Natasha's Secret

Chapter 23 - Poppy Seeds

"I've set up my private jet to fly us to DC tonight, perks of being a billionaire," Tony said, returning from the other room where he had been on a call.

"That's good," Annabeth muttered, tying her hair back into a ponytail and leaning back on the couch.

"Are you sure you want to fly, Annabeth-"

"I swear, Rogers, if you ask me if I'm ok one more time, I'm about to hit you with a peanut butter sandwich," Annabeth glared playfully at Steve who blushed.

"Nico and Percy should be alright to fly since I'm on the plane too," Jason said, wrapping his arm around Piper who had dozed off about half an hour ago.

They'd had a long day.

"Why wouldn't they be able to fly?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jason shrugged, "Zeus doesn't like his brothers that much, and by extension his children,"

Bruce looked taken aback, "That's terrible!"

"Well, it's not that bad, considering other parts of Greek mythology, like the fact that most of the eldest gods were eaten by their father," Will piped up, running his hand through Nico's hair who was almost asleep on his lap.

Steve eyed Will and Nico, seeming to have not heard what Will said, and looking a little bitter as Will smiled down at Nico.

"You alright, Spangles?" Rachel asked, drinking a fresh cup of coffee to help her stay awake.

Steve sighed, "Yeah, I'm alright, just missing someone," he said, leaning back onto the couch. Annabeth looked over to him, silently wondering who he was talking about.

Steve just met her eyes, shaking his head slightly, silently saying that he didn't want to talk about it.

"So, we need to give you all some weapons that will work on Greek monsters," Percy said, leaning forward like he was discussing battle strategy around the ping pong table at the Big House.

"I can summon some weapons, I have a little bit of the riches aspect of Hades's powers, but Hazel-" Nico but himself off, taking a deep breath.

"That's good, Neeks," Percy said, obviously trying to lighten the mood, and succeeding as Nico glared at him.

"So, Nico can summon weapons for all of you, and us demigods already have our weapons," Annabeth said. Gods, she wanted coffee, but the stupid child in her stomach didn't like the fast juice.

It was a little hard getting used to, being pregnant. She knew that she would be getting morning sickness soon, her morning sickness with Luke was awful, and she had a sinking feeling that this one would be that same.

Of course, she could afford to get any medicine she needed, but it was hard to treat something that wasn't really wrong in the first place.

"Have you been thinking of names?" Clint asked poking her in the arm. Annabeth gave him a teasing glare.

"I was going to name them after some of our friends, but I'm not sure that's the best idea right now. Luke was named after my friend who died in the titan war, he was also the person who hosted Kronos, and was generally a bad person for most of my life, but he ended up being a hero,"

Tony raised an eyebrow, seemingly unaffected by the late hour.

"You named your kid after someone who fought against you?"

"It was more complicated than that," Annabeth rubbed her temples, "Luke had been my best friend since I was seven, and I loved him. The reason he betrayed the gods was because the gods weren't doing a good job. They were terrible parents, hardly ever claimed their kids, and most demigods felt abandoned,"

Steve sat up in his seat, listening closely.

"Luke just wanted to prove himself, he wanted the gods to notice, to even care, and eventually Kronos's words overtook him. In the end, though, he sacrificed himself, and that's why I named my son after him. Not because I loved him, though I did, but because in the end, he made the right choice,"

There was silence in the room, until Bruce spoke up, "That's a lot of thought in a name,"

The tension broke, everyone who was still awake laughing. Percy wrapped an arm around Annabeth's shoulders and kissed her temple, smiling.

"But what do you think we should name this little poppy seed?" Percy asked, poking at Annabeth's stomach.

"Our little poppy seed?"

"Yeah! I've been listening to pregnancy audiobooks, and at four weeks old, the baby is around the size of a Poppyseed," Percy smiled.

Annabeth felt herself grinning, leaning into Percy's touch.

"Our little poppy seed,"