High School Again? Ugh! Ch. 09

"Tartarus awaits," the eldest Fate said suddenly.

"It's time for you to go," the middle aged one added.

"The child comes," the youngest added. I could feel the truth of their prediction. I wanted to go find Tara. No, I needed to.

"Good luck," Athena said to me, smiling once more. "Not that you'll need it. You and Tara will be good parents."

"Thanks," I said as I watched her fade. The rest of the gods joined her one by one until only the Fates, Zeus, Hebe and Hera remained. Hebe was holding onto her mother. I was surprised when Zeus moved next to her and helped.

"She wasn't always this way," he said, as if reading my mind. "Maybe without her powers she will return to herself." He didn't sound hopeful.

"Thank you for returning my father to me," Hebe added.

"Gods can't die," I smiled. "Not really." She returned it and then they too disappeared. That left me facing the three Fates.

"You did well," the youngest smiled. "But don't leave this island until your daughter is ready to take on her powers."

"Time moves much faster here than anywhere else. A day here in less than a second in the outside world," the middle aged one added.

"You aren't meant to use the power you hold and if you had to face the challenges of controlling nature at normal speed for any amount of time," the eldest added with a sardonic smile. "Well, let's just say it wouldn't go well."

"I got it," I sighed. "Armageddon, again." The three exchanged a look and laughed. It was eerie because their laughs were so similar.

"Don't worry," the oldest said. "The planet will survive until your daughter is ready."

"And you won't miss much at all," the middle aged one added.

"You'll have plenty of time for senior year of high school," the youngest grinned. "Again."

"Gee thanks," I said, surprising myself with a laugh.

"Gaia chose well," the eldest said with a kind smile before disappearing.

"But then again," the middle aged one added, also smiling. "We knew she would." She disappeared as well.

"Did you?" I asked in surprise. "I thought you three wanted Zeus to father the next generation of gods with Tara?"

"Sometimes, even the Fates must play their part," the youngest laughed and then faded, leaving me alone on the island. Well, not quite alone.

I walked out of the cove and toward the mountain that hadn't been there a moment before. I grinned and started jogging toward it. A moment later I was running. My feet flew across the ground and I reached Grandmother's waterfall far faster than I should have been able to. Tara was standing at the edge of the water, her hand rubbing her clearly pregnant belly. She was watching the waterfall, but must have heard me arrive. She turned toward me. Her eyes grew big briefly and then she smiled.

"It's about time!" she sighed in relief. "Or maybe I should say that you're just in time. My contractions are starting. I hope all that power of Grandmother's you're holding onto makes you a decent midwife."

"I guess we'll see," I laughed, going to her and hugging her close. "Thanks for being my sanity. You and junior here." My soul had traveled here to the shelter Tara offered every time Hera tortured me. I'd forced myself to think of it as a dream, but deep down I knew the truth. I hadn't seen Tara in almost ten months subjectively, but I'd felt her love every day. It was my anchor.

Tara saw my expression and looked at me seriously. I knew what she wanted, but I didn't want to share it with her. She had been the harbor for my soul, but she didn't know what I'd been through, not really.

"It was bad," I said in answer to her unasked question. "Very bad."

"Show me," she demanded. "I've been here forever with no contact with the outside world except for your tormented soul. What happened? More important, what happened to you?" I wanted to hide it from her, but the truth was that she already knew the worst of it. Besides, Tara would never let me get away with it. She loved me too much. I opened myself to her, mind, body and soul.

Ten months was nothing compared to the lifetimes we shared when we first discovered how Grandmother's gifts could let us open up to each other, but it was a tough time for both of us. My time was painful beyond imagination, but Tara had more than her share of fear, for me and for our child. We comforted each other in ways that only we could. In the end we were both wiping tears from our eyes.

"Junior? Seriously?" she asked with her crooked grin. It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about. I hugged her again, laughing through my tears.

"I guess we'd better come up with a better name than that," I said afterward. "Something appropriate considering who she'll be one day. Not Gaia though. That just seems wrong. Something earthy."

"If you suggest Mud or Dirt I will kill you," Tara said offhandedly. I snorted, but didn't laugh this time.

"This would be easier if it were a boy," I teased. "We could call him Clay, or Pete even."

"How about Blossom?" Tara asked. We were holding hands now, standing in the water and looking at the waterfall together.

"Now that's just cruel," I answered.

"Maybe," she admitted with a sigh. It was one of the most surreal moments in my life. You have no idea how it felt to be standing there joking and discussing possible names after everything we'd been through.

"How about Terra?" I asked.

"You really want to give that name on our child?" Tara asked in reply. "I mean, she probably will be a terror, but..."

"Fair point," I laughed, but only briefly.

"How about Maia?" Tara asked suddenly. I smiled because it was the first serious suggestion she'd made.

"I like it," I replied with a warm smile.

"Good," she replied, wincing. "Because little Maia seems to be in a rush to be born."

"Well, she is your daughter," I snorted. That's when Tara, my soul mate, the woman I'd faced down the gods for said a very un-lady like word. I tried to hold in my laughter because she was obviously in pain. I failed, which of course caused quite a few additional descriptors to escape Tara's mouth. In fact, the only way I could stop them was by kissing her. By that time the contraction had stopped so it was far more pleasant than either of us initially planned.

"I love you," she said afterward, resting her head on my shoulder.

"And I you, more than life itself."

We were at peace for the first time in a long time and we stayed like that until her next contraction came. That brought the reality of the moment back in full force. We were about to be first time parents.

"You know, I wasn't kidding about the midwife thing earlier," Tara said.

"Don't worry," I said with a confidence I didn't necessarily feel. "We'll figure it out."

"Would you care for some help?"

I knew that voice. My head snapped up and there she was, Grandmother. I was relieved on so many levels that I couldn't list them all. She had just stepped from beneath the waterfall and was making her way toward us.

"You're not gone!" I blurted out.

"I was," she smiled. "But my progenitor agreed to let me return briefly so that I could show your daughter what she needs to know."

"Briefly?" I asked.

"Subjectively," she answered. "It shouldn't take more than a few hundred years."

"Care to take your power back from me?" I asked. "Frankly, it's unsettling."

"You'll get used to it after a decade or two," she laughed. "Or not."

"Then you're not going to take it?" I frowned.

"I am not as I once was. It's not mine to take," Gaia replied, no longer laughing. "It's your daughter's, when the time is right."

"Um, you mentioned some help?" Tara gasped as she squeezed my hand, hard. Her contractions were clearly getting closer together. I exchanged a look with Grandmother and then focused on Tara, forgetting everything else for a time.

Afterward, I didn't remember much other than doing my best to comfort Tara. Grandmother handled the actual delivery. Maia came out pink and healthy with quite a set of lungs. Her cries echoed across the island, but they didn't last long.

We were in a small open aired house made out of stone. I'm not sure how it appeared, but it did and I carried Tara to it soon after Grandmother arrived. I wasn't sure what the bed was made out of, but it was comfortable and after everything was done I climbed in next to Tara who was feeding our daughter.

"I will see you soon Grandchildren," Gaia smiled. "Relatively, but for now enjoy your time together."

"Thank you," I said with as much meaning as I could put into it. Grandmother nodded and left. Tara didn't notice. She was too focused on watching Maia eating to register what was going on around her for a time. I lay there watching until our daughter fell asleep until Tara looked at me.

"You did it," I smiled warmly.

"We did," she agreed, her eyes filling with tears. I leaned forward and kissed her tenderly.

I had no idea what the Fates had planned for us eventually, but I had the feeling that our time on the island would be peaceful. After that, we'd deal with whatever came, even if it was senior year of high school again.