Catwoman 057 - Reap What You Sow
"I asked you to go on a date, Kyle. You know dinner, dancing....not MARRY her." Bruce smiled at his best friend with a slight hint of pride. He had to hand it to Selina Kyle, just a week ago she was doing her stupid act around Pam Isley, and now he finds that they've shacked up. Kyle was definitely a mover.
"If you're here to file a complaint Wayne, take a number behind the Bitch, the Witch, and the Clown." Selina smiled sweetly at Bruce. He might be her best friend and he just might be right, but she really didn't give a toss. She was floating on a sea of endorphins; the past week had been magic. She couldn't remember the last time she felt like this, maybe never. She was beginning to wonder if she was in love.
It started innocently enough with dinner at the diner across from the Gotham Hotel. They had a great time, eating, drinking, smiling at each other too much and it should have ended with Pam driving Selina home and kissing her goodbye, but it didn't. Pam invited herself up for coffee and they ended up talking all night and sleeping in all morning, and it should have ended with Selina kissing Pam goodbye and Pam driving herself home but it didn't. Selina invited herself back to Pam's place to view her greenhouse and they ended up having a ridiculously late lunch, drinking too much, laughing even more and sleeping in all morning, and it should have ended with Pam driving Selina home and kissing her goodbye but it didn't. It was a hopelessly vicious circle.
Bruce sighed. He hadn't wanted to come down to "talk." He wasn't his style to play "mother hen." After all Selina was an adult and Pam was an adult but Jack kept going on and on and on about it and so did Lorna and Bethlehem….well, Beth sounded like she was going to slit someone's throat. So here he was on his day off sitting in Pam's greenhouse staring at a dish of pudding.
Selina looked great. He had never seen her happier or – he had to admit – sexier. She was acting like a cat who had given up her wild ways to grow fat and happy on cream. He figured it was all the pudding Pam was feeding her. Pam couldn't fry an egg to save her life.
"So have you and Pam…you know…" Bruce asked with a nudge and a wink, half out of professional curiosity.
"If you need to know, we haven't." Selina replied briskly as she licked her spoon clean.
She wasn't surprised he asked. After all, her agent asked, her management team at DC asked, so had the brass from Marketing, Editorial, and Art Direction. There was some buzz going around the panels on whether this "new development" was going to put a damper on the Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn femslash pairing. It was common knowledge that Selina Kyle didn't get along with Harleen Quinzel and there were concerns that Pam Isley would pull out of future projects because of personal reasons.
"So you're telling me you're just been holding hands…with Pam Isley. We are talking about THE Pam Isley, right? Red hair, pouting lips, walks around practically naked all the time showing off that great …" Bruce continued with a smirk on his face.
"We hold hands and cuddle and kiss, but not mouth to mouth. Yet." Selina replied in a bored tone. It was all the same questions with these people.
"So you and she haven't even…." Bruce smiled wider.
"No, we haven't. The Witch, the Bitch and the Clown kept coming into the greenhouse."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Huh?"
"Kyle, you're with the pin-up girl of your dreams and you can't afford to whisk her off somewhere nice and private so the both of you can get together? Come on, Kyle, who are you kidding? Spill it and make it good"
"Pam acts strange whenever I get too close to her .......I don't know what to do."
"How do you feel about her, Kyle?"
"You know how I feel about her, Wayne. I.....I'm crazy about her. I think I'm in love."
"Have you told her?"
"I've tried but I don't know what she wants from me. Doesn't she know how much spending this week together with her has meant to me?"
"You got to understand she's taking heat from just about everyone; Jack, Lorna, Beth, her agent, the brass at DC. Everyone out in the panels is betting that you're just scratching an itch and that she be out on her own again by the end of the issue. Wham, Bam Thank you Ma'am. The mood out there is bitching, Kyle."
Selina knew there was buzz in the panels but she didn't know that it had been this spiteful. Poor Pam, it was no wonder she was acting so strange lately and what was worse was that Pam had gotten no reassurance from her about …. about them. She had royally fucked up.
