A/N: Hello again. So I abandoned this story for about two/three-ish years, and I figured it was long overdue for a rewrite and some updates. So. Here's the updated prologue.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, but I do own the main character in this fic!

PROLOGUE

Persephone wandered through the lush green meadow, the stalks of the wildflowers reaching up to halfway cover her swollen belly. The flowers craned and strained to get close to their patron goddess.

"Hello, my lovelies." The springtime goddess whispered, stroking the petals of a nearby flower.

She covered her stomach with one hand gently. The feeling of having something living inside of her was so…..new. But she liked the feeling. She had never, ever had a baby before, mortal or god. She'd only been pregnant for a week and a half, but the baby would be coming soon. That's the way godly pregnancies worked, with the exception of when a mortal was the one carrying.

It was a girl, she knew. She longed to be a mother who could live with her child, take care of her when she was sick, go to her school plays, and watch her graduate. But she couldn't.

The girl would go to Camp Half-Blood, stay clear away from the Hades cabin, grow up without a mother, and fight monsters.

Persephone sighed. She was aware that she had gone from Hera's "favorite" list to "hated" list. She'd cheated on her husband, Hades, with a mortal man named Benjamin, and was now carrying Benjamin's child. She also knew Hades was furious, and would send monsters after the child as soon as it took it's first breath. It was frightening to think about, and that wasn't even considering the inevitable punishment for his unfaithful wife.

But Persephone didn't feel guilty. Not at all. She loved Benjamin and her unborn child, and she detested Hades. If he hadn't kidnapped and tricked her, she would have lived in comfort with her mother all year round- not having worrying about when her stupid husband was going to get back from Tartarus, and not having to fear his violent behavior.

She was sick of being the good girl, the obedient, passive wife of cruel and abusive Hades. He had gone off and had not one, but two children with Maria Di Angelo, and still expected Persephone to be as loyal as ever! He had loved Maria, and even admitted so in front of Persephone!

She was sick and tired of it all, and to prove it, she went and had an affair. A long overdue one in her mind, at that. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she hadn't rebelled earlier.

But she didn't have the affair just to prove a point- she genuinely loved her mortal. Benjamin Reed was a nice man. He owned and operated a nice farm in the grassy state of Kansas, and worked it with only the help of one other farmhand. He was kind and gentle with the animals, and took very good care of the crops and plants that he grew. Once upon a time, he had a fiancé named Heather Fields. They were only 16, and were madly in love. But one day, on her way to an old -fashioned market a few miles away, she got in a car accident. She was killed instantly, and Benjamin, heartbroken, never loved again. Until, that is, he met Persephone, at the very same market that Heather had been killed trying to go to.

He was very open with Persephone, and she returned the favor by being open with him as well. He took knowing she was a goddess very well, and he didn't love her any less. He even knew she had a husband, but he had heard the old myths about her imprisonment. The story of Nico and Bianca only backup him up further, he decided her married status really didn't matter.

He was an old-fashioned kind of guy, who lived by himself in a classic log cabin-styled house on his farm. He had built it for him and Heather to live in, but when she died, he moved in by himself and had been living by himself since. The house was small on the outside, but rather large on the inside.

It was the beginning of spring, and she had just come back to find shelter among the living, and they'd already fell in love. It'd been love at first sight, and within almost no time(about one month), she was pregnant and almost ready to give birth. He knew that eventually she would have to leave, but the idea of having a child excited him.

However, he was still saddened by the fact that Persephone couldn't just spend her days with him and their baby. He was even more saddened by the fact that Persephone had spring/summertime duties to tend to, and she would have to leave as soon as the baby was born. He was comforted, however, by Persephone's promises to check up on him and their daughter.

One day, in the middle of spring, Benjamin poured himself a cup of coffee and went to get the newspaper of the front porch. As he reached out a hand towards the door handle, a sound filled his ears: the cries of a baby.

He threw open the door and bent down. In front of him was a small brown, beautifully woven simple basket with a baby inside. It was covered and wrapped in a lavender blanket, and it's cries were loud and sharp, a large contrast to the normally quiet countryside. He picked up the basket and looked around to see if someone had dropped the baby off on the porch.

Suddenly, a flash of something shiny caught his eye. Inching the blanket down from around the baby's face, he saw a beautiful silver locket, with a delicate tiger lily etched onto it. A strong scent of flowers filled the air around him, and he knew. This was his baby girl. His and Persephone's.

And thus, the life of Lilah Heather Reed began.

A/N: Reviews are my lifeline.

Read on and Rock out,

NinjaNakkiOfCabin11