The days at sea were passing quickly. Soon the Argo would reach Cyprus, Hercules could ask for Aphrodite's forgiveness and they could put all of this behind them.

If he was honest with himself, Hercules would have to admit that he had mixed feelings about that. Of course he wanted his friends back to normal – back to their adult selves – and yet he would miss this version of them too. There was something about having the two children around that was rather wonderful after all.

It was early evening as Hercules stood in the prow of the ship, looking morosely out to sea. As far as he knew the two boys were inside having their supper and he supposed he should join them. He had wanted a few minutes on his own to try to sort through his thoughts though, so here he was.

Earlier on, Tydeus the navigator had had a long discussion with Acaeus the helmsman and had announced to the Queen that they should make landfall in Cyprus early tomorrow morning. Hercules had expected to be happy at the news and yet in the moment he had been told all he had felt was inexplicably sad.

A waft of distinctive floral perfume came to him on the breeze and he turned, slightly startled, to face his Queen.

"What's wrong?" Ariadne asked.

"I was just enjoying the evening air," Hercules said with an attempt at a smile. He looked around. "Where are Jason and Pythagoras?" he asked.

"Having supper," Ariadne answered. "Icarus is with them… and I came to see why you were not."

"Those boys are a constant source of worry for me," Hercules rumbled quietly.

"You are a good friend to them," Ariadne said softly. "A good father."

"I don't know about that," Hercules sighed. "I do my best."

He was struck by the similarity to the conversation he had had with Ariadne in the Palace, the night before Pasiphae had been resurrected; then though he had been trying to comfort her, now he suspected she was trying to do the same for him.

"Something is troubling you," Ariadne said gently coming to join him at the rail. "What is it?"

"It's nothing," Hercules replied. "I am being silly."

"Hercules…"

"We reach Cyprus tomorrow."

"Yes," said Ariadne. "And we will break the curse and return to our original course; to go to Colchis and destroy the Fleece." She looked back across the deck to the hatch to the cabins. "I will be glad to have my Jason back," she admitted, "and I suspect Icarus feels the same way about Pythagoras."

"Indeed," Hercules said. "You are right." He sighed. "I'll be happy to have them back to normal too. It's just…"

"Just what?" Ariadne asked.

"I'll miss them as they are now," Hercules admitted. "Which is ridiculous."

"You are afraid that when they return to their normal selves you will lose the relationship you have with them now," Ariadne said softly.

"No," Hercules protested unconvincingly. "Maybe," he conceded.

"They love you," Ariadne pointed out. "They may not say it very often and they may not be as demonstrative as adults as they are as children, but it is clear to anyone how close the three of you are. You are family to each other and nothing can get in the way of that."

"Perhaps," Hercules muttered. "But it will never be quite the same, will it?"

"Maybe not," Ariadne agreed. "Although I doubt that after the past few weeks we will ever be able to go back to precisely how things were before."

"You will not."

Cassandra's light voice startled them both. The girl glided over, her expression unreadable.

"What do you mean?" Hercules demanded.

"The enchantment that you triggered has affected you all," Cassandra replied. "But do not think of it solely as a curse; Aphrodite meant it as both curse and gift."

"A gift?" Hercules burst out incredulously.

"Of course," Cassandra murmured. "For you understand one another better now, do you not?"

Hercules frowned deeply.

"So this has been some kind of test?" he demanded.

"It is not our place to question the Gods," Cassandra answered. "Their understanding is greater than ours… and you have learned much through Aphrodite's curse."

Hercules snorted and turned away, closing his eyes briefly.

"I think I always knew… deep down," he said.

"Knew what?" Ariadne asked.

"That neither of them had had the childhoods they deserved," Hercules muttered grimly. "That there was something in both their pasts… a darkness that made them both act the way they did. After we found out about Pythagoras' father… well it all made sense."

"I don't understand," Ariadne said, a frown gracing her face. "What about Pythagoras' father?"

"Jason never told you?" Hercules asked in surprise. "Oh well… I suppose he must have thought it wasn't his story to tell or something."

"Hercules," Ariadne prompted him with some irritation.

