Annabeth,

I was folding the clothes to be put in my suitcase for the flight back to New York, which was only in a few hours now, when someone's arms wrapped around my waist.

"Percy, I have to pack."

"Pack later," he kissed my neck.

"I said that last time. And now is later. Our flight leaves soon," I laughed without meaning to, and Percy simply responded by continuing to kiss my neck.

It took all of my will power not to melt into him.

"The ferry leaves soon, and, if we miss it, we miss our flight. Now, let me pack, Percy."

"So we miss our flight," Percy shrugged and continued to kiss me.

"And we miss Sarah."

Percy thought this over.

"Fine," Percy finally caved, and he kissed my neck one more time before going back to make sure that his bags had been completely packed since he hadn't touched the bag since we got here.

I unpacked it.

And I packed it again.

"Ready to see Sarah when we get home?" I asked.

The honeymoon was fun, but I missed my daughter.

And it only got worse when Percy also started missing her.

He started bringing her up all the time.

It's a beautiful morning. So, he asks if we called Sarah the night before.

We're looking out at a beautiful view. So, he says that Sarah would love it, and I have to admit that she would.

We go on an amazing tour of the small island where we're staying. And he says that Sarah would love some certain fact.

After a while, I had to ban him from bringing up our seven year old daughter.

"Ecstatic," Percy turned to smile at me, "You've got the gift, right?"

"Packed and ready for Sarah to open."

Percy smiled again and went back to double checking his bag.

"Sarah's great."

"I know. We couldn't ask for a better daughter," I smiled as I thought about my daughter.

I wasn't lying about how great it was.

Maybe it was the bias that comes with me being Sarah's mother, but I do think she is the greatest child I could ever have. She was kind. She was smart. And she was the cutest little thing I had ever seen.

"What do you think about having another one?"

I turned around to look at him.

"Another what?"

But I knew what he was talking about.

"Another daughter, or son maybe," Percy smiled as he shrugged, and I tried to think of an answer.

I had been thinking about this for a long time now.

I had weighed my options and come up with the Pros and Cons.

Pros- Another child to love, a sibling for Sarah, and it would make Percy so happy.

Cons- Both of us have busy jobs, we're already busy taking care of Sarah, she might resent the new baby because we kept it and not her, and I may not be able to handle another pregnancy.

The Cons easily outweighed the Pros.

But that wouldn't matter if I really wanted a baby.

Did I?

I don't know.

Would it be fair to Sarah to raise a child when we didn't really raise her?

I don't know that either.

I should have let Percy down easy, explained why I didn't think having a child would be a good idea.

But I couldn't get myself to do it.

Suddenly, my watch beeped.

Thank gods!

"Oh, we're going to be late! We'll miss the ferry!"

Percy,

Annabeth looked through Sky Mall, almost falling asleep on my shoulder.

We had about three hours left of the ten hour flight.

That wouldn't be that bad if I wasn't still thinking about the conversation we had never gotten to finish at the hotel, the one that she kept avoiding now. I wasn't even sure I needed an answer now.

Of course, I'd still want one, but, considering she had repeatedly made an effort not to answer, I could tell I'd probably stay father of one for the rest of my life. And that face she made when I asked, like pure panic setting over her like a cold December night in New York.

That was also her "Pros and Cons" face that I had way too many times.

And I knew that the cons easily outweighed pros logistically.

But emotionally, I had no idea.

Annabeth huffed as she put Sky Mall away and nuzzled closer to me.

"How much longer do we have, Perce?"

"About three hours," I kissed the top of her head, and she sighed.

"I guess we have to talk about it, huh?"

"About what?" I asked hopefully.

"A baby."

I mentally smiled that I would finally get my answer.

I nodded, and Annabeth sighed again.

"Why don't you want another child?"

"I never said that."

"Exactly. You've dodged it for the last seven hours," I laughed.

Annabeth closed her eyes tightly.

"I miss when you used Seaweed Brain logic that I could break away."

I laughed and brushed some hair of her grey eyes.

"So, Annie, do you want to have a baby? Or is Sarah going to be our only one?" I asked, trying to be nice about it though I was starting to feel sick as I worried about her reaction.

Annabeth hesitated, closing her eyes in thought.

"I don't know, Percy."

I don't know.

I don't know?

I had to admit that I was disappointed, but I tried not to act like it.

Annabeth seemed so upset about it, like she hated that she just couldn't answer. If anything, I kind of felt bad for asking her now. She had obviously been thinking about it and felt guilty that she couldn't answer as easily as I could.

Had I made it that obvious that I wanted a child?

"You don't know?"

"I don't know. I mean, I should want to say no. It doesn't make any sense to have a kid right now. With the age difference with Sarah and our busy lives, we couldn't handle having another kid," Annabeth began, but she trailed off.

"But…"

"But…" Annabeth smiled weakly, "I just can't say it."

"So, how am I supposed to take this, Wise Girl?" I smiled down at her.

"You are supposed to take this as not a no."

"But not a yes."

"How about for a while," Annabeth looked up at me, "we focus on the one we already have?"

I smiled down at her, and I decided to take this as how she put it.

Not that she hadn't told me yes.

But that she hadn't told me no.

Annabeth,

"Beep. Beep. Beep."

I was awoken by being startled.

What was that?

… Crap.

The alarm clock.

How long had it been since I had last heard that alarm clock?

Hmm… 10 days?

Maybe more.

