Vacation of the Seasons (Completed)

[The Myst]

Quinn had hardly walked a full block and already her feet were killing her and she mentally started grumbling about how she so easily let Rosemary talk her into the ridiculous shoes. She had never needed to wear heels before and what was so wrong with pairing a cute set of flats with her dress rather than the ankle breakers on her feet? Ugh, this was so the last time she listened to Rosemary. When she got at least two blocks away she noticed her calves were starting to hurt as well and she knew that by the time she got home a long, hot, bath would be in order and maybe a good rub so she'd actually be able to walk in the morning. By the third block her gait was slower and her anger at Hades was a dull throb in the back of her mind while her anger at her shoes had become forefront. At this rate she would never make it home at a decent hour and she refused to walk barefoot in the city, she had seen the things that had been thrown on the ground and no way did she want to catch something and cut the bottom of her feet. A bit of soreness would be better than catching some unknown disease through a small cut in her feet. That would just be her luck too.

Her mutterings and dark thoughts about heels and how whoever created them needed a good boot in the butt was cut off when her vision was suddenly cut away by a flash of light. “Ugh, high beams much?” she muttered thinking the light came from a car that ha just driven past.

“Darling really,” Quinn heard and blinked a couple times to get the bright spots of light to clear from her eyes. When they did she found herself looking at a beautiful red head who was addressing her as if she knew who Quinn was, and was also dressed like she had popped off the set of some old Greek movie. For a moment she wondered if she had finally run into someone who might know who she was but then the woman continued to speak and Quinn sighed. Nope, just another one of Manhattans crazies – her clothing should have been the first hint honestly. Mortal attire? Really? As badly as Quinn wanted to push past the woman and head home to mope she was much to nice for that. She was about to suggest a shelter the woman could go to but the redhead continued to speak over her so Quinn shifted her weight, folded her arms over her middle and plastered a smile on her face. It wasn't this woman's fault she was crazy, really it wasn't, she had just drawn a poor lot in life.

“Aren't you going to give your mother a hug?”

A laugh bursted out from Quinn's lips before she could stop it and she felt bad but she still couldn't stop a second giggle from escaping her. Well, this was a new one. “I'm sorry, miss, I don't make a habit of giving strangers hugs.” She gave the lady a sad little smile and looked over her shoulder then back, “I think there's a shelter down that way a little bit if you need a place to stay, I'm sure they can help you with...other things as well.” Dropping her arms she flashed an apologetic smile, stepped around the woman, and continued on her way home. Gods she couldn't wait to get off her feet. It looked like poor Puddles wasn't getting a walk tonight, he would just have to settle for an extra treat or two and a good night of cuddling.

[Racoonus]

“Stranger?” Demeter gasped and quickly wiggled her finger around in her ear, unsure if she had heard her daughter right. She blinked a few times with confusion and frustration, before crossing her arms grumpily. Surely her daughter was trying to pull some sort of prank, but it wasn’t funny in the slightest.

“Darling I-“ she attempted, but was interrupted with the most peculiar comment about a shelter. “Well I never…” the goddess huffed in response as the younger goddess began to walk away. Her lips hung wide open in shock for a moment before she swiftly grabbed Persephone by her shoulders and turned her daughter around to face her. “What… w-what’s wrong? Darling are you feeling alright?” Demeter stuttered as she lay a gentle hand on her daughter’s forehead and then suddenly moved it to the girl’s chin. She tenderly lifted her daughter’s head.

“What has he done to you?” The woman immediately accused, “That’s it! He’s gone too far this time. I don’t know what he’s done, but we are going to figure this out!”

Demeter raised her arm and suddenly both of them were surrounded in magical light. Slowly the blinding light disappeared and the two were left standing in a very dark location. A dark cave, with an indigo glow: the underworld. It was empty and cold as it always was, but before them was Hades in his real form as he sat in his throne. But he wasn’t sitting for long. He instantly rose. His pitch black, soulless eyes looked from one female to the next in an enraged panic. His dark, greasy hair and his long black robes completely exposed to their usual godly appearance; he was no longer shrouded in mortal deception.

“I forbade you from seeing her!” He shouted in full rage. Not holding back as he snapped at his mother in law.

“And just why is that hmm? So I wouldn’t see that you turned her into a zombie? Just what have you done Hades? Why does my own daughter not recognize my face?” The goddess yelled back with equal anger.

“It’s not my fault-“

“Not your fault! Of course it is. I’d recognize your trickery anywhere! You fix this now and we are leaving!”

“I can’t.”

Hades seemed to calm for a moment as he looked at her daughter. Demeter glared back and put up a protective hand blocking him from her as if he would hurt her. He glared at the action, but looked back at his wife with a softer expression.

“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered looking directly at his sapling, “Everything is okay, Persephone.”

