The title of this newest chapter is symbolic of what will transpire next, used before but appropriate.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Treading Deep Water

When Jonathan opened his eyes to the song playing, he smiled and stretched his bones under the black-and-teal silk covers, then reached up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. God, he couldn't think straight after last night's events. Making Iris feel better was one of his top priorities as her partner and "soulmate", as Sylvia used to call them. He looked over to his side to see Iris turn off her mobile and was about to rise out of the bed when he sat up and pulled her towards him. She moaned against his chest.

"Jonathan, I have to get ready for work -"

"You won't get into trouble for it." He silenced her with his mouth on hers in seconds. "You're the boss woman. You can strut about whenever you want, my dear. Right now I need you before I go about another long day until you return home." He climbed on top of her and ground his eager erection - which was commonly known as the "early morning hard-on" - against her to let her know, and began to feel the heat between her legs form in a matter of moments.

"Ahhh…" She followed his lead in lying on her side and facing him, leaning in closer to him and scissoring her leg through his so that they were super close, and so that he was deep inside her after entering her fast and slick. "Oh, Jonathan…this is some way to wake up…" she moaned, chuckling deep in her throat as he began to thrust, doing the traditional in-out routine.

"Mm-hmm," he agreed, burying his face into her neck and hair, holding onto her waist and hooking his leg between hers, her arm looping through the space between his arm and side to grasp his hip for leverage. Their thrusting movements in this spider web-like position created the ultimate friction and stimulated the spot he hit repeatedly and drew a higher cry from her lips each time. Unfortunately, this mind-blowing moment couldn't last long, so when they finally found release, Iris unwillingly gathered her strength to give him a quick kiss and leave the bed and Jonathan lying amid the black silk sheets in a post-coital daze. Tomorrow was his day off, but today he didn't have to go into the library as early as he would. He watched as his lover disappeared into the bathroom without her robe, longing to join her but knew he wouldn't be able to stop touching her and make her late for work. He heard the water run, then waited for thirty minutes before she exited with her hair damp but mostly dried, waltzed to the closet, and vanished behind the Japanese screen door to dress.

Iris came out only a couple of minutes later and he lifted an amused eyebrow. She repeated the same walk as she did before, this time in her favorite black pumps, now in a light, springy blue dress that reached her elbows, stopped mid-calf, wrapped around the waist, and showed some chest. Her hair was let loose freely in shining waves, the faint smell of Morocco flying to his nostrils from afar. Watching her perform her morning routine turned him on as much as seeing her beautiful bare body did. He watched as she plopped down onto her stool before her dresser, smirking at him in the mirror as she stuck in what looked like heart-shaped Titanic studs in her ears, then the pendant he bought her ages ago, her black diamond ring from her grandmother as a teen, glossed her lips and finally doused herself with her favorite perfume from a black crystal fan-shaped bottle. Then she stood and walked over to him, capturing his lips with hers for a quick kiss. He smelled her perfume in the endearing moment, calla lilies, irises, musk, and roses - all a perfect combo for her. "I'll see you later, handsome," she purred against his lips.

~o~

"So you haven't seen him since Friday night?" Alice was laughing it off on the computer screen camcorder from her office. It had been over a week since she last saw the bastard and left him to burst his belly. "You just left him in the restaurant emptying his abnormally large tummy while you went about the evening like a normal person and then stole away his uneaten dinner after he never showed up after that? Just like that?"

"Just like that," Iris answered with a grin on her face as she reached over to the beeping phone and pressed a button, getting the message that she was receiving a visitor. "You know I did thank Jervis for his genius devices, but…okay, I never thought I'd say this, but I thank Harley for her idea, too. And for that extra idea of sneaking into his home just a few nights after to plant that little germ into his dinner so he was out sick for the last five days. And no classes for him." She howled with laughter as she remembered the footage Eddie had installed then for her to take a look at Warner constantly running out of bed and to the toilet every twenty minutes. Who knew, he could have ended up going to the hospital if his "poor stomach" was that bad since Friday night eight nights back. If he even had the insurance money for coverage…

"So I suppose I should leave you to your visitor then?" Alice asked with a little smile. "I got a board meeting in ten minutes myself."

