...Gllllaaaahhhhgggg.

Okay. Next chapter, it's going to be sort of hard to understand. Well, maybe. It's just, there will be an importance of keeping up with the time changes. I'm going to go ahead and apologize in advance for all of the POV changing I managed to do...AGAIN XP

Hayway, hope you enjoy guys. I'm such a sap. :)

Peace Love and God bless!
~Future

7:30 PM

Same Day

Carter POV:

Hayley yawned beside me, and I kissed the side of her head, rubbing her arms. "Why don't you head on over to Mom's house? Pick up Hallie? Take Lukey home for some good night's sleep?" It was almost ironic, how we had already planned for Hallie to spend the night with Mom and Dad, and had already dropped her off, when this occurred.

Hayley nodded sleepily, and then shook her head when she realized what she was saying. "If I do that, I mean, what if he wakes up and I miss it?"

"Hayley," I grabbed her shoulders and looked her hard in the eyes. "Your dad is going to be fine. I'll call you when I hear something, okay? Hallie has school in the morning, and you need rest." I placed my hand on her softly rounded stomach, and she seemed to finally understand. She sighed irritably, glared at me with a playful smile.

"Fine," she said, standing up and stretching. "I'll be back to pick up Luke after Hallie,"

"Get me a coffee?" I asked, smirking.

"Get it yourself," she said, smiling.

How that got started between us, I'd never know. But it was our thing, and we didn't plan to lose it, no matter what happened.

"Love you," I stood and wrapped my arms around her waist, and she threw her arms around her neck, our eyes staring into the others.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" she asked.

"Maybe," I said, pulling her into a deep kiss.

"Alright, alright, break it up lovebirds," Tommy said, stepping between us.

Hayley rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him away. "You worry about face-sucking my little sister, would ya?"

"Hayley, please," Audrick said, still sitting uneasily in his chair. He had always been overly protective of Chelsea since that day she was in the car wreck with Annabeth. He couldn't imagine, and didn't want to think about the fact that she was getting married in a couple of months.

Hayley, though, had always had fun teasing the young lovers, and I didn't blame her. It was pretty hilarious, especially when Tommy's cheeks, or Chelsea's, or both of their cheeks flared up a bright red.

Hayley stuck her tongue out, gave me one more kiss before pulling on her coat, and headed outside, placing her phone to her ear, calling for a taxicab.

Once she was gone, Audrick stood and took the place beside me.

"Here it comes," I said sarcastically, and he glared. "Oh, just spit it out."

"How have you handled it? In the past? Now?"

It. His daughter. His wife.

"I dunno," I stretched out and yawned, rolled my shoulder blades. "It just sort of came naturally. Kids have always been on the agenda, and when you have one mom who works in the medical business treating them and a dad working as a family engineer, you learn a lot and just get used to it."

I glanced around at all of us. Annabeth was dozing in her chair, and Chelsea had taken Luke from her some time ago. Now he sat up playing with some toy cars the hospital had set out.

"That's helpful, thanks," he sneered.

"Dude, it'll come to you, I promise."

"Then why am I still so nervous?" He was practically bouncing in his chair, and when he raised his hand, it was trembling worse than the earthquake in Haiti.

"First time jitters," I suddenly recalled mine and Hayley's first time here. It made me chuckle as I thought back to it.

"She's the only nearly ten pound baby we've ever had in this NICU," the nurse told me kindly. I nodded, not really listening to her. My face was pressed up against the glass. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

I was worried. Sure, they said she'd be fine within the next day or two, but it still scared me. What if she had some kind of defect from this? What if she couldn't walk, talk, see or hear? What if…?

"Excuse me, sir," another nurse said softly to me, grasping my arm gently.

"Uh-huh?" I mumbled.

"The NICU is closing. You'll have to leave."

"Uh-huh…wait, what?" I jerked my head from the glass and looked at her.

