Jaimie Solace and the Unavoidable Affliction of Love

Chapter Twelve

When Jaimie opened her eyes, she realized very quickly that she was dreaming.

She was certainly not where she had fallen asleep last night, tucked in Bruce's arms on her couch. She was also definitely not in her bed.

She actually didn't really know where she was, all she knew right now is that it was bright. Ridiculously bright. She brought her arm up to cover her eyes on instinct, squinting her eyes to try to protect them from the sun that looked like it was directly in front of her. Once she did that, she became increasingly aware that she could not see the ground. All she could see was a white expanse of fluffy clouds, going on as far as the eye could see.

Jaimie was dreaming.

And based on the way the sun seemed to be morphing, growing smaller and smaller whilst simultaneously getting closer to her, Jaimie had a pretty good guess as to who it was that pulled her into this dream.

THe bright shining mass seemed to stretch and elongate, until eventually Jaimie could see the silhouette of a man in the ball of light. It started to grow dimmer, until it was eventually right in front of her.

Jaimie sighed. "Hi, dad."

The sun god threw his arms wide, grinning. "Jaimie! Come here, daughter. It's been too long."

The doctor rolled her eyes but gave into her father's request anyways, giving him the briefest of hugs. She still wasn't used to this Apollo, the one who actually tried with his children, despite the whole Lester situation happening years ago at this point.

"Dad, it's barely been a few weeks, remember? When you crashed my date, with the literal goddess of love. I haven't gotten a chance to tell you how not cool that was."

Apollo at least had the grace to look slightly abashed. It didn't last for long though, as he just shrugged and gave her a blinding grin. "It's not everyday a child of mine goes out on a date only seconds away from Mount Olympus. I had to get a look at the mortal foolish enough to bring her there."

"Hey, it is so not Bruce's fault!"

"Yes, well," Apollo brushed it off, "Aphrodite seems to think that the man is "cute ". I can't say I disagree. I mean, any child of mine could do better I'm sure, but at least he is relatively accomplished as far as mortals go."

Apollo finished his sentence by flashing Jaimie a thumbs up, and she had never wanted to disappear as badly as she had in that moment. Changing the subject, Jaimie gestured widely to her surroundings. .

"Not that I don't appreciate the visit, but, why am I here? Surely you have a reason for the visit, other than wanting to make a dramatic entrance."

"What, you didn't like it?"

"It was a little much," she responded.

The god faked offence. "Well, that's the last time I try to impress you then."

"You almost burned my retinas!"

"Oh, my apologies," Apollo frowned. "Anyways, you're right, I do have a reason for bringing you here. The reason being my father is livid."

"I figured as much," Jaimie tried to sound less annoyed than she was.

Her father didn't let her continue. "Yes, and a few others were quite incensed that you essentially rolled over and caved the second you were caught–"

"Hey, I didn't technically say anything revealing! The Avengers guessed!"

" –and they were even more upset once the mortals were able to guess what you are. You have done, essentially, the exact opposite of what you were sent here to do."