Hestia teleported us back from shopping to the middle of my campsite, for me to see that some of my hunters are doing some maintenance to their weapons while others are off practicing or doing chores like laundry. "Artemis if you don't mind, I would like to bless him" Hestia asked

I looked at her shocked, Hestia hasn't blessed anyone...ever. And Vesta only blessed her followers in Rome with the knowledge of tending to the eternal flame of Rome. "Auntie why would you like to bless him. You haven't blessed anyone before" I asked

"Well, I sense great things for him in his future, and if you haven't notice he sees me just as your hunters do. I have never really had anyone who seen me that didn't already know about me. I would have asked last night, but figured you two needed some more bonding time beforehand. That and it should help you be able to hide him from your paranoid father" she answered my question. I had no clue how to answer her, so I simply just nodded, not trusting my words.

Hestia gave him her blessing, and I still wasn't trusting my words, but she got the message and hugged me, as I silently cried thanking her. She seemed happy about the fact and told me she will come more frequently to visit us. I said that's fine and I would be expecting her visits, before we said our goodbyes, and she left to go tend to either of the camps (CJ or CHB), or the hearth on Olympus.

I walked over to my tent so I could lay Percy down and start assembling the furniture Hestia and I got for him. However, upon entering my tent I saw that I wouldn't need to do much assembling, as I saw my brother sitting on the floor putting together a dresser, and another one already set up. "Apollo what are you doing here" I asked tiredly.

I was doing my normal sun duties, when very early on something caught my attention rather quickly, it was my sister and she was with a small child, a male child nevertheless. I began to worry about if she broke her oath, that she has kept so seriously for many millennia. I decided I would investigate instead of losing my mind and throwing around baseless accusations.

There is a few ways I could do this, the first would be asking my sister directly, though that would piss her off, I think. Another is try to do a medical scan of her to see if she recently gave birth, though that would make no sense for two reasons; the first being she needed some medical attention a week or so ago, and that scan showed up negative on pregnancy and recently giving birth, the second is she would find out, that I unnecessarily scanned her, and be pissed off about it.

Which leaves me with what I am doing now, checking the child himself. I saw...well everything, he let me check his memories, and I found that my sister adopted him after his mother passed, as it was the mother's last wishes. I was surprised at how good his memory was for a child of his age, I mean being less than 48 hours old, and remembering what he did was impressive, even by demigod standards.

Once I finished I noticed that my sister was prepared to leave and was with Hestia before they flashed out to somewhere. I decided to follow them to wherever they went. When I arrived in-front of a clothing store for newborns I was surprised, like why would they be buying clothes they can just summon them.

I waited outside and only Hestia noticed me, "Be careful, I know that you already know your sister cares for the child" she mind messaged me. I was just left confused and then I think I may have kinda sorta got the message as they teleported away. I changed my appearance to more so match my sister's so I can be viewed, by mortals, as her actual sibling. I waited a couple of minutes before I entered the store, faking being out of breath.

"Are you ok" The lady behind the counter asked, and I began thinking with, well what you would expect me to think with when I see a beautiful woman.

"Ye...yes" I panted, keeping up the act, "I was wondering if you saw a woman, she looks a bit like me, slightly annoying, quiet, not very trusting of others" I asked 'catching' my breath

"well there was a woman who looked like you, but she wasn't annoying" she said

"My sister, not annoying, that's funny. But I have been looking for her for like a couple of days now and I thought I was getting close" I said getting a bit downcast

"Did you not know your father kicked her out" she questioned

"No, he told me that she ran away, but I had a feeling he was lying as I saw a fire with a few of her things in it, in the backyard" I said, figuring that that would be something Hestia and she would have said considering the whole kicked out part.

"Well she said she was living with your aunt if that helps" she said. I then thanked her and left, considering I got enough information from her.

They were doing things the mortal way to avoid raising suspicions from the others, mainly father. That bastard should just be happy that his children don't decide to overthrow him with their uncles. I mean most gods are terrible fathers, yes, but Zeus and Ares are the worst of them all and they are nearly inverted from each other. Ares, only likes his sons and maybe a daughter if they do something extraordinarily great, and even then he still doesn't treat his kids well, as he would rather see them die in a fight than to be able to live peacefully. Zeus on the other hand completely ignores his sons unless they bring honor to him and act like him. Perseus brought honor, but didn't act like him, but Heracles did, so I will let you guess which of the two got immortality. Then when it comes to his daughters, he really only cares about Artemis and Athena, and that's on the condition they remain maidens, the others he couldn't care less about.

I got off track there in my rambling, anyways I changed back to how I normally looked and teleported of into my sisters tent to wait for her. I saw all the bags of clothes they just got, but I had nowhere to put them.

I thought too soon, as soon as I thought that a few boxes appeared in her tent, and I looked them over, to see two dressers and a crib. I thought and weighed my options for a short time before I decided that I will help her. I started building one of the dressers and before I knew it, I finished it, and started working on the next one.

