Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Sorry this is super late…. I got busy.

oooOOOooo

It was her 50th birthday. July 12th, 2047. Her 50th. The big 5-0.

And it was raining. Typical. Thunder rolled across the sky, clouds as dark as ink. Brilliant lightning flickered across the sky, illuminating the thunderstorm even more.

"Thanks a lot Zeus," Annabeth Jackson muttered under her breath. Hera had probably forced her husband into this- it was no secret Annabeth hated the cow goddess: and vice versa.

Thunder boomed louder than ever as if in answer, making the older woman flinch. Annabeth wanted to curse herself. Back when she was a teenager she had been fearless, never flinching or backing down when she was scared. Now look at her, flinching away from some harmless thunder.

She blamed her old lady nerves.

As the fierce old woman made her way to her apartment building's elevator she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

Wrinkles had really started making an appearance, she couldn't deny them now. Around her eyes, at the corners of her mouth, even a couple on her forehead. She was starting to hunch a little, although she always made it a priority to keep her posture at its best. Her hair was more grey than blond now and she saw that her hands shook unless she kept them clenched.

But her eyes were the same fierce, stormy grey they had always been. Maybe they held more knowledge of life, maybe they carried different emotions from 30 years ago, but they were still her. These wrinkles belonged to Annabeth Jackson. Those eyes belonged to Annabeth Chase and Annabeth Jackson.

She smiled at herself, at her silliness, before finally getting inside the elevator.

It had taken Annabeth weeks to be able to force herself into one of these things after she had been in Tartarus. Percy hadn't seemed to have a problem but Annabeth… for months they had made her panic. She had grown claustrophobic whenever it came to them. Now of course she was perfectly fine, this was an everyday thing when you lived in New York.

She had woken up this morning feeling no different than yesterday. That is, until Percy had rolled over in bed and given her a sleepy smile and kiss on the forehead.

"Happy 50th," he murmured to her.

Her eyes had shot open and her facial expression must have really been something because Percy had burst into laughter almost immediately.

She barely took in his appearance- black hair with a couple of grey streaks, face older and more beaten than from 20 years ago but still him. That same smell of chocolate chip cookies and ocean and those same eyes that had made her fall head over heels in love when she was only 16.

"Shut up," she had moaned, rolling over to bury her face in the pillow. "I wouldn't laugh so much if I were you, Seaweed Brain, this will be you in a couple of months."

"Exactly. I need to savour this while I can," Percy had replied to her, getting up and getting dressed. "But, as a peace offering, I'll make you breakfast. Anything you want."

"The only thing you can make is eggs and bacon."

"Eggs and bacon it is!" Percy exclaimed, watching as she sat up and frowned. At her face his good mood quickly faded. "Hey," he said, moving to sit on her side of the bed. "What's wrong."

"Nothing," Annabeth mumbled.

But Percy knew her better than that. "Turning 50 really isn't that big of a deal," he told her.

She sighed. "Yeah."

"No, really." Percy said. "We're lucky we made it here. Most demigods die young, you know that. This is an achievement. We should get an award. Or a statue built in our honour."

Annabeth rolled her eyes but laughed all the same. "Thanks Seaweed Brain, now I feel lot's better."

Percy frowned. "Okay, look at this a different way. Compared to the gods, we're pretty much still kids. Teenagers. They probably think we have the brain power of a 2 year old," he grinned at her.

She smiled. "Well that would be right with one of us," she teased him.

He pouted. "Hey! But like I was saying, to them we're still babies."

"You think so?" Annabeth asked. "I think the gods stopped thinking of us as kids a long time ago. Probably before we actually were adults."

"Not me," Percy grinned at her. "And I bet you they still think of Travis and Connor as kids."

"Well yeah," Annabeth said as if he was being silly. "All of us think that."

They both laughed and when they calmed down they met each other's eyes.

"Besides," he continued, more serious now. There was a tender note in his voice and an honest look in his eyes that made Annabeth's heart melt. "You're still as gorgeous to me as you were when we were kids."

She was quiet for a second before she could form a response past the sudden lump in her throat. "You're so cheesy," she said, her voice slightly choked.

He grinned and kissed her before standing up. "But you love me anyway."

"Yes," she said as he walked out of the room to make breakfast. "I love you anyway."

