Day ten:
My Girls
Luke Castellan gave a content sigh as he enjoyed the silence of the evening. He headed to the kitchen and grabbed a beer out the fridge before making his way to his room and flopping on the bed with it.
Once realizing he had forgotten to open the bottle he gave up and sat it on his bedside table and instead stretched out on his bed. He closed his eyes ready for a comforting sleep.
"Daddy?"
Luke did his best not to groan but he didn't move. "Yes Thalia?"
He felt as more weight joined him on the bed and moved to sit beside his face. He kept his eyes closed until a small hand pulled his eyelid open. "Daddy?"
"Yes Thalia?" He asked finally.
"Jason had a bad dream," she told him shoving the teddy bear in his face.
Luke slowly sat up and took the beat up golden teddy bear into his hands. "Did you have a bad dream Jason?" He asked it. He then lifted the bear to his ear. "Uhuh. I see." Luke lowered the bear and looked at Thalia. "Jason says you had the bad dream not him."
"Jason is lying!" The six year old told Luke taking the bear from him.
"Okay fine," Luke shrugged. "So what was Jason's bad dream about?"
Thalia hugged Jason tightly. "Mama."
Luke sighed and pulled Thalia into his lap as he leaned up against the headboard. "What about Mama?"
"She kept saying she wouldn't come back cause she didn't love us anymore," she answered quietly.
"Thals- and Jason," Luke started. "You both know that's not true. "Your Mama loves you very much. She just... she just can't be with us right now."
"But she's been gone forever! When will come back? She promised to take me to park."
Thalia said.
Luke sighed and rocked Thalia back and forth in his arms. "Soon, Thalia. And I take you the park a lot."
"You're not the same, daddy. I want Mama."
"Me too..." Luke sighed, he then found himself humming as he rocked the small girl. Thankfully she didn't ask him any more questions but rather cuddled in closer to him.
He couldn't help but give her a small smile. The little girl may not have been his biologically, but he had raised her for the past four years, and then when her mother had up and left he had adopted her to keep her from foster care. Not to mention that fact he was the only father she had known.
Soon enough he became aware of her even breathing and he quietly stood up from his bed and carried her back to her room. When he opened the door he laid her down in her bed and tucked her in before checking Annabeth.
His other daughter was also (thankfully) asleep. He gave a small smile as he closed their door and headed back to his own room.
~~~~
Mornings were always a hassle.
Especially weekday mornings.
Luke woke up early and got himself showered and dressed. He quickly made himself a pot of coffee and once downing two cups of it he hurried to make the girls' lunch. He had finished lunch and was trying to make eggs for breakfast when he heard the crying.
He cursed and looked to the clock. She was up earlier today, he thought as he hurried to the girls' room.
"Be quiet!" Thalia shouted as Luke entered the room.
Luke hurried to pick up Annabeth and he bounced her in his arms. "Thalia why don't you pick out an outfit for today while I get Annabeth together?"
Thalia didn't seem to like the idea but she complied and went to her small dresser and began looking through it as Luke laid Annabeth on the changing table. He had just finished changing her and was attempting to put a shirt on Annabeth without her taking it off when he heard the smoke detector.
"Eggs!" Luke shouted running down the hall to the kitchen. He leaned over the stove and pulled the pan of eyes off the fire and the grabbed a dish towel and waved it frantically at the smoke detector.
"Daddy! Annabeth took her shirt off again!" Thalia shouted down the hallway.
"Put it back on her then!" Luke called back still waving the dish towel. Seeing as that wasn't working, he hurried to open the kitchen window.
"I'm getting my own shirt!" Thalia declared. "And I need to get Jason dressed!"
"Jason doesn't wear clothes!" Luke argued beginning to wave the towel again.
"Yes he does!"
"Just get your sister dressed!"
"No!"
"I- I am arguing with a six year old," Luke muttered as the smoke detector finally stopped. He then quickly threw out the eggs and instead grabbed the milk and cereal. He poured them into a small bowl and set them at Thalia's seat with a spoon before hurrying back to the girls.
Thalia was (most likely to spite him) putting Jason in Annabeth's clothes despite the toddler clothes being too big for the bear.
"Thalia go eat," Luke told her. "Jason looks great already."
