Jesse
When Sunburn lands at Camp Half Blood, the Sun's starting to set. He nickers and nudges me, and I can tell he's trying to give some comfort.
"Thanks, Boy." I say and reach into my pocket to get a sugar cube. Before walking out. I can tell by the music there's a party going on at the Amphitheatre, probably because of the return of all my siblings. But I doubt Lassa will be there. Skyfall was in the stable so she's either at the beach, the lake, or in Cabin 3. I start walking to the cabins first, waving at friends along the way who are excited to see me back. Getting to Cabin three, I step through the open door and knock on the doorframe.
Lassa's sitting criss-cross in her bed writing in her journal. She looks up and I see she's been crying.
"Jesse?"
"Hey, Lass. I'm home." I say shyly. She gets out of bed and I close the distance between us in two long strides. She wraps her arms around my torso and buries her face in my shirt before pulling back just enough to let me kiss her.
She's happy to see me. She still wants to be with me.
"Lassa, I'm so sorry. For everything." I tell her. Wiping tears off her cheeks with my thumb.
"I was so worried, Jesse. I woke up in a hotel room all alone with a note from Hermes on the pillow, then I got back to camp and everyone else in cabin 11 was gone too. I didn't know where you were or if you were okay or if you were coming back. Then everyone else came back, and you didn't. No one knew why. I started to think you might have been killed."
"Hey, hey." I say, gently kissing her for a second before taking her hands and kissing her knuckles, then looking into her eyes again. She sniffs and wipes her face. "It's okay. I'm alright. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm sorry I'm such a mess." She says, and flicks her wrist. Water from the fountain comes over and washes her face, leaving it dry and clean. I laugh.
"Even without the face bath, you're not a mess, Lassa. You're beautiful." I tell her, and it's not an empty compliment. She really does look great. Her hair down with a strand braided back on either side to keep it out of her face, some white flowers stuck in it, just a touch of makeup, and a white sundress. She smells like Strawberries and Vanilla. "Seriously, Lassa, you really look beautiful."
"When all the other Hermes kids started getting back, I hoped you'd be back today too. I got dressed up in case."
"Well you did a good job. Thank you." I say and lean down to kiss her again, moving my hands to her hips. She presses into me and puts her hands in my hair. It feels so good to kiss her again, but something feels off. She's shaking. I pull back and look her in the eye.
"Lassa, what's wrong? You're shaking."
"I-I have to tell you something."
"What? What is it?"
"Something amazing." She says, tears falling and her forcing a smile at the same time. "I'm pregnant, Jesse."
Her words are soft and shaky, but are more than enough to completely flip my entire world upside down. I feel fear and joy both coursing through me like a tsunami. I want to react a dozen different ways, but I can see in Lassa's face and hear in her voice she was scared to tell me. So I push everything else aside, and put one hand on her stomach and the other behind her head and pull her into a deep kiss. When I pull back, I hold her face in both my hands.
"I know it's not how we planned it, but I've been thinking about having kids with you for years. There's nothing you could tell me that would make me happier than this." I say softly, my forehead pressed against hers. A sob breaks through her mouth and she falls forward, pressing her body as close into mine as she can.
"That's the best thing you could have said. I was so scared to tell you."
"I know. I know. Don't get me wrong, this scares me too. But It's a good thing. It's a gift." I tell her.
"What are we going to do?" She asks. I'm talking to your dad again.
"We'll worry about logistics later, Lassa. Right now, this is something we need to celebrate." I tell her. She pulls back and wipes her face.
"Sandbar picnic?" She asks. I smile and kiss her forehead.
"Sandbar picnic."
….
"Why don't you want to sail home with your family this year?" I ask as Lassa and I groom our Pegasi, getting ready to fly to Tybee Island. I take my free hand and feel the two rings in my pocket I had the Theia cabin make for me: two braided white gold bands, one with a round diamond centerstone and a small triangle sapphire on either side. "I thought it was a tradition."
"It is. But right now, I'm honestly just trying to avoid seeing them as long as I can. I don't know how to tell them." I put my brush down and walk over to her, putting one hand on her stomach and kissing her softly.
"I'll tell them, if you want." I say. She scoffs.
"My dad would personally dispatch you to Hades."
"He'd try. Other than Percy and Luke Castellan, I'm the best swordsman in a hundred years, right?" I smile at her. This time, she laughs.
"That sword doesn't work on mortals, remember?"
"Even so. I'm not afraid of your dad anymore, Lassa."
"Since when?"
"Since you told me you're pregnant. Lassa, look at me." I say and she meets my eyes. I lean forward and kiss her again.
"Lassa, I know we made a mistake. But that doesn't change the fact that this baby is the best thing that's ever happened to me, except maybe you coming into my life. I don't know how your parents are going to react, and it probably won't be good at first. But don't let that make you think for even a second this baby isn't a blessing. Understand?"
"Yeah. I understand." She says and wraps her arms around my torso, nestling her face into my sweatshirt. "I love you, Jesse."
"I love you too, Thalassa." I whisper. After a minute she pulls back, and I see she's wiping away tears. "Hey. Hey. It's going to be okay. As soon as we land, you talk with your mom. I'm going to talk with your dad."
"Shouldn't we tell them together?"
