Because I Care

Time Bombs

Percy's life seemed to be picking up where it left off. More monsters were attacking CHB, and, luckily for him, Annabeth and Alex hadn't been there during the times they were. It came to the point where he wouldn't let Annabeth visit whenever she wanted anymore. He would never - under any circumstances - let his wife and/or his kid get hurt. The first time Alex sat up, he fell right on his face, and even Annabeth hadn't worried over it. But Percy had insisted on having at least a child of Apollo look him over. Being a dad was exciting, sure, but gods, Percy was constantly stressed.

Now that Alex was one, Percy was starting to get nervous. Where would his son go to school? Who would pick him up? Who could he trust enough - besides Annabeth - to pick him up if he was unavailable? Even though pre-school was years away, everything seemed to be rushing at him, trying to pull him down.

"Perce, it'll be fine," Annabeth was saying, wiping some apple sauce off of Little Al's cheek. "I'm sure Piper would be happy to take care of him."

"What happens if she's busy?" he asked, his eyebrows creasing.

"Her and Jason are finally moving in together. Do you really think he's going to be busy the exact moment she's going to be busy?"

"Yeah."

"For the gods' sake, then Grover!" she almost yelled, and Alex jumped at her raised tone. "Oh, it's okay, baby, it's okay..." Annabeth lifted him from his feeding chair, shushing him before he could even start to cry. "Sorry," she apologized to Percy, "I'm worried, too."

"I know," he said, and offered her to sit next to him of the couch. Beth slouched into his chest, letting their baby snuggle against them both.

"I don't have to go back to work for a while. Olympus is doing fine without me."

"I know," he said again, kissing the top of Alex's head. "Maybe I'm being over protective."

"I'd rather you be over protective than careless," she pointed out, and he smiled.

"Do you think the lil' guy's making me responsible?" he joked.

"Of course," she said, becoming serious. "You're a great dad, Percy. Maybe even better than Grover."

"Naw, Grover's better. He let Lilly turn into a tree at three weeks!"

"Shh, he's falling asleep," Annabeth whispered, stroking Alex's blond tufts of hair off of his forehead.

"Are you putting him in the crib?" Percy whispered back.

"Okay." She gently got up, cradling their son in her arms as she shuffled away. Percy leaned forward in his seat, rubbing his face with both of his hands. He sat there, listening Annabeth trying to baby talk out of the room. He heard her quietly shut the door, and it suddenly hit him that he had a family. He had saved Olympus twice, built a spare cabin at CHB in case of monster attacks, and built a family. His chest felt like time bombs were exploding in it, just remembering burning Luke's shroud, the House of Hades, getting married to the most beautiful girl in the world, sighing as Annabeth came into the living room again.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice low.

"Yeah," he told her, letting her lay on the couch and rest her head in his lap. He absently played with her hair. "I'm perfect."

"No one's perfect," she argued. "I wonder what Alex's fatal flaw is going to be..."

"I don't want to talk about that," he said. "I just want us to be okay."

"We're already okay. We've been okay for years, now."

"I know," he said, for the third time, "But I want us to be even better."

"Does 'us' include Al?" she whispered, sitting up. Percy wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"Now it does," he answered her, pressing his lips against her forehead. "We're okay."

hehe. :D

Arms, Christina Perry. LISTEN, MY READERS. I'm telling you... awesome song.

so anyways... the story's ending soon, and I'm going to need something else to write about. HOWEVER since I also have a HG fan fiction (I Learn Why) there will be alternating updates for both. Sorry :(

So, my real question is: What should I write about? If you've read JustColor's fanfic 'The Mark of Athena' then you'll know where I got this from. (sorry Megan! wanted to give my peoples a choice too :)

your choices are:

A) Jiper!! (yeah, get excited!)

B) Selena/Beckendorf in-the-underworld type thing (YEAH I'M WILLING TO CRY WHILE I WRITE)

C) more Percabeth (more like Alex growing up + Percabeth)

D) Gruniper? is that what they're called?

or E) Frazel/Lazel (I have an IDEA! [which may or may not be a good thing ;) ])

so if you guys don't chose, I am... idk if you care if i do or not, but yuppers. happy reading :)