When they woke that morning, Danny and Katie did it again before they got up and did what they needed to do in the house. Everything felt so right, Danny proposing to her and having a baby. It was hard to believe she was going to be Mrs. Katie Stone. To top that off, she had all the love and devotion from her future husband that she could get. Everywhere they went, they were always together. At breakfast she wrapped her arms around him when he was cooking, loving everything he did.
Ms. Sky could also see the definite change in their attitudes around her. It was like they weren't restrained anymore. Now they would hold hands or lightly kiss when she was in the area without fear of being embarrassed. It was really there way of showing that they would be together forever.
In the afternoon Danny said he was going to travel for about an hour to see where some gold deposits were. He hugged Katie and disappeared through the earth.
"I'm glad you two are so happy right now," said her mom.
"I know, it's really nice to be with him. Thanks for letting him stay here," said Katie. Her mom smiled and went back in the house. Nearly one hour later, when Katie was busily washing the sheets, a knock on the door caught her attention. Her mom went to answer it and was startled to see who was at the door. Zeus was standing there in a black and white suit, his beard trimmed and his eyes crackling with lightning. Her mom blushed really hard when she saw him again, after all these years.
"Zeus, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I'm here to see Katie. May I come in?" he asked. She nodded and let him in. Zeus brought in the smell of a storm on him when he sat down on the couch.
"So, where is that insufferable boy at?" he said.
"He's away for a minute," said Katie, though she didn't like it when her father was mean to Danny. Zeus grimaced and went down to business.
"Katie, are you alright. I heard about your recent rape from those four mortal bastards," said Zeus.
"Oh, you did. Dad, I'm fine, Danny saved me," said Katie. Zeus didn't look to thrilled about that either.
"Were he any faster, he might have been able to stop the whole thing from happening, but it's like that with those sons of the earth, slow-witted," he said.
"Dad, Danny didn't know what was happening, and he did make the boys pay dearly enough," said Katie.
"Not dear enough," said Zeus. "If it were up to me, I would incinerate them into ashes."
"Dad, please," said Katie. Zeus continued to look like his icy self. At that moment, Danny came in the room from the outside lawn. The minute Zeus and him laid eyes on each other, they stared with angry intent at the other.
"So, Zeus, how's it going?" said Danny, but what he really wanted to say was "What the fuck are you doing here?!"
"Well, with the poor condition you are treating my daughter, I'd say I'm not doing fine, you?" he said, though what he wanted to say was "You little motherfucking bastard, how the fuck can you get my daughter raped?!" They decided that some words do not need to be said so harshly.
"Dad, can you be nice for once?" said Katie, getting frustrated with Danny and Zeus's hostile nature towards the other. The two didn't budge. Instead they just continued to stare each other down, each one looking as hostile as the other.
"Zeus, can me and you talk?" said Ms. Sky.
"Not yet," said Zeus.
"NOW!" said Ms. Sky. This was probably the first time anyone had ever seen Zeus take orders from someone. He didn't look like he wanted to, but Ms. Sky was a commanding figure when she wanted to. They went to the kitchen while Katie went to calm Danny down.
"Please, can you try and get along with my dad?" she said, hugging him close.
"I will if he will," said Danny.
"Please, for me?" said Katie, her eyes pleading with him.
Danny took a long sigh. "Okay, I'll try, but if he says one more bad thing about my mom that's it." Katie was hoping he wasn't serious. Challenging a god, especially the king of the gods, did not end up good for the challenger. But then again, she saw he had his belt and wristband on.
Zeus and Ms. Sky came back into the room, Zeus looking frustrated, but looked like he was tamed. He sat down, giving a very neutral face towards Danny, Danny doing the same.
"So, Zeus, before we had this little spat, why did you want to come over here?" said Ms. Sky.
"I came to see if Katie was alright," said Zeus.
"Katie, are you alright?" said Ms. Sky.
"Yes mom," said Katie.
"Okay. You're welcome to stay if you want," she said to Zeus. This must be why Zeus went after her, she was a hard to get commanding person. Zeus continued staring at Danny, getting up to leave, but then mid-way from getting off the seat, he stopped.
