As long as we're together {Percabeth one-shots and meet}

Chapter 3: Argument

Percy entered the nursery, his hair was messier than usual, his eyes blood-shot from the lack of sleep. He saw his wife, Annabeth looking down at the crib where laid their child, face red from screaming for a whole hour. He had hesitated before coming, knowing full-well how much Annabeth hated it when he interfered with her precise planning with the baby.

"Are you serious Annabeth. Can't you see she's crying?" he whispered, so as not to annoy his three-week-old daughter even more. "Did you see if she is hungry? Does she need to get changed?"

"Don't you think I checked? I'm a daughter of Athena, remember? I plan things."

"So, since you know everything, what is your plan to make her stop crying and waking everyone up? She's hasn't stopped, so it doesn't really seem to work, does it?"

"I noticed, thanks. I'm trying to calm her down." she sighed, annoyed.

"Are you? Please tell me about your fabulous technique. It seems very effective" was his very sarcastic answer.

"She has to get self-sufficient. She will calm down by herself. It is working!" she whisper-yelled. Her husband was staring incredulously at her.

"She's not even a month old, how can she be independent? And she's still crying like she has been doing for every night since she came here. I have work tomorrow, well today. In four hours."

"It was working!" she protested. "I am trying this theory—"

"Please. Stop. Just stop! Your 'theory'!" he snickered. "She's a baby! How do you expect her to stop blaring if we do nothing? You cannot just try some things that are written in a book on a living thing! It works with objects, but not human beings" he shouted.

"It works! That is, it did until you came in and yelled. Let her cry a little, she'll calm down. And anyway, I never asked you to come, I was doing just fine. Go get your precious hours of sleep. You knew—we both knew— that when she came, we would not get our eight hours of sleep!" she screamed above their kid's cries, which was proving to be almost impossible.

At that exact moment, their daughter screamed even louder. Angry, Percy turned towards his wife.

"Look Annabeth, we did it your way, now, we're doing it my way" He saw she tried to protest but he continued before she could cut him off, "We'll see which way works best."

He saw she opened his mouth. "She's a baby Annabeth. Don't you ever listen to your heart? She is not a thing! She is not a thing! Your 'theories' work with manuals! Not humans! She's asking for her mother's love. Your love. Not your coldness. Doesn't it break your heart to see her scream her head off." When he looked at her at that moment, he saw the hurt in her eyes, but after a second it turned back to fury.

"Who do you take me for? Don't you think I care? It breaks my heart to see her crying like that, that's why I try things, because I can't stand it!" she yelled, as her daughter let a loud cry. She massaged her temple, a migraine was coming, she knew it.

Percy picked the little pink bundle up. "Shh, darling. Daddy's here. Now, let me see. Does your tummy hurt? No? Your head? Yes, I'm sorry I screamed. We frightened you, didn't we? They say at camp we can get quite ... intimidating... when we fight. Now," he paused to breathe, then continued with the same comforting voice as before, "You see, Selina darling, Daddy must go to work in a little more than three hours. And you are very tired, aren't you? You really want to sleep, don't you? Oh, I see, as stubborn as your mother. Well, what have we gotten ourselves in? A stubborn Selina and a stubborn Annabeth? Poor Daddy!"

His daughter's eyes started to slowly close. He walked towards the crib and continued to talk about anything that came in his mind with a hushing voice, getting quieter and quieter. When she finally drifted off to sleep, he placed his daughter back in her little bed.

When he turned over, he saw Annabeth, leaning against the door frame, tears shining along her cheeks. He was split between going and comforting his beloved wife and passing her, pretending he didn't notice how he felt.

He was still very exasperated by his wife's obstinacy to follow her stupid 'leave-you-child-to-cry theory' and her pride, which would stop her from ever even think that, perhaps, she might have been wrong about it.

He walked, still unsure about what to do but then, when he almost reached her level, he saw her glare. That convinced him. He passed her, without even looking at her and reached their bed, where he lay down and fell asleep a few seconds afterward, completely exhausted.

The next morning, when his alarm rang a six and a half, Percy groaned. He got up, showered quickly because that always woke him up and got to eat his breakfast in the kitchen. In the living room, he saw Annabeth, sleeping on the couch. He decided not to wake her up. One, because they kind of had a bad argument the night before and two, because she did need sleep as much as he did.

He took his key and drove to work. As a marine biologist, he now had a job in an aquarium where he had to check the well-being of sea animals. This proved to be very easy for him because he could talk to them and ask them directly what was wrong or what they would like.

He usually finished at five but had to drive for half an hour to get home. If there was any traffic, it could easily reach one hour and once, with New York's circulation, he took up to three hours to come back from work.

When he got home, he saw nobody in the kitchen, the same for the living room. He got upstairs to his bedroom and to his surprise, he saw both his wife and daughter sleeping in his bed, Annabeth's arms holding Selina in place, with a soft, loving smile on. He also saw that the baby's crib had been moved in their bedroom as he had suggested in the first place. This idea, as most of his about Silena, had been refused by Annabeth because 'their daughter had to get impartial'.

He lay down as well and took Annabeth into his arms, without waking her or the baby up. They stayed there as a family for a few minutes, both girls sleeping while Percy simply looked at them lovingly. When Annabeth started to stir up, he kissed her full on the lips and she smiled back. The disagreement of the eve was long forgotten. 

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- The secret pen