ΞPiper's P.O.V Ξ

Annabeth's due date was quickly approaching and I realised we hadn't thrown her a baby shower yet. She was 27 weeks pregnant and I decided to get the ball rolling for the shower for her and Percy.

Top Secret Shower Plans

Piper: Hey guys, I've added you all to this group to try and organise a baby shower for Percy and Annabeth. Neither are in this chat group, and I'd really like it to be a surprise so please don't mention anything to them. Can everyone make May 23rd? I've checked with Percy's mom they're due to be there so I thought we'd do the shower in the city.

Thalia: I'll speak to Artemis and let you know. If I can do anything to help let me know!

Hazel: Yes! We're in! Can we help?

FireBoySupreme: Beauty Queen – what do I have to bring?

Reyna: I can make it.

Nico: Will and I can make it.

Calypso: Leo, we'll sort that later, Piper count us in.

Clarisse: Chris and I will be there – happy to help in any way we can.

Rachel: Yes! Oh I do like a baby shower – what games have you got in mind?

Juniper: Grover and I will be there!

Piper: Great – watch this space for ideas and plans!

I put the phone back on my bedside table everyone could make it, on the demigod side of things, I had sent invitations to Annabeth's family and the gods, I'd already spoken to Percy's family and Sally was only too happy to host it.

"Everyone can make it – Thalia just has to check with Artemis" I said.

"Great news! Just Tyson to Iris Message now, remind me again why you can't just add him to the group?" Malcolm asked.

"Because he broke his Iris Phone so even if I added him, he couldn't reply. Rachel's asked about games, what sort of games do you think we should play?" I ask him.

"How should I know? It's not like I've ever attended one of these things never mind tried to organise one." He said it had actually been Malcolm's idea to start planning one if I'm being honest; it was really great how much he loved his sister.

"I'll see whether Chiron will let me use the computer in the big house to research games we could play." I said, "Right so we have a guest list, Sally's insisting on doing the food, so we need to get decorations and organise the games."

"And because they're leaving the twins genders to be a surprise, we'll need both pink and blue decorations." Malcolm reminded me, and I nodded there was so much left to plan.

Ξ

Malcolm put balloons up around the Blofis apartment in arrangements of pink and blue. I'd gone in groups of two: Blue and Blue, Blue and Pink and then Pink and Pink, to cover all possible gender outcomes.

I had cleared the coffee table in the living area for gifts; Sally had prepared a mountain of food. I had also prepared a variety of games, that I was hoping everyone would enjoy.

Annabeth's Family arrived first they were staying in a hotel not too far from the Blofis apartment. Next were Hazel, Frank and Emily, Emily was now 3 months old and starting to interact more with people and it was amazingly cute! I couldn't get over how much she looked like Hazel, just with Frank's eyes she was a little stunner, and would probably break some hearts one day.

Tyson and Ella arrived with Leo and Calypso just behind them. The gift Leo and Calypso brought with them was huge and heavy the weight alone would have broken the coffee table so we leant it up against the fire place.

The others from camp and Thalia drifted in just before the arrival of the gods, not all were in attendance, but my mom, Artemis, Hestia, Athena, Poseidon, Apollo and Hermes had shown up. Last to arrive before Percy and Annabeth were Reyna and Rachel.

"So sorry we're late Piper, I left the gift at home and we had to go back." Rachel said, Reyna had stayed overnight with her on her way into the city.

"No problem Rach, glad you make it come in, come in, Percy and Annabeth are due in about ten minutes." I replied.

Malcolm passed out drinks to everyone and then went to converse with his mom; I was just checking all the games were ready when the door to the flat opened.

"Mom, we're here!" Percy called walking in.

As he and Annabeth made it into the living area we all said "SURPRISE!"

"What's all this?" Percy asked his mom.

"It's a baby shower Seaweed Brain" Annabeth answered him; Percy rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"It's not like I've ever been to one before Wise Girl how was I supposed to know?" He asked and Annabeth shook her head adoringly and went over to greet her family first.

