One of the hardest chapters I've written, so you better freakin appreciate it bitches! Love you. :3 Please enjoy:
"Okay, so make sure you to put that mirrors on the curved wall perfectly or else the whole vision of it reflected off the window wall won't work. It's supposed to create many reflections of Aphrodite when she walks in the room. And you know how she is with her mirrors." I waved my hand dismissively and smiled at the automaton worker Phil. He was the head of the work group of automatons here today with me to construct Aphrodite's temple in Olympus.
"Yes Miss Cha- Mrs. Jackson," his voice box whirred before he cantered off to give the orders to the other workers.
I smiled to myself. Even automatons made the mistake too. People seemed to do that all the time now, but I don't care. It's a hard thing to get used to.
Feeling parched, I walked over to the snack bar set up for the workers that weren't machines.
I picked up a cup and decided what to ask to drink.
"Uuum, strawberry smoothie," I ordered, then the cup immediately filled with the frothy pink mixture.
As I brought the cup to my lips to take a sip, I felt a familiar twinge in my stomach. My neck tingled and my mouth turned sour while the cup slipped through my fingers and crashed to the floor.
The next thing I knew, I had my head bent over a toilet with Karissa holding my hair away from my face as I let my stomach disconfuntuate.
"You okay?" she asked when the vomit finally subsided. She had come with me today to help with the building and keep me company. Now, I was extremely grateful she'd come.
"Ugh, yeah."
"You probably shouldn't work if you threw up," she said, her voice filled with sincere concern. "You want me to take you home?"
"Yeah. Thanks. Just let me tell Phil what else to do and we can leave."
After giving the automatons strict instructions, we tromped down the streets of Olympus to the elevator. When we finally got into her new purple Camero that she'd parked at a nearby parking lot, I was feeling a bit better.
She was so lucky to have gotten a car for her sixteenth birthday and you could tell she loved it. She kept offering us rides just so she'd have a reason to drive it.
We were almost home when she pulled off the road into the tiny lot of a local drug store.
"Do you mind if I stop here? I need to get some things." She looked at me apologetically.
"Sure, no prob."
"Cool. I'll be right back." She closed her door and skipped up over the curb to the store
Karissa had left the car running so the radio was on. As I listened, Blue by Eiffel started playing and I turned it up thinking of Percy.
That's where I was, singing along, when Karissa walked back out. I turned the volume back down as she slumped back into her seat with a plastic bag.
"Can you hold this please? And there's something in there for you."
I rummaged around in the bag. Milk, razors, a magazine, makeup. At the bottom, I found it. A silver metal linked bracelet with green beads hanging off and a little silver owl.
"Aw! Thank you! I love it!"
"You're welcome," she grinned.
I tried balancing the bag in my lap as I secured the bracelet on, but something fell out and thumped to the floor. I picked it up.
My heart beat erratically as I tried to remember what day it was.
Karissa stopped at a stop light and I turned to her frantically.
"Hey, can we go back? I need something."
"Um, kay. What is it?"
"I'll tell you when I figure it out myself."
"Okaaay. . ." she said indecisively.
She turned around at the next legal U-turn and I shoved the little blue box of tampons to the very bottom of the bag.
I tapped my fingers on the marble of the bathroom counter top I was leaning on. They created sharp staccatos that reverberated around the bathroom in a slight echo. No one was home and the only sounds were my breathing, the ticking grandfather clock downstairs, and my annoyingly constant tapping.
Why was it taking so long? This was taking longer than it should have, especially since I had abused my dyslexia by trying to carefully read the little words on the box for instructions, which took a whole ten minutes more than it shouldn't have. Now as I sat here waiting, I had time to actually wrap my head around the jumbling thoughts buzzing around in it like a hoard of bees.
