Hey everyone!

So the idea for this one-shot randomly popped into my head a few months ago, and it seemed too good not to write. Now, it didn't really come out as good as I'd hoped it would, but hopefully you guys will like it anyway.

Please R&R-let me know what you think!

Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not the PJO/HoO characters!

I stood, arms crossed, leaning casually against the wall, watching as an extremely flustered son of Hephaestus paced back and forth in front of me muttering incoherently to himself. Or at least, I assumed it was to himself, because I caught only about one word for every, I assumed, ten or so words spoken.

He stopped then, and turned to look at me, all traces of Leo's normally sarcastic, cocky persona gone, replaced by a mask of anxiety, nerves, and fear. The drastic change in him would almost have been funny, had he not been on the verge of a panic attack. "Percy, what am I gonna do, man? How am I supposed to do this?" He went back to pacing, still talking, louder this time. "I mean, it's not like I didn't know it would happen sooner or later, especially with the last week or so, but I'm not ready! I don't know how I'm supposed to do this-how we're supposed to. Like, what if we epically crash and burn because we have no idea what we're doing? What if we do it all wrong? I mean, it's not like either of us ever had the best example growing up. How-"

"Leo!" I interrupted, partly because his terror-induced rambling was driving me crazy and drawing stares, but also because his hands had started smoking pretty badly and I figured that if he didn't calm down-and soon- we would have bigger problems than just a few concerned looks.

The son of Hephaestus abruptly stopped pacing and turned to me, thankfully not bothering to finish with whatever he had been saying. He looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Your hands are smoking," I informed him calmly. He glanced down at his smoking fists and slowly unclenched them. The smoke stopped as quickly as it had started.

Leo looked up again, returning his hands to his sides. "Thanks," he said numbly.

"Leo," I said, stepping away from the wall and uncrossing my arms. "You've got to calm down, man. You're getting way too worked up about this."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then he sighed. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked helplessly.

I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at him. "Well, for one, you should probably be in there with your wife, instead of out here freaking out on me and catching yourself on fire."

Leo glanced down the hall a ways and stared for a second, before apparently giving up my idea and turning back to me. "Gods," he sighed, plopping himself down in a chair and putting his head in his hands, "How do you do this over and over again?"

This time, I really did raise an eyebrow, though he didn't see it. "Over and over again?" I demanded, "I've only done this three times."

"Exactly!"

I sighed and leaned against the wall again, watching the miserable display of my friend. The poor guy.

He'd called me earlier that morning, freaking out only slightly less than he had been a minute ago (probably due to the fact that Calypso had been in the same room then), and told me that it was time. They were going to the hospital. Their baby would be born today, likely within the next few hours.

Annabeth and I had stopped by a little while later, at their request, and Leo had made some lame excuse about getting coffee-as if he needed any of that, and had dragged me with him, only, instead of getting coffee, we'd made it about halfway down the hallway and he had lost it completely, panic getting the best of him. And of course, the fact that I'd done this before made me an "expert on the subject" and gave Leo the right to do so. Or so he apparently thought.

Regardless, here I was, trying to reassure the guy that it really wasn't as hard as he was making it out to be, though I might as well have been talking to the wall for all the good it seemed to be doing at the moment.

"It really isn't that bad," I tried again.

Leo looked up at me from his chair, his eyes still bright with worry. "At least you and Annabeth, you-you planned it. You were ready. You knew what you were doing!" I opened my mouth to protest that no, we didn't really "plan" it, and no, we we'd been no where near ready, but Leo was up and pacing again, his words coming out so fast, I was pretty sure that if I didn't pay close enough attention, all I would hear was this sort of buzz. "Us? We didn't! We didn't plan any of this. We're not ready-I'm not ready! I mean, I've known for months now and everything, but I don't know what to do, man! How am I supposed to just be a dad? I don't know anything about babies! And what if I'm horrible at it? What if the kid hates my guts and doesn't want anything to do with me? What if-"

"Leo!" I interrupted his ranting for the second time in less than five minutes. The son of Hephaestus stopped and looked at me, looking slightly ashamed, but mostly terrified.

