Annabeth was sitting in the bathtub, in her pajamas, pressing her head to the cool tile of the wall, Taris crouched by her feet, his whiskers twitching in sympathy and his eyes scrunched up in the pain that was only a fraction of what she was feeling.

It had started a few hours ago, when she and Percy had been lounging on the sofas, eating popcorn and watching reruns of Icarly. It happened so slowly that she didn't even notice anything until they were halfway through the first season. But even then, it was nothing more than a quick twinge when she turned her head too quickly to watch as Vyri accidentally knocked the popcorn bowl off the arm of the sofa with her tail.

It had been a momentary discomfort, and easily forgotten.

But over the next five hours, it had slowly gotten worse and worse until it felt like someone had wrapped a scarf or rubber band around her head, and was slowly squeezing it until there was no room left inside for her brain.

She'd already taken four tablets of ibuprofen, but all it had done was make her queasy.

Hence why she was in the bathtub.

When she spoke, her voice came out as a groan that threatened to turn into a snarl if her husband didn't react quickly enough. "Percy!"

But he was already running in through the door, his arms loaded with ice packs and water bottles.

Taris's ears went back, and he hissed in displeasure as another spike of pain drove through his head. They were in excruciating pain, and Percy brought them water.

And even his stupid seaweed brain powers couldn't get rid of this stupid freaking headache. Annabeth knew. They'd already triedthat.

And then she almost threw up on him.

So now he was keeping his distance.

"Maybe you're dehydrated." He said weakly, setting one of the bottles down on the edge of the tub where she could reach it easily, and holding out one of the ice-packs silently.

She went to snatch it from his hand—but the invisible band around her head tightened another notch, and she groaned and screwed her eyes shut against the pain.

Percy wasted no time, and quickly climbed into the tub after her to press the ice-pack against her forehead.

The relief came almost instantly, and she wilted at the sudden absence of pain that had started to become like a hammer against the inside of skull and behind her aching eyes.

"Oh my gods, Percy." She breathed, lifting her hand to her head so she could hold the ice-pack herself, "Thank you."

His daemon appeared at that moment, poking her head out of the backpack she hadn't even noticed he was wearing, "Sorry it took so long," the platypus said regretfully as she carefully climbed out to flop over across Percy's shoulder, "We had to run to the convenience store. And then we had to run to the other convenience store, because the first one didn't have any."

Annabeth could only smile in relief, not even really hearing what her husband said, just glad that the pain had stopped.

As though the ice had sapped not only the pain, but her energy as well, her entire body suddenly felt as heavy as the sky itself.

Her shoulders twinging in pain with the memory, she sighed, and then immediately yawned widely as a wave of exhaustion washed over her from her head and down to her toes.

She flopped over so that she was leaning against the edge of the tub instead of the wall, and caught Taris with one arm when he leapt into her arms and curled against her stomach.

Already, sleep was closing in on her, and her eyes shut of their own accord, only just barely able to keep one arm raised so she could keep the ice pressed to her forehead. "Goodnight." She murmured drowsily, tucking her chin against her chest and curling her one arm tighter around her daemon.

Percy laughed, incredulously. "You really want to sleep in the tub?"

His voice snapped her back out of the fog of a dream she'd almost found herself intertwined with, and she blinked her eyes open, frowning. "No," She decided groggily after a moment, "The bed is much more comfier."

She made no move to get up, just closed her eyes again and smiled contentedly as Taris' whiskers tickled her chin.

It was hard to believe that just moments before, she'd been in pain as bad as anything she'd ever felt. But the memory had faded almost entirely, so that she wasn't even sure anymore why she was lying in the bathtub.

Percy sighed, but she could tell even as she started to fall asleep again that he didn't really mind. Then his arms were underneath her, and he was lifting her up bridal style, Taris rolling over as she tilted so that he ended up leaning against Percy's chest, and Vyri falling off his shoulder as he stood, so that she had not one, but two daemons lying on top of her stomach and chest.

As though a blanket had been draped over her shoulders, warmth filled her chest with perfect contentment, and she snuggled closer to Percy's chest, wanting nothing more than to stay that way forever. With Percy's arms cradling her to his chest, and Vyri curled up next to Taris against her loose pajama shirt, and the ice-pack still pressed against her forehead, she had never been more comfortable in her entire life.

It didn't take long after that for her to doze off. By the time Percy set her gently down on their bed and drew the blanket up to her shoulders, she was already deeply asleep, without a care in the world.

By this time tomorrow, they would probably have forgotten completely about her mysterious headache.

…

It was six in the morning when Annabeth's sleep was disturbed by the sound of Percy gasping desperately for air.

At once—earlier headache and sudden drowsiness entirely forgotten—she sat bolt upright, her heart clenching in her chest as she turned to face him, preparing herself to wake him from one of the nightmares one of them suffered at least every other week. If they were lucky.

