Secretes No One Can Hide

Five

For the first time in his life Percy was glad to leave Camp the last day of summer. He didn't admit it but ever since Annabeth had told him she was pregnant his life had gotten very confusing and rather miserable.

He did not want to be a dad.

Then again what 18 year old boy did? He was really regretting his life decisions, he felt so guilty every time he looked at Annabeth it was eating him alive. He hid it well of course, but the moments he had to himself were filled with agonizing pain in his chest.

He'd gladly fight any monster in Tartarus then have to face Annabeth again the next day. Despite feeling all these negative things he couldn't find it in himself to run away from her. No way he'd be able to do that. They'd been through so much together how could he leave her in the dust?

Since neither young adults knew what the hell they were going to do with their lives they decided on staying with Percy's parents for the time being. Paul and Sally had moved to a bigger apartment since last Percy had come to visit, it had two extra rooms with a big beautiful kitchen that Sally absolutely adored. There was also a room for Paul and Sally to work on grading papers and writing novels off in a cove by the living room. Basically Paul and Sally were living the sweet life.

"Where's Annabeth?" Sally questioned her son as he sat down to eat a bagel with blue cream cheese for breakfast. Three weeks in New York, two monster attacks, Percy had eaten his weight in blue food and home cooked meals. He was really starting to like this decesion to move back.

"Not feeling good." Percy answered trying to keep his voice from sounding as panicked as he felt. His mom still didn't know Annabeth was pregnant, they'd decided to keep it a secrete- well more like Percy decided to keep it a secrete. Annabeth had told him that he had to be the one to tell Sally. And that scared Percy senseless.

Percy left their conversation to that and made some excuse about needing to take a walk and finding a job (as his mother had been suggesting strongly the past few weeks) he supposed it wouldn't be fair to leach off his parents anymore now that he was growing up.

After an hour of wondering about Town Square Percy ended up finding himself at a line of run down Vending Machines, he pulled a few quarters out of his pocket and inserted them into the slot. He punched in a few numbers and his Doritos got stuck on the wire.

"Son of a-" Percy cursed kicking the machine with his foot. He pressed the reject button but nothing happened.

"Doritos eh? Not a bad choice. I personally prefer the Gummy Worms." A voice said next to Percy.

He nearly jumped out of his skin, a man stood in front of the second vending machine browsing the food options. He had a neatly trimmed black beard and wind swept hair with sea green eyes. Percy immediately recognized him in his shorts and Hawaii shirt.

"Dad?" He asked surprised, his chips completely forgotten about.

"Yes," Poseidon smiled warmly his eyes still glued to the machine as he incerted a few golden Drachmas. Percy wondered if the godly currency would work on the machine. Apparently it did because a pack of gummy worms dropped from its rack. "I was hoping we could talk."

Percy was rather stunned as his father handed him the pack of gummy worms, they were stiff and old in their package, obviously these machines had been there for a very long time.

"Uh sure. Why?" He asked a feeling of dread washed over him and his eyes immediately fell back to his Doritos bag suspended in air holding on to the metal rack with one corner. Huh, looked like Percy with his sanity.

Poseidon chuckled slightly as it Percy had just made some sort of joke. "Me and your mother didn't have a very long time together Percy, but you came along very quickly."

Percy's jaw clenched, of course Poseidon knew, Athena had probably told him. Telling him how his son was a no good boy and that she knew he was a bad influence on her daughter blah blah.

"I think I overestimated my ability to stay in control, I tend to disregard consequences when they're not staring me in the face." Poseidon continued, "Many of my children seem to have inherited that trait of mine."

"Listen, I didn't mean for this to happen, it wasn't like I wasn't paying attention or anything." Percy's dread was turning into irritation. Was Poseidon trying to tell Percy he was just as big of a screw up as him? Oh sure, that was helpful!

Poseidon regarded Percy for a moment before speaking again. "Your lucky to have a girl like Annabeth." Percy was slightly surprised by that, he was pretty sure he'd never heard Poseidon say her name before. "She too, is a Queen among women, just like your mother. And you, my son, are not as weak as you think you are."

A compliment. Usually compliments from his father made him glow, but today his shoulders just slumped farther down. He thought about Annabeth, how close they had grown the past year, a little too close apparently. Percy hadent been able to keep his hands off of her, he had needed that reassurance with her, something that didn't have to be said, something they could have together. And they had had it over and over again, never getting enough. It had been the best thing to ever happen to Percy, and now it all just seemed like a disaster.

"This may be your toughest battle yet." Poseidon said, as if he was reading Percy's mind. "Don't blame yourself for what has happened."

It seemed stupid to compare being a father to any battle he'd ever been in. The Titian War, the Giant War, all the monsters he'd ever faced... it seemed stupid that Percy was just as scared of this has he had been in battle. Then again, this was a different kind of scared.

Silence passed between the two of them, Percy's spotted a rat scuttling behind the vending machine. He pressed his fingers against the hard gummy worms in the stiff bag.

"Does your mother know yet?"

Percy winced. "No. Not yet."

Poseidon smiled, as if the thought of him telling her amused him. "I'm sure she will have a word or two to say to you about the matter, still," he said facing Percy completely. "Time is ticking. And the longer you wait the harder it's going to be." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck, my son."

And with out any warning his father dissolved into the wind leaving the smell of the sea in the air, which calmed Percy down a bit.

"Right." He muttered to himself. "Time."

He pocketed his gummy worms and headed back to the apartment ready to get the truth off his chest.