Chapter 50 is here! I am absolutely amazed that this story turned out to be this long! And I'm not even close to done! Thank you all so much!
So, I read the first chapter of Blood of Olympus! So good! I can't wait!
Anyway. This chapter was fun to write. I tried to make it a little cute and a little funny. Hopefully I succeeded in doing so. Hope you like it!
Re-edited: 5/20/17
It was August 18th, a Saturday. Today was the ninth annual celebration of peace between the camps. It was also my 26th birthday.
The large group of congregated demigods, both Greek and Roman, sat in the dining pavilion. Some were still eating though most of us had finished dinner and were just talking with each other now.
At our table, the Athena table, sat Annabeth and me, the rest of the Seven from the quest, Calypso, the Stolls (which included Katie now), Malcolm, Clarisse, Chris, Will, Reyna, Aaron (Reyna's boyfriend of a few years), Rachel, Grover, Juniper, and a few others, most of whom sat on the other end, having their own conversation altogether.
As for our own discussion, Frank and Hazel had just been telling us some good news.
"I found out yesterday," she said, a smile spread wide across her face.
"Congratulations," Reyna told them. She, Hazel, and Frank had grown to be good friends over the years. "Are you going to step down from the Praetorship?" she asked of him now.
He nodded. "I've been thinking about it for a while and it just seems like the right thing to do now." Reyna nodded, nothing but happiness for them in her tone and her expression. Something told me that as soon as Aaron got around to making things official between them, she wouldn't be far behind Frank in stepping down.
"You guys will make great parents!" Piper told them with a smile.
"Yeah," Leo put in, "You have now officially joined the ranks of those whose freedom is gone forever." He glanced briefly at the Graces, but settled his gaze on Annabeth and me. Calypso smacked his arm, but he just looked at her, ignoring the action and said mock-mournfully, "We're all alone now."
"Hey, now," Jason said, feigning offense, but he was smiling.
I grinned. "It's not his fault he doesn't understand," I said with a shrug to the Son of Jupiter, joking in my tone.
"One of these days," Annabeth told Leo.
"Oh no," he laughed, "Not me." I didn't say anything, but I'd seen him with Logan. I really didn't think he'd make that bad of a dad.
As if on cue, all eyes fell on Calypso beside him. She shrugged. "Whatever happens, happens," she said easily, clearly more open to the subject.
"Oh, okay," Jason said, as if that explained everything, though his voice was layered heavily in sarcasm. Annabeth chuckled lightly beside me.
Over the past couple of months, she had, just like with her first pregnancy, grown very large and round. Again, she hated it, and again, I thought she was more beautiful then ever.
And again, she would hear none of it.
By now, the baby was due in just over two weeks, but realistically, it could be at any time. Camp was the farthest we dared travel from home in a month, and even that was probably pushing it.
She wore one of my camp T-shirts—we all wore them, but hers no longer fit her. It was big on her everywhere except in the belly. Her blonde hair was in its usual ponytail.
"Anyway," Rachel said, looking back at Frank and Hazel, "Congrats, you two." The Zhangs thanked her. Not even Leo's antics seemed able to put a damper on their mood. Their smiles were as I'd ever seen them.
"What about you, Annabeth?" Katie asked, looking at her, "You're due, like, really soon, right?"
She nodded. "September 3rd."
Piper squealed, "I can't wait." Annabeth's expression was clear. She couldn't wait to no longer be pregnant either.
Conner, obviously not exercising the think before you speak rule, said, "Well that's good, because you look like—" He froze, realizing what he was saying and to whom he was talking. Travis collapsed into laughter beside him after trying and failing to stile it.
Annabeth stared at Conner, her face expressionless. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Go on," she encouraged, "I look like what?" Clarisse, sitting across the table from the Stoll brothers, gave Annabeth an approving look.
"Like… like, um," he stammered, "You look… like—a person who can't wait to have a baby?" he finished weakly, turning up the inflection on the last word so it sounded like a question.
Annabeth still looked at him, amused but hiding it very well. She nodded slowly. "Just remember, Stoll," she said evenly, "Eight months pregnant or not, I can still kick your butt. Blindfolded."
Conner looked away quickly without a word in defense. I just laughed, along with most of the others.
"Do you have a name picked out for him?" Juniper asked, referring to the baby.
Annabeth looked at me, smirking. That had been a common topic of conversation over the past few weeks. And apparently I was impossible or something.