"Pythagoras' father was a drunk from what I've gathered," the burly wrestler said. "And he wasn't a friendly one. Pythagoras doesn't like to talk about it much but I know his father used to hit his mother and I am fairly certain he used to hit Pythagoras too. I don't think he was ever kind to the boy. He… when this curse first turned him back into a child… Pythagoras was talking about his father and he said that his father was always angry at him but he did not know why."

"But Pythagoras is so kind," Ariadne protested. "How could anyone treat him that way?"

"I don't know," Hercules answered shortly. "And I find it amazing that he's still the person he is despite everything that must have happened to him as a child." He paused for a moment. "Then there's Jason," he went on. "He has always lacked any sense of self-preservation… anyone came along with a sad story and he'd be lining up to help them even if it meant he was risking his own life… and I never understood why."

"And now you do?" Ariadne asked.

"I think so, yes," Hercules rumbled sadly. "I think that everything we have learned about the boys in the last few weeks… he may not have been abused like Pythagoras but he was certainly neglected." He swallowed hard and looked away for a moment. "He throws himself into those ridiculous missions because he genuinely doesn't believe that his life is worth as much as anyone else's. I knew he must have been young when his father left but I didn't realise just how young he was… and I don't understand how any man who claimed to be a loving father could just up and leave like that."

Ariadne placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"We do not know the whole circumstances," she stated softly. "And since Aeson is dead it seems unlikely that we ever will. It may be that he felt he had no choice. At least Jason got to see him again before the end and to know that his father loved him and was proud of him."

"Maybe," Hercules growled, "but the damage was still done in the first place, wasn't it? To both those boys."

"But the gift within Aphrodite's curse was to give you the chance to give them the lives they should have had. Even if it was only for a little while," Cassandra murmured.

"They may not even remember it once they have returned to normal," Hercules snorted.

"They will remember," Cassandra answered enigmatically. "Everything you have done for them. They will not forget."

It was still early as they made their way up the hill to the Temple of Aphrodite at Palea Paphos, passing other pilgrims on their way up to the temenos. Pythagoras had chattered brightly all the way so far, seemingly oblivious to the tension among the adults of the party who were each wondering what they would find at the top of the hill and whether Aphrodite could be persuaded to reverse her enchantment.

For once it wasn't Hercules that was subject to the little blonde's incessant questioning of the world around him – Icarus was walking alongside the child and trying to answer his insatiably curious questions, and to be fair he really didn't seem to mind if the soft smile on his face was anything to go by.

Eventually though, Pythagoras seemed to run out of questions. He grabbed Icarus' hand and dragged him over to Hercules. He grabbed the burly wrestler's hand too, so that he was between the two men. Icarus looked at Hercules and grinned, gesturing with his head what he wanted to do. Without warning the unsuspecting Pythagoras, the two men lifted him off the ground, swinging him between them and being rewarded with the child's squeal of laughter.

Ariadne watched them with a soft smile from her position behind them, deep in conversation with Cassandra. The young Oracle might have the ear of the Gods but she had little experience of life outside the Temple of Poseidon and looked around herself with wide eyes. To the side of the path, Jason kept darting off into the long grass.

"Don't go too far," Ariadne called to him. "I do not want you getting lost."

Over the past couple of weeks, Jason's adventurous nature had been coming more and more to the fore and Ariadne didn't want him to go missing or fall and be hurt when they were so close to their goal.

The dark-haired child rolled his eyes at her but did stay a little closer to the path than he had been doing; never going outside the sight of one of the adults.

At the top of the hill, the ground opened out into a wide plateau. The Sanctuary of Aphrodite stood before them, its graceful columns rising from carved marble plinths to support the steeply pitched roof, and the pediment facing them contained a sculpture of the Goddess rising from the waves. It was surrounded by a sacred grove and here and there they could see priestesses of Aphrodite hurrying here and there about their duties (although Ariadne suspected that some of those duties would certainly not be suitable for children to see and learn about).

Hercules gulped.

"Well here goes," he said. "Anyone got any ideas what we need to do now?"

"You must make your offering to the Goddess," Cassandra murmured, "and ask for her forgiveness."

