DISCLAIMER: Don't own PJO/HoO; Rick Riordan does. Also don't own any other brands/companies/shows/movies/songs mentioned; they are owned by their respective owners.
Rain continued pouring down the Chase-Jackson house, making it flood inside. Of course, the fire had subsided into smoke, and the mess they have done has completely washed out, but every single floatable object in the house has, well, floated. Sofie and Luke jumped up and down while running around, obviously enjoying the "catastrophe"—as Grover had put it—and luckily, they have inherited their father's waterproof abilities. That lessened one thing on Thalia and Grover's "to-fix-and/or-manage-before-Percy-and-Annabeth- arrives list".
The water—fortunately, it was only in the first floor—had reached Thalia's mid-calf, which was already waist-high to the children. Sighing yet again, she willed the rain to stop. It took a while for the downpour to actually stop, and when it did, the children had stopped running and jumping. They were confused as to why the rain stopped. Sofie started crying.
"You know," Thalia says to Grover, "I think it would be better to deal with teenagers who are always crying over shows and books and movies and the music world than this."
"What? This, as in her crying, or this, as in all of these things which happened today?" Grover inquired.
"The latter," she said simply. Thalia walked towards the bathroom to unplug the drain. She told Grover to also unplug the one in the kitchen floor.
"More drains open, less work for us," she had said.
Grover didn't need any words of inspiration or something; he wanted to rest, so he'll do anything just to finish this job, obligation, thing—he didn't even know what to call it anymore. He has to admit, though, like Thalia, he would happily accept the duty of controlling teenage angst than this whole thing. This was too much for him—at least, for now, since he and Juniper are thinking of creating their own little family of satyr-nymph babies…but that's a story for another time.
He had already reached the kitchen—the first half of the kitchen—and opened the drain, which, fortunately, was conveniently placed next to the doorway. He silently thanked the gods for the effort he didn't have to exert.
After opening it, the water slowly went down the drain. Grover would have stared at the swirling water much longer—as if it would be drained faster if he did it—but he heard Thalia calling him from the living room.
"Grover!" she shouted. "Where in Zeus's name are you?"
Grover sighed exasperatedly. "Coming, coming," he muttered, but repeated it again, clearer and louder, when he realized that Thalia would not hear it.
He walked—no, dragged himself towards the living room, where the water had lowered to Thalia's ankles. Had it really drained that fast?
Or maybe I just took a long time to go the kitchen or something, he thought.
"Why did you call me, Thals?" he asked.
Thalia's mind was, apparently, off wandering somewhere else; Grover had to snap his fingers in front of her face for about ten times to get her attention.
She blinked. "Wha—oh, yes. Grover. Hi."
"Yes, Thalia. Hello." He said, "Now, why did you call me here?"
"Ah, yes, that. Well…" she started.
"Well?" Grover said impatiently.
Thalia was being uncharacteristically nervous. "Annabeth called. She said they'd be here in twenty minutes."
"What are we waiting for, then? Let's clean this mess up," he said. So that I can go back to my satyr-ish duties, he added mentally.
He had learned, from the past years of him residing in Camp Half-Blood with Percy and the others, that one should never ever do anything against Annabeth's orders. Disobedience will result in her giving you her signature icy glares (which make you feel like the glare is following you everywhere); kicking your ass in sparring; bossing you around; or, worse, all of the above.
Not that Grover had learned these things from experience. Nuh-uh.
Grover got the mop and some sponges from the supply cabinet, located very conveniently near the staircase. It had lessened the number of steps he needed to take.
I really have to ask Annabeth to be our architect, he thought as he got the mop and the sponges (which, he thought to himself, vaguely resemble that annoying sponge from a children's cartoon). He gave the porous objects to the huntress, and started mopping some of the water that weren't drained.
Luckily for the both of them, the floor wasn't some sort of carpet-thingy, for it was made of blue-gray marble tiles, or else it would've taken them days just to dry that off. Also, the couches and loveseats were made from a leathery material, so they just wiped the water off the portions that were wet.
"So," Grover said, prolonging the 'o' sound. "Where are the kids?"
"Tucked them in their beds. Were very tired after all that happened," Thalia answered. She was scrubbing the other furniture, squeaky-clean. "Hope they wouldn't wake up and tell the legend of the night when Percabeth comes home."
