July 12, 1996
Frederick Chase was trying to teach Annabeth to write her name. It should have been a lot easier than it was, as Annabeth already knew her alphabet perfectly in English as well as Greek.
"Come on, Annie." he urged his daughter. "You can do it. Just try one more time, all right?"
Annabeth shook her head. "No." she complained. "The letters make me dizzy."
"Just one more time?" he pleaded.
"No."
Suddenly, Frederick had an idea. He did a quick search on the computer for what he was looking for, and wrote Annabeth's name on the paper in Greek.
"Try this, Annabeth." he said. Annabeth frowned but copied her name with perfect precision.
"Look, Daddy!" she said excitedly. "I did it!"
"Yes, Annabeth. Good job! Now let's try again in English."
Annabeth frowned. "That's too hard. I like Greek better."
"How did you know it was Greek?" her father questioned. Annabeth shrugged.
"I don't know." she answered. "I just knew."
Half an hour later, Annabeth was still struggling with her name. Frederick sighed.
"We can try again tomorrow. How about right now we work on the Greek alphabet?"
"Yes." said Annabeth, who seemed a bit happier at the suggestion. "And then we can eat a cookie."
Frederick couldn't help but smile at his daughter. "Yes Annabeth," he said. "When we're done we can eat a cookie."
An hour (and two cookies, of course) later, Annabeth had learned how to write the entire Greek alphabet in Greek. Frederick knew what was coming next.
"Daddy?" Annabeth asked. "Can you teach me to read."
Dr. Chase shook his head. "I don't know how to read Ancient Greek, sweetheart."
"You can look it up on the internet." Annabeth suggested.
Her father obliged and found a course on teaching your child Ancient Greek. Within further inspection, he found that it cost two hundred dollars.
"Please, Daddy?" she begged, staring up at him with those tiny gray eyes.
Well... Frederick wasn't one to keep people from learning, and he knew Annabeth would use it. Besides, maybe after she learned Greek, she wouldn't have so much trouble with English. Annabeth was a smart little girl, and he hated to see her having trouble learning.
"All right." he said, succumbing to his daughter's pleas. "I'll buy it. But on one condition: you have to use it, and it's part of your Christmas present."
"Yes, Daddy."
"Promise, Annabeth?"
"I promise."
"Good. Now please get out of my chair so I can order it." he said. Annabeth happily obliged.
"Look!" she said, pointing out the window. "Mommy!"
Sure enough, an owl with gray eyes was perched on a tree branch close to their window.
"Hello, Athena." said Frederick. The owl cocked her head slightly, then disappeared, leaving a small parcel behind.
"Oo." said Annabeth, who was peering out the window. "Can I get it?"
Frederick shook his head. "I'll get it. You wait here, Annie." He then went outside, and retrieved the package.
To my dear daughter, it read.
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Athena
"Happy Birthday?" he questioned. "Why does she think it's your birthday? Your birthday's July twelfth. Today is..." he trailed off, looking at the calendar. Oops.
Had he really forgotten about his daughter's birthday?
"Well then, Annabeth. Happy Birthday!" her father said.
Annabeth glared at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Uhh....." he responded.
"You forgot." she said dryly.
Frederick sighed. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. I just got so busy with work and well, I forgot. I'll make up for it though, I promise." he said, knowing it was no excuse for missing her birthday. To cheer her up, he added "I have some presents I can give you."
The presents were from last Christmas, but he had hidden them so well, he forgot to give them to his daughter.
Annabeth perked up at the mention of presents.
"What about cake?" she asked hopefully.
"We can stack cookies on top of each other and pretend it's cake." Frederick suggested.
Annabeth frowned. "But that's not real cake."
"Stay right there." Dr. Chase told his daughter, while he grabbed the phone and ordered pizza. He also managed to find a store that delivered groceries to your home called Whole Foods Market, so he ordered an ice cream cake, party hats, and plates with party pictures. Unfortunately, the groceries would take an hour to be delivered.
Frederick turned around, expecting to see his daughter sitting on the chair. No Annabeth. Now where could she have gone? And after he told her to stay put?
Sometimes he forgot that Annabeth, with all her intelligence was really only a three year old (as of today). She usually acted very mature for her age, but there were times when she would act her age. Like now.
"Annabeth?" he called. "Where are you?"
No response. He decided that she must have been hiding. Hide and seek, perhaps?
Frederick started opening closets and drawers. Because of her size, there was no limit to the amount of places she could hide.
Finally, after ten minutes, Frederick opened a closet to reveal his
tiny blonde- haired daughter.
"Annabeth?" he asked. She didn't answer him, instead only stared at a spot on the wall. Closer inspection revealed it was a spider. He grabbed a tissue and smushed it. Annabeth started to cry.
"What's wrong, Annie?"
"Spider." she said, her eyes wide and full of tears. Frederick wiped them with another tissue (not the spider one) , and picked his daughter up.
"It's gone now, Annabeth." he told her. "You don't have to cry, it's okay. Why were you hiding?"
"I saw a spider, so I had to hide. But it followed me." she explained.
The pizza man took that moment to ring the doorbell. Dr. Chase carried Annabeth with him as he opened the door. He wasn't going to take any chances.
"Here's your pizza." the man said. "Careful, it's extra hot." The pizza guy winked, and started to walk back to his- Ferrari?
"Wait a minute." Frederick said. "Don't I have to pay you?"
"Oh yeah!" said the pizza guy. "I forgot about that! Just make it quick. The sun is on a tight schedule, you know."
"The sun?" asked Frederick, handing him the money. "Lord Apollo, why are you dressed as a pizza delivery man?"
"Er, it's a long story." Apollo said. "I wanted to surprise my kid because I was in the area, and he ordered pizza, so yeah." He then ran back to his Ferrari.
—
Half an hour later, the groceries were delivered. They ate pizza, and Annabeth unwrapped her gifts- a copy of Dick and in Jane in Ancient Greek from her mother, blocks, playdough, art supplies, and a book from her father.
Frederick sang Happy Birthday to Annabeth, who got ice cream cake all over her face. All in all, it wasn't a bad birthday. Although it was one of the more interesting ones, Annabeth never did let him forget he had once missed her birthday.
A/N: So how was it? I literally spent about two hours looking stuff up for this chapter. Oh well. It was worth it. The events in this chapter will be remembered by Frederick in a later chapter.
I know Annabeth seems more like she's four, but she is a daughter of Athena.
-lunarchronicleslil