Chapter 42

On the way to Hotch's room in the fortress, he and Alecta had stopped by her room so she could look in on the babies. They were supposed to be sleeping, but as Alecta and Hotch walked into the room, Hotch could see three sets of eyes turn in their direction.

"Well, that's a trait they got from their mother,' he whispered to her as they closed in on the crib.

"Yeah,' she said on a chuckle. "Grab a baby."

Alecta herself scooped up Leta, her hidden baby. As she rubbed noses with the little baby, the child's arms flailed, she wiggled wrapped in her little blanket, and there was even an infantile attempt at a small giggle….leaving the baby blowing slobber bubbles the way that so many of them do. She sat down on one of the divans in the room that was in the corner, one end of it having a view of the Bosphorus Strait….you could see the lights of some of the ships in the harbor, and the lights that lined that 'Godforsaken Bridge' as Alecta referred to it. She really hated that thing. It was a marvel of technology, but it obstructed her view of the city scape, and for that she wanted the thing blown to smithereens.

As Hotch held baby Vika, Yildiz picked up baby Michael, and Alecta got settled on the divan. Yildiz placed Michael in her other arm, and then took baby Vika from Hotch and placed her between Michael and Leta. The babies were currently small enough that Alecta could hold all three of them in a row, rubbing Vika's back.

"What are you thinking?" Hotch was genuinely curious.

"Which cities I should give them…..they have one hell of an inheritance coming their way; as do their sisters and brother." As she held the babies, with the view of the Bosphorus Strait behind her, baby Vika picked her head up to look her mother in her eyes; her little head swayed a bit with the effort of keeping herself steady, but she managed it. Her little round head bobbing, the dark hair that covered it standing straight up; she reached up with one of her pudgy day old hands and patted her mother's mouth and cheek, grinning before throwing her head back down onto Alecta's chest….with that baby Vika looked at Hotch from the corner of her eye, or at least that's the way it seemed. Baby Leta was holding out her free arm towards Hotch moving her fingers opened then closed, babbling at him. Baby Michael was looking out on the view from the window, yanking on a strand of Alecta's hair in his excitement.

"For babies that are only a day old they're quite advanced don't you think?" Hotch went over and let Leta grab for his finger; her baby grip quite strong as she pulled on his finger, trying to pull up as if to signal she wanted to go from her mother to him.

"Naturally they are. Before being bound into this life I was an 8,000 year old goddess. They got at least some of those genetics don't you think?"

"Anything is possible it seems."

"Yes, and I think Michael might be partial to the old city. He may wind up with Istanbul. But, I have to think about this a bit more before I decide."

They saw to the babies for a few more minutes, Hotch wondering what was going to happen when they made it back to his room. Alecta was stalling for time….she had to make this good. It had to double as payback (for him driving her away in the first place) and as a make-up session. Hotch should have been afraid of the things her deviant little mind could cook up given half a chance.

Hotch helped her when he realized she wanted to stand up and couldn't do it with an armload of baby. Yildiz came to her then and took baby Vika from her, allowing her to kiss the child's cheek as she placed her into her crib. After all three babies were tucked away in their respective cribs, Alecta and Hotch made their way to the door of the room.

"Are you sure they are safe here alone?" Hotch asked standing just inside the door.

"Master Hotchner,' Yildiz spoke in her lovely accent. "Let me assure you they are quite safe." She and the other ladies caring for the babies withdrew Saracen swords halfway from hilts that were hidden in their garments.

"Aye, there is not a one of us that won't fight to the death,' replied another woman.

"You see my dear; most of them are….um….descended from members of the Janissaries and the Crescent Guard. No worries. Fort Knox should be this lucky. Now, quit stalling. It's time to get what's coming to you."

Alecta giggled as she walked out of the room, pulling Aaron by the lapel of the shirt he was wearing.

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Rossi walked Mrs. King back to her room, ever the gentleman. They had walked arm in arm discussing some of what they had learned over the last few hours.

"What do you think about being the mother of a Goddess?"

"What's there to think about? Regardless of who she might be she's still my baby girl. But don't get it wrong. Just because the men in this family don't know how to treat their women doesn't mean that you should expect anything less out of me. This is probably the least you should expect." Mrs. King smiled at Dave.

"Well, you have a good night my dear."

"I don't know how good a night it will be, with a guard outside my door."

"Yeah, from what I understand we all have at least one. But I would rather have them as to not have them under the circumstances."

"You have a point there I do believe." Kissing Rossi carefully on the cheek, Mrs. King turned to make her way into the bedroom.

"Wait." Rossi stopped her quickly.

