A.N – So…I may have died in this last month, what other excuse would I have for not posting? Super sorry about the timing between the last chapter and this one, I'll try to get the next one out asap. Hope ya'll are still with me now!

Beta'd by the amazing 2damnpretty2die. Captain, you are amazing and awesome, and I hope you get better soon!

Chapter 29: The Interim Crown

It had been three days since Terri's outburst.

"Really? Has it only been three days?" Arizona thought grimly.

They were all assembled in the throne room waiting for Zeus' appearance. Arizona had taken up her usual position on the right of the room with Callie beside her, and Tim had his usual position on the left of the room. The only difference this time was that Aria and Lexie now stood before Arizona, in place of Terri.

"Why aren't they with Terri?" Arizona glanced towards Callie to see that she had the same curious look on her face.

They had little time to dwell before Zeus' powerful aura dominated the area, signalling his arrival. He made his way down the centre of the room towards the throne with Theia, Helios, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Richard and Elizabeth following swiftly.

"My brothers and sisters," Zeus' voice echoed in the silent room, "due to Athena's outburst, we have been set back by a couple of days, so we need to be 100% more vigilant right now. I have received word that Hades has made another move." He stopped and took in the silence from his court, chuckling to himself when they didn't seem shocked by the revelation. "There have been reports of increased stray activity around the city and we need to address the situation immediately. Chief Tactician," he turned to look at Lexie, who had yet to display anything other than anger and coldness at the King, "meet with the Generals and devise a plan of attack."

The silence continued.

"Is there a problem Chief Tactician?" Zeus' brow rose when Lexie remained silent, barely acknowledging his existence, drawing curious glances from the room.

"She only answers to her Master." Aria replied coolly.

"Is that so?" He smirked at her as she narrowed her eyes. "Now that you mentioned it, we need to address the situation with Athena."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Now that the Crown is out of action, temporarily" he added on as an afterthought, "it is your responsibility to take up her position and handle her affairs Ariadne, as the Bride."

Arizona could hear Callie's sharp intake of air beside her and reached out to lay her hand on Callie's arm, holding her back as a precaution.

"I'm aware of that hence why I'm here." Aria replied quickly. "It is her will, that Artemis and Apollo share the responsibilities of the Crown whilst she is…unavailable."

"Oh? And what will you be doing instead?" Zeus shot back.

"Taking care of my wife." The reply was quick and everyone's eyes shot back and forth from the King to Aria as if they were watching a tennis match. They were both stubborn and unwilling to back down from the confrontation.

"Unless, of course, you have a problem with it, my lord?" Aria's condescending tone and bow drew gasps from the Elders, and a frantic whisper of 'Ariadne!' from Lucia Torres.

Arizona, Callie and their friends could only look on in shock at Aria's blatant disrespectful attitude towards the King, but on the inside, they were cheering and unbelievably proud of Aria's actions.

Beside the King, there was a smirk forming on the lips of Elizabeth Lewis and Richard Webber. The King merely stared at Aria before giving in to the chuckle that was fighting to escape.

"I can see why Athena chose you." He then turned his gaze upon Arizona, "Artemis, Apollo, the both of you are to continue with Athena's tasks whilst she is absent. Do not let me down."

Arizona p.o.v

I stepped into Terri's office warily, it felt wrong to be here, so very wrong. I took my time to study the place as I made my way to the desk. There were barely any decoration, barring the essential bookshelves filled with old and ancient books, and the lamps on the small square table the sat in the centre of the room, between the door and the desk, surrounded by couches. The desk itself was large and made of solid wood. As I sat down on the huge black leather chair behind the desk, my attention was immediately drawn to the very few personal items that littered the desk, things that proved Terri's existence in this room. There were a few photographs, the first was in the vast field surrounding the manor, of Terri, Tim, Toby and myself, when we were younger and Terri didn't bear the burden of the Crown. The carefree smiles on all of our faces showed the innocence and naivety of our youth. The next photo was of Tim, Terri and me, taken in a bar in New York. It was taken after the first week we had been located there and I could still remember what we were celebrating. Terri and I had survived our first shift in the E.R and had saved more people than we could count. Tim had also made his first arrest as Detective for NYPD, it had been a great week for all of us and we were celebrating that.

