Faye-Faye said they should go shopping. They were pretty sure that they could find the gnomes, wood, and paint for bridge building. The major problem they were having was locating Bonsai trees. They only had 20, 000 Woolongs to spend on this project, and each tree was going to cost between 5,000 and 6,000.

The other major problem they were having was the water feature. There were no existing fountains that fit into the small space between the existing trees. All of the fountains they'd found so far were too big and would detract from the beauty of the trees.

"Water, Water, Everywhere." Ed squealed.

"Jet, Ed and I are going shopping for some stuff. We'll be home before dinner."

Faye and Ed Shopping together? That was a first. Of course, they'd been almost inseparable since Faye had started working. Faye was still wearing the sweaters and pants Ed had chosen for her as part of the makeover, instead of the halters and short shorts she wore before. Sometimes, she wore long skirts. Ed bought a skirt at a thrift store that was decorated with horses and cowboys. Faye wore that now with a long sleeved navy sweater.

Jet hadn't really expected her to keep this up. He and Spike had laid bets to see how long it would be before she snapped. Jet figured it would be six weeks and one day. Spike had given her a mere two weeks.

The truth was that Faye seemed happier than Jet had seen her in a long time. She no longer lacked purpose or drive. Her days were no longer empty.

It was Jet who suffered from a degree of boredom now. Spike slept most afternoons, and Ed, while she was entertaining, was difficult to converse with for long periods of time.

"Ed, Want to go see Faye at work?" was the usual question of the day now, as they spent most recent afternoons at the mall. The particular mall that Faye worked in was in an upper-middle class Martian suburb that for some reason attracted high priced bounty-heads.

Before going to see Faye, they stopped at a smoothie stand. Both Ed and Jet ordered strawberry-banana smoothies. Jet intended to give half of his to Faye, so he had it infused with Vitamin Shot, Energy Booster, and Stress reduction. He also had a nutrient bar for her in his pocket. He wanted to make sure she would have the energy to finish her last four hours of work. He was pretty sure she'd been in a rush this morning and had skipped breakfast.

"Faye-Faye. Look what I got." Edward said happily. "Rose colored glasses. Ed gets to look at the world through rose colored glasses. No worries, no cares." She skipped around. "Very good! Faye-Faye want to see?"

Faye put on the sunglasses for a minute or two. Ed was right, the world did seem a lot happier when viewed through pink plastic lenses.

"What time is your break?" Jet asked.

"I could take one now, but I only get twenty minutes."

"I brought this for you." He hands her the smoothie and the nutrient bar. "You need to eat. See you when you get home."

Ed hugged Faye and said "Remember, Remember. Our show comes on tonight. That's right right right."

Ed and Faye had most recently been watching a sappy family show about two happily married parents trying to raise seven children and balance their careers at the same time. The plots were simplistic and wrapped up too neatly at the end for Jet's taste, but the character interaction was entertaining at times. Faye and Ed were obsessed with this, and Jet thought it was because they both secretly craved that sort of stability in their own lives.

Jet and Ed left, and Faye smiled.

"Who was that?" Faye's co-worker asked?

"Just my shipmates."

Faye's co-workers didn't believe that Jet was a mere roommate. She seemed too happy to see him when he showed up in the afternoons. Not to mention he always brought her a drink or some little something to brighten up her day.

Ed and Faye wandered through a plant store that they'd found on the Internet. The trees they had weren't very pretty, but they had nice accessories. It was here that they located their gnomes. They chose one gnome that carried a basket, one that had a guitar, and a third one that had a blue bird perched on top of his hat.

"How many gnomes do we need, Ed?"

"Nine trees equals Nine gnomes."

Finding six more gnomes they liked proved to be a challenge. Ed found a statue of a little dog that she liked.

"Look Faye-Faye, it's Ein!"

It was a little corgi chasing a butterfly. "That looks good, Ed. Now five more."

The next gnome they found was sitting on a log. Another that they chose was lying on his back sleeping. One that held a fishing pole over his shoulder was their next acquisition. Gnome number eight carried a frog in the pocket of his overalls. To top it all off, they found a gnome drinking from a whiskey jug. The Jug read XXX. A whiskey-drinking gnome for the greatest bonsai garden ever created, thought Faye.

They still had to acquire two healthy looking Bonsai trees, however. The next plant nursery they looked at had exactly what they needed.

The plan was to place these two trees in Jet's Bonsai room without suspicion. He was to merely accept without question that he had nine trees instead of seven. Faye hoped he wouldn't notice, though she knew better.

There was only one week left until the party, and Faye still hadn't ironed out the remaining details. Did they want to go out for dinner or make dinner for Jet? She and Ed had decided that they were going to make a cake. Faye decided chocolate would be good. Chocolate with vanilla flavored icing, but not plain white. Ed had decided to dye the icing green.

"Green like bonsai trees. Bonsai, Bonsai, Bonsai, whee!"

The lettering on top of the cake was going to be chocolate icing, because it reminded Faye of tree bark.

The other thing that Faye was having so much trouble with was what to wear. She knew she looked stunning in black or red, but Ed kept suggesting she wear hot pink. Ed showed her a bright hot pink dress with black polka dots on it. It had a halter neckline and came to just above her knee. A black silk rose was pinned at the neckline.

"It's perfect! Faye-Faye, It's Perfect! Pink is so your color!"

In whose world, she thought. She tried it on. It did look good on her, plus it only cost 3000 woolongs. She bought it, because after all he did like to see her in pink.

For herself, Edward chose a lavender sundress. Faye was a little surprised to see Ed make such a choice, but thought it looked really nice on her. Now that they'd chosen their party clothes, it was time to get down to some serious construction.