Unplanned

So this is gonna be a long oneshot I'm doing. Just an idea that popped into my head. As you probably saw in the description, this is a teen pregnancy Pertemis story. It's a mortal high school AU. I won't be touching on much backstory, just piece together what you can from the story itself. I decided to do it in third person POV, because it feels easier to write from two people's perspective with no one's perspective. Thanks for reading, guys.

Unplanned

Artemis' eyes brimmed with tears as she weakly held the small ivory white stick in her hands. Her whole body shook, and she felt as if she was about to collapse right then and there. The bones in her legs suddenly became extremely brittle, and she backed up into the toilet and had a seat.

A whole lifetime of memories flashed through her mind, as if she was on the verge of death. From opening presents on the first Christmas morning she could remember all the way to the Burger King she'd had for dinner yesterday. She felt like her life was over. It was all over.

While her sight was still active, she reached over onto her bathroom counter. As she picked up her phone, she had to put down the stick and grasp it with two hands, lest she might drop it.

Breathing deeply, Artemis navigated her way through her phone into her contacts, and then clicked on one specifically. Percy.

She wiped the tears that were starting to cloud her vision, and quickly texted her boyfriend of two years as short and simple as she could. Can you come over? She waited with bated breath for the reply, which thankfully came less than a minute later. Why?

Artemis felt like screaming, though she wasn't really mad at him. Just come. She messaged. The auburn-haired teen hesitated for a moment, before elaborating so he'd hurry up. I need you. It's important. She clarified, hoping he didn't take it as a cliche 'my parents aren't home, come over so we can have sex'. True, her parents weren't home, but she did not feel in the mood for sex.

The front door was unlocked, since her brothers were downstairs watching TV, so she figured Percy would make his way up to her room. Gathering herself for one final push, she picked herself up from the porcelain throne and trudged barefoot out of her bathroom and into her bedroom. She sat herself down on the bed and moved up against the pillows for comfort.

From that point on, she didn't bother holding back the tears, nor did she sob. She just let them roll down her face as she waited for her boyfriend to arrive.

Fifteen minutes later, she heard the faint sound of a vehicle pulling up into their driveway, which she assumed to be Percy's cobalt blue pickup truck. Artemis felt so pathetic at this point. She was reduced to a mess of tears, clutching a teddy bear she hadn't slept with since she was six years old close to her chest.

A minute later, after hearing some talking downstairs, the door to her room was gently opened, and Percy poked his head in. His signature lop-sided grin faltered, however, as he saw her and the state she was in. He entered the room, quietly shutting the door behind him, before sitting on the side of the bed and looking down at her sympathetically.

"Hey, Moonbeam. What's wrong?" He asked softly, reaching over and stroking a strand of hair out of her eyes. She suddenly launched herself up at him, ensnaring her arms around his neck in a hug. He jolted back in shock, but then comfortingly hugged her as well, rubbing the small of her back.

Artemis sobbed into the confused man's shirt as he readjusted, moving so that he was leaning against the headboard of the bed. Artemis cuddled up against him, head buried into his chest.

After a few minutes, Artemis had settled down a bit, so Percy chose this moment to pry. "What's wrong, Arty? I've never seen you this upset before." He asked, genuinely worried. She didn't answer him, so he went back to silently comforting her.

It took five minutes, but after she was reduced to sniffling and shivering, she weakly managed to mutter out. "I'm pregnant."

That was enough to send Percy's whole world crashing down.

He remained silent, gawking dead ahead as the information ran through his mind. Artemis noticed this, and she broke down in his arms, believing he would leave her. Percy finally managed to comprehend what she said, and tears came to his eyes, however hard he tried not to let them spill.

They held each other close, reeling this new revelation in before Artemis finally spoke. "Percy? What are we gonna do?" She questioned softly. Percy rubbed her back lightly, then sucked up the tears and kissed her on the forehead. "We'll figure it out in the morning."

Artemis nodded, and they cuddled together in Artemis silver-sheeted bed. A bed in which they'd held each other close many times before.

Percy woke up facing the bedroom window, and noticed that there was a fair amount of light shining into the room. Using his A-grade detective skills, he deduced that it must be morning, and stretched a bit. He did so gently enough that he didn't wake the sleeping beauty on top of him, and placed his hand back to it's resting place on the back of her shirt.

He lay there for a while, waiting for her to naturally wake up, and he took the time to ponder the news Artemis had dropped the night before. She was pregnant. He had gotten her pregnant. At age 16, he was going to be a father. Or rather, 17 by the time the baby was actually born, since his birthday was about 8 months away.

Percy thought back to when the child could've been conceived, but couldn't seem to find any time. Artemis said she was always on the pill, so he never bothered with condoms. Maybe the pill faltered one day.

He sighed as he realised Artemis' father and twin brother, Zeus and Apollo, would most likely kill him for getting Artemis pregnant, let alone taking her virginity. His mom would probably beat the shit out of him too. He didn't know how the rest of his family would react, or how Artemis' mother Hera or her other siblings would handle it. Artemis had never gotten along with her siblings, aside from Athena, and Hera and Artemis had a rocky relationship. It was almost like how Percy had been at first with his stepmother Amphitrite, but their relationship had mended over the years.

About half an hour into his thoughts, Artemis stirred, and he looked down at her. She shuffled around a bit, before her hand moved in a rubbing motion on his chest and she turned her head up to look at him.

Percy smiled at his girlfriend, and rubbed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She smiled back, and lay her head back on his chest. She sighed deeply, speaking into his shirt. "So it wasn't a dream." She mused, and he nodded silently.

He listened to her steady breathing for a moment, before he noticed it become shaky, and he gradually felt a wet patch forming on his chest. Artemis whimpered up at him. "What are we gonna do…?"

Percy took a moment to think about it. Kids was most likely something he could see in his future, but now? He wasn't sure if he was prepared to be a father. Sure he could get his mom or Amphitrite to care for it when he wasn't at school, but he didn't want to be an absentee father! He still had high school and college left to go through. By the time that's done, this kid will be five!

