Chapter 33.
Christian
He was lying by the pool next to Ana who was in yet another skimpy bikini. Sure he loved to see her like this why wouldn't he? She was gorgeous. He just hated that others could see her as well. He could see the men around them watching Ana and the other women from the corner of their eyes and it was beginning to piss him off.
"Christian, stop looking at everyone like you are going to rip their heads off. If you keep frowning like that you will get wrinkles." At the mention of wrinkles, he looked at his wife to see her smiling and looking over her sunglasses mischievously.
"Are you trying to say I'm getting old wife?" She threw her head back and laughed until he climbed on top of her and held her arms above her head, bringing back memories of the night before, and it would seem from the look in Ana's eyes that it was bringing back memories for her as well. He loved that not only did she look scared and turned on, but that he was showing all the fuckers around the pool that she was all his.
"Christian you know you're older than dirt, but you don't look a day over thirty, now get off me people are staring."
"Let them watch, you're my wife I can do what I want with you, whenever I want and you know you are just as turned on as I am, I can smell it." He watched with amusement as she frantically looked around the pool.
"Christian move, or I will make you, and I am sure you don't want everyone to see your little wife throw you of her." He rolled his eyes as he rolled off her hating the loss of contact and grabbing a cushion to hide his obvious erection.
"You don't play fair." She laughed at him before leaning over to kiss him.
"I love you so much, but stop pouting it's not becoming of a king, especially not the king of hell." She looked around at everyone and his eyes followed hers to see that they did have an audience, but as soon as he looked at those staring, everyone apart from their family looked away in fear.
"Has anyone seen Benji and Artemis?" at Ana's words he looked around to see that they weren't anywhere to be seen.
"Should someone call them?" Huldah was sat up grabbing her phone as she spoke.
"Why do you look so worried? I'm sure they are fine, they probably just want some time alone."
"Oh come on Christian, this is us we are talking about, you can never be too careful. We are after all the most dysfunctional family, with more enemies than we can count. So I think Huldah is right we should give them a call." Ok Ana's words had worried him slightly, she was right they had a lot of enemies and it was quite late in the day.
"Fuck this, why are we calling them? We should shimmer in there and save time." He was already standing when Ana grabbed his arm.
"Christian, calm down, we can't just shimmer in there. What if they are fine and just want some time to themselves? You can't embarrass Artemis like that. Besides, Huldah is already calling them." She nodded over to Huldah who had the phone up to her ear, smiling.
He sat down but was ready to go up to their room if they didn't answer. He could hear a ringing phone coming from close by that was getting louder. He looked around to see where the ringing was coming from and took a relieved breath when he saw Artemis and Benji walking up to them so lost in each other that they weren't even aware of the ringing phone.
"Huldah, hang up, they are coming." He pointed over to where they were and everyone visibly relaxed.
"Good morning lovebirds, how are you two?" he watched as Artemis blushed and played with her hand, when he looked down his eyes went wide as he saw what it was she was playing with.
He nudged Ana to get her attention when she looked at him he quickly pointed with his eyes to what he was seeing, her eyes followed his and she gasped. "Oh shit! When did that happen?" her words seemed to get everyone's attention as they all looked at the huge ring on Artemis's finger.
Artemis looked at Huldah and he could hear that she was worried Huldah would be annoyed because this was her wedding vacation, and she didn't want Huldah to think she was taking the attention from her. She couldn't have been more wrong as it was Huldah who was the first to jump up screaming and clapping with joy before she hugged them both.
"This is so exciting, ohhhhhhh we should have a double wedding, how cute would that be? Beal honey wouldn't that be amazing?" Beal was feeding his son and smiling at Huldah when he answered.
"Beautiful, anything that makes you as happy as you are right now is always amazing." She turned and blew a kiss to him over her shoulder then grabbed Artemis's hand.
"Benji you have impeccable taste this ring is incredible, when did you plan this? And how did you keep it a secret?" Ana had joined Huldah and the other women were quick to follow as they congratulated them.
"I have been planning this from the first day I met her, I just needed the right time and last night was perfect. I am so sorry Huldah, I know this is your time and I swear we won't take the shine of you both. I just couldn't wait for another second to make her mine. I hope you understand."
"Don't you dare apologize, this is the best news. I am so excited for you both, I meant it when I said we should have a double wedding, it would be so much fun."