Thalia hurried to do so as Luke pulled the shirt on Annabeth again. He hurriedly pulled a pair of pants and shoes on her and went to the kitchen where he put her in her high chair and set out some dry cereal in front of her to eat with her hands.
With both eating he took a deep breath and hurried to the girls' room to start packing Thalia's backpack for school. He silently cursed himself for being too tired before to watch where she had dumped everything. When he had finished finding the last of the stuff he heard the crying from the kitchen.
He hurried back to the kitchen to see Thalia had flung her cereal onto Annabeth.
Luke groaned and walked past the two girls and to the front door his apartment. He exited it and hurried down the hall where he banged on another door. "Ethan!" He shouted. "Come help me and I'll give you coffee!"
With that said he went back to his own apartment and took Annabeth out of her chair.
"I was promised coffee?" A voice asked a moment later.
"After you either take Thalia to brush her teeth or you change Annabeth's clothes," Luke told Ethan as he walked into Luke's kitchen.
"Hi Uncle Eyepatch!" Thalia smiled.
Ethan rolled his eye and took Annabeth from Luke. "I'll change Annabeth's clothes. This one isn't as mean."
"Ya-ya mean!" Annabeth agreed.
"Exactly."
"Don't teach her that," Luke chided putting away breakfast.
Ethan shrugged and took the younger daughter out the kitchen.
"Why did you throw cereal at Annabeth?" Luke asked Thalia walking her to the bathroom.
"Because she wanted to touch Jason," Thalia answered matter of factly walking in the bathroom and pulling out her step stool so she could properly reach the sink.
"She's two Thalia," Luke sighed putting toothpaste on her toothbrush. "She's gonna want to play with any toy she sees."
"Jason isn't a toy!"
"Not to you. Or me," he added quickly. "But she doesn't understand."
"Luke!" Ethan screeched suddenly.
Luke gave Thalia the toothbrush and left the kitchen to find Ethan in the hallway holding out Annabeth as if he didn't want to touch her.
"What?"
"It bit me!"
"She's a she. Not an it. And you probably deserved it. Now put her in her coat it's cold out today."
"I want my coffee."
"After she's in her coat and ready to leave."
"But Luke!" Ethan whined.
"I have three children."
~~~~
Luke couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him when he sat behind his desk in his office at work. While he hated working here at least it was a breather from all the craziness. He took a sip of the gross coffee he had grabbed from the break room and closed his eyes for a moment enjoying the sound of silence.
"Luke! How are my favorite granddaughters?"
Luke grimaced and opened his eyes. At his father's gaze he set the coffee down and sat up straight. He powered on his computer and tried to make it look like he had a lot of work to do (it wasn't hard to pretend). "Is there something I can do for you Mr. Olympian?"
"No need to call me that," He chuckled. "I am your father after all."
Luke gave him a quick unimpressed look. "What can I do for you?"
"I uh- I was just wondering how your daughters are doing?"
"Fine. Now sir I do have work to complete..."
"Um, right... I'll um... leave you to it." His father walked away leaving Luke alone.
"That was a bit harsh even for you," Bianca di Angelo told him walking in the office.
"I can easily be worse. Wanna see?"
"I'm good."
"So what brings you to this section of the company? Shouldn't you be over in your dad's side?"
"Right. I came over here to tell you- since I assume that he forgot- that you are going to take a break."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "A break? And who?"
"Ethan. And yes a-"
"Ethan?" Luke repeated suddenly more interested in her words. "Are you two like a thing now?"
"No!" Bianca said quickly. "We just talk sometimes. We're friends after all... but a break," she said regaining her composure. "You need a break from everything. Just sometime of no work and no girls."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you have a time machine so that's not possible."
"Luke you haven't gotten a break from anything since- I honestly don't know if you had a break. I mean even when your sick you still shuttle Thalia to play dates. But things have only been more stressful since she left..." Bianca trailed off for a moment before she spoke again. "So Ethan and I came up with the idea of paying a babysitter for you and three of us and I'll invite Zoë will go have some fun that doesn't involve bed time stories and lullabies."
Luke blinked. "Ethan agreed to pay for something?"
"Yeah I know surprising right? But anyway your avoiding the topic. So, this Saturday we'll be at your place with a babysitter at six. And this isn't negotiable, we already booked the babysitter."