Minding that, he didn't want to kill or get rid of the child either. No, he did not want to abandon his first child, but it was cruel of fate to bring the child now of all times.

Percy decided to answer her question, surprising Artemis by sitting up and adjusting her so she was straddling him as he looked her in the eyes. "To start, we have to choose. Do we want this child? I know my answer, but do you want this child?" He asked.

She didn't answer at first, and Percy leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes, and looked on the verge of crying again. After five minutes of deep thought, Artemis answered him. "Yes. I do. I want this child, Percy."

Percy smiled, his eyes still closed. He momentarily parted from her to kiss her on the forehead, beaming at her. "Good. That was my answer, too." He assured her, and Artemis let out a sigh of relief.

Then her face contorted to one of anxiety. "But what are we going to do? Like for real? You know neither of us can properly care for a child, and we can't just leave it to our family to take care of it. How are we gonna do this?" She asked, looking up at him.

Percy bit his lip, thinking their options over. He breathed deeply, realising once again how serious this was. "Let's… Let's just tell our parents first, then get their opinion. How did this even happen?" He asked her, rubbing his head from stress.

Artemis nodded at the idea, then thought over the question. It wasn't a case of whether they used a condom. No, they never used condoms, what was the point if she was on the pill? She tried to think back to any time she may have failed to use the pill, and one immediately came to mind.

It was about a month ago, on Christmas Eve of all nights. Artemis was staying with Percy's maternal family at their Montauk cabin for the holidays, and she'd forgotten to pack her birth control. She never told this to Percy, and they ended up spending a lot of time together during that stay.

Artemis blushed uncontrollably as she remembered the nights. "I, uh, you remember Christmas?" She asked, and Percy's face immediately conveyed understanding. "Oh." He said simply. She hummed in response.

Percy then gently moved his girlfriend off of his lap, rubbing his face out of tiredness. "I, uh, I better go figure out how to break this to my parents. I'll call you later, or call me if there's any problems." He said, standing up. Artemis nodded, then retreated back into the warm and comforting embrace of her covers. Percy gave her a kiss goodbye, then left her bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.

Artemis' siblings were indifferent to seeing him leave, not really caring about what their sister got up to. Artemis' twin brother Apollo, however, made sure to give him a glare as Percy made his way through the living room.

The final room before the front door was the dining room, where both of Artemis' parents were eating their breakfast. "Percy! Good to see you, my boy. I didn't know you were spending the night here? Though I did think that was your pickup parked outside." Zeus said, crunching on a bit of toast as he read the morning paper.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "Uh, yeah, well, I came over last night cause Artemis needed something and I just didn't leave, I guess. Sorry for not asking first, but you guys weren't home. Mrs Olympia, how are you?" Percy said nervously, but politely.

Hera nodded curtly at him from behind her novel, drinking from a cup of coffee with a firm hand. Zeus grinned. "Nonsense Percy, you're free to stay anytime. Just try and keep the adult stuff until you're both adults." He said with a smirk, making Percy blush. The 16 year old stammered, not knowing what to say as Zeus chuckled. "Yes, we know the kind of things you two probably get up to. We were teenagers too, you know." Zeus said, making Hera glare at him as he said 'we'.

Percy laughed, still kind of embarrassed, but made small talk with the man he got along with surprisingly well considering it was his girlfriend's father. Eventually, Percy had to call it quits, and told Zeus he had to go discuss something with his parents. Zeus nodded, and said his farewells before letting the boy go on his way. Hera left him with another nod behind a 300-page book and a mug of coffee.

Percy made his way out into the cold January winter. There was a foot of snow on the usually glamorous lawn, which also surrounded his ride. Percy, deciding that he'd need as much popularity from Artemis' parents as he could get after she told him, so he decided to do them a favor.

Knowing it was unlocked, Percy opened their garage and dug around until he found their snow shovel. For the next few minutes, Percy quickly moved the snow off of their driveway, not breaking a sweat. Halfway through, he looked at the window of the house, where Artemis' older sister Athena stood, staring at him with suspicion. Percy smiled and waved, but Athena merely took a sip of her coffee and walked away.

The ride home was quiet, discounting the Limp Bizkit playing on the radio. Percy found himself singing quietly along to it and tapping the steering wheel to the beat. He got lost in his thoughts multiple times, resulting in 4 different near-accidents during the 10 minute drive.

Percy pulled into the driveway of his home, shutting off his engine. He made his way inside, relishing the warmth that his stepmother always made it her mission to keep. He pulled his snowy shoes off and made his way into the living room.

Thankfully, his whole family was there, watching TV. Or at least, his father was watching TV. His twin sister, yes it's ironic that a twin is dating a twin, Aphrodite was spread out on the couch, texting someone or scrolling through her Instagram feed on her phone. His stepmom was fiddling around on her tablet, probably doing some work-related stuff.

Percy didn't know how to start the conversation, so he sat down on the couch, moving Aphrodite's legs so they were resting on his lap. He watched TV with his dad for a while. It was a programmed he'd seen many times before, Deadliest Catch. They were doing their usual, catching crabs and talking about it. Still, it always managed to catch Percy's interest. He loved the ocean, so did his dad, and so did his stepmom and sister for the most part, though they mainly enjoyed the beach for tanning rather than the water.

Amphtrite had gotten up, and returned a minute later with two bowls of chips, one for their father and one for the twins to share. Percy offered his sister some, and she took a few. They were Doritos, Nacho Cheese flavored to be exact. It was Percy's favorite flavor, especially when they were actually used as nachos. His sister didn't eat much, she was a bit of a health nut, into beauty and that sort of thing. She was more of a prom queen than either of the rich Olympia daughters.

"I got Artemis pregnant." Percy blurted out as he munched down on some Doritos. Immediately, everyone went silent as they stopped what they were doing. His stepmom stopped typing, his dad ceased chewing, and his sister's eyes widened as she took her thumbs away from her phone.

