iii.

A few hours after sunset, Ivy finally emerged from the more dense corners of her greenhouse only to find Harley rolled up in a ball and asleep on the floor beside the door: right where she'd left her hours ago. Sighing to herself, Ivy nudged Harley with her toes. Nothing. She nudged her again, a little more forceful this time. "Harl?" She asked, her voice softening with pity for this girl that would apparently never even learn the concept of independence. "Harley, wake up," she said kneeling down to squeeze her shoulder.

Dazed, Harley looked up at Ivy, her face streaked with her black eye make up from what seemed like hours of sobbing she'd done in Ivy's absence.

"Are you still hungry?" Ivy asked while offering her a hand to get up from the floor.

Nodding while accepting Ivy's hand, Harley stood up and walked two steps behind her to the kitchen where she discovered the aromatic pot of soup Ivy had made for them. Her stomach growled, but she waited patiently as Ivy ladled soup into two bowls, sat down at the table, and then slid one of the bowls down towards her.

Harley could sense from Ivy's silence that she was still angry with her. The demeanor she had while offering the soup called to mind the way Mr. J had always disgustedly tossed her beloved hyenas a few old bones to gnaw on. She wanted to apologize and beg for Ivy's forgiveness again, but the blank look on Ivy's face as she ate gave Harley no cues on how to rectify the uncomfortable situation. And as tempting as it was, she knew jokes would only exacerbate the situation. Instead, she took the steaming bowl from the table, sat on the floor beside Ivy's chair, and stared dolefully into the broth, showing herself as the worthless mutt she felt she truly was.

"Is it too hot?" Ivy asked, breaking the silence.

"What?" Harley asked, looking up and hoping to see that Ivy's mood had changed. It hadn't.

"Is the soup too hot?" She asked again.

"Oh," she said looking down at the bowl and stirring it a little with her spoon. "No."

"Then why aren't you eating?"

Because I'm too busy sitting down here feeling sorry for myself, Harley thought. Lifting the spoon and gently blowing across the broth, Harley timidly took a sip. Most of the time, she was not very fond of Ivy's taste…and that was putting it lightly. This particular soup, however, was different. It contained lots of intimidating looking vegetables and other nutritional…things in it, but it was still somehow really good. Too good. "What kind of soup is this?" She asked, eagerly taking another bite.

"I don't know," Ivy shrugged, pushing her empty bowl to the center of the table. "I just made it up. Why, do you actually like it?"

Harley winced at the reminder of how ungrateful she'd been in the past. "Yes," she said, forcing out a smile even if Ivy was still ignoring her. God, did she know how to make a person feel insignificant.

But then a moment later, Harley felt Ivy's fingers gently sweep through her hair. She tensed up for a moment, completely thrown by this tenderness, and wondered if it was genuine. Was this Ivy's method of apologizing for being so cross with her earlier? Harley didn't really want or deserve an apology, but still…the slightest touch from Ivy's hand had a strange, tranquilizing effect on her. She was wanted again.

She glanced up at Ivy from the corner of her eye and saw that she still wasn't looking at her. She was just absently running her graceful fingers through Harley's hair, scratching the nape of her neck every so often, and twisting various blonde strands around her fingertips, then doing it all over again.

Setting her soup aside, Harley shifted closer and leaned her cheek against Ivy's thigh. Even more cautiously, Harley wrapped her arm under and around the woman's calf as she relaxed into Ivy's small hand placed at the base of her neck. "I missed you, Red," she admitted quietly.

"You miss everybody," Ivy dismissed, still weaving her fingers through Harley's tangled blonde hair.

Harley chuckled, "That's not true."

"Of course," Ivy agreed with a smirk. "There's only one you really miss, isn't there?"

Harley didn't answer lest she be reminded once again about how the Joker didn't deserve her loyalty, blah blah blah.

Ivy paused for a moment before running her fingers through Harley's hair again. "Never purposefully provoke me like that ever again, Harley," she said, her voice icy and in direct contrast of how tender she was being with her hair. Finally looking down at her, "Do you understand?"

Harley quickly nodded her vacant reply and shifted closer to hold onto Ivy, unable to cope with the thought of being rejected by her again. She laid her head back down and then pressed her lips to just above Ivy's knee, hoping that Ivy would see just how deep she understood and how sorry she was.

Instead of accepting her apology, however, Ivy yanked up on Harley's hair until the girl yelped, forcing her to look up. "I'm not a substitute for your puddin'," she spat, "so stop trying to manipulate me into one." She leaned over her, watching as Harley's pulse in her neck started to race and her breath became shorter, heavier. She was almost too easy.

