Profession

Christmas Eve

About a week and a half later, Jon and I left his parents making cookies in the kitchen to go out to the estate. John had a couple of days off to spend with his family, and he surprised me by mentioning a girlfriend for the first time. I planned to grill him on that the day after Christmas. I had some presents, and we had firm plans for dinner, so we could only spend two hours, max, with Derinoe, Grant, and Demeter. Arie had gone out to do a little last-minute shopping--I suspected that she wanted to escape her parents for a bit; having been deprived of her since August, they were asking all sorts of questions about her semester and subjecting her to the unrelenting warmth of their love. After the months of independence, it appeared to be a bit smothering to her, but I refused to intervene. Hence the shopping. The pups stayed in by the fireplace, not being inclined to go out to the estate any time soon; they were still peeved that they had to go to Asgard to visit their siblings.

Arie's situation beat mine, where I was cautiously sort of poking my sister with a ten-foot pole to see if she'd bite. Metaphorically. I still had my scar as a reminder not to be easily taken in. Jon easily pulled me out of the pod where I was fussing with the packages. He grinned at me and the pod doors silently closed; the pod itself sidled over to the most inconspicuous parking space and settled in, so no hope there. My sharp eye caught neglect immediately on the front of the house; the leaves had been raked in the fall, but the inch or two of snow had not been completely removed for the first time I could remember, a couple of boards on the porch squeaked, and there were some spiderwebs around the lighting fixture. "Deep breath, honey," Jon murmured, a laugh in his voice, and I knocked on the door. Derinoe promptly opened it, her daughter on her hip. Demeter looked at us soberly, then let out a piercing scream. Her mother flinched.

"I hope it's not her opinion of me," I joked after blinking at the infant, and Derinoe smiled and invited us in.

She led us to the library, as I'd kind of expected, and I saw that while the halls and library were clean, they were also somewhat disordered and certainly not up to Alan's old standards. Interesting. Grant came in behind us with a tray of snacks that I recognized from one of the best shops downtown, mainly because it wasn't far from my studio and I frequently stopped there if I was working at lunchtime. Grant had taken pains with presentation, but he wasn't a professional. He and Jon went over to the bar cart by the desk I remembered Daniel using, getting to know each other. "Alfred will be recommending a few candidates for our butler after the holidays," Derinoe said, sinking down onto one of the sofas and snagging a plate, handing it to me. "Thank the gods. We're not really good at housekeeping. I wish now that I'd learned from him or Alan when I had the chance. I'm sure you've noticed." And how interesting that was, that Alfred had passed judgment.

"Keeping up the mansion by itself is a struggle," I said, selecting some favorites. "My place is easier because I had housekeeping features built in when I was renovating, it's not as big, and things aren't as inclined to break because it was pretty much rebuilt from the studs out. As is, I still clean our suite myself. I don't really like even John cleaning my most personal space. It's hard enough to let him do my office."

"Dari helps out when he has time, but he doesn't have much free and it's focused on the physical building rather than housekeeping." Demeter wiggled free and slid to the floor, where we watched her wobble around, then crawl when she got tired. Derinoe swiftly made her own selections.

"So... did you take her to the temple?" I asked curiously.

"How bright is she?" Derinoe asked, leaning forward anxiously. "We took her to the Olympic temple earlier this month, Hippolyta was disturbed that I hadn't taken her before." She didn't seem too happy.

"Not quite as bright as you," I said. "So who snagged her?"

"Apollo," she said grimly. My eyes opened wide, then I turned to look at the kid. Yep, still a girl.