Percy

The handcuffs were not my fault. Ok, let me rephrase that. The handcuffs were indirectly my fault because I unknowingly adopted an adorable thieving monkey for a daughter. What happened was after we got off the plane from North Carolina, after we said goodbye to Annabeth, airport security pulled me to into a holding room due to what they called 'questionable contents' of my secured (padlocked) luggage. The contents included a bunch of water samples from where I had worked in Louisiana, Georgia, and North Carolina, as well as odd looking souvenir rocks.

They (a shorter man named Sanders and a high cheek boned African American woman called Ruiz) left Felicity and I alone in the room while they searched our luggage. She sat on my lap, alert and attentive to the surroundings, playing with a paper clip she had found on the floor. I stood up and walked to the one way mirror, setting Felicity on the metal chair. I studied it, pretending to be looking for someone behind the glass while really thinking about Annabeth.

Annabeth Chase was the girl I had fallen for in high school. It's been eleven years since, and apparently neither of us has gotten over our feelings (luckily for me). She went off and did great things in the architecture business, I watched her facebook page from afar (sue me. I like her), checking it every now and then. I got busy about four years ago, when I found a tiny blonde bundle covered in sand on the beaches of Louisiana. I'll get back to that later.

I suddenly felt cold metal pressing onto my wrists as the zip-snap of handcuffs locked shut. "Felicity," I said without turning around, "Would you kindly remove the cuffs? And give them back to Agent Ruiz?"

Felicity giggled. "But Daddy it took me so long to get them!"

"If you keep this up, then you'll be the one in handcuffs."

"Then I'll just get out of them!" She replied enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah? Bet you can't do it."

Instantly I felt the clicking of something undoing the locking mechanism. The cuffs popped free and Felicity held up the paperclip as she cried triumphantly, "Told you so!"

I barely let out a 'yep' before I started tickling her. Felicity is very ticklish and she loves it. "Not fair! Not fair! Cheater!" She gasped in between laughing spurts.

Someone coughed. I swung Felicity up and onto my shoulder before I turned around. "Yes?"

It was Agent Ruiz. "You're free to go- are those my handcuffs?"

Felicity was playing with them, and then looked up to give the Agent big blue puppy eyes. "Can I keep them?"

Agent Ruiz was flabbergasted. "How did you-did she- is that why she hung on my leg?" Felicity laughed and threw the cuffs underhanded to the Agent. "I think she likes to go for women because she hopes they won't notice or mind a cute six year old around them."

"You mean she's done this before?"

"Several times. Though never at an airport before. Last time it was a police officer's badge and cuffs, before that a tech geek's watch… You get the gist."

The agent looked me up and down. "You seem less of the father type and more of a surfboard rat."

I shrugged, and then noticed Ruiz's eyes lingered on my abdominal region. Which shouldn't have been visible. Was I wearing a tight shirt or something? "Um. Well. It just kinda happened one day. So, are we good to go?"

"Mmm, yeah… You're good… to go!" Her eyes snapped to mine.

"Great." I said, dropping Felicity gently to the floor. Her small palm found mine quickly, and I grabbed the rolling suitcase that held our clothing from our last trip. "All your other luggage is waiting for you at the front desk." She stammered.

We left the room and were almost at the front desk, when there was a cry of "Percy!"

It was my mom and Paul. I had only enough time to set my suitcase upright before I was engulfed in a hug. She looked the same as the last time I'd seen her, but with a few more strands of gray in her hair. "Hey Mom."

She bent my head down with her hands and gave me a kiss on the forehead before giving me another quick hug. Paul scratched the back of his neck as he shook my hand. "She was getting anxious."

I laughed, and then gestured to the miniature blonde hiding behind my leg. "Mom, Paul, I'd like you to meet Felicity. Felicity, meet Grandma and Grandpa." I pulled her tenderly from behind me. Mom dropped down to one knee and hugged her. "Hello Felicity. Percy says you love chocolate. At our house I like to make chocolate chip cookies every Friday."

"Never helps my diet." Paul muttered.

Felicity looked at Mom in adoration. "Really?"

Mom smiled. "Really really. You can help make them if you want to."

"Yes!" and she threw her hands into the air.

Paul grabbed the water samples' case, and then led us out to the parking lot. The day was hot for early May, but the humidity was next to nothing and a breeze blew our hair around. Mom held Felicity's hand while crossing the parking lot. As we neared the car, I started to recognize the taillights. And the bumper. And-

"Is that my Jeep?"

It was. It had obviously not weathered my time away from home well; the wheel wells were rusted through the paint, hail dents in the hood and front fenders. The clear coat was peeling on the driver's half-door; on the passenger's rear fender it had been smashed in.