"You keep saying that," Hercules grumbled. "But you haven't actually told me what offering Aphrodite will want."

"The Goddess of Love is a demanding mistress," Cassandra answered.

"And she has always had my upmost devotion," Hercules retorted, reaching into his money pouch and retrieving what little he had in there.

"That will go a long way to appeasing her," Cassandra stated. "And your prayers will be pleasing to her ears… but Aphrodite is also the goddess of beauty and she delights in beautiful things." She looked the money in Hercules' hand with a raised eyebrow. "Put away your coins," she advised. "It is not your money that the Goddess desires."

"But that's all I have," Hercules objected.

Ariadne rolled her eyes and removed one of her bracelets.

"Here," she said, handing it to Hercules. "If it is not money that Aphrodite desires, perhaps she would prefer jewels. My father gave me that bracelet," she added softly. "It was a gift to celebrate my birthday."

"I can't take that from you," Hercules protested.

"You can and you will," Ariadne retorted. "I still have the other one of the pair to remember him by… and I would give this and more… everything I have, everything I own… for Jason's sake."

"That boy doesn't know how lucky he is to have you," Hercules proclaimed.

As the Queen turned away from the burly wrestler, Jason approached her. He produced a small bunch of wildflowers from behind his back and presented them to the startled girl.

"What's this?" Ariadne asked.

Jason shrugged and blushed.

"I thought you'd like them because they're pretty and you're pretty too," he mumbled.

Ariadne smiled with pleasure.

"They're very pretty," she said, "and you are very sweet." She took the flowers from the child. "Did you pick these?" she asked.

"I picked them on the way up here," Jason muttered.

"Thank you," Ariadne replied. "They are lovely." She paused as a thought occurred to her. "Do you think you could get another bunch just like these if one of us came with you?" she asked.

"Why?" Jason said, frowning.

"Because these are so beautiful that I think Aphrodite might like some too," Ariadne answered.

"Who's Aphrodite?" Jason asked.

"She's a goddess," Ariadne replied before anyone else could speak. "She is who we have come here to see… or rather Hercules has."

Before long Hercules was entering the Sanctuary of Aphrodite carrying Ariadne's bracelet and another small bunch of flowers as an offering. He had left all his companions outside and ventured in alone.

The chamber was cool and dark after the bright sunshine of the day outside, and the air hung heavy with the scent of the bundled herbs being burned on braziers around the room. Behind the main bomos, a statue of Aphrodite rose up on a tall plinth. A large fire bowl also stood on the plinth in front of the statue with spices burning in it, and around the bowl was space for offerings to the Goddess.

Hercules moved over to it and placed the bracelet and flowers next to the bowl. He bowed his head respectfully to the statue, before raising his face to look up at it, hands outstretched at his sides with the palms facing outwards, in the traditional position of prayer. He began to appeal to Aphrodite for her forgiveness and help.

The sun was setting by the time he left the Sanctuary. Hercules was exhausted; his feet ached from the long hours of standing, his belly ached from lack of food and he felt numb from the constant litany of prayers. He wasn't sure what he had expected to be honest, but he had hoped to have been given some kind of sign that the Goddess had relented and removed her curse. In the absence of that sign he had simply continued to pray for as long as he could.

Now he stepped outside, hopeful that he would find his two closest friends returned to normal. It took a moment for his eyes to readjust to the change in light levels and for him to spot his companions.

Ariadne, Icarus and Cassandra were sitting in the shade of one of the trees, chatting idly. Hercules looked around hopefully for the other two. When he saw them, his heart plummeted. It hadn't worked. The two boys were still young children. They were sitting nearer to the road, playing knucklebones in the dust.

Hercules made his way over to the adults with a defeated expression.

"I tried," he rumbled. "I begged for forgiveness in every way I could think of… but Aphrodite hasn't listened to my prayers."

"You did everything you could," Ariadne said comfortingly, standing and placing a gentle hand on the big man's arm.

"What do we do now?" Hercules asked. "What in the name of the Gods do we do now?"

"We try again tomorrow," Ariadne answered firmly. "We come back here every day for as long as it takes."

