Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. I don't own any works credited to his name. I'm not Cassandra Clare, either, and I don't own any works credited to her name, either. I'm simply just me, and I only own works credited to my own name. Check out my profile if you'd like to see those! (Writing Desk's Raven, previously JustAnotherChapter, Fangirl Queendom, and some other name I don't remember.)
Previously on More Than A Friend:
"Alright, we can go check on whoever." I said. "But we have to be quick, and quiet about it, okay?"
"Okay." She nodded. "I'll flash us to his apartment."
We appeared in the small living room of an apartment. Eleos immediately called out. "Jake?" There was no answer, it being the middle of the night, so she tried again. "Jake?"
There was the sound of footsteps, from what I assumed was the bedroom, a light clicked on, and a young woman came out. She looked at us warily, and I realized we probably looked strange, Eleos in the nightgown she'd thrown on after our... activities, tears running down her face, and me in only a pair of sweatpants.
"Who the fuck are you, and how the fuck did you get into my apartment?" The girl hissed.
"Does a man named Jake live here? I swear this is the address he gave me, down to the apartment number." Eleos asked.
"What do you want with my-" She was cut off by another voice.
"Angie? What's wrong?" A young man stood in the bedroom doorway, rubbing at his eyes. He glanced to where she was looking, and his jaw dropped. "Cordy?"
"Jake!" Eleos rushed forwards, hugging him. "You're okay. I- I-"
"You still get those nightmares, even after all these years?" He asked quietly.
"I had to be sure you were okay. I couldn't just ignore it." She said. "Not after- Not after Aliya got hurt." I felt a pang at that. I didn't know when I'd next see Aliya, or if I even would be able to.
"Your friend?" Jake asked. "What happened to her?"
"Nightmare came true." Eleos whispered. She stepped back. "I just had to come see that you were okay."
"Jacob, what's going on?" The girl, Angie, asked.
"Angie, this is Cordelia. Cordy, this is Angela." Jacob introduced. "You know, I told you about her when we met."
Eleos smiled. "So you did. Did everything go according to plan?" She asked.
"It did, indeed." Jacob smiled. He held out a hand and Angie went over to stand with him, slipping her hand into his. "We're happily engaged."
"That's great!" Eleos exclaimed. "I'm happy for you. But we should probably be going now. We can't stay long. And I have to go into hiding in the morning."
"You're not even going to introduce this friend of yours?" Jacob asked, looking over at me. There was a mischievous glint in his eye, and I remembered that Eleos's only living relative that knew of her new status was a son of Aphrodite. He knew, then, of our relationship.
"Jake, this is Sage." Eleos blushed, twisting the rings around on her hand. "He's my husband."
"And you didn't even invite me to your wedding?" Jake asked, placing his free hand over his heart. "I thought I was to be your flower girl. I feel so offended."
Eleos laughed. "I was joking when I told you, years ago, that you would be the flower girl at my wedding." She told him. "And it was really a more spur of the moment kinda thing. He proposed today, actually, and we went and had a fancy dinner, and then we had a small little ceremony. Hera knew, because of her domain, and she presided. But she swore not to tell anyone until we decided."
"Eleos," I said softly, "we really do need to get going. Every moment we stay longer is only making it more dangerous for them, for you, and for everyone back at the farm."
"It was good to see you, Jake. Quick question before we go, though, is she still bothering you? Cos I freaked her out, like alot, and I'd be totally happy to do it again to get her to leave you alone, if need be." Eleos said.
"I think you freaked her out enough to leave me alone. She hates the godly world, as you once told me, and seeing that I decided to keep myself surrounded by those from my own world, she finally quit. Your sister was persistent, though." Jake said.
"She's not my sister, Jake. And you were there when she told me I was no sister of hers." Eleos said. "What did you mean by surrounding yourself with people from your world? I thought the only demigods you knew were me, well, before, and your dads." Eleos asked.
"Oh, Angie, she's a demigod. And our circle of friends, they're demigods." Jacob explained.
Eleos looked at Angela. "Oh, who's your godly parent?" She asked.
"Athena." Angela answered.
Eleos laughed. "That's just..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "That's just weird."
"What, the family's not confusing enough for you?" Jacob teased. Eleos laughed again.
"C'mon, Eleos." I said softly. She stepped back over to me and took my hand.
"Yeah, I know." She sighed. "Let's head back."
"Wait." Angela said. She was staring intently at Eleos. She glanced back at a spot in the bedroom that I couldn't see. She looked back at Eleos, and her eyes widened. "Jake?"
She glanced between the two of them, but no one said anything. "You're the girl from his family that died." She said. "You look exactly like her, your features. Even the way you're standing. You're-" She was cut off by Jacob, who had clapped his hand over her mouth. She pushed his hand off, giving him an astonished and angry look. He gave her an apologetic look.
"You can't say my name." Eleos said quietly, her voice clear in the silence. "You have to just call me Cordy, or Eleos, but you should probably just call me Cordy. The less you say about who I am, the safer you are. I can't let another person get hurt just because they knew me, whether they know me now as Eleos or before as the girl I once was. I can't let them hurt someone else."
"What are you talking about?" Angela asked.
