Okay, yeah, you can't really give a baby up for adoption without the dad's consent. Then, the whole legal guardian after the dead adopted parents isn't true either. But for the sake of this story, just go along with it :)

Annabeth:

I walked into the lobby of Lenox Hill Hospital, feeling my heart pound until I felt like admitting myself into the hospital for cardiac arrest. I took a deep breath as I scanned the room. Celia told me that she was on her way and would call me when she got there.

But there was someone I did recognize.

In one of the many waiting chairs, a 6'1 man sat, drumming on his black business suit. His sea green eyes were dim as if he was worried to death, which didn't surprise me. His black hair was shaped up to where it wasn't the mess I had grown to love when we were kids. My head banged, and it took all of my will power not to pass out onto the linoleum floor.

Percy.

Now that I thought about it, I remembered how she said Percy and I were both her legal guardians. Of course he would come. He was the one who really wanted to keep the baby. It's only natural that he would show up. I took another breath and pulled myself together.

It was seven years ago. I could handle talking to him again.

But, with each step I took approaching him, I knew that wasn't true. I couldn't handle it for a damn good reason. I had never quite got over him. I had tried, and I dated a lot of guys. But I never really got into a serious relationship. Instead, I focused on work, and that seemed to work out well for me.

So, there I stood, basically standing in front of him, shaking from the thought that it was actually Percy Jackson. My stomach flipped, and I could have thrown up at any moment. Percy, probably noticing how there was a shadow of a size six woman standing over him, finally looked up at me.

I felt my hard speed up again when his sea green eyes looked at me for the first time in six years. Panic registered throughout my body, making my face pale.

"Annabeth?" panic seemed to go throughout him as well.

"Hey, Perce," I smiled weakly, and he sat up as he motioned for me to sit in the chair beside him. I nodded along and sat down in the chair. If it was possible, things got even more uncomfortable. Percy nervously sighed, making me push my hair behind my ear uncomfortably.

I hated this beyond belief. We were just sitting there, letting tension fill the air. There was a lot to bring up. I mean, seven years had passed. But I didn't want to talk about work, or my last boyfriend, or Rachel, or even how I put our daughter up for adoption. I wanted to know how he'd been. I wanted to know what job he had, if he ever got over me, or if he got married and maybe even had another child. I couldn't ask though. It wasn't the time, if it would ever be the time.

"So… how have you been?"

Alright, if even Percy knew this moment was awkward, then it was more awkward than when Chiron found Birth Control in my bunk and condoms in Percy's room. I thought about squeezing Percy's hand like I really wanted to, but I didn't dare.

"I've been good I guess. Malcolm and I opened an Architectural Firm, and the business is going great," I shrugged, nervously picking my nails. I looked down at my black, pin-stripe suit, wanting to throw up again.

"Yeah, I know," Percy smiled, "I saw all the billboards."

I let myself smile a little bit, and that fueled me to look over at him again.

"Yeah, Malcolm went a little far out with advertising," I blushed a little bit, "So, how have you been?"

Percy hesitated for a moment or two as if he hadn't really spoken of something. Sadness washed over his beautiful green eyes, and I started to feel a little bad about whatever was wrong. Percy bit his lip for a minute, but I guess he decided that he probably wouldn't see me again so he might as well spill.

"I was doing great until my wife filed for divorce about five months ago," Percy gripped his hand until his knuckles turned white. It was about that time that I noticed how he had a little mark on his finger where a wedding ring was supposed to be when it got to tight or something. For the millionth time in this conversation, I wanted to take his hand.

"I'm so sorry Percy," I knew it wouldn't help, and it would probably make him mad or something. Percy just shrugged, making me want to rest my head on his shoulder and clutch his arm like I used to do when he was upset back when we were dating. Then again, I would have wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him when I first saw him back when we were dating, too.

So, I couldn't do damn thing but sit there, considering we weren't still dating and I couldn't do what we used to do when we were dating, especially the having the daughter thing. Yeah, that wouldn't work out.

"The sad part is that when we were going out, she used to look me dead straight in the eyes and asked me who the hell ruined me so that I sucked at being a boyfriend," he smirked like it was all a joke, and he had gotten over her.

If he got over her in five months, it probably took him no time at all to get over me…

"And you still married her," I smiled at his crazy actions as if no time had gone by and we hadn't split up because of a baby. Percy smiled as he looked up at the ceiling as though the memory was being played as a movie up there.

"Grover and Juniper were kind of pressuring me to settle down so that they weren't the only ones married out of the group and everything," Percy shrugged.

Juniper and Grover got married? When did that happen? I knew I was going to miss some things when I lost touch with everyone, but I didn't really think of this. So, Grover and Juniper are married. Do they have kids or anything?

"So…" I took a deep breath, not wanting to say what I needed to ask him, "Does Grover know about Sarah?"

