"Ouch!" Stef jerked her arm away and glared at Zeth. "It hurts a lot more outside of dreams."

Zeth was starting to lose patience with Stef's self defense training. "It would hurt a lot worse if it was someone who was actively trying to hurt you. Trust me."

It was Thursday morning and Jenna was taking her last exam at school. So, Zeth made sure to be at the house to keep Stef occupied. Oh joy, more training. Training that really hurt.

Urian laughed at them as Zeth tried to train her in the living room. "I thought that gods could simply do an info dump of sorts."

"That only helps teach knowledge, doesn't train the muscles. I thought a trained warrior like you would understand the difference." Zeth chided.

"Touche."

Then Zeth returned his attention to his daughter. "Stef, honey, you need to stop thinking about this as something that will come easy. Whatever blondy says. It will take blood, sweat, and lots of pain to get your body used to this. But, even if you wanted to give up your immortality and not become Oneroi, it is really important that you learn it."

Stef sighed. "I know Zeth. This is just really different for me. The only fighting that I ever learned was to kick a guy in the balls." At that, every guy in the room cringed.

"OK then. That is a great start. As you can tell, it is really damn painful and it does work. Most men don't want to teach strikes there out of pure sympathy. But, perhaps that is a better place to start with for you." The rest of the men left the room as Zeth continued that lesson.

Deimos had taken Jenna to her class. But, he returned to the house after about an hour more of Stef's training and joined with his own pointers. Until his cell phone rang.

"Deimos, it's Julian. Someone attacked Jenna. I am in the ambulance with her now and on the way to the hospital. Meet us there." Deimos couldn't move. His rage was taking over to the point that he broke the phone apart in his hand.

Stef gasped and took a step back. The sound of it grabbed Deimos's attention and he spun that fury on Stef in the blink of an eye. But, Zeth put himself in between them.

"What in the hell Deimos?" Zeth demanded.

"Jenna was attacked. And I wasn't there to protect her because I was here with her! It is her fault!" Then Deimos flashed out of the room.

"Phobos!" Zeth called.

Phobos popped into the room at the same time that Vane and Urian were coming back in after Deimos's outburst. "What in the hell happened?" Vane asked.

"Someone just called Deimos and told him that Jenna was attacked. He went ballistic and blamed Stef then disappeared. I don't know where he went."

"Sonofa… Acheron, Styxx get your asses down here!" Urian demanded.

Phobos cupped Stef's face. "Listen to me. It is not your fault. You know my brother has serious anger issues. Don't let his words hurt you."

Stef shook her head. "But, it is my fault. All of this is my fault." She fought the tears. "I don't want anyone to be hurt because of me. Oh God. Jenna and the baby can't be hurt because of me." Phobos held her close.

"Update." Ash entered the room prepared for a fight with Styxx beside him. But, there wasn't one happening.

"We need to know where Jenna and Deimos are. Deimos got a call that said Jenna was attacked and then he flashed out. We don't know where to go or how to help, and with the level of hyper rage that Deimos was in, we can't leave him out there unattended." Urian debriefed.

Ash quickly flipped open his phone. "Julian. Do you know…" Ash stopped as Julian caught him up. "Thanks." Then put his phone away.

"Julian is at the hospital with Jenna now. Deimos is already causing a scene, so everyone hold on for the ride." Ash said quickly. The second that everyone touched they arrived into an empty hospital room and ran to the Emergency Room where Deimos was being told that he had to leave and security were preparing to attempt to remove him.

Styxx and Acheron grabbed hold of Deimos who tried to fight them off, but he really was no match for them in his state.

Phobos found Julian. "What happened?" He roared.

Julian backed up a step. "Jenna was supposed to call Deimos the second her exam ended. But, her exam ended early. And, you know pregnant women, they have to pee a lot. So, before she called him, she ran to the bathroom. I happened to come around the corner just as she opened the bathroom door to leave. But, two Norse giants grabbed her from behind and bounced her off of a wall. I fought them off. But, Jenna is unconscious." Julian frowned as he looked around. "Someone else called for the ambulance before I could do anything. I know that someone could heal her, but with the baby, it was best to let her come here first."

Stef covered her mouth with her hands. Why? Why are they doing this?

Jenna was rolled into a private room in the Labor and Delivery area of the hospital because of the risks involved with the baby. With the emotions being so high, they kicked everyone out of her room. So, the smaller lobby of that part of the hospital filled up fast.

The nice part of this end of the hospital is that the lobby and Jenna's room were all in the center of the building, so no windows. Ash brought Ramsey over who paced, just as worried as Phobos. Though, neither of them came close to the raw emotion of Deimos. Stef could not even look at him out of guilt and fear. She hid herself in a corner as far away from Deimos as she could. She couldn't blame him for his emotions. He loved his wife and son more than anything.

