Finally, I've written the second chapter. I have to admit that I'm terrified and not sure what to think of it myself, it went a little bit differently in my head but then the length would have been much, much longer and there were just too many ways I could write this scene out. Hopefully, this will do fine for now.



Chapter Two:

There was the door right in front of her. Artemis found herself frozen on the spot, her hand curled into a loose fist just inches from the wood surface. Desirae had told her to simply go inside. It was a little bit too late to reconsider coming now, wasn't it? No, that wasn't an option. She had been waiting a long time for this, too. Artemis just never expected it to be like this.

A deep breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding left her in the moment her fingers wrapped around the door knob, hesitantly peeking inside as though she was worried about interrupting something important. When she noticed no one inside nor had she heard any noises indicating that Alphonse was in the room, the young woman walked further inside, closing the door quietly behind herself. It wasn't until then, that she noticed a pair of dark blue eyes staring up at her from behind a desk.

Instantly, Artemis could feel the warmth in her face return for the second time within the past several minutes. Though embarrassed, she couldn't seem to bring herself to speak. Instead she stood there, staring at the man she had only met a couple weeks before. The man she had been hoping desperately to meet since the age of four. Legend had been right; She resembled a lot of his father.. their father. They had the same dark hair, same blue eyes, even their ears were the same.

Upon realizing she was still staring, without saying a single word and how strange that must look, the half-Greek young woman ducked her head, gazing down at the floor. What she failed to consider was in that moment, Alphonse's thoughts probably weren't much different than her own.

Finally, the silence was broken as the dark haired man stood from his big chair, coming around from behind the desk. The papers on his desktop were abandoned in favor of a large smile, and Artemis quickly found herself being pulled into a hug.

He was genuinely happy to see her.

Knowing that, it felt like a weight had been lifted. The worries she had carried with her for such a long time about this day, if it were to ever come finally being erased once and for all, leaving a sort of peace in it's place. Artie was able to relax a little bit, enough to return his embrace.

"I'm glad you came. Have a seat, make yourself at home," Alphonse gestured toward one of two chairs in front of the desk, waiting until she was seated to return to his own seat. "Are you thirsty? Hungry? I could-"

Before he could finish, Artemis was shaking her head. "No, thank you. I'm fine." Pausing a moment, Artemis tucked a dark strand of hair behind her ear before folding her hands in her lap. "I'm glad I came too.."

There was another quiet moment where silence fell between them as Artemis trailed off, not for lack of words but because she found herself staring again, unable to help it.

He was her father, he was real and sitting right in front of her.

As Alphonse's smile grew, a slight hint of amusement reached his eyes. Artemis dropped her gaze to her hands absently playing with a loose string on her sleeve, the familiar warmth of heat rushing to her cheeks out of embarrassment for staring so bluntly.

"It's alright." Alphonse assured, not bothered in the least.

Glancing up at him, a small, shy smile of her own appeared. "I always wondered what it would be like to finally meet you. How it would happen, if I would just.. know, walking down the street or any old place, if I were to run into you, would I know who you were? Or maybe you would be the one to find me." She admitted quietly, revealing many of her reoccurring childhood thoughts and daydreams. "I wondered.. what you would be like, how your voice would sound, how you would look; I knew I must look more like you, I hardly take after mom's side of the family."

Alphonse was quiet, listening intentively as his daughter spoke. "And are you disappointed?"

The question caught her a little off guard. She had never thought about that before but without even thinking, she shook her head lightly. "No," Artemis didn't need to think about it, she already knew the answer. She just hadn't realized until that moment. "Not at all."

That day in the Leaky Cauldron with Legend and his- their father, with her mother showing up for one of her surprise visits hadn't been the way she ever imagined finding out who her father was, never mind how she imagined meeting him. She didn't really have a clear idea of what it should have been like; As a child there had been many different thought up scenarios in which the fateful day would take place, and even though rushing out of the pub was never quite part of those ideas, it had worked out for the best.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything? Coffee?" Alphonse asked, slowly rising from his seat.

Artemis shook her head once more. "No, thank you. I don't drink coffee." She had tried it once in her life, and that was all she needed; It had tasted bitter in comparison to the light, sweet taste of her favorite tea.