Breathless from how close Ivy was to her and yet confused as to whether this was the game she'd been after or if Ivy really was going to snap her neck in half, Harley forced herself to speak. "That's not what I was trying to –"

"Don't insult my intelligence," Ivy snapped with a strong jerk at the locks of hair clenched in her fingers.

"Ack!" Harley cried, instinctively grabbing Ivy's hands, but then letting go when Ivy glared at her. "Okay, okay. You're right; you always are. I'm sorry," she confessed, calming herself down and gently rubbing her face and hands against Ivy's thigh, pleading for her kindness. Ivy didn't respond to her so she tried another tactic: admiration. "Ivy…please," she whispered, kissing her admissions of guilt over and over again upon the woman's pale emerald skin. "Let me make it up to you." Ivy rolled her eyes and snorted at Harley, shamelessly mocking her until Harley clenched the ends of her white lab coat into her fists in order to gain her attention. "Ivy," she begged, "anything."

Sickened by how Harley was able to revel in her own humiliation, Ivy chose to exploit it. She pulled the girl up onto her knees, leant over her, and quietly gauged Harley's sincerity only to see it for the falsity she knew it was, but then offered her a kiss. Harley not only accepted, but eagerly returned it until Ivy subdued her enthusiasm. Ivy was tender with her at first; nipping at Harley's lips and pulling away prematurely whenever the aching sounds of misguided lust escaped from the maniacal jester. Meticulously, Ivy deepened their kiss by ever so slightly relaxing her grip on Harley's hair and luring her closer to the well-baited and irresistible trap in place. The kneeling girl predictably responded by running her hands up Ivy's arms, showing her unending gratitude for once again being the object of Ivy's affections.

Lifting herself off of the backs of her heels, Harley giggled as Ivy teased her with short licks and nips upon her lips. The betraying familiarity of Ivy's kisses told Harley all she needed to know: that she'd been forgiven and that everything was back to normal. She couldn't be more pleased, but then Ivy's kiss turned deadly as she suddenly took hold of Harley's back, forcing her to arch tighter against her while she expressed all of the anger and disgust she beheld for Harley in one powerful and unwavering kiss. Even though Harley was immune to Ivy's potent kiss, she now understood iexactly/i what men felt whenever Ivy kissed them, bewitching them into lovesick fools and hypnotizing them to the point where they would do anything she asked. Despite how cruel and calculating her passion could be, Harley would have died for her if Ivy asked that of her.

Ivy further released her anger by drawing Harley into her mouth and harshly biting down on her tongue until she whimpered in pain. And as much as it hurt, Harley knew Ivy was dangling precariously on the edge of her own madness and she wasn't about to give up on her. So instead of withdrawing when Ivy unclenched her teeth, Harley dared her by sinking her nails into Ivy's thighs and pressing her weight against the redhead seated above her. Hopes achieved, Ivy fell for Harley's provocation, but only long enough to allow her a solid, unexpected bite into Harley's bottom lip when the desperate little nymph attempted another kiss.

Harley's fingers fanned out and froze mid-air from the taste of blood in her mouth, her blood. She rushed them up to Ivy's hands, still entangled in her hair, and grabbed them. She playfully flicked her wet velvety tongue against Ivy's stained lips until they opened so that she could bleed into her mouth, giving Ivy a taste of herself, which the woman hungrily accepted. Harley mumbled nonsense, her lip throbbing and her entire existence on fire from Ivy's dark, almost inhuman passion. Overcome by her, she lowered her mouth to kiss Ivy's thighs, leaving rouged smudges of blood and lipstick all along her light green skin.

Ivy snickered, both appalled and aroused by Harley's need for attention; at no matter the cost, it seemed. "You are one twisted little creature, aren't you, Harley Quinn?" she asked, her eyes closing when Harley pushed Ivy's legs apart and then shifted her body between them, licking away her own bloody kisses from Ivy's thighs.

Lifting the woman's white lab coat up and out of her way, Harley leaned in to kiss her stomach while snickering wickedly at Ivy's accusation. "Think so, Red?" She laughed, lifting her eyelashes a smidge to glance up at Ivy, unashamed. Rising from off the backs of her heels again, Harley leaned in and greedily let her tongue glide its way up the base of Ivy's throat to her chin, curling it back into her mouth when she released her. Smirking at the lustful glint she spotted in Ivy's eyes, "So what does that make you?"

"Hmm…I think you're about to find out," she said, maintaining her composure as best she could throughout Harley's attempts to provoke and entice her into this demented game of cat and mouse. Sliding off the chair before Harley could even catch the hint of impetuous ferocity that burned behind her eyes, Ivy forced Harley onto her back, straddled her hips and kissed a path up to her swollen and still-bleeding lips.

