Chapter 34.

Ana

"Ok, so I don't want anyone to be offended but I am not having bridesmaids, I hope everyone is ok with that. I just want it to be a really simple quick wedding and then we can party, so wear whatever you want. Now, who wants to see my dress?"

Ana could feel the buzz of excitement around the room when Huldah mentioned her dress. It was the one thing she had been looking forward to seeing from the second Beal proposed. "I'm not going to show you in person because I don't want to risk the guys coming in and seeing it."

She pulled out her phone and started flicking through what Ana guessed were images. The second she found what she was looking for her eyes lit up as she turned it around to show everyone, and it didn't disappoint.

The dress was gorgeous and all Huldah. It was a playful and incredibly sexy A-line short dress with long sleeves and an open back. The front came down a little to show off a little cleavage. The bottom of the skirt and the ends of the sleeves were covered in soft white feathers. It was so unusual and beautiful. Ana knew that Huldah would look incredible in it, it suited her personality perfectly.

"Beal is going to love you in this honey, it's so beautiful, and it just suits your personality so well. I can't wait to see you in it." Huldah beamed at Ana's words.

"Do you really think he will like it?"

"I can't believe you even need to ask. The dress is gorgeous. He is going to struggle to keep his hands of you, well more than he already does that is. Is there any way you would like us to dress?"

"Well as you can see from the wedding dress I'm going for a fun and flirty theme. Remember we are in Vegas and after the wedding, we will be going for dinner and then out to party. So there is no theme other than fun, flirty, and sexy."

"No problem, I'm sure we can all do that. I'm so excited. Just think in two days you're going to be Beal's wife. How do you feel?" Huldah sat down in a chair in front of everyone and lifted her legs up and crossed them over, bouncing a little like a child would do when they are excited about something.

"I'm so excited. I'm just really ready to be his wife. I have waited for a very, very, long time to find love. I never thought I would find it and I convinced myself I was ok with that, but now that I have him I never want to live a day without him. Just knowing I get to wake up with him every day makes me giddy. I catch him sometimes just watching me and when I look at him he always smiles at me and I could cry each time because every smile he gives me is so filled with love."

She wiped a stray tear that had fallen from her eye as she stared into the distance, smiling as if she was seeing him in front of her. Ana hadn't realized that she too was crying as she listened to Huldah talk.

Huldah took a deep shaky breath then she started to talk again while everyone else just sat silently. "I never knew that someone could love me the way he does. I get scared sometimes that I am going to wake up and it's all going to be a dream. Does anyone else get like that? Or is it just me that worries?"

"I do sometimes. I remember when I first met Christian there would be times in the middle of the night that I would reach over if he wasn't touching me, just so that I could make sure he was there and he was real. It's crazy what love can do to a person, but it's so worth it." Ana looked around to see everyone smiling, crying, and nodding their heads in agreement.

"Do you want to know what I'm walking down the aisle to?"

"Yes, please." Every one of them spoke in unison as once again Huldah picked up her phone and started to look through it. A few seconds later a song started to play bringing on fresh tears from everyone.

"Who is this? It's so beautiful." Ana looked over to her mom who she could see was practically sobbing as she spoke to Huldah.

"It's called 'why I love you by a singer called Major. Do you like it?" Huldah was biting her nails nervously and looking at each of them for confirmation that she had picked the right song.

Ana took a deep breath to stop herself from crying as the song continued to play. "Huldah, it's perfect. Look what it's done to us all, we can't stop crying. Why have I never heard this song before? We are going to have to redo our makeup before we go anywhere after the wedding." She let out a little laugh and wiped her eyes on the tissue her mom handed her.

"Oh good, I'm so pleased. Well, I'm pleased you like it not that I made you all cry. Sorry about that." They were all wiping their tears as the song ended when the door to the suite opened. They all turned at once to see the men stood at the door with worried and confused expressions on all of their faces as they looked around the room as if searching for danger.

"What happened? Why are you all crying? I thought you were doing wedding planning, isn't that supposed to be fun? You all look like someone died." Beal sounded so worried that it was almost comical.

