Δ Malcolm's P.O.V Δ

My sister's pregnant, with twins no less, I can't believe it! I'm really happy for her, and she said mom took the news well which is great news. I'm going to be an uncle, Gods I hope I don't mess it up, I'm not like Percy I'm not going to be the cool uncle, I want to be.

But unless they take after Annabeth what can I offer that's cool? I thought about this as I made my way to the Aphrodite cabin to see Piper.

I still can't quite believe she's my girlfriend, Piper McLean, she's intelligent and funny, she's beautiful and smart and I have the honour of being her boyfriend.

I knocked on the door to cabin ten and waited. Lacy opened the door and squealed at me, this happened a lot since I had started dating Piper, 'Malper' apparently was our ship name, don't get me started on ship names, I didn't understand Annabeth's dislike of ship names when her relationship with Percy was dubbed 'Percabeth' but I got it now.

It was like as soon as I heard the word Malper, I knew someone was talking about us but not to us and I hated it.

"Piper! Malcolm's here!" She called behind her and then turned to me and said "Hi Malcolm, I'm sure she won't be a moment."

"That's okay Lacy, I'll just wait here" I said and she disappeared inside once more, I was quite thankful to be outside of a full cabin of Aphrodite children the week of Valentine 's Day, yeah I'll wait outside thank you very much.

I didn't know where Piper stood on Valentine's Day, being as it was a holiday to honour her mother's element of power. I hoped what I had planned would live up to expectations, whatever those might be.

"Hey Mal, sorry I took so long, Valentine's week, it's kind of a big deal for the cabin" She said kissing my cheek and taking my hand.

"Do you need to postpone?" I asked I didn't want to take her away from something important.

"No, don't worry, besides we're going to see Annabeth and Percy, what have you got there?" She asked.

"It's just something for Percy and Annabeth, well the twins, I – well I don't really know, I spoke to one of my mortal friends at college last week and they suggested getting them a congratulatory gift so I did." I answered.

"You're nervous about it" she noted.

"That obvious huh?" I asked, and I was really nervous about it, my friend David who is in my design class at college caught me looking at baby things on the internet in the library, I know it was stupid to use the mortal internet with the risks but it was for Annabeth, it was worth the risk. David's brother and sister-in-law recently had a baby and he said a lot of people sent them a congratulatory gift so before I came back to camp I decided I would do the same. I spent hours in the city looking; I just hope they liked what I picked.

Ψ Percy's P.O.V Ψ

Thalia arrived extra early this morning, as in I'd only just put breakfast on early, I suspected she knew that, and that that was the reason. Annabeth hadn't even woken up yet, I was letting her sleep in. I didn't know how much energy making one baby took from her never mind two. I vowed to step up more around the house, so Annabeth had less to do, well that was at least my hope.

"Pinecone Face, what brings you around so early?" I asked as I made breakfast, and added in extra for Thalia.

"Well I was awake and I knew you'd be making breakfast so I thought I'd pop over, I can go though and wait for camp breakfast" She said.

"Don't be silly, everything's okay though right?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course it is" She said and I don't know why but I felt like something was happening that I wasn't aware of so I just accepted her answer, Thalia would tell me when she wanted too.

Ψ

Piper and Malcolm arrived around lunch time, Annabeth and Thalia were in the theatre room chatting when they arrived and I had just come back from taking Maze and Nightshade for a walk. Nightshade was really disgruntled about leaving Annabeth, if Maze hadn't have been with us I suspected she might even have refused to walk, I wandered if Grover could talk to her for me, I'd have to ask him later.

"Malcolm you didn't have to get us anything" Annabeth said as he handed over a gift wrapped box.

"I know, I wanted too, I hope it's okay" He said, and he seemed nervous, I wandered if it was about the gift or about the fact his first valentine's day with Piper was this week and her mother, being the goddess of love, would probably be taking an interest in whatever he had planned.

Annabeth opened the gift and pulled out two baby comforters, with owl heads on and I saw Annabeth smile instantly.

"They're lovely, thank you Malcolm" She said.

"Percy I'm sorry they didn't have any fish ones otherwise I'd have got those too." He said.

