Ariel woke up in the lounge chair next to the pool. Had she been dreaming she wondered. The strong smell of fish, from Portugal's fish market, reminded her that it hadn't.

She wiped a tear from her face. Viola was going to loose everything to get what she wanted. At 16, Ariel could see it in her eyes...they were Roarke's. She wondered if anything had changed in a year...knowing how Roarke was with what he wanted ~~ his daughter was probably the same.

A small smile escaped her lips as she thought about the girl. Her father would definitely be proud of her. She sat there, hugging her growing mid section, no longer angry with Roarke that he didn't tell her. There were even things that she had not made him aware of in her existence, nothing of this magnitude...but still.

The moon rose high above the palm trees, and the warm air felt good against her sore legs and swollen feet. Sleeping in the Rose Garden never killed anyone. She lay back on the hammock and closed her eyes.

Roarke wandered the beach near the gardens, enjoying the solitude of the night and the juxtaposition of the salty marine air and the heady scents of the night blooming flowers. For the second time in his life he believed this Island could be a Paradise. The second time? He frowned. Would things have been different had he known Scathach was pregnant?

Would he have asked her to stay? Would she? Things he had thought he'd known at the time now seemed different in memory. And yet, if Scathach had stayed with him, would he ever have known Ariel? If not, then there would have been no Iris. He would have never encountered Kore, and there would have been no Halli. What did Scathach's child think of him? What had she told the child?

Pacing stately, he examined memories once too painful to think on. Perhaps he had erred in his hasty judgment of Scathach. His heart did not ache to think of her now, except in that he might have wronged her. He had to find his child. And perhaps give an apology to Scathach. Perhaps.

Decision time. Ariel was not in the rooms they now shared. He wrote her a note, hoping she would read it and not simply tear it up because it was from him. Then he went to where Harry slept and woke him up. "Harry. I have some business off the island."

"Sir?" Harry asked sleepily. He kicked the top bunk sending Cal off to the floor.

The boy shook his head. "Hey, no fair you big jerk."

Roarke ignored them, preoccupied with other matters. "You must sleep in the girls' room tonight, Harry. There is only one fantasy in progress at the moment." He hesitated then said confidently, "Ariel will be back in the morning, the two of you can handle everything..." He paused one last time. "If Sebastian shows up...call on Skye, or Angel. As loud as you can. Gods, if he threatens the girls or Ariel, call on my bloody father." Bitterly he finished, "Surely he owes me that much."

Roarke walked toward the door, turning to make sure Harry was following his instructions and preparing to move into the main hotel. He added, "If I see Skye, I'll ask her to help." To Harry or himself, he was not sure.

Roarke walked out of the mist into the throne room, "Hades, have you seen-" He stopped short, staring at the God: he cocked a smile. "I guess you haven't..."

With a backward glance and a snicker, he continued his search for... "Skye," he said, surprised, to find her right there, and dressed in a skimpy white Chitin. He looked back to where the bound God could still be seen. "Skye, dear -- is there anything you want to tell me?"

Skye sighed, following his gaze. "Of course not, but I'll see you later." With another backward glance, she left with obvious reluctance, before Roarke could ask her for anything.

"Skye, wait!" He chased after her.

Hades had gone past disbelief, past rage, and was into humiliation. That Roarke of all people, had to see him like this...it couldn't get any worse. What next? he thought mournfully. At that moment, he heard the sound of a door opening, and he could sense the sweet aroma of an innocent.

Dena walked the cool stone corridors of the Palace of Erebus, mumbling to herself: "Persephone is the one I persuaded to let him go, but Hades is the one who is so jealous of his citizens. If I don't ask Persephone, she might be mad...I better talk to her first..." She sighed.

Dena

The wind whistled and blew her hair back as she walked along the hall. The smell of lilies on the water was alluring. She breathed it in unaware of the beckoning whisper of her name.

What Viola had said made perfect sense, even now what she regretted most was not the loss of Sebastian: just the loss of one part of him. She grinned unwillingly, even though she was alone.

'Dena' came the sound louder, and subconsciously guided her footsteps. If nothing else, she had to thank Sebastian for relieving her of her virginity. She really, really liked sex.

'Dena!'

She blinked, realizing she was in the Throne room. She blinked again as she realized the Lord of the Underworld was on his throne. He was keeping his eyes pierced on her. "Dena, come here, Dena."

Entranced, she blinked, seeing Sebastian's face superimposed on the Dread Lord. "My love..."

Hades concentrated on her, with full passion and knowing. "Dena," he beckoned, as she leaned over and kissed him passionately.

Roarke caught up with Skye at the Council Chambers. "Skye..."

"Why aren't you on the Island?" she asked, in an absent minded exasperation.