Grover chuckled at the mention of "Percabeth". Ever since the two, Percy and Annabeth, had been a couple when they were sixteen, their friends at camp—including Rachel the oracle—had collectively called them "Percabeth". They never said it straight to the couple's faces, though, especially during the time when they had the quest to stop Gaea and her forces. Until the wedding had happened, they all openly call the two "Percabeth" (it's a ship name, actually, Piper said).
After several minutes of scrubbing and mopping, they had finally finished fixing—more like repairing, Thalia said—the whole first floor of the house. And by that time, a certain someone decided to call them (or the house, but that's unlikely, Grover thought).
"Hello? Thalia, is that you?" Annabeth said through the phone after Thalia put it on loudspeaker.
The huntress sighed. "Yes, Annie. It's me. You near the house yet?"
"Actually, yeah, we are. We just passed by Starbucks—it's open for 24 hours, Perce, believe it—the one two blocks away from the house?"
"Yeah, yeah. I remember," Thalia tiredly said. "Say, could you go back to there and pick us up some coffees?"
Annabeth replied, "Oh, sure thing. Kinds?"
"Seven cups of espresso. The largest size," Grover replied. His brain was lacking its daily coffee intake, hence not remembering the name for the largest cup of coffee served in Starbucks.
"Three espressos for me. Same with Grover; the largest size available," Thalia added.
"Mm'kay. See you there, guys," Annabeth hung up.
Thalia tiredly collapsed on the couch, and Grover imitated her, but he collapsed on the whitish love seat, instead.
"I'm. So. TIRED," Thalia said the last part with a half-annoyed, half-exasperated scowl. "I am never ever going to babysit again for two years."
Randomly, Grover hummed the tune of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift. He then looked at her without raising his head. "What if Annabeth asks you to? Or begs you to?"
She smirked. "I'm gonna make up some excuse or something. And," she added, "she never begs."
"Good point."
They were silent for quite a long time, before Grover broke the silence. "Do you think we should clean ourselves up?"
"Mmm, okay. Go first, I'm gonna take a nap." She closed her eyes and curled up on the couch sleepily.
It was then Grover realized that it was a great idea to bring some of his necessities. Call him an over-prepared satyr, but hey, you'll never know when times like this happen. He entered the bathroom downstairs, and began cleaning himself up. When he finished doing so, he called out to Thalia, saying it was her turn to tidy herself up. She groaned in reply, obviously not wanting to stand up from her comfortable position, but went to the bathroom anyway.
Grover decided to kill some time by watching some TV. He sat on the couch and turned the television on, flipping through random channels. None of the shows were entertaining enough for him, so he settled on watching a movie instead. Looking through the couple's movie collection, a particular film caught his eye. It was about a girl who was forced on going to college. He had heard Juniper talk about this to him, and she had said the movie had some pretty awesome song covers and mash-ups, so it had sparked an interest in him. (Juniper had also mentioned an all-boy a cappella group was in here—"They're so cute and awesome!" she had said— and that she had a little crush on some guy named Jesse that was insanely hot, and Grover was kinda-sorta-maybe jealous, but don't ever tell her that.)
He put the DVD on the player, and the film had started off with an a cappella version of the Universal Studios theme. I guess it isn't bad, he thought.
Thalia entered the living room and saw him intently looking at the screen as the movie played. He was at the part where two girls were singing in a shower room…naked.
"Hey," Thalia said. "Isn't that—"
He cut her off. "Yes. It is. Now shut up and watch it with me if you want to." Grover rarely snapped at his friends, but he didn't want to not hear any single word uttered by the characters.
Thalia followed, and sat beside him on the floor, in front of the television screen. Together, they watched the movie—laughing at some scenes, and singing along to the songs. After an hour or so of watching, they finally finished the movie. Both were speechless and their mouths were open in surprise.
"How…?" Thalia said. "Oh my gods, why did they end it there? The endings were supposed to be the best part! It's…it's just… Ugh! I demand a part two!"
Grover simply nodded. "I feel you, dude. But you gotta admit—you did not expect Lilly to beat-box in their final performance."
"Nope, I didn't. The riff-off was so cool, though," Thalia stated.
