Don't Think So Much Annabeth
Chapter 5: Emotional Overload
Week Six
"He's getting concerned because you refuse to return any of his calls or texts. You know he'd be more than happy to come over and take care of you. That idiot is so love sick he won't care that you're puking." Annabeth groaned from her spot on the bathroom floor, trying to focus on the chill of the wall on her back.
"I don't wanna talk to him right now. I feel like crap, and like you said he'll come over and want to take care of me. I just want to deal with this on my own." Thalia raised an eyebrow and looked down at Annabeth like she was an idiot. She felt like an idiot, but years of dealing with everything on her own were instilled into her mind. Besides she didn't want to involve anyone quite yet.
"What's so bad about having Percy come over and take care of you, or anyone else for that matter? You won't have to cook anything; if you get cold you can just snuggle up with him—"
Annabeth held up her hand to signal Thalia would have to wait a second for her response—if she had opened her mouth, she would lose what remained of her breakfast. Annabeth was touched that Thalia was thinking of ways to make her feel better, but her real motives for distancing Percy were unknown to her best friend. After the nausea died down Annabeth managed to pull her hair up into a messy bun.
"I don't wanna see or talk to Percy at the moment. I need to deal with this on my own." Thalia stared at her with a blank look for a minute until something crossed her vision. Her eyes flicked to the side like something caught her attention, but they quickly returned to Annabeth.
"You're pregnant. That's why you're avoiding Percy." Thalia had a smug look on her face before Annabeth could even look up at her friend in shock.
"What the hell would make you even think that Thalia? I've just got a bug or something."
"Liar."
"I am not lying!"
"Yeah, you are. I'm not stupid Annabeth." Annabeth put her head in her hands and blew a raspberry into the air.
"Could have fooled me—ouch!" Thalia pinched the tender spot behind Annabeth's arm to get her to stop talking. She started to pace back and forth leisurely, hands behind her back as she thought.
"I know you two haven't done anything since that night, which was a little over one month ago? Yeah, that which means you're around 6 weeks pregnant." She stopped walking for a second to look at Annabeth, who was lightly banging her head on the wall behind her.
"How long have you known?"
"I told you, I'm not pregnant." Annabeth rolled her eyes before closing them again.
"I'm going to ask one more time before I have to force it out of you. How long have you known?"
"I'm not pr—" Annabeth was cut off by something hitting her in the face. She glared at Thalia, who was looking smug again, before looking down to the object now lying in her lap. A home pregnancy test box. Annabeth sighed and couldn't help but wonder what the hell her best friend was doing digging around in her trash.
"Since yesterday."
"And you didn't tell me? What the hell Annabeth!" The wall that Annabeth had been steadily building since the terrifying night when she first confirmed she was pregnant shattered into a million pieces.
"I'm sorry Thalia, but I'm scared out of my mind right now!" Annabeth couldn't help the sob that choked her. Thalia slid down the wall to sit beside her and embraced her friend the best she could.
"I'm so scared. What am I supposed to do with a living, breathing human being? I'm only twenty-one and still trying to make a name for myself. I've got that huge project from the college to do! This is what happens when I don't think of the most logical solution. I didn't think for one night, one night and now I'm knocked up.
"I had this perfect plan in mind. I was going to work hard on my career, find my perfect guy, get married, and then have a child. In all honesty, I wasn't even concerned about finding a guy; just one of those if it happened, I would be happy if not no big type deals. Everything else can be solved logically or fixed, but this can't be fixed. There is no fix for this fucking situation Thalia!" She forced herself to slow her erratic breathing, remembering reading something about stress being bad for the baby.
"Well there technically is a way to undo this, but I already know what—"
"No."
"That's what I thought. When are you gonna tell him?" Annabeth shook her head, pressing her palms to her eyes in a futile attempt to staunch the now steady flow of tears. She waited a while before speaking, her voice soft and unsure.
"I'm not sure. How do you tell someone you've known for such a short period of time that you're carrying his child? What if he decides I'm not worth the pain of it all?"
"You're in deep. You love him, don't you?" Annabeth burst out crying again, this time continuous, heavy sobs showing her inner pain and turmoil. Annabeth wasn't sure what exactly she felt towards the green-eyed man who had been thrust into her life, but she knew that she had never felt such a connection with someone else. She knew she definitely liked him and didn't want to mess up how things were going.
They had been out on a couple more dates since she spent the night, at least once a week and sometimes as often as three times. One time Annabeth had to cancel due to a sudden small scale request on a wealthy family's home, but Percy showed up with Thai food take out and kept Annabeth company while she worked. She genuinely liked talking and hanging out with him and didn't feel like she had to force herself into anything. She was simply herself.
