A/ N: So sorry for the delay, I was on vacation and no internet..enjoy and please review!
Vicki moved toward "Zeus" and introduced herself, "Hi, Vicki Nelson.
"Zeus, as I'm sure your kind assistant here has told you, I know, difficult to believe but true. Normally, I do not tell anyone the truth, no one believes us anyway but your ad did say.."
Vicki cut him off with a sarcastic, "No case too strange, yes, my little assistant was so kind to come up with that and sadly, so far, not even yours seems strange anymore. So, Zeus," Vicki looked at him more clearly, "You don't look much like a god, no offense."
"None taken," he smiled, "that's what we do now, we blend," he made gestures with his hands as if he were waving them around frantically trying to swat a fly.
"Groovy," Vicki said then continued, "your daughter, which one is she? What I mean is," Vicki corrected herself, "which daughter?"
Zeus sighed, "I'm afraid it's Aphrodite, again."
Coreen giggled and after a stern look from Vicki, she clamped her hand over her mouth then said softly, 'sorry'.
"The goddess of love? What's wrong? I mean, don't we need more love in the world?" Vicki offered. Did I just say that? Vicki thought and no sooner had she thought it than Zeus responded out loud, "Yes you did."
"Hey, no mind reading is allowed," Vicki admonished.
"I'm sorry, job hazard. You see," he leaned into Vicki's desk and spoke softly, "my Aphrodite likes to meddle where she shouldn't."
Vicki shot a quick glance in Coreen's direction, "Hmm..sounds familiar."
"Hey!" Coreen said indignantly.
"She likes to, what is it you young people call it?" he tapped his chin in thought, "She likes to hook people up, that's it, she likes to 'hook up'"
Vicki stopped writing and stared at him, "That's two different things, she likes to hook up or hook people up, which is it?"
Zeus shrugged, "Both I think."
Vicki and Coreen looked at each other then broke out in raucous laughter, "Great, just great, a horny matchmaker."
Zeus became angry, "Please, this is serious. She can hook up the wrong people, things can get ugly, and people get hurt. Don't you understand?"
"More than you know," Vicki eyed him, "Look, I'll do what I can. My fee is quite expensive," Zeus rolled his eyes, "money is no object," he told her.
"Can I ask the obvious?" Vicki said.
"Certainly," he told her.
"If you're a god, why can't you just do some kind of god stuff and find her?"
"Because, she can deflect us, put her shields up so that we can't locate her and she changes her appearance," he told her.
"What makes you think she's in Toronto?"
"She told us she was checking out the Canadians for a change."
"And Toronto..?" Vicki pressed.
"Sadly, Toronto is in need of help in the love department."
Coreen went back to her office to try and contain her laughter then returned when she got it together. Vicki narrowed her eyes at her anyway but Coreen didn't care, it was funny as hell. Zeus, a god, was coming to Vicki to get help with finding the goddess of love, Aphrodite. It was more than funny, it was fucking hilarious and a tad ironic. Vicki knew this was what Coreen was thinking, it needn't be said. However, Coreen was not suicidal and kept her thoughts to herself.
"Can you tell me some of her other antics, things she might have done in the past that would steer us the right direction?" Vicki leaned back in her chair and listened intently as he related tales of Aphrodite coming to earth as women of different races, ages and even religions. She had been young, old and everything in between.
After fifteen minutes Vicki stopped him, "So what you're saying is we are looking for a needle in a haystack," she said flatly.
"Well," he tilted his head, "Yes, I suppose that could be a correct assumption."
"Let me ask you this, what harm has she done?"
"I don't understand," he replied.
"You said that she 'meddles'," Vicki put faux quotation marks around the word meddles, "what did she do to hurt or meddled to the point of causing problems."
"She puts people together that wouldn't normally be together, that's what!" he said indignantly.
"For example…??" Vicki prompted with raised eyebrows.
"Well, just people from different walks of life," he snorted.
"Oh," Vicki smiled wryly, "she helps or meddles as you so graciously put it, with those who you deem unfit for one another, wow.." Vicki shook her head.
Zeus frowned, "What is wow?"
"You. You're supposed to be this all-knowing omnipotent being and yet, you are a self-absorbed, narcissistic being that looks down his noses at people. Amazing," she shook her head, "but I tell ya what, business is slow and I'll take your case anyway." She stood, shook his hand again and bid him goodbye.
"Thank you," he eyed her as he left. He was stunned that this lowly human talked to him in such a manner but his mind was reeling with the truth of it all.
"That was bizarre," Coreen grinned, "wasn't it great!?"
"Peachy," Vicki started to pour a cup of coffee, sighed, poured it into the half-dead ivy and said, "Here, you look like you could use a pick me up." She put the cup down and asked Coreen if they had any bottled water.
"No, want me to get you some?" she blinked then added, "Oh yeah! You're pregnant, Henry's baby?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Vicki threw her hands up and slapped them down on her thighs, "Whose fucking baby do you think it is?"
"Um..I'm afraid to say," Coreen said softly.
"I'm sorry," Vicki said honestly, "I'm sorry it's just.."
"Henry didn't think it was his?"
Vicki nodded, "Yeah and I get it, I do but I swear there's been no one else. Before Henry, it was Mike and that was a long time ago, trust me, a long, long time ago."
Coreen could tell Vicki was recollecting how long it had been between partners and she smiled, "Poor woman."
"Fuck you," she snorted. They both laughed again.
"You had a fight with Henry didn't you?"
"You are astute, I'll give ya that," Vicki shuffled papers on her desk and flicked her computer on.
"It stands to reason that if a man thought a woman was pregnant with another man's baby because he was sterile then yes, a fight would ensue."
"Okay, so you deduced we had a fight, at any rate, it can't be anyone's but Henry's, it's impossible."
Vicki shared her thoughts on Mike's healing ability and how it must have travelled to Henry.
"…but what I don't get is that it took a month to work. I'm only two months a long and that happened three months ago."
"Not unusual, even women trying to get pregnant don't get it right out of the box. Besides, it's scientific. If one egg ovulates and the other doesn't or you don't have sex close to ovulation time.." Coreen was very animated with her science lesson but Vicki cut her off.
"Coreen-please, I get it. You fuck, you don't use protection, you get pregnant, got it, living proof here," she told her.
"Such a delicate flower you are, wonder if the baby's first word will be the 'f' word," Coreen teased.
"I'll be sure you're around to hear it, hey," Vicki snapped her fingers, "maybe he'll add 'you' to it."
"It's a boy?" Coreen was positively beside herself.
"No, I mean, I don't know that's just what the doctor kept saying, habit she said, too early to tell," Vicki shrugged.
"Uh, you've been to the doctor?" Coreen was nearly whining.
"Well yeah, you did make Mike a promise?"
"Oh..How will you tell Mike?" Coreen's hand went to her mouth.
A voice said, "Tell Mike what..?"
