As the holidays neared, I found myself getting nervous about things. We were living in a renovated warehouse with no one other than actual business warehouses around. Dee remained cheerful for the most time, but she would often fall into a sighing depressed mood as she walked around the place. She spent a few days a week with Chu Hua, exercising and discussing whatever it was women who were or had been pregnant talked about. Lately she seemed to be spending as much of her time over there as she could.

Without her knowledge, I began looking at houses. I looked at the ones inside the city and would often take trips out of the city to look at some larger ones in the surrounding areas. Many of them were nice and she would probably love them, but I had to think of space for the tigers as well. There was no way she was going to allow me to move her if she couldn't have the cats with her. I would agree as I felt better when the creatures were around, especially if I wasn't.

Finally I brought the issue up to her after dinner one night. We lay on the couch eating ice cream. She was eating her own special blend of chocolate brownie fudge with rice and cheddar cheese. Dee lay back in my arms, the bowl on her belly as we watched a movie. I brushed her hair back from her neck and kissed it softly.

"Kitten? I've been wanting to ask you something," I began as the movie was coming to an end.

"Shh! This is one of the best parts!" she said, pointing at the screen. "'What would ever happen if I dropped you?' 'I'd got right down the drain.' 'And?' 'I'd take you right down with me, shorty,'" she chanted along with the last lines. Sniffing, she turned the television off. "He loves her so much!"

I chuckled in her ear, kissing the soft lobe. "And I love you, shorty." Pausing, I waited as she ate the last bite of her ice cream and placed the empty bowl on the table. "Now, as I was saying, I need to ask you something."

"Go for it, Tiger," she said snuggling under the blanket and playing with my fingers.

"It's about this place. If you want, I'll get you a house either here or the countryside. I've been looking and I've found a few that you might like. We'll have to do a little remodeling to make space for the tigers, but we could do it."

"You want to move? But I love it here. The other warehouses are far enough off that we don't get too much of the noise from them. We don't have any nosy neighbors to deal with. And besides, this is home." She shook her head and looked back at me. "We'll move if you want and if you think it's best, but I love the city and I don't think I could take being too far away from it."

"I only suggest moving because you seem so unhappy here lately. You spend so much time at Chu's, I thought you might want a house so that the kid can have a normal upbringing."

"Eddie, we're hardly normal parents. Look at you. You still wear your Riddler stuff every single time we go to the Iceberg. No matter how long you go without pulling a job, you're still the Riddler. And I'm still Query and Xiaohu. I've only been spending a lot of time with Chu because I don't want to keep you from your work. I'm not always with her though. Manchu lets me help with teaching or cooking. They let me sit and help prepare the lunches and I can swim in the bathing pool." Sighing, she kissed my fingers and pressed my hand to her face. "I want to live here and I want to raise our child here. We're not the house type anyway, so why should we move into one and pretend to be?" She paused. "There is one thing that would make this place perfect."

"What's that? Name it and we'll do it."

"A garden. I want a nice garden so that the child has someplace to play and I have somewhere to relax when spring and summer come. We can have some fruit trees, a bit of lawn..."

"I'll talk to Pam about it. You can tell her what you want and she can plan it out. It'll be a good way for her to earn some legitimate money. Even if she will use it for something else," I said. Knowing Pam, it would either go to funding one of her crime sprees, or she'd give every penny of it to a charity for the conservation and preservation of some forest or another. "I'll hire someone to tear up the parking lot around the back and we'll put the garden out there, ok?"

"Perfect." She grinned up at me. "Think it's a good idea to have Pam do it though? She might slip in some of her, ahem, personal plants."

"She won't. And she would kill me if I went to someone else for this!"

~ ~ ~

I was amazed at how quickly Pam agreed to do the garden. She came over almost immediately after I called her the next day and spent the next three hours measuring the area I showed her. Once she had everything measured out, she made a pot of tea for herself and Dee and sketched out the area. Pam attempted to tell Dee what to put in and where. Dee had no intention of someone else telling her what would be planted in her garden and gave Pam a list of trees and plants she wanted.

By the end of the afternoon, Pam had the plans down and said she would get working on it immediately. When I asked her about the price, she told me to pay for whatever she would need, whatever help she would hire (Pam was very particular about who was going to be planting things), and then I was to give a hefty donation to Eco-Warriors. I agreed without too much arguing.

