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It was a beautiful morning that Saturday in New Rome. Percy could tell that just by glancing out the window of his and Annabeth’s small apartment. She was still asleep when he’d woken up about 20 minutes ago. Now he was brushing his teeth, his hair wet and the bathroom mirror foggy from the shower.
Then, there was a fast, and desperate knock at the bathroom door. Percy unlocked the door, his toothbrush still in hand. Annabeth rushed in, knelt in front of the toilet, and started vomiting. Just as fast, Percy set down his toothbrush, spat out his toothpaste, rinsed off his mouth, and knelt at Annabeth’s side. He did his best to gather up her hair and hold it back for her. She hated having to wash it, a fact that he was well aware of as it dictated their sleeping position.
“Are you okay?”
She shrugged.
“Annabeth. Hey.” He put a finger under her chin, gently turning her head towards him. “What’s wrong? Are you coming down with something?”
“I don’t know.” She wiped her mouth off on the back of her hand. “I gotta get ready, my group is meeting to work on our project in a couple hours.” She stood up and rinsed off her hand and mouth in the sink.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be around people if you’re getting sick.”
“We can meet outside. Besides, I’m probably just stressed about this project. The sooner we get it done the better.”
“When have you ever thrown up from stress?”
He had a point, but still she decided not to mention her other symptoms, or her other theory. It probably wasn’t that. She was probably just stressed and coming down with the stomach flu. She didn’t want Percy stressing - or worse, getting his hopes up - before she knew.
She washed her face, got dressed and managed to eat some plain toast with the help of some peppermint tea.
Percy left to teach sword fighting for the twelfth legion about fifteen minutes before Annabeth left to go into the mortal city.
By the time she got to the cafe where her group was meeting, her nausea was a lot better. She ordered a bagel and an iced tea and sat down at an outdoor table to wait for the three mortal architecture students.
Three hours later, they were done with their project.
Annabeth stopped at a store on the way back to Camp Jupiter, to pick up a few essentials they’d run out of - bread, pasta, eggs, strawberries, cherry Coke, olives, frozen pizza, blue food coloring - and something she’d never needed to buy before: a pregnancy test.
She was torn on what she hoped the test would say. Sure, she planned on having kids with Percy. They’d talked about it a few times, and luckily were on the exact same page. Three. For sure someday, maybe even soon. But she’d never planned on it happening while she was still in university. They were only 22. Could they handle it? Of course. But a big part of her wanted a few more years of just the two of them.
She was almost done with college. Finally, there was an end in sight to all the crazy in their lives. They hadn’t had more than a few months of peace since they’d met. First, they’d had two wars and five major, life threatening quests in five years, plus each holding up the literal sky, Hera kidnapping Percy for six months and wiping his memory, and their trip to Tartarus (which was still heavily featured in both of their non-prophetic nightmares). Then they’d had to get through 3 more quests, possession by an Egyptian god, taking the SATs, helping a fallen god defeat a trio of evil Roman emperors, training Annabeth’s cousin so he could stop a Norse god from starting the apocalypse, and the death of their friend, and fellow member of the Prophecy of Seven, Jason Grace, all of which happened within 12 months of Tartarus.
Now, Annabeth was in the final year of her Masters degree program. A year from now, they were supposed to finally be able to catch their breath. But if she was pregnant, then a year from now, they’d still be sleep deprived, and also changing diapers.
Despite that, she had to admit, she was a little excited at the idea. A little mini combo of her and Percy. A legacy of both Poseidon and Athena - probably the first one in history. Maybe they’d have her gray eyes and Percy’s sarcasm and wind-tousled dark hair. Or her strategic intelligence and Percy’s aptitude for sword fighting, and quickly become the most formidable legacy in millenia. Or maybe they’d take after their two mortal families and love the beach, blue food, historical artifacts, and cheesy rom coms. Maybe they’d have Sally’s clear sight, and her Aunt Natalie’s adventurous nature — Okay, maybe she was more than a little excited at the idea.
