A/N I realized that I haven't done a disclaimer in a while... I never know if you're suppose to do one every chapter, or just say it once in the beginning? But then again... it's not like I'd say 'rick owns the characters, not me' in chapter one and then BAM, since I don't say it in chapter two people will think that Uncle Rick decided to pop in and write a guest chapter for me, right? Anyways, so I don't have to say it again, the character are Rick's and the plot is mine.

Another disclaimer: I did a teeny-tiny bit of research on the process of adoption, but I still may get some facts wrong. Please have an open-mind and remember that this is fiction. I know that some aspects of the adoption process were altered, but it was to help fit the plot. Thanks!

3 months later... aka march-ish

Percy POV

The plane is about to take off, and I can't seem to suppress my anxiety. My knee cap is about to fly off because I keep bouncing my legs. I'm sitting next to a reletively big guy, and I'll bet he doesn't appreciate the vibrating guy next to him.

Anyways, it's been three months since I went to visit New York. The little reunion with the seven went a little differently than I thought it would. Annabeth didn't come, and I knew that but I secretely hoped she would. Oh who am I kidding, I freaking saw her at the library, she was not in any state to party at a reunion.

Yes, it was awkward, and yes people were glad to see me(mom was right). However, I thought that they would resent me at least a little bit becuase of me and Annabeth, but when Annabeth was brought up people seemed to not say much about her. Apparently they haven't been in touch with her for a while.

I clutch the arm rests as we ascend into the sky. I'm on my way back to New York.

So, when I was in New York a few months ago to visit, I submitted an adoption application. After lots of deep thinking, I realized that I'm not made for the whole "partner" kind of relationship. I've become very independent and mature, but I'm also lonely. The solution: adopt a child! I love the idea of raising a kid and bringing them up with my values and beliefs and feel like I've done something right with my life for once.

I look over to my right. On one side of me is the relatively-large-man and on the other side is a super cute little boy, he looks around 5 years old. There are four seats to a row and it goes: relatively-large-man, me, super-cute-little-boy, probably-his-mom. He seems super chill just snacking on his pretzels and watching a movie.

Someone taps my arm. It's the boy's mom, "Excuse me, sir. I need to use the restroom, would you mind keeping an eye out for Matteo? I'll only be a few minutes."

"Sure, take your time," I reply. She whispers to Matteo that she's going to the bathroom. He looks a little scared to be left alone.

"Hey," I start, "She'll only be a minute. I'm Percy, by the way. I'll watch over you while she's gone."

He looks up at me, curious. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. I cross my heart hope to de, stick a needle in my eye," I say.

He scrunches up his nose. "Don't do that, it'll hurt."

I laugh. "Don't worry, it's just a saying." He shrugs.

"Are you sure you'll watch over me? Can you do a better job than mommy?" He squints his eyes and I try not to laugh.

Clearly, this kid is loosening up a bit but he's still skepitcal of me, which is understandable. I cross my arms and pretend to be annoyed. "Give me one situation where I can prove myself," I huff.

Matteo ponders for a bit. "Let's say a monster comes onto the plane. It has one donkey leg, one copper leg, and... sharp claws. What would you do to protect me?" He crosses his arms, proud of the comeback.

I'm a little bit startled because it seems like he's envisioning an empousa. I gesture him to come close. "I'd take out my sword and stab them in the donkey leg," I whisper. I know it may seem a little bit too much to talk about violence with a young child, but I think he's into this kind of stuff.

He looks at me, admirably. I smile. "Where's your sword?" he whispers back, cupping his hands around his mouth so other people won't hear.

"It's in my pocket, wanna see?"

He nods, enthusiastic. I pull out my pen. "Don't tell anyone, okay? This is a secret."

He has a serious look(which is super cute) and nods. "I cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

I scrunch up my nose. "Don't do that, it'll hurt." He laughs, and I do too.

I pull out my pen. "It transforms, you know. It's a pen so that people aren't suspicious."