"Good luck with that." Business never really interested Iris all that much, unless it had to do with charity. "Meanwhile I need to find out who my visitor is. And I know now that it's him." The fire in her veins returned as she was positive it was Dr. Warner; she still refused to call him by his first name. People like him she refused to be on a first-name basis.

Alice groaned heavily, giving the camera a look that said all the basic emotions for now. "Good luck with that, sister. Talk to you later." With that, she cut off the signal, and the camera went black. Perfect timing, too, because there was a knock on her door.

"Door's open," she called.

In walked just the man she detested the most. She almost smirked when she noted how pale and stretched the skin across his face was from sickness and stomach flu yet he managed to give a weak smile. "My apologies for not being able to see your face for over a week," he apologized, sitting in the blue chair. "And for leaving you alone in the café that night. I honestly have no idea what caused the dreadful stomach pains I've endured."

"No apology needed," she replied smoothly leaning back into her chair smoothly. "So, how have you been?"

"I've been better…right up until now," he answered. "In fact, I've been waiting for the last eight days to ask you this. I know we've only been on one date - which I regret not being there most of the whole time for reasons - but I feel like I've known you longer than that. So, what I'm trying to ask you is this…"

Iris stiffened suddenly in her chair, a cold feeling washing over her heart, for she knew what he was going to ask, but couldn't find it in her to admit it to herself. Her mind was racing with the thoughts of it, and how could she ever protect Jonathan once that was carried out?

"Iris DeLaine, I wish for you to marry me."

That was all it took before she felt herself grow faint - the world darkening around her faster than night falling - and collapse in her chair.

~o~

Edward loved his job at Drew's family's company. Just as Jon was enjoying his as the head librarian at the Gotham Memorial. To think that previously he thought they'd never adjust back into society - he'd been proven wrong once he began his job in the technology department, on just about anything in that department due to his amount of genius. Drew had always been the one to admire him for that, besides Joan, of course. He'd been working here for three months, and he'd made good money so far, taking care of himself and his girlfriend and the mother of his child. On top of that, he'd written and published a book of riddles for teens just as Iris had suggested, and it was selling rather well, currently ranked number two at the box office.

Speaking of Joan, she was nearing the fourth month and was beginning to show. She continued her job at Arkham, yet he always worried that one of the more violent inmates would end up harming their child if she wasn't too careful. He loved her too much to lose her now. And the main reason was that she would be the mother of his child. Which was why he'd gone a few months before and bought the dainty little trinket he now held in his palm as he sat in his office; the walls were painted a dark shade of lime green that would appear a little tacky to other business firms in general, but it suited him, and the shelves were fixed into a modern open-box fashion, painted white like his desk was, the carpet gray as the view of the world, as Iris would call it.

The ring in his palm was customized, made by his hand, the band wired and gold, set with one purple amethyst and a green one which was rarer than the former - resembling like they were ice carved at the hands of Chione, the Greek goddess of snow and ice. He'd known Joan since they were teenagers and yet he was tired of continuing as they were now, having a baby and yet unmarried…

His phone rang. Edward sighed at having his thoughts on how to ask Joan that very important question interrupted, but pressed the button and brought the phone to his ear. "Competitron, this is Edward."

"Honey?"

The sound of his girlfriend's little anxious voice - whether it was due to pregnancy hormones or something else, he didn't know - got him worked up. "What's the matter, my little riddle queen? Are you having a -?"

"Oh, no," she interrupted calmly, "I'm fine. It's Iris."

"Iris?" Edward bolted up at the mention of his best friend's lover. "What happened?"

Joan spilled it all out in one breath. "Well, that Dr. Warner asshole came by, and I was listening in on them from the outside of her office. He, like…popped the question, and she fainted in shock."

He tightened his hand on the device, body shaking with rage and shock. Warner, he - he asked Iris to marry him! This was beyond what either of them in the group had expected, and he did not blame Iris for reacting the way she did. "My God, he -" He couldn't form a proper question or sentence due to what he was feeling now. "Where are they now?"

"Well, after she collapsed, he burst out of the office and called for me and the other nurses. She's in the treatment ward resting, but he's not in the room with her right now. He's in the waiting room."

