Romancing the Stone

Two months later . . .

Brooke sat alone in her apartment with her cat, Mango, in her lap. She was on the couch in front of the television, mindlessly flipping through the channels. It was the second Saturday of the month, her night to go to the movies with Nathan.

Only Nathan was otherwise occupied with his new "friend." Some guy he met at the racquet club he had joined a couple of weeks ago. Nathan's first love interest in two years, so even though Brooke was disappointed, she certainly didn't blame him for wanting to spend his time with his new lover rather than her.

She paused the channel changing when she heard a familiar song she liked. M-TV was playing Janet Jackson's video of "Miss You Much." She started tapping her foot to the beat, waking up poor Mango, who abandoned her shaking lap for calmer ground. She became engrossed in the sight of the dancers. They were all in such great shape… and thin, too. She hated them, but knew she really just hated herself. She shut off the TV and threw the remote across the room, where it bounced off the screen door, and started crying.

"Gosh, Brooke, if you don't like me anymore - just say so. You don't have to throw things at me." It was Nathan. He had just arrived at the door when the remote came flying in his direction.

Brooke lifted her tear-streaked face from her hands and looked up at Nathan. "Oh, hi," she said sadly.

"Honey, what’s wrong?" He rushed to her side and put an arm around her.

"Nothing, really. I'm just feeling sorry for myself. That's all."

"Tell me about it. What's gotten my best friend so down in the dumps?”

Brooke stood up and retrieved the remote from the floor. "Same old story, Nathan. I'm just so tired of being fat and ugly. And I'm lonely. I want a man in my life."

"What am I? Chopliveliver? You've got me, babe!"

His remark caused Brooke to smile half-heartedly. "Nathan, that's sweet, and you'll always be my friend, but that's not quite what I was thinking. Don't worry about it, I'll be okay. It's just getting close to that time of the month again and you know how emotional I get just before my period."

"Ain't that the truth! I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with that. You women should be commended for everything that comes along with being one. Amen sister," Nathan joked.

"You want something to drink?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, sure. But I'll get it." He rose and headed for the kitchen.

“What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were spending the evening with Billy?" Brooke sat back down on the sofa.

Nathan returned with a can of Coke in his hand. He popped the lid and took a big swig. "I was. But he had some sort of family emergency. His father has cancer and isn’t doing very well apparently. They don’t expect him to last much longer, so he went over to his family's house."

"That's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that. How's he taking it?"

Nathan walked over to the breakfront to view his favorite piece in Brooke's paperweight collection - the green crystal. "He's taking it all right, I guess. Mind if I polish your pretty green paperweight? It looks a little dusty to me."

Brooke laughed. "Go ahead. But it's not dusty, I just cleaned them all yesterday."

Excitement lit up in Nathan's eyes as he opened the case and picked up the green rock. Immediately it started to glow at his touch.

"Wow! I swear I think this thing has powers of some sort. It's like I can feel them flowing through my body. You still haven’t been able to get it to glow for you?"

"Nope! No such luck. Must be your chemistry, Nathan. Either that or you must be a witch or something."

"Yeah, right. A witch. I wish. I know a few things in my life that I love to magically change if I could." Nathan's eyes were fixed on the crystal he held, examining it carefully. "So, have you tried to find out any background about this thing? Who owned it before you bought it? What part of the world it came from, maybe?"

Brooke sighed. She and Nathan had discussed researching the piece on the Internet, and she had every intention of doing so, but . . . "No, I've been so busy at work, I barely have time for anything else. One of these days, though, I promise I'll look into it. I'm just as curious as you are."

Nathan reluctantly placed the piece back and joined Brooke on the couch. "So, shall we ee aee a flick?"

"Naw, I'm really not in the mood for a movie now. I think I'll just go to bed early."

"Oh come on, Brooke. Being cooped up in this place by yourself is not doing your spirit any good. Let's at least go get a bite to eat or something."

"Well …"

Nathan gave her his puppy dog eyes look. "Please?"

She laughed. "Okay. I'll go and change."

While Brooke was changing, Nathan returned to the breakfront again, unable to stifle the urge to hold the strange green stone once more. He was awed that he could make it glow like he did. The more he touched it, the more he was sure it held some kind of power. But what kind of power? And why was he the only one who could make it glow?

Fifteen minutes later, Brooke was ready. She walked back into the living room and Nathan was still standing next to the breakfront, staring in a trance-like state at the glowing green crystal.

"Would you put that down, already! Let's get out of here before I change my mind."

Nathan shook his head. "Huh? Oh, yeahght.ght." He rced ced the stone and they left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Ares was in the middle of a beach volleyball game when he felt the surge of power coming from the Cronos stone. It had distracted him to the point where he didn't notice the ball heading in his direction. Only when the ball hit him in the head was he shaken from his conratiration.

"Hey, are you all right?" one of his teammates asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine! But I just remembered something I need to take care of. I’ll catch you all later,” he answered.