[The Myst]

This was so not how she had envisioned the night going. Okay so maybe at first she had seen it ending horrible but for a while there she had actually thought her date with Hades might have ended on a high note. However even when she had seen the whole thing bursting into a ball of flame being accosted by a crazy person on her way home had not been in that vision. She should have taken a cab was the thought that rolled through her brain when the woman grabbed her and forcefully spun her around. My the woman was strong wasn't she? Letting out an exasperated sigh she leaned back, twisting her head head of the other woman's grasp.

“Look, lady, I've had a pretty damn horrible night and I would just like to go home to my dog, eat a whole pint of ice cream, and mope? Can you put your delusions on someone else tonight, please?” She spoke but no one was home to listen. It was like the redhead hadn't even heard a word Quinn had said and had decided whatever was going on was some other persons, some mans, fault. Before Quinn could try and protest again, possibly even getting ready to shout at the poor crackpot, that light that had blinded her before was back and once again she was left to blink black spots from her eyes. Only once they cleared it was darker than it had been before. Where were all the street lights, headlights, neons lights, of a city that never slept? Not only that but it felt cold here, not cold as in temperature (though it was that) but it made her insides, her soul, feel cold. Yet...there was something familiar about that cold, something warm that allowed her not to freak out about the fact that she had some hoe been transported from a sidewalk in New York City to...wherever the hell this was.

Movement had her turning her head from the crazy woman to look at a man, one who bore a resemblance to the man she had just been on a date with, and then it all made sense. She hadn't been transported anywhere! She was still in the city only she was knocked out cold on the side walk and had probably been robbed by the crazy woman. This was all some sort of horrible dream and her subconscious was just pulling in familiar faces to make this elaborate dream. Even when the man shouted, sounding exactly like Hades, she knew this had to be a dream. Shit like this just didn't happen in the real world.

As the two people started yelling at each other a giggle bubbled from Quinn's lips and she quickly lifted her hands to stifle the noise and the one that followed it. When the red head actually called the man Hades she couldn't stop the real laugh from exploding from her. Oh this was just rich, just rich! She had never thought herself much of a creative person really so this dream was one hell of a job on her part. Not only had she given herself a mother, but she had turned Hades into the real Hades! Like the one from the myth she loved so much. Way to go Quinn! Maybe you could be a writer after all!

“Don't be afraid,” he was saying to her and she laughed outright, harder even when he called her Persephone.

“Afraid? Why would I be afraid? Any moment now I'm going to wake up, probably once again in a hospital - which mind you, I hate with a passion – only to find out some nut job mugged me. And wouldn't that be a perfect ending to a horrible night? And poor Puddles will be wondering where I am of course but no...do go on. I'm interested to see how this dream plays out.” Even as she said that last bit she was waiting to wake up. Yup...annnnny minute now.

[Racoonus]

Hades' brow furrowed. Persephone was laughing. Why she was laughing was completely beyond him, but that wasn't important. What mattered was the fact that she obviously hadn't regained her memories as he had originally hoped would become clear once she was back home. She had even seen and obviously spoke with her mother, which was another nightmare all together, but surely that should have sparked something.

His wife began to ramble on about "who knows what" and something about a puddle. Half way through he had stopped listening entirely and was too busy trying to keep himself from panicking. This was bad and not only because Demeter had shoved her way into this mess and was blaming him for everything. She also wasn't remembering. His original fear of her never regaining her memory was creeping up on him. Of course, before he had a chance to think Demeter opened her mouth again.

"A dream? Hades! She thinks this is a dream! You wicked man! What have you done?" The female shrieked in horror.

"I already told you I-"

"Well, why can't you fix it! Explain what's going on!"

Inhaling deeper than ever before and letting out the longest sigh he could manage, the God explained what little he knew. About Persephone running away and somehow loosing her memory after their fight. About the flower shop and anything else he could think of to add that was relevant. He was surprised that the older goddess was quiet for the entire thing. He had no idea the woman could keep her mouth shut for such a long amount of time. Finally, he caught her up to the present and grew silent.

"I see," Demeter replied sounding rather reasonable for once, "What in the name of the gods were you two fighting about that would lead to her run away like that?"

Hades was a bit shocked by his mother in law's question. It hardly seemed important. Here stood the goddess of harvest who was calling herself by the name of Quinn, having no recollection of the two most important people in her life and Demeter wanted to know what they were fighting about? Did it matter? Obviously, Persephone had run off to get some time away from him and her and not because of some pointless fight.

"She was angry because I don't treat her with enough respect. Something about never listening to her and how I always order her around like she's my slave and not my equal."

Suddenly, he understood why she was so mad at him before. In the last few weeks, mostly the last few days, she had gotten mad at him for the exact same few things. Even as a "human" who didn't know him she still hated the way he was treating her. Perhaps he should have paid better attention to her beforehand and none of this would have ever happened. Now it seemed like he'd never have his wife back.