"But you don't know the babysitter," Luke argued standing. "You don't know their credentials or how they discipline or how-"
"It's a boy who goes to school with my brother. His name is Will and he is studying premed. He wants to be a pediatrician in fact. And he agreed because I'm pretty sure he has a crush on Nico and will do anything to make Nico like him so I may or may not have taken advantage of that."
Luke opened and closed his mouth trying to find someway to argue.
"Great!" Bianca smiled. "I'll see you Saturday night!"
~~~~
"But daddy I don't want a baby sister! I already have one and she's annoying!" Thalia pouted.
"Babysitter. Not baby sister," Luke told her. "A babysitter is a person who is gonna come here and watch you for a while, just a couple hours while I go do stuff."
"I don't want one of those either," Thalia said hugging Jason.
"Daddy stay," Annabeth said pulling on his pant leg.
"Daddy is not staying," Ethan said. "Daddy is gonna go with me and have fun."
"Annabeth no fun?"
"Annabeth no fun," Thalia nodded.
Luke sent Ethan a quick glare. "Of course Annabeth is fun," he told her scooping her up. He tickled her and smiled as she laughed. He placed her back on the ground as the doorbell rang and Ethan opened it. Behind the door stood Zoë, Bianca, and a blonde boy Luke didn't recognize.
"This is Will," Bianca said motioning to the unknown boy.
Will gave a small wave. "Hi."
Luke gave a thin smile to Will before kneeling down before both of his girls. "I'll be back soon." He pulled them both in a hug and gave them a kiss on the head. He smiled and stood up and faced Will. "Now, both need to be in bed by nine thirty since it's a weekend and Thalia-"
"He'll survive Luke," Ethan said cutting him off.
"But-"
"Let's go," Zoë said grabbing Luke by the collar.
"Take care of my girls!" He shouted as Zoë dragged him out of the apartment.
~~~~
"If this is what I turn into when I have kids someone shoot me first," Ethan groaned dragging Luke up the stairs.
"N-n-never keep a gun where a kid can get it," Luke said with a nod and tapping Ethan's nose.
"You're the one who let him drink that much," Zoë said grabbing Luke's other arm to help Ethan.
"He seemed like he needed it!" Ethan justified. "And you're one to talk! Bianca is singing show tunes to a fire extinguisher downstairs!"
"She seemed like she needed it. This guy she's into won't realize her feelings and she's frustrated."
"She's into a guy?"
Zoë groaned and continued their trek up to the apartment. She knocked on the door and after a few moments Will opened it. He stepped out of the way so Zoë and Ethan could drag Luke in and dump him in his couch.
Ethan sighed and collapsed on the floor beside the couch.
Zoë nodded. "I'm gonna go get Bianca."
~~~~
"My head feels like hell," Luke groaned into his coffee cup.
"I'm not surprised," Ethan told him.
"Why am I even up at five am again?" Luke asked taking a sip.
"Your daughter was crying," Zoë answered. "We all woke up and I got Annabeth back to sleep."
"Right..."
"Was I really singing to a fire extinguisher?" Bianca asked massaging her temples.
"I didn't get a video unfortunately," Ethan told her.
"I still can't believe I did all that," Luke said.
"You were really stressed man. Maybe we need these venting nights more often and then you won't be so bad next time."
"Of course he's stressed," Bianca nodded. "Ow nodding hurts... he's taking care of two little girls on his own cause someone keeps forgetting he has friends who will help."
"God my life was easy before the girls," Luke sighed and took a long sip of coffee. "I honestly don't really remember what it was like before them..."
"I know I wasn't offered free coffee then," Ethan put in.
Luke rolled his eyes with a small smile. "Yeah things were different. And I guess it wouldn't be so bad to have some childless nights."
"Great but next time somewhere with less alcohol," Bianca suggested.
"You picked the place," Ethan told her.
"And I greatly regret it," she grumbled putting her head on the kitchen table.
Luke laughed. "But still... I wouldn't trade anything for my girls."
"And he's gone sappy," Ethan frowned.
~~~~
"You were really stressed man. Maybe we need these venting days more often and then you won't be so bad next time," Ethan suggested.
"Of course he's stressed," Bianca said. "Ow... he's taking care of two little girls on his own cause someone keeps forgetting he has friends who will help."
"God my life was easy before the girls," Luke sighed and spoke after a pause. "I honestly don't really remember what it was like before them..."
