"Oh... that's... that's pretty Pam! And how did you get that?" Hazel asked, her heart sinking with the knowledge that she already knew the flowers origin.
Poison Ivy smiled softly as she fixed her eyes on Hazel's, slowly canting her head a little in curiosity. "It's the darnedest thing, Doctor. Some foolish employee, who will remain nameless for my benefit, was tending to what is clearly-" here she paused to toss her hair and cup the lovely Brunfelsia flower "-a very healthy little plant of the Brunfelsia genus. It's a gorgeous flower, don't you think? Anyway, this fool carried the pollen in on their person after tending to the flower one early morning before coming in for work. During my escorted walk up to the meeting room for our therapy session my body naturally attracted the pollen like a magnet. This poor simpleton was just like a bee, carrying pollen from one healthy plant to another for fertilization."
Hazel was shocked. If the rest of the staff found out, if the psychiatric community learned that she had been an unwitting assistant in providing Poison Ivy with her weapon of choice it would be a career ruining revelation. She hadn't done it on purpose, and so they would be unlikely to fire her, it was a simple mistake by a doctor who'd only been working at Arkham for 7 months, plenty of doctors had made far more dangerous mistakes. The mistake was dangerous though, very dangerous, she had provided pollen to a chlorokinetic manipulator. She would be a laughing stock if anyone found out, and yet even though there were two guards who could be witness to the confession, Pamela didn't reveal who her been her unknowing accomplice in crime. As Dr. Birch stared at the green skinned woman Poison Ivy gave her a knowing smile, as if she could sense exactly what the doctor was thinking.
"There are reasons that the staff isn't supposed to have direct, prolonged physical contact with their patients here at Arkham, as you well know, Dr. Birch." Ivy explained, still grinning like as toothily as a fly trap. "But this poor little fool didn't know any better, He... Or She... Was a naïve accomplice in my scheme." Pamela explained, her voice becoming steadily more calm and clinical, like a professor giving the class a lecture.
Hazel closed her eyes for a moment, her hands were trembling and she clasped them together to try and control the spasms. He was right, he was right all along. Pamela had used her, played her, just to bring them closer together so that she would unintentionally provide Pamela with the pollen need to let her stimulate her own nature enzymes in order to grow something. Her hair was a natural flower bed, and Hazel had comfortingly run her fingers through Pamela's hair so many times in their past few sessions. How many times, she couldn't even guess, how much pollen had she unwittingly provided to Poison Ivy in her attempts to comfort a sick, emotionally unbalanced woman she thought she could help? It made Hazel's stomach churn to realize how masterfully Ivy had played her.
"You know, in a way, it's almost... Sexual." Poison Ivy drawled in a slow, husky voice.
Hazel's head snapped up and her eyebrows jumped as she stared at her patient in alarmed confusion. "Wh-what do you mean, Pamela?"
"Well, think about it, Doctor... This person... He or she brought me this pollen, gave it to me to nurture and tend to until it could grow into this beautiful flower. This poor fool was like my own personal sperm donor." Ivy replied, her husky drawl rolling into a rich, amused laugh.
Hazel tightened her jaw, pleased the guards were standing behind her and couldn't see her blushing with embarrassment as she and Ivy talked. Poison Ivy now slowly stood up, still cradling a seed bulb in her hands, as arced her back in a yoga stretched, extending her arms up over her head while still holding the bulb.
"Mmmh, you have no idea how uncomfortable those jumpsuits are, Hazel. So starchy, and itchy, and they don't breath well at all." Ivy commented, keeping the seed bulb in her left hand as she ran her left hand across her cheek, down her neck, and slowly trailed it over her breast and across her abdomen. "This feels sooooo much better."
"Pamela..." Hazel began anew, trying her best to ignore the womans provocative display of dexterity as the green skinned villainess stretched first her right leg, and then her left, then swayed her hips back and fourth as if to work the kinks out of her muscles. "We really can't let you keep those plants you know... It will make the employees uncomfortable."
Poison Ivy gasped, her eyebrows jumping and her eyes widening. "Take my babies?!" She exclaimed in shock and horror, suddenly drawing the seed-bulb into her arms like a child, holding it to her buxom chest and rocking it gently. "You can't, without me they won't survive in this loathsome place!"
In an instant Hazel realized her mistake, she wasn't used to dealing with Ivy when she was in connection with her plants. This wasn't Pamela Isley, the asylum patient, this was someone entirely different. This was Poison Ivy, a veritable living goddess, a woman who could control plants with a mere thought, a woman who could crush a man to death in the roots of an oak tree by winking. Suggesting that she would have to be separated from the plants she now possessed was a very dangerous, very bad idea.
"No, no, no!" Hazel reassured quickly, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice as she spoke. "No one wants to take your babies away from you, Pamela.. We just want to make sure they're safe and healthy. After all, there's no sunlight in your cell, and they won't feed very well from the water from your sink..."