When I found out there could be a possibility I could be pregnant, the natural reaction was I fright. What was I going to do with a baby? What was it going to do with me? I didn't know anything about children and mothering and birth and crap like that. I'm an architect for crying out loud, not a house wife! And my mom was never around for me, so she wouldn't know. My step-mom would know what to do and Percy's mom would, but I didn't. Remembering them brought up another terrifying thought. How was I going to tell them about it if it was true? Just go up to them and say "Hey guys, a package came in the mail today and I'm pregnant. Oh, and don't forget to remind Mrs. Hudson for babysitting the twins."? Suuure. That's fool proofed. And what about Percy? Will he even want to become a dad? Because either way, if I keep the baby or give it up, he'd still technically be a dad, because I am most definitely not getting an abortion if I am pregnant. I know what it's like to feel unwanted and I'd never inflict that on another creature.
In my revelations, I'd forgotten the test. I picked up the little white stick and read the label. I was surprised at myself for not being surprised at what I saw.
The little pink plus glared back at me menacingly and I had a brief flash back to the movie Juno. "That aint no etch-a-sketch. That's one doodle that can't be undid, home skillet." I chuckled humorlessly. Very funny, drug store man.
I sighed and leaned back onto the counter top again. I crossed my arms over my chest still holding the test in my hand. I looked up at the ceiling like maybe it would give me some answers.
Then I thought, could it really be all that bad? I mean, I had always wanted a long and happy life with Percy. But that was it, I wanted a life. I wanted to travel, build things, see architecture. Could I do that with a baby? At least not for a couple years. It would have to grow old enough to know general right and wrong in sacred temples and ancient Roman cities. And what if after it's old enough, I don't want to go anymore? I knew by now that things change.
I wondered what it would look like. A girl? A boy? I imagined it having Percy's amazing green eyes, and my blond hair. And his cute little nose. Or maybe it would look more like him than me. If it were a boy, maybe him and Percy would watch baseball games on Saturday afternoons or he'd walk around the backyard with mud pies in tow in a little red wagon. I imagined that if my baby were a girl that I'd spend the morning with her, brushing her long black hair, making her breakfast before work. Maybe Percy would come in and kiss me good morning, then kiss her head. She'd say "I love you, Daddy." as he leaves for where ever he would go off to work to. Of course this was in the far future, but it still warmed me.
Involuntarily, my hands had slid down to wrap around my abdomen, and I unwound one arm to swipe away a traitor tear that had escaped out the corner of my eye.
I decided then that I wanted it. I wanted it all. I wanted a little girl. Or a little boy. Whichever was fine. But I wanted it.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
I jumped in the air at the unexpected voice. The test slipped out of my hand and lightly clattered to the floor behind me before I covered it with my foot.
It was my mother. She had just unexpectedly appeared next to me.
"Um, what's amazing?"
Athena laughed humorlessly. "Oh you know. How much people deal with in life. Gods watch it from afar and can never fully understand the actions humans do. What did they go and do that for, we'll ask ourselves. We can really only understand through our children."
I was starting to sweat. Come on Annabeth, think of something to say!
"Uh-." Genius. Now I knew how Percy felt in situations like this.
She smiled. "So how are you today? Anything to share?"
I was afraid of what she was getting at.
"Uh, today I worked on Aphrodite's temple."
"Yes, I saw you." She grinned. "We're all very proud of you Annabeth, especially me. And you should have seen Aphrodite's face when she walked into her temple. She might never leave it." She snickered. "Good job. But what was that scene with Karissa and you?"
"I. . . got sick."
"Really? From what?" she looked concerned, but I knew she knew. Or suspected. But I wasn't giving up that easily. I was hard headed to.
I swallowed my nervousness and began with the list of half-truths I had concocted. "I didn't get sick from an illness. I just wasn't feeling good and threw up."
"I'm sorry to hear that. So how's Percy?"
Okay, if I didn't think she knew before, I knew it now. She would never ask about Percy.
"He's good."
"Yeah, I'm sure he is."
