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Percy tenderly cupped Annabeth's check. He looked down into her soulful grey eyes, taller than her by at least seven inches now. His thumb wiped away the solitary tear sliding down her face.
She shifted so her belly had a little more space, its roundness pushing between them even still. She sniffled, but couldn't help letting out a dry chuckle of despair.
It wasn't Annabeth's first pregnancy, though it had taken quite a while for them to get pregnant at all. Turns out fighting monsters your whole life made you more likely to be unable to conceive naturally. Turns out, not even the gods can actually fix that.
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IVF had been their only option.
They'd managed to retrieve thirteen mature eggs and five immature eggs from the then 22 year old Annabeth, telling her that with the damage sustained, they wouldn't be able to harvest any more of Annabeth's eggs at a later date. Only six of the mature eggs took to the fertilization. The immature eggs never did. Four of the six embryos made it to the blastocyst stage, more than Percy and Annabeth had dared hope for.
The first attempt had turned ectopic. It required a laparotomy and removal of Annabeth's fallopian tube. Together Percy and Annabeth had done the work to heal. The nearly two weeks in the hospital. The inactive lifestyle (or as inactive as two demigods could hope for) for the recommended six months. They waited for another year, as per their doctor's suggestion.
Finally, they were ready to try again. This embryo attached correctly. Percy had gotten so excited. At nine weeks, Annabeth miscarried. The loss tore at both of them and it took a while for them to be willing to try again.
The third embryo had been the most heartbreaking. Annabeth carried to 32 weeks, went into premature labor, and delivered a still born child. She had looked perfect, Percy's green eyes, Annabeth's blond hair. Ten tiny fingers and ten even tinier toes. A beautiful baby, as small as Annabeth's dagger.
They had named her Seraphina. Burning her shroud had been far more painful than Annabeth felt it should have been. They'd never even met her, but it still felt like a part of them had died. And seeing her headstone, when they did make the trek to the cemetery, felt like a stab to the gut each time Annabeth read the single date carved into it.
Neither felt ready to try again. But the gynecologist reached out shortly before Annabeth's 34th birthday. She reminded the couple that the closer Annabeth got to being age 35, the more complications were likely to show up.
So they bit the bullet. They had one last chance. They had to take it.
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Percy's careful hands grabbed the sides of Annabeth's round stomach. He traced a small circle on it with his fingertips. His hand trembled slightly.
"What are we g–going to do?" Annabeth tried to keep the fear out of her voice, but it cracked anyway.
Percy somehow managed to smile. "And here I thought you were the child of Athena, not me! What did you tell me during that first capture the flag game? 'Athena always has a plan.' Or something like that?"
Annabeth slapped her idiotic husband. "How can you joke at a time like this?!"
Percy looked at her, confused. "How is this any different than literally any other situation we've faced?"
"It's different, Seaweed Brain, because this time I'm eight months pregnant! I'm not as agile as I typically am!"
Percy let out a chuckle. "You were still agile enough to slap me."
Finally a tiny smile graced Annabeth's face. "It doesn't take much agility to slap you."
Percy gave an over emphasized gasp, his hand flailing against his chest. "How dare you insult the Human Hurricane? The Man of Might?"
Annabeth chuckled. "Percy. You and I both know I'm twice the man you'll ever be."
Percy let out a surprised belly laugh. "Ouch. You're not wrong, but ouch." He sobered back up. "But realistically, it's not like the drakon is actually after you. It's after me."
Annabeth glared at her husband. "If something is after you, it's after me. There's no you and me anymore for things like that. Only us!"
"Be that as it may, I promise it will not hurt you or our child. I'd go so far as to swear on the Styx that–"
Annabeth cupped her hand fiercely over his mouth. "Oh my Hades, Percy! Do not make a stupid oath right now. You can't make an oath you can't keep!"
Percy gently kissed her palm. His green eyes gleamed and he looked just as determined as before. Tentatively, Annabeth pulled her hand away.
"I was going to say if anything did happen to this child I'd murder Zeus, but I guess I won't. For you."
Annabeth's reply was cut off by a harsh rumble. The ground was shaking, vibrating the soles of their feet. The two demigods looked at each other and nodded. They drew their swords and ran forward.
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It was impossible to tell how long they had been fighting the drakon. It had multiple gashes along its body, and both demigods had cuts and wounds. They had stumbled into a concealed cave mere minutes ago, and were taking a much needed breath before fighting it more, and hopefully finishing it off.
It was in that moment of breath that Annabeth noticed two things. One, her abdominal muscles were sore and clenching like they had been during the fight, but, unlike during the fight, Annabeth could examine them. They didn't have an injury like she'd expected. They seemed… fine, aside from causing pain.
The second thing Annabeth noticed was the puddle she was sitting in. It was a strange pale yellow, but had no discernible odor. She tried to stand up and get out of it to investigate further.
