Annabeth shot Percy a grin over Lena's head. He raised his eyebrows at her and smirked. Their daughter, swinging from their hands, continued chattering.
"I'm so glad we didn't have to bring Teddy. He's a dumb boy and he would break all the dolls!" she said seriously, skipping a little to keep up with her parents' longer strides.
"I think Teddy is happier staying with Uncle Jason and Aunt Piper anyway," Annabeth laughed, thinking about all the trouble their son would get up to with his aunt, uncle, and cousins.
"Whatever," Lena shrugged, excitedly yanking on Percy's arm. He feigned pain, mock gasping and stumbling on the sidewalk, much to the annoyance of the people walking behind them.
"Ow, Lena, you're too strong for that," he grinned. She giggled and pulled on his arm again. Much to Annabeth and Lena's amusement, Percy hammed it up, falling into a squat and groaning.
"Annabeth, help me! Lena's gonna pull my arm out before we even get to American Girl Place!"
"You're on your own, Perce," Annabeth teased, blowing him a sarcastic kiss.
"Daddy! I wanna go to American Girl!" Lena grumbled and then squeaked loudly when Percy stood suddenly, throwing her slight, little body over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"Mommy!" Lena shrieked, "Keep F'licity safe!" Her voice trailed off as Percy jogged down Fifth Avenue towards the pink awninged building. Annabeth held up the redheaded American Girl doll and waved at her daughter. She smiled calmly at a few passing tourists that seemed concerned about Percy's absconding with their little girl.
"Oh this happens all the time," she said blithely to a middle aged woman and sauntered off, leaving the woman to wonder if she meant that Lena got kidnapped by random men all the time.
"Mommy! Look! They have a Pegasus like Blackjack!" Lena grinned, lunging forward to press her little hands against the glass display case. Her breath fogged up the glass as her wide eyes took in the sight of the doll-sized black Pegasus that did, in fact, look remarkably like Percy's.
"Huh?" Percy said, leaning down and pressing his face next to Lena's. "It does look like Blackjack, 'specially around the eyes."
"Can we get him, Mommy? Please?" Lena spun around and turned her big green eyes, pleading, on Annabeth. Behind her, Percy winked at his wife.
"Oh, Lena, baby," Annabeth wrinkled her nose. She didn't want to disappoint the girl on her birthday trip, but she also really didn't want to buy the expensive toy. "Maybe if you ask one of your aunts or uncles for Christmas."
Lena screwed up her face, thinking. Annabeth held her breath, crossing her fingers that the 6-year-old wouldn't throw a tantrum.
Finally, Lena said, "Okay, I'll ask Uncle Will and Uncle Nico. They're suckers for my puppy dog eyes."
Percy clapped a hand over his mouth to smother the sudden bubble of laughter that rose in his chest. Annabeth bit down on her lower lip. She reached down and grabbed Lena's hand, tugging her towards the little section of books, "Okay, we'll deal with that later. Why don't you pick a book out?"
Lena immediately beelined for the books belonging to the line of historical dolls, looking for the ones that told the story of Kit, the budding journalist from Chicago growing up during the Great Depression. Annabeth and Percy hung back a little, watching. Annabeth leaned against Percy's side, absently stroking her fingers against his side.
"She's so grown up," she mumbled a little, tucking the Felicity doll more securely under her arm.
Percy hummed a noise of agreement. "I can't believe it. Makes us old too."
"Speak for yourself, Jackson!" Annabeth laughed.
"You're older than I am!" he shot back.
"By a month," she replied hotly, "and i don't feel old, so there."
She stuck out her tongue for good measure and Percy leaned down to capture her mouth with his. She smiled against his mouth, leaning further against him.
"Oh gross!" Lena grumbled, ducking slightly so the tall stack of books in her arms hid her eyes from the sight of her parents kissing.
Annabeth and Percy laughed sheepishly. They couldn't feel bad for Lena catching them kissing since it at least showed her that her parents were still madly in love. They did feel slightly bad that they'd been caught in such a public place. And not just by Lena, if the looks from the customers surrounding them were any indication.
"Sorry baby," Annabeth said, and then quickly changing the topic, asked, "Did you pick your two books?"
Lena easily accepted the change in topic and frowned. "No! I like them all! Lit has so many books. But so do Molly and Samantha and Kirsten and Julie. Mommy," she sighed dramatically, "I simply can't pick just two."
Percy raised his eyebrows and squatted down to Lena's level. "You 'simply can't' huh? How about we eeney meeney miney moe for two and then hit up Uncle Leo for the rest at Christmas?"
