Hera and Zeus

Semele

Hera and Zeus mulled around the hospital room, unable to say a word. There was a tension that Zeus sensed and one that Hera felt. Zeus wanted to ask what bothered her, but too cowardly to go through with it. The tension in Hera began to build in her as the minutes passed by in the silent room until finally, she said in a surprisingly calm voice, "I met Io."

Zeus said cautiously, "You did?"

"Pretty young thing; exactly your type."

Zeus began to speak, "I-"

"How did you coax her into bed?" Hera's voice was raised, "Bought her things? Got a job?"

"What kind of person do you take me for?"

"A sexual deviant who would lie and cheat to get yourself off." Hera's gaze was steady and ferocious

Zeus scoffs, "You call me untrustworthy." dismissing her as if she was insane.

"She's pregnant!" Hera blurted.

"What?" Zeus said dazed, "How- how do you know that?"

With hostility, she replied, "Your little tramp came by to see you and share the special news with you."

"What did you do?" Zeus said disdainfully.

"I took care of it."

In calm anger, Zeus asked, "Like you 'took care' of Semele?"

Hera stopped dead in her tracks, "Who's she?" she asked unconvincingly.

"You don't remember her?" Zeus asked rhetorically, "She remembers you."

Nervously, Hera replied, "I did what I had to."

"How did you know about her?" Zeus asked genuinely curious.

In frustration, Hera answered, "Because of I caught you two together!" she sighed, "I came home and saw you two through the living room window, your back pressed against it for all the world to see."

Zeus finished the story, "And then a while later, she came to the house looking for me, but I wasn't home. However, you were and she confided to you, that she was pregnant."

Hera gave an unamused laugh, "She didn't even know I was your wife, she thought you were a bachelor. Imagine that."

"She had the baby."

In shock, "What?" Hera asked.

"That money you gave her for the abortion, the one you told her I wanted behind my back. She spent that and the money you paid to keep her quiet on a nice loft in the city."

"I did what was best for us."

"You did what was best for you!" Zeus protested, "You say that you can't trust me, well I can't trust you."

Hera didn't back down, "You know what? Yeah, I did it for me. I hid your filthy laundry because I didn't want the embarrassment of the world knowing I have a Don Juan for a husband who goes around knocking up cheap sluts and who has a liter of bastards."

"I'm so sorry," she continued sarcastically, "That I betrayed your trust once." She shouted the last word, "After you've cheated on me time after time after time!" Her rage subverted to sadness, "Is it so wrong that after doing so much for you, that I did something for me?" she stopped a moment to collect herself, "I thought that if she had that baby then you'd run off with her and leave me lost and alone. If that makes me a bad person then you're the last person to tell me so... how did you find out?"

"I saw her on Facebook," Zeus explained."Little Dionysus just started middle school. He had my hazel eyes and he was born about eight months after her and I broke it off so I put two and two together and called her up. She then told me of her encounter with the 'rude crone.'"