Sorry this took so long. It was like pulling teeth to get this chapter out of my brain, so I apologize if the end is a little droopy. Thank you to all the people who continue to support me. :)

oOo

Month Four

It 23was half past noon, and Percy and Annabeth found themselves sitting next to one another on the couch, adsorbed in their reading. In Percy's case, however, he only squinted at the page for a few moments at a time between switching positions and fetching snacks and unneeded bathroom breaks.

"Percy," Annabeth said, glancing up from her book after her husband's fourth trip to the kitchen in the last fifteen minutes.

The book in Percy's hand closed on his thumb. "…Yes?"

"I know you're ADHD and dyslexic, but you don't seem to be making any effort whatsoever reading that book."

"I'm on the second chapter," Percy argued proudly.

"At this rate, you might be halfway done by the time this kid graduates."

Instead of laughing at the wittiness like he was so inclined to do, Percy turned the page and stared harder at it. "I'm doing my best. I can only understand every other word in Latin, which is not entirely helpful. This book could be talking about mechanics and I wouldn't realize it."

Annabeth lowered the book in front of her and knit her eyebrows. "You do know there is the audiobook of it on the back page, don't you?"

"I'm not going to sit in our room and listen to a monotone voice talking about fetuses."

An amused smile stretched across Annabeth's face, and she shrugged a shoulder. "You got me there. This book gets scarier the further you get into it."

"'You're going to gain two hundred pounds and get super ugly,'" Percy pretended to read from his book, and gasped dramatically.

Annabeth, who had her legs across Percy's lap, kicked him. "It doesn't say that anywhere in the book," she said, but then put her hand to her gut with a sour expression, "though I have gained almost ten pounds."

"It's all baby." Percy patted her knee comfortingly. "Don't worry."

"It's not, though." Showing him the page with one hand, Annabeth reached over and took the rest of Percy's donut from his grasp with her other. "It says here the baby isn't even half a foot long. That seems so tiny; it's been sitting inside me for months, you would've thought it would be bigger."

Percy, though he'd tried paying attention to Annabeth as she talked, was concentrating heavily on deciphering the next paragraph. "It also says you're going to start eating a lot more."

Annabeth froze, the stolen donut halfway to her mouth. "What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

They read for another few minutes.

After some time passed, Percy looked up from his book. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah."

"When are you planning on going to see the doctor?"

Annabeth slowly closed the book in her lap, frowning at it in thought.

"Because this book says you should've had your first checkup a while ago. When we were in New York last week Mom offered to take you and you declined. Is there something you're afraid of?"

Obviously trying not to look upset, she pulled her knees to her chest and put her forehead against them. "…I don't know. Maybe there is."

"Would you consider going in today?" Percy asked cautiously. "As a birthday present to me?"

"Your birthday was yesterday," Annabeth tried to reason, but there was laughter in her own voice.

"We might be able to find out if it's a boy or a girl. That'd be reason for another party, don't you think?"

"No more parties." She wiped her nose. "Our house always smells like cake and wine afterwards and it's terrible."

"I thought you liked cake and wine."

"Not when I'm pregnant." With a frowny expression, Annabeth drew her arms from her chest and wrapped them around her abdomen. "The pictures of fetal alcohol syndrome are terrifying. I should never have had that drink on my birthday."

Percy stretched his arms out across the top of the couch, abandoning the book in his lap. "You didn't have that much. The baby will be fine, hon, but you're avoiding the subject."

"Getting an ultrasound will make it final," Annabeth said while staring down at herself. "No turning back. We'll know the gender and the due date and we'll hear its heartbeat."

"Didn't we already had a due date?"

"I made that up. I know it's due sometime near January, but everyone kept asking all those questions and it was just easier if I gave them a certain date. Sorry."

Percy frowned, but shook it off a second later. "At any rate, you should really go in, just because if something was wrong now the doctors would probably be able to fix it before it got worse. If we waited any longer, something bad could happen."

Annabeth said nothing.

"What if it's one of those cases where an alien secretly impregnated you and if we wait any longer it'll violently rip its way out of your mutilated uterus and exterminate the whole human race?"

"You've been watching too many science fiction movies," Annabeth replied, rolling her eyes, but there was a defeated lift to the corner of her mouth. "If you want me to go that bad, Perce, I'll go."

"…You're not fighting me on this?" It took a second, but he managed to pry his wife's arms from around her legs and pull them back across his lap. "Thank Zeus you're finally coming to your senses. On our way across town we should buy a frame to display the ultrasound in, because there's no way I'm not framing it."

The tiny smile on Annabeth's mouth grew wider, and her grey eyes sparkled. "Listen to you…using big words like ultrasound. Maybe you did read some of that book after all." Without waiting for a response, she wrestled her way out of Percy's grip to stand. Both of her hands automatically went down to her abdomen, which was visibly swollen. "I'd better get dressed, then."

"Wait. Hold on." Percy, who was still sitting on the couch, grabbed her wrist and turned her so he could see her profile. Knowing Annabeth stopped slapping his hand away long ago, he reached his hand out and spread it on the rise of her stomach.