"You're a regular Einstein, Wayne. Now eat your pudding, and shut up." Selina said softly.
***
[Panel 64] - Detective Harvey Bullock, his right arm in a make shift sling, is caught in Poison Ivy's pheromone enthrall oblivious to the screams behind him. In the background, a mutated tree with whip like branches mauls his backup in a violent frenzy. Poison Ivy leans over to lay the kiss of death onto him, suddenly Catwoman's whip lashes out separating her from her intended victim.
Voice [Catwoman] - "NO. He Doesn't."
[Panel 65] - Poison Ivy makes a running exit as Catwoman runs up and slaps Detective Bullock hard on his face.
Voice [Catwoman] - "You. Snap Out of It."
[Panel 66] - Detective Bullock nurses the back of his neck as he shakes off Poison Ivy's chemical induced trance. Catwoman extends her claws at the ready at an unseen enemy.
Voice [Harvey Bullock] - "Huh? Wha--? Oh, for crying out --! What is this, Halloween? I always figured you two dames would hook up someday. Figgers it hadta be on my shift."
[Panel 67] - Catwoman lashes out at Poison Ivy's mutated tree, severing one of its lower branches with her claws.
[Panel 68] - Detective Harvey Bullock levels his gun directly at Catwoman with a snarl as she avoids a branch.
Voice [Harvey Bullock] - "Out with it, Kittycat! How do ya call it off? Tell me now!"
Voice [Catwoman] - "How should I know?"
Voice [Male] - "OK. Kyle. Bullock. We're done for the day. Everyone pack up"
Selina Kyle blew out a loud sigh of relief as the crew broke out in cheers and applause, she had never been so glad to see today end. They were back on the panels after a week's break and the tight schedule was breaking everyone's backs. Quickly trotting over to the sidelines, Selina managed a quick kiss on the cheek, before Pam got whisked away to Wardrobe by a team of bemused dressers. Selina had not seen any need to curb her affection for Pam in public. It was a case of dammed if she did and dammed if she didn't.
Selina wondered if she was over compensating because of what Bruce had said - one issue fling indeed - and even if she was, Pam wasn't complaining about the extra attention. Pam was looking more wonderful than usual; nothing like a good old fashion love affair to get the blood pumping thought Selina.
"Kyle, when are you going to drop by the Character's Studio?" It was Harvey Bullock. Harvey ran a small studio for young aspiring characters; it was as he said his contribution to the craft. Selina had forgotten about him.
"Sorry Harvey, I wanted to catch Pam. We have plans for later." Selina quickly hammered out an excuse. It was most unlike her to ignore a co-character after a panel.
"I'm glad the both of you have finally hooked up." Harvey smiled broadly.
He had been trying to get Selina Kyle to come down to the studio for ages. The woman was an enigma, absolutely brilliant on the panels but a complete cold fish outside except for a sole friendship with that queen Bruce Wayne and a singular strange crush on Pamela Isley.
"Maybe you and Pam could come down? The kids had a great time when Jack came down with the guys to talk about The Long Halloween issues. Pity you and Pam couldn't make it."
Harvey wondered if he was pushing his luck with Selina Kyle, but even if he was there was nothing to lose….and Pam .... Well Pammy won't give him the time of day. Pammy was a party girl, always was, and always will be, she was used to hanging off some big shot's arm mostly Jack's and now Kyle's.
Selina rolled her eyes before brushing Harvey Bullock off with a cold smile, "Harvey, I need to get out of this latex suit now, Pam's waiting."
"You do that now, my door is always open" Harvey replied to Selina's rapidly retreating back.
They were all the same to Harvey Bullock; Selina, Bruce, Pam - egos too big to fit the side of a barn. Harv understood that the word was that Bruce Wayne made a courtesy call on Selina Kyle at her new love nest; her over the top infatuation with Pamela Isley was probably becoming a major professional embarrassment to him. Things won't looking too good at Team Isley either with concerns that some of Pam's future projects could be in doubt. It wasn't any wonder that the odds were that Pam was going to dump Selina after this issue. Harvey figured that was why Selina Kyle was clinging to Pam Isley like her life depended on it.
