Back from my first camp. Got chapter 8 out. Doing well.

The next morning, Annabeth woke up cuddling with Percy. His arm was wrapped around her waist. She turned in his arms to look at his peaceful face. Annabeth liked watching how his expression was always relaxed and peaceful looking when he was asleep. Free of all the stress that he had now as an adult in the military and running the A2 business. She had a feeling that Percy could use more of a rest than he allowed himself. She put that on a mental list of hers. She planned to tell him to give himself more time to rest and relax. She wanted him home more often anyways.

That reminded her. Annabeth had to tell Percy about their child by three o'clock or Leo would. As much as Annabeth would've preferred for Percy to hear about him much later, she had no choice. Annabeth did not want Leo to be the one to tell Percy about the child Percy and Annabeth had together.

Percy stirred. His eyes fluttered open and he gave Annabeth a sleepy smile. She gave him one back. He shifted and sat up. He bent over, gave Annabeth a light kiss, then jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. Annabeth slumped down in the bed once he had shut the door. The weight of the thought of having to tell Percy about their child was almost painful for her. But she knew she had to do it.

When Percy came out of the bathroom he had jeans on and no shirt. He came over and sat by Annabeth again. He studied her face for a second then asked, "What's on your mind?"

Annabeth looked over at him in surprise. He shrugged and said, "You look troubled."

"Yeah. I guess I am. Listen, I need to tell you something important." Annabeth said, her heartbeat increasing.

"Alright." Percy said easily. He leaned back against the headboard.

Annabeth took a deep breath and started. "Do you remember the woman with me when the jet landed?"

Percy frowned. He seemed to be thinking back to that time. Finally he replied, "Yeah, I think so. The one with a kid?"

Annabeth sighed. That seemed to be what made her memorable to any bystander - the child that she had been holding. But nonetheless, Annabeth replied, "Yes. That's the one! Do you remember any features or anything about her?"

Again, Percy seemed to have to really think about it. Then he slowly nodded and said, "She was glaring at the jet the entire time and she had blonde hair."

Annabeth nodded and said, "Yes. That's true. That was my mother." Annabeth paused for Percy to comprehend what she had just said.

"What?" Percy nearly shouted.

"That was my mother Athena."

"I know who your mother is. Why did she have a kid? Why was she there? What did the jet do to piss her off?" Percy fired off questions. Briefly Annabeth was reminded of Rachel's style of questioning. It was very similar to what Percy had just demonstrated.

"She was there to be with me and I believe she wanted to speak with you, but you took off too quickly. The jet didn't do anything to anger her, I have reasons to think that it was certain people in the jet that she was glaring at," Annabeth explained.

Annabeth knew she was skirting around the important question. She was still nervous about Percy's reaction to the fact that they had a child. She was anticipating anger for sure. She wasn't sure what else might come with it though. She therefore wanted to avoid having to say it outright as long as she could. She didn't exactly have that much time because Percy was more perceptive now.

"Okay. Why do you think that certain people in the jet 'angered' Athena? Or I should ask which people in the jet was she angry at?"

"You for sure. She might have something against other people in there as well, but I know you were definitely one of them."

Percy sighed and said, "Of course. I expected that. So what did I do that Athena is upset at me again. And what about the kid she had?"

There he goes with his rapid fire questions again. That was something that Annabeth didn't particularly want him to pick up from Rachel. If it had been painting or something, that would have been nice and helpful. But the rapid fire questions? Really?

"The child was a child. What's to question about him?"

"He didn't have blonde hair, so is it Athena's with a weird genetic code or what? I mean the hair was curly, so that could've been the Athena genes I guess."

"No. The child is not Athena's."

Percy waited expecting Annabeth to continue with the explanation, but she was too nervous to. Her heartbeat felt like it was beating at twice its normal speed. Percy seemed to be able to sense this. He lowered himself down to her level, wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed lightly.

"Whose child is it?" Percy asked quietly and gently. He gave the sense of patience. He wasn't rushing her to tell him. He was willing to wait for her to compose herself so she was ready herself to speak again.

Finally she said in a shaking voice, "Athena was mad because you impregnated me the night before you got the call and had to leave for that huge military mission that Leo called you out on. That child is ours."

Percy reaction was far from what Annabeth had predicted. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh."

Annabeth asked hesitantly, "Are you mad?"

Percy sat up and ran a hand through his hair. Annabeth sat up as well so she could see his expression. It seemed to just be one of complete shock. She figured that it would turn to anger soon, so she was wary.

Instead of answering her question, Percy just asked, "I'm a dad?"

Annabeth nodded. Percy sighed and said, "I don't know if I'm mad. I guess I'm upset that you didn't tell me, but better late than never right?"

Annabeth nodded again. She didn't quite believe him when he said he wasn't mad.

