I have no excuses. I'm sorry.

Actually, I have two excuses - the Civil War trailer and Steggy smut.

I'm not that sorry.

In any case, here's chapter fourteen, alternatively titled 'In Which Hera Decides It's Easier to Join Them Than Beat Them'.

For a second, Hermes merely stared at her, his face bypassing white and turning grey. "Luke did … It was Luke?"

Thalia nodded grimly. "You didn't figure that out from the conversation at lunch?"

"No, I didn't hear most of it." Hermes said quietly, running a distracted hand through his hair. "Just … Luke?"

"Look, I need you to focus here." Thalia said urgently, throwing all protocol out of the window. "I might be able to help him …"

"How?!" Hermes demanded. "Our father will vaporize him!"
"Trust me." Thalia said softly.

Hermes did not look convinced, but he nodded anyway, following her to the large double doors that led to her father's quarters.

With a deep breath, Thalia knocked firmly and they swung open immediately.

Zeus wasn't alone. Aside from Hera, Poseidon was there as well, and Hades and Persephone, all of them staring at the boy kneeling before them.

"Thalia," Zeus greeted. "I was just about to send for you."

His anger was palpable and Thalia pasted a smile on her face. "Excellent timing then. Lord Hermes seems to be missing a son, but I think we found him."

"You were expecting him to come to us." Hera concluded. "That is why you spoke to your father earlier."

"I was hoping." Thalia admitted, stepping up to stand beside Luke. His head was bowed, his entire body tense, trembling, and she fought the urge to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I had hoped that he'd come to one of us first but … Wait, why were you going to send for me?"

"The discussion we had earlier." Poseidon said, when her father didn't. "Hades and I felt that you might be able to help explain some things."

"Such as why he felt this was a good idea in the first place." Hades added sharply.

Thalia glanced down at Luke. "You didn't tell them?"

Luke shook his head, his gaze fixed on the floor. "It doesn't matter now."

"Di immortales." Thalia muttered, rubbing her temples. "Luke, just tell them – or I will."

Luke took a shuddering breath. "After I returned from the quest, I began having dreams. Darkness and a voice. The voice told me that …"

"Go on." Thalia prompted, giving in and resting a gentle hand on the back of his neck.

Her touch seemed to fill him with new courage. "He told me that what happened to Thalia was Olympus's fault and that you … you could have saved her … told me that I was right to be upset because you only acknowledge your children when you want something and …"

"Basically," Thalia interrupted, when his voice began to break, "that you're crappy parents and we should be mad at you. In fact, tearing down Olympus is probably a really good idea."

Now Luke looked up, startled. "How did you …?"

Thalia rolled her eyes, but when she spoke, her voice was gentle. "You don't think he spoke to me too? He spoke to all the demigods. You were just the first to listen, because he could use your grief and your guilt to get to you." She looked at the assembled gods. "Kronos – because let's not pretend we don't know who he is – Kronos is very, very good. I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, Luke, but I think that by the time Luke realised he was being manipulated, it was a little bit too late."

"Just a bit." Luke said softly. "But I take full responsibility for my actions, Thalia. That's why I didn't say anything."

Persephone put a hand on her husband's arm. "The boy speaks well."

"He does." Hades agreed reluctantly. "Where are the items now?"

Thalia smiled. "Safe, Lord Hades, I can assure you of that. I said there were two people –should we wait and see if the other has the decency to come forward as well?"

"You are certain they are safe?" Zeus asked.

"I am." Thalia said. "In fact, they may even still be on Olympus."

Zeus nodded. "Then we will wait, Thalia. I, too, am curious to see if they do."

"I don't think they will." Thalia admitted. "But we should find out tomorrow in any case. We should finish the book by then. In the meantime … what are you going to do about Luke?"

It was the last question she wanted to ask, but someone had to do it. She took an unconscious step forward, putting herself between him and the gods.

"We gave you our word we would not kill him." Zeus said, rather to her surprise (her father wasn't exactly known for keeping his word, after all). "So that is a very good question. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Thalia's mind raced, but she forced herself to stay calm. Whether her father's request was genuine or he was testing her, she didn't know, but a measured response was vital either way.

"Well," she said slowly, "maybe he could make it up to you somehow. What if …?" An idea popped into her head, an idea so brilliant (if she did say so herself) that she almost laughed out loud. "The Golden Fleece!"

The assembled gods, Hermes included, all stared at her, completely taken aback. Of all the things they had considered her saying, that definitely hadn't been one of them.

"Why would your father want the Golden Fleece?" Hera asked finally.

Thalia smiled. "Because it will resurrect me."

Luke looked up at this, hope blooming in his eyes like she had just handed him all his hopes and dreams on a silver platter.