The next two photos were more recent. The first was taken in Seattle and was one of the rare few that had all of us in the photo. It had been a nice sunny day, for once, and surprisingly, none of us were working, so we had opted for lunch outside, a picnic of sorts. Mark was sitting with his arm slung around a relaxed and innocent looking Lexie with a wide grin on his face; I was sitting against a tree with a content looking, Calliope nestled in my arms and we both had huge smiles on our faces; Terri and Aria were sitting next to each other, hands entwined together and a drink in the other; Alex was flat on his back, head tilted towards us, holding his cup out for a refill; Thalia and Clio looked strangely relaxed and had small smiles as they sat slightly behind Terri; Teddy and Addison looked like they were about to chuck their half-eaten sandwiches at each other; and finally, Tim was crouched beside Alex with his hand pointed towards the camera as he held the remote, he was the only one looking into the camera. We had all complained about the unexpected candid photo and took more, but this had always been Terri's favourite one. She said we all looked so relaxed and carefree.

The last photo was one I had never seen before. It was taken during Terri and Aria's wedding ceremony, and they were both facing each other, foreheads touching as Terri had Aria's left hand raised against her lips, kissing the ring on her finger. They were staring deeply into each other's eyes, completely unaware of the camera.

I leaned back against the chair and sighed, closing my eyes as memories of the past invaded my mind. How I wished we could go back to a time where we didn't have to worry about being attacked, and we could just be happy and in love.

I was broken out of my musing by a knock on the door and Aria entered smiling sadly at me.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asked softly and I groaned out in protest.

"Horrible, it's been 3 hours since Tim and I started Terri's daily tasks and I feel like hell. I swear I'm two seconds away from throwing the next person who offers me their 'services' out the window!"

There was a chuckling from the doorway and I looked up to see Calliope entering the door behind Aria, she stopped beside me and took a seat on the edge of the desk.

"It's not funny!" I whined as I gestured to the files that I had brought in with me, "My head is throbbing and I still have a million meetings or requests for meetings to get through. How does Terri do this every day?" I asked in awe.

"It's all about prioritising." Aria replied simply, she took up one of the folders and opened it, scanning the contents quickly before dropping it and taking up a second folder. "You can arrange a meeting with both General Valerie Espinosa and General Emily Chase at the same time. They usually have the same issue, but different thoughts on it, so get them together and just referee whilst they duke it out. If you ask me, I swear they enjoy fighting against one another, it's probably like…" she waved her hands in a circular motion as she tried to think of the next word, "like foreplay for them."

"Aria!" Calliope admonished as I collapsed in a heap of giggles.

"What? I'm serious!" Aria defended as Calliope tried to calm me down. "No, seriously, I mean God! If you could hear some of the things that go through their minds whilst they're fighting." She shuddered at the thought, or perhaps it was a memory? "I've seen things that I can't unsee!" The horror in her voice destroyed me once again, and I burst out into laughter, tears forming in my eyes.

"Oh…my…god!" I panted, "I really needed that!"

"Sometimes, I forget that you're a mind reader Aria." Calliope shook her head, chuckling to herself.

"Anyway, back to work." Aria shook her head of any remnants of Espinosa and Chase together. A frown crossed her face immediately as she read through the next two files and I sobered up instantly and sat up.

"What? What is it?" Calliope was watching Aria's face steady, trying to get a read on her sister.

Aria threw one of the files onto the table in a huff. "You don't have a grant an audience with my mother."

"Aria!" Calliope reacted instantly, but Aria cut off any more protests.

"It doesn't have anything to do with Terri, me or the fact that she's our mother, Callie. It's not personal, but Mama's been pushing to screen for more Seers from the young ones." Calliope looked at her in confusion as I picked up the file Aria had discarded.

"She makes a good point though." I murmured absentmindedly as I read the file. "Having more Seers makes it easier during battle. Obviously I don't agree with sending in the children for battle, but we need to remain one step ahead of Hades. I have no idea how Terri managed it, but even Theia and Lucia are having problems predicting Hades' next movement."

"It's not about advantage or anything like that." Aria replied quickly. "The screening requires the Seers to expand a huge amount of energy to see into the future prospects the kids have, it weakens them and that is something Terri can't risk. She agrees that more Seers means an advantage, but think of the time it will take to train them to become useful. Training for control alone will take so much time, time that we don't have Arizona."

"You did it." Calliope interrupted. "You mastered a great deal of control by the end of the first week, and you have complete control now don't you?"

"Yes, but they didn't have the Crown's power to support them." Aria shot back.

"Oh." Her reply was quiet, as if she'd forgotten about Aria's bond with Terri's.

"So, Terri doesn't agree with Lucia?" I asked Aria, trying to break the awkward silence that had formed.

