Hey, guys! The follow-up to last chapter is here! I'm so glad you all are liking this story so much. I've truly enjoyed getting back into writing adult Percy and Annabeth and your support is so appreciated!


It took me about thirty minutes to get to the hospital from where I worked. This was good time for late morning in the city, but in my concern it might as well have been multiple hours.

When I got there, the nurse manning the E.R.'s front desk directed me to exam room twelve, where she said Carly and Annabeth were. I thanked her and rushed quickly inside. It wasn't difficult to find the right room, as Annabeth was standing just outside it, her arms crossed anxiously across her chest as she listened to a doctor speaking urgently to her. I hurried to them and stopped beside her.

The doctor, who was a few inches shorter than Annabeth and had straight brown hair tied up in a ponytail, faltered when I approached. "Who are you?" she asked not unkindly. Her nametag identified her as Dr. Heather Greene.

Annabeth, who looked slightly more at ease at my arrival, answered for me. "He's my husband; Carly's dad."

"Percy Jackson," I added, "What's going on?"

"I was just telling your wife that we got your daughter's lab results back." She looked between us. "The appendix contains bacteria that is dangerous to other parts of the body. Carly's has ruptured and is leaking its contents into her abdomen. We've given her medication for the pain but it's a dangerous situation and we need to take her into surgery as soon as possible."

"Oh my gods," I breathed, surprised. It definitely wasn't a stomach bug.

"With your consent," Dr. Greene continued, "I'd like to prep her and get her up to the O.R. before her condition gets worse."

Annabeth was nodding before she finished speaking. "Of course," she answered now.

"Whatever you need to do," I said.

The doctor nodded. "I'll send someone in to get her started and I'll get the paperwork together for you to sign." We nodded and thanked her, and with a small, sympathetic smile, she turned and left us.

"Oh my gods," Annabeth said, exhaling sharply.

"Hey," I said, turning her to face me, "It's okay. She'll be okay."

She didn't look entirely convinced but she nodded. "I need to call your mom," she said. I nodded. "You should go see Carly."

"Okay." I kissed her forehead. She met my eyes and then headed down the hall, digging her cell phone out of her pocket. I remained where I was for an extra second and took a deep breath before walking into exam room twelve.

Carly was sprawled out on the bed in a hospital gown with an IV sticking out of her arm. Her skin was pale, tinted a sickly color, and her green eyes were glassy but bright against her pallor. She looked extremely lethargic. She turned her head to look at me in the doorway and managed a small smile. "Daddy."

"Hey, Peanut," I said, moving toward her. I stopped at her bedside and bent to kiss her forehead. She was still warm.

"Where were you?" she asked tiredly.

"I was at work, honey. I'm sorry. I didn't know you were going to have to come here."

"I don't like it here," she replied, tears forming in her eyes now.

"Hey," I said, sitting down next to her, "I know. It's okay. It's scary but the doctors here are going to make you all better, okay?"

"How?"

"Well, in a few minutes, they're going to come and take you up to a place called an operating room and they're going to put you to sleep. And when you wake up, you'll be all better." She still looked unsure. "It'll be okay," I told her. Her scared expression caused me pain that was almost physical. "I promise."

She sniffed and eventually nodded a little. "Where's Mommy?"

"She's talking to Grandma on the phone. She'll be right back."

She grabbed my hand with her small one and held on tightly. "Don't leave," she said.

"I won't. I'm right here."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Annabeth walked in then and was followed almost instantly by a small group of nurses armed with medical supplies. One of them held a clipboard. "I have the consent form," she said, looking between us, "One of you needs to sign it before we can take her to surgery."

"I'll do it," Annabeth said, reaching for it.

Another nurse was at Carly's side now, hanging another IV bag and arranging a series of instruments on a tray. She had butterflies on her scrub top. My daughter eyed her fearfully. I stood up to allow her room to work. "Hi, Carly," she said, "My name's Jackie. I have to put this stuff into the wire in your arm and then we're just going to move you to another bed and take you upstairs for a little nap, okay?" Carly eyed her uncertainly and the looked at me. I nodded, trying to look encouraging despite the weight that had settled in my chest where my heart normally was. It must have worked because Carly looked back to Jackie and nodded. The nurse smiled and set to work and Annabeth, finished with the paperwork, came to stand beside me.

As Jackie had said, another stretcher had been brought to the room and Carly, once she was outfitted with a blue surgical cap, was helped carefully to her feet and led to it. I lifted her up and settled her carefully onto it. She kept firm hold of my hand in the midst of everything going on.

Dr. Greene returned then, outfitted for surgery, with another doctor whom she introduced as Dr. Tillman, the surgeon who would be taking lead in the O.R. He was a pleasant guy, if not the most social, but he seemed more than capable as he ran us briefly through the procedure.

