A/N: I apologize for the long wait. I have been pretty busy at the moment, my final exams only two weeks away. But alas, I have found time to write the story. I've changed my mind and the 'story' part of this is going to be chopped in half. So now it's a four-shot. Hope you enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I own a laptop, I own a pen, I own a stuffed zebra named Horatio but... I don't own any of these characters.
Part Two – The Story
Travis Stoll felt like the luckiest guy in the world. He wondered what he had done to please the Gods, but he was extremely happy with the way that life was turning out for him. At age eighteen, with the help of Chiron, he and Connor had found a small apartment to flat in that was close to Camp, but far enough so that they could finally start building their lives. Chiron had allowed them to come to camp as paid workers until they both found jobs or started college, whichever came first. Travis decided to just go and find a job, learning and studying had never been an option for him.
He finally felt like his life was coming together. He had a house, a means of pay, and of course, his beautiful girl. It was rather suffice to say that she was the love of his life. When she wasn't studying or at college and when he wasn't helping Chiron out with new campers, they spent every moment together. They had been together for two years and it was probably the two best years of Travis' life. Sometimes, it felt surreal. He would have never thought that he would be the one to fall in love with Katie Gardner, of all people.
Growing up, it was rather obvious that the pair hated each other. They couldn't be within a hundred meter radius of each other without being at each other's throats. Whenever they were near each other, the whole camp knew that they were because screaming and insults would be heard throughout the vicinity. Yet, when they got together just after the second Titan war, half the camp was expecting it.
When Katie Gardner knocked on the front door of the Stolls' apartment, Travis was in a good mood. He'd been having a good day, at Camp most of the day, conning all the newbies and helping his younger siblings pull pranks on the Ares and Hephaestus cabins. So all in all, it had been a wonderful day.
"Hey there Katie," he greeted with her his wide smile that she had loved ever since from the beginning. Katie, on the opposite end, had not been having a good day in the slightest. College was becoming rather stressful and tortuous, and she had some very shocking news to tell her favorite son of Hermes. Once Travis saw the distressed look on his girlfriend's face, his grin suddenly fell. "Are you okay?" He asked as he pushed the door open further to let her in. She walked into the small apartment and sat on the old tattered couch that Connor had found in some op shop that smelt like cheap soap.
"I-I need to tell you something," There was no doubting the lack of confidence that was etched in Katie's voice. It immediately worried Travis. Katie Gardner was usually a very confident person, often to the point of annoyance on Travis' part.
"What's wrong?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. The eldest Stoll was many things, but one thing he definitely did not excel in was comfort. His humor was odd and sadistic at some points and raw emotions such as sadness was something that he could never deal with very well. Katie glanced down at the stained carpet, studying it as if it was the most interesting thing she'd seen all day. It wouldn't be surprising if it was. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to go about telling her eighteen year old boyfriend news that was this important. It was life-changing. It was terrifying.
"I'm pregnant Trav," the hushed words came out of her words faster than she expected to. She was too scared to look up and see what the male demigod's expression was, but she felt his arm tense up around her shoulders. The moment of silence seemed to last forever as they both tried to gather their thoughts. Travis, to say the least was dumbfounded. She had to be joking, right? Some not-so funny prank that she was pulling to try and get revenge for all the pranks he had fired upon her in the previous years. But this was something no-one should ever joke about, the small voice in his head had told him. He tried to push the thought away, but he knew that it was true. Katie looked far too vulnerable for it to be just a prank.
"But how?" Travis managed to blurt out a few minutes later once his voice found him. He inwardly cringed. It wasn't the exact response he was intending to say, neither was it the response that Katie was waiting for. She pushed away from her boyfriend's touch, agitated at his seemingly idiotic response. She glowered at Travis, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Well Travis, when a boy and girl really-" She started sarcastically, but was cut off by Travis clearing his throat and staring daggers at her. This was not going as well as she'd hoped, the young demigod thought sullenly.
"I know that," the son of Hermes muttered indignantly, a million thoughts still rushing through his head like New York traffic on a Friday afternoon. There was no way that Travis could be a father. He was eighteen years old for Zeus' sake! The same Stoll could barely look after a pet rock, let alone a child that was his! "What are we going to do?" he asked, his voice quiet for uncharacteristically quiet.
