Harley slept soundly, but Ivy laid in bed staring up at the ceiling. Left with no other distractions, her mind poured over her words. Harley is more important than some plants. Did she really mean it? The words had just spilled out before she'd thought about it. She had voluntarily ignored her window to get into the seed vault to tend to Harley. When Harley had tried to focus on the vault, she had focused on Harley. Ivy rolled over to face her. So, she really is more important than rescuing those seeds. Whatever that meant, or didn't mean, was irrelevant though. Harley needed to heal, inside as well as out. After the abuse Joker had put her though, it wouldn't be right to say anything to her without knowing absolutely how Pamela felt. The last thing Harley needed was an emotional distraction when she still had wounds to heal. Maybe that would give Pam time to figure out what the hell was going on in her own head.

Harley's dizzy spells came further and further apart. The headache was still an issue, but less painful, and a regimen of over-the-counter pain medication kept it manageable. With Harley on the mend, Pamela sequestered herself in her lab in an attempt to completely avoid dealing with her feelings. Converting all of her nervous energy into mental concentration had always been her first line of emotional defense. After so many years, and so many changes, it seemed some things were destined to stay the same. With several projects going at once, she was able to shift from one to another as each came to a stage of inactivity with no downtime in between. And no time for her mind to wonder.

It was a strategy that might have worked, if not for Harley. She had never been one to sit still for long, which is what had led her to gymnastics. Nor had she ever liked being alone, which had led her to a great number of mistakes. So when an antsy loneliness came upon her, Harley wandered into Ivy's lab for company. At first she merely watched Pamela work. However, this swiftly bored her as Pam's work consisted largely of looking through microscopes, commenting to herself under her breath, and scribbling down notes on her observations. Harley walked slowly around the room. She tried to stay quiet, to be as unobtrusive as possible, but her curiosity got the better of her and she began questioning. "What's this, Red?"

Ivy looked up from the microscope to see what Harley was inquiring about. "I'm cultivating a new rose species. It will be an absolutely beautiful bloom, but it's very delicate, so please don't touch it."

Harley went over to a table covered in papers. It looked like gibberish to her, columns of numbers and measurement. "What's this supposed to be?"

Ivy looked up again. "Data. Exposure experiments on various toxins. I was trying to breed immunities." She returned to the microscope.

A computer screen caught Harley's attention and she sat down in front of it. Clicking through the video files displayed, she found they were a series of short clips of cells reacting to a foreign substance introduced in varying quantities and rates. "Hey, Pammy, are these from your experiment?"

Ivy was exasperated. "Harley, I am trying to work. Would you please stop asking so many questions?"

Harley frowned. "Sorry." She looked around the room, moving from this to that, adamant about not bothering Pam again. Along one wall was a row of planter trays under bright lights. At the end was a large metal box with a door on it. Harley peered inside the glass door. A small round tray with a white, puffy material sat on the shelf inside. She opened the door and pulled the tray out.

Ivy tried to ignore her. But the longer Harley was in the lab, the more Pam found her attention drifting to the girl. Glances over her shoulder became longer and her thoughts while staring into the microscope wandered to Harley. Fighting it, she forced herself to focus. It didn't last though, before she finally gave in and turned to watch Harley.

Harley tugged at the petri dish with the fungal spore in it. Another second and she'd have the lid off. The spore would spray out in a fine puff of dust, exposing Harley and beginning a long, painful death process.

"Harley, no!" Ivy threw her pen down and ran across the room.

"Pammy, I'm not gonna ruin anything. The box thingy isn't even on."

Ivy grabbed the tray from Harley and carefully replaced it in the incubator. "What? No." Pamela gave her a distressed look. "Harley, I am the only person that is immune to those spores. If you'd have opened that dish, it would have killed you. Slowly. And very painfully."

"Oh." Harley's shoulders slumped, just one more thing to add to the long list of mistakes she'd made.

Ivy reached out to comfort her. "It's okay, Harl." She brushed strands of blonde behind Harley's ear. Pam's hand lingered against her cheek. "You just have to be more careful. Ask before touching."

"But you got cranky with me for asking too much."

Pamela sighed. "That's my fault. I shouldn't have been so short with you." Ivy rubbed her thumb against Harley's cheek. "I'm sorry." Her blue eyes looked even brighter now, against her snow white skin. Was it strange to think she seemed more beautiful? Pam, what are you doing? "Let's go watch TV or something. What time is it? Are you hungry?"

Pamela was alone with her thoughts while Harley showered. Her mind wandered over everything that had brought her to this moment. She began as far back as to question if she'd never been forced to share a cell with Harley and fell down a rabbit hole of concatenation until she thought about the night she'd found Harley on her doorstep. What if she hadn't come home when she did? What if she'd stayed out later with Selina? Would Harley have been okay? That's not a road worth going down, Pam. Ivy thought back over that evening in detail. The things Selina had said, inviting her out to drink to forget Harley choosing Joker. All the smart ass commentary with that sly grin… Selina knew. She had known long before Ivy did.

Did she know if Harley had feelings for her?

God, did she even want to get into that conversation with Selina of all people? Did she have a choice? It was either talk to Selina or drown in her own thoughts. Ivy called her, regretting the decision immediately. The phone was still ringing, she could just hang up. her finger hovered over the end call button.

"Hello?"

Damn it. "Hi, Selina. It's Ivy. Meet me at that bar of yours tonight."

"What? No, 'hey, how're you doing? What's new with you? Got plans tonight?" Selina berated.

"Alright. Do you have plans tonight, Selina?"

