Poison Ivy sat on her cot in the small, poorly wall-papered room. Her ankles were crossed and she was leaning back slightly against her locked elbows, her hands pressing onto the mattress behind her. Her gaze was aimed out the room's only window. When Harleen entered, Ivy's eyes flitted from the slit of sunlight to the intruder for a moment, but were quickly returned without a reaction of any sort. Harleen thought Ivy would at least address the chair, but nope…nothing.
"They cut my roses." The plant queen murmured numbly.
Harleen was happy to hear her voice, although she wished it was more expressive and less depressed. "Which roses?" she asked as the nurse deposited her a safe distance from Ivy's cot.
Ivy motioned with her head. "The ones outside."
Harleen looked out the bared window, noticing that the metal was bent. "I'm sorry." She told her.
"They weren't healthy anyway." Ivy sighed, "trimmed too finely and improperly weeded."
"Like your mother's roses?"
The redhead nodded. "Mother would have me do the weeding. Mother didn't like getting her knees dirty…" Her energy was distracted, her gaze never leaving the window and her voice distant.
Harley nodded as well, her head bobbing slowly, observing the other woman. "OK…" she signaled to the nurse. "I'm going to be right back."
Ivy blinked, but didn't answer.
"Pamela?" Dr. Quinzel started, craning her neck to try and make eye contact. "Do you trust that I'll come back?"
Ivy stared out the window.
"Pam?" Harley repeated. "Ivy…can you look at me?"
Slowly, Ivy turned, locking her green eyes on the blue ones in front of her.
"Do you trust that I'll come back?" Harleen asked again.
Pamela shook her head.
"I need to leave for a moment. I promise I'll back." Dr. Quinzel lifted her hands and showed Ivy her palms, wishing that they were closer, but accepting, at this point, that consent was necessary even at arm's length. "I will be back."
The nurse turned Dr. Quinzel's chair around and exited the small room, shutting the door behind them. The doctor was waiting outside, his hands in the pockets of his slacks. "So?" He asked.
"She's been re-traumatized. The restraints, the rose bush, whatever happened with The Joker…it's secondary victimization." Harley told him.
"Weren't you shot by The Joker?" He asked, rather insensitively, Harley thought.
"Yes." She steeled herself. "But my responsibility is to my client right now."
The doctor sighed. "She's been ranting and raving for 12 hours straight. Seems like it's time to ship her back to Arkham."
Harleen bristled. "Has she done anything violent?"
"Well she got the rosebush to break through the window." He crossed his arms. "We had to burn it. She was screaming bloody murder."
Harley rolled her eyes. "That's because in her mind, you committed murder, right in front of her. Jesus Christ. Did you do any research into her? Like, any at all?"
The doctor cleared his throat. "I know that she's Poison Ivy, and that's all I need to know."
Harley nodded and with a humorless chuckle said, "that's what I thought." She turned back to the nurse. "Take me back in there and leave us alone."
Ivy was waiting expectantly for Harleen's return, but shyly dropped her gaze when she entered.
"See?" Dr. Quinzel smiled. "I told you I'd come back."
"Mmm." Ivy acknowledged that, at least.
"Why didn't you come see me?" The words were out of Harley's mouth before she could stop them and her face was red and voice loud. She wasn't supposed to be making this about her, but if she was being honest with herself…she was angry. "You weren't there when I woke up, Ivy! I needed you. I woke up alone. I was scared and I…" tears bit at the back of Harley's throat. "I was scared."
"Bruce was there." Ivy offered with a shrug.
Sometimes Harley forgot how emotionally stunted this woman was. "I didn't want Batman there, Pamela. I wanted you."
Ivy furrowed her brow. "Why?"
"Why?" Harley almost laughed. "Because when you let a person inside of you- literally- you are then entitled to a hospital visit when you lose the use of your legs. That's just the way that works."
Ivy swallowed, shifting uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."
"Good." Dr. Quinzel pushed her chair closer to the bed, a bit disappointed that she wasn't really given a chance to vent her frustration. She had stopped prematurely due to Ivy's placid retorts. "Now what happened to you? What happened with The Joker?"
"He broke my jaw." Ivy's answer was curt.