Percy then asked, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

For some reason that one question made Annabeth defensive. She raised her voice slightly as she said, "Well excuse me! You were participating in the most dangerous operation since WWII where they allowed no contact to the participants! I couldn't get word to you when I confirmed the pregnancy, when I found out the gender or when I went into labor! You were gone and I had no one!"

Percy still didn't get mad. This surprised Annabeth, but she was too pissed at him for making her the bad guy. Or at least that's what Annabeth felt he was doing. He said in a placid voice, "I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to sound accusatory. I know that my timing was horrible. I know that the military didn't allow any communication between the officers and the outside world. We only had communication face-to-face with others that were involved in the operation. I'm sorry you didn't have anyone. Did you at least have friends with you when all this happened?"

"Yes I had friends with me! But that is nothing when my husband is absent!"

"I know," Percy said. "I know friends don't make up for my not being there as your husband or the baby's father. I know my job takes me away with certain conditions all the time. If I could've, I would have pulled out once I found out. But I couldn't communicate with you so I had no way of knowing. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I didn't mean for this mission to take off right when I finished that operation."

Annabeth lapsed into silence. She knew that Percy meant what he said and had no control over where the military sends him. The only ounce of control over that operation that Percy had was an option to deny participating in it, but the offer was only given once and it was given about two months before Annabeth found out about her pregnancy. She knew there was no use blaming Percy for what he couldn't control. Annabeth just wanted to get rid of all the frustration that had been building up since Percy left and she found out she was carrying a child.

Annabeth was actually grateful that Percy wasn't angry with her for hiding something as big as a child. Of course, later on, Percy might let the news sink in more and get heated, but she hoped that she would be able to calm him down when it happens. Hopefully it would not be a huge rage. Granted he probably had somewhat of a right to be slightly upset. But Annabeth didn't think he had that much room to say that because everything that she had said to him was true. She couldn't contact him to tell him anything. She could have told him when he had first calmed down from the initial shock of her being a stowaway and all. They both had a small reason to be upset, but the majority of the things that they might get angry about were completely out of their control.

Percy broke her out of her thought train by wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her temple and tucked her head underneath his. He said quietly, "We're together now. When we get back, we'll have another member to our family to be with. Is Athena gonna incinerate me when we get back?"

Annabeth gave a little laugh and said, "I don't think so."

"Good. I love you."

"I love you too."

They sat in silence before Percy's phone began ringing. He looked over at it on the nightstand. The caller ID said 'Valdez' so Annabeth figured that meant Leo. She looked up at Percy who seemed to be glaring at the phone. She giggled and Percy looked down at her in mild surprise with a questioning face.

"What?"

Percy just shook his head with a small grin on his face. She looked up again and asked, "Are you going to answer your phone?"

Percy sighed and reached for it in turn squishing Annabeth between the bed and him. He grabbed it and answered it with an annoyed, "Hello?"

He put it on speakerphone as Leo said, "breakfast. So what are you thinking on your end?"

Percy thought then said looking at Annabeth, "I think we should go ahead and eat breakfast downstairs in that buffet area again. Might as well. Like we said, people would get suspicious if we never came down until checkout. There's probably people working here involved with what's his name."

Leo responded, "The guy's name was Jim according to the other guys, but I still think we should have gone with something else."

"Yeah whatever, Leo. Listen are the other guys in your room?" Percy asked.

"Yep. Nico's still asleep though."

"Well, nothing we can do about that. It is his room too. Me and Annabeth will be over in a bit." Percy said with a chuckle.

"Alright." Leo sighed on the other end of the phone.

"Tell the rest of the guys the plan for breakfast and don't wake Nico up." Percy ordered.

"Got it. See you two in a bit," Leo said then hung up.

Percy looked down at Annabeth again and said, "You're gonna have to change."

Annabeth and Percy both chuckled and Annabeth got up and changed on the spot right by the bed. When she turned around Percy's eyes were wide and he wasn't looking at her face. She walked over and put a finger beneath his chin and lightly lifted his head.

"Be careful where you look." As she turned to walk away, Percy wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in front of him.

"I'm being very careful." He said. She gave him a kiss on the lips and walked over to put her shoes on. He got off the bed and put his own shoes on and opened the door for Annabeth, following her out. He rang the doorbell to Leo and Nico's room.

Leo answered the door and welcomed them in. He said to Percy, "I did what you said to do. I told them what you suggested for breakfast and I didn't wake Nico up. That part wasn't hard though. He's a really deep sleeper. I just noticed that."

"Only certain things can wake him up." Percy agreed, nodding. He took out his phone and connected it to Nico's with a weird connector that connected the headphone jacks instead of power jacks. Percy scrolled through his own music and choose a dubstep one by Skrillex. Why he had Skrillex music on his phone, Annabeth had no clue. Except when it started playing at full volume, the music wasn't playing out loud. Annabeth could hear it faintly, but it wasn't coming from the speakers of Percy or Nico's phone.

