Nerissa sat back on the bed so she was against the wall. She gestured for Hercules to sit on the bed as well. Since it was basically the same as the ones in the dorms, he was able to still face her while having his back against the part of wall that jutted from the section that she leaned her head against. Pulling the blankets tighter around her, Nerissa began.

"I don't know if you were aware, but my twentieth birthday is in two weeks."

This was news to Hercules. Jason hadn't even mentioned it, which he found very strange. After they had all done their best to throw parties for every student at the Academy, it was odd he wouldn't mention the birthday of his best friend.

"Why didn't-?"

Nerissa stopped him with a shake of her head.

"It'll make sense. Just listen. Just before my thirteenth birthday, my mother gave me gift that...became a curse for me. She desperately wants me to find the love of my life as her daughter. I'm not sure if she has many other children, but I think I'm the only girl. She is very meddlesome in my life when it comes to love. On my birthday, I basically become someone else. When I see someone around my age on my birthday, I chase after them like I'm love struck. And its only the first person I see. On my thirteenth birthday, I saw Jason. I chased him around the palace for an entire day. After that, my father made sure I was locked up on my birthdays in a room all by myself."

Hercules's eyebrows furrowed. What kind of gift was that? Aphrodite truly was crazy sometimes.

"Well, then as long as you're locked in a room, it's okay?"

His heart hurt for Nerissa as she shook her head.

"After being locked up for two birthdays, I began breaking out of the rooms at any cost. Usually the windows. On my sixteenth birthday, I actually ended up kissing the boy I saw. I didn't know him well. He was training to be a guard. The thing about me kissing someone on my birthday, Hercules, is that, if I kiss them on the lips, they fall madly in love with me. I was mortified the next day when he was still in love with me. My father was so angry he called on my mother and she begrudgingly undid the spell on the boy. He luckily didn't remember anything, but he was sent to train in Athens instead. As I get older, it gets harder and harder to stay in the room. I've gotten far more resourceful. And the worst part of all is...my mother swore that if after my 21st birthday…I didn't fall in love with someone…she would pick and the matter would be over."

Nerissa put her face in her hands. Hercules stared at her dumbfounded. He thought it had been bad enough to have a different personality for one day, but to have a spell on your kiss and have to fall in love before a certain age...there was nothing to compare how sad it was to.

"So, you don't want guys to know about this because they might try to take advantage of you?"

Nerissa looked up and nodded. Hercules smiled and moved over to her. He hugged her tightly.

"Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me. And I'll do my best to help you. I'll talk to Jason and we'll come up with a plan for your birthday."

Hercules was startled as Nerissa violently pulled herself from his arms.

"No! No. I didn't tell you so that you guys would try and fix it! What is it with men and having to fix the problem?! I don't want you involved. I just..."

Reaching out to her face, Hercules cupped her cheeks and had her look at him.

"Hey, hey, just listen to me for a second," he told her gently," I just want to help. I'm sure Jason does, too. If it's getting harder for you, that means this time it will be the worst, right? As the last birthday before your twenty-first you need a plan, Nerissa. Locking up this room isn't going to solve anything."

Nerissa pulled away from him, looking down at the floor.

"I just don't want you all to get invo-"

"Knock, knock!"

Nerissa and Hercules turned to see Lilith peeking into the room. After being waved in by the owner of the room, she stepped in with a month old baby in her arms and a boy no older than three was holding her free hand. Nerissa hopped off the bed and went over to her visitors.

"Awww, who do we have here?" Nerissa asked, smiling down at the boy.

Hercules could see she was forcing herself to get past their conversation. He slowly went over to the group.

"This baby is Althaia and this sweet heart here is Solon. Their parents were killed by the bandits and the villagers are so preoccupied with themselves that they don't want to deal with the kids, so...I thought..."

Hercules and Nerissa raised their eyebrows at her. Lilith made a face at them.

"I'm a younger sister! All I know is how to be taken care of."

"And we are both only children," Hercules pointed out, folding his arms.

While Hercules and Lilith had a glaring match, Nerissa looked down at the young boy as he stared at her, his mouth open. She laughed softly, making him smile and lift his arms. She instantly swept down and pulled him into her arms.

"Your name is Solon, hm? How old are you, Solon?"

He held up three fingers, hesitantly. He then looked over at Hercules before holding his arms out to him. Hercules looked surprised for a second, but took the boy into his own arms. Lilith and Nerissa smiled as Solon began playing with Hercules's shirt. Without a word, Lilith handed over the baby to Nerissa.

"I hear the baby is old enough for bottles of milk, but that's about it. Cheiron is having a crib brought into your room if that is alright. Isn't it sweet, the two of you now have a family!"

Nerissa cringed and looked up to see Lilith scooting toward the door.

"Lilith, they're sweet, but we didn't agr-"

"Welcome to parenthood! Later!"

"Lilith!"

But the short haired blonde was gone. Hercules and Nerissa turned to each other and sighed. Solon's attention moved to Hercules' hair. He cringed as the child was not gentle with his tugging. Nerissa laughed quietly, making Hercules grin at her.

