Chapter 1
Annabeth POV
Three Years Later
"Mommy?" a voice calls pulling me out of my peaceful slumber. "Mommy?" the voice calls again. I roll over and face the door to my room.
"Yeah sweetie?" I ask, waiting for my eyes to focus on the small figure that has entered my room.
"I'm scared," the sweet voice whispers to me. I sit up and place my feet on the plush carpet in front of me.
"What are you scared of baby?" I ask her, walking over to her and placing her on my hip. I hug her tight as her lips start to tremble.
"I had a dweam, we were chased by a big mwonster, and, and, you m-made m-me weave you be-behind, and then you died. You weft me." I gently bounce her, as I walk over to my bed.
"Shhh, oh baby, what did I tell you? Hmm, what has Mommy told you about her leaving?" I ask her, sitting down again, still bouncing her in the process.
"You said when Uncle Leo fweezes over." She mumbles into my collarbone.
"And what does that mean?" I ask her.
"You'll never leave me." She says.
"That's right." I tell her. "Now, would you like to sleep with me tonight?" I ask her. She nods feebly and says a quiet, "Yes, pwease." I can't help but pull her even closer to my body as I close my eyes.
"Mommy?" I hear her ask quietly. I chuckle quietly at her inability to fall asleep.
"Yes Dylan?" I ask her, my eyes already closed.
"Thank you for deciding to be my mommy, even though I'm not really yours." When she says that I feel an awful twist in my stomach.
"Now, you listen to me, Dylan Chase, even though you may not be related to me by blood, you have been and always will be, mine. You will always be my little girl, no matter what. Do you understand me?" I ask her.
She giggles and replies with an "I know" and before I can even blink she's sound asleep. I guess that she takes after her father in that aspect. She also takes after him in regards to the fact that she is impossible to wake up in the morning.
"Percy! It's really time to get up! You're going to be late for class!" I tell him as I enter our room.
"Noooo. I just want to sleep in today." He rolls over and stuffs his face into his pillow. I walk over and gently shake his shoulder.
"Come on! You have that test in Bio today remember? You can't miss that. And you have that big party tonight! Everyone is talking about how much fun it'll be, so you have to go!" I tell him, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"I don't want to." He tells me. "Why can't you go again?"
"Because I promised Bow that I would take her shift while she was visiting her parents." I try shaking him again, but he doesn't budge.
"No." Is all he says.
"Have it your way then," I tell him standing up and walking to the bathroom; where I fill a nice bucket with ice water. I walk back into his room to find him snoring again.
"Last warning Seaweed Brain, it's now or never," I warn him, but still I get no response. I just shrug and empty the entire bucket on his head.
Percy shoots up right with a yell and a cry of, "Sweet baby Zeus" and launches himself at me.
"I'm gonna get you for that Wise Girl! Oh my gods, that's so cold!" He says as he chases me through our apartment.
When he finally catches me, I'm a bundle of squeals and giggles. I try to keep it together, but I only last so long when he buries his soaking wet head in my back.
"Percy, stop!" I squeal at him.
"No!" He says as he continues to dry his head off on my shirt. "You have to pay!"
"It's not my fault that you wouldn't wake up! I had to improvise! Your class is in an hour." I tell him.
"Fine," he says, finally letting me go, "I'll let you off the hook, but just this once okay?"
I turn in his arms and give him a sweet little peck on the lips.
"Sounds good to me," I tell him, pecking him on the lips again. I stop when I notice that he's just staring at me. "What?" I ask him.
"I love you." He tells me kissing me once more.
"I love you too, now get! You're going to be late for class!"
"Aww, how cute!" I hear, a voice say. I recognize it immediately and I just want it to go away.
"Leave us alone Thalia, I just want to sleep." I mumble turning over and burying my face in the pillow.
"Yeah, leave us alone Aunt Thalia!" Dylan whisper yells at her.
"Hey! Don't you smart-mouth me Dyl, it's not my fault your mom has to get to work." I hear her say.
I grumble as I sit up and turn to face her.
"I hate you," I tell her while I stand up.
"Hey! You're the one who chose to go in on Fridays! It's not my fault!" She says holding her hands up in surrender.
I guess that's true, usually I work at home, but every Friday I have to go into the office and turn in my blueprints. Right now I work for a nice architectural firm in good ol' New York, called Perkins + Will. I got a job here right after I graduated college early. It also helped that my brother Malcom is the Perkins of Perkins + Will.