As soon as he was out of sight, he disappeared to find the locale of the signal, although it had stopped. Lucky for him, though, it started up again minutes later and this time lasted long enough for him to find it. A quiet suburban neighborhood on the coast of the United States; Long Beach, California to be exact.
staystayed invisibly cloaked on the roof of the building where the stone was and waited to see who would exit the dwelling. Once he found out who owned the stone, he could find a way to infiltrate their life. He was shocked when he saw the two people leaving the house.

"Hades?" he said to himself. "It can't be. He's dead along with all the other Olympians. How in Tartarus..?" He stopped short once they got into a car and realized they were taking off. He invisibly materialiin tin the back seat of the vehicle to find out the answers to his many questions.

"So where are we going, Nathan?"

"Oh, I don't know. You don't want to see a movie. How about that new restaurant in Shoreline Village?"

"I heard it was kinda fancy. I don't think we're dressed for that. Besides, I'm not real hungry. Let's just get a snack somewhere."

"All right. Let me see." Nathan was driving and turned quickly when he got an idea. "Oh, I know where we can go."

"Where?"

"There's a real cool juice bar down the street from my new gym. I've tried it. It's good. Then maybe you could come check out this new racquet club I've joined. You might see someone you like!" he grinned and winked at her.

Brooke rolled her eyes. Yeah, right! Like anyone who works out at the gym would be interested in a fat slob like me. "Yeah, whatever," she answered.

"Cool!" Nathan was excited anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


As they chatted over a smoothie, Nathan convinced Brooke to, at least, come and check out the club. She finally agreed, reluctantly. She really wasn't in the mood to see a bunch of pretty and physically fit women working out with weights and flirting with all the guy guys.

She was surprised to see that about half the people there were just regular folks. Sure, there were the perfect looking, gorgeous ones, but there were just as many average, overweight ones too. This made Brooke feel a little more comfortable about being there.

"Nathan! Hey guy, come to work out?" A nice looking young man stopped to talk a moment after coming out of the locker room.

"No, not tonight, Sam. I just brought my friend here to check things out, maybe even convince her to join."

The man turned his attention to Brooke and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you … "

"Brooke," she said shyly.

"Brooke! I'm Sam, one of the instructors of this fine establishment. Are you looking to find yourself a good work-out regiment?"

Brooke shrugged. "I don't know. Losing weight is always on my mind. Yet, I never really considered joining a gym before. I always thought I'd be too embarrassed to come with all the beautiful bodies around."

"Well, that's not the case here. As a matter of fact, we have a great number of s jus just like you, who want to get in better shape. I know for a fact that it is so much easier to stick to a diet if you're working out at the same time. I used to be over 300 pounds, myself."

"Really?" both Brooke and Nathan exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah, really. It took me almost two years to get to where I am, but I'm sure glad I did. I can't tell you how much better I feel now. My energy level is amazing. And it changed my attitude, too. Let me show you something, Brooke." He quickly looked to Nathan for approval. "You don't mind, do you Nathan?"

"Not at all. Go right ahead. I'll meet you back here in a little while."

Sam led Brooke down a corridor to where there were individual rooms. He quietly opened one of the doors to look in on a class that was in progress. It was a beginners exercise class, filled with overweight bodies. People just like her. After observing for a few minutes, Sam closed the door as quietly as he had opened it.

"See? There are plenty of people here who are working towards the same goal: to lose weight and get in shape. There are a number of different classes you could join, depending on your stamina and what you like. You could even hire a personal trainer. Let me take you up up front. There are some brochures that you might find interesting."

Before they reached the front desk, Sam stopped Brooke one more time as they looked in the doorway of the weight room. He pointed to one, well-muscled woman, who was on the Stairmaster.

"You see that woman there?" Sam asked. Brooke nodded. "Well she used to be bigger than you. Now look at her. She's training for the LA Marathon."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. She joined a little over a year ago."

"Wow. That's fantastic."

By the time Sam had reached the front desk with Brooke, he had sold her on the idea of joining and really giving this weight loss thing another try.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Meanwhile, Nathan's fine eye had spotted the most gorgeous looking guy coming in fro front entrance, right after Sam took off with Brooke. He was extremely fit, with dark shoulder length wavy hair, dark eyes, and muscles everywhere. Nathan's heart beat a little harder in his chest as he watched the man walk across the lobby to the bar and order a drink. What an ass he had in those tight jeans. Nathan thought he had better find himself a seat before he fell over. He had never seen a man so beautiful.

The bartender threw a cocktail napkin down in front of Ares. "What can I get you?"

"Scotch on the rocks. Chivas Regal, if you have it," he answered.

Moments later the bartender set his drink on the napkin.

"That'll be $4.50."

Ares pulled a five spot out of his pants pocket and placed it on the bar.

"Out of five," the barkeep said.

"Keep it," Ares told him.

Although the gym was crowded, the bar lounge was relatively empty. Only a thin man wearing a business suit and "Clark Kent" style glasses sat at the other end of the bar with a glass of tap beer.