"I'm going to get my daughter back," he stated calmly.

Skye blinked. "You are. Good, I always thought you needed a goal. I just need to talk to legal...uh, I don't know if you can actually come in here..."

He looked at the doors. "I'll wait out here. I'd rather not be in a room full of people who know every detail of my personal life."

The main doors flew open and Chryse walked out, hurt. "Now Roarke...what do you have against us?"

Roarke gave the dark haired woman a smirk. "OH, where should I begin?"

Chryse huffed. "Please...we didn't write your personal life."

She pulled out the Old Roster book. "Let's see.... Ah, yes. Eddie Poe...." She turned some more pages. "Yes, here it is: Will Shakespeare is responsible for Sebastian being an ass. Shakespeare was having a small tryst with your daughter at the time, then she found out that he was married."

She closed the heavy book causing a cloud of dust to go in her face. "So you see, we had nothing to do with it," she said, coughing and grinning simultaneously. Another scribe ran over, smiled at Roarke, and handed Chryse a note. She took it, suddenly growing quiet. She frowned. "Umm....something's up. Gotta run to the control room."

Skye looked concerned. "Is there something I can do?"

Chryse looked at her, and said sarcastically: "Believe me, Sweetie. Ya done enough."

And she headed back inside.

Viola crumpled the paper in her hand. Sebastian knew about her getting to Dena. Who told him? She had to stop Dena, at least until after the appearance on Olympus. If only Hades would cooperate...yeah, right, she thought, aware of the odds against it.

She pushed open the heavy doors of the throne and spotted a nude Dena lying over the empty chair, mystified and basking in the afterglow of her encounter... Viola groaned, not at all surprised. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Viola turned around slowly.

Hades smirked at her with a cigar, hanging from his lips. "One down....two to go."

Viola looked at him, growing nervous. "What do you mean?"

"Well, dear," he started. "You should have really left well enough alone. Bringing Skye here was a really...stupid idea."

"But that was your idea," protested Viola with growing anxiety.

"Let's not lay blame here," he answered. And with that both disappeared.

Iris opened her eyes and looked around. Something wasn't right, but she didn't understand what could be wrong. She pulled herself up in her crib and threw her bear at the girl who was sleeping in the bed.

Halli shot awake and head the ground rumble. She looked over and spotted that guy 'Harry' fast asleep in a rocking chair. She ran over and tried to shake him awake. "Harry!" she yelled.

Harry wasn't roused, still in throes of a deep sleep. Halli could sense that he was getting close, and she started to panic. She ran over to the crib, picked up Iris, and opened the French doors to leave. She gasped at who she saw.

Hades leaned against the doorframe. He took a cigar out of his holder, and lit it. "Now, Sweets. Where do you think you're going?"

Halli sat in the corner against the stone wall, glaring at her older sister. "This sucks: I hope you thought of a rescue in this bright scheme of yours."

Viola, suspended at the end of a rope upside down, looked at the girl. "Well, how was I suppose to know that our ingenious aunt was gonna try to and imprison Hades. I mean obviously we got the brains in the family. Neither one of them are good for anything."

Halli shrugged. "At least Iris is having fun."

At that moment, the child was running around laughing being chased by a 6 foot purple dinosaur. The dinosaur stopped and glared at Viola. "You could at least help."

Viola arched her back to look at him better. "Hades, did you think we were gonna make it easy for you?"

Iris sneezed, and started to fuss.

Ariel woke up with a fright, and sat up instantly. With nothing more then a thought, she turned around and was caught by Roarke before she fell. "Where's Iris?" she cried.

Roarke held her close to him, trying to calm her. "She's asleep in her crib, back on the island."

Ariel shook her head, trying to push against him. "No, she's not. She's in trouble." And she started to cry in his arms.

Skye felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around, as the room changed to Mount Olympus.

Clia hit the ancient TV set a couple of times, as the session hall of Mount Olympus flickered in and out of resolution. "All you had to do was buy one of those digital jobs."

Fisher walked over and handed her a drink. "Who did they get as an attorney?"

Clia took the cup and sat down. "Well, it's not like anyone from OJ Simpson's 'The Dream Team' is available."

High above Elysian, Michael sat on his throne, unhappy. He looked over at Angel, for guidance. She sat on the white marble stairs, going over papers. "Am I overstepping my bounds, Angel?"

She looked at him and smiled. "You're the guardian of light. I'm just here as your conscience. This is what her mother wanted, and you agreed. It was only way the poor woman could die in peace. She did it to make amends for what happened with Roarke."

"But why'd I have to agree? At that point, I would have agreed to anything, just so she didn't suffer any longer."

Angel glared. "Michael."