"What about 'Ephraim' if it's a boy?" asked Dee as she slouched in my favorite chair in the study. She idly rubbed her belly as she glanced at me from behind the name book she held. "Though from the way it's kicking, it might just be a girl," she added with a smirk.

Pointedly ignoring her jib, I said, "'Ephraim'?"

"I could go back to looking through the crossword dictionary for names that coincide with anything having to do with puzzles."

"No, no. I got you that book so you would stop doing that. I am not naming a child 'Riddle'. I don't care if that was Hoffa's middle name."

"'Sphinx' is still a nice name. If we have a girl, can we name her Sphinx? And I think it'd be adorable to have a little boy named Riddle!" She gave me a cockeyed smile. "You know you'd love it."

"I would. But we have to consider the child's future. You still don't like your given name."

"Because it was given to me in a derogatory fashion. Stop using that argument with me."

"You could always change your last name to Nigma. You've been thinking about it anyway," I said.

"Yeah, that'll go over real well at PTA meetings. 'Hi, I'm Dee Nigma. This is my boyfriend, Eddie Nigma.' 'You have his last name, but you're not married?' 'Yes.' 'Why?'" She stared at me pointedly.

"It isn't as weird as you think. Stop being so dramatic and just change it already! If you don't I'll ask you to marry me just to change it and end this."

"I'll think about it. Now back to the baby." She pulled picked up the little notebook on the table next to her. "My choices for a girl: Aida, Enid, Ethel, Kit, Moira, Pandora, and Sphinx. I'm still considering it."

"We'll see. What have you got for boy's names?"

"Those are harder," she said with a frown. "Ephraim, Erasmus, Ezra, Jaxom, Kale, Riddle, and Talmor. I'm almost tempted to toss the whole list and wait till the kid is here to name it."

I shrugged. "If you want to do that, we can. Just keep your list though. Want me to get another book for you?"

She shook her head and waved me over to her. I pulled her up from my chair. "Your child is being difficult. If it loved me, it would stop sitting on my bladder. Do me a favor and order some Greek food tonight, would you, sweetie?"

"Sure. And why don't you take a nap. You look tired."

"I'm always tired lately. You look tired to. Come see me in an hour and I'll give you a massage, ok?"

I nodded and she left. I was exhausted. With her getting up and down all night to go to the bathroom or get a snack, how could I really sleep? Collapsing in the chair she had vacated, I made myself comfortable and took my own nap.

~ ~ ~

"Dee!" I called out from my study a few days later.

"What is it, Eddie?" she asked, wandering in with a bowl of something in her hand. Her mood was a lot better since we had cleared up the whole sex issue. Having her happier was a big plus.

"The Bobsey Twins want to give you a baby shower," I grinned. "Pam just sent me an email and wants to know when they can get you down to the Iceberg for 'an intimate gathering of womanly magnificence,' as she put it."

"That woman can be too much at times. I appreciate the salves and tea she's given me, but really," she sighed licking her spoon.

I shivered at the sight, feeling her tongue ghost up my throat as it had done only last night. Quickly, I turned my eyes back to the computer screen. "Apparently they'd like to get you down there in the next couple of days. I'll take you if you want to go. You can tell them you can't stay but a couple hours at most. It's true enough. And it as much as I hate to be the one saying this, it wouldn't be a bad idea to appease Pam on this one with all she's done for us."

"You're right, of course. Tell them I'll come down for a couple of hours. They can pick the day and time. Make certain you tell them that I'm not going to run around town with them. I'm too pregnant and tired for that."

Typing her message out, I checked to see if she wanted to add anything else. She didn't, so I hit send. Ten minutes later I had a reply telling me to bring her down the next day at seven for a "goddesses only" dinner. Dee rolled her eyes and pushed herself out of the chair. Waving her spoon at me she started to say something and stopped, her eyes going wide.

"What's the matter?"

Clutching her belly, she dropped the bowl onto my desk. "I think I just had a contraction."

The contraction turned out to be nothing but a twinge as a second one never came. A twinge or indigestion, I thought after inspecting the contents of the bowl. Rice, chocolate syrup, teriyaki sauce, and a touch of mayonnaise. Still, I made her go lay down and rest. I stayed with her, hardly having much choice with the death grip she kept on my arm. When she seemed to calm down and I figured she was asleep, I released her grip on my arm and started to get up.

"Where are you going?" she said sounding drowsy.

"I have some work to finish. It shouldn't take me long," I replied stroking her hair.

She nodded. "Come back when you're finished?"

"Of course." I kissed her cheek and covered her with a blanket. "Get some rest."

Back in my study, I quickly returned the emails that were important enough, leaving the rest for later. Things were going so well with the company I had started. More than half of the stock of my private line had sold out during the holidays. Even now at the end of January, we were still trying to catch up with backorders on some items. The one hideout I had that had been a run down factory was now my personal puzzle factory. One of the most popular items we had were the jigsaw puzzles with pictures of Dee's tigers on them. The fact that they were so popular pleased her to no end. With a sigh I hit send on the last email, authorizing the production of more of those jigsaws. A blood-curdling scream launched me out of my chair and running into the bedroom.

"What? What is it? What happened?" I asked anxiously as I rushed over to her side.

Dee was struggling to sit up, tears streaming down her face and trembling badly. The second I was next to her, she threw herself forward taking a hold of my arms. Her shaking was so bad and she was crying so hard, I could do nothing other than rock her in an attempt to calm her down.

"He was here!" she finally bawled.

"Who was? Who was here?" I looked around, tightening my hold on her.

"Joker! H-he..." Her head fell back onto my chest as her arms wrapped possessively around me. I thought she would crack my ribs with the force of her hold. Eyes streaming tears, she looked up at me and touched my mouth. "It's gone. It's gone," she mumbled.

Then I realized she must have been having a bad dream. "Q-doll, whatever it was, it was only a dream."

"But I saw him! He Smilexed you in front of me and made you watch as he cut the baby out of me! He killed our baby!"

"Dee! Stop this! Look, you're fine! There is no blood. The baby is still inside you! I'm fine. It was just a nightmare!" I said pressing my hands to her face. I couldn't help but shudder at the image she had just put in my mind. The possibility of something like that happening was too real when that psychotic clown was involved, and this was not her first nightmare with him in it. Reclining her back against me, I held her hands and whispered soft words of my love to her.

"Eddie, what if I end up like my mother? What if..." she began once she had calmed down.

From one worry to another. "You won't end up like her. You wanted this child and you've been a very good mother so far. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Why would you even begin to think that you could be like the woman who gave birth to you? No matter what, she was hardly your mother, Kitten. For another thing, she didn't raise you. Li Mei did. You take after her and Jiaoshu more than anything."

"But..."

"No. No buts. You are not your mother. And for all we know, if you did take after one of your biological parents, you could take after your father."

"My mother was most likely a prostitute, Eddie. My father was most likely just some random john who knocked her up," she said with an edge of anger.

"It doesn't matter. Either way, all our parents did was contribute the material to make us. We're better than that and we know it. That's what makes us who we are. Now stop crying and let me see those beautiful eyes without the tears." Thumbing away her tears, I kissed her softly and held her tightly once more.

Eventually she fell asleep, having exhausted herself in her hysterics. I stayed with her for a while, holding her as she slept. After her dream, I was having second thoughts about letting her go to that baby shower. I thought about emailing Pam and calling it off, but I knew that this might be the last time Dee really got out of the house for a while. Tipping my head back into the pillows, I joined Dee in her nap.
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