Hercules escorted Megara back into the sanctuary Galatea had created and laid her out on one of the couches so she could rest on her side. He sat on the floor beside her and smoothed her hair back from her face. "We don't have to tell anyone else that it's happening for now. It can just be us, and you can squeeze my hands or scream at me or whatever you need until you're ready to share this with someone else."

"Are you sure?" she whispered. "I don't want to shout at you…"

"You might feel better if you did. Besides, the others, aside from my earth mother, have never witnessed this before, and none of them have gone through it. When my divine relatives join us, they'll make sure everything is in order. For now, all we need is each other."

His smile was the concentrated joy of a dozen Theban lifetimes. She could cry over it. She was crying over it.

"It's okay, I mean it," Hercules whispered, moving to brush her tears away.

"I know, that's why I love you so much…" she whispered, and the tears flowed harder than before.

"Oh," Hercules chuckled. "I love you, too. That's why I'm so proud that you want to go through this with me in private. Our daughter's going to be here soon, and I can't believe how much you've already done to bring her here. I'm just so lucky that you're here with me… I can't begin to explain how much better my life is with you in it."

"It's mutual," she reminded him, but then the pain returned and stole her smile. She pressed herself close to him, fighting to suppress any hint of pain. Her body would betray her soon, she knew. The most important thing in her mind was to make sure she didn't signal to everyone it was showtime before she was ready to be watched.

"Hey," Hercules rubbed at the tension in her belly. "Meg, you don't have to pretend. We're all here for you, and the only way you get help is if they know you need it."

"The only help I need is to be left alone with you. Everyone else is just…" She couldn't locate the right word; she was too distracted.

"I'm glad I've merited the top of your list, but everyone here just cares about you. That's why they put their lives on hold for you."

"I know that!" she snapped.

Hercules paused, and she knew she'd stung him.

"I'm just sick of people, all right?"

"And that… doesn't include me?"

"Not right now." The tension relaxed long enough for her to breathe and re-center herself. "We started this alone; we don't need anyone to intrude yet. She's ours."

"Yeah," he kissed her cheek. "But there's only so much I can do for you, Meg. Maybe you don't need help, but I do."

His reframing of the situation clicked into place with such clarity that Megara gasped.

"Something wrong?"

"No, no. You fixed something." She patted his hand. "You don't have to manage me all by yourself. I know I can be high maintenance."

"The best things in the world always require the most care," Hercules said. "In case you wondered, I don't mind taking care of you. I'm so lucky to have both of you, and I can't wait to meet her."

"I can…" Megara attempted to laugh. Now that we're here, I can already feel how terrible it's going to get and…" She bit her lip rather than explain the mounting dread. She didn't need to complain at a time like this. Soon, she'd be screaming, and she could afford to squander all his patience when it wasn't so bad.

"No, I get it," Hercules said. "When I'm about to fight a monster, I sometimes panic a little. Well, you've seen me! Like with the Hydra. I was terrified. That thing ate me! But I kept thinking about how all those people would be a bag of Feta Puffs if I didn't stand in the way, and my life wouldn't really matter if I let that happen, so… I guess… the analogy isn't…"

"We'll go back to the part about you fighting even though it scares you."

"Right! Yeah… but the thing is, I always win… and so will you! Our family always wins."

"You did better that time."

"Yeah, thanks," he chuckled. "But when all of us are together, whatever you need, you'll have it. Well! Except for privacy, I guess."

"I don't think that'll stay at the top of my priorities for much longer… From what I've been told, I won't be myself for much longer."

"You'll always be you, but you've never been in this situation, so of course, you haven't had to act how you'll be soon… but you know what? I'm also really looking forward to seeing that side of you. I want to know every part of you. This is a special day for all of us."

"How are you so saccharine, and yet you don't annoy me?"

"It's a bit of a miracle. Are you ready for other people yet?"

"I may need to be," she relented. "Help me get up. I should walk around while I can. I think it helps move her into the right spot."

"Whatever you think is best." Hercules quickly lifted her to her feet, but she still wobbled. "Don't lie to me if it hurts."

"It hurts a lot."

"I'm sorry. We'll get you through it."

Hercules walked her back to the kitchen, where their friends were whispering with concern written on all their faces. "It's definitely time," he told them. "Whoever wants to start the next part of the ritual, I'll need all your help taking care of her."

As usual, Galatea took the lead. "We've got the bowl of jasmine and lavender water ready to go, and here's my gift for the new mama." She fished a comb decorated with sapphires and a peacock motif from a bag she had set up on the counter. "Let's get you to the chair, Meg. This'll feel great, and it'll be sacred to Hera at the same time."

Not long afterward, they'd set Megara up with her skirt hiked up in the back of the chair and draped over her knees. She leaned back in the chair, and the girls crowded around behind her while Hercules sat next to her and held her hand.

"Let everything go," Eurydice instructed. As a lesser-known member of the group, she propped herself on a tripod in the corner and began to play soothing lyre chords.

The combined floral scents in the water permeated the mounting panic in Megara's heart, and combined with the lyre and soft singing from Eurydice, she couldn't hold onto that panic.

Even the pain focused her on the work her body was doing. All her fear ever did was confine her and hold her back from the necessary work her body was carrying out for her automatically.

"You tell us if you need to get up," Hercules said. He scooped water from the bowl they were combing her hair into and rubbed it along her arms.

"Do you think we should call one of the goddesses yet?" Cassandra asked.

"She's not in the worst of it," Alcmene stated.

"Maybe if we call the goddesses, she won't get to a bad state," Galatea retorted.

Megara had to wonder if Galatea's hope was more for herself since it might work the same way for her. She didn't feel as if she were in the room with any of them anymore. The only thing that anchored her to reality was the occasional pulses from within.

"I'd like to see her get through it with minimal suffering," Hercules said. He kissed her cheek and called upon Hera, Rhea, Artemis, and Aphrodite.

More faces. More eyes to watch her.

Megara should've been bothered.

Rhea knelt beside her, opposite her grandson. "It is truly a new age when a man can witness the birth of his own child, or any child," she said.

"I'm not leaving her if she needs me," Hercules declared matter-of-factly.

"Always the hero…" Megara murmured. She found it more difficult to speak than she'd expected.

Hera bent over her. "Miss Megara, your body knows what to do. Relinquish control." Any other time someone had given her similar instructions, it hadn't been for her benefit. This was new.

Her world narrowed down at that moment to the sounds of her own pained groans and the affectionate presence of the divinities huddled close to ushering Harmonia into the world.

There was something remarkable about the way so many generations had collected for this moment. How long had it been since a demigod was born to a mortal, and the divine father was still with her? Laughter escaped between her cries and groans. It was all so unbelievable.

Hercules kissed her cheek, probably worried about this response.

She could feel Harmonia move and knew that the only reason she wasn't in unbearable pain must be the intervention of the goddesses. In this state, she felt as if a river ran through her body from the crown of her head down through the canal through which Harmonia would find her freedom.

Here was Rhea's power, that flow.

She gave herself up completely to the power of the goddesses, and all the voices around her grew dim and quiet. That was until she heard a shrill, bleating noise that she couldn't place.

"She's here…" Hercules whispered directly into her ear. "You did it, Meg. She's here!"