A/N: Here we are, chapter one, the beginning of a journey. Annabeth has a little secret she needs to tell… Enjoy!

Two

When Annabeth was a child, she never thought much about the future. Her life has been for the moment – surviving, fighting and moving forward. She could think a few days in advance for quests; on the run when she was seven her head would constantly be filled with how her, Thalia and Luke would get by. She would always wonder where they would wind up after the day ended.

Maybe it was the ADHD, but even after the Titan War and the Giant War were long gone, she still couldn't bring herself to think ahead in her life. The next day, for sure, the next week was easy, but the next month? The next year? Not a chance.

It wasn't until the after-effects of the terror she endured in Tartarus began to fade, and she and Percy began to grow all the more close did she open up to her future. It was something else she knew she had to have Percy a part of.

He was always there and by her side whenever she needed. It was a tendency twelve-year-old Annabeth found annoying but the much older, more mature Annabeth saw as sweet and caring. He was like a puppy – loving, comforting and cuddly. He wasn't a natural romantic, but even his smallest gestures of dorky sweetness made her heart melt. His novelist mother's way with words had been passed (somewhat) to him, showing through in some of his cheesy but adorable statements.

He had told her that he loved her so much it hurt, that she could call wanting to make her happy and obsession, but it was more like she made him care too much, and that she was the closest to heaven he could manage. The phrases had been part of the wedding vows he had spent months writing. He had sworn he would keep her safe forever and she knew that he meant it.

Months after the day she wore that white dress, the far future was something Annabeth never stopped thinking about. Even after the two of them settled into an apartment together, Annabeth taking up her lifelong dream of an architect and Percy teaching Biology in a local high school, she still wondered what was to come.

She worried nowadays more than ever, at this point in their life and relationship. As she tried to focus on making dinner in the kitchen with Percy making lesson plans in the adjacent living room, she gave up and braced herself on the counter. Thought never failed to catch up with her, so she let her mind wander.

As a kid, thinking of the future had made her nauseous. Now, with her stomach churning and her mind racing with the news she had yet to tell Percy, thinking years ahead settled her. The two of them were only twenty-four, but she began to think of them at eighty, retired and with wrinkles, maybe glasses. Knitting needles on her part, perhaps?

Too absorbed in her fantasies, she didn't hear Percy shuffling his papers onto the coffee table, then walking softly into the kitchen and coming up behind her.

When they were twelve, Annabeth and Percy were matched in height. The cliché phrase "girls mature faster than boys" was true later on – Annabeth grew an inch or two taller for a few awkward years. Then Percy hit his growth spurt. He shot straight up, and turned out to be standing a whole head over his now wife.

She was startled when he circled his arms around her, but the feeling of his shaggy, slightly too-long black hair ticking her bare neck made her even more comfortable. His warm chest pressed against her back. His right hand rested momentarily on her hip and his left pulled her shirt over her stomach so he could cradle their baby that was six months along.

He leaned to rest his chin on her shoulder, and she felt him smile as his check pressed to her jaw. She wrapped her hands around his, slowly guiding the bottom one around to the left side of her stomach. A few moments later, the baby kicked the palm of Percy's hand.

She heard his breath hitch in his throat, and he buried his face into her shoulder, planting a kiss at the base of her neck. She turned slightly to look at him. His wide, emerald eyes welled up. He was always a protective person, and Annabeth had a feeling that he would be an amazing father. He would give his child something he never really had for himself when her was young – a dad. This baby would be his universe.

"Cool, huh?" Annabeth murmured, breaking the silence. Percy's eyes barely flickered to her face, and it took him a few moments to respond.

"He's going to be perfect," he whispered, lifting his head with a slight smile and finally meeting her eyes.

She laughed quietly, turning in his arms and resting her palms on his collarbones, while his hands shifted to her hips. "How are you so sure it'll be a boy?"

He smirked and kissed the tip of her nose. "Instinct."

A smile played at the corners of her lips. "Well, Seaweed Brain, you'll be happy to know I had my ultrasound today."

His eyes lit up as he remembered, then turned smug. "So now you know for sure that he really is a boy?"

She sighed through her nose and stared up into his eyes, working up her courage. This was the news that had her thinking about their future, and she wasn't sure is she was scared of the reaction or the news itself. She didn't know if Percy would be happy.

She took a deep breath. "Yes," she said carefully, "it is a boy-"

His face broke into his signature wide grin. He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off.

"And a girl."

His brow furrowed, the corners of his mouth turning down in a slight frown – his confused face. It was an expression she earned almost every day.

"How is that even possible?" Percy wondered aloud.

Annabeth playfully smacked his shoulder. He really was an idiot sometimes. Still nervous, she bit her lip, waiting before she muttered, "Twins, Percy. I'm having twins."

It took a moment to sink in, but when it did, he was clearly shocked. His eyebrows flew up, beneath his fringe of black hair. His eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped incredulously. His bottom lip trembled for a few moments that terrified Annabeth before finally, he found his voice.

"Twins," he breathed."

She nodded. "A boy and a girl."

His face changed back to the wide smile, though this time slightly nervous. He laughed, once again putting his hands on either side of Annabeth's protruding stomach.

"Twins," he whispered, "we're having twins."

"We're having two," she repeated back softly, "what do we name them?"

Percy looked back to her eyes, and then leaned in to capture her lips in a gentle, loving kiss, before he slowly knelt in front of her. Annabeth gripped the counter with one hand, and let the other get tangles in Percy's hair as she watched him plant a soft kiss on either side of her belly.

"I don't care what we name them right now," he murmured as he rested his forehead to the top of her stomach, "all that matters is that there's two."

They were silent for a few minutes. Annabeth tried to let the fact that Percy was happy sink in and Percy tried to settle the excitement boiling in his gut. This was everything he ever wanted – a life with Annabeth, and kids. He had always wanted children of his own, even when he was a child himself. When Annabeth had first told him she was pregnant, he couldn't lie, he cried. He cried an hugged her and kissed her and swore that this baby would mean everything to him.

Even then, he couldn't decide whether he wanted a girl or a boy. Maybe a boy, to teach to skateboard, which was an old obsession of his? Or a girl, to be his little princess, his little mini Annabeth?

Now he was having twins and not a single think could have felt more right. Being there with his wife in their apartment with the word "two" swirling around his head, it all felt so easy.

For once, everything in Percy's life felt perfect.

He stood and pulled Annabeth in for another passionate kiss. The two of them were ending up with two children and he decided right then and there that he didn't care if Greek mythology said three was a lucky number, two would always be magical to him.

Aaand, boom! There it is, hope you enjoyed the enormous amount of fluff, so review, review, review!

See you soon for chapter two, "Chink"!