The two shared their opinions and thoughts on the movie intently; they were so focused that they didn't notice Percy and Annabeth enter the house through the back door and head towards the kitchen.
"Thalia? Grover? Your coffees are here," Percy called out.
Thalia was the first one to hear Percy's shout. Her eyes widened as she muttered Grover's name.
No response.
"HEY! GROVER!" she whisper-yelled. "They're already here! Fix everything here; I'll go to…wherever they are now."
He nodded in response and started arranging the things in the living room. Thalia, on the other hand, went to where the sounds came from—the kitchen. She entered the room with a calm expression on her face, but inside, she was as scared as hell. Not for watching one of their movies, but because she's nervous that one of the kids would wake up and tell the couple everything that had happened that day.
"Oh, hey, Annabeth. Percy," she greeted. "So, these are our coffees, right? Okay, I'll just get these—" she got hold of the bags containing the cups, "—and be on our way. Grover's very tired and I've still got some errands to run, so…bye."
Thalia didn't wait for their response. She just brisk-walked towards the living room to fetch Grover and leave, until her fear turned to reality.
"DADDY! MOMMY!" two small voices shouted. Thalia stopped walking and suppressed her urge to face-palm right then and there.
The chants comprising of repetitions "MOMMY!" and "DADDY!" were getting louder as the children came closer to their parents.
Sofie was the first to reach Annabeth. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! We had so much fun today with Auntie Thalia and Uncle Grover! We—"
"—baked cookies and played with flour and coloring and water and it was like we're swimming!" Luke cut his sister's rambling with his own. He all but jumped as he exclaimed what happened.
Percy's face perked up at the mention of water and swimming. "Oh, really?" he asked Luke, kneeling to match his son's height. "You swam? Where?"
Honestly, by that time, Thalia was kind of scared as to what the couple's reaction will be. "Inside the house," Luke and Sofie answered excitedly.
And that was the time when Grover chooses to enter the kitchen. "Oh, hey, guys. Thals, I thought the kids were—" He abruptly stopped talking when he glanced at Annabeth's half-annoyed, half-resigned expression and at Percy's fully-amused face.
Grover sighed. "Hey, Thals?"
"Yeah?"
"Do they already know?"
"Yeah."
The satyr visibly—and audibly—gulped. Well, here it goes, then.
"Would any of you two explain to me how this 'swimming' thing happened," Annabeth asked, rubbing her eyes tiredly and exasperatingly. Percy whispered something to her, and she nodded. He then led the obviously sleepy children to their rooms. Grover gazed at him with a message in his eyes: DON'T LEAVE US HERE DUDE SAVE US FROM THE WRATH OF YOUR WIFE OH GODS PLEASE PERCY HELP US
To which Percy's still-amused eyes seemingly answered: You're on your own, pal. Good luck, though. Tell me the details if and when you survive. Then, he grinned and walked away with his children.
Well, Grover thought, isn't this fun.
"So?" Annabeth asked again. "What happened?"
Thalia answered, "Oh, y'know; we just baked and it eventually led to a food fight, then…yeah."
"Then what?" the daughter of Athena questioned further.
"Um, I might've played my pipes to catch the kids…?" Grover said, but with a tone of uncertainty.
The huntress smiled nervously. "And I might've summoned some lightning to remove Grover's vines… And, oh! Don't forget about the rain I might or might not have brought down to extinguish the fire in here awhile ago."
Grover had always liked silence, but it was not appreciated at this situation. Annabeth's silence and expressionless face was like the calm before the storm. It didn't usually mean good news.
They all stood there facing each other for some more moments. Thalia ended up leaving the coffee bags on one counter; Grover was tapping a beat on his left wrist with the fingers on his right hand; and Annabeth had her arms folded on her chest, her gray eyes still revealing no emotion.
"So," Percy entered. "What do we have here? Still giving them the silent treatment, Anna?"
Even when Percy used his nickname for her—which she despised, but the feeling had degraded to a simple dislike—she remained as motionless as a statue.
"Annabeth…" Thalia started. She, too, was feeling quite scared at Annabeth. And that was saying something, since the huntress was rarely scared of anything.
Twitch.
There it was! A small yet significant twitch of the blonde demigod's lips was enough proof that she wasn't that emotionless.