Now here she was, making her way home from work, excited to have a nice home cooked dinner and relax with her husband, probably call her kids later on in the day.

When she saw Percy outside their apartment door she sighed, knowing she would never be so lucky to have a peaceful day.

"There's a surprise party waiting for me, isn't there?" She asked him.

He glanced up in surprise and smiled. "How was teaching?"

"Fine. Answer the question Seaweed Brain."

He sighed. "Okay. Yes there's a surprise party." He grinned. "And it was my idea. So if you're gonna get mad at anybody, get mad at me."

"Percy," Annabeth whined. "I told you, no parties, no people- nothing more than phone calls today…"

He placed his hands on her cheeks. "I know," he replied gently. "But I know you. You'll be glad for this later on."

She frowned but let him stroke her flyaway hair out of her face. "Who's in there?"

"Just our closest friends," Percy promised, kissing her and then stepping back. "And the kids. And their kids. When did we get so old that we have grandkids?"

Annabeth smiled at him softly. "It crept up on us."

"Sure did," he agreed before turning serious. "Nico came for a bit," Percy said and a pained expression crossed his face before he quickly covered it: Annabeth saw through the façade but she didn't comment on it. "But he left after a few minutes."

She placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I know how much you want him around."

Percy shrugged and took her hand in his as it fell. "It's nothing," he forced another smile but at Annabeth's look it dropped and he sighed. "I just wish he would listen to me," Percy said. "I told him it's not a big deal; it was more than 30 years ago for Zeus's sake. We've both moved on. I don't see why he can't just be around me."

"He had a crush on you," Annabeth said, slightly uncomfortable with the words. It seemed strange talking about anybody who had had feelings for Percy that wasn't her. There had been Rachel but that was all sorted out. Calypso, but she was with Leo now. And Nico… "Even though you guys talked it out and he's moved on he obviously still feels weird about it."

Percy heaved a sigh again before seeming to perk up. "Hey," he accused. "This is your birthday, you shouldn't be apologizing and comforting me."

"But-"

"Nope," Percy said. "Enough of that. Let's celebrate."

And he opened the door to their apartment, leading her in.

oooOOOooo

The Jackson's apartment opened right up to the living room. Beside the living room was the kitchen and past the kitchen was the couple's bedroom. The walls were a subtle blue in the living room, although you could hardly see the colour due to all of the pictures hanging up. A fireplace took up the center of one wall with a TV hanging over it and couches and chairs positioned accordingly so that everyone would have a good seat to watch whatever was on. The kitchen had white cupboards and drawers, classic wooden countertops and red walls where you could see them. A bathroom was behind the living room.

All in all it was quaint, cosy and just right for the two demigods. Usually it was nice and quiet- that is, when Percy wasn't challenging her to a sing off on top of their coffee table, when Annabeth wasn't yelling at him about leaving the toilet seat up again and when Ayla, their youngest granddaughter who was about 4 now, wasn't visiting. Because that girl had a set of lungs on her like Piper when Jason tossed their grandson in the air and made the wind carry him up, up and higher until he was almost 10 feet above Jason's head.

The peace and quiet was gone for the rest of that day.

"SURPRISE!"

Annabeth smiled and laughed when she walked in, hand in hand with her husband, previous topic of conversation forgotten. She scanned the faces in the crowd and felt warmth take root in her chest.

Percy was right. This was better than eating in alone and watching a movie.

"Grandma, Grandma, happy birthday!" Ayla ran up to her before anyone else had the chance, long beautiful black hair flying out behind her as she slammed into her grandmother and hugged the bottom of her legs.

"Ayla, how are you baby girl?" Annabeth dropped down so that she was crouching in front of her grandchild and gave the girl a proper hug. She took in her granddaughters pale skin, her flushed cheeks, warm eyes that she had inherited from her father.

Ayla pouted at her. "Grandma, I'm not a baby," she whined.

Percy laughed and scooped the little girl up. "Of course not Ayla. You're grandma's going crazy in her old age."

Ayla now turned to look at her Grandpa Percy worriedly. "Will she be okay?"

Percy winked at Annabeth's glare. "I think so. We'll just have to keep a special eye on her."

"We'll take care of you grandma," Ayla said to Annabeth seriously, not noticing the look she shot her granddad.

