A/N - Thanks to all those who put this on their favourites, alerts and who reviewed. Now I know that Pamela Isley isn't acting a lot like her alter ego, Poison Ivy, but I'm slowly developing her character. The story is slowly building and I hope that you stick with me through it. I'd suggest to anyone who is reading this, that you make sure to read 'Thicker Than Water' prior to this one. It will answer questions that you might have about the characters along the way that I don't touch upon in the story itself.
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Seattle, Washington
"Come in," Dr. Isley said, as she opened the door wide for Ducard. She remembered back to when she first met him nearly 2 years prior. She thought he was a little eccentric when he spoke about how special the flower was. But after doing her research, she had to agree with the man. He glanced around her modest apartment. On every windowsill sat an array of different plants. She even had some hanging from the ceiling and a vine-like plant growing above her kitchen cupboards. Ducard then glanced over at her laptop, oddly surprised to see a photo of his greatest student and once ally on the screen.
"I thought that your interest was merely with plants, doctor," Ducard said as he looked at her computer.
"Bruce Wayne is one of the major benefactors for the Botanical Relief," she explained. "He comes by once a year. If it wasn't for his generous donations, I wouldn't be able to do my research."
"Generous donations? Is that so?"
She nodded. "I'm hoping to get in contact with him to see if he'd like to continue funding my research now that the Botanical Relief has run into some issues."
He sat down on the couch inside her small apartment.
"I heard about that unusual accident," he said, watching her carefully. "It's a wonder that you made it out in time and was able to save my flower and your research."
Pamela shrugged. "I'd do anything for my plants and I'm hoping that if he cares so much about the environment that maybe he'll help me out, if I can get to him."
Ducard merely nodded, thinking about how he could help her.
"Tell me about your research that you have done on my flower," he said.
Pamela turned to the blue poppy that sat in its pot on her counter. She smiled.
"It's amazing," she said, her eyes lighting up with the excitement of telling someone what she had accomplished. "When you told me that the flower had special hallucinogenic properties, I was able to determine the exact spot on the plants genome and changed it."
"Changed it? How?"
"I discovered that because of the hallucinogenic aspect of the flower, bees and other insects tended to stay away from it. I wanted the flower to become more attractive to insects," she said. "Something that will give it a step above the rest. I replaced the hallucinogenic property with a certain pheromone that will be attractive to anything or anyone who smells the flower. Subsequently, I wanted to protect it. Within its stem is a poison that can be deadly if ingested."
A smile slowly grew on Ducard's face.
"Amazing," he said.
Pamela walked over to the plant and lovingly touched it's petals.
"It certainly is," she cooed.
"Could the plant be used in the same way as it's cousin, per say?"
Dr. Isley thought for a moment and grinned.
"Why not?"
Ducard stood up, satisfied with what he had found. He knew that after meeting Dr. Isley two years earlier that she would prove to be the perfect person to work on his flower. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"I have something that I think can help you," he said as she read the paper. "It'll get you in to the party. Bruce Wayne will be there and it would be a perfect opportunity to test out the new properties of this plant."
Dr. Isley smiled happily, holding the paper.
"And in return, I'd like you to make more of these plants and prepare as much of this compound as possible," he said, walking towards the door. "If you're needing some space to work while you're in Gotham, let me know."
He held out his hand to her, to which she took and shook graciously before he left her apartment.
Pamela looked down at the invitation in her hands and smirked before looking over at the blue poppy.
"I hope you travel well," she said to it.
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Gotham City
4:58am
Olivia opened her eyes, feeling a heavy weight rest across her side. She could feel heat radiating on her back and a slow, rhythmic breathing on her bare neck. She tipped her head up to check the time as the alarm had yet to go off. She smiled, seeing that she woke two minutes before it would go off. Olivia reached over and turned it off before gently caressing the strong arm that wrapped itself around her waist.
"Bruce," she said softly. No response.
"Bruce, I need to get up."
This time, her words were followed by the man in question moving closer into her and sighing as he held her securely next to him. Olivia smiled.
"As much as I'd love to stay here with you, I need to get to work," she said as he reluctantly released her and rolled onto his back. Olivia smirked as she sat up, picking her shirt off the floor and pulling it over her head. She glanced back at Bruce behind her, his chest bare marked with years of scars and bruising. He smiled at her as he tucked a hand under his head.
With his extra hand, he reached out and took her arm.
"Once more?"
Olivia chuckled. "I can't. I'd love to, but I can't. I have a date with at least a dozen loaves of bread and too many muffins to count."
She stood up and picked up extra clothing on the floor as she made her way towards the bathroom. She reached into the shower and turned it on, allowing it to warm up. Olivia turned and gasped, seeing Bruce standing at the door. How he could move so quietly when he wanted to, still baffled her. Somehow between the bed and the bathroom, he had managed to find his pajama pants and put them on.
