fic: A Baby Story [PG-13, Percy/Annabeth, PJO, 1/3]
Title: A Baby Story
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Percy/Annabeth, Rachel and Nico
Summary: The birth of Percy and Annabeth’s first child goes just the way one would expect it to - that is, not at all like it's supposed and not at all easy. That’s sort of what happens when you mess with the patroness of childbirth. Futurefic.
Notes: I give you, BABYFIC. I normally loathe babyfic with all my might, but this idea crawled into my head one night at work and would not go away, no matter how many times I clawed at my face and screamed, "I don't understand pregnancy, Google, teach me!" at the computer screen. I blame all the massively preggo women that come in to rent movies and my friend's cuteass four month old, tbh. Enjoy the ridiculousness that is A Baby Story.
A Baby Story
Part One
There were very few things worse than being nine months pregnant in the middle of July while living in the festering, concrete jungle that is the island of Manhattan, and one of them was still being pregnant five days after the due date in the worst heat wave the city’s seen in years.
Annabeth Chase had not been fond of being pregnant ever since she peed on that damn plastic stick and saw a blue plus sign staring back at her right before Christmas. True, she hadn’t had any complications and didn’t get sick very often the first trimester, but Annabeth did not find incubating another human being a heartwarming and delightful experience.
She had been miserable since her stomach ballooned during the sixth month, making her look like she swallowed a watermelon overnight, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger from there, taking her sense of balance and finely honed agility with it. She hadn’t seen her overly swollen feet since then, and her muscles ached in new places every day. She got tired and out of breath so easily, barely slept any more because she was much too hot and uncomfortable, and if she got kicked in the ribs one more time, she swore she was going to leave the little monster on a mountainside once it was born and let it fend for itself, potential Oedipus complications be damned.
Annabeth’s body had been trained to fight monsters since she was seven years old; now all it was good for was accidentally bowling over little old ladies at the grocery store while she hurried to the bathroom for the fifth time that morning. She hated what it’s done to her, and missing her due date was possibly one of the biggest disappointments in her life. Five whole days, and there hadn’t been any signs of labor. She was terrified that she was going to be the butt of some cosmic joke and end up pregnant forever. For a woman who loved plans as much she did, waiting for something to just happen naturally was driving her crazy.
Perhaps Percy could tell Annabeth was on her last straw Friday morning as she struggled to get out of bed and waddled her way into the kitchen to half-heartedly make breakfast, because she almost kissed him when he suggested, “I know we’re not supposed to travel much right now, but d’you want to go to Montauk for the weekend and cool down?”
Instead of kissing him, however, Annabeth ended up sobbing with relief into the bowl of orange juice she managed to pour on top of her cereal instead of milk. Percy took this response as a, “Yes, get me away from this literal hellhole, please,” and went to pack their bags.
-
A baby hadn’t been in Annabeth’s plans a year ago, and for a woman who thrived on having plans for everything, a whoops baby was definitely the biggest wrench to throw into them. The only thing she’d planned to grow that year was the client base for the interior design company she and Rachel had founded after college.
At 27, starting a family wasn’t any where on Annabeth’s priority list, but give someone a bout of the flu that came with birth control canceling antibiotics, and it was amazing how fast those priorities could shift.
Annabeth had always been rather indifferent on the subject of children. She’d never been a big fan of them and still wasn’t, even after some of her older siblings and friends starting popping them out left and right. That didn’t mean she didn’t like them, just that she wasn’t all that interested in being around the snotty, screaming wretches.
When she’d dreamed and planned her future with Percy, children had always been a bit of an afterthought. It was enough for her to be with him for the rest of her life, and adding children to the mix just seemed to be asking too much.
Percy had always been more enthusiastic about the idea, and they had talked about it before they moved in together, deciding it was in both their best interests to wait a while before trying. They weren’t married, they didn’t have much money, Percy needed to find a career that he didn’t get booted from every six months for some inexplicable mythological related incident, and they certainly weren’t ready to be parents.
Even though she was so so so ready to be finished being pregnant, Annabeth still didn’t think she was ready to be a mother. A part of her - a small, trembling, selfish part of her - still didn’t want to be a mother.
She was terrified that part would become louder and more insistent once the baby was born, and she’d repeat her father’s neglectful mistakes, winding up with a child that hated her guts.
But there were several difference between her and her father, least of which being that her child was not the result of brain melding with a goddess and, even as hesitant as she was about the entire thing, she was ready to welcome the baby with her whole heart.
Plus, she had Percy.
And, as he had proven time and time again, he was enough to make all the difference in the world.
-
“If you make any sort of beached whale comment,” Annabeth warned as she waddled into the cabin’s kitchen, her bare belly leading the way. “I am going to shove my fist through your chest and not feel once ounce of regret about it.”
Percy smiled gently at her, eyes roving over her form as she approached. It’d taken her more time than she liked to admit to wrestle into her bikini, but even as bloated and round as she got, Percy never stopped looking at her like she was some kind of super model. Up until this last month, their sex life had stayed fairly active throughout her pregnancy, and it did wonders for her confidence, knowing that he was still attracted to her. She’d been proud of her pre-pregnancy body, and accepting the changes to her shape had probably been one of the toughest battles in the last nine months.
“Why would I ever call you that?” he replied, tucking a curl behind her ear. “You look fantastic.”
“Liar,” Annbeth grumbled. “You’re too busy staring at my breasts to notice the bags under my eyes”
“I was not. I mean, yeah, they’re kind of hard to miss in that top and they’re amazing and... okay, I was looking at them, so sue me. There’s precious little time for me to have them all to myself,” Percy laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You do look less likely to strangle me for admitting that though, so I suppose you’re feeling better?”
Annabeth nodded. Montauk was only about 10 degrees cooler than Manhattan, but the relaxed atmosphere of Sally’s cabin and the lulling sound of the ocean just outside the door made all the difference in the world to her. She was still tired and achy, but she felt less irritable and less likely to give into her urges to chug some castor oil in a desperate attempt to induce labor.
