Sophie, as Persephone now called herself, sat in a swing in her mother's backyard in the south of France. It was the start of spring and she already missed Hades…or Paul as he was calling himself nowadays. They changed their "mortal" names every few decades to fit in with the current trends. Before "Paul," Hades had called himself "Don," before that "Hayden."

Her mother was on a trip to a vineyard for the day; Sophie had declined to join her. She had more interesting prospects. She was almost thinking Paul had rethought his message to her when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Paul's lips ghosted over her neck, "I have missed you so much."

"It's only been a few days." Sophie craned her neck to reach her husband's lips with her own.

"A few days…a few lifetimes. What does it matter? Every year, it gets harder and harder. Is it so wrong for a man to want his wife?" He cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her more deeply this time.

"If my mother finds you here, she'll accuse you of breaking the treaty and there'll be hell to pay." Sophie looked away, genuine concern on her face.

"Well, then, I suppose it's fortuitous that I'm the king of hell, isn't it?" He placed his index finger under Sophie's chin, trying to get her to look his way again. "Besides, it is so rare that we take risks. It's not like we gamble like this everyday…or even every century."

Sophie took Paul's hand in hers and began kissing his fingers one by one. "It has been four hundred and seventy six years since you came to me in the spring."

"Then how about we make use of the time and my temporary lapse of judgment?" Paul smiled at his wife wantonly before taking her in his arms.

xoxoxo

Several months later…

"I don't know why you doubt my words, Demeter, I promise you, she is pregnant." Sophie, oblivious to Hera and Demeter's argument, absent-mindedly rubbed circles on her slowly inflating stomach. How many years had it taken them? How many millennia?

"It isn't possible! You said so yourself. 'Life cannot be conceived or brought forth in the Underworld!' That is why Hades gives his nymphs passes of permission when they wish to start families." Demeter stroked her daughter's hair. She wasn't displeased that Sophie was going to be a mother, just…confused.

Hera shrugged nonchalantly. "I did say that, didn't I? However, what I have not stated was that this child was conceived in the Underworld."

Sophie's eyes went wide; that part she had heard.

"What do you mean…" Demeter's voice died off at the end of her question, realization dawning on her. "Kore! Have you…has he? Oh, you had better tell me that there's a mortal man involved in this Kore, or so help me…"

"He's my husband! I couldn't stand to be away from him!"

Demeter covered half of her face with her hand as she began pacing the floor. "How could you? How could you betray me like this?"

As her mother passed by, Sophie grabbed her free hand in her own. "Momma, please! How have I betrayed you? He has taken none of my time from you. You were away, and I was lonely."

Demeter shook her head, refusing to look at her daughter. "You lied to me. You went behind my back and you lied to me."

"I'm a grown woman, Momma. I have needs. Why am I the only goddess forbidden to growing up?"

Demeter pulled her hand out of Sophie's grasp and waved her away. "I cannot look at you right now…please, leave my sight."

Sophie stood up, barely containing her tears. Looking between Hera and her mother she turned and ran from the house.

xoxoxo

Sophie was sitting under a wisteria trellis when she felt a presence approach. From the corner of her eye, she could see Hera crouch beside her. "I have never liked you much, you know."

Sophie let out a wet sniffle. Hera's words weren't very comforting.

"You are one of my husband's children, and for that I hated you from the very start. And then you manage to bag yourself the single most honorable and faithful man the line of Cronus and Rhea ever produced. I'll admit, given my husband's frequent wanderings, I'm very jealous of that. How many affairs has Hades had? One? Two?"

Sophie wiped the tears roughly from across the bridge of her nose with the back of her hand. "None." Hera looked rather disbelieving at that. "He pursued two; Menthe and Leuce. I turned Menthe into mint and Leuce into a poplar tree."

Hera raised her eyebrow at that. "Aren't they both emblems of your?"

Sophie shrugged. "They weren't to be blamed. It was Aphrodite's fault. Aphrodite sent Menthe as revenge on Hades and me for foiling her plan to have Hades be without love his entire life. She sent Leuce as revenge for reuniting Eros with his love, Psyche."

Hera snickered softly, "Oh yes, that certainly sounds like my husband's other bastard daughter."

"They were good women; they didn't deserve what Aphrodite did to them."

Hera stroked Sophie's hair matronly. "You are so much like your husband. Like him, you are one of the most level-headed and simple of the gods. You are easy to please and slow to anger. So much unlike myself. I can no longer hate you, no longer be angry with you, not knowing what I know. How hard it must be for you to live on the cusp of war: a war between your husband and your mother." Hera stood up abruptly walking away from Sophie.

"Where are you going?"

Hera stopped and looked over her shoulder, "You want this child, yes?" At Sophie's nod she continued, "You cannot return to the Underworld until after he is born. Therefore, the terms of your imprisonment must be renegotiated. I am going to send for my husband and yours."

Sophie pursed her lips at Hera. "I am not imprisonedby my husband."

Hera smiled at her, "No, you aren't. Not by him." With that, Hera looked off towards Demeter's house before smiling once again at Sophie and disappearing.

xoxoxo

"He broke the terms of the contract. Besides, the baby can't be born in the Underworld. Therefore I should get to keep my daughter!"

Zeus raised a hand to calm his sister. "I don't disagree with you, however, Hades is still entitled to his child and his wife."

