Percy

Five months goes by slow. I visit once a week, and when I do I have to listen to Becca whine about not drinking or smoking, missing coffee and energy drinks, and most of all her precious smartphone. I know she's full of it though, anytime her friends come over for a party she parties it up with the rest of them. Because of this, after a few weeks I tell her to pack her bags and I move her from Montauk to Tybee Island with Lassa. Neither of them are particularly happy with the arrangement, but Lassa's willing to protect Luke and I don't really give Becca a choice. Lassa's family is happy to help me out, too. Still, I fly her back to New York and go with her into the city for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with her family, and I have to wear a suit to all 3 parties. Thankfully the one Tyson made me feels almost as comfortable as my normal clothes. Things between her and her parents are tense, but they seem to like me well enough, thanking me for stopping their daughter from getting an abortion. Her Dad brings up us getting married more than once, and asks why she's living in Tybee Island, but I just tell him if he wants to know why he can ask Becca. I don't feel like explaining she tricked me by pretending to be Annabeth and that technically I'm still married, even if I don't know if I'll ever see my wife again. I start to wonder if Luke will ever get here or if the second coming will happen first. Until finally, two weeks away from the due date in June, It happens. I'm practicing a new trick on my skateboard and get an Iris Message from Becca.

"Percy!" She yells to get my attention. I look up and see she looks panicked.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

"No! My water Broke and I'm going into labor!"

"Are you sure?" I ask. She rolls her eyes.

"Actually, maybe I just thought I felt it, YES I'M SURE- Oh-" She groans and bends over.

"Don't panic. Get ready best you can, I'll be there soon with Will." I say and cut off the connection. Then I concentrate hard and reach out to Blackjack. A few moments later, he lands in front of me.

Hey Boss! Someone call a horse?

"Baby's coming. We need to get back to Camp Half Blood and get Will, then get to Tybee Island." I say and hop on.

Got it, Boss. Top speed, coming up. But after…

"I'll buy you a whole box of donuts. Any chance you can do that teleporting thing?"

Not with a rider. Sorry. But It'll still be fast.

A few minutes later of me holding on to Blackjack's mane for dear life and We get to Camp Half Blood. I run to get Will, and we both get on Blackjack's back and hold on for dear life and get to Georgia, all in less than an hour. I hear Becca screaming when we land and rush inside.

"Oh thank the gods you're here." She says when she sees us. "I thought this was supposed to take hours. But I think it's almost over."

"Her contractions are only a minute or so apart!" Lassa tells us, letting Becca squeeze her hand. "My parents took my brothers out on the boat today, and haven't gotten back yet. I've done everything I know to do. She's on clean linens, I helped her in her birthing gown, I boiled some water and added salt to it to wash the baby when it comes, and like I said, I'm timing the contractions."

"You did good, Lassa. You can go ahead and head out. I've got it from here." She nods and runs out of the room. "Becca, she's right about the timing." Will says and he kneels at the foot of the bed. "This isn't going to be normal, and It's going to hurt. I can't change that. But it's going to be fast."

"How do you know?" She grunts.

"I called in a favor with Artemis when you first got pregnant." I explain. "She's the goddess of childbirth. When I grab your hand, he's going to come. So just tell me when you're ready, and when I do, push." I tell her. She nods.

"Drink one more thing of Nectar before you do, just in case." Will instructs. She grabs the cup off the nightstand and takes a couple sips.

"On three." She says. "One. Two. Three!" I waffle our hands and she screams as she pushes the baby out. A few seconds later I hear Lukas crying, the most beautiful sound in the world. Letting go of Becca's hand, I rush over to Will.

"He's perfect, Percy. 10 fingers and toes, a mouth, nose, two ears and eyes." Will says. "Becca, you'd better drink one more thing of nectar before I cut the cord in a few minutes. It'll fix any damage done to your body during the birth. Take a shower, and it'll be like it never happened."

"Yeah." I say as I gently guide the salt water over my son's body, cleaning him up. "It's up to you whatever you want to do. I'm sure Lassa's parents will let you stay a little while longer, or I'll help you pack up and go home."

"Do you need any help getting Luke back to New York?" Will asks.

"No. I'll hold him while we take a nice leisurely ride on Blackjack back to my apartment. My mom's already there setting everything up in the nursery."

"No." Becca says, making me look at her.

"What?"

"No. I know it's not what we planned on, but I changed my mind. I want custody of Lukas."

….

An hour later, Becca's cleaned up and like Will said, you can hardly tell she was ever even pregnant. Luke's clean, fed, and napping. Will and Lassa agree to hold him for a while and take him outside while me and Becca talk.

"You want custody?" I ask. "The last five months you've done nothing but complain about being pregnant, wanting it to be over. It is now. You said at the beginning you wanted nothing to do with Lukas, to the point you were going to kill him to not have to deal with it! And would have if I hadn't stopped you!" I say, trying to keep from yelling. Becca rolls her eyes.

"An abortion isn't killing, Percy. It's not alive yet in the womb." She tells me. I feel anger coursing through my body at her words and try to reign it in. Not alive? My precious baby with Annabeth wasn't alive? I saw him on the ultrasound, I heard his little heart beating. When Annabeth left me, I didn't think I'd ever have a chance to be a father again. Now I do. "I'm his mother, Percy. He's going home with me."

"You can't be serious. You have no idea how to take care of a baby!"

"And you do?"

"Yeah! I'm sure there's still a lot I don't know but I'm more ready than you are."

"Percy I've given up a lot in the last five months, followed all your rules-"

"Like Hades you have. Anytime your friends came up you drank, smoked, and partied it up with the rest of them! That's why you had to move here so my sister could keep an eye on you!"

"But it's fine. The nectar and ambrosia fixed anything that would have been wrong with him, and thanks to Lassa I have been following your rules for the last 4 months."

"Maybe so, but you were still willing to risk something going wrong!"

"Don't make me take this to court, Percy. I'll let you come over and see him anytime you want. But my family has money, you're a fireman, your mother is a struggling author, and your stepdad is a teacher. You can't afford to fight the custody battle." I grind my teeth together and let out a dark laugh. Somehow, she's forgetting about the other side of my family.

"He's going home with me. You want to fight for custody, be my guest to try. Let me know when to show up at court, but you're not getting him until a judge pries him out of my arms." I say then walk out and slam the door behind me, take my son from Will, call another Pegasus to take him home and hop on Blackjack and head home with Luke.

End of Part V