"What?" The voice of Amphitrite Jackson sounded throughout the now quiet room. His dad had paused the tv. Percy gulped, realising what he'd just said, before putting aside the bowl and deciding to roll with it. He smiled over at his parents. "Yeah, I went over to Artemis' last night and her pregnancy test came out positive. You guys are gonna be grandparents!" Percy said with fake joy, not that he wasn't angry, but he was way more scared than happy right now.

Poseidon swallowed the 14 chips he had in his mouth and put the bowl down, looking over at him with a slightly disappointed look. "You're serious?" He asked disbelievingly. Percy nodded and looked down, slightly ashamed. Aphrodite laughed as she put down her phone. "You are sooooo gonna get shivved by Apollo in the showers after gym." She teased, making Percy blow a raspberry at her.

Amphitrite looked over at Poseidon in shock. "How are you so calm? Your son's gonna be a father before he even gets out of high school!" She scolded him, but Percy's father ignored her, and he looked over at Percy. "Did you discuss whether you're keeping it?" He asked calmly, making Percy all the more afraid. He nodded. "Yeah, we talked this morning and decided we both want to keep it. We just wanted to get our families' opinions first." Percy said.

Poseidon nodded. "Get rid of it."

A few miles away, a certain 16 year old girl was standing in front of her family anxiously. She had asked her mother to call a family meeting, and now her parents, her sister and her 3 brothers Ares, Apollo and Dionysus sat in front of her.

"So Artemis, what was it you wanted to discuss?" Hera asked, looking fondly at her daughter. Athena had her eyes narrowed, and Artemis wondered if she already knew somehow. Athena was smart like that. All it took was five minutes of serious investigation and she could know your deepest, darkest secrets.

Artemis took a deep breath, and clenched her fists tight as she steeled herself. "I'm pregnant."

The uproar was almost instantaneous. Hera and Athena stayed silent, looking at her in extreme disappointment. Her mother even folded her arms, which meant she was in serious trouble. Zeus and Apollo stood up and angrily slammed their hands on the table, vowing to kill Percy for what he did to her. Ares and Dionysus were the worst, though. They laughed, and she could hear their quiet remarks of her being a whore and a slut louder than anything Apollo or Zeus had to say.

Artemis was crying now, mainly at her brothers' remarks. Because they were right. She was a whore. She should have waited till marriage like the golden girl Athena was. Now she had to pay the price for her slutiness.

Finally, Zeus and Apollo calmed down, and Ares and Dionysus shut up so their mother wouldn't hear what they were saying. "Kill it. Get an abortion." Apollo demanded, making Artemis gasp in shock. She always knew he hated her being with Percy, but for him to suggest something like that? In that moment, she could not find any trace of her twin brother in this boy.

Hera glared at him from across the table. "Apollo! How dare you say such a thing. You have no say in the matter. I know you have no liking for the Jackson boy, but-" She was cut off by her middle son. "No say? I'm her twin brother, mom! I have every say! This baby is gonna ruin her life, she needs to get rid of it!" He screamed, causing Zeus to get mad.

"SHUT UP, BOY!" He bellowed, making the golden haired teen flush in fear and quieten, though his anger was still evident on his face. Zeus, frustrated, rubbed his temples. "Does Percy know?" He asked, and Artemis nodded. "He went home to tell his family." She said.

Zeus nodded. "Very well. Your mother and I shall talk about it a bit more, then we will call Percy's parents and discuss it further with them. In the meantime, I want you to know that I'm very disappointed in you, Artemis." He told her, brows furrowed.

Artemis left the room with tears running down her face, the last thing she saw in the dining room being Dionysus and Ared mouthing the words 'whore' and 'slut' to her. She needed to call Percy.

Percy, meanwhile, glared at his father. "What?!" He asked, angry that his dad would even toy with such an idea. Both Amphtrite and Aphrodite also glared at him, can't being able to believe he would suggest that.

"You two are kids, you aren't gonna be able to take care of it. This isn't getting a dog, this is a child. You two are completely unprepared for this. I think you should just get an abortion then try again once you're out of college and you've got steady lives." Poseidon said, leaning back in his chair.

Percy pushed his sister's legs off of him and stormed out, leaving behind the sounds of his stepmother berating Percy's much older clone. He was unaware that his sister had been following him until he reached the rooftop by climbing out of the attic window. It was a place they both liked to go when they were upset. It let them think.

Aphrodite walked over beside Percy as he looked out at the cold January morning. Both of them were very much underdressed, but neither felt cold at that moment. "So." She said, brushing away some snow so she could sit down. "You're gonna be a daddy." Percy hummed, not looking over at her. "I was, but dad's gonna make us get rid of it, so there goes that idea." He said spitefully, glaring at the neighboring rooftops, glittering with snow.

Aphrodite's smile faltered, and she looked down. "I don't think he'll actually go through with that. Either he'll come round or Amphitrite will 'persuade' him." She reassured her brother, making Percy smile. "Hopefully."

She rubbed her arms and looked at him. "You excited? To be a parent?" She asked, and Percy thought about it for a while. Then, he nodded. "I mean, besides the fact that having this baby could ruin mine and Arty's lives, I am. I always knew I was gonna marry Artemis. One day I'd marry her, and then we'd settle down and have kids. I knew this wasn't just a high school thing, I knew it would last. I just didn't think this family would start so soon." He said quietly.

Aphrodite shivered, and Percy looked over at her. Seeing she was cold, he took off his purple letterman jacket, signifying his place on the Jupiter High School Football team. He draped it around her shoulders, making his sister smile over at him. "I can see why Fartemis is so enamored with you." She told him as she leaned over on his shoulder. Percy laughed, and draped an arm around her for a side hug.

Percy sighed, his breath almost solidifying in the freezing air. "Oh man, Mom is gonna kill me when she finds out." He said, and Aphrodite looked up at him. "Just facetime her, then at least you'll have 20 minutes to find a hiding spot before she speeds her way up here in Paul's car." She joked, making him roll his eyes.