"Yes?" Mrs. King's blue eyes swung back around to look at Dave.

"Take this. I don't know how much good it will do you, but have it."

It was a small golden crucifix on a delicate gold chain.

"Let me put it on you."

"Alright,' she turned and pulled her hair out of the way as Rossi draped the chain around her neck.

"It was my mother's; she got it when she was a girl."

Turning quickly around as soon as he had it fastened, 'I can't keep this. It means too much to you."

"Keep it. You've come to mean a lot as well." Rossi winked at her and turned to walk away. Mrs. King only nodded and blushed deeply as she finally made it into her room, closing the door behind her.

Rossi made his way back to his room with his 'new friend' at his side. He walked in shut the door, the guard taking up residence just outside, and slid his tie off and began changing into some pajamas for the night. He couldn't help but smile at himself when he thought of the shade of red that Rachel, Alecta's mother, had blushed thinking that she meant so much to him. It touched him a bit to think that it mattered that much to her what he thought. Although he wasn't too sure how much longer he could continue to be a complete gentleman. She was pushing 60, but she was still quite gorgeous….long blonde hair, blue eyes, warm smile. It was certain she could charm anybody in her path. The only thing that had kept him in line so far was Alecta. He wasn't sure what her thoughts about his relationship with her mother might be; he didn't want to push his luck.

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Garcia and Morgan made their way back to their room; Morgan had stripped down to his boxers and was getting comfortable, Garcia went in the bathroom to take a fast shower…..it had been a long day, she needed to freshen up a bit.

When she was through with her shower she walked into the bedroom to see Derek leaned back against the headboard reading a book. As she only had a towel wrapped around her, she made her way to the bed, climbing up onto it, straddling Derek.

"You trying to tell me something baby girl?"

"Why yes sir I am." She nodded as she began to stroke him through his boxers. "And now it looks like you're trying to tell me something, unless I'm mistaken."

"Aren't you tired?

"Nuh-uh. Exact opposite actually. I've been waiting to come back here so I could see if we could break the bed. Damn pregnancy hormones…..they tend to turn a girl into a raving lunatic. I wonder how Hotch was able to deal with Lex the way she can be."

"Wondering about another man, when you're in bed on top of me. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure that he dealt with it a little like this…"Morgan managed to rasp out as he slid into her in one stroke.

"Oh, I like that. Good answer."

Morgan chuckled as he rolled them over and she was under him, her towel making a hasty retreat.

As Rossi made his way down the hall to his room, he could hear the unmistakable sound of Penelope Garcia giggling near hysterically at something that Derek either did or said; he could only shake his head and chuckle himself, thankful that he had no clue what that was all about.

The last room that Rossi had to pass before he made it to his was Hotch's room; Rossi wondered if he ought to have ear plugs available just on the off chance that he was scarred by what he heard as he passed by the door.

Luckily all that he managed to hear in those brief seconds was Alecta's voice chiding Aaron.

"Oh no Master Hotchner,' she said with a devious chuckle 'Talking is what started all this trouble to begin with."

Dave shook his head and thought about praying for his dear friend; his 'adopted' daughter was going to be a handful it seemed.

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"What are you going to do to keep me quiet?" Hotch grinned at Alecta, a daring gleam in his eyes.

"Oh, you hurt me with your words, Sir!" Alecta clutched at her heart and began stumbling for the bed falling onto it, onto her back, as if she was mortally wounded. "If you have forgotten already, I must be losing my touch. Time was no man could forget or resist me. So many things have changed."

She rolled off of the bed, shaking her head as she made her way to Hotch's bathroom, she hoped the sullen look she was feigning was believable.

"Where are you going?" Hotch asked incredulously as he raced across the room, wrapping his arms tightly around her as he did so. "You have to refresh my memory. Wait a minute. You just had babies, aren't you supposed to wait like six weeks for….?"

"Firstly, if you must know where I'm going…..my kidneys are doing the back stroke, so don't squeeze quite so hard, or this will get embarrassing for us both. Secondly, um, dude….it's like….I'm sort of a goddess, and we heal quickly ya know. Now, do you mind? The quicker you let me get this over with…."

"Well, alright, but hurry. These past few weeks have been damned long enough."

Alecta couldn't agree more; and yet, that fact terrified her. Once she had finished dealing with the necessary evil of a potty break, she was standing at the sink in the bathroom, pretending to be washing her hands for a moment. Gripping the edge of the sink, her head down, trying to collect her thoughts.

