Title: Harley's Promises
Fandom: Batman
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Harley/Ivy, past Joker/Harley
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: It's Harley's turn to make promises.
Word Count: 2,161
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 385: Spoon; All Bingo Fall Festival Bingoes: Batman Bingo: Fear Toxin and Asylum; and 100 Ships 59: Rose
Warnings: PTSD
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.









The soil crunched underneath Harley's fresh, new boots. She winced, expecting to be bellowed at for walking with shoes in the garden, and quickly shed them, tossing them back toward the door but not without noting that there was actual mud on them. Something had changed. The vines seemed lower than usual, and there was nowhere nearly as much moonlight as usually poured into the greenhouse.

Her boys had also grown stiff, their furry coats setting on end. They clearly knew something was different, too. More than different, she thought; something was wrong. She edged forward on bare feet, noting that the soil actually felt hard to the soles of her feet. It was as though it had been thirsty for days which Harley knew was impossible. She reached up and touched one of the lower hanging vines, noting both that it, too, felt dryer than normal and that none of them had come rushing to meet her.

Her boys were behind her now, inching slowly forward after her. Something was definitely wrong. Her big, blue eyes raked the greenhouse, but there was no sign of a scuffle. Nothing was uprooted, though everything dry and hung heavy. "Ivy?" she called, and her voice echoed in the warehouse turned greenhouse. "P-Pam-a-lamb?" Her own voice rang back to her.

Something nudged her hand, and Harley jumped. Looking down, however, she saw it was only one of the vines finally responding to her presence. It seemed almost to urge her on, and she swore she could hear a whining that wasn't her hyenas'. "Oooooookay," she trailed out the word, and it, too, echoed in the giant place just as her call to her girlfriend had echoed before. "Pammy, I'm not liking this!" she called out, trying to ignore the chills rising on her arms. "Where are you? Why won't you answer me?"

Her hands balled into fists as she moved in deeper. Her nails bit into the palms of her hands, and she raised her balled fists to the ready. Her boys whined this time. "Stay behind Mama," she called to them and began to spring forward. She leapt up into the bows of the vines and noted that both hyenas stopped so quickly they almost bumped together. They sat down with another whine and watched as she sprang from one vine to the next, careful both to keep from touching the ground floor again and to keep an eye on her surroundings.

Nothing else was moving, not even another vine. There was no sign of a struggle, no sign of -- Fear rose in her throat, but she forced the giant lump back down. He hadn't been here. He had not come to wreck revenge. Her Pammy was fine. She didn't know where she was, but she had not been attacked by the Joker. He had not hurt her. He had not...

Suddenly, the silence shattered with a scream. "PAM!" Harley leapt into the air and performed several somersaults, leaping from plant to plant. She rested, for a moment, on a humongous, rose bud, one of Ivy's most prized experiments. She could feel the bud trembling beneath her and idly stroked her trembling, soft petals. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" she screamed, having lost track of where Pam's scream had originated.

It took only a few minutes before another scream split the air. Harley paused for a moment, tilting her head to one side and then somersaulted toward the sound. This time, she didn't lose track, and soon, though not soon for her liking, she spied her woman wrapped in vines. She was actually struggling against them although they seemed to both be trying to keep her lifted above the ground and to release her. They had not curled tightly around her, Harley realized as she reached them; instead Ivy had twisted herself in their comforting hold.

"It's okay, boys. I've got her now," she said and knelt as they lowered her, gently, to the ground. Pammy was still writhing and screaming. She sat up suddenly, springing to alert as she touched the ground. "DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!" She grabbed Harley, and Harls shivered as she felt the woman who had always been so brave around her trembling with terror.

She looked at her through glassy, wide eyes. Harley had seen such a look before, and her heart plummeted. It reminded her of the fear toxin Joker used to control his victims. If he had taken her -- If he had hurt -- She'd kill him slowly a thousand times over, but she'd have to plan his torture later. Right now, she had to somehow reach Ivy.

"IT'S ME, IVES!" she cried, shaking her. "I'M RIGHT HERE! DON'T YOU SEE ME?!" If it was one of the Joker's poisons --

Tears were now spilling rapidly down Pamela's light green cheeks. "Harley?" She seemed to finally be seeing her as she clutched at her, pulling her down with her. "DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME BACK THERE! PLEASE, MOTHER EARTH, NEVER AGAIN! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME BACK TO THAT ASYLUM!"

Harley sighed, a mixture of relief and sorrow flooding her at the same time. Ivy would live, but it still tore at her to know that such a brave, bold, and beautiful woman was being reducing to a shaking, if sexy, bag of tears all because of that horrible asylum that dreaded Bat had locked them into so many times before. It had never been that bad for Harls -- sometimes, it had even been a relief to be away from the Joker for a while --, but clearly it had terrorized Ivy. In an instant, Harley understood why. She'd been kept away from all plant life during those times and had seen very little sunshine or water. She remembered her sweet, daring Pam-a-lamb once even telling her that they insisted she drink soda pop when held captive rather than giving her the simple "human" right of fresh water.

"Easy. Easy there, girl," she coaxed her as she tenderly stroked her long, red hair. She closed her eyes for a moment as she held Ivy and tried to calm her trembling. She was still shaking inside, and the only reason her tears had not already gotten the better of her was because she knew, right now, Pammy needed her to be strong. She would be strong, she decided, strong enough for both of them, and if the Joker or the Bat tried to hurt her girl again, she'd rip them apart or die trying. No one was ever going to lock her girl back up again, not away from sunshine, away from water, or away from her precious, little plants!

