Poison Ivy's pov:
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I woke up to Dr. Quinzel standing over my bed tapping her pen against my naked body. It had been two days since I last saw her and I've thought about her every second since.
"Put this on." She commanded dropping my newly washed jumpsuit on the foot of my bed.
"All you had to do was ask, Ms.Bossy." I rolled my eyes slipping into the jumpsuit as Harleen giggled at my comment.
"Let's go." Harleen encouraged grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the cell.
Was she breaking me out of Arkham? Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was ready to leave yet. A few guards gave suspicious looks as we passed, but Harleen didn't pay attention. She led me out of the doors and only stopped me right before the sidewalk ended where it faded into grass.
"Okay. I've been thinking about what you said. I need to get rid of my 'I'm the doctor and you're the patient' mindset. And truth be told, I don't have any real friends. But you do. I read in your file that you befriend plants. So, I figured we could have our sessions outside from now on. What do ya think?" She asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
I noticed a slight accent change, but was too happy to point it out. I nodded my head and rushed past her into the field. I ran to the middle of the yard and dropped to my knees. I put my hands on the ground and revived the grass. I dug my nails into the rich grainy dirt and felt my eyes tear up. It felt so good to be back outside. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and turned around to see Harleen standing above me smiling. I wiped my tears quickly and sat up in the grass waiting for her long series of questions. She sat down in front of me.
"Do you like being outside?" She asked gliding her fingers over the tips of the grass.
"Very much. It's where me and my plants thrive best." I said keeping my voice steady from all the happiness.
"Did you always think of the outside like this?" She asked writing who-knows-what on her clipboard.
"Yes." I admitted. "I was never allowed outside as a kid, but the first time my feet hit the soil, it felt like heaven."
"You were never allowed outside as a kid? Elaborate because I don't quite understand." She pressed.
I felt a lump form in my throat, but I pushed it down, trying to keep my hands from shaking. People rarely got to me, but when they did, I never let them see that they did. I had to make sure that Harleen was the one feeling vulnerable, not me. If I broke her first, She couldn't break me.
"That's not how friendships work, Harleen." I said forcing a smile on my face. "If I give you information, you have to give me information in return."
"Fine. As long as you promise to give me what I need to help you." She reasoned after a long pause of thinking .
I nodded thinking of what question I would ask her. I thought of everything that had happened in my previous two sessions with Dr.Quinzel. I searched my memory for any sign of weakness she let slip. That's when I remembered the Joker.
"What is your connection with the word 'lady'?" I asked looking up into her eyes.
She slightly flinched at the question, but pretended she didn't. She looked down and started drawing circles in the soil. I put my finger under her chin and guided her head back up to look at me.
Her nose turned a light red and I could see her fighting tears behind those perfect ocean eyes.
"Come on, Harleen. This isn't how friendship works." I explained. "I give you information and you do the same. You can't just draw circles forever."
She looked back down at the ground watching the ants crawl around us. I watched as she took a few deep breaths before she finally nodded and looked up at me.
"Before getting my PhD, I was a student at College just like everyone else. Being a psychiatrist has always been my dream job and I didn't want to lose it. I probably could have gotten the PhD on my own, but I didn't trust myself. So I...." she paused closing her eyes as she fought tears from coming down. "...I had an affair with my professor. I would give him what he wanted and he would pass me. After the semester was over and I had my PhD, I was ready to be done and go on with my career. But he forced me to stay behind. He tied me to his desk and he um..."
Harleen stopped talking. And to my surprise, she started laughing. She gave out a high pitched laugh as if she hadn't laughed in a long time. She was clutching her sides as tears ran down her face. Her laughter finally stopped when she started gasping for air as she closed her eyes again and her mouth turned into a frown.
"Harleen?" I called her name. I had no idea what just happened. One minute she was fighting tears, then she was laughing, and now she was quiet. It was almost scary.
"What?!?" She raised her voice as tears rolled down her perfectly soft face. "What do you want from me, huh? Ya wanna know that imma victim?! That I can't stand to be called a Lady because that's what he called me? Ya want me to sit here and tell ya that I was tied down and raped by a man twice my age? No!! Ya don't want to hear that shit, Ivy. Ya don't wanna know that all my friends left me for it and now I'm all alone in this world. Ya don't want to know that shit!!"
By the end of her long speech, she was screaming, bringing her Brooklyn accent into full affect. I watched as she started to laugh again. The kind of laugh that sent shivers through your spine. The kind of laugh you would hear from a psycho like Joker. She buried her face in her hands, whispering for help as she silently cried.
"My dad abused my mom. He wouldn't let me go outside because of a skin condition I had. The doctors gave me medicine, of course, but he wanted to be in control." I said trying to distract Harleen. "My mother would sometimes sneak me out to help with the garden. My life revolved around plants, so there's no surprise I became a bio-chemist."
Harleen nodded slowly as she wrote it down on her clipboard. I could tell she could barley see through her tears because her handwriting looked horrible.
"And you do know that It wasn't your fault, right? What your professor did." I asked wanting to switch the subject back on her.
"I just..." she paused putting her face back in her hands. "I feel so filthy."
I couldn't take it any longer. I couldn't bring myself to hurt Harleen more than she already was deep inside. I pried her hands away from her face and placed my hands on either side of her cheeks, holding her head up. I used my thumbs to push away her tears before they ruined her makeup anymore than it already was.
She threw her arms around my neck and forced me to give her a hug. I was stunned at first. After all, hugs weren't really my thing nor was dealing with sadness. But I felt bad for Harleen, so I gently placed my hands on her back before pushing her away and having our lips meet. It was a pity kiss, but it was enough for Harleen to stop crying long enough for her to smile that perfect smile of hers.
"You know....you think you're so big and bad coming in here with your fake glasses and your hair in a tight bun, but deep down I think you're a little baby." I winked at her and she blushed deeply.
"Your session is over, Ivy." She said standing up and forcing me to follow her back into the building. "And you may be right about me being not as tough on the inside, but you're not much different. Don't think I didn't see those tears when we first came out here."
Now it was my turn to blush. I could feel my ears turning a deeper shade of green as I stared at the ground as we walked inside the building.
"Hey, Dr. Quinzel?" I called out before she returned to shut the cell door.
"Yea?" She said turning around.
"Thanks. Ya know...for letting me be outside." I said feeling awkward.
She smiled as she nodded her head. I watched her disappear into the darkness of the hallway.
"You are becoming rather fond of that lady. Aren't you, Poison Ivy?" Joker teased from his cell.
I could hear Harleen's footsteps stop in their tracks. It was too dark to see her face, but I could only imagine what it would look like.
"Hey, Joker?" I called out. "Shut the fuck up. You're just a piece of shit nobody likes. You wouldn't want me to call you Arthur instead of Joker, would you? Didn't think so. So don't call Harleen 'lady'. Dumbass. What's wrong with you?"
I could hear Harleen's footsteps start again as she walked down the hall at an alarming rate. I heard her office door open before slamming shut. I winced at the sound of it. Joker seemed to shut up, at least for now. I was one of the few people who knew Joker's real name, and he hated me for calling him by it. But I didn't have a choice. It was the only way to protect Harleen.
I scolded myself in my mind. Why would I want to protect Harleen? She's a human of all things? She was just a weak little girl needing a dominant figure in her life. And yet....no matter how many times I denied it.... I wanted to fill that role.