She looked back to Juniper. "Not officially," she said, "But we've been tossing Nicholas and Andrew around for a while."
"And Noah," I added. I was not ready to discard that name yet.
She rolled her eyes, but smiled. "And Noah," she repeated.
There were a few awes and nods of approval. Some voiced particular names they liked best, but everyone was talking at once now and I lost track of who said what.
"Now, if you named him Nicholas," Reyna began, "would you spell it the Ancient Greek way, N-I-K-O-L-A-O-S, or—"
"Just the normal way," I said quickly, "Ancient Greek names are sometimes more trouble than they're worth. Believe me, I know."
"I'll be sure to tell Mom that the next time I see her," Annabeth said under her breath, smirking.
I bumped her arm lightly, "Don't even think about it."
Across from us, Travis looked confused. "Ancient Greek?" he asked slowly, "But isn't your name—" He broke off as Katie scooted away from him and regarded him with a look like Seriously? Then the light blub seemed to go on. "Oh, wait. Perseus. Alright, never mind."
I just stared at him for a second, wondering how he ever managed to graduate high school, never mind graduate with the Associates Degree he'd received recently. Most everyone else tried—and failed—not to laugh.
"Anyway," Travis said slowly, embarrassed, clearly trying to get the attention off of him.
"Yeah," Katie laughed mockingly at her husband, "Anyway."
"You two still living in that hole in the wall you call an apartment?" Jason asked us.
"I don't know," I answered, eyeing a certain son of Hephaestus, "Ask Leo."
"It'll be done!" he said, "I promise it will be. It's not my fault if Cabin Nine's efficiency rate has decreased since I left. It'll be ready for the baby."
"And," Annabeth said in a reasonable tone, "If I go into labor, I don't know, tomorrow?"
Leo looked at her, trapped, "Um, don't?" he replied weakly.
Aaron laughed, "Yeah, cause that'll help a whole lot."
The son of Hephaestus wasn't enjoying this. He sighed. "We'll have it finished. We're almost done."
"It's alright," I said, "We don't doubt your mad skills. It's not that big a deal either way."
"It'll still be done," he insisted.
"Good to hear," I told him.
A while later, it was getting late, definitely time to get going and relieve my mom of babysitting duty. We weren't the only ones heading out either. Piper and Jason were right behind us.
Hugs were exchanged all around and wishes of good luck were passed on to us.
"You call me," Piper demanded of me, "The second that baby is born, I expect a phone call."
"You got it," I assured her, mentally adding her to the rather long list of people already in line for such a call. We left then, making our way back through camp and toward Half-Blood Hill
Chiron stood outside the Big House as we neared it. He smiled when he saw us. "Leaving so soon?" he asked, and really, it was unusual for us to leave Camp celebrations this early. Or it had been, before we'd had a kid anyway.
"We have to get Logan from my parents'," I explained.
He nodded understandingly, "It's amazing how much life changes when you have little ones of your own to care for," he said.
"You can say that again," Annabeth replied.
The Centaur smiled again. "And it will change again very soon." He placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Good luck, my dear. You are still as strong as ever."
She hugged him sideways—the only kind of hugs she could really manage at the moment. "Thank you," she said.
"To you too, Percy," looking at me, he added, "And happy birthday." I smiled and thanked him. He put a hand on my shoulder along with Annabeth's and said, "I am proud of the two of you. I do hope you know that."
I glanced sideways at my wife. She wore a small, embarrassed smile. "We do," I told him, "Thanks, Chiron."
"You're welcome," he said before letting us go. "I suppose I won't keep you from your son any longer. And I hope you will send pictures of the new baby when he is born."
"Of course," Annabeth assured him.
Chiron smiled, satisfied. He bid us farewell and watched from the front of the Big House as we retreated up the side of the hill, at a slightly slower pace than maybe was normal, but Annabeth managed. He was still there when we rounded the crest to head down the other side.
Later, at some ungodly hour of the next morning, I was woken up, from a pretty good dream, to Annabeth shaking my shoulder rather harshly. "Percy."
I groaned, and when it continued, mumbled, probably pretty incomprehensively, "What?"
"Percy," Annabeth said again, and this time I was alert enough to register that she sounded off, "Wake up."
"What is it?" I asked, still half asleep and in no rush to do any such thing.
"Percy," she said again, louder and more forcefully. "Get up. My water broke. We need to go to the hospital."
I had no trouble waking up after that.
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