I'd still like to know exactly how I got talked into this. Yes, I helped land the Calypso on our world safely. And yes, I admit that when the other Deities got caught up in what was going on with the mortals, I also fell victim to that tendency. But only slightly.

Maybe it truly started with that ridiculous bet with Aphrodite, which resulted in me having to help rescue two mortals when they got themselves into still more trouble.

Those two have been back in Chalet for a little over four months now, along with their other companion. But it appears as though trouble has followed them.

I shouldn’t be involved. I thought all of us had learned our lesson about such things-- well, save for Aphrodite, who has far too much fun meddling in human affairs. And I do mean ‘affairs’. But none of us show any signs of going back to our normal routines. Not even, irritatingly enough, me.

Back on Earth we had our own places, our own special temples and villages. But Chalet is all of ours.

My husband interfered almost right away, fiddling with people’s minds. Those who had extrasensory powers, such as telepathy, found them increased. Tiny suggestions were also planted, names of flora and fauna, for simplicity’s sake. I disabled their shuttles-- only one works now, and it operates only on short-distance trips.

Aphrodite immediately wanted to start making bets, even as Iris began picking out people who needed ‘cosmically huge lightning bolts’ thrown at them for various offenses.

The mortals do cause arguments, but at least they're still infinitely more entertaining than the last race we sheltered here. The Neritye haven’t been seen in years, which is fine with all of us. We gave them a home, and they repaid us by stealing things before they darted off into space, never to return.

Artemis in particular is still angry about that. Not only did they abscond with plants and trees from her forests, but they also took some of the creatures that live there, including the faeries. She’s furious that she didn’t see that coming, didn’t protect her own.

Now there are fae here again, although, due to years of living on a different world-- and suspected Neritye experimentation-- they’re much different from Storybook’s native originals. Either way, Artemis has a second chance. And so she keeps an eye on Chalet, too.

Which is good, because the people there need all the help they can get. Not that I want to give it freely, as Aphrodite does. Her focus is currently on the fae and her human companion. Or rather, on the newly-human fae and her companion.

It’s all wonderfully funny, in a grim sort of way.

Aphrodite and Selene don’t think so, of course, since they have no appreciation for the darker humor in life. After all the things Finn and Stace have been through, they’re now falling apart over something so common. A child.

Finn, poor man, doesn’t even realize it yet. It’s only been a mortal month since Stace told him the news, and she’s been pretending to be as thrilled as he actually is. But even Aphrodite has admitted that her act can't last forever. Granted, Aphrodite is much more worried than I am about the possible consequences of the conversation they’re about to have.

She and Selene have been following this pair closely, and so they made the mistake of getting emotionally involved in a relationship that was doomed from the start. The fact that some of the humans in Chalet haven’t reacted well to Stace’s presence is, sadly, the least of it. They also have to deal with Teeart, who honestly doesn’t mean any harm, but who brings it anyway simply because of his poorly-hidden feelings.

And then there's Niabi. I do have sympathy for her-- it’s hard to try and talk sense into those around you when they keep insisting on doing foolish things-- but she takes it a bit too far. In fact, it’s because of a conversation with her that Stace is near panic right now. I’m waiting for the day when she just ignores the older fae when she ventures from ‘cautious’ to ‘mean-spirited’, but it looks like that day’s going to come too late.

Still, there is a good side to this. Since I’ve been expecting the worst for them from the start, I won’t have to listen to any more ‘I told you so’s from my delusional fellow Deities.

Not that I enjoy watching all this unfold. The difficult times of a relationship are nothing to smile about. Just ask Zeus.

Anyway, Finn is almost back at his and Stace’s small apartment. I know what’s going to happen. Judging from the looks on Aphrodite, Iris, and Selene’s faces, they know, too-- they just don’t want to admit it yet.

Hera

Stace paced around the apartment and then paused, staring down at her stomach. If it wasn't for the white border on her wings when she was in her fae form, she'd never be able to tell that she was pregnant. Not yet, anyway. But Dr. Creekmore had said that according to the tests, it seemed likely that she was about two months along, not one, and was she absolutely sure about the timeline?