A million things had happened in the past few months it seemed like; the least of which happened to be leaving her second husband, and watching him die. Kevin had come back into her life…she hadn't seen him in over 20 years. She had been given the gift of her mother back. Her father was dead, along with his minions. She had lost two really dear friends, and had another lose her way. Those three losses still affected her about as heavily as anything she had ever experienced, well at least in quite a few centuries. And this…..this monster was back from the dead yet again. Out of all she had faced, he worried her the most.

War was war, whether it was Armageddon or just some minor border wars….people die in war, it's a fact. It's not pretty, but it's the nature of the beast. This demon could enter your life; he could enter your room and turn you into something like himself without you even realizing it at first. She kept picturing what it would be like if he came after her kids or her mother….or one of her team mates. The idea was almost too terrifying and upsetting to comprehend; and what about darling Jack or Henry?

If all of this wasn't enough to keep her mind in a state of chaos, there was the way she felt about Hotch. In her former life she was notorious for falling for her mortal men. It was a weakness for her. In 8,000 years, nothing had changed. Although, if she was truthful, she had a thing for men of her own kind as well.

Selim…Well, George….every time she thought of their time together she couldn't help but chuckle, he was something else, was he ever. He was the kind of man that mortal and immortal women would fall on their backs for instantly, she was no different. And he was well worth it.

At one time, she had even been in love with Ares, and he had loved her….and loved her and loved her and loved her…those were good times as well. Well, maybe not for the common man, but….Yes, when two war gods such as Ares and herself got together things got….crazy. And, now that devious bastard was choosing the wrong side. She wasn't afraid to kill him if it came to it, he'd been a thorn in her ass for far too long.

Alecta smiled into the mirror as she actually began to wash her hands and splash water on her face as she thought about her aces in the hole; one of which was another past conquest. She fingered the Anubis medal that hung from the chain around her neck as she thought of him; the tattoo that she had of his head on her back tingled a bit, as if he had touched it himself.

All of her past conquests aside, mortal or immortal….lately she had been making a lot of bad choices. She had fallen in love with Fletcher and it nearly cost her life. But that was just the latest in a string of bad decisions.

She wanted to throw caution to the wind and just trust Aaron and, in some ways, perhaps she had. But inside there was a fear that it would all come back to bite her on the ass in the end. And even if it didn't, what would happen if he was hurt or killed in all this mess? What then?

Alecta started suddenly when there was a knock on the bathroom door, 'Do we need a search party?"

She opened the door, having a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye that she hoped passed for seductive and not confused or tear stained. Apparently, it fell short.

"What's on your mind Lex?"

"The list is long and the days are short…."

"I can make you forget for a while…."

"Don't I know it sport." Alecta began pushing him near the bed, pushing him down onto it and beginning to unbutton his shirt.

Hotch knew something was off about her demeanor since she came out of the bathroom. There was a slight hesitation or some hidden deliberateness to all she did; he just couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew something wasn't right in her world. He knew she had a lot that was going through her mind and was just trying to plow through it like she did everything else.

He grabbed both of her hands in both of his, stilling them in their task.

"What are you doing? I have to remind you…."

Hotch rolled them over, jumping off the bed. He stripped down to just his boxers and climbed back into the bed, holding his arms open, waving at her to come to him.

"Just come here."

"But….I was….."

"With all that you have running through your mind right now, you don't need to worry about that. Trust me, I haven't forgotten on second of it."

Alecta slid over to him, rolling so that she was on her side, with her back to him. He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled in resting his head against her neck, stroking her hair.

"So, what is on your mind?

"A lot of things.

"That's nothing new, is it? Why don't you elaborate?"

"Theo, Moira, Cinnamon, Daddy, Fletcher…..in the past couple of months, five people that had any connection to me are dead. You, the team, Jack, Henry, Impatiev….This son of a bitch that just won't die! I hate him you know. I used to love him…once….when he was a boy, I knew him before he was so….Evil. But what he's become…."

"What was he like? Before….The diplomat…"

"He was a precocious boy; he was a lot like Jack or Henry. His father handed him over to the Turks as a hostage for tribute to the Sultan….he needed aid against Hungary and some of its allies, and the Turks didn't trust him without the hostages. They were quite smart in this.

The boy and his brother lived rather comfortably in comparison with other hostages and prisoners of war. They were actually allowed almost every comfort you could imagine. But the down side of this is that spending so much time at the Turkish court….the boy learned their ways of torture. Learning from them is partially responsible for turning him into what he is today.

Could you picture Jack ever turning into that kind of monster?

And the thing that worries me the most, the thing that keeps me awake at night is that he can get to anyone of us at any time, and then imagine what will happen.

