Harley dragged her feet—literally, a guard had to drag her—back to her cell after free time. She knew Ivy would be there, waiting in the cell next to her. Angry, probably. And she really didn't want Ivy to be angry with her.
Normally, if a patient did something violent like, ya know…kill a guard? They'd be thrown down in solitary confinement. That's where Mistah J was just put automatically these days. But because of Ivy's powers, it was way more effective to just keep her in her cell and pump up her "calming agents."
"Torture" was really a better word for it, and Harley could hear her shallow breathing and moans of pain as soon as she entered the cell block. The guard pulled her quicker past Ivy's cell—too quick to see anything through the red mist that swirled thicker than Harley had ever seen it. Next thing she knew, she was being shoved back into her own cell, and the guard was nearly running in the opposite direction.
Harley stood, motionless, in the middle of her cell for a moment, just listening. It would be lights out in a few minutes. They'd make Ivy spend the night like that, Harley knew it. Ivy's teeth began to chatter, and Harley guessed it was because they'd lowered the temperature in her cell to freezing…Ivy doesn't do well with the cold…
With a few tentative steps, Harley made it over to the wall between their cells, placing a gentle hand there, and lightly clearing her throat. "H—hiya, Red. How ya doin' in there?"
"Fuck—you," Ivy wheezed.
Harley thought a joke might lighten things up. "You already did, remember?"
…it did not.
Or at least Harley guessed it didn't, because Ivy didn't respond.
"Normally when ya let a girl stick four fingers inside'a ya you're entitled to at least a hug the next time ya see her," Harley filled the silence Ivy wouldn't.
"You….why would you…" Ivy was attempting to force words out between her chattering teeth and shallow breaths. "Trivialize what we…we made l—why would you tell him that? Why would you d—do this to m—me?"
"OK, whoa, hey," Harley had to set the facts straight. "I don't remembah cuttin' anybody's head off. Pretty sure that was all you."
"You—ah!" Ivy let out a cry of pain and a choked sort of sob. "You traded on my reputation!" it sounded like she'd gritted her teeth. "Something it took me…something it took me 30 fucking years to c—cultivate. 30 years of proving I was…proving I was untouchable to these—fff—degenerates. You r—you ruined me. You betrayed m—me."
Harley's heart sunk in her chest. She hadn't meant to do that… "No, Red, I—I'm really sorry about that, alright? He was just—he was roughin' me up a little. I got scared. I thought if he knew we were a….uh…ya know, that he might leave me alone. Since you're so awesome and powerful. Thought you could protect me…"
Ivy was choking on her own air, trying desperately to find some carbon dioxide. "What do I k—know, Harley? That we're…that we're gal pals? That you used me? That I'm n—that I mean nothing t—to you? That when I…in the…that night, and the—the tub…I'm just—it's just something to…to trade on. you'll b—build your reputation on my b—back."
"Red, don't say that…" Harley slid down the wall, coming to sit on the floor. "Course ya mean something to me. I don't know what I'd do without ya!"
Judging by the sounds of sloshing liquid—the vinegar, which had now pooled deep enough to slosh, evidently—Ivy was crawling over to the wall. She took a few shaky breaths, as deep as she could manage, and Harley imagined her gaze was cold, her jaw tight. "I refuse to be some side piece. A pretty thing you k—keep locked away…whispering promises into my ear in the dead of night…only to be…to be gone, or f—forcing me out of bed when dawn breaks."
Harley was hurt. "You're not a side piece, Red. You're my best friend!"
It was a while before Ivy replied, and Harley could hear her move away from the wall before she did. "Then you're…you're a terrible friend."
/
They drained the vinegar on the 3rd day, but the oxygen was still so pure, and the pesticides so strong, that every breath burned Ivy's lungs.
"Was it worth it, Pamela?" Dr. Leeland was asking from here she stood outside Ivy's cell.