"Go back to bed," she told him. "You don't need to get up for another few hours."
He crossed his arms and smiled smugly. Olivia rolled her eyes as she once again took off her shirt and slipped into the shower.
"I wanted to talk to you about something before you left for work," he said, leaning against the bathroom wall.
"What about?"
"When we saw Dr. Montgomery last week, you never told me what you wanted to do," he said.
Olivia ran her wet hands over her face, remembering the meeting they had at the fertility clinic with Dr. Montgomery. He had laid out their options as it was clear that in the three years they had been married, that they were not going to be able to conceive on their own. They had tried everything from old wives tales on what to eat to timing things perfectly. Olivia even became obsessed with taking her temperature everyday along with the ovulation kit, claiming that she could better pinpoint the best time to conceive. But as time went on and since her accident with Joker years before, it had left her chances of becoming pregnant on their own to nothing.
"I don't really know what I'd like to do."
"I'll agree to whatever you'd like to do," he said. "If you want to do the drugs along with the invitro, don't worry about the price. Or, if you're just wanting to look at adoption, I'm alright with that too."
He listened, waiting for her response. He heard a sniff.
"Olivia?"
Gently, he pulled the curtain back. She was crying and was trying her best to conceal it. She had her back towards him as the water from the shower poured over her head. He quickly shed the pajama pants and stepped into the shower with her. He gasped slightly at the high temperature of the water that Olivia always enjoyed to have it at. He quickly recovered and sighed, enjoying the warm water on his skin.
"Olivia?" he asked again, touching her shoulder. She looked at him, seeing the water drip off his hair. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know why you married me, Bruce," she said, holding in a sob that was threatening to come out. "You knew that I couldn't have kids."
He pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her.
"I married you because I love you," he said, firmly.
She let out a shaky sigh as she rested her chin on his shoulder.
"I feel like a failure," she said, dishearteningly. "I feel like I'm broken."
Bruce pulled her away from him and held her face between his hands. A smile came to his face.
"You had David years ago," he said, softly. "He's healthy and you've always taken great care of him. Never think that you're a failure. And the only one that you can blame for this is Joker. It was never your fault."
His words always seemed to calm her as did the gentle caressing of his rough thumbs on her cheeks. He leaned down and gently kissed her mouth. She reached forward and placed her hands on his chest before slowly moving up to his neck and then intertwined them in his hair. Bruce let out a slight moan as she felt his hands quickly move from her hips and up her back to her shoulders and then down her sides. It took most of her will power to break the kiss. She smiled, resting her head against his chin and feeling his breathing slow down once again.
"I'll make a follow-up appointment for later today," she said softly. "I'll tell him that we'll give the invitro a try."
"Okay," Bruce replied.
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A few hours later, Bruce walked down the marble staircase, his footsteps echoing with each step. He stopped mid-step when he heard a rush of quick footsteps coming from behind him followed by a pause. He glanced behind him to see David running down the stairs and then jumping off the third to last step to each landing.
"David!! You're going to slip one of the these times! Why the rush?"
David looked over his shoulder once he made it to the bottom of the stairs and pulled his backpack higher up on his shoulder. He smirked, matching that of his father.
"I'm going to be late," he explained.
"Do you need a ride?"
"Alfred said he'd drive me," David said, rushing towards the front door. "He's probably already waiting outside."
"I can get you faster. I have the Lamborghini."
David stopped in the door just as he was about to run out and turned to see his Dad at the bottom of the stairs, adjusting his tie. David grinned, knowing that Bruce could easily get him to school earlier than Alfred ever would.
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David always enjoyed the exhilaration of speed. Olivia told him that was one part of him that was uniquely one of his father's traits. She didn't care for speed, and in fact would eventually end up getting car sick with the quick turns and movements.
He reached forward to the radio dial as Bruce drove the Lamborghini into the city. David changed the radio stations until he came to one that was playing music that he liked and turned up the volume. Bruce winced and leaned forward to turn it down a bit.
"Are you serious? You like this music?"
David grinned and shrugged.
"Everyone does."
Bruce merely shook his head as he kept he fixed his eyes on the road. David rolled down the window slightly, allowing the wind to catch the top of his unruly mop of hair. He refused to have it cut and Olivia was all right with it as long as it didn't get long enough that it was over his eyes or a length that a girl would have it at. He was lucky. His hair had a slight wave to it that made it look decent on him.
He listened as the music on the radio ended and turned to the latest news. He once again leaned forward to change the station, but Bruce put out his hand, stopping him.
"Hold on a sec," he said, turning up the volume in the small sports car.
