She wanted to tug her arm away from him, to push him back and tell her exactly what she thought of what he had said. She knew, even now, how crazy Hera had made her seem, but, the- what if she had been a schizophrenic! He had only perpetuated the stereotype that- No. She would not let those thoughts over run her again; which ended up being quite easy when there was his lips and for a brief moment Cora remembered what it was like to kiss someone and lose yourself in them. She hadn't tried dating since him, and until Zeus that meant the last physical contact she had had was a handshake.

But it was over in a flash because he was moving and she was remembering why it had been over three years since she'd even hugged someone. "How- dare." And Cora was gone.

"Hephaestus?" It was a complete 360 from the tone she had been spitting out so angrily a moment ago, it was disbelief and the quiet, vulnerable speech of a mother seeing her lost child for the first time in years, unable to believe he was really there.

She dropped to her knees and looked him plainly in the eyes into the soul there. How should she have been such a fool? Now that she could see him it was so obvious. There had just been so many similarities. Others may not have saw it, but this was the son that reminded her of the husband she had loved as a young girl. The calm and devoted man she had had for 300 years before they had returned to Olympus and his wandering eye overtook him. Her hand rose to trace the contour of his face without actually touching the skin.

"My Hephaestus. You are perfect."