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There was silence for what felt like ages but it couldn’t have been for more than a minute. With each passing second I could feel the tension building, I didn’t know how much more of it I could take before I snapped.

“Boy, are you aware that if you ever hurt our little Izzy in any way, we will not hesitate to hunt you down and make the rest of your eternal existence hell?” Zeus suddenly asked, making me jump.

“Yes, sir. I wouldn’t expect anything less, but I never plan on hurting Izzy. Ever.” Alex said with such confidence that I could help but grin. Zeus seemed to consider this for a minute, nodding, his eyes were still fixed on our joined hands, but I wasn’t planning on dropping it.

“And are you sure about this, Izzy?” He asked me, his gaze piercing right through me.

“Yes I am, and I really want you guys to support me on this.” I said, and I’m ashamed to admit that I used the puppy dog eyes. I know it’s cheating but I really wanted them to accept this.

“Ugh, fine!” Zeus growled throwing his hands up in defeat, acting more like a teenager rather than a centuries old god. “But we will be talking about this later.” He added, his eyes boring into Alex, but I could tell that he had already given in. Even if he was going to grill Alex later.

“Thank you Dad!” I said excitedly, running forward and throwing my arms around him. He chuckled lightly before letting me go, and stepping back to shoot a meaningful glare at Alex.

“Congratulations!” Aphrodite screamed barrelling towards me and hugging me. “I wasn’t sure that you would try again after what happened with Connor.” She whispered in my ear and I could hear the worry evident in her voice.

“Nah, wouldn’t give Connor the satisfaction.” I told her honestly. I wasn’t going to let what Connor did dictate my life. I was better than him and I was going to live my life.

“That’s my girl.” She replied patting me on the back. “I like this one. I can see he actually cares about you.” What she said made me feel a little cautious, she hadn’t thought anything was wrong with Connor either. No Izzy! Don’t freak yourself out! Alex is different.

“Stop hogging my little girl, Aphro.” Apollo called out shoving Aphrodite aside.

“I told you not to call me that!” Aphrodite cried angrily. “I am not some bad 80s hairdo!”

Apollo just waved her off and came in for a hug of his own.

“My little girl’s all grown up.” He cried wiping away a fake tear. “Telling Zeus where to stick it. It took me centuries to learn how to do that without causing a thunderstorm somewhere down there.” He said dramatically whilst pointing to the floor and the city beneath it.

“You still can’t!” Artemis scolded. “Half the storms around the world are due to you doing something stupid.”

“I’m offended by that!” Apollo called in fake shock.

“Yeah, I think that I cause at least two thirds of them!” Hermes added with a mischievous smile on his face. Zeus groaned and rubbed his face.

“You’re both equally annoying.” He sighed in frustration. This earned him a glare from both of them, one from Apollo because he didn’t think he was that bad and one from Hermes because he thought that Zeus wasn’t giving his irritating skills enough credit.

“That’s not fair! I’m the god of mischief, I should be more annoying than him!” Hermes complained whilst pointing accusingly at Apollo.

“Well then, you’re just not trying hard enough!” I said with a smirk.

“Oh don’t you encourage them! I have enough trouble with them as it is! The eternal babies. The last thing I need is for it to become some kind of competition between the two of them.” Zeus sighed exasperated.

“A competition? That sounds like fun, we should so do that!” Apollo exclaimed, but his excited face falls when he feels the ground beneath his feet tremble and a growl come from Zeus. “I mean it’s a juvenile idea and would be a complete waste of our valuable time.” Apollo corrected himself under Zeus’ stare. But when Zeus looked away Apollo whispered to Hermes “I’m winning already!” I smiled shaking my head at them, those two were incorrigible.

"I should go and tell Hades. He won't like that he's being kept out of the loop. Especially as he will have heard my broadcast to all of you for a meeting in Olympus." I informed everyone. They all nodded in understanding and said their goodbyes.

"You stay behind boy. We need to have a word with you." Zeus said with a stern face as Alex made a move to leave with me. Alex shot me a worried look so I quickly kissed him on the cheek, ignoring the grumbles of complaint from my parents.

 I was close enough to Zeus to hear him say to himself 'I may have accepted it but that doesn't mean I want it shoved in my face'.

"Good luck. But it's probably for the best, I don't know how Hades is going to take the news so it would probably be better if he couldn't see you, you may provoke him.” I added before turning to my parents "Try not to scare him away please? I would really like to keep this one longer than a day!" I gave one last reassuring look to a petrified Alex before leaving to the underworld.

I arrived in the throne room to find Persephone sitting at a table playing cards with herself and Hades pacing the room with long agitated strides. When he saw me relief washed over his face at seeing me alright before annoyance replaced it.

"What in Styx's name has kept you? I've been worried sick for nearly an hour now not having any clue what was going on. The last thing I know is that you've called an emergency meeting that I can't go to! And that stupid skeleton isn't back yet with my information!" he yelled.