By the time she got back to their apartment in New Rome, she decided she couldn’t stand not knowing any longer.
“Hey, Wise Girl,” Percy said, glancing up from the skateboard wheels he appeared to be adjusting and smiled. Gods she loved that smile. “You feeling better?”
She nodded and started unpacking the groceries as fast as she could, careful to leave the test in the bag, where he couldn’t see it.
“That’s good,” he said. “I swear, these new Roman demigods have no idea how to even hold a sword. I don’t know what their other instructor is teaching them, but forty minutes with each cohort per week is not nearly enough time to teach them. Kind of makes me feel bad for Paul.”
“I bet. I got you more blue,” she said, holding up the food dye.
“You’re the best.”
The grocery bags were empty now, except for the test. “Be right back,” she said, taking the bag with her into the bathroom.
“Come on, come on,” she muttered under her breath a couple minutes later, waiting for the test to load. She looked up at her own face in the mirror and forced herself to take several slow, deep breaths. Then she looked back down at the test. “Oh my gods,” she whispered. She realized she was smiling. “Oh my gods.”
She picked up the stick and opened the bathroom door.
“Percy?”
“Yeah?”
She walked the few steps and sat down next to him on the couch, showing him the test.
“So, I guess I’m not sick.”
“… Holy shit.” He looked at her. He was obviously shocked, but his face didn’t say anything else. “This is a pregnancy test, right? I’m not being an idiot?”
She nodded.
“Oh my gods!” He practically tackled her in a hug. “Annabeth!” She couldn’t see his face, but she could hear in his voice that he was grinning.
She chuckled.
“I can’t wait to tell my mom! And Estelle and Paul and Tyson and Grover and oh man, Athena’s gonna kill me.” He laughed.
“And piss off her favorite kid? Nah.”
“Seriously, when can we tell them?”
“I mean, I want to make sure first, but soon.”
“How are you not dying to tell everyone right now?”
“I kinda just did, Seaweed Brain: I told you. The rest can wait. I’ll call around the area and see how soon I can get a doctor’s appointment. We can start telling people as soon as we know for sure that I’m actually pregnant. This thing could be wrong.”
He nodded, looking at her with such adoration he practically had heart eyes.
That night, Annabeth was unable to fall asleep. She spent hours staring at the ceiling or watching Percy sleeping peacefully. The nausea was all but gone, but still she couldn’t sleep. Her mind was racing faster than even she could keep up with, as fear after fear passed through her consciousness. Miscarriage, stillbirth, prophecies, birth defects, premature labor, complications, monsters, car accidents, Hera’s wrath, her own ineptitude. No matter how she played it out in her head, something happened to ruin this pregnancy or to hurt this baby. As excited as she was, she was even more terrified. She couldn’t plan her way through this, couldn’t study the potential threats until they passed.
Percy would be great, she already knew that much, but as for herself? She had no idea if she’d make an even halfway decent mother. It wasn’t like she’d exactly had the role modeled for her as a child - at least, not until her teens when she’d met Sally Jackson.
She felt a tear break free from her eye and went to wipe it away. Percy hummed in his sleep and she sniffed.
“N’beth? What’s wrong?” He asked, shifting onto his arm and squinting at her.
“Nothing. I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”
“You’re crying,” he noticed and wiped away her tears. “You have a nightmare?”
Annabeth shook her head. “I haven’t gotten to sleep yet.”
Percy looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand and sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine. I’m just worried,” she said, placing a hand on her low abdomen.
He noted the gesture and wrapped his arms around her. “Worried about the pregnancy?”
She nodded.
A realization came to Percy and he sighed. “I forgot to ask you how you feel about that, didn’t I?” Annabeth didn’t answer. “I know I was really excited earlier, but if you’re not ready for this…”
“No, Percy, gods no. I want this so bad that I don’t know how I’ll keep going if something happens.”