Percy and Annabeth-Their future

Lilly's Little Surprise

September had rolled around again. Sophia was already 17, Rion and Lena were 14, and Taylor and Luke were 12. Rion and Lena had only just started high school, and were loving it already- especially Lena. 

"And then Danny said-" 

"Jeez Lena, don't you know anyone else at Brookside?" Taylor complained. She's grown a lot since last year, but was still short compared to the other girls. 

"Yeah... Yeah, of course." 

She didn't say anything else about Danny Gershwin for the day. Instead, we got ot hear RIon and Luke talk about which sport was better: baseball or lacrosse.

"I don't love the physical contact you get with lacrosse-" Rion began.

"That's the best part!" Thankfully, the phone rang and I got to leave the conversation. 

"Hello?" I said, already knowing what news I'd hear. It was time. 

"Hey Annabeth- It's Juniper... she's out!"

                                                                                                 ~

We arrived at the hospital, and memories of coming to see Lilly only a short five years ago. We had bought the same bouquet from the vendor down the street, and the same nurse greeted us. 

Grover and Juniper were ecstatic, but Lilly was overjoyed. She had hundreds of pink bows and clothes and toys for her new baby sister surrounding Juniper's hospital bed that it was hard to even walk. 

"Hey kiddos," Juniper smiled. Percy gave Grover the bro-hug they'd been working on. Each time it got longer. 

"Hey Lill," Sophia smiled, picking up her cousin to see the baby. "She's gorgeous, Aunt June." 

"Aw, thanks sweetie." She smiled. 

And the name drafting began- and most of them I'd never heard of.

"Okay, my top five right now are Iridessa, Luna, Marceline, Illisa, and Mallory," Juniper said, her beautiful cursive handwriting curving on the little whiteboard Lena had bought her. 

"Oh, Iridessa's pretty," Taylor smiled, "You could call her Dessa. You know, like Tessa?" 

Sophia frowned. "Please take Luna off that list," she grumbled. I knew what she was referring to: Logan's older sister, who seemed to always be at odds with Sophia. 

"What about Aria?" Lena asked. "She's awesome in Pretty Little Liars."

"No, Hanna and Spencer are so much better-" Taylor argued. She was getting pretty good at it.

"Girls, this is about a baby, not PLL." I laughed. 

"I still like Amelia. We could call her Mel," Grover commented from the corner where he, Percy, and Luke were watching that snake video on YouTube. 

Juniper sighed. "I guess we'll see." 

Sure enough, time got away from us. We called, but they were busy. We'd try to get together, but Luke had lacrosee, or Taylor had a show. It went on and on for weeks until the pink and brown envelope arrived in the mail for us, Juniper's cute cursive script twisting all over the page. 

"Please welcome the newest member of the Underwood family: Iridessa Rose "Rosie" Underwood. 6 pouns, 9 ounces, and 19 beautiful inches."

A cute black and white photo I'd always failed at taking of Rosie sleeping sat above the words. The card stayed on our fridge until they came and we finally got to meet Rosie as Rosie, not 'unnamed girl Underwood'.

"Hey guys!" Percy smiled as he opened the door. It was December, and freezing cold. 

"Hi!" I put down the cake I was making and went to greet our guests. "How's Rosie?" 

Rosie gurgled in her carseat. "I think she's pretty good," Juniper laughed, taking off her coat, and helping Lilly with hers. 

"Wosie goes by hewa middle name. Did you know dat?" I laughed, tickling Lilly. 

"No, that's a new one!" Lilly grinned. 

"Percy and Grover were already headed downstairs for a game of ping pong (that I hoped STAYED as ping pong, and not the alternate Percy loved a little too much).

"Oh gods, that cake looks divine! Did you make it?" Juniper said. Taylor had already whisked away her little friend Lilly. They got along so well.

"Uh... I tried to, but-"

"But I actually helped more than I ate!" Rion said proudly. "Hey Aunt Juniper." Rion's black hair had started to hang in his eyes. He was 14. Holy Hades. He'd have girls chasing after him.

"Haha, I'm sure you did Ri," Juniper smiled. 

"Do you want a drink?" I asked, opening the wine fridge. "We have your favorite kind!'' I knew she didn't have the willpower not to drink.

"Oh, Hades," She hopped off her seat and grabbed the wine glasses. "Sure." 

"Nothing like a good glass of wine with good company." I stood there with Juniper in silence for a moment, and I thought back to when I'd first met her.

"We've come along way, you and I," She laughed. 

"To family?"

"To family." We clinked our glasses together, and Rosie wailed. "Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. I know..." Juniper excused herself and I was left alone. the snow fell down gracefully from the gray sky and it was just... right. Peaceful, for once. It was weird to think that Sophia would be leaving soon. Rion and Lena would follow quickly, and so would Taylor and Luke. We would be all alone, just Percy and I, but it would be so different from before. 

"You okay?" Percy said, reaching into the fridge for a water. "You look...."

"Nostalgic?" I  looked at his eyes, and he smiled crookedly at me.

"I don't know what that means, but sure if it means sad." He wrapped his arms around me. "I don't like it when you're sad. It makes me really sad, and I'm already sad because Goat Boy beat me in ping pong. It's just not fair, is it?" Our faces were so close I could feel Percy's internal laughing rising up in his face.

"I guess not," I said, leaning on his chest. 

"Well, at least I got my Wise Girl. That way we can win at couples beer-pong! C'mon!"

I shook my head. "PING PONG. I only play PING Pong." He laughed, taking my head. 

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right."

"No, you love it." 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys :) What's new? I have this scrapbook project due on Wednesday and I only have 6 pages left! yay! Lol there are only 15 though. 

How's life going? It snowed where I live the other day! I was so happy, but it didn't stick. I really wanted it to but it didn't :(  

The next chapter of this story is going to be so fun to write guysssss. OMG. I'm so excited.

So... I don't have much to say right now.... I guess I'll keep it short and sweet. 

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT PROM DRESS

(hint: that was a hint)

XO

~PercyAnnabeth20owl