DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO, they belong to Rick.


~A week earlier~

Ring.

"Hello, who is this?" I said, answering the phone.

A woman's voice replied, "Annabeth, it's me, Mrs. Ladderson!"

"Oh! Sorry, Mrs. Ladderson, I didn't recognize the phone number," I apologized after I realized who it was. "Is there something you need?"

"Well, yes. Next week, my husband and I are going out with our kids, who as you know, have moved away. We haven't seen them in a while and we wanted to spend the whole day with them but I also wanted to clean the basement. I was wondering if you could help clean half the basement next Friday. I will pay."

"Of course I can, but you don't need to give me anything. I can work for free, seeing as I have nothing to do next week."

"Nonsense. You will get paid for the work." I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off. "No buts. Believe me, you will see what I mean when you come over. Oh, and one more thing, can you take care of my little kitty, Donald?"

Little? Kitty? That is definitely NOT Donald. He was a fat, grey cat with white stripes. Percy and I had been over to their house before to watch him but I'm pretty sure he did not like me at all, but liked Percy instead. Not only did Donald take much liking to Percy, they even planned a scheme! And the cat couldn't even talk! In the end, I was the one covered in milk. Cat traitor. I paused for a moment to think about it.

Finally, I responded, "Okay, what time should I come over?"

"How does ten o'clock sound?"

"Great."

"Excellent! See you next Friday, Annabeth! It was very pleasant talking to you," Mrs. Ladderson said happily. "Well, I got to go. Bye!"

The phone clicked off, leaving me to wonder what she meant by 'you will see when you come over'.

~Now~

I rang the doorbell as I tapped my foot against the concrete, waiting for someone to open the door. The door swung open, revealing a woman in her mid-sixties with soft black hair, kind brown eyes, not looking a day older than thirty.

Mrs. Ladderson greeted me with a kind smile. "Good morning, Annabeth! Come in, come in."

I smiled back at her and looked around. "Where's Donald?"

She pointed to the back of her. "He's in the kitchen and needs to be fed in about fifteen minutes and here," she handed me a crisp fifty dollar bill. Mrs. Ladderson grabbed her purse and rushed out the door, waving to me. "Bye, Annabeth!"

"Bye," I waved to her and the door closed. I put my hands on my hips, deciding what to do first. I didn't want to start cleaning downstairs, only to come back up, all dirty, to feed Donald. So I chose to play with the cat for a few minutes before going down.

I called out from the doorway to the kitchen. "Donald!"

For a minute, I expected someone to say 'duck'. Huh. Either way, no one responded at all and I called again as I walked over to the kitchen. This time, there was a soft growl. I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion as I peeked around the corner and gasped. Donald- or should I say Donna -had kittens! I thought for sure Donald was a male, even Mrs. Ladderson was sure Donald was a he. I took a step closer to the scene but she hissed at me and I jumped back in surprise. I slowly made my way back to a chair.

Woah, I thought. This was really crazy, surprising, and... I don't know what to do. Someone, please tell me, what do you do after a cat has given birth when you are in the state of shock and thought this cat was always a male?! I did what seemed like the best option, calling Percy. Now I felt stupid. Why would he know something about cats and babies and birth?

The phone rang a couple times before he picked up. "Hello?"

"Donald gave birth!" I blurted out.

There was silence over the phone before he spluttered. "WHAT?! How many? I thought Donald was a guy... because well, Donald."

"There are two and so did I! But unless you know a male cat giving birth, unicorns aren't going to fly. What do I do?"

"Um... let him- I mean, her -rest."

I nodded, but he couldn't see me through the phone. "Okay... do you have something more? I don't really know much about this."

"Neither do I. I read somewhere you should put them in a box but wear gloves so your smell doesn't get on the kittens."

"Why?"

"The mom might kill the babies."

"... Okay, but-"

"WAIT! Never mind what I said before, don't carry the cats! Donald is gonna be extra annoying to you."

"No kidding."

"Just get a box and a blanket. I'm coming over."

"'Kay, see you then."

Click.

I dialed the phone again, but this time to Mrs. Ladderson.

"Hello, Annabeth. Is something wrong?"

"Erm... sort of? I'm not sure if this is wrong or not but your cat just had kittens."

"That can't be possible! Donald is a boy! How many are there?"

"Two. Don't worry, they don't look like they are in any trouble. Percy is coming over to help, so you don't need to come back too early."

"Okay, just make you leave a bowl of food and water beside them when they need. I hope this helps. Until I can come back, would you be able to watch them for a few hours?"

I didn't really have anything interesting to do, so I said yes.

"Great! I'll see you then. Call me if anything happens. Bye!"

"Bye! Enjoy your trip."

Click.

I sighed. What do you do while you wait? Check on the cat first then find a box and a blanket, that's what. I silently crept to the kitchen and slowly looked around to the floor. Phew. The cat was sound asleep. Now for a box... My eyes scanned around the area for a box, preferably cardboard, but stopped when they landed across the room to a pile under the kitchen counter.

