𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 ─── dinner dates

New York, 15th March 2009

"𝔄re you two absolutely sure that you're going to be okay watching them whilst we're gone?" Ellie called, fluffing her hair up before she finished applying lipstick in the mirror. Leah and Alabaster were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching Wren and Alex in their bassinets. "Know what you have to do?"

"Yes, mum, don't you worry," Alabaster grinned, before turning to look at her. "You look stunning. Luke's not going to be able to keep his eyes off of you."

"Well, I kind of need him to otherwise the chances we crash will increase whilst driving," Leah snorted, as Ellie pressed a kiss to Alabaster's head and placed cash into his hands. "Order what you want and there's ice cream in the freezer. You know what to do with everything else?"

"Yes, mum, go!" Alabaster growled, as Ellie rolled her eyes and pressed a kiss to Alex and Wren's head.

"I see where I'm not wanted," Ellie glanced back at Alabaster, before smirking. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do and let's not spoil the kids innocence!"

"Mum!" Ellie darted to the front door, pulling her heels on as she waited for Luke to make an appearance. Moments later, her husband came down the stairs, his blond hair ruffled. It took a moment, and Ellie had to remind herself not to drool over her husband, who was dressed in a dark button up shirt, the sleeves rolled up.

"You done?" Ellie looked up at Luke's face, who had an eyebrow raised in amusement and a cocky smirk.

"Nope." He snorted, slipping on his shoes as he grabbed the car keys and walked towards her before pausing and turning to look back at Alabaster and Leah.

"Have you...?"

"Kind of," Luke grinned, before waiting for Leah to lean closer to listen to what Alabaster had to say and snickering.

"Use protection kids!"

"Get out! Both of you!" Alabaster shouted, as the pair left the house, laughing hard. "You're so embarrassing!"

Luke and Ellie high-fived each other, as he held the car open for her.

"Good one,"

"I try my best," He started the car off as they drove towards the lights of New York. "Forgot to say, but you look stunning, darling,"

"Thanks," He placed a hand on her leg, squeezing gently as Ellie relaxed in his presence once more. She always missed having him around when he was gone. "I'm excited for tonight."

"So am I," They were going out for dinner as a late, very late, anniversary dinner at some nice restaurant in New York, and Ellie was excited for it. It had been a while since they'd been able to have alone time, and whilst she adored spending time with her entire family, she just occasionally wanted time with Luke and only Luke. "We could go for ice cream after?"

"What about cheesecake?" Ellie hummed in agreement, a grin forming on her face. "Or cake? Or treats?"

"I get it. Your sweet tooth wants to be satisfied," Luke replied. "I'm sure we can do something about that."

"You are the best,"

∘☽༓☾∘

"Okay, come on, that was good," Luke was still trying not to choke after re-watching the video of Wren being sick on Ethan for the millionth time. "She is absolutely our daughter!"

Ellie chuckled, taking a bite from the cheesecake as she tucked her legs further up underneath her. Luke turned the phone off, looking back at her with his usual grin.

"That was a good dinner," Ellie hummed in agreement, still chewing on cheesecake, as Luke followed her example. "Do you want to grab some of this for the boys and Leah?"

"They'd like that," He nodded. "When's Ethan coming back?"

"I don't know. He's got to talk to his dad first, and then deal with some work stuff," Ellie raised an eyebrow and Luke shrugged before speaking. "He's got some patrols to go on in the San Francisco area."

"That reminds me. You never told me how you and Ethan got your injuries, you know, before we got married?" Luke froze up slightly, taking a bite of the cheesecake as he thought about what to say. Ellie raised an eyebrow. "Remember, the truth please."

"You remember that I told you that Thalia died when we were trying to reach camp," Ellie nodded. "Well, turns out that the Golden Fleece can resurrect trees, and people who were supposedly dead, and she wasn't exactly pleased to see me when we finally did meet. One thing led to another and she pushed me off a cliff."

"She did what?" Ellie was incredibly confused at that moment, but there was more anger than anything else.

"Ellie, it's nothing serious, and I'm fine now," Luke promised, seeing a slightly murderous look glaze over Ellie's eyes. "Stop it. I can see the gears in your head turning and they should not be turning. Don't you dare."

"I haven't said anything," Ellie replied, eating her cheesecake sulkily.