Katie kept for the moment being. She had thought about this situation many times, with a few different outcomes racing through her head. Sure, she had envisioned herself having Travis' kids, but not at eighteen when they weren't married and Travis barely had a job. Hades, they weren't even legal to buy alcohol, let alone cater for a child's needs as well as their own.
Part of Katie really did want to keep the baby. She had spent more than a few nights dreaming about what her future child was going to be like. Travis' curly and unruly locks, her dark green eyes. Travis' whacked out humor, her love of gardening. Travis' uncanny ability to worm his way out of anything and her determination.
The more logical side of Katie Gardner was screaming "NO!" She knew that she was never going to have the heart to abort the baby. That was just out of the question. She had thought about giving it up for adoption, thinking that giving it away was going to be the best decision.
"Trav, I'm going to give it away," her voice was merely a whisper. She hated sounding so desperate and vulnerable, but it was really the only option. Every cell in her heart was begging for her to take that sentence back, but her head telling her that it was the only option.
"No," Travis was surprised about how fast the words came out of his mouth. To be perfectly honest, it was the last thing he was expecting to come out of his mouth. Apparently, Katie had the same thought as all she could do was stare at her boyfriend in pure shock.
"What do you mean 'no'?" Katie couldn't help but blurt out. For Hades' sake, this was not the way her life was supposed to go! She had a plan. She was going to marry Travis, they were going to travel together, before settling down and having kids. She was not prepared to have a kid at eighteen! And she was sure as anything that Travis was anything but prepared either. The eldest Stoll took a deep breath before replying to his long time girlfriend.
"Katie, I'm not going to let you give it away," his tone was quiet, so unlike Travis Stoll that it sent chills down Katie's spine. No, no, no, she was screaming in her head. He was supposed to be hugging her and telling her that it was going to be okay and that they were going to do what she wanted and then carry on as if nothing happened. He was not supposed to fight back and sit there, just glancing at the ground with his fists bunched together at his sides.
"This is my baby Trav-" she began, but the son of Hermes put a hand up to stop her from saying anymore. It was ripping his insides in half at the thought of breaking her heart, but there was no way in the world that Travis was going to let this kid go without its parents. While Katie's dad actually loved her and was the one who looked after her growing up, and still wanted to see her even after she went to Camp Half Blood, Travis' relationship with his father was never ever like that. He knew from first-hand experience what it was like to not have a father around and he knew how incredibly hard it was. There was no way that he was going to put his future kid through that.
"It's our baby Katie. So we both have to agree and I'm not letting that baby go," he said, his voice strong and firm, sounding far more confident than he felt. Before Katie could say another word, Travis stood up abruptly. "I'm going to see Connor, I need to talk to him. Feel free to stay or go, but I swear on my life, if you don't want to keep this baby, I will do it on my own."
Connor Stoll couldn't help but spit out the juice he was drinking when he heard what his brother was telling him. The younger Stoll had just been out with Grover and Percy when he received his older brother's text message demanding him to meet Travis in a little café a few blocks away from their apartment. Even though the younger son of Hermes couldn't see his brother at the present moment, he'd had an inkling that something very important was wrong. Once they got a bit older, Chiron and Mr. D grudgingly allowed them to have cell-phones to use only during an emergency. So far, the only time Connor had ever had his brother text him was when he told him they had to go to hospital because their mom had been in a car accident. So Connor knew that something wasn't right. He excused himself from his friends and made his way down to where his brother wanted him to be.
"Yo, what's wrong?" Connor greeted rather casually, sliding into the booth where his brother sat. He tried to put a smile on his face, but Connor sensed that there was something wrong. Very wrong. Usually Travis had his impish grin plastered on his face, Hades, he'd even managed to have some kind of smile on his face when he confronted his younger brother about his mom, but right now, all traces of any emotion was not apparent on Travis' face. That fact alone scared Connor more than it should have.
