Chapter One! Meet Charlie Dean, Percabeth's little mischief-I mean, son! Bath time may have been hard for Sally, being sometimes Percy did not want to get wet, but for Annabeth and Percy... well, it gets a little messy.


"Charlie!" Annabeth went to grab at a little boy escaping the bathroom. Already, her hair was damp and the floor was soaking with bath water. Still, her one year old was not clean. In exasperation, Annabeth looked around at the mess this one little boy could make. "Get back here!

Not to mention Charlie had no clothes on whatsoever. Just soap suds along his jet black hair and down his back. Annabeth had to follow the water footprints tracking across the living room.

And of course, matters got worse from there, Percy had just opened the front door at this time, seeing Annabeth crawling across the carpet, looking like she got into a fight with a sea serpent. Which apparently was funny to him.

"Catch your child," Annabeth snapped at him, pointing at Charlie wobbling on his little legs into the kitchen, screaming with laughter.

"I see you're having a great time," Percy put down his stuff to go and catch Charlie from making any more slick moves.

"Daddy!" Charlie wrapped his arms around Percy's neck as Annabeth and him walked back to the bathroom.

Percy busted out laughing. "What happened in here? Annabeth, why is there a rubber ducky in the toilet?" He peered into the basin.

Annabeth sat on the edge of the tub, glaring up at him through pieces of wet hair that had fallen in her face. "How about you give Charlie a bath? I'm sure the son of Poseidon can handle a little bath."

"No," Charlie let his face hide into the crook of Percy's neck. "No! No! No!"

"Don't tell me you don't like baths, Charlie," Percy placed him in the tub of warm water. Seconds later, Charlie smashed and kicked to make tsunamis. It fell over the side, creating a even bigger puddle on the ground.

"Next thing you know," Annabeth jabbed an accusing finger into her husband's chest. "He'll be busting the water pipes throughout the house!" She pounded her forehead with the palm of her hand. The thought made her want a nap. Actually, everything made her want to take a nap.

"I sure hope not," Percy picked up the baby shampoo, tossing it into the air. Charlie grabbed his battleship toys, battling them by ramming each one together.

Annabeth raised her hands in defeat. "Plan. You give Charlie his bath. I'll make dinner… after I get changed."

They agreed upon that. Not too much later, when Annabeth had gotten changed into dry clothes, did her cellphone ring. Being able to carry a cellphone was pretty dangerous for a demigod, especially for how old she was, but demigods were able to communicate only among each other through a secret program deep into a system. Quite handy, in fact.

"Hello?" Annabeth didn't mean to sound so tired and beat, but there was no other way to put it.

"Hey, Annabeth!" No mistaking Hazel's sweet voice over the line. Immediately, Annabeth's spirits rose. "You sound stressed. Everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah," Annabeth chuckled. She shuffled into the kitchen and pulled out pans from the cabinets. "Just parenting. Woo!" She said nonchalantly.

Hazel's laughed in return. "Sorry to hear about it. I called because I was wondering if you guys were okay with Frank coming to visit Camp Half-Blood for the next week or two? I mean, we have that meeting of the camps, but-."

The sound of crashing pans hitting the floor caused Hazel to cut off. Annabeth cursed at the sound, but quickly joined Hazel after she picked them back up. "Wait, visiting? For a week? Please tell me you're coming, too! And Reyna?"

"Of course," Hazel answered. "We'll probably pick a little hotel not too far off. We want to stay for awhile. It'd be nice to see you guys again."

The awful part about being on opposite parts of the country was that they hardly ever get to see any of Camp Jupiter's residents. Frank and Reyna were praetor and came in from time to time. Sometimes Half-Blood would come there and go business. But never for a long time. There was always something to do.

"I can't wait to tell Percy," Annabeth stated. "He misses you and Frank a lot."

"Aw," Hazel said delightfully. "He's so sweet. Where is he now?"

"Attempting to give Charlie a bath," Annabeth answered. "Emphasis on "attempting." Do you want to talk to him?"

"If it's no bother," Hazel said. "It's been what? A little over a year since I've talked to any of you guys?"

Annabeth left the water to boil, leaving to appear in the doorway of the bathroom. A tiny gasp escaped her lips. "What did you do!?"

"Annabeth?" She hardly registered Hazel at all compared to the disaster that was the bathroom.

In the bath, Percy sat in the tub, water dripping from the ends of his hair. He was wet head to toe, which from Percy obviously meant he did it on purpose. Water splattered as Annabeth stepped in it. Soap was bubbling over the tub. Half a tube of baby body wash was gone. The curtain had fallen. Everything was a disaster. Charlie sat on Percy's lap, giggling as he waved his hands in the air. "Again! Again!"

"How do you even make this happen?" Annabeth asked him, heading for the towels only to realize they were all gone. They littered the floor. "H-how?"

Percy brushed his hair out of his face. "It's a very long story. You really don't want to hear it."

"You're right." Annabeth held the phone to her ear. "You're able to video chat, right?"

"Uh, yeah?" Hazel said, unknowingly.

Annabeth clicked something on her phone then held it up to view Percy.

"Who are you talking to?" Percy asked, sitting up a bit.

Laughter bubbled out of the phone. Percy narrowed his eyes. "Annabeth!"

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth couldn't contain her own amusement now. "Twenty-three year old son of Poseidon. Head of Camp Half-Blood with a degree in Marine Biology. Still the biggest dork I've ever met. Somehow couldn't give his own child a bath."

"Charlie!" Hazel gasped. "You're so cute! And Percy, rocking the bubbles." Percy swiped the soap out of his hair, glowering at Annabeth.

"Frank!" Hazel called. Percy's eyes widened.

"No Frank!" He put Charlie on the ground and tried to get the phone out of Annabeth's hand, making a reach for it. Annabeth laughed as she swung out of his grip.

"Give me the phone!" Percy hugged her from behind. Annabeth held the phone high so Frank had a nice view of the bathroom plus an embarrassed Percy.

Frank chuckled. He stood next to Hazel, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I mean, I love what you've done with the bathroom. Really brings out your personality, Percy. But… don't you think you should put some clothes on that kid?"

At the corner of their camera, Charlie giggled as he bolted from the bathroom. Percy made to catch him, slipping on the water and landing chest first. Then another body fell down on top of him.

"Ow…" Annabeth groaned. Percy sighed with his face down into the puddle.

"Charlie one," Hazel said.

"Parents zero," Frank finished.