"Yeah, Terri knows we should have more Seers, but weakening our current Seers is not acceptable, that would leave us at a major disadvantage in battle. But that's not even the most important part."

"It's not?" Calliope asked.

"No, Terri mentioned something about Hades watching our movements, so if we reveal the potential of any of the children here, we leave them vulnerable and exposed as possible targets for Hades."

"You mean he'd kidnap them? And what? Use them himself?" Calliope's voice was filled with rage. The thought of losing those innocent kids set her on fire.

"Exactly. And trust me when I say he won't care if they live or die, and he will send them into battle whether they're ready or not." Aria answered.

"So why is Mama even asking for this meeting?"

"Because Terri dismissed her. Mama thinks you'll let her do it because you're not Terri." Calliope caught my flinch at this and laid her hand on my shoulder, squeezing slightly.

"Sorry," Aria added sheepishly, "But it doesn't change the fact that you don't think like Terri does. I mean, just by reading her proposal you would have agreed with her right?"

I couldn't argue with that, Lucia did make a compelling argument, but perhaps she was using that to her advantage. The fact that I didn't know all of the details. So I nodded.

"She's taking advantage of the fact that you're with Callie, and that Callie would probably agree even if you didn't and she'd try to convince you or something."

Aria's voice had started to rise, clearly this wasn't the first time Lucia had attempted this.

"She's taking advantage of her personal relationship, her position as Callie's mother and that's not something that matters, this is all strictly business!"

The silence that reigned after Aria's outburst was filled with tension.

"Aria…" Calliope started.

"Don't," Aria cut her off, "this isn't the first time she's done this and it won't be the last. I just need you to promise me that you won't accept it."

"I promise." I replied instantly, there was no doubt in my mind that Terri understood where Lucia was coming from, but Terri's reasoning affected us in ways that Lucia hadn't accounted for. Losing the kids would lower morale, how could our soldiers trust us and fight for us when we couldn't even protect their children? When our actions would cause them to lose their children?

"Okay." She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "Okay, the other thing is this." She held up a file for me.

"Elder Francis? What does he want?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that you should never take a meeting with him alone." That sparked my interest and I could see Calliope watching Aria curiously.

"Why?"

"Because of who he is. His agenda is never clear and he spends his time playing with you. Toying with your emotions and reactions, trying to dismiss you as a figure of authority. He wants the power to himself and that's the only thing I can say about him. So Terri has never left me alone in the same room as him, and this rule applies even more to you and Tim."

"What? Why?" Calliope asked.

"Because of your history with him and his son. He's going to try and get his revenge, he was never satisfied with Terri taking the blame, and he's never been given an opportunity to get either one of you alone without arousing suspicion. Now that you and Tim are covering for Terri, this is the perfect moment to get back at you."

"Did it happen to Terri too? Did he do anything?" I needed to know what happened in order to prepare myself.

"He tried, but he could never get past her shields." Aria's tone softened briefly as she glanced at Calliope and I. "There's a reason why Terri is so cold and hard on everyone, and this is the prime example. If you're too soft, you leave too many openings available, openings that the enemy will strike at, and you never know who the enemy could be."

"Have you ever witnessed a meeting between them?"

"Yes, a couple of times. Terri wanted to help me understand the rules and workings of this world better, so I'd spend a couple of days meeting the Generals and Elders with her. They could never protest because it's my right as her Bride." Aria stared off into the distance, as if reliving the moments. "But every time Martin Francis entered the room, the atmosphere dropped and tension grew. His words are leading and provoking, but he'll never make a blatant pass. He plays mind games with you all the while trying to invade into your subconscious. I'm not sure what his powers are exactly, but I do know that he has a similar ability to Mama and me. He'll talk and provoke you to distract you from his real intentions. Whilst he's leading you around in circles, he's also trying to get into your mind to either find leverage or something."

I contemplated my options, who would I keep in the room with me during Elder Francis' 'interrogation'? "Can you penetrate his mind?"

"I've tried a few times, but he's got a lot of shields up. I was lucky to break down a few without him noticing, but I can't get a decent read on him. But I can discard him from mine."

"He's tried to get into your head?" Calliope asked incredulously.

"Its all part of his power move. He can't get anything from Terri, so he's targeting the weaker link: me."

"How about Terri? Can she read him?" If not even Terri could get through, then I would have very limited options as to who to use.

"Yeah, not that he knows though."

"Wait, what?" That didn't make sense.

"He doesn't actually know that she has the Seer ability. No one does." Aria answered, confusion evident on her face. "I thought you knew that?"

