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WHO: Erica & Hermes
WHEN: Late night Monday
WHERE: A hospital corridor
WHAT: Reuniting?
WARNINGS: maybe mentions of rape

Manuel had come up to the City as soon as he'd heard the news to join them, but now he was back in Philadelphia, having to return to make sure their dogs were fed now that they knew Kat was going to be okay. Erica was supposed to be back there as well, working on a translation she'd promised. But it would have to wait. She didn't care if they paid her less. All that mattered was Kat not having to be all alone in the hospital.

First Miranda, now Kat. This was the second time this year that she had almost lost one of her children and when Erica looked down at her hands she found they were shaking and she clasped them tightly together with a sigh.

The corridor was quiet, visiting hours long over. Erica didn't know if Hermes had managed to talk someone into letting the two of them stay. She only knew that they were there and no one tried to move Erica from the chair.

Now as Kat slept, Erica sat out in the corridor finishing a text to Miranda who'd asked how things were going at the hospital. She felt her reply came off far more assured than she felt.

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It had only taken a modest sum in order to bribe the hospital to let Erica stay with Kat. Money always worked. Hermes had hung around too, though he had mostly kept out of sight. Erica was there to offer Kat company and Hermes was there to offer them both safety.

He did check on Kat every so often though, and he was on his way to do that when he caught sight of Erica in the corridor. He slowed his approach, and bit his lip before moving to sit next to her, though far enough away he wasn't crowding her. "How is she?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

"They say she's out of trouble, unless there's complications," Erica said, massaging her temples with her fingers. "They're still keeping her in for another day or two, just in case."

Erica sighed heavily and dropped her head. The she turned her head to look at him for a moment. "However you convinced them to let me stay, thank you."

He nodded to the explanation of Kat's current condition. "She'll be alright," he said, attempting to be soothing. "And you're welcome. Wasn't difficult."

He didn't know what else to say. He understood now that what he had done was wrong for some reason. It didn't matter why. It had been wrong in Erica's eyes and that's what mattered. He had driven someone he loved dearly away from him and he wished with all his heart he could take it back. "I'm sorry."

Erica sat up in her plastic chair so that she could properly look at him. With a slow shake of her head she said, "I don't think you even know what sorry means." There was very little judgement in her voice. She was too tired to consider judgements anyway.

Not very many people could contradict him like that, but Erica was one of them. Instead of retaliating, he closed his eyes and hung his head. "In this instance, I do," he said, ever so quietly. "I chased you away from me."

"Yes," Erica agreed without gentle sentiment, "you did. You destroyed our relationship. I would have abandoned my family and whole life for you, Hermes, but you didn't even respect me as a daughter." Erica stabbed a finger towards the hospital room across from them. "That girl in there, lying in a hospital bed? I would die for her. Without question and without hesitation. Because she is my daughter and I love her and I would do anything in my power to stop her pain. I would never hurt her."

Hermes rubbed at his face but he lifted his head to look at her. He owed her that much. "You think I wouldn't die for you? I would, Erica. I-I honestly didn't know I was hurting you. That's what I'm sorry for. I didn't understand. I do now." Or at least he understood that Erica and her daughters were off limits.

Erica knew he was being honest - or maybe as honest as he could be. Hermes would always be exactly what and who he was. That he admitted to being wrong this much must have been something like a miracle.

Her breath felt a little sharp when she let it out and she watched her hands now as she leaned her arms on her knees. "No one has ever scared me like you did that night," she told him quietly.

Those words hit him hard, and he felt for a moment like turning and running away. He was a god, he didn't need to deal with shame. And if she had been anyone else, he would have.

"I truly didn't know," he said again, because in his mind that excused what he had done. "I never wanted to scare you. You were the most important person to me...I just wanted to show you."

It made a twisted kind of Hermes sense and she could even understand the logic of it. That didn't make it okay, but he didn't have the morals of humans - Erica knew that. She'd been raised with the same morals. Only falling in love with Manuel and living properly among her own kind had taught Erica the error of so many things that had come to her from Hermes.

Erica looked at her father beside her and nodded, giving him a very small and fleeting smile. They weren't okay, but maybe they could be.

He caught the smile, but it was too early to feel hope. He didn't want to have it dashed. "Erica," he started slowly. "I swear on Styx I will never hurt you again, nor will I hurt the girls. I'll listen. If...if you'll let me."

Her eyes widened a little when he made that promise, that most precious oath. Erica had be raised to believe the very word Styx was sacred and not to be misused, that if she swore something on Styx it had to be upheld even by the gods.

When she returned to America and spoke to him on the phone about having the chance to see the girls again she had made her own oath to him on Styx right then: that if he hurt any of them, she would find a way to destroy him even if it meant forfeiting her own life and soul.

But now here Hermes was making his oath and she knew there was no way he would risk going back on it.

For a few long moments she just watched him, searching his eyes for... something. She didn't know what she was looking for.

Finally she said, "Okay. I'll let you."

The breath he had been holding came out quickly as he sighed in relief. Then he said a rather demure, "thank you," which was another thing he didn't often say.

Erica nodded again. "We can discuss this some time when Kat isn't in a hospital bed," she told him, running a hand through her hair. "I really need to get some sleep. Will you stay up for her? I don't want Kat to wake alone."

"Of course," Hermes promised. "I'll be here."