Ares slowly sipped his drink, keeping a nonchalant watchful eye on Nathan in the lobby, when he heard the bartender speaking to him.

"Haven't seen you in here before. Did you just join?"

"No. Actually, I'm just passing through. But when I saw the place, I had to stop in and check it out. I have a weakness for these country clubs."

"Yeah?" the bartender said questionably.

"Well, of course. I've spent my entire life in a gym, body building. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be Mr. Olympia." He took another draw from the glass. "Pipe dream, really," he sighed.

"What happened?"

"Car accident when I was 22. Took a big chunk out of one of my legs."

The bartender looked down Ares’ body to see if the injury was visible. "I would have never guessed it, by the way you look."

"Reconstructive surgery is a medical miracle. However, the muscle was too damaged. Things were never the same after that."

"That's too bad, man. Sorry to hear that happened." The bartender picked up a glass and dried it, then placed it in the rack above his head.

"So, what do you do now?"

"I'm a personal trainer." He paused and then added, "an unemployed personal trainer."

"No shit? We have an opening for a personal trainer. If you're interested, you should go talk to Lettie at the front desk and ask her for an application. Tell her I sent you, that might get you in before the rest."

Ares finished his drink in one more swallow. The female and Hades’ twin were on the move again. "Maybe I will. Thanks … "

"Karl!" the bartender smiled and held out a hand.

"Dex." Ares tightly gripped his hand and shook it. "Dex Baxter."

"No problem, Dex. Glad to be able to help."

Ares reached in his pocked and pulled another five-dollar bill out of his pocket.

"Want another, Dex?"

"No thanks. I have an appointment. But I appreciate the lead on the job, Karl. Perhaps I'll see you around." He set the five on the bar and walked away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Brooke and Nathan were filling out the membership forms for Brooke at the front desk when Dex approached and asked for Lettie.

"I'm Lettie. Can I help you?" The young woman let her eyes drop down the man's body in admiration. She smiled broadly at him.

"I hear you're taking applications for personal trainers. I'm a friend of Karl. He told me that you're the lady to see for the job." Ares had all of his charm turned on. He made sure Lettie noticed him checking out her tits, letting a sexy smile curve his mouth as he did. "So, when do I start?" he asked seductively.

"Well, honey, as far as I'm concerned, you can start right now! And I'll be your first pupil. But you should probably fill out this application first, so we know how to make out your paychecks," she flirted back.

Ares caught her gaze and refused to release it for the moment as he reached out and took the application from her hand, making sure to gently touch her in the process. "Thank you, darlin'," he purred.

Needless to say, Dex Baxter was the newest employee at the Rancho Verde Racquet Club.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


As soon as the two friends were outside, Brooke grabbed Nathan's arm and squeezed it tightly.

"Oh my GOD, Nathan. Did you see that guy? He was absolutely fucking gorgeous."

Nathan nodded continually. "Oh, yeah. I almost fell over backwards when I saw him walk across the lobby, heading for the bar. You were off with Sam at the time. Yep! That's one man I would give anything to have."

"Me, too." Brooke said and then she busted out in laughter.

Nathan smiled. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, really. But aren't we just a pathetic pair of horn-dogs?"

"Sure are. And proud of it," Nathan joked.

They got in the car and Nathan headed back to Brooke's apartment to drop her off and then head for home, himself. They were still unaware of the invisible passenger who had hitched a ride.

When Nathan pulled up to the curb and Brooke got out, Ares felt a bit relieved. He knew the stone was inside the apartment, he just didn't know which one of the two lived there. He was glad to find out that it wasn't Hades' twin. He had a strong feeling that this kid was related to his uncle, and therefore, had inherited some of the god's powers. The stone would be of no use to him if he got it from Nathan. No, it had to be a mortal. Those were the rules Zeus had set in stone thousands of years ago. Fortunately for Ares, Brooke had mortal written all over her. It just might not be so fortunate for Brooke.

"Another easy conquest," he thought to himself, and then disappeared from the back seat of the car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Ares made his new home in Long Beach, California. He was to start his new job as a personal trainer at the racquet club the following week. He curiously made his way around town, found a quiet bar along the shore and sat out on the patio, relaxing with a drink. Time to form a plan as to how he could integrate himself into Brooke's life and get her to give him the stone.

A smile found his lips as he decided the best course of action would be to romance the girl. He could tell right away that she had found him attractive when she first saw him in the club the previous day.

Although she wasn't quite his type, being a little heavier than he preferred, she did have a pretty face. He'd be able to get intimate with her, anyway. Besides, he was such a fantastic lover in his own right; he practically got off on himself at times.

What a stroke of luck that she had decided to join the club. It would make for the perfect opportunity to have a "chance" meeting. Ares sighed in contentment and stretched out his legs, resting them on the chair opposite him. He sat out on the patio for the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed the sights and the sun. Nothing could wipe the grin off of the God of War's face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~