I thought back to all the times Terri communicated with me through the telepathic link, but that was something we all could do. When else has she ever displayed the ability to do more than that? But Lucia said Terri was in Hades' mind, something isn't right.

"I knew she could do it." Calliope's quiet voice broke me out of my musing. "She…uh… She showed me what happened the night Arizona got turned."

I stared at her in shock, why had she never told me that before? I needed to know, so I voiced my question.

"I'd told you that I knew what happened, that I had seen it before."

"Yeah, but I thought that was because I practically relived it during my revival."

"Oh." Calliope looked at me blankly. Yes, oh.

"So how does no one know? When did she…" I trailed off as I suddenly remember Lucia's words. "Her revival. Lucia said that they had to transfer their powers into Terri to bring her back to life."

"Theia's power apparently lingered and adapted to her body, and with the added effect of her own power, her power over the mind was amplified. It's nowhere near as strong as Ariolus', but it comes a close second."

"That's how she was able to stay one step ahead of everyone else. Why she seemed to have a plan for almost every outcome, she had predicted it." It was a statement more than a question, because we all knew what the answer was. "Then why didn't she get any other powers? From Zeus or Helios? I mean she hasn't received any extra powers has she?"

"No. And she didn't really have a choice in that. It was Athena's decision, she chose to cling onto what she felt was the most useful power, and then made Terri practice and train using it."

"Athena? Made?" I asked in confusion, nothing was making sense to me anymore.

Aria sighed, "when you're at that age, you don't have much of an actual link to your Avatar. You're too young to know or feel anything other than their existence. Athena made the decision whilst Terri was still technically dead."

I sighed as the difference in power between Terri and I become more and more obvious, I had always thought we were equals in everything but rank, but apparently I was wrong. Was it because I had been fighting my nature since the beginning? No, the changes were always going to happen. The distance between us just kept getting wider and wider.

I glanced up at Aria and smiled sadly. Aria, who knew nothing about our past other than what Lucia had told her, knew more about us than I did. Just how far have I fallen behind?

"Who would you suggest that I bring into the meeting? Can you do it?" I asked tiredly.

"I could, but I'm not going to. Elder Francis doesn't respect me, and without the influence of Terri, he's going to walk all over the both of us. You need someone that commands authority, someone that holds more power than him."

"Why are we meeting with them anyway? Shouldn't it be the King's responsibility?" Calliope asked in anger. "What is he doing anyway?"

"Calliope," I stood and laid a soothing hand on her cheek. "The Crown's responsibility is to get daily reports, and meet with the Generals and Elders. They decide what is more important and then schedule an audience with the King. The King then decides whether further action is required. Otherwise, the King is busy with my parents, Theia and Helios devising plans to strengthen our clan. He doesn't need to concern himself with the daily reports. In summary, he gets the fun field work whilst we get the boring paperwork."

"And also working with the serum" Aria added in helpfully.

"Yeah, and they're trying to find a safe way for us all to utilise the serum for battle." I continued.

Talking about my parents…

"How about my parents?" I asked Aria, who took a moment to think it over.

"It could work, but then there's the issue of his mind powers. It would be best if you could get Ariolus in here, but I doubt she'd be able to get away now."

I sighed in defeat. "Why is he even part of the council?"

"Because he's one of the founding members of the new reign? All of the Generals and Elders hold their position because of their contribution during the rebellion against Cronus." Aria replied helpfully.

"Oh right…that."

"Oh," Calliope suddenly spoke up, "how about Mama?"

"No!" Aria's instant reply caused Calliope to recoil in shock. "Sorry, but Mama has history with him. They hate each other and her presence would probably make the situation even worse."

"Does anybody like him?"

A few days had passed before I finally agreed to meet with Elder Francis, and after Aria's warning, I had practically begged my dad to join my meeting. He hadn't given me a definite answer, instead saying that 'he'd try'. Didn't he understand the pressure I'd be under facing Elder Francis? I really hated this job, at least Tim got the train the soldiers, I had to sit in all of these meetings. Damned politics!

The door opened slowly and I saw Calliope's head pop in.

"Am I interrupting?" A smile crossed my face instantly and she grinned back at me.

"Nope, he's not here yet. What are you doing here?"

"Thought you'd like some support." She chewed on her lower lip briefly and avoided eye contact. "And I haven't seen you in a while, you've been cooped up in this office and you barely sleep now…"

My smile dropped slightly as I felt the guilt invade my sense. I walked over and pulled her into my arms, wrapping them around her tightly and dropping a quick kiss on her lips. "I'm sorry Calliope, I'm still adjusting to the workload. I swear, I'll try harder to spend more time with you."