"No, I'm free. Would you like to meet up?"

Ivy could hear the smile on her face. She replied with clipped words, feigning congenial pleasantry. "Yes, Selina, I would like to meet up tonight. There's something I'd like to discuss with you. Let's get drinks."

"Sounds fantastic! See you at nine?"

"Sure."

Ivy slipped on a slim fitting pair of jeans and a powder blue button up shirt. She surely wasn't going dress out like Selina had insisted the last time they went out, but she was still going to look presentable. "Harley, I've got some errands to run. I'll be back in a few hours. You'll be okay by yourself?"

Harley lounged across the sofa. "I'll be fine, Pammy. What do you got to do?"

"Just some things I have to sort out. I'll tell you about it when I get back."

"Okay. Be safe, Red."

Pamela smiled. "I will, Harl."

Selina signaled to the bartender for her usual before taking a seat with Pam. "Alright, Ivy, I'm here. You said you needed to talk. What ominous, impending doom are we facing?"

Pam slammed back the bulk of her martini and jumped straight in the deep end. "I have feelings for Harley. And you knew it."

"Jesus Christ, it's about time!" Selina pulled Ivy into a hug. "Have you told her yet? What did she say?"

Ivy pushed her back. "I haven't said anything to her because I don't even know what I feel."

Fuck, she is slow. "Why are you here talking to me? You should be talking to Harley."

"I am talking to you because aside from Harley, you're the only friend I have. I can't talk to her until I know what the hell is going on. She deserves better than that after everything she's been through lately."

"What happened to her?" Selina asked, concerned.

"After she broke that bastard out of Arkham, he beat her senseless. She's staying with me now."

"Jesus. She better not go back to his ass again." The waiter silently slipped Selina's drink in front of her and left.

Ivy shook her head. "She promised me she wasn't. She walked straight to my place when it happened. While we were getting drunk, she was walking across the city with a concussion, a split lip, a bruised throat, and her face so swollen she could barely see out of one eye."

"Fuck." Selina was quiet for a long moment. "So when are we kicking his ass?"

Ivy curled her lip. "Harley doesn't want us to bother with him." Pam's countenance fell. "She still loves him. Selina, what the hell am I doing? That assholes nearly killed her and she still loves him! She can't have feelings for me."

These two idiots, they're so close. "She does." Selina stated flatly.

"What? She told you? What did she say?"

Selina laughed. "She didn't say anything; she didn't need to. Anyone can tell by the way she treats you. How many other people in this city call you Pam? And you should have figured out your own feelings a long time ago."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ivy felt insulted.

"How much do you let that girl get away with? How many times did you, Poison Ivy—a woman who despises people in every capacity—let her drag you all around the city for something she wanted to do?"

Why does a kiss on the cheek always make you smile? "Shit."

Selina chuckled. "This is good. You're finally coming around. Now all you have to do is talk to her."

Pam threw up her arms. "And tell her what? Harley, I know you just got out of a super abusive relationship that I and all of your friends have been trying to get you out of for years, and he nearly killed you and you're still not fully healed up from that, but I am completely in love with you and I want you to be with me."

Selina's face lit up. "YES."

Pam's face went pale. "I just said I'm in love with her didn't I?"

She nodded. "Mhmm."

"When did that happen?" Ivy mumbled.

"About three years ago." Selina replied off-handedly.

"What the fuck, Selina?"

"What? You asked." She grinned.

"It was rhetorical." Ivy let out a long, slow breath. "I have to tell her something."

"Yes, you do." Selina sipped her drink. "Out of curiosity what finally made you realize?"

"I had planned months on hitting that seed vault before they closed it. I cancelled it without a second thought to take care of her after Joker beat her. When she asked why I could cancel something so important to me, I answered without thinking. She was more important to me than some plants."

"Well, holy shit."

"So here we are." Pam finished off her drink.

"You can't keep putting this conversation off. You better go home and tell that poor girl how you feel so she can be honest with herself about her own feelings. Ignoring it is only going to make you upset and bitter, and then you ruin the only chance you have at real happiness." Selina eyed her.

"Why do I bother asking for your advice?" Ivy lamented.

"Because you know I'm right." There was that smirk again.

Pamela returned home, her head spinning in thought. Harley had fallen asleep on the sofa, hugging tight to a pillow. Ivy smiled, she definitely likes to cuddle. Pam lifted Harley's feet to sit, replacing them in her lap. She reached out and brushed some loose strands of hair off Harley's cheek, stroking the skin gently. The bruising and sensitivity were gone now. It's a hell of a thing to spring on you, to tell you that I love you. Maybe you already know, you're pretty damn smart. "What am I going to do?"

"Hmm?" Harley stirred. "Oh, hey, Red. Did you take care of what you needed?"

Pamela smiled at her. "Yes, I did, Harley."

"You were gonna tell me 'bout it?" Her voice was still heavy with sleep.

"Later, Harl. Let's get to bed. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Do you want to sleep on the couch or come to bed with me?" Ivy asked, expecting the answer.

"I like waking up with you. You're nice to look at first thing in the morning." Harley's brain was numb with sleep.

Pam blushed. Maybe she really does have feelings for me. "Come on, Harl. Let's go, then."

"Whatever you say, Pammy."

Ivy helped a sleep-brained Harley into bed. She changed into a night shirt before settling in next to her. Harley immediately wrapped her up and pressed close, her head on Pamela's shoulder. Ivy waited until her breathing slowed back into the rhythm of sleep. She kissed the girl's forehead. "I love you, Harley." Her words slipped, unheard, into the ether of the silent room.