Bianca

I can't believe this shit.

Two men in suits tear through the apartment. She stands next to Annabeth against the wall, watching them make a mess.

The cushions are thrown off the couch. One of the men unplugs and inspects the back of the TV.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.

"You people are insufferable! Can't you see? It's been hard enough on her without you two dinguses making it worse!"

"Ma'am we're just doing our job," The man walks down the hallway towards the bedroom.

"This is bullshit," Bianca says to Annabeth.

"Yeah," Annabeth sighs. "They need to finish soon though, I have an OB appointment."

"Oh that's right! Hey," she shouts at the agent looking through the bookshelf, and tossing books on the floor. "Y'all need to hurry your asses up. Yeah, I'm talking to you!"

The man shakes his head and turns back to his work.

"Fuckwad," Bianca mumbles.

"For Annabeth?" The MA calls through an open door. Bianca and Annabeth stand and follow her back into the office. They sit down in a room and the MA closes the door behind them.

"All right, we are going to need a urine sample, any chance you can give us one right now?"

Annabeth shakes her head.

"Okay, no problem I'll bring you some water in a minute. Can you confirm your date of birth?"

Bianca looks around the room, there's framed pictures of pregnant women in black and white hanging on the walls. There's a bottle of hand sanitizer on the counter and she squirts some into her hand.

"...perfect! I'll be right back with your water."

Bianca follows the MA out of the room.

"Just a second," she whispers to Annabeth, who nods.

The door shuts and Bianca taps the MA on the shoulder. "Hey, what was your name?"

She turns and smiles. "Shay, can I help you?"

"Shay. Yeah, I just wanted to let you know, my sister," Bianca points back to the room. "Her fiancé, the baby's daddy... He just past away a few days ago. So, it's just been like super hard on her. I don't know if that's going to affect the pregnancy or if you need to make a note or whatever."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! That's awful, may I ask how?"

Bianca looks down. "Um.. We're not totally sure, he was working overseas. He did a lot of like top secret kind of government work. Do you know if her being stressed out is going to hurt the baby?"

"Wow, that must be so difficult. I'm going to make a note for sure and I'll let the doctor know, okay?"

"Okay but is it going to hurt the baby?"

Shay frowns. "I can't really say. The doctor will know more, and we'll just have to watch her close."

Bianca nods and walks back into the room.

Annabeth

She tossed her backpack onto the desk and flopped down in bed. Tatiana turned in her chair.

"Rough day?"

"Ugh," Annabeth groaned. "Yeah. Rough week. You?"

Tatiana laughed. "Week huh? And it's only Monday. I'm doing fine though, thanks for asking."

"Yeah, Trig is a bad way to start the week. I've always sucked at math."

"Yeah, I feel you girl."

Annabeth sat up. "I think I'm going to hop in the shower. Do you need to use the restroom before or anything?"

Tatiana shook her head.

Annabeth stepped into the bathroom, and locked the door. She turned on the shower and disrobed while she waited for the water to get warm.

She looked at her phone.

Hi, what are you up to?

It was a text message from Percy. She smiled.

Jumping in the shower. How about you?

She thought for a moment before sending. Annabeth wrapped her towel around herself, pressing her breasts up to expose cleavage, and took a picture of her reflection. Bare shoulders exposed and a smile on her face, she considered the result. She tapped on the send button and quickly stepped into the shower.

Oh dear god, that was a mistake. What the fuck am I doing?!

She scrubbed her hair vigorously, soap bubbles covering her head.

Stupid stupid—

The phone rang.

Oh my god.

She peeked out from behind the curtain, squinting to get a look at the caller ID. It wasn't a phone number she recognized. She breathed a sigh of relief and finished washing her body.

She stepped out and dried off and got dressed. A quick look at her phone revealed no response.

Oh shit. He probably didn't like it and now I'm sending mixed singles. Fuck me. She grinned. Seriously. I need it.

"Hey Tati," Annabeth said as she walked out of the bathroom. "I got a question."

"What's up?"

"Relationships. And school. How do you balance? And is it worth it?"

Tatiana smiled and put away her work.

"Don't tell me, I'm going to guess. You put McHottie in the friend zone and now you regret it?"

"Yeah basically," Annabeth sat down. "Girl, he is like super sweet. Plus, his friend told me, he's like this hero. And the other night, when he dropped me off he like, opened the door and walked me back. I was this close," she pinched her fingers, leaving the smallest space between them. "To inviting him in for a nightcap."

Tatiana nodded. "Well, what is it you're afraid of out of a relationship?"

Annabeth sighed. "I don't want it to interfere with school. And you know how well my last relationship went."

"Well which one is the bigger fear?"

Annabeth shrugged.

"Well," Tatiana looked at her. "If your relationship is with the right person, it's not going to interrupt your schooling. In fact, it might make it better. Travis, for example. He helps me study and makes sure I get all my work done. And it's pretty obvious, to me, that Percy is a completely different person than the idiot you dated before."

Annabeth laughed. "Yeah. You're right."

And yet, I still have an aversion to the idea.