Healing (Sequel to My One & Only and A Distant Love) Percabeth AU

[*35*]- Tick, Tock

"You did what?" Annabeth sighed and played with aimless strands of her ponytail.  Leo rolled his eyes and kept rubbing her feet.

"Annabeth just, I'm doing this out of pity, so please shut up." Leo pleaded and Annabeth's eyes burst into flame.

"Pity? I'm almost seven months pregnant, the father of this kid is going crazy and my best friend is failing at foot rubs." Annabeth grit her teeth and resisted the strong urge not to sock the curly-haired mechanic.

Leo decided to shut before she whipped out her crazy-hungry-angry-evil-pregnant side of her. That was not a pretty sight.

Annabeth leaned on the armrest of the chair as Leo stood up to get a drink of water. Her swollen feet and ankles were killing her, she still had morning sickness half the time and they had run out of salmon.

"Man Annabeth this kid is making your feet turn into-" Before he could finish Annie leaned forward and punched his shoulder, knocking him backward.

"What was that for?" Leo complained and Annabeth just rolled her eyes and stood up.

Walking to the kitchen with Leo following her she rummaged through the fridge.

"Are you okay Leo?" Annabeth said absentmindedly as she looked for something to eat and satisfy her cravings for seafood.

Leo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you obviously found where they took Callie and was forced away before you could actually save her."

Leo's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"How do you know?" He said softly and tried to hold back something rising unexpectedly in his chest

"A girl knows. When you went missing for three days and missed the party I assumed you went looking. And when you came back you were so down in the dumps so I assumed." Annabeth didn't look up from rummaging through the fridge.

"I did find her." Leos's voice cracked slightly.

"The clocks ticking Leo, it's been two months since you came back. If she's not dead by some chance then you have to jump on the highway and get her."

"You sound like my philosophical grandma." Leo snorted and Annabeth shot up with a thick block of cheese in her hand.

Before Leo could even think of running she aimed the block of cheese and hit Leo square in the forehead, knocking the short, feather-light mechanic to the floor.

"What is the name of hell was that for," Leo complained. Annabeth just smirked and continued rummaging through the fridge.

***

"Last night was epic Percy!" Grover smiled and handed his friend a glass of saltwater, so he could gurgle it, helping his sore, aching throat.

"Yeah? Didn't think so, wasn't my best." Percy replied and gurgled the water and spit it out into the sink.

"Well the tickets sold out in under thirty minutes, you doubled in profit from last month's concert in Sacramento, and Bud Light is going to sponsor your next concert." Grover read it off his phone and Percy rolled his eyes.

"Still not my best."

"Oh shut up, I've been your manager for three years now and in that time you've won four Grammys, a Golden Globe and an Emmy, blew out the box office for Tanker and managed to do that before you graduated college. "

"Could have done better"

"I give up," Grover said exasperated and left the room.

Percy stifled a laugh and opened his phone, scrolling through Instagram and Tik Tok aimlessly

3 New Messages

Annabeth- Hey can you pick some ice cream up for me, and some choco chips?
Annabeth- Oh and I have a doctors appointment next week.
Annabeth-  :/

Percy smiled and told her he would be there within an hour. Instead of instantly getting in his car and driving to Target to get her some ice cream and chocolate chips he went straight to his photo album. There was four folders.

My Friends <3
Music
Family
Love

Opening the fourth folder there was tap pictures, some of his favorite of all time,he had visited Rome, hiked to the top of an mountain and ventured the Caribbean Sea but nothing compared to this photo he had been lucky enough to get a few weeks ago.

The ultrasound photo.

The little baby, the tiny little baby, whether it was a boy or a girl, did it matter though? It would be a Jackson or a Jackson-Chase. He would not let it have the name Chase, no. It had to know it was a Jackson, somewhat at least.

He had been so happy, so ecstatic when Annabeth had sent it to him, when she finally started to trust him, finally started to see he did want to be in this kids life. He really did. Most guys his age would up and leave. No, he wouldn't do that, not to this poor kid. He had grown up without a dad, without Tyson who he had barley seen in the past six months, he didn't have a dad until Paul came around. That was his dad. Poseidon was just the man who got his mom pregnant. That was it, end of story.

The very thought of being a father in a few short months, the very thought of having something in his life like had never had, it was scary, so unimaginably scary. But he was excited. So joyful.

Annabeth was six, close to seven months pregnant, she was the strong one here, she held on, he did all the dirty work but she held the crown, she held the kingdom. He may have built the whole nursery in her house, painted walls and put cribs together but she was the one who deserved a castle, deserved the world itself.

In truth he did love her, he always had, even after their split closer to the three years ago.

Maybe this kid would draw them closer. Just like Jason hoped Piper beating cancer would. Bring them closer. Of course Jason loved Piper. Wasn't it obvious? It was a sweet kind of love, like Hazel and Franks. Man, he was depressed when they called off the wedding. He missed Callie like nothing else. She should be here.

They should all be together. Piper not stuck in her bed, dying, Callie on some island lonely, Leo and Jason depressed as crap because they cant find love.

It should be like THIS.

It should be be like this.

It just shouldn't.

The clock was ticking, tick tock. Nobody knew how much time they had left.

But what is important is how we choose to spend that time.

That's how we fight back against the darkness.