Natasha's Secret

Chapter 5 - Stories over Takeout

Annabeth was smiling at her friends, sitting in her apartment.

"So, what exactly happened?" Jason asked for the fourth time that night, causing Nico to blush while Will just smiled.

"Well, we had just finished dinner, I cooked-"

"And almost burned down the house, I told you I would cook," Nico smiled lovingly at Will who shrugged.

"I wanted to do something romantic for once,"

"Since I was the one who was doing the proposing I think I should have been the one to cook,"

"Whatever, I'm telling the story," Will looked back at Jason, "So, I cooked, and it didn't go very well, so Nico and I decided to order pizza and have some wine," a smile spread across Will's face again.

"We almost finished the pizza and Will suggested that we go to bed, but I said that I had something else I had to do," Nico blushed and Will put his arm around him.

"It was so sweet, I was really confused by what Nico meant and then he took out the ring box and I honestly just started crying," Will shrugged and Nico laughed,

"Oh yeah, I was so confused, I thought it was bad crying and tried to apologize but Will just kissed me, I had a whole speech prepared but I didn't need to use it," Everyone awwed at the story then Piper spoke up,

"Where's the ring!" Will smiled and showed her, it was a gold band with a black central diamond, on each side, there were rubies that glittered in the light.

"Oh my gods," Piper and Annabeth fawned over it with Will while Jason shot Nico a playful glare.

"Neeks, you're making the rest of us look bad," Nico smirked and rolled his eyes at Jason who had really become like an older brother to him in the past yeas.

The rest of the evening was spent over takeout Chinese and memories, a great night in Annabeth's opinion.

Unfortunately, she had to ruin the peace.

She knew that this wasn't exactly necessary, but she was spiteful (and Fury had given her a lot of work that week so she wanted to piss him off a little)

"Nico, Will," she got their attention. Will was sitting in an armchair while Nico sat on the floor between his legs, "I need you guys to come with me to meet the Avengers tomorrow." All conversations in the peaceful living room stoped.

"Why?" Will asked quietly and everyone looked at Annabeth, waiting for an answer.

"No one believes me when I say I have a life outside of work, therefore my boss isn't letting me have time off for your wedding, I need to prove him wrong, that or kill him," Annabeth added as an afterthought.

"We'll go with you," Will smiled at his friend while Nico shot him a concerned look,

"Are you sure, mio amore?"

"Yes, sunshine, I don't have a shift at the hospital tomorrow and it's summer so you're not teaching," Nico still looked apprehensive but didn't argue. Annabeth smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, you won't regret this. Thor might fangirl over you guys a little bit but that should be it. Will, you should get along great with Bruce, he's also a doctor though he's studying more on the neurological side of medicine," Will nodded, taking mental notes while Nico just stared lovingly at Will's thinking face.

"I've always loved the way your eyebrows come together when you're thinking," Nico absentmindedly whispered to Will who blushed.

"You guys are too fucking cute, I swear to the gods I'm going to murder something," Percy said in a very monotone voice. This cause the atmosphere to go back to normal until Luke started crying from his room.

"I got it," Annabeth stood up from her spot on Percy's lap, kissed him on the cheek, and walked down the hall to Luke's room. Once she opened the door she saw Luke sitting on this bed, hugging his Nemo pillow.

"Hey there, little guy," Annabeth sat on the edge on his bed and reached up to touch Luke's soft hair, "what's the matter?" she asked.

"Nemo's mom got eaten by the barbacuba," Luke stumbled over the pronunciation on barracuda (as he always did) which made Annabeth smile.

"Yes, she did, but do you know what else happened?" Annabeth whispered with a magical smile, or at least that's what Luke thought,

"What?"

"Nemo lived because of her. Any mother would save her child," Luke took a few seconds to understand what she was saying then threw himself at Annabeth.

"You're not going to get eaten by a barbacuba," he said defiantly, as though his word was enough for it to become fact.

Annabeth smiled down at the precious child in her arms and hugged him back, "You're right, I'm never leaving you, or getting eaten by a barracuda, and neither would Daddy, he's like Marlin, he'll always be there for you and so will I." Luke seemed to like those words of comfort because he started falling asleep in Annabeth's arms.

"I love you, Mommy," he mumbled sleepily and Annabeth kissed the top of his head.

"I love you too, my little clownfish," Annabeth tucked Luke back into bed and carefully got up. Before she closed the door, Annabeth looked back at her son, the most important thing in her life, she would move mountains and cross oceans for him. With these wholesome thoughts, Annabeth quietly closed the door.

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