Ψ Percy's P.O.V Ψ

A baby shower, I couldn't believe they'd done all this for us, the smile on Annabeth's face when she saw all these people here for us and the babies was dazzling, I could tell she was happy they'd all come out today, as was I. Mom and Paul's apartment looked like a pink and blue paint bomb had exploded all over it. Everywhere I looked I saw either pink or blue. Mom was beaming at me as I took it all in.

"You didn't have to go to all this trouble, mom" I said after I hugged her in greeting.

"I didn't really, Piper and Malcolm did almost everything" She told me and I smiled I would have to thank them both later. Once we'd greeted everybody and Annabeth had sat next to her father on the sofa, me next to her and Frank who was holding Emily. Emily was fast asleep, bless her Frank was a natural, being a dad really suited him. I hoped it would suit me too.

"Frank hunny, do you want to put Emily down in the Moses basket to sleep? We've still got Estelle's in the other room." My mom asked.

"Thank you Mrs. Blofis, yes please." He said getting up to put his daughter down in the other room, by the time he came back Estelle had nicked his seat, he didn't mind though he took a seat next to Hazel.

"Right I thought we'd start with games, then eat and then open gifts; if that's alright with everyone else?" Piper said and there were nods around the room. "Great, first game is baby bingo!" She announced and handed us all a pack each. In the pack we had, baby bingo, a quiz answer sheet, a word jumble, a couple of sheets with numbers down the side – not sure what they're for yet.

Bingo was close, I had two left on my sheet, milk powder and blanket, Leo piped me at the post! Blanket gave him a bingo, and he was beyond excited, Piper had bought some pretty great prizes for the games too, Leo got a book called nappy changing for dummies which caused a raucous of laughter around the room.

"Read up Leo and you can change Emily when she wakes up!" Hazel joked and Leo's horrified face caused another round of laughter.

The quiz was interesting, it was on the gestational period of animals and if we're being honest I only knew the sea creatures. It was really interesting though. Unsurprisingly Athena won, but the Gods decided to let the prizes got to the demigods and mortals so mom won that one in the end. She received a pamper kit for a do it yourself spa day, she looked like she couldn't wait to put that to use.

The word jumble was tough because most of us had dyslexia but despite that Annabeth came through the clear winner. Piper gave her a pair of v shaped pillows to support her arms when feeding.

That left the two sheets with numbers on.

"So these are a little different in that they require you to figure something out." Piper said and I could see Annabeth was already looking forward to this one, she loved a puzzle. "For the first one, you're going to try the baby foods in these jars and see if you can figure out what they are and for the second one we have a set of nappies and you have to figure out what the baby ate." She said, it didn't sound too bad hopefully the baby foods taste alright.

The group split into two and half did one and half did the other and then we swapped. I have to say some of the baby foods were absolutely disgusting. Number four and number nine made me almost physically ill. They were both white in colour and I vowed never to give either to our twins. Annabeth laughed at my reactions to them and my vow to never feed them to our kids. One through three, we're fruity and I'm pretty sure I got those, Blueberry, Strawberry and Apple. Five through to eight were vegetables, I had courgette, carrot and I think swede possibly and the broccoli I was pretty sure on. Ten was custard no question in my mind.

The nappy game was a bit tougher, Piper had really gone to town on these and they looked very realistic in terms of dirty nappies. There were five in total, one I thought might be thanksgiving dinner pumpkin pie included, two I thought was spaghetti bolognese, three was chocolate, four was definitely cake, but not chocolate I wasn't sure what cake – but it was cake! Five stumped me totally – I had no idea! You'd think for someone who did so much cooking I would be able to figure them out but from smell alone but, it was very tough.

I got eight out of ten on the foods – but only because I refused to put the white ones back in my mouth to figure out what they were. I thought eight was quite respectable. The two I didn't get were cauliflower cheese and egg custard.

"Egg custard?! Are you serious?! That tasted nothing like egg custard! They are definitely not eating that – I'll make it myself!" I declared and everyone just laughed at me.

"You used to love that one when you were a baby." My mom told me which horrified me, and I guess it must have shown on my face because the room erupted into laughter again.