Her doctor, however, hadn’t been all that pleased when Annabeth had called to inform of her of their travel plans, not hesitating to remind her that she wouldn’t be able to assist if Annabeth went into labor at a Montauk hospital. It’d been a risk Annabeth was willing to take to get any modicum of relief. Her baby clearly had not inherited her love of carefully planned situations, that much was already certain.
But the baby liked the change in location and the fresh air too, if the excited somersaults it was doing inside her were any indication.
“I think your hellspawn wants to go swimming,” she said, glancing down at her belly. “Impatient thing. So much like your father already. Of course, he doesn’t kick me in the ribs to get my attention.”
Percy slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side as they walked toward the sliding door leading outside. A blanket, towels, water bottles, and her sunhat were waiting in the shade on the picnic table.
“Remind me, have we decided on what we’re going to name this thing yet? ‘Cause putting ‘Demonseed Hellspawn Jackson’ on the birth certificate is going to get us in trouble with CPS sooner or later.”
“Jackson-Chase,” Annabeth corrected automatically, pulling the hat on. “And at this point, as long as the kid isn’t named after some douchebag hero from mythology and doesn’t have any y’s where they don’t need to be, I don’t care.”
They were supposed to have a list of agreed names for both genders picked out a month ago, but like with everything else Annabeth had planned for her pregnancy, that had fallen through when neither of them could agree on a few favorites. They had all sorts of suggestions from their friends, though Leo’s multiple requests to get the baby named Leo Jr. were immediately rejected, much to his chagrin. In their world, names had power, and they had to be somewhat careful about the one they picked, lest they end up cursing their poor kid before it was even a day old.
“Oh good, ‘cause I was thinking if it’s a boy, it should totally be LeBron James. I know he’s not at his peak any more, but - ” The rest of Percy’s sentence left him in a rush of air as Annabeth’s elbow found its way to his stomach and dug in sharply.
“Never mind,” he wheezed. “Bad idea.”
“Thought so,” Annabeth said smugly, pleased that for once her reflexes had not been hampered by her stupid belly. “Now, let’s go to the beach before it gets too crowded and I get gawked at like an exhibit at the zoo.”
“Don’t worry,” Percy said, puffing out his chest importantly, “I’ll protect you from the gawkers.”
She rolled her eyes, taking his hand. “My big hero. What would I do without you?”
“Well, you probably wouldn’t have gotten knocked up, for one.”
“Oooh, good point. Too bad I didn’t dump you nine months ago.”
“Hey now...”
-
It didn’t take long in the sand, sun and water to wear Annabeth out, and they had to head back inside, much to the baby's (and her boyfriend’s) apparent dismay. The baby’s constant kickboxing in her stomach had made her nauseous, so she didn’t eat much of the hamburgers and vegetables Percy had grilled for lunch, and relaxed in the cabin’s cool kitchen with a lemonade until her eyes started drooping.
Percy was still out on the patio, grilling yet another hamburger for himself when she went off for her afternoon nap. The baby had managed to calm itself down by that point, thank the gods, and she actually managed to get in a few hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep before being woken up by the mattress sinking beside her and Percy's hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” he said, once he was sure he had her groggy attention, "Chiron sent me an IM a little bit ago. Apparently there's some sort of a rampaging sea monster at camp that the kids can't handle without getting gruesomely eaten. D'you mind if I go check it out?"
If Annabeth had been wide awake and at her sharpest mentally (which, to be completely honest, she hadn’t been for months now), she would've said no to this proposed misadventure in a heartbeat. Percy going off alone was always a bad idea, especially when monsters were involved, but if he was just going to camp and would have supervision...
"It’s fine with me," she murmured, glancing at the illuminated clock on the bedside table before burying her face back in the pillow. "Don't stay gone too long."
"I'll be back by dinner, promise. Rachel was on her way out here, so she said she'd trade places with me. You won't be by yourself for too long."
Rachel, Annabeth noted grumpily to herself, was supposed to be in their office in Manhattan, keeping everyone in line and making sure project deadlines were met. The flighty Oracle had probably given their handful of employees a three day weekend to celebrate Annabeth finally going on maternity leave so she could sneak off and do what Oracles did in their spare time. She was certainly going to have to have words with her business partner when she got here.
"I'll be fine. Just go already," she said instead, blindly reaching out and pushing him away from her. Her palm must’ve landed square in his face, judging by the indignant noise he made.
"Okay, okay," he replied, swatting her hand away and getting off the bed. "Call me if you need anything."
"Mhmm," Annabeth said, waving him off, her head still planted in the pillows. She heard his feet pad away from the bed and then pause at the doorway, probably so he could get one last longing look at his pregnant sow of a girlfriend. She glared up at him blearily, hating the sappy look on his face. "Gods, Percy. Instagram it, it'll last longer."
Percy laughed. "Love you too, Wise Girl."
And then he was gone, completely unaware that that had been the last time he'd see her like that.
-
When Percy had said Rachel was on her way, he hadn’t been kidding. It took less than an hour for the Dare heiress to show up on the cabin’s porch, a certain leather-jacketed son of Hades in tow. Annabeth knew pizza delivery places that were slower and less reliable than Rachel.
Annabeth was awake and moving by that point. Her back had started aching persistently a few minutes after Percy left, preventing her from continuing her nap. This, of course, was not a particular new sensation for her, even if the ache was slightly more sharp and painful than usual - she was going to blame the cabin’s million year old mattress for that, thanks.
So, she was not in the best of moods when she opened the door to greet her visitors. And her mood got even worse once Nico fucking di Angelo opened his stupid mouth.
“Holy shit, Annabeth, you look like a hipp - ” He let out a yelp of pain and Rachel pulled her hand away from his bicep, glaring at him significantly over the tops of her sunglasses. “ - I mean, you... look like you need to sit down?”
Nico had wisely kept away from Annabeth throughout the latter half of her pregnancy, due to his inability to keep his insensitive comments to himself and a healthy fear for his life in case Annabeth reacted badly to said insensitivity. She was still too groggy and tired from her nap to do him any real harm, though, so she settled for baring her teeth in a growl instead.
