Godsend

"Explain to me again why I have to do this, Stefan."

I peered over at my compatriot, my ire rising. The guy whined worse than I did, and that was a feat. "Because my job is a much more expanded version of yours," I told him, "and yours needs to expand to compensate for the new world order. And because I'm a major god and you're a minor god, so I outrank you. I'm not going to boss you around, but having someone else take some of this off my hands would be nice."

We stood outside an exam room in a hospital. This particular wing was extremely quiet, and would be for several months still. My compatriot glared at me. "You're already pulling rank."

I sighed. "Just work with me here, Eros. That's all I ask. Besides, I didn't pull rank here, mom did. She said that you were now my assistant as you were hers. I'd like us to work as a team here."

He closed his eyes. He really was beautiful. I wasn't attracted to men, aside from Cade, but I was always hard when I looked at Eros. It wasn't a choice for anyone. The guy was lust personified. He also looked different to everyone who saw him. To me he was very effeminate. If I squinted, he actually looked like a flat-chested girl, very close to what Hebe had looked like, actually. To other people, he could look like a jock, a circuit boy, a drill sergeant, a hairy bear, or any other myriad of types.

"Why can't I just stick to making guys lust after each other?" he asked, crossing his arms. Even pouting he was cute.

"Because I'm doing that too, and people know me," I explained to him for what seemed like the thousandth time. "If you're not doing something that people will know you for, you'll fade out."

"Pfft!" he argued. "You and I both know that I won't fade out. As long as my other form is on every Valentine's Day item out there, I'll remain in existence."

I chuckled. "Your other form will exist, Eros," I pointed out. "Not this form. No more parties as the hottest guy in the room that gets all the action. You'll always and forever be..."

"You say it and I'm leaving," Eros warned me. I grinned.

"No you won't...Cupid," I said with a wicked gleam in my eyes. As soon as I mentioned the name, the hot guy vanished in a puff of pink smoke and was replaced by a small, fat, cherubic boy with curly golden hair, white feathered wings, and a read bow with heart-tipped arrows in the quiver. He was almost completely naked except for the diaper. I giggled.

"Asshat," the baby said in a gruff adult voice as he walked over to me and kicked me in the shin. Sharp pain erupted from the contact point and I fell to my knees.

"You want me to leave you like that?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"You want me to make you fall in love with every guy in this hospital?" Cupid retorted.

"Your powers never worked on mom, and they won't work on me," I told him, still gripping my shin.

He pulled out an arrow, knocked it in the bow, and pointed it at my heart. "Untested theory," he replied. "Care to find out if you're right."

"Rather not," I said. "Eros." Cupid vanished in a little blue puff of smoke and the beautiful young man with feminine features returned in his place, as did my woody. This time, Eros had a very smug look on his face. "Only a temporary win, Eros," I told him. "As soon as I can talk to Cade, we'll test to see if your powers work against me, so we can have that question answered."

"Fine," he said. "Shall we go inside now?"

The sudden change in attitude shocked me. Then something mom had told me that morning jumped into my head. "Eros isn't against work," she had said, "but he'll only respond when someone has power. If he knows you're boss, he'll listen to you. The only other way is for him to get the upper hand. He'll go along with you because I'll tell him to, and I've been his boss for millennia, but after that, you need to earn his respect."

"I should go first," I told him. "They know me and I can introduce you."

"Makes sense," he said. I sighed. His thinking he had the upper hand was annoying on a personal level, but it was making my job easier. I wasn't sure whether to be happy or pissed.

I stood up straight, put a smile on my face, and walked into...a screaming match. Brent was a dark haired twinky circuit-boy type, who was usually more mild mannered than the raging shrew screeching at Marlon from the hospital bed. Marlon was also dark haired, but he was Latino, and built like a typical jock. He looked like he wanted to wail on Brent for a while.

"Good morning!" I yelled as I walked in, still smiling, and picked up Brent's chart.

They both shut up immediately, though Brent was panting from his tirade. He was biting back something, and nothing could go forward with things bottled up. I beckoned Eros inside. "Brent, Marlon, this is my assistant, Eros."

Both of them looked to Eros and froze. Brent steeled himself and looked back to me. Marlon moved in closer to Eros. "Hey," he said with an alluring smile. "When we're done here, wanna go somewhere more private?"

The pillow actually knocked Marlon back a little when Brent pitched it. "You see what I put up with?"

"Aren't you supposed to be a couple?" Eros asked.

"Not even close," Marlon snorted. "We were supposed to be a hot fuck." He turned his head to glare at me. "But someone had to give us the ability to have babies just as I was cumming. Now I'm going to be a dad, because my wife won't let Mr. Godly here reverse it."