"Guess we should be parents?" he asked.

"Guess so..."

They spent the rest of the day playing with all the children in the Academy and taking care of the baby. As it got late, Lilith and Nerissa with the baby had snuck over to Kora's to have a bath as everyone was using the ones at the Academy and were mostly males. After getting back, Nerissa came back to her room to find a crib and a small cot had been set up in the middle of the room. Hercules came in the room just after her with a knocked-out Solon on his shoulder. As he placed the boy on the cot, Althaia began to cry. Nerissa began murmuring to the baby as she placed her in the crib. It caught Hercules attention because it was different from her normal voice. The tone of her voice was warm and inviting. There was a musical, but very steady rhythm.

"Don't cry," she told the baby," Just sleep. Everything is fine. Don't cry."

Hercules stared in astonishment as Althaia's eyes instantly began to droop and the crying stopped. Within moments, the child was fast asleep. Nerissa sighed with relief and stood up straight. Catching Hercules' surprised expression, she gave a tired smile.

"I was using that persuasion I've told you about."

Hercules nodded, impressed.

"You'll have the most well-behaved children someday."

The two of them laughed quietly before glancing around at the children. Nerissa picked at her skirt hem hesitantly before turning to Hercules.

"Would you mind...staying tonight? I don't think I can handle two children by myself..."

Doing his best to hide his heated face, Hercules nodded. He pointed to the door.

"I'm going to shower really quick and come back."

Nerissa nodded, hesitantly. Hercules looked at her for a moment longer.

"Do you want me to get Jason or Iolaus? They could stay while-"

"No! I can handle them for a few minutes."

Hercules frowned at her.

"I...didn't mean..."

Nerissa smiled at him, though the smile did not reach her eyes at all.

"If anyone comes in…I'll use my persuasion on them. I doubt anyone out there will be able to fight it."

Hercules paused for a moment before nodding and moving out of the room. He glanced around in the hall to make sure no one was waiting for him to leave. It was deserted. He could hear the faint sounds of sleep from the villagers coming from the training room. After grabbing his night clothes, he took the quickest possible shower before rushing back to Nerissa's room, hair still wet. As he came in rubbing his hair, he walked right into Nerissa, now in her nightclothes, who had been grabbing extra blankets for his bed.

"Oh," was her response as she looked up at him.

Or, when she tried to look up at him. Hercules's hand holding the towel for his hair dropped to his side. His other hand held his night shirt, which he hadn't planned to put on till his hair was dry. He couldn't help but grin a little to himself as Nerissa stared at his bare chest for a minute before her eyes widened and she turned away. He caught her face turning a gentle pink as she turned toward his bed.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...be in your way..."

"I see you aren't immune to males as much as you seem to be."

Nerissa pouted at him quickly before turning away again. The young man was highly amused at being able to fluster her, a gorgeous daughter of Aphrodite. It gave him a great deal of pleasure. Unable to keep himself from teasing her a little, he followed her over to his bed and grabbed the blankets in her arms from behind. His arms brushed her shoulders as he lifted the blankets up over her head. He could see her visibly tense as he spoke to her.

"I'll get it, you should try and get to sleep."

She glanced back, once again meeting his chest, before forcibly looking up at his face. Though her cheeks were now turning red, she tugged the towel out of his hand from under the blankets and pointed to his bed.

"Sit down."

His brows furrowed slightly before he placed the blankets down and sat on the bed. Hercules watched her carefully as she moved awkwardly between his legs and covered his head with the towel and began rubbing at his hair.

"Typical guy," he heard her mumbling," Never drying longer hair properly."

He didn't respond as the feeling of having someone else dry his hair was comforting. It reminded him of when he was younger and his mother used to dry his hair for him. Though she rubbed vigorously, she wasn't hurting him at all. Reaching up he grabbed her hand and, with the other, moved the towel out of his eyes so he could look at her.

"You don't have to dry my hair for me, Nerissa."

She let the towel slip down onto his shoulders, her fingers resting on the towel.

"I don't want you to get sick," she said, smartly, beginning to rub at the hair on the back of his head.

"I'll be fine," Hercules insisted, pulling the towel away.

By doing that when Nerissa was not expecting it, her fingers sunk into the hair at the base of his skull. Hercules's skin tingled where she had just rubbed, which made his body shiver from the feeling. Nerissa made to move her hand away, but Hercules grabbed it and put it back. He looked into her eyes.

"Could you...?" he asked, quietly.

The young woman's lips parted, as if she meant to speak, but apparently changed her mind. She slowly rubbed from his neck up to his scalp and back down. His eyes closed of their own accord. Her gentle strokes made him sleepy. His head fell onto her shoulder, making her laugh.

"I guess you need to go to bed," she told him, grabbing his nightshirt from the bed and handing it to him.

He sat up and smiled before pulling it on.

"I guess so," he replied.

Nerissa stepped away so he could set up. She quickly checked on the kids to make sure they were sound asleep before crawling into bed. Glancing over at Hercules, she found him watching her. He smiled that friendly smile he always had.

"Goodnight, Nerissa," he said, hopping into bed.

"Goodnight."