Nico shot up a second after Percy had hit the play icon on his phone. He looked around to see all the men laughing and Annabeth just looking around confused. He kept fiddling with buttons on his watch making the men laugh harder. Annabeth just looked on trying to figure out what was going on. She figured it would be explained later, but she wanted to at least have some idea.

Finally Nico seemed to calm down. He wasn't pressing buttons frantically on his watch. He now had a holographic display projected from his watch it looked like. He went to a speaker icon quickly and a volume display came up. A simple mixer and a master volume. He completely muted it. Annabeth wondered what was playing the music. She thought it was some sort of earbud, but if it was, Nico should have just been able to take them out. Annabeth couldn't see any earbuds in his ears anyway, so she dismissed the thought.

When Nico had the volume muted, Annabeth could no longer faintly hear music. Nico looked at each of the men who had slowly calmed down from their laughing fits. Nico looked at them in turn then finally settled on glaring at Travis. Travis put his hands up in a surrendering gesture except he was still laughing slightly, so Nico was only infuriated. He tried to give Travis the death glare, but Travis wasn't focused enough to register it.

Percy disconnected his phone from Nico's and Nico turned on him. "It was you!"

Percy nodded, still chuckling. When the phones were disconnected and the connector placed back in Percy's pocket, his phone was blaring Bangarang. Percy stopped the song and pocketed his phone as well.

When Leo could speak again without breaking down and laughing, he asked, "Hey Percy? Why do you have Skrillex on your phone?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. Nico likes Bun Dum and I just got into some of their music. I've got maybe eight songs by them on my phone."

The men all chuckled and Frank said, "You always were and always will be an any type of music guy."

The men chuckled again and Percy raised an eyebrow and said, "I ask you, what is wrong with that?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. We're just commenting on how you don't really change in certain aspects." Nico said. "But was it really necessary to turn the volume all the way up on your phone? You know my volume is always full volume on my wire."

"Yeah I know. That's why I turned my phone's volume all the way up. It was dubstep calling for you to get your butt out of bed, get dressed, and start the day." Percy said.

Nico sighed, threw off the covers and walked to the bathroom in his boxers with his small bag. Annabeth covered her eyes when Nico threw the covers off. She didn't even check if he was wearing anything appropriate. She didn't trust him to.

When Annabeth heard the bathroom door close, she lowered her hands from her eyes to see all the men watching her with amused looks. Travis spoke first saying, "You know he wasn't nude right?"

"I wouldn't know because I covered my eyes before I saw what he was wearing." Annabeth said slightly defensively. Percy wrapped his arms around Annabeth's waist from behind. Annabeth couldn't see what his expression was because he was behind her, but from the reactions of the other men, she guessed his expression made them drop it. The men turned around and sat around in various places in the room.

Percy sat down on the bed Nico was sleeping on a minute ago, pulling Annabeth onto his lap. They all sat in silence which was impressive considering they were all ADHD except Frank. It also happened to be that Travis, Leo, and Percy's case of ADHD usually affected them more than other demigods because they had restless personalities even without it. But they managed to sit somewhat still and in silence for the ten minutes it took Nico to shower, brush his teeth and put clothes on.

When Nico came back out into the main room, he looked around with a strange look on his face. Then he said, "Who died?"

That was all it took for the other men to explode. They had been sitting in silence too long for their liking. They all started talking at once making it impossible to understand what any of them were saying. Nico just stood surveying the room with the five men talking over each other so no one could tell what they were saying and who was saying what. Nico's look conveyed some sort of amusement at the scene he was watching.

After attempting to figure out what any one of the men was saying, Annabeth gave up and tried to tell them to be quiet. That didn't work very well, so she turned around to Percy who was practically shouting at the others.

Annabeth said, "Percy?"

He stopped shouting at the rest of the guys and looked at Annabeth giving her his undivided attention. "Yes?"

"Would you mind telling everyone to shut up so we can go eat breakfast?" Annabeth asked sweetly.

Percy grinned and nodded. He shouted, "Guys! Shut it! No one cares! Nico get some shoes on. We're going down to breakfast. From Annabeth."

All the guys laughed at the last part and stood from wherever they had been sitting. Nico went over to his other suitcase, grabbed a pair of socks, and slipped them on. Then he ran over to his shoes at the foot of the bed Percy was sitting on. He pulled the shoes on and gave a thumbs up to the others in the room. Percy chuckled and finally stood, bringing Annabeth up with him. They all headed out the door and down the hall to breakfast. Theoretically this should make the spies less suspicious right? Nope.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed and expect less consistent updates for awhile.