It's really nice working with a sibling because of the fact that we're related, Malcom actually knows that I'm a single mom and he cares. So, I get to work from home while everyone else has to sit in awful little cubicles. Although I still have to go in once a week and I chose to do it on Fridays. Bad idea.
Luckily though, today I only have to turn in my plans for the new office building that they're going to be building. It shouldn't be too hard to get in, talk them through my design, and get out.
"Fair warning Annabeth, he's back in town. According to Sally, he just moved back from San Francisco." Thalia tells me. I just can't help but groan.
"You talked to Grandma Sally?" Dylan asked excitedly.
I can't really blame her though it's been a while since she's seen Sally.
A few years ago, I ran into Sally while I was grocery shopping. I had Dylan on my hip, and I just couldn't lie to Sally. So I told her everything. I told her about how I left. I told her about how Thalia and I spread rumors about me moving back to California. And I told her about how I desperately didn't want Percy to know the truth. It took some convincing, but she finally agreed.
I know that every time I see her she feels guilty about not telling Percy that I actually stayed in New York, but I still can't let her tell him. He obviously knows that she has a relationship with Dylan; her house is covered in pictures. But Sally said that he's not mad about it, apparently he's glad that Dylan gets to have that kind of relationship with her grandmother. She did say that he was really upset about the fact that he hasn't gotten to be there for Dylan, but that hasn't changed anything. He didn't want a daughter, now he doesn't have one.
The first time Dylan asked about her father I told her the absolute truth. I can't lie to her, no matter how hard I try. I don't want that kind of relationship with her. So I told her, I told her everything. She was a little heart broken at first but then she moved on. She knows that she's not my daughter by blood but after a while she didn't care. She was just happy that I was there.
The last time that Percy was in town Dylan and I had just seen Sally a week before, so we knew that he was coming. I had asked Dylan if she wanted to meet him but she said no. She told me that she didn't want someone in her life who didn't want her in theirs. I'm not going to lie but that was really deep for a three year old.
Now, he's back. Not temporarily, but permanently. Which means that my life just got a whole lot harder.
Percy POV
It feels so good to be back in New York. I've spent three years in San Francisco searching for two people who weren't even there. I would still be in San Francisco if it weren't for the fact that Leo accidentally let it slip that he had to baby-sit and that Annabeth's house was a thirty minute walk away.
He didn't even notice his slip up until he saw my face. When he realized his mistake he muttered a string of curse words and broke our connection.
After that I took the first flight out here and said good-bye to San Francisco for good.
As soon as I got here I went to see my mom. I always knew that she knew where Annabeth and Dylan were, but I also knew that se wouldn't tell me unless Annabeth said that she could. I loved visiting my mother, mainly because she always had new pictures of Annabeth and Dylan hanging up when I came. My all time favorite picture is of Annabeth and Dylan curled up together, fast asleep.
I think that it's safe to say, I hate myself. I hate the fact that I wasn't man enough to accept Dylan as my own all of those years ago. I hate myself for being weak enough to just let Annabeth walk out of my life.
The day I woke up in some random bed with no clothes on, I knew that I would never be able to face Annabeth again. I was so ashamed of what I had done that I started to pull away. I waited for the guilt to leave me, but it didn't. I was in such a dark place that I stopped showing Annabeth that I loved her. I completely gave up.
That's why I don't really blame her for leaving. I mean, I wanted to give up my own daughter for Zeus's sake! I had changed, and not for the best.
All I know now is that for the past three years I have been trying my best to become the man that I used to be, but I know that that won't happen unless I have Annabeth by my side. I'm my best self when I'm with her and I have to get that back. I tried to move on but I couldn't, nothing and no one could compare to Annabeth. As cheesy as that sounds.
I finished college in San Francisco, after I got a transfer from NYU. I'm a teacher now. Just like Paul I'm teaching high school. Luckily though I got a job as a Greek literature teacher. So I'm basically going to be teaching kids stuff that I'm a freaking expert on.
I swear that I'm going to be sick. I don't know if I'll run into Annabeth or not, but the very thought of seeing her again is killing me with anticipation. Will she actually talk to me? Or will she just brush me off and refuse to see me again? Will she give me a chance? Or will she up and leave again? These questions are what scare me so much. It's all of the possibilities of what could happen that make me a nervous wreck.
The most that I can actually hope for is for Annabeth to give me a chance. Not that I deserve one, considering the fact that I let my guilt change me into the one thing that I despised in the gods. I was willing to abandon my own child. I had changed to the point where Annabeth believed that I wasn't the same Seaweed Brain that she had fallen in love with.
And I am determined to change her mind.
First thing's first though… I need to find her.
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