Who: Erato and Freyr What: Trouble in Paradise? Where: Their home in Miami When: 5/30 (backdated slightly) Warnings: Fighting and mushiness?
Valentine found herself pacing the halls of her Miami home. Things had been rocky between her and her husband since Zeus's death--in no small part, she assumed, from Hera's dismal state. The muse hoped that distance was enough of a balm for her ire over the things she had come to hold against her husband, such as what she perceived to be an attitude that looked down upon her family. And while she hadn't gotten to the bottom of who was responsible for it, she was still so displeased that Atlas had been let out on the day of Zeus's funeral.
She had been speaking with her husband on the phone and making quick trips to DC for the sake of her children, but it was time to stop avoiding her responsibilities. So she had asked him to come back to the Miami house.
Jarrod was glad to come home and he assumed that his children was glad to come home and see their mother, not that they had been want for attention amongst his Northern Family, but as he approached the house, he stopped before going inside. It was such a nice day out and he had been away from his gardens for so long... Besides, his disagreeable wife would be in there.
He placed the carriers down in the shade of his garden as he began to make his rounds of it.
Valentine heard sounds outside, and when she went to the window, she could see him taking stock of the garden. She peered around, seeing where he had placed the carriers. Anxious but eager to get this reunion over with, she made her way outside. She knelt down near the carriers. The most important thing she had to do was say hello to her babies. Whatever would happen with Freyr from there on out was secondary.
All three babies seemed overjoyed that they were her most important thing. They cooed and reached up toward her in glee; they tried to mimic their mother's greetings to them like adorable little parrots in human forms, all of them failing but together almost sounding like the right words when they cooed out in the proper order as a fluke.
Jarrod turned at that with a smile, leaning against the hoe had grabbed when he begun his rounded. Soon it would be time for th scythe, but now it was still time for the hoe. "Almost sounds like talking. They'll get it right without needing all of them eventually."
"They have good ears. Just like...well, like both of us," Val smiled, getting to her feet and looking at her husband. She was glad that he was in Florida again, seeing him against the backdrop of his family's compound hadn't done anything to ease the hurt she felt over Atlas being at her father's funeral. Watching Freyr in the garden was much easier on her.
She moved towards him, extending her arms to envelop him. "How was the trip?"
"They like the copter. Not the noise, but the flying part," Jarrod replied as he took the hoe and plunged its metal head deep into the soil to free his hands and opened his arms to her. He could guess why she had been upset with him, with his family, and he understood it... intellectually. He also knew that was the worse way to understand such a thing so he kept a watch on his tongue and let her make all the moves. He didn't approach her but he did open his arms.
Val held onto him, giving him a quick squeeze. It had been a hard few weeks, and she was a deeply emotional person by nature. Her husband, she knew, was more easygoing about everything than she could ever be, so she had to think that maybe the distance between them had been for the best.
There were a lot of things that were out on the table that they could discuss--Erato sleeping with Apollo was at the top of the list along with Atlas at the funeral--but she was worried to open up either subject with Freyr. She did not want any more evidence that her marriage was not built on the sturdy foundation she had imagined it to be.
Jarrod let his arms loop around her when she squeezed him. He had missed his tiny wife but he could feel the tension and like any good warrior he couldn't help but try to cut it as if with a knife. He whispered in her ears, "You're very pretty when you're angry, you know."
She was caught off guard by the comment, and so she couldn't help giggling. She pulled back far enough to kiss him. "Yeah. I know. And you're particularly attractive when you're paying me buffer compliments." She raised her eyebrow, lips pulling into a smirk. "I've missed you."
"I missed my tiny wife, too." He gathered her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ears. Her giggling was a good thing. Much better than glowering. "Are you still angry?"
"Hmm...a little?" Val admitted, running her fingers up and down his spine. "But not so much at you." She stepped back, glancing over to the carriers. "I'm taking them inside. Shade or no, it's too hot."