"I know I say this every day," he said quietly after a few seconds, "but I'm proud of you. I know it was a hard decision for you to make, and it's cost you, but it'll be fine. I know it will be wonderful."

In response, Annabeth stepped closer and ran her fingers through her husband's hair. "It already is wonderful. I know I complain a lot, but I really am happy. It's just weird sometimes, when it feels like just yesterday we were twelve and hated each other."

"Don't remind me," Percy laughed, and he stood up with her. "I wouldn't change a thing, though. Everything that's happened to us in the past brought us to right here, right now. That may be the only reason I'm glad we were in all those Great Prophecies."

"I hope to all the gods there's not another one any time soon. Could you imagine the Fates picking on us again?"

"Count me out." He kissed her. "Come on. Let's get going so we can make it back before dinner."

Fifteen minutes later, Percy and Annabeth were back in their living room doing last-minute checks before heading out.

"You didn't leave the stove on, did you?" Annabeth called unnecessarily as she poked her head into the kitchen. "Being homeless would be the last thing we needed."

"The stove hasn't been on since lunch. I'm not that irresponsible. Hey, do you know where I put my wallet?"

Though she tried not to, Annabeth snorted at him. "Just because your irresponsibility doesn't burn our house down, doesn't mean you aren't irresponsible. Check the pocket of your blue sweatshirt on the coatrack. You wore that last night when-"

Quicker than the incredulous expression came, it was replaced by astonishment. Annabeth sucked in slowly, body frozen like she couldn't or didn't want to move a muscle.

Percy, who'd just pulled the wallet from his sweatshirt, paused and turned to look at the other demigod. "Annabeth?" he asked, eyebrows knitting in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I…" she breathed, twitching a hand towards her stomach. "It just…"

Nearly vaulting over the couch to get to her, Percy stumbled across the room to grab her hands. "What? What's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Shush, will you?" Wearing an expression that was both shocked and awed, Annabeth smacked her husband's grasp away and resumed her frozen posture. "I'm trying to…to…"

The nerves going haywire in Percy made it nearly impossible for him to "shush," but he managed to be as motionless as she was up until she spoke next.

"That was really weird," Annabeth said after a while, looking up and patting her shirt. "I think it…stretched. Or something."

"Stretched? What're you talking about? What's 'it'?" Percy's eyes narrowed. "Do I want to know?"

Although her eyes were still a little startled, Annabeth's mouth was stretched into a smile. "Well, I don't know if it'll do it again, but…" She took Percy's hand, led it under the hem of her T-shirt, and pressed it right under her naval.

Percy knew what she was doing, but he let himself be thrilled quietly and waited for it to happen again.

They both remained like that for a good ten minutes, standing immobile in their living room until there it was; it was barely anything, weak with immaturity but still there.

A laugh stumbled out of Percy's throat. "I'll bet she's fighting monsters in her sleep."

"Don't say that," Annabeth chided. "There's no way I'm letting any child of mine be in that kind of danger."

"I'm not trying to be contrary, but you started fighting monsters when you were seven."

"Because I ran away from an unloving family, and it nearly killed me more times than I could ever count."

"You're so cute." Percy tapped Annabeth's nose affectionately and picked his wallet up from the floor. "No more dallying, just in case there's a wait."

With that, the two demigods left their apartment out on the streets of New Rome once more.

On their long trek across the city, they were mostly quiet. All Percy could think about was the baby, but he was still a little nervous talking about it with Annabeth. It was one of those things that she had to instigate and give permission for them to talk about. Percy didn't mind much; sometimes the pregnancy even slipped his mind for a bit, just because life carried on exactly as it had before. Only once or twice a day they really touched the matter.

"I'm really glad this place hasn't lost touch completely with the modern world," Annabeth said after a long period of silence, admiring the buildings around them. "I respect that most New Romans prefer healers over doctors, but it's comforting to have doctors nearby during this."

"Even if they're practically quarantined at the edge of the border," joked Percy back, but it wasn't entirely a joke.

Most of the more modern works in New Rome were clustered to the far east of New Rome, where places like the doctors and appliance stores resided. Though incredibly inconvenient, the demigods were grateful they were there at all.

On the outside, the doctor's office was painted a dark blue with pots of wildly-growing flowers out front, but on the inside it was just like being in an office back in the modern world. Fans whirred on spotless white ceilings, ivies stood on tables in corners, identical chairs were pushed up against the walls, and a receptionist sat behind a wooden desk in the back.

It took a bit to sign in, but not much later after, Percy and Annabeth were sitting in the identical chairs waiting to be called back. Because of the nature of the appointment, the receptionist gave her a bottle and told her to drink as much water as she could.

They sat together in silence for a good ten minutes, Annabeth drinking bottle after bottle.

"If being refreshingly modern wasn't a good enough perk," Percy began, continuing from their earlier conversation and pretending not to notice how much his wife's hands were shaking, "something other doctor's offices have that this one doesn't is a long line."

Annabeth nodded slightly in agreement, draining her fourth bottle. "I guess people don't see doctors as entirely necessary unless they're seriously injured or pregnant. Hm. I wonder how that affects the job market around here." Her eyes narrowed and focused in the distance. "I have to use the restroom."