[The Myst]

Clearly no one was paying any attention to her and for some reason that made her laugh harder. Weren't dreams supposed to revolve around the dreamer? Or was this some way of her dreams telling her she needed to focus more on herself, her own wants, rather than staying in the back ground? Yeah, that didn't sound at all right. Shew as pretty sure she was already as self assertive as they came and while she may not thrive on being the center of attention she sure didn't hate it. Still, watching her very vivd dream people converse around her, stare at her as if she were the strange thing here and not them it was all just too funny. Her laugher finally started to die away as 'Hades' clued 'Her mother' in on what had happened not only the past two weeks but an incident months ago.

Swiping a lone tear from the corner of her eye Quinn finally got a hold of herself and shook her head. “Figures, first I get hit by a car eight months ago, loose all memory of who I am, finally get a nice little life going for me and I start having crazy dreams that make me think I need to talk to a shrink,” another bark of laugher escaped her as she started to wander around the cavernous room – clearly a throne room if the two chairs that screamed throne were any indication. The more she inspected the room the more impressed with her imagination she grew but the more she also longed to wake up now. This was all just too weird for her, picturing herself as Persephone and that theses two people were her husband and mother. Yeah, right. She had been assured that this sort of thing was a myth, didn't really exist, and only few people still believed in.

The conversation of her dream people caught her attention and she made her way back over to them with another laugh. “Well, at least my dream got your personality right,” she said with a chuckle to Hades, “but, you know, as fun as all this has been – this little, freaky peek into my mind – I think I'm going to try and wake up now,” she stated with a firm nod as if just saying the words would make it so.

Inhaling slowly she closed her eyes and exhaled – in hale, exhale repeat about three times. When nothing changed she peeked through one eye, saw that both dream Hades and Dream Demeter were still there along with the dark, droll, cavern, squeeze her eyes shut and tried again. Still nothing. A moment of panic set it. What if this was a permanent thing? Like she hadn't simply been knocked unconscious but put into a coma? Okay, okay, no need to fret. People woke up from those things all the time on T.V. And besides she still had one more thing she could try, silly as it was, that she had seen in an old movie once that Rosemary had told her she simply had to watch.

“Well, here goes nothing,” she muttered. Keeping her eyes shut she leaned up slightly on her tip toes and clicked her heels together three times and said the following words: “There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.” She stood there, breath baited, pointed on the tips of her feet, wobbling only slightly to keep the pointed heels of her shoes from touching the ground, and waited. And waited....and waited. “Well fudge me,” she muttered and finally opened her eyes to shoot a glare at 'Demeter.' It all started with that crazy woman. Maybe she had been a front, a distraction, so her partner could come up behind Quinn and knock her one good.

“Really? One head trauma was enough in my life, thank you very much, I didn't really want a second one...especially not one as bad as this one apparently is.” Moodily she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, yes pouted. There was a faint, annoying, voice in the back of her head telling her that this just may be real but the more sensible part of her brain just laughed at such a silly notion and squashed it.

Still pouting she looked around the rom and heaved a sigh, one of those mournful ones she had Heard hades do quite a few times. “Seriously disappointed in my brain...couldn't there at least be some color, some flowers, in this place? And you,” she said with a glance at Hades, “couldn't my mind have made you more...chipper? You looked good with a smile...would have been nice to at least get to see it in my dream.” If only she knew where exactly she was and to whom she was speaking. For surely the idea of the God of the Underworld smiling more than once in a lifetime was preposterous and his domain being smothered in flowers and bright colors just as unlikely.

[Racoonus]

Hades rubbed his temples as his wife pranced around the place jibber jabbering about dream nonsense while Demeter glared at him while pouting. This was a nightmare not a dream. He had no idea how to return Persephone's memories or what he was going to do with his over dramatic mother in law. He sighed drearily as his wife started complaining about a lack of flowers and him not smiling.

It's not that he never smiled. He smiled, but he wasn't much in the mood for smiling at the moment for some pretty obvious reasons. He growled in his throat and scowled at his delusional little sapling.

"If you want flowers," he grunted ignoring the smile comment, "go ahead and grow some. Don't complain to me about it. You're the goddess of harvest. It's not my job."

Hades admitted his words came off a bit immature and more than just a little snappy. It did not go unmentioned by the elder goddess.

"Don't you speak to my daughter like that!" Demeter hissed, "this is exactly why she left and got herself hurt."

"How dare you blame me!"

"Now you're going to speak like that to me? That's the last straw Hades, I'm taking Persephone and we are going back to Olympus."