"You could send Luke to retrieve it." Thalia continued. "Lord Hades, I realise that doesn't really do anything for you, but the prophecy is obsolete now – you could send Luke to get Bianca and Nico from the Lotus Casino, or have him watch over them when they get to camp." She thought about it for a second. "Alternatively, you could just ground him. That might actually be a worse punishment."

Zeus nodded thoughtfully. "We must discuss this. Thalia, remain here with Luke. Hermes …"

"I know." Hermes said, almost sullenly. "Stay." He scowled. "Just know, Father, that if you harm my son, there will be war."

Surprisingly, Zeus did not rise to the threat, and he and the others disappeared, leaving her with Hermes and Luke.

Thalia let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "Well, that went better than I expected."

"The Golden Fleece?" Hermes asked quietly. "Are you mad?"

"No." Thalia said, turning to face him. "It needed to be a dangerous quest, or it wouldn't count as punishment."

"I failed the last one." Luke said.

Thalia smiled at him. "And, as always, I have a lot more faith in you than you have in yourself. Besides, your heart wasn't in that one. It will be in this one."

Their eyes met and something heavy passed between them, the understanding that, yes, his heart would be in it, because his heart was dependent on it.

It broke in the next second when his gaze dropped once more. "I summoned that hell-hound, didn't I?" Luke asked. "And I did something to those shoes, I know I did. How can you even look at me?"

Thalia sat down beside him. "Because, Luke, you haven't done those things yet. Kronos hasn't changed you completely yet. Your future self …" She sighed, something in her chest twisting painfully. "He's trying. And I'm trying."

Luke stared at his knees. "I'm sorry, Father."

Hermes heaved a sigh and knelt beside his son. "I'm sorry too, Luke. I'm sorry I left you to deal with your mother's condition by yourself. I'm sorry I made you think I didn't care. I really was trying to protect you."

Luke nodded, wiping at his eyes. "Do you hate me now?"

"Luke," Hermes said firmly, tipping his son's chin up to meet his eyes, "listen to me. I am disappointed. Of course I am. But you are my son, and I love you, and nothing could ever change that." He pressed a kiss to Luke's forehead, tugging the boy into his arms as he began to sob.

Thalia fixed her gaze on the opposite wall, hugging her knees to her chest. She wondered how long it would have been, before Luke was completely hardened to his father's words. So much of the war could have been avoided, if the gods just talked to their children.

A hand touched her arm and she glanced over to see Luke looking at her through red-rimmed eyes. She caught his hand and squeezed it gently.

"How can I make it up to you?" He whispered.

"You haven't done anything yet." Thalia said tiredly. "At least, not the things I'm mad at you for."

"Thalia, please …"

Thalia sighed. "Be there when I wake up." She said simply.

"That's it?" Luke asked, sounding a little incredulous.

Thalia smiled sadly. "That would be everything."

The words were a little too raw and it was with relief that she scrambled to her feet as her father and uncles reappeared with Hera and Persephone.

The two goddesses looked rather smug, even though Hera's smile faltered when she met her stepdaughter's eyes.

"It is agreed." Zeus announced. "When our time here is through and plans have been made, Luke will make the journey to retrieve the Golden Fleece."

Hermes seemed to collapse in on himself with relief. "Thank you, Father." He tugged Luke to his feet. "C'mon, kiddo."

Thalia bowed to her father. "Thank you." She repeated, turning to follow them.

"Thalia," Hera said suddenly, "could you stay please? I want to speak with you."

Thalia looked to her father, but he was deep in conversation with Poseidon (and it seemed to be amicable for once), so she nodded, playing with her charm bracelet automatically.

Hera's sharp eyes spotted the movement and she smiled. "I mean you no harm, Thalia. You can relax."

Thalia let out a shaky breath, letting her hand drop from Aegis. "No offence, Lady Hera, but when you ask to speak with one of your stepchildren alone, it's not an unreasonable assumption to make."

Hera nodded. "I know that. Come, walk with me."

Thalia would rather have gone and had another awkward conversation with Luke – either of them – but the other gods had disappeared and she was alone with her stepmother now, so she fell into step beside her.

"Jason is not a son of Zeus." Hera said, after a few minutes of silence.

Thalia closed her eyes briefly, wishing that she had never mentioned her brother earlier. "How can he not be? I remember Father coming back."

"He did." Hera said, her mouth twisting into a bitter smile. "But he was not Zeus when he returned. He was Jupiter."

Thalia frowned. "But … the Roman names were just that, weren't they? Different names for the same gods?"

"Not exactly." Hera said. "When the West moved to Rome, as did we, we changed. Juno and I share a body, but we are not the same."

"Split personalities." Thalia concluded.

"Exactly." Hera agreed.

"So Jason is a son of Jupiter, not a son of Zeus." Thalia said. "But then why have I never met any Roman demigods?"