"Annabeth Chase?"

The demigods glanced up and saw a nurse standing in the doorway next to the far desk.

Annabeth made a frightened noise in the back of her throat, but when Percy looked over at her, her face was nearly emotionless.

"Relax," the other demigod said, standing and offering out his hand. "It'll be fine. Come on, now."

Reluctantly, Annabeth stood with her husband and swallowed. "Don't rush me." She took a deep breath and lifted her chin a little. "Right. It'll be fine." She took Percy's hand and squeezed it very tightly, and then they followed the nurse back into the hallway.

After getting home, a strange aura fell upon the apartment. Although Percy himself felt fine, he could feel waves of anxiety flowing from Annabeth, who was at the dining table on her laptop. Her fingers typed and clicked rapidly on the keyboard, but every few minutes, she'd huff a distracted breath and violently smash what was probably the backspace button.

Percy knew those moods of hers that she often got herself into; most of the time he minded his own business until she got out of it or wanted his attention. However, as he lay there on the couch, bare feet pointing up at the ceiling, he felt like he shouldn't wait that one out.

Looking up from his book, Percy tried whistling casually between his teeth. "Is there anything in particular that you want for dinner tonight?"

The typing noise from Annabeth's laptop stopped. "…I don't have much of an appetite, thank you." After another second of silence, she turned her head around to look at him with distracted eyes. "What are you reading?"

Percy held the Latin baby book up for her to see the cover. Instead of turning back around like he'd expected, Annabeth smiled a small smile and stood up from the table.

"I've always loved that about you," she said, joining him on the couch. "Despite your horrendous attention span, you'll always be dependable and do what you need to no matter how much it sucks. That book is seriously boring."

Her warm, reassuring company pressed against Percy's body in the best way. He could feel her stress, but how she let her words wash around it like water over a rock in the river. That's what he had always loved about her.

Percy put the book on the coffee table and pulled Annabeth into his arms. They lay wrapped up in each other on the couch for several minutes, her fitting perfectly into the curve of his chest and their legs almost reaching the other sofa arm.

"We should do this more often," Percy inhaled sweet-smelling blond hair, twisting it around his fingers.

In response, Annabeth adjusted her head on his collarbone and sighed. "I guess I should say sorry for treating you like you were disposable the past few months. It's just th—"

"You don't have to apologize. I'm used to you being crazy."

She smiled against Percy's shirt. "Crazy, hm? More like crazy for not being more excited about this whole thing."

When she said that, Percy frowned and lifted his head slightly. "You're really still not excited?"

"No, I am," Annabeth clarified quickly. "I am excited. Most of the blind terror is gone now, but it's still hard to wrap my head around, you know? Everything feels like something I'm reading in a book, like it doesn't quite apply to me yet. I'm sure it'll hit me in a few months, but right now, my mind just doesn't want to take anything seriously. I'm excited, but it's still clouded a little by disbelief."

Although he understood where she was coming from, Percy wanted to ease her mind. He was excited; he couldn't wait to be a dad, and to experience a completely new section of life with the two people he loved most in the world.

"There isn't much to do other than wait, is there?" Percy commented. "Life just goes on, whether we're ready or not."

Another long pause settled over the two demigods. The setting sun burned purple into their apartment through the window. It tickled the drawn curtains and the strawberry plant on the windowsill as the night finally closed in on the city of New Rome.

The only sound for a long time was the monotone ticking of the clock. That is, until Percy began laughing to himself.

Annabeth slowly propped herself up on her boyfriend's chest. "What're you laughing at?" she asked.

"This is the first time I've forgotten about our anniversary in years," Percy answered, already preparing himself for the coming admonishment. "I'm surprised you haven't mentioned it to me yet."

A crease appeared between the other demigod's eyebrows. "Our anniversary. You're right, it was yesterday, wasn't it?"

"You're not upset that I didn't get you anything or take you out?"

"Perce." Annabeth slid her arms up and bent down so their faces were barely inches apart. "Even though she was an accident, you've already given me the best gift I could've asked for."

It was impossible not to kiss her.

Percy pulled her body against his, drawing his hands lightly up her arms to feel her shiver. They met gently, but the pounding blood heated the situation with feverish energy within seconds.

He wanted to cave in to that fever, but he couldn't.

"…Is it just me," Percy chuckled against Annabeth's shoulder, "or do you feel like we shouldn't do this in front of the baby?"

Annabeth laughed too, an uninhibited sound of happiness and tease, and she touched her finger to a tender spot on her lip. "If you want to talk technical, the baby barely has a brain yet. She is nothing more than a little extension of myself right now."

"Of course." Although Percy didn't argue, he knew like the next few months were going to be hard if every time he and Annabeth kissed it felt like they were being watched.

Letting out a small exasperated sound, Annabeth scooted off of the other demigod and stood. "How about I make dinner tonight?" she suggested. A smile that always made Percy's heart go ka-thump crept onto her face.

Percy stood, too. He saw his whole world standing in a pair of pajamas in front of him, grinning

and tucking her arms around her swollen stomach. He smiled, too. "Whatever you say, my lady."