Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:10:14 -0600
From: J Wolfstone <argouru@gmail.com>
Subject: Sons of Sparta, Book 3 - Chapter 36

Sons of Sparta - A Story of the Spartans, Book 3

(inspired by the story 'Spartan' parts 1 through 4)

by argouru

Note: All credit for the creation of the Spartans and Amazons, as well as
the Spartan mythos belongs to the author 'CF', to whom I owe special thanks
for his allowing me to write about these incredible people.

WARNING: Portions of this installment of the series includes a section
regarding mental illness.


36.


Henry groaned in satisfaction, looking down to make sure his aim was true,
which it was.  He leaned back on his lower legs, the Spartan's abs already
wet with his husband's sperm, then carefully climbed off and moved around
to lay down beside John, who laid there in post orgasmic bliss, his butt
tingling pleasantly from their lovemaking before Henry had pulled out to
finish on his husband's torso.  Henry rubbed John's stomach, covering it
with his seed as they laid and cuddled in afterglow.  Life had been good,
now that John had gotten used to his new life as a Spartan.  He made sure
to meditate every morning, usually with his guy, his martial arts training
was flying along beautifully, the last few doubters at the temple and among
the local Spartan community had finally begun to accept John as their equal
and Glenn was progressing nicely, having mastered the art of crawling as
well as having moved up to puréed food.  The quest to find food that he
liked had been a long and hard - not to mention expensive - one, but now
they knew what the boy liked and bought only the correct kinds.  Glenn, as
it turned out, was a rather picky eater in the same way as his siring
father John, who had a rather limited taste range of foods that he liked.

They laid together until John dozed off, but Henry remained awake, staring
at his husband and partner for some time, admiring his face and body.  As
John settled into a deeper level of sleep, Henry reached forward and
stroked a fingertip gently across the part of the scar along John's throat
that was visible to him.  *I still can't believe he did that...  All just
to avoid hurting me or Glenn with his feelings of jealousy and inadequacy.
He honestly thought he would be dead forever, but Lord Apollo brought him
back.  Did He do that for me? For Glenn? For both of us? Did He do it for
John himself? I wish I knew...  All that matters, though, is that he's here
now with both of us.  I'm still surprised that I was able to punch him like
that, what with the oath I took to avoid hurting him.  Maybe Lord Apollo
thought he needed some sense knocked into him,* Henry added with a smile.

John shifted in his sleep and unconsciously reached for Henry's hand.
Henry offered it freely, John's fingers wrapping around his hand and
squeezing gently.  Henry smiled at that and reached over with his free hand
to stroke John's hair softly.  John sighed in his sleep and laid still.
Henry sighed in contentment and gazed at the man he loved further.  *He's
come so far from that sad, lonely and scared man I met.  All he wanted was
for people to want him around...  To care about him and his feelings.  He's
not perfect.  I still have to force him to talk sometimes, but he has a
strength and confidence that he didn't before.  He's happy now.* Henry
noted that the faint lines of emotional pain that had been around John's
eyes and mouth were gone, replaced with a stillness that hadn't been there
before his transformation.  That and the darker, imbedded tan that all
Spartans had were the only changes in his face since his transformation.

His body, on the other hand, was almost entirely different.  Now possessing
the well-defined 'swimmer's build' of muscles and the equally tanned skin,
John had swelled in height so that he was now an inch taller than Henry,
much to that naturally-born Spartan's surprise.  But the changes had also
been in the way he carried himself.  John no longer slouched over, as
though trying to make himself either invisible or as small a target as
possible.  Now he stood tall and proud, his every motion showing a level of
self-confidence and readiness for anything he had never had to call his own
during his time as a human.  He was confident without being arrogant or
cocky and Henry felt a sense of pride in John that he hadn't been able to
feel when the man had been human.  Henry had still loved him, but it had
been a tricky balancing act of love and support versus protectiveness and
care not to make the human feel like he needed to be watched over.  That
had been very stressful on Henry, who had always feared he'd go too far,
which he occasionally did, making him feel both terrible about himself, as
well as guilty, not to mention exasperated that John had always been so
defensive.  Now John was Spartan, feeling happy and self-assured, which
took the strain out of their bond and allowed them to live happily together
as husband and husband.

