Five weeks had passed since Hector had left for Troy, and only a few days short of that since Andromache had said goodbye to Alexander. She had spent many of her days working at her in loom and passing time in her chamber.

Hector's family had been wonderful to Andromache, she often dinned with at least one of them each day and they always succeeded in raising her spirits. They would tell her stories of when Hector was a child, especially Hecuba. Andromache loved to hear these stories because she knew she'd never hear them from her husband, mainly because he'd be too embarrassed to tell her.

On the day announcing the fifth week since Hector's departure, Andromache stood up from her loom, frustrated with the heat and the constant thoughts that were spinning through her mind. She decided to walk to the marketplace and purchase a purple peplos to wear when Hector arrived home from Thebe, which was supposed to be any day now. Andromache was desperate for her husband to return, she needed to know that her family were safe.

Andromache quickly walked to the marketplace and took her guard, Eresus, as her escort.

The marketplace was awfully crowded, and Andromache regretted visiting it on such a day, especially now that the day was beginning to grow even hotter. After purchasing a purple peplos from Troilus, Andromache began to look for different routes to return to the palace. The route she usually took was now filled with people arriving and leaving the marketplace, it was also directly in the sunlight and she didn't wish to become even hotter. She saw a deserted lane not too far away from where she stood, and decided to walk down it and then take necessary turns from there to return to the palace.

Andromache turned to speak with her guard; he was native to Troy and obviously knew the country better than she did, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She quickly returned to Troilus' cart and asked whether or not he had seen her guard, but he hadn't seen the guard since he had left with her. Andromache decided to return to the palace herself, hoping that her guard would have the sense to return there also.

So Andromache decided to walk down the deserted lane, however, as she did she suddenly become worried. The lane didn't appear to be in a respectable area, and as the lane continued she saw that it led into the street with only a few houses: The Whore Houses.

The servants in the palace had always gossiped about the whore houses, though Andromache preferred to call them prostitute houses. She had heard that they were full of women who gave themselves to men. Andromache now stood outside the houses; Paris had pointed them out to her, from a different lane, when he accompanied her to the marketplace a few weeks past. Paris had swore that he had only stepped into one of the prostitute houses once, the women weren't to his liking he had said, and he only pointed them out to Andromache after she had shown an interest in their peculiar state.

Andromache couldn't see anyone and was deeply relieved, she didn't wish to be seen in an area like this, nor did she wish to meet anyone in such a place. She turned around and began to walk down the lane she had come from; she decided it'd be best to return to the palace by her usual route. Andromache suddenly heard the faint sound of footsteps behind her; she quickly turned around but saw no one. She assumed it was her wild imagination and turned once more to return to the marketplace. Andromache nearly screamed when she saw someone was standing in front of her.

"It's you!" cried Andromache, and laughed at her silliness, although she was pleased to see it was only her guard. "I wondered where you had disappeared to."

"Sorry Princess Andromache," said Eresus, "we must have lost one another in the marketplace."

Andromache nodded in agreement. They then proceeded to the marketplace and returned to the palace via their usual route. Once Andromache had returned to the palace, she decided to take a walk in the shade of the royal garden, her guard returned to his station outside her chamber.

A fresh, cool wind blew into Andromache's face, and she sighed happily. She sat down on the grass, and removed the sandals from her feet. Andromache jumped with fright when she heard a voice shouting her.

"Andromache!"

Quickly, Andromache turned her head to where she heard the voice. She laughed when she saw that Paris was running towards her, his little legs running like the wind. "What is it?"

"He's here!" panted Paris. "The army has just returned, Hector's riding to the palace now, we need to meet him!"

Andromache's mouth dropped open; she scrambled to her feet after putting her sandals back on. She raced with Paris to the entrance hall where they'd great Hector. Hecuba, Priam, Polyxena and Cassandra were already there, and they all greeted Andromache.

Fear entangled itself around Andromache's heart, in a few minutes she'd know the fate of her family. She closed her eyes tightly for a second, beginning to feel faint. Her heart began to beat rapidly; she took a deep breath and straitened her back.

There he was … Andromache's husband. He dismounted his horse and began to walk up the stone steps, his eyes scanned across his family, searching for his wife and then he saw her. He gazed into her eyes and saw such hope within them, hope for good news that he felt sickness gather in his stomach, because he didn't bring good tidings.

Andromache saw the way Hector looked at her, she knew then before he even reached her. She closed her eyes once more and felt tears gather within them, but she composed herself … she'd be strong.

Hector reached the entrance hall and greeted his father. Andromache could see that he whispered something in his father's ear and then he walked over to her. He embraced his wife and breathed in her scent, glad to be home. Andromache had expected Hector to greet the rest of his family, but he didn't. He took Andromache by her arm and led her to their chamber.

Neither one of them spoke during the walk to their chamber, Hector didn't wish to tell Andromache his news until they were in the chamber, and Andromache knew that if she spoke then she'd release her tears.

Eresus opened the chamber door for Hector and Andromache, then Hector instructed for the guard to leave his station and return to his home. Hector closed his chamber door once he and Andromache had entered. He rubbed his forehead with his hand and watched as Andromache looked at him with expectant eyes.

"Andromache…," said Hector, and was silent for a moment while he thought of how best to break the news to his wife, he had thought of what to say to her on the voyage home to Troy but now those words didn't seem right, "I'm sorry Andromache … but your family … Achilles attacked earlier than planned."

Andromache bowed her head and held onto a nearby chair to steady herself. "My family … what happened to them?"

"Achilles killed your father and brothers," said Hector, he walked up to his wife and tried to comfort her but she pushed him away.

"And my mother?" stuttered Andromache, she now allowed the tears to trickle down her face.

"Your mother was taken as prisoner," answered Hector, "but she died from grief soon afterwards." He then took Andromache in his arms and she clung onto him, crying onto his shinning armor.

There was no warmness to Andromache's body; she was cold, so cold. She could see her family in her mind, see their happy faces beaming back at her, she couldn't bear the thought of her family being gone. The thought of how Andromache's family died suddenly came to her, she could picture it almost perfectly, she had never met Achilles but she imagined what he must look like. She tried to push the horrid thought from her mind, but she didn't succeed, instead the thought decided to etch itself within her.

"I'm sorry Andromache," said Hector, and kissed her forehead, "if I could have helped them, I would of."

Andromache looked up to her husband and kissed him softly. "I'm glad you're home."

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A/N: Hector is home at last! I'm going to try and update again before Christmas Day, I think updates may be a little less frequent after Christmas day for a week or so.

I decided to reply to reviews personally this time:

Iresol – Thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it and your comments :)

Donna Lynn – I think I know what you think about why I wrote the last few chapters the way I did, although I'm not too sure. Thank you for reviewing, and I can say that Andromache will tell Hector herself, although I've not decided how he'll react yet! :)

Lady Hades – Thank you for the reviews. I never thought I'd be able to update so quickly, but I manage to write a chapter each day and put it onto the site. I usually have a lot of free time, so it's spent doing this :)

Queen Arwen – I'm sorry I didn't include a bar fight between Hector and Alexander! Thank you for the review :)

Kitera-n-Lil – I'm sorry that I'm going to kill Polyxena; I'm going to try and follow what happened to her in the Iliad. Thank you for the review and lovely comments :)

aLL aMeRIcAn gIRl 50 – Thank you for reviewing, I'll try and keep updating the fic frequently :)

Merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate Christmas then have a lovely winter break! :)