"But Aphrodite might never relent and answer my prayers," Hercules countered morosely.

"I have to believe that she will," Ariadne retorted. "And I will not leave here until she does."

It was still night time when Jason woke up. For a while he lay there in the dark, watching the shadows on the ceiling and listening to Hercules' stentorian snoring coming from his makeshift bed on the other side of the room and wondering what had woken him up.

He felt odd; not ill exactly but definitely strange – it was almost as though his skin didn't fit him very well and there was something wriggling about in his stomach. He wondered if he should wake Hercules up to tell him but he wasn't feeling sick and he hadn't had a bad dream so maybe he shouldn't.

He was desperately thirsty though. Perhaps it would be alright to go and have a drink of water and then come back to bed? He could go and get a drink without ever having to disturb Hercules' sleep and he was almost certain that he could manage to pour a drink from the big jug in the other room without spilling too much.

Taking care not to wake up Pythagoras who was still fast asleep on the other side of the bed, Jason slipped out from under the covers. The wooden floorboards were shockingly cold against his bare feet and he shivered involuntarily and wrapped his arms around himself. Now that he was out of bed the weird feeling increased; the wriggling in his tummy becoming decidedly uncomfortable.

As silently as possible, the little boy crossed the room and slipped out through the door. The big jug was in the centre of the dining table and there was no way he would be able to reach it while standing on the floor, so he moved across the room and knelt up on one of the stools, pulling the jug towards himself as carefully as he could before slipping down off the stool to stand again.

The jug was heavier than Jason thought and he couldn't help but spill a little water on the table as he struggled to tip it properly, both small hands holding it. All in all he hadn't done too badly though, and he sipped the cup of water he had poured gratefully. The water was cool and refreshing but did little to calm the writhing in his stomach. Jason frowned. He felt hot and cold all at once and he couldn't stop shivering. Maybe he was sick after all.

With his arms clutched firmly around his stomach, Jason began to go back to the bedroom, wanting Hercules. The big man would know what to do. He hadn't got far though when a wave of dizziness hit him and a sharp pain in his stomach made him double over with a quiet whimper. Before he really knew what was happening, he had dropped to his hands and knees on the floor, landing with a soft thud; too quiet to wake the sleeping adults in the nearby rooms. He whimpered softly again and curled in on himself, clutching his stomach. He closed his eyes tightly and wished that whatever this was would go away.

It was nearly dawn when Jason woke up again – although to be fair he didn't actually remember going to sleep. For a moment he lay there, trying to work out what he was doing on the floor, before the events of last night came back to him. Whatever that had been he felt fine now. He went to rub his gritty eyes with his hand but froze, staring at it. His hand was a lot larger and certainly rougher than he remembered it being.

Jason looked down at himself and grinned as all the memories of his life came back to him in a rush. He was an adult again. Then of course it hit him that he was once again waking up on the floor completely naked, and embarrassment reared its head (memories of the 'rabid dog incident' coming to mind), although he was fairly certain that this time it couldn't actually be classed as his fault.

As quietly as he could, Jason pushed himself up from the floor and slipped silently back into the room that he usually shared with Ariadne but had recently been sharing with Hercules and Pythagoras. He grabbed a pair of trousers from the trunk in the corner and pulled them on silently before turning to look at his two friends.

Hercules was still snoring away in the corner. It would take far more than a quietly moving Jason to wake him up when he was deeply asleep. In the double bed that Jason usually shared with Ariadne, Pythagoras was also still fast asleep. He had been returned to his adult self too, and Jason was certain that under the blankets he would also be naked. The young hero smiled warmly as he looked at his friends.

Then he slid back out of the room and went in search of his wife. He knew where she would be of course: in the smaller chamber usually occupied by Hercules. In the doorway, he paused to look at her, watching her sleep.

Even in slumber, Ariadne was very beautiful. She was lying on her side, facing the door, her face relaxed and her long, thick braid of glossy black hair draped across her shoulder. Jason smiled softly to himself as he padded across the room and slipped under the covers beside her.

