Summary: They grow up so fast, Percy thinks. One day you're bottle feeding them, and the next day they're bossing you around. OR - Percy and Annabeth have a daughter named Ruby. Percy gets premature Empty Nest Syndrome a few times.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series or any characters I've adopted from it.
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"Ruby," Percy sing-songs, looking from room to room. "Your mom is going to kill me if you don't—-"
"Why am I killing you?"
"Annabeth!" Percy exclaims, in time with a tugging on his pants leg, making him sigh in relief. He pats Ruby's head fondly, giving Annabeth a winning smile. "Just heading out to school."
Annabeth buttons up her suit, narrowing her eyes at him. "You packed lunch already?" A nod. "Found her backpack?" Another nod. "Ate breakfast?" This time, Ruby nods along with him. "Brushed teeth, both of you?"
Percy nods vehemently. "Yes, wearing socks, yes, bringing a jacket for the cold weather, yes, ready for my goodbye kiss," he lists, smiling when Annabeth kisses him quickly but no less passionately.
Ruby groans. "Mom, Dad, ew!"
Percy laughs, but looks down at Ruby gravely. "I know. It's so gross. I can't believe us," he admits, mock-scandalized. Ruby grins.
"If you don't leave within the next minute you'll hit parent drop off traffic," Annabeth warns, leaning down to kiss Ruby's hair. "Love you both!"
They chorus back their usual 'love you more's and Percy directs Ruby out the door, her backpack slung over his shoulder and a pink lunchbox in hand. He gives her both when she makes grabby hands for her belongings. "Ready for school?" he asks, just like he does every morning.
"Ready for naptime," she grumbles, but smiles and nods. "Yeah. Today we're learning something new, Ms. Jane said so."
"That's cool!" Percy enthuses, pretending he's stealing her lunchbox until she giggles and shoves weakly at his leg.
He buckles her seatbelt, and she squirms and makes a face, claiming that it's 'souncomfortable, Dad'. It's a word she's recently learned from Annabeth, so Percy smiles, naturally.
"It's only a few minutes," he promises, not having the heart to protest when Ruby steals his phone out of his hand, unlocking it with practiced ease. He watches her for a moment, feeling a little emotional—-here they are at the end of his daughter's first grade year, and she's already growing up too fast for his liking. Percy thinks he'll faint if she ever decides to wear make-up.
"Dad, I'm gonna be late!" she complains, giving him a wide-eyed, panicked look. "I'm gonna miss warm-ups, get in!"
They grow up so fast, Percy thinks. One day you're bottle feeding them, and the next day they're bossing you around.
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The day Ruby turns 10, Percy spends 13 extra minutes getting ready to sing happy birthday (read: sniffling and trying not to get tears on the shirt Annabeth just bought him). Annabeth looks torn between laughing at his misery and bursting into tears with him.
"She's so old," Percy says, staring at his lockscreen, a recent picture of his two best girls. Ruby's up to Annabeth's hip now, and Percy's terrified.
"Just wait until she gets to high school," Annabeth mutters, "then we'll really have a breakdown."
"Will they let me go with her if I sign on as a body guard?" Percy questions, half-joking to see Annabeth smile and half-serious.
She laughs, pecking his cheek. "Probably not."
They pile all of Ruby's presents into their arms, toting them out back to the patio a few feet away from the pool. Ruby has about six friends she wanted to invite to her 10th birthday party, and they're all more than happy to swim around in the pool for hours on end.
Percy's mom sits off to the side, nursing a glass of lemonade, partly reading a novel and partly keeping an eye on the kids. She smiles brightly when she sees the piles of presents they're bringing out for Ruby, and his daughter positively shrieks in delight.
"All of those for me?" she shouts, bursting with excitement and hastily getting out of the pool. "Mom, that's so many!" Ruby looks over them with wide eyes, then hugs both Percy and Annabeth's legs, despite her soaking wet self.