"Don't worry Malcolm, these are great, I'm sure they'll love them" I said and smiled at him, he seemed to relax a little which was good.

"I hope so" He replied and I noticed Piper take his hand and squeeze it gently, that's when I knew it was the gift he'd been nervous about and I wondered why, was it just the fish/owl thing or was there more to it? I decided to ask later on, when I could get him alone.

Ξ Hazel's P.O.V Ξ

I was thrilled for Annabeth and Percy when Frank read out the message they had sent. They were going to make great parents we both knew that, especially when they had met Emily, there was a natural instinct that they both had had, where they just knew exactly what to do with her even though she was only two weeks old at the time.

She's nearly a month old already and our lives couldn't be more different than before, but I wouldn't change a thing.

"We should send Annabeth some of those ginger cookies your Grandma used to make, to help with the morning sickness if she's still having some. You still have the recipe right?" I asked Frank.

"Yeah, it's with the others, I wrote down, I wish I paid more attention when she tried to show me as a child, they're not quite there yet, I know I'm missing something, I just don't know what it is." He said and I could tell it bothered him.

"I'm sure that you trying to recreate her food would make her very proud, and I know they aren't exactly as you remember but they are amazing and they really helped me when I had morning sickness with Emily." Frank smiled at me as he held our daughter the pride was evident on his face, he was such a proud dad. And, that just made me love him more, if that was even possible.

"You're right, I'll make a batch this afternoon, and send them via Mercury Express, and they might even arrive still warm." Frank said and it was one of the advantages of being a demigod - instant mail.

"Thank you, I know she'll appreciate it." I said as Emily started to cry, it was feeding time.

Ξ

Δ Annabeth's P.O.V Δ

Piper, Malcolm and Thalia left just before dinner like they had yesterday but not before trying some of the ginger cookies Frank and Hazel had sent, they were really thoughtful. Malcolm's gift was also incredibly thoughtful; I couldn't wait to put them in the twin's respective cots.

I sat sketching designs for the nursery Percy and I had 5 guest rooms not including the beds in the theatre room, we decided yesterday to make one room a nursery for the twins, and turn one room into an official bedroom for Estelle when she came to visit.

I'd read somewhere that twins liked to be kept together once they were born and to start off with they'd be in our room anyway but when they moved into their room I wanted to keep them together until they wanted to have separate rooms or until I guess it was necessary I mean they might not even be the same sex.

This thought was only just occurring to me but it didn't matter they'd be in separate cots and if we had a boy and a girl redecorating another room wouldn't take too long and we'd still have two guest rooms, if that needed to happen and the beds in the theatre room.

"What you drawing?" Percy asked as he picked up my feet and sat down, he'd just finished clearing away all the mugs from this afternoon and washing up, he was doing almost every chore available just to make sure I didn't, it was actually really sweet and I really did appreciate it.

"Just ideas for the nursery" I said, "have you thought about what you want to put on the walls?" I asked.

He looked like he was deep in thought for a moment before answering.

"I had a few different thoughts" He said tentatively, like he wasn't sure if I'd like them, and because of this I knew I definitely would.

"Go on" I said putting my pencil down to give him my full attention.

"I thought maybe like a mural of the all the gods minor and major and, or more what they represent like in a naturist way I suppose, does that make sense?" He asked me and I understood what he meant it, would include all forms of weather and many animals and plants, I knew it would look beautiful.

"It does, what were your other ideas?" I asked.

"Well I thought maybe Disney, because it's light and child friendly and well we've seen a lot of the films, or and this one is probably my preferred option, inspirational quotes, that we want the twins to live by." He said and I could see he'd given all the ideas a great deal of thought.

I'd seen many pictures of Disney murals of all the characters pictured on a single wall and wandered if that was something I'd be able to do. Then I started to think of quotes I could put in the nursery and I loved that idea, that our children would look at their bedroom wall and read that quote one day and take away a message from it.

"I like the quote idea, but I think maybe we could use the Disney idea for Estelle's room, with her being such a huge Disney fan." I said.

"I think she'd like that" Percy said smiling at me.

"Me too" I returned his smile and picked up my pencil to return to sketching ideas and as I thought of quotes from famous authors, they started to shape my sketches of the nursery.