As Ariadne woke up, she became aware that someone was lying in the bed next to her. Panic rose in her chest, although she tried to control it. Who would have dared to do this? As far as she knew, the crew were all completely loyal. She tried to control her breathing to make it seem as though she was still asleep, knowing that her knife was out of reach on the far side of the room and fearing that she would be attacked the instant she showed she was awake.

A low chuckle reached her ears. Clearly whoever was here with her had worked out that she was awake. The chuckle had sounded incredibly familiar. Knowing that there was no use in pretending since whoever this was knew she wasn't sleeping, Ariadne slowly opened her eyes and found herself looking into a pair of hazel eyes that she knew (and loved) so very well.

"Good morning beautiful," Jason said with a small smile. "I was going to wake you up but you looked so lovely and so peaceful that I just couldn't resist coming across and joining you in bed."

"Jason," Ariadne breathed. "Oh Jason." She buried her face in his chest for a moment before pulling back to look at him. "You are you again."

"Technically I think I was always me," Jason pointed out, his voice still faintly amused. "Just a smaller version of me."

Ariadne slapped him gently on the arm.

"I believe you know exactly what I mean," she said.

Jason chuckled again.

After so many weeks of worry and to have built her hopes up yesterday, only to have them dashed when Aphrodite had not appeared to answer Hercules' prayers, Ariadne couldn't help the fact that her eyes welled up and tears slipped unbidden down her cheeks. She was disappointed at her own weakness.

"Hey, no tears," Jason murmured, sounding a little dismayed. "There's no need to cry." He pulled her close, tucking her head into his shoulder and resting his chin on top of her head. "Unless you're disappointed that I am here of course," he added teasingly. "I could always go and ask Aphrodite to turn me back into mini-me if that is what you would like."

"Don't you dare," Ariadne growled.

She looked up to see the mirth in her husband's face and slapped him on the arm for a second time.

"We have been through too much to get you back to you this time," she declared. "I do not want to have to go through that ever again."

She settled back against Jason's chest once more, listening to the soft thrum of his heartbeat and relishing the warm feeling of his arms wrapped around her.

"Not that I am complaining," she went on, "but what happened? When we left the Sanctuary yesterday it seemed as though Aphrodite had not accepted Hercules' apology or his appeal; that she had not answered his prayers."

"No idea," Jason answered honestly. "I woke up in the night feeling strange and came to get a drink of water. I suddenly got very dizzy and there was this hideous pain in my stomach. The next thing I knew I was waking up naked on the floor and I was back to normal. That was a few minutes ago. I slipped back into our room to get some trousers and then I came in here."

"And Pythagoras?" Ariadne asked.

"He's back to normal too," Jason replied. "He's still asleep."

Ariadne sighed in relief and lay there for a few moments, completely relaxed and comfortable, nestled warmly in her husband's arms.

"It has been difficult," she admitted. "You were a very sweet little boy but I wanted my Jason back."

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for," Ariadne asserted. "This was not your fault."

"No, because it was mainly Hercules'," Jason stated.

"Do not be too hard on him," Ariadne murmured. "He has been wonderful for the last few weeks. He has looked after both you and Pythagoras so well… the way a loving father would have."

"I know," Jason admitted.

Ariadne pulled back and looked him in the face.

"How much do you actually remember about the last few weeks?" she asked.

"Everything," Jason replied. "It's odd," he added reflectively. "I can remember looking for Aphrodite's tears as an adult and then I was suddenly a child again. It feels almost like a dream… only it wasn't."

"No," Ariadne agreed. "It wasn't… and now that it is over I would hope that we can get back to some sort of normal life – whatever that may be." She sighed. "There are times when I come very close to suggesting that we give all of this up… find somewhere to settle and lead an ordinary life. Over the years there have been so many times when I have wished to have been born the daughter of an ordinary citizen so that I might have a life of my own choosing rather than one dictated by duty… but I am saying too much again."

Jason brought his hand up to cup her face.

"I like listening to you talk," he assured her.

Ariadne laughed softly.

"Do you remember the first time you said that to me?" she asked.

"Of course I do," Jason answered. "It was the first time I tried to kill Pasiphae and the first time I spent the night in your chamber with you. It was the happiest night I had had since I arrived in Atlantis up to that point… and it's still true: I do like listening to you."