Thinking of Ivy's plants reminded her of her own boys, and she whistled sharply for them. The whistle seemed to snap Ivy out of her nightmares as, when Harley looked back at her, she was eyeing her questionably. "H-Harley?"

"Yup, one and the same, sweet cheeks!" She gave her a wide, toothy grin. She knew Pammy didn't believe in letting anyone, not even her, know that she had a soft spot, so she pretended like she had not just entered to find her having the mother of all nightmares.

"Wh-When'd you get here?" Ivy asked. She placed her hands on the ground and looked down in concern, clearly realizing how dry the soil had become. "Wh-What's been going on?"

Harley shrugged. "I've been gone for a little while. Sorry it took me so long to get back, beautiful. I kinda got... distracted." Yeah, that was the word for it, or at least the word she was giving Pammy tonight. She'd had a run-in with the Bat after robbing a bank of her own choosing, had narrowly avoided being caught by and thereby having to deal with the Joker, and had had another run-in with Batty Junior in the form of another hot, little redhead calling herself the latest incarnation of Batgirl. It had been a long, sometimes fun, always crazy day, but she didn't want to worry her girlfriend with any of those details.

"Pammy," she asked after giving her several, long minutes of looking around her and obviously trying to remember what had happened, "what were you doing when I came in?"

"I..." She again looked down at the soil beneath her palms. "I believe I was sleeping, trying to rest..."

"For how long?" Harley prompted.

"I... don't remember..." Her voice faded away as she continued looking around them. It was clearly to them both that her babies had not been receiving proper nourishment for some time.

"Hey." Harley reached up and tickled the nearest vine. "You really wanna help your momma, get her and the rest of your buds some fresh water." The Earth shook, and a spring suddenly erupted a few feet away from them. Harley leaned back and lifted her face to the gentle droplets. She stuck out her tongue and took a few in. "Yummy. Good plants."

Her hyenas had arrived, and Harley reached over and scratched each of them in turn. "Good boys too. Now as for you -- " She looked back to Ivy, who was clearly feeling a lot better as the underground spring water pelted and rejuvenated her skin. "If you were trying to sleep, Pam-a-lamb, you were missing something important."

"What's that?" Ivy asked, clearly puzzled again.

"Your favorite teddy bear." Harley grinned. "Me. Lift us, boys," she called to the vines. They did as she directed, coming together and forming a canopy that gently lifted them both from the ground. Harley wrapped herself around Ivy and pressed her head down gently onto her shoulder. Wrapping her arms tightly and lovingly around her, she assured her, "You're safe now, my Pam-a-lamb."

Pamela smiled, but there was something emotional and wet still shining in her beautiful, green eyes. "I missed you," she confessed. "For a moment today, I thought I might have to punish you." Wrapping her fingers around one of Harley's blonde pigtails, she tugged gently on her hair. "I thought you might not come home."

"Those days are over, Pammy. Don't you ever think for one minute this old girl doesn't know where her bread is buttered at." She smiled down at her. "Right here." She leaned down and kissed her forehead before allowing one of her vines to tap her on her bare shoulder and take her attention away.

Ivy turned over and sipped daintily from the cup the vines had made of themselves, bringing her fresh water. Harley waited until she had appeased her thirst and laid back down before spooning her body around hers. "Don't you ever forget that," she said, stopping as her words were punctuated with a large, loud yawn. She stretched her arms and legs and then wrapped herself more tightly around Pamela. "I'm never running back to him again, Pammy. You're the one I want, the one I need. You're the one who makes me feel alive and wanted and happy and loved."

"You make me feel alive too." Ivy's voice was murmured, and Harley realized she was already falling back asleep.

While she was still at the edge of consciousness, Harley asked her, "Do I make you feel happy?"

"Yes."

Harley beamed and ran a hand over her arms and buttocks, lovingly and tenderly stroking her. "Do I make you feel... safe?" she asked, wondering just what nightmares Ivy had lived through. They both knew what she had endured at the Joker's hands, but just how bad had the asylum been for her Pammy?

"Yes." Harley barely caught Ivy's hushed whisper, but then her words were punctuated by snores. The vines saluted Harley. Her own boys had run over somewhere into the greenhouse, undoubtedly playing as she could hear them laughing merrily. She beamed as she settled down behind her girl, her arms and legs wrapped around Ivy's body. They'd never hurt her again, she silently promised and found herself wondering how many times Ivy had made the same promise for her. She'd promised her aloud many times over that the Joker would never hurt her again, but he'd found a way to so many times before Harley had finally realized that he had never really loved her and only ever used her whereas Ivy had nurtured her back to health more times than either of them could count.

"I'll never leave you again," she promised and kissed the back of Ivy's sleeping head before settling down behind her to also sleep. She slept with one eye open, a trick she'd learned while living with the Joker. If anyone interrupted their sweet slumber, she'd kill them, and she owed the Joker and Batman both a lifetime of misery for everything they'd forced not only herself but her sweet, wonderful, gorgeous Pamela to endure. "They'll get theirs," she promised right before falling to sleep to dream visions of a sweet, sweet future for herself and her wonderful, beloved Pam-a-lamb.




The End