Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

-----------------------------------

Playing Doctor

Apollo liked messing with the secretaries when he scheduled his annual medical examinations.

"Name?"

"Apollo. Kinda like Apollo Creed, but, ya know, without the Creed."

They always gave him the most priceless expressions.

Apollo leafed through the three year old parenthood magazines while he waited for his doctor to show. She was looking through Apollo's file when she came in. He found this amusing seeing as he hadn't been to that particular hospital since it opened back in the 1800s. All that must've been in the file was what the nurse got off him earlier along with, he hoped, some sort of comment like 'ungodly beautiful'.

"Apollo?" the female doctor asked with a curious glance.

The Sun god gave her his most warm and charming of smiles and offered her his hand. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm one of the top twelve ancient Greek deities and am one of the many gods of 'everything else'."

The doctor could only stare in a most perplexed manner at Apollo's beaming smile and outstretched hand (which she casually ignored). She scanned over the records again that all showed that this man's health was the crème de la crème of perfection. She raised an eyebrow at him (or at least she would've if she was able to raise an eyebrow). "Is this a joke?"

"No. Of course not." Apollo's smile grew wider as he lowered his hand back down. "Are you going to check me out or have you done that already?"

The doctor gave him a quick scan over from head to toe. He had no bumps or bruises and was in perfect health. Considering her patient and what she gathered about him, she considered the possibility that he was hiding some sort of STD that he wanted cured and had questions about, so she asked him. "The nurse says you're in perfect health. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

Apollo stretched himself out on the examination table and adjusted himself until he was content with his reflection in the full body mirror next to him.

"What's Zoloft?"

The doctor glanced at him again out of the corner of her eye as he admired himself in the mirror. Everyone knew what Zoloft was. "It's a common antidepressant prescribed for a range of disorders. It's a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor or an SSRI, meaning it helps rebalance the level of serotonin in the brain."

"So it helps with serotonin levels?"

"Yes," she replied, preparing to leave.

"Which makes you happier."

"More or less, yes."

"Doesn't the sun do that?"

"Pardon me?" She stopped.

Apollo was staring up at the ceiling like he was being asked questions by a psychiatrist. "Natural sunlight increases serotonin levels in the brain, correct?"

"Yes-"

"And it does it faster and with less side effects, am I right? I mean, Zoloft takes about four to six weeks before ya start feeling the effects, right?"

"Yes, but-"

Apollo rolled over and was up on one arm so he could look directly at her while he spoke. "Do you feel bad about prescribing medicine that has a nice, cheap, and easy natural cures?"

Apollo's doctor was temporarily struck dumb. She had been challenged before. Some people tend to get quite defensive when it comes to their health, but she had never been accosted like this in her limited experience. "But- you- you can't tell a hurting patient to just go outside. You can't-"

"Ah!" Apollo started laughing to himself, a small but bright laugh; a sunbeam of a laugh. "And that's what I always find most amusing. Humans knew about the healing powers of the sun since my heyday. In the story of Orion- you know the story of Orion, right? - His eyes are put out by an angry king and Orion walks blindly across the Earth until he finds the base of the sun which then heals his eyes."

The doctor stammered, flushing under Apollo's gaze. "No, I didn't know that part of the story."

Apollo paused, smiling to himself. "You know what I find fascinating?" He asked, getting up slowly from the examining table and standing up to his full height. "It's not when people forget. You humans are expected to forget things and you've created marvelous systems to assist you in remembering." His hand grazed the clipboard she was holding. "No," he continued, standing close to her. "It's when a culture forgets, especially a culture that boasts to be the greatest in the world. Somewhere along the way, they start to lose their sense." He was much closer to her now, his neck beginning to curve to the side of her face so that his sweet breath fluttered her hair. "And forget themselves."

His doctor snapped back and put on the most professional of faces. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Apollo. But you're examination is complete and you're perfectly healthy so if you have no further questions, I'll be leaving. Good day." She composed herself and swept out the door, closing it softly behind her and leaving Apollo all alone.

