A special thanks to Chris Dee for giving me permission to use events that happened in her Cat Tales story, Torches. The characters Clurissa and Doris belong to her.

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Dee wasn't certain if she wanted to cry or scream. She also wasn't certain about where she was going at the moment. What she did know was that she had to leave the warehouse before she hurt that damn man! It wasn't like he wouldn't deserve it, after what she saw him doing with those women. But she couldn't bring herself to hurt him, or them in the way she wanted to. She wanted to rip their throats out as she had done with the men in England. But the thought of Eddie looking at her the way he had when he had helped her get cleaned up was too much. So she fled instead.

When she had gone into the bedroom, she had only intended to lock herself inside. The bedroom was in shambles, though, all of her clothing strewn about, ripped, and smeared with Buddha knew what. She couldn't deal with that. It was one thing that those women had trashed the hideout, but it was another thing that they had violated her personal items. Her bag was still packed, and it had clean clothing in it, so she had snatched that up and left.

For three hours, she drove around before she finally stopped. Pulling the car over, and took stock of where she had just driven herself. She was at the edge of Robinson Park. Chewing her lower lip, she looked over at Tangram who sat in the passenger seat.

"Darling, we're going to have to find a place to stay for tonight. We'll see if Auntie Pam is home, and if she'll let us stay with her, ok?"

The tiger nuzzled her open palm, chuffling comfortingly. Dee scratched his ear, and then put the car back into gear, heading into one of the park's lots. For the time being, she would leave her bag in the car, coming back for it if Pamela Isley was around. She could have gone to Jiaoshu's, but right now, she didn't want to be around her family. They would ask too many questions that she simply did not want to answer right then.

As she walked into the park with Tangram trotting happily next to her, she began to wonder if it was a good idea to go to Poison Ivy. She had become friends with her during her time in Arkham; moreso than she had with Harley Quinn. The clown girl was too erratic even for Dee. While her fixation on the Joker gave Dee the chills, she knew the woman mostly meant well, and therefore got along with her. Being in the line of work that she was in, Dee really couldn't be too choosy about her choices for friends. Pam and Harley were the best that she could hope for. Still, there were many of Edward's crowd that she hadn't met.

"Pam? Pam, are you around?" she called out when she reached a dilapidated greenhouse she knew Pam often used for a hideout in the park.

The door to the greenhouse edged open, and the green eyes of her friend peeked around the edge. At the sight of Dee standing there, she threw the door open wide.

"Q! What are you doing here? Where have you been?" She ushered Dee inside. "He isn't going to claw anything, or use my plants for a toilet, is he?" she added, pointing at the cub.

"No. He's good." She paused, wringing her hands. "I just... Edward and I..."

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "Man problems?"

Dee nodded, blinking back tears.

"I was going to head out and get some dinner. Want to go with me?"

"I'm not hungry, but he's going to need food really soon."

"It's ok. We'll eat, you drink. I think you need it."

Dee let herself be steered into Pam's car. For the second time that day, she found herself entering the Iceberg Lounge. They walked right past the bouncers, and to Pam's reserved booth, stepping behind the curtain of ivy across the front.

"Your usual, Ms. Isley?" the waitress asked as she came to the table.

"Yes, please, Swan."

"Um. Oswald had some chicken parts earlier that he let my tiger have. If it isn't too much trouble, could I get some more of that for him? And I'll have a Midori sour, please."

"Anything to eat?"

"Not right now, thank you."

"So tell me what's going on," prompted Ivy.

"Eddie took me out to eat after we landed. We came here. While we were eating, he got a phone call. He came back to our table acting strange. Told me he had some business to attend to that couldn't wait. Said he'd send one of the guys to come pick me up in a little while, and to stay and finish eating. Then he just took off! The way he was acting was not at all like him. He tells me everything, Pam! He's never kept business dealings from me before, and suddenly it's something that's going to be too 'boring' to even tell me! But it's too important to leave for later."

"So he just took off. What did you do?"