Great, Iris was passed out from shock at the unexpected question - never in Edward's life did he ever think that his hated psych professor would resort to anything like this - and now she was lying in her own asylum's medical ward until she aroused awake, with the man they were working so hard to get rid of once and for all waiting for her to do so. What the hell were they going to do now? "Keep an eye on them for now, baby," he said instead. "If she ever awakes, don't tell her to call me. I know she will on her own, and then we'll think of how to proceed."

~o~

She was lying on her back, on cushioned leather, covered by a soft blanket, but nothing erased the uncomfortable ease in her body. Opening her eyes, everything swam into clear focus and she saw that she lay on a leather examination bed. She couldn't have been in Gotham General; the policy was not to transport a staff member or patient to the hospital unless it was a severe emergency, so she had to still be in Arkham. Sitting up, she groaned as she stretched so her bones popped back into function.

"Dr. DeLaine! You're awake."

She looked up and saw Joan hurrying her way with Carl behind her. Both bore expressions of relief and no trace of worry on their faces. "Doc, take it easy," Carl said, helping her sit up. "You still seem dazed."

"I feel like it, yes." Iris leaned into him for support, unashamed because it was him, her favorite orderly, in the room, as well as a pregnant colleague. But the ache in her heart and stomach was still there. Warner - that sick son of a bitch who raped her Jonathan years before college graduation, been his psych professor, and violated not only his trust but also his mind and body - had asked her to marry him…had picked today in her own office of all places and all times to do so…she had fainted and was now in the treatment ward because of it - she needed some Aspirin now and fast. She needed to tell everyone in the group about this and speak with Harley and Red about what else to do now.

"Ah, she's awake, I see. After being in that dreadful waiting room for a long, boring hour indeed." She bolted up in horror at the voice she did not want to hear now or anytime soon. But here he was. She clung onto Carl for protection while he stood on her like a bodyguard, and Joan frowned at him in disapproval.

"Dr. Warner, this is not a good time. Dr. DeLaine is still not in good shape -" she tried to say, but he interrupted her with a brusque laugh that earned a scowl from all three of her staff members.

"Nonsense. I'm a doctor myself, and I know she'll feel better soon. She's just in shock from my pop of the question. Something that differs from the news I burst out to everyone in the waiting room, which I'm sure is bound to get out soon," he finished with a wink. Joan sucked in a sharp breath and clutched her belly as if to shield her baby from the sickening news. Carl looked him on with the same mortified expression…but Iris felt even worse than she was.

"You told everyone I was going to marry you?!" she all but screamed and choked out, slipping out of Carl's grasp and nearly falling onto the floor, but before her limbs touched the hard matter, Joan lurched forward to help her onto her feet. She stayed that way, looking down at the floor, trying to comprehend the horrific situation for what felt like an eternity, but it could only have been one minute before Warner was speaking again.

"I think it's best if we left her alone to recover from this news," he suggested with brazen disregard for her trance. Joan looked at her with a questionable look, but Iris nodded - she wanted to be alone, but feared he would stay behind - and then looked to Carl and then the door, motioning him to wait outside and listen for anything funny. He got the gesture and gave a short nod. Warner noticed none of this as he was speaking to Joan.

"I doubt you'll be the one to leave the room, Professor," Joan said curtly, folding her arms across her chest as she glared at the older man. "For all I know, you could very well try something funny on this poor girl who runs us all."

He returned the same expression. "I would take care to watch the way you speak to me, Doctor," he returned. "Wouldn't want anything…unfortunate," he drawled suggestively as he looked her over, the sign making Iris shiver at the thought of what he could do to poor Joan and her baby, "to happen to you, now would we?"

"Leave us, Joan," Iris ordered softly. "I'll take care of myself, thank you."

Joan gave her a short look and simply turned away, after scowling at Warner one last time, and followed Carl out of the room, the door ajar and good enough for her to secretly listen in on them. Warner turned back to Iris with his hands behind his back, a sickening smile on his face. "So, where were we…?"

"I don't think I should answer that, thank you very much," Iris said sharply, folding her arms across her chest. "But I would love to point out that times have changed in terms of a young woman being the bride of a man old enough to be her grandfather. Especially when he was once engaged to her own grandmother."

A frown formed on his slightly lined face. Had the circumstances been different for them and for him back then, she would have said he was decently attractive despite his age. "I would beg to differ, Miss DeLaine." He drawled the insult on her title. "You're an excellent choice for me to finally settle down before my time is up. I lost my one chance with your grandmother, but you are my last hope and the last of the DeLaine women."

