PJO oneshots/ headcannons

BUT THIS IS! 27-- Growing Up

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE TRIALS OF APOLLO, PLEASE TURN BACK IMMEDIATELY. I REPEAT, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE TRIALS OF APOLLO, TURN BACK IMMEDIATELY. ONCE YOU READ THIS SPOILER, THERE SHALL BE NO GOING BACK!!!

ALSO, YOU MIGHT NEED THAT HANDY, DEMOGOD SUPPLY OF DUCT TAPE FOR YOUR HEART.

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"I'm going to have a baby sister. I'd like to be around to get to know her."

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"Laura, Liana, Laima, Leena, Lana... Luna?"

Sally Jackson laughed. "What is it with you and these 'L' names?"

"They have a nice ring to them." Paul replied. He looked across at where his step-son was sitting on the sofa, watching the two of them with an amused expression.

"Paul, there are 25 other great letters in the alphabet." Sally chided him.

"Alright, fine." Paul resigned. He faced Percy and asked him, "What do you think?"

Percy shrugged and reached for a cookie on the coffee table. "Can we name her Blue?"

Sally crossed her arms over her swollen belly. "No."

"Then I'm lost." He promptly went ahead and devoured his blue cookie in two giant bites.

"Lisa, Lina, Lyena, did I mention Luna?" Paul suggested.

"As in Harry Potter?" Percy said.

Sally took the big book away from her husband and flipped through to a different section. "Jennifer? Jen for short. Maybe Kate, Anne, Angela, Claire or Suzie?"

"No way." Paul said. "Suzie was my great-grandmother's name. We are not naming our daughter Suzie."

They went back and forth like that for what felt like hours to Percy, plenty of time for him to study those bright smiles on their faces.

They looked so happy together, so happy that it warmed Percy's heart. Something good was happening in their lives for a change, especially his mum. She deserved to finally be happy.

Seeing her eyes sparkle like that, it made him feel reassured.

Someday soon, he was going to face a monster he wouldn't be able to defeat. He was going to be given a choice and he was going to have to choose to be a hero one last time. Someday soon, Percy Jackson was going to die.

Demigods are forced to learn that truth quicker than most and he'd gone through all those years wondering what would happen to his friends and family. How would they cope?

But now, he felt reassured, knowing that when that happened, he'd be leaving them in capable hands. They'd have each other.

He wasn't the only one his mum had now. She had Paul. She was going to have a daughter. If Percy ever had to go away, she'd be okay. She'd have someone to make it okay.

He thought of something she'd said a long time ago about why she'd named him Perseus. He was the only hero who ever really got a happy ending.

"Andromeda."

The name slipped out, almost accidently. It was so quiet he was sure that his mom and Paul hadn't heard. But they were looking at him now, finally left silenced.

"Andromeda - Andy for short." Percy explained. "She was the princess Perseus rescued in the ancient stories."

"She gets a happy ending." Sally remembered.