Chapter 3

Time to Tell Luke of Our Bundle of Joy

Luke asked if Annabeth wanted to have dinner on A-deck. He even bought her a new dress; thank the gods that it was not tight fitting. It was loose and flowing, it was black and purple with an embroidered bottom. Normally Annabeth would have spit on it but she knew better than to do that to something Luke gave her. The dress came with beautiful gold earrings and a gorgeous gold necklace that was set with diamonds, sapphires and rubies. While she was getting in the shower she passed by the mirror and saw her reflection. Annabeth realized she would have to tell Luke tonight that she was pregnant. She was nearly 3 1/2 months pregnant now, she would need to see a doctor, and have some sonograms taken. And he wanted to sleep with her she just coming up with excuses every time he started to take her to the bed. She stilled kissed him, and made-out with him. They made-out at least twice a day or whenever Luke came back to their suite. Luke had to deal with a lot of stuff and having Annabeth with him made things a lot easier.

"Annabeth you look beautiful. This is the prettiest I have ever seen you." Luke said in amazement as she came out of her room. "What, you think I can't look pretty?" Annabeth said with a small laugh. "You know I hate to wear dresses, I only wore it because you would want me to. But it's truly beautiful."

"I am pleased you like it. Let's head to A-deck." He gave her a peck on the cheek and the linked arms and left.

As they were walking to A-deck Annabeth asked, "Luke why the change of heart? You were good and nice then bad and evil now you are nice to me and act as if you truly love me. I just want to know why?"

"You had to ask that didn't you. You know I did think you were pretty when we were at Camp Half-Blood, but you were much younger, I got to watch you grow into a beautiful woman. I could not show my feelings, you, on the other hand, always blushed when you saw me or talked to me." Luke stated this in such a way that Annabeth gave a small smile.

"You are very handsome, you cared for me, and Thalia on our way to camp. You were always so nice, a strong fighter, caring. You and Thalia made me feel like I counted for something, like I was equal to the rest of the world. I was treated like an alien when I was with my dad. You know, Percy told me how you greeted him on his first day at camp." Annabeth stated, "Where did he go? I wish that Luke would come back, I want him to come all the way back not just a little bit that I see now." Long pause.

"What happened to you? You are the second fiercest woman I know. Thalia was the first. Every time you try and escape you're foiled."

"You have something to do with that. I don't know what happened to me, it probably has something with my longing to be with you. I just was overcome by something. I can't tell you exactly what but I think the gods have something to do with it. They probably think I could win you back." They walked the rest of the way in silence, while holding hands.

"Your dinner is ready." The young waiter said in his emotionless voice.

"Let us forget this and enjoy ourselves." Luke said as he pulled out the chair for Annabeth.

"We will come back to it don't worry about that." Annabeth said in her old cunning voice.

"I will take that for you madam." the waiter offered. "Thank you it was delicious." Annabeth said even though she knew he couldn't hear. She then stood up and walked over to the railing. The sun set was beautiful, the reds, oranges, pinks and yellows they all just melted together like a puddle, and it was gorgeous. Luke stood up, went and stood behind Annabeth with his hands outreached on the railing. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Annabeth whispered.

"Yes, it is just like you." He said in way that made Annabeth smile.

"Luke, I need to tell you something that is pretty big."

"What is it?" Luke stated worriedly

"Give me your hand." Annabeth said with much pain. Luke gave her his hand and she put it on her stomach. Before Luke could process what Annabeth was telling him she told him, "Luke I'm pregnant. The first time, we made a baby." Annabeth said, turning to face Luke.

"You're not serious." Luke said in a laughing voice. Annabeth looked down at her feet. Luke stepped back, "You are serious." He said in shock.

"Luke, I wouldn't joke about something like this." Annabeth said in a small voice.

"Well this changes everything, quite a bit. I assume you have a plan already formulated?" Luke stated in a voice that was quite calm as he leaned on the railing.

"I have part of one. The first part of it is I will need to see a doctor starting ASAP, to get sonograms, checkups, and have other things done."

"How long have you known you were pregnant?" Luke said in an inquisitive voice, standing to face her.

