Percy
I'm sitting in the kitchen drinking Coffee waiting for Becca to get here with Luke when Piper walks in.
"Look at this." She says, tossing two magazines down on the table. My chest tightens when I see who's on the cover.
"Yeah. Malcolm told me."
"Do you think she'll give you the time of day?"
"Well her number might be changed, but mine isn't. No calls, no IMs. If she wanted to see me while she's in town she would have let me know she was coming."
"Who knows. You might run into each other. Manhattan isn't that big."
"I guess we'll see. I don't know what'll happen if we do. Seeing I have a kid with someone else is probably going to really piss her off."
"Percy, she still doesn't know the whole story. She won't let any of us tell her. What happened…it isn't right. It wasn't your fault." She says, and a shot of rage shoots through me.
"But she won't listen! She left before she ever got a chance to hear the whole thing. She runs when things get hard, Piper. She doesn't know how to stay. And you can't have a marriage like that!"
"You know she still hasn't dated anyone in the last 3 years." She says quietly.
"So? She can't. We made vows on the Styx. Who knows what Styx would do if she broke them."
"Well what has she done to you?" I sigh, the anger dissipating.
"I lost Annabeth. She doesn't need to do anything else."
"Percy, I've seen you fight every kind of monster there is, sometimes hundreds at a time, giants, hell, even titans! Why won't you fight for this?" She demands.
"Back off, Piper! I screwed up! But she left before she heard everything, and that was her choice. If she never wants to see me again, I'm not going to make her." I tell her. She looks like he's about to say something, but then we hear the doorbell ring. "That's Becca and Luke." I say getting up.
"That girl," Piper says through gritted teeth. "Why was Lukas with her?"
"At the end of the custody battle, the Judge granted me full custody with the exception of one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer, remember?"
"Right."
I go and open the door, Lukas laughing and running inside to give me a hug. A rush of joy runs through me seeing my son.
"Daddy! Mommy let me have ice cream for breakfast!"
"And, that was supposed to be our little secret, Lukas." Becca chides him with a smile. Pushing Luke back enough to look at him, I feel a stab of irritation. His eyes are bloodshot with bags underneath them, which means she hasn't been putting him to bed on time, the sugar rush and history tells me he's had more candy than food this weekend, and the red stain around his mouth means gatorade, koolaid, or Fruit Punch with red dye, which she knows I don't let him have.
"Hey Percy." Becca says softly to me.
"Hi, Becca." I say, trying to let it go. "Luke, why don't you run to your room and get ready for your playdate with Max and Ella Claire."
"Awesome! Yes Sir!" He says and runs off. Becca lets herself in as he does.
"Hi, Piper." She says, and Piper cooly nods. "Percy, why don't you let me just keep him until tomorrow? You don't have to get Malcolm and Maryanne to watch him."
"Lukas likes playing with Max and Ella Claire."
"He's my son."
"And whenever you get him you spoil him rotten, and it takes me days to get him back on a schedule."
"I wouldn't have to spoil him if you'd let me see him more."
"Yeah well you'd be able to see him more if you weren't the kind of girl who would pretend to be someone's wife to sleep with them, oh wait except you are, and if you weren't you wouldn't have Luke anyways." Piper cuts in. Becca glares at her.
"Piper, back off. Becca, just go home. Start acting more responsible when you have him, and we'll talk about more time." I tell her. She opens her mouth like she wants to say something, but just turns around and walks out the door.
"You know, Clairsse has offered to kill her." Piper tells me. "Or I could…suggest…that she just walk into traffic. My suggestions can be quite persuasive." I smile and put my arm around her as we walk to Luke's room.
"I know, Pipes. But she's still Luke's mom. How's Jason?"
"Good. I asked him to come with me this morning, but he said he had some stuff to take care of with Hazel. I'm guessing some High Priest to Pretor stuff." I smile. I know what he's going to Hazel for and it has more to do with gold and diamonds than it does with anything in New Rome.
"Hear from Reyna lately?"
"Last I heard, she's still enjoying retirement. I think she's been back in San Juan. All good stuff." She tells me then her phone rings and she pulls it out. "Ooh, Percy, I have to go. Annabeth…I told her I'd pick her up from the airport." She says timidly. "You can come."
"No, Pipes." I sigh. "Just leave it alone. Besides, she'd just get mad at you too for the ambush. Thanks for coming over, though."
"Anytime." She says and heads out. I walk into Luke's room and see him playing on the floor with his trains.
"Rascal!" I smile. He looks up at me and laughs. "I told you to get ready! C'mon, let's pack a bag."