"I've never met someone like him, Thalia. I don't know what exactly I feel towards him, but Percy's not just another stupid boy who thinks I'm a pushover. He gets my need to keep learning new things, how much I love my job, he gets everything! Did he tell you how we met in the bar?" Thalia shook her head no, her curiosity peaking.
"Percy had seen us hanging out before he actually met me. He said I was intriguing because I was so different from you, so when he overheard you telling someone we would be at there, he decided he would show up so he could maybe meet me. It's funny how both of you neglected to tell me you were cousins until Percy and I were sitting on the roof." Thalia shrugged her shoulders and muttered how she doesn't often associate herself with her dorky cousin.
"So, in essence, once he stalked you to the club and then just randomly asked you to leave with him. That screams one-night stand to me."
"Well, usually yes. Before we left, he promised he just wanted to talk and have some regular fun. I was, uh, actually the one to push for, well, it. He kept checking with me throughout the evening to see if I was comfortable with everything, making sure I wasn't shit faced and only pushing because I had been drinking."
"Yep, you've got it bad Annabeth. If it makes you feel better, I don't think Percy will run away from this. I've known the seaweed brain since we were just little kids, and he's never done anything to make me think he would abandon his baby mama or baby." Annabeth took in a shuddered breath, trying to decide the best time to tell Percy.
"When are you going to tell him?"
Not telling him wasn't an option. If she just up and left, he would probably come looking for her, and Annabeth would feel a constant sense of guilt. If she waited much longer, she ran the risk of him getting angry or finding out by accident before she could explain. Chances were he would already get angry because, well, who wanted a surprise pregnancy a little over one month after knowing someone?
"Soon. I'll tell him soon."
One Week Later | 7 Weeks
"Annabeth? Please come and open the door, I know you're home." Annabeth buried her head deeper in the mountain of blankets she had cocooned herself in, trying to block out the insistent noise of Percy's knocking.
On some level, she wanted to get up and let Percy in her apartment, but she honestly didn't think she could manage to get up on her feet. A week after her confession to Thalia her stomach decided it wanted to reject any and all foods she tried to eat. Thankfully she could keep water down and occasionally some broth, but the lack of solid foods were taking a toll on her body.
"I'm sorry Annabeth, but I'm coming in." She heard a key being inserted into the lock, and silently cursed Thalia; she knew her best friend had gone and made a duplicate of her key to give to Percy.
Annabeth wiggled deeper into the blankets to avoid him seeing her face. She knew she looked horrible and preferred Percy didn't see her in such a state. Percy seeing her first thing in the morning was totally different from seeing her sick. She listened as the door slowly creaked open, his soft footsteps moving forward a little so he could shut the door and lock it back.
The sound of the deadbolt shooting echoed, and her heart dropped. The feeling didn't help her already churning stomach.
"Annabeth? I wanted to check on you. I haven't heard from you for almost two weeks beyond good morning and good night, and when Thalia said she hadn't heard from you for a few days I got worried." She was touched by his concern, but her own concern for the secret she was hiding seemed to override anything he could say.
She wriggled a little bit to make sure the blankets were secure when she heard him sit down in the floor by her head.
"Hey, you okay?" Percy's voice was soft and laced with the concern he had shown earlier. Annabeth started to cry silently, feeling guilty for keeping something so big from Percy and cursing her hormones simultaneously. She also cursed Luke for messing up her head so badly that she couldn't even think of telling Percy what was going on without having a panic attack.
"Oh Annabeth…" He must have heard her sniffle. Percy got off the floor, sliding his arms under the mound of blankets surrounding her. She groaned lowly at the movement, trying not to focus on the meager food she ate that morning wanting to come back up. Percy slowly turned around and then settled her back down, but not on the couch.
His arms were surrounding her to hold her in place, and his warm chest was surprisingly comfortable. When he began to tug the blankets covering her head down, she was quick to grab a handful to secure another blanket in its place. He seemed to get the message and stopped trying to pull the blanket down from Annabeth's face—or so she thought.
About five minutes later she finally began to relax, which did not go unnoticed by Percy. He grabbed the blanket again and gently yanked. Annabeth winced at the sudden light, knowing it would only make the pallor of her face worse. Her reflection that morning was a perfect mirror of how she felt, and she knew Percy's natural caring instincts would kick in.