"No. We need to have a chat, man to man. Besides, I don't want him to hurt you."
"He'd never hurt me, Jesse. He's my dad."
"I'm not talking about physically. I know he'd never do that. But when he first hears this, it's probably going to make him angry. At me, not you. And I want to make sure he doesn't take it out on you by mistake. It could stress you out, and stress is bad for the baby. Let me handle this. Please?"
"O-okay. If you think that's best." She says.
I do. And besides that, I need to talk with him about marrying you again. And I can't do that with you standing there.
"I do. Now, C'mon. You can't avoid it forever." I say and we mount Skyfall and Sunburn, heading South towards Tybee.
….
We land in Tybee right as dusk hits. Seaver and River run up, each laughing and giving one of us a hug.
"I missed Y'all too!" Lassa Laughs as River lets go of me and runs to her.
"Jesse was here a couple days ago! He wouldn't tell us why!" River whines. Lassa looks over at me.
"What were you doing here a couple days ago?" She asks. "You came here before you came home to camp?"
"I needed to talk to your parents about something. I'll tell you later." I wink at her.
"Okay, weirdo." She shakes her head. "Boys, where are Mama and Daddy?"
"Mama's inside cooking your welcome home dinner." River tells her.
"Daddy's on his fishing boat by himself right now." Seaver says.
"Why's he alone?" Lassa asks.
"I dunno. He gave us and his crew the day off."
"Well, that works out well enough." I say and walk over, kissing Lassa on the cheek. "I'll go see him on the boat. You go talk to your mom."
"You sure? There's no witnesses on the boat." She teases me. I laugh.
"I'm sure. Love you." I say and walk over to Sunburn, stroking his flank before hopping back on.
"Love you too." Lassa tells me, then walks inside with her brothers. Sunburn neighs, and flaps his wings until we're in the sky. We fly over the coast for a while until we find the fishing boat, and I see Cass on the top deck untangling a net. Sunburn lands and I hop off, startling Cass.
"Need any help with that?" I ask. He stands up and walks over to me, shaking my hand.
"No. I'm good. Is Lassa back at the house now?"
"She is. We flew down together."
"So what are you doing on my boat?"
"I wanted to talk to you again." I tell him. He sighs and sits down.
"I like you, Jesse. I really do. But I'm not changing my answer. Wait until she's older, then by all means."
"Sir, I'm afraid I don't have that option anymore."
"What do you mean, you don't have that option?" He narrows his eyes, standing up.
"I mean I'm going to be marrying her soon, with or without your blessing. I just really would rather have it."
"With or without it? You really think Lassa would Marry you without my permission? Even if she would, she can't until she's 18."
"It wouldn't be hard to get around that. And I know for a fact she will. I don't want to have to get around anything, though, And I for sure don't want to put her in a position to go against you. Give me your blessing and we can avoid all that." I tell him. He lets out a scoff and sits down again, picking up a net to untangle it.
"Jesse James, I'll admit, you've got some stones to come on my boat by yourself and demand I give you my blessing to marry my daughter after I already said no. Now I've got half a mind to tell her she can't see you again until she's 18. You won't be going around me. She won't be disobeying me. You either wait until she's older or you don't marry her at all. That's final."
"No it's not." I say, He drops his net and looks up at me, and I can see He's just getting madder. I sigh. This isn't going well, I'm messing it up. He won't give it without knowing.
"What do you mean-"
"Lassa's Pregnant." I say. His eyes widen and he sits back, then goes over to the railing and grips it so tight his knuckles turn purple. "I didn't find out until yesterday. And We haven't been sneaking around sleeping together. It was one mistake that happened one time last month. I'm sor-" He cuts me off by swinging around and punching me in the face so hard it knocks me on my ass. Sunburn Neighs and rears, snorting. "Easy, Boy. Stand down." I tell him, then wipe the blood from my nose with my forearm. "That make you feel better?"
"Little bit, yeah." He growls. "I trusted you with my daughter, Jesse. How could you?"
"Clearly, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. But that's why I wanted to marry her now, even before she told me she's pregnant, to make it right. Or as right as I can anyways."
"She had a whole future in front of her. She graduated early, was going to UGA next month. You just ripped that from her." He tells me in a stern but quiet voice.
"Says who? So she has to wait to go to school, so what?" I say as I get up. "I'll do everything I can to make sure she still can chase any dream she wants to. Look, you can be angry with me all you want. I didn't protect her the way I'm supposed to, I get it. I'm pissed at myself too. But when we get back to that shore, You're going to be nothing but happy and supportive to your daughter. She was scared to death to tell Y'all. She needs to know you still love her."
"Of course I still love her! It's you I'm trying not to throttle right now, not Lassa!"
"Like I said, I get it. But back to the issue at hand. Are you going to give me your blessing to marry her, or not?" I ask. He growls, and rakes a hand through his hair.
"Fine. Yes. Part of me still wants to kill you right now, but now that I get the urgency, yes I'll give you my blessing." He says and I release a breath, my body relaxing.
"Thank you, Sir. I'll be getting back to shore now. See you soon." I say. He nods and I hop on Sunburn, and we take off back to the house. Once I'm out of Earshot, I let out a loud shout of joy. Lassa's going to be my wife.