Roselyn stood in front of her dresser drawer where her new pajamas had been put away. She had five sets and she wasn't sure which one to choose. There was the red one Harley insisted she get, the pink one with white polk-a-dots, the green set, the blue nightgown, and the yellow nightgown. Roselyn bit her lower lip nervously as she contemplated what to do. Although it was a simple task, she never chose what to wear before. "Is everything okay?" Ivy knocked on the door. It had been twenty minutes since she asked Roselyn to change.
"Pammie, I don't know what to do," Roselyn admitted and went over to open her bedroom door. She couldn't look Ivy in the eyes when she saw her because she was ashamed at being unable to do what was probably a simple task for most people.
"Okay, let's see what we've got here," Ivy said and walked over to the drawer with Roselyn following her. "It's going to be cold tonight, so choose one of the shirt and pants sets," Ivy suggested. "Pick one of them like you'd pick out a crayon," Ivy patiently waited.
"The pink ones," Roselyn decided.
"Good choice." Ivy grabbed them out of her drawer and placed them on the bed.
"I'm sorry I'm not very good at this," Roselyn admitted.
"You're just getting used to things. It's your first day of being...out. It's a lot to adjust to, huh?" Ivy sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside her. Roselyn obliged and sat down beside the woman who meant everything to her. It still amazed her how people thought Poison Ivy was so bad when she was the only person to ever willingly take the eleven year old in and care for her as well as put up with her inability to choose a pair of pajamas.
"I never had this much stuff before," she replied. "I didn't have enough things to ever make a decision like this." Ivy put an arm around her and pulled her close.
"If there's anything you need, you let me know, okay? Don't be afraid to ask me anything."
"I have a question," Roselyn said as her heart began to race in her chest. "Why do people think you're bad?" she looked up at her, green eyes meeting green. Ivy opened her mouth to speak, but it was obvious she didn't know how to respond to that. Roselyn blushed and quickly looked down at her feet. "Sorry, it's just that…people think I'm bad, too."
"People don't like what I do," Ivy replied. "Since they don't like what I do, I'm not considered a good person. But don't worry, sweetie, you're not bad at all."
"Then why don't people ever like me?" Roselyn asked.
"People don't like other people who are different. Which is why I prefer plants, usually."
"Sometimes I wish I could just get rid of these plant abilities," Roselyn admitted.
"Don't wish that," Ivy said. "They're a part of you," she held out her hand and a vine from a plant growing in the corner wrapped itself gently around her forearm. "They're a part of us. These abilities make us special." The vine stretched itself over to Roselyn's arm and hugged it loosely. She did like plants and she appreciated them since they were very kind to her when she needed some form of interaction. However, they were the reasons for other people staying away from her, not adopting her, and shipping her off from city to city.
"But I don't want to be special. I want to be normal. I want people to like me," Roselyn had tears in her eyes. She never had vocalized these thoughts before and it felt good to say them, especially to someone who was just like her. It was hard to remember she wasn't alone anymore.
"People do like you, flower," Ivy replied and gently ran her hand through Roselyn's long brown hair. "The people at Arkham really liked you. And in time, even more people will like you. But want to know what's most important?" Ivy smiled when Roselyn looked up at her.
"What?" she asked.
"I love you."
"You love me?" Roselyn whispered. Ivy nodded in confirmation. "Nobody's ever loved me before," she began to cry.
"Oh, baby," Ivy brought her into a hug and held her tightly. Roselyn returned the hug and cried into the woman's chest.
"I love you, too," she managed to choke out in between sobs.
"Get into your pajamas and we'll watch a movie and have some ice cream," Ivy said when they broke their hug. The two stood up and Ivy left the bedroom. Roselyn quickly put her pajamas on and wondered what kind of movie they'd watch. She never really saw too many of them since the older kids in the orphanages tended to pick them out. She had seen many teen romances and opted out on the horror movies.
She emerged from her bedroom and found these pajamas were warm and comfortable, something she wasn't used to at all. She found Ivy in the kitchen who told her to sit on the table for a moment. Roselyn pushed herself up onto the table and looked at her with confusion. Shouldn't they be in the TV room? Ivy showed her a needle which made Roselyn freak out. She still had nightmares of being stabbed with needles during those horrible experiments. "Relax," Ivy murmured and took Roselyn's arm. She pushed up the sleeve and began to disinfect the area in between her forearm and upper arm. "I just want to take a little bit of blood from you to analyze and make sure you're healthy, okay? If I don't do it, a doctor will have to," she explained. Roselyn nodded and looked away. She felt the needle go into her arm and some blood was drawn from her. She wasn't sure how much because she didn't want to see it. Ivy gave her a bowl of ice cream when she was done before heading into her lab to put the blood somewhere. Roselyn was told the lab was off limits since some things in there were dangerous. Roselyn didn't mind; she had no interest in the lab anyway.
It didn't take Ivy long to join Roselyn in the living room. She showed her a couple of shelves of DVDs which looked like they were probably Harley's since there were a lot of cartoon themed ones. She stood there unable to make a decision until Ivy took out three of them. "Harley really likes these three." The one that caught her eye was the one with a bunch of African animals in the front titled The Lion King. She pointed at that one before rushing over to the couch and getting under the large blanket Ivy spread out. She ate her ice cream as she watched the movie and she found she really liked it! Maybe tomorrow she'd watch some of those other movies.
After the movie, Ivy put on some gardening show which made Roselyn fall asleep on the couch.
Does Ivy really love Roselyn or does she have an ulterior motive? Kind of just a filler chapter here.
