Percy POV
"You guys ready?" Adi's brother, Nathan, called from the living room.

Adalyn gave one last kiss to Logan who was happily situated in my mom's arms. She stared up at my mom. "Sally, honestly, we don't have to go," but my mom shooed her away.

"Adalyn, honey. Go have a fun night out with your fiancé and brother," my mom smiled.

Adalyn still stared at Logan unsure. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a kiss on her shoulder, which was exposed from the sexy dress she was wearing. "Love, you leave Logan all the time when you go to work, how is this different?" I asked.
"Because I don't have to leave him. I have to work, and it hurts my heart every time," she mumbled softly.

Adi's brother walked into the room. "I disagree. You have to have some fun too. Plus, you finally get to meet my girlfriend."

That was really the main reason we were going out, to meet Nate's mysterious girlfriend. He hadn't said much about her, so Adalyn and I were very interested to meet this mystery girl who had pulled him away from his military life.

"Honey, I know it's hard to leave him, but he'll be fine, I promise," Sally assured.

Nathan, my mom, me, and I swear even Logan, all gave pointed looks at my fiancé. She finally threw her hands up in the air in defeat.

"Fine," she called out. "I'll go."

Nathan practically dragged his sister out of the door. I let out a small laugh behind them. I turned one last time to my mom and son.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" I asked.

My mom pushed me out of the door. "You too? Percy, I'm his grandma. I watch him every day. He's five months old now, you guys can spend some time away from him," and she shut the door in my face.

I turned and Adalyn had a raised eyebrow. "Huh? I was the one worried?" she scoffed.

I rolled my eyes and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I know my mom will be fine, I'll just miss him is all."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Seriously? You two need to remember how to have fun. What did you do before Logan was born?"

Adalyn coughed lightly as we made our way to the subway. "Hmm, let's see. We were only dating for a few months before I got pregnant so."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows and gave his sister a mocking look. "So, you were having that kind of fun."

Adalyn immediately blushed and hit her brother. "Nathan!"

I wrapped my arm around her. "I mean, he's not wrong."

She rolled her eyes and jokingly pushed me away. "Not you too!"

I threw my hands up in defense. "I love you, but our first few months together were filled with," Adalyn rushed to put her hands over her ears.

"La la la, let's stop talking about this," she yelled.

Nathan and I both laughed. He put his hands up too. "Okay, I'm done. I don't need to be discussing my little sister's sex life."

I didn't think it was possible, but Adalyn's face grew even redder. "Okay, now I'm done with both of you." She stomped off to be a little ahead of us.

"Love," I was going to catch up to her, but Nathan held be back.

"Don't," he said. "She just needs a minute to cool off. Trust me. When we were younger, I would always push her buttons, sometimes too far. All she needed was some time alone."

Finally, Adalyn slowed her steps and grabbed onto my arm when we headed down into the subway. I gave her a glance and she huffed.

"I haven't worn heels since before I was pregnant. I forgot how hard they are to walk in," she mumbled. I let out a small laugh and she glared at me.

Once we actually got on the train, it was only a few stops to where we were going. Still, the subway was completely packed. The three of us barely made it into the car. The next stop over a few people got off, but even more came on. The three of us got pushed away from each other.

I glanced around and saw Adalyn standing a few feet away holding onto the railing. I wasn't trying to stare, but she looked amazing. We both had reluctance to leave Logan tonight, that was because we hadn't really gone out since he was born. Besides her professional work clothes, she hadn't really gotten dressed up in a while. Yet, no matter how she looked she always blew me away.

I remembered back to our fourth date. Up until that point, Adalyn and I had been hanging out casually. Our first and second dates had been in a coffee shop near our school's campus. The third out to lunch at a sandwich place. For our fourth, I had mustered up the courage to ask her out to dinner. Like a real date dinner. At a fancy restaurant that I had been saving up to take her out to.