He leant in and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"We should probably get up," Ariadne ventured. "Everyone else will be up soon and we should be there to tell them what has happened."

"Pythagoras and Hercules can do that," Jason countered, nuzzling in to her neck and dropping gentle kisses at the point where her neck joined her shoulder. "In fact I suspect that Icarus will be so pleased to see Pythagoras as an adult again that they will want to disappear off on their own for a while, so any explanation will have to wait until they re-emerge anyway."

"Even so, we should probably be there," Ariadne protested, although her resolve was weakening.

"I would rather be here with you," Jason replied. "Just the two of us… We don't get anywhere near enough time to ourselves. I am sure our friends wouldn't begrudge us a little time on our own. Besides," he added, dropping another kiss into the hollow of Ariadne's collarbone, "no-one else is up yet. We'll hear them moving about out there when they are. We can get up and join them then. For now let's just be together."

Ariadne smiled at him.

"Alright," she said. "Have it your way."

She snuggled into her husband's arms and relaxed. As she lay there, she felt Jason's breathing even out and looked up to find that his eyes were closed. She smiled as she realised he had fallen asleep, a peaceful expression and a soft smile gracing his features. Ariadne reached up and gently stroked her hand down the side of his face. Then, with a smile on her own lips, she allowed her eyes to drift closed and she slipped into a light doze, relaxed and happy now that everything was back to normal.

Hercules was a man on a mission. It was a week since Aphrodite's curse had been lifted and his friends had been returned to their normal selves. They were now back on course for Colchis – albeit a few weeks behind where they had been. In that week Hercules had managed to find time for a quiet and private chat with Pythagoras – just to ensure that there were no hard feelings about what had happened (not that he had imagined there would be for a moment – Pythagoras couldn't hold a grudge to save his life).

He hadn't been able to catch Jason alone in that time though – hence his self-imposed mission now. It was true that Jason seemed pretty philosophical about everything that had happened in the past few weeks (seemed more relaxed than Hercules had seen him for months to be honest) but the burly wrestler wanted to make sure that all was forgiven between them; that there was no resentment to flare up again at some point in the future.

He came up onto deck and looked around, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunshine, before making his way forwards towards the prow of the ship. They were currently beached on a small island to allow the timbers of the Argo to dry out, and most of the occupants of the ship had gone ashore. Hercules knew, however, from speaking to Ariadne that Jason was still on board somewhere.

Rounding the side of the forward mast, Hercules found his friend sitting with his back to it, a piece of planking resting on his bent knees with some parchment on top of it. Jason was making quick, bold strokes on the parchment with a piece of charcoal.

Hercules watched him for a moment, nonplussed. Whilst he had become used to seeing the child version of his friend drawing, he had never seen (or expected to see) the adult version engaged in the activity. He had to admit that Jason was rather good – although his style was like nothing Hercules had ever seen before.

"Is everything alright?"

Jason's voice startled Hercules – he hadn't realised that his friend knew he was there, given that he hadn't looked up from his parchment.

"Yeah," Hercules rumbled. "I just wanted a chat."

Jason raised his eyebrows and put his drawing down on the deck at his side, as Hercules sat himself down on a crate.

"Alright," he said. "What did you want to talk about? Is something wrong?"

"No, no… nothing like that," Hercules answered. He fell silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "You're actually pretty good at that," he added, nodding towards the parchment.

Jason snorted.

"Not really," he disagreed. "I just like to doodle. It's not like I've got any real talent or anything."

Hercules found that he didn't agree but held his tongue; not wanting to argue.

"It is something you enjoy though," he said.

"Yeah," Jason replied. "I always have… but I think you know that now. I just don't really get much time for it normally."

"Mmm," Hercules answered. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about… You do know that I never intended what happened to you boys to happen, don't you? And that I'm sorry."

Jason gave him a half smile.

"Yes," he said frankly, "and it's alright. It was a mistake, that's all. We all make them… and I'd be a bloody hypocrite if I held this over you after all the things I've done over the last few months… and there's no harm done in the end."