"You'll have to leave," she repeated simply, shooing me off. I muttered about how she could have been nicer or at least let me say goodbye.

"It's not like she's going anywhere," Hayley said sleepily, her eyes still tightly closed. She'd been sleeping for the past eight hours, and she was still exhausted. I didn't blame her. I hadn't gone through the birthing process, and I was beat.

"But, just imagine Hayley!" I was jumpy and skittering about. "They could take her, swap her, Hera could come and abduct her – aliens! Aliens I say!"

She laughed, snuggling into the pillows.

"You're worrying too much, as always," she sighed, clasping her hands as if in prayer and folding them beneath her head. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," I threw myself into the chair next to her, and watched as she drifted off into a slumber that would never come for me.

"Your wife will be fine," I ended, not even realizing that I'd said it all out loud.

Tommy gulped on the opposite side of me, staring at Chelsea. "New rule – we're not having kids."

Chelsea shrugged, squeezing Luke in a hug. "We'll see on our wedding night."

"Yeah, you know, when you're both sitting up at least three feet away from each other watching Pixar movies, right?" Audrick snapped suddenly.

"Sure, Audrey. Sure."

"Mrs. Jackson?" several of us jerked our heads towards the nurse, including the now aroused Annabeth.

"Yes?" she yawned and stretched, placing her feet back on the ground from the tucked in position in which they'd been.

"This is highly unorthodox, but your husband is demanding to see you, what a delirus state he's in."

"How so?"

"Well, we've had him drugged for hours, Mrs. Jackson. He should be asleep by now, but refuses unless he knows you're going to be there. I've never seen anyone with such motivation, Mrs. Jackson."

"He is fairly stubborn," Annabeth laughed and followed behind the nurse, waving shortly to us. We waved back, safely assuming that we wouldn't be allowed back there for some time.

"I think I'll get some shut eye," I said softly, already curling up in the uncomfortable chair. "Wake me if you hear something."

I closed my eyes, and for a few minutes there was complete silence, until a small sound came from Luke's direction.

Chelsea laughed. "I think I heard something."

"It wasn't me!" Luke cried, though we could all smell it and were laughing.

"I hope Hayley's here to get you soon, kiddo," Tommy said, ruffling his hair.

Even with my eyes closed I could see the broad smile etched on his face.

Hayley's POV:

After having the cabbie drop me off at Mom and Dad's house to get my own Honda, I poked the door bell, listening as it rang out in Katie's house. She was still at the hospital with Mom, but Travis would be here.

Connor Jr. opened the door, grinning crazily at me. "Dad! Hayley's here for Hallie!" He continued to smile suspiciously. "Please, come in."

I walked in slowly, my chin dropping to the floor.

"Travis…" I started slowly, looking at him as he made the "I didn't mean to knock the vase over" face, and shrugging. "What have you done?"

Hallie was asleep on the coffee table in the living room, a small rug thrown over her. Crayon and paint and flour decorated the floor and the ceiling. Jam was rubbed all over Max's face.

"She wanted to play…and then there was the pie and…" Travis trailed off, scratching the back of his head, just as a piece squished chocolate flew down from the ceiling. I glared at him, but could only smile at how boy like this nearly fifty year old was.

"Thank you, Travis," I smiled and gathered Hallie in my arms, kissing her forehead roughly. "Here," I smiled and dropped a fifty dollar bill on the table.

"Oh, Hayley, I can't take this," he grinned, just as CJ jumped in between us and grabbed the money.

"I can!"

"Connor!" Travis yelled as his son took off, and he rubbed his temples.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, then laughed. "Boys will be boys, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I dropped another twenty on the table. "Extra for you."

Then I turned and walked out the door, closing it so he couldn't.

Hallie yawned and sat up in my arms, rubbing her tired eyes. "Mommy?"

"Hey, sweetie," I grinned and pushed another kiss unto her cheek. I couldn't kiss her enough it seemed, even in five years.

