Who: Zeus and Hera What: Babiez, y/n? Where: Their shared home When: BACKDATED to June 24th Warning: Nothing! Shocking, I know.
Early evening and Hera was back at home. When she'd finished with work, rather than going straight home, she had stopped for a bit of shopping. Groceries had been the intention, when spotting a baby shop reminded her of the various children and expecting children in the father. Now as she walked in the doors, she had the reusable bag with items for dinner, and another bag with some clothes and toys, and a catalogue, for babies. The items were all taken and set on the counters of the kitchen as she entered, a suitable surface long enough to sort everything out. Idly she wondered what her husband would prefer to have for dinner that night.
Just as she thought of him, he seemed to appear, walking up behind her to wrap his arms about her and growl into her ear playfully. "Welcome home," he said, a smile in his voice.
His wife smiled in return, leaning back slightly into his hold. "Thank you. How was work today?" Turning slightly, she kissed his cheek, before looking back to the bags before them.
"I'm opening up another building in Japan. First one overseas. You?"
"I'm surprised you did not already have some in Europe," she answered. "More of the same. I have a conference call with the west coast tomorrow, so I will be home late."
"Mrr. Ah well." His eyes drifted to the food, and he added, "What were you planning on making?"
"I had thought lasagna, with salad and bread. Unless you have a request?" She turned to glance at him.
"Hm," he considered, then shook his head. "I can think of nothing in particular. That sounds filling enough."
"Then you can see to grating the cheese." She refused to use the fake canister of it sold in the stores, and handed him a block of Parmesan. "We will also want to choose a wine to go with dinner."
He smiled and obediently started to look for the grater. "I think we still have a bottle D gave to me... Stored somewhere."
She arched an eyebrow at the statement. "Oh? Are we not saving it for any reason?"
The god shrugged and picked up the block of cheese, beginning to grate it into a bowl. "He is going nowhere soon. And I do feel like a glass or two. You?"
"If that is what want. I know we have a few choices available for us." Gathering the baby items together, she moved them from the kitchen, setting them in the next room for the time being. As she returned, she washed her hands and began to pull out the parts for the meal.
Noting the baby stuff for the first time, he asked her upon her return, with an arched eyebrow, "Is this the part where you surprise me about being a Daddy?"
Hera arched an eyebrow in return to her husband. "I did not believe you being a father was of any surprise to you," she remarked dryly. "Though I do not believe that Adam would fit into toddler clothing."
He chuckled and commented, "Then I will presume they are for Val. How close is she again?"
"I do not know Erato's exact due date, though Helen's birthday is not far off." She returned to the kitchen counter and the items she had gathered.
"I see..." He stepped closer, running a hand down her back affectionately as he looked over the items. "It has been a long time since I have seen anything like that in a home of mine..."
She shifted her eyes slightly to glance at him. "We had the items for the twins birthday earlier this year," she pointed out, almost testing what exactly he might be referencing. She doubted he meant the lasagna that she was making. It was hardly that rare of a dish.
"Really?" He blinked, looking confused for a moment, a rare expression before shrugging. "Time really does fly."
"Especially for immortals." Her eyes drifted back to the items before her as she started to organize in preparation for the meal. "I do find it mildly interesting how many children have been born within the family of late, however."
"It's good," he replied with confidence. "We are so few in number, any child is precious."
"Are you sure this is the best time for such things though?" she questioned.
"There is never a best time for children."
"No? Surely there are some time that are better than others."
"There will always be a war somewhere. A famine, a disease, a natural disaster," replied the god with a bit of a shrug, returning to the preparation of food. "The world will never be safe for our offspring, mortal or immortal. But now, with all our dangers, you could say it's the best time for children. Best to try our best to regroup our numbers before our enemies attempt to wipe us off the face of the earth." Somber? Just a hair.
"However, the children being born are not gods. Do we try to breed simply to have foot soldiers? To have our numbers large merely so we can claim blood of our own, when in short years those bodies will fall, and our numbers prove to be no greater than they are now?" Moving about the kitchen, she gathered the pans that she would need and mixing bowls. "If that were your thought I am surprised that Adam appears to be your most recent child."
He paused, seeming surprised by that as well, and shrugged again. "it is a bit odd. But, things have changed..." This was a depressing chat. Smiling a bit, he bumped his hips to her to deliberately mess her up. Oops~ "Been a while since we had one of our own as well."
