Eric woke up to the rays of first light breaking into the room. His eyes opened, and he looked to his right. Jessica was still sleeping in the room; her eyes were swollen from the tears she had spilled last night.

Eric sighed as he remembered the way she had clung to him. He remembered a night from his childhood when his father had come back from Iraq injured, and almost tried to leave a month later. At the time, Eric had clung to his Dad’s leg. "I am just like him, aren’t I?" He murmured.

A picture of a grown Liara walking the aisle without him by her side flashed in his mind, and he narrowed his eyes. "No. I will walk them both down the aisle."

"What are you mumbling about this early in the morning?" A voice called to him from the corner.

Eric sat up in bed, wincing before he noticed someone else in the room. Eric squinted.

"Trephania? What are you doing here?" He said, his eyes wide.

The former Goddess had her blue hair tied back in a bun and wore form-fitting scrubs. She was currently checking his chart, and he struggled to sit all the way up.

"Do not move, child." She said in an even voice. "You may be a demigod, but that does not make you invincible."

Eric sighed, sitting still. "Fine, but that doesn’t answer why you are here. Why are you dressed up like a nurse?"

She smiled as she turned to look at him. "I am a nurse, boy. Before my fate of betrothal to that fool, I was the Goddess of medicine and healing. I ruled as the Goddess of the world Mithrael found me in for nearly ten thousand years."

Eric pinched his nose between his fingers, closing his eyes. "Well, thank you for the lore drop, I guess, but that doesn’t explain why you are here in an Earth hospital as a nurse."

She laughed. "Fool, the introduction of your world has created a unique set of circumstances. Beings like you do not simply need medical care, but mana-related care as well. For that reason, your government and Riemskin have been working together to intermix your doctors with our healers."

Eric sighed. "Doesn’t that take years?"

"No. It was relatively simple. I cut my own arm, and then healed it in front of your president."

Eric felt the veins in his forehead threaten to burst. "That doesn’t even make any sense!"

The back of Eric’s hair prickled, and he turned around. Crimson hair and glowing red eyes stared at him. "Dad?" Jessica said with a dark smile. Eric shivered when he saw the fury in his daughter’s eyes. "Care to explain why Lady Trephania called you a Demigod?"

Eric tried to look anywhere but Jessica as Trephania walked out of the room. Before she left, she turned to Eric and smirked.

"Hopefully, this will ground him in family. Do not end up like so many other heroes that I have seen perish early, Eric." She thought as she walked away.

"Fuck."

Jessica stood over the bed, her arms crossed. "You owe Mom and I an explanation."

Eric sighed. "I thought you two knew already."

Jessica shook her head. "We know you’re powerful, but outside of that, no idea why."

Mia walked into the room, her eyes narrowed as she saw Jessica standing there, arms crossed. Mia shut the door and joined Jessica.

"What did he do now?" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Lady Trephania was here a few moments ago. She called him a demigod, and he acted like the title wasn’t news to him. He knows something."

Mia sat down. "We know." She muttered as she ran her fingers along Eric’s leg. "Your Dad and I have been trying to figure out exactly what the bloodline is for the last nearly two years, sweetie. The real reason he tells you not to use those powers is that he has power too. Early on in our relationship, he would train it and wipe out large portions of the forest. When you came into the picture, we saw how powerful you are, but you were untrained. That is why you train so hard with Kamer. But..."

Mia glared at Eric.

"Your Dad has promised me not to do that again. Power doesn’t make you invincible, and he was being a hypocrite when he charged forward while critically injured. I’m sorry we kept it from you."

Jessica looked down at her feet. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "I’m no better." She muttered.

Mia walked over and wrapped her arms around Jessica. "It’s okay, sweetheart. We can all learn this lesson from your Dad’s foolishness. From here on out, no pushing through and thinking ’we are okay because we are powerful.’"

Jessica leaned into Mia’s touch and hugged her back. "I will. Seeing Dad collapse like that... I can’t imagine doing this to Liam or you guys."

Eric smiled and held out his arms. "Come here. Both of you."

The two women gingerly climbed into his bed, and he hugged them both. "Jessica. I told you time and time again not to be a hero. That charging in is the wrong answer, even though you may have a lot of power. I failed to follow my own warning, and I am sorry." He kissed her head.

"When I get out of here, we will focus on training and not pushing forward to overextend ourselves."

Jessica grumbled. "Great, more training."

The family laughed together, and Mia kissed both of their cheeks. "Alright, no more of that discussion. You both know now not to charge in like maniacs any further."

Eric heard a baby cooing from outside the room, and Mia smiled when his eyes widened. A woman walked in. Eric saw the cat ears and black dress, and sighed.

"Samara. It is good to see you."

Samara shook her head. "You are an idiot, you know that?"

Liara struggled against Samara’s arms, reaching for Eric with a whine.

"DADDA!" The baby yelled.

Everyone froze. Samara’s eyes widened, and Jessica wiped away her tears. "Her first word."

Samara placed Liara into Eric’s arms, and Eric held his daughter to his chest. "Yes, my lovely daughter." He said gently, stroking her ears. "Daddy’s here."

Mia smiled as she ran a hand along the baby’s back. "I carried her for nine months, and her first word is ’Dadda’. Pshh. She’s gonna have him wrapped around her finger, isn’t she?"

Samara laughed. "When the girls were able to talk and walk, John couldn’t say no to them. You know that ice cream shop down on Second Street? Yeah, we were spending like ten dollars a week there. You might have to be the bad guy here, Mia."

Eric looked up.

"I won’t be that bad."

"Bullshit. Yes, you will." Mia said while rolling her eyes. "You already fawn over her. Every time we go shopping, you buy another outfit or toy."

A week after Eric was admitted to the hospital, he was discharged. The doctors wanted to do more tests, but Eric refused after Trephania gave him the "all clear." He stood outside for the first time in ten days, and picked up Liara while ignoring the stares he was receiving from the doctors that had treated him.

"Man, mana really is something else," Eric murmured as he ran his fingers along the scar where his stomach had been hit.

Liara reached for his face, pulling on his ear.

"No, Liara. We don’t pull ears."

Mia leaned against him, taking his hand in hers as they left the hospital.

"They’re all staring at you." She said, her eyes scanning each person. "Not maliciously, but like you are some kind of freak show."

Eric laughed.

"My world is very advanced in many ways; some of the things your world has and does are archaic to us. The only thing I say you have us beat at is magic and mana for healing. For an injury like the one I sustained in Dresken, usually someone would be stuck in the hospital for going on three weeks to a month."

Mia’s eyes widened as they walked to the car. "No wonder why they’re all staring at you. It has been less than two weeks. By this world’s standards, that is an eternity." She muttered as she got Liara into the truck. As soon as the baby was strapped in, Liara began wailing. Eric started the truck and placed his hand on Mia’s thigh. Mia ran her fingers along his thigh as Eric backed the vehicle out of the garage.

"It’s like music to my ears." He said with a chuckle as he pulled out of the parking lot. He turned the corner and approached the intersection of I35 and MLK before coming to a complete stop.

"Fuck." He growled, looking out at the highway.

"Guess we will be here a while."

I-35 was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic as far as he could see.