"Can you at least tell her with me? I'll buy you a coke if you do." The Jackson boy offered. His younger sister thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Deal." She said, holding out a hand. Percy smiled and shook it, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

He pulled up her contact, and clicked on video call. The little icon with her picture came up, with the loading circle running around it for a few seconds. Eventually, their mom picked up, and the face of Sally Blofis came up, with a confused look on her face.

"Hi! What are you two doing outside, you do know it's freezing, right?" She said, raising an eyebrow as she went and sat down somewhere. Percy looked around. "Yeah, we're on the roof at the moment." He said, which only worsened their situation.

"WHAT? What are you doing up there? You could get hurt!" She screeched, making her two eldest children wince. Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Mom, we're fine. We've been up here plenty of times." She assured her, but Sally still looked nervous.

"Well, what was it you called me for?" She asked, calming down. Percy and Artemis gave each other a nervous side glance. Neither of them said anything at first, until Aphrodite elbowed him in the ribs, making him grunt in pain.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, deciding to just go all in like he had done with the rest of his family. "So, I'm gonna be a dad in like 8 months. Just thought I'd let you know." He said out of nowhere, which was met with the worst possible reaction.

Silence.

Then Sally screeched at the top of her lungs. "WHAT?" The twins cringed heavily, and Aphrodite turned to her brother. "I'm gonna go now." She informed him, to which he held her down by her shoulder. "Oh no you don't." He said.

Sally was still fuming from the screen, and Percy sighed. This was gonna be a rough conversation.

One week later - 1st Month (January)

It had been a long week for the two soon-to-be parents. They'd stayed home from school with the blessing of their parents, trying to sort everything out and come up with a game plan. Percy and Artemis felt the disappointment of their parents weighing down on them.

As Artemis stood in front of her mirror, on the first day of school that she'd be attending since they found out, she found herself biting her lip nervously. She was wearing her usual getup, a t-shirt and jeans, but she wondered if that was a wise choice. They hadn't told any of their friends, since they really didn't have the time to so far, so basically no one at school knew aside from the school itself.

She would be allowed to use the bathroom during class, no questions asked, and she would be free from all gym periods so to not damage the baby. She was also temporarily removed from the high school cheerleading team, which did make her quite sad. Percy was on the football team, and she loved having front row seats to see her boyfriend get beaten up, not that that happened often. Aphrodite did assure her that since the due date was late August-early September, then Artemis could join halfway through the season once she got her energy back. Otherwise she'd be almost guaranteed a spot in senior year.

But that was the future, now was the present, and Artemis was worried about her appearance. It had scarcely been a month since the baby was conceived, but Artemis' usually slim body was less curvy. It was hardly noticeable, but Artemis felt like a whale already. She knew it was probably just pregnancy hormones, but she felt really paranoid about her size, worrying that people would notice.

That was the thing she was worried about, people noticing. There was a plan that she would attend school for the first three months of pregnancy, then around the start of the second trimester she would stay home. Percy would bring home her schoolwork and she would spend lots of time a day on the internet using online learning sites, so that her grades wouldn't fall. Percy would visit her if not every day, then every other day, so he could be with her during her time of pain. That was the plan that had so far been drawn up.

Basically it'd be three months of oversized shirts to quell her anxiety.

Artemis breathed deeply, then went downstairs to have her breakfast. She was keeping it simple, Fruit Loops. Apollo was the only other one in the room, and he smiled at her like an idiot. "Hey, lil sis! All chipper and ready for school?" He asked, making Artemis scowl.

Apollo was always like this. All teasing and mocking, quick to falsely call her younger, because he's upset that he's the second youngest sibling before Dionysus. Yes, he was less happy when Percy was around, especially recently, but this was definitely his default mood.

"I'm older." Artemis grumbled, which seemed to be the usual response to whatever Apollo said, since whatever Apollo said usually began with 'Hey, lil sis.'

The morning went by fairly quickly, which was mainly due to Artemis' silent thinking. The clock rolled by, and Apollo eventually stood up from his spot on the couch. "You ridin' with me today, sis?" He asked, cracking his knuckles. Artemis nodded, as she hadn't texted Percy to pick her up, so he was her last option.

The car ride to school was short, with little traffic and Apollo's flash car that Zeus spoiled him with being slightly faster than most. Apollo almost drifted into the school car park, making Artemis tense up and grab the sides of her seat to stop herself from flying out the window. She half-heartedly glared at him for his reckless actions, which was met with his usual blinding pearly-white smile.

The twins left the car, and while Apollo locked it, Artemis looked around for any of her friends. She spotted familiar brown and blonde hair over in the distance, which she recognized as her friends Piper and Jason. When they saw her, she was approached and immediately interrogated.

"Artemis! Where have you been? Were you sick?" Piper set off, and Artemis had to literally shush her to get her to stop. "Something came up and I was busy. We'll tell you later." She told them, and Jason raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"Hey guys." Percy appeared out of nowhere, perfect timing considering Jason's previous question. They all greeted him, and Artemis gave him a small silent hug of affection. She had never been much for PDA, at least not for making out and kissing. When in public, she preferred to just hug and if she felt daring, hold hands. Percy wasn't much the same. He liked to pull her close and kiss her on the cheek in front of their friends, which never failed to make her face flare up like the Australian bush.

He and Jason fist-bumped, and he hugged Piper, obviously with not as much affection as he did Artemis. "Where's everyone else?" The Jackson boy asked, which was met by Jason and Piper shrugging. "Leo and Caly are probably making out, Frank and Hazel are probably picking flowers and I have no idea where Nico could possibly have gotten to." Jason answered, but their chat was cut off by the school bell, signaling that they should be heading to class.

Percy turned to Artemis, smiling. "We got history first, c'mon." He said, waving his hand for her to follow. She did so with a small burst of speed as they hurried off down the hall. Artemis stuck close to him, still very anxious about her new state.