She glared at the minor mess that was made with the sauce at his bump and cast him a brief sideways glance. Her eyes moved away from him again to the cooking as she made her response. "It has. Though our siblings seem to be tending to the topic well enough themselves."
The sky god chuckled and nodded. "True. What are your thoughts, my love?"
Hera was quiet for a moment, tending to the preparing of the sauce briefly as she considered the possible responses that she could make. "There are already a number of children born. There seems little reason to have a child of our own."
He studied her, nothing the bit of silence. "Must there be one?" he queried.
"Is it wise to have a child when you do not have a reason to have one?" she returned.
"I dislike the idea of making children as planned as a garden."
She frowned slightly, turning to face her husband. "Gardens that are planned are better tended and cared for that those that are left alone to do as they wish," she retorted. "If you wish to have a garden, you plan for it."
Tilting his head a bit, he asked curiously, "Am I upsetting you, love?"
Twice within a span of minutes that he had called her love. Part of her mind cataloged that, though she also considered his question. "You asked me of my thoughts on the matter, and I was sharing them." Most of them. Some. The others she deemed as not being needed to be said.
He had known her too long, though, to not know when she was biting her own tongue. Mostly 'cause she did it so rarely, it was a bit obvious to his trained eye. Putting down the kitchen tools, he pulled her to him, pressing her on with a, "And?"
She let herself be pulled close, loosely resting her hands on his sides as she looked into his eyes. "... and you have had a child more recently than I."
Ahhh, that's where it was. He sighed a bit and simply rested his forehead to hers. What could he say that he hadn't already said a hundred times over? I'm sorry? I can't help myself? "True," he admitted.
For once, this was not the normal dig on his infidelities, nor his past errors. It was more a statement of facts, and small glimpses to her thoughts. "And yet you seem eager to create another."
"It's part of who I am," he said. "I cannot deny the joy they bring me, even if they are sometimes overshadowed by the frustrations and anger as well. But I am not eager to create one now, if that's how I seem."
"Then your earlier words were misleading," she commented, flattening her hands against his sides briefly, before drawing them forward to his chest and dropping away.
Opening an eye, he watched her hands, and back up to her face. "My apologies, dear. Didn't mean to confuse you."
"As the misunderstanding is cleared, it is hardly worth being concerned about." Hera shrugged slightly and turned back toward the food she had begun to prepare. "You may, however, wish to ask your daughter if she know when she is due."
"I will," he said, releasing her. He went back to his assigned duties as well, but paused after a moment, and asked, "What about you?"
"What do you mean, what about me?" She began to layer the pasta, sauce and cheeses into the pan, her attention seeming to be on the cooking more than the conversation.
"What are your desires on the matter?" he asked, taking away the emptied tools and bowls as she emptied them.
"Thank you," she murmured as he helped to clear the space as she finished, picking up a towel to wipe off her fingers. "It is best to have children when you know that you can care for them, and currently it does not seem safe to bring more children of our family into the world. They would be mortal."
He listened, nodding a bit. "But do you want any?" he clarified.
She glanced at him, arching an eyebrow. "I have not had any children since before our Fall. You have stated yourself that you do not seek to have children. Why would my response be different from yours?"
"Because you are a separate person, last I checked," he asked with an amused tone.
Hera smirked in reply to his response, "But you are also my husband. Last I checked."
"And you are my wife. Meaning I do value your thoughts," he replied to her repsonse of his reply. Ha HA!
He had learned something through the years. It was amazing. "Then I shall remember that and remind you at any time that you choose to forget."
Laughing a bit, he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek in a completely falsely chaste manner. "I love you," he said in an almost reminding way.
"Mmm, that works out best for us both then," she smirked, kissing him in return. "[I love you as well, husband.]"
"So. Lasagna?" he asked, looking hungrily at the pasta. Alas, it needed cooked.
It did need to be cooked, and somehow, Hera had managed to not directly answer her husband's question. Nodding to his unasked question, she picked the pan up and placed it into the oven, setting a timer for it to cook.
Smiling, Zeus reached for her hand. "And that gives us time to spare. What shall we do?"
Hera let him take her hand and seemed to consider the question. "We do not have very long, but I suspect we can think of something..."
He chuckled and kissed her again, this time to the lips, leading her away to the stairs. Oh yes. Yes, he'd already had.
Hopefully dinner wouldn't become burned as they became distracted. She followed him up the stairs, smiling as she did so. She knew her husband well.