Hiring

[forge_fire]

There is a sign up on one of the tables near the doorway, and another near the stairs upstairs. Both say:
Now Hiring
Blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metal-workers, technicians, engineers for assistance on various projects in out-of-bar location. Excellent salary (based on experience), health benefits available (just ask), and bonuses

Comments

[aphros_born]

There's a Greek goddess. Looking at the Greek god. And biting her lip. Because. . . well. She was supposed not to be disappearing, randomly, and, well. . . It's been months.

How do you say, 'sorry, I didn't mean to disappear, and by the way I'm pregnant'?

[forge_fire]

It takes him a minute to see who's looking at him, but then he gives her a sad, warm look and gestures to the other side of the booth.

[aphros_born]

She manages a smile, but it only lifts half of her face.

"Hey."

Her eyes say more than her mouth - and they are doing their best to say that she really, really didn't mean to be away for so long.

[forge_fire]

He shrugs.

And it says, as it always says, that it's all right. He'll always forgive her. Unfortunately, he never forgets, but he always forgives. It's convenient, but sometimes painful.

[aphros_born]

"I. . ."

She was about to explain, but. . . well. An explanation wouldn't be an excuse.

"Sorry. I should have let you know I was okay."

And then, she beams. Because, she's been away, without telling him or going home or. . . anything, but she has good news. Of the variety that, really, makes everything better.

"Do you want a girl or a boy?"

[forge_fire]

He blinks. That's... rather an interesting question.

"For what?"

[aphros_born]

She smiles, and her face lights up. She's on the wrong side of the booth. She's going to be sitting in his lap for the rest of this conversation.

That accomplished, she leans into him, and takes a moment just to breathe in the smoky scent that is all him, before replying.

"Our child. I haven't been paying attention to my body, so I didn't realise, but. . . I came as soon as I knew."

[forge_fire]

He blinks. That's... rather an interesting statement.

"Our..."

As if he was any good with words when he wasn't being told things like this. It'll be amazing if he's able to talk in the next month, let alone the next minute.

[aphros_born]

"Yes," she says, hugging him, because moments like this need hugs.

"I didn't want to know, not without you."

[forge_fire]

Oh, it's warm. It's warm in that booth, and in his smile and in his eyes. It's damn warm and he's grinning now, not smiling but grinning and there's something both joyful and slightly dazed to the now-silver eyes that, despite the sort of focus he has when his eyes are as such, is rather disarmingly cute.

"I'm..."

[aphros_born]

"Yes," she says. "Me too."

You spend enough time around Hephaestos, and you learn to understand him. it's not really difficult.

[forge_fire]

"A father."

Wow, two words. That's an achievement. Get that urn again, he wants this recorded.

He looks at her, as if questioning it all, reality, everything.

"A baby?"

[aphros_born]

"Yes," she nods, pulling his hands around her to rest on her belly. She knows that he can feel the life starting inside her just as well as she can.

"Say hi?"

[forge_fire]

He looks at her almost amused. Say anything? Oh as if he had the skill to pick the words to be his introduction to the tiny life within his wife's womb? He'd muck that right up.

He does rub his hand gently there, though. That he can do.

[aphros_born]

That's hello enough, just a mute sort of presence. That's as much as their child-to-be could comprehend, anyway, if it was even aware of him at all. Words are unnecessary.

She curls back into him, contented.

How, she thinks, had she managed to stay away so long, when this is where she belongs?

[forge_fire]

He's looking dazed again.

"I've got... so much work to do."

After all, he wasn't putting his child in Fisher Price, for goodness sake.