Sunday

The next day, the sky was gray and the air was cool. It whipped my long hair behind me and across my face so I was constantly squinting and tucking it behind my ears. Percy had come over at nine and woke me up by simply standing over me until I opened my eyes and screamed. Then he let me get dressed and made me promise to spend the entire day with him. I tugged on a pair of old worn out, holey blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt advertising the coffee shop I worked at two years ago. I barely had time to dig Winnifred out of the pile of blankets at the foot of my bed before Percy shoved me out the door.

We walked slowly across the grass at the park; Percy was holding Winnifred and playing with her absently, probably as a distraction from whatever was wrong with him. And something was definitely wrong. He wasn't his usual self and it was really bothering me. Beside the fact that he was just downright depressing me with his overly calm and passive attitude, but he wasn't offering over what the problem was, and that hurt.

There weren't very many people playing at the park. A few kids on the jungle gym and in the sandbox. An elderly couple sitting on a bench and throwing bread crumbs at nonexistent pigeons. A mother and a father reclining in the grass and watching their children running and squealing around the playground. These were things that Percy usually commented on. He always loved to people watch, and try to decipher what was going on in their heads and in their lives just by their body language. It had always excited him, but that day he wasn't saying anything. He just stared down at the fake baby in his arms and walked slowly beside me, almost as if he was oblivious to my presence.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I veered toward the swing set, hoping to catch his attention. Percy veered with me, not really acknowledging the fact that we veered, but veering just the same. I sat on a swing, and he took his place in the one beside me, rocking slowly and still focused on the doll. I studied his profile carefully; he wasn't smiling but he wasn't frowning. His expression was vacant and somehow that told me he wasn't really focused on the doll. I had had my suspicions from the beginning, but the faraway look in his eyes confirmed it.

"Quarter for your thoughts?" I said casually. He looked up and cocked an eyebrow.

"It's a penny."

"I think you're worth more than a penny." I said with a shrug. That made him smile and he looked back at Winnifred.

"I'm just tired." He said slowly, expressionlessly, as if it was simply a programmed response. I knew he was covering up something, but I also got the feeling that it wasn't time for me to pry any deeper.

I reached over and put my hand on his back, "It's okay, Percy."

He shut his eyes briefly, squeezing them closed tightly. I knew he was holding back something, some overwhelming emotion that he didn't want me to see just yet. I rubbed his back slowly and eventually he opened his eyes and looked at me and smiled.

He just looked at me for the longest time. His eyes flickering over my face every few seconds.

"You look really pretty today." He said softly, slowly. Like he wasn't sure how I would take what he was saying, or maybe he wasn't even sure how he meant it. It didn't matter how he meant it though, not to me. Because it was all I needed to make my day.

I smiled and cleared my throat, "Yea well I always look my best when I get three hours of sleep and don't wear makeup."

"You only got three hours of sleep?" Percy asked, furrowing his brow with concern.

"Mhm, being a single parent is harder than it looks on The Nanny."

"You're not a single parent!" Percy shouted, completely insulted with the insinuation that he was no help. I shrugged.

"Face it, Jackson, you're a dead beat dad." I joked. Percy didn't respond. Instead his face fell a little and he looked at the doll in his hands. My smile quickly slipped from my face and I stared at him, wondering what had made him so sad so suddenly.

"Percy? I'm sorry." I said. Percy shook his head slowly.

"For what?" His voice held very little emotion, but the tiny bit it did show, was desperate and sad. It made my stomach flip and my eyes burn.

"For whatever I said that made you sad." I whispered helplessly. I absolutely hated seeing him this way. I know no one ever likes to see their best friend's sad, but there really, truly is nothing else in the entire world that I hate more than Percy Jackson's sadness. Someone so amazing doesn't deserve to feel that way, ever.

He looked up at me, then back to Winnifred. He brushed a hand over the doll's tiny face and sighed, "I don't wanna be like that." He said softly. I cocked my head to the side and leaned forward.

"Like what, Percy?"