*It's strange...  Every time I think of him, I think 'husband' instead of
'partner' like lots of Spartans do, even the married pairs.  We really do
fit together so well as a married couple, even if it isn't a legal
marriage,* he thought, examining his wedding ring, turning it slowly on his
finger with the thumb of the same hand.  It was sad that California was one
of the holdout states on legalizing gay, Spartan and Amazon marriages.
Hopefully one day they could be legally married.  Then they would renew
their vows and make their union legal in the eyes of all.  It was one of
Henry's goals in life, one that John shared with him.

He stared at John's chest once more, looking at the scar down its center.
While Henry knew that John was ashamed of the scars, seeing them as a
reminder of his own unnecessary stubbornness and inability to open up to
others, Henry saw the scars differently.  He saw them now as an act of
love.  *He would rather die than hurt us...  That only makes me love him
even more.* He reached over and traced the chest scar with a finger,
feeling a twinge of sadness that John had been unable to talk to Henry
about his feelings then.  *He'd had to die then be brought back before he
was able to talk about what had bothered him...* Henry could understand
John's reasons.  "'What are you supposed to do, Henry?!? Stop being
Spartan?!?'" he had said, showing Henry the true depth of his pain and
suffering.  John had been jealous, plain and simple.  *And now he's Spartan
too.* Henry realized that he had already forgiven John over his actions on
that horrible night.  Now they focused on the future at didn't talk about
the night of John's death, return to life and transformation except rarely.
*I'm still shocked that Lord Apollo adopted him, though.  Man...  It's
weird to think that my grandfather is my husband's father.  I guess that
each man's relationship with Him is unique...*

Just then, Glenn woke up and began to cry.  John startled awake, but Henry
soothed him with a gentle hand.  "I got it.  You go back to sleep."

"Okay," John said sluggishly.  "Love you."

"Love you too," Henry said, kissing John gently before rising and going to
tend to their distressed child...



John went for a morning jog, a practice he had started shortly after his
transformation.  He found that it was helpful for burning off excess energy
in the mornings and helped him to keep his cool throughout the day.  As he
trotted along, wearing only silver spandex shorts and sneakers, he was once
more amazed at just how much his body had improved.  Back when he'd been
human, he could never have jogged like this.  His stamina had been woefully
pathetic, being unable to jog two blocks without getting a stitch in his
side and end up exhausted and gasping for breath.  John's stamina as a
human had always been low and he'd never been able to build it up, but now
he was a virtual powerhouse of strength and stamina...  He reveled in it.
John put on a burst of speed and leaped over a planter box, lifting himself
eight feet in the air to clear it easily.  Laughing with pride and
satisfaction, he continued on around his circuit, ignoring the frown of
distaste from an elderly woman at his behavior, before returning home,
jogging swiftly, yet quietly up the stairs to their second floor apartment
so as not to disturb the neighbors.

He stood on the balcony for a minute, looking around.  *Once we have more
kids, the apartment will be too small...  Also, I'm sick to death of all
the neighbors staring at us all the time.  Maybe it's time for us to start
looking into a house...* He entered to find Henry coming out to the
kitchenette, stretching and yawning hugely as he walked nude over to the
coffee maker.  "Fuck," John muttered, keeping his voice down to avoid
disturbing their son, "Not more of your dirty, stinking bean-water again!"
he said, seeing Henry head over to the coffee pot that only he used, seeing
as how John hated the stuff with a passion.

"It's called coffee," Henry grumbled.

"But it's pronounced 'Kaw-wah-fay'," John corrected in an over-the-top
Brooklyn accent.

Henry growled.  "It's too early in the day for jokes that bad.  Besides,
we're on the wrong side of the country for cheesy accents like that."

"That stuff's completely unnatural, you know," John said, opening the
fridge, pulling out a can of Cherry Coke and opening it.

Henry glared at him with bleary eyes at that.  Two cups of the steaming
beverage later, he felt somewhat Spartan again.  He noted John looking
around at the kitchen and living room areas of the apartment thoughtfully.
"What's up?" he asked.

"Hey Henry...  Do you enjoy living here?" John asked slowly.

"It's alright.  The rent is somewhat reasonable, there's a pool and hot
tub, it's on the bus line just in case, and not too horribly far from work.
Why?"

"It's just that when we have more kids, this apartment will get very
crowded.  That and the neighbors aren't very sympathetic to us."

"Well, before you and Glenn came along, I admit that I never paid much
attention to the neighbors...  They don't seem that friendly, do they?"

