Hours later, curled up in the glow of their post-coital bliss, Harley only felt…well, exhausted, really.

Having six or seven orgasms at once could do that to a girl.

"That was something special…" She looked up from where she'd been drawing lazy hearts on Ivy's chest to gaze into her gorgeous green eyes. "You're something special."

Her girlfriend simply smiled and continued carding gentle fingers through her loose hair. "No, we're something special…" She bent down to kiss her cheek, "Happy New Year, Harls."

"You too, Ive." Harley closed her eyes for just a second before the realization hit. She shot up to reach for the clock, "What?! We missed the countdown?"

Ivy lay back against the pillows, chuckling softly at her reaction. "Quite some time ago. But I'd say our night was well spent."

"I can't believe it…" Harley groaned and plopped back onto the bed, curling up to Ivy's side once more. "It's all your fault," she mumbled, poking the redhead in the ribs.

Ivy raised a curious eyebrow, "My fault?"

"Yeah! I wanted to stay at the lounge until the ball dropped so that we could share a kiss at midnight and be together forever and shit, but then you looked at me like…like – god, I don't know – and now here we are and we didn't even kiss each other and - oh god Ive, do you think they'll hold it against us or something?"

"They?"

"I don't know, fucking Fate, or Destiny… or God or something!"

Ivy's expression morphed into fond amusement as she let out a little giggle. "Jesus, Harls, why are you so cute?"

Harley ignored the blush creeping up her cheeks to 'glare' at her girlfriend. "Ive, I'm being serious! We didn't kiss at midnight! What if that does something to us? What if we have to break up?!" She began hyperventilating. That was it, Ivy was going to leave her, she was gonna dye her hair blue and move to Mexico with some tall, gorgeous brunette named Veronica and leave her alone in Gotham and then -?

"Harls," Ivy brushed her hair aside to plant a kiss on her collarbone. "I'm not going to dye my hair blue and move to Mexico," She raised an eyebrow with clearly abundant amusement, "And who in the world is Veronica?"

"I don't know!" Harley nearly cried aloud. She was spiralling, she could feel it, but breathing suddenly felt hard and Ivy was going to leave her and oh god –

"Harls…" A warm hand caressed her cheek. "I'm not leaving you." A soft kiss tingled on her neck. "I love you." Another kiss. "I want to be with you." And yet another. "And I certainly wouldn't dream of traveling to Mexico without you." Ivy smiled, "Besides, I think we've done a hell of a lot more than just kiss tonight. I'm sure Fate will take that into consideration when they make their decision."

Harley let out a little giggle, relaxing at the tender gesture and maybe feeling a little sheepish about her freak-out. "Oh…so, we're okay?"

Ivy kissed her on the lips soundly. "We're more than okay."

Just as quickly as it had started, Harley felt her nightmare evaporate. She snuggled back into Ivy's side, burrowing her head under her girlfriend's chin with a sly smile. "Not entirely… you still owe me a new dress."

She felt a hum against her scalp. "I believe I said I owed you a hundred."

"That's a lot of dough, Ive. You sure it's worth it?"

"For you?" Ivy kissed her hair, "Always."

She welcomed the warm, comforting glow that burst from her heart at Pam's simple declaration. No one had ever considered her worthy of…well, anything really. No one but Pammy anyhow.

"I thought I was taking a chance…but you really liked it, huh?"

"Liked it?" A feral growl escaped Ivy's lips, sending another arousing tingle down Harley's spine. God, how could one woman be so hot? "The only thing I can't decide is if I like you better with it on or off."

A knowing grin played on Harley's lips. "And if you had to pick?"

"Hmmm…" To her credit, Ivy pretended to think about the answer, using that time to run slender fingers along her pale forearm and back in languid circles. "Off, definitely off."

She could feel Ivy's smug smirk in her hair, "Because everyone can see you wear it, but only I can see you without it..." Her lips just brushed Harley's earlobe. "Only I can take it off you."

Harley couldn't help herself anymore. She started laughing.

Ivy seemed taken aback by the unexpected reaction, "What's so funny, daffodil?"

The jester continued giggling, "Nothing…" She glanced back up, "You were super jealous, weren't you? I thought you were definitely going to kill someone tonight."

A frown emerged on Ivy's features. "I don't see what's so amusing about that. I didn't particularly enjoy playing fifteenth wheel to all of your rabid admirers."

"But I think it was pretty cute, watching you squirm like that." Harley offered up a smirk of her own. It had been rather satisfying to watch Ivy be the jealous one for a change.

"And the sex is definitely a bonus, you know. I'm pretty sure that ranks in our top five for sure, probably even top two - if you really wanna get technical - but either way I'm definitely doing that again, cause it's totally worth the reaction I got outta you and-"

She realized her mistake too late, but Ivy – incredibly, stupidly perceptive Ivy – caught on. She slowly sat up, an inscrutable look on her face. "Do what exactly?"

Shitshitshit. Fucking piss cakes of a dick.

She grinned sheepishly, "N-Nothing Pammy. What else would I be talking about doing…? Other than you, I mean?" The nervous laughter felt empty even to her own ears.

"Harley." Ivy was glaring now, her lips pursed. "What were you talking about?"

"Nothing, Pam-a-lamb." Harley could feel herself sweating. "Don't 'cha believe me?"

From the way Ivy crossed her arms, it was clear she didn't. "Harleen Frances Quinzel, answer my question. What did you do that was worth the reaction you -" Ivy's eyes suddenly widened, and Harley realized the situation had gotten much, much worse.

"Did you…?" The redhead blanched. "Everyone at the lounge. Did you stage the whole thing tonight just to make me jealous?"

Crap on a spatula and call it Uncle Sam. Why is she so goddamn smart?

"Ive..." Harley struggled to find a suitable lie, but the unexpected turnabout had caught her off guard, so that nothing but silence could speak for her.

"You did…didn't you?" Anger, hurt, confusion raged in her stormy green eyes, and while Harley normally loved how expressive Ivy's eyes could be, this particular combination made Harley's heart sink. She wanted to curse her blabbering mouth for not managing to keep it a secret for even one day, but it was too late to hide now.

"It's actually kinda funny, Red." She began timidly, hoping they could actually laugh about it when all was said and done. "I was kinda upset yesterday, ya know, cause of all the people eye-fucking you…and I wanted you to understand how it felt to me, so-"

"So you decided to turn the tables?!" Ivy growled in a decidedly un-sexy manner. "That's not very funny, Harls."

The attitude was really beginning to grate on her. "I don't see why it's such a big deal, Ives. I've had to deal with it for years, you just had to put up with it for ONE night! Quit being such a baby!"

"I'm being the baby?!" Ivy spluttered, "You're the one who can't be mature and just ignore the fact that other people think I'm attractive. God, Harls, the way you act, it's like no one's even allowed to look at me or something!"

"Cause you're mine!" Harley cried back. "So yeah, I sure as hell don't want someone flirting with you, and I'm sick and tired of you dismissing it all as some dumb, stupid blonde thing I do."

"I don't do that." Ivy retorted sharply, her eyes narrowing. "I've never done that. But I do think you need to grow a pair and realize that other people do find me attractive. Besides, in case I haven't been clear about it or anything, you're the only person I want to be with! You'd think my word would be enough for you!"

"It's not-" Harley grumbled to herself, "For fuck's sake, this isn't about you, Ive! It's about me not liking those idiots that look at ya funny!"

Ivy was moving off the bed now. "Yeah, Harls…that's the problem. It's never about me. It's always about you and your problems and you deciding to emotionally manipulate me to fix some stupid delusion you made up in your mind!"

"Emotionally manipulate?!" Harley griped, "The fuck? The only shits being manipulated were the ones who got two whiffs of your pheromones, Ive! If ya didn't wanna be jealous, ya sure didn't hafta be. I didn't force ya too. Ya coulda ignored them all last night, ya know, like you're telling me to!"

Ivy rolled her eyes with a bitter snarl, "Sure, you didn't force me, Harls. Except for the fact that you literally just did. You literally just said you wanted me to understand what you were going though and-"

She froze suddenly, her glare turning deadlier by the second. "Did…did you say you used my pheromones?!"

SHITSHITSHITSHIT! Why can't I keep my fucking mouth shut?!

"YOU USED MY FUCKING PHEROMONES ON THEM?!"

Harley reached out to her in one last desperate attempt at damage control. "Ive, baby…"

But Ivy simply held up a hand. "No, Harley. I don't want to hear anymore. I've had enough."

"But-"

"It is one thing to manipulate my emotions for only God-knows-what when you know damn well how much I've struggled to accept them in the first place. It's another thing entirely to invade my privacy and steal MY pheromones from MY lab when you know just how much damage they can cause. But using them on innocent civilians because you wanted to play some stupid mind game with me?!" Her glare cut through Harley's pride like a sharp dagger, "I'm embarrassed to say I expected better from you."

The blonde jester could feel the moment her heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. Ivy's anger, she could deal with. But her disappointment… never.

"Ive…I-I can explain-" But Ivy was already gathering a blanket and heading out.

"If I were you, I wouldn't worry about Fate ripping us apart," She paused near the doorway, allowing Harley to catch the emerald-tinted tears glistening in her eyes. "You're doing a pretty bang-up job of that all on your own."

And with that, Ivy was gone, the door slamming loudly behind her.