She'd told her yes, but the whole appointment had just underscored the fact that not only did she not have any idea what the pregnancy might involve, even the doctor was in the dark. And, since a human/fae situation like this was unprecedented, she wanted her to stay in her human form throughout the pregnancy.

She already missed flying.

She closed her eyes and sat down on the bed, thinking of the conversation she'd just had with Niabi. Even though she'd been several feet taller than the blond fae at the time, Niabi had still managed to make her feel tiny. And without even raising her voice.

No, all she'd had to do was simply remind her of something that Stace already knew far too well; she wasn't ready for motherhood. Not right now, maybe not ever. Probably not ever.

She tried to tell herself that Niabi was just a pain in the wings who didn't know what she was talking about. But she couldn’t really believe it.

On the walk home, she’d managed to distract herself by thinking of one of the good things that had happened recently: Simon and Geneva’s wedding. But now that she was inside, away from the curious eyes of the other people in Chalet, even thoughts of the small ceremony couldn’t keep a smile on her face.

Then she heard the door open, and she silently watched Finn as he put away the bread and fruit he’d bought at the market.

He met her eyes and smiled. “Hey,” he said. “So how’d the Council meeting go?”

“All right,” she said. “I told them what happened with Ramiro and Kali and how I got my new power.”

Finn kissed her cheek. “I should've been there-- but I did get an order to make six tables for the tavern. And Court was there, right?”

She nodded. For the most part, they'd seemed to listen to what she had to say, though she could've done without some of the stares. She'd thought about how thrilled she'd first been with her new form, compared with how chaotic everything was rapidly getting, and almost panicked again. She'd held it in check then, though Paige might've sensed there was something wrong. “Paige wants to meet with me. We set up an appointment for an interview.”

Now Finn was giving her the same kind of quizzical look the reporter had when she'd approached her earlier. “You okay?”

She nodded, but then she sighed and crossed her arms. "I should've said something sooner, but I'm not ready for this." Seeing the confused look on his face and knowing that she was too far in now to just dismiss her words, she continued. "The baby. I wasn't even intending to have one. Ever. I can't do this."

“What are you talking about?”

"Exactly what I said," she told him. "This wasn't something I ever planned on. I mean, we didn't even talk about it . . . and me? A mom? No. I can't do it. I won't."

“What do you mean, you won’t?”

"I don't know! But I need to figure out something. I thought maybe if I just pretended to be happy about it then I would be happy, but . . . that didn't work. At all."

“Stace.” He took her hand. “You're just scared. I am, too. It's normal at a time like this. It doesn't mean we can't do it.”

"Ohhh, yes it does," she muttered. "What in the time you've known me makes you think I can do something like this? I don't only get myself into trouble, I get everyone around me into it, too! Bad enough that I do it to my friends but I can't do it here. I'd hate myself."

“You're talking like you'll be dealing with all this alone. You won't be.”

“That isn't the point!”

“Then what is the point?” He tried to keep his voice down, but the knowledge that she'd been lying to him about all this for weeks wouldn't let him. He dropped her hand and stood up. “Criminy, Stace, this isn't about you. We're going to have a baby here, and I'll love it and take care of it if you don’t want to!”

"You're right, it's not about me. But I've never spent any time around kids, and I'm about to be a mom! I thought that might have a bad effect on the kid, but apparently I was wrong. Didn't realize I wasn't needed. So okay, all I need to do is have it, and then I can go away. Problem solved."

“Don’t be ridiculous! And stop saying you’re ‘about’ to have a baby; the birth is months away. I’m sure you’re not the only pregnant woman to have doubts about something like this. You’ll learn as you go along. We both will.”

"This is more than doubts!" Stace said. "My own mother told me I'd be a horrible parent and if I'd ever decided to try anyway it definitely wouldn't have been right now."

“Forget your mother!” he said. “You’ve just got to accept it. There’s nothing you can do about. . .” The words died away and he was suddenly frightened. He tried to shake it off.

"Great, and now you're lying to me. I talked to Livana, all right? And she told me that there were other choices. But she said I definitely needed to talk to you. I wasn't expecting you to . . . to yell at me and lie to me. To blazes with it," she said, heading for the door. "I'm going to the fae village." She'd talk to Livana again, and Teeart, and maybe they could help her calm down.