17 months ago

I stood shaking outside Adalyn's apartment. This was our first real date. Yes, we had coffee shop dates before, but never a full dinner. And this dinner was at a fancy Italian restaurant. I had put on a suit and tie and everything.

I cradled the bouquet of roses in my left hand and swiftly knocked on her door with the other. I took a step back and took a deep breath. As nervous as I was, I didn't want it to show.

"Coming!" Adalyn called from inside. A few moments later she opened the door with a wide smile. "Percy, come on in."

That breath I had taken before was completely knocked out of me. Adalyn looked stunning. Not that she didn't before, but this was different. I couldn't believe this girl was going on a date with me. I took a step inside and shut the door behind me.

Adalyn's brunette hair was curled loosely and rested just below her shoulders. She was wearing a blue, one-shoulder cocktail dress. She normally only did light makeup, but she had gone all out. Dark eyeliner brought out her stark eyes, along with a light blush and a light pink lip gloss. I hadn't gotten the courage to kiss her yet, but her lips were just taunting me at the moment.

Adalyn coughed and brought me out of my daze. I felt a light blush come to my cheeks as I saw even more come to hers. "Sorry, I know I was staring. It's just," I smiled. "You look really beautiful Adi."

She bit her lip lightly. "Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself."

"Oh! And these are for you," I said and handed her the roses.

"Percy, you didn't have to," she started but I stopped her.

"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to."

She smiled. "Let me put these in a vase then we can head out."

A few minutes later, with her black purse in hand, we were out to dinner. Thankfully I had been able to get a dinner reservation. Without it, we would have been waiting for hours on end with the NYC nightlife. After a short subway ride, we were greeted at the restaurant and sat down quickly.

The waiter brought over two menus and let us be. That's when my trouble started. I opened the menu and my mind began to swirl. I had been able to get my dyslexia under control most of the time, but this menu was challenging. It had Italian and English combined and my brain wasn't able to separate them out.

Adalyn must've been able to tell I was struggling. "Can't read Italian?"

I gulped. I was trying so hard to make a great impression on her, and now I was failing miserably. "No, but it's not only that," I sighed. "I have dyslexia too and this mixture of words is hard to read."

Adalyn set down her menu quickly. "I took two years of Italian in high school. I don't know much, but I can help. What do you like?"

If I could have, I would have crawled under the table and hid. My date was going to have to help me order dinner. I was a failure.

"Uh, I like most anything, just no seafood," I began.

She raised an eyebrow. "No seafood?"

"Yeah, you know, majoring in Marine Biology, I like to think of sea creatures as not food," I said. Oh, and the fact that I'm the son of Poseidon and can talk to sea creatures and would rather not eat the things I can talk to. But I wasn't about to say that.

She smiled. "Understandable."

"You know what? Just surprise me," I said.

"Surprise you? We've been on three dates together and you think I can order for you?" she smirked.

I shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not a picky eater. I'm sure it'll be fine."

The waiter came back a few minutes later and Adalyn ordered, blushing as she butchered the Italian. She ended up just pointing to the dishes. The waiter hurried away to put our orders in.

We sat laughing and talking, but a few minutes later, our waiter came back with a glass of wine for Adalyn. "This will pair nicely with your dish," he began.

Adalyn held her hand up. "I didn't order this."

The waiter shrugged. "It's on the house. Anything for a beautiful young woman like yourself," I sat up straighter in my seat. Was this waiter hitting on my date? He set the glass down and headed on his way. Adalyn eyed the glass.

"You can drink it, you know. I don't mind," I began.

"I don't know. I'm afraid I'll share all my secrets if I do," she smiled.

"I want to know all of your secrets," I brushed my leg up against her and she blushed. I flagged down our waiter. "I'll have what she's having." A few minutes later, he came back with a glass. I raised my glass up and Adalyn followed. "Now you don't have to drink alone."

She laughed. "Thank you."

We each took a sip of our wine and the sour liquor burned my tongue. I must have made a face because Adalyn let out a giggle.