"Don't worry Seaweed Brain, you never have to eat it again" my wife teased me; I nodded my head satisfied by this, which caused another wave of laughter. Hazel won that round; her prize was an audio book for the car. It seemed to be one she and Frank both liked. I could tell they'd have it on in the car on the way home later.

The nappy game prize went to me surprisingly with three and a half right half because I didn't know the flavour of cake. I got a recipe book for baby food which was greatly appreciated; I started thumbing through it while everyone helped themselves to food. I found myself folding down corners of the ones I wanted to try first.

"Percy, you should really eat something." Mr Chase said to me causing me to look up from the book.

"Oh don't worry I will" I promised.

"You might want to be quick Annabeth's making quite the dent in the blue and pink cookies." He told me and I smiled, I was a bit opposed to the pink cookies as was Estelle but I got the point of them even if she didn't.

I grabbed a plate of food and blue cookies, what? I mean if it isn't broken don't fix it right? It didn't mean I'd love the twins any less if they were girls I just preferred blue as a colour!

Once everyone had a plate of food we opened gifts. The Gods went first as they had things they had to get back to. Lady Aphrodite had given us two sets of baby grows, in various colours with matching mittens and hats, of course we expected nothing less than matching clothes from the goddess of beauty. Each supported statements supporting love and happiness, they were great. Hermes had given us a book of rules which he gave to all of his children about sneaking and thievery, Lady Athena, dad, mom, Paul and Mr & Mrs Chase looked at Hermes in disapproval. I tried my best not to laugh because Annabeth was also disapproving of the gift, even if she could see the beneficial side to it for battle training later in life.

Hestia had given us a couple of beautifully woven blankets which were purple in colour, with little foot prints embroidered around the edge. Artemis gave us two mobiles for the cots, with different animals from the hunt all the animals were silver and set to glow in the dark as the moon does in the sky, they were amazing. Apollo gave us two mini chariots for the twins to race in? Artemis smacked him upside the head for his gift but it was the thought that counted. Dad got the twins each a stuffed toy hippocampus and they looked like miniature versions of the real things, they were great. Athena got the twins the completed works of Beatrix Potter, for bedtime reading and I mean who doesn't love Peter Rabbit? I looked forward to reading them with the twins, I had managed to improve my reading over the years somewhat with Annabeth's help, hopefully I could continue on with that for the twins.

The Gods left shortly after this, Athena and dad promising to drop by sometime next week.

Leo and Calypso gave us a metal mural of our adventures, to inspire stories for the twins that Leo had made himself. It was amazing and reminded me a lot of the shield Tyson had made for me all those years ago.

Frank and Hazel got us a couple 'Ollie the Owls' which as you might have guessed was an owl toy which had three different sound settings to make the baby feel like they are still inside the womb to help them sleep at night. It was really thoughtful, apparently Emily loved her Ewe the Sheep which did the same thing, but why is everything baby related an owl?

Tyson and Ella gave us wind up hippocampus that Tyson had made himself for when the babies were a bit older they were pure celestial bronze and beautifully made as is everything Tyson made to be fair.

Piper and Malcolm got us a range of different gifts; 5 matching baby grows which all said something different, one said future architect in the making, one said future swimmer, another said born to read, the next one said future hero of Olympus and the last one said I'm the cute one. They were all great; the next thing they got us which I absolutely loved was Nemo costumes for the babies. I was so excited to put them in those! I suspected Piper picked those. And the last thing were little booties with dolphins on which made me smile, I suspected Malcolm got those.

Clarisse and Chris got them bracelets which turn into shields when the stress level of the baby was high to try and prevent them from being attacked. I was really grateful for those, it was incredibly thoughtfully.

Rachel had painted some animal prints for the nursery in watercolours which as always were incredible. There was a giraffe, an elephant, a lion and a penguin, I wasn't sure which my favourite was but I was leaning toward the penguin.

Reyna had bought winter all in ones in royal purple and bright orange one of each colour for each twin. I hadn't thought about winter stuff, living in New York it would get very cold in the winter, I'd have to make sure we had enough winter clothes for them. They were great and very camp related which I could tell Annabeth loved.

