So the first chapter of the minific is up! I decided to post it today because- well, I wanted to. In any case I hope you guys enjoy! Honestly I'm pretty sure you'll all love it, especially the more light-hearted scenes.

Leo was pretty sure that if it wasn't for his brothers and his friends he'd be working himself to the death on the ship. As it was he was definitely getting less sleep than he probably should be. It had been three months since the quest, three months during which he'd dedicated himself to building the ship. He'd had to take a break from school. His mom hadn't been happy with that but she'd understood. Not that he'd done more than IM home lately- Sally was getting huge, she couldn't travel to and from camp with how heavily pregnant she was- she was due within the next few weeks- mid April.

And it was the 31st of March that it happened. He was in the bunker, munching on a sandwich with Jason and Piper- who had made it official a month earlier and were very happily dating.

They'd burst into the bunker with the sandwiches and cokes which they'd got from Cecil, and demanded that he take half an hour break. And Leo was willing to admit that he was a little sleep deprived and he was pretty hungry so he'd been happy to settle down and much on his sandwich- of course none of them were expecting to hear a loud yelling from outside and to have Nico come skidding into the room, closely followed by an exasperated looking Will. Nico looked tired- he'd been trying to find the Roman camp, despite the fact that he knew there wasn't much chance of him finding it- he'd admitted to Leo that he felt useless doing nothing, and Leo knew that he'd been having issues with Bianca which had been bugging him too so Leo suspected he was distracting himself from that- and it was painfully obvious instantly that Nico needed a break- and based on Will chasing him the son of Apollo probably agreed. "It's happening!"

Nico almost yelled the words, and Leo blinked slowly, staring at his younger brother.

"Uh, what's happening?"

"Paul just called Luke!" Nico's voice was loud, "It's happening, she's in labor!"

"Oh shit." Leo dropped his sandwich- and any other time he'd have probably been sad about that as he leapt to his feet, "Holy crap- what do we do?"

"We have to get back home-"

"You are not shadow travelling Nico!" Will snapped quickly.

"But-"

"Use your brain." Will rolled his eyes, "Luke's getting the minivan, Thalia and Ethan are probably already there. Labor usually takes time. She probably won't have even given birth by the time we get there-"

"Oh wow." Jason stood up, "That's amazing- Leo-"

"I- you guys I'm real sorry-"

"Don't be sorry." Piper laughed, a smile on her lips, "Go. No ones gonna blame you for popping home for a few days to meet your baby sister."

"Right- right!" Leo let out an exited laugh, "Right-"

"Come on!" Nico yelled the words, "Before I start dragging you!"

"Okay okay!" and with that they were taking off again- and soon enough they were piled into the back of the minivan and on their way home, Leo bouncing nervously, Luke driving, Thalia trying to keep them all calm, Ethan grinning hopefully and Nico and Will talking quietly, Nico glaring at his phone.

And Leo hated waiting around- he was nervous, which was probably why he asked, "What's up with you, you look like your phone stabbed your best friend."

"I have no friends." Nico deadpanned before he looked up, "I've been trying to reach out to Bianca-" and Leo winced- after the war Nico and Bianca hadn't exactly been in the best place. Nico had been angry, had yelled at her that it was her fault- it wasn't of course but he'd been hurting and angry and he'd blamed her for delaying Hades. He hadn't really spoken to her since the first days after the war even if he'd been trying lately. "She said she'd come for the baby's birth."

"That's great." Leo gave Nico a small grin, "She is kind of family I guess."

"She knows how important it is to me." Nico pressed his lips together, "But she's not responding to her texts-"

"Maybe she doesn't have signal or something. Or she could be doing something. I'm sure she'll get back to you soon."

"I hope so. We've been talking more lately. She's basically living in the Underworld for now."

"Of course she will." that came from Will, who squeezed Nico's hand tightly, lifting it to press his lips to the son of Hades knuckles, "She does love you."

"If she doesn't come-" Nico shook his head, "Doesn't matter."

And once more they slipped into silence- and soon enough Luke was pulling up in front of the hospital, and they were rushing inside- ignoring the looks they got as they were directed up to the maternity wards- and Paul was waiting for them outside, looking frazzled but excited.

And it turned out Will had been right about it taking a while, they ended up camping out in the waiting room- the nurses did protest but they gave up when the demigods refused to move.

Annabeth and Rachel both arrived a few hours in- they'd been at one of Rachel's dads parties and hadn't been able to check their phones- they were both dressed in floor length dresses- though Leo noticed the tell tale streaks of paint on Rachel's that said that they'd taken a break from the party so that she could do some painting- knowing her she'd been doing one of Annabeth in her dress.

The wait went on, day turned to evening to night and then morning and afternoon- and it was around five when Paul came down the hall from Sally's room, a proud beam on his lips as he guestured for them to come to the room.

When they headed inside Sally was sat up in the bed looking incredibly tired, and in her arms was a tiny little bundle wrapped up in blankets.

It was Luke who moved forward first- all of them were staring in awe as he stepped forward, "Is-"

"Everything's just fine honey." Sally gave a tired smile, "I'd like you all to meet the newest member of the family. Estelle Blofis. Luke, honey- come here." and when Luke was close enough May carefully shifted, placing the baby into his arms- and Leo could see Luke's eyes instantly filling with tears as he cradled the baby, staring down at her with a look of awe on his face- and Leo wondered if maybe he was thinking of the last time he'd held a baby- after all, Luke had been the second person ever to hold Percy hadn't he? Not including doctors or nurses.

He watched as Luke traced a finger down Estelle's face, "She's perfect mom." Luke's voice was strained, "She's so perfect-"

"Isn't she?" Sally's expression was sad too, but she managed to shake it off, to hide that fairly quickly, "Why don't you let your brothers hold her?" and so Luke carefully moved over to Nico, helping the youngest of them hold Estelle, and Nico held her as if she was made of glass, not even saying a word as he looked down at the baby.