“Too bad you don't know how to fight. We could just spar and get it out of our systems.” Jarrod had tried to keep a guard over his tongue, but he also wasn't a god of deceit so some of the truth slipped out. He grabbed the hoe again and began to look around the yard, “It is pretty warm. We should get them a baby pool so they can splash.”
"I'm an artist. A love artist. I feel as though fighting would rob me of something important," Val said with a shrug. She glanced down at the babies. "That would be adorable. Swim time sing a longs."
“Fighting can be an art.” Jarrod turned the hoe over his wrist, spinning it as he walked. The Aesir were known for the Vikings, for large swords and brute strength but... He knew personally that fighting was more than that. It could be graceful... “It's almost summer. Maybe I'll get one as a father's day gift for myself.”
"Or the babies can get it for you with your money," Valentine replied, carrying the three carriers inside where there was cool air conditioning. She had already set up their playpen with the things they liked best.
Jarrod wasn't quick to follow. He didn't especially like being indoors normally. The only thing that truly made him follow when he did was a dual thought of remaining outside could be viewed as cowardice and if an argument was coming, he wanted it out of the way now.
Valentine didn't want to plunge into an argument, but certainly there were things to discuss. She sat herself on the couch, watching the children until her husband decided to join her. "I want to know what you think of Atlas."
Well, right into that then. Jarrod leaned beside the window, “He's temperamental to say the least but he's hardworking, dedicate to tasks and proud. He's much more like my Northern kin than my newest kin down here.”
"That seems reasonable. Your family has no history with his kind anyway," Val murmured, eyes trained on the children. "We're not weak people though...my father..." She swallowed down a bit of sadness before going on. "He fought through many violent battles to earn the kind of civilization that we enjoyed--that people still enjoy today. Democracy. Art. Philosophy. All these were the children of his battles. I think Atlas will always be a part of those bloody days, which is maybe why I dislike him so much. The Titans were the bogeymen of our family. And muses have little to do with that time of bloodshed..." Of course, Atlas's attitude didn't help her appreciate whatever good qualities that he might possess.
“The Titans who opposed your father,” Jarrod corrected. He had made a point to read the myths when he married a muse and knew not all of the Titans were bogeymen. It wasn't something about their nature that did so, but the ones who had wanted to keep power. Such is always the story of war... He shrugged a little, “No, my family has no history with his particular kind, but we have a long history of relations with enemies. You shouldn't let your 'bogeymen' haunt you, that war is over. They lost and you don't have to fight the war again. Why hold on to the grudge when you don't have to?” It was the part of their culture he didn't understand even with his magical understanding.
"I have done well not thinking of Atlas for very many years, until my brother took it upon himself to reintegrate him into the fold," Valentine snapped, reaching up to rub her temples. "Few in my family even knew of Hephaestus's machinations. I did not know until I ran into Atlas not even knowing his true nature. I was kind enough to him, and what happened in return? He practically slobbered all over me until he realized I was a Greek goddess at which point he clung to his own grudges. And yet everyone treats me as though I'm in the wrong...that I should give that beast free access to my life."
“No one said free access. No one... well, at least, I'm not telling you you even have to like him” Jarrod remained unmoved near the window, “But see, that last part is a great reason not to like him and to keep him away from you. Just because he's a Titan and you're dad schooled him and his own centuries ago? Not as good.”
"Fair enough, but I did what Hephaestus said. Tried to give him the benefit of the doubt so that he could be rehabilitated. Nothing good came of it. But I still have to see him at Ridgekeep don't I? He still gets let out to go crash my father's funeral. We don't die. It was important for us."
Don't say, 'Hence why it was important to him, too.' It won't help. Jarrod sighed a little, “We like him at Ridgekeep. Maybe it's because we don't have the person bias. Maybe because we have more experience integrating enemies, I don't know.” He paused, “We're gonna talk in circles if we keep like this...”
