Annabeth:

"Come on, Sarah. Wakey, wakey," I tried to shake her awake.

It was Friday morning and the first day of school. I don't know who came up with the idiot idea to start school on a Friday. So, don't ask me.

Our custody agreement was that Sarah would stay with me for a week, starting on a Friday and ending on the next Friday. Percy would be picking her up from the half-day at school, and I would be stuck alone for the rest of the week. Sarah had everything split up between each apartment. There were a few things that she had to take to each, and they were in a bag at the foot of her bed. Everything seemed to be working out perfectly.

Well, except for waking her up.

Sarah let out a loud moan, and took a spare pillow from the floor and covered her head with it.

Just like Percy…

"Sarah, it's your first day of school," I tried to stay upbeat like Jill would have been, but I didn't even buy it. Sarah shook her head and turned over in the bed.

Okay, Jill's out. Let's bring in Annabeth.

"I didn't burn the bacon this time," I sighed. Sarah squirmed as if it was a pretty good offer. When Percy and I were together, he was always the cook. After we broke up, I was too busy to learn. Now, I've got no clue.

"And I ran downstairs and got the chocolate doughnuts you love so much."

Sarah squirmed again. She moved the green pillow away from her head to look at me. Looking at her, when she's so much like me and Percy, still kinda scares me, but I've let go. Her black curls were sprawled around her head, reminding me of one of those pictures where Mary is with that golden thing around her head. She pouted for a moment or two but eventually sat up, mumbling "Fine…"

I smiled victoriously as I got up from the floor and left the room. I slid out my droid. I had been up since six am, which I hate doing by the way, to get Sarah and me ready. I didn't have to be in until nine am. So, after I dropped Sarah off at eight, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do for the next hour.

And I'll be doing this for the next twelve years or so. I wonder if Percy finds it as annoying as I do. From what I've heard from Sarah, if they have to go somewhere in the morning, Percy wakes up thirty minutes before and gets two protein bars as they run out the door. It sounds a whole lot easier than what I have to do, but one of us has to be the early one, and I was dumb enough not to call it first.

Meeting with Cali clients at nine fifteen.

-Malcolm

I ignored the urge to tell him off, and made a reminder on my phone to be in early for that.

And there goes the free time.

I slid my phone back in my blazer pocket and went straight back down to the kitchen. I changed the channel from Fox News to Disney Channel where a little kids show's star character was singing in an annoying pitch. I took an Advil along with my coffee to get rid of the migraine that was forming. I bit into a chocolate doughnut, forgetting the self-inflicted 'No-Chocolate-In-the-Morning' rule I instated after I kept crashing after eating something sweet for breakfast. The sweet taste on my tongue almost made getting up so early to get them work it.

Almost.

By the end of the first Disney episode, Sarah ran into the kitchen and took the plate I had made for her (chocolate doughnuts and steaming bacon). As usual, she went straight to the couch and changed the channel to wherever the hell Fanboy and Chum Chum comes on. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

Exactly like Percy.

I took one of the last slices of bacon and down the breakfast food.

Twenty Minutes Later:

"I'll call you tonight, okay, Sarah?" I smiled, pretending I wasn't dying. Today was my kid's first day of school, and I may not see her until the end of next week. What the hell kind of twist of fate is this?

"Okay, Annabeth," she nodded, and I kissed her cheek, even though she cringed and wiped it away. I smiled at her one last time before standing up on the cold floor.

"Tell Percy to make sure that you have all of your books," I fixed her hair even though I knew she didn't like it when I did that. Sarah didn't say anything though. I guess she knew how much this meant to me. She smiled at me before going into her classroom. I controlled my beating heart as I started to walk away from the classroom.

That's when I saw him.

He looked to be about a year or two older than me and was walking his son-who seemed to be about four- to his class. Both of them had the same blue eyes that made you want to cry for not having them. His brown hair was perfectly cropped so that you could have swooned. The way he smiled at his son made me a little sick.

I kept walking, forcing my eyes away. I could feel his eyes on me, but I bit my lip to avoid it.

One…Two…Three…Four...

He was past me. Thank the gods.

I felt a buzz from my blazer and brought out my phone without looking at the caller ID.

"Percy, she's fine. Calm down. It'll only be three hours until you see her," I kept walking, completely sure it was Percy on the other line.

"You know, my entire life I had no idea my name was Percy," Malcolm smirked.