So, Percy tears up a little when Ruby blows out the candles. He also proceeds to ruin Sally's hard work, smearing a dallop of icing on Ruby's face, making her groan and blush. It makes her look a little younger, just for a second, and Percy latches onto the image.
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Percy brakes as he pulls up in front of the gym, putting the car into park after he's managed his way into a tight parking space. "Have fun," he tells Ruby as she flips down the mirror for one last look at herself. She looks perfect, Percy thinks, blonde curls that look nearly identical to Annabeth's and green eyes that aren't a shade off from his own. "Get out or I'm leaving with you in the car," he threatens, half-kidding. She looks grown, every bit like a 14 year-old.
She rolls her eyes, a bad habit she definitely adopted from Annabeth. "Yeah, yeah, Dad, I hear you."
"What time is it over?" Percy asks, for the fifth time.
She huffs, but smiles a little. "9 o'clock, Dad. It's a school dance, not a rave at a club."
"Ruby!" Percy exclaims, but finds himself laughing. "Don't let your mother hear you say that. She'll put me in the nearest human-sized blender."
Ruby laughs, moving to get out of the car. "Sure, I won't mention it."
"Hey," he complains, frowning a little when she's halfway out. "Are you too cool to hug your dad now? What age does that start?"
Ruby gives a world weary sigh, but leans across the center console to hug his neck. "Bye, Dad."
"Have fun," he tells her, probably holding on for a little too long. He's clingy, he'll admit it; barely wanted to hand Ruby over to Annabeth when they were in the hospital room 14 years ago.
"I always do," she replies.
He honks the horn before she can get too far away, and she turns around with a practiced glare, waving goodbye. He waves back, pleased with himself.
Annabeth calls him before he's even out of the parking lot. "You drop her off?"
"Yeah," Percy says, sighing. "She's too much like you, you know?"
"Have you seen her room?" Annabeth questions incredulously. "I think she's definitely you."
He smiles. "My room's been clean for 16 years, thank you very much."
"That's because it's been my room too, for 16 years," Annabeth answers drily. "Do we want to talk about what your room looked like pre-Annabeth?"
"Pre-Annabeth," Percy repeats distastefully. "Sounds dangerous."
Annabeth laughs. "Hurry home, dinner's ready."
He hurries. Annabeth greets him with a kiss, he eats spaghetti, and tries not to worry too much about Ruby.
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Her heart gets broken two weeks after she turns 15, and Percy's weighing the pros and cons of finding this boy's name and giving him a very serious talk.
"Don't," Annabeth warns, the second Ruby shuts her door behind herself. Percy catches Annabeth's hand before it falls and frowns. "We can't help her right now."
"She's crying," Percy protests, squeezing Annabeth's hand in concern. "How can't we help?"
"She has to cry, first," Annabeth explains patiently. "Give her a few minutes before you bombard her."
"This is why I told her not to date this young." He thinks she mentioned something about a James. No, no, James is her best friend, Percy's sure—-James is the one with the oddly-colored hair, just like his dad. Jacob, maybe?
"I met you when we were twelve," Annabeth reminds him, stopping his train of thought.
"But we didn't date until we were 16," he counters.
"But we were flirting for, like, one hundred years." Percy smiles at that, nodding. "We would have dated earlier, you're just dumb."
Percy scowls at that. "This is a two-way street, excuse—-"
Ruby's door creaks open, but she doesn't come out. Annabeth shoves him in that direction, mouthing 'Go!' He knocks hesitantly on Ruby's open door, and she glances over her shoulder.
Percy's heart twinges when he sees her reddened eyes, but she doesn't protest as he walks in. "Hey," he says, softly, kneeling down beside her. "Everything alright?"
"Does it look like it's okay?" she asks, attitude shining through, even past her exhausted exterior.
He nods. "Fair point. Want to talk about it?"
She shrugs. "Crying helped. I'm better now."