"Thank you, Huldah, but I hope you won't mind us declining, I just want to give Artemis her dream wedding. She has lived such a long life and celebrated so many unions and seen so much love. I just think it's her time to have her special day and I want it to be as special as she wants it to be. I hope you understand, while I know it would be a lot of fun I just want the day to be about her is that ok?"
"Of course it is, you don't have to explain anything. I think it's beautiful that you want to give her the wedding of her dreams. I am so happy for you both. You are made for each other." She hugged them both again then practically skipped over to Beal and held her hands out for Liam, and took a seat on Beal's lap whispering excitedly. He had to admit when he saw them together there was no one else more perfect than her for his brother.
Apollo was next in line to congratulate the couple and Christian had to hide his smile at the nervous look on Benji's face. "Benji I want to welcome you to my family, but I have to say a few things before I leave my sister in your capable hands. My sister means everything to me. It has been just us for an eternity, and while it pleases me immensely that she has found love and I see that you are made for each other. I need to know that you will protect her heart. I know she can protect herself physically but you are the first man she has ever given her heart to, so that is for you to protect and care for; I need to know that you can do that."
"I love her. I have never said those words to a woman other than my family before. So while I am the first man that she has given her heart to, she is the first woman I have given mine to. I promise I will love and protect her for as long as breath, she is everything to me." Christian watched all the women visibly swooning at Benji's words.
Never would he have believed just a few months ago that this would have been his life. The idea of being surrounded by soppy loved-up men and swooning women used to be his idea of torture, but now he wouldn't have his life any other way.
The last man to congratulate them was Zeus who Christian often forgot was Artemis and Apollo's father. It was an easy thing to forget considering he doesn't look old enough to have adult children.
"Benji, I won't warn you as my son did to not break my daughter's heart, as I can see your intentions and love for my daughter is pure. Welcome to the family son, I couldn't have chosen better partners in life for my children than they have chosen for themselves. Congratulations to you both." He shook Benji's hand and kissed his daughter's cheek before returning to a very pregnant and from the looks of it a very hot and uncomfortable Pythia.
Ana
She hugged her brother one last time and cried happy tears knowing that he had found the love of his life, it was all she ever wanted for him. Kate was the next to congratulate the couple and Ana didn't miss how Apollo's eyes followed her every move, perhaps they would be next down to take this big step. While it was obvious that they loved each other they didn't seem to be in as big of a rush like everyone else.
The ladies had all split away from the men to discuss wedding plans, and drink cocktails. The children were with Hestia and Demeter who had them all in the swimming pool. Anytime Izzy or Ana tried to help with the children they were shooed away and told that their only job, while they were here, was to plan Huldah's wedding and enjoy themselves.
Ana noticed Pythia had been really quiet throughout the day. She also looked like she was incredibly uncomfortable. Ana stood and walked over to Pythia, taking the seat next to her. "Hi sweetie, are you ok?" Pythia took a deep breath and rubbed her swollen stomach.
"I'm huge and hot, and I have barely slept. The baby barely stops moving at night, during the day there is hardly any movement, but at night she moves constantly. Why can't my pregnancy go as fast as everyone else's did? I mean her dad is Zeus, I would have thought I would have had her already." She looked like she was close to tears and Ana didn't know what to do to make her feel better.
"Can I be honest with you honey?" Pythia nodded wearily. "I hope my next pregnancy lasts longer. I felt like I never had any time to bond with the babies while they were inside me. I understand how you are feeling, it's uncomfortable, and while I wished that I could have been pregnant longer, I do understand how you could be wishing that it would be coming to an end. Just keep in mind that when the baby is born you will miss feeling him or her inside you."
Just then something Pythia said hit her. "Did you say 'she'? Are you having a girl?" she must have spoken loudly because everyone else stopped talking and had turned to listen to what Pythia's answer was.
"Yes, I had a vision a while ago but I was going to keep it a secret." She let out a soft exhausted laugh and Ana felt desperately sorry for her.
"Why don't you go up to your room and get some sleep, if she is quiet this would be the perfect time to rest."
"I want to, but Zeus won't let me go anywhere alone and he is enjoying himself so much with the guys I don't want to pull him away so that he is sat in a room on his own while I sleep." Ana had an idea as soon as she said this.
