"But we need to have a talk about something more." She then looked at the sleeping goddess as she made a tiny whimper and shivered, a bit of a cold sweat starting to show on her forehead. "First we need to get her to the clinic."
"Right," Percy responded before all of them were enveloped in a wave of darkness.
...
A few seconds passed before they appeared at the same floor as Cloelia's room, spooking some other visitors and nurses in the process. Without delay Percy marched towards the rooms, feeling out to see which room was empty as Andromeda veered off to get the Head Nurse for the floor or doctor if she found one first.
He finally got to one, room 13, and stepped in and moved to getting Athena on the bed. As he did he heard Andromeda arrive and already explaining what happened to whoever she got.
With Athena in the bed he stepped back as a brunette doctor moved up to Athena's side, her hand glowing a pale yellow as she set it on the goddess' head. He watched attentively a small pulses raced over Athena's sweating form as the doctor—Dr. Malcolms he just recognized—scanned the goddess.
"Acute Core Exhaustion," Dr. Malcolms murmured after a few seconds as Percy heard two nurses come in, one dragging in an IV and Heart monitor.
Percy stepped farther back next to his wives as they watched the doctor and nurses work as they got Athena settled in and hooked her up. Several minutes passed in relative silence as the doctor then sent one of the nurses off to get some equipment before the doctor turned to Percy.
"Thank you for getting her here so quickly. At the rate she was losing power she could have easily gone into Core Depletion and fallen into a coma until recovered."
"Will she be able to recover?" Percy asked as he glanced at Athena's resting face.
"I believe she'd still tied to The West, correct?" Dr. Malcolms asked getting a nod from him. "Then I'm afraid no. Not unless she's brought back to within the bounds of The West or has those ties severed and gains new, unbounded domains from Lady Phoebe.
As she is now we can keep her sustained with diluted nectar and when she wakes up a generous portion of ambrosia will help but she'll be more or less bedridden until something is done about her status," Dr. Malcolms explained as she looked at the goddess.
Nodding at the explanation Percy then turned to Andromeda as she grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the door.
"Come on, she's in good hands now," she said gently and with one last glance back he followed.
Once in the hall with Rhea and Hestia the four came together before Percy felt Rhea use her own limited control of shadow to teleport them away. Percy glanced around as they arrived back in their room in the House of Primordial before Rhea pulled him along to sit beside her with Andy taking his other side as Hestia stood before him. He watched as she pulled at sleeves of her jacket while glancing anywhere but him as Andromeda spoke up.
"Well Percy, we've been talking and agreed to save Cloelia but, there's more to it than just you adopting her," she said as she pointedly looked to Hestia.
However the goddess was looking anywhere but them, nervously biting her lip.
"Hestia." At the call of her name the goddess looked to her sister wife as Rhea gestured to Percy. "Tell him."
Now Percy was feeling confused as he watched his wives shooting each other looks, some eyes narrowing at each other and Hestia looking more worried than anything.
"Okay, what's going on?" he asked as he looked at each one, his own eyes narrowed as he waited for an answer.
Rhea and Andromeda looked to Hestia together as the lady of dragons shuffled for a moment before she finally relented and spoke up, "We did agree to save her … but I was against it at first."
Percy stayed silent as he heard that, looking intently at his wife as she glanced away for a moment. Then she stepped closer to Percy, her eyes getting watery as she leaned down towards him.
"Please …"
Before he could say anything else Hestia touched her forehead against his and he felt the familiar presence of her mind brush against his own. Without hesitation his mental barriers willingly opened to her as their eyes fluttered closed. The world faded out to him as he went through memories, listening to Hestia's words as if he was saying them himself, and felt her emotions.
The night she came to him and learned about Cloelia's condition and then the rest of the night spent with him. Her visit to Paul and their conversation which surprised him at Paul's admissions to how he used to feel, his own heart clenching at listening to her fears and doubts aimed at herself.
He was also shocked to realize that he'd overlooked his own commitments with the war and the need for one of his wives to adopt with him however before he could hang up on that the memories continued. Then the memories shifted to another conversation, this time Andy and Rhea being present as the queens talked from within Rhea's office as Hestia opened up to them much as she did with Paul.
He watched as they spoke, at times getting a little heated but was relieved to see things calmed even as he felt Hestia's nervousness grow the closer they got to needing to tell him. After what seemed to be near the end of the memories Hestia decided to share he was pulled back into reality. Taking a steadying breathe he slowly opened his eyes to meet the glowing crimson of his wife even as some tears spilled down her cheeks, her forehead still touched against his.
"Oh Hestia," he said softly, one hand coming up to cup her cheek and thumb away the tears. "How could I ever think less of you?"
Using his free hand he reached out and gently pulled her by the waist, drawing her to sit across his lap. Looking at her intently he then leaned down and kissed her soundly as he pulled her closer, letting his presence flare out and envelop her. She responded in kind as her emotions were carried with it, mixing with his own as he tried his best to reassure her. After nearly a minute he finally pulled back, both their faces with silvery tinges as he left their foreheads connect.
"Why Hestia?" he asked, his gaze searching hers.
"It's just …" the goddess trailed off as she looked down.
Andromeda shuffled closer behind Hestia, hugging her from behind and kissing the back of her head as Percy waited. After taking a deep breath she returned her gaze to him.
"I know she's innocent, I know saving her is the right thing to do, and I do want to help her, but every time I see her," Hestia sniffed a little as she rubbed at her eye. "I see Chase and I just get so angry."
Hestia started to blink away the coming tears as she took a shuddering breathe.
"You already said it yourself. You are going to save her and I accept that … even if I can't agree with it completely. Not yet anyways."
Silence followed as Percy closed his eyes for a moment as he took his own calming breathe. It hurt to hear the pain in Hestia's voice and to know what she was going through after feeling her very emotions. There was barely any anger, if at all, directed at him then such an intense sense of self-loathing for herself. And even with the grudge and its effects on her, even with her own concerns, she still accepted not only his choice but theirs as a whole.
'What did I do to deserve you?' he thought to himself as his arms tightened around her, pulling her closer to him as he opened his eyes.
"And as things are now, we don't have long before we need to go through with this," Rhea added as she raised her head from Percy's shoulder to look directly at him. "We need to act soon or it will be too late."
"And you can't be the only one to adopt her," Andy continued, "One of us needs to do it with you to take care of Cloelia when you're out on the battlefields."
"Who?" he asked as he glanced from Andy to Rhea.
"Me," Hestia said softly as he snapped his gaze to her, his eyes widening in surprise as she looked back at him. "And I need Athena's help to do it…"
...
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