Surprised Parenthood (Is this How Gods Feel?)
Part I
Timeline: During the events of PJO 2: Sea of Monsters.
When Flynn saw the sheepish, goofy grin on Jack's face, the one he got when he held doors open for her or carried around her battle equipment, she knew whatever came out of his mouth was going to be annoying.
Monsters and demigods alike where rejoicing over the double win. They roamed the Princess Andromeda'shalls, chatting, pushing each other around, and generally having real camaraderie for the first time. After several discouraging defeats on the Greek side—Flynn refused to use Luke's phrase of "calculated setbacks"—her troop's victory in their surprise attack against the Romans came as a morale booster.
The set up had been too easy: a dozen Romans on their day off inside a laser tag facility that the Romans didn't know Flynn had taken over. Luke wanted her to convert the praetor. He figured having someone so high ranking would be useful.
Luke underestimated one thing: Romans were much more loyal to their legion than the Greeks were to Camp Half-Blood.
Had one Roman not turned traitor, Flynn was sure the scene would have been a massacre instead of a capture. Most of the Romans got away, but they had gained two valuable pieces: a Roman that the Romans didn't know had turned spy and a praetor.
And then Jack's spectacle of turning Julian's death into a tournament sent the monsters and demigods into a party mood.
She had wanted to congratulate Jack as soon as the event was over. He'd been so sweet and corny about getting her flowers, a card, and making her a poem to celebrate her victory. Even if she thought it was dumb, Flynn wanted to get better about supporting his endeavors too.
Jack had also been quieter the last few times she'd seen him. He got spacey sometimes when his medicine first kicked in, but this seemed different. With anyone else, she'd force them to tell her through charm speak. That was something she swore never to use on him.
All they needed was some alone time. There had been a lot going on with that child of Poseidon and child of Athena sneaking onto the boat with a Cyclops.
First, she needed to find Luke to debrief him on the mission, to see if Lucille really did want to leave the fighting unit after proving herself so capable, to destroy Dr. Thorn for almost impaling Jack during Praetor Julian and Axel the Lion's fight, and to find the new Roman recruit, Mercedes?, to interrogate her.
Hours later, she found out that Jack had taken a centaur to go offshore. Flynn dug her nails into her palm. Jack wasn't allowed off shore on his own. If he got the wrong Disney song stuck in his head, he might accidentally play musical chairs with cancer or kill a whole restaurant.
When she asked one of the children of Hephaestus if he'd seen Jack, the blond Viking giggled, "Told you we should have put a tracking chip in his bracelet."
After thirty minutes of panicked searching with Luke, a centaur ride, and some broken faces later, she and Luke found Jack with that dumb grin.
His red hair acted as a messy flag amidst a line of Cyclopes, snake women, nymphs, and other nature spirits inside the bright interior of Monster Donut.
A giant began to protest when she approached Jack, seething about demigods cutting the line. One look at her companion—Luke—and the complaint silenced.
"Jack," Flynn and Luke snapped at the same time.
That's when she realized Jack wasn't alone. There was a child holding his hand and another demigod by his side.
Jack turned, saw them, and gave them an excited wave with the hand holding the child's. The small thing had to go on its tiptoes to accommodate Jack's height.
"Oh! Oh! And that's Flynn! That's your new mother!" Jack said so quickly the average person might not have caught his words.
Flynn stopped in her approach.
She must have misheard him.
"No," Luke muttered.
"Isn't she beautiful! Here! You'll have to meet her—she's the coolest, and I mean the coolest and most beautiful person in the world! Flynn!"
Jack went to pick the child up from under the arms. Jack seemed not to realize how heavy the kid was and almost tumbled over. By balancing against a bolted in table, he managed to lift the child, Lion King-style. "Oh, aren't you a tiny ball of muscle," Jack choked out.
With Jack's gracelessness, Flynn thanked the fates again that Luke agreed Jack shouldn't go onto the battlefield anytime soon.