"Katie, is there something you're hiding from me?" said Zeus.
"No, why would there be?" she said, though everyone in the room knew it was a lie, especially her.
"Katie, do you think me a fool?" said Zeus. "Now tell me what it is you're hiding." Zeus was glaring at her now, and she knew better than to refuse.
"Okay, I'll tell you, but promise me you won't get angry," she said.
"I'll be angry if it is something to be angry about," said Zeus.
"Just promise not to overreact," said Katie. Zeus grumbled, but he nodded.
"At the doctor's office, I found out was pregnant," said Katie. immediately, Zeus took back word.
"Those mortal bastards, I'll hunt them to the ends of the Earth. I'' destroy their homes, incinerate them to ashes, see their souls wander the Styx forever, they'll..,"
"No dad, it wasn't them who got me pregnant," said Katie.
"Then who else could have..," said Zeus, but he stopped and his eyes got widen when it could have been no one else than the other male in the room.
"Me, but I want to know I'm going to take care of her and the baby Zeus," said Danny. Zeus stared at him for a good minute before he did the most unthinkable thing imaginable. He sat down on the couch and laughed. It started out small, but then got bigger and bigger until it shook the whole house. Danny, and Katie, didn't know whether to feel relieved, shocked, or very afraid. Why would Zeus start laughing when his daughter just said that she was pregnant? Was he laughing because he thought it was funny, which it wasn't, or was it something deeper than that?
Zeus stopped his seizure-like laughing after three good minutes. Finally he spoke, the smile still on his face.
"So, after all this time, this is what it was," he said.
"Dad, are you feeling okay?" said Katie. She, her mom, and Danny were wondering why he was acting like a psycho all of a sudden.
"Actually, I'm feeling a lot better than I was lately. I've finally found the answer to all the puzzles and riddles," he said.
"What puzzles and riddles?" said Katie.
"I've been wondering what the whole thing was, and now it all makes perfect sense. This is the plot Gaia was up to," said Zeus, his smile starting to fade.
"What plot?" said Danny.
"Oh you know what plot boy. I've been wondering what you and her were up to, and now I finally know what," said Zeus.
"Dad, there isn't any 'plot' or anything," said Katie.
"On the contrary Katie," said Zeus, "you have been the ultimate tool for it. Gaia was thinking of another way to finally let her offspring take control over this age and start a new one. This boy here was suppose to look like he was all innocent and did not wish to follow the footsteps of his brothers. The other gods fell for the ruse, but not me. It was his job to make sure that he made such a image so that everyone would trust him, and he would make it look like he was falling for you, and so you would fall for him. Once you were in 'love,' he would gain your trust and bend you to his very will and you would do anything for him.
"Then, he would, how do the mortals say it, 'Knock you up,' to get you pregnant. And here is where the true genius is. He and Gaia are plotting that the future generations of these new offsprings would grow so numerous, there would be an army of them that would be able to seize power and rule the world." Zeus's face had went from his smile to something of sheer fury, and he was looking directly at Danny. Danny could sense that something was about to happen, and unfortunately it would be aimed at him.
"Zeus, that's insane. Why would I do that?" said Danny. "I'd never hurt Katie, not less get her pregnant on purpose."
"Dad, this is insane," said Katie.
"Oh it's insane; insane enough to have gotten past me!" roared Zeus. He got off the couch, looking dead-straight at Danny.
"And I know just who to take it out on," said Zeus. Danny barely had time to react. His shield spiraled out just as a bolt of lightning hit it, sending him through the glass of the living room into the backyard.
"Dad, stop this!" said Katie, but her words fell on deaf ears. Zeus walked out into the lawn, expecting to see Danny sprawled on the ground. To his surprise, he was nowhere to be found. It was like he had vanished. Zeus walked to where Danny had been at, not even seeing an impression of his body anywhere.
"Where.," he said, but he never finished because a boulder came at him at a high speed and hit him in his unprotected side, sending him into the wooden fence. Danny was on his feet on the other side, Seismos drawn out, ready to defend.
