Chapter 6

"Annabeth! They're here!" Percy called from the spacious dining room. He was dressed in her favourite sea blue polo shirt, and a pair of crisp, khaki pants.

"Coming!" Annabeth called from their upstairs bedroom. She looked around and felt a surge of pride in herself. She had single handedly decorated their entire house, from the coral and teal coloured master bedroom to the neon yellow and dark wood kitchen. She gazed at herself in their vintage mirror, and thought that she looked pretty good. Her hair was down in a simple, loose braid. She was wearing a matching blue pencil skirt, and a flowing white blouse.

"Honey? Are you coming?" Percy called from the banister again.

"Yup! Be down in a sec!" She hastily replied, and slipped on a pair of simple sandals.

She raced out into the hallway, and paused by the baby's room. She exhaled, still not believing that she was carrying a miracle around with her everywhere, like a backpack or a purse. She rubbed her stomach, and continued downstairs.

"Annabeth!" called Sally when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Sally!" She looked around at the others in the dining room. "Paul! Dad! Mom! Thanks for coming!" Her mother cocked an eyebrow.

"You're, er, welcome, Annabeth." Athena said, looking slightly suspicious. "Now, what are we having for dinner?" She asked, straightening her suit. Her iPhone was vibrating in her pocket, but Athena was ignoring it, unlike her ordered personality.

"Uh, Percy and I made pasta with these crazy blue organic noodles we found at the farmer's market. Annabeth grinned. "And I made garlic bread, which honestly looks really good. I might go snag a piece before we thank the Gods, if that's okay with you guys." Percy looked at her, a sort of warning.

"Annabeth," Her father exclaimed. "You hate garlic bread! I remember when you were little, you used to say that it tasted like sweaty feet." Annabeth felt the colour of her face adjust slightly, to a paler shade. 'Have I said too much?' She thought, looking at her guests' faces to see if it had dawned on them yet.

"Dad, but this isn't the freezer-burnt kind that you used to make." She said, trying to smile at him. "This is Sally's recipe that she gave me, and it's supposed to be really good for you, too." The adults smiled.

"We can go into the dining room now, everyone." Percy said. He hung back from the crowd so that he could wrap a constricting arm around Annabeth's waist, but he was still cautious to not put any pressure on her growing bump. He bent down and lightly brushed his lips against her soft forehead. She smiled, and kissed him on the cheek, ever so lightly.

"So Percy," Athena asked, lazily twisting the oddly coloured pasta around her fork. "How is work going? Have you made any improvements in water purification?" Percy looked down at his plate.

"Um, see, in our department we aren't trying to purify water, we're trying to preserve it and keep the quality level at the one it is now." He blushed, and reached to the left and grabbed Annabeth's hand.

"Good for you, son!" Poseidon said, knocking over the bread basket as he thrust out his hand in a thumbs up. Athena looked at him disapprovingly.

"Now, Poseidon, if his organization doesn't try to purify the last remaining sources of water on the planet then-" Athena started.

"Wait, Athena, that's not what I meant-" Percy exclaimed shooting a desperate glance around the entire table.

"Athena, how about we drop the subject-" Paul said gently, but Athena looked enraged.

"If his," Athena started, and made finger quotation marks. " 'Organization' doesn't help with our bad water supply, then what is everyone going to-"

"Athena, you don't even have to drink water, you just need nectar and Berocca or whatever-" Sally said, now also looking mad.

"Berocca?" Both of the Gods said. They looked livid, Athena's eyes were turning a dangerous shade of midnight black, and Poseidon's were turning the colour of the churning ocean before lightning could strike it.

"Berocca is an English multi-vitamin tablet!" Athena said, looking infuriated.

"Stop!" Annabeth exclaimed, looking at the havoc that was supposed to be a casual dinner party. She looked at Percy, and mouthed the words, 'Help me' . The party guests were all shouting at each other, even Percy. Poseidon had his hand squashed in the mashed potatoes, while Paul Blofis had grabbed a steak knife and waved it around threateningly. Athena was screeching at Percy, whose face had was kaleidoscoping from ashen to a deadly purple. Sally was trying to break up the fight, but then got pulled into it as well with Annabeth's father, Fredrick.

"Stop!" Annabeth yelled, desperate for her guests to regain their attention to her. "Stop! Stop!" She finally screamed as loud as she could, and everything fell silent.

"We didn't invite you over so that you could all freakin' scream at each other!" She cried, looking miserable. "We invited you over here to tell you something really important that's happened to us, but I guess you don't want to know because you are too busy fighting!" Her face was ashen, the screaming had taken up too much of her energy. Sally stepped forward from the crowd.

"What did you want to tell us, sweetie?" She asked, her facial expressions soft and apologizing.

"That I'm pregnant! But I guess that Percy's job is way more important than that!" The adults' faces were shocked. Annabeth then turned, and ran up the stairs into the nursery, sobbing.

Annabeth must've fallen asleep on the pile of ancient blankets, because the next thing she knew, she was being lifted up, and placed in her own bed.

"Perce," She mumbled, her voice barely audible.

"Yes, sweetheart?" He asked, his breath tickling her left ear.

"Can you get me my pajamas? This skirt is way too tight." She muttered, turning over and opening an eye.

"Of course, darling." He said, and then he bent down, and kissed her eyelid, causing her to close it. She smiled, and pulled herself up enough that she could reach his face, and kissed his soft lips.

"Lemme go get your pj's, and then we can do this, okay?" He said, his hands trailing down her neck, and up to cup her face.

"Okay." She replied, and fell back on the bed. She still couldn't believe that she had the best two things in life ever, a wonderful husband, and a daughter, even if she wasn't born yet.

"Here they are, sweetums!" Percy's voice exclaimed out of the blue. She raised her hand, and felt the soft cotton pajamas underneath her fingers.

"Thanks, let me go into the bathroom and get changed first, and then-" She began, but Percy cut her off.

"Go to the bathroom to get changed? Annabeth, are you kidding me?" He asked, a sly grin plastered on his face.

"Well, Mr. Jackson," She replied, her expression stony. " I am not as open as I was about 2 and a half months ago, especially in the area of undressing." Percy started to giggle.

"And your point being?" He asked, now looking concerned. Annabeth's face had gotten red.

"I'm kinda fat now, and more, er, developed in areas than I was before I was carrying our daughter around." She said, and moved towards the door to the bathroom.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, making her turn around. "Don't ever think that I don't want to see you. You aren't fat, you just have an extra person to take care of." She walked towards him, looking cautious.

"You're sure that you'd want me to change out here?" Percy nodded.

"Of course. I love you that much that I don't care how big you've gotten." She whipped around, one leg in her pants and one of the hooks of her bra unfastened.

"What did you just say?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Nothing, nothing." He said, looking amused. She looked in the mirror self-consciously.

"Am I really that fat now that you can tell?" She asked, looking at his expression.

"No, it's just, when you're three-quarters of the way undressed, you can tell." He said, walking over to her, and enveloping her in a warm embrace. She felt him undo her bra and she put out her arms, as if sleepwalking. He took the swinging straps off of her, and carefully pulled her shirt over her head.

"Thank you, Mr. Jackson." She murmured, as he picked her legs up and carried her into their bed.

"You are welcome, Mrs. Jackson." He said, kissing her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart." He murmured, looking at her face after his long kiss. Though, to his surprise, she was already dreaming. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and drifted off as well.

Thanks, everyone for the reviews! I am so happy that you guys enjoy it! Please review again (no specific number this time…) and please PM any name ideas! I am going to have a chapter when they decide on the name pretty soon, so send any names in!

xx Liz Logan