"I planned on not telling him, but we were pretty drunk one day and I let it slip," Percy shrugged, like it was nothing. I was about to say something when a familiar face walked through the front door.

It had been seven years since I first talked to Celia about the adoption process, and it had been four years since I had last seen her. But she looked the same. Her auburn hair was still cut short, and she was wearing a pair of dangling earrings that was shown through the hair cut. Her amber eyes scanned the crowd to see where we were, and I'm pretty sure she was holding the same handbag from when I first met her. The tan leather matched the wrap dress of the same color, and the only thing slightly different about what she was wearing would be the black heels, a silver cross necklace, and the earrings. I swear that she may have worn that exact outfit while we met.

"That's her, isn't it?" Percy nodded towards Celia, and I felt sick to my stomach as I nodded yes. I really wanted to meet Sarah, but, suddenly, I felt like passing out into Percy's strong, insanely hot…wait, okay, his arms. She was already six years old, and she had been raised by her adopted parents for her entire life. What if she didn't want us as her parents?

I mean, she's a grieved six year old who just lost her parents, and how do I plan to explain why we haven't been raising her?

Celia, now knowing who we are, started to walk her high heeled walk to us. Percy tensed, and I couldn't think until she finally got to us. Both Percy and I stood up immediately to greet her.

"I'm Percy Jackson," he shook her hand gently, and I shook her hand anxiously.

"Annabeth Chase," I smiled, hoping she'd finally something about Sarah.

"I'm Celia Smith. I believe we've met before," Celia smiled, and I smiled as well as though the day signed the papers for Sarah wasn't imprinted on my brain.

XXXXXX

I sipped at the coffee Percy got all three of us a little while ago from the cafeteria. Sure, it was crap, but I needed the caffeine. For the last hour or so, Celia had been telling us all about what happened to Sarah over the years.

She knows that she was adopted, and the story to why we weren't raising her was because her adopted parents, Eric and Jill, couldn't have children and Percy and I felt so bad that we gave Sarah to her even though we loved her. She's really smart and mature for her age. She looks just like me, except for Percy's black hair. She attends a private school in Westchester, where she has grown up for years, but she doesn't like it over there. Jill and Eric had been thinking of moving here because they thought she would just love Manhattan. The mansion they lived in has already been sold, but her parents hadn't closed the deal on a place over here. She was left just about everything by her parents, but she can't get any of it until she's eighteen. Her dad owned a company and her mom-er, adopted parents- worked there. Sarah also knows about being part god, as does Celia who is a granddaughter of Demeter.

But the big moment of the conversation was when we could get a chance of getting custody of Sarah now.

"So, let me get this straight, we could be raising Sarah now?" Percy asked after taking another sip of the black coffee. Celia nodded and acted as though she wasn't upset about having to work at nine right now, but I loved that she was taking the time to do this. I couldn't handle it if I had to wait to know stuff like this.

I still couldn't believe it.

Just this morning, Sarah had been one of the last things on my mind. I could never have imagined that I was not only going to see Percy again but that I could get custody of my daughter, who I hadn't seen since three months after she was born.

"It was left in Sarah's parent's will that you be tracked down and that you try to take care of her, but, if you want, she can go to her Aunt's home in Tennessee," Celia nodded as she looked over the papers in her lap through the dim lighting of the Hospital lobby. Sarah, who was currently asleep in a hospital room, would be spending the next few days here, which was perfect timing to figure all of this out.

"I want to take care of her," I spoke up, and Percy looked at me with shock for a moment. I knew what he was thinking. I was the one who put her up for adoption in the first place because I didn't think I could handle being her mother, but, six years later, I was telling a social worker that I wanted my daughter back. Percy has every right to be surprised, I suppose.

"I do, too," Percy, smiling as if he were proud of me, nodded to Celia, and she beamed.

"Wonderful, alright, usually a judge wouldn't give custody to a separated couple, but, as her birthparents, you have a pretty good chance. Alright, at your currents residences, do you have room for Sarah?" Celia asked both of us, and I mentally went over the floorplan of my apartment.

I lived four blocks away from my job so that I could stop by starbucks, two blocks away, and then head straight to work. The place was pretty nice, I guess. It was a condo three doors down to my brother, and, even though Malcolm says he was tired of living so far away from work, I know they moved there so that they could help with their future child. There is room for Sarah, definitely. It was three bedrooms, and I was using one currently just to sit there.

"Yeah," Percy answered before I could, and I nodded along with him.

"Okay," Celia made a check on a notepad and went on to the next thing.

"What do you both do for a living?"

"Um, I co-own an Architectural Firm," I told her, hoping I got it right.

"Is it demanding?"

"Currently, it isn't that bad, but my co-owner is going to be taking a few months off work when his baby is born in a few weeks," I knew this time I didn't get it right. I silently hoped that Percy's job wouldn't be demanding, but I knew the gods wouldn't be that nice to me.