"So everything's good between us then?"

"Everything's good," Jason confirmed. He looked steadily at Hercules. "You still have questions though… I don't need to be the Oracle to see that."

"Maybe one or two," Hercules conceded.

"Go ahead," said Jason. "I can't promise to be able to answer everything though."

Hercules looked at him thoughtfully.

"So are you really younger than Pythagoras then?" he asked eventually.

Jason snorted a startled laugh.

"Of all the questions you could ask and that's the one you start with?" he said incredulously.

"It was the first one I could think of," replied Hercules defensively.

"Fair enough," Jason answered. "In answer to your question, yes I am younger than Pythagoras… but there's only a few months in it as far as I can tell."

"As far as you can tell?"

"I don't precisely know when my birthday is," Jason muttered with a little embarrassment. "I know what time of year it is but I don't know the exact date."

"How can you not know when your own birthday is?" Hercules demanded

"Where I grew up we didn't use the Attic calendar," Jason answered defensively. "So the dates don't correspond exactly."

"In In-ger-land," Hercules said.

"It's England," Jason replied with a smile at his friend's attempt at pronunciation.

"And that's not in Hellas is it?" Hercules asked. "You are not Greek."

"I was born in Atlantis," Jason answered somewhat evasively – as he always did when the subject of his childhood came up, Hercules noted clinically.

"I know that," Hercules said. "But you weren't raised anywhere in Hellas; you weren't raised Greek."

"No," Jason acknowledged. "Where I grew up was a very long way from here."

"In a house for unwanted children," Hercules murmured.

Jason tensed.

"We're getting towards subjects I don't really want to talk about," he said.

They lapsed into silence for a while. Eventually, Hercules roused himself.

"I could probably help you," he offered.

"With what?" Jason asked, confused.

"If I thought about it for a bit I could probably tell you when your birthday is… if you'd like that."

"How on earth could you know that?"

Hercules smiled, his eyes shining with good humour.

"Your parents were the King and Queen of Atlantis," he pointed out. "You were born as heir to the throne. When you were born there was a big announcement and days of celebrations. They held a pankration to mark the occasion. I can still remember it clearly. Give me a little time to think about it and I could probably tell you precisely when it was."

Jason blinked.

"They really celebrated like that?" he asked, sounding astounded.

"Of course," Hercules said. "You were their Prince; the hope for Atlantis' future."

Jason stared at him.

Hercules smiled fondly at him, shaking his head.

"You really don't understand what it means to be born of royal blood, do you?" he asked. "No, don't answer that," he added, holding up one hand to forestall any comments from his friend. "It wasn't a question that I wanted answering."

They both fell silent again. Hercules eased himself into a more comfortable position on the crates. He noticed that Jason's eyes kept straying towards the piece of parchment he had put down and couldn't help smiling, remembering seeing the little boy that Jason had so recently been doing exactly the same thing (and if he had a couple of the pictures the child had drawn tucked away safely in his room – well, no-one needed to know).

"I have one last question for now," Hercules rumbled.

"Go on," Jason prompted with some trepidation.

"Why did you never tell us you were younger than Pythagoras?" Hercules said.

"You never asked," Jason replied simply.

Hercules grinned.

"Fair enough," he said. He looked up at the position of the sun. "Well, I think it's about time I went and found a flagon of wine," he added, standing up.

"And perhaps a pie?" Jason asked, giving his older companion a lop-sided smile and pushing himself up from the deck.

"Cheeky sod," Hercules grumbled.

Jason's grin broadened, but as Hercules went to move past him, he caught hold of the burly wrestler's arm, his grin falling away to an earnest expression.

"Hercules?" he said. "Everything that you've done over the past few weeks? Thank you… I know it can't have been easy having to look after us both… but you've been amazing. So… yeah… thank you for everything."

Hercules swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat.

"You're welcome, Trouble," he murmured with a faint smile. "I wouldn't have changed a thing."

He pulled Jason in for the sort of hug that would have been second nature a year ago but hadn't happened so much of late – the last few weeks notwithstanding. And if they both held on a little tighter and for a little longer than strictly necessary? Well, who was counting.