Both Artemis and Percy thought history was very boring. They were learning something about the Peloponnesian War. Percy wondered to himself who in this modern world actually cared about the Ancient Greeks. The only parts he liked were the cool moments like Kronos eating his kids.

The only thing of note that happened during the entire period was the elderly teacher giving Artemis a sympathetic look. She couldn't tell how she felt about that.

Their next period was much better. Their English teacher, who also happened to be Percy's stepfather, Mr Blofis, was always entertaining during English class. He also made a point to help his students with their work, knowing that every teenager struggled with school work, unless they were nerds.

He reached the two at the back and leaned over Percy's work to check it out. "How you doing, lovebirds?" He smirked, making the two of them blush. The man pointed to a line on Percy's worksheet, not saying anything but letting Percy know there was something wrong with it. Percy stared at it with squinted eyes in confusion for a few seconds before he took his pen and crossed out whatever he wrote, thinking up what he'd write in it's place.

Paul went to check Artemis' work. "You alright?" He asked, checking in on her. Artemis nodded, sitting back and letting him check her work. That was something she liked about Paul. He didn't look at you like you were a dying dog, he asked if you were fine and then looked to see if you fucked up your spelling.

Gym was next, which she also shared with Percy. Fun fact, she only had two classes without Percy. Maths and French. Percy had failed both, but Maths was compulsory so he got put in a different class with Leo and Piper.

The gym teacher, a short man with an even shorter temperature named Coach Hedge, knew of Artemis' condition, so he offered to give her some small activities to do in the next room. There wasn't any written work for gym, since it was gym, so he legitimately took some crosswords and coloring-in pages off of the internet for her. Basically, it was either a study period or a crayon period.

Artemis chose the crayon.

She felt pretty proud of her works by the end of the period, but quickly realised that she'd be doing a lot more studying in gym than coloring this year. She burned through five pages: some sort of indian flower design, Optimus Prime, what seemed to be Mario vs Sonic, Minecraft and a map of the world. She'd managed to stay in the lines.

Artemis sighed, knowing that this was gonna be a long 9 months.

Month 2 (February)

Percy sat cross-legged on the floor of one of the guest bedrooms in his father's house, trying to piece together some new crib like it was a Lego set.

There had been lots of discussion, and it was decided that Percy and Artemis' main camp would be in Poseidon and Amphitrite's house. This was because they didn't have any kids to take care of other than Percy and Aphrodite when they chose to live there. Sally and Paul had their babies, Zeus and Hera had all of Artemis' siblings, while Poseidon and Amphitrite had yet to produce any offspring together.

Of course, the baby would spend time at all their grandparents' houses, it's just that they would live at that house until Percy and Artemis graduated and got money to move out. Other benefits included the high school was less than a five minute drive away, and since Poseidon and Amphitrite were well versed in the world of business, they had the funds to house the baby.

Unfortunately, since Poseidon bought this house after he divorced Sally and married Amphitrite (which didn't happen as close together as it sounds), the house didn't have a nursery set up. The closest thing it had was Aphrodite's room, which basically looked like a four year old girl's.

Percy groaned in frustration as he wrestled the small rectangle cradle into position, reaching out for the screwdriver. He grabbed it and brought it to the screw which he had firmly pressed into position, almost drawing blood from his finger. He carefully screwed it in, causing him to sigh in relief as he could now let go of the half-finished masterpiece and catch his breath.

Then he realised he'd read the instructions wrong, and placed that wall too far down, allowing for an easy escape should the baby choose to do so.

Percy flared his nostrils in frustration, and set away unscrewing his hard work to try again. "Are you really struggling with a box?" He heard the voice of his girlfriend from the doorway. He didn't even know she was coming over tonight. She hadn't told him that when he was visiting her two hours beforehand.

Percy smiled at her despite his sour mood. "It's frustrating, okay?" He defended, making her laugh slightly and approach him.

He pushed the crib away as she sat herself down into his lap, wrapping her arms around her neck and kissing him softly. She was wearing sweatpants and a pink t-shirt, no socks. Something he'd noticed during the past few weeks was that Artemis hardly gave a shit about her appearance in private. She used to at least change into her clothes when Percy was coming round, but now she'd get Apollo to drive her over to his place in her pyjamas.

"Do you want me to have a try?" She asked him, to which he stayed silent for a moment. Then he gave a defeated sigh and handed her the instruction manual. Artemis smirked in triumph and looked over the steps.

She studied the pamphlet for a few minutes, then dragged the crib closer to them. Picking up the screwdriver and a screw, she managed to fit the wood in the right place. Percy resorted to watching and learning as she semi-quickly pieced together the whole thing.

After less than half an hour, they were left with a small wooden box with railings on all sides. It was placed on four sturdy legs, standing at Percy's height when he was sitting down and Artemis' height when she was on her knees.

Tired, considering she did all the work and was pregnant, Artemis leaned back into Percy's chest and closed her eyes. The two teens sat in each other's presence and thought for a while. Percy stared at the blank gray walls of the room, which had yet to be painted. "Hey Arty, what gender do you think it's gonna be?" He asked her, disturbing her from her thoughts and her half-sleep.

"Girl." She answered without hesitation, which Percy took as a valid answer. Fifty-fifty chance she was right, unless it was Trans or something.

"I'd like a girl." He thought out loud while Artemis hummed in agreement.

Month 3 (March)

Artemis sat on the park bench in silence watching the little girl play in the sandpit with some other kids. She was babysitting her cousin Hebe (Hera's niece), and she'd decided to take the girl to the park. Hebe was only four and very quiet and shy, so it was pretty easy to keep watch of her. She wasn't the type of kid to run off.

Hebe was playing with all the other kids, and Artemis smiled at the interactions. There were parents all over the park, but Artemis did not try and socialize with them. She was not a parent, not in their age range, and hanging out at parks and talking to soccer moms was not high on her to-do list.