"This is absolute bullshit, Zeus! I won't be denied my daughter any longer! The winters grow longer and colder the more barren my heart grows without her. Give her back to me!"

"Momma, please stop yelling!"

Demeter, as usual, ignored her daughter's plaintive cries. "So help me Zeus, if you betray me on this again and side with him," Demeter shoved a finger in Paul's face, "this world will look like the Sahara Desert. Only Poseidon will have any life in his kingdom."

"I am sick of your threats and blackmail, Demeter!"

Just as Zeus stood toe to toe with his older sister, Paul raised his thumb and index fingers to his lips and let out an ear-splitting whistle. Everyone present looked at the man that had, till now, been relatively silent in the matter. "Rip up the contract."

"What?" Demeter squinted an eye at Paul, and tried to figure out where he was going with this.

"Just what I said. Rip up the contract. No more contracts."

"Then where will Sophie-"

"For mother's sake, she's thirty five hundred years old! Let her decide! Let her come and go from my kingdom as she pleases. As much as it pains me to know I may lose her in this, I'm sick of harming her by fighting with you." It was the first time Sophie had heard her husband raise his voice since he had gotten into a fight with Apollo about the Black Death.

Zeus nodded, acknowledging Paul's speech as the first logical thing said all day. "I concur. Every time I'm called to arbitrate these dammed fights the only thing we succeed in doing is causing famine for the mortals and making Sophie pick between the two people she loves most. Let there be no contract."

"But…but…" Demeter shot angry and confused glances between her two brothers.

Paul, refusing to look at Demeter shook his head mournfully. "Don't you get it, Demeter? You've won. No child should be raised in the Underworld. You'll get Sophie…I'll get…visitation rights." Paul closed his eyes, his hands folded across his chest. To Sophie, he looked like a dying man. But as much as it pained her, he was right, and she couldn't think of anything to say to reassure him.

xoxoxo

Sophie decided to name him David, for he was beloved. She knew that much even before she held him in her arms, but as she held him now, she knew it that much more. She kissed the crown of his head and felt the soft baby fur brush against her lips. He was a full-blooded god, unlike so many that had been born in the past two millennia. He would have his own domain to oversee someday. Something trivial, likely, but it was too soon to tell. Sometimes gods grew bored of one of their domains and passed it on to a younger god. Who could tell what the future held?

xoxoxo

Paul stood before the Fates. He had been with his wife as their son was born and had spent as much time as he could with them before he could feel the never-ending workload of the Underworld calling for him. "Please, I humble myself before you. I cannot go on like this. I need my wife. I need my son. How can I escape my cage?"

For a moment, he thought they were ignoring him. It wasn't uncommon. If he was not meant to know the future, they wouldn't share with him. Nor would they offer any advice. After what seemed like ages, they spoke. "No god desires the throne of the Underworld; no mortal deserves it. The Underworld is your burden to bare, but, should you desire, it is yours to share."

Paul closed his eyes and quietly thanked whatever power might be greater than himself. "Who? Who do I appoint to run the Underworld for me in my absence?"

"You are unyielding in your rule…only a tyrant could take your place." Paul felt rather insulted at that. "You rule justly…your replacement must not bend against the law." Paul nodded, he agreed with that assessment. Only Sophie had ever convinced him to go against his own laws. "The largest kingdom in all of creation must be defended…only a great military strategist should sit on your throne." Another thing Paul agreed with. "The most great and evil men shall pass through your halls…only a skeptic can judge them fairly." Inside his head, Paul was screaming Get on with it. "The best council must come from within…seek one who knows themselves above all others. Pick your friends wisely…your replacement must know to whom to appoint power. A stable kingdom is one that looks to the future…your understudy must have a sight that rivals our own."

Paul shook his head, this sounded like the impossible. "I know my kingdom inside and out. No one is that perfect."

The three fates echoed back his own words, "No one is…"

Paul thought about that for a moment and smiled. "Of course! The Seven Sages!" He ran off to locate them in the Elysium Fields before stopping himself short and turning back to the old women. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

xoxoxo

Paul knocked on his wife's door. It had been difficult getting past his mother-in-law without making a crude comment of some kind, but he was in too good of a mood to bait the old harpy. Sophie was currently nursing the two-week-old David. She smiled up at Paul as he entered the room. "Don't you have work, love?"

Paul licked his lips and nodded. "Of course, as always. But, significantly less now." Sophie cocked her head to the side. "I have delegated some of my more time-consuming, monotonous chores to the Seven Sages." Sophie's eyes lit up. "I'm thinking we could get our own place…our own home in the mortal world. Somewhere we can raised David like a normal child."

Sophie smiled and rushed into Paul's arms, nearly crushing David in the process. "He'll always know he's a god. It's pretty hard to hide something like that."

Paul shrugged, "Ok, normal-ish."

xoxoxo

Seventeen years later…

Paul was in the driver's seat, sitting beside David. The drive home from the principal's office was rather awkward and quiet. David stared out the side window, trying to avoid his father's occasional glances. When they were only a few blocks from home, Paul broke the silence. "You threatened to kill him?"

David groaned.

"Do I want to read into that?" Paul glanced over at David who had his neck craned so far towards the window he was practically looking backward. "Were you serious in your threat?"

"God, no Dad!" David met his father's gaze with an angry look. "It's just something mortals say. If every mortal made good on their threat to kill someone there would be no mortals. Jesus."

Paul shook his head. David was changing lately and he just couldn't figure it out.