"We're fine. We were just listening to the song that Huldah is going to walk down the aisle to. Have you heard it?" they all visibly relaxed and walked into the room each going to their woman to say hello.

"No, she won't let me hear it, will you baby? She says she wants it to be a surprise." He leaned in to kiss Huldah and hand Liam to her as she held her hands out for him. He then picked her up and sat back down with her now sat on his lap. Something all the men seemed to do when they were around their woman.

"It's beautiful, and the perfect song for you both." Ana was now sat on Christian's lap with him kissing her neck making her melt against him. She closed her eyes thinking about what Huldah had said about how she worried that she would wake to find this life was just a dream and at that moment the fear of that ever happening had her squeezing him tighter.

"You ok beautiful?" She didn't think she would be able to speak without a fresh flood of tears so she simply rested her head on his shoulder and nodded, as she looked around the room.

They sat for another hour or so chatting excitedly at what was to come over the next few days when Pythia finally woke up and joined them. The second she did Zeus shimmered over to her, picked her up, and shimmered back to his seat. "Hi sweetie, did you have a good sleep?" She stretched out a little then snuggled back into Zeus's arms.

"I did, thank you so much. I'm so sorry for being such an emotional mess, I was just so exhausted."

"Pythia, don't apologise for being emotional, especially not to these ladies. When we walked in every single one of them was in tears. So being emotional seems to be the theme of the day." Pythia frowned, prompting Huldah to explain why they had been crying.

A short time later Hestia and Demeter entered the room with very tired, very cranky, and hungry children. Demeter and Hestia never moved from the doorway as they let go of the children's hands and watched with smiles on their faces as they all ran towards their parents.

The only one who wasn't whining and moaning was Ava who walked straight over to where Pythia and Huldah were sat with their men and squeezed herself in between them both. She had built up an incredible bond with both Huldah and Pythia which Ana suspected was because of their shared gifts, and whenever she was with them she always wanted to be sat close to them both.

"We have just come up to let you know we have ordered food for the children it should be here any minute. As you can see they are tired. It's been quite a busy day for them so they will be wanting an early night I suspect. We were going to take them up to our suite but they all wanted to be with their mom's and dad's so we thought it best to bring them up here. We are going up to our suite so if you need anything you know where we are. Good night, we will see you all tomorrow."

Before anyone could say anything in reply to Demeter they both shimmered out of the room. "Why didn't they stay here?" Mia asked the question Ana was thinking. They did so much for them that Ana would have loved to have them stay so that they could all thank them at least.

"Don't worry little one. My sisters are not much for adult company. They much prefer to spend time with you beautiful children, but not so much with the grownups. They are also probably quite tired themselves. You have all had a busy day and you have been out in the sun for a long time, so they will want some sleep themselves." All of the children sat and stared at Zeus as he spoke like he was the most fascinating person in the world.

"Will we get to play with them tomorrow?" Jamie was sat on the floor leaning against Mia as if she was the only thing keeping him sat up. He looked like he was seconds away from falling asleep.

"Yes, sweetheart of course you will," Ana answered Jamie's question as she stood to answer the door for the children's food to be brought into the suite. She set the table up for them to eat knowing that as soon as they finished they would want to go straight to bed so they all decided that all of them would sleep here as the adults were going to be staying up here a little while longer.

The night was very relaxed and just what they all especially Pythia needed. They ate and drank and talked about what was going to happen over the next few days. They also talked about the fact that after the wedding they would all be getting back to their own lives.

Ana couldn't help but think more about what she would do when she got home. Now that she had twins going back to work wouldn't be as easy as before so she knew she had a lot to think about. Not to mention that now that they no longer had the fights to plan for she knew that Christian would have to get back to his duties and she had so many new roles to play being who she now was.

She was sat silently as everyone else chatted excitedly about life, lost in thought. She was looking forward to seeing what was to come but she couldn't help but feel a little sad and anxious knowing that they wouldn't all be together as much as they are now.

She had loved so much being so close with everyone and seeing them all every day, and while it will be nice having alone time with her family she was going to miss everyone so much.