"It's gets better the more you drink," she said taking another sip.

I eyed her cautiously but took another sip and it wasn't as bad as the first. "You seem to be correct."

"You better get used to me being correct, more often than not," she said taking another sip.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean this is going well? Will we get another date?"

She laughed. "Slow down, the date's not done yet. You could still blow it."

I suddenly felt a build of confidence. "But it's going okay so far?"

She bit her lip. "It's going great so far."
The waiter brought out our dinners, and whatever Adalyn ordered me was amazing. She didn't even look at her plate as she anxiously watched me take a bit.

She folded her hands together. "Do you like it?" she asked nervously.

I nodded enthusiastically. "I love it!"

"And you're not just saying that? Because you can always be honest with me," she scrunched her nose.

I shook my head. "It's really good. But I do think it's cute that you asked."

She bit her lip again. Gods, if she was going to keep doing that, I was going to go crazy. We finished our meal in relative silence, just stealing glances at each other. Any time I caught her looking at me, she quickly averted her gaze. Yet, I was doing the same thing.

The waiter finally brought our check, but he slid it to Adalyn. "My number is at the bottom. I get done at eleven if you want to come to meet me at my apartment after."

I don't know what came over me, but I hit the table. The waiter fell silent and Adalyn looked over at me. "Are you serious?" the waiter feigned confusion. I snatched the check from Adalyn's side of the table. I opened it up and saw that he did indeed put his number on the check. "Seriously dude?"

"Is there a problem here?" A middle-aged woman came over to the table. She much be the manager.

"Yes," I began showing her the check. She eyed it up and down and glared at her employee. "He's been flirting with my girlfriend all night, which I've excused because she's gorgeous," Adalyn blushed, "but now he is blatantly trying to get with her."

The manager looked appalled. "Sir, I can promise that this will not happen again. Your dinner will be comped, and your waiter will be dealt with accordingly. You two, please, enjoy the rest of your evening."

I sighed as the two walked away. Adalyn crossed her arms and rose an eyebrow at me. I gulped. I hadn't wanted to lose my temper around her, but I couldn't help it.

"Adi, I'm so sorry. That guy just," but she was already standing up.

"Let's talk outside," she said. I slowly stood up and followed her out into the brisk NYC night air.

I sauntered beside her. "Adi, I know, I shouldn't have lost my temper."

Adalyn just reached up and gave me a kiss on my cheek. Even when she pulled away, I could feel it on my skin. "Percy, I'm not mad."

"You're not?" I asked confused.

She laughed and shook her head. "Thank you for calling that guy out. Besides, it was nice to not be the jealous one for a change?"

"Jealous one?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Come on Percy, every time we went to that coffee shop, multiple baristas hit on you. Any time we hang out, I see so many girls staring you up and down."

"You notice other girls looking at me?" I feigned confusion.

"Gosh Percy, yes!" But then a gust of wind came, and Adalyn shivered. I immediately took my jacket off and placed it on her shoulders. "Percy, you don't have to."

"I want to, Adi." I let out a smile. We walked in silence for a few more blocks, deciding against taking the subway back. Neither one of us wanted to leave the other, not yet anyway.

"You really get jealous?" I asked again.

Adalyn lightly bumped me in my side. "Yes! You're good-looking Percy, any girl can see that."

"I'm good looking?" I smirked. "Is that what drew you in?"

She rolled her eyes. "No," she blushed and looked at the ground. "It was actually your smile."

"My smile?" I asked, pushing for more.

"Yes. It's always huge, genuine, and a little goofy," she said. I think my heart skipped a few beats when she said that.

"Go on," I joked. She laughed lightly. But before we could say anything, we were at the front of her apartment. We both stared at each other for a moment. I swear her eyes glistened in the night. She opened her mouth as if to say something but shut it promptly. I shifted. "What?"

"It's just something you said at the restaurant," she bit her lip. "You called me your girlfriend."