"Is Grandpa gonna be okay?" She asked between exhausted yawns.

"Yeah, baby," I sighed. "Grandpa's gonna be just fine. How about tomorrow we'll say you caught a cold in your heart and go see him instead of going to school?"

She nodded, but she was still practically asleep. As I strapped her in, she stuck her thumb back in her mouth.

"I want a bite," I said, tickling her. "Can I have a bite?"

"No, Mommy, no!" she giggled, and in the next moment her head slumped over, and I couldn't help but smile.

I ran a hand through my hair and looked up to the stars.

Sometimes I didn't understand why things happened like they did. I'm not sure I wanted to understand.

Right then, though, comfort surrounded me. I just knew that everything happened for a reason, whether I understood that reason or not.

That everything was going to okay.

I sat back down in the Honda, cranked it, and headed to go get Luke.

Annabeth's POV:

"Jamie's baby was born today," I said. I don't know why I expected him to answer. I knew he wouldn't, not in this temporary-coma they had him in.

"She's gorgeous, I mean, she really is, Perce. They named her Kennedy Grace and…she has your hair and Jamie's bright eyes…" I gulped. "I mean, I can't wait until you're able to see her, hold her, Percy. You're going to cry, I just know it. She was, um, born in the van and…"

I sighed, feeling hopeless.

"Please be okay. Please."

I was almost asleep when his hand shifted undermine. "Some birthday, huh?" He smiled and flexed his hand, as if trying it out for the first time.

"Percy," relief flooded through me, and I threw my arms around his neck, kissing him hard. When I pulled back, I hovered over him, smiling. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

His skin was pale, a little green on his cheeks and his eyes were sunken in, but still he smiled and wrapped a weak arm around my waist.

"Hard to believe you're turning fifty in a few months…"

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up," I rested my head on his chest. He caressed my hair, and before I could even blink, I was asleep.

Two Hours Later – Carter POV

"You can see him now," the nurse's voice jerked me from my sleep, and I eyed her warily. I was the only one who had responded. Chelsea's cheek was pressed into the head of her chair, and Tommy's head lay in her lap. I had to remind myself that I had sent Hayley home for the night. Audrick had disappeared some time ago to be with Jamie once they had cleared everything and had deemed them both – her and the baby – safe.

"Who?" I asked groggily, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Mr. Jackson," she added with a playful smile. "I'll go and alert the other Mr. and Mrs. Jackson down the hall. He's doing much better."

She left, but at that point I didn't care.

When my dad had almost died, I thought I'd lost all hope of living without fear again. During his time in the hospital, Percy had taken me in, treated me like a son, like one of his own. When we thought he was dying…I'd lost it. I couldn't stand to nearly lose another one, not like this, in the same exact way. I just couldn't. Hearing that he was better sent a jolt through my spine, and I stood up and started dancing.

"Wake up!" I shouted merrily, shaking them all. "Wake up, wake up, wake up and come on!"

Maybe it was wrong to be so excited, but I didn't care.

"What's your…problem?" Chelsea yawned, stretching in her seat and ruffling Tommy's hair so he'd stop snoring.

"He's better," I smiled wide, whipped out my cell phone. "I've gotta call Hayley. Get everyone else going! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The sign clearly said, "No phone calls within the building". I pretended like I didn't see it, though, and called Hayley. She picked up immediately.

"Is he - ?"

"Better," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, laughed. "He's better. When can you get here?"

I could see her grin. "Ten minutes. Four if traffic is lite."

"Not too fast, okay? We want Hallie to see her fifth birthday, and the twins to see their first."

"Oh, ha-ha. See you soon. Love you."

"Love you," I hung up and pretty much dashed outside to wait for her. After thirty seconds of trying that, I ran back inside and down the hall, passing by Audrick, Jamie, Tommy, and Chelsea.

Alive and okay. He was alive and okay.

I burst through the door, and had to keep myself from crying in relief.