"Pack your bags, we're going on a trip!"

"A trip?" I asked as I lay on our bed, his handkerchief held to my bleeding nose.

I wasn't against a trip. In fact, I would look forward to a vacation after the crazy year I had. Getting kicked out of the Jade Tiger Triad, finding the man I had thought I would never see again, getting sent to Arkham Asylum, and topping it off with the latest acquisition of a Siberian tiger cub, the year definitely was marked as unique.

Eddie, as in Edward Nigma, the Riddler, flopped onto the bed next to me, jarring me and making my head hurt more than it already did.

"Do that once more, Riddle-boy, and I'll give you a taste of that punch I took for you tonight," I growled.

His response? The damn man had to give me one of those infuriatingly mischievous smiles as he propped himself up on one elbow and rubbed my belly. Taking the handkerchief away, he kissed me. Not just a quick kiss, it was one of those lingering kisses that makes me want to give him absolutely anything he asks for. I had to push him away as breathing through my nose was not exactly the most comfortable thing at the moment.

"Ok, Eddie. Where are we going? And what are we going to do with Tan?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. "I have a bathing suit that Madame Hsia made me," I added with my own grin.

The look on his face told me plainly of the internal struggle he was having as his hand grew firm on my belly. "He'll come with us, of course. I won't make you leave your precious pet alone just yet." Giving my belly a pat, he got up and walked toward the bathroom, tugging his tie loose. "It isn't that kind of trip, Kitten. It's a business trip. The clock we just took is an item that I've been keeping an eye out for."

Business. Of course. Slowly I sat up, wincing as my head throbbed. "So no bathing suits? No time alone?" I asked with a pout.

"We might find a little time to ourselves. But the point of going is to sell off some items I've collected up for certain people. We need the money. I know you keep refusing your share, but now you've got the tiger to take care of and we'll need it."

"He'll be needing space of his own, soon. Oh! We could have a habitat built for him where my room is, Eddie!" I said excitedly. "It can have a pool for him to play in, some plants, a bed..."

"It's just a tiger, Kitten. I don't think he'll need that much."

I went silent. "Eddie. You do know exactly what you've gotten into in getting him for me, don't you? He isn't like a regular housecat. Tan's needs are special. Where is he going to sleep once he reaches his full size, hm? I know you won't be wanting several hundred pounds of feline sleeping in the bed with you."

He smirked at me through the mirror. "I've already got you. What difference would it make?"

I threw a pillow, hitting him on the back of the head. He just laughed and ducked into the bathroom, dodging the second one. "Funny, Eddie!" I called after him.

There was no response as he turned the squeaky water controls on for a shower. Rolling my eyes, I went to go feed Tangram and settle him into the room that still held my things. Since we had become lovers, I had ceased sleeping in the room that was supposed to be for me, and taken to sleeping in Eddie's room. Plus, he had never fixed the door he had kicked in the day we got into a huge fight.

As mad as I had been at him, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he would go and do something so brash as to kick my door in. Despite his idiotic idea that things weren't going to work between us because he thought I was too good for him, he still had fought to keep me. A fact I had pointed out to him, saying he wouldn't have gone to the measure of kicking the door down if he didn't care.

Once Tangram had been fed, I went to feed myself with some leftovers. After his crack about me, Eddie could very well find his own meal. As I ate, I scratched Tangram behind the ears and talked to him. Before I was finished, the little cub was fast asleep. I carried him and put him on my old bed before heading into Eddie's room - our room - to take a bath before bed.

Halfway between the bed and the bath, Eddie caught me around the waist. I never did make it to the bath that night.
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