Annabeth turned her attention from Percy to Ayla. "Thanks baby girl."

"Hey mom," a voice behind Annabeth made her turn around and she saw her daughter standing in front of her.

"Melanie!" She said in happy surprise, opening her arms wide for her daughter to step into them. Curly blond hair, tan skin, tall figure…. Melanie would be Annabeth's exact double if she hadn't inherited Percy's green eyes instead of Annabeth's grey ones. "Oh honey, it's good to see you."

"Happy birthday mom," the girl pulled back to smile at her. "You look good."

Annabeth laughed. "Thanks dear. Where's your husband?"

"He had to work but he said to wish you a happy birthday too. I think he asked Ayla to do it for him but she forgot."

Annabeth smiled. "That's fine. Tell him I say hello. And Percy still has his old pen if he ever does anything to hurt you." She winked.

"That's right!" Percy said from where he stood with Frank and Hazel, Ayla still in his arms.

Melanie rolled her eyes but smiled. "Sure thing."

Annabeth squeezed her hand quickly. "Were you in charge of this?"

Her daughter shook her head. "Nope, this was all dad."

Annabeth shook her head. "What am I gonna do with him?"

Her daughter just smiled at her. "Oh mom, you know you love him."

Annabeth fake thought for a moment. "Why does everybody keep saying that?"

Melanie laughed and then turned to her own daughter. "Alright Ayla, let grandpa go and talk to his friends. Mommy will introduce you, alright?"

"Okay!" Ayla said, although Annabeth was sure she was more focused on the huge- blue, of course- cake that was on the coffee table.

"Hey you."

Annabeth turned around once again. "Thalia!"

The huntress opened her arms for a hug. "Hey Annie. How does it feel to be old?"

Annabeth appraised the immortal huntress. "Some of us wouldn't know, would we?"

Thalia laughed but Annabeth detected a sad note in it. Okay then, no age jokes around Thalia. "Why would I want to be old and married like you?" Thalia teased gently. "And boys? Bleh."

"You know you love us, cuz!" Percy called once again from where he now stood with Jason and Piper.

"You wish, Kelp Head!"

"Pinecone Face!"

"Fish Breath!"

"Air Head!"

"Barnacle-"

"Okay, okay," Annabeth broke in laughing. "Break it up. We don't have a beach you guys can cause a mini hurricane on available."

"Too bad!" Percy called one last time with a smile before turning back to Jason who was watching his sister and cousin amused.

"Good to see some things never change," Annabeth said to her friend.

Thalia smiled. "You know as well as I do that my cousin and I will never stop bickering." Thalia said, watching Percy fondly. "But there's love deep, deep down,"

Annabeth gasped. "Is Artemis going to turn you into a deer or something for saying that?"

"No way. I'm her best huntress; she can't afford to lose me."

"Someone has a big idea of their own self-importance."

Thalia winked. "You know you love me. Look I got to go, I just stopped in for a quick visit. Happy 50th Annabeth. I'll see you guys soon, okay?"

The blond grinned at her old friend. "Cheeseburgers," she promised.

Thalia nodded with a grin. "Definitely." She said with a quick hug. "See you later."

Annabeth watched as she made her way over to Jason and Piper, hugging her brother and his wife she bade them farewell before turning to Percy and quickly hugged him as well.

"Annabeth and I arranged cheeseburger time," Thalia said. "You better be there."

Percy grinned. "Count on it, cousin."

Thalia nodded. "See you around." She paused. "Barnacle Brain."

Percy just managed to yell out a cry of, "Eagle Ears!" before Thalia escaped out the door.

"Do eagles have ears?" Frank asked after silence descended upon them all. "I know they can hear, I've turned into one enough times, but do they actually have ears?"

"No," Annabeth answered.

"Maybe Thalia doesn't know that." Percy said hopefully.

Nobody really said anything in reply to that.

Annabeth shook her head and walked around, saying hello to everybody. There were Travis and Katie, Connor at their side, all with huge smiles. Travis swore up and down that he didn't put any fireworks in the cake and Connor swore on the River Styx she would get no surprises today but Annabeth still wasn't sure. You could never trust those two. She was happy to see Katie though, and the two girls exchanged smiles and started talking about their kids, grandkids, etc.

