“ if you waken that baby, so help me god, there won’t be a corner of the universe that will protect you from my wrath. ”(percabeth)
The apartment is dark when he enters, even though it was still the middle of the morning and the sun was exceptionally bright outside. One hand pressed to the bottom of the carrier against his chest, Percy closes the front door with the back of his heel before toeing off his sneakers and kicking them toward the pile his mother keeps reminding them to tidy up and none of them have gotten around to. It hadn’t been in their plan to have been kicked out of their apartment only weeks before the baby was due, but a rogue chimera was a rogue chimera, and while Percy wasn’t sure how it had even gotten up to their fifth-floor walk-up, the fire damage was more than their landlord could tolerate.
This, combined with the fact that their house at camp still wasn’t finished and Annabeth had gone into labour three weeks early, had them moving back in with his parents and sister, thus completely ruining their grand plan of bringing their baby home to the room they had painstakingly put together over the last few months. Instead, they were crammed into what was Percy’s old room before he’d left for college, thankfully updated with a bed larger than the one he’d grown up with. As much as he’d once enjoyed the thrill of sneaking Annabeth into his room to spend the night, they’d long since outgrown being able to comfortably share a twin bed. Inconveniences aside, however, he was immensely grateful for his mom and Paul, who had taken to their being in the house with ease, although he had a feeling their new roles as grandparents had softened the blow considerably.
Socked feet padding up the hallway quietly, Percy glances into his room, forehead creasing in a frown at the sight of the unmade and empty bed. Annabeth had still been asleep when he had left barely an hour earlier, and considering how little they’d all slept the night before, he’d been convinced that was where she’d still be. He can’t hear the shower running, although that was never the sole indicator that she was in there, but the bathroom is equally quiet and dark.
It isn’t until he sticks his head into the living room that he spots her, a smile automatically curving at the corners of his mouth at the sight of her. Annabeth is tucked in the corner of the sofa, an open book in her lap, like she had all the intentions of sitting up and reading, only to have almost immediately succumbed to her exhaustion. Her head lolls against the arm of the chair, and Percy knows he needs to encourage her to reposition, to save her from the inevitable crick in her neck. He can’t help but smile, the fondness for his parents almost overwhelming him as he notices the rug spread across her legs that he knows his mom would have put there, and the semi-drawn blinds and curtains around the room. He has no doubt Annabeth had tried to get up not long after he had left, desperate to be helpful and not a burden, much like he has no doubt his mom would have shooed her to sit down, to take a moment for herself while he and the baby were out.
Sliding the tray of coffees onto the side table, Percy moves to trace his fingers along Annabeth’s arm gently, hoping he wasn’t about to frighten the daylights out of her. She wakes up slowly, eyes scrunched against the barely there light, and his stomach flip-flops at the sight. “Hey, sleepyhead,” he says softly, reaching across to brush a rouge curl from her forehead, “I got you coffee from that place down the street.”
“God, have I told you I love you lately,” she says, words slightly slurred with a combination of both sleep yet not enough of it. “Mm, this morning, but I like hearing it,” he responds, straightening up to start unlatching the carrier.
“Perce…if you waken that baby, so help me god, there won’t be a corner of the universe that will protect you from my wrath.” The threat isn’t as powerful as Annabeth probably means it, considering the slur to her words and the fact she still can’t open her eyes fully, but Percy stifles down a laugh. His mom had already filled him in a little on how the night had gone when he got in that morning, but he had a feeling it had been rougher than Sally was aware of.
“I’m not, I’m not. She’s down for the count,” he says, finally loosening the straps enough to free the baby, holding her firmly against his chest with one hand while he works on shimming the carrier off of him. It still astounds him, even after all these weeks, just how small their daughter actually was. Nestling her into the crook of his elbow, watching as her forehead creases a little, before softening out, Percy sinks into the sofa cushions, smiling as Annabeth shuffles her way over to rest against him, her face pressed to his shoulder. “How was she last night?”
He hadn’t wanted to go into the station, not when he had far more important things at home, but the rest of the guys had shuffled shifts around for him enough when the baby’d come early, so he owed them that, at least until his preapproved leave actually started up. The one time in his life he was actually organised, preparing to take time off around Annabeth’s due date and beyond, and the universe decided to mess them both over just for kicks.
“Good, kinda, not really,” Annabeth says, voice muffled where her face was still pressed against him. “Takes after you and loves to fall asleep after she’s eaten, so that’s easy. But she also takes after you and likes to eat every hour, so that sucked. How was your night?” He leans over to press a kiss to the top of her head, lifting up his arm so she curls further into his side. “You should’ve stayed in bed and slept longer. I’ve got her,” he says, pressing his thumb to the frown that almost immediately creases across her forehead.