I looked to the side and panicked. There was a double meaning in that sentence. Curse you creator of new age innuendos.
"I haven't seen him since this morning at breakfast."
"Hmm. Did he get sick too?"
That was it. I couldn't stand it anymore. So I looked her strait in the eye and said it.
". . . I'm pregnant."
We just looked at each other for countless immeasurable seconds. Then she suddenly sighed and slumped onto the counter and crossed her arms.
"What are you going to do?"
I shrugged and copied her pose on the edge of the sink. "Keep her."
Her eyebrows raised. "How do you know it's a girl?"
I blushed. "Well, I'm kind of hoping it's a girl."
Then Athena did the most unexpected thing to ever be seen on my mom in such a conversation. She smiled.
"Well, I guess you have some news to break, so I better go. By Annabeth." She smiled lovingly and disappeared in curls of gray smoke. I hoped it wouldn't set off the smoke alarm.
Not long after she left did I hear a door slam.
"I'm home, Annabeth!" I heard Percy's voice float up from downstairs.
I could hear him leaping up the stairs and I ran out to meet him. I met him in the middle of the stairs and he looked up at me with the cutest, most goofy smile ever.
"Hi." I breathed around my erratic heartbeat.
"Hi." he whispered before trapping me in a kiss.
My hands tangled themselves in his hair as his lips moved with mine fervently. His arms wound around my waist and pulled me to him.
When he finally came back up for air, he grinned against his slight blush and pecked my cheek.
"So how was my girl's day of architecting?"
I laughed. "That's not completely a real word, but okay. It was good." I grinned. "But I have bigger news."
I ducked around his arms and fluttered down the stairs to the couch. I sat Indian style and patted the seat next to me. He sauntered over to me and sat down.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Okay, um." I was excited just a second ago, but now I wondered where to start. "Well, you know how after our wedding, at our honeymoon. . .?"
He clicked his tongue. "Pssh, duh yeah. Like I could forget."
"Well, you know how when like a guy and girl do stuff and it causes, um. . ." I sounded like a complete retard. I couldn't find the words. "Uh, like. . . little peop- Uh, ugh." I gave myself an internal face-palm.
"Annabeth, just spit it out."
I looked into his wary face and whispered, "I'm pregnant."
I saw a massive amount of different emotions conflict on his face- shock, fear, surprise, acceptance, wonder, panic, more shock- pretty much how I probably looked when I first found out.
So, naturally, he pulled a classic Percy and said the only thing he could think of.
"Uh. . ."
"I was thinking of maybe Andrew." I said. I always liked that name.
"Ew, no. That's a nerdy name. Let's give him a cool name like this one kid who's name is Awesome. Literally."
"That's a load of Minotaur shit."
"Watch your mouth. I kiss that thing you know."
"Haha. Good job Captain Cheesy-Jokes."
"That's my name, don't ware it out!" Percy laughed.
After he'd calmed down and seemingly accepted the truth, we came up to his room to discuss different names for our baby.
"I kind of like Perdix." I said.
He contemplated this. "Perdix? Why?"
"Well, it's one of my favorite Greek stories. The tale of Daedalus and Icarus and Perdix. You know its my favorite."
"Yeah, but our son shouldn't be named after some kid who was turned into a pigeon. It's too close to home for me."
He was probably remembering back when he'd been turned into a guinea pig. I didn't know what it was like, but obviously it bothered him so he moved on from that name.
"How about Cole?"
I blanched. "Cole? That seems like an exceptionally boring name."
"Well we can't all have cool, unusual name's like 'Annabeth' now can we?" He snickered.
I glared at him. "If you don't help me figure out what to name the kid, I'm naming him Edward or her Bella."
His face fell as he saw how dead serious I was.
"You wouldn't." He knew I knew that he hated Twilight. I can't read the English books, but somehow I came across a Greek Latin version on the internet and I read them and saw the movies. Threatening to name our kid after them was low, but he wasn't concentrating!