I gulped and began to ramble. "I mean, yeah. He was just so on you, and I wanted him to stop. And Adalyn, you're amazing, like really amazing. And smart, and caring, and," I was staring at her eyes, but she bit her lip again nervously. I surged forward, "But you really need to stop biting your lip, it's driving me crazy."

"Driving you crazy?" Adalyn teased stepping closer.

"You drive me crazy," I whispered, we were so close now.

She raised her eyebrows and bit her lip again. This time I went for it. I reached my hands to her neck and pulled her close for a kiss. And it was a good kiss. In fact, it was a great kiss. We eventually had to pull away for each of us to breath. Adalyn took a step back and handed me my jacket.

"Does this mean I can call you my boyfriend now?" she twitched her lip.

"If you want," I replied.

"I do want to," she smiled and looked up to her apartment window. She shut her eyes. "I so want you to come up to my apartment right now, but I'm really not like that. Not after our fourth date."

"Maybe after our fifth one," I smirked.

She reached up and gave me another kiss. "Our fifth one."

Present

"Love," I jumped slightly when Adalyn touched my arm. The car had cleared out a bit, and our stop was next.

"Sorry, I was just lost in thought," I explained.

"What thought?" she smiled.

"I was thinking of our fourth date."

"The one at the Italian restaurant, the one where the waiter hit on me?" she smirked.

I wrapped my arms around her. "I like to think of it as the one where I got the courage to kiss you and ask you to be my girlfriend."

"You didn't kiss her until your fourth date?" Nathan asked. We both turned towards him. "When did you start sleeping together?"

"Our fifth date," we both replied blushing.

Nathan rolled his eyes, but then it was our stop. We got off and hurried up the steps so we would make our reservation in time.

"Is your girlfriend meeting us there?" Adalyn asked.

Nathan scrunched his eyebrows, staring at his phone. "She was supposed to, but she hasn't texted me back in a while."

We got to the restaurant and were seated quickly. Nathan stared at the empty chair at the table.

"I'm sure she's just running late," I said as I pulled out the chair for Adi.

"Or maybe she doesn't exist?" Adi supplied. Her brother cocked a brow. "You haven't shown us any pictures of her or said her name. That's a little suspicious Nate."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course, she's real. She's just really private." Nathan's phone began to ring, and he shot up. "This is her now. I need to take this," he about ran away from the table very anxious.

"Did he seem worried?" Adalyn cocked her head in the direction her brother went.

I shrugged. "He's probably just anxious to have her here. For you to meet her and for her to meet you."

Adalyn squeezed my hand. "It's us, now Percy."

I smiled and rose her hand to my lips. "To me us," I corrected.

Nathan came back to sit down, and he looked a little calmer. "Everything okay?" I asked.

He nodded. "Something came up at work for her. She won't be here soon but said she can meet us here for dessert."

The waiter came and took our order. The dinner itself was amazing. I loved Logan, with all my heart, but it was nice to get out again. It was comforting to see Adalyn so relaxed too. She was laughing with her brother, recalling childhood memories.

By the end of the night, Adalyn rested her head on my shoulder, smiling up at her brother. I could get used to this. This woman by my side for the rest of my life.

Just then, Nathan's face lit up and he stood up quickly waving. His girlfriend must be here. Adalyn lifted her head up and became more alert. He practically ran over to her and I could hear him give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I just ran into some trouble," the girl began, and my neck stiffened up. Her voice, I knew it.

Adalyn placed a hand on my chest. "Percy? Is everything okay?"

Before I could answer, she came into view. It was her. With piercing black eyes and her black hair to match. She took a step back when she saw me.

"Reyna?" I asked.

"Percy?" she replied.

Both Adalyn and her brother looked perplexed. "You two know each other?" Nathan asked.

Adalyn's eyes flashed over with realization. "Wait! I know you! You were there when I was kidnapped, and Percy was hurt."