They were debating about calling Maahes, when the doctor finally came out and said that they ran some tests and won't have the results back for a while, but in the meantime, Jenna was starting to regain consciousness. As long as people remained calm, they could allow two people in at a time. Calm? OK, Maahes was not being told yet.

Deimos and Ramsey were the obvious two people to go in first.

Phobos had wanted to comfort Stef, but Deimos's rage was too high to trust him not to lash out again. So, he had stayed on his feet, pacing between the two of them until Deimos was allowed back to see Jenna. And knowing that Jenna was waking up helped his own worry over his sister-in-law calm. But, then his own fear hit him as he tried so very hard not to think of how he would feel if it was Stef in there. He pulled Stef into his arms and clung to her.

After a while, Ramsey came back out to the lobby to let everyone know that Jenna was awake and the baby was fine. Though Jenna was seriously pissed off that they got the drop on her. The doctors were still waiting to see if she had a concussion from the injury to her head. Though, he had seen enough of them in the military to know that Jenna did have one. Thank goodness it was something that could be healed at home, once the hospital allowed her to leave. It was just too public for anyone to try to get her out faster than she should be allowed to go.

Everyone breathed a massive sigh of relief. Especially Stef, though her emotions were still raw. The rage in Deimos's eyes when he looked at her after the call. Shit! At that moment, he really was the personification of terror. The memory sent shivers of fear through her.

Eventually, Deimos walked back out to the lobby and up to Phobos and Stef. Phobos stood and put Stef behind him. Zeth also stood beside Phobos. Though Deimos was no where near the same level of anger as he was at before. When he stopped in front of Phobos, he even looked a little sheepish.

"I am sorry for what I said earlier, Stef. None of this is your fault. I should have just stayed there at the school and not returned home. I was furious at the demons, but, mostly angry at myself and I lashed out. There is no excuse for that."

Stef pushed her way passed her father and Phobos. Then she did something that he never thought she would do. She gave Deimos a tight hug. As much as the man had seriously off the chart anger issues and scared the shit out of Stef at times. The only moments that she really saw that side of him was when he was scared for his family. And despite the rage, he didn't actually try to hurt her. He shattered his phone with his bare hand, but he never physically struck out at her.

Stef pulled back. "You still could be the headlining star in my nightmares if I had them anymore. But, I forgive you for your moment of painful truth. It is my fault. Those Ice Giants were only after her because of me. And I am really sorry for that. I just wish I knew how to make it all stop."

Deimos pulled her back into the hug and gave a chaste kiss on her forehead. "No. You can't take responsibility for Skoll and Hati being assholes anymore than you could take responsibility for my anger and stupidity. Just don't give up. We will solve this. Somehow."

She nodded and stepped back. Deimos returned to Jenna's room.

As things calmed a bit, Stef took a moment to step down the hall to use the restroom. Phobos stood at the corner of where the lobby lead to the hall so he could watch her the whole way.

The path took her passed the window to the nurses station. Due to safety concerns of babies being mixed up or kidnapped from hospitals, these areas tended to have more security measures, so the station was behind glass. However, there were way too many women in the area to all be assigned as nurses in that unit. They must have put a call out about the large group of men in the lobby. Damn women, gain some dignity.

When she walked back out of the restroom, she saw one woman trying to flirt with Phobos.

"No offense. But, I am not interested and none of the men here are either. We are all spoken for." He said flatly.

The girl bristled with indignity. Stef nearly laughed, but, when Phobos looked up and saw Stef, his face brightened. It made her heart melt.

The nurse questioned why he was interested in Stef and promised to rock his world. Phobos growled at her and the woman stepped back. "You wouldn't understand the power of soulmates."

Phobos extended his hand to Stef and started dance with her around the lobby to the music that played over the speakers.

Stef finally started to smile until the other men tensed. There was something about the sudden movement and the way they looked at each other, that made Steff start to panic.

Phobos stopped and went to talk to Ash.

But then, Stef heard the voice of a man walking down the hall on the other side of the lobby. Justin.

"I am telling you. My attorney will have a field day with this whole mess. I don't even know why they are still investigating it Dean Wilson, this meeting with the Internship Committee is ridiculous. The facts speak for themselves. That has nothing to do with me and the mere idea that her attorney would file slander charges against me is just preposterous."

That asshole was talking about her! To the Dean of the Medical School! She did not even think twice before she ran up behind him, forgetting all about the security issues and Ice Giants.

"You fucking asshole!" Stef yelled as she crossed the lobby to the other hallway.