Hey everyone! So I hope you like the wedding chapter and Carter's heart-to-heart with Leo. I always love reading the reviews and seeing your reactions! Oh and you can PM at anytime. I always go on my computer at least once a day so I respond ASAP. Anyways thanks everyone and I don't own PJO!
I sat on the couch of Max and my apartment reading a magazine. Nothing has been to exciting in my life. It has been a month since Chris and Clarisse's wedding and they just got back from their honeymoon yesterday. It was always so boring during the day at right now it was almost seven at night and Max was still at the hospital. It was the same thing each day: wake up, eat breakfast, check emails, run errands, eat lunch, do something else, watch t.v., have dinner, then go to bed. All of my friends work so I don't have anybody to hang out with all day. Well Kat doesn't work but she usually feels sick during the day and can't go anywhere without feeling sick. Percy doesn't do anything during off-season so I usually end up hanging out with him. We vent to each other about trying to convince Annabeth and Max that marriage is a good thing and so are kids. I rarely have to work. I help with the United Nations b ut we only have set meetings once a month unless there is an issue at hand. There are only a handful of errands to run each day and the repeated routine gets old. My phone buzzed on the glass coffee table. I picked it up and it said an iMessage from Annabeth Chase. I typed in my passcode and the message appeared:
Annabeth: Hey Carter, do u want 2 go do something tonite?
I responded back with Like what? Anything is better than sitting alone.
The girls and I talked about taking a cooking class, u up for it?
Sure when?
In thirty minutes, I'll pick u up and we can meet the others at the building
Max walked in about ten minutes later in his scrubs. He set down the house key on our granite counter then walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
"How was work?" I asked him as he came over and sat down next to me.
"It was exciting, as usual. I delivered twins today." he said.
"That's cool and disgusting but whatever." I said to him and he smiled.
"Yeah too many germs for you." he said then laughed.
"Oh now you're attacking my OCD. Seriously can we please move past it!" I said to him and he smiled.
"On the plus side, the apartment is never dirty." he said.
"Yeah that is a good thing because if I wasn't here this place would look like a bomb went off."
"I'm not that bad. So anything exciting happen today?" he asked me then took a sip out of his water with a little bit running down the side of his mouth.
"Not really. I read emails, paid some bills but Annabeth and I are meeting up with the girls to take a cooking class."
"You're a great cook so why are you taking a class?" he asked me.
"Just to do something. I have a pretty boring day with you gone for most of it and nothing much to do. When I was Queen, I barely had the chance to sit and relax. Now I have to much time on my hands."
"Well I was hoping to spend some time with you but you should go out."
"It won't be long. Also I'll get make more recipes." I said to him and he smiled.
"Alright I guess that is a benefit." he said then gave me a kiss. Annabeth knocked on our door and I walked over to answer it.
"Hey Carter," she said then peered her head over to look at Max, " hey Max."
"Hey Annabeth." he said.
"So you ready?" she asked me.
"One sec let me grab my purse." I walked over and grabbed my bag then gave Max one last kiss.
"Ew PDA!" Annabeth said with a smile.
"Oh please like you don't." I said then we walked down to her black range rover.
When we got to the place, all the girls were standing and waiting for us. I said hello to all of them.
"Alright class, I am Mrs. Donaldson and I will be your instructor for the evening. Now will everyone pick a partner." she said. Both Annabeth and Thalia turned towards me.
"Hey Carter, do you want to be my partner?" Thalia asked.
"No she is going to be my partner." Annabeth said.
"Oh really why is that?" Thalia asked.
"Because I'm a worse cook than you and I don't want to embarrass myself." Annabeth said.
"Fine put the two perfectionists together." Thalia said and everyone laughed.
"Ok class, tonight we are going to make Baklava. This doesn't involve much use of the oven as it does with manual labor." Mrs. Donaldson said.
"Do you know how to make Baklava? Wait of course you do. You can make any Greek dish." Annabeth said.
"That's not fair, you got the legit Greek girl who can make this stuff as if it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Thalia said.
"You all have Greek blood in you. If you need help I can help you." I said.
"Alright let's start with what you need. First you need sixteen ounces of phyllo dough which I have for you up here." I walked up and grabbed the phyllo dough which is very thin and very delicate.
"Ok now pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and butter the bottoms and sides of your pan."
"Next you need to measure out one pound of chopped nuts with the scale." Annabeth took out the scale and we measured exactly one pound of nuts.
"Carter, if you're this much of a perfectionist, how do you finish the damn meal on time?" Thalia asked.
"Patience, Thalia. There is nothing wrong with having things be exact." I said and Annabeth nodded.