I can't watch anybody else turn into one of his kind. I won't let it happen."

"Well, if you're a war goddess….?"

"Right now, I have as much power as you or any other member on the team. It was one of the draw backs to being born into a mortal life; I lost most all of my relevant powers. There are a few minor ones that I can still manage from time to time, but it's rare. For me to be back to full power, I have to die."

"But you've told me time and again, that you can't be killed. I think that little boy, the apparition that we met before, even told me so."

"Hahaha, he did. Let me clarify. I can't be killed by any of your kind. Oh, I can be wounded; I may even be unconscious for days, in a coma….but never killed. It's really quite amazing what your kind can live through."

"Well, thank you. I think."

"Oh Aaron, it's a good thing. Most of the gods, the older one, they see your kind as just entertainment. They can toy with your lives as they see fit. Murphy's Law for instance….that's a big game they like to play. You know the kind of thing like, when you are on an eighth of a tank of gas, and you get stuck in traffic on the free-way, and then the car clunks out on you just as you inch near an exit, freedom is 100 yards away, and you have to walk, and its 95 degrees outside. That's them. I must say even I could be accused of toying with the mortals from time to time.

But over the years I grew to love them so, the mortals I mean. There were so many that taught me a great many things. Some, like our friend, taught me the true meaning of evil and terror. Others taught me what it meant to stare death in the face and laugh. I have seen almost everything that mankind can throw at one another. And there is much more to learn still."

In a bid to change the subject, she tried to steer things back to their previous conversation, 'Are you sure that you don't need me to remind you of how I can keep you….."

"I know how you can keep me. But we've had a hell of a few weeks behind us, and the next couple of days aren't going to be any better if current events are to be believed. You should sleep."

"….quiet. Fuddy duddy. It was just gonna be a bit of fun, that's all." Alecta was sitting up on her knees looking down on Hotch, shrugging her shoulders; her eyes held a bit of mischief.

"How can she still come off resembling Sofie or Emma, and be who she is?" Hotch thought to himself.

"Come on, live a little boss man. Wait…..what did you say?"

"Which time?" Hotch grinned. It was rare that anyone could catch her off guard like that.

"You devil! You know very well what I'm talking about."

"Really we should sleep, don't you think?"

"Well what if…..we should um…..what if tomorrow or the day after goes all wrong? Do you want the last thing you remember doing on Earth to be sleeping, when it could be me? Just saying." Alecta was now straddling Hotch's waist, her hands on his chest, unbuttoning his shirt.

"When you put it that way…..Who am I to argue?" Hotch chuckled as he rolled them over coming to rest on top of Alecta.

"Good question." Alecta giggled rather loudly as he began to nuzzle the ticklish spot he knew about near the crook of her neck. "Stop!….you evil little man."

Hotch looked down at her in amusement, 'If my memory is lapsing, yours must be gone completely or else you'd remember there isn't much little about me."

"You could be right….about my memory being shot. It's been so long that I barely remember." Alecta broke out into another fit of giggles as Hotch used both hands to sort of tickle her sides mercilessly; and there was nowhere for her to go, he had her pinned down.

Hotch leaned down to kiss her, she broke the kiss momentarily, 'Now we're getting somewhere."

"Hush you, and enjoy the ride."

"I always have before, at least as much as you."

"Shhhh, motor mouth, I'm busy here."

Any thoughts she had about saying something smart back were quickly forgotten when Hotch closed his mouth around her left nipple through the tank top she was still in.

Alecta was still trying to get Hotch's shirt off of him and he wasn't making it easy; finally he just used both of his hands to pin hers above her head to make her be still.

"We'll get to that soon enough. But you've been gone from me for far too long."

"Yeah, yeah…." Hotch shut her up by kissing her hard again; apparently the boss man was fluent in French. Alecta couldn't help the giggle that was trying desperately to escape.

"What's funny?" Hotch looked down at her, twirling a finger through one of her curls.

"Nothing bad, I promise. Where were we?" But she could barely contain the giggles.

Hotch merely shook his head and kept kissing her as he was finally able to rid her of her tank top. Royal purple and satiny; her bra created a stunning contrast against her alabaster skin and the darkness of her hair.

"Hmmm. I like this color on you actually."

"Good to know." As soon as the sentence was out of her mouth, Hotch had managed to unclasp it and was in the process of tossing it away.

"But….I am pretty sure it would look ever so much better on the floor….right about….There." he said as it landed right next to her tank top on the floor halfway across the room.