[The Myst]

Quinn returned that scowl Hades was sending her with one of her own as he snapped at her. Oh right, she was supposed to be some sort of goddess in this dream but really? Did he have to sound so petulant? “Oh, so what just wave my hand and expect flowers to grow like magic?” The funny thing was as she spoke she did ave her hand and the area it had waves over burst to life with flowers of all sorts. Not that she noticed since she was too busy glaring at Hades and they were gone shortly after. Apparently whatever was keeping her memory sealed was hampering her abilities as well. Or there was something large in place here. And then Demeter went in and defended her as well and Quinn couldn't help but laugh, glare lost. Well, since reading the many versions of the Myth of Hades and Persephone this was definitely one way she pictured the relationship between mother-in-law and son-in-law. What she hadn't expected was for her so called mother to threaten to take her back to Olympus. Yeah, it was so time for this dream to end now.

“No one is going anywhere!” a voice boomed loud enough to make Quinn cover her ears and cringe as the echo of the voice bounced off the stone walls and back to her poor ears. “By the gods, you would think this was a mortal day care,” the voice growled as a bright flash of light filled the room. When the light died a tall, muscular, white haired and bared man stood scowling at the group of them with his beefy arms folded over his chest only half covered by the toga he wore. The lightning bolt band around his arm declared him for who he was and Quinn busted out laughing again.

“And now I've got Zeus in the mix. I must have been-”

“Oh, dear, do be quiet,” he said and waved his hand at her. Immediately she shut up and her eyes fluttered closed and she started to sink towards the ground. The only thing keeping her from smacking her head off the hard floor was the thick blanket of flowers and moss that sprung up seconds before her body impacted. “Now, the two of you and I...we're going to have a nice little chat.” Zeus sternly pointed at Hades and his thrown, a wordless order for his brother to go sit down, and then he shot a glare at Demeter as a second throne made of wood sprung up near her.

“Both of you, sit, now. The sooner we start the sooner this is over and the two of you won't have to irritate each other for quite some time.” A throne of clouds swirled down from the ceiling and Zeus settled himself on to it and waited. He would not begin until both Hades and Demeter had done as ordered. Persephone would be out for a while, for as long as he wanted her to be if one got right down to it which left Ppenty of time to get things done. After all, he hadn't run his poor baby over in that truck all those moths ago to have everything ruined now.

[Racoonus]

As his sapling spoke, she waved her hand creating a rainbow of flowers and Hades looked at her with a blank expression as they faded away without her noticing. The urge to smack his forehead and use his magic to shove her head to look down at the flowers was all too great, but the moment was far too fleeting and he was merely left with the regret of not acting quicker before they were all gone. It’s not that it mattered anyway, she just would have used it to further vindicate her belief that she was dreaming.

A familiar voice echoed in his underworld just as Hades thought things couldn’t get any worse. The other immortals knew he hated unexpected visitors in his Underworld. Might as well just invite everyone else in his family and call it a party at this point. What did his brother want? This was the worst timing imaginable for the god of the skies to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. Then, his brother took it one step further and insulted them. It was just like Zeus to strut around like he was the only god around and it was as irritating as ever. As his beefcake of a brother materialized so came the temptation to knock him out like he had the beefy mortal earlier that night.

Hades opened his mouth, but was suddenly interrupted by his wife who Zeus took upon himself to silence for the time being. The god of the underworld glared at the action. Just who was his brother to show up out of the blue and sprinkle sleeping dust on his sapling? It was absolute chaos in his underworld and Hades was in no mood to let it continue.

“Now, the two of you and I...we're going to have a nice little chat.”

“Brother!” Hades shouted just as strong, “This matter is not your concern and I gave you no permission to enter my realm. Leave now before you anger me further. Do not invoke my wrath.”

Honestly, it wasn’t the worst thing in the cosmos, having his brother show up. Maybe he knew a way to bring back his daughter’s memories. Still Hades didn’t like the dominating attitude that the younger god was trying to pull.

“Both of you, sit, now. The sooner we start the sooner this is over and the two of you won't have to irritate each other for quite some time.”

Wait.

“My original suspicions were correct! You were behind this! Playing some sort of trick on me. On us!” Hades growled practically foaming at the mouth accusing his brother much like how Demeter had accused him and he had accused her.

Demeter was visibly enraged as well. She lifted her chin up into the air and looked away before obeying and sitting in the seat, wanting this whole matter to be resolved. The proposition of Hades not irritating her for some time obviously sounded like music to her ears. Possibly calmer now that she knew this wasn’t her son in law’s doing. Hades was not so docile.

“How dare you brother! Do you know what you’ve done? My wife is injured, completely unable to remember who she is and you’ve caused it!” Hades barked. All this time he had been blaming himself when he clearly should have been blaming his meddlesome younger brother. After getting his anger out, the god finally lowered himself into his seat. Still his muscles were tense as rocks as he threateningly glowered at the other male.

“Start speaking. Fast.”

