Aftermath-Percabeth

Chapter Twenty Four

"I'm home," Percy called into the seemingly empty apartment, hoping Annabeth was there. "Hello? I'm home!"

Percy sighed and placed his keys on the counter, assuming she was working overtime. Again.

He slipped off his light jacket and headed to the windows. He cracked them open slightly and listened to the hum of birds outside the window. It was now officially March, and the weather was starting to clear up.

As Percy breathed in the cool air from outside, he heard sniffles. At first he thought he was just hearing New York traffic, but as he listened more intently, he realized they were coming from inside his apartment.

Alarmed, he hastily shut the window and pulled Riptide from his pocket. He threw the cap on the floor and the pen turned into a mighty and glowing bronze sword.

He headed into the bedroom where he heard the sound and shoved open the door. He scanned the room before setting his eyes on the bathroom.

He shoved the door of the bathroom open and rushed in, prepared for the worst.

Instead of seeing a hideous monster prepared to fight, he saw his wife, Annabeth, balled on the floor. Her face was tucked in her knees and tears were streaming down her face.

Percy dropped Riptide to the ground with a large clank and slid next to her, wrapping his arm around her as he did.

"Hey," he whispered in her ear as she slowly flung herself onto his chest. "Everything's going to be okay."

He didn't have to ask why she was crying-he knew. He'd been in the same position as her a few times over the past three months.

"What was it this time?" he asked as she wiped her face free of tears.

She shrugged. "I dunno. It's just....my co-worker was on paternity leave and today they-they brought in their little daughter...."

She heaved a sob off her chest before composing herself.

"That'll be you, okay? Some day," Percy assured her unsuccessfully.

"No! It won't!" Annabeth cried as she shoved herself off the bathroom floor. "It's not going to be me someday because of how big my mouth was as a teenager. Hera's cursed me, you know that!"

Percy opened his mouth to argue, but her argument was well thought through. Hera and Annabeth have been feuding forever, and since Hera was the goddess of motherhood, it seemed unlikely that she'd let Annabeth go into her domain.

"Maybe we could go see a specialist-" he suggested half heartedly.

Annabeth snorted. "Try and have a mortal intervene with Hera's business? Unlikely."

Percy didn't know what to say. She was making all of this so difficult, and it was his job to console her. But this time he couldn't.

"Then screw it," he shouted, much to her surprise. "Let's just take all the money we've been saving and blow it. You can finally subscribe to those fancy architectural magazines, and I can finally have the car of my dreams-a Maserati!"

Annabeth glared down at him. "You r-really think so?"

He nodded and stood up. "Of course I do. This is what we want. We can finally start living."

Annabeth felt her mouth grow dry. All she wanted was a baby-and now Percy was convincing her against it. "You don't even want to see the mortal doctor?"

"Nope."

"Adoption?"

"Too risky. Do you want to put a mortal child's life at risk?" Percy asked. Annabeth sighed. She knew he was right, so she just sucked up her pride and nodded.