"No man…will ever…lay a hand on me…again," Ivy wheezed. "No man…will touch me...No man…will fuck me. And those who try…will die. Horrible, painful, violent…deserved deaths."
Dr. Leeland just shook her head, offering a sigh laced with so much pity Ivy wanted to rip her head off too, and finally left her alone.
"Are ya feelin' any better, Red?" Harley's meek voice came from the cell beside her.
"Fuck you," Ivy spat, crawling back into the corner to curl around the carcass of the one plant they'd given her. It hadn't been able to survive her cell's harsh conditions.
It was easier to breathe on the 4th day, and Harley had stopped trying to talk to her, which was…better. Which was better.
She didn't…she didn't need human companionship. Didn't…need someone to pull close at night. Someone to cook breakfast for in the morning. Someone to wake up to, someone to make love to…
Those were human things. And Pame—Ivy, she wasn't. Human. Not anymore. She didn't need a…a lover. Didn't need a friend. Didn't need Harley Quinn.
On the 5th day, her cell returned to its normal atmosphere, keeping her subdued, but not actively torturing her. Ivy didn't move from her place on the floor, though. Couldn't, really. She needed water and sunlight to recharge. She was so severely underweight due to dehydration that an onlooker would be able to see the shape of every one of her bones beneath the nearly translucent pale mint of her skin. A living skeleton.
Her cafeteria privileges were still revoked, and her threat level had been raised so high after the 'incident' that the guards weren't even allowed to approach her cell anymore.
Water, water, water….water, water, water….she thought over and over again, like she could will a reservoir into her cell.
But what she got was not a reservoir, but a bang and a loud crash. Sirens and gunshots.
"Let's go, Red," Harley was murmuring into her hair as she hoisted her up off the ground, holding her tight to her chest. "Ya look a little parched."
/
Harley remembered the orderlies used to inject Ivy with salt water to dehydrate her when she got really nasty, but Harley had never seen her quite this bad.
Her face was gaunt, eyes sunken, ribs so pronounced they quite literally stabbed Harley as she held Ivy in her arms, making her way through the chaos.
This wasn't Harley's escape plan, not technically, anyway. She was just piggybacking off the riot Nygma had incited. And, honestly, thank god he did because Red reeeeaaalllyyyy wasn't lookin too good. Like, she'd never actually tell Ivy this, but seriously—yuck.
She'd lifted a gun from a guard while he was distracted trying to get Killer Croc back down in his hole. "Water…" Ivy breathed. And that's when Harley had an idea. Instead of continuing past Waylon, she ran behind him, taking a shot at the guard and then plunging down into the sewer that Croc had left unoccupied.
She heard shouts above her, but they were already under water. And—wow, this is the most disgusting thing I've ever done.
Harley didn't dare try and open her eyes in this water, instead waiting until her head broke the surface. Ivy was still in her arms, but now she was sputtering, choking, gagging.
"Harley, what the fuck?! The sewer? The sewer?!"
When Harley wiped her eyes, she found that Ivy was somehow back to her normal self. Just with one touch of water, she'd completely re-hydrated. Woah…
"Harley, there is fecal matter down here!" Ivy was continuing on her tirade. "Do I seem like the type of person who might enjoy a bath in the excrement of my colleagues?! There's a lake not even—mmph!"
She was cut off when Harley grabbed her face and pulled her into a kiss. "Red! You're OK!" Harley moved away from her lips, peppering her face with kisses, leaving no square inch untouched. "I thought I was gonna have ta stick ya full of IVs and stuff ta get ya back to normal! You were startin' ta look like a Halloween decoration!"
"H—no, no, stop it." Ivy pushed her away. "I said I didn't want to speak to you."
They both flinched and ducked at the sounds of gunshots above them.
"We don't have time for any'a that," Harley chastised, grabbing her hand beneath the water. "We gotta move!"
