Bruce, despite his many tries, could not figure out an excuse that would get him out of his friend's wedding rehearsal. He had to write the best man speech, and wear the tie; he had already spent too much time on this wedding that he didn't agree with. But he was ready, just like he was ready to host Harvey's bachelor party that night. He just had to figure out what time he had to be at the church, so he had called Harvey from his home, but got no answer. So he called a few more times, tried Pamela's cell phone, still no answer. After the fifth phone call he gave up and just got in his car and started towards Harvey's home. Maybe Harvey's phone was dead and Pamela just didn't want to answer him.

He didn't like it either way. He had a feeling that Selina was going to be right about the end product of this marriage, whether it was a messy divorce or something worse, it wasn't going to be pretty. After all his views on Pam still hadn't changed over the last few months, while she was nice and attractive there was no way he would have married her after a six month period. The one year plan had been a lot better.

He wondered if he would have been considering marriage with Selina at this point. Probably not due to the fact he lacked the ability to commit, and it had been a good thing so far. He didn't have any kids that he knew of, so he didn't have to be pressured into anything that he didn't want. Like a marriage to a woman that he hadn't even loved.

Bruce groaned and grabbed his phone from his pocket, dialing the number once more. Five rings later, there was still nothing. So he didn't hesitate to speed up in his car, making it more and more urgent to get to the Dent home. He was worried, perhaps it was the Batman paranoia kicking up, but there were many things that could have been wrong with Harvey.

It had taken him a total of 12 minutes to get from the Wayne Manor to the Dent home. Nonetheless, he had parked his car and then sped up to the house and knocked on the door. After waiting a minute and a half, he practically kicked the door down to get in.

"Harvey?" Surely if he was home, he would have reacted to Bruce busting down the door. For the love of God, it was only five. He was pretty sure he didn't have to be to the church until at least six thirty. He walked through the house, through each room looking for Harvey. Once the first floor was covered, he went upstairs and the first room he entered was the bedroom. There Harvey was, wearing only his dress shirt and pants, no shoes nor jacket over him. He was writhing on the floor, pale, eyes dark. Bruce wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but he wasn't going to take any chances and let his friend die in front of him.

He dialed 911, explaining the situation and then taking Harvey's body and leaning him up against the bed. His head rolled over, and he was fully unconscious to the point his body fell almost all the way to the side. This wasn't good, and Bruce found it incredibly suspicious that Pam wasn't there with her fiancé.

When Bruce started looking around the room, he found a note on the table. It was a woman's handwriting, neat and precise and at the end of the note there was a kiss mark.

Dear Bruce or whatever other soul that finds Harvey,

I've gotten bored with poor Harvey dear. Well, that's one of the many reasons I'm writing this. I was just going to kill him, but I decided to leave a permanent marking, or at least somewhat. Ha. He'll be able to be cured, it was just some simple poison mixed with my lipstick. I hope he enjoys the hospital, and the wedding gift from me.

His fate was sealed with a kiss,

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy? Was this some kind of sick joke? So she was a psychotic flower child after all, a psychotic flower child that poisoned her victims. Bruce had read something like that in the news, a woman would seduce men and then kill them. Why hadn't she killed Harvey, why only poison him? If she had been the 'Black Widow' (which is what they called her in the papers) why didn't she just take another victim? Had she been attached to him?

Perhaps her wickedness had just left her, and she had decided to let him live. Bruce didn't know, but this was something that he should have listened to Selina about. She had been right after all. Pamela had been in Harvey's life long enough to discover things about him. Credit card numbers, bank accounts, he wouldn't have put it passed her to take all of his money and then skip town.

And people wondered why Bruce didn't date; this was one of the many reasons: women were wicked and led to nothing but trouble. Selina had been example one, Ivy was example two, only one more example would be needed before the point was proven in his head. Of course, following Christmas was the New Year and perhaps 2013 would lead to new things in the world. Less chaos, perhaps Gotham City would be free of crime.

