“We love you, baby Callista. We’re so happy to see you, all cute, pudgy, and with your daddy’s hair.” Thalia looked like she was going to eat her. Not that I could blame her. Ren woke up, startled hearing his mother’s voice. Lacey handed him over, and we sat there, finally holding our children in our arms together.
“It’s real. It’s not a dream.” She was full of so much love, it looked like she could glow from happiness.
“They are very real.” Ren was watching me, and then cried out for his mother. We switched babes, and I got to hold my little girl. Her emotions were flowing into me— she was happy. These two were going to be a handful, I could tell. Leaning in, I pressed my lips to her squishy cheeks, then ran my fingers through her dark hair.
“They are very healthy babies. Their size and weight are those of a two month old, so they are still growing rapidly. All things staying the same, by my calculations they should be full grown around eight years of age. Very smart children.” Dr. Geoffrey came strolling in, carrying two bottles of formula for us to feed them. At the sight of the bottle, Ren started to get excited, wiggling everywhere.
“Seems like he takes after his uncle in appetite.” She giggled while sneaking a glance at Leander. He shrugged, and went back to holding Lacey. Thalia grabbed the bottle, and then looked down at her breasts. Yeah, I was sort of bummed about that. I was very much looking forward to seeing her feed our babes from her breasts. They were back to their normal pre-pregnancy size. The doctor noticed her glance, and explained to her that since she was no longer pregnant, the rings healed her completely, not feeling a need for her to breastfeed since there were no longer babies in her body. She looked a little sad about that at first, but then she moved on. The babies were being fed, and that was all that mattered. We both fed them, and then burped them. Callista was a lady and sucked daintily at the bottle, while Ren scarfed down his bottle as quickly as he could. The doctor was packing up his bag, and announced he was ready to leave. The babes were fine, and he wasn’t needed for now. He told us to come to his office in a month and we would check their progress.
He flipped his coin and disappeared after that. Aphrodite was lounging in a chaise lounge that she materialized, lost in her own thoughts. Lacey and Leander were settling in their own little bubble as well. I looked at Thalia, watching her as she marveled over our babies. Feeling my gaze, she looked into my eyes. This was worth everything.
“I love them,” She said, smiling, and I nodded.
“Me too.”
“I love you,” she continued, and I leaned in to kiss her.
“And I love you.” When we separated, both babies were no longer drinking but watching us. I winked at Ren.
“That’s how it’s done, son.” Thalia was quick to respond to my bragging.
“Ignore daddy. He thinks he’s some hotshot god or something.” She looked at me teasingly. I mouthed to her, “Later.” She was going to get it—pink handprints on her ass for hours. We quieted down after that and just enjoyed the moment with these two babes that we had risked everything to have. They were always meant to be ours. Aphrodite said she had to go, but would be back soon. Lacey and Leander only had about a day left on their coins, so they wanted to spend every last minute they could with us and the babies. Thalia promised that we would be visiting a lot, and Lacey offered to babysit if we needed some “us” time. I would be taking her up on that.
When it was time for us to finally head to bed, we laid the already sleeping babies in their cribs. Thalia and I took a shower, and settled into bed feeling almost overwhelmed by our new life.
“They’re going to come back for them,” she whispered into the quiet room. I knew we would have to talk about this soon. It was a conversation I wasn’t exactly ready for.
“Yeah, they are.” It was inevitable. The gods were going to make their last stand. The babies were alive, and posed the biggest threat to them, in their eyes. Obviously, Isis’s plea went unheard. They would be coming themselves. And no amount of demigods that had survived would live through their attack.
“What are we gonna do?” She was so frightened for our children, it was practically flowing out her head and settling over us.
“We fight.” She rolled over and looked at me.
“We can’t exactly fight with the babies on our backs.” This was true. I had time to think on this before she had woken up, and only one thought seemed like the best course of action.
“We give them to your mother, until it ends.” I watched many emotions cross her face. I knew when she finally understood what I meant, saying that. She took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.
“You’re right. It’s the only way.” It was. I’d considered every option possible. Running, holing up, everything I could think of. And there was no stopping the gods. They would come, and we would fight.
“We will do whatever we must. For them.” She looked over to the sleeping babes. I went on to tell her that I mentioned this plan to Aphrodite, and she accepted responsibility for the babies, promising to watch over them until we came to get them again. However long that would be.
I looked into my wife’s eyes, and knew we would not be able to stay away from them long.
“We’ll win. There’s no other option,” she declared, while coming into my arms. I kissed her forehead.
“We will.” We couldn’t say anything else. There were no heated touches that night, just the weight of what was to come sitting on us. When the babes woke in the night to be fed and changed, we took care of them, snuggled them in close, and kissed their cheeks.
We both came to the decision that we would love our little family, and live for the moment. Make memories and enjoy our life for now. And when the gods came, we would call for Aphrodite, who would take the children and go. We’d try to get them to see reason, and fight if we must. It was the only plan we had, which made us feel calm enough to sleep wrapped in each other’s arms until our babes needed us again.