"Why don't you come to mine and Christian's suite? We can all come up with you. You can sleep in one of the rooms, and we can sit in the front room, order room service, and plan the wedding. That way Zeus can stay with the guys, you won't be on your own and can get some sleep, and we can still plan the wedding."
"You would do that for me?" Ana hugged her and nodded then stood to go over to tell the men that they were leaving.
"Guys, the girls and I are gonna go up to our room, Pythia is exhausted and wants a lie-down but she wants you to stay with the guys Zeus, so we said we would go up and stay with her. Please stay and enjoy yourself, if the kids get tired bring them up and we will put them down for a nap." She leaned down to kiss Christian who was frowning up at her.
"Why don't we all come up?" Christian and Zeus said the exact same thing at the same time.
"You can't come because it would be too much noise, and she wants you to stay and have fun with the guys. She feels like she keeps pulling you away from the men when she feels like she needs to rest, and she feels bad about it. So this way she gets a guilt-free sleep and we get wedding planning done and you guys get to have some fun. Plus Beal can't know a lot of the things we will be talking about, sorry guys. Have you never heard of the saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder?' Stay here, we will see you in a couple of hours." She kissed Christian again then walked back to the ladies.
"Go say by to your men then we can go up, I'm going to let Demeter and Hestia know what we are doing and check on the children."
Ana had checked on the children and let everyone know what they were doing. She was stood waiting for the ladies to join her when she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She felt eyes on her from somewhere and it sent a shiver down her spine. She quickly turned around, but this place was so busy she couldn't see anyone unusual through the crowds of people. She shook her head and decided to stay quiet, hoping that it was all in her head.
She relaxed her face not wanting anyone to sense any tension and made sure her mind was closed off so that no one would think that anything was wrong, but it was something she was definitely going to keep an eye on.
They made their way up to Ana and Christian's suite, and by the time they arrived Pythia looked like she was ready to collapse from exhaustion. "Right Pythia come on let's get you settled." Ana held her arm and helped her to the bedroom that was the furthest away from the front room so that the noise wouldn't disturb her.
"Ana, thank you for doing this, I feel like I'm such a pain for everyone." Ana's heart broke as she watched Pythia sit on the edge of the bed and burst into tears.
She knelt in front of her and grabbed her hands to get her attention. "Pythia, sweetie, please look at me, and listen to me." Pythia looked up and Ana reached up to wipe her tear-stained face hating to see her in so much pain.
"You are not a pain to any of us, we love you and we want to help. Remember sweetheart most of us have been in your situation before. I remember Izzy cried almost every day for the last few weeks of her pregnancy, because she couldn't get comfortable, or because nothing looked right on her, or everything felt swollen. These feelings are perfectly normal. I remember the last day of my pregnancy when I had to roll out of bed and waddle around, I was miserable, but I promise you when you have your daughter in your arms it will be all worth it and you will probably miss being pregnant I know I did."
"So did I."
"Me too."
"How you're feeling is perfectly normal." Ana turned around to see all the women stood by the bedroom door. They all walked over and climbed onto the bed to hug Pythia or kneel by the bed next to Ana.
"Pythia, you are not a pain to any of us, like Ana said we love you, and everything you are feeling right now is perfectly normal. I know when I was pregnant with all of my babies I had never felt more vulnerable, and yes like a pain because I complained about everything." Izzy laughed as she squeezed Pythia's hand.
"Sweetheart you just need to rest, then you need a spa day, so tomorrow us girls are going to have a nice pamper day. Yours will be a pamper day designed for pregnant women, so it will hopefully leave you feeling relaxed and rested. Huldah also booked an isolation pod for you. It's supposed to help you with any aches and pains, and inflammation. From what I have read it will help you to just rest your mind and be with your daughter because before you know it she will be here and you will have to share her with the world."
Pythia was crying, laughing, and nodding as Izzy spoke but she seemed like her mood had lifted quite a lot. "Thank you so much, I honestly don't know what I would do without all of you."
"Well luckily you never need to find out honey, now lie down rest and when you get up we will order some delicious food, we are staying in tonight. I think we could all do with a chilled night." Pythia was just about to protest but Huldah stopped her.
"Ah ah it's my wedding vacation and I want us to stay in, so we are all going to stay in and chill here and order loads of food and just have a fun family night away from the rest of the world, and we can wear comfy clothes. So sleep and we will wake you in a few hours." By the time Huldah had finished speaking Pythia looked down in surprise to see that she was now wearing the comfy clothes Huldah had mentioned.