Carly panicked a little once they began wheeling her from the room, but calmed down once she saw that Annabeth and I were still with her. This made me nervous for the point where we wouldn't be able to go with her anymore, but I decided I couldn't worry about it until I had to. I stood on one side of her and Annabeth on the other, each of us holding her hand as we went.

We reached the outside of the surgical area far too soon and were told we couldn't go with them any further. The doctors and nurses stopped the stretcher in the hallway for a moment. Carly was crying again. "No," she said frantically, "Stay. Stay with me!"

"It's okay, baby," Annabeth said to her, trying so hard herself to be strong, "We're going to be right here the whole time. You'll be away from us for a few minutes and you'll got to sleep, and when you wake up, we'll be with you again."

"No," Carly protested, shaking her head against her pillow, "Mommy, no."

"Carly, listen," she said, "You have to let the doctors take you, okay? They can help you. They'll make you better."

The six-year old was still crying. "It's just a nap, Peanut," I told her, "Just a little nap and when you wake up you'll feel better. And Mommy and me, we'll be with you, okay? You have to be brave. Can you do that?"

"But I want you to stay," she argued.

"I know," I said, "But we'll be right on the other side of this door. The whole time. You'll see us as soon as you wake up."

Carly still looked unhappy but she thought about that for a second. "Promise?" she asked weakly.

"I promise," I told her, "Mommy too." Annabeth, biting her lip in what I knew was a valiant effort to keep it together in front of our daughter, nodded. "Let the doctors take you, okay?"

There were still tears in her eyes, but Carly nodded and though she kept hold of our hands right up until the stretcher began moving again, she allowed herself to be wheeled through the doors and us to be left on the other side of them.

The second the doors closed behind the group, Annabeth turned and buried her face in my shoulder, shaking with the effort to hold back her tears. I wrapped my arms tightly around her. "It's okay," I murmured, "It's okay. She'll be fine."

"She needed surgery," she said into the fabric of my shirt, "I thought it was a stomach bug. I thought she would get better on her own and needed surgery!"

"Annabeth, you didn't know."

"But I should have. I'm her mom. I'm supposed to know the difference between a stomach bug and Appendicitis!"

I shushed her and held her to me. "No, you aren't," I said gently, "This isn't your fault. You had no way of knowing."

"I should have," she insisted, though the fight had gone from her. In that moment I thought I might have been the only thing holding her up.

"No, you shouldn't've. It's okay." She didn't say anything more but stayed where she was for another minute. She may have been Annabeth Jackson, daughter of Athena and savior of Olympus but she was not strong all the time, nor was I. And in those moments, moments like this, we drew strength from one another. It was one of the things I loved most about being with her.

After another few seconds, she pulled away a little and took a deep breath before stepping back the rest of the way. She met my eyes. "You okay?" I asked. She nodded. I offered my hand and she took it.

We turned to see a nurse standing a few feet away from us, holding a folder and looking uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," she said when we saw her. I felt Annabeth tense a little beside me, surely embarrassed at having been caught in such a weak moment by a stranger. I squeezed her hand while the nurse continued. "Um, because she needed emergency surgery, your daughter was never formally admitted. I'll need to go over a few things with one of you before we can get a room ready for her and you'll need to wait in the waiting room, but, um, if you need a minute…"

"It's okay," I told her, glancing briefly at Annabeth, "I can do that."

"Okay, great. Um, if you'd follow me, I can take you somewhere to wait for the surgery to finish."

"Thank you," I said and led Annabeth by the hand in following after her. She led us to a mostly empty waiting room and Annabeth sat down without a word while I went with the nurse to a reception desk to handle the admission stuff.

When I returned, Annabeth had her phone in hand, apparently texting someone. I sat down next to her and she answered my unspoken question. "Your mom says she can get the boys from school and bring them here."

"She doesn't have to do that."

"I told her that but you know how she is. She wants to."

"Okay. I guess that's fine then. Tell her thanks." She finished typing and returned her phone to her pocket. She leaned back then, resting her head against the wall behind us. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, watching her.

She nodded and looked at me. "Yeah. Sorry about back there. It's been a rough morning. I just… lost it."

"I know."

She laughed humorlessly. "My mother would be appalled at what having kids has done to me."

"You're still the toughest girl I know," I assured her, mimicking her pose. She gave a small smile. We sat in comfortable silence for a minute then until I remembered the conversation I'd had with Nicky that morning. I eyed her for a moment, debating whether I should share that information now or later.

She noticed me looking and met my eyes, quirking an eyebrow. "What?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I'm trying to decide whether I should give you more bad news now or later.

She sat forward, concerned. "What bad news?"


