Eve thought she heard the sound of someone singing a Christmas carol. As the world started to shift back into focus, she was able to make out the tune of 'The Holly and the Ivy'. She must have left the radio on. But wasn't it after Christmas now? Why were there still carols on the radio? Blearily, she tried to roll over and snuggle into the pillow.

Strange. She was sitting up, not lying down in bed. Oh, of course, she'd fallen asleep in her armchair after getting home. That was going to be hell on her back later. Well she'd have to get up now, if only to go back to sleep somewhere more comfortable. She groaned at the thought of getting to her feet. Too much effort. She was so tired…

The singing stopped abruptly, and shuffling footsteps approached.

"Good evening, Doctor."

Eve's eyes snapped open in surprise. What she saw was Mortimer, for once in his life looking down on her as he stood about a foot away, wearing a facial expression somewhere between a smile and a scowl. He was twirling a glossy green ivy leaf in his fingers.

"Sorry about the unfortunate set of circumstances, Doctor, but I needed to be sure you wouldn't disappear for weeks." He gestured to the arms of the office chair Eve was sat in, where thick layers of duct tape bound her wrists in place. Her ankles were also taped together, and a piece of rope tied them to the back of the chair, so she couldn't put her feet on the floor and move around or lift her legs to kick in self-defence. She wriggled feebly.

"What did you…" she trailed off. Her tongue felt like cotton wool. "What did you do to me?" She looked around slowly. Small windows, fluorescent strip lights, glassware, warning labels. They were in one of the GCSI labs. She stared at Mortimer incredulously.

"A fairly simple solution, one of my own design," he said abruptly. "Enough to weaken you, render you acquiescent if not entirely unconscious. I may be stronger than I look, but I wouldn't have managed dragging your dead weight down the stairs." Absurdly, he flexed his right bicep. "I perfected the dose. It's designed to be long lasting."

Eve glared at him, as best she could. "Why didn't you just ask me to come here?" she mumbled. Her voice was a lot less direct than she wanted it to be. What the hell had he injected her with? The puncture site felt unpleasantly tingly, a subtle burning sensation.

Mortimer shrugged. "How can I trust a word you say? You lied through your teeth about your time off work. I couldn't trust that you wouldn't call the authorities on the way over."

"That's what this is about? You fucking…you drugged me and tied me up because I missed a few weeks of work?" Eve swung her head around, searching desperately. "This is sick! Let me go, now. Let me go!" She struggled again, but still to no avail. She didn't realise that Mortimer was laughing.

"Of course that's not what this is about, you stupid woman," he said. "This, Doctor, is about what you were doing during those weeks off." He leaned forward suddenly, slamming his hands down on top of Eve's arms and gripping her tightly. Eve saw her own worried face reflected in his glasses.

"I didn't think you'd do it. I mean, I had an inkling when you were talking about seeing that street fight months ago – you were a bit too…effusive in your description. Suddenly I thought, here's someone like me." He smiled at her. "You see, I, too, have been fascinated by Poison Ivy since I came to Gotham several years ago. I thought maybe, just maybe, I'd found someone who would join me in studying her, perhaps helping me make more progress. So, I left you a hint." He held the ivy leaf aloft in his free hand for a second, before letting it drift down to the floor.

"Wait…you put that leaf in my apartment?" Eve stared at him, thoughts racing through her head. Her throat was dry and her head was pounding; she was furious, confused, scared, and vengeful all at once. "How did you –"

"I knew your address, copied the security guard's skeleton key. I thought I'd accounted for everything – either you'd take the hint and figure it out, come to me, or you'd ignore it and I'd have to try again. What I didn't count on was you acting like a complete idiot," he hissed suddenly. He released Eve's arms suddenly, with enough force to rock the chair, and started to pace the floor, gesticulating as was his habit when agitated. "You went to see her! Alone! No backup plan. You could have died!" He glared at her, his eyes filled with what seemed like genuine concern.

"But then you did something…incredible." He advanced towards her as if to pull her into an embrace, then stopped just inches away. "You got past all those defences. She trusted you. Opened up to you. Told you things that nobody else in the world had a chance of ever being told! It was all you, Doctor; just you."