"Yeah, but it always helps to talk," Percy reasons. She sniffles, not giving a response, so Percy keeps talking. "I mean… I don't know if I can really relate, at this point. I skipped the heartbreak stage, thank God."
Ruby smiles a little, despite her upset state. "Yeah, I know. You and Mom have been together forever and ever and ever—-"
"Yeah, we have," Percy interrupts with a grin, but sobers up. "I may not know a lot about heartbreak, but I do get miscommunications. Me and Mom did that a lot. We still do."
"So?" Ruby says, not unkindly. "I don't think this is really a miscommunication, Dad. He was all over another girl."
Percy scowls, wanting to give this kid a stern talking to. "Did you ask him about it?"
"No, Dad!" Ruby wails, burying her face in her pillow. "I can't just ask him stuff like that!"
"Okay, okay," Percy assuages, rubbing her back. "That's fine. What does 'all over another girl' mean?"
"Like," Ruby starts, still sniffling. "Like hugging, and laughing, and looking happy. Like you and Mom."
Percy considers that. "Did they kiss?"
"I don't know, Dad, I wasn't exactly watching them for that long, I felt so sick." She sends him a sideways glare, but he knows the anger's not meant for him, so he doesn't get upset. "I'm sure they did kiss. They looked happy enough to."
Percy's heart sinks at her discouraged tone, so he pats her back a few more times. "Maybe he has a good explanation."
"Like cheating on me?"
"You were dating?"
"Dad!" Ruby cries, shrugging his hand off her back. "Yes, we were dating, but now we're not, so—-"
"I'm sorry," Percy says, gently. "I didn't mean to make you more upset. I just think you should talk to him, you know?"
Ruby deflates, hugging her pillow closer to her chest. "I don't think I want to."
He nods in understanding. "Give it a few days, see if he tries to talk to you and if he doesn't then I would ask him. If not you're just going to wonder what happened. Maybe it is a misunderstanding."
She huffs. "I highly—-"
"I know, I know," Percy says, holding up his hands. "But it's just best to make sure before you put all that effort into hating someone. Trust me. Or, better yet, ask your mom about Rachel."
"Rachel?" Ruby asks, her interest piqued. "Who's that?"
Percy smiles, kisses Ruby's forehead, and stands. "You'll be fine, I promise. It'll turn out."
"I hope so." She pulls him into a hug before he can leave her room, and Percy's heart squeezes. "I love you, Dad. Thanks."
He takes a deep breath. "I love you, too. Let me know when you're ready for dinner."
She nods dutifully, reaching for a book on her nearby shelf.
Two days later, Ruby comes home with a smile. "It was his sister," she informs them, blushing a little. "She'd just gotten home from some time in Europe."
Percy doesn't say 'I told you so', but he and Annabeth do share a secret little smile. "So," Ruby mentions slowly, "when Dad came in my room the other day, we started talking about snap judgement and misinterpretations and all that. Who's Rachel?"
Annabeth gasps, stricken, and swats at Percy with the nearest dishrag while he laughs maniacally. Ruby smiles into her hot chocolate.
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"She's driving," Percy whispers, heart-broken. "She's driving herself to school. Alone. Without us. Driving."
Annabeth sighs, leaning against him and patting his chest. "Driving," she adds, thoughtfully. "Fully-licensed and independent."
"I have Empty Nest Syndrome and she's not even moving out yet," Percy says, frowning. "When did she get so old? She's almost taller than me."
Annabeth hums, rubbing Percy's shoulder. "They grow up fast."
"Yeah, I knew that," he grumbles. "I just didn't know it would be this fast."
He calls Ruby at her expected arrival time, and she answers the call with a 'I'm fine, Dad, stop worrying!' and hangs up before he can even edge in his usual 'I love you and have a good day.'
She does, however, text him a few minutes later.
Favorite Daughter: I love you Dad, but I'm 16. Go hang out with Mom and stop worrying about me!
She follows it up with a picture of her parking job and a thumbs-up emoji. Percy's more than a little proud.
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