"Zeus, I don't want to fight you,"he said. Zeus got out of the rubble near the fence, his blue eyes wild with inner light.
"Too late for backing out now. You've gone off the edge of the world, here there's monsters," he yelled. His suit turned into Greek battle armor, a double-edged sword arced with lightning appearing in his hand looking like a claymore. (For all you who don't know, a claymore is a big, heavy sword requiring strength rather than agility. It is seen in the Chronicles of Narnia being carried by the centaurs, or in Braveheart being carried by Mel Gibson, a.k.a. William Wallace. Now back to the fight scene.) Danny thought he wouldn't have an edge, only wearing a t-shirt and jeans, so he used the earth to fashion himself armor made from stone.
Zeus made the first move the minute Danny's armor was forming, charging at him with his sword held high in his two hands. Danny waited for the blow to come, about to use Lithos to block it. When the blow came, it was like a bulldozer smashing it's blade on him like it was trying to plow him into the earth. If it wasn't for him being on home territory, the ground, then he would have been struck down from the strike.
Danny counterattacked with a slash aimed for Zeus's head. He thought that Zeus wouldn't have time for an attack, knowing that a claymore is better for attacking than defending, and the sheer weight of the blade would make it hard to defend. To his surprise, Zeus blocked it like the blade weighed only like a pound. Then Danny remembered one thing, Zeus was a god, he didn't have to worry about picking his sword up on time.
Zeus's next blow came towards his head, which Danny blocked with his shield and rolled away, being backed up towards the corner of the fence, which would be hard to do much in. He turned around to aim an attack at Zeus's back. Zeus blocked it without even looking back. He twisted around and swung his claymore with so much force that it crashed straight into Seismos and sent Danny stumbling back a few feet. Danny turned to see Zeus about to strike him again, which would ultimately mean his death. He used the earth to move him a few feet from Zeus before he sprung into the air to pincer at Zeus's neck. The blow almost worked had Zeus not aimed for his leg and struck Lithos so that he did a frontflip and landed on his back.
Zeus pounced into the air and pounded his claymore on Danny's shiled over and over again, not letting Danny have enough time to even move for fear that the next blow would be a death blow. Danny used his abilities to send a chunk of the earth straight into Zeus's face that sent the god into the air and away from him, crashing onto the ground. Danny got up and readied himself to attack again, Spartan style.
Zeus jumped off the ground, charging and yelling at Danny. Danny charged at him too and they met in the middle of the yard, engaging into the most furious close-quarters melee combat no one had ever seen.
Meanwhile in the house, Katie and Ms. Sky were watching the fight, fearful for the sake of the two guys fighting out there, each fearful that if they tried to stop it, they would get hurt and the men would never forgive the other for bringing them in the conflict. Katie and her were scared to death for Danny, but Katie more so. She didn't want to lose him, not like this in a quarrel with her dad.
"We need to do something before someone ends up hurt," said Ms. Sky.
"how do we get dad to see reason?" said Katie.
"I don't know. I've never seen your dad like this before," said Ms. Sky. They saw the moves that Danny and Zeus were doing to get the upper hand. Katie was really impressed with Danny's swordsmanship. He looked like he had borrowed moves from the training exercises at camp, and some more from movies like Troy and 300. Katie desperately wanted to go out there and stop this, but she knew that if she went out there, Danny would get distracted, which meant he could die.
Danny was doing more blocking tan attacking, his attacks sometimes becoming his blocks. Zeus was indeed a very skilled opponent, spending a millennia fighting monsters and all other things that would drive men mad. Zeus, though he would never would admit it, thought Danny was good too, the boy being very hard to find any weak points or anything that would let him claim victory. Zeus decided that he couldn't beat Danny with just sword work, he had to beat him with his powers.
When Zeus sword collided with Danny's, lightning surged up his sword into his body. Danny felt the excruciating, painful effects of electricity discoursing through his body. He was blasted abck a few feet, falling on the ground. Zeus prepared to land a final blow, but another chunk of earth hit him in the chest and he fell back from Danny. Danny rose off the ground, looking like nothing had happened to him.