The child went limp, glancing between Flynn and Luke with wide eyes. Flynn didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. It had one, bright hazel eye and one dark. Its black hair twisted and curled out wildly, a little too short to be a proper female bob, and a little too long to be a messy boy cut. Its skin was pale, with a warm tint that made her think of Central America. It wore a dirty button-down shirt that might have once been red, but looked more like a muddied brown. Based off its height and the soft roundness of its features, Flynn guessed it couldn't be more than nine or ten years old, too young to have developed any demigod powers.
She had to give the kid credit: when she leaned down to examine it, the child didn't flinch away from her face. Most adults couldn't handle looking at Flynn's mutilated face. She liked it that way.
Instead, this tiny one broke into a massive, dimpled grin. "You have beautiful eyes," it said.
Jack made a gasping noise. He peeked from around the child's head to see her reaction.
Flynn flinched backwards, wondering if Jack had set the child up to that. Only Jack was supposed to talk like that to her.
"Jack, what is that?" she asked, gesturing towards the child.
"Our new son," Jack said, his arms starting to shake. He looked so proud.
The boy beside them stared skeptically, like he was waiting for Jack's arms to break off.
"Dude, we talked about this. You need to tell someone before you leave the ship," Luke said, brushing off the comment that left Flynn temporarily speechless.
Jack's arms finally gave out, and he set the child down. "I told Clops."
"The Cyclops?" Luke said, "You know that doesn't count. And where did you get—wait—are you the one who won the fight against the praetor?"
The boy to the side of Jack pulled his shoulders back. His black hair was coarser than the other's and dangled past his shoulders. There were braids twisted into random locations and a segment behind one ear was shaved. His skin was a rich caramel and his dark eyes darted up to Luke's with such defiance, she thought he might have been looking for another fight.
He wore a shirt too big for him, one that must have been an extra band shirt of Jack's. The praetor's medals sparkled against the blue material. One of his hands rubbed the lower right medal like it might disappear if he didn't touch it. Flynn considered warning him that the oils in his fingers were going to rust them.
Flynn wasn't sure what country he was from, though guessed somewhere in South America. Other than a pair of ears he hadn't quite gown into, he might look conventionally attractive if he cleaned up.
"Yea," he said, "What's it to you?"
Jack paled. "Oh, uh, Axel, this is Luke. He's the leader of the army. We're nice to Luke."
Axel tilted his head skeptically. "So, you're like the cult priest or something?"
Luke's charming smile twitched. He glanced to the beaming redhead. "Jack… what did you tell our new recruits about us?"
Jack tilted his head to the side, holding out a hand to list things on his fingers. "That there is absolutely no running by the pools, Tuesdays are Terrific Taco Nights, which I figured they might like since I think they're both Hispanic—are you Hispanic? I guess I should have asked—"
Flynn held out a hand for Jack to stop. He trailed off, noticing her frown. The delight in his eyes dimmed to anxiety.
"What did you call them earlier?" she asked, her tone careful.
Jack swallowed. "Our sons."
The look she gave him must have been intense. The smaller child took half a step behind the bigger one.
"Oh man…" Luke sighed.
"Flynn? Jack? Luke?"
Flynn glanced further down the line. The space between them and the order counter had cleared of customers.
A frail blonde girl was beckoning them to the counter. Her icy blue eyes shot nervously to Luke and then back to Flynn. "To what do I owe the honor on my first shift?" She gave a curtsey that looked far too delicate in her yellow and pink apron.
"Lucille!" Jack said. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and shuffled the two boys forward. "We wanted to come see how you were liking the new job!"
Although Flynn could tell he was trying to hide it, his voice shook. She reached forward to touch his shoulder and found that her hands were shaking too. What was wrong with her?
She lowered her hand without touching Jack's shoulder. When she felt Luke's eyes on her, she scowled at him.
Luke put his hands up in a defensive gesture and mouthed, "Don't look at me."
