Hey guys! I feel like I apologize for the longer-than-expected wait with every chapter I post lately, so I'll spare you from having to read it again. Between Christmas (I hope you all had a great one!) and my latest literary obsession (Sarah J. Maas is PHENOMENAL!), I've been a bit busy, but enough of that.
So I really enjoy writing little, unimportant scenes in Percy and Annabeth's everyday life now and then, and I won't pretend this is really anything other than that. There's some plot building, but mostly its just some Percabeth cuteness and some filler details. Still, I think it's sweet and I hope you enjoy!
We were back in New York two days later, after spending the rest of the weekend with the Chases. Logan had spent a good deal of our visit in bed, but his fever broke a few hours before we'd left—a fact he was understandably happy about. Hannah's family had looked after Ollie for us and the overgrown puppy was excitedly waiting for us at the door when we arrived home, wagging tail and kisses at the ready.
"Take your suitcases up to your rooms," Annabeth instructed the kids over the din, "And make sure all dirty clothes make it into hampers, please." The three moved to obey and she turned to me, continuing on the conversation we'd started on the drive home, the kids in the backseat paying us no attention. "I don't know. They've been in California since I was a kid. The boys are still over there, and their kids. I guess I just assumed they'd be there for the rest of their lives. Or at least until they retired."
Over dinner the night before, Frederick and Theresa had given us some surprising news. We'd been discussing Carly's first trip to camp over spring break—she was surprised to learn her grandparents knew a good deal about the godly aspects of our lives; the kids didn't know much about Annabeth's tenuous relationship with her father growing up, but it was no secret that her side of the family tended to be less open-minded about it all than my own. The nine-year old had finished with her recount and a silence had fallen with the end of the conversation. The Chases looked at each other, some silent agreement passing between them, before they'd looked back to everyone again. Frederick had cleared his throat almost nervously, and then said, "We have a bit of an announcement." All eyes fell to the two of them and he went on, "Theresa and I are going to be moving to New York early next year."
My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I glanced at Annabeth and saw the feeling mirrored on her own face as she asked, "What?"
Frederick went on, "Columbia University has presented me with an offer I can't refuse. We've talked about it a good deal," he said, glancing beside him at Theresa, who nodded in agreement, as he spoke, "and we agree it's a logical next step. I plan to accept a research position there next fall."
Annabeth only blinked at her father like she didn't see the logic at all. "What about your job here? The teaching. And your current research?"
"Well, that's just it," her father explained, "I can continue my research there, with more resources at my disposal than I could ever hope to have here, and I'll be given a guest lecturer position once or twice a semester so I can focus more completely on my work." He sighed, smirking slightly at the flabbergasted expression still clear on his daughter's face, "I've already received my tenure here and frankly there's little more I can do from this side of the country. You know I've never been able to stay in one place for long. We've only stayed in California for as many years as we have so the boys would have some stability, and I'd say they're more than old enough to handle themselves now." He smirked again a bit, as if to laugh at his own joke. Matthew and Bobby were both in their early thirties by now and though both remained in the state with their families, they no longer lived in San Francisco themselves.
Nicky and Carly had, by this point, grown bored of the conversation and struck up a quiet one of their own at the end of the table. Logan, seated on my other side, having joined us to eat before likely heading back to bed, listened on with some interest to the ongoing discussion between Annabeth and her father.
"Well, yeah," Annabeth said now, "But New York? Are you sure? Don't you want some place… I don't know, quieter?"
"No one says we have to live in Manhattan just because Frederick works there," Theresa put in reasonably, "Especially considering he'll be home most of the time anyway." Something about the way she said it made me wonder if she maybe didn't have other reasons for wanting the change. I remembered Annabeth mentioning a while ago how the hours her father put into teaching regularly had grown increasingly taxing as he'd aged. Maybe switching to a guest-lecturer position would be a good thing. I knew if I'd thought as much, Annabeth surely had too. I briefly met her eyes.
"Not to mention," Frederick added, "We'd be closer to you than we've been in a long while. I'll see my grandkids more."
"What about the boys?"
Another exchanged glance with Theresa, and then a smirk. "I'd say they've seen more than enough of us these past few years. A bit of travel every once in a while won't hurt them. And we can always visit too."
"Matthew mentioned he and Liz are possibly moving out of state after the wedding anyway," Theresa put in helpfully. Right, we'd be back in town at the end of the year for that. "And it's time for a change."
Annabeth had only shrugged, "Okay," and the conversation had soon shifted to other things once more. It had only come up again on the ride home from Half-Blood Hill, where Nico, having met up with us that morning in San Francisco, had Shadow Travelled us to our waiting car from days earlier. She still seemed more surprised than anything, even with the hours it had been since we'd found out.
"It doesn't really seem like your dad has any intention of retiring any time soon," I replied now.
Annabeth sighed and then smiled. "I know. He probably wouldn't know what to do with himself. And he'd probably drive Theresa crazy."
I chuckled and then stepped closer, setting my own bag on the floor beside us. "Would it really be so bad to have them move here?" I asked gently, watching her.
She sighed again. "No, I guess it wouldn't." She met my eyes. "I'm just used to having them far away." She smirked. "They're not your parents." Growing serious, she went on, "I'm a little worried having them near us will force them back into regular immersion in our world, with monsters and everything. I don't…" Another sigh. "Hearing about things is different from seeing them for yourself and I don't want our kids to deal with anything I had to from them."