Of course, since this was a children's playground, there weren't exactly any people her age around, and there wasn't anyone she recognized other than Hebe. Artemis briefly began to worry if this was her fate. Sitting on park benches at 20 years old watching her kindergartener son or daughter play in a sandpit while she casually conversed with 30 year old women. Artemis knew for a fact that she did not want that life.

She was brought out of her thoughts when a woman sat down next to her. She turned her head, and her jaw dropped as she recognized the person. It was Percy's aunt Hestia. "Hestia?" She asked, not having seen the woman since Percy had introduced her to his family as his girlfriend about a year ago. Actually, that was a lie, they'd met once again when her and Percy went to Walmart to buy some Herschey's Kisses because Percy wanted to make a killer joke during the movie and ask her if she wanted a kiss.

That joke got him a pity kiss. A real one, not a Herschey's.

"Hello, Artemis dear. How are you?" She greeted ever so sweetly, holding her orange purse on her lap as she looked over. Her equally orange eyes burned into Artemis' soul. Artemis leaned back on the wooden bench, and looked over at Hebe. "I'm fine, just here babysitting my cousin. That's her with the brown hair and purple flower." She pointed, and the middle-aged woman got a good look. "A pretty little thing."

Artemis nodded, sipping on the sprite can she'd forgotten was sitting next to her. "I assume you heard about what's going on with me and Percy?" She said, still looking straight ahead. Hestia chuckled. "Better not word it like that in the future, my dear. You make it sound as if you two have broken up." The woman joked, and Artemis couldn't help but crack a smile.

Hestia sighed, her calm and happy expression never leaving her face. "And yes, I've heard. Percy told me. I'm happy for you both." She said, and the auburn haired teen hummed in acknowledgement. Hestia looked at her. "How are you handling it?" She inquired, and the daughter of Zeus shivered slightly, which wasn't normal of her.

Artemis breathed deeply, her eyes drifting to the ground in front of her. "I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and all but… I'm 16, too young to be a mom." She thought out loud, and Hestia remained silent.

Artemis continued. "We've spent so long getting ready for it, and we're only like a third of the way through the pregnancy. I already feel sick. I'm getting morning sickness and mood swings, and the stuff I'm eating… oh gods. You know that last night an avocado cupcake? Who does that?" She reprimanded herself.

Hestia rubbed her back calmingly, and Artemis resorted to burying her head in her hands. She felt tears coming, but held them back, only for the sadness to be replaced with tiredness. "I don't know what to do, Hestia. We both want the baby, but face it, we can't be parents. We just can't. We won't know what to do, how to take care of it." She admitted.

Artemis pulled herself up, and looked at the woman. "I… I started looking online recently… at abortion clinics… and adoption centres. I… I think we should get rid of the baby, or at least give it up." The teen confessed, which made Hestia frown. At seeing the older woman's mood sour, Artemis silently began to weep. Trying to stop herself from crying out loud, she buried her head in Hestia's shoulder.

They sat like that for a little while as Artemis poured her eyes and feelings out. Maybe five minutes later, she had resorted to sniffles, and slowly lifted her head away from Hestia's shoulder. "Artemis, dear, I have something to tell you. Listen closely." She said, piquing Artemis' interest.

Hestia gained a faraway look in her eyes, and smiled softly. "When I was a little bit older than you, maybe 18, I had a boyfriend. His name was Priapus, and long story short, I got pregnant. I wanted to keep the baby, but he did not. He wanted me to get an abortion. I should have refused, I should have left him and kept the baby, but I didn't. I was 18, far from home, my parents refused to speak to me and Poseidon was still at boarding school. I had no one to turn to." She said, and Artemis' heart sunk.

For the first time, Artemis saw Hestia cry, and as a lone tear escaped the woman's left eye. "I got rid of it, and three weeks later, he dumped me. I was left cold and alone on the streets of some city. I've never felt worse than I had in that moment. I'd gotten rid of my child to be with him, and he left me." She said, and Artemis felt a tidal wave of sorrow and empathy wash over her. She couldn't imagine Percy dumping her, or making her get an abortion.

"Not just that," Hestia continued. "A few years later, in my early twenties, I tried to have a kid. I was single, so I just slept around. I felt like such a whore, but I knew it would be all worth it once I had a little bundle of joy in my arms. A month later, many sexual partners later, the doctor told me I couldn't have anymore kids. I've never had a partner since. I promised myself I wouldn't. Again, all for nothing." She admitted, and yet another tear trailed down her cheek.

Quickly wiping it away, she turned to Artemis. "My dear, keep the child. I know it might seem like a bad idea on paper, but it will be worth it, trust me. You never know when you can lose the chance forever, and your baby will slip in the endless void of time." She warned ominously, making Artemis feel like throwing up.

The woman dabbed at her cheeks again. "I'd better go. I wish you and Percy the best of luck. Keep my words in mind, my dear. Goodbye." She said, walking off down the path away from the teenager.

Artemis was left to dwell on her thoughts.

Month 4 (April)

Artemis groaned in annoyance as Percy set the stack of books down on the table in front of her. "Ugh, all that?" She asked in disbelief as she realised staying home would be harder than she thought. Percy hummed in affirmation as he sat down on the bed next to her.

"You want some help?" He asked, pulling her in to cuddle up against him. Artemis laughed slightly. "What could you teach me, Seaweed Brain?" She mocked, which she realised was actually quite mean as it came out. Percy frowned slightly, but he knew she wasn't trying to be mean, so he smirked. "You'd better watch your tone. You're gonna be relying on me to tell you what the teacher taught us for half the lesson." He warned her playfully, to which she just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Pfft, I could just call Aphrodite." She said, trying to prove her point and come out on top. Percy just laughed. "You really think that ditz pays attention in class? Half the time she just begs Paul for answers or tries to persuade Amphitrite to help her. She's bullshitted her way through all of high school." Percy told her, truth to his words.

Artemis sighed as she realised he was right.