I was about midway through it, when I heard my sister's voice, "Apollo what are you doing here"

I looked at her, and she looked scared and confused, "I...I might have seen you with Perseus there, and...and decided I would help you, until I figured somethings out" I said

"And what did you figure out as of now" she asked still tiredly, I notice little Perseus was asleep and figure I should be a bit of a doctor now, instead of annoying brother.

"That you've adopted him, care about him, and want him to remain hidden. So, I won't tell anyone, if you go lay down and get some rest, with your son. He'll probably wake you when he wakes, and I'll be finished with putting everything together for you" I said trying to convince her to rest.

She nodded sleepily and laid down on her back with Perseus laying on top of her. I took a couple of pictures, for reasons I won't release yet, then went back to assembling the last dresser and crib.

The crib was missing a few screws, so I went and got what I needed from a hardware store before going back to see my sister and nephew were where I left them, still asleep. I put in the formerly missing screws and then set the small mattress in it.

I decided to test it with some weight because if my nephew ever fell through it I will never hear the end of it from my sister. So, I set all the clothes they got for him on top of it and press down to simulate any additional weight on the bed as he grows.

Feeling satisfied about my masterpiece I started putting the clothes away, organizing them by style, I placed the ones that seemed thinner all on one dresser, while the thicker ones I placed onto the other dresser. After that I organized by size putting the smaller ones in the top shelf and larger ones that he probably wouldn't be using for a while down in the bottom shelves.

Just as I was finishing I heard a baby's cry, and I am going to be man enough to admit it, it startled me. I looked over to where it was coming from, and seen my sister waking up in a slight panic because he was crying. "What did you do" she asked me slightly angry. There she is I have my normal sister back.

"I...I just finished building these and putting the clothes you got him away, I swear I did nothing" I stuttered out, praying that an arrow doesn't find itself flying at me.

Artemis just started laughing at me, and Perseus decided to join her after a little while. "you should have seen your face" She laughed out, "I knew you did nothing, he is just hungry"my sister finished her laughing fit. "Now please leave so I can feed my child" she asked me.

Now, why does she want me to lea...oh now I get it, "alright I'll just be outside. Come get me when you're done please" I asked her.

I stepped out of her tent only to be greeted with a few arrows pointed at me moments later. "What were you doing in milady's tent Apollo" my oh so favorite hunter said

"Well, Zoë, I was building your new baby brother's things when I allowed my sister to rest" I said, looking over the hunter, who didn't look much better than my sister when she came back, "And as a doctor I would recommend the same to you miss Nightshade"

The hunters did the reasonable thing and scoffed at me, much better than the usual arrows I would get. Thankfully they left me alone after that, but they were all keeping their eyes on me. A few minutes passed with me still receiving their glares, when my sister came out with a new shirt on, "What is it that you wanted to speak to me about Apollo" she said, with the slight undertone of pain and hatred that I've grown used to over the years.

I notice that she still had a little baby barf on her neck and decided to point it out to her before we started, "Can this just be a brother/sister moment please" I asked her, because I didn't want the hunters to hear what I was going to say.

"fine, Zoë, Phoebe will you two please watch Perseus, you can pull out some of the new toys Hestia and I got for him" She asked, and Phoebe came over and grabbed Perseus before sneering at me walking away. "In my tent Apollo" she commanded

Once, we got into her tent I decide to be a little bit of an investigator before I got to my real reasons, "Artemis, why did you adopt him, most children you find you send off to an orphanage if you can't find their parents, invite into the hunt, or turn into a fuzzy woodland critter if they are being overly rude to you. Why did you do it" I asked

"His mother recognized me, I...I was too slow to save her, and she only asked one thing of me and that was to raise and care for her child and tell him how much she loves/loved him" She answered almost crying, "I would have offered her a place in my hunt, but she...she knew it was her time" she said blinking back tears

"Now what's the real reason you asked me to speak with you Apollo. I know you didn't ask just to find out why I adopted a child to be my own" She asked me, turning the tables and catching me like a deer in the headlights

"I...I want to know why you started speaking with a tone of hurt and hate towards me" I somewhat countered, not really wanting to have this conversation anymore in fear of what she'll say or do.

"You want to know why. You have went against my domains many times Apollo" She spat, sounding more angry than ever before, "How many wildfires have been cause by you, destroying my domain over the wilderness, how many maidens lost their maidenhood to you without you marrying them beforehand, how many children have you had that you ignored and didn't claim" She all but shouted at me, breaking down into tears at the end

"I...I" I started, but she cut me off

" 85 wildfires, so many maidens that I have given up on counting, and 1,563 kids Apollo, I understand your domains are hard to emotionally deal with, but you don't need to be hurting me through my domains just to deal with it. I sense every wildfire that starts, every maiden that you take, and know when all of your children were born, and which ones were ignored and who their mothers were, Apollo" she cried, "Why can't things go back to like how they were when we were kids on Delos, when I had my baby brother to look after and have fun dancing with. I just want my baby brother back" She said holding onto me crying into my shirt.

"I'm...I'm sorry sis. I...I didn't know I was hurting you" I said trying to comfort her. I messed up, in life, and honestly I didn't even know about those numbers. I didn't realize I was hurting my sister, and now I feel like the worst brother ever.