"You what?" Eric asked, lifting his eyebrows as he gazed at her.
"I believe Pamela Isley is a candidate for rehabilitation! Jesus, Eric, how many times do I have to say it?" Hazel asked in exasperation.
"As many as it takes for it to stop sounding crazy!" He replied, his voice tense from the alarm he felt by how excited Hazel seemed about all this. "We are talking about the same person right? Pamela Isley, as in Poison Ivy, as in a woman who has attempted to eradicate the populace of this city and the world—on more than one occasion, mind you!"
"She's different now!"
"Hazel are you out of your skull?! How can this be different, it's still Poison Ivy! Look, I don't mean to insult your prowess as a therapist, sweet heart, but how long did you say this Ms. Hayes had been working on Ivy?"
"Doctor," Hazel corrected testily, "And she'd been at Arkham for over seven years."
"Eight years... And you think you've managed to do in seven months what she couldn't do in seven years?"
"No!" Hazel protested, shaking her head.
"No!?" Eric exclaimed in exasperation.
"Of course not, Eric!" his girlfriend replied tersely, then she paused and took a breath to calm herself down. "Look... you're looking at this from the small perspective, so was I at first but look at the big picture... Dr. Hayes and I approached Pamela in the same way. Our treatment patterns were almost identical. You have to look at it from the medical point of view. It's a treatment, just like any other treatment. If you're in rehab after knee surgery you might change physical therapists but you're still going to be continuing to work to strengthen your knee. The doctors changed, the treatment didn't, what Pamela is experiencing now isn't from my seven months with her, it's from the culminated efforts of Dr. Hayes and myself. This breakthrough has come for her after 8 years of therapy; don't you get it, this may be her one time chance at sorting things out inside her own mind! Think of what she can do for Gotham, hell, for our whole planet, if she can be reformed!" Hazel exclaimed, her excitement returning so strongly Eric could almost feel it in the air.
Eric sighed and hung his head a moment, then shook it in defeat. "Okay, Haze, okay. Just... just be careful, all right?" He stepped closer, placing his hands on her shoulders and drawing her in to place a soft kiss upon her forehead. "I don't want you to get hurt..."
"I'll be careful, Eric." She replied, smiling gently up at him and lifting a hand to caress his cheek. "Just you watch, this is going to change the world."
"Bored... Bored, bored, booooooooooooooored!"
"Harley, would you stop that, please?" Pamela cooed motheringly from her cell.
"But, Red, there's nothing to doooooo!"
"...Harley... It's Arkham, there's never anything to do. We're imprisoned remember?"
"Well, let's bust out!"
"No."
"No!?"
"I don't want to."
"Aw, come on Red, you've gotta be feeling as cooped up as I do by now, you've been in here almost eight months; that's like your longest vacation ever!"
"You make it sound like breaking out of here is easy Harl, and you and I both know that—contrary to the popular opinion—it's not."
"But that doesn't mean we couldn't pull it off!"
"Harley, listen to the words I am speaking: I. Am Not. Breaking. Out."
From the next cell Pamela heard Harley blow a very loud raspberry and mutter a few sulkish bad words.
"GUARDS!" Pamela barked angrily.
"Eek! Red, no! Don't tell on me, don't, don't, I'm sorry, I take it back I didn't mean to say somethin' nasty about ya!"
Holly Madison walked briskly down the hall, arcing a brow as she approached Poison Ivy's cell. "Is something wrong, Pamela?"
Pamela nodded wearily, rubbing her temples in slow, massaging circles. "Holly, would you get me an aspirin? And a coloring book for Miss Quinn please? She's getting cabin fever."
Holly chuckled and then nodded agreeably. "Sure thing, Pam, try not to go stir crazy, I'll be back as fast as I can."
As Holly walked away Harleen Quinzel let out a gentle sigh of relief, then she budded up to the wall and spoke through the vent again. "Look at you, Miss Isley, all buddy buddy with the guards; before you know it you'll be our the new go-to girl for getting contraband, you'll make Jervis jealous!"
Ivy snorted derivatively at this. "Please, if I want to make Jervis Tetch jealous I'd find one of his Alice obsessees and take picture of her, doing for me, all the things she would never do for him."
"Ouch, Red, that's nasty!"
"Prison isn't for the faint of heart, Harl, you know that; Besides, Tetch is a worm."
"I thought it was a hospital?"
"What?" Isley replied in confusion.
"Arkham... Ain't it s'pose to be a hospital?"
"What it is and what it is supposed to be are two different things, pet."
When Pamela came into the meeting room at her next therapy session she was met with a surprising sight. Dr. Birch was not on a chair, instead she was sitting on a large cushion on the floor, reading a rather large book. She was uncharacteristically dressed, whearing simple pale green yoga pants and a white T-shirt. The ensemble drew an amused smile to Pamela's lips and made her guards blink in surprise. The red head looked to Margaret and Holly with a demure smile.
"Thank you for the escort, Ladies, I think I can find my own way into the room from here."
"S-sure, Pam..." Margaret stammered, staring in surprise at Hazel for a moment before turning on her heel and leaving the room with Holly.
The door click closed and Pamela slowly approached, looking around as she went. The curtains were pulled all the way back to let in the most sun possible, there was a sitting cushion on the ground across from Hazel and Pamela took this to be her intended seat. Settling on the cushion she smiled at Hazel and canted her head.
"So, Dr. Arkham finally agreed that Joker's idea of Casual Wednesdays was a good one, hmm?" Isley asked dryly.
Hazel chuckled, then smiled. "Not exactly. I just thought this would be more comfortable, because today I want you to be the teacher."
Pamela's eye brows jumped. "I'm sorry?"
"I want to learn from you Pamela... you've brought up the Goddess often when we've talked, but you've never really elaborated much on her, or upon your beliefs. I'd really like to hear about that today, I think it might help me better understand you, not just your mental illness but to understand you better as a person."
"You're serious?" Pamela asked dubiously, arching a brow. "Do you realize how rare it is for a person to ask a Goddess worshiper about their beliefs in a non-confrontational manner..? You've just joined a very small group of people doctor, people with a faith like mine are used to a great deal of persecution."
"I know, Pam. That's part of why I want to learn more, I think that persecution may actually add to your general hostility, and I'm hoping that if you talk it out, and I listen like a reasonable person, we might be able to make another breakthrough in your condition, and bring you another step closer to getting out of here."
"You really believe there's a chance they'll let me leave this wretched place, don't you?" Pamela asked with a dismayed sense of amusement.
"I believe in the system Pamela, and I believe in you. You're finally on the road to recovery, and I don't intend to let you be pulled off it."
Pamela drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. For a moment Hazel smelt the rich heady scent if Stargazer Lilies as Pamela smile at her. "Very well, Doctor. Let us see what I can teach you today..."