"Not really, to be honest," John said with a sigh.  "I'm sick of all the
stares and such.  What's worse, I had a guy the other day try to accuse me
of hooking Glenn up with his two year-old boy!"

"What?" Henry asked with shock.  "That's crazy!"

"I know!" John countered bitterly, reflecting back on the incident.
"Humans are so damned stupid sometimes! I'm glad I'm not one of them
anymore," he said, sighing with disgust.  "I mean it's been over forty
years since Spartans and Amazons became public knowledge and there's still
so much ignorance against our kind!"

Henry noted his husband's wording and reflected on that.  *After the way he
was treated growing up, it's no wonder he prefers to think of himself
solely as Spartan now.  It's still a bit funny to see just how easily his
mind has adapted...  But he was discriminated against all his life, so I
guess trading one prejudice for another wasn't too hard for him.* The truth
was that Henry didn't mind...  In fact he rather liked it.  "Well," he
said.  "What did you have in mind? We could always try to move closer to
the dads' house.  Their neighborhood has been half empty for years."

"Why?" John asked with concern.

"Too many people are nervous about the temple."

"That's stupid," John said with a frown.

"Well, my heart's not set on this place, if you're asking," Henry added.
"I wouldn't mind looking into moving once we've saved up some."

"I wouldn't mind being closer to work if you don't mind an extra ten
minutes of commute time."

"Well...  It would be nice to be closer to everyone and the temple too...
We could see about looking around the area next weekend and start saving
up, but it'll probably be another year or so here, I'd think, before we
could manage it." He watched John lean back against the counter
thoughtfully, absentmindedly picking at his navel.  "What are you doing?
Your filaments won't come out sooner that way, you know," he finished with
a smile.

"Huh?" John asked wisely, coming out of his thoughts.  "Oh," he said,
looking down at himself.  "Sorry, it's just weird to think of my navel as
an orifice now."

"Well, in the case of Spartans, it's always that way.  A small ring of
muscles keeps the opening clamped down except during the reproductive
cycle.  For humans, it was your primary orifice during gestation, um,
pregnancy, rather.  In their case, the orifice seals shut shortly after
birth."

"It's just still odd, is all.  Guess there's some things I'm still not used
to yet."

"You want to become a birth dad that much?" Henry said, taking the man he
loved into his arms.

"Kinda," John replied with a wistful sigh.  "Guess my biological clock is
ticking." He chuckled.  "But we still have Glenn in diapers, so there's no
rush.  Speaking of which, you taking him today?"

Henry nodded.  "Yeah, I should go shower.  Wanna get him ready to go?"

"Sure," John said, kissing Henry deeply with a sigh of regret that they
didn't have time to make love before the day began.

As he walked down the hall, Henry drank in the view of his husband's ass
framed in silver spandex and wolf-whistled, making John chuckle and pose
for a moment before going into Glenn's room...



Six months later, John was called into Keith's office early on in the day.
As every past time John had been called into his superior's office at prior
jobs, such meetings had never been pleasant, he was understandably nervous.
In a high state of tension, he knocked, then entered at the verbal invite.
Keith looked up and saw the firm set of his jaw and the tenseness in John's
muscles, then chuckled.  "Relax John," he said soothingly.  "This isn't a
bad thing.  Come sit down."

Letting the tension drain away, John sat down gratefully, glad that he
didn't have to keep trying to figure out what he had done wrong to warrant
this meeting.  "What's up?" he asked.

"Well, Reggie is moving back to Pennsylvania early next year, as you well
know." John nodded.

Reggie served as secondary head of security under Keith and had talked
about missing being close to his family.  He had originally moved out here
from the east coast to attend college, had visited the temple, then feeling
the need to serve his god, taken a job at the temple.  He had been here for
the last ten years, but admitted that he was lonely for his relatives.  Sam
had spoken to the head priest of the New York temple and the man had said
that there was an available position there if Reggie wanted it.  He was
planning on moving next month and the whole staff was organizing a send off
party for him.

"And with him gone," Keith continued, "I need to reorganize the rest of the
security staff.  I know you've only worked here for about a year and a
half, but in the last several months, your skills have improved
drastically.  Who knew that your becoming Spartan would increase your
talents so much? Anyways, I've decided that I want you to become my
secondary head of security."

John's mouth fell open in shock.  "What? Why me? Why not Zack or Herman?
They've been here way longer than I have.  Wouldn't experience come first?
And what will they say when they learn that I was promoted over top of
them? It's not very fair to either of them, you know."

