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Very early in the morning, a tiny slip of paper slid underneath Mimsy's doorway. It was a note, folded in half, written in the crudest writing ever - surely a child had written it.



The thundering sound of noisy running footsteps echoed through the hall and slowly faded away, moments after the note was delivered.

When Mimsy arrived, she'd find the man on his knees, in the middle of the bare field. All of the seeds they'd planted were still hidden away, tucked deep in the mounds of fertilizer and working their way up. But on the surface, it all looked bare and dark, even the spot that he was knelt beside.

He looked up at her, letting out a bark of laughter at the joke he didn't actually get. Then he waved her over, reaching out to tug her down. Before she could make it, however, he realized that she wasn't wearing tights for the first time ever, and frowned at the sight.

"Oh, Mimsy, whaaaat." He bent in and poked her knee. "You're gonna get bitten by all sorts of bugs out here, wearing something like - have I ever even seen your legs before?" He tapped behind her knee with his hand. "Plus you're gonna get your knees all dirty. But you gotta come, you gotta see this!"

The way his face lit up when he returned to the topic at hand, and he turned back to the dirt. Still nothing. He gestured with his fingers to come closer.

"Yes, it does," He chuckled out, waiting for her to settle beside him before moving to give her enough view. "But you're a big girl, so I won't bug you about it no more." After all, her knees were in the dirt, and she wasn't acting like it was the worst feeling, so maybe it wasn't so terrible at all.

But it was terrible. A terrible distraction. He bent down towards the dirt, focusing on that to be safe. "So, I was wondering why things hadn't grown yet. We planted them with enough time that they should have sprouted by now, but - I guess this place is really rough, and they're just not taking as fast. Or at least, that's what I thought, until.."

His voice became hushed at the end of the sentence, as if he had to whisper to keep from waking something up. His hand reached down into the soil, brushing thick fingers against it, slightly, until -



The tiny little thing popped out from underneath the soil it had been hiding under, and unfurled itself up to the sky. Robert sucked in a breath, and held it, staring with wonder.

"First of the season." He breathed out in awe. His eyes were so wide and wet with pride. "My little baby. I think I'm gonna name him Chester."

Robert reached out, over to one side, and his hand started to filter through the dirt. Sure enough, where his hand passed, tiny little green buds popped up, freed from that last bit of dirt that had been holding them hostage. Suddenly in front of him there were four of them, all craning upward for the sunlight.

"These are tomato." He whispered over to her. It didn't answer her question, but she had to tell her that first. "They're hardy. Look how beautiful they are! They're probably twice as strong, because they had to fight to grow in this ground." He grinned up at her, his expression a giddy thing. "Just like us."

He pulled one of the stakes out from the side of the ground, and planted it near Chester, to commemorate the situation. "Here grows Chester, the strongest, bravest little plant in Deus. He will live forever and ever, until the winter. And he will make us lots of delicious red tomatoes."

Robert stared at the tiny bud, and sighed. Then he wrapped his arm around Mimsy, and pulled her in for a quick, one armed hug, without warning.

"Anything can happen if you're strong enough, Mimsy." Finally, he answered the unfinished question she'd left behind. But his eyes were focused lovingly on his tiny little baby plant. If only he had a cigar..

He felt a swell of pride when she agreed with him, and leaned his head down against hers for a moment. "That's my girl." He whispered, then patted her back and set her free. Her first question reminded him of something, and he stood to go show her it.

"Well uh, I did, actually. But, not in the fields. 'Cause I really wanted to grow something and I knew the safest place for it was in there." He thumbed in the direction of the greenhouse, and then rubbed his neck shyly. "Come on, I'll show you."

His first instinct was to ball Mimsy up in one arm and carry her over to it. He fought that instinct, because for some strange reason, it felt really important to stop babying her. She was just fine without him, he told himself. Just fine.

A sharp, pained sigh escaped him, and he nudged her with his foot before heading into the greenhouse.

Robert did not answer. All he did was hold the door open for her until she was in the greenhouse, and then walk all the way to the other end of it. The long building itself was filled with several little plant species trying to grow using what little resources they had, but most had been failing for too long to be salvageable. He was at the end of the building when he finally disappeared, bending behind a table and pulling out a large clay pot.

