Hera and Zeus

The Divine Couple

When the door closed behind Leto, Zeus said with full sincerity, "I'm sorry." Hera turned her head, surprised. Zeus continued, "For years I went behind your back, sleeping around. Any time you caught on, I'd either deny it or promise to do better without actually meaning it. I let you believe all this time that you were wrong. I lied to you countless times and I'm sorry."

"I knew," Hera said hushed, "A person always knows, but I knew that no matter what you did or who you were with that you'd always come back home to me and I was so afraid to say anything because I was worried that you'd leave me like you did your first wife."

"I didn't leave Metis because she reigned in my bad behavior, and if she did try to then she did a terrible job of it."

Hera looked up, bewildered, "Then why did you split up?"

"Metis and I were high school sweethearts. I was the rising star student and she was a total punk."

Hera laughed, "Metis? A punk? She's the most anal and pretentious person I've ever met."

"She used to be a complete rebel. My father hated that we were together, although that just made me want to be with her even more. Sticking it the old man. And after high school, we got married."

"Why so soon?"

"The summer after senior year-"

Hera realized, "She was pregnant."

Zeus nodded, "Yes, with Athena, and the two of us had to stop playing these rebellious, childish roles and get on track with our lives. We grew up, but the issue was we grew apart. I was still ambitious, with a dream of owning my own company and becoming a rich and powerful figure. Metis lost all of her ambition, all she wanted was a steady career to support Athena. All the passion and young love we had in high school fizzled out. After that, we started fighting a lot and ten years later we decided to give up on marriage. My company was on the rise and she had a nice cozy job at an insurance company."

"Well... we fight." Hera said concerned.

"Yes, of course, we fight, every couple does, but you and I fight for good reasons: Whenever I did something stupid or when dealing with the kids, the important stuff. Metis and I simply fought about the small stuff because we couldn't handle the serious matters."

"Then eight years later, you met me."

"It was your twentieth birthday. You were so beautiful and so pure. You were not comfortable at that party," Zeus recalled.

"Yet you still came up to me."

"And you proceeded to reject me."

"But you were persistent and eventually, you wooed me," said Hera. "Why did you want to seek me out if I looked so innocent? Wanted to take that from me?"

Zeus gave a dramatized gasp, "No, that wasn't it at all. While you looked so innocent, you didn't look naive; you were grown, more mature then than I am now. You were so strong-willed; despite my constant begging, you said that you would wait until marriage, so we did."

"Probably because you were having someone on the side," Hera remarked.

"No, actually, I waited for you."

Hera didn't believe him, but it didn't matter. He was the man he was, the man he'd always be. The man she fell in love with. The man who put her through so much heartache. She looked at Zeus and asked, "When did that courtesy stop?"

"Hera, you know I love you."

"I know."

"And you know that this will always be who I am. After nineteen years of marriage, if you can't accept that then maybe you should-"

"Leave." Hera interrupted.

"Leave." Zeus finished.