Tell Me You Love Me

Surprise(Fifty-Four)

Edited 9/3/18

It's a chilly day in late January when Annabeth suggests we go out on a date, just the two of us. We haven't been out just the two of us for awhile, so I'm all for it. She also said she had a little bit of a surprise put together. We got all dressed up and dropped the kids off at Mom's house.

The whole drive to the restaurant Annabeth was trying to be chipper and carry out a conversation, but I could tell something was up. "What is it?" I asked. Used to be, she would ask me how I knew something was wrong, but we're way past that. She just understands without question that I know her so extremely well, maybe even better then I know myself, which I deem a huge accomplishment, considering Annabeth's a hard person to read.

She shrugged and looked out the window, "just something Rachel told me a while back. I can't get over the uneasy feeling it gives me." I glance at her before turning back to the road. My right hand finds her left and we hold hands the rest of the drive.

When I park the car in the parking lot, she kisses me on the cheek and then we get out and get our reservation. The meal was amazing, as expected, but by this point, Annabeth was practically bouncing in her seat with excitement and it dawned on me for the first time that this wasn't just about getting out of the house. Okay, maybe I should take back a little of the credit I gave myself for knowing her so well.

After we finished and payed, we stayed for a little while longer, sipping our Shirley temples and holding hands across the table.

"Okay," she started. "Okay," I repeated. "Percy," she had a wide smile on her face as she massaged my thumb with her's. I raised my eyebrows in question, willing her to finish the statement.

"I'm pregnant," she said. And that was the best surprise I could've ever hoped for. But little did I know, it wouldn't be the last.

Time skip...

TWO WEEKS LATER

The beeping of my alarm woke my up at seven Monday morning. I grumbled my complaints and tried to bury my face in my pillow and ignore all my problems. Annabeth sighed and turned the alarm off, yanked my pillow from my hands, and proceeded to wack me with it. "Hey!" I groaned, rolling right of the bed and smashing to the floor. At least it woke me up.

I took a quick shower, got dressed, and roused Luke, making sure he knew what he was going to wear to school today and whatnot.

Then I crossed go Ariana's room and turned on the lights and nudged her awake. You had to be careful with her, because if you didn't wake her up just the right way, she was crabby for the rest of the day. She had preschool only a block from Luke's school, so it wasn't too much out of the way.

Annabeth was making blue pancakes in the kitchen and when I got downstairs, Luke was at the counter, drowning them in syrup. Ari ran between my legs, racing to get to the kitchen. I crossed to the counter and put together their lunches and set their backpacks by the door.

After the kids were done eating, they got on their backpacks and were just about to head out the apartment door when I remembered I left the keys in the bedroom.

I don't remember taking one last look at the perfect scene in front of me, but I should've. It would've been the last one I'd ever get.

Because as soon as I reached the bedroom and grabbed the keys, I heard the first scream. It was shrill and panicked, no doubt belonging to Ariana. I sprinted down the stairs, forgetting about the keys and uncapping Riptide. Standing in front of the apartment door was my family.

Except each member had a monster behind them, holding a blade to their necks. Annabeth stood calm and collected, as I expected she would. Luke tried to copy her example, but his lip was trembling and he kept stealing glances at Annabeth.

Ariana was barely keeping it together. Just a little two year old-sorry- two and a half year old with a dagger at her neck. She was whimpering and barely resisting running to me, though I held out my hand, motioning for her to stay put.

I didn't know what to do. I was totally frozen, right when my family needed me most. If I tried to free one person, the others are goners. No way am I letting that happen. What is the enemy's goal here? To hurt me, probably. Right where it hurts.

Annabeth comes to my rescue. "Let them go," she grits her teeth. "If you want to hurt him, take me. He doesn't care about them. They are weak children. I'm the one that matters most to him. Take me instead."

Tears swam in my eyes as I pleaded with her for another option. But her and I both knew there was none. The monsters exchanged looks, shrugged, and not so gently shoved the kids in my direction. Ari ran to me and Luke looked back at Annabeth, who smiled and nodded ever so slightly, before her and the monsters were gone, faster then they had appeared.

I stood there in shock, not knowing what to do, for probably ten minutes, cradling Ari, who was crying, in my arms. Luke just stared at the place Annabeth occupied only moments ago with tears in his eyes, not yet shed.

If it weren't for Luke, I'd have just stood there forever. He was the one to get me moving again. "Dad come on, we gotta go. We gotta go," He said, tugging on my leg.

"Where we-we gonna go?" Ari asked between sobs. "Camp," I uttered quietly, on the verge of losing it. I gained more confidence then, trying to form plan. Like Annabeth would do. "We'll go to Camp and get help there. See what can be done."

Luke nodded, satisfied to at least have a starting point and headed off to pack a bag. I decided I should probably do this for Ari and then for myself. I mindlessly stuffed the bags with essentials and grabbed a few other things that seemed important. Like the keys. And perhaps even more importantly, her dagger, hidden in cloth and buried in a shoebox in the closet.

Distraught and distracted, we got in the car and set off for Camp, not even bothering to call the schools to inform them of their absences or giving Mr. Lars a call to tell him I won't be showing up to work today. Or tomorrow. Or many days after that. My faith right now isn't in the gods. Because they most definitely had some type of hand in these latest horrors.

No, my faith right now is in my friends. My family. But most importantly, my wife.