He stepped in front of her. “I’m not lying to you! Wait a minute. You talked to Livana before you talked to me? No wonder you’re upset! I can’t believe you’d take her kind of advice!”

"Her kind of advice?" Stace asked, her voice nearly flat in her effort to keep it calm. "She told me that things would be fine. That she'd try to help me out in whatever decision I made. That these worries were bad enough that I needed to talk to you about them. Yeah, I can see why I shouldn't listen to her. I should definitely listen to 'you've got to accept it' and 'there's nothing you can do about it', even though there is. See, that's how it works. There are things I can do, and you tell me that there's not. Technically, that's called 'lying'.

"And don't you dare insult Livana," she continued, her voice rising again as she thought of how the other woman had reminded her of the other difficulties that she and Finn had had, and how they’d made it past those. How, if worse came to worst, she could talk about doing as other fae who hadn’t been ready for parenthood had done, and temporarily pair together with those who had more experience. "At least she tried to help me!”

“Stop telling me I’m lying to you! I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on inside your crazy head! I hate what your mother did to you, what she’s still doing. She was the lousy mother. You won’t be. That you’re worried about it is proof that you won’t be. But don’t stand there and tell me that Livana says there are ‘things’ you can do and expect me to smile and agree! You can’t just make a wish to not be pregnant anymore. It doesn’t work that way.”

"Of course I can't--" She cut off as something occurred to her. "You mean actually get rid of the baby? You . . . what, you think I'd do that?"

“I don’t know!” Finn exclaimed. “I never thought you’d be this freaked out about it. You tell me you have ‘choices’; what am I supposed to think they are?”

"You shouldn't think that--" she snapped, but an instant later the anger left. "Well, why wouldn't you? After all, who knows what's going on in my 'crazy head'. But you know what? You won't have to worry about that anymore." She pushed past him and opened the door. "Goodbye.”

“What am I supposed to think, then?” he asked, his voice rising as he followed her out the door. “Tell me that before you go, will you?”

She said her spell, and then turned back to him. "I used to see Niabi with the kids in the fae village and I'd envy her, because she always seemed to know what to say and do. I'm sorry that I'm not like her, I'm sorry that I'm scared to death, I'm sorry that I'm not how you want me to be, but most of all I'm sorry you don't trust me,” she said. “You thought that I might get rid of the baby? You really thought that?" She shook her head, and then she blinked out and reappeared in her fae form. She wanted to say a lot of things, but right now couldn't think of one that would actually make a difference. So she just darted away.

Finn shouted after her. “Dr. Creekmore said not to change forms!” He watched until she was just a tiny speck in the distance, and then he started walking.

Stace flew towards the fae village, trying not to remember the look on Finn’s face, or the looks on the faces of the neighbors who’d witnessed the latter part of their argument. Most of them had pretended not to be listening, but a few had stared openly, their expressions not kind.

Humming her wings, she remembered then that she was supposed to stay in her human form, and she shook her head at herself. The baby wasn’t even born yet, and already she was making mistakes. Too late now, she thought derisively. She’d change back, and talk to Teeart and Livana, and everything would be fine. Hopefully.

Trying to swallow past the lump in her throat, she flew past the trees toward her friends’ homes. They were probably joking around with each other, discussing today’s events over the evening meal-- just talking.

She and Finn used to talk for hours. But even though her newly-human state had brought them closer . . . much closer . . . they didn’t have as much time together as they once had. He spent his days working and when she wasn't at the fae village she was either talking to Paige or Courtland or other members of the Council. They hadn’t had a lengthy conversation since . . . well, since her birthday.

Not that he hadn't been thrilled at the news that she was going to have a baby. He was going to be a wonderful father, she was sure of it. She just wished that she could be equally sure of his feelings for her.

Looking back on their argument, she realized that she should've told him flat-out that she wanted to find someone else to help her mother, since she had no idea how. But for him to jump to such a different conclusion-- what did that say?

She was so lost in thought that she’d almost flown through the fae village before she realized she was there. It was much smaller than the fae village back on her homeworld. Just Teeart and Livana and Niabi. Two of them her friends, all of them her old villagemates.

She looked around, but the area was quiet. They were probably asleep. She should be sleeping right now. Or lying next to Finn, and not sleeping. . . .