“You’ve got four days of nights, you need to sleep too. And I wanted to tidy up for your mom,” Annabeth says, which Percy would find noble if she didn’t look ready to keel over on him. “So we’ll all sleep then. I gave her a bottle before I left so we’ve got at least 45 minutes before she wants more, and she had a big morning, so hopefully she’ll sleep a bit longer. Stell was very excited to show everyone her baby at the front gate this morning.” he says, glancing down at the baby in question, who continues to sleep undisturbed, her little petal-like lips pursed in the exact way he’d seen Annabeth’s do when she sleeps.
“Did showing up with a baby in tow have all the hot single moms flock to you?” she asks, a teasing tone in her voice and Percy laughs, poking her gently in the side with one finger before leaning over to kiss her softly. “They might’ve. Didn’t notice though, too busy thinking about the hot married mom I got to come home to instead,” he says with a wink, pecking her once, twice, three more times as he does so. “I was thinking-”
“Always a concerning sign.”
“Oi.”
“Sorry, continue, think away.”
“I was thinking we could go to camp this weekend? Let her meet Chiron, celebrate her actual due date, check on the house? If you’re up to it,” he says, shifting slightly so that Annabeth can lean across to grab her coffee cup, looking marginally more alert than she had previously. “Piper and Reyna said they could come over, maybe help with any more of the renovations, though it’s definitely just an excuse to see the baby and she’s sick of me pawning her off. We could see if Thalia is free-”
“Stop it.”
“I’m not doing anything!”
“Because you’re trying to hide your smirk, Seaweed Brain” Annabeth says, shaking her head at him, although he can see the amusement playing in her eyes, “You only want Thalia there because you think it’s funny to see Piper and Reyna flounder around in her presence.”
“Maybe I also want her there because she’s basically your sister and I think it’s important that our daughter gets to know all of the people who shaped who her parents are,” he starts, before the laughter starts to bubble up, “And yeah okay, maybe it’s also funny to watch them have to interact because none of them know how to really deal with the fact Reyna joined the Hunters and then immediately left because she was in love with her ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend and also that ex-boyfriend happened to be her lieutentant's brother. I enjoy not being the most awkward one in the room, sue me.”
Annabeth’s small smile is enough to tell him she’s more amused than annoyed at him, which Percy takes as a personal win. “Tyson can probably make it too, he told me he’s made her a present, which has about a 50/50 shot of being a sword, but I guess she has to start somewhere? Think you’ll be up for it?”
He knows he’s asking a lot; that she’s still recovering, that they have a whole person to account for now, that neither of them are really in any state to be properly entertaining anyone. But there’s a part of him, probably way down deep, that doesn’t feel like it’s real yet, that their daughter is actually properly part of their life until she’s part of both halves of their lives. She’d already met the important people on the mortal half, what with living with his parents and sister, and Annabeth’s dad and stepmother having stayed for a week after the baby was born, in a move that meant more to his wife than she would ever express outloud. Even her brothers had called, promising to come visit as soon as they were free.
The rest of their friends had held back - outside of Grover who had shown up within twelve hours, clutching a bouquet of cans and sobbing hysterically - knowing their combined presence would attract things far far worse than ‘new baby joy’, instead sending their love through in-frequent Iris messages and the occasional phone call when they could risk it. And while it was more than appreciated, Percy could feel himself practically bursting at the seams to see them all again, to be able to show off their baby in person, lest they not understand just how unbelievably proud he was of her and of Annabeth. And to do it, of all places, in the camp that had started it all.
“I think we can make it work,” Annabeth says slowly, her gaze steady on the baby’s face as she strokes one finger softly against a rounded cheek. “It’s probably about time we introduce her to the place where I met her seaweed brained dad for the first time, hey.”
“I think you mean where you fell in love with her seaweed brained dad, actually.”
“That too.”
“‘Cause I want to show her all the spots. Where I saw you for the first time, and where you insulted me for the first time, and where you punched me for the first time, and the second time, and where you pummelled me with a sword for the first time, and where you pretended you weren’t head over heels for me…”
“Percy?”
“And y’know…I want to show her where I fell in love with her perfect, beautiful, amazing mom. S’important, and like…without camp there’d be no her, y’know?”
“...everytime I think you’re going to say something off the rails again, you just turn it around and make it the sweetest thing in the world, don’t you?”
“It’s a talent.”
“You’re lucky I love you.”
“The luckiest. Love you too.”