Δ

I woke the next day to silence and I looked at the clock and discovered it was after nine. It was the latest I had slept all week and clearly I needed it.

I was finding it hard to fall asleep since we found out I was pregnant, you're supposed to only sleep on your left side to keep the baby safe while you slept. I found this made falling asleep incredibly difficult, as I normally slept on my right side or my front and clearly the front wasn't an option but because of the way the cardiovascular system in the human body worked neither was the right side, and I found that incredibly frustrating because my right side was much more comfortable than my left.

Another thing that didn't help falling asleep was that one or both babies sat on my bladder almost as soon as I laid down in bed and almost every hour after that I was up for the loo because of that. Needless to say that I hadn't slept very well since about well January, Percy knowing this had been leaving me to sleep in, in the mornings which I really appreciated.

The silence in the house I soon discovered meant he'd taken Nightshade for her morning walk. He'd left me a note to let me know where he'd gone, it was funny really we'd had phones now for a few months and still we left each other paper notes rather than sending a text message because we just we're used to it.

What I found the Iris phones we're really great for was keeping me connected with Bobby and Matthew. Dad and Helen had swapped out their mortal phones for two Iris phones so that no monsters were attracted to the house when Percy and I visited. The look of the phones themselves didn't look much different to their mortal phones so they didn't seem to mind, I thought it was really thoughtful, that they all loved me enough to do such a thing.

With that in mind I made myself breakfast and set a message to my brothers, Percy came home with Nightshade about half an hour later and I was still messaging my brothers, while sat in the kitchen.

"Morning" he said to me as he kissed my cheek and placed his hand gently on my stomach.

"Morning how was your W-A-L-K?" I asked we had to spell it out because even though they'd just got back hearing the word walk would just excite Nightshade and she would expect another one. Nightshade wagged her tail ferociously as she licked my hand and said hello to me.

"Well as I suspected, she refused to walk without you, fortunately because she was a little funny yesterday even with Maze being here, I'd asked Grover to meet me on the edge of camp to talk to her. Unfortunately, I had to carry her most of the way because she didn't want to leave you, but whatever she and Grover talked about seemed to really help the walk after that was really great." He said and I loved, that Percy had figured all that out and solved the issue too. He'd always been really observant to people's feelings and actions, so I wasn't surprised that he knew exactly how to help Nightshade. Although I did think it was sweet that she didn't want to leave me unprotected.

"Aww Nightshade, that's sweet but you can't not exercise girl" I told her stroking her head, "You have no idea what Grover said to her?" I asked him.

"Absolutely none, I left the two of them to discuss, I thought it might help, I think she just wanted you to come with us like you do in the evenings, and wanted to protect the babies, which is think is adorable. Thankfully Mrs. O'Leary lives at camp, could you imagine trying to get a hellhound to stand down on protectiveness?" He asked and I had to admit I thought that would be extremely difficult considering Percy had inherited her already trained, so it wasn't even like we knew what commands had been used to show her what was good and what was bad. I was actually rather thankfully Mrs O'Leary lived at camp, as much as we loved her, I think it would be really difficult to calm her down, not that I think she would hurt our friends, but people she didn't know approaching the house, while I was pregnant if she was protective, well I just had no way to know how that would go down, and I was glad we didn't need to find out.

Δ

Ξ Malcolm's P.O.V Ξ

Percy had pulled me aside while the girls were talking yesterday, it never ceased to amaze me how perceptive Percy was, no matter how long I had actually known him, his perceptions still surprised me.

He knew I was worried about the gifts being more in my mother's element than his father's and he also knew I was nervous about tomorrow, Valentine Day.

We'd chatted for a long time and it actually reassured me that my plan wasn't too far off the mark for Piper, and considering Percy and Piper had a very strong sibling like relationship I really appreciated his advice.

Piper although she was a daughter of Aphrodite was not a girly girl, she didn't want the flashiest jewellery or the most expensive perfume, or even roses, all of which were things the other daughters' of Aphrodite currently in cabin ten were hoping for valentine's day from their respective dates, according to Piper.

