Life Changes, A Percabeth Future Story

Chapter 17

Annabeth's POV:

The morning after Piper arrived suddenly at our house, we're all sitting in the living room, watching the kids play.

"So, you want to tell us what's going on?" I ask cautiously.

Piper sighs. "It was a stupid fight. It shouldn't even have mattered, really, but I couldn't stand to stay there, so I grabbed Zephyr and came here."

"You're okay, though?" Percy asks pointedly.

"It's nothing like that," she says firmly, then her voice turns shaky. "It's not like that."

Percy and I lock eyes and silently agree to stop questioning her for now.

******

Callie's POV:

(So, once again, this is gonna be kinda like Rugrats. Even though the kids can talk some now, for this conversation, they can understand each other, but the adults can't.)

"Zephyr?" I ask, adding another block to the giant tower Cleo, Zephyr, and I were building together. "Why are you here? And where's your Daddy?"

Zephyr shrugs. "I dunno. When I was trying to sleep last night, my Mommy and Daddy started yelling. Then they stopped for a while, and it was quiet, until Mommy came into my room and got me out of my bed. I guess I fell back asleep after that, and when I woke up again it was this morning and we were here." He says it matter-of-factly, putting two more blocks on the tower.

Before I have a chance to respond, Cleo reaches to put a block on top of the tower, but bumps a block on the bottom with her foot. She giggles as, almost in slow motion, the tower tilts severely and the blocks tumble to the ground. Then, realizing that our work has gone to waste, her face crumples. I see Zephyr's smile disappear, too.

Hiding my own disappointment, I quickly say "It's okay, we can fix it! Let's make it even better!"

Cleo sniffles and nods, while Zephyr says "Okay. Let's do it."

******

Annabeth's POV:

We continue talking, not quite going back to the topic of the previous night's events, but gently trying to shift the conversation in that direction.

All of a sudden, there's a loud commotion outside, and Percy runs to the window to see what's happening. Piper is close behind him. I follow as quickly as my ever-growing baby bump will allow. Before I catch up, though, Percy is cursing and pulling out riptide as he stalks toward the door.

"Percy, what's going on?" I ask, already ready to grab my own weapon.

"Stay here, Wise girl," he says. "Some monsters got through the border, that's all." Then, he's out the door.

Part of me wants to follow, but Piper steps in front of me. "Come on," she says. "We'll stay with the kids, and everything will be fine." She kicks the door shut and gently turns me around to see that the kids have abandoned their block tower and followed us out of the living room.

"What's goin' on, Mama?" Callie asks softly.

"Nothing, Sweetie." I plaster a calm smile onto my face. "Daddy just had to go help some neighbors. Now, let's go eat some lunch."

"Yunch?" Cleo pipes up, excitedly.

"Yes, baby, lunch." I nod.

All three kids run to the kitchen, and Piper and I follow, shooting each other a look.

Once the kids have eaten, we put them down for their afternoon nap, and just as I'm coming back downstairs from the girls' room, Percy bursts through the door. His breathing is ragged and gold monster dust clings to streaks of blood all across him.

I gasp, thankful that, at least, the kids aren't out here to see this.

When Piper returns from putting Zephyr to bed a few moments later, Percy finally speaks. "Jason was there. It was bad. He's... in the hospital."

"Oh gods," Piper is mumbling. "Oh, gods, no."

*******

A week later, while preparing for the funeral, Piper pulls me aside to show me something. Once we're in a private space, she shows me a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test.

So... I may or may not have bitten off more than I could chew with this story line... we'll see. Also, in my google doc I wrote this in, it's written in comic sans. Little fun fact for y'all.

Anywho... How's everything going? The only reason this is being published right now is because I've been procrastinating on homework and stuff. I literally have finals in less than 2 weeks... and I'm working on this, instead. Yep. Also there's just a lot going on in my life right now, and instead of, y'know, processing that, like a mentally and emotionally healthy human, I'm killing off a character in my fanfic to bring it somewhat closer to canon compliant (obviously, it will never be fully canon compliant, because Zephyr... and, well, you'll see).

Anyway, hope you enjoyed... or maybe enjoyed isn't the right word, I guess, but you know.

💖💖 Cam