AN- It was so nice to see so many people liking this story @once! Thank you! :D
Their first conversation. Let's see how Jason deals with it!
Annasophia Robb as Annabeth on the side>
*******
Emotions.
Weird things, those were. People knew what the basic ones were: sad, happy, angry etc. But then, emotions have so much within them, like, angry could be pissed off angry or happy angry or sad angry. Emotions...they were a powerful thing, and Jason was trying to woo back a girl who's mom ruled via those emotions.
A truly scary thought.
Jason tried to read Piper's face (or rather, her eyes). What was she feeling at that moment? Sure, he'd tried to be all 'I don't care about our past' macho and shit, but the truth was, he was scared.
Her expressions changed at lightening speed: surprise, shock, happiness, joy, relief, hesitation, anger, blank- and her kaleidoscopic eyes made them swirl even faster, so much so that Jason literally thought he was getting sucked into a hurricane.
"Hi, Jason...what a pleasant surprise." She replied. It looked as if saying those words made her sick. Definitely she was not pleasantly surprised.
Then Jason saw a tiny blond head peeking at him from behind Piper's legs, and he forgot everything else.
Josh was, as Annabeth put it, cute and adorable. He had shaggy blond hair, and Piper's eyes: turning from blue to green to brown in a matter of seconds, never resting at one colour. He had nice pink lips (no makeup obviously), the kind of lips that would make you want to do anything he wanted, if he even slightly pouted. He had his full set of teeth except the two front ones, which has probably fallen recently.
Jason's heart melted. He knew he was a goner.
Meanwhile, Piper had turned to Leo and Percy (very effectively shutting him out: she must really not like him). Jason knelt down to one knee and held out his hand.
"Hey, there. What's up?" He began, really casual. Josh looked wide eyed, and then gave a shy grin, before tentatively shaking Jason's hand. Jason took that as a good sign.
"What's your name?"
"Josh."
Jason grinned, and was about to let it be at that, when he had a brilliant idea.
So, obviously Piper had probably started using her maiden name, but Jason was curious to know what she's told her kid. Correction, their kid. It was way too easy to tell a kid you were living alone with since he was a baby, literally anything. Had she told him about his dad?
"What your full name? You have one don't you?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Piper stiffen.
Josh nodded vigorously.
"Mommy says its Joshua Leo Grace."
It was all Jason had to keep him from pumping his fist into the air.
"Really? And what's mommy's name?"
"She says its Piper McLean. I find it silly."
So she was keeping her maiden name, but had respected him and allowed Josh to have Grace.
"I know, right? Its silly."
Piper had turned, and even though he couldn't see her, he could feel the waves of hostility rolling off her.
"What's your name?" Josh asked, still holding Jason's hand. Jason smiled and ruffled his head, making it even more messy.
"Its Jason."
"Jason? That's funny. Mom used to talk about a guy called Jason, a lot. Are you that guy?"
Jason laughed. He'd scored another point.
"Why don't you ask her herself?" Jason prompted.
"Oh, yeah! Good point." Josh turned towards Piper, and Jason stood up, brushing off his jeans.
The look Piper was giving him was almost enough to make him want to shrink back into a dark corner and never come out. Her eyes were literally dancing with anger, her withering look almost making him wither.
"Mommy, is this very nice man our Jason? The one you talk about?" Josh asked.
What was he going to say? No? Or yes?
Piper went for the latter.
"Yes, sweetheart, that's the one."
"Cool! Uncle Jason, you're so awesome! Mom's told me everything about ya, and-"
"Josh, honey, why don't you talk to Uncle Leo? He's been waiting for you. Its bad manners to ignore him like that."
"What does ignore mean?"
"It means not talking to someone even though you know you have to."
"Oh. Ok. Hey, Uncle Leo! How..."
But Jason didn't hear what Josh was going to ask, because Piper had cornered him. She was still a head shorter, but her anger made her look way taller. Jason tried for a smile, even though he wanted run away.
"Not cool, Grace. Not cool at all." She hissed.
"What's not cool?"
"The whole name thing. You can't go around manipulating my kid."
"Correction, our kid. You aren't powerful enough to have a kid on your own, Pipes. He kind of wouldn't exist if I hadn't been there."
Piper blushed a little. "That's not my point. I-"
"Can I help you with your luggage? Looks heavy."
"I don't want-" Jason bent down and hefted up two of her bags. Piper bent down at the same time. She smelled of vanillas and strawberries, and it was all Jason could do not to wrap her in a hug and smell her in. I love you I love you I love you.
"My name is not silly." She insisted.
"Well, you and I both know, your name sounds perfect combined with mine, than yours alone." Jason smirked as Piper gasped and stood up straight. The vanilla fragrance vanished.
Where was all this confidence coming from? He thought he'd be a wreck when he met her. But now, he was bantering with her as if they'd never separated.
Jason realized that maybe these were things he'd been wanting to say, thinking he would meet Piper someday. Now they were coming to his defence, all out of his subconscious. It was a lovely feeling.
Just then Annabeth came (loaded with food), and Percy announced they had to leave, breaking the staring contest between Piper and Jason. Percy was also smirking at Piper's shocked expression (she still had it), and Leo, who was showing Josh some kind of weird things with fingers involved (some weird Leotastic game), gave him a thumbs up. Jason allowed himself to grin.