Fine. Like him all you like. Until the day that temper of his finally explodes. Val couldn't silence her disgruntled thoughts, but she could bite her tongue. "Quite likely we will."
“We really don't have to.” He was fated to fight in a futile cycle of battles, he didn't fancy finding himself in a futile cycle of arguments with his tiny wife.
"I'll never like him. I'll never want to be in the same room with him or want my children in the same room with him. So long as you never ask me for these things we will be just fine...and you never have. As I said, I'm not so mad with you," Val replied quietly.
“Just angry at my whole family then?”
"Not just your whole family. Some of mind too," Val corrected. "Probably not all of your family even. Just the ones who look at me like I'm an idiot for finding fault with him. It's not much of a truce if we don't respect each other."
Jarrod frowned a little, “I don't think any of them think you're an idiot...” He wouldn't add that he didn't think most of his family especially thought about this matter at all, “If it helps, Rich... er, Odin wasn't pleased about the release either.”
It did help. Val sighed, sinking into the sofa and closing her eyes. "It's not been a good few weeks..."
“No, it hasn't been...” Jarrod moved forward from the window and stood behind her, placing a hand along her hair. It really hadn't been a good few weeks. As much as he had missed his tiny wife, he had enjoyed the time away from her a lot.
Val opened her eyes, looking up at her husband. "And I don't think Hera's recent frame of mind helped us one bit."
“We had problems before her unconscious cursing might have got us,” Jarrod gave up trying to hide the truth. It was too against his nature. Beside, it wasn't right to blame all of this on Hera.
Val frowned, reaching for his hand. "Is there something you want to talk about?"
“Want to talk about?” That was an easy question. Jarrod gave her his hand, “Not really.”
Val cocked an eyebrow, giving his hand a squeeze. "Let me rephrase. Is there anything you think we need to talk about? Other than Atlas or Hera."
“Do you really want to do this?” They were a spark in his eyes at his words, the same spark that flickered against them when he readied for battle.
"I want us to be okay," Val murmured. She recognized that gleam in his eye, but she wasn't afraid of that. She was afraid of the silence between them.
Jarrod wouldn't silent anymore then, “You slept with a man that drove you to commit suicide.” He then sighed loudly and let his hands slip down to her shoulders and lightly rub them. “I know I said I wasn't angry at you. And I'm not, at you... but, I just don't understand and it makes my blood boil in my veins. You said you were just caught in the moment but... I still don't. Muse or not.”
Val took a deep breath, thinking hard on what to say that could explain her love for Apollo. "Well, you have loved a woman again and again, knowing full well that loving her would mean the death of you. A woman who spurned your advances to the point that you needed to pull a trick to acquire her hand...it isn't about suffering or slights against each other. It's about deep, unspeakable love." Someday, maybe she and Freyr would have enough time in their history to have an epic love like that.
They wouldn't if she kept saying stuff like that. That gleam in his eyes went from simple battle readiness to anger. It was only warrior discipline that threw him away from the couch, “Don't you dare bring Gerd into this? It's not the same at all! I give up my sword, I don't slit my wrists with it.”
Val sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "We strive to be worthy of our brother's love. I broke his trust and wounded him. I held only shame and emptiness in my heart that night...I know you don't think highly of Apollo, but he did not tell me to do what I did that night. Only one person did that. And you married her."
“I don't think highly of him because of that night.” Jarrod tried to calm himself, walking back over to the window to stand in the sunshine. The warmth of the Miami sun even through the window's glass cut through his anger and reminded him her family were arrogant and proud – she would never see his problem but... He smirked a little. He should be able to deal with someone arrogant and proud. He glanced over his shoulder, “Was he at least upset that his power over you encouraged that?”
"Yes, he was," Valentine replied, thinking back to that night. "He feels very threatened by you. He even said that I was replacing him for a better god. Said you made me happy and all he made me do was try to drown myself...and he told me not to do anything stupid. Of course, he knew I wouldn't listen because I don't. Not when my emotions get the better of me."
