I could not find any oneshots or stories to explore Pamela Isley before and during "House and Garden", one of the best TAS eps of her yet, and one I remember vividly from childhood that I didn't see for years but encountered again when I was 18, and that was almost six years ago. Paul Dini himself even said it was one of the best, given it was an attempt to explore Ivy after she supposedly turns a new leaf, marries her doctor and acknowledges his two children as her own since she is unable to have her own. Unfortunately, it could not match up to her own standards that she had to make a family her own way. But we all know the dream never lasts. :'( Who can forget the end of the episode in which we see her looking over memories as well as the one of her "wedding"?
I own nothing, not even the song which is the theme of the hit drama "Outlander" and sung by Kathryn Jones, and which became this story's title.
The first moment she was placed back into Arkham, she was told she was given a new psychiatrist to her case. She rolled her eyes; Dr. Mills had been the last one poisoned by her attempts last time that a new one was assigned to her now, but she knew who this one was long before she was brought back for the hundredth time.
Steven Carlyle.
He was a decent gentleman, but that did not mean she let herself be swayed by his looks and charm, or his belief that she could be cured this time. Why should she? There was nothing in Gotham worth living for, and nothing that the flesh-sacs would ever understand; her plants were her family and her children, so they were all she would live for. Carlyle himself could not possibly understand that.
However, as time went on, she began to see more than she did before. He was a professor of criminal psychology at Gotham State, divorced and had two children, both girls; their names were Chris and Kelly, but he hadn't seen either of them for a few years now. His ex-wife had custody of them both in Chicago. Seeing the photograph on his desk as well as the happiness on his face in both the former wedding photograph and the whole family portrait made Ivy want to smile, almost...but it was also at that moment she realized something very important that she had been missing in her life.
Even before she became a career eco-terrorist, she'd never thought about marrying and having children, and that was still before her professor betrayed her and took that part of her humanity away, as a price to pay for her natural immunity to all poisons and viruses. Since then, all that mattered were the plants that needed her more than ever. And then Harley came along, becoming the first and only real human friend she ever had, with the exception of her inability to leave the insane Joker.
"My family," Carlyle told her when he held up the latter portrait. "Have you ever wanted children, Pamela?"
No one ever asked her that question for a long time, not even Harley. It was then and there that Pamela Isley truly realized if there was a way to get out of this place once and for all, it had to be means of legally declared sane and by fooling the doctors and courts, but it begged the question as to how.
And the answer was sitting right in front of her.
"I used to think so, Doctor," she answered. "I never imagined getting married and having little ones, but since you asked me now, I'm afraid my...hyper-immune system has made the latter impossible."
"Oh, it's a shame. But, perhaps if we can get you going in the right direction again, maybe we can do something about that."
Pamela Isley wanted nothing more than to sneer again at him that he would know nothing about her needs and wants other than what was already in her arrest records and files, everything about her experiments...but looking into his eyes, she saw he was extremely honest and trustworthy of her, had several years of experience to have the confidence, and her notion was set in stone from there on.
"I do want to leave, Doctor," she said, smiling then, as sincerely as she could manage.
He laughed. "Please, Pamela, you can call me Steven."
"Steven." To say his name was not as bad as she thought, but that did not mean much of anything else, as much as she wanted it to. He was the first one to really understand her. It made it that much easier.
She had to get her hands on her pheromones and lipstick soon if she wanted to get to work again.
A few more months went by, and things progressed between her and Steven in their sessions. Yet in spite of her scheming, Pamela found that she was attracted to Steven - in a way - as well, but that did not mean she would change her plans of kissing him against his will. This had to be carefully laid, and one wrong move meant she would be betraying the trust established.
"Pamela, you've done very well these last few months," he told her one day with another genuine smile. "Another two or three months to go, and I'll draw up the papers." She smiled to him and to herself; things were looking up, but she wasn't sure if another two or three months would be enough. Her patience was drawing to an end as it was. Pamela stood from her chair and began to walk around the desk, taking him by surprise altogether. "Pamela, what are you doing?"
She laughed lightly. "Would a little kiss to say thank you be too much to ask?" she purred, crawling into his lap. Her lips tingled with the barely seen lipstick, ready to meet with the other's and take him into her hold. He would not be able to resist her, as other men before her. This one particular balm was not poisoned like many of her others, just enough to send him into a spellbound daze and irresistible to anything she would ask.
Her lips touched his before he could answer her.
Done deed.
As it turned out, the papers drawn up took place a month later, but as the effects of the pheromones wore off, she'd have to apply a new set once in awhile to keep him chained until the time came. Ivy thought long and hard over this, deciding that if she wanted a family, she'd have to do this her way if not naturally so like other women. But it would also cost a lot of money, which would not be easy. And it wouldn't be easy to keep Steven under her influence; her lipstick and potions could only do so much, and by the time she was away from Arkham, away from the brick walls and glass windows - and away from Batman. But it wasn't like she wouldn't be prepared, just in case.
And speaking of the matter with Steven...
"What did you DO to me?" he demanded when he came to, weeks later and after all the needed necessities for her experiments were acquired, since she lacked the personal funding of her own. If the law or the Batman could figure out it was her, then it had to be poor Steven to get them for her by legal and secretive means. "Pamela, you said -"
"I know what I said, dear Steven," she answered coyly as they were downstairs in the basement, beneath the greenhouse. The door was built beneath a bed of flowers and oranges, which no one would ever look at twice. Her precious former therapist was strapped down to the table and half-undressed as she began to draw blood and skin tissue samples. "I said I wanted to rejoin society well, and I am. But I regret that I won't live like the other women as I should; you know that well from our sessions."