He was right: there was no way Luke could have known about this "son" business. He'd been with Flynn the whole time.
Lucille's cheeks went rosy with her smile. "We just opened, but we've already helped so many monsters. I—" She froze, her eyes trailing back to Flynn. Choosing her words carefully, she said, "It's a nice change of pace."
Axel perked up, looking the girl over. "What is this place?" he asked.
The frail girl clapped her hands. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you new? I'm Lucille."
"Axel," he said and stood up a little taller.
Flynn wondered if Axel was about to become one of the many boys, Luke included, that were baffled with Lucille's sweet, biting disinterest. The two looked about the same age.
"We help monsters here—hold on—Vicky, can you take over?"
Lucille stepped to the side, letting another associate take over the main line before any monsters began to grumble.
She fluffed out her apron. "Like their half-mortal children, gods often abandon their monster children. Mortal children usually have at least one parent that can help take care of them. Monsters often don't. They're abandoned to starve in the wild." Lucille frowned, rubbing her wrist.
Luke snorted. "Yea, leave it to the gods to be the role models for 'worst parents ever.'"
Axel and the other child exchanged a glance.
"That's awful," the tiny one said.
She nodded. "Yes. That's why we run the Monster Donut shops. They're charity-based with no strings attached. Monsters don't need to join Kronos' army. We just want them to have a safe spot to get a free bite to eat and socialize with each other and friendly demigods."
Jack nodded. Although his voice kept light, he kept trembling and wouldn't make eye contact with Flynn. "We wanted an environment where they could see that not all demigods would try to kill them on sight. It's kinda hard to undo centuries of the 'who can kill whom first' thing."
Axel touched his mouth with his fingertips. "That's a really cool idea," he begrudgingly admitted. "Who funds it?"
Luke grinned. "That's the beauty of these babes. The establishments pop up any time a super powerful monster—in this case a hydra—lends some of its life force to support its brethren. Flynn helped start this one."
All eyes turned to her, except Jack's. Everyone else made it sound so complicated. It hadn't been. She was irritated to realize they were waiting for her to fill in an explanation. "Children of Aphrodite have an easier time talking to monsters that can't speak as well," Flynn said, "We just had to make sure the hydra was alright with losing a head to release the energy and start this facility."
Lucille nodded. "All the materials show up on their own. We just need to bake the donuts and man the register. Now, sweetie, what would you like?"
She winked at the tiny child.
Its face lit up as it hopped up and down. "Strawberry-frosted donut with a jelly donut with a—
"You only get two," Axel snapped and bopped the little one on the back of the head.
"Ayeeeee!" it whined and grabbed the black locks.
Jack crossed his arms. "Hey! Don't hit your brother!"
The smaller one stuck out his tongue at the larger one. Axel scowled. They must have actually been brothers based off that interaction, even if they didn't look related.
"But, you really can only have two. They can't run out for the hungry monsters, else they might eat you," as Jack said the last part, he bopped the tiny one's button nose. He turned to Axel. "And you?"
Axel jammed his hands into his pockets, trying to look disinterested. "Chocolate glazed."
Jack ruffled his hair.
Axel swatted his hand away. His face went bright red.
Lucille giggled. "How about you, Jak-Jak?"
"A chocolate glazed and… Ajax, what was the other one you wanted?" Jack asked.
The tiny one hopped again. "Bavarian cream."
Luke and Flynn gave their orders as well. Then, Lucille filled a yellow and pink Monster Donut box for them. Before Flynn could grab Jack's shoulder and see what he was up to, Lucille called Flynn back to the counter.
Lucille told the other associate she was taking a quick break, hung her apron, and led Flynn to the girl's restroom. Flynn wondered if this was some kind of trap. The only person she trusted here was Jack, and he could easily be manipulated into doing the wrong thing. Could Lucille use her charm speak on Flynn? The half-sisters had an unspoken agreement not to try it on each other. If Lucille was about to pull something, Flynn would need to come up with a way to disable her, other than charm speak.