Alphonse nodded, not very surprised as she uttered those words; He should have known. It was the same thing Athena would have said. "How about some tea?"

Looking up at the man from where he stood at the door, Artie slowly nodded, changing her mind at the offer of tea. "That would be really nice, actually."

__________

Following behind Demetria as she entered the house that afternoon, Artemis mimicked her motion and dropped her bag in the corner next to the door, plopping herself on the floor in order to carefully take her shoes off and set them by their school bags as well.

With a wiggle of her toes, free from her shoes, Artemis' dark blue eyes looked up as her uncle came through the front door. As he had informed them several times a week, he was not as young as he use to be and couldn't race them to the house, which happened to be why she and her older cousin had arrived inside first.

A smile brightened the young girl's face, taking the hand her uncle offered to help her up and quickly, she sped down the hallway and straight into the kitchen, nearly sliding as her feet went from wood flooring to tile in the matter of seconds, Artemis recovered from her wobbling and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table to slide herself into.

"How was your first day back at school, darlings?" Aunt Erimentha asked, affectionate as always as she greeted both children with a firm hug from behind and kiss on the head.

From where she sat across the table, Artemis watched her cousin run her fingers through her short reddish brown hair, seperating a little tangle with her fingers as aunt Erimentha poured hot water into two cups and set them down in front of them both, warning in a firm motherly tone, "Don't touch yet. The tea isn't not ready and it needs to cool first." A plate of cookies were levitated onto the table between them.

"It was fun! There's some new kids, mostily younger ones.." Demetria started excitedly, her voice trailing off at the end, the nine year old made a funny face as if she had just put something extremely sour in her mouth. Artie resisted a giggle as best as she could. "Except when that boy got DIRT in my hair." Then, in that exact moment, it hadn't been fun. Nope.

Deniz had the abnormal habit of walking right into conversations he would probably rather not have heard, and this time was no different than others as he walked into the room. His gaze went from the the cookies, to two young girls, and then his wife. Uttering only a single question seriously, he picked up a cookie while he was there. "Boy troubles, already?"

Erimentha's only response was a warm smile, a soft chuckle leaving her lips. Boys would be boys, wouldn't they? "What about you, Artemis. How was your day back?"

Nibbling on her snack, the six year old was barely aware of the conversation, practically tuning it out in favor of her wandering thoughts and imagination, always thinking up new things for the next day. When she noticed a couple sets of eyes staring at her, Artemis sat up a little straighter in her chair and finished chewing the food in her mouth, swallowing before she answered. "Good!"

"Anything exciting happen?" Erimentha kindly prompted the young girl, encouraging her to go on.

Artie gave a little shrug of her shoulders. Her teacher was still Mr. DeVille, the same man who was about to marry her mother and become the father she had been seeking. There wasn't much to tell there; Clearly, she liked her teacher. And most, if not all of the children she attended school with were the same as they had been last year, and the year before that, and the year before that except.. "Oh! Aunt Eriee, uncle Deniz!" The little brunette exclaimed, her face lighting up once more as she seemed to remember something exciting.

Artemis leaned up in her seat, eager to tell her news. "I made a new friend at school today! He's new and he's not like the other kids!"

Demetria looked confused, if not skeptical, looking over her cookie at her cousin. "He's a Wizard, isn't he?" They attended wizarding schools for children. Seperate ones, but both for magical beings. She didn't understand how he could be 'not like the other kids', in that case.

Slightly puzzled by Demetria's question, Artie slowly bobbed her head up and down. What did that have to do with anything? Of course he was.

"What do you mean by that, dear?" Aunt Erimentha appeared to be a bit confused as well.

"He's new.." Artemis repeated, becoming more confused by the second. She brushed the confusion aside, deciding to settle back on being happy about the day and went on to explain, "He moved here this year from some place else, and he's my friend now! Do you think mommy and Andrew- I meant Mr. DeVille, will let me invite him to the wedding?"

"That's wonderful Artemis, and what a good idea! We'll talk to your mother when she comes home from work, I'm sure they won't mind at all. What's this boy's name?"

"Eros." The boy's name left the little girl's lips in a near whisper, as if the information was much too special and important to announce to world.

In all honesty, she didn't want to share him with the world. Her family, maybe. But not the whole world. Not yet.