The brothers sat in the booth in silence, Connor only speaking to order a glass of orange juice while he waited for his brother to speak. Part of him was aching to smack his oldest brother in the arm and demand what was wrong, but he knew that it was going to be no use. He just had to wait. You could imagine the surprise on Connor's face when Travis finally spoke up and said,
"Katie's pregnant." It was two words, two words that were pretty useless separately, if you asked Connor, but together, they were one life changing statement. Before Connor could even begin to try and speak a coherent sentence, Travis kept going, mumbling about what he said about keeping the baby.
"You said what?" The younger Stoll couldn't keep the surprise and shock out of his voice. He knew his brother better than any other person in the universe (with the exception of the Gods) and he knew that for a fact, Travis Stoll was not friendly with kids. Hades, he had bluntly declared he wanted to make camp newbies suffer, even at the age of about seven. To be perfectly honest, Connor couldn't see his own brother as a father. It just didn't fit.
Travis on the other hand, was not pleased by his brother's reaction. Of course, you really couldn't expect anything else. He is a Stoll after all, but Travis was certainly expecting a bit more than a three word outburst of surprise. He was expecting…hell, he didn't know, just not that.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence bro," the elder Stoll muttered sarcastically as he glared at his younger brother, still trying to sort out all his thoughts in his mind. It was not looking pretty, to say the least. For the first time in his life, Travis was completely torn in two. Half of him wanted to keep the baby and look after it and nurture it and be the loving father he never had, but the other half of him was on the total opposite scale. He wanted to do what Katie wanted and make her happy. It was rather obvious that Katie was probably the most important girl in Travis' life and he would do anything for her in a heartbeat. Well, almost anything.
"Do you think you have what it takes to be a dad? Trav, it doesn't take a genius to know it's a whole lotta responsibility," Connor said slowly, completely dismissing his older brother's previous statement. He was still completely taken back by the whole situation, not to mention slightly perturbed and disturbed. Travis didn't have the greatest track record of being responsible, to say the least. And this was a child they were talking about! It wasn't something that Travis could just drop whenever he felt like and gave up on. They both knew that taking care of a baby was so much more than just responsibility. It took care, patience, persistence, love and so much more, nothing that Travis had been incredibly successful in doing this.
"I don't know Connor, I really don't," Travis finally admitted what they both knew since the conversation started. The son of Hermes buried his head in his hands, groaning loudly. About an hour ago, life was definitely not this complicated. Travis Stoll did not do complicated. He was an easy going guy who breezed through life. Apparently, it was all going to change. Seeing his brother look completely helpless was something new to Connor and to be quite frank, it was rather nerve wracking. The younger Stoll made a snap decision then and there, trying not to think too much about the consequences or else he'd never get it out.
"Well whatever you choose Travis, I'm going to be your right hand man."
The next eight months for Travis Stoll were not particularly pleasant. He could go as far to say that it was probably the worse nine months of his life, and that was saying something considering he'd had some pretty rough times. Katie was even moodier than usual, making Travis' life a living hell. Whether it was on purpose or just because she was pregnant was beyond the poor Stoll boy and he didn't dare to ask which one it was. The boy was dim witted, but not that stupid.
It seemed to the soon-to-be father that every time he would try and do something useful for his girlfriend, it would all just crumble. He tried his best to please her, but she changed her mind every five minutes and it was rather hard for the boy to keep up with all her demands.
Since the night Travis and Katie fought about what was going to happen about their baby, fighting was all they ever did. They fought over what Katie's latest craving was, which television program to watch, what song to listen to, everything. Travis just couldn't win anymore. They tried to avoid talking about the future of the baby, but the pair both knew that they were just denying the inevitable.
"Katie," Travis began softly, glancing at his overly pregnant girlfriend as he walked into his apartment. She had recently been staying there for the past few nights as the due date of the baby loomed closer. Connor had made several excuses to not be at home before smartly deciding to stay in the Big House until the baby was born. He figured he had already done his part, helping his brother when he could and he was going to help him look after the baby. Once it was already out, he resolved.
"What Travis?" She snapped back irritably. Travis sighed, getting used to that tone. Katie Gardner didn't like being snappy, but it was just the way she was now. Gone were the days of the gorgeous carefree soul who barely worried about a thing. She was replaced with an incredibly grumpy, distressed girl that was far too young to be carrying a child.
