So this poem is the lovely, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost. I will continue to apologize for the wait, but I'm not sure how much good it will do...forgive me?

Anyhow, let me know what you think. I love all of you who continue to review, but some new names/faces would be much appreciated!

Also let me know about any errors, my editing is--um-- mediochre at best

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Chapter 14

I awoke with a start. I quickly took in my surroundings and was only momentarily confused before I remembered where I was. I had been having the strangest dream. A dream about feathered wings growing out of dry, dusty bones, and sheets of light green moss turning pearly white as they hung from gangly looking trees. My cheek brushed against something smooth and I jumped again. I caught the scent of something familiar as I turned over, and the night rushed back to me. Hades was sleeping soundly next to me. I could barely see the motion of his chest rising and falling with his breath. He looked more peaceful now than I had ever seen him; without its sternness or turbulence, his face was smooth and calm.

Filmy, yellow-gray light filtered in through slats carved in the high stone ceiling; dust swirled lazily in the beams. It gave the white sheets and pillows a soft, blurred outline. Or maybe it was my eyes adjusting to the morning that made it feel so serene and contented. I tucked one arm under my head and watched him a moment longer. I reached a hand out to his face. I hesitated, but then stretched my hand out again. I squinted my eyes a bit, concentrating on the strong line of his jaw, and the angle it made with his sharp cheekbones. So it caught me totally by surprise when Hades shot a hand up and caught my palm in his. His eyes were still closed as he brought my hand to his mouth and clumsily kissed my fingertips, one by one. My breath shuddered as I exhaled. I stared at our hands, at his mouth; when I looked up, stormy gray eyes met mine. I blushed, and got light-headed as all the blood rushed to my face. A slow smile crept brilliantly across his face. It was too much, he was blindingly beautiful when he smiled. Unable to keep it in check, joy exploded in my chest at the simple sight of his curved lips and perfect teeth. Laughing, I flung myself over the small space between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. Through the dark coppery tangle of my hair, I heard Hades laugh softly at my outburst. "What is this?" he said through another smile that made my heart skip a beat.

I pulled back slightly from his arms to take him in. I blushed again, feeling enormously silly and juvenile and maybe just a little bit embarrassed. "Well, I, um." I paused and took a breath. "It's just amazing to see you smile." I admitted. The smile started to slip from his face, and his eyes took on a strange look. I faltered, confused and started to remove myself from the arms that had so tenderly wrapped around my waist. Stupid, I cursed at myself. He finally opens up and comforts you, gives himself to you, and this is what you do? Act like an inexperienced, silly child? Oh god, he never said that he loved me back, I panicked. What if he doesn't feel that way about me. Oh, what if this didn't mean that to him? He tried to push me away before…but I was so sure that he was just doing what he thought would be for my own good. Was I pushy? I was pushy wasn't I? I was one of those girls… I shook my head in embarrassment, and continued to extricate myself from his arms.

"Persephone?" Hades' velvety voice questioned me. I couldn't look at him, so I turned my face completely away. Inescapable iron hands yanked me backwards flat onto my back, my hair flew over my face. Though my eyes couldn't see due to the mess of hair covering my face, my ears were rewarded with another small laugh, it was just a breeze of a laugh, soft and warm like the late early afternoon sun. I stopped struggling, stunned by the sound. He was amused, and I was confounded. My eyes were already searching by the time he gently cleared my long hair from my face. He was leaning close over me, and his hands lingered by my cheek as he brushed my hair away. "Why did you turn from me Persephone?" he asked, more serious than he looked. I was entirely peeved. Didn't the smile wash from his face like the berry stains I left on the large boulders I played among as a child? It seemed a weak reason now, looking back. I frowned pensively. I suppose I just wasn't sure what to do after last night, I didn't know where things stood between us, but I definitely knew something changed. I was jumping at the smallest signs, how unlike me. It was just that nothing had ever mattered this much before. I had never been more vulnerable to another person's thoughts and opinions than I was this morning. I returned my gaze back to his glorious face, feeling more sure of myself. "You just looked like something was wrong, and I guess I just assumed it was something that I had done, since nothing else has happened to you this morning." I cut myself off early to prevent babbling.