I knew Piper was really good with emotions but she was also really smart and took interest in museums and art, I also knew she enjoyed games like of strategy like capture the flag, and even though she wasn't a girly girl she did like a romantic dinner. So this was my plan after a few tweaks from Percy.

I was stealing her from Cabin ten for the whole day, first we were going to have breakfast in the Greek village at a cafe near the aquarium Percy ran. We were then going to tour the aquarium and see all the creatures the sea had to offer and I knew there were going to be a lot I didn't know as it wasn't something I had ever thought of. I was hoping that there would also be ones that Piper didn't know too.

My original plan had us heading into the city after lunch at one of the restaurants in the village to see art and history. Percy suggested a different idea, so we are still going into the city but we're going to part take in a couples escape room. Percy said had done a one with a group of mortal friends, but said he knew of one that was doing a special couples room for Valentine's Day. I had never done an escape room, but from what Percy had told me about them, I think Piper was really going to enjoy it and I was looking forward to it was well.

After all of that we were coming back to camp for the traditional Valentine's Day campfire, and then a late sunset picnic on the beach to finish. My gift I was really proud of, Piper had been sharing with me some of the Cherokee stories that her father and grandfather had told her before she first came to camp. So, I had bought a book for her, I know, I know, such a child of Athena present but I genuinely feel like this was the best gift I could have gotten for her, the book contained all of the stories she had told me and more. I hoped by reading it while she was away from home it would bring a little bit of home to her.

I also knew she liked to accessorise her hair with feathers to show her heritage from her father's side, so I had spent the last couple of months collecting feathers from multiple species of birds and crafting them once I'd cleaned them properly into hair accessories, with help of her brother Mitchell. He was convinced she was going to love them, so I was pretty confident in that.

I had also bought her flowers, I know she wasn't hugely into flowers and they weren't red roses they were a mix of roses the only colour I hadn't included was black. I didn't want to be struck down by the goddess of Love for disrespecting her daughter, so I had bought flowers, but I wanted to tell her all the things I liked about her with them, I didn't want her to feel like I'd only picked red ones because that was traditional. I hoped that message came across.

Ξ

Ψ Percy's P.O.V Ψ

Valentines this year was going to be different to normal. Normally I'd take Annabeth out for the day and we'd go bowling or we'd play laser tag or we'd watch a movie or some years we'd do all of the above and dinner too. This year she was carry twins and she was so tired but I knew she'd still want to do some of our 'normal' activities.

After speaking to Malcolm yesterday about his plans for Piper I had talked him into joining Annabeth and I, in a couples escape room, although I was the only one that knew that. There was a really great out of place not far from mom and Paul's place that changed their whole set up just for the week of Valentine's Day. I'd never taken Annabeth before but I knew she'd love the competition against Malcolm and Piper, also the theme was probably romance so there was an even bigger challenge to beat Piper in her mother's element of power, I thought this would appeal to Annabeth, if there was one thing I knew about my wife it was how much she wanted to win. And, even though neither of us were children of love, we were in love and that I knew would only help us in the escape room challenge. I was really optimistic about it, besides we were a great team and I was really looking forward to it, I hoped all involved would too.

I had then organised with mom and Paul that we would call in for a family lunch and Annabeth could have an afternoon nap, which I knew would be needed after the escape room.

After that I had a menu planned for the evening just the two of us at home with Nightshade, a romantic film in the theatre room where it didn't matter if we fell asleep and Annabeth could rest and put her feet up.

It was quite simplistic in comparison to last year, but I hoped she enjoyed all the same. We decided not to do presents as such because of having the babies on the way but I still had got a few little things and I probably wouldn't classify them as gifts really, more like comforts. I'd stocked up on Annabeth's favourite ice cream, because she'd been eating a lot of it since she'd gotten pregnant, I'd bought a pregnancy pillow, to help her sleep at night because I knew she was struggling and I'd booked her a pregnancy massage for the morning which was supposed to help sooth and relax her, so I may not have completely listened to the no gift rule, but she deserved everything I had planned and bought and more. I'd give her the world if that was what would make her happy, because that's all I truly wanted was for her to be happy.

