DISCLAIMERS/NOTES

1. This is a fan fiction based on characters owned by DC Comics. I DO NOT OWN THEM. This is just for fun.

2. This is a femslash story. If you don't like that sort of thing, you won't like this.

3. Though most of my stories are interconnected, this is a direct sequel to Intruders, so perhaps anyone who hasn't read that should read it before this.

Harleen Quinzel read the magazine as quietly as she could, hoping no one would find her hiding under the table. The Arkham inmates' luxury privileges had again been revoked, and it had taken some sneaky legwork to pinch a copy of Gotham Today from the security guard. After all that effort, the last thing Harley wanted was to be found out. Besides, she loved the gossip pages.

Around her - or rather, above her - the asylum's commissary was in its usual weekly turmoil. It really was an idiotic idea by Dr. Arkham to allow the inmates to congregate once a week. They were either planning escape attempts - which invariably ended in failure when they could not cooperate - or just endlessly moaned about the Bat... rendering the weekly "group recreation" a complete waste of time.

Not that Harley was complaining. After one too many escapes and murder attempts, it was now the only way to see her beloved Ivy.

For nearly three years now, the only face-to-face contact Harley and Pamela Isley - or Poison Ivy, as she preferred to be called - had was during these gatherings. That, and their conjugal rights meetings. Harley had had to do alot to qualify for the privilage, but it was worth it: being completely kept apart the rest of the time, she and Ivy were always desperate for time together. Common sense said they should have spent their meetings planning their escape, but they were so starved of eachother that when it was conjugal rights time, they immediately ripped eachother's clothes off.

Of course, it did not stop them making out in the commissary - until the guards pulled them apart. Just today, they had been seperated three times. Harley hated it. How dare they keep her from kissing her girlfriend? Still, at least they continued they surreptitious communications between their cells whenever they could. Any contact with her greenskinned goddess was alright with Harley.

She continued browsing the magazine as arguments grew louder in the recreation room. Flipping the pages, Harl found it quite tedious - it was always the same thing. Stories about crime, poverty, etc. Articles on that Bruce Wayne guy and his new family... his wife was stunning, though. And of course, pages upon pages dedicated to the Bat and his cronies. Gotham might as well rename itself Batman City, Harley mused.

Reaching the entertainment section of the magazine, Harley sighed. She was just about to give up and go try and trade saliva with Ivy again, when a headline caught her eye. Reading intently, she gasped, as her eyes widened. Suddenly, she dashed out from under the table - nearly knocking the Ventriloquist off his chair - and rushed over to Ivy. "Red! Red!"

Ivy frowned as Harl approached. "Harley," she whispered. "They'll take you away from me again... " She was talking about the guards and their continued threats of "one more time" and both women would be thrown back in their so-far-apart cells.

"Let 'em try," Harley said, sitting opposite the redhead. "Lookit this!" Harl was so excited, she did not even care if anyone saw she had a magazine. Fortunately, the guards were too busy trying to stop a fight between the Scarecrow and Cornelius Stirk. The blonde shoved the magazine onto the table facing Ivy, who looked down.

"You still read this crap?" Ivy snorted. "Ivy, it's pointless - once I kill everyone, it'll be irrelevent."

Harl rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for another of Ivy's "Kill All Humans" speeches. "Look!" she stressed, pointing at a particular photo. "Look who it is!"

Returning her gaze to the magazine again, Ivy grumbled... then gasped. "Oh my... !"

"I know!" shrieked Harley. Ivy lifted the magazine up and read the little boxout carefully. "Look at her!"

"I don't believe it... " breathed Ivy. "How... how did she... "

Harley nodded, her own eyes like saucers. It was certainly startling news.

Zatanna the Magician was pregnant.

"Did... she leave... ?" Ivy still hated saying Selina's name. She began reading the small article out loud. "'Famed stage magician... ' - Ugh - '... Zatanna Kyle-Zatara will be performing for the final time before taking time off to give birth.' Unbelievable."

Harley frowned. "Any mention of... you-know-who?"

Ivy mirrored her expression as she continued reading. "'Zatanna has long kept her private life out of the public eye, but even her magic couldn't hide her baby belly.' God, how cheesy is that? How can you read this?" She then returned to the magazine. "'Zatanna will retire to her private home with her wife of two-and-a-half years... ' - that answers that - '... who has long stayed out of the spotlight.' Sounds like Catwoman, alright. Always in the background... the fucking bitch."

"Did you read how far gone she is?" Harley asked.

"Four months, it says here," said Ivy. "That looks far more than four months. She's the fattest cow I've ever seen! How did she even get knocked up in the first place?! A donor? A spell?"

"Who cares!" Harley cried. "Red, don't you see what this means?!"

Ivy looked up at her. "That she's a freak?"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean... " Harley sighed. "Besides that! It means we can really hurt them now!"

Ivy blinked. "What are you saying?"

Harley leaned closer. "We can really pay Selina back for dumping us... and hurting you."

"No," Ivy said sharply.

Harvey was stunned. "Red?"

Ivy looked down. "Just let it go, Harley."

"Why?" whined the blonde. "Because the witch is pregnant? Red, since when has that stopped you?" Indeed, during her many campaigns, Ivy had never stopped to check if any of her victims were expecting. In situations dealing with a big group or mass of people, there most likely was at least one mother-to-be. It was not as if Gotham's villains checked the medical status of every hostage... especially during big jobs.

"Just... let it go, Harley." Ivy glared at her. "They're not worth it."

"Not worth it?!" Harley could not believe what she was hearing. What had gotten into her plant lady? "Ivy, she nearly tore your face clean off! She... "

"Stop it!" Ivy suddenly yelled... which got the guards' attention. Realising what was about to come, Harley tried to yank the magazine under the table, but it was too late. They strode over and each pulled the women up violently out of their seats.

"You know the rules!" one of them barked. "Back to your cells!"

As they were dragged out of the commissary, Harley craned her neck to look at her beloved. "Ivy... !"

Ivy simply looked sadly at her. "Thanks alot, Harley."

Harley's eyes were watering. "Red... "

Before they could exchange anymore words, they were sent in opposite directions of the corridor...

TO BE CONTINUED