After discussing things with her, Dee had begged me to keep the few hideouts we had around the city. Since most of them were part of defunct stores, I decided to put the places to use and opened up a chain of puzzle shops. With a bit of talking and encouragement, I managed to get Benny and Trigger to agree to help get the places on their feet. Both of them had family who needed a second chance and seeing as I was getting one with the kid, I decided to give them a second chance and staffed my store with them. The rule was, however, any stealing from me or using drugs and they would be fired immediately, no questions.

One thing led to another and I found myself creating an exclusive puzzle line on the side. Had I realized just how much of a reputation I had built up as the Riddler, I probably would have retired a few years back and done this. My stores were lucrative and I had an offer to sell it to a larger chain and live off profits alone from my puzzle line. I flatly turned this down, finding bizarre pleasure in being not only owner of Enigma's Puzzles and Novelties, but in the running of the business itself.

Four and a half months into the pregnancy and things were going smoothly. As much as we had not wanted to be parents before, we were now delighted in the process of her pregnancy. Dee took much pleasure in displaying her softly swollen belly when we would go out. She had the glow of childbearing about her and used it to her advantage on me.

Her moods had evened out for the most part, but she still had her moments. When angry, she would half shift. I had strictly forbidden her to ever fully shift while she was pregnant, as we didn't know if the action would affect the growing fetus. The third time she shifted and scratched me, I took her ring away and hid it. This got me glares from the tigers and half a night on the couch before she decided she couldn't stay mad at me and called me back into bed. Still, she didn't get her the ring back until a week later.

Dee woke me up one night, excited, babbling, and in tears. Before I had time to register anything, she was holding my hand firmly to her belly.

"Feel it? Did you feel it, Eddie?" she cried holding a hand to her mouth.

I waited silently, noticing the bowl of half melted ice cream and rice resting between her outstretched legs. It was one of her favorite snacks. How could I complain? At least it wasn't a combination of pickles or fish and ice cream. Though it did worry me the one time I saw her pouring soy sauce and chocolate syrup over it.

"What am I feeling?" I finally asked after a couple minutes had passed, yawning and wiping my other hand over my face.

"Just wait!"

And then I felt it. "It kicked," I said grinning like an idiot.

From then on I spent a good amount of time talking to her belly. She was amused when I would greet her with a kiss, and then bend to kiss her belly asking how my child was. The kid hadn't even been born yet and I was acting like a sap. At night when I would watch her sleep, I would often find myself holding soft conversations or telling stories to the life growing inside of her. If she knew anything about that, she never let on.

With her growing belly, she often found it hard to sleep through the night. I bought her a body pillow to help her be comfortable at the very least. More often than not, she used me for that purpose. I tried not to complain, but there were nights when I had to turn her onto her other side just so I could sleep comfortably. The best solution I had found was tucking the body pillow on the other side of her, turning her on to it (she gladly wrapped herself around it as if it were me), and spooning her to me. This way we both got the sleep we needed.

"Eddie?" Dee poked her head into my study where I was working on a design for a new puzzle cube. "You forget what today is?" she asked.

Quirking my eyebrow at her, I looked up from my work and checked my planner. "Month five and a doctor's appointment."

"Cheater," she smirked.

"I'm just trying not to get into any trouble with you," I said shrugging my jacket on.

It was the day of the first sonogram where the doctor would be able to tell us if we'd be having a son or a daughter. I still hadn't decided which one I wanted more. My ego wanted a son to carry on my name. Another part of me wanted a daughter just so I could see what Dee had been like as a child. Either way I would be happy.

"Don't you dare look, Eddie," she said as the doctor smeared the conductive gel onto her belly. "I know you've been studying how to read these things!"

"So you don't want to know the sex?" Dr. Zhuang asked with a smile.

Dee shook her head. "We want the riddle to remain unanswered until delivery time. But this oaf will try to cheat if I don't watch him," she said pushing my face away from the screen.