Ivy's reluctance only lasted a moment before she allowed herself to be dragged along, the two of them climbing out of the water and onto the concrete siding as soon as the option presented itself. The water left them dirty, but Harley didn't really care, all that mattered was that Ivy was still gripping her hand.
But their luck ran out soon when they nearly ran head-first into a brick wall. That was the end of the tunnel, the end of Croc's cell.
"Shit!" Harley cursed. "Shit, shit, shit. Red, we're stuck."
Ivy rolled her eyes, dropping her hand and taking a step forward. "Drag me into the sewers without an escape plan," she grumbled, placing a hand on the wall.
Harley watched in wonderment as the spindly vines that climbed the walls began to come alive, pulling back to slither in the air. "So…what's the plan here, Red? You're gonna…Slytherin em' ta death? Ooh! Do ya speak parseltongue?! Oh, pfft, who am I kiddin', you're totally a Ravenclaw." Harley bonked herself on the head. "People think I'm a Hufflepuff, but truth is I'm a Gryffindor. And Kitty is pretty obviously a S—,"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but now is really not the time," Ivy interrupted as her vines began to weave themselves together into what looked like a…giant hammer?
"Ooh! Red, can I swing it?"
"No," Ivy answered plainly. "I'm afraid your talents are needed elsewhere." She nodded over her shoulder, and Harley jumped at the sight of three guards stumbling behind them through the water.
"You two! Stop!" they called after them.
"Heh, like fish in a barrel," Harley giggled, pulling out her gun and firing a bullet aimed at nothing that caused the three of them to cower, slowing their movement and making them easier targets. Then Harley went down the line, capping each one of them like ducks in a row as they scampered.
Harley finished with that just in time to watch Ivy's hammer swing itself into the wall. It took two more before a brick was knocked out of place, and another 4 before there was room enough to crawl through.
Ivy shivered as soon as the late-October breeze hit her wet, nearly bare skin. They could see Arkham behind them up on the hill, and Gotham stretched out below them.
"We goin' home, Red?" Harley asked, though the question was rhetorical as she took her hand again, pulling her away from the tunnel entrance.
But they'd only moved a few feet before Ivy dropped it, again pushing Harley away from her. "We're not going anywhere. I'm going to wash the ordure from my body, and then go home to be with my plants. I don't know what you're doing, but it has nothing to do with my plans for the evening."
"H—hey! Ya know what? A little gratefulness would be nice," Harley called after her as Ivy stormed away. "Without me and my brilliant escape plan, you'd still be lookin' like somebody just dug ya out of a tomb."
"And whose fault was that in the first place?" Ivy demanded.
"Yours!" Harley ran to catch up. "Ya didn't have ta kill him like that!"
"I did!" Ivy yelled, still refusing to turn around. "And if you knew anything about me, you wouldn't question it. A few more months with your precious Puddin' and maybe you'll start to feel the same way about men. Or maybe not! Maybe you never will. Maybe you'll never get it."
"You don't—ow!" Harley stubbed her toe on a root that she was pretty sure Ivy had put there on purpose. "Geez, slow down!" Ivy really was moving pretty fast, like, really fast, actually. Faster than she remembered her moving during the night they'd met at the museum or the night of their heist. And that's when Harley realized they'd moved past the tree line into the forest that bordered the city on one side.
Jumping over the next root that sprung up in her path, Harley continued her pursuit, noticing that the way Ivy ran had changed too. She no longer ran completely upright like a human, instead, her hands would touch the ground every few steps, her body remaining low to the ground otherwise. Her movements were quick and nimble, and as soon as she saw an opportunity, she grabbed onto a tree branch, climbing upwards and abandoning the grass altogether.
"Red! Red, wait up, that's no fair!" Harley complained, running blindly now, as her guide had disappeared. How the heck did she do that?
It must be the forest, Harley realized. The trees must make her stronger. But if that's the case…why the heck does she live in Gotham? She should be living somewhere green where she can breathe, not a stuffy, polluted city like Gotham? And if she's this powerful here…Harley's stomach actually turned at all that wasted potential…not like she was the best person to judge. Or in a position to judge at all, really. But seriously, what the heck is she doin here?