Annabeth's family bough us a set of DVDs with different children's programmes on that Annabeth used to watch when she was little and the twins had especially printed two grows which read 'Of course I'm cute have you seen my Uncles.' This made Annabeth and their parents laugh. The twins scowled as they clearly had been very serious that they were the cute ones in the family, which caused the whole room to laugh.

Mom, Paul and Estelle had bought us a set of food pouches and a kit to help us fill them so I could make my own baby foods for them which I was really happy about. It was almost like my mom had known how I would react to the baby food tasting game.

Thalia gave us a play mat with the alphabet on and each letter had embroidery that related to Greek and Roman my-thology. It was perfect, and I couldn't wait for them to use it.

Will and Nico bought us, bath kits for the twins, which included a bath mat, two bath seats, a load of bath toys and baby bubble bath, all of which would be put to very good use I was sure.

Juniper and Grover bought them grows that read '100% eco-friendly' with little pictures of trees underneath, they were cute, but not as cute as the matching hats and socks they had also give us. They'd also given us a clay kit to set the footprints and hand prints of the twins once they were born. I could tell Annabeth was really looking forward to using that.

All in all, we were incredibly lucky to have such amazing friends and family and although they weren't here yet, the twins had so many people who loved them already and that was the greatest gift we could have ever hoped for.

Ψ

Δ Annabeth's P.O.V Δ

Today was so completely overwhelming but in the best way possible. Percy and I had such amazing friends and family who cared so much for our twins already. If wasn't emotional already I certainly was by the time I went for a nap after everyone went home.

Percy came to check on me an hour or so later and I was awake when he came in.

"I thought you might still be asleep" He said lying down next to me.

"I was, but the otters wouldn't allow me to sleep, one kicked my lower back and or kidney and the other kicked my ribs." I said.

"Oh dear, double teaming mommy" He said jokingly.

"They are indeed" I said seriously.

"How can I help?" he asked.

"Just hold me like you always do, it seems to settle them"

He didn't reply verbally but he snuggled in next to me and placed his hand on my protruding stomach and gently rubbed in circular motion, my eyelids felt really heavy and eventually I drifted back off to sleep.

Δ

"Mommy, are we there yet?" a little boy asked me from the back seat of the car, Percy was driving, I was in the passenger seat.

"Not yet sweetheart, we'll be there soon" I replied.

"But mom!" A little girl said from next to the little boy "Hoover damn won't be open for much longer!"

"We're not going to Hoover damn today, we're going tomorrow." Percy said to her and then quietly to me whispered, "She's just like you" which made me smile.

"Annabeth, wake up Wise Girl, Annabeth" Percy's voice broke through my dream and I blinked a few times before adjusting to the light in the room. "I'm sorry Annabeth, but you're family is heading back to their hotel, I thought you'd want to say goodbye." He told me and I did.

"Thank you Percy" I said as he helped me up from the bed, I swear sometimes I felt like a turtle that was upside down and unable to get back up.

"You were smiling, having a good dream?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was, I'll tell you about it later." I said as we made our way to the living area in Sally and Paul's apartment.

"I'll hold you to that" he said smiling at me.

"Dad, Helen, Matthew, Bobby," I said to each in turn, "thank you so much for coming today, how long are you in the city for?"

"We fly back tomorrow afternoon" Helen said and of course they would the boys had school on Monday.

"Maybe we could do breakfast before you have to fly out?" Percy asked.

"That would be lovely" Dad said hugging me. "I love you Annabeth" he said before pulling away.

"I love you too Dad" I said smiling; Percy laced his fingers through mine and squeezed gently when I looked at him he was smiling at me too.

"Is ten too late for you?" Percy asked, "y'know for breakfast?"

"Ten is perfect" Helen said in understanding, but the look of horror on my brother's faces that they'd have to wait until ten for breakfast was quite amusing.

"Look forward to it" I said giving my brothers a parting hug before they stepped out into the hallway to make their way back to their hotel.