“Real nice save there, di Angelo,” Rachel muttered, rolling her eyes, “He meant that you are positively glowing, Annabeth. Love the sundress, but the way. Is there anything this lunkhead can do to make your life easier? A foot rub, perhaps? Chocolate cupcakes served on a silver platter? A skeletal dog to play with?”
How Rachel and Nico had become friends was still somewhat of a mystery to most of them, considering the two seemingly couldn’t stand each other most of the time. Rachel had been the only one of their group to keep attending Camp Half-Blood on a regular basis throughout their college years, and Nico, being a few years younger, had languished there as a sword fighting instructor for several more years after that, until he and Hazel had come up with enough money to start an antique store in Queens.
Being the only ones of drinking age in a camp full of teenagers had to have formed some kind of bond between the two of them the rest of them couldn’t understand - Nico still went with her to camp on the weekends, almost out of habit more than anything else, it appeared. Annabeth had long suspected the two were involved romantically, but there was not much proof to back up those suspicions. Besides, she didn’t think both of her friends would be that stupid.
“Just come inside already, you’re making me sweat just looking at you,” she replied, pulling the door open wider. “I don’t know how you manage to not melt during the summer when you wear that jacket, Nico.”
He headed immediately toward the fridge, pausing at the counter to pull the jacket off and toss it aside. Annabeth’s eyes narrowed when she saw him set of six pack on the island counter. What an inconsiderate asshole, taunting a severely pregnant woman with alcohol like that.
“Demon magic, more like. It’s how he’s so annoying,” Rachel said, shutting the door behind her. “I suppose it’s better than him traumatizing the underage campers by wandering around all shirtless and pale and hairy all the time.”
“Oh, like you don’t do enough damage to them with your outfits,” Nico shot back, wasting no time in cracking a bottle open. He gestured at her. “I swear to Aphrodite’s lacy G-strings, you get your kicks trying to give as many 14-year-olds awkward boners as you can.”
Rachel had on a pair of jean shorts and one of her custom, torn up and redesigned camp T-shirts. This one she’d turned into a midriff baring halter top, complete with fringe and multicolored beads. It certainly wasn’t as risque as Nico was implying, but these were teenagers - demigods teenagers at that - they were talking about. Annabeth was sure Rachel had her own little club of forbidden admirers, being the only desirable adult woman for miles around.
“I can’t help it, I feed off their mortification,” the heiress replied sarcastically, sliding on to one of the bar stools in front of the island. She offered to help Annabeth on to one, but she waved her off, preferring to stand for now. Gods, her lower back was killing her.
“Were you heading out to camp for the weekend when Percy called?” Annabeth asked, massaging her back.
“Kind of. Hazel wanted me to go to bid on some pieces at this estate auction in Southampton,” Nico answered. “Rachel came so she could - ”
“Front the money for his broke ass.”
“ - find some stuff for that cat figurine penthouse account of yours,” he finished, glaring at the redhead. “Rich people own really weird stuff, you know? And yes, Dare, you are included in that.”
Rachel flipped her hair over her shoulder, ignoring him. “You’re so not going to believe it, Annabeth, but I found a Tiffany lamp with a cat motif. Charlaine is going to flip her shit when she sees it. Bonuses all around!”
Annabeth laughed, and then - then she felt it, a slight, strange popping sensation and a sudden gush of water flowing between her legs. Startled, she glanced down at the floor, peering around her belly at the dribble of water beneath her feet. Oh, of course this would happen now. This child had its father’s sense of timing, that was for sure.
She looked back up awkwardly at her friends, her cheeks glowing. They’d seen her covered in monster goop, blood and dirt before, so she wasn’t sure why she was blushing. “Well. I think my water just broke.”
There was a momentary silence from Nico and Rachel as they stared at the puddle on the floor and then back at her. But as usual, Nico couldn’t keep himself quiet for long.
“You’re having the baby? Now?” he asked incredulously, setting his beer down with a thud and goggling at her in horror. “But we just got here!”
“Generally, that is what it means when your water breaks, yes,” Annabeth said scathingly. “Chill out, I’m not going to give birth on the kitchen floor.”
Rachel had a much more helpful reaction, having immediately hopped off the stool to get some towels to wipe up the mess. “Ignore the hysterical male. Should we call Percy? Or the hospital?”
Annabeth waved her off. “I’ll be fine until he gets back. Don’t worry. Labor takes time.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, holding back a grimace as her back flared once more. “I’m sure. I’m going to clean really quick and change, if that’s okay.”
“It’s fine, take all the time you need,” Rachel replied, pressing the towels on top of the mess with her foot. “Just yell if you need something.”
Nico barely waited until she was out of sight down the hall before she heard him hiss, “Liar! You totally said the baby wasn’t going to come while we were here!”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. Nico was 25, but he could still act very much like the petulant teenager they all knew and had grudgingly loved. Maybe she should call Percy, just to keep the other man in line and to prevent Annabeth from giving him a nice walloping.
She pressed a tentative hand to the top of her stomach, letting herself soak in the moment. In a day or maybe less, she wasn’t just going to be pregnant, she was going to be a mother. Finally, there’d be a resident in the study-turned-nursery and she’d have the baby in her arms. Finally, she was going to meet this little pest in her womb and give it the motherly glare she’d been practicing in the mirror every morning.
Oh boy.
Annabeth leaned against the frame of the bedroom doorway, suddenly overwhelmed with a mixture of excitement and stomach dropping dread. Her back chose that moment to flare up again, the pain radiating out toward her hips this time, and she winced at the sensation, taking a deep steadying breath. What had that damn bed done to her back? It couldn’t be contractions - she’d had some mild ones a few weeks ago, but they’d tapered off eventually and hadn’t felt anything like this.