"You were kidnapped?" Nathan quickly turned to his sister.

She gulped and scratched her head. "Maybe? But that means she's," a demigod, I'm sure she would have said. Adalyn's eyes bore into her brother's face.

"Wait, your sister's fiancé is Percy Jackson?" Reyna asked.

"I'm so confused right now," Nathan said holding up his hand. "Reyna," he turned to her. "How do you know Percy?"

She gulped. "From camp."

"How come I haven't seen him before?" he questioned.

"You were already off fighting. It's complicated, but he's from the other one," she sighed.

"So, he's?" Nathan started.

"Yes, a very powerful one," Reyna said slowly.

Adalyn began to shake. I think she was following, but she wasn't 100% sure. "Nathan," her voice was soft. He turned towards his sister and his face fell. "What's going on?"

He opened his mouth, but Reyna placed her hand on his arm. "Should we go talk somewhere more private?" We all nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'm staying in an apartment, and Airbnb, only a block from here, is that okay?" We all nodded again. We paid the check and left without getting dessert.

I held Adalyn's hand in mine as we followed Reyna to her apartment. I gave Adi's hand a little squeeze as she was lost in thought.

"What are you thinking right now?" I asked.

She shook her head in a daze. "So many things, but I don't want to think. I want him to tell me."

Thankfully, just then we arrived at Reyna's apartment. We hurried inside and made ourselves comfortable. Adalyn sat next to me with Reyna and Nathan opposite of us.

"Nathan," Adi began slowly.

"I want to know what she knows. You need to tell it," Nathan began. Reyna and I exchanged glances at each other but Nathan was persistent. "She needs to start, just, please."
Adalyn nodded and gulped. "I know most of it, if it's what I'm thinking of," she began to shake, and I gave her a reassuring squeeze. "The world of gods and monsters is real. The gods are real, and the monsters are real and," she sighed and shut her eyes. "The gods sometimes have kids with mortals, demigods. And they help the world, I guess?" she shook her head. "I don't know what you want me to say. I only found out because of Percy and Logan. My fiancé is a demigod making our son a legacy."

"My father is Poseidon," I began. Nathan leaned back but didn't say anything. "Are you," I let the thought trail off.

Nathan sighed and rolled up his sleeve revealing an SPQR tattoo. Adalyn gasped and she rolled up my sleeve to reveal my similar one.

"Mom," he swallowed looking at Adalyn. "Mom cheated on dad a few years after they were married. She never told him, never told anyone." He sighed. "She got pregnant, but not from dad. My father is Mars, I'm only your half-brother."

Adalyn took a sharp intake of breath. "How long have you known?"
"Since I was thirteen. Lupa came and took me to Camp Jupiter to train, but I didn't want to leave you." He made his hands into fists. "When I found out mom cheated on dad, I was furious. But I was more worried about you," his face softened. "When I found out about all these bad things in the world, all I wanted to do was protect you from it. I hid who I was from you."

"Nathan, you never had to do that," Adi said.

He shrugged. "I wanted you to have a normal life. But now," he looked at me. "You came into her life and exposed her to all this."

"Nathan," Adalyn scrunched her eyebrows. Even Reyna looked a bit stunned. I gulped.

"No, I had protected her from all this for so many years. And you just came in and ruined it!" His fury rose. Yet, Adalyn went and placed her hand on his arm and his face instantly softened once again. "Adi."

"Nathan, yes, I admit, when Percy first told me about this world of gods and monsters, I was a little shocked. But I love Percy, I wouldn't trade that for anything. And he gave me Logan," she glanced over and flashed me a smile but sighed. "I appreciate you wanting to protect me for so long, but that's done. I know how dangerous this world can be. I was kidnapped and sold at an auction because of my baby," another flash of anger came but passed quickly. "But again, I wouldn't trade any of this. And Nathan, don't you see how great this is for Logan too?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know the extent of what you and Percy have had to go through," Adalyn began. "I mean, Percy told me about the wars he's fought in, I'm assuming you have too?" he gave a curt nod. "Now as Logan's uncle, you can help him understand this part of his life. It's perfect, really."

