"The king has returned!"

The herald's announcement had sent Annabeth's heart jolting in surprise, longing and excitement all at once. She'd dropped everything she was doing in the official council chambers and promptly made for the throne room. Such was customary whenever the king returned from a political voyage, but of course she had her personal motivations for wanting to get there as quickly as possible.

She hurried through the palace's many corridors, stopping only to issue instructions to the palace staff to ready a hot meal and a bath, until at last she arrived through the towering doors that connected the rest of the palace to the throne room.

Her feet brought her to a stop at the other end of the room, where another set of doors leading to the entrance hall remained closed. She clasped her hands together at her waist and waited with bated breath for the doors to open and reveal the face that she'd been dreaming about for months.

The wait lasted an eternity. Annabeth brushed imaginary dust off her skirt and nervously tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. While there was no way she could have predicted that her husband would be returning that day, she chided herself for not picking the deep blue gown she had only skimmed over that morning while getting dressed. It was one of Percy's favourites… And now she pictured it staring at her mockingly from where it hung in her wardrobe.

She'd also neglected to take a glance at herself in the mirror before she'd rushed off. She deeply hoped her appearance wasn't too dishevelled. After all this time away from her husband, she was desperate to see him again, but now she worried that due to her haste she was about to ruin a romantic moment between them. (Perhaps the sentiment was silly, but she'd been unusually sensitive these past few days.)

Finally, the main doors to the throne room parted with a mighty groan, and in walked the king.

"Annabeth," she heard him whisper as their eyes met, and instantly he swept her up into a kiss. She forgot how to breathe as he held her close and stole a few rapid beats of her heart, and just like that, all her previous worries melted away.

"My queen," he said after he'd pulled away, sounding as breathless as she felt. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," she whispered into his neck. He smelled of a fresh ocean breeze, salty yet sweet at the same time, and she was tempted to run her fingers through his dark wind-tousled hair.

"You can't imagine how much I've yearned for this day." He reached down to kiss a spot on her neck behind her ear, somehow uncaring of the eyes that might have been watching them then. Annabeth tried to control her flush.

"I could say the same for myself," she told him earnestly. "Let's head to the dining hall now. You must be famished."

"You're right about that…" he muttered, letting his eyes wander none too discreetly down her body. She squeezed his arm in silent warning, and he flashed her a grin that sent involuntary shivers scattering across her back.

He rested his hand against her lower spine as they walked together to the dining hall. Already a candelabrum had been lit and placed at the centre of the long table, and the king's supper was presented at one end.

"How was your trip, my king?" she asked as they settled down at the table. She sat to his left while he took his place at the head.

"Productive," he replied noncommittally. He teased her with a leisure smile. "But that entire discussion can wait until tomorrow. Tonight I'd like to spend some quality time with my queen."

His pointed tone adequately informed many of the palace staff to leave the room, save for the guards and maids who were inherently stationed there for their shifts.

"Your dress is lovely, by the way. When did you have it tailored?"

Annabeth stifled a smile as she glanced at the dark red fabric of her skirts. The dress she had picked for that day was an alluring maroon with cream-coloured accents and detailing. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, her close friend and personal tailor, had designed it for her spring wardrobe.

"A few months back. Lady Rachel surprised me with it early. She must have noticed I was missing you terribly and gave it to me as a gift to cheer me up."

"Mm, remind me to send her my personal thanks. I'm glad we hired her. She knows just what I like."

Annabeth folded her hands together in her lap. Under the table, she'd slipped off one of her shoes and now let the side of her foot briefly brush against his calf where it was exposed beneath the hem of his trousers. His eyes darted up to meet hers, and she caught the barest quirk of a smile before he raised his glass to his lips and took a sip.

"How have you been?" he asked after.

"I've been well. But better now that you're here." (Which was a little bit too true.) With the palace staff subtly watching them in the background, she knew she had to put on a bit of a show of their romance to assure them that the king and queen's relationship was still strong, but that didn't mean she was pretending about any of it.

Her husband smiled, satisfied. "And the kingdom?"

"The people seem to be faring well this winter. And the crops were as productive as ever in the summer. I'm sure the children in town will be eagerly waiting for you to pay them a visit in the morning. To be honest with you, it pleases me that you arrived here later in the day, since now I may have you to myself for the rest of the evening."

The corner of his mouth twitched at her words. He turned his attention to his bowl of rabbit stew and stirred it with his spoon.

She watched him quietly as he ate. The fireplace crackled comfortably in the silence. Light flickering from the candles spaced out around the room cast shadows dancing along the side of his handsome face and outlined the slight stubble that had grown to accentuate his jawline. She noticed the worn set to his eyes from his lengthy travels, but then when he smiled at her, he looked as content and carefree as she remembered from when they were teenagers.

