Percy and Annabeth-Their future

Hello, My Name Is...?

"Really? Is that the best name you can come up with?" Sophia asked with so much attitude, you'd have thought she was an Aphrodite kid. But when she wanted something bad enough, it had to be that way, or she'd... well, she'd go insane. 

Sophia wanted to name the puppy Olympus or Olympian or Olympus. Rion wanted Alpha or Omega. Lena wanted to name him Daedalus. Taylor and Luke just sided with the others, and alternated between favorites. 

To be honest, I was impressed. I was expecting names like... i don't know, normal pet names! But not my brilliant heirs. Nope. They went for Greek or nothing. 

Percy was relatively impartial to everything. Each time anyone asked he said something like 'Oh, I dunno,' or 'Maybe...' So no one really knew his opinion.

It was late May, and the sun was shining on the gorgeous spring day. The kids were at the counter, eating Saturday-morning pancakes. I walked over to Percy and put my head on his chest. I heard his slow, steady heartbeat- it was the heartbeat that kept both of us alive. 

Percy sighed, his mind clearly somewhere else. 

"Is everything okay?" I looked into his sea-green eyes, and they looked back at me.

"Yeah. Yeah, why?" He was obviously preoccupied. I made a questioning face, and he led me to the office. His voice lowered to a whisper. 

"I'm worried about Sophia." 

"Why? She's been totally fine, right?" Percy shook his head sadly. 

"I've been having dreams. She's becoming more and more powerful. I can feel it. She can, the monsters can, the gods can... I just hope she doesn't.. you know..." I sighed, and kissed him softly. 

"She'll be fine. She's your daughter, after all." he chuckled, somewhat relieved. 

"Hey, what about that puppy's name?" I asked him as we walked back into the kitchen. The kids had stopped fighting and were eating calmly. 

"We should take a vote!" Sophia exclaimed, after overhearing the phrase. 

"Hmm... Not bad, Sophie." Percy ruffled her hair, and she giggled. 

So we had a Jackson Family Vote.

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"The nominees are: Olympus, Daedalus, and Alpha." The five kids sat with their eyes closed and their heads down. Percy joined in. I was the 'tally-master,' as Rion called it. 

"Who wants Olympus?" Sophia's hand shot up. Taylor's quietly followed. Two for Olympus.

"Who wants Daedalus?" Lena's hand shot up, and Percy's quickly followed. Shocker! Two for Daedalus.

"Who wants Alpha?" Of course, Rion and Luke raised their hands. Darn. It was a tie. 

"Guys, we have a problem." Everyone looked up, uncovering their eyes. 

"It's a tie..."

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"Okay, everyone ready?" It looked ridiculous. But too bad. In front of me sat 17 adults, and 20 kids. All with their hands covering their eyes. 

"No peeking!" We were having a mass vote. I was talking to Thalia about it, and this was the best we could come up with. All of our friends/cousins/family or whatever you want to call them sat in our living room, bags of popcorn strewn about. 

"Oookayy! Who wants our new puppy to be named Olympus? You can only vote once!!" Sophia's hand was raised, next to Lia, Karrie, and Julia. Paige's hand followed shortly, along with Abby and Scarlett. 7 for Olympus. 

"Okay, next! Who votes for Daedalus?" Clarisse and Chris raised their hands timidly, and so did Piper, Rachel, and Will. Percy's hand shot up before all of them, and Lena's did too. Again, 7. I knew who won. 

"Who wants..... Alpha?" Everyone else raised their hands, and I announced the winner. Rion jumped up with so much happiness bursting out of him. Sophia sunk to the floor.

"I WON!! I KNEW IT!!!! I WOOOOONNNNNNN!!!!!" Rion was running all around.

"Ugh," Sophia got up and left, Karrie, Julia, and Lia following ar her heels. I laughed and gave Percy a hug. Harley-Now-Alpha ran over to me, barking a happy little bark.

"Hey boy," Percy rubbed his belly, and Lena giggled as Alpha licked her face. Who knew?

That night, everyone ate well. We turned on the grill and everyone had hot dogs and burgers. It was nice to have a family reunion again. Everything was filled with laughter and smiles and lots and lots of spilled drinks. 

I watched as the kids ran around wild, Paige keeping them in line like sheep. 

"Photo op!" Piper exclaimed, taking out her iPhone. I did the same, and ended up with over 400 new pictures. Some of them got hung up on the wall, and were examples for future generations. I should probably put some cheesy quote about family, but our family wasn't- our family isn't- like most families :)