[The Myst]

Zeus rolled his eyes at Hades, completely ignoring his little outburst about this matter being none of his concern. The Lord of the Underworld was wrong there, this matter was more his concern than his brother was aware of. As for that wrath the dark haired male threatened Zeus couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head. His older brother didn't scare him at all, not even when Zeus was in the underworld and not his domain on Olympus; in fact he continued on as if his bother hadn't even spoken and once he and Demeter had sat down Zeus just stared at Hades, blowing out a gusty sigh as his brother started yelling at him, accusing him of things he hadn't done. Oh, wait, he had played a part in this whole thing.

When Hades finally closed his mouth and sat down Zeus smiled, even laughed again at his brothers daring to give him an order. Did he forget Zeus was the king of the gods? As in all of them? Shaking his head Zeus pinned Hades with a look. “Are you finished now?” he asked even though Hades had just told him to start speaking.

“First off none of this would have happened without your participation, big brother. In all honesty all of us here are to blame for our current situation. You, Hades, for treating my daughter the way you do, me for just letting you take her and Demeter for being overbearing as usual. Even Persephone plays a part in her current condition.” as he spoke his eyes flickered over to his unconscious daughter and he smiled softly. He did love her and he realized what a mistake he had made by just letting Hades take her and for taking part in making it easy for his bother to do so. His daughter deserved to be wooed, to be shown love and he knew his brother loved Persephone he just had a way of doing it that his daughter disagreed with.

“Some months ago Persephone came to me,” he shot both of his companions a look, “sometimes father is the only one who really listens,” he said in a low tone. OF course he felt more obligated to listen to Persephone thanks to that feeling called guilt but he also enjoyed the fact that his child would come to him instead of her husband and especially instead of her mother. How he had ever put up with Demeter long enough to conceive Persephone he had no idea. “and in listening he hears things the speaker does not.” Zeus leaned back and folded his arms loosely over hi stomach, looking like he was just about to relax and maybe even doze off.

Still he continued to speak, not even caring if either of his listeners wished to speak. If they tried he would simply raise his voice until they fell quiet again. “As I'm sure you both have noticed our dear girl has been unhappy, more so of late than usual, and instead of trying to speak to you obstinate lot about what was bothering her she came to me,” here his chest puffed out slightly in fatherly pride, “and asked for advice. Now, we had many a conversation of the years since her marriage to Hades and the agreement between the two of you for her spending half the year in each realm, and while the girl may not realize it for some reason unknown to me she seems to be in love with you, brother, even if she doesn't fully realize it she wishes to stay with you despite your horrible treatment of her.”

Knowing that comment might get Hades' dander up he held up his hand to forestall any comment his brother may make. “Now, now, I know you don't know any better brother but she is your equal and not your slave. So I simply suggested she take a vacation of sorts, from both you and her mother. Hades, so you could see what an asset she is and hopefully learn to amend your attitude and her mother...well...I'm sure you know why she would need a vacation from Demeter.” What he left out was that he had a plan of his own, and while hitting his girl with a truck had not been ideal it had to be done. He needed her to have a real, solid, reason for simply forgetting who she was so simply erasing her memory was out of the question. Her forgetting her identity was necessary in order to keep her away long enough and get Hades to come looking for her. It was also why he had enlisted the help of Eros and planted the god of love in his daughters everyday life for the time when Hades did finally go after Persephone and persuade her to even go out with the abrasive god.

“So, all that being said I could fix her. Bring back all her memories but I'm not going to.” Now Zeus leaned forward, bracing his arms on his thighs as his eyes narrowed and he pinned Hades with a look only a father could give the man in his daughters life. “I made a mistake not asking her what she thought about marrying you yet she still, somehow, developed feelings for you so I can't just take her back. What is going to happen is that she is going to remain on Earth as Quinn and you will woo her. I will take away her memories of this little bit of time and you will actually work to get her back, learn to treat her as a person instead of one of the souls you watch over or those you order around. You do this, brother, and I guarantee you a happy marriage with a lot less fighting.”

Now he turned to Demeter. “And you, woman, will stay out of it. You will not interfere at all. You will not disguise yourself and try to dissuade our daughter from dating Hades. What you can do for us is tell Ares to drop the act since you're just about the only one he listens to and he has it in his head that he's doing you a favor. Being a waiter is so not his thing and that guise he's wearing...he does not look good as a blond not to mention seeing him hit on Persephone is just....ugh.” Shaking his head Zeus pushed himself to his feet, his cloud throne vanishing, and walked over to where Persephone lay. Gently he knelt and lifted her into his arms then turned to look at his audience. “Consider the clock reset, brother. As far as she remembers she left the restaurant, made it home, and is still miffed at you. Fix that and fix your marriage.” With that the god vanished, taking Persephone with him.