"Yes, my eldest son's currently in Egypt," Annabeth said. "Studying Egyptian gods," she rolled her eyes to say what she thought of those deities. "He's with a friend of mine's daughter. Not sure how I feel about that, but I don't know the daughter. The mother, Sadie Kane, says they're fine so I'll take her word on it. Besides, Luke's old enough to handle himself. Sadie Kane," Annabeth mused, deep in thought. "Have I introduced you two?"

"Nope," Katie replied.

"Hmm, maybe it's for the best." Annabeth said. "She's a handful."

Katie grinned. "Well I've already got enough on my plate with these two," she indicated the two Stoll brothers who were deep in conversation. "Now that the kids are gone and having their own families it's like they need to fill the silence. I'm telling you, they've been crazier than usual lately."

Annabeth continued to make small talk with the girl until Travis called his wife over. She then walked over to talk- briefly- with Chris and Clarisse. She said hello to Piper and Jason, had a great catch up with Frank and Hazel and got a surprise when she even spotted Rachel talking with Melanie. She went over to greet the Oracle but was interrupted by someone behind her saying her name.

Everyone at this party Annabeth talked to regularly. Whether it was phone calls, visits, trips to Camp or just running into them on the street, Annabeth saw them all regularly.

So when Leo's voice sounded from behind her she jumped in surprise. "Hey Annie, still partying it up in your old age."

She turned around and was surprised when she was met with the sight of two immortals. "Leo!" She exclaimed, jumping to hug the young god who still had the appearance of a 16 year old. "Hey Calypso," Annabeth smiled at the titan.

After the Giant War the gods had given each of the Seven one wish- exactly like what they had done with Percy the previous year.

Leo had chosen immortality and had married Calypso. Since she was his immortal wife the spell had been broken and she had been free to roam where she pleased- although she usually stuck next to Leo. Leo helped his dad out in his forges, tinkering and building. He also ran a company on the side, Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters.

Annabeth had been surprised, to say the least. Leo's wish had been a surprise and unexpected.

"What are you doing here?" She asked them in surprise. "Isn't this forbidden or something? Won't Zeus have your hide?"

Leo grinned. "It's only forbidden for gods to mess with their kids' lives. Your not my kid- thank Zeus, that would be so weird- so it's cool. We can do whatever."

"Happy Birthday Annabeth," Calypso said.

She looked over at the girl. "Thank you."

Calypso and Annabeth had never really talked. There was a lot of history there, despite them only having met once or twice. Calypso had cursed Annabeth, Annabeth had taken away one of the loves of Calypso's life, Percy drama, Leo and Annabeth's overprotective big sister drama, girl drama and jealousy.

But they were always polite when they saw each other. It was strange but they fell into a pattern and Annabeth was in no hurry to stir up trouble.

They made small talk for a few minutes before they excused themselves. Leo said he was just gonna say a quick goodbye to the rest of the seven and they'd be out.

The entire day went by in a blur. Finally, hours later, after delicious blue chocolate cake and singing and talking, everybody had left the Jackson's apartment.

"Mom called," Percy told her. "She said to wish you a happy birthday and asked for you to call tomorrow. And your dad called again. He wished you happy birthday. Again."

Frederick Chase was suffering from Alzheimer's so Annabeth supposed it shouldn't have been such a surprise to hear that. But it was.

Percy read her face- as he had grown so well at doing- and changed the subject. "So, your party. Did you like it?"

She smiled at him from her spot on the couch. "I did. Thank you."

"So the party was a good idea?"

"Yes, yes," Annabeth said. Sure, she had thought she wanted a quiet night, same as any other, but Percy had surprised her. He had said the party would make today memorable, special, happy and fun.

As usual, when it came to her, he was right.

"When did you start knowing me better than I know myself?" Annabeth asked him teasingly.

His expression softened as he pushed back a strand of her hair. "I've always known who you are Annabeth," he said. "That was never a question."

She shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. "Gods, look at us. Old and married, kids and grandkids. Did you ever think we'd make it here?"

"Honestly? Not really." Annabeth snorted at his reply. "But I'm glad we did."

She looked up and met his eyes. "Me too," she replied softly.

He smiled and kissed her- and Annabeth felt 16 again.

oooOOOooo

Happy Birthday Annabeth! July 12th, it's her big day guys!

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

Love you all!

Percyjacksonfan3