Lovefool's Lovegame

Title: Lovefool's Lovegame

Author: Sakura123 (weber_dubois22)

Rating: K+

Character: Zeus; Mrs. Grace; Hera; Thalia

Summary: Zeus' courtship of Mrs. Grace and the eventual birth of Thalia.

Disclaimer: Percy Jackson & all things related are property of 20th Century Fox and Rick Riordan. I own nothing save the original characters and storyline (or at least, this variation).

Author's Note: I started out reading Percy Jackson, seriously intrigued by the Sally/Poseidon dynamic (what little is touched upon, anyways). I even wrote a tale about it, but by that time Thalia [Grace] had been introduced. I became really interested in the near-nonexistent relationship between herself and Zeus and later Zeus' brief fling with Mrs. Grace, which resulted in Thalia. I don't think I ever was going to write something about it, but I was surfing the web and came across a picture of Sean Bean in this 1993 film, "A Woman's Guide to Adultery" (which I've never seen before, mind you, but I hear it's worth it just to see Bean's fine arse and not much else) and the idea from there just bloomed into this. Hope you enjoy. (5/9/10/2010)

Zeus wasn't quite sure what was going through his head when he saw her. To begin with, he'd spent the better half of his evening leaning against a illuminated glass bar amidst the chaos of very popular club, fuming over the latest dispute with his wife. He wondered why he ever bound himself to her as he sipped on, perhaps, the flattest beverage he ever had the displeasure of tasting.

This was nothing out of the ordinary for him of course. He couldn't even begin to count how many times he fled the hallowed halls of mount Olympus just to get away from Hera, who made it her business to burn holes into his back after every fight and every adulterous affair she discovered.

The ever changing realm of the mortals provided the greatest refuge for him, it was never the same when he visited. His subjects, inferior as they were, proved the most flexible creatures of his creation and under the guise of a character not his own, made for even greater company. The women especially, so eager to romanticize his figure, were of the greatest companions. It took little to woo them and even less to bed them. This particular woman was no exception.

Again, he wasn't sure what he was thinking, only that after he swallowed the last of his awful tonic and turned to leave, thought seemed to drop completely from his head. He saw her sitting at round table, laughing heartily at a joke one of her male companions had made. He didn't hear it, but he was sure it wasn't as hilarious as she was making it to be. Zeus couldn't help how his breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. She was a beauty. One that could never rival Hera's, but was special in its own way.

Her blonde hair was made up in that ridiculous fashion everyone seemed to be sporting nowadays in the year 1988, frizzy and curly at the same time. Her skin that was one step away from marble white, it's only flaw being freckles that covered a good percentage of her body. A body beautifully accented by a slimming black dress. Her ears were adorned with imitation pearls that weighed on her ear lobes, eye-lids painted heavily with a lavender shadow to accent her blue eyes and lipstick redder than the polish that glistened off her nails. She took small sips from her wine glass, smiling politely whenever something was said to her, pretending not to notice how his eyes would shift back and forth between her and boyfriend.

Aye, she was a beauty. The kind of beauty Zeus had not seen since before Second World War, a beauty Zeus wanted all for himself. When the opportunity presented itself, he followed her to the bar and attempted to flatter her. At first, he thought to play himself off as a cocky young man looking for a good time, she certainly didn't seem like the kind of woman who complained about the personalities of her bedmates. However, one look at the exasperation on her face - no doubt directed toward her boyfriend - he went about courting her differently altogether. He played the nice guy, cordial enough to conversate with, reserved enough to pique her curiosity.

Natalia Grace took a shine to his disguise right away, admiring his blonde hair (fashioned in a tidy mullet), green eyes and rough but handsome looks. She appraised his blue blazer, mock turtleneck and faded jeans with a twitch of her eyebrow. He checked out on the small list of qualities in a man she liked: sharp dressed and handsome.

She forgot all about her friends and her boyfriend and walked out of the club with him. "Whadya do for a living, Paul?" She asked, settled in the passenger seat of her Ferrari. Paul Reynolds was the name he'd given her, Zeus hated it but it worked with his earthly persona. "I'm an accountant," Was his reply.

Natalia frowned. "An accountant?" She repeated with a pout. Zeus nodded stiffly, hoping she didn't inquire any further than she had on his nonexistent career. "What do you for a living?" He said, interrupting whatever she was going to ask him. Natalia seemed to come to life on the spot, she sat up a little straighter and primped her hair. "You don't recognize me?" She said this as if it was supposed to be obvious. He flashed her one of his charming smiles and shook his head.

Natalia giggled at his ostensible naivety, her hand poised just a few inches away from her red lips. "I'm Natalia Grace, an actress on Lovefool. It's a soap opera," She explained airily. "I've just been nominated for a daytime Emmy." Zeus was kind enough to look surprised and impressed by her exposition. He'd never heard of this show and could only assume that it was akin to the plays bards used to put on in ancient Greece and Rome. "Sounds lovely," He sighed.

