The Beginning:

Chapter 8:

"No."

"Yes!"

"No. No way."

"What did you think was going to happen?"

Percy stared at the Titaness in horror. "Not this! What do you mean, you want me to be the one to take care of your kid?! I can barely keep my dog alive, and you want me to help babysit a god?!"

It had been two days since they had first meet, and time have gone fast. Rhea had all but dragged him around Crete, telling him things about the island that she thought could be useful in the future.

It had seemed like an innocent (if a bit baffling-why would he need to know?) past time, before Rhea had dropped the absolute bombshell that it was her expectation that Percy would help raise her only godly child that was outside of a stomach.

"You are the best choice for this," Rhea says calmly, obviously not caring about his (quite loud) objection to the idea. "You have previous experience with gods-"

"Not like this!" Percy says with a snarl, throwing up his hands in exasperation.

Rhea ignores him, continuing on with her speech stubbornly, which Percy would have found impressive if that determination was used on anyone except him.

"Which means you know the power set of a god better than anyone in the universe right now. Plus, he'll be able to feel how you are of his kind-"

"Oh, you're just grasping on straws with that one." Percy says flatly, interrupting her yet again. "I'm a mortal. A demigod. Nowhere near an actual god. Besides, don't you have other care takers lined up? What about the nymphs?"

"Percy," Rhea says simply, looking in his eyes solemnly, once again ignoring his very valid points. "Be realistic. Do you really have anything better to do? You're from the future, and you told me yourself that you find it unlikely that you'll be able to get home anytime soon."

The words hurt, and Percy makes a conscious effort not to let Rhea realise how much.

Still.

Percy hates that she is kind of right.

"But it's-" He gestures vaguely to her stomach, looking upset.

He's trying to make her understand, to get why the entire thing is completely insane.

Because the simple lunacy of the proposition is completely out there. Percy can take time travel. He can take chatting to Rhea and a magic goat that has still not woken up, despite Rhea only being a day out from the actual birth.

He draws the line at being responsible for a tiny Zeus, which is what Rhea wants him to do while she climbs up Mount Oryths and plays the part of a devoted wife.

He has several reasons why.

Firstly, Zeus is a dick. Not as bad as Kronos, but still. A dick. Literally and physically, too, because 99% of problems in Ancient Greece started because Zeus couldn't keep it in his pants.

(Yes, Percy is aware of the irony of a demigod saying that. His very existence depends on beings that can not keep it in their pants. No, he doesn't care. If he could get away with calling Zeus a whore to his face and not get blasted into oblivion, he would.)

Secondly, the sheer wrongness of the entire situation is overwhelming. Something in him screams that this is not right. A demigod, raising a God? It's against the natural order of the universe.

So is time travel, his subconscious whispers, but that didn't stop Kronos, did it? If he did broke the rules, why can't you? This is an opportunity that no other person in the universe has. You could make him better. You could make him see things your way.

Percy pushes the thought away with more force than necessary, surprised that his mind even went there. He is not a child of Zeus, after all (ironies of ironies). His fatal flaw is not power.

Besides, the guy would be younger than him, and he would be taking advantage of a child's trust.

He is slightly relieved to find that the thought of that still disgusts him.

Even if the child is Zeus, the freaking King of the Gods, Sky, and also probably sticking his dick where it doesn't belong.

(Yes, he is still on that.)

So Percy Jackson, professional thorn in the side of all Gods, major or minor (he doesn't discriminate) becoming the ultimate babysitter?

Yeah, no.

Rhea breaks into his inner monologue, with more of her horrible calm logic, her campaign to win him over on this horrid plan apparently not finished. "The nymphs will still be there- you met some of them, remember? I just need you to watch over him, maybe teach him."

"Teach him what." Percy demands, wondering if the whole thing could be a hallucination. Maybe he ate some magic mushrooms, or something. It's possible.

It's true that he had met the nymphs though. One of them, Hagno, is actually a naiad that is part of the cave system, which explains why he saw something in the river the first night he was here.

Obviously, her entire river isn't just the cave pool, but it allows her to be in the cave whenever they need her, unlike the most of the others, who have their own nature domains to tend to.

She also hates him, but he gets the feeling she hates everyone, so it's cool.

A soft sigh passes Rhea's lips. "I need you to teach him how to be good." The admission shocks him out of his protest, and he meets her eyes, tired from her pregnancy but still going strong.

