The Pirate's Prisoner | Percabeth

Chapter 30: Annabeth

I took a deep breath.

Remember what Piper said, I thought. Your crew would attack the gods if you asked them too. They won't care that you're pregnant with a bastard.

I took another deep breath, and walked out of my office.

My office was on a higher level than the deck, which was where my crew was. They were all looking at me.

"Hello," I said. "As you all know, I've been absent for the past few days. Well, that's because I'm pregnant."

Murmurs broke out around the deck, and I had to hold up my hand for silence.

"It does not matter who the father is, or how far along I am," I said. I didn't want any questions. "In my absence, Thalia will be running the ship. Treat her with the same respect you would treat me with. She will be reporting to me, so don't think you can try anything. That is all."

My crew broke into conversations. I watched them. This was the first time I'd been out of my office in five days, so the fresh air was nice.

"You did it," Piper congratulated, slapping me on the back. "Congratulations. That took guts."

"That was the easy part," I scoffed. "I still have the baby."

"Oh, you're going to be a great mom," Piper smiled. "You're the daughter of Athena. There's nothing you can't do. I mean, how hard can parenting be, anyway?"

"Well, you don't have a perfect example," I said.

"Yeah, I never knew my mom and my dad sucked," Piper shrugged. "But you have your dad. He raised you alone, and you turned out fine. Just treat your kid like he treated you."

"Yeah, but he wasn't the reason my mom wasn't there," I said sadly. "How am I going to explain to my kid that I'm the reason they don't have a father?"

"Hey, that's a couple years out," Piper reasoned. "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it."