"Oh, they'll be fine with me... I can give them everything they need, can't I precious?" Ivy cooed, looking down at the seed in her arms with a doting smile. Hazel couldn't be sure, but she thought it looked like the seed had gotten a little bigger since she arrived.
"But, Pam, don't you think they'd be happier in the gardens out in the asylum's courtyard?"
Poison Ivy ignored the question, strolling slowly closer toward the thick bullet proof glass viewing door that kept her contained within her cell. "Dr. Birch, did you know that there are 40 species of Brunfelsia that mankind is aware of...? Not to mention another 12 that I personally have discovered since gaining my abilities."
"That's very impressive, Pamela..." Hazel replied, still hoping she might be able to talk the villainess down.
"It is, isn't it?" Poison Ivy declared, preening and smiling proudly. "Oh, but you've not heard the best part yet! You see, the genus Brunfelsia is from a family called Solanaceae. Once I had the pollen for Brunfelsia, all it took was a little careful coaxing with the plants inner nature to return it to it's family basis. Then all I did was lead it down another line of it's family path to create a totally different genus; thus giving birth to this beautiful little treasure."
At this, Ivy lifted up the plant bulb she'd been cradling, holding it like a proud mother. "This one is from the genus Atropa; Atropa Belladonna to be specific. Most people only know it by it's common title... Deadly Nightshade. Like Brunfelsia, Atropa contains Alkaloids. Belladonna's specific type is Atropine. It's extremely toxic, it causes muscle spasms, nausea, paralysis... And, of course, it's often fatal." Ivy explained, while gently caressing the large bulb in her left palm with the fingertips of her right hand.
"Well, Pamela, I must confess I'm very impressed with your ingenuity. This further proves that you are quite capable of rational thought, and still have strong cognitive faculties. Now, if we can just take this lovely baby of yours and put it in the hospital gardens where it will be happy, I'm sure we can all go about the rest of our evening quite enjoyably. Would that be all right with you?" Hazel asked, looking at Poison Ivy with her best impersonation of innocent curiosity.
Ivy seemed to genuinely consider this option for a few moments, but then she shook her head in refusal. "No... No, I don't think I like that. I need to stay close to them, and they need to stay very close to me in order to continue flourishing in this inhospitable environment."
"Pam... I love how dedicated you are to the protection of these beautiful plants, but you know the rules. You're not supposed to be in close proximity to any vegetation. I'm worried about your plants, Pam. If you don't give them to me, then we'll have to initiate the emergency protocols and activate the pesticide misters inside your cell, and then the poor things will be killed. Neither of us want that, Pamela, we both want those pretty little flowers to survive; if you want them to live you have to give them up, all right?" Hazel persisted, feeling less and less like a Psychiatrist and more and more like a hostage negotiator.
Ivy's face fell at the news, and she looked worriedly down at the bulb in her hands. It was definitely larger now, Hazel was sure of it, it was almost as big as a golf ball. "No, no, no. It's okay! Shhh, it's okay, they won't hurt you... I'll kill them before they hurt you, precious." She hissed, her eyes narrowing as she looked up at Hazel.
Behind the Doctor the guards, Holly and Margaret, stepped up toward the screen.
"Ivy, come on now, none of us want to fight." Emily began.
"That's right. And you've been on such good behavior lately, we've not even needed the restraints when taking you through the halls the past two days. You don't want to ruin all that now!" Margaret encouraged with a smile.
Once more Ivy paused and seemed to consider the advice of the two guards. "Well, I admit, you ladies have never done wrong by me before..."
"That's right. We're you're friends Pam, all of us, Me and Holly, and Margaret, we just want to help you get through this. Look, I know it's been a rough few days. I know that not everything you've told me has been the truth, but I know that some of it has been... If you just give us the flowers, I promise you will take them where ever you tell us they'll be safest. We'll take them to Robinson park, of the Gotham Botanical Gardens, or right out here into the garden. Where ever they'll thrive, I promise we'll take them there." Hazel encouraged, smiling hopefully at Ivy.
Poison Ivy looked down at the bulb in her hands, then she lifted her left hand up and stretched out her index finger in front of the Brunfelsia flower. Like a snake coiling around a branch the stem of the flower uncoiled itself from Ivy's hair then slithered out to wrap around her finger. Reluctantly the green woman stood up and approached the glass door once more. Sadly, Poison Ivy set the plant bulb and the flower onto the sliding tray slot that food was passed through at meal times. Once Ivy had stepped back away from the glass Holly opened the slot door and reached in, gently taking the bulb and the flower out of the tray and lifting them up with the gentility of a girl cradling a new born kitten.
Hazel breathed a soft sigh of relief, then smiled at Pamela. "I'm very, very proud of you Pamela. You made the right choice... Thank you."
Poison Ivy nodded gently at Hazel, and then her dark grin lips curled into a naughty grin. "Oh... Don't thank me yet, Hazel. After all, you just separated growing children from their mother!"