"I offered, too," I added. "Not their fault the timing was bad for them. Brent is very strongly pro-life, though, and I have to respect that."

"No you don't," Eros reminded me.

I gave him my `are you kidding me' look. "I'm not going to start overriding people's personal choices based on belief. Especially on an issue like this. If Brent believes his baby had a soul the moment it was conceived, then that's what we're going with."

Eros rolled his eyes. "But Marlon here," he winked at Marlon, who grinned and moved closer, "doesn't have the same beliefs. Why do Brent's beliefs count, and not Marlon's?" Marlon pressed himself against Eros and they started kissing.

"Cupid," I said, changing Eros back into an infant. Marlon looked appalled and backed away to the bedside quickly.

Cupid glared at me. "Change me back, Fucknut, or I'll show you true pain."

"Stop threatening me," I told him. He walked toward me and I sent a mental blast to knock him against the wall, holding him there. "I'm a god, you're a demigod, I'll answer your questions because it's in my nature to be nice, but these power plays of yours stop NOW!"

Cupid looked directly into my eyes. "Finally," he said with a grin. "The boy grows a pair."

"You were testing me?" I asked.

"Didn't your mother tell you I would?" Cupid retorted. I released him and he hovered there for a moment, then fluttered to the railing at the foot of the hospital bed. "Leave me like this," he said, finally serious. "It'll keep lover boy in check. So, why do you follow Brent`s wishes and not Marlon's?"

"Honestly, I don't know," I said, still a bit stunned. "It came down to choosing between the two, so I did."

Cupid looked me up and down. "You really don't know yet, do you?"

"Know what?" Now I was getting really worried.

"If you were really the god of gay sex and lust, you'd be able to do what I do in Eros form," Cupid told me. "Your mere visage would cause men to lust uncontrollably after you. On the contrary, men see you and feel safety and comfort, not lust."

Now I was concerned. "But I can still affect love and lust," I mentioned.

"Lust, maybe a little," Cupid said. "Love, yes, but not as well as I do."

"Are you saying you're more powerful than I am?" I asked suspiciously.

Cupid chuckled a little. "Not a chance," he laughed. "Few of us are. Not a single one of us could change the entire male population to make them able to give birth. None of us could alter a man's sexuality, either, except for Aphrodite and I, and now you. But the mass mutation of the species, that wasn't even possible until you came along. Sure, we changed a person to a tree here and there, but never permanent and lasting changes planet-wide."

"Then what is it you're saying I am?" I asked.

"You're not filling your mother's shoes," Eros said. "That's apparently going to be my job. You're filling Hera's. You're the god of childbirth and familial love."

And suddenly it was right. Right in my head, and right in my heart. I rushed over and embraced the baby. That was my place. That was what was missing. Bits of power in my head, which I hadn't been able to explain in the past, now made sense. Crushes had seemed so trivial to me, while the long term relationships had been more to my liking, and now I knew why. Now I knew why the babies were bringing me more joy than the new romances. Now I knew why...

"Alright, alright," Cupid said with a chuckle, "we get it. You like this news."

I wiped a tear from my eye. "I love this news," I said. "And I'm guessing this means you really have no business with this pregnancy thing."

"Yep," Cupid said with a grin. "But now that you understand, I'll stay anyway and learn a thing or two."

I smiled at him warmly. "Absolutely," I told him. "Absolutely."

Author's note: Well, "Duce" did a little better in the ratings, but still not phenomenally. Remember, and this applies to all nifty writers you enjoy, not just me: we are a much better judge of what you want and like when you give us regular feedback. A lot of these short stories are fueled by reader comments. In fact, this one would have been completely different if people hadn't been begging for more Stef. It's also part of a mini-series, so the next part will step it up into what you've really been asking for, with a focus on Stef and Cade.

The Blog - it's going pretty well and there are some responses, but it's slow going. There is, starting this last entry, a new feature. One of the readers, Justin, got inspired by Godsend and asked to write his own series. This series is in the Godsend world and takes place during the two year span when Stef used the orb to teleport off of O'onerut's ship and he and Min were missing. The story, "Thought and Memory", will only be accessible through the blog, and Justin wants to also get a chapter up per week like I do. His writing style is solid and the story itself is riveting, so I highly recommend everyone check it out.

As always, please comment at the blog so other people can see what you're thinking and you can interact with each other as well as me. However, if you want to say something to me and me alone, you are always free to email me. I welcome both forms of communication.

The blog: http://geocities.com/waterbearer99/blog.html My email, for those who wish to talk only to me: academygm@hotmail.com