Seeking Happiness

A little over a month ago I woke up to a bustle of excitement! At first I thought it was an early game of capture the flag, but when I saw everyone running towards New Elysium I immediately knew what was going on. I quickly woke up Piper and we ran down the street to the Jackson household. We had recently moved in two houses over but it still what seemed like forever to get through the thick crowd of excited campers.

After a lot of shoving and yelling, I finally made it to the front door pulling Piper behind me. I picked up the bronze knocker and dropped rapidly until a loud thud answered me. “We’re not taking any visitors right now. We know how excited you must be that the all mighty Nico has returned. I mean its pretty cool that Percy’s back but Nico… am I right?”

I had to suppress a laugh, “You’re not taking visitors huh? Well I guess Piper and I will just go back to our house then.” The door swung open and we were quickly herded inside as it slam back shut behind us. After a few meaningful bro hugs between Percy and I and I even managed to a side hug from Nico we all began to catch up. I hadn’t realized I had never thought I would see them again until they were sitting right in front of me.

It had been over a month since then, and it was still hard for them to walk around without getting bombarded with little campers. They hadn’t just returned from a quest, they had cheated death and escaped Elysium. Boy that wasn’t something I’d ever have to say… Escape Elysium.

Tonight we were celebrating the twins first birthday. Along with that we were celebrating the fact that not only were Piper and I expecting a baby, but apparently Percy and Annabeth made up for lost time and now were expecting their third child. Annabeth and Piper were excited about the idea of being pregnant at the same time but Percy and I knew this was going to end up with two hormonal women yelling for pickles and ice cream.

Right now I was sitting between Piper and Percy. Piper was holding Gracie and Percy held Noah. Noah was continuously pulling on the string to Percy’s party hat and snapping it against his chin. Other than the occasional wince Percy acted like he didn’t even notice. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

He just shrugged, “Sure it stings a little, but he’s enjoying himself.” He poked Noah in the belly earning him a squeal of excitment. Percy must have seen the worry in my face, “Hey man don’t worry about it. Honestly having kids is the best thing in the world. Besides they’re not all hooligans like this one. Look at Gracie, she’s already said her first word. I’m sure it has something to do with the Athena genes, but still that’s highly unusual.”

I looked over to how Gracie calmly played with the feather in Pipers hair. Every once in a while Piper would pick it up and tickle her nose with her giggles. She was so natural with the kids, she always had been. I felt my heart squeeze with the love I had for my wife, and my future family. Gracie looked at where Percy was tickling Noah and held her hands out, “Daddy.” Clear as day she had said it. Not da-da, she had said daddy.

I patted him on the shoulder, “So her first word was daddy?”

He gave me a trademark Percy smirk, “I think she missed me more than Annabeth. For almost two weeks after I came home she would just wail if I ever left her sight.”

I took Noah as Piper handed him Gracie, “Who’s to say Annabeth didn’t want to? She’s just to badass to actually do it.” That’s earned me a slap in the back of the head by a passing Annabeth. She was reaching to pick up Noah but he just clung to me and yelled, “NO!”

Her eyes widened and I held my hands up, “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell him to say that.” I looked into his sea green eyes and saw they were mischievous and happy. They were a spitting image of his dads. He was warm in my lap and the way he hugged me made me feel loved and needed. Don’t get me wrong I was scared to death about being a dad. But right now the idea didn’t scare me as much.

Annabeth just shook her head and chuckled, “No I’m not mad. That was just his first word. Figures it would be No. That kid is so stubborn. Remind you of anyone we know?”

Percy scoffed, “Oh I’m the stubborn one? And here I thought I was the laid back parent?”

Annabeth kissed him on top of the head, “I didn’t say high strung, I will gladly except that title. But in all the years I’ve known you, I have yet to see you react well to someone telling you cant do something. In fact I’m pretty sure you’ve always done what you wanted anyways…”

He just shrugged, “We’re all alive though right? Ten fingers, ten toes and all that? Yes? Good. I must have known what I was doing then.”

Right then Leo walked in with Calypso, “If were talking about Percy’s decision making skills and how they correlate with everyone being alive, I think I’m a walking testament.”

Percy narrowed his eyes, “I don’t know how I feel about that Leo. Sure I was on the quest that got you home but Nico did most of the work. Besides didn’t you die because I got distracted and you had to leap in front of me?”

Leo smiled, “Like I said man… walking testament.”

The rest of the night was full of laughter and jokes and for the first time in a long time we were all for the most part happy. I knew this bliss couldn’t last for long, but for now I would enjoy it.

Notes