"Zeus, no matter what you throw at me, I'm going to keep coming back up," said Danny. Zeus growled and jumped back up off the ground.
"I'll break you boy. Once you're done, that bastard child is going out," yelled Zeus. Danny got furious. Not only was he going to kill him, he was going to kill him and Katie's child. Zeus's insane accusation had burrowed so deep into his mind that he was thinking straight. Danny would not let anything happen to his child, and he attacked with blinding fury.
His sword hit Zeus's over and over again, giving Zeus absolutely no time to even think of attacking. Zeus was pressed in, not allowed to do anything but defend. Danny was really worked up now, Zeus's plan to harm his child echoing through his head. He would allow no one, not even the supreme god, hurt anyone he loved dearly. He used a disarming move that took the sword clear out of Zeus's hand, the same one that Percy used to disarm Luke in TLT, The Lightning Thief if you don't know your acronyms. Danny held his sword at Zeus's throat.
"Zeus, this is madness. You have to stop this," he said.
"There will be no stopping boy, not until you're gone," said Zeus.
"Do you remember what my mother said. If I die because of you, then everything will be destroyed. This is not the day for that," said Danny.
Then Zeus said the most boneheaded thing any god has ever done. "I guess that day is today," he said. His sword shot back into his hand and he swung at blade hit him in his chest and cut right through his stone armor, lightning hitting Danny with such force that Danny was thrown to the fence at the other side, all his armor coming off from the one blow. He hit the fence so hard that it bended when he had slammed into it. A huge, black patch in the middle of his body showed where the lightning had struck. Danny tried to move, but for some reason he couldn't he tried to touch the ground, but the way the fence was bent meant that his feet couldn't touch the ground. He was now completely helpless as Zeus walked over to him, sword in hand. He out the tip of the blade on Danny's throat.
He was about to plunge the celestial bronze blade down to finish Danny off when a bolt of lightning hit him to his side, sending him throught the other side of the fence. When he had recovered from the blow, he looked to see who the new opponent was. To his shock, his daughter was standing in front of Danny, Jolt and Static in her hands. The look on her face meant that he had to fight her too.
"Dad, this has gone far enough. If you lay one more hand on him, I'm going to have to fight you," she said. Zeus started walking over to her, knowing that what he had to do. At that moment, two beams of light landed on either side of him and two gods came out to grab an arm, Hermes and Apollo.
"Dad, this has gone far enough," said Apollo. Zeus tried to struggle, but combined the two gods were a match for him. They dragged him away, disappearing in a huge beam of light. Katie lowered her weapons and they went back to their original state as a comb and a bracelet. She turned to see Danny in his hurt state. She rushed over to him and saw that he was badly hurt. The patch was still there, burned to his skin. The gash from the slash went from his right lower belly to where his heart was. He was giving quick, ragged breaths, and his eyes were closed.
"Mom, he needs help!" said Katie. Her mom helped her pick up Danny by getting him on their shoulders and dragging him to the nearest bed, which was Katie's. The lay him on the mattress and took off hsi shirt to inspect the damage. The gash was deep, blood dripping from the wound, and the burn looked like it was devastating.
"I'll get the nectar and ambrosia; you get the earth," said Ms. Sky. They scrambled away to get what they needed. Katie dug some of the soil from outside, not that hard to get it due to the fact that the yard was a mess, an put it in a flowerpot while her mom got ambrosia squares out of the cabinet and nectar. Katie was the first to arrive, spreading the soil out on Danny's wound. He hissed in pain when her finger touched the wound, but he took it well, allowing the feeling of the earth to take it's healing effect on him. Her mom came back with the squares and the drink and had to feed it to him, since for some reason he was unable to move. Her guess was that he had some nerve damage.
"Katie, can you stay with him?" her mom asked.
