Marcus gets into a little t-shirt reading Led Zeppelin Rules and dark wash jeans with Daddy's help while Savannah picked out a little navy blue dress with navy blue shoes. Although she isn't old enough to talk about boys, she did want me to do her hair. I braided two strands of hair and tied them together in the back. Nothing fancy, but she liked it.
Once they were properly dressed, as Rhea would have said, Charon comes back to officially meet them. He's totally giddy. He comes to the front of the boat, as close as he can. I guess he can't leave the damned boat after all. However, that doesn't stop him from reaching out to them.
"Uncle Charon!" Marcus says, mimicking his Daddy's pronunciation. He knows Charon is family and if he's anyway shy, you wouldn't believe it. He throws his little arms around Charon and Savannah does the same, but so gracefully. It's cute to see him with the kids. They're so accepting of him, even when Marcus accidentally grips his hood and tugs it away to show his skull and sunken eyes, if you can even call it that. Marcus and Savannah aren't afraid and I think it's because when I was pregnant with them, I wasn't afraid. I think, in a way, they were experiencing the world through me.
"I don't think I've ever seen the old boy so happy." Hades says softly beside me as he watches this too. "I'm telling you, since you first arrived, everything here woke up. I know Persephone gets credit for Spring, but man, it should really be you." He adds and I glance at him, flattered. His eyes shift down to me and he gives me a soft smile.
"I love you too." I say and his smile brightens. Even after having children, it feels like that first real moment of love that we shared. I know most couples lose this feeling after a few years, but I doubt it will happen to us. We're total lovebirds!
"Ride?" Charon asks and our children giggle as they jump up and down, excited about the offer. If it wasn't for Charon holding up a boney hand, waiting for our approval, Marcus and Savannah would jump in. They turn to us, doing this little dance that makes them look like they have to pee.
"Sure!" Hades says, all too pleased. I know he's thinking that we can have some alone time, but I don't think so. As our babies climb onboard, I turn to him and grin at his smirk.
"You know, the Furies haven't officially met them." I say and his smirk falters somewhat, but it remains.
"We can be quick." He says and my grin widens.
"I don't doubt we can be quick; I just know we're going to enjoy being together and lose track of time." I reply and his smirk becomes this sexy little grin with seduction glimmering in his chilled blue eyes. I giggle as he poses like Mr. Charming, but it's so ridiculous that it's cheesy. My cheesy sexy God.
Hades steps closer to me and scoops me up into his arms. It's at times like this that I realize how tall he is, being plucked off the ground. He kisses my neck as I wrap my arms around his neck, kicking my legs up. He doesn't waste time; he takes me inside and I'm guessing he's about to prove me wrong about making love and losing track of time.
He takes me to our bedroom, I wrap my legs around his hips, willing my gown to become just undergarments. As we get in our bedroom, rather than head to our bed, he closes the doors and gentle slams me against the doors, surprising me. He pins my wrists up by my head and wills himself naked, as do I, realizing this is it.
He thrusts against me, giving me a whole new experience. His eyes are sharp and piercing as he stares at me. To hold in any moans is not possible. I never was one to make a lot of vocal sounds of pleasure, but this is fucking mind blowing.
I keep my legs tight around him, quickly exhausting my muscles, but putting up with the pain because it's so fucking worth it. However, I'm hoping I don't get a splinter in my ass from the doors. I wish I could look at his body to watch his movement. Although I'm simply being pushed up against the wall, then slide down as he goes for more stamina, I know he's working really hard.
It's so appreciated.
Why can't I look at his sexy chiseled body? His eyes are so demanding of my attention. I can't tear my gaze away as his beautiful cold silver blue eyes are enticing.
I hear low grunts in his throat, which sends a shiver down my spine. Oh, I love how beastly he can be! This encourages my moans of pleasure to increase in volume and my vagina to throb, reaching my climax just as he increases in speed and harshness. Oh, so good.
It's intense, but oh so satisfying.
I yelp just as I hit my climax, cumming, my head against the door and looking into his chilled lustful eyes that are satisfied. He gently kisses me, our kiss tired, but content. I don't think I'll ever get bored sexually with Hades. He always surprises me.