"What's suspicious?"

"Uhhhh... like, curious, but in a bad way, because we don't want anyone to know about our secret, right?" That was a terrible definition.

"Ohhh, I see." Well, I guess it was good enough for him.

"Can I see it transform?" He pleads. I almost uncap it, almost. Who knows, maybe he can see through the mist?

But I see his mom coming back down the aisle. "Maybe later," I whisper back and shove it back into my pocket.

"Matteo, I'm back," his mom gets into her seat. I swear he looked a little... disappointed?

He resumes watching his movie and eating pretzels. At one point, he starts eating my pretzels, but I don't mind because I never liked pretzels anyways.

I probably look like a creep looking at him with a smile, but I can't help it. This is what I dream about. Having a little kid to talk to, to light up their world. Spark creativity and aid their imagination. Call me visionary, but it's all I aim to be.

Before we know it, the plane begins to descend. "How was the flight?" I ask Matteo. We'd been talking on and off about monsters and how to defeat them. I'm pretty sure that he can see through the mist.

"It was good," he says, "But it's be better if there was a monster attack."

I frown. "Why?"

"Because then you'd get to prove yourself," then he whispers, "and use your pen."

I chuckle and ruffle his hair. "Maybe one day, buddy."

He grins, and so do I.

When we stop at the terminal(A/N is that what it's called?) he gets separated from his mom in the sea of people.

"I guess this is going to be my way of proving myself," I say to him. Luckily, he's not scared, but I still hold his hand for emotional support. We are waiting for everyone to head out because the less people, the better. I don't want him to get hit by a bag or something.

He scrunches up his nose. "A monster attack would be better."

I laugh. "Of course it would be."

When most people clear out, we grab our things and start making our way towards the front of the plane.

Suddenly, one of the remaining passengers snatch Matteo's arm, therefore jerking me back because I'm holding his hand.

The "person" starts shifting into the real monster they are. Her hair, which was tied into a tight bun, starts to unravel and clump into thick strands. Her eyes turn glassy. It's all too much for Matteo. His face turns ghost white and he drops my hand.

I immediately know it's Medusa. So, I push Matteo behind me, he's cold to the touch and practically paralyzed in shock. for a second, I fear Medusa already froze him, but he hasn't turned grey.

I whip out Riptide and uncap the pen, but Medusa was ready. I slashed at her but she dodged. It's hard to fight a monster when you can't look them in the eye. I was relying on my intuition and the hiss of her snakes because I didn't have a mirror.

She lunged at me but I dodged pushing Matteo into a seat. Luckily, he wasn't frozen anymore and had the sense to hide a few rows over. I wanted him to get off the plane as fast as he could, but I also knew that this was something he dreamt about, watching someone fight a real monster. Plus, I didn't want him to become Medusa's new target.

By now, multiple rows of seats were torn apart and she wasn't baking down in the slightest. I spot a water bottle that someone left, it has a little bit of water in it still.

I uncap the water bottle and use my water powers to take the water out. Then, I shove the water into Medusa's mouth, which sounds really weird, but I swear I have a plan.

She's starts choking a little bit, but swallows the water nonetheless. I'm having a really difficult time killing her because I don't have a mirror, or someone to tell me where to hit... like Annabeth. I shake my head. I can't afford any distractions.

"You out of ideas, Perseus?" she snarled. I didn't want to do this, I really didn't. I haven't done this since Tartarus, but it's the only way to end this fast.

I use my mind to control the water that she drank and make it pull her back. I contemplate whether to 'drown' her by making the water block her breathing tubes, but then I decide that I can't have Matteo witness something like that.

I don't have full control over her because her blood and internal organs don't have as much water as other monsters, but I try my best. While she's fighting herself, trying to make a slash at me, I gracefully slide Riptide across her neck. It cuts through like butter, and for a second, it seems like nothing happened.