"Aw." Apollo shuffled through the medical tidbits on the table on the opposite side of the small room, pulled out a tongue depressor and popped into his mouth like a blade of grass. "The thrill of the chase."

Apollo had chosen this doctor special, just as he chose all his doctors. Katherine Prescott was the youngest of three and had come from a long line of medical specialists. She had been at the top of her class since she started schooling. She had a flawless record, a spotless reputation, knew everything there was to know about medicine, and had officially been a doctor for just over two years. She was also quite attractive, which was always bonus.

Apollo gave her a day to calm down a bit. He didn't want to scare her off completely. He approached her the next afternoon in the parking lot. A good thing about being a god is that when you don't want to seem sketchy, you don't seem sketchy. "I assume you already know that I'm the god of the sun." Apollo's voice echoed hauntingly across the parking garage and Katherine stopped quickly, clutching her purse.

"And probably that I'm the god of music." His footsteps barely made a sound as he stepped lightly across the concrete to the frozen doctor. "And you just might know that I'm also the god of medicine. Did you know I was the god of medicine?"

Katherine, with her eyes popping out of their sockets, shook her head no.

Apollo breathed a small laugh, stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned, lazily, against Katherine's car. "It's funny because I didn't actually do anything to deserve that title, well… maybe I did a little. You see there was this girl – beautiful girl – whom I loved but who didn't love me. I eventually found out, of course, and the girl got killed."

Katherine stood stock straight and still as Apollo spoke his tale.

"I felt bad, though, so I saved her child and gave it to Chiron, who a lot of great people gave their children to 'cause he's a smart centaur. It was Chiron that taught the boy - Aesculapius was his name - about healing and all that stuff. My boy was actually so good at healing that people built temples for him and brought the ill and injured there to be healed – these were the first hospitals, ya know. There's more to the story, but the point is that I didn't do anything useful. The only claim I really have to healing is the sun, which is still a title I'm kinda borrowing from another god so-" Apollo looked relaxed, perhaps even a bit bashful if that was possible. Katherine began to relax a bit as well. Her grip on her purse was no longer cutting off her circulation.

Apollo got off the car. "I'm sorry if I upset you the other day, but I won't apologize for getting you all flustered."

Katherine stuck out her chin. "I wasn't flustered."

"You weren't?" Apollo laughed his sunbeam of a laugh again. "You know I'm the god of truth too, right? You can't lie to me."

"I'm not lying," was Katherine's curt response.

He bent is neck in close as he had in the office. "You don't feel anything?"

Her breath caught. "No."

Apollo paused, his breath tickling her skin. He kissed her lightly on the neck and pulled back. "It's alright." He said with a sigh on his voice. "I'll forgive you this one time, but you'll have to promise me something."

Katherine nearly crumpled to ground with how relieved she was. "What?"

"You won't forget me?" Apollo's hand was floating near her chin as if he wanted to hold Katherine's face, but he didn't touch her.

After a moment's hesitation, Katherine gave a quick nod, her chin grazing the god's hovering hand. "All right." Her words of agreement slipped out of her mouth.

He gave her another bright smile, his outstretched hand shifting upwards just a bit to skim her jaw line. "And you'll tell me if you don't love me, right?"

This time there was no hesitation, just a small breath. "Right."

Apollo released her from his gaze, turned softly and strolled off across the parking lot. Katherine's eyes did not leave his back until he had completely vanished from sight.

She didn't forget him, not by a long shot. He filled her thoughts as only an affectionate god can. She waited an extra moment before pulling out of the parking lot. She read up on Apollo's myths and researched the health benefits of sunlight with fiery dedication. Some weeks later, an amount of time that must've seemed like a mere instant to an immortal god, she saw his car parked outside her apartment. He greeted her with a light kiss and then they were inside and they were lovers.

Apollo returned to her from time to time. She would tell him what she had learned and he would further instruct her on where to look and what to learn. Soon after she had her child and Apollo was confident she was capable of taking over the roll of teacher, he left – and he left knowing that the child would grow to become a great healer of mankind.

Katherine Prescott raised her child with love and care and her husband was never the wiser.