Her arms came around my shoulders and she buried her head into my neck. "I'm not blaming you, I just miss you." She pulled back and looked at me, taking in my exhausted features and stroked a hand down the side of my face, before leaning in a kissing me deeply.

I tightened my arms around her and lost myself in the sensations. I guess I'd needed this more than I'd thought. I pulled away when air became necessary and leaned my forehead against hers. "I love you." I whispered quietly, not wanting to disrupt the calm and quiet bubble that had formed around us.

"I love you too." I tensed as I felt something come closer to the door. "Ari? Everything okay?" I reluctantly pulled away from Calliope and returned to the chair behind the desk, plopping down with a sigh.

"Yeah, sorry. Elder Francis is coming."

Seeing my tense features and the deep frown etched on my face, she walked behind me and rubbed my shoulders gently. "I thought your dad was coming?"

"I thought so too…"

Callie p.o.v

I frowned at Arizona's tense posture as Elder Francis stood smugly before her.

"Ah, Artemis, how are you today?" he asked.

"I'm fine, now about your proposal-"

"Now, now. We have nothing but time on our hands at the moment, business can be put aside for now. We rarely get a chance to have a chat." He interrupted, quite rudely in my opinion. What was he playing at? Arizona had been putting off his meeting for days, and now that he's finally gotten an audience with her, he doesn't want to talk about his proposal?

"Elder Francis, I'm sure you know that I'm actually quite busy, so if we could get straight down to business?" Arizona replied politely.

"Oh please, I'm sure you've got it all under control, otherwise Athena wouldn't have entrusted you with this power. She trusts you."

Arizona straightened up in her chair and I tensed immediately, feeling the anger rushing through my veins.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded coldly.

He chuckled, "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just making small talk. How is Athena, by the way?"

"She's fine." Her reply was curt and I could see her hand tightening into fists. I narrowed my eyes at the Elder and froze slightly. Were his eyes always this dark?

His gaze never once strayed from Arizona and I could see the smirk on his face. "Oh really? It's such a shame; I mean what happened to the Randall clan. Athena was always so close to their Alpha and his family, I'm sure she's not as fine as you think she is." His eyes met mine briefly before returning to Arizona's cold blue eyes, "I'm sure if your mate was killed, you wouldn't be fine."

"Hey!" Her voice was sharp and commanding, "first of all, do not talk about Calliope, and secondly, Lauren wasn't Terri's mate. Her mate is Aria."

"Oh really?" The smirk on his face was growing and I could feel my brow twitching. I really wanted to punch that smile off his face. "They had a daughter together, I'm sure the Lycan is more of a mate to Athena than Ariadne is. Ariadne is more of a… bed warmer."

The anger surged through my body, how dare he? How dare he blatantly insult Aria in front of me? How dare he dismiss the obvious bond between Aria and Terri? How dare he!

"Calm down Calliope." Arizona's voice came as a shock and I snapped my head up to see Martin Francis staring directly at me, eyebrows raised expectantly. My eyes shot to Arizona to see her staring coldly at the Elder. Was he doing this on purpose? Riling me up by insulting Aria, was that just so he could see how I would react?

"Elder Francis," Arizona's voice was eerily calm and her features cold and hard, it was equal amounts of impressive, arousing and scary. I caught Arizona's lips turn up briefly as she obviously caught my thoughts. "You have requested an audience with me, and I have granted that. We are here to discuss your proposal and that only. You will not talk about anything else, if you want small talk; go find someone else because that is not what you're here for. Do I make myself clear?"

"Athena always-" He started.

"No." Arizona cut him off before he could say any more. "I am not Athena, nor am I trying to be her. I am in charge right now, and we will do this my way."

I inhaled sharply, hoping that I hadn't drawn any attention to myself. The way Arizona was behaving right now, it was ridiculously hot. Like I said, impressive.

Elder Francis' nostrils flared in anger and his demeanour went from calm and smug to wild and angry. "How dare you speak to me like that? You are nothing!" He pointed his finger at Arizona and I could feel myself tense in preparation for him to start attacking. "You are nothing but a scared, pathetic little girl hiding behind the protection of Athena. You hold no power or authority and you rely solely on others to handle what you 'can't'. You think that just because Athena has given you control that you're really in charge? You're nothing but a placement holder, and you hold nothing but a title. You. Are. Nothing!"