"Like..." He stopped, his mouth poised mid-word, and gently hugged the doll to his chest. He held it for a few silent minutes, his eyes closed and a very indescribable look on his face. Then he opened them and set the doll in his lap. He looked up and across the park at the children playing, "Never mind."

A little piece of me died inside. Something was horribly wrong with Percy and he wouldn't tell me what it was. I couldn't help but feel guilty for some reason. Like I had done something to make him think he couldn't open up to me anymore, to make him think I would judge him or something. I opened my mouth to beg him to reconsider finishing his thought when little Winnifred erupted in loud, choking sobs. Percy jumped and looked at the doll in his lap.

"What does she want?" He laughed and glanced at me. He sounded strangely nervous and much too concerned about the doll's well being. I took a second to recover from the heart wrenching feeling that had recently washed over me before answering.

"She's hungry."

"Well, here's my chance to go against my nature, eh?" He said with a forced laugh. I didn't read very far into his response, but only because I didn't know where to begin trying. It was like he was speaking a different language and all of my intuition was lost in translation.

Percy looked over at me expectantly, "Can I feed her?" He asked slowly when I didn't immediately respond. I gasped and patted the pocket of my sweatshirt.

"Shit I didn't bring her bottle!"

Percy broke into a grin and laughed. He stood up, pulling me with him and wrapped me in a tight hug, leaving the doll resting on the swing; for the moment forgotten. The hug lasted a long time. It was very, very welcome, and it gave me a serene sort of feeling that everything would be okay. When Percy pulled away he laughed and reached for Winnifred.

"Come on, Soph." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a half squeeze as we started walking; but as we reached the edge of the park, his arm slipped down and I felt a sudden and thrilling shiver rip through me as his fingers entwined themselves with mine. I smiled to myself and began singing the theme song to The Nanny.

Friday

The entire week went exactly the same. Percy was constantly in my company. He came to my house in the morning before school, he stayed over after school until very late, and he wouldn't let little Winnifred out of his sight. And he was still vaguely sad. He wouldn't outright tell me anything was wrong, but I could feel it, and I could see it in his eyes. It was killing me.

That morning, Percy was hovering over my shoulder as I gathered my school stuff and tried to dress Winnifred. It was the end of the project and we had to turn her in today for "inspection". The teacher would hook her up to a computer and she would tell her how we treated her. I was hoping she forgot about the time I dropped her down the stairs.

"You can't dress her in that." Percy scoffed from behind me. I sighed and turned around.

"Why not? What's wrong with it?" I looked down at the blue dress I was slipping her into and back to Percy. He groaned and pushed me aside to remove the dress.

"Its ugly. And this is her last day alive, she has to look perfect." He sounded extremely worried about the doll. I stared at him as he dug through the pile of baby clothes we had scrounged up for the duration of the project.

"It's a doll, Percy. It doesn't care."

"I know it's a doll, Sophia." He growled over his shoulder, "But I care." He finished putting her into a light yellow jumper and smiled. "There, beautiful."

"Sometimes I wonder if you're all there upstairs." I reached around him and picked up the bottle, tapping on the side of his head as I did so. He just shot me a glare and leaned down to pick up his backpack.

"So sue me for taking this seriously." He said bitterly. I stopped stuffing baby accessories into my bag.

"Don't you think you're taking it a little too seriously? It's just a class project, it's not real."

"That doesn't make it less important." He reasoned tiredly, "I mean, this is supposed to be like practice for our future. If I fucked this up then...I don't wanna fuck up in real life, Soph. Not with something as special as my own daughter."

I stared at him thoughtfully. I didn't understand why this doll meant so much to him all of the sudden. Why was he making such a big deal out of this pretend child we had? Out of being a father? It was so unlike Percy to take anything school related, besides soccer, so seriously. But as freaky as it was, it was also very sweet.

I looked down at the doll, away from the slightly sad and pleading look Percy was giving me. She did look cute in her little yellow jumper. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"You're right, that looks much better than the blue one." I said, picking her up, "She looks beautiful."

