Tell Me You Love Me

San Fransicso(Sixty-Two)

Edited 10/30/18

"San Fransisco."

I heard the whisper on September 9th at around 9:00pm. We had just gotten back from our latest search, and I was going to see the kids before heading out again in the morning.

The voice was definitely Hera. She must've been warning us, not only where she was, but when she was delivering. She was nine days past her due date and we were all getting really antsy. I hated not being able to find her for eight whole months.

But now I knew where to look. Forgetting about the bed I was going to crash on in a few minutes, I got the kids in the car and we drove straight through the portal to Camp Jupiter. Once in California, I glanced at the GPS and did a double take. It was set to a location under Mount Diablo. The same mountain Atlas was imprisoned on. I shivered. That place brings back bad memories.

I drove there as fast as I could, pushing the speed limit the whole way there. We arrived at the base of the mountain and I gave Luke the keys, telling him I'd be right back and to lock the door.

I hopped out of the car and sprinted, feeling a little hopeful, but mostly just anxious. This was our first lead in months. I circled the mountain and found a cave that looked promising.

I pulled out a flashlight and swept the beam back and forth. At the back of the cave I found a tunnel being guarded by two monsters of some breed I don't care about. They were disintegrated in seconds. I figured if the tunnel was being guarded, I should probably go down it.

It was a long winding tunnel and at the end was a long row of cells. My stomach flopped at the anticipation of what I might find. Then a scream split across the cell block and I knew with absolute certainty it was her.

"Annabeth?" I called. Silence. "Annabeth!" I called again, checking each empty cell as I went. Then "Percy?" She called. It was a small cry, in between sobs, not very hopeful.

"Yeah it's me," I answered, "can you tell me where you are?" "I don't know," she answered miserably. She started screaming again and I ditched the rest of the cells and ran to the end of the block. It was apparent she was in the very last one. I body slammed the thing trying to get in, but the heavy iron door was locked. Her screams took on a sharper tone and I desperately grabbed at Riptide from out of my pocket.

I sliced at the lock and it just sparked against the door. I tried jamming the sword in there and then put all my weight on the shaft and something broke. I yanked out my sword and capped it, pushing the door open.

Annabeth sat on a cot in the corner with her back against the wall, holding her pregnant belly and rocking back and forth. I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her in a much needed hug. I didn't even realize I was crying until Annabeth opened her eyes and wiped my tears away. I pressed my lips to hers. We broke a part and she groaned. I placed my hand on her baby bump. "How long have you been in labor?" I asked.

"Two days," she grunted and clutched at my arm. I helped her up and led her, slowly but surly, to the car that was waiting for us outside. I could see the kids in the back perk up when they saw Annabeth. Luke unlocked the car for us and I helped Annabeth into the passengers seat where she held the "oh shit" handle in a death grip in one hand and my hand in the other.

As soon as we pulled away, we took off back to Camp Jupiter. It was dark out and the clock read 6:38am. I pulled out my monster proof phone and tossed it in the back. "Luke! Call Jason and tell him we found her and we're on our way home. He'll know what to do."

"K dad," he said and dialed Jason. From what I heard, this is how the conversation went.

"Hi Jason! We found my mom and we are on our way to Camp!

"Yes I'm serious!

"Dad said you'd know what to do. We are just about to the Camp Jupiter portal.

"Ok see you soon,"

He ended the call and handed me back the phone.

Thank the gods for Ariana. She was talking to Annabeth the whole ride, effectively distracting her from her contractions. Ariana was so obviously happy that Annabeth was back that she hardly noticed her pain, just continued asking questions and telling her stories of our adventures while she was gone.

We drove right up to Camp Jupiter and through the border where a team of familiar half-bloods were waiting for us. Jason was the first person I saw. He was directing the car towards the Big House and a couple others, Piper included, were steering other half-bloods out of the way. Piper and Jason had been here since June when they found out they were pregnant again.

Will ran out of the Big House with a wheel chair and Frank and Jason helped me get her into the room they had reserved for her. I saw Leo and Calypso arrive with their kids and Hazel go to our car and take the kids with her.

I was mainly concerned with Annabeth who, once was at Camp, got right on with the delivery. Everyone else but me and a few Apollo campers were pushed from the room.

Annabeth had been suffering contractions and labor for two whole days and now she was finally delivering the baby. It was a pretty quick process and Annabeth looked like death, which really had me worried.

After only ten minutes Will had a baby in his hands. "Girl," he announced, handing the baby first to another camper to wrap a blanket around, and then to Annabeth who was so exhausted and I don't even think she realized she was crying.

Then she started screaming again and the baby was whisked away. Will cocked his head and got a new pair of gloves. He did some inspections and seemed to come to a conclusion.

"Okay Annabeth, I need you to do it again. There's another baby. You're having twins."

My jaw dropped. I was not expecting that. But Annabeth just accepted it and went right into delivering the second one.

I think I blacked out for a few minutes or something, because I got a vision.

Hera stood before me, giving me a pitying look. "She's not going to make it, you know," she said. "What?" Was my intelligent response. "Annabeth," she said, "she won't make it. She'll die. I did everything I could to keep her from delivering the babies until she got to you because I knew that she would die. And if she gave birth in that cell, the babies wouldn't have made it either. I'm sorry Percy."

I blinked back to reality. Annabeth was breathing hard, hardly any energy left to deliver the second baby. "C'mon Annabeth," Will pleaded. He too recognized the situation as a hopeless one.

He wiped his misting eyes on his sleeve and continued coaxing Annabeth to push harder, she almost had it. Annabeth's groan turned to screams as she put all her effort into delivering the baby.

"That's right Annabeth! Almost there!" Will begged. One final push and he had the second baby. "Boy!" He announced and handed him to the Apollo kid with the blanket who gave him to Annabeth to hold.

I was desperately trying to distract myself from what I knew was going to happen. Annabeth was going to die and there wasn't a thing I could about if. I knew it. Will knew it. Annabeth knew it.

The Apollo kid took the baby to the other room where the girl was and Annabeth turned to me and said softly, "Can you just hold me?"

"Always," I whispered and got onto the bed with her, wrapping my arms around her. Tears were dripping freely down Will's face as he excused himself from the room.

I just held Annabeth close to me. "Percy, can you tell the kids...can you tell them...tell them I love them?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Percy, I love you, okay? I love you so much. Take...take care of them for me...okay?"

I nodded, and hummed something that sounded like a yes. I pressed a kiss to her her forehead, and then her lips and held her tighter.

The worst part was her last breath. I felt it, warm and soft, on my neck. There wasn't another that followed it, like there should be. I started to shake. We found her. After months we found her. It wasn't supposed to end like this. Not like this.

"I love you too, Annabeth," I whispered.

Always