As she cleaned herself up and put on new clothes, the ache only seemed to get worse, transforming into a swift pain, and it definitely wasn’t just centered in her back any more. There was a certain rhythm to the pains, and Annabeth was desperately trying not to think of them as contractions because they just couldn’t be happening so soon and at this intensity -
“Rachel?” Annabeth called during one of the not-contractions, leaning over the bathroom counter and gripping the edge tightly in her hands, waiting for the pain to pass, “Can you come here for a second?”
Rachel was in the doorway in no time at all, her eyebrows knotted with worry. “What’s wrong, Annabeth?”
“I... “ Annabeth swallowed, her chest feeling tight. “I’m not sure. Do you have a timer on your phone?”
“Sure, of course,” the other woman replied, pulling it out of her back pocket. “Are you having contractions already?”
“I’m not sure,” Annabeth said again, her voice high with the beginnings of panic.
She’d done a ridiculous amount of research on labor and delivery - Percy had made a game of quizzing her with all sorts of pregnancy trivia bits, even though he didn’t understand half of it and butchered most of the words - and, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember if she’d read anything about what she experiencing. She'd planned for every scenario, except, apparently, this one.
If these were contractions, then they were already very close together and that would mean she skipped over early labor and - and this was not supposed to be happening!
Rachel pressed a hand between Annabeth’s shoulders, and gently steered her toward the toilet, knocking the cover back down. “Sit down, and tell me when, okay?”
Annabeth nodded, thankful for Rachel’s calm presence. She wouldn’t do anyone, least of all herself or the baby, any favors by losing her head and panicking. She could handle this. She could.
She wasn’t sure how long she and Rachel timed the contractions - the pain had increased significantly with few breaks in-between them and she was making all sorts of noises low in her throat as she went through them - but it was long enough that Nico had finished his beer and apparently decided to come wandering down the hallway to see what they were up to. Annabeth opened her eyes after the last one subsided, not at all comforted by the frown on Rachel’s face and Nico’s unreadable expression as he read the phone’s screen over her shoulder.
“W-what?”
“Annabeth, your contractions are less than two minutes apart right now,” Rachel said. “And they’re lasting almost as long.”
“But... but that’s impossible!” she said, gasping the words out between breaths. “That means... the means I’m almost ready to deliver! My water just broke, Rachel!”
“I know, but that’s what the - ”
“Give me that!” Annabeth snarled, snatching the phone out of her hands and turning the screen toward her. She could barely concentrate on the screen as another contraction began to peak, the numbers blurring as her eyes filled with tears. "This isn't... I don't... "
"Huh, you were right. You weren’t going to give birth on the kitchen floor," Nico said unhelpfully, "It’ll be the bathroom floor instead.”
If Annabeth hadn't been in so much pain, she would've punched him. She couldn't even get out a proper insult - instead, she hiccuped with frustration and then, to her eternal mortification, began to sob.
"Asshole, shut up!" Rachel said, punching Nico in the arm hard enough to make him wince. "For once in your life, turn on your brain-to-mouth filter and keep those fucking comments to yourself. Go do something useful, like calling the damn hospital!"
She turned back to Annabeth, who was still crying and gasping with pain, and put on what Percy liked to call her scary calm yoga instructor voice. "Don't listen to him, just focus on your breathing, okay? Stay calm and think about what you need to do. Deep breaths now. That’s it, Annabeth, you’re doing great.”
"Hospital," Annabeth choked out, once her tears had mostly stopped. "I need to go. Call Percy."
"Okay, we'll do that in a second," Rachel said, still using that voice. "Can you stand?”
The most recent contraction had subsided, and she nodded. Rachel held out her hands and helped her up, putting her arm around her waist and rubbing gentle circles around her back as they hobbled out of the bathroom and down the hall toward the living room.
Nico was in the kitchen, having taken Rachel’s suggestion about calling the hospital to heart, but he was holding the phone above his head and frowning at it. “Is your reception out here normally this bad? I can’t get a signal for the life of me.”
“Sometimes,” Annabeth said, walking over to the couch just as another contraction began to build. “If you go outside, it might be better.”
“Right. Do you want me to call Percy or the hospital first?”
“Hospital,” Rachel answered for her, grabbing her purse once Annabeth was settled and fishing out her keys. “Go start the car while you’re out there. We can call Percy on our way in.”
Nico said something else, but Annabeth had stopped paying attention at that point. This wasn’t the most pain she’d been in in her life - that horrific honor belonged to the long days she’d been trapped in Tartarus and nothing could quite compare to that. But Tartarus was years in her past and this - this was happening now and it was hurting so much, so fast that it was scaring her.
Through the haze of pain, Annabeth heard the front door slam and Rachel was kneeling in front of her. “Will you be able to walk out to the car?”
The height of Annabeth’s contraction hit her again, and she let out a low wail, burying her face in her hands and trying to remember the breathing techniques from class. Oh gods, it hurt, it hurt so much more than they’d said it would. Why was this happening? What was wrong with her?
“Rachel, I can’t,” she moaned, reaching for her friend’s arm.
Rachel took her hand in hers, graciously letting Annabeth squeeze it until the contraction subsided slightly and she could breathe again.
“Will you let Nico carry you or do I need to call an ambulance instead?”
“I - ”
The door slammed again, and both women looked up in surprise. Nico stood pressed against it, as if he was trying to keep something out. He was holding car keys and phone still in hand, a peculiar expression on his face.
“I don’t mean to alarm you,” Nico said in a tone that meant there was very much a reason to be alarmed, “But I don’t think we’re going to the hospital any time soon.”
Annabeth let out a deep breath, swiping her sweat soaked bangs out of her eyes so she could glare at Nico. She could only get out a few more words before another contraction began to build and she gripped the edge of the sofa between her fingers, trying not to cry out this time. “Wh - what... are you talking about?”
“Well,” the son of Hades said, with the patience of someone trying not to panic, “there happens to be a drakon in the driveway. And I think it’s here to eat your baby.”
Note: What Annabeth is experiencing is known as precipitous labor, where labor lasts less than three hours. It's more common in women on their second or third birth, but it can happen to first timers too. I read lots of precipitous labor stories in prep for this fic, haha.
