I rolled over and pressed my face deeper into the soft mattress beneath me as I attempted to find my knit blanket to curl up and rest for a few more hours. My body felt sore but in my dazed mind I did not wonder why. Instead I felt around the strangely comfortable bed.

My body wet rigid when instead of my old blanket I felt a warm figure next to me. My eyes flew open and I let out an audible gasp. Apollo groaned and rolled over and pulling a pillow over his head. I caught a glimpse of his toned abs and took a moment to appreciate how he looked.

That moment ended abruptly when I realized I was also topless. Panicking I scrambled out of bed and searched for my dress from the night before. Apparently, I was making a lot of noise as my movements caused Apollo to sit up his eyes flashing as though he expected an intruder. His gaze softened when he saw me as I quickly pulled the fabric over my head.

"I have to say, I could get used to seeing you first thing in the morning," Apollo smiled at me. I shook my head.

"This isn't a good thing. I need to get home now, if one of the other gods sees me here we're both going to be in trouble." Apollo laughed as he lazily started to get out of bed. The sheet fell to reveal his torso and I caught myself staring. Internally I scolded myself:

Pull yourself together, you're already fucked don't make it worse for yourself by getting distracted.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Apollo said closing the space between us and pulling me into his arms. "After dinner I spoke to a friend, she's going to continue to cover for both of us. I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you. Besides I still have to give you your last birthday present."

"We broke the law last night.." Apollo laughed.

"It's only illegal if we have a kid, which I assure you will not happen as a result of last night." I decided to trust him after all he did have the gift of prophecy. I allowed myself to relax into his arms, remembering how strong they had felt the night before. I was so content remembering the events that I did not realize Apollo was speaking to me again.

"… is going to take care of the sun chariot today so I figure we can have some time to discuss everything that happened before I take you back to your house tonight." I nodded absently and Apollo pulled away from me, gently grabbing my hand in the process.

Together we left his room and returned to the main living area. I was once again amazed at the gorgeous entryway. The entire house seemed to glow in a golden light and the chandelier over the entryway sparkled like the sun setting over the Long Island Sound. Apollo lead me into a sitting room and directed me into a plush leather chair, he sat down next to me.

"So," he started rubbing his neck awkwardly, I could tell he was nervous though I could not figure out why. "I guess let me just start by saying I think last night was amazing and I want to have more nights like that if you're comfortable with that." I nodded

"I enjoyed it too, but I am nervous, what if we make a mistake?" Apollo shrugged "I don't make those sort of mistakes, I'll leave that to the likes of Ares." He laughed to himself and seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a moment.

"Listen, Laura, I know this seems scary and taboo and all of that but I think we can keep this quiet and manage to get out of it without any trouble." I agreed.

"I really just don't want to have an issue with the gods. I'm afraid my siblings and I have a bit of a bad reputation after Luke," I trailed off as Apollo shook his head.

"You don't have a bad reputation, in fact many of the gods have a very high opinion of the children of Hermes. Battling your brother is hard enough, especially hard when he served as a paternal figure to so many of you, but that is not the point right now. I promise I will ensure that this does not end poorly for you."

"I trust you," I said. I found myself wondering how many people had said that before being betrayed by a god. I tried to push the thought out of my head, I was not Luke I reminded myself. There was no need to distrust the gods, especially Apollo who had been nothing but kind to me.

"Good," Apollo smiled brightly, "in that case stay here I have one more thing for you." He hurried out of the room. I smiled after him, I had a feeling things would be okay, though it was probably due in part to Apollo's presence. I found myself feeling much calmer when he was around. Lynn had a similar influence on me. Thinking of my friend I started to laugh uncontrollably.

Apollo came back in and looked at me like I was insane. "Care to share what's so funny?" I smiled widely.

"Do you really want to know?" Apollo huffed indignantly, and fell unceremoniously onto the chair next to me.

"I just realized that I slept with my best friend's dad," Apollo's jaw dropped, I could tell he had not thought of it that way yet.

"I guess that makes me a DILF then," he laughed and handed me a small box. "I meant to give you this last night, but we got a bit distracted."

"You really didn't have to get me anything," Apollo gestured for me to open the box. A beautiful golden necklace was nestled inside. The pendant was shaped like an arrow, like a miniature version of the one he had given me on the night we met. It had an A engraved on a small charm next to the arrow.

"I should probably explain. I had Hephaestus make this for me, it is identical to the arrows I carry, except not as sharp of course. However, I had him make a matching ring as well. If you need me just touch the arrow and it will make the ring heat up. I will know to get to you as soon as possible." I smiled widely, not knowing what to say.

"The only thing I ask is that you save it for true emergencies. Things are getting very heated around here due to the new prophecy and I can't just come running to you or it might draw attention to us."

"Thank you," I said before pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. "I love it and I promise only in case of an emergency." Apollo kissed me then and my stomach did a flip, I was falling for him, I could tell already.

Just as we began to deepen the kiss, we heard a slam on the door and we pulled apart abruptly. Apollo grabbed my arm and started to drag me into the entryway. He pulled open a small door and helped me inside.

"Stay here. I'll get rid of whoever this is," he smiled at me as he closed the door. The banging continued and Apollo yelled for the visitor to calm down.

"Where is my daughter," a very familiar voice demanded as the door opened.

So I'm back... only like five years later. I decided to finish this and In Too Deep. I had written almost all of this story but never published it. I realize that this story is old and probably outdated (I never did read HoO or any other sequels) but I decided to just finish it already so I can say I wrote a full length work. I'm going to work on both stories and try to post once or twice a week until they're finished.