Harley peered over Ivy's shoulder, staring down at the delicate blue petals of Project 88.

"Look how strong it's getting, Red! It'll bloom pretty soon I'll bet."

Ivy smiled and continued to water the once-sickly plant. "I certainly hope so." She looked up at Harley and examined her face. "You've got soil on your cheek, Harl. Better go wash up."

Harley nodded and disappeared briefly, leaving Ivy to herself.

For more than a week now, the woman had been thriving in her home. Ivy had done her best to include Harley in her activities and felt that she was breaking some ground in getting the woman to stand up more for herself. She'd been teaching Harley about the concept of women's inner-strength and rebellion against the dominance of mankind—trying to grind a sense of self-confidence into Harley's absorbent mind.

Sometimes, Harley could still be heard whimpering in her sleep, lost in some great void brought on by her mixed feelings for her clownish lover. The only thing Ivy could do was try to soothe her and help her push the bad thoughts and feelings away.

Looking up from her work, Ivy noticed that Harley had returned. She was about to say something when her mouth dropped open in awe.

Harley was sitting in the middle of the garden, smiling gently at the flowers and stroking the petals. A monarch butterfly had fluttered over and was perched atop one of her pigtails. A ray of sunlight seemed to make the blonde glow; giving her an utterly angelic appearance.

Was this woman really the same madwoman that Ivy had met those days ago? She was too gentle now—like a tamed animal. Without that silly white war-paint on, her face was beautiful and innocent. It seemed that her hair was beginning to turn a slight shade of brown, confirming Ivy's notion that she had once been a brunette.

Harley looked up and grinned, the butterfly floating away. "What ya lookin' at, Red? Do I still got dirt on my face?"

Ivy shook her head. "It's nothing. Sorry. I was just spacing out."

Harley got up and did a delicate cartwheel forward, landing back at Ivy's side again. "Y'know what, Red?"

"What?"

"I think we should go out to the city again. We're starting to run low on food and there's probably a store or something nearby. How's about it?"

Ivy frowned and looked up at Harley sternly. "No way. It's daylight right now and that means that it will reveal your identity even more than it did that one night."

The infamous Harley-puppy dog-eyes look.

"No way. I mean it, Harley."

The even BIGGER infamous Harley-puppy dog-eyes look.

"Cut it out. That's not going to work."

The infamous quivering lip and pout that went along with the infamous Harley-puppy dog-eyes look.

Ivy weakened. "Okay…fine. We'll go. But we need to make sure that no one recognizes you."

Harley gleefully ran in a circle and pounced into action, running out of the greenhouse and into the house, rummaging through the drawers. She pulled out a cap and placed it atop her head, giving Ivy the thumbs-up sign.

"It's going to take more than that, you know. Your face had appeared on the news, Harl. People know what you look like."

So Harley scurried over towards Ivy's closet, pulling out a large turtleneck and putting it on. It was too big for her and hung limply like a sail. Then she went over towards the mirror and examined herself.

"Still don't look unrecognizable, Red. Do ya have some spray-tan or something?"

"Why on earth would I need that?"

Harley flashed Ivy a cocky grin. "You don't fool me, Red. You're always inspecting yourself in the mirror. I'll bet you've got some spray-tan somewhere around here."

Ivy swallowed. "Maybe in the bathroom drawer…"

Harley was already running towards the bathroom, overly-large turtleneck and all, and digging through the drawer. She pulled out a half-empty bottle and held it up to Ivy.

"Come on, Red; give me a quick spray-tan. If ya make my complexion darker, I'll look a whole lot different."

Ivy hesitated. Harley had such pretty pale skin. It would be a shame to see it all dark and tanned. Was this really all worth it?

Biting her lip, she took the can and held it up to face Harley. "Turn around. It'll be just a quick tan and that's it. Hopefully, it'll fade in a few days."

Harley obeyed and soon her light peach-colored skin turned a bronzed sandy color. She looked a tad different. In fact, you would have to look very closely to figure out that it was still Harley Quinn. There was just one more thing…

"Let your hair loose. Those pig-tails might give you away."