"I, I suppose," Nathan began but then shook his head. "How are you taking this so well?"

Adalyn shook her head smiling. "Honestly, I have no idea. I guess this last year, so much has shocked me. Getting pregnant, having a baby, finding out about the demigod world, getting kidnapped and almost killed, not much can shock me anymore."

"And Nate," Reyna finally broke her silence. "I know you want to protect Adalyn, but I know Percy. If anyone can protect her, it's him."

Adalyn took a shaky breath and shut her eyes. "Are, are you going to stay in New York?" she asked her brother. "I know Camp Jupiter is in California and our family is in Iowa."

Nathan smiled. "I'm staying in New York. At least for now."

"Can we tell him?" Adalyn asked me.

"About what?" I questioned still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Adalyn's brother was a demigod.

"Logan," she said softly. Oh, she meant the prophecy.

I nodded. "It'll be good for him to know."
"There was a prophecy, about Logan," Adalyn said.

"What?" Nathan's face filled full of concern.

"We don't know exactly what was in it, but Nate," she sighed. "We both know it wasn't good. Having you here to help him, it would mean a lot."
"Adi, of course. Whatever you need." Nathan said.

"Can, can we have a minute to talk alone?" Adalyn asked to Reyna and me. "I just want to talk about our," she paused, "my dad and our mom."

I kissed the top of her head. "Of course, love. Whatever you need."

I stood up and followed Reyna out of the living room to her balcony. She leaned on her arms across the steel railing. I followed and smiled at her.

"So, your dating my fiancé's brother?" I smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but you don't need to make a big deal out of it."

"If this goes anywhere, we could be in-laws," I said.

"Gods, I may break up with him just at the prospect of that," she jokingly nudged me. "Kidding."

I turned serious. "Did you know that he was Adi's brother?"
Reyna shook her head. "No. Nathan always talked about his sister, but never said her name. Names are powerful and he was trying to safeguard her, I guess. When I met Adalyn, I knew she seemed familiar, but had no idea it was from Nathan."

"I don't recognize him, was he at Camp Jupiter when I was there?" I asked.

Reyna shook her head. "He had already served his time at Camp Jupiter. He went on to serve the United States military in one of our Roman branches."

"You have Roman branches in the US army?" I quirked my eyebrow.

"Of course, I know Camp Half-blood was different, but we've had legacies and demigods survive long for centuries. Anyways, Nathan went to serve there once he turned 18. We stayed in touch and just reconnected. I had always thought of him as a good soldier, but it turned into something more," Reyna smiled.

"Wait, are you blushing?" I laughed and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Percy, I do have emotions."

"Sometimes, it was hard to tell," I said.

Reyna was about to retort, when Adalyn slide open the balcony door. Her make-up had run down her face and her eyes were red and puffy.

"Love," I sighed.

"Reyna, if it's alright with you, Nathan is going to stay here for the night," Adalyn said.

Reyna nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Percy, can we head out?" Adalyn said softly. She looked exhausted.

"Yeah," I began to wrap my arms around her, but she shrugged me off.

We walked into the living room, and Adalyn's brother looked equally as broken. "Your Uber is waiting downstairs. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

All Adalyn did was give a nod and head out the door.

"What did you two talk about?" I questioned Nathan.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I think that's something you'll have to talk to Adi about. But I'll see you soon Percy."

I nodded and ran after my fiancé. Adalyn stayed silent the whole way home. I tried to touch her or talk to her, but she brushed off my every attempt. What had they talked about?
I opened and shut the front door as quietly as I could as to not wake Logan. Unfortunately, he must have sensed we were open because as we stepped into the living room, he began to cry.

"I've got him," Adalyn said finally addressing me and rushing off to the nursery.