Blast it, blast it, blast it. Muttering various curses, she darted into a familiar tree and found Teeart stretched out in his hammock, eyes closed. She sighed.

Teeart and Finn didn’t get along very well. By coming here and telling him what had happened, she might not give her friend a very good impression of the man she loved. She wanted Teeart to think well of him. So she should go off by herself and sort things through. But she’d tried that-- many, many times over the past couple of weeks-- and now she didn't know what else to do.

She tapped Teeart’s shoulder, waking him up. “What’s going on?” he muttered drowsily.

“Everything.”

“Finn, again?”

“No. Not exactly, we . . . well, yes.”

“One of these days we’re going to have to figure out a way to turn me human so I can throw him in a lake.” He smiled hopefully as he got out of the hammock. “Or did you already do that?”

She couldn’t seem to smile. “No. We yelled at each other, and I left. I . . . I said goodbye to him. And I meant it.”

“Good.”

She glanced up at the brusque word, startled. “What?”

“I said, ‘good’.”

Unsure of what to say to that, she looked around the room, humming her wings nervously.

“So, what happened?” he finally asked.

“It’s excessively humiliating.”

“Can’t be more humiliating than the time you got locked in the birdcage. Or fell in the flour bin. Or--” He paused, seeing her expression.

“I tried to talk to him. About the baby. I shouldn’t be having it. I don’t know what to do with kids. And he got mad, and that made me mad, and we both said things we really shouldn’t have and-- it’s just a huge mess.” She gave him the basics of what had happened. “I feel like I’ve betrayed him or something.”

“No. You had to get out of there. Right now you can both think things through and work everything out later. But if you’d stayed any longer without getting all this out, it just would’ve ended worse. Now smile, or I’m going to start worrying about you.”

“You mean I haven’t been worrying you before? Where did I go wrong?”

He grinned. “There you are.” Clearly encouraged when she smiled back, he continued. “You know what you need to do? Spend some time with your friends. Stay here for a while.”

At that, her eyes widened. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I have to return to my human form,” she said, cursing at herself again as she headed outside. As soon as she was standing on the ground, she said her spell and changed back.

“You can still stay in the clearing,” Teeart said. When she shook her head, he continued. “At least for tonight. If you leave without saying hello to Livana she might just decide to strangle me as a convenient irritation outlet.” She smiled faintly, and he quickly went on. “That wasn’t meant as a bonus result.”

“Oh.”

“That ‘oh’ meant ‘of course it wasn’t, dear friend’, correct?”

“Absolutely.”

“I find myself not believing you.”

Then Livana hovered up to them. “I thought I heard your voice. How’re you doing?”

“Not well,” Stace said. “And it’s a long story. Which Teeart can explain, because I’m going to wander around. I need to think.” Now that she was slightly calmer, maybe she could actually come up with a solution.

“Just be careful,” Livana said, glancing up at the dark sky.

“I will,” Stace said, and then she was gone.

Teeart gave Livana the explanation, and she nodded.

“I’m glad she said goodbye. At least for now. I like Finn, but-- sometimes the time just isn’t right and things have to settle down. Then they’ll be fine later.”

“Does anything ever make you pessimistic?”

“Niabi.”

Stace slowly made her way through the dense forest, remembering what the journey to Chalet had been like. The constant sense of danger, the tension between her and Simon and Finn, the bond between all of them that had been forged because of circumstance, but which had eventually strengthened on its own.

If she had to fight with someone, it should be Simon. At least she was used to that.

She wanted to keep walking, but was too exhausted to do so. She didn't know if that was because of the argument, or because she'd just been tiring more easily lately. She found a rock overhang and crawled underneath it, lying down in the dust, resting her head on her hands and closing her eyes.

She wanted to set things right. It was just that she didn’t know what to say.

Well, she’d get some sleep. And when she woke up, then she'd think about it.

Livana flew over the meadow where Finn's lean-to was. She didn’t have all the details of the fight, but she didn't have to know all of them to realize how upset Stace was. For one thing, she’d actually been in her fae form. Livana hadn't seen her like that in weeks. She shook her head and then looked across the clearing, unsurprised to see a familiar silhouette. She hovered up to Finn. "I thought you'd probably show up here."