As she did so, her stomach contracted again causing her to gasp in pain, hands clutching her stomach. She felt a rush of something slide between her legs. She turned to Percy, panic etched in every feature of her face. She tried to get the words out but she could barely breathe. It felt like her already too big belly was being squeezed through a toilet paper tube. She collapsed back against the ground, breath catching in her throat.
Percy had his eyes closed, head leaned against the cave wall. He hadn't seen Annabeth's struggle yet. She could see the heavy bags under his eyes and didn't want to disturb him. But if this is what I think it is…
"Percy," She hissed.
"Jusa min'te. Woozy," Percy slurred, eyes not opening. He'd taken a few good cuts to his own abdomen and legs. Annabeth could see from where she sat at least one of them was poisoned.
Never having felt worse, Annabeth picked up a small pebble and tossed it at Percy's head. It bounced off his nose and one sea green eye peaked open at her.
"Wat? What's so impo'tant?" Even his voice sounded nauseous.
Annabeth looked at him regretfully. She nibbled on her lip before saying, "I think I just went into labor."
Percy instantly sat up, both eyes wide. "Now?" He ran his hands through his hair making it look even more haphazard than before. He started talking but didn't seem to be talking to Annabeth. "What am I talkin' 'bout? Course it's right now. It'sa my child. It's gonna have the worst timing in the world."
Annabeth looked at him, half amused, half scared out of her mind. Bad timing aside, this was still too early. Seraphina's headstone flashed through her mind.
Percy seemed to pick up her panic and scrambled next to her, arm around her shoulder. His other hand went to her cheek and forced her to look at him. "It's early but not too much so. They'll be okay. Promised, 'member?"
Annabeth gave an almost hysterical laugh. "Since when have any of the gods ever cared about your promises?"
As if to prove her right, there was a loud crack outside the cave. A screech echoed through the rock. Annabeth paled. It was back.
Percy stared at her, fear dancing in his eyes. He looked at the entrance, then down at her stomach, and back to the entrance. His body tightened with resolve.
"I love you. Stay in here." He stood up, swaying slightly on his feet.
"Percy," Annabeth began to protest, before confirming that it was a lost cause as Percy kept climbing toward the entrance. Instead she tried to give him one last reminder. "Your life is worth something too!"
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It had been five years since that day. Annabeth forced a smile as she set the pan down in front of the young child. She didn't know why she bothered. It didn't change her voice enough and it wasn't like Lucas, (the name that Percy himself had requested if they ever had a son), could see it anyway.
Still she kept it on her face. "I'm lighting the candles now, love. Get ready to make a wish."
The young child puckered his lips, his cheeks puffed up like he had stuffed a campfire marshmallow in them. Subconsciously Annabeth move a black lock of hair off the child's forehead. It looked so much like Percy's did. Like Percy's had, she mentally corrected herself.
"Mommy! You have to sing!" The young voice complained. Lucas' nose wrinkled in frustration. Annabeth couldn't help but chuckle. She quickly lit the candles, stepped back, and started to sing.
The entire time she studied her son. His similarities to Percy were unmistakable. Yes, he was still hopelessly small, an even 30", and his body had no built up muscle like his dads used to have. But the unruly black mop sat atop both heads. The expressions they made were the same. Their laughter was identical sounding. And though Lucas' own eyes had a hazy film over them, Annabeth was sure that were that not there, the now-muted green would have matched Percy's vibrant eyes perfectly.
As Annabeth finished the short song, Lucas leaned forward. It was only then she realized that the smell she'd noticed a bit earlier hadn't dissipated, in fact seemed to be collecting around the table. Not being able to see where he was in relation to the flames, or even the danger he faced, Lucas thrust his face right where the candles were burning into a forming fireball.
Annabeth gasped and tried to lunge forward, intending to pull the fire away from his face. She didn't get close enough to matter.
A breeze came through the kitchen window she'd left open when she'd first noticed the smell. The breeze smelt like the ocean and made her heart yearn even more for Percy. The breeze blew out the candles before the flames could even lick Lucas' chin. Annabeth sighed in relief at the closely averted disaster, though she thought she heard an echo following the breeze. It whispered "I promise."
Lucas sputtered out an attempted blow, getting spit all over the cake, not realizing how close he'd been to getting hurt. He never did seem too. Not on his first birthday when he almost fell into the open roaring fireplace. Not on his second when he'd started playing with a large wasp hive that had been tucked under a slide at the playground. Lucas hadn't cared about the four flights of concrete stairs he'd very nearly tumbled down on his third birthday. Had been almost disappointed when he'd asked what happened to the rattler he had stepped on, and Annabeth answered that it had slithered away for some reason instead of attacking.
Each of those instances had been accompanied by a seemingly similar salty scented breeze. Annabeth knew there had to be a logical reason. But she much preferred her personal interpretation. Percy was upholding his promise, even from beyond the grave.
Annabeth gave her son a big hug and looked up. She didn't know where Percy's soul was, but she sent a silent thank you to him anyway. She carefully cut the cake, it's messy icing smearing further across the side of it. She might not have her dedicated husband anymore physically, might have lost him to Hades, but he was still with her, still promising to protect their blind son.