Keith smiled at that.  "I already discussed it with both of them and Wally
and all three feel fine about you taking up the post.  Zack is a good
fighter, but not in either of our leagues and Herman has difficulty making
hard decisions in stressful situations.  Wally hates being the one in
charge, so that leaves you.  We're all very impressed with how you handled
the situation the other day.

John remembered what had happened on the day in question...



~~ He had been working in the main hall, just outside of the altar chamber
where he had been trying to fix a faulty wall socket when a man barged in
and started yelling.  "Where is she?" the man had shouted.  "I know that
bitch is here somewhere! This is where all you freaks bring your converts,
right?!?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," John had said." We're a non-evangelizing
faith.  Who are you looking for?"

"My wife, dammit! You freaks stole her away from me!"

"No offense," John said with a confused expression, "but I find that highly
unlikely.  While there are bisexual Spartans, no Spartan here at the temple
likes women.  Are you sure it was a Spartan your wife is with?"

"One of the bitch ones, those Amazons! You freaks conspired to take her
away from me and I want her back! She's mine!"

John frowned at that, Keith coming to the doorway of the room.  "I'm sorry
if your wife left you, Sir," John said slowly, "But if she turned out to be
bonded to an Amazon, that's not something that anyone can control."

"Bullshit! My wife would never leave me.  Women are supposed to be loyal to
their husbands! I know you all tricked her into it!"

"Sir, I-"

"No! No more lies!" the human screamed, pulling out a gun.

Seeing the motion, John leapt forward and grabbed the man's wrist,
squeezing and tilting upwards carefully, using only enough pressure to
cause the human to scream in pain and loosen his grip in the pistol, which
Keith dashed forward to snatch from the man's hand.  The human began to sob
with grief.  "It's not fair! I never hit her or nothing.  Why'd she leave
me like that?"

"It's not her fault," John said sadly.  "...It's not your fault either."

The human's anger broke and he collapsed to his knees, crying
uncontrollably.  Keith looked at John with a thoughtful expression.  "I'll
watch over him, you go call the police.  ...And John," he said, making him
stop and turn back as he had started to walk away, "nice job."

John nodded with a sad smile as he looked back towards the human before he
left...~~




"You handled yourself very well then," Keith continued.  "It's judgment and
skill like that in tense situations that make one a great warrior.
Spartans admire strength, warrior instincts and skill and you have those in
spades.  It's not just that you're Spartan now, either, although it's
helped to increase your abilities sizably.  Even as a human you displayed
the mind of a skilled fighter and that's only become stronger since your
transformation.  I want to start training you to the position...  Assuming
you want it, of course."

"This is a big decision," John answered slowly.  "I feel that I should talk
it over with Henry before I make up my mind."

Keith nodded sagely.  "I understand.  Let me know what you decide..."




"What? Really?" Henry asked with shock that evening.  "John! That's great!"

"I thought you'd be worried," John replied, stunned by his husband's
reaction.

"If you weren't half the warrior I know you are, then yes, but between that
and the fact that you're working at Lord Apollo's temple, there's not much
to worry about.  I say go for it!"

John gave his answer the following morning and Keith began his training as
deputy head of security...




Two months later, John awoke to stabbing pains.  "Hey," Henry said
painfully from beside him.  "Guess it's time.  Still want to become a
birth-dad?"

"Yeah," John said though his discomfort, kicking the blankets off of him
and thus freeing his Emerged filament tips from the painful contact with
the fabric.

Everyone was overjoyed at the news, the twins taking the news gracefully
and a week later, John let out a shuddering sigh of relief as the burning
agony of conception faded away as the process came to an end.  "Fuck," he
moaned weakly.  "I can't believe it hurt so much! I don't think anything
can possibly hurt more than that!"

Henry chuckled as he gently washed John's sweaty body with a damp
washcloth.  "If you think that's bad, just you wait until you give birth!"

John groaned with regret for the pain and humiliation to come...




They were at the mall three months later, Henry walking slightly ahead of
John, pushing Glenn along in his stroller, to make sure no one bumped into
John and harmed his fragile womb, when Henry turned a corner and stopped
dead in his tracks.  John followed him around the corner and came to a
halt, staring at two of the last few people he'd ever thought he would see
again.  He stood there, staring speechlessly at the pair.

"Barney?" Karen said with shock, staring at her son in disbelief.