Or there would be more of it. Batman was still waiting on meeting Joker, even though he had yet to make an appearance. A proper one, outside of television and threatening the public, what was he supposed to expect from a clown. He was going to avoid him, more than likely at all costs. Clowns and bats didn't get along, at least he didn't think they did.

There had been no reason for them to knock, as the door was practically busted down and open. He had called them upstairs and Harvey was soon on a stretcher on the way to the hospital. As much as Bruce wanted to breathe, he couldn't. If someone like Ivy could get into their lives and mess with them, what did that mean for someone like the Joker? Ivy had been obvious, and the Joker seemed to be like someone who could act. If he could act, that meant there was chaos involved.

Bruce called Gilda later that night, informing her that Harvey was in the hospital. She was bit stand offish, however when Bruce had told her what the letter had said she had started bawling, and said she would be there in the morning when he came to visit. Summer Gleeson made it known on the news as well.

"District Attorney, Harvey Dent was poisoned by his fiancé Pamela Isley, who is now calling herself Poison Ivy. She was a biologist and she is considered highly dangerous and if you see her, please contact the Gotham City Police Department at this number. We do not want a wacko like her out on the streets. Speaking of wackos, The Joker has sent the Mayor of the city a video that says if he does not send him one billionaire dollars by New Year's Eve, or Batman does not try to stop him, then people will die. We are releasing the video just in case you see him on the streets, if you do. Do not approach him, call the GCPD as soon as possible and be discreet about it. Warning this video contains frightening images and may not be for the faint hearted."

Bruce turned off the television; he didn't need to see it. While he hadn't met the madman, he knew what was possible in the world, and he had a feeling that if Gotham City could have a Cat Burglar, a psychotic Flower Child, and a Clown, then anything could happen. Really anything could happen, and this was possibly the worst thing that could happen to Gotham City. Nothing was happening to improve it, Harvey had been its only hope and he was in the hospital. There was nothing that they could do about it, at least not right now, not while he was in the hospital. Batman was the only person that could help the city in this time of need and Bruce was regretting the pressure that he was being put under.

And then the phone rang, and Bruce had answered it. "Hello?" It was Jim, and he sounded worried.

"Bruce, I take it you heard about Harvey?"

"I was the one that found him, Jim."

"Oh, damnit. I thought this was going to be a peaceful Christmas. Damn criminals… I didn't suspect Pam of being the one who would do something like this. Do you remember when I told you about the Black Widow woman? I think she may be a lead to the murders of those men, the traces of poison in Harvey's system matches the type of poison in the other men's bodies. Except it wasn't lethal, it was as though she wanted to keep Harvey alive. Why do you think?"

"I have no idea, Jim. They were together six months; in that case, didn't you mention that the relationships lasted a generally short amount of time? Two or three weeks, and then she'd disappear and he'd be found dead?"

"Yes, Bruce, that's exactly what it said. Do you think that she was just leading us all on, or do you think she actually cared about Harvey? The way they acted…"

"Along with the traces of poison, there was something that was giving him more hormones than usual, something that was keeping him attracted to her. Hence the sudden change from Gilda to Pam, she did something to him. Just like Selina said…"

"Selina Kyle? She said something like that?"

"She had her suspicions, however she had only met the woman once…"

"Do you think you could go talk to her, Bruce?"

"I… no, Jim. I don't think I could."

"Bruce, we need to know why she thought that."

"She didn't know anything, Jim."

"Do you really know that, Bruce?"

He didn't, the things Selina had told him were possibly on a whim, or she could have known something. However the way she had spoke about the red headed woman, there was no way in hell that she had been her secret friend. There was just no way. She had hated her so intensely that there was a fire in her eyes when she had looked at him after talking to her.

"No, I don't… I suppose I could go…"

"Thank you, Bruce."

"No problem Jim…"

This was another thing that was going to ruin his Christmas, visiting Selina in jail. What could have possibly gone worse? He didn't want to know, curiosity killed the bat. He didn't even want to think about what Gotham City had in store for him. Gotham City was a city full of surprises.