I hadn't heard any alarm clock since the morning I got up to make sure I didn't sleep past my flight to California.

Ever since then, I hadn't needed one. Either I was woken up by someone or I was given the wonderful of sleep.

It was usually the first.

Why was the alarm clock going off now?

I had been on my honeymoon for a week with Percy, and we both had another three days off to get settled into live back in New York. And after the long flight from Hawaii to JFK and the cab ride that seemed to take even longer last night, I needed to use all seventy-two of those hour sleeping.

…..School!

Crap.

It was Monday, and Sarah had to go to school.

My eyes fluttered open immediately, and I was about to tell Percy to wake up since we had agreed that he was taking her to go school when I saw it.

Percy had his arm wrapped around me, setting his hand protectively over mine. And Sarah was nestled in between the two of us. With her black curls spilling everywhere, she used Percy's arm as a pillow, and she was comfortably snuggling around both of us. And Percy held us close, as if he worried he would awake and we wouldn't be there.

I couldn't move.

I knew that I needed to wake them up and remind them of the day it was.

But I couldn't do it.

Finally, the constant beeping awoke our daughter, who squinted at me with the morning light.

"Is time for school already?" Sarah complained.

"I think you suddenly came up with a virus," I smiled as I held my hand to her forehead, "With a high fever. And I'm going to have to tell the school that you just can't come today."

Sarah smiled at me, and she nuzzled back between me and Percy.

As I hit the alarm clock, effectively turning off the annoying machine, I tried to go back to sleep.

But I couldn't help but focus on one thing.

I know now.

XXXXXX

"Hmm, let's see if we can find something to eat here," Percy smiled as I set the seven year old that I had been carrying down on the countertop.

"Orange juice!" Sarah smiled.

"And we have Orange Juice!" Percy smiled as he brought a carton out of the refrigerator and closed the door behind him, "And absolutely nothing else."

Sarah pouted as Percy poured her a glass of orange juice, but her face quickly lit up when he handed it to her.

What is it with her and orange juice?

"I guess I should go grocery shopping."

Percy usually trusted me to go grocery shopping when he was able to give me a list of things we needed, and it wouldn't be too bad if I picked up the wrong thing. But it was obvious that he didn't trust the worst cook in the house to stock up again.

Should I be happy or insulted?

"Or we can do that tomorrow. How about pizza?"

"Pizza!"

I looked to Percy, and he smiled as he nodded.

"Pizza it is," he shook his head and went to get the phone.

With Sarah chiming in every few seconds, we finally agreed on two pizzas.

A deep dish pepperoni and beef- me.

A Hawaiian pizza with extra pineapple- Sarah and Percy.

And Sarah talked me into voting with her on the cinnamon sticks if she'd vote for the breadsticks I wanted.

Sarah and I couldn't help but watch Percy as he ordered to make sure that he didn't add in the thin crust anchovies pizza that we had vetoed without a hint of regret. When we were satisfied that he had kept to our agreement, Sarah ran to watch cartoons, and I pulled myself onto the counter, waiting to talk to Percy.

How do I put this?

I was trying to plan my words when Percy finally hung up the phone and looked to me.

"What was up with you and little kiddo sticking around?"

"We didn't trust you to not get the fish pizza."

"I probably would have ditched the breadsticks than gotten the pizza," Percy smiled.

"You wouldn't dare."

"And why not?"

"We just got back from our honeymoon. And you want to hold onto the honeymoon phase as long as you can before the first big fight."

"I do?"

"You do."

"Apparently I do."

I smiled at Percy, and I knew that now was as good as ever.

But that didn't get rid of the nerves.

"Uh, Percy, can we talk?" I bit my lip.

Percy's eyes knit in confusion and came to stand directly in front of me, and that meant yes in Percy-Talk.

"I was thinking about what we were talking about yesterday."

Percy continued to stare at me.

I leaned in closer to whisper at him, "About a baby."

Percy nodded for me to continue.

I said "Can we talk?", not "Can we nod?"

"Well, I… I think I… know now."

"You know now?"

Why can't he get this through his Seaweed Brain head already?

"I think I know now."

It hit Percy like a freight train.

"You know now," Percy was too shocked to know if he didn't to be scared or hopeful.

"Yeah, I do," I pushed my hair behind my ear.

"And? How do you feel about it? Another child? Or just Sarah?" Percy talked fast as he stroked my face, and I still couldn't seem to find the words for what I wanted to tell him.

"Percy…I… Well, I've decided that I…" I trailed off again, "Percy, I've decided that I want a baby."

Percy stared at me in disbelieve.

"You-you want a baby?"

Had I ever seen Percy smile so wide as that moment?

"Yeah, I do," my smile seemed to mimic his as I told him again.

"But what about all that you said? About it not being fair to Sarah?"

"She'd love a sibling!" I smiled.

"What about the age difference?"

"Well, we should start right away then."

"About how your body may not be able to take the pregnancy?"

"We'll see then!"

"And our jobs?"

"After everything we've been through, I'm convinced we can handle anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Percy, are you trying to talk me out of this?" I crossed my arms.

"No, no, no, I just want to make sure that this is serious and that you've thought it all through before I let myself get excited."

"I've thought it all through, Perce. I'm a daughter of Athena, remember?"

"You're sure? You really want to have a baby?"

"I'm sure," I smiled.

"We're going to have a baby!" Percy smiled as he leaned into kiss me.