Alexa arrived in New York two days before Christmas, her spirits high despite the terrible weather. Two tasks done, and she faced the prospect of Christmas at home for the first time in years!
She and Luna landed in the alley near the Empire state building and Alexa let out a low whistle. Storm clouds were swirling above the skyscraper in a ragged funnel that even the mortals had noticed. Lots of thunder, wind, rain, and hail.
"Grandfather must have a tangle in his toga…" she muttered quietly to Luna. As if the thunder god had heard her (and Alexa wasn't one hundred percent sure he hadn't) golf ball sized chunks of hail began to ping off the dumpster and cars nearby. Swearing, Alexa hurried inside as Luna tried to press herself between the dumpster and the wall.
Alexa took a bit of extra time in the lobby to dump some chunks of ice out of her jacket pockets before making her way up to the security desk. The man behind it wasn't reading this time…that was odd. What was even odder was just how haggard he looked. The doorman looked as if he hadn't had any sleep in the past month, with dark circles under his eyes, unkempt hair and a beard that looked a few days old. His hand was twitching on the tabletop and his eyes kept darting around as if he had had about three espressos too many.
Alexa opened her mouth to ask if the man was alright, but thought better of it.
"Alexa Barber to see Mrs. White, please." She said as kindly as possible. Despite her caution the man noticeably jumped at her voice.
"S-sorry but no one from outside is allowed in today. Direct order from up top!" He said nervously. Alexa blinked.
"It's closed…?" Never in her life had she even heard of Zeus closing Olympus. Despite the impossibility of it the guard nodded hurriedly.
"There was an incident, a bad one. Mr. Oak is furious. I…w-we can't afford for anything else to happen." He explained. Alexa hesitantly nodded.
"I…understand, but can you send a call up the line and see if she'd be willing to meet me down here? I don't want to cause her more of a headache than necessary so just put it out there and tell her I'd be happy to come back later." The doorman gulped, looked up and shuddered. He nodded his head slowly and picked up the phone.
Seconds later he nearly dropped it as a boom echoed from the tiny speaker in his hand. The volume died down considerably after that and with much stammering and stuttering the doorman got out Alexa's offer.
"S-s-she said she'd meet you in room 108, d-down the hall that way in f-five minutes." He said, pointing. Alexa thanked him and quickly hurried off.
A few moments later, a more human sized Hera breezed into the little conference room.
"Alexa, my dear, you are a lifesaver! Thank you so much for giving me an excuse to leave!" Hera sighed as she got into one of the swivel chairs.
"I…um…what's happening up there, ma'am? The doorman wouldn't say." Alexa asked.
"A theft…a high value one." Hera explained. "I'm not allowed to say anything else, my darling, so please don't ask anymore about it."
Alexa stopped herself mid way through a half formed question for more information. She chewed her lip slightly and dipped her head in acknowledgement.
"Did…will my next labor be related to that theft?" She asked "Or did you have another task for me?"
"You won't be directly involved, fates be willing. At least I won't set out to involve you directly. First, however, the ring?" Hera asked pointedly. Alexa nodded and fished the band of gold out of her jeans pocket and passed it to the goddess. Hera inspected it, polished some minute mark off the metal with her finger nail and nodded.
"This labor is done." Another burst of electricity from Alexa's arm followed her words. She knew without having to look that the numeral on her upper arm had gotten another tally mark.
"I'll mail this back to the king for you. For your next task, I want you to hunt something for me. How familiar are you with horned serpents?" Hera leaned in eagerly.
"I think we covered them in monster hunting class. The Cerastes are spineless snakes with curly horns, and they live deep underground in sandy areas." Alexa rattled off.
"The young ones do, yes, but the older they get, the closer to the surface they like to nest. There is currently a big one living in the Mojave desert, just outside Vegas. Hunt it, kill it, and bring me a horn as proof. Easy." Hera smiled.
"The labors are hardly easy." Alexa pointed out ryely.
"Straight forward, then." Hera conceded.
"Alright, well if there's nothing else, I guess I'm off to Nevada." Alexa said, slowly sliding out of her seat.
"There's no rush. I think you could spare…a week or so." Hera said with a coy grin. "And Minnesota is technically on the way…"
Alexa grinned and bowed her head.
"You read my mind, your highness! I'm going to enjoy a holiday with the family." She had started to turn away, but she couldn't help but notice a slight twinkle in Hera's eye. Her guard was raised immediately. It reminded her of the telling smirk that was on her face the last time they were together, before Jazz's wedding.
"Something's going on, isn't it?" She asked.
"My dear, sweet little girl! Whatever would give you that idea?" Asked Hera with a faux innocence that was completely ruined by the smirk.
"Because you like the occasional good natured prank?" Alexa reminded her. Hera chuckled.
"Off you go, my dear, and don't forget to put some thoughts into Christmas presents, and give Jasmine my best!" With that Hera all but floated out the door. When Alexa followed not even a second later there was no trace of the queen of the gods.
Burdened with presents of all shapes and sizes, Alexa arrived at Melody's home late in the evening on Christmas Eve. The house looked like a winter wonderland, festoon with lights, holly and more than a few cherubic elves or Santa Claus. Cars were crammed in the driveway and all up and down the street, the yearly Sherman family Christmas well under way. Alexa grinned and sent Luna off to rest. She hadn't seen much of the extended family since the wedding, she hoped Melody had saved her a seat!
