The moment Ares pulled up outside, Melpomene could feel him. She'd arrived a little over half an hour ago and each minute that passed stretched her tighter and tighter. She'd tried to fill the time by changing out of the clothes she'd spent a full day driving (and crying) in, by taming her hair, by unpacking the baby things she'd bought, but still it felt like an age, waiting. An eon.
But then the familiar quiver of Ares' presence, the danger and the draw of it, far, far more draw than danger tonight, because he was not alone; Telos was with him. Ares carried a missing piece of her, and Melpomene was trembling with need to get it back. To get him back. Gods, to be whole again...
She left the door to their rooms wide open as she raced out into the hall. She'd paid for the nicest room, not because she cared about luxury right now but because Ares had rescued her son and he deserved the best she could give him, though it still felt woefully inadequate. She'd paid extra to cover the dogs, too. It didn't matter, nothing mattered but this; Ares in an elevator, being lifted toward her.
Melpomene was waiting in the hallway, her hand pressed over her mouth, the expression on her face saying she'd never seen elevator doors open to reveal anything more beautiful or awe-inspiring or triumphant as Ares with their son in his arms. She was upon them in a moment, one hand on Ares' arm to hold on tightly, the other lifting to trace the dark hair escaping from beneath Telos' hat.
"There you are," she whispered, as Telos' eyes found her face as she let out a shaken little laugh, tightening her hand on Ares' arm in an attempt to hold herself together. "Come here, my boy, I've got you now," she said, gathering her son into her arms for the first time in thirteen miserable days, and flicking her eyes up to Ares' face. "Your father and I have you, now."