But then, her head slides down and her body disintegrates. I'm panting and sticky from sweat, but it's over. I haven't fought a monster in so long, I'm getting rusty.

Then I remember Matteo. I rush over to him and kneel down. "You okay, buddy?"

He still looks scared but musters up his courage to nod. "Mmmhmm."

"That was a pretty scary monster, huh?"

He smiles a little. "Yeah."

"It's okay, buddy," I got scared my first time too. "Try to forget about it if it helps."

"Your pen is really cool," he says up to me.

I smile. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?"

We make our way to the front of the plane. I have no idea what the flight attendant people saw. Maybe it looked like a fist fight or a verbal fight, but I don't pay much attention.

Before we get to Matteo's mom, he says, "You proved yourself, Percy. Thanks for taking care of me."

I bite back a tear and give him a hug. "No problem, buddy. Stay safe out there for me, okay?"

"Okay, I'll use my ninja skills to fight the monsters," he gets into his ready stance.

I laugh and ruffle his hair. "I guess this is where we part, huh?"

He tugs my sleeve. "Can I see your pen?"

I squat next to him. "Of course," I say, "but this pen is super special because it'll always return to my pocket. You can take it with you, but eventually it'll dissapear and return to my pocket. Isn't that cool?"

"Woah." His warm brown eyes go big.

"Matteo! There you are, you don't know how worried I was," she says. "Oh, thank you so much Percy!"

"No problem, there was a little hold up when we were getting off, sorry we took a while." I don't know if she heard me because he is busy fussing with Matteo. They seem to be having a quiet conversation, likely about not getting lost.

"Thanks again, Percy. I don't know what I would've done. Matteo seems to like you a lot, maybe we could meet up again so you guys can hangout?"

"Of course!" We exchange numbers and Matteo is clung to his mother's leg, still admiring the pen.

I give him one last hug. "See you around, little guy. Promise to stay safe?" He stands up straighter and nods.

"I cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," we both say at the same time, then laugh.

See? This is what I want in life. To give a child the life they deserve. To brighten up their life.

A few days later...

I adopted a child... that's all I can say, that's all there is to say. I don't know what to say.

She's beautiful, with bright green/grey eyes and light brown wavy hair. I'm still in New York, just spending all day with her at my hotel.

When I saw her for the first time, I knew that she was going to brighten up my life. He giggle is absolutely adorable, and her smile is contagious. Though she's only three months old, I can tell she's intelligent. I hope I can provide her with the right environment to grow and learn.

Her name is Charlie, which pulls my heartstrings because it reminds me of Beckendorf and Selina. Her name is Charlie Rose Jackson. And she's mine.

I haven't told anyone about Charlie yet, except my mom of course. We visited them briefly, but other than that, I've been hogging Charlie to myself, not that it should be any other way though, since it's just me and her...

Mom loves Charlie, who wouldn't? But she kept thinking that she's seen her somewhere, or she reminds her of something. I agree, I guess that she just emits that kind of vibe. It's comforting, like a warm memory.

We leave to go back to Australia in a few days. I was a little worried about taking such a young child on a long flight, but at her doctor's appointment I asked, and the doctor said it should be fine.(a/n pls don't take this advice, guys! Short flights are okay, but I'd make sure to ask your doctor about longer flights. Oh who am I kidding? You guys are prolly just like me: young and kidless just reading fanfic to pass time, lol)

I have all the baby stuff back at home in Australia before coming here. I swear I bought the whole store. Look, I was a little paranoid, okay?

Here in NewYork, I just have a carseat and a stroller that I'll bring back on the flight.

I want to show her the world. I want her to see all the amazing things that the world has to offer. I'd lay down my life in a heartbeat for her to be happy.

We are walking on the New York streets, with the bustling cars and screeches and honks. She seems to be overstimulated by the chaos so I decide to bring her to the library.

