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While his husband was perfectly capable of looking after his garden for him, Algie was also preparing for the new school year. There were a few things that needed to be done. A little pruning, transplanting a couple bushes, and general care.

It meant he would have to call one of the few people he knew he could trust to look after his garden. At least after he made sure that Pax was not outside in his garden and tending to it as it was like to sometimes, if it was here in Ashdown.

Nathaniel was a good young man, not that much difference in age between him and his son, and an excellent gardener. Of course their meeting had not been a positive experience but he was one of the ones that Jeremiah tried to keep an eye out on when he good. It helped that if he needed help or something for his garden, Nathaniel was someone he could call on.

Which of course meant that Nathaniel was who he called to help tend his garden while he was not supposed to be doing much beyond house rest. Jeremiah was sitting outside on his front porch, on the porch swing, with Hellbine in his lap waiting for the young man to show up. The weather was pleasant and it was warm, even if that chill of his was prickling at his skin.

Jeremiah's garden was clearly well loved and taken care of. The detective lieutenant kept a small section for herbs and the like for cooking that was closer towards the porch but the rest was a sprawling garden that went into the backyard behind the house. It was anything he could have gotten his hands on that would grow and grow well within the soil of New England.

The garden had been his stress relief, had been what he put his all into when he was buried underneath the weight of too much. Working on it was relaxing and eased nerves but with him not wanting to faint or have a seizure while outside, he had not been able to look after it. There was a very real concern about pests and things overgrowing if left unattended.

His fingers were scratching around the small flower mohawk on Hellbine's head before he was scooping the small cat up and setting him on his own little perch that existed on the perch (that was covered in soft flowering moss and vines of flowers).

"Hullo Nathaniel," he replied with a just the slightest uplift of the corners of his mouth. Master of small smiles, this one. "Tired but doing better." There was a brief pause. "You know, you can call me Mercer or Jeremiah instead of detective." Blue-green eyes glinted briefly. "Considering how long we've known each other."

That and he was off duty. Being called by his job title was not required.

Hellbine was lifting his head up to sniff at the air towards Nathaniel. Barely awake bright blue cat eyes were watching him before the small cat stretched out along the railing before he was ambling his way over to the young man.

Hello. Yes. Pets.

Jeremiah was giving the cat a look (because his cat had a flower mohawk on his head of vines and flowers that definitely looked like it was probably dodder) to behave before he glanced back up at Nathaniel. Despite the what he knew about the young man's parents, he let nothing of it affect his opinion of him.

If anything, it meant he had a stronger opinion of Nathaniel because he had done well for himself while on his own.

"I suppose it does but I'm on sabbatical for the time being, so Mercer fits better than detective." He rolled his head from side to side and then his shoulders to try and relieve some of the pain that was there creeping down his back along with the chill.

"A little bit with both, actually. I need to have at least a bush transplanted to the front yard and some general maintenance. I'm not supposed to be working outside," this was said with the voice of someone who did not like this at all, "but it's alright if I've got help."

"For what I'm wanting to move, the soil is fine. I've got the supplies if you want to actually test it ..." Jeremiah really did, mostly because when it came to both his garden and cooking, he was that nerd. That included making sure that the soil was not too wet or too dry where he was planting certain things because that could be detrimental to some of the things he wanted to grow.

His head tilted as he watched Nathaniel, the young man trailing off. Hellbine was sniffing at fingers as they were offered out before he was pushing into them for scritches.

An eyebrow was raised, waiting for whatever it was (because he was used to this), before he spoke in that hushed voice. He was then treated to a rare thing: Jeremiah Mercer blinking a bit in surprise and then laughing, something that sounded honestly amused and happy at the same time.

"Yes," he said after a moment, shaking his head with soft chuckles, "Alg is my husband. We were just married not that long ago back in England."

"He's still using Mixlin as his pen name," Jeremiah still chuckled softly, "but it is Mercer now. It's something of a thing with my family ... the men who marry in take the Mercer name." Which was an oddity but part of his family. The women never took the husband's name.

Ever.

Jeremiah was still a little floored Algie actually had changed his name.

His lips twitched a little at the mention of a cat with mohawk as Hellbine was stretching and pushing himself up against Nathaniel's fingers. "Yes, both Hellbine and Violetta are unique. Though Hellbine you're likely to see around town. He thinks himself a messenger." There was a brief pause and a snort of laughter. "... and a princess, I think.

"If you want, grab him," a gesture to Hellbine, "and come inside for a moment and I can grab the testing supplies. pH testing and how saturated the ground is right now. May need to adjust the watering schedule as we've been getting rain a little more often lately ..." Which had him rolling his shoulders, stretching the muscles to ease the ache that was there and did not ever quite leave.

"You do," Jeremiah's lips twitched. "Though if you hear of any other Mercers, you should let me know." It likely sounded odd but it wasn't, not really.

Hellbine settled comfortably into Nathaniel's arms, small as he was, and submitted to any and all scritches (because he wanted them all).

The detective waited at the door for him, opening the door and letting him in. Up close it was easier to tell he was looking run-down, not at all how he usually looked. Rumpled was a good word for it and odd for someone who was usually so put together.

"As much as it could be good, I'm quite tired of rain," Jeremiah admitted, glancing towards Nathaniel and leading him through the house to a side room off of the kitchen that had his gardening supplies (because there was a door that went out back there). "They are siblings. Violetta is the biggest of the three kittens, Hellbine is the smallest. Bergamot, their other sibling, is the one in between the two of them."

He was then opening up a drawer and pulling out a couple things they could put to use.

"Sounds like it's something that's meant to be part of a book ..." Jeremiah shook his head. Detective Lieutenant Mercer and Professor Mercer. Yes, it truly did sound like something out of a novel.

Hellbine was a very content small cat in Nathaniel's arms, at least until he was being let down and then he was flicking his tail at the young man's face. A moment later he was pawing at Jeremiah's trouser leg to be picked up.

"You can wait, brat," Jeremiah told the small cat and looked to Nathaniel. "Chris Watts has Bergamot. He's a friend, works at Rider-Waite. Sometimes you can find Bergamot here but only if he's been brought over. Not quite like Hellbine who can actually be found across town." A sigh. "A bit like Where's Waldo but it's Where's Hellbine."

A soil moisture tester was held out for Nathaniel to take, as well as a carrying basket of supplies. Jeremiah had his own as well but it had what they needed. "This should be all we need. The rest of the things are on the path along the side of the house that leads to the backyard."

"Don't give anyone ideas," Jeremiah snorted at the mention of Mercer and Mercer, "as it certainly could be something and-" He shook his head. "It already is, in all honesty, but thankfully there's no book series. ... though I do know there's a character based on me in Alg's series but ..."

There was an amused twitch to his lips that implied it was not an obvious choice.

With Nathaniel taking the items from him, Jeremiah paused and reached down for Hellbine. The small cat was rested on his shoulders with an ease that bespoke of common occurrence (not unlike his husband and Violetta). He was gesturing for them to head back outside, as they had everything, before he was smiling at Nathaniel.

"I'm glad to hear that, though I do love it myself." Obviously with the care and time he put into it. "I'm sure you will, Nathaniel, and when you do it will likely be a garden far better than my own because you'll devote your all to it."