Falling Backwards (A Heroes of Olympus AU and Fanficton)

Chapter 25

Jason and Piper waited nervously in their living room, both of them with legs bouncing. Percy sat in one of the arm chairs, bouncing Leo on his knee as they waited. 

Finally, after what felt like forever, there was a knock at the door. Both Jason and Piper jumped up, nearly racing to the door to open it. 

Behind the door was a beautiful young woman with an olive complexion, long dark hair pulled back into a braid, and intense green eyes. She wore a white blouse, jeans, brown leather boots, and a black blazer. She smiled kindly when she saw them.

"Hi." Piper squeaked a little when she spoke, blushing a little. The woman held her hand out to her. 

"Hi, I'm Vanessa!" Piper shook her hand nervously. Vanessa turned to Jason and shook his hand, too. 

"Hi, Vanessa, we're the Graces." Jason put his arm around Piper and squeezed gently, trying to reassure her of his presence. It worked a little. "Please, come on in." 

They sat down in the living room, Vanessa sitting in the open chair. Leo was now on the floor, playing with some of his toys, occasionally giggling loudly and babbling nonsense to himself. 

"So, Vanessa," Percy began, smiling. "Thank you for meeting us here today. As you can tell, we're all very excited." Vanessa's smile widened a little.

"I certainly can. But don't worry, I'm not here to judge. I'll answer any questions that you have for me. I know that getting to know me and making sure that I'm the perfect one is the top priority before beginning the process, so I'm willing to answer anything you have questions about." Jason and Piper nodded, and looked at each other before beginning. 

"Well," Piper began, nearly shaking from nervousness. "Do you have a significant other, Vanessa?" 

"No, I happen to be asexual, though I do have a platonic life partner. Her name is Evelyn, and she's completely supportive of my choice." 

"Do you ever plan on having children of your own?" 

Vanessa thought for a moment before responding, and saying, "I don't quite know. I've only done two other jobs, and I don't really have any desire to have children of my own. I mean, I do find children adorable, but I just don't know if they're right for me." 

"How do you feel about having more than one baby in there at once?" Piper blushed as soon as she asked, realizing that she could have phrased it better. 

"I would be fine with it. I had triplets for the last couple I worked with, and I had no real issues. The babies were a little premature, but that's to be expected with multiples." 

"How many babies is too many babies to carry at once?" 

Once again, Vanessa thought before responding. 

"I think any more than three. Honestly, I would never ask you to terminate any fetuses, nor would I force you to consider selective reduction, but I do think that triplets would be as high as I could go." 

"That's fair. Three more is probably too many for me, too." Jason agreed, and Piper nodded along with him. Three newborns and an almost two year old would be too many for her, too. "How far from here do you live?"

"I actually live only 10 minutes from here." 

"How involved would you like us to be?" Vanessa smiled at the question. 

"How involved would you like to be?" 

"How involved are you comfortable with us being?" Vanessa thought once again. 

"Honestly, as involved as you'd like. I can do the appointments on my own, but you are completely welcome to come to all of them if you'd like. If you want to know the gender, feel free to come along for that appointment, too." She chuckled a little before adding, "As long as I don't have to move in here with you, I'm probably going to be comfortable." 

"Vanessa, do you mind if I ask why you wanted to do this if you don't really want kids of your own?" This time, Vanessa barely had to think at all. 

"I do it because I love the look in their eyes when they are handed their baby. I love seeing the smiles on their faces as they look down at their child. I love seeing them cuddle and care for their baby. I love the happiness and joy all around. I know it probably sounds selfish, but I do it because it makes me so happy to see people so happy. Bringing others joy brings me joy." 

"That's not selfish at all." Piper reassured her, as she could tell that Vanessa looked a little bit nervous when she said that. "It's incredibly noble of you to give people something so priceless and precious for so little in return." Vanessa perked back up a little.

"I'm just glad to help people." Vanessa looked down where Leo was playing with his toys, and she smiled. "Hey there, buddy!" Leo looked up at her and grinned. He was so adorable, with his curly dark dark hair sticking up all over, his sweet, mischievous brown eyes, and his cute chubby cheeks. "Aren't you a cutie!" Leo giggled a little, toddling over to her with Banjo in hand. "Who's this?" 

"Banjo!" Leo exclaimed excitedly. 

"That's a wonderful name! I like it a lot!" Leo grinned again when she said that, making her smile even wider. Vanessa turned back to Piper and Jason. "He's absolutely adorable!"

"Thank you." Jason beamed. "We were able to adopt him with the help of Percy and the Demigod Adoption Agency." Jason thought for a moment, before asking, "Speaking of which, I may have read it somewhere, but I have since forgotten. Who was you godly parent?" 

"Hecate." Jason and Piper looked over at each other, smiling. 

"Vanessa, I think you're exactly who we're looking for." Vanessa smiled when Jason said that, her eyes lighting up.

"Really? Are you 100% sure?" Jason and Piper exchanged another look, before nodding. "Oh, that's wonderful! I can't wait to work with you!" 

Jason then turned to Percy, who was grinning from ear to ear, and said, "So, how long do you think the paperwork will take?" Percy's smile widened. 

"For a surrogacy? Probably forever."

******* Hey, guys. Once again, I'm sorry this is so late. I've been busy once again, and I'm a bit concerned that no one's reading these anymore, since VERY few have been responding to questions and polls and stuff. So, yeah. Here ya go. 

Peace out in demigodishness and all that! 

~~~Mrsleovaldez*******