Who: Hades & Persephone (w/ Delaney) What: Autumn Where: Their house When: Today Warnings: none really
Hades rarely gave up his time with his sons, but today was special. Today was the first day of autumn. In fact it was the first autumn since the year before the Fall itself Persephone was truly in his life that he could properly celebrate it. There was much to do and much had already been done. He hid invisible in the house now, in wait.
With a gentle nudge, he urged Delaney on and the little girl in her cute little sundress continued on, confused out of her mind toward her mother's general direction with a note pinned to her dress, “Mama!”
Dahlia glanced up from her cleaning, smiling when she saw the little girl totting over. She had known it was Fall, but she didn't want to assume her former husband had any plans. Not after the year they'd had. She crouched down by her daughter. "Hello sweetheart. Do you have something for me?"
Delaney scrunched up her nose in further confusion, “Don't know.”
Dahlia smiled, kissing her on the nose. She reached out, taking the note from off of Delaney's dress. "I wonder what game Daddy is playing..."
“Can I go hug three head pup-pup now?” The little girl was too confused to want anything other than things she could hug and pet. She had been nudged by her invisible father one too many times today. “And hug Quackers, too?”
The note cared little about Delaney's confusion. It was just a note that read, “Why are flower goddesses inside and not with the flowers?”
Dahlia nodded. "Go hug your friends..." she murmured, opening up the note and reading it. She stood, gnawing on her thumb and making her way to the doors that led onto the yard. "Sneaky..." she kicked off her shoes, walking barefoot onto the grass. She started her way towards the greenhouse.
The sneaky Unseen One was closer to her than she would have thought, carefully watching, keeping enough distance between them. The greenhouse seemed as it always did with one exception: in the very center sat a potted narcissus plant.
Dahlia leaned on the doorframe and let out a laughing sigh. "Cute..." she grinned, making her way to the plant. She started to inspect its base for a card or another note.
There was no card. No other note. All there was, carefully nestled and balanced against the leaves and petals, was the glimmer of a ring.
Dahlia fiddled with the leaves, upsetting the ring so that it fell into the palm of her hand. It took a moment for her to catch her breath--to realize just what she was looking at. She held it to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut. "[Please let it be real.]"
And that was his cue. Still invisible, Hades launched forward, wrapped his arms around her suddenly and powerfully and trapped her against his chest. But then he didn't move. They were perfectly still. Thousands of years had passed and each year, he wished and longed that he could just go back in time and fix his mistakes. To just once do something in the way it should have been done. This was that moment. He finally got the chance, “[Be my wife. Be mine forever. All mine. Complete me.]”
Dahlia smiled, pressing her face against his neck. "[Yes...yes, yes, yes.]"
Gently, he stroked her hair, a small smile beginning along his still invisible face. This was how it was supposed to go. Her saying 'yes' with her face pressed against his neck, not trying to bite out his jugular while squirming to be free of him. Hades circled around her and took the ring from her hand, only to then appear before her knelt down, “[We will do this correctly this time.]”
Dahlia bit her lip, nodding as she held her left hand out to him. "[Thank you...]"
Hades slipped the ring onto her finger and once it was carefully in place, he kissed her hand. Only then did he stand and wrap his arms back around her. “[Thank you?]”
Persephone sighed, wrapping her arms around him with carefree abandon. "[I really, really needed this...I love you so much.]"
“[I love you, too.]” Closing his eyes, Hades soaked in her carefree abandon and was able to forget the hard, long road with all its pain and sacrifices that had led to this moment. This is how it should have been. “[How long do you think until the paparazzi gets wind of this?]”
"[They already have pictures I bet,]" she murmured, before letting out a loud laugh. "[We're engaged!!!]"
“[Let's hope they don't...]” If only for the fact that he had been invisible for most of the morning and popped into existence on bent knee. Smiling with her abet not nearly as much, he took her face between both his hands and tapped a kiss to her lips, “[Remember what I told you before, once I put a wedding ring on you, there's no escape.]”
"[No escape,]" Persephone grinned, tapping a kiss on his lips in return. "[I do like the sound of that...only one more question left, I guess. Wedding before or after the baby is born.]"
“[After...]” Not just because he didn't have the wedding rings done. Hades had other, better reasons. Not that that fact wasn't also a reason on his list. “[We rushed into marriage twice now and got tragic results. Let's break the terrible genetic disorder this family has and learn from our mistakes for once. We can have a proper engagement and enjoy it. Besides...]” Releasing her, he slid his hands to rest upon her belly, “[You're going to go through sizes so rapidly soon. It'll be easier to find something to wear if we wait.]”
"[Right...I almost forgot about that point,]" Persephone sighed, letting her body relax. There would be time for the wedding. He wasn't letting go of her now.
Suddenly, he swept her up into his arms. She was so easy to sweep up when relaxed and unsuspecting. “[Shh, no sighing today. That almost sounded sad.]”
"[Just reaaaally impatient,]" Persephone whined, curling up against his chest. "But I can wait. Promise."
The white narcissus plant could sit in the middle of the greenhouse all alone, Hades was taking his fiance back to the house proper. Somewhere, deep at the bottom of his black heart, he hoped that the delay... that this engagement would allow Demeter to come home and be invited to the wedding. Take that, plant bitch. An almost wicked smirk snuck across his face as he kissed her hair. She was impatient to be all his. Ah, now that was a good, familiar spiteful feeling. “[TV has convinced me women like engagements though...]”
"[Just one more reason to have a party and gloat,]" Persephone chirped, playing her fingers through his hair. She nuzzled his cheek. "Think we have any time before Delaney realizes she's not the main event in the house?"
Hades paused to consider the question, “Does she have Quackers?”
"Yes. And three headed doggie dog," she answered.
“Don't know why she can't say 'Cerberus'.” Hades kissed her cheek softly and then continued to walk, letting the warmth of the sunshine touch and linger against her before he brought her back inside the house. “Regardless, she would sell us both to pirates in a heartbeat for Quackers. Tell a ghost to give her some oreos and she'll completely forget we existed in glee.”
"Fair enough," Dahlia grinned, running her fingers over his neck on down to his chest. "So...we have some time, I think."
With a predatory grin that he hoped made a chill run down Demeter's spine wherever she was, he whispered into her ear, “[Where should I take you?]” Oh, that sentence worked out better than he thought it would. It wasn't until he said it that he realized the perfect double meaning to it.
"[We're almost an old married couple with three kids and a dog,]" Persephone cooed, leaning in to nibble at Hades' ear. "[The bed will do just fine.]"
He took a soft breath at the gentle feel of it and resisted the urge to just put her down on the parlor floor. They had too many kids and live in help for the parlor floor. Which was the only downside to the phrase 'too many kids'... Still, he shook his head a little as he climbed the stairs with her, “[Alright. But next time, I'm picking.]”
Summary: Persephone was expecting a surprise for fall, but she wasn't expecting for Hades to put a ring on it.