"No, my name is Johnathon Apolloson now," he replied with irritation.  "I
legally changed it over a year ago."

"That's not all you changed, Ass Bandit," Jerry replied with a sneer of
contempt, taking in John's transformed body.  "What's wrong? You weren't
enough of a freak before?"

John's emotions, already easily swayed by his gestation hormones, spiked
sharply.  "You homophobic pig fucker! I'll wipe that inbred smirk right off
your filthy face!" He went to lunge at the human, years of hatred and
resentment at the near constant verbal abuse he had been subjected to over
the years by this thing bubbling in his Spartan blood, triggering his
warrior's aggression and making him go on the attack.

"JOHN! NO! THE BABY!" Henry shouted, trying carefully to restrain his man
from getting into a fight and risking harm to his unborn child.  John
stopped at that, not wanting to risk the life inside his filaments.

"You're pregnant?!?" Jerry sneered.  "What kind of mutant are you?!?"

"Just ignore him, John! He's not worth the effort!" Henry said to sooth
John's temper.

"Yeah you'd better hold him back before he has his period or something,"
Jerry sneered.  Henry growled, his own aggression rising at the human's
words.  Glenn was crying in his stroller, upset by all of the yelling.
Around them, the crowd had stopped to stare at the tableau in curiosity.
"You wouldn't want him go break a nail, would you? You faggots always get
so worked up over the least little thing," Jerry said in a nasty tone.
"Don't hold -her- back! I can beat the shit out of any woman!"

Henry spun around and slugged the human in the face, sending the man
sprawling to the ground unconscious.  Karen screamed in shock as the
security officers for the mall rushed up and grabbed Henry by the arms.  He
tensed up, ready for a fight, but John stopped him.  "Henry! Don't! You're
right...  They're not worth it!" Henry sighed and relaxed his muscles, not
wanting to risk harm to his family.  He nodded reluctantly and stood down.

John sighed with relief, then walked over to sooth Glenn and let him know
he was safe, wincing in pain from his growing womb as he knelt down to
comfort the child.  "What's going on here?" one of the security officers
asked.  John rose painfully and went to explain the situation, but his
mother started shouting.

"They attacked us!"

"What?!?" John exclaimed in shocked disbelief.  "That asshole started
insulting us the second he saw us!" he retorted.  "Henry was provoked!"

"You both wanted to assault us!" she countered.

"No, he's the one I wanted to hit, but my husband stopped me."

"Husband?!?" the woman retorted, looking at Henry in disgust.  "That's
stupid.  Two men...  Or whatever, can't be married! You don't know what
you're talking about!"

John's mouth fell open in shock as one of the security officers stopped to
stare at the woman with his mouth hanging open in disbelief at her words.
John looked at the woman who had given him life with sadness.  Even after
all this time, she was still treating him like a fool who never knew what
was right.  "You'll never see me as anything other than a stupid child,
will you?" he asked quietly.  "Even after all this time...  I'll never be
good enough for you, will I?" he added, misting up in emotional pain.

"It's always about you, isn't it?" she answered sourly.  "You always have
to be the center of attention."

"No, but maybe just once it would be nice," he snapped.  "Just once! I only
say that because it's never happened! I'm always some selfish little brat
just because I want a kind word, a smile, a fucking hug once in awhile! But
even that is too much effort for you, isn't it?"

"I can't spend my entire life coddling to you!" Karen replied waspishly.

"You can't call a lifetime of neglect coddling if you never do it even
once! I don't want that all the time, dammit! Just once in awhile...  Just
to know you cared about someone other than yourself."

She stared at him.  "You'll never be a man if you can't learn to take care
of yourself," she replied coldly.  "I've got better things to do then cater
to your insecurities all the time.  Try acting like a grown man for once in
your life."

"Well I am a man and I've never had any choice BUT to take care of myself!"
He shook his head.  "I was suicidal...  And a good part of that was because
you never loved me.  All I wanted was to be loved...  To be wanted...  But
that was too much effort for you.  Well, if that's the kind of person you
are, then I see no point in even trying anymore."

"You little bastard," Karen snarled.  "I gave you life and this is how you
treat me? I'm your mother, dammit! You'll treat me respectfully!"

John wasn't the only person to stare at the woman in disbelief.  Henry
gazed at her, dumbfounded.  "Respect is something you earn, Lady!  And you
earn it by giving it in return!"

"He has a point," one of the security men said, nodding in agreement.