Damn it.

"Sorry, Malcolm. I'll be at work soon. I just had to drop of Sarah," I started walking faster out of the school building.

"I was going to tell you that my wife just went into labor."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Her due date wasn't for another three weeks. I mean, I know you can go into labor before you due date, but she had planned to have a c-section in three weeks because the idea of labor scared the hell out of her once I told her how much pain I went through for Sarah. I knew she wouldn't take this well at all.

"Oh my God, Malcolm."

"I'm on my way to the hospital. I left all of the stuff you'll need for the meeting in my office. You still have about an hour to get ready for it," Malcolm forgot the 'dad' moment going on and went back to his work voice.

"Alright. Congratulations, Mallie," I smiled. When we were kids, his voice used to be really squeaky when he got scared. So, my little brother, Arnold, started calling him 'Malorie' or 'Mallie', but 'Mallie' stuck with us all.

"Thanks, Annabeth."

Sarah:

"Are you sure you don't want to go ahead and leave, Sarah?" Percy asked, and I simply shook my head. Today was the first day of school for here, and Percy had expected me to want to run out the door, like he would have at my age. But I didn't. My teacher, Mrs. Page, told us that we could join clubs or simply take classes from here. Sign-ups were in the gym, and I was dragging my dad behind me.

I wanted to do something with swimming-anything. Back in Westchester, my parents piled me with extracurricular activities, and, while I completely hated it, I was used to it. I only wanted to sign up for one thing anyway. It'll only take a minute or two.

The two of us stepped through the doors.

Okay, I'll change the time line.

An hour or two.

There were enough stands in here for there to be a club for every last student in the school. I could tell that even Percy was shocked, and I tried to look like I wasn't intimidated. I scanned the many clubs to find the one I was looking for.

Book Club…Chess Club…Soccer…Football…

And swimming!

I pulled Percy over to the stand, not even bothering to tell him where we were going. Instead, I just pulled him along, hoping that the list wasn't full. I weaved through the crowd until I got there. A man was talking to his son who seemed to be about four behind the stand. He seemed really tall, not as tall as Percy, but tall. The color of his eyes reminded me of the ocean, and there was something really familiar about him. I just didn't know what.

I let him go as we reached the stand I had been looking for.

"Hi," the man, Mr. Bazil as it said on the nametag, smiled at Percy. Percy nodded to him before looking back down at me.

"Is this the one you want, Sarah?" Percy asked me even though anyone could see that was the case. I nodded excitedly, and Percy took the pen from the clipboard and scribbled down my name. It was barely readable, but I was so happy to see it.

"Well, Sarah Franklin-"

I could see Percy's smile fall a little bit when he heard that. I still had my adopted parents last names. It would be a while before my biological parents could adopt me, and, until then, I was Sarah Franklin.

"I'll be seeing you soon," Mr. Bazil smiled.

An Hour Later:

Percy and I sat side-by-side, eating chocolate ice cream from the carton as I told him about my first day. He got today off work-which was something my dad never did, ever- and it was pretty evident that he wanted to spend all twenty-four hours together. It felt weird to spend so much time with my real dad. I mean, I love the guy to death, but my adopted dad, Eric, dad didn't really spend time with me.

He loved me and everything, but he was raised where you worked all the time. He didn't know any different. Ice cream dates mean he would take you to some over the top ice cream store made of only milk from cows without steroids or whatever it is that everybody freaks out about. If he wanted to know how what happened at school, he'd squeeze in the question between 'Jill, have you seen my ipad anywhere?' and 'When's that charity function again?'

His style of parenting works on a lot of kids. He wasn't all bad or anything, but I've always needed a dad like Percy and a mom like Annabeth.

"You and Annabeth are getting along, right?" Percy asked me as he took another spoonful of chocolate ice cream.

"Yeah," I nodded. Percy waited a minute, and I knew that this wasn't done yet though.

"That's good," Percy took another spoonful, "Is she with anyone?"

I looked up at him as if he were crazy, which I would vouch that he was. He didn't say anything though. Instead, he shrugged like he was just making conversation. I was only six, but I could tell that they were still head over heels for each other. They may-who am I kidding? They'll most likely never- tell each other how they feel though. Annabeth asked me the exact same thing last week.

"No, Percy. She's single. Take a chill pill," I ate some more ice cream.