"Ingest- what? No I ain't making any food to eat, this time. All the foods being grown outside. But this was special. I didn't think this could make it out there, so I mixed some fertilizer and lime until I thought the ph balance was about right-" Yes, he'd just said that. "And I think it should be about right, but it's too early for any blooms yet. I just wanted to get them the right color."

The pot had an impressive little bush beginning to grow within, but just as he'd said, there were no flowers blooming from it yet. "We used to grow them all around the house, they were my momma's favorite."

He took a little packet, and held it out to her. The type of flower he was growing bloomed beautifully in the picture, labeled with it's full name on top.

"I wanted to grow you some. 'Cause. It's got a real complicated name. All smart sounding and s**t. Hydrangea." He tapped the first word at the top. "Don't matter how many times I've seen or said it, I'll never be able to spell that one if I had to. So it kind of reminded me of you." His face burned red.

"Oh, you know what else?" He grinned, proud of knowing little facts such as this one. "It's lethal to dogs!"

How romantic.

Mimsy wanted him to tell her how to mess with the ph of soil? For some reason, he'd just.. assumed.. she knew.. everything. Everything. It was jarring, being able to tell her this. He wasn't even proud, just.. thrown.

"I guess.. I mean.. it's not like, fancy difficult or nothing. You add the stuff from the bag that says dolomitic lime, if you want 'em to be pink, you add the aluminum if you want blue. And then you kind of mix them up a little to make purple." Here, he grinned, his pride returning. "But I'm not telling you what colors they're gonna be, you just gotta wait till they grow. It's a surprise."

He hesitated again, and rubbed his neck with one hand; it was fast becoming a familiar gesture. "You really impressed just 'cause I know how to ******** with soil ph?" Of all the things he'd thought she would be impressed with.. he suddenly wondered if the flowers even mattered anymore.

And then, suddenly, they did.

"No s**t.." He whispered out, clueless about the name connection. "So they're like.. little clusters of stars? Yeah.. hey.. yeah! That makes sense! Wow, I am good." Without even trying, he'd picked out the perfect flowers for her. And here he thought they were only perfect because they were complicated.

And lethal.

He fussed with the leaves, checking to make sure no little bugs had been chomping down on his special plant, when she asked him why he'd done such a thing. For a few seconds, he refused to look at her.

"Because." He finally turned his head, a sense of exasperation flickering in his gaze. "This is how I show my love. Okay? By doin' nice things. Things that mean somethin' to me." She had him flustered, and his drawl crept back into his voice, no longer able to focus away the incomplete words.

"Because." He repeated, and turned his head away, refusing to finish the sentence. It started to hurt to look at her, to see that inquisition in her eyes, that confusion and complete lack of understanding.

He reminded himself that his heart wasn't the one on the line here, and slowly pushed his emotions away.

Chemistry. Ugh. It wasn't as if he understood the mechanics behind what was going on at a molecular level, when he put bag A into slot B, but even he had to admit, the whole using chemicals to get different results thing was pretty.. science.. y. He tried not to smile, and ended up making a ridiculous grimace that was actually a smile because Robert did not have the muscles to stop himself from smiling.

"I guess I am. She woulda been proud." There was only one person the she could have referred to, and he refused to say her name anymore, because it hurt to say it. But he still loved talking about her, so 'she' it was.

Mimsy was solving another difficult problem in her head, so he let her be, fiddling with the hydrangea bush and resettling the dirt firmly around its strong root, until she wrapped her arms around him. He tilted down instinctively the moment he felt arms around him, but his head turned too late; she'd already said it. He looked at her, one eyebrow rising up so high it hid in his bangs, and his expression took on an incredulous smile.

"Uh. Yeah, because I love you." It wasn't as if he hadn't been trying to convince her of that for days, now, or anything. Though by the way she said it, it felt like a new relevation. One that had more to do with her, and less to do with how obvious his feelings were.

Did she.. get it?

His heart throbbed painfully in his chest.

"I'm glad you understand." His voice was quiet, if only because he didn't want to get his hopes too high. "If I'd have known picking a flower to grow you would show you what it means to love you, I'd have probably replanted the whole field while nobody was looking."