"I met Micaiah's mother, when I went and got Nathaniel - and I knew he needed getting, though I haven't spoken to their father," says Angela. "Did he tell you about Nathaniel? Do you have one?"

"Sweetie here's the only one of us with a sibling," he says, kissing Micaiah's temple. "And he got out way early, compared to the rest of us. Me, I was with 'em till I was fifteen."

Angela winces.

"Yeah," he says. "So. I burned the house down and ran for it, and spent a while on the streets, stealing and whoring and generally getting into trouble. Your Micaiah knows what that's like," he hugs him again, "but he had a much nicer time of it than I did."

"Well - I knew about the stealing but - whoring? Literally? Micaiah?" Literal whoring's legal in Jordana but not in Bethel or Gaza, at the moment. It's not reputable in any province.

"A few times," he shrugs.

"...In Jordana?" she asks hopefully.

"Oh, is that where it's legal?" he asks. "I dunno, does it matter?"

"It's legal in Jordana and not in the other two provinces. It doesn't matter very much. Although - political reasons, always politics - if you ever want to take it up again can you ask me to fly you to Breven or wherever, first, so I'll know where you are and you won't be arrested? We're going to get married, we're going to have a baby, you reflect on me - I don't want to be confining but I will need to deal with a lot of people who care about a lot of things."

"Yeah, that's fine," he says. "I probably won't, anyway, it wasn't that much fun."

"Okay." She leans over to kiss his temple, then looks expectantly at the Joker again.

"I got raped," he says quietly. "It wasn't pretty. Wasn't the last time, either."

Angela's eyes water slightly. She reaches for Micaiah's hand.

Micaiah wraps his hand around hers and squeezes.

"I'm sorry," says Angela, rubbing at one of her eyes.

"You're a sweetheart," he says with a gentle smile. "It's okay. I'm okay."

"It's not okay that it happened, even if you're fine now," says Angela, crying softly.

Micaiah gets up and hugs her.

She hugs him back tight. "Did that ever happen to you?" she asks fiercely. "You're not so closely parallel - but -"

"No," he says. "I think I'm the only one of me it hasn't."

"Only one I've met," the Joker agrees.

Angela cradles Micaiah in her arms and lets tears fall into his hair.

He curls up in her lap and snuggles her.

Eventually she relaxes and composes herself and lets him go.

"I love you," he says, kissing her forehead.