Ψ

I woke up early-ish at 8am, my hand resting on Annabeth's growing bump; I really did love waking up like this. I couldn't wait until they started kicking to be able to feel them.

I'd downloaded a few audio books onto the iPod that Annabeth had given me for our anniversary; I had read that babies could hear even in the womb once their ears had developed which didn't happen until 16 weeks but I wanted to be prepared we were almost 12 weeks pregnant. If they were going to take after me with water powers it wasn't something we were going to know about until they were toddlers probably, I don't know I'd have to ask mom when she first started to notice my powers, but the audio books according to what I had read if they were played for the baby in the womb we're supposed to help with early language development, so I'd downloaded some in English and Greek, I knew with Annabeth for a mom our twins would be smart, this would just start the process earlier. It was another non-gift I hoped Annabeth liked.

I made breakfast, blue pancakes that were heart shaped, what? I can be romantic if I want too!

I poured Annabeth a fresh glass of juice and made her a hot chocolate and took it all upstairs so she could have breakfast in bed. I wouldn't normally wake her but I had a lot planned out for today and her massage was relatively early.

"Happy valentine's day Seaweed Brain" She said to me as I entered the bedroom, thankful that she was already awake.

"Happy valentine's day Wise Girl" I said and kissed her cheek, before placing breakfast in front of her.

"So what's your plan for the day?" She asked me, and I loved that she let me plan Valentine's Day most years, she had in the past planned the day but mostly she let me do it, mostly because I think she realised how much I loved to 'woo' her. The first couple I planned I'm not going to lie, they were nerve wracking because I just didn't want to mess it up, but now I took great joy in planning it.

I told Annabeth the plan for the day and she seemed genuinely thrilled with it which I was glad about. After breakfast we dressed and Nightshade and I walked her to her massage in the village centre and while she had her massage I finished walking Nightshade and cleaned up after breakfast.

I picked Annabeth up from the spa after her massage in the car after dropping Nightshade off with Thalia, she was heading back to the hunt tonight but had insisted on making sure Nightshade wasn't alone today which was a huge help.

We met Piper and Malcolm at the escape room at 11:30 much to their surprise.

"Hey guys, fancy seeing you here" Piper said as she and Malcolm walked in hand in hand, both looking really happy.

"Actually, it was planned, I thought maybe a bit of healthy competition might make things interesting" I said and instantly I saw that spark of competition ignite in both of their eyes, Annabeth had had it since breakfast she was really up for the challenge.

"So how's this work then? Surely you have an advantage if you've done one before?" Malcolm said.

"Not at all, I'd only have an advantage if I'd done this exact escape room before which I haven't. And, to win you have to follow the clues and escape the room in the fastest time. Each room has a different storyline and you'll have different clues to us, but first out wins." I said.

"You and Annabeth have been a team for so long, how is that fair?" Piper said.

"One; we have but you also have a child of Athena on your side and two; you're very clever McLean much smarter than me so if anything you have the advantage." I replied.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at me like she didn't agree with me but, I was goading Piper and Annabeth knew that.

We each got given a room Annabeth and I had a really tragic story line, of a man who had offered a woman his heart but had been cursed so that the only woman he could love was that whom held the key quite literally. We had to follow the clues to get to the door or 'his heart' and we had to retrieve the key in the process so, thus breaking the burse and allowing the man to find love that was not chosen for him and also would also us to escape. It was a tough challenge but like all things we did it together and we escaped within the time limit.

Piper and Malcolm also escaped within the time limit and we actually met back in the reception area almost at the same time.

Piper and Malcolm's room had a less tragic story line, theirs was more romantic, it was a tale of two lost loves who wanted to reunite but there were obstacles in their way. They had to follow the clues to remove the obstacles to reunite the lovers and in turn release themselves from the room.

The guy running the show came out to meet us and told us it had been really close, Annabeth and I had escaped in 48:47:38 minutes well within the hour time limit. Annabeth high-fived me, it was a really good time. Piper and Malcolm had escaped in 48:47:56 minutes, again well within the time limit.

"Good game" Annabeth said smiling at them, and although they'd missed out by milliseconds Piper and Malcolm were smiling too.

"Back at you" Malcolm said.