"We should probably get going to," Percy said "It's going to take at least an hour to drive home, and we'll start to lose light in about an hour."

Only then did I truly realise how late it was. We'd arrived at Sally and Paul's this morning for the surprise baby shower which lasted until about half two and then I went for a nap which must have lasted about four hours or so.

Percy packed up the car while I arranged with Sally to come back after breakfast with my family tomorrow. Estelle seemed really happy with this arrangement she hadn't really had much time with Percy today as far as I knew so knowing he'd be back so soon really seemed to cheer her up.

Δ

Ξ Malcolm's P.O.V Ξ

Annabeth and Percy loved the baby shower Piper and I put together for them. Although, if we're being honest Piper did most of the work, but I was still really proud that they had enjoyed it and I was really proud of Piper.

She was exhausted and slept the whole car ride back to camp with was really impressive as Thalia grabbed a lift back with us and had turned the radio volume up high. I would have said something but she's my sister's best friend and she's also a little terrifying when she wants to be. But Piper slept through it all, which is how I knew she was exhausted.

When we got back to camp I carried Piper back to cabin ten. As a child of Athena I wasn't the strongest guy in camp but I was strong enough to carry my girlfriend back to her bed. I knocked on the cabin door and Drew answered it.

"Oh good she's back" She said sarcastically and rolled her eyes but she did open the door and let me in to put Piper on her bed.

Drew and Piper clashed a lot; I used to think it was because Piper challenged Drew for the position of head counsellor, but now I know it's because Piper reminds her of Selina who she misses, but Drew wouldn't admit that, it would ruin her façade that she had up. But, I tried not to get involved with it all, I think Piper knew the real reasons she and Drew clashed so much but both were too stubborn to call a truce.

I placed Piper on her bed, and told Lacy I'd be back in a few minutes with Piper's things from the car.

The Athena cabin was fairly quiet when I got back to it. All were out at their afternoon activities which gave me time to finish some of my work for college. I got a couple of assignments done before my mind started to wonder to the twins my sister was expecting in just thirteen weeks. It seemed so far away but also like it couldn't come quick enough. I was so excited to become an Uncle, I really wanted to teach them things, take them to museums and monuments and tell them all the facts about those monuments. I really hoped they'd find all of that as much fun as Annabeth and I did. But if they were more like Percy I could take them to the aquarium, I'd have to read up on the facts and creatures that were on show at the aquarium we went to.

Maybe I should get more information of ocean creatures anyway – all knowledge is usual after all. I went in to the Athena cabin library and found we actually did have some books on sea life. Annabeth I thought, and smiled of course she added books about sea life, because of Percy. I decided to take a couple of them back to my bunk, to read through. Maybe I'll be cool Uncle Malcolm yet, I thought to myself.

Ξ

~Author's Note ~

Hi all hope you all had a fantastic Christmas if like me you celebrate it! If not I hope you had a happy holiday all the same!

MasterRiley24 – Thank you for your review! I'm so glad this is obviously your favourite fanfiction that means so much to me to hear. It's like when you give someone a present for Christmas and their face lights up because they love it! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!

AndrewisGOAT - Thank you for your review! It sure does happen! I hoped you liked this chapter, let me know!

Origami - Thank you for your review! I'm so glad that you love the story! As mentioned to MasterRiley24, it feels like you've opened a Christmas gift that you absolutely love that I'm responsible for! Please let me know what you thought of this one!

Sahanya ganegoda - Thank you for your review! As mentioned previously I know very little about Magnus but I might be able to mention him in passing – maybe he'll send a gift when the babies are born or something, I'll have a think but that's probably the best I'll be able to do. Let me know what you thought about this chapter!

SarcasmRocks - Thank you for your reviews! No worries about not having it on alert at least you do now right? Let me know what you thought about this one!

I'm debating posting another story I've been working on. The concept is pretty common and has been done a few times but I fancied giving it a go. Where one of them works in a coffee shop and that's where they meet let me know if you'd be interested in reading this one. Characters I have included so far are Annabeth and Percy of course, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Thalia and Luke to mention a few.

Anyway happy reading all!