I stepped forward now to wrap her in a hug. "They won't," I said in her ear, "We won't let them."
She let me hold her for a few seconds before she pulled back. She shook her head. "Am I being ridiculous?"
"No," I assured her, "You're being a good mom." Annabeth may have forgiven her father and his wife for the horrible treatment she'd received as a child, but she hadn't forgotten it. And I didn't expect her to. I liked to think her parents would not fall back into the old way of things for many reasons, not the least of which being they regretted what they did, but I did not blame her for worrying. Some scars ran deep and forgiveness did not always mean complete trust. Not when it came to the kids. Especially not then.
She made a face at me but smiled, taking a step away. She picked up her own bag from the floor and held it out. "Can you bring this upstairs for me? I need to figure out something to make for lunch before the boys start rioting." I grinned and obliged her.
When I returned a few minutes later after some rudimentary unpacking, Annabeth was indeed in the kitchen, placing frozen chicken strips on a pan to go in the preheated oven. I hadn't even fully crossed to her before she said, without even turning to me, "Can you see if the potato salad is still in there?" She gestured to the refrigerator. "We need to use that before it goes bad."
I gave a nod she didn't see and crossed the room to look. "Yeah, it's here," I answered, surveying the contents atop the shelves, "Enough for us to finish today. Do you want it now?"
"No," she answered, opening the oven and sliding the tray in, "Not yet. Thank you."
"Mhmm," I replied, crossing to her now. She put the unused chicken back in the freezer and then turned away to wait for the rest to cook. The kids were still busy upstairs. I leaned against the counter, watching her, my thoughts drifting. I didn't realize I'd spaced out until her voice broke through. "Are you okay?"
I looked up at her. "Yeah, I was just thinking." She moved toward the counter to sort through the mail the Lawrences had left waiting there for us. "About what Jason said the other night," I added, answering her unspoken question and joining her, taking the bills she handed to me. Understanding flashed in her eyes as she looked at me and nodded. I'd mentioned the conversation briefly while in California.
"I hope they'll be okay," she said, "Piper didn't say anything to me but it was a pretty quiet car ride between them."
I shook my head. "I can't believe Jason thinks we're this perfect couple. Do you think everyone sees us like that?"
"Would it be so bad if they did?" she asked with a wry smirk before sighing. "I'd like to think they'll figure out how to work through it, whatever it is. They've been through a lot together. It's hard to imagine anything could ever be bad enough to make them consider anything else. Not after everything." I hoped she was right. A small part of my brain wondered if the divorce rate was better among half-bloods than it was among mortals. I hoped so.
"Conner and Sarah…"
"Sarah's a mortal and she and Conner didn't go through anything like we all did.Not that what happened with them isn't sad or couldn't have been prevented, but I think there's something to be said about the effect fighting monsters and risking your life together can have on a relationship."
I smirked. "So you're saying I have nothing to worry about."
She smiled briefly. "I'm saying when you survive war and death like that as kids and are still standing at the end, regular mortal relationship problems seem like less of a deal." I supposed she had a point there. Even Clarisse had made marriage work for years now. "I'm not saying we're above struggling, but…" she shrugged. "They'll be fine. Hopefully."
I only hummed in response. "And no," she added, a small smile on her face again as she looked back at the mail and finished flipping through it, "You have nothing to worry about."
"I'll keep that in mind the next time you threaten divorce when I don't kill a spider fast enough."
She breathed a laugh and smacked me with the back of her hand, turning away. "That's not funny."
I grinned. "It's a little funny."
She rolled her eyes but the corners of her mouth were still slightly uplifted. "Go away," she said lightly, swatting at me, "Go make sure the kids' homework is all done for tomorrow." A lighthearted dismissal.
"Give me a kiss first."
She met my eyes, smirking two feet from me with a hand laid casually atop the counter. Her smile grew as she closed that distance and wrapped her arms around my neck. The kiss was playful, light, but on the quick side on account of the voice that sounded from the doorway as if on cue. "Oh, gross." It was halfhearted at best.
We pulled away to find Nicholas in the kitchen entrance. Annabeth, the smile still playing around the edges of her mouth, said, "What do you need, Nicky?" This was far from the first time we'd been interrupted.
"I was wondering when lunch was gonna be done," he replied.
"It's cooking," she answered, glancing over at the stove timer, "Five minutes. Feel free to put plates and forks on the table and speed the process along."
Nicky shrugged but did as she requested. "Is your homework done?" I asked with a playful look he didn't see sent her way.
"Mostly."
"You need to finish it after we eat," I told him.
He glanced at me from the silverware drawer and nodded. "'Kay."
I looked back to find Annabeth looking at me expectantly. She raised an eyebrow. "Alright," I smiled, raising my hands in surrender, "I'm going, I'm going." I moved to leave.
"Send them down for lunch while you're at it," she called. I could hear the grin in her voice.
I sent a gesture of confirmation behind me and continued from the room. I rounded the bottom of the stairs and chuckled to myself. Lest anyone accuse me of disobeying orders. I knew my lot in life.
And I was happy for it.
Too sappy?
Thanks for reading! I am going to try hard to get at least one more chapter posted before the start of the new semester in just over a week. Ideally two more, but we'll see. Thank you all for your support and general awesomeness. I love and appreciate you all so much!