"I was just wondering, Sarah," Percy shrugged as he looked at a picture of one of my favorite Olympic swimmers that I had taped to the wall.

Yeah, and I was just wondering if you were my birthparents…

"Well, are you?"

Percy knit his eyebrows in confusion.

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"I have too many girls in my life already to add another one," he smiled warmly. I didn't mean to smile, but I did. I liked being Daddy's only girl. I mean, I wanted him to be with someone who made him happy, but I was really happy like this.

I sat in my room, frowning. It was my six birthday, and I had been waiting forever for this moment. I was going to first grade, and I was one step closer to being able to join the swim team at my school. It was only for the best of the best, and you had to be in sixth grade to join. There are some times where they would take you early if you were really good, and I wanted to become the youngest person on the team. Of course, it wouldn't happen in first grade, but I was close. To be on the swim team was like the holy grail in my school. All sports teams are very exclusive, and I mean, insanely exclusive.

Even the little kids know that they want to be one of those athletes. You get every whim and desire you want just for being on there.

Birthdays don't seem to come fast enough so that I can be on that stupid team, but at least this one is over with.

My parents threw a big party. About four of my real friends were there, and the rest were their friend's kids. I barely knew anyone, and I hated it. My parents were downstairs talking to some of their friends, and I had come up stairs about an hour ago. My clock read eleven o' five, which was past my curfew even during the summer.

"Knock, knock," my dad's voice spoke through the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal my dad. He wasn't very tall. About five nine or so, and he always smelled like Calvin Clien cologne. He was blonde with bright brown eyes. He spoke perfectly, but he was born in Spain. My grandparents brought him here when he was nine. My grandmother always said that she just got tired of the shopping there and moved to New York to find something better, but the truth is that my grandfather got promoted to CEO in his company and had to move to the states. A bunch of the older kids at my school called him 'cute', but Nick Jonas was 'cute'. This is my dad.

"Why so frowny?" he smiled, and I couldn't help but notice how we looked nothing alike. I wish we did though. With how great my mom and dad look, I would have been beautiful, but I wasn't. I looked like whoever my real parents were.

I looked up at him as if to say that I really didn't want to talk about it. He didn't give in though. Instead, he sat down on my pink duvet beside me.

"Dad," I bit my lip, "Do you think we could not have a party next year?"

"Why, Sarah?" Dad asked.

"None of my friends were there," I sighed, looking back down at the hardwood floors.

"What are you talking about? There were plenty of people there," he didn't seem to get what I was trying to tell him.

"No, Daddy, your friends were there," I looked up into his brown eyes, and he seemed to understand this time.

He seemed to think this over. I didn't want to be mean about it or anything. I did have fun, but I wanted to have that fun with my friends, too. Dad smiled as he decided how to respond.

"I promise, Sarah, next year we will just be together as a family, or, if you want, we'll have a party and you can choose who can come," Daddy told me.

Or not.

This year wouldn't happen. They wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't hear my father sneak in some Spanish into sentences to help me learn it. Mom wouldn't give me a speech about how coke is really poison in a can. I wouldn't come downstairs after my mom went shopping to find bags and bags of pink things that I wanted to throw out of a window.

"Are you okay, Sarah?"

I hadn't noticed my eyes were watering until Percy asked me that.

"Eric and Jill finally agreed to not throw me a party and just spend time together as a family on my birthday for this year if I could sing 'Happy Birthday' in Spanish. I spent all summer studying, and…" I bit my lip to stop the tears, "It'll never happen."

Percy wrapped his arms around me, and I cried into his tee shirt. Percy didn't say anything. He knew not to. It would only make me worse. Percy kissed the top of my head, and I started to wish Annabeth was here. They really are perfect for each other, even if they will never admit to it.

"Percy," I looked up at him, "Why did you and Annabeth break up?"

That one seemed to catch him off guard. I could tell he was thinking up a lie.

"Well, it was a lot of things," Percy answered, and I knit my eyebrows as if to tell him to keep going.

"For one thing, we lived in separate states. She was in Boston, and I was in New York. Her mom hated me and my dad, and my dad didn't get along with Annabeth's mom well either. We had been through a lot together, and that put some strain us. We were also really young. The two of us are so different, and we had been fighting a lot with the stress of school and everything," Percy stared off into space as if he regretted something. I didn't know what it was though.

"She misses you," I took a leap of faith and told him.

"I miss her, too," Percy sounded distant like he was thinking of something else.