"I sat here for a moment, until the waiter came by to ask if I wanted anything else. I asked for the check, and he said that it was automatically put on Eddie's tab, so I didn't need to worry about it. With the way he was acting, I didn't want to wait around for one of the guys to come get me. So I asked them to call me a cab. Apparently Oswald doesn't want his elite customers taking taxis, so he had one of his drivers take me home."

Swan returned with their drinks and food, and Ivy frowned as Dee downed half of her drink before the woman had set the food down. Before the waitress left, Dee stopped her.

"I think I need something stronger. Eddie has some scotch on hold for him. Would you please bring that over here? I'll pay for it myself," she said, handing over two hundred-dollar bills.

She hesitated for a moment, until she saw Ivy give a discreet nod; a voucher that it would be all right. "The scotch might cost more than this, miss..."

"Query. Or Q. Here." She handed over another two hundred. "Just bring it over. And a clean glass."

The waitress nodded, and headed over to the bar. Who was she to argue if this woman was going to be drinking the Riddler's personal stash of scotch? The woman obviously was close enough to the man to know that he had his own bottle. She returned quickly with the requested bottle and glass, setting them down.

"Anything else?"

"No. This is perfect, thank you," replied Dee, giving the woman a warm smile.

Once the woman was away, Dee poured an inch of scotch into the bottom of the tumbler. In one quick toss, the glass was empty, and she was refilling it. She could feel the scotch burn down to her empty belly and swiftly spread through her body.

"Where was I? Oh, yeah. So I get to the hideout and I walk in. I expected to find the place empty. But it wasn't! It wasn't empty at all!" More scotch disappeared into the frazzled redhead. "There was Eddie, on the floor, rolling around with these two... Two..." More scotch. "Sluts! They were sluts, Pam!"

Ivy ate her salad slowly, watching her friend. She must really be a lightweight, she thought.

The alcohol was affecting her extremely fast. Already Dee looked flushed, and was wavering in her seat. Since the bottle had been set before her a mere five minutes ago, Dee had three of her generous servings, and was now going for her fourth. Pam had the curtain of ivy part, and she waved Swan over.

"Would you please bring her a bowl of soup and some bread? I think she's going to need it," she asked, as Dee was busy concentrating on pouring the next glass without spilling everywhere.

"They had their hands all over him, and they were undressing him! You should have seen the way they were dressed! They had these tiny little leather... I don't know! They looked like leather bikinis! With metal studs! I never even knew he liked that sort of thing! He certainly never... Never..." She paused, blinking and leaning her head against the back of the seat.

The soup and bread arrived, and the waitress set them down silently, hurrying off to leave her customers in privacy.

"I take it that you two have done the deed. I don't think you'd be this mad if you hadn't."

If possibly, Dee's flush deepened. "Pam! That's none of your business!"

"Maybe. But that just answered it. So you two have slept together now! How was it? Did you have a good time?"

Still blushing, Dee got a wistful smile on her face and nodded. "He was wonderful."

"He isn't bad, but I've had better," Ivy said offhandedly.

Dee choked on the scotch in her mouth, spitting what didn't go down her air passage onto the table. "What?!"

"I said he wasn't bad. Didn't he tell you?"

Her eye started twitching, and her knuckles grew white as she tightened her grip on her glass. "Tell me?"

"Yes. It was right after he broke up with that Doris woman, and then had that awful blind double date that Harvey set him up with. Some girl who called herself Clurissa." Ivy rolled her eyes. "The woman had it bad for the Cluemaster. None of us understood that. But Eddie showed up at the bar and, at the time, Harvey and I were quarreling. He was dating that tramp, Roxy. They decided to buzz the 'berg, and... Well, Eddie said some stuff I didn't particularly care for."

"Care for?" Dee asked, still in drunken shock. The twitch moved to her other eye.

"Yes. He made some comments about what Harv and Roxy were doing on her rocket. I took him home with me and kept him going for quite a while, if you get my meaning. It meant nothing, of course. Just a one night fling we had."

The glass in her hand shattered just then, and as she continued to squeeze a shard in her hand, blood oozed out and onto the table. Dee's eye had stopped twitching, but she now ground her teeth as she stared at the woman across from her.

"One night... Fling..."