"Jake can explain once we're gone. But we've stayed too long already." Eleos told her. "Jake, I might not be able to see you again for a very, very long time. I don't know when it'll be safe to return, or if it'll ever be safe and not risky."
"You just do what you have to." Jake told her quietly. "You keep yourself safe, okay? Swear it to me."
"Jake, I can't promise I'll be safe, because that might not truly be possible." She said.
"Then don't." He said. "Just swear you'll do what you can, you'll try."
"I swear, Jake. I swear I'll try my best, I'll do what I can, to stay safe." She said quietly. "I love you, Jake."
Eleos grabbed my hand and flashed us away, back to the farm.
We managed to sleep for a couple hours before we had to get up in the morning. Eleos left after breakfast.
~Eleos's POV~
"I miss you, baby." Sage said.
"I miss you, too." I told him through the IM. "Love you."
"Love you, too." He replied. I smiled at him one last time and waved a hand through the shimmering mist.
With the IM gone, I flopped back onto my bed. It had been a month and a half since I had left the farm, and I missed Sage really bad. And my days at Aphrodite's were largely boring, my only company being the goddess herself on her twice a month visits.
There was a knock on the door. I immediately have a dagger in hand, warily moving up to beside the door. It's too early for Aphrodite's visit, and the only other presences in this mansion are her invisible magical servants that do things like clean the laundry and cook the food. There shouldn't be anyone knocking on that door.
There's another knock, and then it's opened. I have my dagger to the throat of the figure in the doorway before they can even take a step inside.
"And here I thought you'd be excited to see me." The figure spoke. I dropped the dagger in surprise and took a step back.
"Aliya?" I asked quietly.
She smiled wide. "I'm back, baby."
"So, how'd they manage to heal you so well? And so quickly?" I asked.
After my initial reaction of hugging her and bursting out crying, we'd gone out to a little garden, and were now sitting at the table on the patio.
"Well, it was an accident, really, at first." Aliya started. "They were going to take away my job, to like, let me go and not suffer and stuff, because damn, was that painful. And they were trying to make it easier by using like nectar and stuff on my wounds while they did it."
"It was the nectar, wasn't it?" I asked.
"Yeah. The nectar kept me alive, and it doesn't heal gods, obviously, but it heals us demigods." Aliya confirmed. "And when it had healed me enough to keep me alive, in that state, they saw hope and they gave me as much as they dared without it burning me up. It was a slow process, and they still had healers and stuff working around the clock, but they gave me nectar and ambrosia as much as possible. And now, well, I'm healed, now."
"I'm just so glad you're okay, Al." I told her. "After I had that nightmare, and then found you exactly like in the nightmare... I was so scared."
She gave me a small smile. "Well, I'm fine. No one can get rid of me that easily." She said. "I'm back and better than ever, and the world had better watch out for Aphrodite's most trusted handmaiden."
"You definitely are a force to be reckoned with." I agreed. We were silent for a few moments.
"Hey, Mick? Are you doing okay?" Aliya asked.
"Yeah, why?" I asked.
"You don't look so hot." She told me. She leaned forward and rested the back of one hand against my forehead, before sitting back again. She frowned. "Well, you're not burning up."
"I mean, I've been feeling a little nauseous recently, but that's probably nerves and all that. Maybe a stomach bug." I shrugged.
"Could be your period, too." She guessed.
I froze. "My period?" I asked.
"Yeah, you know, menstrual cycle, visits once a month and makes life hell?" She asked.
"Aliya..." I trailed off, swallowing hard. "I don't think I've had my period the last two times I was supposed to get it."
The first emotion to pass over her face was shock. Then realization. Then a huge grin appeared on her face. "Mick, you slept with him?" She exclaimed.
"I didn't just sleep with him, I married him." I muttered, looking down at the table. Her jaw dropped.
"You and Sage got married?" She asked. "Tell me when, how, where, I want to know everything!" I laughed at that, and began telling her about all of it. I even told her about the two nights I'd shared with Sage.
"I can't believe you two went and got married." Aliya said. She sighed. "I knew it was bound to happen, you Yeo are literally perfect for each other, and I'm really happy for you. I just wish I had someone like that. Gods, Mick, you've made me jealous!" She laughed.
"You'll find someone, Aliya." I told her. "I mean, how could you not? You're so... you." I gestured to her vaguely, but she understood what I meant and smiled.
"Eventually." She said. "Now, back to earlier, you don't think you've had your period?"
"Well, it's been a month and a half, and I should've had my period twice by now, since I get it at the beginning of the month." I told her.
"I think it's pretty obvious, then, that you're pregnant." Aliya said.
"Yeah." I sighed. "What am I going to do, Aliya? Things are so dangerous, right now, already, and I don't even know how to tell Sage. And on top of that, I don't know how to be a mother. I'm only sixteen, even if I've been alive more than sixteen years."
"Hey, you'll figure it out." Aliya told me, reassuringly. "And you won't be alone. You know I'll help, and Sage would never leave you alone in this. You've got us, and you've got Aphrodite, too, and a couple other gods who I know would be happy to help."
"Thank you, Aliya." I said. "Thank you for that."
"Anytime, Mick." She told me.
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