[Racoonus]

Before Hades knew how to react, his brother picked his sapling up into his arms and was gone. Demeter and Hades were both left sitting there feeling like children who had been scolded by a strict father. Zeus had no such right and yet, both weren’t sure what to say. Demeter seemed especially offended and it was understandable with how much attitude she was getting from both of the other males. Plus, what mother wouldn’t be devastated that their child wouldn’t recognize them. Hades sighed realizing that what had happened didn’t matter. He needed to get his wife back and he needed to do it right. He nodded to the female in a silent promise that he was going to fix things. Obviously still upset, the goddess covered herself in light and disappeared without a word.

“Next time I see Ares, I’m going to punch him twice as hard…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two days passed on earth before Hades returned. He knew his wife would need some cool down time after the whole dinner thing and hopefully “Bobbie” would be out of the picture by now and he could focus on what really mattered: getting his wife back and doing it the right way. Was he still mad at Zeus, of course, but no matter how upset with his brother he was, he still loved his wife and her happiness meant everything to him. He put on his disguise and made his way to the flower shop at his “usual” time. The god was pleased to see Persephone working the front of the shop today and he walked straight up to her.

“Per- I mean, Quinn,” stuttered the god before shaking his head for starting off so poorly. “I uh,” he attempted again with a pause, “I’m sorry about what happened a couple days ago at the restaurant.”

Hades took a deep breath before continuing. Ugh, saying sorry was hard and it wasn’t something he ever normally did. The words felt awkward on his lips, but he continued on.

“I shouldn’t have been so aggressive,” he admitted the dark male honestly. He didn’t want to get into that topic too much, because in all actuality his actions were completely justified. Still, from Quinn’s point of view they weren’t.

“I hope you can forgive me. I was being too possessive of you. I’ve been treating you like an object that I own and not like the spirited goddess that you are. You should be allowed to do whatever makes you happy, because what makes you happy… is what makes me happy. I don’t think I tell you- I mean, I don’t think I’ve told you this before, but- I’d rather spend my day fighting with you than spend that day alone. I want to spend every day with you, my little sapling.”

Hades finished speaking and looked into Persephone’s eyes with a frown. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she didn’t forgive him.

“I was actually hoping you’d consider going on that walk with me still?”

[The Myst]

The morning after the disaster date Quinn went to work at the flower shop as usual and of course the moment Rosemary got in she grilled the younger woman for details. After explaining what had happened from beginning to end – including her excruciating walk home – Rosemary had laughed. Totally confused at to what the woman had found funny Quinn demanded an explanation and what she got from the older woman had taken a lot of the anger from her sails. Rosemary helped Quinn realize that while what Hades had done had not been very adult of him Bobbie had indeed been asking for it. Actually, after Rosemary had pointed out how many times Quinn had complained about a few of Bobbies' more annoying traits, Quinn half wanted to punch the man herself. No, she couldn't blame Hades entirely and other than that one incident the date had gone rather...well actually. And maybe that was what had Quinn all riled up.

That day when Hades didn't come in or the second day either Quinn actually found that she missed seeing him and filling his orders. Okay, so she missed seeing his brooding face more and that puzzled her. She hardly knew the guy but, despite his attitude, her heart skipped a beat or two whenever she pictured his face. She was so preoccupied with thoughts of one dark haired man that she didn't even notice that Bobbie never came back to work and that no one even seemed to mention him or wonder where he had gone off too. It was simply like he didn't exist or never had. Thankfully she was too preoccupied to notice only she and Rosemary seemed to even know any Bobbie at all.

By the third day she wondered if yelling at Hades had been a bad idea, she had no real contact information from him and showing up unannounced at his hotel just seemed stalker-ish so she just had to wait it out. They had both been wrong that night and while she knew he was mostly in the wrong she still owed him an apology as well. Sometimes her temper got the best of her and she didn't completely think a whole situation through before acting on her emotions. She was so distracted that she had messed up a couple flower orders and instead of letting it happen more than once Rosemary had put her to work in the front of the store where people simply picked out pre-made arrangements and it took very little thought to do. When, finally, on that third day the bell above the door chimed at the time he usually came in her head snapped up and she had to force back the explosive, relieved, smile she felt tugging at her facial muscles.

She didn't even have time to say hello, didn't even get a hello from him, he just launched into...an apology. For some reason this stunned her; she was suddenly so sure that this man had never uttered an apology, let alone the words 'I'm sorry' in his life and she had this gut feeling that while he looked young that life was a long one. And he just kept going. A small smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she leaned her hip against the counter as he kept talking and folded her arms loosely over her stomach. At one point she almost interrupted him to tell him that he was right, he had been too possessive of her especially since they hadn't known each other long, but she let him keep talking – even laughed softly at being called a 'spirited goddess.' It was funny because she could have sworn she had a dream where she actually was a goddess the other night but the details were fuzzy so she hadn't really remembered much of it.

Then he was done and, though she hadn't meant to, she laughed. A light, airy, sound that reminded some of the customers of the cherry bells that jingled every time the door opened. She wasn't laughing at him, okay she was but not at his apology. His apology had been perfect and sweet, sweeter than she thought a dark man like him was capable of. No, she laughed because of that frown he pinned her with, like he thought it was her fault he had to apologize in the first place and he didn't appreciate his flaws being pointed out. It was adorable.