"I'm gonna get a lot of presents at Christmas," Lena grinned maniacally, settling her pile on the floor and fanning the books out to choose.
"I love any place that starts a meal with dessert," Percy grinned, shoving the miniature cinnamon roll in his mouth.
They were sitting in the American Girl Place Café, the main gift for Lena's birthday. Percy and Annabeth had missed the actual day, three weeks ago, because of a council meeting in New Rome, so they'd booked a reservation at the little girl mecca.
"Mommy, fix my ponytail with my new scrunchie," Lena handed over the fake flower hair tie that had doubled as a napkin ring, and Annabeth scraped her daughter's dark curls back into a slightly haphazard ponytail. "Now do yours," Lena ordered.
"Say please," Annabeth reminded and once Lena had said the magic word, she complied, pulling her own blonde curls back into a ponytail with her own complimentary hair tie.
"Should I do one too?" Percy asked, already twisting the elastic around his bangs without waiting for an answer. He looked ridiculous, but Lena laughed hysterically and it was all worth it.
They passed the lunch hour listening to Lena chatter about how excited she was to move to second grade in the fall, a new school, new friends, harder work ("That's 110% you, Wise Girl," Percy said with a fond smile). When Lena finally ran out of things to talk about, Annabeth pulled the little slips of conversation starters from the small box in the middle of the table and asked her questions. Both of them listened intently, loving that they got to learn what Lena's latest favorite thing was or how Auntie Juniper had shown her how to grow flowers.
When Percy got up to use the bathroom, Annabeth flagged down the waitress and smiled, a little evilly.
Percy came back to the table and caught sight of the matching sneaky looks on his wife and daughter's faces. "What?" he asked. "Do I have toilet paper on my shoe?" He made a theatrical show of bending under the table to check his shoe, knowing it would make Lena laugh. There was nothing there.
"Seriously, Annabe-," he was cut off has he lifted his head out from under the table by the smiling waitress dropping a pink cardboard crown on his head and placing a cake decorated with pink polka dots and black accents on it in front of him. He looked up, confused, at Annabeth as she, Lena, and the waitress all sang happy birthday to him.
"Blow out the candles, Daddy!" Lena bounced up and down in her chair, laughing at the genuine look of confusion on Percy's face. He complied a little dazedly, blowing out the 4 candles in one breath. The waitress smiled at him again and took the cake away to cut it.
"What was that?" Percy asked, smiling, once it was just the three of them again. He adjusted the crown so it wasn't crooked.
"Well," Annabeth said, looking down at Lena with a conspiratorial smile, "Leelee and I figured that since you're the best dad for bringing her to American Girl Place on your own birthday, we should celebrate you a little bit too."
Lena nodded her agreement, "Mommy even said you could pick out a present! I think it should be the Pegasus that looks like Blackjack."
Percy threw his head back and laughed. "This is the best birthday celebration ever, thank you." He leaned forward and kissed Annabeth, just a little bit too inappropriately for the venue. She responded in kind, a promise that there was a further birthday present in store for him once they got home and got the kids to bed.
Lena ignored the public display of gross from her parents and tucked into the cake that the waitress had delivered. Percy reached over and tugged on the ends of her ponytail, "Hey, Leelee, thanks for sharing your birthday trip with me."
Lena shrugged, a faint outline of frosting around her mouth already, "I didn't mind. I'm a good sharer."
"Yeah, you are," Percy kissed her forehead and swiped a finger full of frosting off her plate.
"Hey!" she yelped, "Daddy!"
"I thought you were a good sharer?" he teased, eyes sparkling. Annabeth smiled at the display. Whenever Percy interacted with the kids, he always looked younger than his 36 years.
"Not with cake," Lena said, the obvious 'duh' hanging in the air, unsaid. Percy laughed.
"Understood, ma'am," he mock saluted. Annabeth collected the check while Percy continued to try and sneak bits of cake off of Lena's plate.
"Okay, children," Annabeth clapped her hands, a faint imitation of an elementary school teacher, "Time to go!"
With only minimal complaining, Percy and Lena followed Annabeth out of the café and out of the store, extra bags now hanging from their wrists.
"Good birthday trip, Lena?" Annabeth asked.
"Yup yup yup," Lena chattered, amped up on sugar.
"Good birthday, Percy?" she looked up at her husband.
"Yup yup yup," Percy chattered, amped up on sugar.
A/N: Got it in just under the wire! Happy Birthday Percy Jackson :) I haven't written these guys in a long time, and it was kind of fun. I've missed my favorite demigods. It's a bit of a silly plot, but it was fun to write, so I'd really appreciate your comments :)