Ivy slowly blinked and opened her eyes. The lighting in the 'Rogues Gallery' was slowly brightening, signaling the start of a new day in Arkham.
Just as certain flowers bloomed at first morning light so did Ivy always awaken when the lights came up in Arkham.
As her eyes began to focus, Ivy found her first sight of the day to be the same as her last sight the night before, namely Harley. Ivy was relieved to see that sometime in the night that Harley had relaxed out of her fetal position and was now lying flat on her back. The gentle rise and fall of Harley's breasts under the drab 'grays' of Arkham allowed Ivy to know that Harley was still in blissful slumber.
"All in all not an unpleasant view to awaken to." Ivy thought to herself with a faint smile. A smile that instantly vanished when she took her eyes off of the sleeping form of Harley and noticed a box sitting outside Harley's glass cell door.
It was a bright and gaily wrapped green box with a bright purple ribbon wrapped around it. The lid of the box was off and lying propped against the side of the box. It too had the purple ribbon on it with a large bow. Sticking up from inside the box was a white mannequin hand holding blackened dead roses. As Ivy watched, she could see white blobs crawling among the stems and dead rose buds. With a shock she realized they were maggots.
Ivy couldn't see any card with the package but it hardly needed one. It was obvious who it was from.
"The Joker must have bribed or terrorized a night guard into smuggling the grotesque package in and leaving it outside Harley's cell." Ivy thought to herself in disgust.
Looking back at Harley, Ivy was comforted by the fact that Harley was still asleep and hadn't seen the 'gift' yet.
Certain routines were varied constantly to keep the inmates from making plans or strategies but one thing was pretty constant in Arkham. Mornings always began with the lights coming up and within minutes someone would be by to do a headcount to make sure no one escaped in the night. Soon after that, their breakfasts would be served to them in their cells.
With any luck the headcount guard would arrive before Harley could awake and maybe Ivy could convince them to remove the package before it disturbed Harley.
As Ivy saw it there were only two reactions that Harley could have after seeing the package.
One: Harley would decide it was an attempt by the Joker to apologize to her and she might revert to her typical doormat personality and forgive that creep for what he had tried to do to her and be back to 'oh puddin' mentality.
That thought made Ivy sick to her stomach. Ivy was so close to breaking Harley's addiction to the Joker and getting her free forever from his slimy grasp. (And into Ivy's loving arms, she hoped)
The second option wasn't much better. Ivy feared that Harley would see the 'gift' as a warning and a threat from the Joker that there was no where in Arkham Harley could escape from him.
In which case the vulnerable Harley just might snap completely and withdraw into herself.
Neither option was one that Ivy wanted Harley to have to go through.
Hearing the sounds of footsteps nearing, Ivy pressed herself against the glass walls of her cell and tried to see down the corridor between the cells to see who it was. Most of the male guards weren't much better than the inmates they were suppose to be guarding. Some of them would be sadistic enough to awaken Harley just to see what her reaction would be to the box. There were a few decent males working in Arkham. Even Ivy had to admit that. Some that treated the inmates as humans instead of freaks. One of these Ivy had no doubt would remove the package before Harley could see it. The problem was there was no telling who was working this day. Arkham varied the guards' schedules constantly in an effort to keep the inmates from knowing who they would be dealing with each day.