"…Pfft. Ha…ha, ha…hahahahaha!" Annabeth started chuckling, but it turned into full-blown hysterics. Percy followed, steadying himself on the countertop next to him.
Grover's jaw slackened and his eyes were as wide as platters. When he looked over to Thalia, her expression wasn't too far from his. Her electric blue eyes were conveying something like 'what the heck is happening here?'
Shrugging his shoulder, he mouthed 'I don't really know but I'm guessing that they think everything that had happened is so damn funny' before looking towards the couple once again. They weren't laughing as loudly as awhile ago, but the amusement was still clear on their faces.
"So—hahaha—you guys might be thinking that I'm—haha ohmygods—angry at you two," Annabeth said.
"Well, actually, at first yes. But now…" Thalia started.
Grover finished her sentence, "We think that you're actually…not?"
"No, I was and am not angry. I'm honestly surprised that the house didn't totally burn down, and I'm also entertained at the facts that: 1) you thought I was angry; 2) your faces looked priceless awhile ago; and 3) you were able to survive the kids' peculiar activities." Annabeth turned to her husband, "Remember the first time the two of us had to go through that? When they were just two and a half years old?"
Percy laughed once more. "Yeah, we were so stressed out and helpless that we called my mom at two in the morning just to assist us," he wiped tears from his eyes. "Oh, good times. Good times."
"See," Annabeth stated to the other duo, "you're not the only ones who had to go through them. But I think they lay off the 'activities' when the two of you babysat them."
Thalia gasped in a surprised manner. "So…you mean there were times when Sofie and Luke were much…worse?"
The wedded couple simply nodded.
"Oh, gods," Grover muttered. "Never tell me to babysit again if ever that happens."
Thalia vigorously shook her head. "Same here. If you ever force me to do that, I will personally drag you to Uncle Hades' palace," she declared seriously.
Annabeth and Percy merely said okay's as an agreement.
"Now, we'll just go off to give the two of you some privacy," Grover spoke after some seconds of silence. "But," he added, "please don't go and have another child. Two are already enough."
They blushed furiously while Thalia and Grover snickered. Annabeth then pushed her friends to the doorway, her face remaining tomato red.
"Bye, guys! Thanks for everything!" she shouted out before closing—more like slamming—the door to the Jackson household. Percy waved from the living room window, but it looked like Annabeth pulled him away as soon as she closed the entrance.
"Do you think they're gonna do that?" Grover asked with a smile.
Thalia smirked. "Probably. I just hope Sofie and Luke won't be able to hear them and go barging in on them."
They both laughed, walking away from the eventful house. But, after just about fifty steps away, Thalia stopped in her tracks. "Grover, the coffees!"
"What about the coffees? Don't you have the bags?" he questioned, terrified at the fact that he won't have his night serving of the delicious caffeine goodness.
"No! I think I left them in the kitchen!" she paced back and forth. "We have to get them!"
Grover's eyes widened. "No. No, no, no, no. Who knows what they're doing now?!"
"I don't care! I just want my coffees back!" Thalia ran back to the door and pounded on it like her life depended on it.
The satyr shrugged. Might as well do the same. As far as he knew, he wouldn't be able to survive the walk back home without the wonderful aroma of the brownish-black delight. He ran back to the house, too, and banged the door, shouting "PERCY! ANNABETH! OUR COFFEES!" alongside Thalia.
Oh, well. There's never a boring day—and night—in their family, right? And that's why they all love one another. They're not just a one big, happy family; they're one big, happy, crazy family.
A/N: GUYS. I OFFER YOU A SEVEN-PAGE LONG CHAPTER (well, at least on MS Word) TO MAKE UP FOR YOUR WAITING. I don't know, writer's block hit me and that was the time when school was pretty busy. So, technically, I held this off until my summer vacation—which is now. Yeah...
/i'mawkwardokaysuckitup
So, anyway, sorry for any grammatical/spelling mistakes. {and i dont really like how this ended it was more like i was just typing out words but anyhoo} Here's the final chapter for OBHF. I hope you guys like it. And I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with this story (and for bearing with me) until the end of this two-shot. {i'm making this look like i'm saying a very dramatic farewell speech gawd}
For the last time, though, in this story, I'm gonna ask (force? nag? idek) you readers to tell me what you thought of this; if you liked it, hated it, anything. Thanks, guys. Byeeee~