"Percy," my mom groggily began to sit up from her sleep on the couch

I winced. "Mom, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. We were out later than expected."

My mom patted the couch next to her and I sat down. "How was your dinner? How was Nathan's girlfriend? Speaking of, where is he?"

"It could've been better. He's staying at his girlfriend's house." I gulped. "His girlfriend is Reyna, mom."

"The Praetor?" she questioned. I nodded. "How does he know her?"

"He's a demigod, Roman," I said.

"Is Adalyn?" I shook my head.

"They are half-siblings. His dad is Mars," I sighed. "Adalyn had no idea. I think she's taking it pretty hard."

"Percy," my mom sympathized with me. "Adalyn's world got turned upside-down, again. How do you think Estelle will react when we tell her about the demigod world?"

"Why would we tell her about it?" I asked and my mom gave me a pointed look.

"See, that protective feeling is exactly what Nathan did for Adalyn," she defended.

"But Estelle knows I'm her half-brother," I tried to defend, but I could see my mom's point.

"You want to protect her just like Nathan wanted to protect Adalyn. Imagine if Estelle was only brought into your world because of a future significant other," my mom said.

I took a sharp intake of breath. "Okay, I guess I can see your point."

"But I think you should go talk to your fiancé. If it's okay, I'm going to stay the night here," my mom said.

"Absolutely," I said. "And mom, thank you."

"You never have to thank me for being your parent, you'll see when Logan gets older. Goodnight Percy," she said.

I slowly began to retreat out of the living room and shut the light off for my mom. I walked into Logan's room because his light was still on. I tried to open the door as softly as I could, and my heart broke at the scene before me.

Adalyn was sitting in the rocking chair in the corner. She was feeding Logan, but tears streamed down her face at the same time. Her makeup was running down her face, but she was trying to cry silently. Her cheeks were red and puffy.

"Love," I murmured as I shut the door behind me.

"I don't want to talk about it, Percy," she said as she lifted Logan up to burp him after feeding him.

"Adi, I got this, go get ready for bed," she gave me a pointed look, but then looked like she was going to break down again. She sighed and handed me Logan and left the room.

I began to burp Logan then sat to rock with him once I was done. He stared up at me with his wide green eyes. "Logan, your mommy's sad. I hate to see her sad, what can I do to make it better?" But, thankfully, he was already falling asleep. I sighed and set him down in his crib.

I quietly made my way in our bedroom and Adalyn was already lying in bed. I tried to get ready as soft as I could to not wake her. I lifted the sheet to our bed comforter and slid in as gently as I could. However, as I slid in, I could feel the small vibrations of Adalyn crying.
"Honey," I wrapped my arms around her, and this time she accepted.

She turned and cried into my chest. Slowly her cries diminished, and she began to speak. "They lied to me my whole life," she sniffed.

I sighed. "I know, love. But keep in mind, I lied to you when we first met. You were already very pregnant with Logan when I told you."

She sighed. "I know, it's just," I could see her shake her head in the darkness. "I'm not mad at Nathan, not really. He was just trying to protect me."
"Then what are you upset about?"
"My mom," Adalyn gulped. "She cheated on my dad. And now," she sighed again, "and now she's shunning me because I had a baby. How is that fair at all?"

"Adalyn, honey, I know. But even parents aren't perfect," I sighed.

"I don't want to lie to Logan," she began softly.

"About what?" I questioned.

"Anything. Obviously, we can wait until he's older, but I don't want him to hate me," she swallowed.

I kissed the top of her head. "Logan will never hate me, or us. We'll be honest with him when he's old enough to understand. Okay?"

She nodded and fell against my chest. A few minutes later, Adalyn broke the silence. "And Percy?"

"Mhm," I murmured already falling asleep.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too," I said as we drifted off the sleep in each other's arms.

I hope you enjoyed! It's a very long chapter, almost 6,000 words! I hope you update soon again. Thank you for your continued support. As always, please leave a review (or PM me) and let me know what you think!