"After that measure one teaspoon of cinnamon." Annabeth grabbed the measure cup and poured exactly one teaspoon of cinnamon. "Toss the nuts with the cinnamon then set them aside for later use. Now unroll your phyllo dough then cut in half to fit your pan. Take two sheets and butter them. Make sure to cover your dough with a damp cloth so it doesn't dry out." Annabeth grabbed the sheets of phyllo dough and ripped one in half.
"Do you want help?" I asked her. She nodded in frustration.
"Do this until you have eight layers of dough. Then sprinkle about two teaspoons of the nuts on top. Take two more sheets and butter them then put the nuts on top and repeat. The top layer should have ix to eight sheets."
We stacked them neatly and evenly distributed the nuts. Our baklava was looking good so far.
"Ok now take a sharp knife and cut it into squares or diamonds." I grabbed the knife and did the traditional way of making it by cutting it into diamonds.
"Place the baklava in the oven for about fifty minutes. We will prepare the sauce while it is baking." she said.
"Our baklava doesn't look that bad." Thalia said.
"Good can't wait to see how it turned out." I said to her.
"Measure one cup of water and measure one cup of white sugar." I poured one cup of sugar and looked over to see Kat had missed the cup and the sugar had spilled on the counter.
"Now take the water and boil it along with the sugar. When the sugar is melted, take one teaspoon of vanilla extract and a 1/2 a cup of honey and simmer it for about twenty minutes." We took the mixture and simmered it while our baklava baked. After the fifty minutes was up, we removed our baklava from the oven and immediately spooned the sauce over it.
"Let it cool and then place in cupcake wrappers." she said. We gently placed them in the wrappers. We then each took a bite out of them.
"I actually made something that wasn't burnt or that tasted disgusting." Annabeth said.
"Congrats. If you want more food recipes, I can help you." I told her.
"Yeah that might be nice instead of frozen food each night." she said.
"Wow this stuff is amazing." Thalia said.
"Baklava is Connor's favorite dessert and now I actually know how to make it." Sadria said.
"So have you and Connor given any thought about starting a family?" Piper asked.
"Actually we have. We have talked about having a family in a year or so. He really wants kids and so do I. I think he would make an amazing father, especially if we have boys." Sadria said.
"I hope we have a girl." Kat said looking down at her now showing stomach.
"That would be great. Annabeth have you given anymore thought about marriage or a family?" I asked her.
"Why does it matter if I'm married or not?" she said in a defensive tone.
"Annabeth I didn't mean it in a bad way. I just was wondering."
"I don't think I want a family or to be married." she said.
"Why? You would make a great wife and a great mom."
"I never really had a family growing up. My step-mother hated me and tried to get rid of me. My father often took her side and wasn't there for me. Athena wasn't there for me. She sent me on a quest that had killed every one of her children except me. I have never had a motherly figure in my life. I feel like if I were to marry Percy, that I would be a disappointment. I don't think I would make a great mom because I have never had one. I love Percy but I wouldn't want to disappoint him or our children." she said.
"Annabeth, knowing you, you would be amazing at being a mother. I think you would make a great mom because you didn't have a great mother and you want better for your kids. You're just over thinking everything." I said to her.
"Maybe I am a little bit but I still believe that I won't be a great mom." she said.
"I think that once you have a child, you will go into automatic mother mode. You and Percy are going to make great parents one day, I just know it." I said to her and all the other girls nodded in agreement.
"I suppose I can keep an open mind about it." she said then grabbed her keys.
"You ready to leave?" I asked her.
"Yeah I'm exhausted." she said.
When I walked in the apartment, Max was fast asleep on our couch. I set my purse on the counter and walked over then sat down next to him. I lightly rubbed his arm:
"Max, Max..." he started to stir slightly. His eyes then fluttered open.
"Oh hey beautiful." he said then sat up.
"Hi, you must have been really tired because you were out of it." I said to him.
"Yeah I'm really tired. I think I might head to bed." he said.
"I think I'll join you." I said as we both walked up our spiral staircase. He threw off his shirt and I smiled.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing it just never gets old." I said to him.
"Nice to know I still got it." he said and I laughed.
"It's only been seven years." I said.
"Yeah but whatever. You still got it too." he said then gave me a kiss.
"Thanks." We both climbed into bed and I leaned up against him with his right arm wrapped around my waist.
"Oh I want to take you out to lunch tomorrow." he said.
"alright that sounds lovely." I said to him.
"Carter these last seven years have been the best time of my life. I love you." he said.
"They have been amazing. I love you too Max." I said then he gave me another kiss. We lay in bed entangled in each others arms. I could hear the sound of Max's heartbeat which was calming. He played with my curls and we started to get more and more tired. As frustrated as I get with Max sometimes, he is just too irresistible to leave.
Ok not the best chapter I've ever written. If you have any questions, comments, or just want to talk, you can always PM me! Also thank you to my bff I'm-too-outrageous-4u for the idea! If you have any, I'll take them off your hands. Thanks everyone, you all are amazing and please REVIEW!