"About a month ago, is when I realized something was wrong with me. That is why I wanted to use the computer, to research pregnancies and things like that. And why l refused to have sex." said Annabeth. "I didn't want this to happen, it was a mistake."

"We are going to have to figure out a way to make this work Annabeth. Kronos is going to be angry when I tell him this." Luke said as he started to pace around the deck.

"Don't you dare tell him! I don't want him to hurt my baby or me." Annabeth said in an angry tone grabbing his shirt roughly. "Luke, I just need you to get what I tell you to, take me to the doctor's appointments, and give me a room to make a nursery out of it. That's all l need. Ok? Oh and several hundred dollars for everything."

Luke thought for a moment then very sure of what he was saying replied, "Your room will become the nursery, you will sleep with me. I will have someone get what you need for the baby and as for the doctor I will get one to come here." Luke said in an icy voice.

"Luke, if you don't mind I would like to pick the stuff for the baby, and I want to go to the doctor's office just like every other woman." Annabeth stated matter of factly.

"I can't have you trying to escape, can I?" Luke alleged.

"I just want to be a regular expecting mom. I want to do what other woman get to do." Annabeth said in a begging voice. "If you go with me can I go? I won't let any of your goons do anything with me."

"As you know Annabeth I am extremely busy with doing things for Kronos. I'm planning attacks, organizing weapons, finding half-bloods, and bringing back monsters from the depths."

Annabeth was very pained by that to hear him talk about killing her friends and the gods made her sick, "Luke, just make some time. You already are the one with me most of the time. Why couldn't you leave the ship for a few hours a month? You could use some time off of the ship. The baby is half yours, you know." The last stamen hit Luke hard.

"Myself and some of my allies will go with you when you leave the ship. But we will go when I say we go." Annabeth went over to him and kissed him, "Thank you very much." Luke said you're welcome by giving her another kiss.

"We are also at the mercy of the doctor. Luke, how are we going to pay for this? A baby is expensive, I was looking at the basic stuff and it was far from che-"

"Annabeth haven't you been paying attention to what we wear, and eat? We live in style. I have enough money to support us and twenty children. I may not be happy about this baby, but I will not abandon it like Athena and Hermes abandoned us. This baby will grow up in style. It will receive the best education. It will get what we never had." Luke said as he took Annabeth's arm and started walking back to the suite.

"Luke, who is going to help me convert my room into a nursery?" Annabeth asked, "I know better than to ask, but I won't be able to do it. If the internet is correct, I can't do anything strenuous. How will l live!? I can't push, pull, lift, or carry anything."

"I am sure you will live. I will have my men do it, we will go out and start getting things after you and I speak to the doctor. Ok?" Annabeth just smiled and rolled her eyes and kept going.

"I have an appointment with a doctor at Palm Beach Memorial on Tuesday at 2:30. Is that okay?" Annabeth told Luke at breakfast. "What is his name?" Luke asked.

"Her name is Dr. Apollonia Heremon that was one of only two doctors that could take me on as a patient."

"Wow that is quite a name." Luke said in a sarcastic voice, while he lifted his latte to take a sip.

"I know!" Annabeth said with a laugh. "I asked who the other doctor was, but it was an old guy, and I was NOT going to him." Annabeth stated sternly. "Oh, one more thing, they want ID for both of us, insurance cards, and health records on me." Annabeth said in a worried voice."

"I have ID; we will need to get you one. As for the insurance, you probably have it through your father. I will just get you a policy this afternoon with the company I have connections with. As for health records we were at camp most of our lives, we didn't go to a normal school, and when we did go to one we weren't there very long. That's one advantage of serving Kronos no monsters come after you."

"Luke what if we can get me an ID, they will find out I am under age and you are over. They will ask other serious questions, not just things like our ages, parents, and other things." Annabeth said in worried voice. "We can probably just forge a birth certificate to get an ID as for the health records we will just make up a story that I was from Montana and the clinic where I went burned down."

"You have quit the plan don't you Annabeth?" Luke said sipping his latte.

"You are the one who got involved with the daughter of Athena." Annabeth said trying to sound serious but ended up laughing. She then kissed Luke as to say "Thank you."

She is right, I'm the one who got involved with a daughter of Athena, but I love everything about her. She is beautiful and smart. What more could a guy want? Luke thought to himself.