"Fine. Back to names."
But just then, Percy's mom came in the door. She had food for us because we'd missed dinner.
"Hey kids. Where were you at dinner?"
Percy spoke first. "Um, up here."
I rolled my eyes. Duh, Percy. Good answer.
His mom has this weird thing where she can sense tension in the room. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
I smiled. "Nope! Everything's perfect," I chirped. "In fact, I have a question for you."
"Yes?"
"Well, have you ever thought about being a grandmother?"
I looked at Percy at the same time he looked at me. I didn't know where all my calm was coming from, but it apparently didn't reach him. He was sweating buckets.
Sally Jackson twisted up her mouth and rolled her weight to her right foot while contemplating this.
"Well," she began. "I never really thought about it, but I suppose it might be nice." She smiled, then suddenly looked anxious. "Why?"
I decided to just cut to the chase and come right and tell her.
"I'm pregnant."
Like mother like son, she displayed an array of emotions to the news, almost dropping the tray in shock. Her wide eyes flashed between us. Percy looked down, almost in a guilty way and blushed. What for, I didn't know. We were legally married. Married couples can have kids, right?
After a brief silence, she finally spoke up.
"What are you going to name it?" She barely spoke above a whisper.
"We don't know." I replied. "We're thinking of names now."
"Okay, well. . . I'll leave you to that. Come down if you're hungry." Then she left and I could almost hear the smile in her voice as she muttered "I'm a grandma?"
Percy turned back to me. "Well, that went well." He smiled.
"Yeah, and it was all thanks to you Mr. Smooth. You just left me hanging there!"
"Oh please. It's not like you didn't have it all under control. You're just awesome like that."
We laughed and I looked at his face. He was so adorable when he admitted to my awesomeness.
I cocked my head to the side and felt a faint smile light up my face.
He copied my pose and I leaned in.
His soft lips found mine and I sucked on his bottom lip. My left hand came up to cup his jaw and the tip of my ring finger hooked in the hollow at the base of his ear. His hand reached up to hold my hand there and rubbed my wedding ring.
"Mmm," he murmured on my lips. "You taste like chocolate."
I read somewhere that chocolate created some kind of arousing chemical in your hormones, and made you slightly hornier than you would be without it. I couldn't tell you if it was true, but as he began kissing frantically down my jaw, I pulled back.
He looked in my eyes innocently and smiled.
"Back to names," I muttered, looking down and trying to hide my evident blush.
He looked worried. "What is it?" he asked.
Why was he being so perceptive all of a sudden? "It's nothing." Seriously dude. He's way too hiped up on this baby stuff and thinks every little emotion I show means something's wrong. But his protectiveness was also totally cute.
I reassured him with a genuine smile that made him grin back. His face softened and he caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. "You are so beautiful." he whispered. That made me blush again and I leaned in to give him a lingering peck on the lips.
We decided for a boy Cole, though I still thought it was a bit boring, and Trinity for a girl. He got Cole, so I got Trinity for a girl, though he wanted Pandora. The name didn't really fit with me, so I made a deal with him that he names the boy and I name the girl.
We Iris messaged all our friends to tell them the news. Karissa nearly had an aneurysm when we told her, saying she wanted "a family and a little baby now" too, whilst an alarmed Travis escaped out the door. Grover and Juniper congratulated us and my step-mom broke out in tears. I can't deny that my dad glared a little at Percy, but his excitement was evident in his eyes. He loved the idea that he'd be a grandpa.
Surrounded by so much happiness, I felt content that night as I fell asleep in Percy's arms.
OH SWEET HOT DAMN!
I freakin love mommy Athena. She's so protective but can't show it. :( Karissa and Travis once again, so cute. :3
LOL, Twilight reference~! Love it.
This is kind of a chapter overload, putting up six chaps in less than five minutes, so, sadly, I won't be posting for a while. :/ I've been working on something else for a while I'll put up soon. :)