Did he HONESTLY think she would be worn down by his futile charm after what he did to Jonathan?

"You're wasting your time if you think I'll say yes for the sake of being related to your former betrothed, none other than my grandmother. I'm not the helpless little girl you think I am, who fantasizes about being swept off her feet like in a fairytale. And above all, I am not interested in contracting the remainder of my life to a large, sweaty old man who eyeballs young women and fuels his desires and uses their dreams of success - as well as their achieved success - to his advantage."

He was in front of her in a flash, that large body intimidating her…but she was not afraid. However, he grasped both her forearms in his hands, the brutality making her almost cry out, but all that came out was a little grunt of a shadow of one. "You listen to me, little girl," he growled viciously in her face. "You have no idea that Sylvia was my life before she left me for someone else. You don't know anything about me. I don't know what your precious doctor told you about me, but he's damn well a fool who sold himself off like a man giving himself to the Devil. So hear me out just this once, and I won't say it again: You are going to be my wife, and that is the way it was written before you were even pubescent. With that being said…" He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box of black velvet - a ring box, to her horror - and opened it to reveal its contents.

To any other bride-to-be, this ring would have been fun and fabulous, with its thick starburst border set with round diamonds, surrounding a single large brilliant cut as though it were a planet. But to her, it was a terrible reminder - and realization - of a past she'd managed to overcome with years of studying and helping people with her experiences. "That's my mother's ring," she gasped.

"I first met Maria years ago, not long before your father died, when she came for a photo shoot for the Allure magazine, and then arrived at Gotham State to promote and teach a modeling class for a week, and that was when I stumbled across her. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen even if she was already married…to Marcus DeLaine, your father, and my Sylvia's boy - which made it even better that she was connected to Sylvia in a way. But she intrigued me altogether…and coaxed me back to her motel room later that very day."

Iris felt the bile rise in her stomach. "You…slept with my mother?"

"A very beautiful woman with a very beautiful body, indeed. She confessed of her husband's infidelities, which was no surprise to me given her fascinating history. I'll be honest that it drew me to her that we spent a few more nights after that, together, and it was then on the final night that she spoke of you."

"What of me?"

"Maria spilled the beans of her disinterest with you, that you were nothing more to her than an accessory to her, and I quote, 'Overwhelming fame.' So we hatched an agreement with Farnsworth, your family's lawyer, that one day I would be rewarded with a gift. Said it was her turn to bear it to me, not biologically, though."

"She intended ME, her own daughter, as that gift," Iris said furiously, wanting so much to step back, but her legs did not have their strength.

Warner nodded. "She wished you to have you off to me so that you weren't a spoil in her life any more than you already were. Since her death, I decided to wait until you were of a more…legal age than you were at the time. All I had to do was wait until Sylvia was out of the picture so that she wouldn't be an obstacle anymore. Now that that is done, the time has come."

Iris barely felt the slip of the ring on the third finger of her left hand. It was a surprise that the ring itself would not be a size larger than her finger. "Not too late to begin the wedding plans, either, my dear. We shall be married in two weeks' time, no questions asked."

~o~

Jonathan swam nude as the day he was born in the pool of the Sunken Garden section of the manor's massive gardens. Iris would be home soon, and once she reached his room, she'd find his discarded clothes on the floor and no sign of him - the thought alone making him smirk - and a note he'd written and left on his bed, simply reading, You'll find me in the sea realm of Poseidon, little sea nymph. The clue itself would be enough to make her hunt him through the expanse of the landscape until she found herself at the balustrade overlooking where he was now.

There was the sound of rustling overhead, and he looked up to see a flowing light blue figure with a long mane of ebony hair rippling in the soft wind of the summer evening. Iris bore her eyes with his as she descended the stairs until she was at the bottom of the sanded steps. She stood there for a moment, keeping eye contact with him. He felt the little coy smile on his face slowly fade as he noticed the troubled look in her eyes, even noticed the hesitation in her body language as she reached to undo the sash around her waist that held her dress together…and then opened it to reveal absolutely nothing on her beautiful body. His arousal flared like an undersea volcano beneath the water as he imagined her walking about the day with nothing under her dress just for him…but then he noticed something glittering on her left hand, no need to pinpoint what finger it was.