"I know I wasn't offered free coffee then," Ethan put in.
"Yeah things were different. And I guess it wouldn't be so bad to have some childless nights."
Thalia having heard enough wiped tears from her eyes and gripped Jason tightly as she hurried back to her room.
She hurried got her backpack and dumped it out on the floor before putting some of her clothes in it and zipping it shut. She pulled on some of her shoes and her jacket before moving to Annabeth's bed.
"Annabeth wake up!" Thalia ordered with a whisper yell.
The smaller girl didn't wake up.
"Annabeth wake up! We gotta go! Daddy doesn't want us!" When Annabeth didn't move Thalia pouted. "Fine you're annoying anyway."
She grabbed Jason and hurried down the hall past her father and his laughing friends and to her father's room. As it often was, his window was open and it was still void of the screen he had planned to replace. Thalia hurried over and climbed out onto the fire escape.
~~~~
"I'm surprised she's not up," Luke commented.
"What?" Ethan questioned through a mouthful of pancake.
"Thalia's usually up by now."
"I'll watch the food and Ethan to be sure he doesn't eat the rest," Bianca offered. "You go get the girls."
"I'll help," Zoë offered. "I like the small one."
Luke shrugged and led the way to his daughter's room. When he opened the door he surprised to Thalia wasn't in her bed. "Did she go to bathroom?"
"No I was just in there," Zoë shook her head.
"Maybe she's in my room," Luke shrugged. "Mind getting Annabeth up?"
"Sure."
Luke headed back to his room confused to see find his bed void of his daughter. "Thalia? This isn't time for hide or seek," he said looking under his bed. Still seeing nothing he opened his closet, still nothing. "Thalia?" He called waking back though the apartment. "This isn't funny!"
He hurried back and forth opening doors and cabinets calling her name his panic rising more and more as he found everywhere she wasn't.
"She's not anywhere!" He shouted angrily pulling at his hair.
"She has to be here," Bianca said. "Where could she have gone?"
"Plus she was there when Annabeth woke us up this morning," Ethan added. "We've been sitting here for the three hours since. She didn't walk by."
"Well she's nowhere else!" Luke shouted. "I've checked everywhere! Where else could she be!"
"Daddy?" Annabeth asked looking a little scared.
Luke hurriedly took her from Zoë and held her. "Annabeth? Have you seen Thalia?"
The small girl shook her head. "No. Thalia gone?"
Luke bit his tongue hard to keep from cursing as he held her his eyes wide and fearful. "Thalia gone..."
~~~~
Luke paced the apartment again as the detective spoke.
He wasn't listening to the words. The words meant nothing. Nothing meant anything.
He just kept walking as he held Annabeth tightly. The two year old kept asking to be put down but Luke was scared of what would happen if took his eyes off her.
"What kind of father am I?" He mumbled.
"A good one," Ethan suggested.
"My daughter disappeared while I was sitting a drinking coffee to get over a hangover," Luke told him. "Oh yes! Sign me up for the dad of the year award!"
"Sir, we finished dusting for prints on the fire escape," a cop told the detective.
"Fire escape?" Luke asked surprised.
"Yeah," the cop nodded. "Your window was open so we checked to see if someone had come in from there."
"Well did you find something?"
"No prints on the fire escape except for small ones which could match a child."
"So the psychopath wore gloves? Whoop de do thanks for that information," Luke told them sitting on the couch.
~~~~
"Mr. Castellan?"
"Unless you are telling me that you found my daughter I don't want to hear it," Luke said with a glare. "It's been three hours since you got here and you didn't get here until an hour after I realized she was gone. Where is my daughter?" He demanded.
Luke's eyes were red and puffy. His friends had taken shifts in comforting him finding that all three of them there at once only seemed to crowd him.
"You won't know if the information is helpful until you listen," Bianca told Luke from where she sat on the floor playing with Annabeth.
Luke put his head in his hands. "Fine. What?"
"Due to evidence found," the detective started. "We believe your daughter left of her own accord. So was there anything you haven't told us?"
Luke looked up at the detective bewildered. "S-s-she ran away?"
The detective nodded. "Do you kn-"
"But would she?" Luke asked standing tears going down his face. "I-I tried to do everything for her! Why would she run away? Because I got a babysitter?"