"What?" he asked in a voce surprisingly level, considering what it had sounded like a second ago.

"First of all," I said, "We didn't plan anything. Second," I paused, straightening up and sighing slightly, "You're never ready. You can't be. Even if you think you are, you're not. You really think I was?" Leo nodded simply, apparently deciding; thank the gods, to stay silent. I continued, "I wasn't. In fact, I was far from it." I paused as Leo sat back down again, staring straight ahead at the wall.

After a second, he asked quietly, "Is it supposed to be this scary?"

I sat down beside him. "It's terrifying," I told him honestly, doubting that I was really helping very much at all. Leo sighed. "But," I added in a way that caused him to meet my eyes, "It is so worth it."

Leo looked taken aback. He looked down again. "I don't know…"

"Leo." I leaned forward, deciding to just go with being brutally, and probably embarrassingly, honest. It seemed to be the only thing that even came close to working. "I spent every minute of those nine months Annabeth was pregnant the first time scared out of my mind. I had no idea what I was doing or what to expect. Annabeth read books and gave them to me to read, and I did, sort of, but they didn't help anything. Nothing and no one can really tell you how it will be. They can't reassure you or convince you, and they definitely can't take the nerves away. And when it's actually happening, it's the hardest, scariest thing you can ever imagine." I paused, watching Leo's expression carefully. He was staring at the floor between his feet, but seemed to be listening intently nonetheless. "But when that baby's born," I continued, "When he's there, in your arms and screaming his head off… Gods, there aren't words to describe it. It's just totally worth it. All the anxiety, all the pain you had to watch her go through, everything. There's nothing in the world like it." I sat back then, a little surprised with myself.

Leo was quiet for a minute or two, and then he said, "And this from the man who walked through Tartarus and survived." He looked up at me then, and I couldn't help noticing that he not only looked blown away, but also slightly impressed. "Thanks."

I smiled then and clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll do great," I told him reassuringly, not doubting it for a second. "You and Calypso will make great parents."

Leo smiled then, and I could see that underneath all the anxiety and nerves, he really was genuinely excited for his baby to be born. He'd be fine. "Thanks, Percy," he said, "I needed that."

I smiled. "Anytime," I replied, and then paused and said, "No wait. On second thought, not anytime. I don't think I can handle giving another speech like that any time soon…"

Leo laughed at that, nodding, and I joined him, though a few seconds later, we were interrupted by Annabeth rushing down the hall to us. Leo's laughter faltered when he saw her and he got to his feet. He looked to be about to say something when she beat him to it. "Leo," she said, "You have to get in there. It's time." Well that was fast. At her words, his smile vanished completely, and he paled significantly. He glanced at me, looking scared again.

"Go, man. Calypso needs you," I said.

He hesitated, glancing nervously toward her hospital room. "What if-"

"Go!" Annabeth and I commanded simultaneously.

Leo looked between us, shaken out of his fog. "Alright, alright!" he said, sounding the most Leo-like he'd sounded all day, "Cool your jets, I'm going." And with that, he turned on his heel and hurried down the hall.

"Good luck!" Annabeth called after him, though if he heard her, he didn't acknowledge so.

Once the door shut behind him, I slumped down in my chair, relieved, though pretty proud of myself overall. Annabeth sat down beside me in the chair Leo had formerly been occupying. "Well," she said, "He looks significantly better than he did twenty minutes ago."

I laughed despite myself. "Yeah, I know." I smirked jokingly, "Maybe I should become a psychologist. I think I may have a decent shot at it." Annabeth laughed and leaned into me, resting her head against my shoulder.

"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically, tracing the contours of my hand absentmindedly with her finger.

"Mmhmm," I murmured, putting my arm around her and settling in to wait.

Thirty minutes later, Leo re-emerged from the hospital room, and judging from the huge dopey grin on his face and the red rimming his eyes, it was pretty easy to guess that he had become a daddy- and I'd say he was pretty darn happy about it too.

Soooo? What'd ya think?

I know it's not my best work, but hopefully you liked it anyway. Thanks for reading and PLEASE let me know what you thought. Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)