"I kept it running. Figured you'd want it back someday." Paul intoned quietly as we loaded the luggage into the rear.

"Paul, why did you want to use this thing to pick them up? There's no cargo space." Mom asked.

"It has sentimental value to Percy. I figured a dose of his history would be great for a reentry to Cincy."

I shrugged. "Worked." I lifted Felicity into the back seat, and then climbed over the tailgate to wedge myself into the seat next to her and the cargo. Paul started the car and drove home.

~oOo~

We ate dinner as a family, three generations. One biological mother, two adoptive fathers and one adorable blonde kid. After we finished and were doing the dishes, I was still laughing about Paul's attempt to work my grampa's old Catalina. "You did what to the what?"

His expression was sour. "I forgot it wasn't a normal H pattern, ok? I wanted to redo the linkages like I saw on YouTube. All I did was reverse the pattern."

Mom was almost crying at this point in the story. "And then after wheeling it out to the front of the driveway, he guns the engine and shoots backwards and hits your Jeep!"

So that's how it lost a taillight. We're all laughing about it when 'Fly Me to the Moon' by Frank Sinatra began issuing from the living room. Paul grabbed Mom and pulled her to the room. "It's the song-"

"-They played at our wedding. I remember." She finished, and they began to dance.

Felicity looked guilty. "I didn't touch it."

Mom and Paul had gotten a vintage 1960 AMI K-100 jukebox in celebration of Mom's fifth novel selling a million copies. They'd filled it with Sinatra, Martin, Cash, a couple of Bob Hope live recordings, Jonathan Winters, and newer artists; ELO, AC/DC, Van Halen, Skynyrd, Straight, CCR, and a couple of even newer country singles.

I laughed, set her on top of my feet, then took her hands and started to dance.

You are all I long for, all I worship, and adore

In other word, please be true!

In other words-In other words…

I… Love… You!

As the song ended, Mom clapped and Paul leaned against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. "It's been years since I've heard that one."

"Felicity, you seem to like the box, pick another." Mom encouraged kindly. A breeze blew through the open window as Felicity clicked the buttons for the next song. The sun was setting, sending the clouds into a lovely purple-orange-pink mess. The needle dropped and the crackling record began to turn.

It was Felicity's favorite song, the first one she could remember. And maybe the only one she knew. It was played from speakers mounted on poles in the sandy beaches, played on the radio, my iPod and eventually a beater guitar I found during our travels. The guitar in the song strummed a couple of chords before the lyrics started;

My friend the Communist,

Holds meetings in his RV

I can't afford his gas,

So I'm stuck here watching TV

Felicity loved singing along to the song, and when I sang with her we sounded passable. Nothing screamed or ran away when we did it.

I'm, I'm gonna soak up the sun,

I'm gonna tell everyone to light-en up

I'm gonna tell 'em that I've got no one to blame

But every time I feel lame, I'm looking up.

Gonna soak up the sun.

I often thought of a different blonde when I sang. The song reminded me of sunsets on car hoods, dirt road racetracks, and… Well, her. I wondered if the field was still empty, or if it had been taken over.

I looked down. Felicity was on the floor, head lolling against a chair. I smiled and picked her up and put her against my shoulder. It was our usual routine. She'd fall asleep, then when I put her in bed she wakes up. "I've made the guest room ready for her." Mom whispered as she placed a hand on Felicity's forehead. "Thanks"

I took her past my old room and placed her under the covers of the guest room's bed, where she promptly opened her eyes and asked, "Story time?"

I pretended to think and scratched my chin. "Hmm. Story. What story haven't you heard?" I faked a 'eureka' moment. "Oh! The story of the Wise Girl and the Seaweed Brain!"

"But Daddy you've already told me that one!"

"Not like this. Once upon a time, there was a gray-eyed girl," I poked Felicity's stomach to make her laugh every time I said an adjective. "Now this Wise Girl was a beautiful blonde" (here I tapped Felicity's head) "Though rather short, she nevertheless caught the attention of the Seaweed Brain."

"The Seaweed Brain was never a clever boy. He believed in only what he could see. Most of his life consisted of luck and love from his mother. But when he met the Wise Girl, she taught him that magic was real. The Wise Girl took his heart and gave the Seaweed Brain her own." I tapped my chest, where the old triangular scar hid underneath my shirt.

"Years later, the Seaweed Brain found the Wise Girl, on a fast carriage to his old home. But by this time he had become a man with a child, named Locke. Locke liked the Wise Girl, as did the Seaweed Brain. And-"

"And then they got married and lived happily ever after!" Felicity chirped happily.

I smiled. "Maybe someday, 'Liss." I kissed her on the forehead, then turned the lights off and shut the door. "Maybe someday." I repeated softly, outside her door.