I drew in a deep breath and started to sneak across, silently. I did not want to disturb them and have, Donald or Donna, hissing or claw at me. Slowly but surely, I made it all the way to the other side in triumph. I momentarily forgot about the cats and grabbed the boxes too quickly, making a loud noise. Donald, name still to be determined, hissed loudly at me, waving a paw to claw me.

I scampered away with the boxes, steering clear out of the kitchen and onto the couch. After a few minutes of finding the right box size, getting hissed at, and guessing, I finally found the box that fitted them. The blanket I found was an old towel, which I washed with somewhat odorless soap and dried beforehand. For the food, it was little hard to get since it was on top of a high cabinet and behind the place where the cats were.

I 'attempted' to carefully get past them but Donald only hissed at me. I groaned. How was I ever gonna get there? I need someone who hasn't gone on their bad side. Luckily, the doorbell rang just as I thought about it. I knew immediately who it was, so I flung the door open and jumped onto him. He caught me, chuckling.

I stood with my hands on my hips pointing to the kitchen. "They're over there. Be careful, Donald is feisty!" I warned him in fake fear behind his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm not that clumsy and I know how to handle cats. Besides, Donald likes me!" Percy smirked, so sure of himself as he went into the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right."

He suddenly came to a halt at the doorway. Percy turned to look at me. "It's true, she does."

I didn't look at him, still not convinced he was right. "Prove it."

"Hmm... has she ever tried to attack you like a rabid beast mixed with a hydra, and stuffed into fur which people called a cat?"

"That's exaggerating a little too much," I replied.

"Ha! You don't deny it." Percy saw the little frown on my face and smiled at me, putting his arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry, just because she doesn't like you doesn't mean I don't love you."

My lips turned into a big, happy grin. "Thanks."

"No problem. Let's get to work!" He headed off the kitchen leaving me standing outside with my thoughts. I grinned to myself as I my mind replayed his words. It touched my heart that he loves me. Sure, sometimes he would be really clueless and idiotic, but he could be really sweet and caring when he wanted to. But that's what counts.

Percy's questioning face popped into my field of vision, jolting me out of my thoughts. "You okay?

I nodded with a small smile. "Yup."

~O~o~O~o~O~

After twenty minutes of carefully moving the kittens, prepping the box, and dodging the claws, we finally collapsed onto the couch, tired. The cats were currently in the farther end of the kitchen, not next to the doorway. Percy wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead. "Huh, I thought that would be easy."

"With you here, I thought so too. At least I didn't get killed. Phew!" I said, relieved as I pretended to check myself for any signs of injuries.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you didn't get killed, I did all the work. Now all we have to do is just sit back and-"

"I forgot!" I exclaimed in realization.

Percy looked at me with a weird expression telling to explain what I meant.

"I was supposed to clean half the basement," I said. "But then I got distracted with all these things happening and I totally forgot about it."

I bolted off the couch and started to head downstairs when I heard Percy calling to me. "Wait! I'll help!"

I shook my head. "No, you've already done enough and it shouldn't be long before I come up." He opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off. "I'll call you if I need anything, okay?"

He nodded, grumbling a bit. I grabbed a pair of blue rubber gloves, plastic bags, and made my way down. The stairs creaked loudly below me as I stepped on them. The whole ceiling was covered completely in webs. I grabbed the webs off their places, stuffed them into a plastic bag, and continued to clean the rest of the room. I was mid-finished when I felt something hairy crawling on me.

I turned around, hand aimed up and- SMACK!

"Ouch!" Percy whined, rubbing his head. "That hurt!"

"You deserve that," I told him. "Besides, what was that hairy thing?"

"A dust ball."

"Ew. I thought that was a spider."

"I know."

"How?"

"You slapped me."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Percy?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you see that thing on the floor that's moving?"

"No..."

"Well, it is. Look!" I silently screamed at him, pointing to the black crawly thing.

He looked and his eyes widened. "Do you have a tissue?"

"No, but I have a bag and gloves. Here." I handed him the gloves and bag and stepped a foot away from him.

The black thing continued to crawl toward us and Percy's hand swooped down, scooping the black thing into a bag. He tied it close and held it up in front of himself. I looked closely at it and it writhed at me in the bag. Yup, it was definitely a spider seeking revenge since they are the children of Arachne.

"Um... can we throw that thing away now? I feel like it's giving me looks now," I said.

Percy nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of heavy and about a foot long too," he noted as he went upstairs.

I trailed behind him, eyed the floor cautiously, and whispered to them, "Stay away," then continued upstairs. I fell onto the couch, rubbing my eyes. Someone's weight landed next to me as he put his arm around me. I started to doze off when I jumped up suddenly. Percy gazed at me questioningly as I leaned over him to grab a big cushion.

I scooted away from him a little, hugging the cushion to my chest as I said to him, "This is for my chastity."

He turned beet red in embarrassment and I laughed myself to tears.


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~A.G.I.