A/N: Warning! Major Percabeth ahead. Enjoy.

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Chapter 6

It Takes a Village

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After Piper left for her home, the Jacksons returned to their home in New Rome. Soon after night fell, they went up into their bedroom. The stairs on the north wall—left of the front door—led up to the second floor with three bedrooms and a bathroom. The biggest room belonged to Percy and Annabeth. It had its own adjoining bathroom with a double vanity and a decent bathtub-shower combo. The other two rooms were used as guest bedrooms for now.

Percy was lounging in bed. He could feel the waves of the lake crashing against the deck outside. He could also sense the running water in the bathroom that Annabeth was using. He stroked his beard. It was fun to play with and made him better looking, in his opinion. People had mentioned more frequently that he looked more like his father. He sometimes had mixed feelings about that. At first, it made his mother melancholy, but that went away quickly, thank goodness. Annabeth sure seemed to like it.

That brought him back to the thoughts he was having about Piper. He still couldn't believe she was going to have a baby. With Jupiter, no less. He also couldn't stop thinking about his mother. The memory of how his mom had struggled to raise him and make ends meet. But she gave Piper some pretty good advice earlier. He tried to imagine Piper holding a baby. The scene looked quite natural. Then he imagined it with Annabeth instead. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it, even since he was sixteen. Back then, he thought it was too farfetched, especially for half-bloods.

The bathroom sink shut off, and his wife emerged in a white tank top and shorts. She combed her fingers through her blonde curls before she went to her side of the bed. While she was pulling back the covers, Percy noticed that sexy, thoughtful look she got when something was puzzling her.

"What're you thinking about?" he asked.

"Umm… nothing," she replied hesitantly.

"C'mon, Wise Girl. I know that look. Something important is on your mind," he remarked, knowing her so well. He took her hand and gave her a soft expression. "Tell me."

Breathing deeply, Annabeth slid the rest of the way into bed. She couldn't resist his baby seal eyes. Without looking him in the eye, she held his hand with both of hers. "I've been thinking about Piper… and how she's going to have a baby," she said slowly.

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "Zeus's baby."

"Jupiter's, Seaweed Brain!" she corrected with her hardened gray eyes.

"Still the same god."

She returned her attention to their hands. "Anyway, at first, I realized that she's the first one of us to—in retrospect—have a kid. It's kinda funny, isn't it?"

"Hmm. The daughter of the love goddess having a baby." She jabbed him with her elbow. Percy could still see something rattling around in her head. "Go on."

"Well, I was thinking that… we did plan on having kids ourselves, right?"

Something clicked in his head. "Are you saying you want to start?" he asked.

She snapped her head at him, "No…! And yes." She looked away again.

Percy leaned closer to her, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "Annabeth, if you're really ready for this, I'm all for it. Just say when."

She turned back to him. "I'm happy to hear that. I've actually been considering it for a while. You know, before Pipes announced her pregnancy, but I wasn't sure you wanted to."

He gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't know you if you wanted to have kids yet."

"Of course, I want kids. I'll knock you up right now if you want. I just thought you didn't want kids yet because of your career." Her face changed to the one that made him regret saying anything at all.

Annabeth moved away from him. "What does my career have to do with it?"

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… an architect has to work a lot of hours and needs to plan a lot. I thought raising a baby would be stressful with the crying and whatnot. Like imagine working on a blueprint, and the kid spits up on it. Remember how Estelle was at that age?"

"But does that mean I don't want to be a mom? Does that mean I'm just some career-centered woman who doesn't want kids? Tell me. Am I really that type of person who wouldn't be a good mother?"

"No, no, no! Annabeth, I'm sorry. I only want to make you happy. I'm sorry for making that assumption. I'm sorry."

Annabeth breathed slowly. Her Athenian brain assessed her husband's asinine thinking and loving nature. He had the wrong idea, but to him, he was trying to be considerate. All in all, a good husband. And so her temper declined.

She turned back to him. "So, yes or no on a baby."

"Yes."

"Yes."

And so it was unanimous.

"So we'll give Piper's kid a playmate," Percy joked, which made her laugh.

"You wanna start now?" Annabeth asked, giving him a suggestive expression. Tracing a hand over his bare, muscular chest. He was getting encouraged.

"Are you even ready?" he asked, grabbing her hip—or, more so, her butt. Very toned and tender, the caveman part of his mind thought.

"I don't know," she gave a calculating look. "I may be ready right now." Her hand trailed down to his waistline.

"Good." He squeezed her ass and captured her lips.

Their arms wrapped around each other, their hands running over their bodies, groping and massaging. After pulling Annabeth's shirt off, Percy kissed his way down her neck to her breasts, earning a moan from her. They both reached for the hem of their underwear to pull them down, baring their purest forms to themselves. They enjoyed feeling any newly exposed skin, but enough foreplay was done. Percy had watched Piper's first acting role in a manscaping commercial, and he fell into her charm-spoken selling point. Annabeth did not complain one bit. She lay down on her back, and he fell into her.

They found their rhythm with no problems. They've known each other so well. They were the only ones they'd known. They've been together so long and at such a young age. They were their firsts and vowed to be their last.

Annabeth embraced him closely. Threaded her fingers through his hair and then grabbed his behind. That spurred him to reach between them down to the junction to make her moan even more. He stroked her again and again to make her cry more demandingly.

"Percy!" she cried into his ear.

He cradled her head. Staring into her stormy eyes, "I've got you," he whispered. She mewled again as his rocking hit the right spot again and again. "I've got you, Annabeth."

He was definitely the son of the father of horses. Stalions more precise, in her opinion.

Sometimes, their lovemaking was like a battle. They were warriors, after all. And sex to them was still a fight for dominance. A lot of times, it's Annabeth coming out victorious. Though Percy sometimes allows it, he does take the initiative and comes out on top. These fights end with minimum bodily markings and mutual satisfaction. This wasn't much of a fight for tonight. They were trying to make something out of it.

The thrusting of Percy's hips became more erratic. He held onto the edge of the mattress to support himself. Desperately, Annabeth latched tighter onto him by wrapping her arms and legs around him, bringing him closer. Every push brought him closer to the edge. She had already reached her climax, and he was just… about… there…!

He ejaculated inside her. Neither moved to let it sink in and to catch their breath. Regrettably, eventually, Percy had to roll off and let the cool air turn their sweat into disgusting Greek fire. Regardless, Annabeth rolled over to rest her head on his chest.

"I love you," she breathed in Ancient Greek.

"I love you more," he competed.

"Yeah?" She shifted up, straddling him. "We'll see about that."

And so they did it again. In the morning, they plan to do it a third time and perhaps—most likely—do it again the next night.

Statistically speaking, they don't need to every night. Yet, they chose to.