"I'm only human!" I cried in mock anguish.

"Well, the baby looks healthy and active from what I can see here. Are you certain you don't want to know the sex?"

I tried to turn my face to the monitor again, only to have Dee's hand cover my eyes. "We're certain," she said.

Dr. Zhuang laughed. "He's just eager, Dee. You can look now, Eddie. I'm done with the pictures."

After finishing up at the doctor's, Dee insisted I take her out to lunch. I took her to Garibaldi's, the Italian restaurant where we had our first date. The owner, Renato, was happy to see us and immediately took us to our favored table. He personally brought us our drinks, a scotch for me and a bottle of sparkling apple cider he had started to carry just for Dee. She ordered the seafood pasta she loved and pleasured in the garlic bread Renato had sent over to us. As a treat, he also sent her crème brulee for dessert.

"Is there something between you two that I should know about?" I asked when she received the dessert.

"Yes, Eddie. The baby is actually his. I didn't want to tell you, but it's true," she teased with a wink.

"I thought so. I suppose it's the food, isn't it? All the pasta and crème brulee you can eat!"

"Of course! I've based all my relationships other than ours on the food I can get. Don't forget Miguel at the Mexican restaurant, Nicodemus at the Greek place, Theo at the pub, Shen at the Chinese restaurant..." She continued on, ticking names off on her fingers.

I shook my head and laughed. "So what you're saying is it could really be any of them that's the father."

"Y'know, you're absolutely right," she said tapping her lips thoughtfully with the spoon. "You know how I am. Give me a good meal and I'm your slave!"

We paid the bill and left shortly after. She fell asleep in the car on the way back. I didn't have the heart to wake her, so I carried her to the bedroom and left her to sleep. When I went to check on her a little while later, Dee was propped up and surrounded by all three tigers. They gurgled a greeting and returned to murmur feline nonsense at her belly. She bit her lip in amusement as Tangram nudged her belly gently with his nose.

"They're talking to it. They want to know when the cub is coming," she giggled.

Shoving my way onto the bed and moving some of the pillows, I reclined her back into my arms. "Oh? Did they tell you this?"

"Yes. They've known longer than you about the kid. I asked them if I should tell you I was pregnant."

Tilting her face to mine, I looked her in the eye. "You told these fleabags before me? I feel left out now. What else have you been discussing with them?"

"Everything," she smiled slyly. "There's no secrets between us. They said it was about time we decided to have a cub." She paused as Rebus looked at me and grumbled. "He said that you needed to rub my back."

"He said that, did he?"

She nodded, tweaking Rebus' ear. The tiger grumbled happily and lifted his chin to be scratched. As she obliged him, the other two looked at me with their big yellow eyes. "I suppose I should do as he says then."

With a click of her tongue, she signed for the tigers to get off the bed. "Help me out here would you, Tiger?" she asked wiggling to unhook her bra. "My boobs are killing me today and this damn thing isn't helping!"

Laughing, I helped her change out of her shirt and bra (yes, I enjoyed it) and into her pajama top, before I started massaging her back. She purred as I kneaded the muscles of her back, pressing along the sides of her spine. After a few minutes of this, she pushed back into my arms and wrapped my hands around her belly.

"You gonna make dinner tonight?"

The question was part of a running joke between us. I was a horrible cook and she knew it. The few times I had actually tried my hand at making her what she wanted, we ended up having a good laugh before going out. Now I just found what she wanted at a nearby restaurant and ordered it.

"What do you want?"

"Beef stew. And peanut butter toast. Actually, I want the peanut butter toast now." She turned and gave me an imploring grin, throwing in a kiss to my chin for good measure. "With chocolate chips."

"Ok, toast now, beef stew for dinner. What kind of ice cream do you want? I'll make certain to get it if we don't have it." I got up, rolling my eyes at her cravings.

"Cookies and cream. Make certain there's rice in the steamer, please?"
Next / Cuddlenundrum Main /