Harley's pace began to slow as she approached a clearing, looking out past the trees onto a small lake—more like a pond, actually. It was too dark to see anything specific, just that there was water, judging by how the moon reflected off its smooth surface.
The water rippled a moment later, a pair of glowing green eyes breaking the surface. Harley swallowed at how they narrowed at her, turned to slits in the darkness.
"Look, Red, I know you're pissed," Harley tried again to reason with her. "I'm sorry, OK? I really am. But please can I get in the water? I smell like poop and I don't wanna smell like poop."
Raising slightly higher—so her mouth was above the water, Harley guessed—Ivy asked, "Why did you take me with you? Would have been easier to leave me behind."
"Because the easy way is boring!" Harley insisted, taking another step closer to the water. "And I was worried about'cha, Red. And I was thinkin' about how you said I was a bad friend, and I…I don't wanna be a bad friend. I wanna be a good one. Wanna…make ya proud. It made me sad, thinkin' of ya all alone, hurtin' in that cell. I would'a rather been cuddlin'."
Ivy scoffed, turning away from her, and Harley took that as her cue to get in. She quickly dunked herself underneath, scrubbing her hair and then her skin before popping back up, finding Ivy was still turned away from her.
"Why did you ask if we were going home?" Ivy's voice was quiet.
"Oh, umm…because it's cold outside," Harley told her, truthfully. "And your house is always warm."
Ivy swallowed. "But you…you didn't call it my house, you…called it ours."
Harley frowned, confused for a moment. Did she like that? "Yeah, Red. Cuz I always feel at home when I'm there. You make me feel so safe…"
When Ivy didn't move or respond, Harley took a step closer to her in the shallow water, until she was close enough to see Ivy's shoulders shaking from the cold. She remembered how Ivy had acquiesced the first time Harley had returned after leaving. Her defenses crumbling at those simple words: I missed you…
"I missed it…" Harley ran her fingers up Ivy's arm from behind, over her shoulder. "Missed the house…the garden…the bed…" she moved forward, replacing the fingers that now rested on Ivy's neck with her mouth, and wrapping a hand gently around her waist, pulling them flush. "I missed you, Red."
She could feel Ivy swallow below her lips, feel her tense in her arms. So Harley nuzzled in deeper, holding her tighter. "Let's go home, Red. I'm cold."
They walked most of the trip back to the city in silence, but as they stood on a dark curb, waiting for a cab, Harley growling at anyone that looked at them sideways, she held her hand out, and Ivy tentatively took it in her own.
Ivy didn't pay the cab driver, of course. Just kissed him. Turned out not all of Ivy's kisses had to end in death.
"I'm not sure I'll ever feel clean…" Harley muttered, shimmying against the back seat.
"I sterilized you when you touched me," Ivy assured her, her tone just as subdued as she watched downtown pass them by outside the window.
Harley leaned her head against her shoulder, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. Ivy already smelled like her normal self. Harley guessed she did too. Is this what I smell like? As those thoughts swirled aimlessly in her mind, she felt Ivy turn her head slightly, so she could look straight ahead.
The soft skin of Ivy's cheek was now pressed against Harley's forehead, and the blonde smiled when she felt Ivy shift again, face lower. Harley felt that familiar want take root in her gut once more, and lifted her hand to Ivy's face, sitting up so she could kiss her again.
Ivy's eyes were already closed when Harley pressed their lips together, and at first she didn't really respond, just held them there. But then Harley stroked her face, pushing a still damp lock of red hair behind her ear, and Ivy responded, sighing quietly before parting her lips for Harley's tongue.
Harley moaned softly as their tongues collided, sliding slowly over one another, Ivy's soft lips caressing her own. She hadn't liked Ivy being upset with her. Didn't like seeing that she'd made her sad. Harley wished leaving didn't have to mean she was leaving Ivy, but Puddin' was Puddin'…
Then again, for all that Puddin' was…
Red sure was a better kisser.