"Annabeth, you look terrible. When's the last time you actually ate?" Starting to feel dizzy, Annabeth just sighed and let her head fall. He rubbed a hand up and down her arm, and even through the blanket she could still feel the warmth of his gesture.
"Three days? I've tried to eat, but nothing stays down except for the egg I had this morning." Her voice came out raw and scratchy like she had swallowed a cactus.
"Annabeth! Why didn't you call me or Thalia to take you to the doctor? Going this long without any foods or liquid is dangerous." Annabeth felt like crap and the guilt of waiting a full week since finding out she was pregnant without telling Percy was killing her. Before she could stop them, tears started to stream down her face, a soft cry of pain echoing in the room.
Pulling the tie out of her hair to stroke her tangled curls, Percy let her bury her face against him and simply whispered reassurances to make her feel better. Eventually Annabeth had stopped crying again and spoke quietly.
"I'm sorry Percy."
"It's okay Annabeth. I know you probably don't feel up to it, but we need to get some fluids into you, okay?"
"No, I don't need any water. I've been able to keep water down, just not anything else." Percy breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good. You still need to eat something though. Anything sound good to you like some jello, crackers, cinnamon toast, or scrambled eggs?" Annabeth perked up at the sound of cinnamon toast.
"Cinnamon toast? I didn't know you could eat that when you're sick. Come to think of it I don't think I've ever actually eaten cinnamon toast before." Percy chuckled and stood up with Annabeth still wrapped in her cocoon of blankets. After placing her on a stool, he went over to pop a couple pieces of bread in the toaster.
"Yup. When I would get sick as a kid, my mom would always fix me cinnamon toast to eat. Never have I not been able to keep cinnamon toast down, even if I couldn't keep jello down. Hopefully this will work for you."
"I tried eating those other things, but they never sat very well. I hope this works too."
The now toasted bread popped, and made Percy start much to her amusement. He stuck his tongue out at her in a childish manner before turning back around to put the butter and cinnamon sugar on the toast. He sat the plate in front of her with only one slice on it, ready to give her more if she could keep the first slice down. As Annabeth bit into it, she couldn't help but moan out loud. She savored the bite as she chewed and was delighted when her stomach didn't kick up a fuss a few minutes later.
"Percy, when I meet your mother, I need to thank her for feeding you this and the pancakes." Percy looked happy and relieved to see Annabeth enjoying the simple dish so much. The color was already returning to her face, the blankets slowly slipping down from her shoulders. She looked at him from across the island with brighter grey eyes.
"Thank you, Percy. I feel better than I have in a week."
"Wish I would have forced my way in sooner?" Percy asked.
Annabeth nodded and laughed, finishing of her second piece of cinnamon toast. She thought about how natural it felt to be around Percy, picturing them living together without realizing it. That train of thought quickly shut down before it could progress much farther. Her smile slipped and Percy noticed.
"Annabeth, are you still doing okay?" She shook her head to clear her mind before flashing a small smile at Percy.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just wishing I would have called you over here a couple of days ago. It was irresponsible of me to let myself become that sick." She did wish she had called Percy over rather than trying to keep him away. She had someone else to think of now and should have made getting nutrients her first priority—not fantasizing the different ways she should tell Percy she was pregnant or how she could run away. She could have seriously hurt her baby by refusing to accept help from anyone.
"Do you feel up to a movie night? I brought a few I remember you mentioning you liked or wanted to see." She nodded before her mind could override and talk her out of enjoying this time with Percy.
They cuddled on the couch as they went through a handful of movies, Annabeth eventually getting too sleepy to stay awake any longer on the sixth one. Percy watched as she yawned, then blinked rapidly in an attempt to stave off going to sleep.
"Come on sleepy head, you need to go to bed." Annabeth groaned at the thought of getting up, but the thought of her nice, warm, comfy bed made her ignore it. Percy ended up carrying her to her bed, gently dropping her on it before pulling the covers up to her neck. He placed a kiss on her temple, but when he started to get up to leave, Annabeth grabbed his arm and shot him a pleading look.
She wasn't sure why she wanted him to stay so bad; maybe she wanted to spend as much time with Percy before everything hit the fan.
"Please Percy?" Knowing he couldn't resist, he slipped out of his clothes so he was only wearing his boxers and shirt, then slipped under the covers to wrap his arms around her. Annabeth hummed softly in contentment, happy she knew someone cared enough about her to ignore her attempts to drive them away and take care of her anyway.
"I love you Annabeth." Her heart stopped for a second when he spoke. Warmth and happiness started to bloom inside of her, the thought that someone loved her, until she remembered.
Annabeth burst out crying for the second time that day.