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Percy/Annabeth, Rachel and Nico
Summary: The birth of Percy and Annabeth’s first child goes just the way one would expect it to - that is, not at all like it's supposed and not at all easy. That’s sort of what happens when you mess with the patroness of childbirth. Futurefic.
Notes: I give you, BABYFIC. I normally loathe babyfic with all my might, but this idea crawled into my head one night at work and would not go away, no matter how many times I clawed at my face and screamed, "I don't understand pregnancy, Google, teach me!" at the computer screen. I blame all the massively preggo women that come in to rent movies and my friend's cuteass four month old, tbh. Enjoy the ridiculousness that is A Baby Story.
A Baby Story
Part One
There were very few things worse than being nine months pregnant in the middle of July while living in the festering, concrete jungle that is the island of Manhattan, and one of them was still being pregnant five days after the due date in the worst heat wave the city’s seen in years.
Annabeth Chase had not been fond of being pregnant ever since she peed on that damn plastic stick and saw a blue plus sign staring back at her right before Christmas. True, she hadn’t had any complications and didn’t get sick very often the first trimester, but Annabeth did not find incubating another human being a heartwarming and delightful experience.
She had been miserable since her stomach ballooned during the sixth month, making her look like she swallowed a watermelon overnight, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger from there, taking her sense of balance and finely honed agility with it. She hadn’t seen her overly swollen feet since then, and her muscles ached in new places every day. She got tired and out of breath so easily, barely slept any more because she was much too hot and uncomfortable, and if she got kicked in the ribs one more time, she swore she was going to leave the little monster on a mountainside once it was born and let it fend for itself, potential Oedipus complications be damned.
Annabeth’s body had been trained to fight monsters since she was seven years old; now all it was good for was accidentally bowling over little old ladies at the grocery store while she hurried to the bathroom for the fifth time that morning. She hated what it’s done to her, and missing her due date was possibly one of the biggest disappointments in her life. Five whole days, and there hadn’t been any signs of labor. She was terrified that she was going to be the butt of some cosmic joke and end up pregnant forever. For a woman who loved plans as much she did, waiting for something to just happen naturally was driving her crazy.
Perhaps Percy could tell Annabeth was on her last straw Friday morning as she struggled to get out of bed and waddled her way into the kitchen to half-heartedly make breakfast, because she almost kissed him when he suggested, “I know we’re not supposed to travel much right now, but d’you want to go to Montauk for the weekend and cool down?”
Instead of kissing him, however, Annabeth ended up sobbing with relief into the bowl of orange juice she managed to pour on top of her cereal instead of milk. Percy took this response as a, “Yes, get me away from this literal hellhole, please,” and went to pack their bags.
-
A baby hadn’t been in Annabeth’s plans a year ago, and for a woman who thrived on having plans for everything, a whoops baby was definitely the biggest wrench to throw into them. The only thing she’d planned to grow that year was the client base for the interior design company she and Rachel had founded after college.
At 27, starting a family wasn’t any where on Annabeth’s priority list, but give someone a bout of the flu that came with birth control canceling antibiotics, and it was amazing how fast those priorities could shift.
Annabeth had always been rather indifferent on the subject of children. She’d never been a big fan of them and still wasn’t, even after some of her older siblings and friends starting popping them out left and right. That didn’t mean she didn’t like them, just that she wasn’t all that interested in being around the snotty, screaming wretches.
When she’d dreamed and planned her future with Percy, children had always been a bit of an afterthought. It was enough for her to be with him for the rest of her life, and adding children to the mix just seemed to be asking too much.
Percy had always been more enthusiastic about the idea, and they had talked about it before they moved in together, deciding it was in both their best interests to wait a while before trying. They weren’t married, they didn’t have much money, Percy needed to find a career that he didn’t get booted from every six months for some inexplicable mythological related incident, and they certainly weren’t ready to be parents.
Even though she was so so so ready to be finished being pregnant, Annabeth still didn’t think she was ready to be a mother. A part of her - a small, trembling, selfish part of her - still didn’t want to be a mother.
She was terrified that part would become louder and more insistent once the baby was born, and she’d repeat her father’s neglectful mistakes, winding up with a child that hated her guts.
But there were several difference between her and her father, least of which being that her child was not the result of brain melding with a goddess and, even as hesitant as she was about the entire thing, she was ready to welcome the baby with her whole heart.
Plus, she had Percy.
And, as he had proven time and time again, he was enough to make all the difference in the world.
-
“If you make any sort of beached whale comment,” Annabeth warned as she waddled into the cabin’s kitchen, her bare belly leading the way. “I am going to shove my fist through your chest and not feel once ounce of regret about it.”
Percy smiled gently at her, eyes roving over her form as she approached. It’d taken her more time than she liked to admit to wrestle into her bikini, but even as bloated and round as she got, Percy never stopped looking at her like she was some kind of super model. Up until this last month, their sex life had stayed fairly active throughout her pregnancy, and it did wonders for her confidence, knowing that he was still attracted to her. She’d been proud of her pre-pregnancy body, and accepting the changes to her shape had probably been one of the toughest battles in the last nine months.
“Why would I ever call you that?” he replied, tucking a curl behind her ear. “You look fantastic.”
“Liar,” Annbeth grumbled. “You’re too busy staring at my breasts to notice the bags under my eyes”
“I was not. I mean, yeah, they’re kind of hard to miss in that top and they’re amazing and... okay, I was looking at them, so sue me. There’s precious little time for me to have them all to myself,” Percy laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You do look less likely to strangle me for admitting that though, so I suppose you’re feeling better?”
Annabeth nodded. Montauk was only about 10 degrees cooler than Manhattan, but the relaxed atmosphere of Sally’s cabin and the lulling sound of the ocean just outside the door made all the difference in the world to her. She was still tired and achy, but she felt less irritable and less likely to give into her urges to chug some castor oil in a desperate attempt to induce labor.