"So, let's ride!" Percy yelled.
"On the highway to hell?" Piper muttered, low enough for Jason to hear, and no one else.
"Aw, that's not a nice way to be." Jason said.
Piper huffed and went off, side by side with Percy. Josh had decided he would stick with both uncle Leo and uncle Jason. The uncle thing hurt, but Jason could wait. He'd set things right, soon.
*********
The car ride was way too awkward.
This time, Piper chose to ride shotgun. Annabeth had a lot of food and she was feeling tired, so she took the back seat, where she lay down, while munching on her fries and slurping on her smoothie. Jason, Josh and Leo took the middle seat.
Piper was talking actively- to anyone who didn't have Jason as their first name. Jason didn't mind. All those smart replies had left him really tired.
Josh had dozed off; he had jet lag. How Piper was not snoring away was a mystery to Jason.
"So, Piper, where were you, all these 5 years?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, woman, you literally disappeared off the face of the earth! You sure you're not working for CIA and having some good dangerous toys that make you vanish?" This was Leo.
"Haha, no, Leo. I was just traveling, going places. Even helped Reyna set up some camps in Australia, and-"
"Woah, you met Reyna?" Jason asked.
"Yes. You seem very interested." Jason thought he heard a note of jealousy in her voice.
"Well, duh. Its Reyna." He emphasized. Percy whistled under his breath while Leo gave him a hi-five. Piper remained quiet.
"Well, anyway, I was helping her and all, then Josh and I were just traveling for fun. We even went to Norway. It was before Australia."
"Norway? Why the hell would you go there? What did you do there?"
"I'll tell you what she did; she went out with a lot of hunky guys who had blonde hair and blue eyes and sexy voices and basically looked like Jason, and she had sex with them."
Jason almost spit out his cold coffee over Percy's car seats. A car ride with pregnant Annabeth was NOT a good idea.
"How about she had other interests other than having sex with people who look like Jason?" Leo asked.
"Oh, yeah. That could be it. But you know, Piper's super hot now, I mean-"
"Annabeth, honey, maybe you should sleep a little. You didn't sleep at all last night." Percy said.
"I didn't?"
"Nope."
"God, this pregnancy, it making me turn addled! I guess I should...zzz.."
And just like that, Annabeth conked out.
"She's been like that a long time. Is it normal?" Percy asked Jason.
Jason wanted to yell, totally normal! For a pregnant woman, anyway. He remembered how...Piper had been literally obsessed with hot steamy romance novels when she was having Josh. Even worse than a hormonal teenage guy.
"Yep. It is." He replied. Piper didn't reply, but Jason had an inkling she was blushing a little.
"So, where were you all the time? You couldn't have been traveling or in Australia, right?"
"No, but...well, what I'm going to say will probably shock you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yep. Percy, you might want to drive on the side of the road."
"Why?"
"Because you might pull over."
"Please. What you tell us can't be that shocking, can it?"
"It is." She insisted, with a shy smile.
"Try us."
"Well, ok. I was in Brooklyn."
Piper's prediction came true. Percy did pull over and stop.
"What the actual fucking Hades?" Leo yelled. Percy just glowered at her.
And Jason? Jason too felt angry. She had literally been minutes away from him all this time.
"So you were in fucking Brooklyn, and you laid low, McLean?" Percy asked. Glaring Percy was not a good sight.
"I wasn't-"
"And you deliberately missed our wedding? To do what? Hide?"
"No, No! I swear to all the gods, Jackson, I wasn't there when you and Annabeth got married! I was in Norway, I can even show you proof! Its just...I've got an apartment in Brooklyn. I lived their sometimes, you know, when I wasn't traveling or doing work or shit. I swear, its been barely lived in! I've had it forever!"
That pissed Jason even more, the fact that she had an apartment before they married and still kept it from him. If he'd known, he would have searched that place.
Which was probably why Piper didn't tell him.
It hurt him, like hell, but he knew that maybe Piper had been right. Maybe she'd got it when he'd started acting like a jackass, like, maybe a precautionary move. It happened.
"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you guys. But I just wanted to be left alone. I'm sorry."
"Alone? Why?" Jason asked stupidly.
"Because you made my life hell, Grace. And I didn't want you all going, 'Aw, c'mon, it can't be that bad, Piper, you'll make it work!' I'm sorry, that makes me want to puke. I wanted to take the first step, I did it the way I knew." She spat out. The others felt silent.
So did Jason.
He had no idea he'd hurt Piper that bad.
Winning her would be harder than he thought.
********
Weird.
Yeah, Piper's really hurt.
And I had first decided that I'd only write from Jason's POV, but then as this is progressing, I see it would also make sense to have Piper's POV. So maybe, in a few chapters, its going to be her. Those chapters I'll title as Piper's POV, but the rest will be normal, Jason's POV!
I'm so happy so many people liked my story already! Was not expecting this...thanks!
Dedicated to @amyheroesofolympus12! Ur marvelous!
Wait for the next, things will get more tense!
Cherie, XOXO