"He didn't want you to talk to his teacher?" Annabeth asked, speaking quietly to avoid being overheard by the other families seated nearby.

I shook my head. "I think he wants to handle it himself for now. He seemed better after I talked to him but I told him if it keeps up he needs to say something."

She nodded, looking thoughtful. "Poor Nicky," she sighed, "He doesn't believe them, does he?"

"The kids?" She nodded. "I don't know. I hope not."

She considered that. "Do you think we should say something to his teacher anyway?"

I sighed. "I don't know. Part of me wants to but I also know it won't necessarily make things any better. I was in Nick's shoes once and it was probably better that the adults didn't get involved. It probably would only have encouraged them."

Annabeth sighed now. "The bullying stopped for you eventually, right? I don't remember it ever happening when I was with you at Goode."

I smirked. "Of course not. I was the star of the swim team by then. They couldn't possibly make fun of me." I sobered then. "It stopped after I got into high school. I learned how to manage better in school by then and I was in a good place. But even when it was still going on after my first summer at camp, it didn't bother me so much anymore. Learning what I was helped a lot to put things in perspective."

"And you told Nicky that."

I nodded. "He'll learn to manage the dyslexia and school won't be as bad. If I could do it, he certainly can. And in the meantime, he just has to remember why he is the way he is." I shrugged. "I think he just needed a reminder."

"He was better when you dropped him off at school?" she asked.

"He seemed to be." I took her hand. "He asked us not to say anything yet and I think we should honor that for right now. See what happens." Annabeth nodded but looked unhappy. "But you don't agree," I noticed.

"No, you're right," she said, "If he wants us to wait, we should. And he has a point; I just hate that it means we can't do anything."

"Yeah," I sighed, "I know."

"I wish I'd known how hard having kids was before I had them," she said wistfully, leaning into me.

"Would it have changed your mind?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her reflexively.

"No," she said simply, "It just would've been nice to know."


It was maybe an hour later that Dr. Greene entered the waiting room and approached us. We stood up in response and she stopped before us. "The surgery went well," she began, "The appendix was leaking for a while and it took some time to remove all the contents, but Dr. Tillman was able to remove the whole thing and so far the infection seems to have been kept to a minimum, which is very good news."

"So, she's going to be okay," I deduced.

"The next twenty-four hours are critical," the doctor explained, "She's still very much at risk for infection, but so far she's doing well. She's being moved to recovery as we speak and she should be waking up soon."

"Can we see her?" Annabeth asked.

Dr. Greene smiled. "Of course. Follow me."

She led us out of the waiting room and down an adjoining hallway, which was very quiet and a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the emergency room downstairs. Carly was in a room at the end of the hall. She looked very small, lying unconscious in the hospital bed and hooked up to multiple wires. I stopped with Dr. Greene at the foot of the bed. Annabeth continued to Carly's side and stroked her brown hair.

"She has a drain in her incision," Dr. Greene explained, "It will need to be there for the next day or two to prevent infection, and Carly will need to be here at least another two days after its removed but she really did do very well and hopefully the hard part is over."

"Thank you," I said.

"Of course. I'll leave you alone now. She should be awake any minute, but she will be tired for a while. If you need anything, just hit the call button on her bed."

We nodded and with a last smile, the doctor left and we were alone with Carly, who was just beginning to stir. Noticing this, I crossed the small room to stand next to Annabeth. Her eyelids fluttered open after a minute or so and she looked around groggily before her green eyes fell on us. I smiled. "Hey."

"How do you feel?" Annabeth asked gently, taking her hand.

Carly thought about that. "Weird," was her answer.

I laughed softly. "That's the medicine they gave you," Annabeth explained, smiling. "What about your stomach? Do you still feel sick?" Carly shook her head. "Good," Annabeth said, looking relieved.

"Where's Logan and Nicky?" Carly asked.

"They're still in school," I answered her, "But Grandma can bring them here later if you want." Carly, her eyes already drooping again, nodded in reply.

"Go back to sleep, honey," Annabeth told her, brushing Carly's hair back from her face. "We'll be here when you wake up."

Carly apparently didn't need convincing. She gave half a nod and then closed her eyes again. A second later, her breathing evened out and she was asleep again. I stood there for an extra few seconds, watching her. Already, her color seemed better than it had before surgery. It had been scary for a little while there but she really did seem out of the woods now. Thank the gods.

"Come on," Annabeth said quietly, taking my hand and tugging me backwards toward the two chairs lining the far wall of the room. I allowed her to lead me away from the bed and sat down beside her. She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder, much more relaxed now. It wasn't hard to tell why.

The room was quiet and Annabeth fell asleep against me a few minutes later. I stayed awake, looking between the sleeping faces of my girls, grateful for the both of them and the first truly peaceful moment I'd had all day.


Thanks for reading!