Wow, that oddly made him feel a little better. Jarrod left the warm embrace of the sunshine to the couch once more and touched her cheek, “He must not know you very well if he thought you were replacing him.”
"He knows me very well...he has simply taken the Fall harder than any of us. His self worth never rebounded," Valentine explained simply, leaning into his touch. "He was already hurting, and I made it worse...so yes, I sought forgiveness. And I took his bad attitude for awhile. But eventually I took your advice and stopped. He was making me furious. Herakles was losing his immortality and father was gone and he didn't seem to care. We were at each other's throats practically, and then...kissing."
He stared down at her, meeting her eyes as he thought, rubbing her cheek softly with his thumb, “So he ... the two of you slept together after you stopped deferring to him and stood up to him?”
"Yes," Val replied, staring into his green eyes. "We haven't really talked about it since. I had been meaning to clear the air with him but..."
“But?”
"My father died, and while I was mourning, Atlas shook up the peace," Val answered simply. "Apollo took the backseat."
He hoped she meant peace with a lowercase P. He then decided to sit down beside her, putting an arm over her shoulders. “You know, you would have saved yourself a lot of problems if you told me this more detailed version of this.”
"Well. There was the Atlas problem and the part where my father recently passed away and oh yes my family's marriage deity was making me feel very cross with you," Val answered, a smile on her features. "I would have told you more when we first spoke of it, but then you had such bad news..."
“Yeah, well, you're the one who broke the good mood we had going on when I first came home,” he replied with his own smile. “We should have just had sex on the floor and made all the bad news wait.”
"Yes, but now there's no bad news and endless open time for sex," Val pointed out.
“Are you still angry at my Northern kin?”
"A little. Maybe. Hard to say from where I'm sitting." Which was nicely next to her husband.
Giving her a gentle squeeze, he shifted her to sit on his lap. If he had to be inside, he might as well have a reason to be. As he nuzzled her cheek with his nose, he murmured, “Sis wouldn't have let him go without knowing what she's doing. Maybe you'll be less angry at everyone later.”
"She had her own idea of what was right. Hephaestus had his own as well. Nothing was hurt but our feelings, and those mean very little to your family, I believe. But they mean something to me," Erato murmured, snuggling close to him. "I will try to not hold it against anyone, but I doubt very much I shall ever see the sense in it."
“I wouldn't say feelings mean very little to my kin. You know my love for Gerd. Sis used to cry every day when her husband would leave...” He kissed her cheek lightly as he wrapped his arms around her, “They're just something to be overcome. They're our strongest foe...” Turning her face to him, he kissed her deeply, “And sometimes they win.”
Erato blushed, letting him pull her close for a kiss. "Point taken...but feelings mean different things to your people and mine. Do not mistake Hephaestus's schemes for typical Greek sentiment. He has always been...damaged by the circumstances of his life." Physically and emotionally. "I love you. And I love my new family. For awhile I had thought I loved them more than my own, but we are who we are...and this will always be more my home."
“Let me ask this, then we can have sex anywhere you like in the living room, but,” Jarrod caught her eyes in his pause, “Even with the differences, is there something especially wrong with trying to bring Atlas into your flock? I mean, the world is a dangerous place. I would think its good to not only know where his sword is pointed but try to get it on my side.”
"That's exactly what my brother said," Val muttered. "I don't particularly care for him, and some people do not wish to be redeemed. But who knows? Perhaps I shall be proven wrong someday. I simply hope it is not your kin who are proven wrong in the end."
Yeah, I don't think that's the case but “I hope so, too. I don't want to deal with Sis if this all backfires on her. Her and backfire is not fun...” Jarrod traced the side of her face with a finger, “That was my last question.”
Valentine smiled, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Good. I'm glad we talked all of that out."
“Wait, I have one more question,” He couldn't say it with a straight face though, “Do we have to be in the living room?”
Summary: After weeks of ignoring their obvious marital problems, Erato and Freyr finally clear the air.