She smiled back demurely. "I requested for a bath to be run once I heard your ship had been docked at port. It should be ready by now."

"Thank you." He shot her a keen, secretive look. "You'll join me, won't you?"

Annabeth feigned a timid smile, cognizant of the mandatory palace guards and staff still in the vicinity. "Sometimes I question why you even feel the need to ask, for how could I ever refuse?"

"Then what's keeping us here any longer?" The king stood and offered her his waiting hand. "Shall we away?"

She took it without hesitation. "Gladly."

-Ψ-

Some time later, the king and queen lay together in their marriage bed, alone in each other's presence and enshrouded in the bliss of finally being reunited. Annabeth's head rested on her husband's chest, and she listened to his steady heartbeats as they eased into calming vibrations.

Absently, she traced his collarbone with a fingertip. He must have noticed her thoughts straying, because his own fingers stopped their caress along her spine as he tilted his head down to look at her.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

Annabeth paused and finally realised she'd been fidgeting. She curled her fingers into a fist and let it rest against his shoulder. "It's nothing… I've just been thinking, is all."

"I noticed," he said, giving her a rueful look. "You can tell me anything. What is it that's bothering you? You seemed… distracted earlier."

"Forgive me… I didn't mean to dampen our evening." Despite how trivial the matter was, Annabeth knew she could be honest with him. That didn't stop her nerves from scattering up her heartbeat, though.

"I just, hate that you're away all the time," she said quietly. "It feels like I hardly even get to see you properly. This is your kingdom, and you never stay for very long. These eight months you were gone felt like they were going to last forever, Percy."

"But they didn't," he reminded her. "I'm here now, aren't I?" He'd been listening to her intently, and now he tried to reassure her with gentle strokes to her arm.

"But you're always going to leave again. There'll always be another business meeting all the way in another continent waiting for you. And I'll be here, wondering how long it'll be until you return the next time."

"You know I wouldn't leave you if I had a choice. It kills me to have to do so for months at a time."

"Then why aren't you dead yet?" she murmured.

Perhaps in an hour or two Annabeth would roll her eyes at her own behaviour. Her hormones were truly acting up this week. She wasn't sure if he'd taken offense at what she'd said, and she was too sensitive at the moment to have the strength to glance up and see for herself.

A quiet moment passed.

"You're upset," he recognised softly. He gently brought his knuckles below her chin and tilted her face up so that they were eye-to-eye. "You've never brought this up to me before. Have you been feeling this way this whole time?"

Annabeth sighed. She averted her eyes again in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I know I'm being dramatic… I know you have your duties as king and as your wife, I have mine. I just don't like that it means sitting around by myself waiting for you to come back, and in another few months do the same thing again. I can live with it… but I'd rather not have to."

Percy brushed the pad of his thumb across her jaw and leaned down to press a comforting kiss to her hairline. "No, you're not being dramatic. And I'm sorry… I didn't know you felt this way. I wished you'd come to me sooner. I hate this arrangement, too."

He wrapped his other arm around her, caging her in his warm embrace. "But that's why I love you. You never complain about my absence or demand promises from me that I can't deliver. You've been patient and considerate, always waiting for whenever I return, always welcoming me with warmth no matter how long I spend away. And you're so wonderful at managing the kingdom's affairs. You're the best queen a kingdom could have, and the best wife a man could ask for. I don't blame you for feeling this way. And I didn't mean to make you feel alone or abandoned, if that's what it is. I'd just stay here with you every single day for the rest of my life if I could."

Annabeth blushed. She hadn't meant for her outburst to draw such compliments from him, but her husband always knew how to reassure her, and he was always incredibly sweet about it.

"And are you really so bored here?" he asked. "I thought Piper or Rachel or Reyna comes over to keep you company whenever I'm away."

Annabeth was glad he'd given her the opening to move past her foolishness. "Ah, no. I never run out of things to do in the castle," she said wryly. She let herself smile as she looked up at him at last. "This place just feels empty without you."

Percy's gaze turned tender as a warm colour spread across his cheeks. He leaned over to kiss her, deep and meaningful. He threaded his fingers through her hair, and he tugged on it lightly as he claimed her mouth.

"I meant to ask," he said once he had pulled away. "What prompted these thoughts all of a sudden? Forgive me for saying this, but it seemed a little out of the blue."

Annabeth bit her lip. Her heart started to hammer, and she wondered if he could feel it. She'd practised for nights on how to bring this up to him.

"Apt that you mentioned Piper…" she started. "She told me a month ago that she and Jason are expecting."

She watched as Percy's mouth fell agape. He propped himself up on an elbow and asked with barely contained excitement and joy, "How far along is she?"

"Just over two months now." Annabeth smiled at the memory of her close friend's exuberant expression when she had first told her about it.