Hades pulls his lips from mine, calm and happy.
"The kids are probably on their way back." He says and I lean in to give him a quick kiss.
"And off to the Furies, then my parents before Marcus and Savannah grow into school-age, giving my parents heart attacks." I reply and he smiles. I thought for sure he'd hate visiting my parents, but he doesn't ever reveal that to be true, probably because he knows it makes me happy.
We will ourselves into the same clothing as before he had a pleasantly surprising quickie so hat the children don't suspect anything. They'll probably already know.
We head out and stand in the same place just as Charon returns. I can hear our babies talking a lot, probably talking Charon's ears off, if he had ears. The boat comes into view and I can see Savannah waving to us. Then, Marcus does the same as if he doesn't want his sister to have all the attention. I guess I should expect that to be a recurring thing.
"We saw the Underworld!" Marcus says, shouting, his voice echoing. Hades laughs a little, no doubt proud.
"That's just a part of it." He replies as the boat approaches the shore. "Your mother and I will show you the other part." He adds and the kids are excited. Charon has to hold up a hand to tell them not to rock the boat. It's hilarious to watch, but I'm proud to see them listen to him respectfully.
"Is that behind our house?" Savannah asks, smacking her brother who is anxious to jump off the boat.
"Yes." Hades replies and I go to say something about Savannah hitting her brother, but Hades beats me to it. "Marcus, your sister wouldn't hit you if you'd have some patience and wait for Uncle Charon to get closer." He adds and I look at him with a slight grin.
"Yup, like father like son." I say, getting a grin out of him.
"I'd say I'm pretty patient." He replies and I laugh, thinking back to the beginning. Maybe he is patient, but that's probably because he learnt to be with me.
"I guess." I say and hear a slight snort as I go to meet the kids just as they jump off the boat. "How was the ride?" I ask them, getting hugged by both, like they missed me. So sweet.
"It was fun." Savannah said and went to hug her Daddy.
"Uncle Charon told us never to touch any water." Marcus says and waves at Hades, not wanting to leave me. I look at him with a grin, seeing him resisting to shake his head.
"That's right." Hades says and Savannah takes his hand, ready for another tour. "You can ride with Uncle Charon anytime." He adds and grins at Charon. I glance at him and I know he's happy, but he probably knows why Hades is grinning as he looks at me.
"Thanks Charon." I say and he gives me a slight bow.
"Where are we going now?" Marcus asks, taking his Daddy's hand, but holding onto mine too. I look at Hades and we smile. How they love their Daddy.
"We're going to meet the Furies." Hades says and we teleport onto the beach just out of the palace. They look up and see what I saw near the end of my pregnancy: no physical way in or out of the palace to the beach and no windows.
Marcus and Savannah ask Hades all about the waters, the Underworld, everything and anything. It's nothing I didn't know before, but he explains it better than I could. It feels odd to feel left out of the conversation, but Marcus looks up at me, as if sensing this.
"I remember this." He says and I frown a little out of confusion. "You and Daddy walked here before. It put me to sleep." He says and I smile, giving his little hand a light squeeze.
"Yes, we walked bare feet. The Furies didn't like that we took our time when they needed our help." I say and he smiles up at me. "They're really nice." I add and Hades snorts.
"No they're not, but everyone loves Mommy. No one's ever mean to Mommy." Hades says and Savannah leans forward to smile at me as we walk. Despite her chilled eyes, her smile is sweet. It's hard to tell sometimes who our kids take after the most. I guess it's a real 50-50 per cent mixture of Hades and I.
"Is that them?" Marcus asks, pointing across the beach to the Furies that fly around to sort out the souls. I come to the realization that they work non-stop, sorting never-ending arrivals to the Underworld and we do whatever it is we want to do. We work less than five per cent of the time. It's quite sad.
"Yes, and when we get there, don't get too close to them." Hades replies and I grin as it seems he fears the Furies a little, big Lord of the Underworld. However, if someone doesn't fear the Furies, at least a little, they're stupid. Hades respects them, somewhat, but never tries to push his weight around with them; he probably figures that's not a good idea.