Eve didn't know what to do. She'd never seen Mortimer like this; he was so mercurial, she couldn't work out whether he was angry, upset, or excited from one moment to the next. She was scared of him now, this man who'd taken her under his wing, done everything he could to make her feel comfortable and help her establish herself at the GCSI. She'd thought he cared about her wellbeing. The breaking and entering, drugs, and kidnap were strong evidence to the contrary. How could he possibly have thought that breaking into her apartment was a good way to start a scientific partnership? She took a deep breath. "I don't…" she ventured, trying to keep her voice calm and friendly, "I don't understand what you want. Talk to me, Phillip. Why have you done this?"

He rounded on her with such ferocity that she leaned back in her chair, trying to get as far away as possible. "Do you know why I've been calling you Doctor?"

"I…no…" Eve shook her head.

Mortimer clamped his hand over Eve's mouth, leaning over her as far as he could. "Because, Doctor, I have felt the need to remind you of who you are, who you spent years of studying and training to become. You are a scientist, and you are letting one of the biggest scientific discoveries that may ever grace our humble establishment slip" – he tightened his grip, causing Eve to moan in pain – "through your fingers. And for what?! Your own selfish reasons? You're leaving Poison Ivy behind, keeping all that revelatory information to yourself…why? Do you realise what we could gain from having access to it?"

Eve tried to speak, but her voice was pathetically muffled. With a sigh of exasperation, Mortimer released her mouth and instead tightly clenched his fist into her hair, pulling her head back and her face up towards his. "I'm not leaving her," she gasped out. "We're not…separating, we were both leaving. Together."

Mortimer was wide-eyed. Oh, this was wonderful. His plan had been to get hold of Eve and interrogate her, finding out everything she knew, no matter how long it took. In the end, well, depending on how she'd co-operated, he would have either sent her back to Chicago, stripped of her credentials and credibility, or had her work with him on solving the puzzle of Poison Ivy.

But this – now he actually had a chance of encountering Ivy herself, if they felt what he suspected they felt for each other.

Without speaking, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a clean handkerchief, wadding it up into a ball. Eve realised what he was about to do and started to struggle hard, trying to move her head out of reach, but she couldn't get away. He pulled her head back further and forced the fabric past her lips, filling her mouth and almost choking her. Keeping the handkerchief in place with his free hand, he then let go of Eve's hair and took a roll of duct tape from the other pocket, tearing off a long strip with his teeth. He pressed it down over her mouth, while she protested and glared at him. Muffled swearwords streamed from behind the tape, but Mortimer just smiled.

"I'm going to need to step out for a little while. Things to do." He explained it in a pleasant tone, as if talking to a child. "You just sit tight. I've switched the cameras off," he gestured to the corners of the ceiling, "and nobody knows you're here but me, so feel free to make as much noise as you can. And when I get back, we're going to talk about your lover. I'm sure she'll be very worried about you soon enough."

He left Eve in the empty lab, locking the door behind him. She was stranded in the middle of the room, too far from anything she could use to free herself. Groaning with frustration, she slumped in the chair. Tears started to well from her eyes and slide down her cheeks. She couldn't believe it. Ivy had wanted her safe from the colourful criminals and psychopaths of Gotham, the ones she was on first-name terms with, and all the while Mortimer had been lurking behind the scenes, waiting to take advantage of their relationship and reap the benefits for himself the form of grants and funding, lab equipment, magazine cover stories, critical acclaim. And there was nothing she could do. She felt sick; she didn't know what he would do to her if she didn't tell him anything about Ivy, but she was determined not to betray her, even if it meant…well.

Then she realised; he didn't know. He didn't know their plans to have a few days apart, to let Eve get her affairs in order. Ivy would have no idea what had happened, and when the time came for them to meet again and make their getaway, she wouldn't know where she'd gone, but she would tear Gotham apart to find her. In the time that would take, would Mortimer still think Ivy was coming for her? Or would he grow impatient, decide she was a wasted effort and get rid of her?

Eve let her head sink onto her chest. The drug was wearing off, but she felt exhausted. She spotted her pendant under the neckline of her pyjama top, the silver leaf catching the light, and she hoped with all her might that Ivy would find her.