"...an attempted robbery a few nights ago at an uptown pub has led to over $10,000 in fire damages. The masked vigilante known as Batman was seen by eyewitnesses as he quickly and efficiently disarmed the robbers and tied them up for the police. Unfortunately, during the brawl an electrical fire erupted near the back of the pub causing substantial damage. The owner of the pub is now requesting compensation from the Dark Knight. He has approached the police commissioner and unfortunately, we haven't been able to get a comment from him. In other news..."
"That's so stupid!" David exclaimed as Bruce turned the volume to a lower level. "He's wanting you to pay for damages when technically you just saved his business from being robbed? You know what, Dad? You should train me to fight and I could help you out at night."
Bruce let out a mock laugh. "Not in my lifetime, bud."
"Then, could you at least teach me how to fight?"
Bruce sighed and shook his head. "We talked about this before, David. You're too young to handle..."
"To handle the responsibility, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know," David finished for him with a slight roll of the eye.
"Besides, your Mom would kill me if she knew that I was teaching you how to fight."
"Then, maybe you don't have to teach me how to fight, but at least how to protect myself if I ever get into a fight," David suggested, which caused Bruce to glance over at him.
"What's going on?"
David looked out the window and shook his head. "Nothing. Forget about what I said."
"No, I want to know what's bothering you," Bruce said, genuinely. "You wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't important to you."
David sighed, still looking out the window at the buildings that passed by.
"Okay, but don't tell Mom!"
Bruce nodded in agreement.
"There's this kid in my class that says that if I don't let him copy my work, then he'll beat me up," David admitted.
"You're letting him cheat off you?"
"What am I supposed to do, Dad? If I don't, he'll kill me!"
Bruce couldn't help but smile inwardly at David's exaggeration.
"Tell your teacher. That's what they're there for."
David shook his head. "I did and nothing changed."
"Do you want me to go in and talk to them?"
David's eyes widened and he shook his head.
"No, Dad. That would make things worse. I can take care of it."
Bruce thought for a moment as they approached the school grounds. He pulled the car over to the curb and shifted it into park. Bruce turned to the boy next to him who was busy looking out the window for familiar faces.
"Tell you what," Bruce began, causing David to look at him. "I'll teach you a few things to protect yourself, but you need to promise me that you wont let that kid cheat off of you anymore. I know how hard you work to be able to play on the soccer team."
A smile came to his face and David nodded.
"Also, I was wondering if I could go over to Jeffrey Bingham's house after school," David said, before he was about to open the car door. "We were going to practice some soccer at his place."
"Sure, I guess," Bruce said. "I'll have Alfred come and get you around seven tonight."
The car stopped and David picked up his bag that sat on the floor between his legs.
"It's okay," he said. "Jeffrey said his older brother, John could bring me home when we're done."
"No later than seven then," Bruce said as David opened the car door. He didn't hear David acknowledge that he heard him. Bruce leaned forward as David climbed out. "Seven, got it?"
David grinned and nodded. "I got it, Dad."
Bruce smiled. "Have a good day."
David closed the door and ran off towards where a small group of boys stood around.
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Wayne Enterprises
9:28am
Bruce stood at his office window looking down at the lively city below him as his assistant spoke behind him.
"...and there is that charity event this weekend at Gotham Golf and Country Club put on by the city," the assistant said, looking down into a small date book. "The Mayor's office was wondering if you and your wife were planning on attending."
He turned.
"It's an election year. I'm sure that Mayor Garcia is going to be looking for votes as well," Bruce added.
"More than likely, sir," the assistant said with a knowing smile.
Finally, he nodded.
"Tell them that we'll be there," he said. His assistant nodded.
"Oh and there's one more thing," she said, setting a closed envelope on his desk. "This arrived for you from the Botanical Relief Society. As a benefactor, they outlined the damages incured during the accident for your review."
Bruce nodded as he picked it up to open while his assistant turned to walk out the door.
"Thank you, Beth," he called out, which prompted a slight smile from the assistant before she closed the door behind her.
Bruce opened the envelope and began to read.
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"Are you certain?"
Bruce looked over the reports from the accident at the Botanical Relief at least a half dozen times. He couldn't believe what he was reading. The accident wasn't an accident. The containment area had been purposely opened.
"I asked the same thing when I first read the report," Lucius said, sitting across from his boss at the large mahogany table.
"I can't understand why someone would open a closed containment area, especially one containing stuff like ricin and alkaloids. Those are highly toxic plant compounds."
"And Dr. Woodrue was the only one found in the room," Lucius added. "He was with us the entire time until he left to find out what was going on."
Bruce set the report down on the table.
"I hate to do this but I think we should pull our funding from the Botanical Relief," he said. "I just don't feel comfortable with what's going on there right now, especially after seeing that blue flower and now with someone purposefully trying to destroy research."
Lucius nodded in agreement.
"I'll have the paperwork prepared later today," he said.