She reached over and grabbed her maths book, opening it and turning to the latest page. It had a simple worksheet in it, and she began to scribble the answers in, semi-caring if she was getting them right. Percy pointed to a corner of the page where she'd written an answer. "It's three decimal places, not one." He corrected, to which she fixed it.

Percy sat behind her, legs on either side of her hips as he played with her untied auburn hair. He liked her hair. It was smooth and silky, and like Aphrodite, her hair could be styled in any way and still look gorgeous. Except afros. Artemis couldn't poof her hair up.

He practiced his braids, which he had been forced to learn years ago when his parents got divorced and his father had yet to meet Amphitrite, so Aphrodite would need someone to help do her hair. Percy had to adapt, and according to his sister, girlfriend, mother, stepmother, aunt, and most of his female friends, he had adapted pretty well.

He ended up doing a dutch braid, running his hands over both of the tails in satisfaction. "All done." He told her. The girl took a break from her homework to smile up at him and feel her new hairstyle. "Thanks, it's a great job, as usual." She congratulated him, before returning to her work.

Percy soon found himself growing bored, and he rested his chin on top of her head and began looking around the room. Artemis' room was very simple, she had never been one to decorate such as Aphrodite.

She had silver LED's on the wall opposite the door that drew out the shape of a young woman with a bow and arrow, aiming at the sky. At night, when the lights were off, it looked like a constellation of stars in a night sky. Her walls were a simple light shade of green that was pleasant to the eyes, and the roof was white wood made in a brick-like pattern.

Artemis had her own flat screen tv, which came useful when they wanted to snuggle up and watch a movie. Artemis' siblings didn't like their PDA. They didn't even like Percy coming over. It was sad. Percy and Apollo used to get along really well, but Apollo still hadn't accepted that his twin had a boyfriend, her first boyfriend, her first kiss, her first date, the guy she lost her virginity to. She also had a collection of DVDs, as well as a netflix subscription, so they never ran out of stuff to watch.

On either side of her queen sized bed were bookshelves. One had a lamp on it, and it contained all her books that were part of series that she'd taken a chance at during the years. The only ones she'd really liked were Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and A Song of Ice and Fire, which combined took her like three years to complete. On the other side of the bed the bookshelf contained all the other random books, and on top of it was Percy's favorite thing in this room, other than Artemis.

It was a photo of the two of them, taking during the Christmas that their unborn child was conceived. They had gone for a walk in the national park in Montauk, and chose to take a photo of the two of them. Percy thought Artemis looked so cute in her silver parka, and her smile almost melted the snow.

That same night, the 23rd, they ended up getting lost in the park, and Artemis was pissed off at him when he suggested that there might be a killer hiding in the trees, or a wendigo silently stalking them, thoroughly freaking her out due to the frightening circumstance they were already in. At near 10pm that night, Artemis burst into the cabin angrily, frightening Sally and Paul, and annoyed, made her way to their room without even brushing off the snow or taking her boots off. Of course, Sally was more mad at Percy for scaring Artemis than she was at Artemis for tracking snow through the cabin.

As you can tell, by the next night they'd made up.

Percy grew bored, and he removed his head from hers to lie back, closing his eyes and drifting off into a deep sleep.

He was in bed, and it was dark. Artemis must have turned off the light. When he felt around with his eyes closed, he couldn't feel anyone next to him. Perhaps she'd gotten up. Oh well, he was too tired to go look, or even open his eyes.

He was awake, barely, but his eyes were closed. He noted that the bedsheets next to him were cold, indicating that Artemis had gotten up a while ago. He smiled as he thought of his love, with her lush auburn hair and her glistening silver eyes and the equally silver ring he'd put on her finger.

In his silence, he managed to hear voices outside the room, through the shut door. "Mommy, can we wake daddy now?" A young female voice asked pleadingly from the hallway. A familiar voice laughed softly, and spoke. "Not yet, hon. We'll let him sleep for a little bit longer." An older voice said softly. This time the voice of a young girl could be heard, but he noticed it was more high pitched and younger than the first.

"But I wanna give him his present now!" The younger voice complained, and Percy faintly managed to hear a small laugh distinctly coming from the woman. "Okay, okay, you can go wake him up." The woman relented. Percy hadn't the time to snore before the door burst open, smashing into the wall behind it.

Percy's eyes shot open as the sound of the door shocked him awake, and he felt two weights body slam onto him, or at least it felt like. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!" The two girls shouted in his ear. Percy didn't get time to look at their faces. He only got time to look over to the door, where Artemis was standing smiling at him.

Percy jolted awake, for real this time, to the sound of a movie playing at full volume. "Shit, sorry." Artemis said, grabbing the remote and turning it almost completely down. She must've started a movie while he was asleep. "You must've been having a good dream. You were smiling." Artemis inferred, sitting down next to him. His girlfriend snuggled into his side, beginning the movie.

"You don't know the half of it." Percy said quietly.

Month 5 (May)

Artemis was spending her day as she usually did during the week. She was watching some Youtube videos on Algebra, her form of studying, when the door opened quietly. She paused the video and took off her headphones, looking up. Apollo stood at the door, staring in at her awkwardly.

"What's up?" She asked, not even realising what time of day it was, and that her brothers were probably all home by now. Apollo entered the room and shut the door behind him. "Hey, uh, can I talk to you about something?" He asked nervously, leading her to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Okay? What is it?" She questioned.

Apollo sat down on the bed next to her. "Look, I know I've been… kind of a dick." He began, which immediately triggered Artemis. "Kind of a dick? You told me to kill my baby. If you ask me, THAT'S MORE THAN KIND OF A DICK MOVE!" She screamed, instantly making Apollo regret this confrontation.

They had not been getting along very well for the past 5 months, mainly because Artemis was pissed at his behavior when she revealed her pregnancy. At least her parents were just disappointed, and rightfully so.

Apollo evidently looked hurt, and Artemis' face returned to its normal color. She felt bad for yelling at him. "Sorry, mood swings. Stupid pregnant body." She said, looking down but not mad at the baby, of course.