Her doctor, however, hadn’t been all that pleased when Annabeth had called to inform of her of their travel plans, not hesitating to remind her that she wouldn’t be able to assist if Annabeth went into labor at a Montauk hospital. It’d been a risk Annabeth was willing to take to get any modicum of relief. Her baby clearly had not inherited her love of carefully planned situations, that much was already certain.
But the baby liked the change in location and the fresh air too, if the excited somersaults it was doing inside her were any indication.
“I think your hellspawn wants to go swimming,” she said, glancing down at her belly. “Impatient thing. So much like your father already. Of course, he doesn’t kick me in the ribs to get my attention.”
Percy slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side as they walked toward the sliding door leading outside. A blanket, towels, water bottles, and her sunhat were waiting in the shade on the picnic table.
“Remind me, have we decided on what we’re going to name this thing yet? ‘Cause putting ‘Demonseed Hellspawn Jackson’ on the birth certificate is going to get us in trouble with CPS sooner or later.”
“Jackson-Chase,” Annabeth corrected automatically, pulling the hat on. “And at this point, as long as the kid isn’t named after some douchebag hero from mythology and doesn’t have any y’s where they don’t need to be, I don’t care.”
They were supposed to have a list of agreed names for both genders picked out a month ago, but like with everything else Annabeth had planned for her pregnancy, that had fallen through when neither of them could agree on a few favorites. They had all sorts of suggestions from their friends, though Leo’s multiple requests to get the baby named Leo Jr. were immediately rejected, much to his chagrin. In their world, names had power, and they had to be somewhat careful about the one they picked, lest they end up cursing their poor kid before it was even a day old.
“Oh good, ‘cause I was thinking if it’s a boy, it should totally be LeBron James. I know he’s not at his peak any more, but - ” The rest of Percy’s sentence left him in a rush of air as Annabeth’s elbow found its way to his stomach and dug in sharply.
“Never mind,” he wheezed. “Bad idea.”
“Thought so,” Annabeth said smugly, pleased that for once her reflexes had not been hampered by her stupid belly. “Now, let’s go to the beach before it gets too crowded and I get gawked at like an exhibit at the zoo.”
“Don’t worry,” Percy said, puffing out his chest importantly, “I’ll protect you from the gawkers.”
She rolled her eyes, taking his hand. “My big hero. What would I do without you?”
“Well, you probably wouldn’t have gotten knocked up, for one.”
“Oooh, good point. Too bad I didn’t dump you nine months ago.”
“Hey now...”
-
It didn’t take long in the sand, sun and water to wear Annabeth out, and they had to head back inside, much to the baby's (and her boyfriend’s) apparent dismay. The baby’s constant kickboxing in her stomach had made her nauseous, so she didn’t eat much of the hamburgers and vegetables Percy had grilled for lunch, and relaxed in the cabin’s cool kitchen with a lemonade until her eyes started drooping.
Percy was still out on the patio, grilling yet another hamburger for himself when she went off for her afternoon nap. The baby had managed to calm itself down by that point, thank the gods, and she actually managed to get in a few hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep before being woken up by the mattress sinking beside her and Percy's hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” he said, once he was sure he had her groggy attention, "Chiron sent me an IM a little bit ago. Apparently there's some sort of a rampaging sea monster at camp that the kids can't handle without getting gruesomely eaten. D'you mind if I go check it out?"
If Annabeth had been wide awake and at her sharpest mentally (which, to be completely honest, she hadn’t been for months now), she would've said no to this proposed misadventure in a heartbeat. Percy going off alone was always a bad idea, especially when monsters were involved, but if he was just going to camp and would have supervision...
"It’s fine with me," she murmured, glancing at the illuminated clock on the bedside table before burying her face back in the pillow. "Don't stay gone too long."
"I'll be back by dinner, promise. Rachel was on her way out here, so she said she'd trade places with me. You won't be by yourself for too long."
Rachel, Annabeth noted grumpily to herself, was supposed to be in their office in Manhattan, keeping everyone in line and making sure project deadlines were met. The flighty Oracle had probably given their handful of employees a three day weekend to celebrate Annabeth finally going on maternity leave so she could sneak off and do what Oracles did in their spare time. She was certainly going to have to have words with her business partner when she got here.
"I'll be fine. Just go already," she said instead, blindly reaching out and pushing him away from her. Her palm must’ve landed square in his face, judging by the indignant noise he made.
"Okay, okay," he replied, swatting her hand away and getting off the bed. "Call me if you need anything."
"Mhmm," Annabeth said, waving him off, her head still planted in the pillows. She heard his feet pad away from the bed and then pause at the doorway, probably so he could get one last longing look at his pregnant sow of a girlfriend. She glared up at him blearily, hating the sappy look on his face. "Gods, Percy. Instagram it, it'll last longer."
Percy laughed. "Love you too, Wise Girl."
And then he was gone, completely unaware that that had been the last time he'd see her like that.
-
When Percy had said Rachel was on her way, he hadn’t been kidding. It took less than an hour for the Dare heiress to show up on the cabin’s porch, a certain leather-jacketed son of Hades in tow. Annabeth knew pizza delivery places that were slower and less reliable than Rachel.
Annabeth was awake and moving by that point. Her back had started aching persistently a few minutes after Percy left, preventing her from continuing her nap. This, of course, was not a particular new sensation for her, even if the ache was slightly more sharp and painful than usual - she was going to blame the cabin’s million year old mattress for that, thanks.
So, she was not in the best of moods when she opened the door to greet her visitors. And her mood got even worse once Nico fucking di Angelo opened his stupid mouth.
“Holy shit, Annabeth, you look like a hipp - ” He let out a yelp of pain and Rachel pulled her hand away from his bicep, glaring at him significantly over the tops of her sunglasses. “ - I mean, you... look like you need to sit down?”
Nico had wisely kept away from Annabeth throughout the latter half of her pregnancy, due to his inability to keep his insensitive comments to himself and a healthy fear for his life in case Annabeth reacted badly to said insensitivity. She was still too groggy and tired from her nap to do him any real harm, though, so she settled for baring her teeth in a growl instead.