"Fuck you!" Karen snapped.  "And you," she said, turning to Henry, "Mind
your own damned business! This is about family!"

"I'm his husband! That makes me family!" Henry snapped back, showing the
woman his wedding ring.

"Alright," the security guard said.  "Let's take this elsewhere."

Jerry groaned as he came too and lumbered to his feet.  "Butt-fucking son
of a bitch!"

"Don't call my birth dad a bitch!" Henry growled, staying in place.  "And
trust me, I could've broken your jaw if I wanted to."

"No faggot lays their shit-covered hands on me!" Jerry snarled savagely,
rising up.  The guards tried to stop him, but he knocked one of them aside
and punched another one, determined to get to Henry.  The other two of the
four security men moved to intercept him, but the enraged man fought
against them.  One of the men tried to grab Jerry around the waist and
ended up ripping the back pocket of the man's aged jeans, causing a small
Ziploc of white powder to drop to the floor.  One of the men saw the
package and picked it up.  "HEY! THAT'S MINE!" Jerry screamed in rage.

"Coke or Speed, from the looks of it," the officer holding the baggie said.
"Alright, Pal.  You're under arrest."

"Like fuck I am!" Jerry growled.  The security detail, however, felt
otherwise and dragged the protesting man away, him kicking and screaming
obscenities, calling them all 'faggot-lovers', much to their chagrin.

John had watched his mother throughout the entire ordeal, but she refused
to look at him, wearing an expression of revulsion.  He realized that she
no longer wanted anything at all to do with him and the man felt the last
traces of any connection between them wither away.  He felt somewhat sad
about that, but he also felt angry with her for behaving that way.  Deep
down inside, he realized that this would be the last time they ever saw
each other, but he was unable to feel any strong emotions over that, even
with his gestation hormones.

Disgruntled, the Spartans were allowed to leave and went home to worry
about the consequences of Henry's hitting the man, but after two months of
no word, no cops coming to the door to serve a subpoena on Henry and no
phone calls as to such, they relaxed, realizing that in the human's
drug-influenced state, he had most likely forgotten the punch.  Four
further months helped to support this belief...




In the meantime, John's womb continued to grow to the point where he was
reduced to deskwork, as moving around was both painful and difficult to do
more and more as time went on.  Finally, he entered the fifth month and
they all moved into Sam and Daniel's house next door to the temple.  Fred,
Ash, Will, Dennis, Walter, Nathan, his partner Howard, Keith and Ralph
helped out as well, especially once John became bedridden in the seventh
month.

He meditated four times a day to maintain a non-hostile demeanor, dealing
with the pain and humiliation of being a strong and self-sufficient warrior
who suddenly found himself completely helpless and dependant on others for
even the simplest of things.  It was only the near constant meditation that
kept him for punching people.  Then in the third week of the eighth month,
Henry and Daniel went out shopping for the baby's things while Sam kept
John company, seeing as it was the weekend and Daniel had the day off from
the realty office.  The father and son arrived home later to show John what
they had bought, the gestating man shocked and confused as to how small the
baby would be despite the size of his womb of filaments, even after having
shopped for Glenn's things before his birth.

The pain finally ebbed enough so that they could touch the outside of the
womb, but no one could do so for long as the filaments, which were still
fairly sensitive, began to cause him pain.  He went into labor two days
after the end of the ninth month, but only groaned in agony as he was moved
to the floor.  When the time was right, Henry reached inside and pulled
forth their second son.  John felt that the worst was over...  Until the
cord was tied off.  When the knife sliced through the umbilical cord on the
baby's end, the world went solid white, John unable to comprehend the worst
pain anyone could ever endure as the nerve endings were severed.  He
would've screamed hard enough to ruin his voice for life if he hadn't
passed out instantly from the pain.  He was half-way back into bed before
he became aware of his surroundings again and rational thought returned.
His navel was still in agony and his stomach region still suffered from the
burning phantom pain of his now removed filaments.  He was panting with
pain and effort from his ordeal, Henry smiling down at him as he offered
their child to the new birth dad, who took the bawling infant into his
arms, then gasped in pain as the bottom of the blanket brushed against the
end of the umbilical protruding from his navel, but bit back a violent
phrase spurred on by a burst of justifiable negative emotion.  He calmed
himself and moved the boy into place, who began to nurse away from him.

Henry smiled down at the newest member of their family and stroked his head
gently.  Daniel and Sam smiled at them for a few minutes, then left to give
the husbands time together alone with their new baby boy.  Henry kissed
John's forehead gently.  "You handled that really well...  Better than I
did, in fact! I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," John said softly.  "Man! I cannot believe how painful that all
was.  And the cutting!"

Henry winced in sympathy and past personal experience.  "Yeah...  The
cord-cutting really sucks." They stayed silent for some time before Henry
looked to his husband then their newest child.  "We still need to name
him."

"I want to name him Wolf," John said thoughtfully.  "No one in the family
has that name."

"I like that name.  It's certainly unique in the family. Oh fuck...  My
brothers will be pissed.  We're running out of names to give our kids in
this family.  Will's going to hate all of us with a passion once his kids
come along because every possible name will already be taken!"

"Well, there's always Jethro and Nefertiti," John teased.

They laughed at that for awhile...




Henry was showering later that day when John felt a presence in the room
with him and baby Wolf.  "Come in, Dad.  It's alright, this is technically
Your grandson and You have every right to see him too." Apollo faded into
visibility and sat gently on the bed, smiling down at Wolf.

"Thank you, Son...  He's so cute." Apollo beamed happily at the child and
stroked his head tenderly.  "I'm proud of you, you know," He said to John.

John smiled.  "Thanks.  You can come visit whenever You want to.  You're my
dad now and this little guy wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for You.  He
is Your grandson and You can see him any time You want to." John stared
down at Wolf with a slight smile of contentment for awhile before looking
up at his divine parent.  "I want to thank You...  For everything." Apollo
smiled at His mortal adopted son.  "I keep thinking back on my life," John
continued thoughtfully, "remembering how I used to be.  Seeing the woman
who gave birth to me, not even trying to defend me against Jerry...  All I
ever wanted was to know that I mattered...  But even that was too much
effort for her.  I wanted to die, simply because I felt like no one cared
about me and still she didn't give a shit.  She always acted that way...
Like I was nothing more than a burden...  I'm glad she's out of my life...
-It- too."

Apollo looked him in the eye.  "To want to be loved and valued is a concept
we all share.  Whether immortal or mortal, we all need to know that there
are people who care about us.  It's part of who we are as sentient beings.
Although I feed on death, I also crave love."

The mortal nodded slowly.  "Is that partner of Yours treating You alright?"
he asked.

Apollo chuckled.  "Yes.  I love Gabriel very much, as he loves Me.  I know
it's difficult for him to have a god for a partner, but he handles it well
enough most of the time.  It's only natural for us to argue at times." He
chuckled.  "He gets away with things I've killed lesser men for, but I
honestly do love him.  It's funny sometimes, but I wouldn't give that up
for anyone.  What about you? Are you happy?"

John nodded in agreement.  "I still can't believe how everything, me
included, is so different from before.  I never thought I'd have all of
this.  A family who loves me, children of my own, a father who cares about
me." John began to cry, not with sadness exactly...  He was finally
releasing the last of his pain and at the same time, feeling happy for all
the good things he now had...  Things he had never believed he would have.
Apollo moved over and held His son as the man went though more emotional
cleansing, offering silent support and comfort.

John finished some time later and wiped his eyes with his free hand.
"Sorry."

"Don't be.  You can always cry on My shoulder whenever you don't want to
burden others, even Henry with your pain, although I'm sure he wouldn't
mind doing the same for you as I."

"True," John said quietly.

After several minutes of quiet time, John sighed.  "What is it?" Apollo
asked, not reading His son's mind.

John chuckled.  "Now Henry and I -really- need a bigger place!"

Apollo laughed at that with humor, knowing that for His newest son, the
best was still ahead for him. Now, John could live a happy, fulfilled life.

In the end, that's all that mattered to Him.


END OF BOOK 3 - BOOK 4 TO COME



Author's note: Thanks to all the fans for your fan mail, We're glad you
love the series so much. I apologize for the delay in posting this, as I
have recently begun a serious relationship that has taken a fair portion of
my free time, causing the delay in finishing this. Do note that Sos of
Sparta - A Story of the Spartans, Book 4 IS in the works, but will be quite
a few months at least before I manage to complete it, so I ask for your
patience.

Also, be on the lookout for another Spartan story entitled "Life of the
Nomad", which includes a new set of characters and takes place at the
beginning of the Dark Ages, coming soon.

Thanks again for your support! :)