Percy smiled widely and stepped toward me. He reached out and touched the doll affectionately, "Beautiful like her mother." He said softly. My eyes flicked immediately to his face, meeting his in an awkward lock as he realized how weird that must've sounded. I wanted to, tried to, say something, but all that came out was an embarrassing crack as my suddenly dry throat attempted to press sound through. Percy wasted no time increasing the intensity of the bizarre moment as he dipped his head down to catch my lips in a brief, tender kiss. It was so quick and so careful, like a very first kiss in junior high. As if he didn't know what he was doing at all, which could very well have been the truth considering the circumstances. My eyes didn't have a chance to close, but as Percy drew back I saw his flicker open and he scanned my face for some kind of reaction. I just stared at him, my mouth hung open slightly and my eyes were wide with shock. Percy took my silent, stunned expression as a bad sign and immediately retreated back into himself. He shrunk away from me and turned toward the door.

"I'm sorry, Sophia." He mumbled and cleared his throat as he swung around the doorframe. I stood stock still and staring after him as I listened to him bound quickly down the stairs. All I could think about was the feeling of his lips against mine for the second time that week. And both times he had gotten weird about it. Although, I had to admit, this was much different from the first time. Percy had kissed me, seriously kissed me. It was shy and careful, but he wasn't just being a perverted goofball about it. It was a dead serious, teen-movie moment. And I fucking ruined it by being a stupid little girl.

"When I call your names, bring your child simulation to the front and I'll check it's memory database." The teacher stood at her desk and stared at us over the top of her glasses. I glanced at Percy, he was staring at the doll in his lap again as if it was a real baby that he had gotten attached to. We hadn't spoken a word to each other besides a casual, "ready for class?" or "do you have all the info for our budget and stuff?" It was a little unnerving, because even though I knew he had gotten the wrong impression by my reaction, I didn't know how to get back into the moment. I figured it was long gone and I had missed it.

"It's just a doll, Percy." I whispered carefully, knowing how he felt but knowing at the same time that it was just a doll. He would get over it, right?

"I know that." He sighed, "I just...I don't know, Soph, it was nice. Ya know? Being a father. It was kinda comforting, like I was needed. I liked the responsibility."

I smiled and shot a quick look over at Alex who was twitching with the anticipation of handing in the doll and ending the project. I laughed, "I think you're pretty much alone in that theory."

Percy shrugged, "Maybe." Then he nodded, "Yeah, I think so too."

I opened my mouth to console him, because he seemed to take that realization to heart, when our names were called. I looked up at the teacher then at Percy who hadn't moved.

"Percy, it's time." I said softly. He bit his lip and stood up slowly. We walked to the front of the room and he reluctantly handed the doll over to the teacher. She unbuttoned the back of its jumper and stuck the key into the small hole on its lower back. Percy sucked in a quick breath as she opened it up and plugged in the chord that transferred the memory information to her computer. She mused over the readings on the screen for a moment before smiling and making a checkmark in her book.

"Well done." She said as she unattached our baby from the computer. We turned around and headed back to our seats. Percy slumped down very low and began scribbling on his notebook.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He didn't look at me as he nodded. I sighed and reached over to pinch him.

"Ow! Sophia, what the fuck?" He hissed. I glared at him and shook my head.

"Stop lying to me, Percy, I know something is wrong with you." I scolded softly, "When this project started you were just as indifferent about it as me, but all the sudden you went all The Hand That Rocks The Cradle on me. It's a freaking doll, Percy. What gives?" I gave him the most meaningful look I could and he stared back at me, doing the best impression of incredulous disbelief I had ever seen. I made a pouty face at him, which made the corners of his mouth twitch upward, but he didn't crack. I groaned and flopped back in my seat, "Fine, play the fucking martyr. What-ev." I used my valley-girl voice and inwardly I grinned when I caught the snort from beside me.

"You're such a dork." Percy whispered, still not looking at me.

"Like I said, What. Ev."

"Like I said, ."

I gave him a slow, snotty look but said nothing. The teacher had clapped her hands abruptly to get our attention and was going on about how proud she was of some of us, while others had failed miserably and should never be allowed to reproduce. As I turned to the front, feigning paying attention, I could sense Percy's eyes on me, and it was all I could do not to look at him and mouth "I love you.