“Real nice save there, di Angelo,” Rachel muttered, rolling her eyes, “He meant that you are positively glowing, Annabeth. Love the sundress, but the way. Is there anything this lunkhead can do to make your life easier? A foot rub, perhaps? Chocolate cupcakes served on a silver platter? A skeletal dog to play with?”
How Rachel and Nico had become friends was still somewhat of a mystery to most of them, considering the two seemingly couldn’t stand each other most of the time. Rachel had been the only one of their group to keep attending Camp Half-Blood on a regular basis throughout their college years, and Nico, being a few years younger, had languished there as a sword fighting instructor for several more years after that, until he and Hazel had come up with enough money to start an antique store in Queens.
Being the only ones of drinking age in a camp full of teenagers had to have formed some kind of bond between the two of them the rest of them couldn’t understand - Nico still went with her to camp on the weekends, almost out of habit more than anything else, it appeared. Annabeth had long suspected the two were involved romantically, but there was not much proof to back up those suspicions. Besides, she didn’t think both of her friends would be that stupid.
“Just come inside already, you’re making me sweat just looking at you,” she replied, pulling the door open wider. “I don’t know how you manage to not melt during the summer when you wear that jacket, Nico.”
He headed immediately toward the fridge, pausing at the counter to pull the jacket off and toss it aside. Annabeth’s eyes narrowed when she saw him set of six pack on the island counter. What an inconsiderate asshole, taunting a severely pregnant woman with alcohol like that.
“Demon magic, more like. It’s how he’s so annoying,” Rachel said, shutting the door behind her. “I suppose it’s better than him traumatizing the underage campers by wandering around all shirtless and pale and hairy all the time.”
“Oh, like you don’t do enough damage to them with your outfits,” Nico shot back, wasting no time in cracking a bottle open. He gestured at her. “I swear to Aphrodite’s lacy G-strings, you get your kicks trying to give as many 14-year-olds awkward boners as you can.”
Rachel had on a pair of jean shorts and one of her custom, torn up and redesigned camp T-shirts. This one she’d turned into a midriff baring halter top, complete with fringe and multicolored beads. It certainly wasn’t as risque as Nico was implying, but these were teenagers - demigods teenagers at that - they were talking about. Annabeth was sure Rachel had her own little club of forbidden admirers, being the only desirable adult woman for miles around.
“I can’t help it, I feed off their mortification,” the heiress replied sarcastically, sliding on to one of the bar stools in front of the island. She offered to help Annabeth on to one, but she waved her off, preferring to stand for now. Gods, her lower back was killing her.
“Were you heading out to camp for the weekend when Percy called?” Annabeth asked, massaging her back.
“Kind of. Hazel wanted me to go to bid on some pieces at this estate auction in Southampton,” Nico answered. “Rachel came so she could - ”
“Front the money for his broke ass.”
“ - find some stuff for that cat figurine penthouse account of yours,” he finished, glaring at the redhead. “Rich people own really weird stuff, you know? And yes, Dare, you are included in that.”
Rachel flipped her hair over her shoulder, ignoring him. “You’re so not going to believe it, Annabeth, but I found a Tiffany lamp with a cat motif. Charlaine is going to flip her shit when she sees it. Bonuses all around!”
Annabeth laughed, and then - then she felt it, a slight, strange popping sensation and a sudden gush of water flowing between her legs. Startled, she glanced down at the floor, peering around her belly at the dribble of water beneath her feet. Oh, of course this would happen now. This child had its father’s sense of timing, that was for sure.
She looked back up awkwardly at her friends, her cheeks glowing. They’d seen her covered in monster goop, blood and dirt before, so she wasn’t sure why she was blushing. “Well. I think my water just broke.”
There was a momentary silence from Nico and Rachel as they stared at the puddle on the floor and then back at her. But as usual, Nico couldn’t keep himself quiet for long.
“You’re having the baby? Now?” he asked incredulously, setting his beer down with a thud and goggling at her in horror. “But we just got here!”
“Generally, that is what it means when your water breaks, yes,” Annabeth said scathingly. “Chill out, I’m not going to give birth on the kitchen floor.”
Rachel had a much more helpful reaction, having immediately hopped off the stool to get some towels to wipe up the mess. “Ignore the hysterical male. Should we call Percy? Or the hospital?”
Annabeth waved her off. “I’ll be fine until he gets back. Don’t worry. Labor takes time.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, holding back a grimace as her back flared once more. “I’m sure. I’m going to clean really quick and change, if that’s okay.”
“It’s fine, take all the time you need,” Rachel replied, pressing the towels on top of the mess with her foot. “Just yell if you need something.”
Nico barely waited until she was out of sight down the hall before she heard him hiss, “Liar! You totally said the baby wasn’t going to come while we were here!”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. Nico was 25, but he could still act very much like the petulant teenager they all knew and had grudgingly loved. Maybe she should call Percy, just to keep the other man in line and to prevent Annabeth from giving him a nice walloping.
She pressed a tentative hand to the top of her stomach, letting herself soak in the moment. In a day or maybe less, she wasn’t just going to be pregnant, she was going to be a mother. Finally, there’d be a resident in the study-turned-nursery and she’d have the baby in her arms. Finally, she was going to meet this little pest in her womb and give it the motherly glare she’d been practicing in the mirror every morning.
Oh boy.
Annabeth leaned against the frame of the bedroom doorway, suddenly overwhelmed with a mixture of excitement and stomach dropping dread. Her back chose that moment to flare up again, the pain radiating out toward her hips this time, and she winced at the sensation, taking a deep steadying breath. What had that damn bed done to her back? It couldn’t be contractions - she’d had some mild ones a few weeks ago, but they’d tapered off eventually and hadn’t felt anything like this.