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Westview Medical Centre
1:56pm
The longer she sat there, the more likely she would be walking out of the office with her cuticles torn up. Olivia hated doctor's offices and in her nervous anxiety, she would scratch at the skin around her nails. The soft contemporary music played over the speakers in the office and she lightly hummed to the songs that she would recognize. Realizing that others could hear, she smiled politely to the other couple in the room before casually picking up the magazine off the table beside her. Every other book on the table featured a cute chubby-faced baby on the cover or a glowing, pregnant woman. Olivia sighed and prayed that no one would recognize her. The last thing she wanted was to read about her day in the fertility clinic.
She looked up as the door slowly opened and a young oriental woman popped her head into the waiting room. Their eyes met and the woman smiled.
"Olivia?"
Letting out a nervous sigh, Olivia stood up and pulled her purse up onto her shoulder before following the nurse out of the waiting area.
"How are you today?" she asked, looking over her shoulder as she walked.
"Good."
The nurse stopped at an open door and waited for Olivia to walk in first. She closed the door behind her and opened the manila file on the table as Olivia sat down on the examining table.
"My name is Danielle Chang," she said softly. "I understand that you wanted to speak to Dr. Montgomery about beginning invitro treatment."
Olivia nodded and smiled.
"Dr. Montgomery isn't in right now," she said. "But he told me to get you ready to start with the medication portion of the treatment before we go ahead with the actual invitro which wont be for another month or so. So, I'm going to check your vitals and get some blood work done. When everything comes back, then you'll be able to see Dr. Montgomery about starting your meds."
Olivia listened as Danielle spoke and watched as she took the blood pressure cuff from the wall. Once she heard the words, 'blood work' she was certain that her blood pressure was rising. Olivia hated needles and was now dreading the next few minutes.
Olivia pushed her sleeve up past her elbow as Danielle wrapped the cuff around her arm. "You have a son, right?"
"Yes, he'll be twelve just before Christmas," Olivia said softly, as Danielle placed her stethoscope on her inner elbow, listening. She smiled, politely.
"Nervous?"
Olivia chuckled and nodded.
She pulled the stethoscope from her ears and unwrapped the blood pressure cuff.
"Don't be," Danielle said. "Just think. If everything goes as planned, your son could have a brother or sister in less than a year."
Danielle walked over to the cupboard to retrieve the items she would need to take five vials of blood. Olivia could already feel herself get lightheaded and she looked away as Danielle pricked her arm and took the blood. When she was done, she pressed the small ball of cotton to Olivia's inner elbow and flexed it upward before picking up the blood.
"I'll have these sent down to the lab and I'll have Dr. Montgomery call you to schedule your next appointment," she said, opening the door.
Olivia thanked the nurse and slid off the table.
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Thornley Bakery
2:45pm
Olivia had no idea how she made it from the doctors to the bakery but she was glad to finally walk through the doors. She felt like she was in a haze during her entire trip back. She was beginning to wonder if she looked as bad as she felt. Olivia pushed open the door, hearing the familiar bell ringing above her head. The smell of fresh baked bread poured out the door as she walked in. She was instantly greeted by one of her college co-op students who was cleaning up.
"How was the doctors? You look horrible!" Amanda said, from where she was cleaning up a small bistro table. She watched as her employer walked across the bakery, her face pale.
Amanda looked over at Celine, the 22 year old college student who stood behind the counter, concerned for Olivia.
"It was fine," she replied, walking towards the counter. "And I feel terrible. I think they took too much blood and didn't leave enough for myself."
Celine glanced down at Olivia's arm to see a small bruise beginning to appear on the inside of her elbow.
"I see you had a date with the vampires," she said. Olivia looked up at Celine, confused until she glanced down at the piece of the cotton ball taped to her arm. She laughed at the young girl's analogy.
"Yeah," she said, smiling. "I always seem to bruise after getting blood work done. I'll be sore for a few days, but I think I should've laid down before leaving the office."
"You had blood work done?"
Olivia turned to see Adam, another one of her college-aged employees as he walked out of the kitchen. He had heard part of the conversation before walking out. He carried a tray of three fresh pans of bread and set them on the table before Celine gently took each one and placed it below the glass counter-top.
"What for?" he asked, wiping his hands on his white apron before passing Olivia an apron from behind him. She gently lowered her purse to the floor in order to pull the apron over her head.
"Routine stuff," Olivia replied, as she tied the strings behind her back.
The last thing she remembered was bending over to pick up her purse off the floor, before everything went black.
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A/N - Seriously, I hate blood work..can't look at the needles and the sound of the blood filling the vile...ugh...don't even want to think about it now. My brother is a big guy...built and big...and he has to lay down to get blood work done or else he passes out...and no one wants to pick up a 240lb guy off the floor....