His hand cradled my face and he bent down to me and lightly placed his lips over mine in a closed kiss. I sighed as he pulled back. "Nothing could be wrong this morning." he declared. I cocked an eyebrow, amused. "Then what in the world chased that beautiful smile off of your face like that?" I asked incredulously.

He balked, and shifted his gaze away from mine as if he thought I might be able to read what was going on in his head through his eyes like a scene in a play. Still looking away he said, "I was thinking about something in particular." And there was that anxious look again. It was so strange to see all this emotion coming from him, I thought that loving him would mean getting used to the reserved and cold way he kept himself. But it seemed that I wasn't imagining things when I predicted that there was someone under that façade that was so much more than anyone gave him credit for anymore. Hades had not grown stale from the years spent in his world of shadows, he had grown calculating and shrewd. He knew when and how to control his passions and emotions; his duty demanded nothing less than callous determination to execute justice. But I shivered when I remembered that he had proven that all those years had merely stored up his ability to show how appreciated a woman could be, not wasted it. I suspected that I was indeed the only one to ever discover this fact, and it was not something I would soon forget.

But something nagged in the farthest recess of my mind. A line floated across my mind's eye, shimmering for a moment in a tragic inevitable procession…nothing gold can stay. As I stared into his shining eyes I tried not to let my smile falter even for an instant. Something unidentifiable was worming and twisting in my head, giving me a certain feeling of uneasiness that I could not reason away no matter how desperately I needed Hades and everything in front of me to be true. How can something so right come at the cost of all my people? It was unfair, and in blatant rebellion I shoved it away. As it reluctantly passed, a part of me whispered to it that I knew what I had to do.

Hades cleared his throat and began to speak in resolved tones that I had heard him use to address the more virtuous souls that had sifted through the gates. It was clear, not harsh, but it seemed somehow formal. "Persephone, I realize that my actions must be at least a little bit confusing. I hardly understand them myself. But I am sure of two things." he paused. I looked up expectantly, wishing my heart would stop pounding so loudly in my ears. He continued the pause in his speech by running his tongue over his lips and bending down achingly slowly to my lips, to kiss me so gently it was painful. I wanted to hear what he had to say, but I could tell he was teasing me on purpose, so I let him maintain this state of agony until one of us broke. Without lifting my head to add pressure to his lips (I wouldn't give in after all) I leisurely, almost imperceptibly, began to part and close my lips in time with his kisses. I could feel a crooked grin sneak across his lips as he sensed my game. Wickedly, he snaked his tongue lightly against the inside edge of my bottom lip, making sure to keep his lips at the proper distance, only barely touching mine. I had one last resort before I completely lost my mind with anticipation. As he leaned further over me to support himself, I pressed my arms hard into the bed and arced my upper back, pressing myself against his bare chest. A rumbling growl ripped from deep in his throat, and he hurriedly crushed his mouth over mine in a ferocious open kiss that our bodies imitated as our arms wrapped tightly around each other, my leg drawing up at his side, about to push him all the way onto me. I bit at his lips, remembering the words he left off, trying to coax them out with my tongue.

I broke the kiss. Hades' arms were supporting him on either side of my pillow as lay, centered, over me. I sighed as our foreheads met. "I win." He snorted. "You cheated."

I smiled. "But I believe you were saying something…" His air of joking left him, replaced by a profoundly earnest look. His eyes burned into mine, "Persephone," he said, "The first thing I am absolutely sure of, is that last night meant more to me than I can ever hope to say." then he kissed me lightly. "The second, is, that I love you." For so simple a declaration, it set my heart on fire. I struggled to breathe as I melted right there between his arms. But he continued still. He lifted himself off of me to sit up, and easily lifted me to a sitting position. I could feel my eyebrows raise as I watched his brow furrow upward in hope. "Persephone, will you be my wife?"

I was stunned. "Hades, are you serious?" I asked, unbelieving. He nodded, as solemn as I had ever seen him, all expression wiped from his face. "Yes!" I cried as I flung myself at him again. This time we both went toppling over the edge of the bed and landed in a heap of limbs and sheets on the floor.

I had said yes, but as we made love there on the floor, that worming sensation crept back into the deepest and bottom-most edge of my mind. I tried so hard to push it away…

Reviews please? What will it hurt, just let me know what you think.