Ivy's hand found her thigh, elegant fingers stroking the inseam of her Arhkam administered pants. For a second, Harley felt embarrassed, suddenly aware of the cab driver's presence, until she remembered Ivy's hypnotizing kiss. And she sorta felt for the poor guy. Ivy's pheromones didn't work on her, but…man, sometimes it sure felt like she was under a spell. Especially with Ivy suckin' on her lower lip like that, hand rubbing gentle circles on her thigh, body pressed so close.
Okay, Harley really wanted out of this cab. Sure, she'd take sex in a car if she had to, wouldn't exactly be a new experience, and she was sure Ivy would make it worth her while, but Harley also wanted to lay down in something a bit more comfortable than a cot, and the back seat of a cab wasn't exactly an upgrade. Tangling her fingers in Ivy's hair, Harley moved her lips to Ivy's jaw, kissing softly down the line of her neck, smiling when she earned a soft moan.
They didn't get much farther, Ivy having the cab driver stop just outside the house and then sending him on his way. Harley took her hands as soon as the cab disappeared down the street, her steps light as she led Ivy towards the house, heart pounding in her chest.
She was going to have this again, have Ivy, in a way that made her feel powerful, cared for, unstoppable. And the energy that now coursed through her veins made her limbs tremble and shake so hard she had trouble opening the door. By the time they got inside, Harley found she didn't want to wait for the bedroom, she didn't want to let Ivy take her slowly again. There was a passion burning in her gut, hot, explosive, and what they'd begun in the cab needed finishing. Now.
Kicking the door shut with her heel, Harley spun Ivy around and shoved her shoulders, pushing her back against the far wall of the living room, pressing her mouth firmly to Ivy's before she could open it to speak. She brought her hands up to Ivy's face, cupping her cheeks and prodding Ivy's lips open with her tongue, moaning when they brushed.
/
You can't trust her, Pamela.
She doesn't actually care about you. She's just lonely.
She's using you.
Ivy lolled her head to the ceiling as Harley kissed a hungry line down her neck. Her mouth hot on Ivy's skin.
She doesn't care for you like you do her.
Ivy whimpered when Harley's tongue was replaced with her teeth, scraping up the column of her throat.
50 years and you're right back where you started.
Pressed up against a wall in a dark house.
A dirty little secret.
"God—fuck, Red, I missed ya so much." Harley's body pressed closer, hand pulling almost desperately on the two buttons straining to keep Ivy's shirt closed.
Ivy supposed this was how she asked for permission.
She missed me…
She missed parts of you. These parts.
She didn't miss you.
No one has ever missed you, Pamela.
The buttons were ripped open and Harley's mouth was on her breast. Warm and wet, her tongue circling quickly around her nipple before she sucked.
When Ivy's eyes snapped downwards she found Harley's were closed in some sort of bliss, it seemed, her hand squeezing what she couldn't reach with her mouth.
"You're so perfect," Harley whispered against her skin. "Fuck, I missed these things."
Ivy's head slammed back against the wall when Harley bit down gently with her teeth. Her hands worked quickly to pull Harley's hair from her messy pigtails, hands fisting there as soon as she could, not allowing Harley to let go or pull back.
I want her.
She'll break whatever heart you have left.
Harley pushed Ivy's legs apart where she was pinned, knee moving to rub against her.
I want her.
Her knee pressed further, and Ivy moaned—low in her throat, the sound laced with desire—moving one leg to wrap around Harley's waist. The blonde helped her the rest of the way, grabbing her ass and hoisting her up off the ground, mouth leaving Ivy's breast in favor of a kiss.
With Ivy off the ground, she was pressed more intimately against Harley now, and rocked her hips in search of friction, Harley doing the same, hand kneading less than gently on her ass. Employing a sort of rough care, amplified by her desire.