"And you?" Celia turned to Percy, who I noticed had already finished his coffee. He set the empty cup down on the end table beside him and turned back to look at Celia, who had taken a chair to pull it to sit infront of both of us earlier.

"I'm CEO of a surfboard company," Percy shrugged, and I had to admit, it sounded a lot like Percy. He was smarter than he let on-a CEO after all- but he loved water too much to not work with something having to do with it.

"It's demanding during the day, but I get off at five. After that, I'm off the clock," Percy added before Celia could ask the next question. Celia nodded as she wrote that down in her notebook. Still nervous, I picked off a piece of lint from my suit.

Everything was off about this day. First I'm staying overtime when Rachel had set up a blind date for me(ugh!). Then I get a call that my daughter's adopted parents have died and I need to come to a hospital. After that, I see my ex for the first time in six years. Once that ordeal was done, I'm stuck giving my life story to a Social Worker so that I can get my daughter back.

"Okay, Percy, you mentioned being married before. Do you have any other children?"

Percy tensed at that question like it was a sore topic for him. I didn't know why though, but I had a feeling it involved his recent divorce.

"I thought I did…but my wife found out she was pregnant with someone else's baby and that's why she left me," Percy seemed to be ashamed of it, and I didn't blame him. Not only was she cheating on him, but she conceived a child with that man. I thought about taking his hand and calling her a stupid bitch, but I wasn't much better. Percy always wanted to be a father, and I just didn't want to raise a baby so I put it up for adoption even when I knew he didn't want to. Yeah, it was his baby, not some random person that I cheated with, but I still let him down.

"Alright," Celia, probably figuring out that her looking at him with pity wasn't helping him, looked back down at her notebook, "So, anything else you might want to add?"

I half expected to hear Percy say something funny and random to lighten the mood, but he didn't. I didn't know if his ex-wife had ruined him or if he just knew now really wasn't the time, but I missed it. What am I saying? I've missed him, everything about him. I stopped by Harvard for an alumni meeting, and, when I passed by the dorm I used to live in, I almost had a heart attack from missing Percy. When I first moved back to New York, I used to open my eyes, thinking I'd see Percy and his old apartment. But I never did, and I always ended up sighing and trying to smother myself with a pillow.

"No," Percy shook his head finally, looking a little depressed for some odd reason. I waited a minute or two until I finally asked the question that had been on my mind the entire time.

"Uh…When…When can we meet Sarah?"

Celia looked up from her notebook and smiled warmly at me as if she knew when she first met me that I would ask her that. She looked from me to Percy for a moment, but she looked back at me to answer.

"I'm afraid visiting hours are over for today, but tomorrow I will meet you here and introduce you to Sarah," she stood, and both Percy and I did the same. I noted with smug satisfaction that I was almost at Percy's height in my heels, but I brushed it off.

"It was wonderful to meet you," Celia shook Percy's hand, and he nodded saying the same. I proceeded to follow in their actions, and Celia was about to walk away when she remembered something.

"Oh my god, I forgot to give you this," Celia zipped open her tan purse to bring out a wooden box the size of a cigar box. She handed it to Percy and nodded at both of us before she left.

Percy and I looked at the box and then at each other. Percy was the one to open it, and I swear, he could have cried when he saw the contents. I stepped closer to him to get a better look, and I felt the same way. It was a box of Sarah's life. The picture on the top was a picture of Jill and Eric when they first got Sarah back when she was about six months old. Even back then, she looked like me. Somehow, Percy and I managed to sit down at the same time, and we held the box in between both of us. Percy took that first picture for a better look, and I took one beside it. This one had to be from when she was three years old, and she was in a pool, probably learning how to swim or something. I averted my gaze back to the box where I saw another picture.

"Percy, this is what she looks like now," I rested a hand on his arm to show how shocked I was and to snap him out of the trance he went in when he looked at the first picture. I grabbed the picture out of the box, and we both looked at it, completely mesmerized.

I knew the picture was what she looked like now because, in front of her, there was a birthday cake and a '6' candle that had just been blown out. She turned six this may, which was only two months ago. Jill was standing beside her, and I couldn't help but notice that she only looked to be thirty-five and she was already dead.

"She's beautiful," Percy smiled at the picture of Sarah, and I nodded, letting a tear fall.

Sarah looked exactly like me except for having Percy's nose. Her bright smile made me want to cry for missing it. Her black hair was a curly mess that reminded me of Percy more than I thought possible. I saw an orange tee shirt that reminded me a lot of a Camp Half Blood tee shirt, but I didn't know if that it was.

"She's our daughter," my voice cracked, but neither of us cared or really noticed. We were too busy looking at her. Knowing that we had a daughter was very different from actually seeing her. That was when fear kicked in.

What if I'm an awful mother? What if Percy tells her the real reason she was put up for adoption?

What if she doesn't want me for a mother?