"I can't believe you didn't tell me, Harvey!" shrieked Ivy as she shifted angrily through her wardrobe. "You should have consulted me before you accepted any dinner invitations for our daughter!"

"Consider it payback for not telling me about Rose," he retorted, his arms folded across his chest.

She glared at him but said nothing. "I'm not sure I want Rose associating with Bruce Wayne anyway," she muttered. "I know he's your friend, Harvey, but he's also got a reputation for being a shameless womanizer…"

"That's a façade he puts up," agreed Two-Face. "But as long as I've known him, he's always been a lot more substantial than that. Anyway, he's a good man at heart – I know that."

"You know he's an ex of Selina's, right?" demanded Ivy.

"Yeah. So?" he asked, shrugging. "If Selina's ok with dating me, her friend's ex, she should be ok with our daughter dating her ex…"

"I don't want Rose dating anyone!" interrupted Ivy. "She's too young for that!"

"Well, considering she's not gonna live a year, I'd say she should probably strike while the iron's hot!" snapped Two-Face. "C'mon, Pammie, you should let her fall in love if she can."

"Should I?" demanded Ivy. "Love for me has always ended in heartbreak and disappointment. I don't want Rose to have to suffer that, and she will! Even if they love each other…she's going to have to leave. And that will hurt her more than he can. I will have hurt her…"

She sat down, burying her face in her hands. "Flowers are so much easier to protect – they can't fall in love," she muttered. "They have no hearts to break. They're content to stay in the warm earth and not wander away. I should have stuck to growing those, and not a daughter. You're right, Harvey – I shouldn't have played God like this. Or at least waited until I could create a child that would live a reasonable time…"

"Hey," said Two-Face, sitting down next to her and taking her shoulders. "What's done is done. And I love Rose. She's brought a lot of joy into my life, and I hope…we've done the same for her. That's all we can do, right? Just let her be as happy as possible while she can. And you should have seen her face when Bruce invited her to dinner. It was glowing. I didn't need the coin to accept his invitation, not when I got a signal like that."

Ivy smiled at him. "She's a wonderful girl, isn't she?" she asked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I don't regret what you did, Pammie. And you shouldn't either. Rose is just happy to live. We should be happy about that too, no matter how short her life is."

A knock sounded on the door. "That might be Selina – she was going to meet us here so we can drive to Wayne Manor together," said Two-Face, heading for the front door.

He opened it, and both his faces fell. "What are you two doing here?" he demanded.

"Stopped by to have a fun games evening with my best friend and my niece!" exclaimed Harley Quinn, beaming at him. "I brought Twister!" she said, holding up the game.

"And I'm here to watch the ladies playing Twister," said the Joker, smiling. "I'm sure you'll wanna stay for that, Harvey, being a red-blooded male."

"Nobody's playing Twister!" snapped Two-Face. "We're going on a family outing!"

"Oh? Where to?" asked Joker. "We'll come with."

"You weren't invited," growled Two-Face.

"Why not? We're Rose's family," said Harley, hurt.

"Yeah, and the more the merrier, that's my motto, Harvey," said Joker.

"It's not my motto!" he snapped. "Now beat it!" he said, slamming the door in their faces.

"That wasn't Selina?" asked Ivy as he returned to her room, where she had changed into a long, green evening gown.

"No, the clowns," he growled. "I told them to beat it."

"That's for the best," agreed Ivy. "I wouldn't have minded having Harley along, but J ruins everything."

"Mother? How do I look?" asked Rose.

They turned around to see her standing in the doorway, looking absolutely stunning in a dark blue dress. "I always forget how beautiful you are, Princess, until I see you again," said Two-Face, hugging her and kissing her forehead gently. "Just like your mother, actually."

Ivy smiled at him. "You look gorgeous, Rose," she said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, I don't want to keep Bruce waiting," she said. "He's such a nice man to invite us all to dinner like this."

Two-Face's phone rang and he answered it while Ivy cooed over Rose's appearance. She heard a knock on the window and looked up to see the Joker waving at her, smiling.

"Uncle Joker!" said Rose, hurrying over to the window and opening it before Ivy could protest.

"Hi, kiddo!" he said, climbing into the room. "Don't you just look good enough to eat!"

"Mr. J, I warned you…" growled Harley, whom Joker had been standing on to reach the window, and who now followed him inside.

"Where are you heading off to, dressed so nice?" he continued, ignoring her.

"Oh, Bruce Wayne has invited me and my family to his mansion for dinner," said Rose.

"Oh, has he? Well, that's just swell!" said Joker, smiling. "Well, your Auntie Harley and I were hoping to spend the evening with you, but we'll just go all the way back home now, since you have plans, and spend the evening alone eating cheap Chinese takeaway while you all enjoy champagne and caviar at Wayne Manor…"

"Oh no, Uncle Joker, I'm sure you can come with us," said Rose, sincerely. "Bruce is such a nice, generous man – I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Now Rose, it's very rude just to invite people along to things other people are hosting," said Ivy, forcing a smile.

"But surely it's even more rude to send them back home when they've come all the way here to spend an evening with us," said Rose, frowning. "I would feel just awful about that."

"Yeah, at least your daughter has manners, Pammie!" snapped Joker. "And like I said to Harvey, the more the merrier, right?"

"Please, Mother, say they can come!" said Rose, pleadingly.

Ivy was incapable of refusing her daughter anything. "All right," she sighed. "But don't blame me when this whole evening turns out to be a disaster," she muttered, heading over to fix her hair.

"Selina's already there," said Two-Face, hanging up his phone. "She wanted to drive over on her own, for some reason. Shall we get going?"

"I call shotgun!" said Joker, raising his hand.

"You're not coming!" snapped Two-Face.

"Oh, please, Father," said Rose. "I'm sure Auntie Harley and Uncle Joker will be as excited to see Wayne Manor as I am!"

"Pammie, tell her no," said Two-Face.

"You tell her no," she retorted. "I can't, or I never would have allowed you to take her outside in the first place."

Two-Face looked from his daughter to the clowns, and then sighed. "Get in the car," he muttered. "And I hope Bruce doesn't kill me for this."

"C'mon, sweetie, come sit next to your Auntie Harley," said Harley, leading Rose outside. Two-Face offered Ivy his arm.

"You look beautiful, by the way," he said.

"Yeah, you've said," she replied.

"Have I? Oh. Well, it's still true," he said, looking embarrassed.

"Thank you. You don't look bad yourself," said Ivy. "It's no surprise that our daughter's so gorgeous, when she's got beauty on both sides."

"Yeah, thank God my half-face wasn't hereditary!" he laughed.

"I like your half-face," she replied, running her finger down the bad side. "There's something really attractive about a man who isn't afraid to hide the bad parts of himself. It's honest, and I like honesty in a man."

She was gazing up at him and he stared down at her. Their lips almost involuntarily drew toward each other, but Ivy regained her senses before they met. She cleared her throat.

"Shall we?" she asked, gesturing toward the door. And they left together in silence.