She climbed under the covers and sleepily said her thanks as everyone kissed her and left the room. They entered the front room and were shocked to see Zeus sat on the sofa smiling at everyone.
"I believe I owe you all a thank you for what you just did for my love. I know that she has been having a hard time and any time I have tried to make her feel better, or reassure her, I was told that I would never understand how she felt." He laughed and shook his head a little before standing up to come over to them.
"What I just heard you ladies do, warmed my heart. Something Pythia doesn't know is that because she is pregnant with my child I can feel not just my daughter's emotions but I can feel hers as well, and for the first time in a while, both of them are resting peacefully. I came up here the second I felt her tears and her pain but it would seem I wasn't needed. You are all truly such beautiful souls and I am so thankful for you all and I am incredibly proud and blessed to know that most of you are a product of at least some of my input. I love you all and I just needed you to know that. Now I will leave you to your afternoon and I will inform your men of the plans for this evening. See you all in a few hours."
With that Zeus left leaving everyone a little emotional and speechless. "Well I don't know about anyone else but I really need a cocktail." Ana had to admit with all the emotion in the room a cocktail was exactly what they all needed.
"Izzy you get the drinks, Huldah you need to tell us what you want for your wedding we still don't know the theme, dress code, or anything." Huldah jumped up and down and clapped her hand in excitement squealing until she realized she was being loud and stopped.
"You know me, Ana, there is no planning needed I have it all figured out so let's get our drinks and make our way to the sofas and I will show you exactly what I have planned." She had a twinkle in her eyes that had Ana excited about what was to come. No matter what Huldah had planned she knew that it would be crazy and so much fun because it would match her personality perfectly.
Hades
Hades was stood in the crowd of people that were beginning to piss him off and he could tell that Erebus was just as uncomfortable and pissed off as he was. Erebus much like his wife Nyx was never one for being around others they preferred their caves in Tartarus than being around anyone let alone lowly humans, yet the second he heard that there was a chance he could get revenge for what Ana and Lucifer did to his children and possibly get their powers back he reluctantly agreed to help.
He had watched Ana looking around as if sensing them but they had been cloaked by magic, and if she saw through that they were also hidden by the pathetic, drunk idiots around him for extra measure. He knew she was powerful he just didn't know how powerful she was yet.
"She is more powerful than I alone Hades, we will need Nyx for this, so I suggest we come up with a plan to change her mind with regards to teaching my children a lesson. After all, she did tell them not to get involved in the fight, and that she wouldn't help them if they did. She will be hard to persuade. I see why you want the power that many of them possess; it's intoxicating; I can taste the power from here. The girl with Zeus's sisters, I want her for myself. If you want my help, I don't just want my children's revenge, I want her as well." Hades hated that he needed this fuckers help but he had no choice, as much as he wanted the girl to add to his own collection he couldn't afford to lose Ana and the twins so he reluctantly agreed, much to Erebus's delight and amusement.
"It's good to see you are somewhat smart. I can see why you want to do to me, but just know you would die where you stand before I even blink. The only reason you aren't dead is because of the fact that you keep Tartarus in order, something neither I nor Nyx wants to waste our time with. Stay smart Hades do not piss me off or you will find yourself in Tartarus as my prisoner, understood?"
"I understand perfectly." They stood and watched as all of the women left, and he could see his brother watching Pythia with a worried frown on his face, maybe he should take her, it would please him greatly to see his brother miserable without her.
"Hades, stick to the plan, you grow greedy with revenge, you cannot take Pythia, leave her be. The babe she will birth is too powerful, if you take her the fates will surely step in and if that happens then we will lose. We also need to think about what to do with Lucifer, when you take the twins and Ana he will destroy everything he touches to get them back and he has a lot of powerful beings behind him. We cannot go into this blind with rage and revenge. We need to think and plan properly. You need to practice patience. If you need someone to take your anger and frustrations out on while we wait do so with Hestia. Come, we need to get back before we are seen and I need to speak with Nyx."
They both took one last look at the group around the pool and the women now walking away before they walked away themselves. This was going to be the longest fucking wait of his existence. He was never good at being patient, but he hated to say that Erebus was right, they had to plan for everything. With that bitter thought and finally being away from the eyes of the humans, they both shimmered back to Tartarus.