"I’m sorry. I came here straightaway!" I tried to pacify him.

"Well? What's the matter?"

"Umm ... Do you know Alex the minor god?" I asked wincing.

"Yes he's the son of Morpheus isn't he? What about him?" I don’t think that Hades really understood where this was going so I was going to have to spell it out for him.

"Yes that's him. Well . . . he and I are a couple now." I said quickly and grimacing, waiting for his reaction.

"What?" he shrieked.

"Alex and I are together." I repeated giving it time to sink in.

"Oh no! I am not happy with this! What if he hurts you!" Hades demanded, pacing again.

"Hades, calm down. Izzy will be fine, she's happy so let her be. she's old enough to make her own decisions now." Persephone argued for me sending me a soft smile.

“That's what you said about Connor but look what happened there!" Hades shot back at her.

"Persephone's right dad, I'm old enough to make decisions for myself and I chose to go out with Connor so I have to live with the consequences of that decision." I said patiently but firmly.

"I won't sit by and wait for you to get hurt again! I'm not allowing this!" Hades shouted gesturing towards me. This was starting to rile me up, did he think I was a baby? I just snapped.

"Allow this? You may be a god but I too am a goddess and in that my decisions should be respected! I am not saying you have to agree with them but you do have to respect them. If you don't trust my judgement then you shouldn't have made me a damn goddess in the first place! I am going out with Alex and that is final you can complain all you want but at the end of the day you have no say in this!" I was tired of my parents trying to control me and I was tired of them 'allowing' me to do things. This was my life and I wanted to be the one in control of it. The look on Hades' face was one of pure rage and I thought that he was going to burst. I was actually a little scared but I refused to let that show, neither of us had ever been this angry towards each other and I don't think that either of us knew what was happening, we were in uncharted territory.

"How dare you-" Hades started but I cut him off.

"No how dare you? When I was 16 you told me that you had complete confidence in me by making me into a goddess. But when I tell you about decisions I have made you undermine me or fly off the handle! You can't keep switching on me so do you trust me or do you not?" I questioned angrily. There was a pause whilst both of us took in what I had said, I doubt that anyone had really talked to Hades that way before, he was probably in shock. "When you've made up your mind come and let me know." I said in a quieter voice before leaving to camp again.

I ran to my cabin careful not to be seen by anyone and threw myself onto my bed, the last thing I wanted right now was to have someone come in and question me on what had just happened, as I wasn’t too sure myself.

“That bad eh?" Alex's voiced said from behind me making me jump slightly. I hadn't even seen him on my way past. I didn’t turn to look at him only buried my head further under my pillow. Alex sighed and came to sit next to me on the bed. He started stroking my back comfortingly.

"We got into an argument. I shouted at him and left. I've never done that before. I've always tried to treat my parents with respect but sometimes they just really wind me up!" I cried frustrated

"I know. We all snap occasionally." Alex said quietly.

"How was it with my other parents? I bet they gave you the third degree interrogation, right?" I asked trying to change the subject. I think Alex understood that and went along with it.

"Yeah they did. It was pretty intense. But they're only doing it because they love you." Alex reassured me.

"I know. Well you're here so you must have answered the questions right." I reasoned, actually a little surprised that they had finished with him so early, I hadn’t been in the underworld long.

"Yeah I think we've come to an understanding." Alex said with a small smile.

"And what's that?" I asked curiously.

"That if I hurt you I'm dead meat. But they know that I have no intention of hurting you at all." Alex said with confidence which made me smile. He had so much fiath in our relationship.

"It must have been quite daunting going up against the lot of them." I said removing my head from under my pillow and turning to face him.

"Yeah but I had Aphrodite on my side so it was actually two against twelve rather than only one on thirteen." he chuckled.

"Remind me to thank her later." I added grinning.

That evening after Alex had left I went down to the pier on the lake to think. But this time the person I was joined by wasn't Alex, it was Hades. "What are you doing here?" I asked stiffly.

"I have an answer for you." Hades said quietly.

"You do?" I asked, internally panicking. What if he said he didn’t trust me and that he thought turning me into a goddess was a mistake. I don't think I could take that. I was having a mini panic attack as he sat next to me on the edge of the pier.

"Yes I do."

"Is that yes you do have an answer or is that your answer." I said wanting to clarify before I got my hopes up.

"Both. I do trust you, really I do. It's just that I've only had you a little while. We got you back when you were 8 and you were already so mature after everything you had been through, you were practically an adult already. But after that the time just flew by and before I knew it there were boys stealing you away from me. I didn't want my time to be over yet. I didn't want to lose my little girl. I’m so sorry for the way I acted." Hades said with sincerity shining in his eyes. "Forgive me?"

"Of course I do. It was partly my fault. I did snap at you. And you aren't losing me just because I have a boyfriend, I still am and always will be your little girl." I replied honestly leaning in to his shoulder.

"And just for the record, the day you became a goddess was the proudest day of my life." Hades whispered.