"You're sulking," Luke replied, pulling the fork from her hand so that Ellie would look at him. "I did deserve it and I'm fine now."

"The only person that deserves to be thrown from a cliff is Kronos," Luke couldn't argue with that. "I can't believe she did that and didn't even try to hear you out. Should have left her as a bloody tree."

"Ellie," Ellie stopped mumbling and making threats that she would never carry out, turning back to look at Luke. "I'm fine and over it. Now, let's get a cheesecake for the others and Leah, and go home to see if the house is still in one piece. Yeah?"

"Alright," Luke grinned, helping Ellie to pull her coat on as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Love you."

"Love you too," He left her standing by the table as he went to grab another cheesecake from the cashier, before leading Ellie out of the building and towards where their car was parked. "We should have date nights more often."

"We should," She shivered slightly, pulling her coat further around her, as they brushed past others in the bright city. "They're a lot of fun and it's nice to get dressed up again."

"But you look stunning in sweats, or a dress, or just my t-shirt," Luke grinned, and Ellie turned around to smack him on the arm as he laughed.

"Stop being so smooth. It's not fair that you make me blush all the time," Ellie caught sight of Luke's smirk and slapped his shoulder harder as the boy continued to laugh. "I hate you."

"No you don't,"

"It's still up for debate," He grinned, as they fell back into silence. Ellie leant her head on his shoulder, before tensing up as she got the unnerving feeling that something was watching them. "Luke, don't mean to alarm you or anything, but there's a monster over there."

"Great, only one?" Ellie nodded, not seeing anything else around. "What does it look like?"

"It has donkey legs," Luke nodded, reaching for the dagger that sat on his hip, hidden by his coat. "Go get them, honey."

"Thanks Els. This should only take a second," Luke pressed a kiss to Ellie's lips, before storming over to the monster and dragging it into an alleyway. Ellie watched them go, before pulling her arms tighter around herself and waiting for Luke to be done.

"What sort of guy leaves their lovely date all alone like this?" Ellie froze, recognizing the voice that spoke. Turning around, she caught sight of golden eyes in the darkness as Kronos stepped out. "Not very chivalrous."

"You're Kronos."

"I am, darling," Ellie sneered at the term, pulling her head back and batting the man's hand away as he reached for her face. "I thought we came to an agreement last time. You said that you wouldn't distract Luke from his duty. I thought we understood that."

"I don't distract Luke from anything," Kronos grinned, stepping further into the light.

"You and I should talk further then," Ellie looked down as she felt a grip tighten on her arm, and then pull. Digging her heels in, Ellie grinned as Kronos turned to look at her.

"You made a mistake with this."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Ellie winked at him, before screaming as loudly as she could.

"Help! Help me!" Kronos' eyes widened in panic. Immediately, a group of women who seemed to be out on a bachelorette party turned their attentive gaze onto Kronos, and descended on him in a whirl of feather boas, handbags, heels and tiaras.

"Are you alright, honey?" Ellie turned to look at the Bride-to-be.

"Yeah, he was just trying to grab me and I didn't know what to do," She nodded, as Kronos ran off into the alleyway, looking frightened.

"And don't come back, perv!" The slightly drunk bachelorette all gathered around her, checking her over to make sure that she was alright. "Is there someone that you can call?"

"My husband should be around here somewhere," Ellie replied, fanning herself as she tried to calm down, not sure whether to laugh or cry. "Thank you so much."

"No problem," The bride to be patted her on the shoulder with a grin.

"Congratulations, by the way," The bride laughed, straightening the crown on her head.

"Thanks. This is gonna be a story and a half to recount later."

"Ellie?" Luke appeared, looking worried, before he sighed at the sight of her alright. "Are you okay? Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine. These lovely ladies helped me out," Luke understood that she'd tell him about it later, wrapping her in a quick hug and pressing a kiss to her head. "I'm in your debt. If you need anything, I'd be happy to help."

"Oh, it's no bother,"

"Please, I insist," Ellie replied with a grin, patting Luke's hand that was around her waist. "That's the least that I can do."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

What a queen, Ellie is! Also, the bachelorette dropping everything to go and beat up Kronos for the fun of it is legendary as is Luke and Ellie bullying Alabaster to embarrass him. I love this entire chapter with everything I have and I'm pretty sure that next chapter is Ellie's birthday (which is kind of a big timeskip, but oh well). 

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx