Hera and Zeus

Europa

"What room number is Zeus Ouranoson?" Hera overheard. A woman in her late forties with a raven black pixie cut was at the front desk. Hera went over to investigate this woman.

"Excuse me, how may I help you?" Hera asked the woman with fake enthusiasm.

"Yes," the woman said, "I'm Europa, a friend of Zeus."

Hera raised an eyebrow, "Really? I'm Hera Ouranoson, his wife, and I've never met you in my life." Hera spoke aggressively, "What sort of 'friends' are you?"

Europa realized what Hera implied, "Old friends, we had a falling out a long time ago."

"Oh, what happened?" Hera's only interest was unveiling Zeus and Europa's infidelity.

"We went on a bender. A straight week of drinking, partying, drugs, and sex. His brother, Poseidon was there I believe and we just got lost in an ocean of pleasure and haze."

"Did you two have sex?" Hera asked accusingly, sick of beating around the bush.

Europa realized where the problem was, "Relax, that was before he married you," she replied with the same passive-aggressive attitude. "This was a mistake."

Europa began to walk off, but Hera stopped her, "Wait, why did your friendship end?"

Europa looked at her and sighed, "After the week-long bender, I realized I was pregnant."

"And it was his?" Hera asked.

Europa shrugged, " I don't know. I wouldn't let him run the DNA test to find out."

Hera was confused, "Why would you do that?"

"I was with a lot of people that week. I wasn't going to start tracking them all down and try to figure out who the baby's father was. I knew I could take care of him on my own." Her face became grim, "Zeus never forgave me and I never forgave him for the things he said and did afterward. So we went our separate ways, I have three kids and a loving husband and he has you."

"Why come here then if you hate each other so much?"

Europa answered, "Minos turned twenty-two recently and he wants to know who his father is, so I thought it's time to see."

"Ah," Hera exclaimed. "So you came to see about getting some money off of him!"

Europa was disgusted, "No, I would never ask anything of him. I just wanted to do this for my son and," she paused, "To reconcile with him."

"Why?" Hera shouted louder than she meant to, "What reason do you have for forgiving him after all these years!"

"Because... he's my friend and although I hate him, I love him and he needs someone."

Hera knew exactly what Europa meant, "Yeah, I hate him too."

"But you also love him." Hera nodded and wiped away a tear. "I wanted to bury the hatchet before..." she paused awkwardly.

Europa grasped Hera's hand and looked at her with compassion in her eyes, "Can I please see him?"

The tears reemerged, "He's still not awake," Hera said in grief. The two women decided to wait in the lobby together. Eventually, Dr. Echo came over to them and informed them that Zeus was awake. Hera invited Europa to come see him.

A weak Zeus laid on the bed, faintly he said, "Hello, love." Hera kissed Zeus out of pure glee. Zeus looked up, shocked, "Europa!"

"Hey there, White Bull." she greeted facetiously.

"What are you doing here?" Zeus asked. Europa began discussing her situation with her son. The two went back and forth and although their conversation became a bit heated, they eventually forgave one another. Europa said her goodbyes and left.