This should have been up last night, but for some reason the site wouldn't let me log on. Fixed now, though, and I can get my chapter up. Yay! Also, I'm taking liberties with mythology again, there's a real surprise...

Couple.

They keep Hecate's condition under wraps for as long as possible. It is not until the slender goddess begins to show that any of the others really begin to notice. Hel, naturally it seems, is thrilled at the news that a new life will emerge among them after so many centuries of childless stagnation.

His quiet conversation with Hecate, however, has done little to lessen the anxiety of his lover. There is something that concerns her, still, and no matter how hard he tries nothing he does will get her to talk to him. They still have a few secrets from one another, neither one of them finds it easy to be completely open, but that she is keeping something relating to their child from him fills the archangel with concern. Remarkably, when he asks Hel about it the younger goddess is just as close lipped about it.

Ultimately it is someone else that he gets his answer from.

Isis and Osiris are one of the few bonded pairs in all the pantheons who have remained completely loving and loyal to one another throughout the course of history. As it turns out they are also very fond of Hecate and have been supporting her fiercely against the outcry of the others for her choice of mate. As far as Isis is concerned, and thus Osiris apparently, if Hecate wants to be with Loki she can be. The heart, after all, wants what it wants, even those of the gods. The arrival of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, their son, seems to shatter something in Hecate. The normally composed goddess rushes to the embrace of the Egyptian and weeps. When Gabriel tries to go to her, Osiris steps in.

"Let Isis comfort her, Loki," he says as leads Gabriel to one side. "We need to discuss a few things."

It turns out that Horus has been brought along to distract Hel. The pair has only really met briefly in the past but it appears that those meetings were tense with desire and unrealised mutual interest. Gabriel can foresee certain fatherly duties taking place in the relatively near future, but for the moment he is more concerned about Hecate. For the moment he has the rather ominous words of Osiris to occupy his mind.

"You know what's wrong with her, don't you?" Gabriel demands. The nod of the god sends a blast of agony through him, to think that Hecate would confide in this couple over and above her own lover.

"You must understand, Trickster, Hecate has not kept this secret to cause you harm. She has kept it to protect you." Osiris's deep voice is grave, his dark eyes serious.

"From what?" Gabriel demands. "What, exactly, does she need to protect me from?"

"We fear that some one of your enemies will make an attempt on the life of your child," the Egyptian says finally. Gabriel feels the dark of rage fall over him.

"Only once," he growls and Osiris shakes his head.

"Then what? How many attacks until you are injured? How many until you're killed? What use will you be to them if we have to bury you? You're not thinking, Loki, and that has always been your weakness. Your bond is not like that which I share with my wife; it is not like any we have ever seen before. As a couple you glow with that love and it is not simple dislike which has turned the others from you both. Envy has soured the opinions of even those who would have remained neutral to this had you only showed some restraint."

"This bond saved my life," the archangel points out though he knows that Osiris is right. He knows that eventually someone would get in a lucky shot, he knows that eventually someone would push him into lashing out with more of his grace than is wise and that will be all it takes to alert his brothers that he is still alive. If his angelic brethren are made aware of his continued existence it will only be a matter of time before they come for him. It will not be long until they slaughter the goddess he loves as a punishment for his choice. "There's something else you're not telling me," the realisation comes not long after he concludes that Hecate is right to worry about an attack proving rather more fatal than it should. Angels are not completely immune from the powers of the pagan gods after all.

"It's been a long time since any of us embraced the idea of parenthood, Loki," Osiris points out, "and always in the past there were those of us who would gladly aid in the birthing process to minimise the risks to the person of the goddess."

"I'm aware," the reply is sullen. Gabriel may not have actually lived through the experience himself, but the part of him that will now always be tied to Loki knows how it all works.

"You are both out of favour, and that means that none of the others is willing to act as midwife to Hecate when the time comes."

"She's afraid that she won't have any help when she gives birth?" Gabriel asks. Goddesses, and gods for that matter, have been giving birth for millennia; he cannot imagine her being so afraid of it.

"She's afraid that without the help she will not survive this time. The last time Hecate gave birth it nearly killed her. It was Artemis who saved her then, it will not be Artemis this time." This is something that Gabriel was unaware of, something that chills him to the centre of his being when he thinks that without someone nearby who knows what they are doing the one he loves could die.

"Will Isis be with her?" Gabriel whispers. It is the only thing he can think of that might cause a lessening to Hecate's worry.

"Of course," Osiris's nod is grave, his dark eyes serious. "Hecate has been a dear friend to us and to see her so happy with another is a relief. Isis and I will do all that we can for you both."

The sentiment is one that fills Gabriel with warmth, even though he knows that most of the regard of the Egyptians is directed at his lover and not toward him. He cannot begrudge her this, however, when it is so clear that this close friendship is one that will help ease the concerns that have made her so distant over the last several weeks.

He only hopes that all of their fears will come to nothing.

Artemis