Harley blinked. Hesitantly, she reached up and undid the ribbons that held her hair up. Her hair fell down evenly and ended just below her shoulders. To Ivy it was a beautiful sight: she had never seen the woman with her hair completely down. The brown that was coming back in her hair added a certain odd beauty to the color—not the typical ugly-roots color you'd get with others who have dyed their hair. With her hair down, Harley looked much different. It gave her a more mature look despite her childish, wide-eyed expression.

"Well? How do I look? Think they'll recognize me now?"

Ivy stared at Harley, drinking everything in. It was a silly sight—the cap and spacey turtleneck and the obvious spray-tan combined with the beauty of her pigtail-free hair. And yet it was perfect.

"You look fine," Ivy said with a smile, turning a slight shade of pink. "Should we get going now?"

XxX

Harley dumped a month's supply of marshmallows into the shopping-cart, quickly followed by a truckload of graham crackers.

"Take it easy. We can't just have the unhealthy crap that you like. We need vegetables too."

Harley looked at her a long moment and stared, almost bored. Then she dumped in another bag of marshmallows.

Ivy signed and took the cart from her, wheeling it around the corner to the next section. It was all gross meat-stuff. She was about to turn away when she felt Harley's glare piercing her from behind.

"Alright, alright. We'll get some meat too."

Harley giddily grabbed the first thing that looked like hamburger-meat and dumped it into the cart, skipping to the next aisle.

Shopping with Harley wasn't easy. Harley was constantly grabbing at objects and trying to sneak off with them under her turtleneck, which Ivy had to always keep an eye on. Sometimes, Harley would make off with the cart altogether and Ivy would have to chase off after her.

After the fifth time of catching up with Harley, Ivy found the woman in the cereal-aisle. The blonde was reaching for the last box of extra-sugary cereal when a large woman grabbed it first.

Harley frowned and tapped the woman. "Hey lady, I was sort of going to take that."

"Well I got to it first."

Harley's frown grew wider. "Yeah, but I kind of really sort of want it."

The woman sniffed and looked down at Harley snottily. "That's too bad I'm afraid. I'm going to pay for it."

"But look at you! Lady, ya don't need this stuff!"

The woman glared and turned a shade of red. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well nothing. It's just that you're kind of big and—"

"Oh there you are!" Ivy interrupted. "I've been looking for you." She turned towards the fuming woman and flashed her best smile. "You'll have to excuse my sister. She's a bit unwell in the head. She just says random things all the time."

"Well you keep her under control. She's got quite a nerve." The woman trudged off, cereal in hand.

Harley's eyes widened and she looked up at Ivy. "Sister? Why'd ya call me that?"

"Well…ah…I just needed to have an excuse or something. Come on. Let's go pay for all of this."

"But I didn't get my cereal!"

"The hell with your cereal. Come on."

As they made their way towards the check-out line, Ivy wondered why she had gone as far as referring to Harley as her sister. She could have simply referred to her as her friend. So why sister then?

Harley stood submissively at Ivy's side, keeping her head low so as not to draw any more attention towards herself. Yawning, she leaned forward and nuzzled Ivy affectionately, showing her thanks for the food. Ivy blushed and gave her a pat before going forward in line to purchase the groceries.

Sister huh? We don't look related by any means. But perhaps she is a sort of little sister to me. She's certainly as immature and clingy as one.

"Have a nice day," the cashier said as the two women walked out.

Harley let out a sigh of relief. "Good thing they didn't recognize me, huh, Red?"

"Yeah. Good thing."

I always wanted to be an older sibling. Growing up as an only-child, I guess I never got to take care of someone…

Well she had someone now—a loony, juvenile angel-demon of a woman that dragged her out to go shopping for food.

Harley sang obnoxiously to the radio all the way back, opening and closing the window to stick her head out.

Ivy drove on, rolling her eyes and grinning slightly.

Look at me—actually daring to call this wanted-lunatic my sister. It's utterly absurd!

And yet Ivy was comfortable with it. It gave her a sense of warmth that she hadn't felt for a long time.

And that was all she needed for now.

XxX

Hey, everyone!

Sorry this chapter came so late. I went to Vegas y'see.

Anyway, things are hunky-dory between Harley and Ivy so far but I promise it'll get a bit darker in the chapters ahead.

-CAT