Out of habit, I walk to the back corner, yes, the one where Annabeth and I used to sit. I take Charlie out of the stroller and cradle her in my arms. "You see this table here, Charlie?" I whisper, "I used to come here a lot with a girl I was in love with"

Charlie coos. "Well, you're right. I guess I still love her, but I'm no longer in love with her. I used to sit under the table while she studied. She is so smart, you're kinda like her, you know?"

I crouch under the table with Charlie to show her some of the drawings and messages I wrote when I was younger. There were a lot of other scribbles, lots of them not-so-appropriate. I know that Charlie is only three months, and she can't read(wait, can she tho?), but I'm not going to have my baby angel be exposed to this kind of stuff. Call me paranoid, but I'm just cautious.

Before I get up, something catches my eye. It's a piece of paper taped to the underside of the desk. Huh. No one tapes things, they always just write on it directly.

I carefully take the paper down. It has a message:

No one saw me cry

Cars whiz by, people talking

the world keeps turning

I almost forget to breathe.

Charlie fidgets uncomfortably, so I get up, piece of paper in hand. It's unmistakably hers. That's a plain fact.

The problem is that she doesn't sound okay. I felt this way too, when I was at my lowest. I felt like no one really cared and that if I left, no one would notice. My breathing speeds up. Is she okay? She's not going to do anything irrational, right? No, she wouldn't, she's levelheaded like that.

The thing is, I felt this way before. I know what she's feeling. I understand exactly what she means... and I know where it can lead to.

I want, no, need, her to know that someone cares, that I care. I grab an abandoned pen on a nearby table and put Charlie back in the stroller as I begin to write.

The thing is, I don't really know that it's her. Like, part of me knows it's so unlikely, but then again, I know that's her handwriting. Or is it? Maybe that's what I want to think, so my brain is convincing me it is. I don't even know anymore. The point is, I should pretend that whoever wrote this is just a random person.

After a while of thinking, I write:

Someone saw you cry

Someone thinks you are lovely

I am that someone

Regardless of who it is, they need a little love.

Part of me hopes that it's Annabeth. She'll know it's from me.

Then reality hits me. How can I say that so lightly? She was my world, my everything. I decide to write her something on the underside of the desk. I'm not sure who wrote the note and who's gonna see my response, but I need to tell Annabeth something.

I spot the message I wrote one boring day a few years ago: I'll never let go. I technically kind of have, haven't I? But then again, she probably wanted me to anyways.

I write on the underside of the desk:

I never let go,

though there isn't much left to hold on to,

and

I've found something else

that

I will always keep with me.

It's a little poetic, but I like it.

I want to tell her that I'm still here for her, if that's what she wants. But, I've also moved on at least a little, so she shouldn't feel sorry for me or bad that we never kept our promise.

Oh, who am I kidding?

This was probably just some hormonal teenager trying to express their feelings with deep poetry and shit. Oops! I shouldn't swear, I'm a father now.

Anyways, the likelihood of Annabeth seeing this is close to zero, let alone her responding.

She also probably hates me.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. Why do I put myself through the emotional trauma?

I reach for the stroller and look back.

Eh, it's not like I'm ever coming back.

And with that, I leave the library with Charlie, and head out to get some ice-cream.

Summary: Percy flies back to New York and meets little Matteo on the plane. He adopts Charlie and is obsessed with her. At the library, he finds a note that could have been left by Annabeth. He responds to the note and also leaves a message under the desk. He doesn't like how he's getting so caught up in his feelings and decides to leave everything in the past.

A/N Yowzuz! That was a lot longer than I thought it would be. I know it was kind of filler stuff at the top, but I couldn't help it! Plus, I had to show Percy's love for kids. Anyways, he say Annabeth's note and left one for her! Will she find it? Is he really never coming back? I don't know! Well, actually I do know, but you guys'll have to wait to find out.

Next chapter info: I think it's gonna be relatively short, but if I have my act together, I think I can post it mid-week, therefore giving you guys TWO updates this week! I'll see what I can do.