Natalia nodded. "It is. You should watch it sometime."

But as fate would have it, he wouldn't have to. After he'd taken her home, she was insistent that he stay on and "have a little fun" with her. Knowing for certain what she meant, he consented to Natalia's request and allowed her to drag him to the bedroom. Afterward, Zeus found himself unable to keep away from Natalia, he visited her on the set of her soap opera (which he learned was awful) and even when she was on vacation with her boyfriend. This ultimately resulted in the end of her relationship with the other man, Jake, once he discovered she was seeing someone else behind his back.

What his and Hera's relationship lacked (which was everything), she gave to him in more ways than just sex, but he'd be lying if he thought the sex wasn't the sticking point of their affection for each other. Conversation wasn't her strongest point, but he enjoyed listening to her talk about herself or her job. Her voice reminded him of a water nymph he used to court, sweet and slightly squeaky. The power of conversation also worked in the vice versa, but Zeus made it a point to speak little of his fabricated life and profession, which only proved to keep her interested in him. Natalia wanted to know more about him, but he kept his 'life' outside of their meetings close to his chest and revealed only what she wished to hear.

Unfortunately, the more he saw of her, the less time he spent on mount Olympus, which struck his wife and brother, Poseidon, as extremely suspicious. When Hera confronted him one night on the matter of his frequent "walks" among the mortals, Zeus pretended not to understand what she was getting at. "I've done nothing wrong, love," He said with a shrug. He plucked at the dip in her nightdress with his master bolt. "I'm merely stretching my legs."

She snorted, knocking his hand away. "And more than that, I'm sure," Hera growled, leaving the bedroom in a fury. Zeus just smiled at her anger, knowing she could do nothing to him. Nothing as awful as she did during the Trojan war anyway. Despite the growing suspicion of his family, Zeus continued to court Natalia, too caught up in the ecstasy of her beauty and lithe body to pull away from her now. She received him with greatest joy, typically at her penthouse in the Carlyle, but never where she personally lived. Natalia, dare he say it, made him feel "human" and as much as he loathed the feeling, he "loved" Natalia that much more to ignore it whenever he was with her.

Their blissful relationship lasted for almost three months and just as quickly came crashing down around him when he visited her apartment sometime during March. She left a message at the central desk of the Empire State building, the clerk hadn't been terribly discreet in telling him that he had message from a "distressed young lady". Zeus would've have loved to have done nothing more than place the blame on the fool and banish him to Hades' realm as the chew toy for Cerberus, but it had been his own carelessness. He'd been in such a hurry to get to Natalia that he never bothered to hide that fact in the presence of his wife.

He arrived to her apartment at a timely matter, a smile on his face as he checked his appearance in her mirror stationed above the oak table in the living room. Five minutes later, Natalia stepped out of her bedroom, a low moan escaped her lips upon realizing she was not alone.

His good cheer died immediately when he set his eyes on her, she was a terrible sight to behold. Her eyes were sunken into her face, shadowed by the signs of a lack of sleep and anxiety. Her frizzy hair laid dead on her head, looking as though it been dowsed in water, her beautiful skin was no longer glowing, but had taken on a sickly pallor.

She sat gingerly on the edge of the couch and reached for the bottle of gin sitting on the coffee table. He approached her slowly, she watched him under her half-mass gaze, looking close to tears. Zeus sat just a couple inches away from her, studying her person with a critical and worrisome eye. Then like the doting boyfriend he was (or pretended to be), placed a hand on her thigh and gave it a gentle rub. "What's the matter, love?" Zeus asked.

Natalia smiled bitterly at him. Reaching into her robe's pocket she revealed an oddly shaped stick and sat it on the coffee table. It took a moment for him to realize what he was looking at, his nose wrinkled at the acrid smell he recognized as urine. How disgusting, he thought.

"I'm pregnant, Paul," Was all she could bring herself to say. Silence fell between them, Zeus felt his heart race and his eyes flickered from green to electric blue before settling on a dull gray. Something that did not go unnoticed by Natalia. Before she could inquire what had just happened, however, he pushed down so that she was lying on her back. Her legs, pinned beneath him, made a pitiful attempt to shove him off her body, panic flooded her senses as he reached for the knot keeping her robe closed around her. "Paul, what are you doing?" She cried. He ignored her frightened protests as he pulled her robe open and placed a hand upon her stomach.

He wanted to deny the truth of her words, but he felt the small spark of life in her stomach, felt it react to his presence. He pulled away from her, Natalia wrapped her arms around herself in that protective manner all women employed and cried, but not because he'd been rough with her. All she could think of was that her career was sure to be ruined by this and worse part of it was that Zeus couldn't bring himself care.

