Revenge of the Duchess

Epilogue 3

A/N: I own nothing except for the plot. Enjoy!

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Percy was quickly heading towards his bedroom where slight moans of pain could be heard.

"Father!"

Two pairs of little feet scrambled down the hall and began tugging at Percy's legs.

"When is Mother coming out?"

Percy bent down and picked both his sons up, one in each arm.

"What did I tell you about running down the hallway?" Percy scolded gently.

"But we didn't bring our swords this time," the boy in his right arm chirped up.

"And we weren't caught this time by Mother."

Percy winced. Annabeth had chewed off the sword instructor for letting their children run away with swords unsupervised. Granted, the swords were wood and dulled so the most injury there could be would be some bruising. Unfortunately, the sword instructor was Percy himself.

He had only looked away for a few seconds when one of his staff members had come up to report about something happening in the royal castle. By the time he looked back, the twins were already running away, cackling at the top of their lungs for their father to play tag with them. Percy hadn't known how fast six year old legs could run, and there were two boys he had to catch, and both had run in different directions.

The eldest son, Henry, was the miniature version of his father, with messy black hair and green mischievous eyes, while his nearly identical younger brother, Kyle, had slightly curlier dark hair and grey eyes. Both of them were devout troublemakers, with Kyle often being the instigator while Henry just went along and indulged his brother's antics. It was most likely the steadier eldest son who was going to inherit the Ducal title while Kyle was already showing more aptitude in swordsmanship as a great military general in the future.

But for now, Percy just hugged the rambunctious twins closely. It was far too early to think about their futures when the children themselves did not know what they wanted to do when they grew up. He would miss these days when the little ones were too big for him to pick up with one arm one day. But not now as he winced in pain as Kyle grabbed his father's hair.

"Kyle, Henry," Percy said, patiently. "Let's not disturb your mother any further. We want your little sibling to come out safely, right?"

"Will Mother be all right?" Kyle's big grey eyes rounded as he listened to another hiss of pain from the bedroom.

Percy walked a little further away from the bedroom so the twins didn't have to hear the sounds of pain. "Of course she will be. Your mother is strong."

"Just like Father is!" Henry shouted.

Percy smiled, but the furrow in his brows indicated that he was quite anxious.

After the births of the twins, Percy had been so worried about Annabeth's pain and health that he couldn't bear for her to have another child. Childbirth was dangerous and too painful, and Annabeth's labor had gone on for ten excruciating hours. He already knew from what Annabeth had shared with him that she had been severely weakened by childbirth in her first life. During their, ehem, nightly activities when the children were asleep, both he and Annabeth took precautions with contraceptive potions. But who knew that somehow fate was not to be? But since there was to be a third Jackson child, the whole family was still overjoyed.

This time, Percy had been in the midst of work when a servant had come with a message that the Duchess was going through labor, and this time, the baby was coming out quick. Percy had rushed home as fast as he could, then bathed quickly so he would not bring any outside diseases or dirt into the bedroom that had now been transformed into a birthing chamber.