As she cleaned herself up and put on new clothes, the ache only seemed to get worse, transforming into a swift pain, and it definitely wasn’t just centered in her back any more. There was a certain rhythm to the pains, and Annabeth was desperately trying not to think of them as contractions because they just couldn’t be happening so soon and at this intensity -
“Rachel?” Annabeth called during one of the not-contractions, leaning over the bathroom counter and gripping the edge tightly in her hands, waiting for the pain to pass, “Can you come here for a second?”
Rachel was in the doorway in no time at all, her eyebrows knotted with worry. “What’s wrong, Annabeth?”
“I... “ Annabeth swallowed, her chest feeling tight. “I’m not sure. Do you have a timer on your phone?”
“Sure, of course,” the other woman replied, pulling it out of her back pocket. “Are you having contractions already?”
“I’m not sure,” Annabeth said again, her voice high with the beginnings of panic.
She’d done a ridiculous amount of research on labor and delivery - Percy had made a game of quizzing her with all sorts of pregnancy trivia bits, even though he didn’t understand half of it and butchered most of the words - and, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember if she’d read anything about what she experiencing. She'd planned for every scenario, except, apparently, this one.
If these were contractions, then they were already very close together and that would mean she skipped over early labor and - and this was not supposed to be happening!
Rachel pressed a hand between Annabeth’s shoulders, and gently steered her toward the toilet, knocking the cover back down. “Sit down, and tell me when, okay?”
Annabeth nodded, thankful for Rachel’s calm presence. She wouldn’t do anyone, least of all herself or the baby, any favors by losing her head and panicking. She could handle this. She could.
She wasn’t sure how long she and Rachel timed the contractions - the pain had increased significantly with few breaks in-between them and she was making all sorts of noises low in her throat as she went through them - but it was long enough that Nico had finished his beer and apparently decided to come wandering down the hallway to see what they were up to. Annabeth opened her eyes after the last one subsided, not at all comforted by the frown on Rachel’s face and Nico’s unreadable expression as he read the phone’s screen over her shoulder.
“W-what?”
“Annabeth, your contractions are less than two minutes apart right now,” Rachel said. “And they’re lasting almost as long.”
“But... but that’s impossible!” she said, gasping the words out between breaths. “That means... the means I’m almost ready to deliver! My water just broke, Rachel!”
“I know, but that’s what the - ”
“Give me that!” Annabeth snarled, snatching the phone out of her hands and turning the screen toward her. She could barely concentrate on the screen as another contraction began to peak, the numbers blurring as her eyes filled with tears. "This isn't... I don't... "
"Huh, you were right. You weren’t going to give birth on the kitchen floor," Nico said unhelpfully, "It’ll be the bathroom floor instead.”
If Annabeth hadn't been in so much pain, she would've punched him. She couldn't even get out a proper insult - instead, she hiccuped with frustration and then, to her eternal mortification, began to sob.
"Asshole, shut up!" Rachel said, punching Nico in the arm hard enough to make him wince. "For once in your life, turn on your brain-to-mouth filter and keep those fucking comments to yourself. Go do something useful, like calling the damn hospital!"
She turned back to Annabeth, who was still crying and gasping with pain, and put on what Percy liked to call her scary calm yoga instructor voice. "Don't listen to him, just focus on your breathing, okay? Stay calm and think about what you need to do. Deep breaths now. That’s it, Annabeth, you’re doing great.”
"Hospital," Annabeth choked out, once her tears had mostly stopped. "I need to go. Call Percy."
"Okay, we'll do that in a second," Rachel said, still using that voice. "Can you stand?”
The most recent contraction had subsided, and she nodded. Rachel held out her hands and helped her up, putting her arm around her waist and rubbing gentle circles around her back as they hobbled out of the bathroom and down the hall toward the living room.
Nico was in the kitchen, having taken Rachel’s suggestion about calling the hospital to heart, but he was holding the phone above his head and frowning at it. “Is your reception out here normally this bad? I can’t get a signal for the life of me.”
“Sometimes,” Annabeth said, walking over to the couch just as another contraction began to build. “If you go outside, it might be better.”
“Right. Do you want me to call Percy or the hospital first?”
“Hospital,” Rachel answered for her, grabbing her purse once Annabeth was settled and fishing out her keys. “Go start the car while you’re out there. We can call Percy on our way in.”
Nico said something else, but Annabeth had stopped paying attention at that point. This wasn’t the most pain she’d been in in her life - that horrific honor belonged to the long days she’d been trapped in Tartarus and nothing could quite compare to that. But Tartarus was years in her past and this - this was happening now and it was hurting so much, so fast that it was scaring her.
Through the haze of pain, Annabeth heard the front door slam and Rachel was kneeling in front of her. “Will you be able to walk out to the car?”
The height of Annabeth’s contraction hit her again, and she let out a low wail, burying her face in her hands and trying to remember the breathing techniques from class. Oh gods, it hurt, it hurt so much more than they’d said it would. Why was this happening? What was wrong with her?
“Rachel, I can’t,” she moaned, reaching for her friend’s arm.
Rachel took her hand in hers, graciously letting Annabeth squeeze it until the contraction subsided slightly and she could breathe again.
“Will you let Nico carry you or do I need to call an ambulance instead?”
“I - ”
The door slammed again, and both women looked up in surprise. Nico stood pressed against it, as if he was trying to keep something out. He was holding car keys and phone still in hand, a peculiar expression on his face.
“I don’t mean to alarm you,” Nico said in a tone that meant there was very much a reason to be alarmed, “But I don’t think we’re going to the hospital any time soon.”
Annabeth let out a deep breath, swiping her sweat soaked bangs out of her eyes so she could glare at Nico. She could only get out a few more words before another contraction began to build and she gripped the edge of the sofa between her fingers, trying not to cry out this time. “Wh - what... are you talking about?”
“Well,” the son of Hades said, with the patience of someone trying not to panic, “there happens to be a drakon in the driveway. And I think it’s here to eat your baby.”
Note: What Annabeth is experiencing is known as precipitous labor, where labor lasts less than three hours. It's more common in women on their second or third birth, but it can happen to first timers too. I read lots of precipitous labor stories in prep for this fic, haha.