"You tricked me!" he shouted, thrashing against his bindings. "I should have known you said it too easily!"
Pamela laughed. "Steven, honey, maybe you are right: you should have known better, but it was your compassion that let it get the best of you. I meant every word that I wanted to be loved, wanted to be happy - but I had to do it my way. Who could be better to help me than you? You finalized my release and helped supply everything I needed for this. But to create a family is not all I intend to do with your DNA - it is yourself and your family I intend to replicate so that no one asks questions about my living."
He glared at her with fire, lips pulling back. "You leave my family out of this," he hissed. She snorted and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"Oh, I won't drag them all the way from Chicago, if that's what you mean. I merely intend to make plant copies of them - and of you as well. If you would just stay still and keep quiet like a good boy so this doesn't hurt..."
But as it turned out, unlike his realistic replica, she couldn't do the same to the children, Chris and Kelly; instead, they both turned out to be boys, but it was not like everyone knew Dr. Carlyle had two girls. He didn't talk to everyone about his shattered personal life. It gave Ivy the opportunity to have the family she dreamt about without having to ever meet the exes. This new "Steven" would head back to Arkham tomorrow and hide the family portraits from his desk just to be safe.
The family was completed in a matter of a couple more weeks, choosing to stay quiet for now before it was made public that she and "Steven" were officially getting married.
To look at the ring around her finger was nothing she ever imagined possible; it was a square halo framed with rounds blinking brighter than stars, and an unbelievable classic. Pamela could not help but feel she was on cloud nine, having almost gotten lost in her fantasy that she nearly lost track of the reality that was her makeshift family - her new husband and soon-to-be stepsons of her creation. When the day came, it wasn't an overtly grand affair but a simple, intimate church wedding in which the altar was set with two wreaths on either side, both gentle and pure white set with roses, lilies, carnations and greenery. The bride herself was in white, demure and sophisticated with a gentle swooping neckline, three-quarter sleeves and a bodice of lace, her waist brought in with a satin sash, and the skirt itself was soft and flowing organza. Her long red hair was curled and pulled over to one side, set with white roses. The pictures taken made the papers anyways, but as it turned out, the Batman himself had not kept in touch, thinking she was still in Arkham where he thought she belonged.
When Pamela looked at the photograph she placed over the fireplace, it was as if a weight had lifted, and she knew she was free. There did come a time when a woman wanted more in her life - as she told Batman and Commissioner Gordon when they came to her home three months after the wedding.
To finally be called "Mommy" was a blessing, from both sides of her makeshift family.
Her other "children" looked not at all different from male Chris and Kelly, who made her melt as much as natural mothers would at their children - they were not entirely human, or even close, given their lifespans were not at all different from certain rare flowers which lived for only a few days at most. First, it was a child of average appearance, but hours later it got older and looked more like Carlyle - but in its third and final stage, it was a monstrosity that would make the other person faint from fright, complete with deadly claws and a venomous system that was nothing like the other toxins in existence; even if it was, then a cure would either not be found in time, or wouldn't be discovered at all, marking the victim as unlucky.
Her darlings were perfect to acquire the funds she needed, and who better candidates than wealthy single bachelors? The toxin left in their system were enough to catch the Batman's attention, but her façade had to be intact when he came to her house with the commissioner in tow. Her "husband" had defended her, obviously, but she had to speak up softly, telling her old nemesis and his partner that she regretted everything she did, that her new family loved her and accepted her despite her past.
Poison Ivy was not dead and never would be, no matter what she told them in order to make them leave and turn their attention elsewhere, but the reality was that the Bat would catch up; he always did. And today he was spying on her, keeping up with her activities from taking the boys out for the day, then returned a rented video that she'd kept late for their sake, and her "husband" heading to work - in place of the real Steven - then returning home with the boys. After the Batman left, she had to retreat to the lab and fast.
She knew that Gotham would not be her haven, because nothing grew here. Everything she tried to do would always fall apart.
And it meant her dream of having a family the way she lived was at an end.
She couldn't replicate females with Steven's DNA, but she did manage one of herself to leave behind to face Batman. To abandon her married life - fake as it was, but somehow it felt real to her - broke her heart. She had been so happy for the first time in a long time. And now it was over.
Perhaps she should have left Bruce Wayne and his ward alone, and then Batman and Robin wouldn't have caught up right away. Not that it mattered now; she had gotten on a plane for the Amazon for however long it would take. All she wanted was to live quietly in paradise, keep Harley safe - but not safe from Joker.
She found herself looking through the photographs of memories, one being of her and the harlequin during one of their first heists together. Harley should have been there, to become aunt or godmother to the children, for she saw the blonde as a little sister and always would.
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
Above that one was of Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent, whom she tried to poison over the endangerment and extinction of the wild thorny rose, which was still saved thanks to her - rather, what was left of it, and she carried with her for the Amazon. Until her attention shifted to the most important one that marked a special day in her life that she would have had if only she hadn't been discovered. For all she knew, the real Steven Carlyle had been found by the Dynamic Duo and he told them and GCPD everything. And since they had her toxins, they would perform an antidote, as always.
Billow and breeze, islands and seas
Mountains of rain and sun
All that was good, all that was fair
All that was me is gone
Pamela Isley - rather, Pamela Carlyle - felt the tears form and fall onto the photograph of her wedding, with her whole family that she'd lost.
Sing me a song of the lass that is gone
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
Read and review. :'( It was hard emotionally to do, but I'm happy with how it came out.