"I just have two requests of you, Pam. One is no funny plants. I don't want to go out there and find them attacking anyone. The second is this." Reaching into my desk drawer, I pulled out a handful of smooth, brown seeds, each similar in shape and size to a shelled hazelnut. I placed them on the desk in front of her. "Loquat seeds. One of Dee's favorite fruits. I saw she asked for cherry, peach, pomegranate, and persimmon trees, but not one of these. Think you can get it to grow here?"

"Eddie, who do you think you're talking to? Of course I can get it to grow. I could get it to bear fruit year-round, if I wanted. Just get the area cleared and proper soil put down. I'll do the rest."

"Forgive me. I was just thinking of the winter. But I'm sure you'll engineer it to survive. You always have been good with that." Writing her a check for five thousand dollars, I handed it over. "I appreciate this, Pam."

"I'm sure you do. I won't let you down, Eddie."

By the end of the week the asphalt was coming up and a concrete block wall going up to enclose the garden area. Once the wall was finished, the area was marked out and pathways were laid down. Filler soil was trucked in and spread around, along with an additive Pam had insisted on. I didn't ask, I just paid. Dee was pleased with the progress, even if she did complain about the noise sometimes when she was trying to nap.

"Everything is ready to go, Eddie. The plants will be ready to go in around the end of February and the beginning of March. Do me a favor and keep those animals of hers out of there until then, ok?"

I nodded as I walked her to her car. "The Christmas party is next week. Dee and I decided we were going to go. Will you still be there?"

"Of course. Someone has to be there to make certain Oswald has only live trees."

Again I nodded. "Just stay out of trouble until then, ok? I don't want Harley being the only female Dee has to talk to. You know how Harley can get sometimes."

"That is if her and Joker don't go and do something to get themselves thrown back in Arkham before then. I'll be there, Eddie. Just make certain you buy her a nice dress and don't get yourself drunk. And do the girl another favor, would you? Ask her to marry you, for Gaia's sake!" Without another word, Pam revved the engine on her car and took off.

Marry? Out of everything I had thought about, that wasn't something I considered. Wandering back inside I found Dee in the kitchen making dinner.

"Pam just suggested that I ask you to marry me," I blurted out. Oh! Nice one, Eddie! That performance was a solid ten! Couldn't give the girl a ring or flowers or anything like that, could you? What happened to you and asking questions? Dumbass.

The dish she had just pulled out of the cabinet clattered to the countertop from her hands. Hands held in the same position, she turned around and blinked. She looked shocked as her mouth moved and she tried to speak. Lowering her hands she looked at me and shook her head. "Why would I marry you?"

Her words were like a slap in the face. I visibly winced. The corners of my mouth felt as if one-ton weights had been placed on them. Was I no longer good enough for her?

As fast as she could move, she was next to me holding my face in her hands. "Oh, Tiger! I didn't mean it like that! I meant more why would we need to be married? We're happy the way we are, aren't we? If you're asking me, I'll marry you. But if you were just bringing it up for discussion, I don't see why we should! I thought we agreed, ooo-ee-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah."

"We did. It was for discussion. Pam said I needed to ask you to marry me. I never saw the need. We said our vows to each other long ago. We are happy the way we are. The main reason I never asked such a thing was because I feel the paper would just complicate things."

"It's a meaningless bit of paper. Who says we're not just as attached without the it?" she asked laying her head to my chest and rubbing my back. "Pam needs to keep her nose out of our business. Especially when it comes to something like this. You should have asked her why she hasn't gotten Harvey to marry her." She nuzzled my shirtfront and looked up at me.

"That would have gotten me into a lot of trouble and you'd now be pulling thorns out of my hide."

Folding her arms across the top of her belly, she scowled. Dee's incensed grunt told exactly what was on her mind, but she still said, "Who is she to go and get mad at that? I don't recall asking her for any advice about our relationship! I should go claw up some of her plants to show her what it's like when someone butts in where they're not wanted! Screw her!"

The anger she was radiating made me laugh. I pulled her back into my arms and kissed the top of her head. "Oh, Kitten. I'm sorry I even brought the subject up. I promise not to bring up idiotic things like that again, ok?"

"Ooo-ee-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah, right?" she said nuzzling her nose against my chest, and taking a deep breath. Her hands lay flat on my shirtfront, fingers flicking at the buttons. My shirt was already unbuttoned at the throat, but now I felt her pop open the next two buttons and nibble on my collarbone.

"Ooo-ee-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah," I answered. Tilting her chin up, I added in a serious tone, "But if you ever do feel that we should get married, you let me know, ok?"

Her kiss answered my question.
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