"We'll have to have a rematch, in the future" Piper said, "That was really close, I reckon we might beat you next time, what do you say Mal?"

"I think you might be right Piper" He replied.

Annabeth looked at me and smiled and her eyes said 'yeah right' which only made me smile more, I was so glad everyone had had fun.

"In your dreams 'Malper', 'Percabeth' for the win" I teased and we all laughed before getting a group photo of the four of us to say we'd escaped.

Ψ

Lunch at mom and Paul's was really chilled; Annabeth really struggled to stay awake and not long afterwards went for that afternoon nap I had planned in. While Annabeth napped Estelle and I watched Beauty and the Beast, it was one of her favourite Disney films. Mom, Paul and I also talked about the twins and how young I was when I she first noticed my powers, she told me it was just before she married Gabe, it was one of the reasons she had done it, she also apologised which I told her was unnecessary, we had both moved on from Gabe, he had gotten what he deserved and we we're both loved and happy we hadn't dwelled on Gabe for long.

We returned home around 16:30, Annabeth sat with her feet up in the kitchen while I started making our meal for tonight. I wanted to do her favourite but I couldn't as she wasn't allowed to eat them because of the pregnancy so I cooked Halloumi and Pepper Bruschetta to start, it was light and pregnancy safe and also something Annabeth liked, so a winner all round. For our main I did individual beef wellingtons with a gravy based sauce, normally I would do a red wine sauce, but because of the babies I didn't want to risk not cooking all of the alcohol out of the sauce, Annabeth enjoyed so I figured it was okay. For desert we had Annabeth's favourite Ice cream.

Annabeth had opened all the 'non-gifts' I had planned for her and scolded me for doing it a little but after she saw what they were, I knew she didn't really mean it. She really appreciated the ice cream and the pillow and was looking forward to the movie night to finish our day. She also liked the idea of the audio books and said she'd start listen to them as she did day to day things. I think I had impressed her with getting some in Greek as well.

Ψ

Δ Annabeth's P.O.V Δ

Today had been amazing; Percy had made the day fun but had also dialled it back a little so it wasn't as active as previous years because of the pregnancy which I really appreciated. I pregnancy massage was great; it worked out a knot in my shoulders I didn't even know I had had. The escape room challenge against Piper and Malcolm was so fun, even more so that we were so evenly matched as well, not knowing how well your competition was doing also had made it all the more fun.

I really appreciated the afternoon nap, as fun as the escape room had been it had taken up a lot of my energy, Percy had been really thoughtful to plan that in, it was just another reason to add to why I loved him.

The meal he made for dinner was incredible, I wasn't allowed some of my favourite and he knew that, neither of us wanted to risk harming the pregnancy and Percy, I think, had actually done much more research on what I was and wasn't allowed to eat to ensure the babies were safe. The list was quite extensive but I didn't mind, I'd give up my favourite food forever if it meant our babies were safe.

We had a romantic film 'fest' to finish the day and I'd really like to say I managed to last the whole 'fest' but half way through the first film; I had snuggled up in my pregnancy pillow and fallen asleep. For the first night in ages I had fallen asleep without any problems and I knew I probable slept with a smile on my face as I dreamt of our two babies that were growing inside me.

Δ

~Author's Note~

Hi all how are you? Hope you're all still enjoying the story? Please let me know!

I'm probably going to time jump for the next one to the 20 week scan let me know what you think about that please cause I can do the build up to it if you'd rather!

MasterRiley24 – Thank you for your review! I love that this is one of your favourite fanfiction stories, it's very flattering! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know your thoughts on it and if there is a POV you'd like to see please let me know!

Sahanya ganegoda – Thank you for your review! I hope you liked this chapter, please let me know! You asked how I always know what to write, my answer for this particular story that I'm writing is that I'm currently drawing my own experiences to help me with these chapters. I'm glad you're enjoying thought! I will try the Magnus Chase series when my life calms down a little!

IamWizard5210 – Thank you for your review! I'm so glad you're enjoying it and that you've even stopped reading the original series to read this that is very high praise indeed! I'm glad it makes you smile, if there's an even or anything you'd like to see or a certain POV please let me know!

Happy reading all!