"Watch who you are talking to Elder Francis!" Arizona's commanding voice held an odd echo to it and Elder Francis was staring in shock. When I turned to her I saw her eyes were glowing, and there was a weird burning sensation coming from my chest. I refocused my attention on Arizona and her eyes were glowing brightly, I finally realised that it wasn't her normal aura that was radiating off of her; her eyes were white!

Arizona p.o.v

"You. Are. Nothing!"

The rage that surged through me was uncontrollable. I had prepared myself for Martin Francis' interrogation, at least I thought I had, but the way he poked and prodded, it was too much and all of a sudden there was a burning sensation from my chest and power flooded through my veins. I shot up from my seat and slammed my hands on the table.

"Watch who you are talking to Elder Francis!" My breaths were coming fast and uneven and a growl left my throat involuntarily. In my confusion, I had failed to notice Elder Francis' shock and the intense look I was getting from Calliope. "I may just hold a title, but that title is the 'Crown'. Do you know what that means? It means that I outrank you Elder, and no matter how much or what you may or may not have done for the King during the rebellion, you do not get to dismiss the fact the you answer to the King and the Crown, and not the other way around. You do not get special privileges, you are an Elder and even if I wasn't the interim Crown, I am the daughter of Poseidon, I am of Royal Blood and I am officially a Princess of this Court!"

"Why you little!" Francis' aura flared up brightly, his fangs emerged and a low growl emitted from his throat, before it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, as his aura was supressed.

"Is there a problem here?" I was so focused on Martin Francis I had failed to notice the appearance of another person in the doorway.

"O-of course not, my lord." He stuttered, obviously in shock from the enormous amount of energy that was radiating from my father as he supressed Francis' aura.

"Very well. I apologise for my tardiness, what have I missed so far?" My father's tone was nonchalant, as if he hadn't noticed the tension between us.

"Not much dad, just Elder Francis sharing his thoughts about me and of Aria's relationship with Terri." I answered.

My father turned to me and paused. I tilted my head in confusion as the burning sensation began to fade away. He blinked and turned away, "I see, and what would that be?"

"It's not important." Elder Francis replied hurriedly, "I am here about a Lycan that's been spotted on the borders. Usually, I would have him thrown in the dungeons and tortured for invading our territory, but there are two major factors preventing me from doing that."

"And that would be?" My father asked.

"Firstly, he's been identified as one from the Randall clan," I froze, Randall? "Considering recent events, I should have him killed on sight, but due to Athena's new rule I have to report everything before I do anything." The Elder turned to me, "So, what would you like me to do about the Lycan?"

"Keep him in the dungeons for now, I will personally see to him before deciding on further actions." He looked as though he was going to protest, but my father clearing his throat dismissed any thoughts.

"Of course," he bowed slightly and made his way out the door, but not before throwing an odd glance at Calliope and myself.

General p.o.v

"You're late dad," Arizona's voice was filled with frustration and annoyance.

"When did that happen?" Poseidon asked in return, causing both Arizona and Callie to look at him in confusion. "That," he reiterated, pointing at Arizona's chest.

Both women followed the direction of his finger and then back at the elder Robbins once again. "What? When did what happen?" Arizona asked exasperated, she was still frustrated over her father's tardiness. She was now stressed over the confrontation and had a tremendous headache.

"Your mark?" Amusement was slowly filing into his voice, with a slight hint of concern over her obliviousness to the mark. Was it possible that she didn't know?

"My…mark?" Arizona tilted her head. Callie's brain kicked into gear and she chuckled under her breath.

"Um…Babe?" Callie called out to her and pointed at her own chest where the mark of the Crown was still glowing albeit a lot dimmer and then it was as if someone had lit a bulb in Arizona's head as understanding dawned upon her.

"Oh! That."

"Yes, that."

"I'd completely forgotten about that." She smiled sheepishly at her dad.

"So when did it happen?"

"A couple of weeks ago…maybe?"

"Y-you don't know?" Poseidon's voice rose in shock and disbelief.

"What? No! I know when it happened, just not the date. I've been pretty busy lately; we've all been busy! I mean I don't even know what day it is today." Arizona defended.

"This is important Artemis!" Poseidon roared, making both women jump at the unexpected rage that had filled his voice.

"Don't you dare! I am not a soldier and I am definitely not your soldier!" Arizona growled in return.

"You are a soldier, we are all soldiers of Zeus' court!" He shot back.

"Fine, I may be a soldier of Zeus' court, but I am your daughter. And most importantly, I am not one for you to command!" The burning sensation returned involuntarily and her eyes grew bright white causing him to take a step back in shock.