Ethan was next- if only because of where he was stood, and he did speak when he took Estelle- he looked like he wanted to cry too- Leo didn't fully blame him. It was painfully obvious at times that Ethan didn't feel like he had a right to be there. The Jacksons had accepted him despite all that he'd done, and he knew it was only because of what he'd done at the end, because of the fact that despite all of the other stuff he'd done before that Percy had chosen to protect him. So that meant that they had taken him in- because it was what she'd have wanted.

"She's amazing." he whispered the words, "You did amazing mom." he said the word without even noticing he'd said it- which made Sally's expression soften. "I'll protect her. I swear I'm going to protect her." and Leo wondered if a part of Ethan saw Estelle as a chance to make amends- he was pretty sure Percy would approve though so he wasn't going to complain.

Then it was Leo's turn and he felt the world dropping out from beneath his feet when she was passed to him and he saw her up close.

And Leo had never really understood the appeal of babies- no matter what anyone said they were ugly when they were first born, all red and funny looking.
And Estelle wasn't any different. She was tiny- so very tiny in his hands, but she was so real. And when her eyes opened- as unfocused as they were Leo felt as if he'd been punched in the gut.

They were sea green.

They were just like Percy's eyes- and Leo knew that Percy had got her eyes from both Sally and from Poseidon too but- but all Leo could think of as he stared down at the tiny bundle in his arms was that this perfect little baby had their big sisters eyes.

His eyes stung with tears and he blinked rapidly, swallowing hard. "Hey there." his voice was barely more than a whisper "I'm your big brother Leo. I'm the fun one. You're- you're gonna be so lucky Estelle. So lucky." he felt Nico squeezing his shoulder gently and he slowly passed Estelle over to Annabeth, who started crying too, carefully cooing softly to the little baby as Rachel leaned into her girlfriends side and stared at the baby.

And Leo knew that while it was undoubtedly a happy day, it wasn't as happy as it could have been.

As it should have been.

Each and every one of them were all thinking the same thing, he was sure of that.

Percy should have been with them.

Sally had stayed in the hospital for two days after Estelle's birth- just for safety.

Estelle Blofis had been born on April 1st, and she finally came home on April 3rd. And all of them stayed at home until Sally came home with Estelle- making sure that the house was perfect- and in Leo, Annanbeth and Rachel's cases, baking so many cookies that they could feed an army- though they were normal cookies. None of them could bare to make blue ones. It was too strong a reminder of the loss.

As happy and excited as Nico was to have a new sister- there was one thing dragging his mood down.

Bianca.

She had texted him back when he was at the hospital, not long after he'd arrived promising to be there soon. And she hadn't showed.

He'd waited for her, he'd texted her repeatedly, tried to call her. There was nothing. And it hurt.

He knew that he'd been harsh after the shock of Percy's death had worn off, when she'd showed up at camp the next day. It hadn't been fair, Bianca hadn't caused Percy's death- but he'd been in pain and he'd lashed out.

He'd apologised, and he'd reached out, tried to fix things and he'd thought it had been going well, even if Bianca acted super shifty sometimes. But this? This hurt more than it probably should.

So when Bianca showed up a full five days after Estelle had been born, Nico wasn't in the mood.

He was outside at the time, getting some air- which was probably for the best because as soon as he saw her emerging from the shadows he was tense.

"What the fuck?"

"Nico I am so sorry-"

"You're sorry?" Nico glared at Bianca- she looked pale, exhausted but he was too hurt and angry to care about that, "You're sorry. You told me you were coming and then you just didn't show? Do you have any idea how shitty that is?" his voice was harsh. "What's the point in me reaching out if you don't care-"

"Nico I swear I didn't mean to be late-"

"Late?" Nico let out a bitter laugh, "This is what you call late is it? Bianca you just didn't show up this isn't late!"

"Please Nico just let me explain."

"Fine." Nico pressed his lips together, staring at Bianca with narrowed eyes. "Fine. Explain then."

And Bianca faltered, opening her mouth to say something before shutting it again- a pained look on her face. "I- I can't-

"Oh." Nico snorted, "Oh I see, you can't." his voice was sharp, "That makes it all so much better."

"Nico I didn't mean-"

"You never mean-" Nico snarled the words. "You never mean to do anything do you?"

"Nico please I- you have to trust me-"

"No- no I don't. I'm done trusting you Bianca. All you ever do is let me down-"

"Please-"

"No." Nico shook his head, "If you can't even tell me what was so important then you can go and fuck yourself. I don't need you." he shook his head and turned away, so that she wouldn't see the pain on his face.

"Nico please I wish I could explain but I can-"

"I'm done Bianca. You can leave. Clearly you don't give a shit-"

"Nico you know that's not true-"

"If I had texted Percy telling her I needed her she'd have been here within the hour no matter what. I wish she was here. I wish she was here and you were the one- the one who was gone" and Nico knew he was being spiteful and mean- and he didn't care. Not anymore. He was too hurt, too angry- he might regret his words later but now? No. No he wanted to hurt her.

Will was wrong. Reaching out trying to fix things with Bianca had been a mistake.

The only people Nico could rely on were his real family. Not the girl who'd abandoned him when he was ten.

"Nico-" Bianca's voice cracked, "Nico I-"

"I said leave." and a moment later Bianca was gone and Nico closed his eyes, fighting back his tears- and he didn't even notice slipping into the garden, but he did notice Will's arms wrapping around him, safe and warm.

"I'm so sorry Neeks-"

"I don't need her." Nico whispered, "I'm done Will. I have all I need here."