She hadn't realized that someone was talking to her until she felt Christian squeezing her from behind. She had been sat on his lap pretty much constantly since he had come back to the suite and right now she had her back to his chest and his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. "Baby, are you ok? Your mom just asked you a question."

"Oh, sorry mom, I was in a world of my own for a second then. What's up?"

"I was just asking if you were looking forward to getting back to work when we get home. I know it's been a while and a lot has happened so I was just thinking you must be excited about getting back to normal."

Ana just frowned at her mom, thinking about how she wanted to answer her question. While Ana loved to help people she just knew that things would never be the same, and if she was honest she wasn't sure she could return to normal. Her client's all needed consistency and she wasn't sure that that was something that she could give them anymore.

"I don't know mom, I'm not entirely sure that I would be good at my job anymore. I can't be sure that something like this won't happen again. In fact, I'm almost certain at some point that we will be in a situation where we will have to fight someone again, and I can't just keep putting my client's help and treatment on hold or handing them off to others whenever I need to deal with a crisis."

She watched as the realization of what she was saying slowly hit her mom then she carried on. "Also with the twins and the fact that Christian and I want to have another baby, I think I may have to work on moving my clients on to therapists that can give them what they need. I will hopefully go back into this work one day because I love it, and you know that, but right now I need to settle into this new life. Will you help me when we get home to work this out please mom?"

"Oh, sweetheart you don't need to ask that. Of course, I will and I think you are making the right choice. With twins and a new baby coming soon, plus being who you are, you will be incredibly busy, and you're right. In our field of work, our clients need consistency and structure. So I think the best thing for them is to find someone who can give them what right now you can't. When we get back we will sit down and work it all out so don't look so stressed sweetheart."

Just saying it out loud lifted some worry from Ana's shoulders and she visibly relaxed against Christian, when she quickly realized she hadn't asked him how he felt about her not working for a while. She was just about to turn and ask him when she felt his lips at her ear.

"I love the idea baby. The more I get to see you the better for me, and if I'm honest I was hoping you would have made that decision." He kissed her behind her ear and peppered light soft kisses down the column of her neck making her melt against him.

"Does anyone else think it's going to be really weird not seeing each other every day?" Elliot looked how she felt and from the looks on everyone else's faces so did they. Quite frankly it was going to be shit. They had spent so much time together and despite the drama, had had some really fun times together, and it was going to suck not seeing them all every day.

"It's going to suck but let's not think about that right now. We still have time before we have to get back to normal, and in that time we have our wedding, and a new baby, that will be here soon. Also, we have another wedding to plan, and Ana you will be pregnant before you know it. We have so much good stuff to come, so can we please all cheer up, and stop talking about depressing stuff?"

"Sorry Huldah, you're right sweetie we can think about all of that when the time comes, besides I'm sure will see each other all the time anyway. If we didn't have you over often enough the children would never allow it, and no doubt they would glamour everyone at some point."

Everyone laughed and agreed, knowing that the children especially the twins had the power to bring anyone to them whenever they wanted. So they wouldn't let a long time go by before they saw everyone again.

"So Pythia, Zeus, have you thought of names for the baby yet?" Pythia looked down at her stomach and rubbed it affectionately and smiled, as Zeus just watched her with a small on his handsome face. The love between these two was so obvious, but just seeing the way that Zeus was watching Pythia she knew he loved her more than he had ever loved anyone before.

"Say what you are thinking my love? I can see as you stroke our daughter, safe in your womb that you have thought of a name, and I believe with the beautiful smile on your face I will no doubt love it. So please my heart, what is it you wish to name our daughter?" Pythia looked up at him and blushed never failing to look flushed and shy around him.

Everyone sat silently watching them and waiting to hear what Pythia would say. Which Pythia quickly noticed prompting her to look back down at her stomach again. She spoke so quietly that had they not all been supernatural they probably would have found it difficult to hear what she had said.

"I was thinking Gabriella. It's Hebrew and it means devoted to God. I just figure you are a God, and no doubt she would absolutely be devoted to you. If you don't like it we can..."She never got to finish her sentence as Zeus placed his finger over her lips and lifted her face so that she was staring right at him.

