Life Changes, A Percabeth Future Story

Percy's Birthday

"Happy Birfday Daddy!" I hear, shouted in Callie's voice. I'm still mostly asleep, so for a moment I think I must only be dreaming it, but a second later I feel what must be a toddler clambering onto the bed, then jumping on it. I open my eyes and barely manage to catch her as she nearly jumps right on me.

"Good morning, Cal," I laugh as I sit up, pulling her onto my lap.

"Mornin', Daddy!" she giggles, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug.

Just then, Cleo comes racing in, shouting just like her sister had, moments before. "Hah bir-day, Dada!"

"Come here, Dory," I say, laughing. When she gets close enough, I pull her up onto my lap as well, and kiss both girls on the tops of their heads.

A second later, I hear a laugh, and look up to see Annabeth standing in the doorway, our 4 month old in her arms. "Happy birthday, Seaweed Brain. I wanted to let you sleep in, but those two had other plans."

I laugh. "That's alright. I can't imagine a better way to wake up, anyway. Now, girls, what do you say we go swimming today?"

"Yeah!" Cleo shouts, then wriggles out of my lap and runs out of the room. Callie giggles and runs after her. A moment later, they scurry back in, dragging their swimsuits behind them and shouting "Swim!" over and over at the tops of their lungs.

"After breakfast," Annabeth insists, though she laughs as she says it.

Callie quickly agrees, but Cleo pouts. "Wan' swim," she says.

"We will swim," I assure her. "We just have to eat breakfast first."

"Pwomise?"

"I promise," I say.

After a "quick" (A/N: anyone with any sort of experience with young kids could tell you that even a "quick" meal with even just one toddler–let alone 2–is an hour or more at the shortest. Trust me, my mother had an in-home daycare most of my childhood, and now I'm majoring in early childhood education. I have an excessive amount of experience with toddlers) breakfast of blue pancakes, and the several minutes it takes to get both girls into their swimsuits, Callie, Cleo and I are in our backyard swimming pool. Annabeth is sitting on the edge, her feet dangling into the water. Loukas is asleep in his bouncy seat next to her.

It's the perfect August day. It's already quite hot, despite barely being mid-morning, but a cool breeze keeps it comfortable, even outside of the pool.

"Come on in, Wise Girl," I call after a while. "The water's fine."

"I'm alright here," she retorts.

"Fine," I sigh. Then, I swim over to her, taking her hands in mine. She leans down to kiss me, but at the last moment, I push off of the pool wall, gliding backwards through the water and pulling Annabeth into it with me. At the same time, I form an air bubble around us, and we slowly sink toward the bottom of the pool.

"Percy," she scolds, trying to feign annoyance, but she can't stop laughing as she says it.

Grinning, I pull her close and kiss her.

When we pull apart, we swim together back to the surface, and Cleo asks "Mama and Daddy breathed in the water?"

"Not... exactly," Annabeth answers slowly.

"I wanna breathe in the water!" Cleo demands.

"No, Dory, people can't breathe in water," I say, deciding not to explain just now that it is possible that she can, in fact, breathe underwater, but she definitely should not test it right now.

"Nuh-uh!" she shouts, then suddenly dives deep into the water.

"Schist," I mumble, reaching down to pull her out, but just as I wrap my arm around her, I feel her chest expand as her lungs fill with the water.

I pull her out quickly, and when her face resurfaces I expect her to start coughing and spluttering, but instead she just grins up at me. "See, Dada, I can."

Annabeth laughs. "She's just like you."

I shake my head. "She's more stubborn, Wise Girl. Like you."

Annabeth scoffs, one eyebrow raised. "As if you're not stubborn."

I can't argue with that, so instead I say "We should probably go inside now, girls."

Together, we all go back into the house. I carry Cleo on one hip, and Callie walks on my other side, clinging tightly to my hand. Suddenly, Cleo asks "What's this, Dada?" tracing a scar on my shoulder with one gentle finger.

"That's a scar, baby," I explain, already remembering the story behind that particular scar.

"You have lotsa scars, Daddy," Callie remarks.

"You're right, I do," I say.

"Mama have scars?" Cleo asks.

"Yes," I confirm, smiling sadly. "Mama has scars, too."

"I have scars?" Cleo asks then.

"No, sweetie, you don't have any scars yet, and I hope you never do."

"Why?" Callie wonders.

"You get scars when you get big owies," I explain so the girls can understand.

"How'd you get big owies, Daddy?" Callie asks thoughtfully.

By this time we've long since made it into the house, and we're simply standing in the living room, dripping occasionally onto the carpet. "Let's go get dressed, and I'll tell you some stories about how I got my scars after that, okay?"

A bit later, we're all back in our normal clothes, and the girls are tucked one on either side of me on the couch. I tell them about camp, and some of the quests I had been on. I simplify the stories, taking out the parts most likely to scare them. There would be plenty of time to tell them the full stories when they were older.

Finally Callie gently pokes a small scar on my arm. "What about this one?"

I fall silent for a moment. That scar was from before I knew I was a demigod. Before I went to Yancy academy and met Grover, even. From some time soon after my mom had married Smelly Gabe.

"Dada?" Cleo asks, when I still don't say anything after a minute.

At that I launch into another story about monsters and quests.

Hey Y'all. Sorry it's been a while since I updated. The fact that I'm publishing a chapter that should have been published in August in December should be proof enough of that. Actually, this chapter was originally intended for Annabeth's birthday, but when that didn't work, I changed things to make it work for Percy's. And then that didn't work either, obviously, and I was busy with school, and my uncle passed away, and finally my life is slowing down for all of 3 weeks for winter break, and so I finally finished this chapter. So yeah. Anyway. I hope you liked it!

💖💖💖 Cam