Getting a hold of herself she pushed away from the counter and closed what little distance was between them, tilted her head back to look up at him, and smiled shyly. “I'm sorry too. I should have realized what Bobbie was doing and put a stop to it. He did sort of deserve that punch in the face, though breaking his finger was a little much,” she gave him a stern look that was ruined by the lopsided grin that went along with it.

“As for that walk, I would love to. I have a few hours after work if you -”

“You can leave now, Quinn!” Rosemary called, beaming at them both, “I have Annie and Jon here and it's a slow day so go ahead and have some fun.” Rosemary even made the shooing movement with her hands all while grinning both at Quinn and Hades. When Quinn looked away from Rosemary back to Hades the older woman winked at the dark man and if anyone had been watching close enough they would have seen a brief glimpse of a slim, young, attractive, man with a bow and quiver of gold arrows slung over his shoulder before the image of Rosemary settled back over him.

“Um...is now a good time for you?” Quinn asked shyly, suddenly unable to look him in the eyes as she waited for his answer.

[Racoonus]

Hades was so relieved to see the smile spread across his sapling's cheeks; never in all his years had he been so grateful to see his wife smile.

"I always have time for you," the god replied and lifted his wrist to his chest to make a little loop for Persephone to hold on to as he guided her out of the grotesquely adorable flower shop.

. . . . . . . . .

Hades found the next six months to be rather enjoyable. Alright so he had to spend the earth's nights alone in the underworld and he hadn't shared his bed with his wife in over a year now, but there was something enjoyable about spending time with her everyday when she wasn't working. Alright, so playing mortal had seemed dumb at first, but now it was almost enjoyable. They would go on walks, eat food, take naps: all sorts of pointless mortal activities.

Today they were walking in the park again. It had obviously become his wife's favorite thing for them to do together and he only complained a reasonable amount. Most of the time he kept his feelings to himself and just sighed rather than argue how the pond was smelly and the trees were too short that they kept brushing against his hair. He picked a few twigs out of his long hair as they walked.

The God suddenly pointed at a squirrel. When his goddess turned her head he gave her a kiss on the cheek and chuckled.

"You're much too gullible," he explained, "If you keep falling for things you'll end up getting tricked into marriage." He had done it once before. There was little stopping him from doing it again. Then he realized how odd his last comment might have sounded and he frowned and looked away.

He was starting to miss her calling him husband. Now a days she called him her "boyfriend." He had no idea what that meant and honestly the title bugged him. Firstly, for being called a boy when he was a man. Secondly, because he wasn't her friend he was her husband. But recently he had decided there was no reason he couldn't be both. That single thought helped keep him sane over this long courtship.

[The Myst]

The past six months seemed to fly by and the more time she spent with Hades the more she realized she actually enjoyed those parts of her day the most. Of course early on they still had a few tiffs but even that seemed to be getting better. It was like Hades was realizing what a jerk he could be and that she was a person with feelings and not an object to order around. The less abrasive he was the more she enjoyed her time with him and eventually she found herself developing feelings for him. She hadn’t been sure exactly what she had been feeling and she found herself talking to Rosemary about it a lot – mostly because the older woman instigated all the conversations about Hades. While he had been to her place she had always managed to put Puddles either in another room or Rosemary was dog sitting. Something had told her Hades was not yet ready to meet the other male love in her life, even if he was four legged and not human. There would be a day she would introduce the two of them and despite her growing feelings for the tall, dark, man if he and Puddles didn’t get along, well, she sure wasn’t getting rid of Puddles.

Then, three months into their dating, came ‘the talk’ and it wasn’t with Hades. One day while Quinn was working at the flower shop filling orders in the back with Rosemary the woman had simply blurted out the question Quinn had been trying to avoid thinking about for the past few weeks.

“So did you sleep with him yet?”

At first Quinn had been confused. They took naps together and that was sleeping but then she remembered the other meaning people meant when they asked that question. Immediately a blush rose hard and dark in her cheeks and it almost made her dizzy. “Rosemary!” She scolded while hiding her blazing face behind a pot of flowers, “You, you can’t just ask me that!”

“Why not? You don’t remember anything from before your accident,” Rosemary scooted her chair closer to Quinn’s and leaned forward to whisper, “you might be a virgin!”

Blushing harder Quinn turned from the older woman and struggled to speak for the next couple of minutes. “S-s-so? There’s nothing wrong with that...besides...we haven’t been together all that long.”

“You’ve been together three months already!” Rosemary near shouted with exasperation. “You told me yesterday you think you might be in love with him so what’s the hold up, girl?”