***
Pam thought Selina looked beautiful curled up on her side, gently snoring through her nose. It was just past 11pm, they had decided to turn in early; Selina was beat from the day's panels. Tomorrow was another busy day, but the past week had been magic; Pam couldn't remember the last time she felt like this, maybe never. She was beginning to wonder if she was in love.
It was Selina's idea for them to move back to her place until the issue was done. It would cut down the commute to the panels. The other reason was that they would be away from Lorna and Bethlehem. Selina thought they needed more privacy.
Pam didn't like to be away from home. She missed Lorna. She missed Beth. She missed her greenhouse. She missed her bed.
Selina had been acting strange since the "talk" with Bruce. It was to be expected Pam supposed. Jack would have gone back and spilled the beans to him.
Jack had dropped by to visit his favorite girls. She and Selina were out in the greenhouse reportedly feeding Selina's mob of furry friends. Jack, Lorna and Beth found them rolling in the dirt among the nepeta cataria in the company of a dozen or so euphoric cats.
She wasn't surprise they were making such a fuss. Her agent had raised hell - he was a dear but really such a nag - so did her management team at DC along with those nice boys at Marketing, Editorial, and Art Direction.
She understood that they were concerned about this "new development" but - why so serious? Nothing was happening, well... even if something did happened, she wasn't sure it was going to happen again. Maybe she was going to be just another notch on Selina Kyle's score card.
Which was what her agent pointedly said - actually he said Selina Kyle was going to rip her heart out and feed it to the cats. Her management team had likewise expressed similar concerns but they used the more politically correct term - one issue fling - and those nice boys at Marketing, Editorial and Art Direction told her outright she was too good for the likes of Selina Kyle and that they were all willing and able and available to help her get over this terrible mistake.
She could understand it if Selina told her it was a mistake. She had braced herself that afternoon - after Bruce left - but instead Selina held her tight, cried and had to be comforted. Pam didn't understand why Selina had suddenly become so needy. Imagine Selina "Catwoman" Kyle needy.
Today at the panels had been downright strange. Selina had insisted on driving her in early and had even sat in Wardrobe waiting while they got her ready - her personal dresser thought it was typical of Selina Kyle; "The woman's a total control freak, Girl. I would start watching my back and changing those locks if I were you."
Selina held her hand all through the morning briefing – fortunately everyone including that Harvey Bullock politely looked the other way – stuck to her like body glue between panels to the amusement of her army of dressers and even cuddle her in public during the lunch break – the caterer was particularly annoyed at the disturbance they were causing in his lunch room.
Pam couldn't understand it. Everything was so confusing. Everyone was telling her that Selina was going to dump her after the issue. Why this strange desperate show of public affection? What about Bruce? Was Selina using her to make Bruce jealous, was she a pawn in some sick power struggle between them?
That last thought sounded so much like one of their overly dramatic storylines that she laughed softly to herself. Pam moved closer and gently kissed Selina on the nose. She didn't doubt what she felt about Selina and she didn't doubt that Selina felt the same way. The problem was why everyone else didn't see that.
Strange to think that they had known and worked with each other for years never once daring to cross that imaginary boundary line into becoming more than friends, and now here they were together. Why had they waited so long? What had they been afraid of? It all seemed so silly now to Pamela as she snuggled closer to Selina.
Pam wondered how Selina felt about them, was she just as nervous? Or feeling as vulnerable? Or would Selina simply channel Catwoman in that fabulous low growl of hers to say that they had only gotten to know each other for a week and that grass take longer than that to grow. But as the optimist in Pam was quick to point out the rafflesia arnoldii takes 9 months to bloom and only 10% of the buds live, but the few that do survive unfold into magnificent flowers reaching up to 1m in diameter.
All of which reminded Pam that she really needed to go home tomorrow to check on her babies.
***
CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 5