As Long as I Have You

It All Starts to Click

PERCY

Everything was starting to make sense, the final pieces of the puzzle clicking together. The throwing up, the spitting out perfectly fine punch—did he mention the pregnancy test on the bed? Gods, how had he been this oblivious? He should've known sooner. Why hadn't he realized?

Emotions started running rampant in Percy's body—joy, fear, disbelief, maybe even a little anger. They tossed and turned, sending his already tired brain into even deeper confusion.

"Annabeth?" Percy called out from the bedroom, his voice cracking.

Annabeth was in the kitchen, fixing herself a slice of peanut butter toast. After the party had died down, the work hadn't really been over for her. She had to instruct the cleaning harpies on what to keep and what to throw out, make sure that all of their out-of-town guests got to their respective arrangements, and, of course, make sure that all of their rather drunk friends made it home safely. So while she grabbed a bite to eat, Percy decided to get the shower started and the bed ready for her. However, he hadn't even made it to the bathroom before the shining box on the pillow caught his eye.

Percy called out again when she didn't answer, this time with more urgency in his voice. "Annabeth!?"

He knew he should've just walked to the kitchen, but his feet were sort of frozen to the floor, his brain not fully working.

When he received no response, yet again, he yelled out her name into the quiet 3 a.m. air. "ANNABETH!"

With that, she came running into the room, her dagger in her hand, her chiton flowing behind her, some of the pins coming undone.

"What is it?" she asked, surveying the room.

Percy suddenly wasn't able to form words, just pointing to the unopened test resting on the pillow, the white packaging shining against their messy, unmade sheets.

Annabeth's jaw dropped along her dagger, clattering noisily, no doubt making a gash in the hardwood floor. "I'm going to kill Piper."

"You're pregnant?" Percy asked at the same time, suddenly finding his words.

"No," Annabeth quickly replied with a firmness to her answer.

"You're not pregnant?" he questioned, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"No..." she responded, this time much softer.

"Well... then... um... what are you?"

Annabeth's emotions suddenly poured out of her. "Gods, I don't know Percy. Does it look like I fucking know? The fucking test is unopened!"

"Shh, my parents," Percy warned her, walking over to close their bedroom door. Sally and Paul were staying with them, returning to New York in a couple of days. Percy and Annabeth had tried to offer their own bedroom; however, they had stubbornly rejected it. Instead, they were graciously sleeping in the living room on the crappy pull-out sofa. It was a bit weird for Percy to have his mom and stepdad staying in hisapartment, sleeping on his sofa. Well, they probably weren't asleep now, giving all the noise the two of them had just made.

"What do you want me to say, Percy? You want me to say that I am? You want me to say that I'm not? What the fuck do you want? You want to laugh? A daughter of Athena who doesn't know something? Who doesn't even know if she's fucking pregnant?" Annabeth asked, her tone icy. She had sat down on the bed while Percy closed the door, holding the unopened pregnancy test in her hand.

"Annabeth, it doesn't matter what I want," Percy replied, walking over to sit on the bed next to her. "I mean... could you even be? We used protection."

"Protection doesn't always work, Percy," Annabeth said with a sigh, rubbing the box with her thumb.

Percy couldn't get a sense of what she was feeling, and it scared him. Usually he knew, usually he could've predicted it, but not this. "I mean... would it be so bad if you were?"

"Would it be so bad if I was? Would it be so bad if I was fucking pregnant?" Annabeth exploded again. Gods, he was just saying all the wrong things tonight. "Let me think, Percy. We are 22. Fucking 22! We are fresh out of college. We don't have stable jobs. Hell, I'm not even making any money right now! We are living in a one-bedroom apartment, and hey, did I mention that we are 22? That's not even taking into account all the fucked up 'Hero's of Olympus' and all that godly crap we're tied up in!"

"Annabeth..." Percy tried to calm her down, placing one hand on her back and moving it in circles.

"Percy, we aren't even married! Gods, Hera must be rolling on the floor laughing right now," she continued on, one tear rolling down her cheek.

"I mean... we could change that?"

"Are you fucking proposing to me right now, Perseus Jackson? We don't even know if I am, and here you are, popping the big question. How dense are you?" Annabeth's gray eyes blazed into his, making him wish he could hide under the blankets or, better yet, crawl under the mattress and suffocate. He was really bad at these types of things.

However, it wasn't like he was proposing just because she may or may not be pregnant. He loved her more than he knew was possible. And he had always figured they would get married one day. What if it was just sooner rather than later?

Percy took a deep breath, pushing his own feelings out of the way, remembering the last time they had been in this situation. It had been lost a bit in the aftermath of the war; however, now it was coming back to him clearly. They had done it for the first time on the Argo II after returning from Tartarus. Who could've blamed them? After all they had gone through, it was only reasonable to have such a need to connect so deeply with the only other person who would understand what they had just gone through. Their only mistake—a rookie one, of course—was forgetting a condom. After all the aftermath of the war, Annabeth realized she had missed her cycle. She had gone totally crazy on him, just like she was doing now. Thankfully, when the test came back with only one line, all had been forgiven.

"Look, Annabeth," Percy said, taking her hands away from the box and looking directly back into her burning eyes. "I think-"

A sharp knock on the door interrupted him. Sighing, Percy slowly let go of Annabeth's hands, getting up from the bed and walking across the room to open the door. On the other side, the light from their bedroom illuminated a sheepish-looking Paul, his usually tidy hair looking a bit disheveled.

"Everything okay in here?" He asked, his voice quiet, his eyes darting around the room.

"Uh... yep... all good," Percy responded, adjusting the door slightly in hopes of blocking Annabeth and the incriminating box from Paul's view. He hoped Paul wasn't getting the wrong idea, knowing that his mother definitely told him about the little incident outside the party.

"Okay... your mom just wanted me to check on you guys," Paul responded, the blush on his cheeks backing up the fact that this most definitely had not been his idea.

Percy softened a bit, still slowly inching the door closer and closer. "Yeah, don't worry; you can let her know that we're all good. Sorry for interrupting your sleep."

With that, Paul nodded, padding back to the sofa in the blue whale slippers that Percy had gotten him for his birthday last year.

Percy softly shut the door, turning back to look at Annabeth, finally finding the right words. "Look, Annabeth, I know how terrifying this is for you, but I think we just need to take the test and see what it says."

He expected her to lash out at him again, but instead she slowly nodded her head, wiping the single tear off her cheek.