Farm Days: Hades Family Vacation

Hades Family Vacation

Hades awoke an hour before his alarm was set to go off.

This was nothing new most part. It seemed he always woke up before his alarm, the result of either Jason or his accursed mother-in-paw slamming the kitchen door shut on their way outside to tend to the never ending tasks that needed to be done to keep the small farm running. Some days the god-turned-mortal could simply lie there and exist in that state between sleep and consciousness, while other days he was forced to get out of bed by the rumble of a tractor. His mood was definitely better on the days where the former occurred, but he could always improve his mood by making his practically-guaranteed-son-in-law, Jackson, do some meaningless task for his amusement.

But today, he was not awoken by Jason or Demeter, nor was he awoken by any of the boys have an early morning nightmare. No, today he awoke of his own volition. His own excitement.

For today was his new family's first vacation.

The former king glanced down and smiled at the mass of tangled tan limbs and messy hair that was his beloved wife. A thin, black sheet was the only thing preserving her decency and a thin layer of sweat made her body glisten, and for once he was glad their room didn't have AC. And although he loathed the fact she had been cursed to a mortal state just like him, he couldn't deny the sense of peace he felt when he watched her breathe.

Hades wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and tilted his head forward to kiss his love's hair. "Good morning, my queen."

Persephone inhaled sharply and nuzzled her head against his chest. "No," she whined, squeezing her eyes shut tighter. "One to eight more hours..."

He chuckled and ran his fingers down her spine, stopping at the her waist. "As much as I wish I could give you that, we have to be on the road soon if we want to make it to Great America at a reasonable time."

The former goddess moaned in annoyance. "Hades, I will blow-" Persephone's head snapped up and looked at him with wide eyes. "That's today? Today is roller coaster day?!"

Hades smiled at his wife's sudden change from sleepy young adult to bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed. Persephone was always the thrill-seeker of the two of them, but it seemed having the body of a twenty-five-year-old had only enhanced that trait. "Yup," he answered, popping the 'p'. "Today is the first Hades family vacation. Hopefully, the first of many to come."

Persephone crawled on top of him, her smile beaming like a Spring day sun. "Oh, this is going to be great," she said before catching his lips in a gentle kiss. "It will be just like taking Maria and the kids to Coney Island!"

He froze at the mention of the New York theme park. Apparently, Persephone remembered that trip very differently. Constantly rushing to either child to figure out why they were crying. Practically vomiting out copious amounts of money to every little booth or shop that caught Maria, Persephone, or the kids' eyes. Splitting up the group so that Bianca and Persephone could ride the bigger rides Nico was too afraid of, only to get separated when the exit was somehow on the other side of the park. Carrying or dragging Bianca and Nico when they got too tired to walk, but were too stubborn to want to go home. He had used that day as a standard for new tortures in the Fields of Punishment. 

"Ha, yeah," he gulped. "I'm sure it will be exactly like that..."

-----

Thirty minutes.

Of the hour he had scheduled to wake the boys up, get them moving, and into the SUV, it had only taken thirty minutes.