She made her way up the drive, only to receive a snowball to the ear. She looked in the missile thrower's direction to find two of the younger cousins, Adam and Devin, peeking out from behind a snow covered bush. She grinned at the twins.
"Careful guys, don't wanna drop anything after coming all this way!" She teased as she knocked on the front door with her elbow. "I'll come out for a proper snowbrawl later if you think you can handle it!"
The boys whooped with joy and hustled off to make defenses in the backyard. She grinned, but not quite so wide as when the front door opened to reveal Melody in her Christmas best with a bit of powdered sugar on her nose from baking.
"Ho ho ho!" Alexa said, peeking around her pile of gifts to grin at Melody. "Hope I'm not interrupting!"
Her aunt gave a little laugh and drew her into the house, reframing from hugging her only long enough for her to put down her burden.
"We didn't know whether you were coming this year!" Melody chided as she attempted to break Alexa's ribs.
"Neither did I. Work wrapped up unexpectedly a few days ago so…here I am!" Alexa wriggled slightly in Melody's grasp. She was about to express just how happy she was to be there when she heard Jazz's voice from the kitchen.
"Sean, for the love of all that is holy, can you lay off for just one second?" Jazz snapped, a little more sharply than Alexa had ever heard her speak to Sean before.
"I just think-" Sean began to say
"Ugh…damn it…I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you feel…I'm just…" Jazz sounded close to tears, her voice dripping with frustration.
"Trouble in Elysium?" Alexa asked in a low tone. Melody responded with a roll of her eyes and motioned for Alexa to follow. The sight that greeted her was Jazz holding tightly to Sean, practically sniffling into his shoulder. Sean looked pained, but in a good natured sort of way.
"Umm honey…we uh…have guests." He tried to point out.
"Let them look!" Jazz responded huskily into Sean's shoulder. Alexa watched as one of Jazz's hands started drifting downward, one hand resting on his back the other grabbing his backside.
"As fun as this is, I'd like to at least say hi before you start groping my brother in law." Alexa pipes up. Jazz's head perks up like a prairie dog.
"Spits!" She yelped in surprised joy, stepping back to reveal herself in full. Both Sean and Jazz were wearing Christmas sweaters as well, Alexa was unsurprised to see Jazz's was army green and decorated with reindeer and crossed spears, while her husband sported a blue one with snowflakes. What did surprise her, however, was the change in Jazz's appearance; her usually messy red hair had been lightly styled, her face looked a bit fuller and…well…there was a swell to her belly that was only just noticeable through her sweater. Alexa did the only sensible thing.
"You're pregnant!" Alexa yelped.
"Thanks Spits, I didn't notice!" Jazz laughed, stepping forward and wrapping Alexa in a hug, which Alexa returned, careful of her best friend's stomach.
"I'm going to be an aunt!" Alexa said, grinning from ear to ear. "How far along are you?"
"Four months, give or take. This one seems to think a baby growing in me turned me into glass, though!" Jazz half laughed, half growled, jerking a thumb at Sean.
"I just don't want you to over exert yourself. You've already been on your feet for almost the whole day." Sean responded plaintively.
"I'll be glad when the little guy's here, though. He's been almost wrecking my body sometimes; blisters on my feet, heartburn, mood swings, not to mention the morning sickness…" Jazz continued with a groan and shake of her head.
"He? So you know it's a boy?" Alexa asked.
"Don't call him an-!" Jazz started to growl, her face turn red, before she clenched her teeth and sucked in a breath through her nose. "No, we don't know the gender yet. But calling him an it…it feels wrong. I won't be doing that. And if you know what's good for you, you won't either!"
Alexa grinned. Whatever the baby was, she was positively overjoyed to find this surprise waiting for her! However as happy as she was, there was one fly in her ointment, she wouldn't be here to be an aunt to the little one…if the trials went the way they had been going, the baby would be in middle school by the time she was done…if she finished them at all.
"Um..can I…?" Alexa said, motioning towards Jazz's belly. Sean laughed from behind Jazz and have Melody a little nudge.
"Glad we're not the only ones who want a conversation with him!" He joked. Jazz rolled her eyes and motioned Alexa forward. She placed first one hand, then her ear on Jazz's stomach.
"Hello in there!" She coos to Jazz's baby, grinning like a fool as she squatted there on the kitchen floor. "Merry Christmas little guy! I'm your Auntie Lexie!"
She gently rubbed Jazz's stomach through the wool of her sweater.
"I just wanted to set some ground rules for ya when you get out! First off, I get to be your favorite auntie, even if I don't get to be here so much! If I come by and you're not offering a hug, your arms had better be broken or something!" She giggled at her own joke.
"Rule number two, if you ever have any sort of trouble, you come to your auntie, okay? I'm going to spoil you rotten at every opportunity! And third," She paused to look up at Jazz, her grin softened into a much gentler expression. "Third, you're going to be the kid of two of the best people in the world, so just keep in mind that, no matter what happens we'll all love you…But no wild parties while you're in there!"
Alexa stood up and Jazz wrapped her in another hug.
"Alright aunt sappy, how about you help me and mom with dinner?" Jazz teased.
"Lemme go upstairs and change into my sweater, then you can laugh at me attempting to cook!" Alexa chuckled back. With that she turned and headed upstairs.