Poison Ivy slipped on a green glove, frowning slightly. She stopped and whirled around at the sound of a door opening behind her. Harlequin nodded and stepped forward, her smile a little forced. "Hey, Pammy," she said. "I'm just stopping by to deliver your share." She held up the large, clunky, black suitcase she was holding. "Joker says hello, by the way," she said.
"Hello, Harlequin," she said, smiling. She held out her gloved hand for the suitcase. "All right," she said. "I'll just take that." Harlequin nodded and passed it to her, deliberately not looking at Poison Ivy. She turned, and was about to leave, when Poison Ivy spoke. "I miss you," she said, quietly. Harlequin stopped for a second before starting to walk again. "I miss you," Poison Ivy said again, louder. "You can't ignore it, Harley," she said. "You can't ignore it, or me, or any of this. You can't."
"I can try," Harlequin said, her voice low and thick. "I can try to forget, and no matter what, I'm going to have to," she said. "Because that – whatever the hell that was – is over now, and we're going to need to get used to that."
"Why do we?" Poison Ivy took a step forward, reaching out her hand. Harlequin flinched away from the touch. "Why, Harley?"
"Because we…Joker would use it," she said. "You know he would. And don't call me that."
"And what if he didn't find out?" Poison Ivy held her breath, waiting for the answer.
"You know he would," Harlequin said, turning around. "He did last time, and you know how that ended," she said.
"But we could be more careful, couldn't we? I mean, we could hide it, right?"
"And what? Spend our whole goddamn lives creeping around, kissing in dank sewers? That wouldn't last, Ivy," Harlequin said. "I wouldn't be able to stand that."
Poison Ivy sighed, looking down. "I know," she said, her voice thick. "I know we couldn't." Harlequin nodded and turned around, ready to leave. "But we could run," she said, as Harlequin was about to leave.
Harlequin turned around. "What?"
"We could run," Poison Ivy said, her voice desperate. "We could take this," she lifted the suitcase, "and run as far as we could. I mean, this'll last…what, a year? Two? It's more than enough to get us to Portugal, or Spain…" Poison Ivy trailed off. "You always wanted to go to Europe."
Harlequin stepped forward. "Joker would find us," she said. "He'd pay shitloads of money to track us down, and then he'd probably…he'd probably have you killed," she said, her voice soft. "And I couldn't stand that."
"But…you know that we could manage it," Poison Ivy said, taking another step forward. "We could run, right now. Get as far as we could. By the time he notices you're gone, we'd be across the planet."
"And then what?" Harlequin closed the distance, the two standing inches apart. "Where would we go where he couldn't find us?"
"I don't know," Poison Ivy said. "But we could find somewhere. There must be one place in the world – one place – where he couldn't reach. You know there must be."
Harlequin reached out her hand and stroked Poison Ivy's cheek. Poison Ivy took it and held it entwining their fingers. "I wish there was," Harlequin said. "I wish there was a place we could go. But there isn't. He's…he's everywhere, Ivy," she said. "You know he is."
Poison Ivy squeezed her hand. "Please," she said. "Can we…can we try to get away? To run?"
"And what? I watch while you get killed by Joker's hitmen? I'm not going to do that, Ivy," Harlequin said. "I…I love you. I love you so fucking much, and I'm not about to let you die for me."
"I love you too," Poison Ivy said, pulling Harlequin closer and wrapping her arms around her waist. "And I won't die. We can make it, Harley," she said. "We can make it out of here. I promise."
"You can't promise me that," Harlequin said. "You have no idea how powerful he is."
"But we can make it," Poison Ivy insisted. "We can. I promise, we can get out of here and go far, far away. Where no one can find us."
Harlequin sighed and put her arms around Poison Ivy's shoulders. "I'd love to," she said, looking into Poison Ivy's eyes. "I would. If I could – if I knew that you wouldn't get yourself killed – I'd run and never look back. I would. But I can't."
"Yes, you could," Poison Ivy insisted. "We could. We could take the money and run as fast and as far as we could, and he'd never find us." When Harlequin didn't answer, she continued. "Please, Harley," she said. "Just take a chance, please. We can make it, I promise."
Harlequin closed her eyes and hugged Poison Ivy tighter, leaning against her. "I want to," she said. "God, I want to."
"Then why don't we?" Poison Ivy kissed Harlequin gently on her temple, her lipstick leaving a bright red stain. "Please?"
"Because…" Harlequin trailed off. "All right," she said, her voice soft.
"What?" Poison Ivy blinked. "You'll go with me?"
"Yes," Harlequin said. "I will. We'll run, like you said. As fast and as far as we can."
Poison Ivy smiled. "Thank you, Harley," she said, kissing her neck. "Thank you."
Harlequin smiled. "We should go," she said. "He'll notice that I'm not back soon."
"We should," Poison Ivy said. "And we will." She broke away from Harlequin and went to pick up the suitcase.
Harlequin took a deep breath and took a fallen tree branch from a pile of trimmings on the floor of the greenhouse. Closing her eyes, she stood behind Poison Ivy as she stood up and swung it as hard as she could. It smashed into Poison Ivy's skull with a resounding clunk, sounding almost comical. Poison Ivy spun and fell to the ground, lying frighteningly still, as blood began to pool under her head. "Harlequin…" she croaked, staring up at her as her eyes went dark and glassy.
Harlequin began to cry, tears running silently down her face. "I'm sorry, my love," she said. "I'm so, so, sorry." With shaking hands, she took her phone from her belt and pressed a button, trying to control her voice.
Meanwhile, the Joker sat in his lair, waiting for the phone to ring. When it did, he picked it up. "Hello?"
"It's done," Harlequin answered. "She's dead."
"Excellent," the Joker said, smiling. "I know you're upset, Harleen," he said, "but trust me, this is better for everyone."
"I know, sir," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "It had to be done."
"Yes, Harleen, it did," he said. "Now, take the suitcase and come back here. I'll be waiting." He put down the phone, leaving only a dial tone behind.
Back in Poison Ivy's greenhouse, Harlequin hung up and took a deep breath. She knelt by Poison Ivy's side and, using two fingers, slid her eyes closed. "I'm so, so, sorry," she repeated. "I love you," she said. "I always will." She stood and brushed herself off, taking another deep, shuddering breath. She took the black, clunky suitcase from the corner and left, turning off the lights as she left.
A/N: This was one of the first fanfictions I ever wrote, back in mid-2012 (when I was significantly more involved in fandom than I am now). I recognize that this is probably pretty bad - I was only about thirteen when I wrote it - but I was young, and I didn't really understand how people worked (mind you, I probably don't really now, either).
Keeping that in mind, I'd greatly appreciate reviews! Anything you want to say would be great.