So I got a new cat and four new guinea pigs! Well, actually my guinea pig gave birth yesterday! Now, I have a chiuauaua named Kassie, a calico named Banshee, a black cat named Kai (new cat), a grey tabby named Licorice, a guinea pig named Chester, a guinea pig named Winston (the father), a guinea pig named Lola (mother), Alphie, Beatrice, Cathie, Dean (new guinea pigs), a hamster named Cocoa and a fish named Iota. In case you lost track, that's thirteen pets plus four sisters! Our house is very caotic. Moving on...

It's Percy's birthday...in the story. Not today. It was actually, like, three months ago. But in the story, it's Percy's birthday! And Annabeth has a big suprise...

Dis-GUINEA PIG BABIES!: Squeak, squeak, squeak-ety, squeak. (Translation: PJO is not mine)

I decided to try a new style of writing...Let me know whatcha think! :)

K: King of the World...Percy POV

The ground is wet; the sky is a solid grey wall. It has been raining and it smells like mown grass. The picture-perfect houses on either side of me, are ivory dots that project their immaculency. They threaten to engulf me; swallow me up like I am a Fishy Food Flake and they are fish.

I am twenty-six today. Annabeth woke me up and handed me a blue cake. It's been a tradition ever since my sixteenth birthday, when she and Tyson made the Leaning Tower of Brick Cake. Except now her cakes are much better.

Annabeth and I have been married for three years and today marks the day we first tried to get pregnant. I wasn't in the mood to celebrate and left shortly after showering. Is there something wrong with me?

Lunch at McDonald's. Another walk down the beach. And then back onto my street. Time to face her. I know she's sad. I know she wants to have kids too. She wonders if it's her fault. But I know it's mine.

I walk up the pathway. The garden is blooming. I push open the door, the wood warm against my numb knuckles. I hang my soaked jacket and call out, soft and uncertain, "Annabeth?"

"In here," she replies from the kitchen. My heart gives a sorrowful thump and I slip off my shoes and slump through the living room. Part of me selfishly hopes my friend will pop out and shout, "SURPRISE!"

The kitchen smells of scrambled eggs and as I enter, I see Annabeth busily working over a stove. Her back is to me, her golden hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall. I sit down in the chair at the kitchen table.

"Where've you been?" I detect shortness and calmed anger in her tone. "I went for a walk," I answer, eyes on the blue tiled flooring.

"Mmm. Well, your mother dropped by." I chew my lip. "Oh."

"She left your gift in the dining room. Go and see." Now her tone is bland and she's watching me out of the corners of her pretty, silver eyes. "Okay."

I stand up and slide into the dining room. It's dark and I fumble for the light switch. "SURPRISE!" Ah. There it is.

As the light illuminates the room, several bodies shoot up. Grover, Juniper, Paul Blowfis, Nico, my mom and Chiron. "Happy birthday, Perce!"

Grover claps me on the back and I smile slightly. "Yo. When'd you get here?"

Grover knows me well, but it depresses me further to know he fails to notice the mood I'm in. "We've been here, dude. The real question is where in the Hades were you?"

I chuckle and allow myself to be hugged by Juniper and Chiron, high-fived by Nico, "man-hugged" by Paul, and fondled by my mother. Then we all stand there awkwardly and I spy the pile of presents on the table. Book-shaped, sock-shaped, gift card-shaped.

Annabeth wraps her arms around my waist and kisses my cheek. "Happy birthday, seaweed brain. Twenty-five years old and you still are as oblivious as Nico."

"Hey!" he protests, mock offense on his features.

I rub my hands together. "Thanks for this, guys. It, uh, means a lot." Annabeth sighs. "I knew it wouldn't work."

"Just tell him!" says Juniper, smiling so big, it stretches her cheeks like wax.

Annabeth giggles. "Alright, alright. Percy..."

My hands are sweaty and I wipe them on my jeans. My mom kisses my forehead, her eyes alite with joy. "Oh, honey!"

She hands me a box and I stare at it in confusion. "What's this?"

"Open it."

I tear off the Nemo wrapping and uncover a baby doll. It has blonde hair in pigtails and a frilly pink dress. What the Zeus? "Uh...Thanks?" Nico, Grover, Chiron and Paul burst out laughing and I'm hurt. "What?"

Annabeth looked offended. "You don't like it, seaweed brain?" "Huh? Oh, no. It's cool." "Well then, try it out." My cheeks burn as I peel off the protective platic and hold up the dolly.

Juniper stifles and grin and focuses her gaze on the ceiling. Nico and Grover are rolling on the floor laughing and it's all I can do to keep my head. I turn the doll over in my hands. I pull a string and in a robotic voice, it screams, "PERCY JACKSON! PERCY JACKSON!"

"Awesome," I mutter. Annabeth laughs. "Wait." She pulls the string again. "PERCY JACKSON! PERCY JACKSON! ANNABETH IS PREGNANT! ANNABETH IS PREGNANT!"

I freeze and the room's neverending silence slides up and down my body. "What...?"

Annabeth shrieks and rubs her belly. "I'm pregnant!"

A moment's hesitation and I'm swinging her around the room, real happiness is swelling my heart. "Oh, baby! Oh, baby! Oh, thank the gods!"

The next hours are a blur. I can't seem to let go of my wife. I know now that everything is, was, will be, perfect. We're going to have a kid! A kid!

We're going to have a kid...Well, this has got to be the best birthday present, ever!