Percy was already sitting up, his expression white with horror as he stared past her with wide, terrified eyes, Vyri standing frozen by his side.

Immediately, Annabeth leapt to her feet and lunged across the bed so that she was behind him in case he fell, Taris positioning himself next to Vyri so that he could calm her if she woke up.

They'd dealt with night terrors often enough to know that there was no point in trying to wake him. He wouldn't be able to hear him. The best they could do was make sure he couldn't hurt himself, just the same way as he did for them.

It wasn't until a few moment later of anxiously watching Percy that she finally noticed what he and Vyri were staring at.

Taris gasped loudly, and Annabeth could only stare in shock, her mouth gaping open like a fish on dry land.

Because, floating a few feet above the floor and spinning slowly in some ethereal breeze, were two gilded cradles that shimmered with golden waves lapping against a shore, and the unmistakable glimmer and flight of owls through the forest that dotted the sand.

Attached by a sting to each cradle was a silver balloon, which swayed gently in the same breeze that spun the cradles, exclaiming in bright, cheerfully royal blue letters, "It's a human!"

"What—" Annabeth's voice was choked. What?

"Is that—" Percy's voice was a strangled whisper, "Is that even optional?"

As though fate had foreseen just such a question, the cradles reached the point where the backs of the balloons were now facing them, saying, with a frowny face, "There's always next time!" with a picture of a cute, smiling griffon hatching from an egg.

The sound Taris made was something in between a shriek and choking on a furball.

Almost immediately, the sound of crying babies filled the room.

Clamping one hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream, Annabeth was frozen only for a moment before she darted forward, suddenly realizing what the golden cradles and her splitting headache from the night before meant.

Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods, OH MY GODS!

"PERCY, HELP ME!" She shrieked, flapping her hands in the air in panic as she suddenly found herself standing over one of the cradles and staring down at a bawling, squirming baby and its daemon, which was nothing more than a grey blob of fur and scales next to its head.

Percy was at her side in an instant, in front of the other cradle, and just as panicked as she was.

For a moment, they both just stood there, horrified and panicked and confused—

What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT DO WE DO?!

—and then it just clicked.

Like a switch had been flicked in their minds, they suddenly knew what to do.

Taris had leapt to her shoulder in an instant, and she cradled her arms so that he could jump down into them and lean forward over the cradle. Without a single moment of hesitation, he pressed his nose into the grey fur of the tiny daemon, and within the same breath, rasped his sand-paper tongue gently across the child's forehead.

Next to her, Vyri was clutched in Percy's arms, running her bill gently through the child's soft, patchy blonde hair.

Within a moment, the children had both quieted, calm once more. But their daemons—the grey little bundle of fur and scales, and the brown mesh of leathery webbing and legs—were still squirming, uttering squeals of discontentment that were so high they were almost out of the range of their hearing.

Annabeth knew nothing but the need to comfort the tiny thing, and, with her heart in her throat, reached out one trembling hand as she pressed Taris to her chest with the other, to stroke gently through the grey fur that was the child's daemon.

But not just a child.

Because it wasn't just a child.

It was her child.

It was their child.

…Their children.

Twins.

Warmth lit up her fingers like the gentle glow from an ember, and she came to the realization that these were their children. They were parents.

The one thing they'd been singularly terrified and eager to become. But they weren't failing miserably. They weren't crippled by the responsibility.

Both infants and daemons were quiet, sleeping peacefully once more.

They didn't even know their names yet.

And as though the gods heard her thoughts—which was more than entirely possible—two cards floated down from the ceiling, and hovered a few inches away from both of them.

Codi and Nenaim. Read the card that floated before Annabeth in flowing gold script.

"Codi." She whispered, staring down at the child in awe, "Nenaim." The words flowed from her tongue like liquid happiness.

Her eyes, wide, this time, with pure joy, turned to look at Percy, who wore a matching expression as he stared at the card floating in front of him. "Iraia and Aegis." He breathed.

For a moment, they could only stare at one another in shared, overwhelming emotion.

And then a smile broke out across both their faces, and they moved as one to embrace, throwing their arms around one another as they fought to contain their emotions, lest the sleeping children be woken once more.

"Percy!" she said into his hair, grinning from ear to ear even as nervous energy started to build up in her chest, "We're—"

"Parents," He said, laughing softly.

And then Taris jumped up onto Percy's shoulder, and Vyri nudged at Annabeth's feet to be held, and for a moment, their hug was broken up to embrace one another in a different way.

And it was like waking up on a winter morning, snuggled under a sea of warm blankets, with her husband, and her daemon, and his daemon, and their children beside her, and Annabeth would never be able to find a moment so perfect with happiness for as long as she would live.