Seeking Happiness

I watched as Gracie wobbled on her hands and feet. She had been trying to stand on her own for a couple days now. It was adorable but heart breaking all at the same time. We were all cheering her on in her attempts to walk, but we all secretly wished she would just keep crawling. At least until Percy came home. We all knew he would be devastated if he missed any kind of developmental mile mark. Especially one as big as walking.

They all been gone for a long time... too long. My heart ached for Jason's warm arms to hold me at night. When he first told me he was leaving it felt like Hades himself had reached inside my chest and squeezed my heart with his icy touch. But I knew I had to let him go. If only I knew it would be this long and I would have at least insisted that I go with him. I didn't like the whole long distance thing. Sure I got an iris message every once in a while, but it always brief and irritatingly vague. I didn't know where he was, what he was doing, or more importantly when he was coming home.

I held Noah as he babbled in his own secret baby language. I wish I knew what he was talking about so passionately. If i had to guess it would probably be about food, I mean he is Percy's son after all. For all I know these kids could be having fully formed thoughts, but they get trapped inside their brains because they don't know how to communicate those thoughts yet. Demi god babies are different then normal babies. They develop slightly faster then the average mortal. But there really was no experience when it came to children of demi gods. No one really knew what to expect. Well maybe the romans would, apparently they've been sustain normal life in new rome for quite some time. I would have to remember to ask Jason when he got home. Or maybe even Frank and Hazel. Although I didn't really want to talk to them about babies. They always looked at us like we were broken. None of us took offense, we knew we probably did look like crap. All the worried sleepless night and anxiety. But we can only take so much pity before we want to punch something.

Annabeth was off with Luke still looking for a cure in her little brown book. They had to have gone through that thing like two hundred times by now. But nothing was going to get in the way of Luke when he was determined. He blamed himself for Thalia's illness. It didn't matter how many times we insisted that she made her choice, he wouldn't listen. I usually am on babysitter duty. It was my own form of distraction. I couldn't wait until I had kids of my own. I wanted a little mini Jason... I wanted a real Baby Thunder. But that obviously wasn't going to happen any time soon. One we weren't married yet... we're not even engaged. Two I'm not sure how well Jason could handle kids at the moment. Sure he's softened up a bit, but he still has a little more work to do before he's ready to be a daddy. And Three... He's not even here. There's a slight chance I'd almost be willing to overlook one and two because lets face it... Jason and I are going to end up together. I am a daughter of Aphrodite and I just know these things. Just like I know Erin from Apollos cabin was going to end up with Conner Stoll. Not that I would say anything to them, because I'm pretty sure they don't even know each others names. But I ship them, and my ships do not sink... ever. But anyways. If he was just here, I think i just might be tempted to plead my case for Thunder jr.

Sounds of Gracie's frustration tore me away from my fantasizing. She was almost standing all on her own when something just came out of no where and scared the shit out of us both. Me figuratively and her very literally. She fell back over and an Iris message popped up between us. It was Jason looking as lovely as ever. "Hey babe what's up? Looks like you're on baby duty again." I heard something crash in the background, sounded like a lamp or a vase. Then I saw Percy shoving Jason out of the way, "Babies? Those better be my babies! Where are my little offspring?" Noah squealed with delight as he reached towards the little rainbow as if his dad really was standing in front of him. Percy sighed, "My gods I miss them so much. And Annabeth, and Camp... and everyone I can't wait until I get to come home?" I nodded, "Any idea when that would be exactly. Like any timewould be nice."

Jason had pushed his way back into view, "Trust me, we are going as fast as we can... it's just a little tricky is all." I raised my eyebrows, "What's tricky?" He frowned at me, "You know I can't tell you that. Just trust that we're going as fast as we can." I could hear shouting from the background. It was two boys were arguing. All the sudden Jason was shoved to the ground as Nico came into view. He wasn't looking at me but at whoever was chasing him. "Dude I promise I'm trying my hardest! This stuff is really hard! I know you're ready to get out of here but you need to be patient." A fire ball zoomed over his head singing a hair or two. Then the person who shot the fire ball stepped into view. "I've been down here way too long man! You're so close, I just think you might need some motivation..."

My eyes bulged, "...Leo?" He slowly turned as he realized I could see him. He made direct eye contact with me, "Oh shit..." Then the message was cut off.

Notes