They stared at each other, both panting from the pent up anger, and both unwilling to back down.

"They really are father and daughter," Callie thought to herself in amusement. She bravely placed herself in between the duo, "Okay, you both need a breather." Edging closer to Arizona, she placed an arm around her waist, "babe, take a seat. You need to calm down." She forced Arizona into her seat and began to massage her shoulders lightly. "And you, sir." She looked up at Poseidon, "The mark is something that's between Arizona and Terri, why is it so important?"

He sighed and made his way over to the chairs on the other side of the desk. "If you had told us this before, it would have made everything a lot easier."

Arizona placed her elbows on the desk and leaned her head onto her hands, rubbing at her forehead. "Why?"

"Because it means that Athena, the Crown, has chosen you to protect." Callie and Arizona snapped their heads up, "She has chosen you to stand and speak on her behalf, and it makes this," he gestured around the office, "more official and it means you have more authority."

"It does?" Callie asked absentmindedly as she tried to recall what she had read before from her snooping in the library. "Oh! Like Lexie? She holds more authority than most, even if she wasn't Chief Tactician, and that's because of the mark right?" At Poseidon's nod, she hurried on, "Lexie had said something to me before, about the mark, she said that it gave me the 'permission and authority to get anywhere on behalf of the Crown.'"

She blushed when she realised that the two Robbins were staring at her. Poseidon with a smirk and Arizona with a proud and bright grin.

"Exactly, so if anything happens or if you run into any further problems, you should use the mark."

Callie shared a glance with Arizona as the same single thought pass through both their minds.

'I guess Terri was protecting us after all.'

Arizona p.o.v

After the meeting with Elder Francis yesterday I had pushed away all of my paperwork in favour of taking a nap with Calliope on the couch. It did wonders for my body as I was finally able to relax and get some sleep, plus the added bonus of having Calliope lying in my arms. Unfortunately, my headache had yet to fade, and I wondered if the stress and pressure of everything had finally caught up to me. I leaned back heavily in the chair, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples in an attempt to alleviate the persistent throbbing.

Thinking back to the conversation made me sigh. There was just so much to take in: the mark of the Crown, arguments over power and authority, revenge, the list goes on. Was this what I had to look forward to? God, I definitely preferred my life back at SGMW, it was simple and clear cut. I was Head of the Peds and clearly in charge of the department; I was a surgeon and people could come to me for medical aid; and on my days off I could be a regular person going on dates with Calliope. Everything was much simpler, but now? It was all about mind games, unnecessary displays of power and fighting over who had authority over what and when they had it. And apparently my nifty new little mark gave me a lot more perks than I wanted or needed.

The door opened followed by a jovial voice, "knock knock!"

I opened my eyes in time to see Aria's head popped in and she gave a sympathetic smile at the frustrated look on my face. "Long day?"

"Try long week." I gestured to the large pile of unfinished paperwork sitting to my right and then the smaller 'finished' pile on my left. "This paperwork just keeps increasing, I swear I haven't even made a dent in today's pile yet and I've still to finish yesterdays!"

"Ouch," Aria came around and patted my shoulder before taking a seat on the edge of the desk, carefully avoiding all of the scattered paper littering the desk. "You know what you need?"

"A vacation?" I asked, making sure I exaggerated the fake hopefulness in my voice, drawing a chuckle from the younger Torres.

"You wish," she snorted, "but close!"

"Oh?"

"Yup, you need a day," she paused to take in the tiredness displayed over my face, "or maybe two, to just relax and do nothing. Get some sleep, spend some time with Callie, read a book, go….fishing!" She finished with flourish.

I raised a brow at her "fishing?"

She dismissed me easily with a wave of her hand, "oh you know what I mean, just take some time off."

"I really can't Aria, I mean I want to, don't get me wrong, but there's so much that needs to be done."

"Nothing that's urgent Arizona." She stared at me seriously, "at this current moment, you've met with all of the Generals and Elders and heard their proposals and what not, and all that's left for now is paperwork. You said so yourself." I nodded mutely at her, trying to follow her thought path.

"Right, and when's the last time you actually spent some time with Callie? And I don't mean those ridiculous times when you crawl into bed and some insane time in the middle of the night or early morning. I mean, yes we're surgeons so we're used to sleeping whenever, but still it's ridiculous Arizona."

"We were together yesterday!" I defended with a pout and pointed at the couch behind her, "we even took a nap right there, that's why I'm so behind on paperwork."

