Christmas had passed without a hitch, not the way Sophia had wanted, but smoothly nonetheless. Annabeth had given him a list of the gifts Sophia had mentioned that she wanted throughout the year and together they had divided the list.

In fact, other than most of Christmas Day, they'd been doing a lot more together. Thanksgiving, for instance, when he had been invited for dinner. Which was a mixture of nice and hell with Eric glaring at him from across the table and Annabeth glaring at Eric because apparently he had just showed up. And New Year's Eve when he couldn't help but notice Annabeth's bruised lips and the nasty looking cut down one side. She had shrugged it off as the winter weather, but it had never happened before. He had his suspicions, suspicions he hated, but he couldn't say anything, she had agreed to Eric's proposal.

His ex-wife had even joined them on his birthday, without her fiancé, and had wished him a good day before taking him and Sophia out to lunch at a fast food restaurant to celebrate him turning thirty. She had been the bubbling beauty he had fallen in love with when he was seventeen and he couldn't take his eyes off her – he also couldn't say a proper two words to her about how he felt despite his ability to carry hour long conversations about nothing with her, to bask in a silence that only contained the sound of their mingled breathing. At one stage, Percy made a break for the bathroom to avoid conversation about who they were seeing. And he made the mistake of coming out with his jacket sleeves rolled up, exposing his forearms because the hand dryers were out of power and the paper towels were not stocked.

Annabeth saw him coming and smiled, causing a similar curve to reach his own lips as he wiped his hands on the back of his dark wash jeans. He could hear Sophia's giggles over the rattling of cutlery and common restaurant commotion because she was in the playground beside their table.

"Oh my god." Annabeth greeted him, annoyance lacing her every word, reminding him of every snarky comment she'd ever said. He nearly flinched as the memories became overwhelming, but all his worry was washed away when she smiled kindly at him again.

"What?" Percy narrowed his eyebrows, "is my fly unzipped again?" he chuckled, causing her to laugh at his failed attempt at humour.

"You've rolled up your sleeves." She put simply, shifting in her seat uncomfortably, the ruffle of her own jeans against the leather of her seat making an awkward sound as she moved.

"Ah," Percy made a noise of reaSallytion, placing his arms on the table in interest. Causing her to groan and roll her eyes as he smirked and shrugged his eyebrows once as if he was daring her to make her move. He knew what he was doing full well, he remembered.

/

He had come home on one hot, Californian summer day. Well, it was an apartment, but it was their home. Annabeth had been sitting at the dining table in the middle of the apartment's main room, her architecture degree notes strewn across the table, engulfing her in an array of facades and balustrades and parapets. He couldn't see much of her face as it was hidden by the long blonde hair that was falling out of her high ponytail, but he could make out the shadow of her concentration. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth slightly, her teeth biting down on it as if to squeeze out intelligence. After his long day in the sun, it had been the most glorious of sights. His girlfriend sitting cross legged in his old summer camp T-shirt, unfazed by the way it hung off her shoulder.

"Hey," he called as he dropped into the seat opposite her on the long edge of the table, taking a page into his hands and reading her neatly sprawled essay on "Erosion of a Ballistae." He liked the slant of her cursive and the lack of crossed out words that he would have let litter the page.

The sound of Annabeth flipping through pages and scribbling down facts slowly faded as Percy sat longer. He could feel her eyes burning into him.

"Do you mind?" She voiced. That's when he looked up. She was staring at him, sizing him up as if she was wondering the point of his existence. Percy simply raised his eyebrows at her good-naturedly, if she had an issue with his presence she could easily express it. "If you're gonna waltz in here with your sleeves rolled up, at least bother to move a little closer or, better yet, completely distract me by getting rid of the crap on the table."

Percy chuckled, "What do you mean?" he asked playfully, knowing full well how much she liked his arms.

That's when Annabeth stood, revealing her legs to him, her booty short clad legs.

And that's when he understood her irritation.

/

That night, after an awkward goodbye where Percy had almost kissed the woman that was not his current girlfriend, as Percy tucked Sophia into her sheets, he asked her a question. "Is your mother happy?"

Sophia sat up then, undoing the last twenty minutes of his work. "She smiles a lot." She answered.

Percy sighed, "But is she happy?" He repeated, sitting on the mattress beside his daughter. Annabeth had been an actress, she could hide her true emotions.

Sophia looked at him, "I don't really know. She wears these long sleeved shirts she says she likes, but its spring. And she sleeps in my room a lot now, she says it's because I still have those nightmares where she dies, but I haven't had one in ages. She's even stopped singing."

Percy pulled his little girl into a hug.

"Daddy? She's not happy is she?" Percy shook his head awkwardly as it was rested against his daughter's head. "Will you make her happy?" Percy choked out his agreement in the affirmative.

A while later, Sophia asked another question. "If mummy marries Eric, does that mean I'll get a baby brother?"

Shit. Percy thought sleepily. I hope not.