Harleen's tone softened. "I know that, Pam. But a broken jaw doesn't land you a room down here. What did he do? Did he…hurt you?"
Ivy tucked her knees to her chest and began to rock gently back and forth. "He told me to be a good girl." She mumbled.
Dr. Quinzel watched, recognizing Ivy's stress response. "What does that mean to you?"
Pamela was looking past her- through her. "Shh…So eager…" she said in a voice that was barely her own. "Be a good girl for me, Pammy."
Harley wasn't quite sure how to proceed. She wasn't sure if Pamela was dissociating or not, but it made a lot of sense in conjunction with her glassy expression and general unresponsiveness at the house that night when Harley was bleeding on the floor. "Ivy?" She ventured.
"Shh…so eager." She repeated. "Be a good girl for me, Pammy."
"Who said that, Pamela? Did Jason Woodrue say that? You were strapped to the table and he said that?"
Ivy stopped suddenly, tears welling up in her eyes, choking her words. "No one came…I was all alone…no one came."
"In the lab or at the hospital?" Harley asked, trying to keep up. Pam had clearly been ready to vent as well, although Harley would have assumed that their responses would have been opposite.
"6 months…no one came…" Ivy told her, her eyes sparkling.
'So she means at the hospital…and here she is, re-traumatized…history is repeating itself.' Harley moved forward awkwardly with her chair until the wheels were flush with the cot. Tentatively, she placed her hand on the other woman's knee and looked at her straight on. "It's not like last time." Harley told her. "I would have been here, Pam. I really would have. I just…I couldn't." She patted her wheelchair. "I bet it felt like Jason Woodrue was there, huh? Like he was right there in the house that night."
Ivy nodded solemnly. "I could smell him."
Harleen reverently wiped a tear from Ivy's green face. "Jason Woodrue is dead, Ivy. Batman killed him. And so is The Joker. Catwoman took care of that. The monsters aren't under your bed, Pamela. They're in here." She gently tapped her index finger on the woman's temple. "You told me we all have a darkness inside of us. Mine has a name, and it's 'Harley.' Yours is Jason Woodrue, but guess what, Pam? Jason Woodrue doesn't belong to you. He was never yours to keep."
Ivy's bottom lip quivered. "I'm so sorry."
"For what?" Harley ran her thumb over the other woman's cheekbone.
"I promised myself I wouldn't break you."
Harleen sighed. "Not everything is up to you, Ivy. Some things just happen. None of it has sunk in yet for me, so I'll get back to you when it does…but right now just about the only thing I'm clear on is that you're the only person I wanted to see when I woke up. And yes, that's cheesy and oh so human of me…and I'm not sure you'd even want me at this point…I mean, I barely want myself…and I know this is inappropriate, and selfish, and Selina was probably right, I am a villain here, but I'm really not meaning to take advantage…I just…" she collected herself after realizing that she was rambling. "I need someone. I'm angry and I'm afraid and I need someone. I'm sorry for abusing our professional relationship. I'm not a very good psychiatrist, that's obvious, but you really have made progress, I've seen it! And I don't want you to backslide. I truly believe that the world can be a better place with your influence. So whether or not that includes me…I don't want you going back to Arkham."
Ivy had wiped the tears from her eyes and was now just watching the other woman. Harley squirmed under her gaze, suddenly feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable and wishing very much that she could just get up and walk away.
Slowly, Ivy dropped her knees from her grasp and allowed her feet to return to the floor. She placed them on either side of Harley's wheelchair and leaned forward, dropping her eyes to the younger woman's chest. She reached for Harleen's tie and gently loosened it around her neck. "Totally casual…" she smirked, repeating Harley's words from long ago.
Harleen's heart leapt, but faltered slightly when she saw Ivy's face fall.
"I don't want to be Ivy without Batgirl." The plant goddess said, twirling the base of the tie around between her fingers.
Dr. Quinzel stilled the other woman's hands. "I need you to be Ivy for Batgirl. Now can I kiss you?"
Ivy's jaw clenched as she shook her head.
"Why not?" Harley asked, trying to sound like she was asking for clinical purposes."
"I can still smell him."