Iris was wearing an engagement ring.

Rage flared up in him as realization dawned on him as to who the proposer had been. He waited where he was, watching as the beautiful nymph before him descended into the pool out in the open air and swiftly flowed in his direction. The temperature of the water brought out the sight of her hardening nipples, making him temporarily forget his anger - knowing that this wasn't Iris' fault that she ended up in this situation, and there would be more planning to come with Harley after today - and instead focus on her. She was before him within seconds, pressing herself up against his chest so that her rough buds were on the verge of penetrating his chest flesh. He groaned at the feeling, pulling her closer so he could enjoy the warmth of her body amid the cool waters around them and smell the scent of her hair. This was what he needed and not whatever troubles were now ahead of them.

But then she said it.

"You saw it, I know it," she murmured against his shoulder. "He came to visit me at work and he…" She trailed off, fingers curling against his chest, to which he had a better look at the ring, and its brilliant starburst was all too familiar to him. "He asked me to…"

"No need to say it," Jonathan said darkly, holding her tighter.

She lifted her head to look him square in the eyes. "I never expected anything like this to happen, I swear. Before my father died, my mother traveled to GSU to do some modeling for a class there, and she met Warner there. They…" She swallowed thickly. "…had an affair."

That revelation made Jonathan sick to his stomach. He'd always suspected that Maria DeLaine had the charm to lure other men who weren't her husband into her arms, but Dr. Warner… He looked down at his poor girl's face. "So what happened there?"

"She convinced him to have me married off to him so that she wouldn't have to deal with me. But because I was only seventeen at the time of her death, he decided to wait until I was old enough, and once Grandma Sylvia was out of the picture. Well, she's dead, and now's his chance, so that's why he popped up at her funeral." Iris finished with a dull monotone that got to him at once. "He gave me Mother's ring," she said, gesturing to her hand with her head.

"Well, he won't have you. Not if I have anything to say about it." His brain flashed with unwanted images of Iris free to wander about but still playing housewife to that beast and meeting his every need…he shoved it all down as he caught her ever-tempting lips in a kiss. She was in need…in need of his rescue from that monster even if she was far from helpless, as she had always been. She was silently urging him to unleash that beautiful beast within him - to allow the beast in his body to be released from its cage and unleash his insatiable appetite upon her. He wanted her; she was all his, and that bastard did not deserve to rip them apart, wrench her from his arms, and force them apart before he had the opportunity to spend the rest of his life with her.

"Iris…" he growled her name as he ground himself against her under the water, taking her with him to the side of the pool, facing the stairless side that was all a view of forestry and privacy. He perched himself up on the side, facing her and looking over her magnificent body with his hungry eyes. "Come here, child…" he coaxed, using the pet name he hadn't used on her since she was his student.

She followed him, slipping out of the pool on all fours and crawling his way, and gently pushing him down onto his back. He was more than happy to comply, letting her straddle him - he was ready for her as she was for him, as his excited member discovered to his delight. He wasted no time in allowing the circle of her legs to trap him on the sanded concrete, hips moving forward as she leaned down to kiss him, hand grasping his shoulders for support, and drawing him inside her.

"He - he told everyone in the waiting room at the asylum that I agreed," Iris gasped, but he would hear none of that.

"No, none of that," he managed, lifting a hand to silence her with his finger. "None of him for now…just us out here, savoring each other's flesh and pouring out our love to the air. I never want him to take you away from me. You belong to me and no other man…" He let that hand trail down and rest on her breast. "…and I'll go all night working it from your subconscious if I have to. I won't let you go to him, Iris."

I had it planned from the beginning to have Iris be a classic unwilling bride yet stronger than that. Her mother's blinged-out engagement ring as well as the story behind planning this with Victor Warner, knowing his history with Sylvia, was perfect. And as for Joan's which Eddie makes himself, was inspired by a real ring known as the Chione Amethyst Ring.

Also, in "Descent", after Iris graduates, at the party, following the speech she never wanted to go to, her father Marcus had a planned engagement to Christopher Fairfax, the teenage and spoiled son of a colleague of his, which Iris rebuffed to no differently than she did to Victor Warner.