She wants me.
Their tongues tangled sloppily as they rocked against each other, Harley's hips bucking harder upwards with each thrust, now searching desperately for her own pleasure.
"Fuck, Pammy, I gotta have ya," Harley begged between labored breaths.
Ivy pressed her face into the crook of Harley's neck, dragging her lips upwards, tightening her thighs around Harley's waist and her grip on the blonde's back. "Then have me," she husked when she'd made it to her ear.
She made sure her mouth lingered there for a moment, breath hot, before she moved down to suck at the sensitive skin just below.
"Fuck me, Harley."
The blonde growled, a sound Ivy didn't even know that squeaky voice of hers could make, and pulled Ivy away from the wall, maintaining her grip on her rear, Ivy's thighs squeezing tighter than ever as Harley kissed her again, walking them towards the couch. She knocked into a chair first, but Ivy really didn't care, not with Harley's tongue in her mouth like that and her stomach muscles flexing below Ivy's sex.
She laid her back on the soft pillows of the couch, and when Ivy refused to relinquish her grip, pressed down on top of her, finally able to achieve some meaningful contact when she ground herself against her.
Ivy's breath hitched as their hips moved in unison, and she grabbed the back of the orange Arkham uniform Harley still wore, pulling it over the blonde's head and tossing it aside, hands moving next to her bulky, standard issue bra.
Harley's movements had turned frantic at this point, but it was all cursory. Too much fabric between them. Ivy wanted to feel her skin, feel Harley's wet sex slide against her own. She wanted to see colors again. So she moved her foot down, as that's all she could do at the moment, her hands preoccupied with Harley's breasts, the blonde's hips still between her legs, and tried to pull Harley's pants down her thighs by getting her toe beneath the waistband. It took a couple of attempts, and Harley haphazardly reaching back to help shove them down, but soon Ivy had Harley's pants down to her knees, and that was the best they could do at this position, which was something neither one of them wanted to relinquish.
"Red, how do I—,"
"Just pull," Ivy breathed, biting her lip as Harley followed her instructions, pulling away the leaves that covered her.
They both moaned when first Harley's fingers, and then her palm slid over Ivy's swollen clit.
"Please," Ivy whispered, gazing up at the blue eyes above her, watching as they darkened with lust.
Harley didn't remove her gaze as she eased two fingers inside of her, but honestly, Ivy was so wet, she could have gone quicker.
Ivy's back arched off the couch when those fingers curled, whimpering when Harley swooped down and ran her tongue up her neck, ending in a kiss just below her jaw.
Like with her hips, Harley moved quickly, her thrusts hard, fingers strong and filling.
"You feel so good, Red," she panted against Ivy moist skin, the heel of her palm rubbing Ivy's straining clit, and her own sex sliding in time with her fingers against Ivy's bare thigh.
…and that was it. That was all it took.
Harley bit down on her neck when she felt Ivy's wetness rush over her fingers, and sped up the rhythm of her own hips, releasing a high-pitched whimper with each thrust. Her fingers had stilled inside Ivy, only curling now, gently, milking the remainder of Ivy's orgasm from her as she reached her own peak.
With a final spastic thrust, she collapsed over Ivy, the redhead holding her in a tight embrace as Harley's hips twitched of their own accord.
Ivy was trying to control her breathing, blinking away the colors behind her eyes and the tears that were now gathering in them.
Pamela hadn't thought anyone would want to be with her that way again. Want to make her feel good. To kiss her and hold her as their heartrates calmed down together. Lazily draped over each other, their legs tangled…
She'd had that once. Had…colors.
But she'd been living in a black and white world for a very long time.
Harley giggled against her once she finally caught her breath. "You're pretty sensitive, huh?"
Ivy didn't respond right away, just held her, sniffing quietly as she pressed a kiss to Harley's temple.
"Thank you," was all she could manage. "Thank you."