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Part Twenty-One: Chapter 147: Try Try Again

The Joker left Gotham and returned to Philadelphia and into the loving arms of Harley Quinn. He wasted no time getting started with the research on the fertility drugs that Ivy had gotten for him. He analyzed every last detail about them in his makeshift lab, and read every research study on them. Then he began the testing phase with Harley. He found that he could harvest more eggs from Harley, but it was as if the quality of them was somehow lessened.

The Joker's first attempt gave him six embryos to impregnate. He did and implanted them all into Harley. Four survived. But in the eighth week Harley suffered another miscarriage, adding four more tiny babies buried in a single hole under the tree with the first. So the Joker went back to work with things. He double checked everything he knew about the fertility drugs. He couldn't see how they were creating any difficulties. He thought that perhaps four babies was too much for Harley's body. Therefore, he decided to lower the number of fetuses he implanted.

On the second attempt he tried just three embryos. It was a success and they both thought that this time things would work. Harley and the babies seemed to be doing so well. Everything seemed to be working and on schedule. But in the eleventh week the triplets were lost, and under the tree they went. The Joker was beginning to lose hope. It seemed as if the tumor would kill him before he could get it right and create an heir. He wanted to give up, but Harley convinced him to try again.

The third time the Joker decided to stop the fertility drugs and go back to the way he did the first attempt. So far, that pregnancy has lasted longer than any of the ones in which he used the fertility drugs. So he implanted only one fetus. This time Harley actually made it to thirteen weeks, one week past the first trimester. The Joker had to cover their skin with make up and take Harley to a hospital so that a doctor could go in, hack the baby into pieces, and suck it out down a tube. The procedure was essentially an abortion and it forced the Joker to think of his wife.

This caused the Joker to become very depressed. Because it was another baby he had to bury under the tree. This one was a girl. That day the Joker fell to his knees among the little mounds of dirt and remained there for two days at the graves of his children. Harley had to force Johnny to drag him away in the middle of a snowstorm, fighting and screaming. He was shivering from head to toe and had the beginning stages of hypothermia. Harley put him to bed and he stayed there for a week.

His mind seemed to be exhibiting more effects from the tumor. He would have periods in which he couldn't seem to focus or concentrate. Other times he would be overcome with anger and aggression. Several times he's caught himself just as he's about to injure Harley. He asked Johnny to start stepping in when he would become violent, because he didn't trust himself. He was also suffering from more auditory and visual hallucinations. Some days they wouldn't stop and the Joker would wander the house aimlessly as he talked to himself.

But then the Joker had a moment of clarity and realized that if he didn't pay enough attention to his own longevity, he would die without having the final chances to produce an heir. He knew he had to come up with a way to slow the growth of the tumor, or he had to find a doctor that could do the surgery to remove it. But he knew that the tumor was hindering his brain activity. He knows he's not capable of doing the hours and hours of research, nor the experimental phases. He would need help from someone who he could trust. And there were a few options he could go with, Riddler, Scarecrow, Freeze...but only one name came to mind that the Joker truly trusted. And that was Poison Ivy. So Frost was sent to Gotham to fetch her.

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Ivy's POV

I was surprised, to say the least, when Johnny arrived on my doorstep, telling me that I had to come with him. He told me that the Joker had requested me, that he needed my help. I was skeptical, but I allowed Johnny to blindfold me and carry me in his arms to a car. He put me in, buckled my seatbelt, then pressed his lips to mine. I should have rejected the kiss and told him the truth about how I had manipulated him, but instead, I found myself kissing him back. It had been over two years since I'd been touched by him, and it felt so good.