When they got into the stalls, they checked each, one huge, one medium, and one small for the various sizes of monster and demigod customers, to see if they were alone.
"You sure about your decision to work here?" Flynn asked, deciding Lucille wasn't up to anything malicious. "You didn't even celebrate the victory over the Romans."
Lucille had been vital in capturing Julian. On her own, Flynn sometimes struggled to get strong-willed people to harm themselves. Although Lucille's charm speak wasn't as powerful, without it, Julian might have been able to fight back.
The frail girl bit her lip, nodding. "Yes—I—change of pace."
Flynn scowled.
Lucille touched her wrist. "I was nervous that you and Luke were here to say I had to come back."
Flynn wanted to. Until they got Krios out of Tartarus or Atlas out from under the world, Flynn was stuck leading the Assault and Battery unit. While she liked the unrestrained violence, she hated having others look up to her for encouragement or direction.
Lucille had come here to help people. Flynn had come here to kill people. It made the monsters respect Flynn more and the demigods trust Lucille. Between Lucille and Luke, Flynn would never need to take a leadership role. Now…
If Luke wasn't such a coward about battle, maybe he could lead the damn group on his own.
"We were just looking for Jack," Flynn said.
Lucille gave her a fragile smile. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you remember when we were playing MASH while getting ready for the mission?"
Flynn considered making Lucille slap herself. Eileithyia, the Goddess of Childbirth, didn't understand why the girls had wanted to play a game that would predict the future of where someone would live, who they would marry, what their occupation would be, and how many children they would have. Why not just ask an oracle?
No matter how many times Lou Ellen, a daughter of Hecate, told Eileithyia that not knowing was part of the point, the goddess got confused.
Lucille put her hands up in a surrender motion. "I swear it's relevant. I wouldn't have brought it up otherwise. I respect the oath we took to never speak of it again unless it was important."
Both of them glanced around, like Orkus, the God of Oaths, might be lurking in a stall. MASH with demigods was serious business.
"Jack heard our conversation. He and Matthias had come by to drop off some extra supplies and he brought a gift for you," Lucille said, like it was a big deal.
Flynn wished she could charm speak Lucille to the point. "And? I didn't say anything that he doesn't already know."
Flynn thought the game was stupid and opted out of playing. Then, Lou Ellen, someone who didn't fear Flynn nearly enough, decided she'd fill Flynn's MASH out for her. There were no options under marriage. The girls cooed that Flynn had to be with Jack, despite several of them knowing Flynn had whomever she wanted whenever she wanted them.
Jack was just her boyfriend. Though, they all seemed to sense the thing that separated him from the other guys: he was the only one that mattered to Flynn.
She'd gotten "apartment" on housing, "20" on children, and "chainsaw murderer" under occupation. Then Eileithyia had killed the joy for all the other giggling idiots when—
"It's not what you said," Lucille explained gently.
-Eileithyia said Flynn couldn't have twenty children because she was infertile. She was too damaged.
And Lou Ellen pointed out this is exactly why they didn't play these kinds of games around gods.
At the time, all Flynn cared about was that everyone had stopped the stupid game and gotten ready for the mission.
Now, Flynn closed her eyes and exhaled, trying to conjure the audio of one of Nǎinai's favorite Huangmei operas to calm herself down. Of course Jack had heard that. Of course he was the one eighteen-year-old that would be thinking about children when we're at war.
"Don't get mad at Jack," Lucille begged. "He just gets—"
"Confused," Flynn ended, hating that word. Even though she'd gone back to visit her grandmother with Jack that weekend, she couldn't conjure the music. "Damn it, Jack," she hissed, her fingers curling into a fist. Now, she had to figure out what to do and possibly how to get rid of her two new "sons."
Surprise Adoption: consider this for your loved ones this holiday season.
XD Thank you for reading;I hope you guys enjoyed! I've had a lot of fun figuring out Flynn's pov. Stay tuned next week to see how she takes to her new babies!