful emotions that had erupted as a result of Joker's actions were still festering. Maddie just couldn't fathom why he had decided to abandon her, especially after all that they had been through together and all that they had done for each other. Did all of it mean nothing?

Somehow Madeline just couldn't accept that her daddy had left her just because she wouldn't kill for him. They'd gotten past that. He'd implied that he loved her, in his way. They were fine before the raid, so what had changed? It wasn't her. She was the same girl she'd always been. So what had changed with him?

The door creaked open, ending her contemplation as she turned her head towards the door. The old butler—Alfred—was peeping his head in. When he saw that she was up, he smiled warmly at her and opened the door wider.

"Hello there, miss. Glad to have you back," he greeted. "Would you care to come down for a spot of breakfast?"

Maddie reluctantly nodded her head and moved to slip out of the massive bed. She hadn't eaten anything since that morning at Selina and Ivy's. Ivy was very particular about what fruits and veggies she was allowed to eat, she'd noticed. Perhaps it was because some too closely resembled the plants she so valued.

"Will Master Wayne be joining us?" Madeline asked timidly.

"Perhaps later, miss. He's off dealing with some business at the moment," Alfred replied. "And you don't have to call him Master Wayne, miss. You could just call him Bruce or Mr. Wayne."

"But then why do you get to call him Master Wayne?" Maddie asked.

"Because I am his employee, so I show him respect," the old man explained gently. "You, however, are his ward, so you don't have to abide by such formalities."

"What's a ward? Isn't that the bump witches have on their noses?" She wondered. Alfred laughed at the unintentional malapropism.

"No, darling, that's a wart," he corrected. "A ward is a child without parents to take care of them, so they get taken care of by somebody else."

Madeline was about to protest and argue that she had a daddy when the words died on her lips as she remembered that she didn't anymore. Joker had left her. He wanted nothing to do with her.

"Okay then," she replied, now saddened by the reminder that she was totally alone.

"Why don't we head to the dining room for that breakfast?" Alfred suggested.

Madeline nodded, walking out the door past the butler and heading for the grand staircase. She quickly reached the top of the stairs, and like before, she faltered at the top step. Then she realized again that she was alone now, and being alone meant doing things for herself.

She confidently put her foot down on the top step and descended the staircase without any assistance from Alfred, who was following close behind her. The only help she had was the firm grip she had on the handrail. Maddie only had to wait a moment at the bottom before Alfred joined her and led the way to the dining room.

Presumably like every other part of the mansion, the dining room was fancy and elegant. Everything in it looked like it could be more valuable than Madeline's own life. It all just screamed expensive. It felt like the homeowner was trying too hard to convey their wealth as the most prominent and important thing in their life. The manor was a front, a cheap (or more like very expensive) falsehood. A distraction. An alibi.