"Because we keep you apart." Hera said grimly. "As we are different from our Roman counterparts, so are our children. Romans and Greeks do not get along, Thalia. The last straw was in 1864, when there was such an awful civil war that many demigods died. We forced you apart, the Greeks to the East, the Romans to the West. The Mist keeps both groups from learning about the other."

"And that's why you took him." Thalia said softly. "Because we were never meant to meet."

Hera sighed. "Your father should never have done what he did, Thalia, but he loves you. I think he was hoping that maybe Jupiter could … handle your mother better."

Thalia smiled bitterly. "Well, I can't blame him for that. She didn't want to name him Jason, you know. That was Father's choice; he insisted on it."

"Yes, to 'appease' me." Hera said, rolling her eyes. "As if that made it any better."
Thalia dropped her gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry. Really. It's not right that Father treats you the way he does."

"Thank you, Thalia." Hera said, her voice measured. "But I wanted to apologise to you."

Thalia looked up at that, startled to see Hera's eyes shining. "W-What?"

"Thalia, there is only one thing I have ever wanted." Hera said. "I want my family, together and happy. I'm the goddess of marriage and families – it's what I do. But I have been so focused on making that happen that I completely lost sight of what family means – that sometimes it's messy, and it's not perfect, and it includes people that maybe you don't always get along with. Over the years, I have come to accept Hermes and Apollo and Artemis and Athena and even Dionysus as part of my family, even though they are not my children, and I fear they do not think of me as their mother."

There were a lot of things Thalia could say to that.

She decided against all of them.

Hera stopped, turning to face her stepdaughter, holding out a hand. "And I know that I will never be your mother. But is it too late for us to be family?"

Thalia thought about Jason, apparently safe at the Roman Camp Half-Blood, contrary to her many nightmares, soothed only when she met Luke on the streets.

She thought about Nico, angrily (not) coping with his sister's death all alone, who would have been abandoned to Geryon's tender mercies if Percy wasn't the way he was, just because he didn't fit Hera's 'perfect family'.

She thought about the statue of her stepmother that had just about shattered both of her legs, but that probably would have killed Annabeth had she let it hit her.

Then she thought about what would happen when they returned to their own time, to prevent whatever was coming their way.

Would the Olympians even remember all of this?

Either way, she didn't have to trust Hera to give her a chance.

"If there's anything I learned when I died," Thalia said, hesitantly slipping her hand into her stepmother's, "it's that it's never too late."

When Thalia returned to their quarters half an hour later, the others were waiting for her.

"What happened?" Percy demanded, before the door was even closed. "Dad was talking to us, and then he suddenly got called away. And then we passed Artemis, and she said that Hermes had come to get you. And …"

"Breathe, Kelp-Head." Thalia said. "To summarise, Artemis and Aphrodite get along surprisingly well; Luke's past self just confessed to stealing the Master Bolt and the helm of darkness; I am a genius; and my stepmother suddenly wants us to play Happy Families."

Nico frowned at Luke. "Why is he still here then? Surely if his past self dies, he dies too, right?"

Thalia definitely did not flinch. "Father didn't vaporise him. I convinced them earlier not to kill him if he came forward before the book outed him, and then they agreed that his … er … reparations, if you like, will be to retrieve the Golden Fleece so I can be woken. My idea, hence the genius."

Luke looked like he was about to pass out. "It would have been quicker for your father to kill me."

"Aside from anything else, by tomorrow, we should be reading a step-by-step guide to finding the Golden Fleece." Thalia pointed out, smiling sweetly. "That is, if anyone's paying attention over whatever your poison is going to do to me."

"Goodnight!" Percy said hastily, bolting for the boys' door, Nico close behind him.

Annabeth shook her head. "I'd ask about Hera, but … I get the feeling you two need to talk. So … night."
"Hera's being genuine." Rachel said. "Whatever that means."

Thalia smiled at the Oracle, who looked exhausted. "Go and get some sleep, Rachel. You look dead on your feet."

"Two prophecies." Rachel muttered, following Annabeth. "I should get hazard pay."

The silence that followed was rather uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry." Thalia said finally. "That was harsh."

"No." Luke said, staring at the ground. "No, it wasn't. You're right."

Thalia heaved a frustrated sigh. "Luke, I can't say that I want to forgive you, and then turn around and say stuff like that. It's not fair."

"Yes, it is." Luke said. "You can be mad at me and want to forgive me. I don't think you should forgive me, personally, but that's not my choice to make." He looked at her sadly. "Believe me, Thalia, you cannot hate me more than I hate myself."

Thalia said nothing, and he took the opportunity to follow Percy and Nico's example, leaving her alone with Artemis and Aphrodite's words floating in her head. "I don't hate you, Luke." She whispered after him. "That's the problem."