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The Athens Gate Hotel is one of the city's shining jewels in the hotel industry. Tonight it has been taken over by several hundred dignitaries in preparation for the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games on the morrow. And by 'taken over' the narration means it; both the ground floor reception room and the rooftop garden have been invaded by A-list guests, including movie stars, ambassadors and several deities.

The guest of honor is one Thallo Eirene, whose status wasn't something she was aware of until arriving at the hotel, and someone tried to whisk her away for a photoshoot with some of the other celebrities.

(It was a very reluctant photoshoot on her part.)

Now, she's ensconced in the garden with her date, mentally counting down the time they still have to suffer through before she can make a graceful exit and run away from all the media attention. The dress she's wearing isn't exactly helping with her attempts to be a wallflower.

"Your Holiness." Eirene glances up at the latest intruder, and smiles pleasantly. "Your Holiness. Thank you for coming, sir. I know that your followers are pleased to see you out and about."

That's right. She's talking to the Pope.

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"Yeah, it is."

He eyes her - and her hand - suspiciously. But he takes it. (Like he wouldn't.) "Okay."

Clark promptly gets treated to a variation of Air Eirene, which involves vanishing in a shower of gold sparks from Athens, and appearing about ten seconds later in Olympia, standing on a wide, flat stretch of ground, with sides sloping up at gradual intervals.

The reverence on Eirene's face is visible.

"Twenty seven hundred years ago," she whispers, "give or take a century, the first Games was held right here."

"Really?" Clark is distracted enough now from the gold sparkle things to pay attention.

"It' so quiet."

"These are only ruins now, though Dad and Hera have temples here. Modern Olympia isn't too far away. But this site ... I just wanted to show it to you because it's going to be featured in the ceremonies tomorrow."

Considering how tight-lipped everyone has been about what exactly will happen, it should show Clark how completely she trusts him.

"That's cool." And indeed, he does sound impressed.

"It's nice. I like it." He can't quite put into words what exactly about it he likes, though. It's just the feeling the place has.

Probably because for almost three millenia, that patch of ground has been declared off limits for any form of violence that does not pertain to athletic competition.

"Peaceful," Eirene supplies helpfully, her voice echoing into the silence. "Okay, we should go home so I can stress over everything."

"Peaceful," he repeats quietly, and then nods. "That works."

Clark glances down at her. "No, we should head home so you can rest, and soak in a tub with bath salts and bubbles and stuff and then try and get some sleep." Why yes, he is serious.

"Bubbles in a bath?" The look on her face should clue him in that she's never tried this before, and might be wondering how sane he is.

"You're serious?"

"You've never had a bubble bath?" This sounds like a grievous sin the way he says it.

"No. They don't have bubbles in the ocean." Or lakes. Streams. Rivers. Where people take 'baths'. Although Eirene does enjoy the modern shower facilities.

"Okay, we're remedying that right now, young lady." He holds out his hand. "Back to your place."

Her lips twitch at 'young lady' but Eirene collects his hand again and whisks them right into her living room, where the goddess is immediately set on by a slightly larger, but still recognizable, puppy.

"Thank you for flying Air Eirene," she mumbles from the ground. Tricksy Mel is tricksy.

"Hey, you." Clark crouches down, tuxedo and all, to give Mel a pat in greeting. "It's not nice to knock your goddess down. She's the one who feeds you, remember."

Mel wags her tail at approximately 1,000 miles an hour and wuffs happily under his palm, and will, in fact, continue this blatant 'yay daddy is here' routine while Eirene climbs back to her feet with an exasperated look on her face.

"We love you, too, Mel. Off to bed now, you can harass him in the morning."

Of course, by this time, she's struggling to find the zipper that's currently keeping the dress snug against her (hard to do when one's hair keeps getting in the way).

"Come on, girl, we can hang out a little tomorrow," Clark ruffles Mel's ears and then stands back up.

"Uh, you need any help with that?" That's to Eirene.

Sad Mel is sad. The puppy manages to flop down on her little bed in the exact same way a little girl would after being told she's had too much cake and needs to sleep now. There's even a forlorn huff that Eirene is doing her best to ignore.

"Yeah, thanks. I can't find the zipper." The goddess looks somewhat disgruntled. "And what kind of bubbles do I need?"

"Just regular bubble bath," he offers, perhaps unhelpfully, as he moves behind her and holds her hair up, then starts the zipper for her until she can reach herself. "There."

Yeah. Helpful. "Thank you." She turns halfway, catching a hand long enough to kiss the palm, and then heads for the stairs and her bedroom. "Regular bubble bath is what kind?"

"Uh. Hang on." Eirene might her a somewhat familiar whooshing sound, and there will be a few minutes of silence. And then Clark will knock on her bedroom door, opening it just enough for an arm to stretch inside, bearing a large bottle of vanilla-scented bubble bath. It's similar enough to what his mom uses, and Kara seems to like it, too. "Try this."

It's just long enough to get into her room, exchange dress for robe, and start the bath water running. For which the bubble stuff arrives just in the nick of time. And is summarily tugged inside with her.

(Clark is good at this.)

"Thank you. I'll be out in, what, fifteen minutes probably."

"Sure thing." He expects it'll turn out to be more like half an hour, if his mom and Kara are anything to go by. In the meantime, he goes upstairs to his room to change, and then decides Mel deserves some attention after all. So whenever Eirene is done, she'll find boyfriend and puppy hanging out on the couch, watching TV.

Daddy! Mel loves the big guy sitting next to her. So much that she'll share all of the toys in the house with him, and chew on his fingers and let him rub her tummy and scratch behind her ears ...

and and and.

Both Eirene and Clark were wrong on the time frame - it's almost an hour later when she finally wanders down the stairs, wrapped in a robe, with damp hair swaying across her back.

"Awe. You two are adorable."

All of which Clark is happy to accommodate, and there may even be a brief attempt to get Mel to learn how to catch a ball when he tosses it up. They'll work on distance later when they're outside.

Both man and dog glance her way when Eirene arrives, Mel's tail thumping rapidly. "We try, don't we, Mel?" Ears re scratched again and then Clrk gives Eirene a small smile. "Feel better?"

Mel is more interested in chasing after the ball and trying to knock various trinkets over than actually catching it; at least, she is in the house. She's also determined to leap off of the couch and try to trip up her 'owner' again.

Which doesn't work because Eirene is on guard for that now and simply scoops the puppy up into her arms. "You are too adorable for your own good. Here, go potty," she heads to the back door and opens it up so Mel can tear out into the yard and get some fresh air. Clark might have noticed the doggy door now installed.

"Yeah, that was ... interesting. My fingers are wrinkled now."

"I can't believe you never had a bubble bath before." Clark may catch one of her hands on her way by and kiss those wrinkled fingers.