"That doesn't count!" Aria shot back incredulously before shaking her head and chuckling to herself. "Look, just go and take a few days with Callie and do whatever she wants okay? Go and just be 'Arizona and Callie' instead of 'Artemis and Calliope', spend some time as a normal everyday couple."

I really wanted to take up her suggestion, but there was so much work that needed to be done and people were still waiting for my answers. On the other hand though, I really missed Calliope and missed just being with her.

"But…paperwork?" I asked uncertainly.

"Lexie will do it." Aria answered helpfully.

"Uh?" I tilted my head in confusion, "am I allowed to do that? Wait, is she allowed to do it?"

"Um yes? She's Terri's blood-bonded sister, remember? And if we're going by formalities and stuff, she technically has more authority than you do at the moment because of that."

"Oh… I'd completely forgotten." And I had, with all that had gone on I had forgotten about Lexie's new role.

"See what I mean? You're tired and over worked; you need some time to recharge. So let Lexie handle the next few days whilst you get some Callie time, and if anything serious or important comes up, we'll let you know okay?"

"But if Lexie's here then who's going to stay with Terri?" I tried one last attempt to reject her offer, though it was a weak one, and she knew it.

She smiled at me gently and I could see the love and warmth reflected in her eyes at the mention of Terri. "You let me handle my wife okay? Just focus on healing, we can't have you at anything less than one hundred per cent in case anything happens."

"Wait, healing?" I thought she told me to relax, what was this about healing?

"Yeah, the headaches?" She asked hoping I'd get the hint, but the blank look she got in return told her otherwise. "Two reasons: one, it's partially the after effects of Elder Francis trying to invade your consciousness, it's both annoying and frustrating."

"I hadn't thought of that, I'd assumed that the headaches was just from the stress."

"Well, that's reason number two!" Aria replied cheerfully. "Actually, here let me try something." She held out her hand and gestured to my face. "May I?"

I nodded uncertainly, having no idea what I was giving her permission to do, but the moment her hand touched my skin, relief spread like water to fire, and I felt the throbbing cease instantly. I sighed in satisfaction and watched on curiously as her hands had a faint golden aura and her eyes radiated a warm white glow.

"That's so much better, what did you do?" I asked, mindful of the fact that her hand was still cradling the left side of my face and tried not to move around too much.

"It's a mind trick, I'm basically telling your mind that there's no pain and you don't have a headache." I nodded in understanding. "Also, I'm reconstructing the mental shields that Elder Francis broke." I stared at Aria in awe. She was amazing!

Chuckling caught my attention and broke my out of my musings and I looked up to see Aria smiling at me. "Thanks, but it's all thanks to my bloodline and who my mate is."

I blushed, had I said that out loud?

"Nope, but I'm connected to your mind right now." Aria was now grinning brightly at me and it made me smile, I guess it did make sense. "Anyway, Callie will probably be able to do something like this, maybe. It's because of who Mama is, so we've inherited her ability of thought. Mine just goes further because I've been training with Ariolus a lot and the boost Terri's power gives me. Ariolus says that I'll probably have the same ability as her soon, but just, you know, at a weaker level."

"What about Calliope?" I asked curiously, we've never really had a discussion about her abilities other than the power to heal me.

"No clue, but she's been given the ability to heal you, which apparently is her main power. She's a healer basically, and along with Mama's blood, she'll have some ability of 'Thought', no idea what or how though. That's something you'll have to figure out yourself."

"She's a healer?"

"Yep, I mean other than the basic healing via feeding, I can't help Terri in that aspect, whereas Callie can heal up every and any wound you have and most injuries other people have. She'll obviously have to work on that, I think Richard and Miranda offered, but talk to them about it."

She pulled her hand away and I prepared myself for the pain to return, but nothing happened. She nodded at me and winked.

"That'll last for a little while, hopefully Callie would have healed you before it returns. That's another thing you both need to work on by the way, your mental shields, but that's not until another day. Now shoo!" She pulled me out of my seat and literally shoved me out the door and slammed it in my face.

I stared at the closed door in shock and laughed. She's something all right.

I turned and happily and hurriedly, might I add, made my way to Calliope thinking of all the possible things we could do for the next few days. This was where I pretty much grew up and I had so much to show her. I paused, what was it Aria had said? Oh right, do what Calliope wants, not me.

I looked around me to make sure no one was looking. Oh screw it! I made a mad dash down the corridor and towards where I could feel the presence of my mate with a huge smile on my face the entire time.

This is going to be great!