“Where’s Stace?”

"I don't know. She was here," she continued quickly. "She went to talk to Teeart for a few minutes and then basically said 'hello goodbye' to me. Said she was going out there for a while to think things over," she told him, gesturing at the forest. "Oh, and don't worry, she's changed back into her human form."

Finn almost laughed. “Yeah right. Don’t worry. Criminy, Livana! Just what did you tell her?” He turned in a circle, trying to imagine Stace out in the woods alone without her fae light.

"I told her that I'd try to be there for her, that this much stress was unnecessary, and that there was no reason to go this long without talking to someone about it. Once I realized exactly how worried she was, I told her it was more than a vent-session with a friend could do away with, and she needed to discuss things with you." She glanced over at him. “You really argued with her, didn’t you?”

“She’s pregnant and she doesn’t want to be! How do you think that makes me feel? Of course I argued with her! She sounded like she was planning to get rid of the baby!”

"Oh dear," Livana muttered, closing her eyes for a moment. "Finn, families like Court and Rosemarie's aren't common with fae. Most of us only bear one child in our lifetime, and some can't even do that. To get rid of one, it’s-- it’s more than frowned upon. And since a lot of fae don't have any experience with children when we become parents, it's common to bring the child to someone else who does and let them watch it for a while. We just talked about that. So there's no need to be worried.”

“Yeah. I'll just forget about how we're supposed to fix this, and what else she might be lying to me about, and whether she might get hurt out there by herself.” He shouted her name twice. When there was no answer, he swore. If Stace didn’t want to be found, there wasn’t anything he could do to find her. Then all the anger went out of him and he couldn’t stand up anymore. He sank to the ground and covered his eyes. “I don’t know how this happened. I thought she was happy . . . I don’t know anything. I don’t know what to do, Livana.”

Livana hovered down to sit on the ground nearby. "Look, she was just scared. I'll be honest with you-- your reacting like you did made things worse, but--"

“No,” Finn said, his ire rising again. “Don’t tell me I made things worse. Don’t sit there and tell me how I should react. You think I don’t have a right to be angry? When she started talking about not wanting to be a mother, and refusing to do it-- how could I not imagine the worst case scenario? Because humans don't usually give their kids to other people unless they don't want them. And I want this baby. I want to keep her safe. I want her to grow up knowing that her dad loves her.”

She sighed. "Look. Just because getting angry was your 'right' and was understandable doesn't mean it didn't adversely affect her. Okay? I'm just trying to let you know why she probably won't be back until morning. Because believe it or not, I don't want either one of you to be this upset.”

Finn wanted to yell at her again, started to, then threw up his hands. This wasn’t Livana’s fault. He knew she was telling him the truth. “All right. I'll . . . I'll wait here for her.”

"Would you like me to stay, or do you want to be alone?"

“I’d like you to find her,” he said quietly. “Or be wherever you think she’ll come back to first.”

“Not sure where that is. But if she starts to go back to the apartment, she’ll pass by here . . . either way, I’ll keep my eyes open.”

She left then, and Finn stared out at the forest, his blue eyes narrowed, trying to imagine that he could see Stace’s fae light. He loved to watch her fly. Seeing her hovering in midair or darting around trees and branches at breakneck speeds; several times he thought she was surely going to crash, but she never did. He loved other things about her, too-- her courage, her laugh, the way she blushed when she was embarrassed. What wasn’t to love? She was cute and funny and seemed to be propelled by an intense energy that he couldn’t help but find contagious.

Except recently.

He’d thought sometimes the look on her face was too somber, that she wasn’t as talkative as she normally was . . . but when he’d asked if anything was the matter, she’d just smiled brightly and told him everything was fine. Should’ve seen through that, he thought. And if he’d wanted to look deeper, he probably could have. After all, Stace wasn’t exactly a good liar.

He sighed. He’d been wrong-- it wasn’t her who was to blame. Both of them had their part in what had happened. She’d gone off to do some thinking . . . it was past time for him to do the same.

He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the fact that she hadn’t said, “I’m going to visit my friends for a while” or, “I’ll talk to you soon”.

Trying to ignore the fact that she had said, “Goodbye.”