Alecta lifted her head slightly; turning her face to see what was going on, 'Oh, would ya look at that? You're right." Yet another giggle escaped, turning to a moan of pleasure as his mouth closed around one of her nipples again.

He didn't linger long however, there were more important things to attend to. He kissed his way down her body, stopping every couple inches to suck on a spot here or there, having missed her too much to ever really hurry. When he got around her belly button or slightly below it actually, Alecta drew up; he had hit another ticklish spot.

"I was under the impression that deities were impervious."

"We are. But the human body is not.' There was a squeal as he really began to tickle the shit out of her. He had missed her laughter; life events had been far too dark the past few weeks. "Oh you're gonna get it old man."

Even as she said it, she knew that no real payback would ever take place. Without a moment's notice, Hotch began sliding her track shorts down and off her legs; then he grabbed her legs, wrapping them over his shoulders, and then wrapping his arms around her thighs, using his hands to try to hold her down. With little more than a wink and a smug, crooked little smile he set to work.

Alecta thought she would be ready for this, they had done this before….a couple of times. But, like with everything else, it had been such a long time since they were last together. On top of that there were the very real events that were going on around them. When the sun came up, there was no guarantee what would happen. She supposed that had some bearing on what she felt.

Hotch could tell she was still thinking too much. He could still feel it in the rigidness of her spine….just something…..she still seemed to be unable to relax and just go with the flow. He hadn't seen her able to do that since those few days at his apartment before things blew up in their faces so beautifully. Hotch knew he'd have to be pretty damned good tonight. Uh oh, it seemed like he was on the right track.

She had arched up so much he thought that she'd nearly bend in half, that and the moan of 'Oh God! Aaron'….yeah, that was a dead giveaway. He merely chuckled to himself as he continued his work, licking and sucking that particular spot in earnest. Lucky for him he was just strong enough to hold her thighs open or else they would have likely slammed his head in a vice grip; she was a strong little minx that much had been made apparent time and time again. Hotch used his hands to hold her down by her hips even as the length of his arms kept her legs open for him as he continued tasting her. He wasn't going to stop until he was certain he'd had enough. Noon tomorrow sounded good to him.

"Aaron,' Alecta was looking down at him, sitting up, bracing her weight on her elbows. Her voice had been so quiet he almost didn't hear her.

He kept on with his work, he knew he should stop long enough to look up and see what she wanted….But it had been entirely too damn long in his books since he had gotten to do this for her, making her forget for just a little while; having her as close to being herself, whatever that was. He liked it, and he didn't want to stop, not just yet. He pushed it just a little further and that was it….she came completely apart, just how he'd planned on. Her back had arched to the point she nearly sat completely up in the bed, grabbing at the shoulders of his shirt before collapsing back down onto the bed.

Aaron carefully took her legs down off of his shoulders, letting them wrap around his waist, rising to cover her with his body. He was still fully clothed except for the few buttons on his shirt that she had managed to unbutton before he swatted her hands away. As he made his way back up her body, Hotch noticed tears in her eyes and a worried look on her face.

"Baby, are you alright? Was it something I did?" Hotch was instantly worried that he'd been a fool and done something to upset her, sweeping strands of hair back away from her forehead.

"I…..just….." Alecta couldn't seem to put into words what was worrying her.

Hotch relaxed, resting his full weight on top of her, kissing her cheek, 'What is it sweetheart?"

"I keep seeing flashes of a battle; whether it's a past battle or one yet to come, I can't tell. It's just so many things…."

He could tell by the worry in her eyes that she just needed him. Jumping out of bed and stripping down, Hotch climbed back into the bed and lay with her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, pulling her back flush against him.

"But you….." she began to think about the fact that he hadn't….finished.

"Hush; there will be time for that later."

Alecta only nodded as she settled against him; Hotch could feel her shaking slightly. He didn't like her being this worried or scared about anything to the point she just couldn't clear her mind and be happy for a change. He hoped that in the coming day or days that whoever was responsible for making her feel like this got what was coming to them.

He kissed her temple as he pulled the covers up over them both; he could only hope that she got some sleep before morning came. It galled him that she was right. After the sun came up there was absolutely no guarantee of what would happen.

"Centuries of fighting, and for what? I say. "Today it ends. I can't live in fear any longer. I've cursed this power. I've both enjoyed and misused it. And I've hidden it away. Now I must try to wield it correctly, to marry it to a purpose and hope that is enough." (Libba Bray, The Sweet Far Thing)

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Ok, so there's chapter 42. It didn't end quite the way I had intended for it to, but what can I say? This will give me an opening to start chapter 43 with everyone's arrival at Topkapi Palace, and go from there. Peace out.