In the days that followed, Hercules and Megara took their move-in process slowly. It was made much slower as since they were alone in their home with nobody to interrupt them, they could take frequent breaks to do whatever they wanted. Clothes were optional.

A week into their freedom, they'd arranged for most of Hercules's personal belongings to be moved from the villa to the mansion. Megara made a list of things she wanted, but her primary concern was preparing for the baby.

She hadn't given much thought to children for years, not since her life ended. Now, she didn't have much time to catch up to the reality of it, and she had to do it for a demigod baby. Oh well, there were worse things.

With her mind heavy with half-formed plans, she kicked a carpet to unroll it in the top room of the tower.

She was starting to feel accomplished.

Hercules entered the room with a massive marble statue of himself on his shoulder.

Megara stared at him, her mouth hanging open. "Gee, that's real… subtle."

"Oh, yeah! Ya like it? I thought we could use some of my hero mementos to, y'know, decorate the place!"

"Herc, you've managed to erect a hero monument in every room," she remarked, gesturing to the medals and plaques already adorning the wall.

Hercules deflated, his arms hanging low as his head with shame. "I'm sorry, honey. I just really want you to be proud of me."

Megara encircled him in her arms and went up on tiptoe. "Ya big ox, I don't need statues to remind me of how great you are! I've got the real thing."

Some of the shame evaporated from his eyes. He leaned in for a kiss that never began as they were interrupted by a sudden crash from the doorway.

One of the movers had brought in an overstuffed jar full of what looked like some scrolls and memorabilia of an entirely different sort.

"What's this?" Megara knelt beside the fallen jar and dusted off the side. "It says… Prometheus Acade–!"

"No!" Hercules cried. He rushed up beside her and pulled the jar from her hands, scooping every fallen item back into it and running to a window before Megara could get to her feet. "Hermes!" he called desperately through the window.

In a flash, Hermes had arrived, his easy, jovial smile in stark contrast to his little brother's panic.

"Take this back to Phil's island, won't you?" Hercules asked shooting looks at Megara that he hadn't worn since his battle against the Cadmean Hydra.

"Hey, isn't that the stuff from–?" Hermes began.

"Now!" Hercules insisted.

Megara could smell the fear. This wasn't like him.

"Oh, touchy!" Hermes chuckled, but he was off with his treasure in tow.

"Epsilon Haul-It moving company will not be held responsible for any losses due to divine intervention," the mover recited.

"Oh, yeah!" Hercules raced across the room. "No problem! Uh, uh, that's great!" Hercules ushered the man out of the room and slammed the door.

This farce was getting childish. Megara had her hands on her hips when Hercules pivoted with his hands pressed together as if praying she wouldn't pry. "Ah!" he exclaimed, sounding startled to see her there. "Well, let's get back to…" he approached her with arms open, eyes already closing for a kiss.

Megara stopped him at arm's length. "Not so fast, Bicep Boy, what's in the jar?"

"The jar? I-in the jar? Uh… Nothing!"

"Fine. I'll just catch up with Hermes and see for myself." Megara walked past him, but he caught the door before she could go through it.

"No, no, wait, I'll tell you…" His shoulders had gone tense. He looked like a schoolboy about to get scolded by his teacher. "It's just filled with some dumb stuff from… high school. That's all. I think my yearbook from Pro Ac is in there, and so are a few other bits of memorabilia."

Megara gestured around the room. "Don't wanna hang up that cute stuffed lamb on the wall along with the rest of the mementos?"

"No way! That was…" He hung his head and hid his face in his hands. "I can't get into it with you, Meg."

"What are you hiding, Wonder Boy? Are you trying to tell me that you don't trust me?"

Hercules raised his eyes to her, now terrified rather than shamed. "That isn't…"

"Ever since Athens, you've been cagey about it, like I could possibly stop loving you."

"I– well, back then, I didn't think you'd love me if you knew, but now… I don't want you to love me less. Or differently. I need you to keep looking at me the way you do. I don't want to lose the way you throw yourself at me or how you trust me with everything."

"But you don't trust me. You won't let your friends talk to me, and they've all got to treat me like an infant who'll cry if they say the wrong thing around me. You don't think I'll respect you if they tell me more about what happened in your past, but I've told you everything about me, and you still love me. I told you things I thought would make you throw me to Tartarus, not drag me out of it. What could possibly be so bad that I can't hear about it?"

"I didn't think of it like that…" Hercules took a step closer to her. "I swear to you, at some point, I'll be brave enough to talk to you about those things, but there's only one thing I'm afraid of, and it's losing you." He stroked her cheek, then trailed his fingers through her hair.

"You won't lose me. Let me prove it to you."

Hercules shook his head and smiled sadly. "Can't. We've got too much to do today, don't we?" He forced a smile. "We've gotta set up the dining room for when all our friends come to see us again!"

Megara raised a brow. "If we put it off, will they leave us alone?"

"Hey, I thought you liked our friends."

"I like you more, and I'm sick of sharing you."

Hercules found it in him to blush. "Wow. You have… a way with words. Uh…"

"Would it be so bad to call Hermes back and go over some of that stuff together? Or maybe I'll just go–" She moved for the door again, but he caught her by the shoulders.

"Oh, no, no. No, no! We're not doing that." He glanced around, decided on a course of action, and smiled. "See you soon, okay? We have so much more to unpack! So let's just forget about all that high school stuff and get back to work 'cause…" he had nothing. "Right, hon?" He gave her a smile that hid a hundred secrets, something she hadn't thought him capable of and disappeared.

Megara stood alone with her thoughts. Her eyes drifted out the window. Phil had said he wanted to visit his island after the parade so he could show it off to new potential students he'd drummed up from all that publicity that he was going non-exclusive. By now, Hermes had gone to that island and had plenty of time to explain the situation to Phil, who'd know what to look for.

However, he had to sleep at some point, and she had ways of putting Wonder Boy out of commission. Tonight would be the night.