"It's beautiful my love. I couldn't think of a better name." The smile on Pythia's face could have brightened the darkest room as she smiled at the man she loved, and he leaned in to kiss her softly. The sight melted not just Ana's heart but from the looks on everyone's faces, they were all melting alongside her.

"We need to make a baby ASAP, wife of mine. This has just made my broodiness step up several notches and I don't want to wait much longer." She chuckled at Christian's words and nudged him telling him silently not to ruin Pythia and Zeus's moment, which just had him smiling and growling softly in her ear.

No one spoke for a few more minutes until Zeus pulled back from the kiss and stood holding Pythia in his arms. "We are going to bid you all good night. I would very much like to be alone with my love. Ana, Christian, thank you both very much for your hospitality. We will see you all tomorrow. Sleep well, everyone." As he finished talking he had already gone leaving his voice to echo around the room and leaving Pythia's soft laugh to linger in their place.

Shortly after Pythia and Zeus left everyone else started to say their goodnights. Ana hadn't realized just how late it was, and when she saw that it was nearly two in the morning the tiredness hit her and she suddenly couldn't wait to climb into bed and fall asleep in Christian's arms.

As she climbed in beside Christian he wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest. "So are you going to tell me what was going on in your pretty head earlier? You blocked me so I couldn't hear what had you looking so concerned." She sighed then sat up to face him so that they could talk, her exhaustion temporarily gone.

"I guess I just don't know what life will be like now. I don't mean with you. I know my life with you is going to forever be a dream that I never want to wake up from. It's just that before you I was consumed by work, and I don't know what it's going to be like to go back to normal and not have work. I feel better knowing that mom and I are going to sit down and sort my clients out but I guess until now I just haven't thought about what my new role in life is now." She could see the worry on Christian's face so quickly explained.

"Please baby, don't worry. When it comes to being your wife and the mother to our children I know that role so well and I love it and wouldn't change it for anything in the world. I mean the role that Zeus has given me and the role that comes with being your Queen. Until now we have been in battle after battle and I can do that, well. Those duties came naturally to me. I just don't know what my job is now. Or what the details of my job are now. Also, I'm going to really miss everyone but I'm excited to build our family." She took a deep breath knowing that she sounded so confused.

"It's the uncertainty of the unknown. I have spent my life being in control, and knowing what I was doing, and now I don't know what I am going to do. Am I making sense?" She felt like she sounded as confusing as she felt and it was frustrating her.

"It makes perfect sense baby. We haven't had time to rest and relax and get back to our lives since we met, and now that we do I get that you would be worried and probably a little nervous about learning your new roles in the world. You have to remember kitten you are not going to do this alone. I will help you learn your role as my Queen, and we can talk to Zeus about him helping you learn your role as his Queen. We will all figure it out together. As for missing everyone, I never thought I would say this but so will I. So we can arrange to meet up with them as often as possible for dinners. It's all going to be ok baby, so please don't stress about it. Let's enjoy the time we have here, and like Huldah said, enjoy the things that are coming up. You have another wedding to plan remember, and another birth coming up. So we will have a lot of things that will no doubt keep up the daily meetings with our family. We also have to teach Izzy and Elliot their new roles so they will be with us a lot."He kissed her when she smiled at him then continued.

"I think the only thing that will change the most is the fact that we will have more children, and hopefully less stress from our enemies for a while at least. Now let's sleep because we are going to have five children waking us up in less than a few hours and today it's been a very long day."

She couldn't agree more as she felt her earlier exhaustion return with a vengeance. So she lay back down and placed a kiss over his heart and sighed as she snuggled into his chest. This was always going to be her happy place and he would always be the one who could ease her mind and make her feel better. She was so lucky to have him and she would never take him for granted.

She fell asleep almost immediately looking forward to spending a nice relaxing girlie day tomorrow, but she was going to make sure she was going to take some time time to show her husband just how much he means to her, before she spends the night without him, something that she was not looking forward to.