"I'll send my congratulations to them tomorrow," Percy said, beaming. He settled back down onto the pillows and strung his arm haphazardly across her waist. "Jason must be over the moon. He's been wanting a kid since before they even got married." Then he seemed to remember himself. "Hold on, what does this have to do with what we were talking about?"

"Well…" Annabeth swallowed her nervousness and edged a little closer to him. "After giving it some thought… Talking with Piper about her pregnancy made me realise how much I want a baby."

She felt Percy shiver beneath her. He seemed to freeze in the moment, his face etched in surprise.

She rushed to say, "I know we only talked about it once before but hearing Piper tell me about all the preparations she and Jason have been making, it got me thinking about sometime in the possible future when we might have kids of our own… and I realised how much I'm looking forward to it. I think I'm ready. But I don't want to rush you, so it's all right if you think we should wait a little longer—"

Percy shushed her with a smile. "You have no idea how thrilled I am to hear you say that." His lips came down to peck her on the cheek. "So this is what you've been trying to tell me this whole time?"

Annabeth smiled with mischief. "It's true, but I also thought that if my sweet words weren't enough to convince you you'd feel more inclined to stay with me here if we had a little one running around and desperate for your attention all the time instead."

"Oh, I should have guessed—this was all a part of your plan to stop me from leaving." Percy looked at her with something akin to admiration. "You really miss me that much?"

She slipped an arm underneath his and coiled it around his side so that her fingers could grip his shoulder. "I thought that much was obvious."

Her gaze drifted past him at the window on the far side of the room. Outside through the sheer curtains, the moon gleamed pearly white, a lone orb of light in the dark sky.

"If it happens to be a girl, what do you think she'll look like?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm… I think I want her to look like you. Splitting image, and all that." He winked at her conspiratorially. "But I know she'll be perfect whatever she does look like, if it's a girl."

"And if it's a boy?"

"Then… I'm not sure. Personally I'd love to have a girl I could pamper all the time. But I guess it would be wonderful to have a boy to train in swordplay myself. That being said, I don't know if you could handle having two of us boys to deal with," he joked.

"I thought you learnt your lesson a long time ago about underestimating me," she teased. "And how are you so sure you would be the one our son would take after? Maybe he'll take after me, and just as well. I'd like if our oldest were a boy, so he could look after his younger siblings. He'd be a strong and compassionate ruler, just like his father, though hopefully he'd grow up to value the importance of reading and gaining knowledge as well."

Amusement tinted the smile on Percy's face. "And here I thought you'd be distanced from the idea of having a boy considering how you always used to lament about your little brothers when we were kids."

"That's different," she insisted stubbornly. "Matthew and Bobby were absolute rascals. If our firstborn does turn out to be a boy, you'd better believe I'll watch him like a hawk. I'm not going to let him be influenced by his uncles to be a troublemaker."

"I'm sure you'd keep him well in line…" he agreed, although his tone hinted otherwise. His smile turned wistful then. "Oldest, younger siblings. So you're planning for us to have more than one, then?"

"Well, of course. One can't be enough to steal all your attention, can it?" She put on a sly smile, the one she knew he found irresistible. Ever so slightly, she drew her leg higher around his waist and feigned an impatient sigh. "Now, are you going to make me wait any longer on the baby-making part of the process? Supposedly it's the most important step, and the more times we try the sooner the chances are of conception…"

Annabeth's words died in her throat at the dark look that had taken over the usual calm sea-green of her husband's eyes. Percy reached up to cup the back of her neck, and his other hand fell to support her waist. He rolled them over and pressed her down onto the mattress so that their skin ran flush, and he swallowed her startled gasp with a hungry kiss. Gently, he guided her arms above her head and held her wrists together against the pillows, causing her to squirm in reflex.

He chuckled. "Do you not consider all the things we've gotten up to since our first night together as potential baby-making processes?"

Annabeth drew her knees further apart and let them encircle his hips. "I won't deny those times were fun, but now I want more. This palace is far too big for just the two of us, don't you agree?"

Percy responded with a swift, playful peck to the tip of her nose, which made her laugh and wrinkle it in delight.

"I love you," he told her as he pulled back to look at her. "And I can't wait to have a little one like you running around."

"Me neither," she said, her eyes shining. "And I love you too."

She rose up to meet his lips with fervour. She yearned to drag her nails down his back, but he held her fast with his strong arms.

Percy's next breaths were heavy. "Let's not talk for the rest of tonight," he suggested. "Right now all I want to do is show you exactly how much I missed you." He brushed his nose against the curve of her neck and began to pepper featherlight kisses onto her skin.

Annabeth sighed and turned her face to the side. A faint smile swept across her lips. "So show me," she whispered.

And she let him.

-END-