▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐌𝐞 𝐀 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎"𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃." Damien poked his head around the corner where Aphrodite sat, doing her work for the at home job she held, which was Artemis' school work. "They said she has an appointment Thursday."

"She's been having a lot of appointments lately." Aphrodite spoke, frowning slightly. She looked up at her husband. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." Damien assured her, walking deeper into the room. He leaned on her desk, leaning down and giving her a kiss on the lips. She smiled at him before looking back down at the papers. "Why don't we let her go to actual school?"

"You know why, hun." Aphrodite answered, grading the paper before standing up and putting them in a file cabinet.

"Look, all she can do is read minds, something that was just recently discovered. It's not like she shoots chaos from her hands like someone else I know." Damien spoke, walking up behind her and placing his arms around her waist. She closed the file cabinet, turning in his arms and placing her arms on his shoulders. She gave him a small smile.

"If she wants to not deal with her mother giving her less homework than I know public school teachers will, then I say let's sign her up." Aphrodite smiled at him as he rolled his eyes, before he placed another kiss on her lips. And then another, and another until she was letting out a giggles and trying to pry herself from his arms. "I love you, but I am way behind on grading."

"How are you behind on grading, when you barely give her any work?" Damiena asked, his nose scrunching.

"Well, if you don't recall this past week, I've been a little distracted lately." She answered, raising her eyebrows at him. He chuckled before nodding his head.

"I'll let you get back to it." He told her before giving her one more kiss and removing his arms from her waist.

Aphrodite clenched her jaw as the memory resurfaced, forcing herself to push it away from her mind as she felt tears form in her eyes. She blinked them away. She refused to cry for a man that brought so much damage to her, that brought physical damage to her daughter. She refused to cry over someone who didn't even think to cry over her.

She didn't know how long she had been driving, but it had been long enough that she used up half of the gas tank. It was starting to transition to night, and Aphrodite knew that her child and friends were bound to be worried about her. So, she turned around and drove back towards the place she now called home.

She drove back, pulling up and checking with the guard, nodding her head towards him before she parked the vehicle and got out. She sighed, nodding to herself. She was done moping for the day, now she had to get her shit together so that she could be there for her daughter.

She walked up the steps, putting her hand on the door before closing her eyes and letting out a soft sigh. She pulled open the doors and entered once more, putting the keys back where they belonged and moving her hair from her shoulders. She turned her head when she heard her daughter's voice.

"If you don't want to talk about it, cool with me. I don't think I want to know. However, I'm lonely and you being all sad is not working for me."

"I know." Aphrodite sighed. "I'm sorry. I just-"

"Don't apologize. Just do me one thing."

"Of course." She looked at her daughter offering her a small smile before she watched her daughter grab her hand and walk towards one of the many sofas that were sat around the facility. That's when Aphrodite noticed her guitar laying there.

"Play me a song." Artemis suggested with a small smile, taking a seat on the chair. Aphrodite looked at her before glancing at the guitar, biting her lip as she remembered all the times she would play. With another sigh, Aphrodite sat down on the couch and opened the guitar case, pulling out the musical instrument and placing it in her hands before looking at her daughter.

"What do you want to hear?"

Artemis pursed her lips for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders. "An easy song. Soothing. One of my favorites." Aphrodite gave a small smile, shaking her head before placing her hands on the correct notes and gently playing the guitar. Her focus was no longer on the other mutants around her, only her daughter who had a smile on her face as she listened to her mother play. Her smile grew wider when she started singing.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise." When they heard her voice, Marcos, Lorna, Sonya, and John all silently made their way around the corner, watching from afar as the woman played and sang. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night, Take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free. Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly. Into the light of a dark black night. Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly. Into the light of a dark black night. Blackbird singing in the dead of night.Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise. You were only waiting for this moment to arise. You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

She strummed the last string on the guitar before she smiled and looked up at her daughter. Artemis gave a sleepy smile back, making the redhead chuckle softly. "Go get some rest, love. We'll talk in the morning."

Artemis stood up, giving the nod of her head before giving her mother a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for singing for me."

"Anytime. Goodnight, baby."

"Goodnight." Artemis gave her mother one more smile before walking away and towards her room. Aphrodite watched her daughter go before she placed the guitar in its case, closing it.

"So, you didn't feel obliged to share that not only can you play, but you can sing as well?" Lorna spoke as she made her way towards the woman. Aphrodite glanced up towards her, as well as the other three before shrugging her shoulders.

"I didn't think it was an important thing to know." She softly answered. She stood up from the couch, glancing down at her guitar case before watching as Sonya came closer. She gave her sister a soft smile.

"How are you?" Sonya gently asked. Aphrodite gave her a small smile.

"I'm stable." She nodded her head. "Sorry for being not myself today."

"Don't be sorry." Lorna shook her head.

"We understand. You just never told us what today was, so we didn't quite understand what you were going through." Sonya continued. Aphrodite gave her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry." She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "I meant to tell you, it just sort of slipped my mind. . ."

"Well, get some sleep." Lorna spoke. "Because tomorrow night you, me, and Sonya are having a night out together.

Sonya smiled at Lorna before looking at her sister who was also giving a small smile. Aphrodite nodded her head. "I'd like that very much."

"Good." Lorna smiled before she and Sonya said goodnight and went their separate ways. Aphrodite gave Marcos a small smile as he walked by, the male nodding at her before he followed after his girlfriend. The redhead watched as Pulse and John talked, smiling as they did so which brought a smile to the woman's face. John looked so relaxed as he talked to Augustus, the two having become close friends very quickly. Aphrodite picked up her guitar case, glancing at her two male friends one last time before she walked towards her room, the first actual smile of the day plastered on her face.