"I doubt it's something like that," the detective told him. "Was there anything that happened between you two?"
"No! The last thing she said to me was that she didn't want a babysitter."
"Aright where would she go?"
"I don't know! She doesn't know how to walk places on her own she's six!"
"Is there anywhere she'd try to go?"
"Um maybe a friends house? Or- or I don't know!"
"How about we start with a list of her friends?"
~~~~
They had all cleared out an hour later.
Luke lay on the floor staring up at the ceiling. "I made my daughter run away... She doesn't want to be around me. She only wants..." he trailed off.
Bianca opened her mouth to reply when Luke sprung up and ran out of the apartment. She hurriedly pulled a coat on herself and Annabeth before following. Luke ran down the cold streets like a madman. He turned quickly around corners and ran out in front of traffic. He ran as fast as he could as the snow started to fall around him.
His legs felt ready to give out in this cold but he kept going. He couldn't stop. Not when his little girl needed his help. So he kept running. And after what felt like an eternity later, Luke entered the park.
"Thalia!" He shouted as he ran around pat the few people and their children who were there. He checked everywhere he could. Under the slide, under the benches.
"Thalia!" He screamed again.
"Did you lose your daughter?" A woman asked him.
"She's six," Luke said hurriedly. "Black hair, she always had a gold teddy bear."
The woman shook her head. "Sorry. Do you-"
Luke didn't take the time to listen to the rest of her words. He kept running around before his eyes landed on the bushes just beyond the play structures. He ran to them and pushed away the foliage until he saw her.
"Thalia!" He called relieved scooping the little girl out of the bush. She was shivering and appeared to be asleep but she clutched Jason tightly. Her skin was cold to the touch, so Luke held her as close possible and kissed her forehead. "Thalia, oh thank God."
"Luke!"
Luke turned around to see Bianca holding Annabeth.
"You found her," Bianca smiled hurrying over to him.
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "I remembered that she wanted to come here with her mom."
"We should get her to a hospital just in case," Bianca advised.
Luke nodded and squeezed his daughter tightly hoping to warm her up.
~~~~
"Bad Thalia!" Annabeth told her sister when Thalia woke up. "Thalia made Daddy cry!"
"Don't yell at her," Luke told Annabeth picking her up and sitting next to Thalia on the hospital bed. He smiled and touched Thalia's cheek. "Are you feeling okay?"
Thalia nodded and she grabbed Jason who was laying beside her and hugged the bear tight.
Luke chuckled. "Is Jason feeling okay?"
Another nod.
Silence fell as Luke simply caressed his daughters face happy she was with him. Though a question burned in his mind but he didn't ask it. He was afraid of the answer so instead he said, "You scared me so bad, Thals."
"You still want me?" Thalia asked him her eyes wide.
"What? Why wouldn't I want you?" He asked. "I love you so much."
"I love you Daddy!" Annabeth said happily.
Luke tickled her a bit and she laughed but he turned looked back to Thalia. "Why would you think I wouldn't want you?"
"I woke up and heard you talking," Thalia started. "You said things were easy without us and that you liked being without us for the night."
Luke sighed remembering the conversation he had had with his friends early that morning. "Thalia that's not what I meant."
"Yes it is."
"You don't want me," Thalia said with a sniffle as a few tears fell down her face. "Just like Mama doesn't want me."
"Of course I want you," Luke said shifting himself in the hospital bed so one of his girls were on each side of him. He pulled Thalia up on to his chest and wiped away her tears. "I love you very much Thalia. What I meant was that my life was very different before I met you. But I wouldn't change my life for anything. I also said that it wouldn't be bad for me to have fun with my friends sometimes but that doesn't mean I don't want you. It just means that you might be seeing more of Will."
"You do want me?" Thalia asked her wide eyes hopeful.
Luke pulled her in a tight hug. "I'm never letting you go Thals."
Thalia giggled. "I love you Daddy."
"I love you too."
"Big hug!" Annabeth declared climbing on her sister.
"You're squishing me!" Thalia complained to Luke.
Luke smiled at her. "I told you I'm not letting you go."
"But Daddy!"
"Nope!"
"I'll tickle you!"
"I'll tickle you first."
Laughter came from the family and when it died down Luke hugged his daughters and gave each a kiss on the head. "I love my girls."