"Percy, I've only known you for a few days, but I already decided that you were a good person after the first night. Your tale, the battles you fought… It was too raw not to be true. I would give everything to be able to nurture and guide him as he grows, but Kronos will be especially paranoid after the birth. I will not be able to see him nearly as often as I want to be."

Rhea sounds not just sad, but completely wrecked, wistful. He is suddenly struck how, despite her title being The Great Mother, she is unable to do exactly that due to Kronos's crimes.

It silences any protests about his supposed 'goodness'.

Although he was just thinking about how to manipulate someone who isn't even born yet so. Maybe not that good? Although to be fair he just wants Zeus to be better.

That isn't a sin, right?

"I need you to teach him how to be just, how to do the right thing. To teach him morals where I cannot."

Besides, his mother is asking him to do that. To make him a better person.

That has to count for something.

And it's not like it'll be entirely for his own gain, either. Every person Zeus has ever fucked over is sitting on his shoulders now, a lovely little weight to add to what feels like the rest of the entire world.

"You want me to give the King of the Gods an ethics lesson." Percy hopes he doesn't sound as conflicted he looks, but from Rhea's expression, he thinks that he failed.

"Several, if I may be so bold. What you've told me… it doesn't paint Zeus in a good light. The war you fought indirectly started because of his actions, and then he didn't do much to help you. Wouldn't you want to change that? Make the world a better place?"

"Through good parenting?" Percy says, slightly sarcastic and slightly hysterical, like her words aren't echoing his thoughts. He is so not the right person for this.

He is 16 years old. He's pretty sure that's illegal in most places, to have kids raise other kids.

He doesn't feel like a kid though, and Zeus is a god. A young, easily influenced god, he could-

Percy could- Percy could save so many people, indirectly. He could make them more prepared for Kronos, in the war, if they had Zeus on their side.

Is that why Kronos sent him to the past? To test his morals in some horrible sort of 'Baby Hitler' scenario?

Go back in time and kill Hitler as child, prevent atrocities.

Go back in time and make sure Zeus doesn't grow up as the raging asshole he is in Percy's present, prevent atrocities.

But what proof does he even have that he could change a god's nature, anyway? They weren't human. They didn't work how humans did.

But if Percy didn't try-

He feels like screaming in frustration.

Rhea is looking at him with wide eyes, trusting despite such little time together, and he almost wants to explain the 'Baby Hitler' thing to her, because Percy doesn't know what to do.

Although even he knows it might be for the best if he didn't. He's not sure if Ancient Greece has philosophical debates this far back. Rhea probably wouldn't take kindly to the whole "killing a child" thing, anyway.

He doesn't know how he gained so much trust in so little time, to be asked to care for her precious son. It is terrifying and thrilling at the same time, to know that this ancient being (although, not that Ancient yet, huh) trusts him so much.

Maybe Percy's over thinking, though. He groans.

Why aren't the nymphs raising him again? That's what happened last time, right?

Percy looks at Rhea, struggling to order his thoughts coherently. "Have you thought about this? Why on earth would you trust something like this to me? Your child is… not the best person, but not the worst, either. Besides, I'm not even supposed to be here- aren't you worried about changing things? I could accidently destroy the world!"

His voice wavers without his permission, and he curses himself in his head as Rhea softens. It's mostly out of instinct more than anything else- showing weakness like that is generally frowned upon by more than just monsters- Gabe had taught him that.

"I don't think anything so drastic will happen. My mother told me to trust you for a reason, and I know this is it. Make him a better person, a better King than Kronos is."

Her voice is confident, strong, and Percy takes a deep breath, and folds under her expectant eyes.

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea.

He has no idea how to go about doing any of that. He has never been the king of anything. (What right does he have to teach the King of the Gods how to rule fairly?) He may be acting selfishly out of his desire to help his friends out, although to be fair, his friends do rank higher on "list of people I give a shit about" than Zeus.

Plus, he most empathetically knows nothing about children. Or even worse, children gods.

All in all, Percy is majorly underqualified. If he had a CV, he's pretty sure he wouldn't even get an interview.

It is such a terrible idea.

He narrows his eyes at Rhea. "The nymphs had better be the ones to change the nappies."

And that is that.

Notes:

Read and Reveiw! To be honest I almost forgot about posting this today lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Percy has now officially got himself the (slightly unwilling) job of godly babysitter! From here on out, time will move quickly as Zeus comes into the picture, and shenanigans ensure. See you next time!