"Yeah. Eddie isn't bad in bed, but I like a little more oomph. You know, you're not the prettiest thing to enter his life. He's probably slept with every woman he's hired at least once. He's easily swayed by a pretty face..."

Ivy got no further as Dee launched herself across the table with a snarl. The bottle of scotch went flying out, smashing on the polished wood floor; the soup onto the seat. The two women tumbled out of the booth, into the puddle of alcohol, and rolled across the floor toward the bar. Tangram hopped around them, snarling and growling as the women struggled. Dee's hair was practically standing on end as she glared daggers at the woman whose throat she was trying to crush.

"Let me go, Q!"

"No! You're just as much a tramp as those others! What is with the woman in this city?! Why can't any of you just keep your meat hooks out of him?" she snarled, punching Ivy in the eye.

"Ow! Damnit, Q!"

She tried to say more, but Dee now put both hands around Ivy's throat, squeezing. Knowing her friend was drunk, hurt, angry, and acting totally out of character, Ivy did not want to hurt her. However, Ivy wasn't about to let the woman beat her up over something that had meant nothing to either her or Edward. So she began releasing a toxin through her skin, into Dee's. In seconds, Dee's grip started to weaken, and she slumped over, onto the floor. Ivy sat up, rubbing her throat and coughing as she regained her breath.

"Pamela, I can't even trust you to come in here for dinner, can I?" demanded Oswald, appearing out of nowhere.

Wincing, Ivy looked up at the angry proprietor. "Look, Ozzie, she's the one who went all crazy on me. Everything was fine until..." Glancing back at the path they had taken, Ivy took stock of the broken glasses and dishes that had fallen off the tables they had bumped as they rolled past. "I'll pay for the damages. The girl has had a really bad day, ok? Give her a break."

Two bouncers had arrived, and now helped both women up. Dee remained unconscious, as one of the bouncers tossed her over his shoulder. Reluctantly, Oswald nodded, turning to leave. As he did, he noticed the broken bottle of scotch.

"I really hope that was paid for, and that it wasn't what I think it was."

"It was. She asked for his scotch, and she got his scotch. But she paid for it herself, ok? She gave Swan four hundred dollars for it. That should cover it, shouldn't it?"

"The bottle wasn't full, Mr. Cobblepot," the bartender chimed up. "The money was more than enough."

"Very well. I'd like you to go for the night, Pam. I'll let you know what the damages add up to and put it on your tab, as usual."

"Fine, Ozzie," Ivy said with a roll of her eyes. "You two behemoths want to help me out to the car with her?"

With Dee settled into the passenger seat, her tiger on her lap, Pam popped the glove box open and took out a hypodermic. She flicked the air bubbles to the top, and squeezed out a small amount of the fluid to clear the needle. Reassuring the cat that everything was ok, she injected the contents into Dee's arm. It was nothing more than an immunity shot against toxins, the same that she had given Harley when they first met. She didn't have to do it; she could have simply adjusted the toxins in her skin and touched her friend to give the antidote. But it was the least she could do after blabbering about sleeping with Eddie.

Really stupid, Pam. Really stupid. She obviously didn't know any of that, and would have been better off not knowing about it!

Dee slowly came around. Tangram licked her chin to hurry her along. Flinching, Dee opened her eyes.

"What... Where am I?"

"Just outside and in my car. You had a bit too much to drink, honey. I think we should get you home so you can get some rest."

For a moment, Dee sat there quietly. Then her chin began to tremble, and she turned angrily to Ivy who was crouched down next to the door. Ivy smiled at her, giving her leg a pat. Dee punched Ivy in the nose.

"You traitorous bitch! Tree hugging harlot! Leafy lush!" she cried, stumbling out of the car.

Without another word, Dee stumbled off down the street, cursing Poison Ivy as she went. Pam was left sprawled on her back on the sidewalk. Too dazed to move quickly, Ivy laid there for a moment. By the time she felt well enough to stand, Dee was out of sight. Touching her nose, she felt the stickiness of blood. With a sigh, she headed back into the Iceberg, and went to clean herself up in the restroom.
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