Shortly after that warning, the kids run ahead, trying to find things on the sand. Hades and I take each other's hand and walk behind, watching them. One of us should probably tell them that this beach has nothing but Underworld sand.
Marcus calls over Savannah, digging through the sand.
"Okay, we've got to tell them there's nothing here." I say and glance at Hades who twitches the corner of his lips, eyes shifting down to me. "What?" I ask him.
"Well, after reading The Heroes of Olympus, Pluto is the God of riches, his daughter Hazel able to find gold beneath the earth. So, because Pluto sounded nicer than me, and cooler, I though I'd have some hidden gold and gemstones on my beach." Hades says and then I hear Marcus shout that he found a red rock, to only have his sister correct him: it's a ruby.
I sort of frown at Hades.
"You got a little jealous over a fictional character?" I ask and he frowns a little at me.
"I'll have you know that the Romans didn't like me, so they made Pluto who is nicer than me. Loving to his wife, a Roman version of Persephone." He adds and I see the somewhat faint resentment. He got over it, but it still bothers him. I lean into him, wrapping my free arm around his.
"Ah, you're better than Pluto. I love you just the way you are." I say and feel him walk straight with pride. Typical.
"Look, we found a ruby." Marcus says, both running to us to show the red stone. It was big enough to sit in his little palm.
"That's good." Hades says and then Savannah wants to hold it, but her brother won't let her. She goes to hit him, but looks at my scowl first. She lowers her fist and returns to the beach, scanning. It's like she's trying to let her intuition guide her in the right place.
"I can keep it, right Daddy?" Marcus asks and Hades grins.
"Of course. Mommy can help you make it into a necklace if you want." He replies and Marcus beams up at me.
"Mommy, can you? Can you please?" He asks me and I smile, trying not to smack Hades. At this moment, I'm starting to think Savannah got that urge to hit from me.
"Of course, Honey. Put it in your pocket and after we see your grandparents, I'll do just that." I say and he's so happy, running down the beach to see if he can find more. I look at Hades and smack him.
"What?" He asks with a slight laugh.
"Does it look like I know how to make a necklace out of the stone?" I ask him as he grins.
"I sure as Hell don't." He says and I grunt. "Moms can do anything and everything. Dads just make it look like we know what we're doing." He adds and I look up at him, arching an eyebrow. "Like you never noticed that about your parents." He concludes and I shake my head, mostly because I did notice that, all my life.
But my Dad was helpful about a lot of stuff, like how to fix the chain on my bike.
Savannah walks up to us, her little hands clasped together, hiding whatever it is she found, her little chin up with pride and this cute serious expression as her brother follows, begging her to show him what she found.
"Hey, what do you have?" Hades asks and she opens her hands to reveal several stones.
"I found amethyst, blue agate, howlite, obsidian and rose quartz." She says, impressing both her father and I with her surprising knowledge of gemstones. Marcus tries to take one out of her hands, but she moves aside. "I would just like a box for my stones. With a lock and key." She says, glancing at her brother who doesn't seem happy anymore to have found one ruby.
"That I can get." Hades says, conjuring a nice golden box adorned with leaves and flowers. It looks nearly identical to the box that had contained Persephone's letter for so long; the one I had found in the fireplace in our bedroom. The box has a lock and Hades holds it open for her. Savannah puts her stones in and Hades hands her a key on a chain.
"Wait." Marcus says, getting his sister's attention. "Can we share our findings? One collection of stones?" He asks and I sigh with relief that I don't have to make a necklace. Even better is that our babies are starting to learn to play nice and share.
"That's a good idea." Savannah says and Marcus adds his ruby to the box. Hades as the key between his thumb and index finger and just like a cheap magic trick, pushes two keys apart. Instant duplication of a key for both children. Savannah locks the box and Marcus grabs the chains, each with a key on it. He puts one around his sister's neck and then other around his.
"Excellent." I say and they look up at me, proud of themselves and happy that I'm rewarding them with acknowledgement. Of course I would praise them for good choices.
The Furies shriek as they see us coming down to them. It's safe to say they're excited to meet Marcus and Savannah.