Harley was quick to unbutton Ivy's lab coat, but Ivy was even quicker to stop Harley's hands from reaching for her exposed skin and placing them back onto the cold kitchen tiles in order to hold her down. Harley fought Ivy, frustrated that she wasn't being allowed to touch her, but the grip Ivy had on her wrists and the pressure of her body upon her hips rendered her even more helplessly spellbound than her kiss.

Not caring about the repercussions, Harley tried again but failed to thread her fingers into Ivy's soft red tresses that were just begging to be touched. She fell back and whimpered in defeat from how strong Ivy's resolve was but then, trying a new approach, Harley relaxed into Ivy's kiss, sucking on her toxic pink tongue in an attempt to seduce her into letting her guard down. But ultimately, Harley was the one who got distracted from her goal as she giggled in masochistic rapture every time Ivy bit down on her lips, sending a short rush of hot, sweet blood into both of their mouths.

Moments after Ivy let go of Harley's wrists to rediscover every soft curve of the blonde's body, Harley slid her hands up under Ivy's lab coat again, barely even grazing the sides of Ivy's ribcage before Ivy snatched both her hands away and slammed them back to the floor. "I'm warning you, Harley," she said, raising her voice a bit.

"Aww come on, Red," she whined, opening her legs a touch so that Ivy could fall between them.

Ivy snorted, pushing her wrists back down onto the tiles when Harley struggled free again. "You asked for this," she said, her voice thick and demanding as she laid down on top of Harley and smiling when she heard the blonde groan in pleasure from getting at least a taste of what she'd wanted. "You're going to take whatever I give you," she said, kissing Harley's neck as her nails scraped across her thigh, "and be grateful."

--

The stars behind her eyes twinkled and flared until slowly, Harley regained consciousness. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten there, but she found herself in bed with Ivy, kissing her. A moment or so later, Harley was fully aware of what had transpired, and smiled at how tender her hair was and how battered her body was from all the venomous scratches and bite marks Ivy had left in her wake. But now, everything was calm and Harley was overcome by how affectionately Ivy was cradling her as they kissed.

She attempted to reach around Ivy to reciprocate, but gasped in pain when she discovered how tightly the thorn-studded vines encircling her wrists were still holding her hands together. Every slight tug against the thorns brought Harley a flood of recent memories, causing her to giggle quietly between kisses. Tears silently streamed paths down her cheeks and Harley gently fell onto Ivy's shoulder, weak and exhausted from the continuous lancing brought on by Ivy's thorns. Visions of darkness drifted over her as she felt fresh, wet droplets trickle down the dried ripples of blood that surrounded the tightly wound vines. Harley briefly wondered just how badly she had been bleeding throughout this intimate liaison, but ceased when she felt Ivy's fingers running through her hair again, coaxing her to relax.

Slow as molasses, Ivy's hand playfully sauntered down Harley's back until it came across the entwined, sharp vines. With a single delicate touch, Ivy commanded the vines to finally surrender the girl. Harley traced her freed hands over each and every one of her bruises and scratches, smiled, then embraced Ivy completely, having finally been given permission to touch her.

"Mmmm," Harley mumbled, nuzzling Ivy's neck and smiling as she reacquainted herself with every soft curl in Ivy's hair and every perfect curve of Ivy's physique. "Thank you," she whispered moments later after touching every last inch of her friend's uniquely hued skin and deliriously caressing her favorite parts of Ivy over and over again.

Ivy shifted away from Harley and rolled over in bed to go to sleep, but her detachment from Harley was quickly nixed when the blonde curled up tightly behind her, letting one leg slip between hers and entangling them together. Harley's hand ran down the length of Ivy's thigh before rising to her stomach again and pulling her close so that Harley could kiss the space between her shoulder blades multiple times. Ivy resisted Harley's affection for a moment, but then looked over her shoulder at Harley, watching her rest quietly in the darkness and teetering on the verge of sleep. She looked as if she might die if Ivy let go of her, but she also had that devilish little smirk on her face that Ivy adored. It seemed to Ivy that Harley had never looked so guilty or proud in her entire life.

Harley opened her eyes, catching Ivy watching her, and smiled. She leaned up to kiss Ivy's cheek, lingering there for as long as Ivy would allow her before nipping at her ear and giggling. For Ivy, this kiss and subsequent shying away to nuzzle her neck gave her more insight than Harley would ever willingly divulge. To show her understanding, Ivy placed Harley's hand over her stomach and relaxed against the warm body behind her. She knew this wouldn't last, but at least for now, Harley belonged to her.