"Yes," said Katie. She stayed by his side while her mom went and got some more medical supplies from a pharmacy in the city. Katie watched as Danny tried to heal as best he could. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, his eyes furrowing and his teeth clenching. She out her hand on his head and to her shock, he was burning up like he had a fever, sweat on his brow. He must have been fighting a battle with his injuries internally than externally. It was very sad to her, seeing him suffer like this.
"Danny, I'm so sorry this happened to you," she whispered. She didn't know if he could hear her or not. She lay down beside him on the bed, a silent tear sliding down her face. Her dad had tried to kill him, and he might have done more, like harm their child. If her dad was so bent on harming them, then their lives were going to be at risk from now on. She cried because her baby might not have a chance to fend for itself in the real word, having to worry not just about monsters, but it's own grandfather. Now she knew how Danny felt most of his life, to be an outcast.
She lay down by him for what seemed like hours, watching him struggle with the damage he received in battle. His entire body was burning up as he healed himself. She put her head on his chest, careful not to touch his wounds. She closed her eyes as she felt the heat Danny was giving off. She slowly fell asleep, the heat washing over her head, lulling her to sleep. Soon she was so asleep that she didn't hear her mom come in, with someone else when it was nighttime.
"Is he okay?" said Ms. Sky. The visitor, none other than Gaia, walked across the room and felt Danny's forehead.
"He'll be fine. The wounds were grave, but he'll live," said Gaia.
"I'm sorry this had to happen," said Ms. Sky.
"The fault is not yours. At least I see that your daughter was taking care of him. Is it true that she is with child?" said Gaia. Ms. Sky nodded. Gaia's green eyes scanned over the sleeping couple.
"Will you help them? They can't do everything by themselves," said Ms. Sky.
"I will. Danny has given her the gift of life, my grandchild. It's been so long since..," she said, pausing as a tear fell from her eye. Ms. Sky understood how she was feeling. This was the only time in her life that a demigod child was born to her, all the other demigod children going against Olympus and the result either death or imprisonment. The least she could do was ensure that he/she was born into the world.
"I will see you soon. Thank you for your time, and for giving my son a place to call home," said Gaia, hugging Ms. Sky. She walked out the door into the night, Ms. sky watching her leave until she disappeared back into the earth itself. Ms Sky checked to make sure Danny was okay before she went into her bathroom to shower and go to bed.
It was 4 o'clock in the morning when Danny opened his eyes. His first thought was that he was dead, everything being dark around him. He turned his head, to see that Katie was laying on his, her head still on his chest. He tried to move his hands, but they moved so weakly that he was shocked they were even moving at all. They her head, and she slowly opened her eyes. She yawned and turned the lamp on to get some light in the room.
"Are you okay?" she said.
"A bit sore, but yes. How's the baby?" he asked.
"I don't think he's big enough yet, but yes he's fine," she said. Danny sat up, but went back down when pain shot through his body. He brushed off some of the dirt to see how well his injury had healed. The gash was gone, but the point where the lightning had hit him was atill a little black in one area, but it was small. Katie placed her hand on his shoulders to keep him from trying to get up again.
"You had some nerve damage, which is why it's hard for you to move your limbs," she said. She settled over him, making sure her body weight didn't hurt the wound. Her head was on his neck, nestling under his chin. He could feel her trembling though.
"Katie's what's wrong?" said Danny.
"I'm scared," she said.
"Scared for what?" he asked. She lifted her head to show him that she was about to cry.
"I'm afraid because I almost saw you die. I wouldn't be able to live without you Danny. I don't know if I can raise our child without you being there," she said, a tear falling down. Danny saw that she was hurt to, emotionally, which would hurt more than physically, but a physical wound can heal. He raised his head enough to kiss her lightly, assuring her that he was here now. She didn't have to worry anymore. She brought her head down till she and Danny were looking at each other sideways, her body still on him.
"I'm here. You don't have to worry Katie," he said. He wiped away her tear, calming her down. This was one of the things he always did best, calming her down from nearly anything that the Fates threw at her. It was probably his best quality. She out her arms around him, never letting go as they lightly kissed, ensuring that they would always be together.