Quinn had never answered that question and had avoided Rosemary for the rest of the day. But that night she had a dream so vivid she found herself bolting upright in bed and had trouble returning to sleep. Whatever had disturbed her so greatly must not have been so bad since she acted no different around anyone from that point on; if anything she seemed to enjoy Hades company even more than she had before. She especially appreciated that even after three more months of dating he still took her to the park for walks even though she knew he hated being outside; he did it for her and that was what made it special. She even started to find his sad little signs adorable and she found out that she quite enjoyed holding his hand.

With a small laugh she reached up towards the top of his head and helped him pick a few leaves and twigs from his long mane. “You know, you should probably cut your hair, that or stood when you walk so you’re not so tall,” she winked at him and tugged playfully on his mane before walking again. She so did not want him to cut his hair, she often found herself wrapped in it after one of their impromptu afternoon naps between jobs at her place - it was just so soft and silky! Another thing she found delight in was his developing sense of humor, one she could understand and it was nice to see the dark, broody, man laugh now and again. he was just so darn sexy when he smiled she near melted into a puddle at his feet. Gods forbid the man ever figure out how much power that smile of his had over her; she was sure that if he asked her to kill someone with that smile on his face she would probably do it!

Then there was that chuckle, that exotic sound he made between a laugh and a giggle (thank the gods the man didn’t giggle) and she shivered. When he tricked her into looking for a squirrel she got one up on him and turned her head last minute to turn what would have been a cheek peck into a nice little kiss on the mouth. Mmm, he had a nice mouth. It was that mouth, and that chuckle, that distracted her and she spoke without thinking.

“Yeah, like I would ever let you do that again; especially now that I know this side of you.”

[Racoonus]

“What? What did you just say?” Hades lips automatically began to move. Words spewed from his mouth like vomit that he couldn’t hold back.

The god stopped immediately and pivoted to face his wife. He looked straight at her, point blank, without blinking. What had she just said? He grabbed her shoulders and continued to keep his eyes glued to her. Was she remembering? Had she just gotten her memory back? His brain began to whirl with questions. By the gods! Had she been faking her memory loss all this time? He thought he might lose it right there in the middle of the park. Just how much did his wife know and how long? Had it been just jumbled up words? Surely not. It was too precise. He lifted one hand and brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek and out of her face so that he could see her even more clearly.

“Y-you remember?” Hades asked on the verge of shaking the answers out of her.

[The Myst]

So she was a little slow, hadn't even realized what she had said until Hades made a big deal of it then she knew she had screwed the pooch so to speak. She hadn't meant to let even one clue out, not yet anyway, of the current state of her memories. Mostly she hadn't told him because she was afraid of how he would react and then so much time had passed she just didn't think telling him was a good idea. What if he thought that she had been faking it this whole time and was only pretending not to remember him as some sort of twisted punishment?

“I told you, you should have told him as soon as you remembered,” that all too smug and familiar voice echoed around them. Could her father have any worse timing? She hadn't even been able to say one word to Hades about her memory let alone assure him she had not been faking and had really forgotten him. Until three months ago that is. “The sooner the better I said, but nooo, you had to go and just keep quiet.”

“Much like I wish you would do right now you meddlesome old man!” Persephone shouted, frustrated and scared that Zeus's words may be making the situation worse. She could only imagine what Hades was thinking. Did he feel betrayed? Was he pissed off? Did he think her in cahoots with her father this whole time? As she peered up into his face, her own eyes filled with worry and just a tad bit of fear, she opened her mouth to finally speak for herself.

“Well, I am sorry, I was only try to help. After all you are my daughter and you did some to me for help and-”

“Help! Not for you to hit me with a mortal mode of transportation and wipe my memory clean! Now will you please leave so I may speak with my husband alone?” There was a low grumbling, something muttered about 'going to watch his grandson' and then the sense of being watched vanished.

Swallowing hard Persephone looked up at Hades and lifted her hands to clutch to his wrists as if afraid he would vanish at any moment. “I didn't fake it,” she blurted out and now it was her turn to spew words like vomit. “I really didn't want to forget you, I didn't even want to leave all that long. I just wanted to make you see my way of thinking and stew for a little while without me. Mom...well, mom is mom and sometimes I just need a break from her.” Stepping closer to Hades, trying to keep the trembling she felt inside of her from showing, she begged him with her eyes to believe her.

“Please, please don't be mad at me. I know you hate this world but I love the time we've had together here. I've loved getting to know you, getting to see the side of you that you never show, spending time with you and not fighting all the time.” Lifting her hands she gently cupped his face in her palms then leaned up to rest her forehead against his. “I...I love you, Hades. I didn't mean to make such a mess of everything. I'm sorry I forgot about you, I'm sorry I didn't tell you the moment I remembered who I was, who you were but...I...” she bit her lower lip gently and dropped back to the flats of her feet and sort of just dropped her forehead to his chest, hands still gently holding his face. She was out of words to vomit.