Whatever affection he felt toward her was vanishing as the consequences of his actions closed in about him. He had sired another hero, broke the vow he made to his brothers, to his family. He was a dead man, figuratively speaking. Natalia pulled herself close to him, wrapping her arm around his. "Please stay with me, Paul," She pleaded, pressing her cheek against the sleeve of his jacket. "Don't leave me. I love you."

Love? She loves me? Zeus felt himself shake at the mere idea. Did he love her? No, of course he didn't. He lived long enough to know the difference between genuine love and a fleeting infatuation, hadn't he? Utterly confused, he pulled away from her and headed for the door. Natalia watched his retreating figure, blue eyes wide with shock. "Wha- wait! Where are you going, Paul? Paul!" He did not stop, he did not look back, not even as she began to wail. He slammed the door shut and preceded down the hall.

Unthinkingly, he decided to use the elevator instead of the stairs. He was unaware of who was standing behind him until she grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him against the wall. His reaction was one that caused a blackout in the entire building, yet it did nothing to daunt the anger he felt from Hera. She bared her teeth at him like a wild animal set loose on a intruder. "I should skin you," Hera hissed. The threat was genuine, but he knew she could do no such thing. She released him from her iron grip and without a word she vanished from his sight. Alone in the silence of the elevator, Zeus was left to regain his composure. After a moment he followed his wife back to Olympus.

His homecoming would not be a quiet dispute between husband and wife as he foolishly hoped, but one that would have even Hades abandoning his post in the underworld and joining in on the verbal-flogging. The anger and disappointment of his family was more than Zeus' pride could stand, but no more than he deserved, especially in the eyes of Hera. He would not beg forgiveness, however. Not to them.

"…It matters not," He remembered Hera saying when the chorus of angry voices died down. "If we are fortunate, the beasts will kill the child before she ever reaches six years. If not, I will deal with the bastard myself."

The icy determination in her voice was enough to make Zeus want to strike her down before the other gods. Instead he vowed, in silence, to protect Natalia's child from Hera's scheming ways, but would not interfere any more than that. No punishment was made against the King of the Gods. Who would dare raise a hand against him, he who could ruin any one of them with a twitch of a finger?

Instead, the gods rebelled against him in their own little ways, leaving Zeus to his own devices. Some small part of him hoped to find a confidante in Poseidon, but the sea god kept to himself and did not interact with his brother unless he was asked a question directly, typically at a meeting. Hera banned him from the bedroom and to his disapproval, he was forced to sleep on the lounge in the living room. The bloody cheek of that woman, he thought bitterly.

In his solitude, Zeus monitored the progress of Natalia's pregnancy, wishing he had not left as he abruptly as he did. for. The knowledge that he closed any door that would've given him forgiveness in her arms was almost unbearable. If not for the few friends that remained at her side in the wake of her fame's decline and pregnancy, Natalia would not have been terribly keen on taking care of herself.

She spent most of her days praying never to see his face again and the rest wishing he would just call her. Such was her fluxing state of mind, influenced greatly by her hormones. Zeus wished she would just make up her mind, particularly on the latter, for he wanted to see her despite his transgressions against her.

Nine months passed without incident, Zeus was hassled less and less by his family and he grew more and more wrathful in the face of their shame. If they so much as implicated that his adulterous affair had brought them closer to the end of their diminished rule, he'd threaten them with the master bolt and usually never backed down unless Poseidon dowsed him with water. It took all his strength not to throw a fit at his brother for ruining almost all his pinstripe suits.

Natalia, against the wisdom of her physician and general common sense, took to drinking more and more in the final weeks of her pregnancy, beside herself with self-pity and grief over her bloated figure. She was no longer beautiful, but a ragged mess ruined by a man, who's charms she was fool enough to fall for, let alone sleep with on numerous occasions.

Natalia woke on a chilly December 22nd morning with the worse case of cramps she'd never experienced. It wasn't until she noticed that the sheets of her bed were wet to realize her water had broken. Soon afterward, the contractions began to increase in their intensity, using what strength she had to fight against them, she rolled over to the right side of the bed and snatched the phone off its cradle to call an ambulance.

They arrived almost twenty minutes later into her labor and carted her off to the hospital. The agony she endured through the morning into the evening was more than she could bear, she cried out for him numerous times, but he did not come. Natalia was forced to bear the agony of her labor alone and almost twenty hours later, her daughter was born.

Zeus (despite the disapproving party around him) couldn't have been happier that day. She was beautiful, the perfect combination of god and man fit into one little bundle of screaming life. Thalia, she was named, the irony her name did not go unnoticed by any of the gods. Natalia herself was overcome with a mixture of grief and joy at the sight of the child. Grief because she reminded her of Paul and joy because she was hers to keep. Zeus watched the two of them with stars in his eyes, forgetting for a moment the trouble his brief reunion with Natalia Grace would bring.

FIN