"What are we going to do with it?" he asked, his voice was merely a whisper. He'd been wanting to talk about this for a while, but the time was never right. Hell, he thought. It was never the 'right' time to be talking about something as serious as this, but they needed to come to a decision before the baby came.
"I told you Travis. Once this baby is out, I am giving it away," she said, doing her best to sound firm. She had been having these internal battles about what to do for a long time. She really did want to keep the baby, but it was illogical and it just wasn't going to work. Once she gave the baby away, she was going to go back to college and finish her degree before going on her five year botanist exchange. There was this amazing program she had been accepted into for the year ahead that included her visiting various countries around the world and studying botany in all those different environments. It was a dream come true. And she was determined to go through with the exchange at all costs. Part of her felt selfish, but she knew that once she was finished with this exchange, she was going to settle down. She had already talked it out with Travis of course. And the boy was more than willing to wait. Until the baby happened.
"No Katie, that's not an option," Travis replied, sounding just as firm. The tone surprised both of them, as it was something that Travis barely used. Katie had finally made up her mind after the months of internal struggles.
"It's the only option Travis," she said, her voice slightly shaky. Travis shook his head, glancing at the ground to avoid his girlfriend's eyes. He really did not want to go through this, but there was no choice.
"Katie, this baby needs parents. That know what's going to happen to him or her. It's going to be a child of demigods for Gods' sake Katie! The baby needs us," the Stoll exclaimed, looking utterly frustrated.
"No, it doesn't Travis! It needs people who can support and provide for it!" Katie yelled at her boyfriend, hot tears of anger starting to trail down her pale cheeks.
"It needs us Katie. I don't care what you say, but I am keeping the baby," Travis was astonished by the words that were sprouting out of his mouth. He could hardly believe that they were coming from him and if it wasn't for the look on Katie's face, he wouldn't believe that it was him.
"I-if you keep i-it, we're over!" The last words that came out of the daughter of Demeter shocked her. She never thought she was ever going to utter those words to Travis Stoll. The son of Hermes frozen as soon as the words came out of Katie's mouth, all feelings of annoyance and irritation leaving his mind. All he could hear was those six words being repeated in his mind like a broken record.
"What?" the word escaped Travis' dry mouth a few seconds later, although it seemed like it was two years later.
"Y-you heard me," Katie tried her best to sound as confident as she could, swallowing the rising lump in her throat and resisting the urge to break down in tears. Every single fiber of her being was screaming at her to apologize and just jump into Travis' arms, but she just couldn't. Her fatal flaw was pride. She never once admitted in her life that she was wrong, and even though she loved Travis more than she could ever imagine she could, she just could not admit she was in the wrong.
"C'mon Katie," Travis began, but the daughter of Demeter was not having it. Her hormones were raging and she just couldn't stop herself.
"No Travis! I can't keep this baby! Not now! I'm only eighteen, I have my whole life ahead of me. I want to finish college and go on my exchange. Move into a pretty house in the countryside and get a real job. I can't look after a baby," she tried her best to explain what she was feeling.
Travis, on the other hand, was taking her explanation the completely wrong way. Instead of feeling hurt by her previous statement, he was getting angered, feeling his blood beginning to boil.
Travis, on the other hand, was taking her explanation the completely wrong way. Instead of feeling hurt by her previous statement, he was getting angered, feeling his blood beginning to boil.
"Don't you think that's really selfish?" he exclaimed, not thinking much about what he was saying. He was afterall, a son of Hermes. They didn't tend to think much about what they were saying.
"Me? Selfish?" Katie was just about to explode. "It's you who's being selfish! We can't play hero all the time! Travis, you don't even have a proper job, how in Hades to expect to look after a baby?" she retorted snidely, crossing her arms over her chest. He tried to hide it, but he was deeply hurt by her comments. He had never told anyone, not even his own brother or girlfriend, but he hated the fact he couldn't find a job. Sure, he'd pretend to play it cool and act like it was okay that he was a stupid guy, but in reality, he hated it. It was the smart kids like the campers from Athena that made it big in the world. The Hermes guys like him had to find money through stealing or other illegal activity and that was no way Travis wanted to raise a family. Especially now. He swallowed the rising lump in his throat.
"I have nothing more to say Katie. I am keeping this baby and there is nothing you can do about it."
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