Apollo's ears perked up. "Oh, and how is it being pregnant?" He asked. Artemis groaned, glad to have someone other than Percy or her mom to vent to. "It fucking sucks. I wake up, I need to vomit, I have to waddle into the shower because my stomach feels uncomfortable, I'm eating the most disgusting shit but it tastes so good, and on top of all that I've got constant homework. You want my advice? Never get pregnant." She warned him, making her twin brother laugh.

The two siblings sat in silence for a few seconds before the younger brother remembered what he came there for. "Uh, as I was saying. I've been a bit of an ass…" He trailed off, gulping as he saw Artemis' narrowed eyes. "Okay, a huge asshole. I just wanted to say… I'm sorry." He sighed, not looking up at her.

That one hit Artemis hard. She knew it was hard for anyone in her family to apologize for anything, even if it was their fault. It must've damaged a lot of pride for Apollo to say that. But still, he wasn't done.

"I was just pissed that you're dating Percy, even after like a whole year. He was everything I wanted to be when I started high school. Sporty but not a jock, popular but not an asshole, smart... okay good-graded but not a nerd, fun and wild but not batshit crazy, had a good family, liked by teachers, all that stuff. And then you're my baby sis, you were supposed to be pure, a virgin, innocent, and then you got an amazing boyfriend and started going to parties and even got on the cheerleading team. You made friends." Apollo sighed, and Artemis felt guilty, but that didn't mean he was completely right.

"Apollo, you made friends. I know you think you're a loner who's only survived because of his family, but that doesn't mean you're an outcast or whatever you're thinking. What about Hephaestus, or Hermes or Hecate or any of those guys. Are they not your friends?" Artemis asked, trying to cheer him up.

Apollo looked over at her. "Artemis, you know what I mean. They're my close buddies, my inner circle. You have one too, I see you guys hanging out all the time. The difference between you and I is that you have an army of side friends, people who like you. I have like 6 friends and then the people I sit next to in classes. I don't go to parties and socialize that way like you do. Hell, I don't even have a girlfriend. Closest I got were Hyacinthus and Daphne, but she didn't like me back and he… well, you know." Apollo said, resting his head on his hand.

Artemis knew full well what he meant. Sophomore year, Apollo had a thing for his friend Hyacinthus. The day he was gonna come out of the closet and admit he was bi and liked the guy, which he had planned with Artemis, Hyacinthus was hit by a car on the way to school, and died in hospital hours later. He never woke up after the fall, so Apollo never got to say goodbye, and worse, never got to admit his feelings.

Artemis felt bad. "I'm sorry, Apollo. I still am. But hey, it's not all sunshine in my life. Partying is usually fun, but it can go sour. I ever tell you what happened at the party after we beat the Sharks?" She asked, and Apollo shook his head confused.

"We went to a party at Marcus' house, you know Marcus LeBlanc? Well anyway, it was the team, the cheerleading squad and plenty of other people, so a pretty crowded place. I was drinking a lot that night. After about 5 or 6 drinks, Percy came over to me and took my hand, and I didn't think twice about it as he led me upstairs." She said, and Apollo's eyes widened as he realised where this was going.

"He led me into a spare bedroom, and got me to take my shirt off. I let him touch my boobs, and it felt kinda off. Just as I was about to take off my bra, the door burst open, and Percy was standing there." Apollo's jaw dropped in shock.

"I looked back at who I thought was Percy, but it turns out the alcohol was lying to me, because it was actually that Orion kid a year above us. I let that creep molest me." Artemis shivered. "He may have been a year above us, but Percy was like 5 games into being a football player, so he easily grabbed the guy and threw him down the stairs." Artemis laughed, managing to draw one from Apollo.

"Ares came over asking what the hell he was doing. Percy explained what happened, and even though Ares and I hate each other, the guy almost raped his sister, so Ares and some other huge guy dragged him outside and did god knows what." She told him, making Apollo smile in satisfaction.

Artems continued. "I was so upset. I thought Percy would think I cheated on him and dump me, but instead he came over and hugged me. He asked what happened and I told him. I told him how I was drunk and thought it was him, and that I was sorry. He understood though. He said he saw the guy, completely sober, approach me who was completely shitfaced. So he didn't leave me, but he was flattered I'd let him touch my boobs so easily." Artemis finished the story with a lighthearted joke.

Apollo's lips were sealed shut, as he couldn't find the right things to say. Artemis decided to speak for him. "So yeah, that's why you don't wanna be popular, little bro. It's all fun and alcohol and drugs until you almost get raped." She advised him. Apollo cheekily grinned. "I wouldn't mind getting 'raped' by Aphrodite." He joked, making her punch him in the arm for the comment about her friend.

Apollo thought over her story. He was shocked that he hadn't heard about this until now. "Wow, so he stayed with you even after that? Percy really is the Golden Boy of Goode High." Apollo rolled his eyes with a smile. Artemis's face darkened as she remembered what he said earlier.

"He's not as perfect as you say, you know that. We've been friends since kindergarten for crying out loud. He has lots of problems. Swimming and Football stresses him majorly, even to the point where he got prescription meds to take the day of games from the doctor to help alleviate his anxiety. His family life isn't perfect, since his parents divorced and he hated his stepmother for the first good year. Some teachers hate him because he's a sassy little shit. Not everyone likes him, in fact a few people hate him, even one or two on his own team. On top of that, his mind is almost as empty as yours, so…" Artemis told him with a smirk, and the brother tried his best to hold in a grin.

He looked down, thinking over it. "Yeah, I guess I never really thought about it. No one's perfect. But again, the real reason I came here was to apologize, and also something else." He said, and the teen girl looked up at him in confusion.

He took a deep breath. "I wanna help you with this baby. I've decided to put my disliking of you being in a relationship aside because… well, you're pregnant, you've had sex, you're not a virgin, you're not the little innocent good girl I hoped you'd be forever. I've just gotta get over it. I wanna be a good uncle. Plus, the only real career I have going for me is either music or become a doctor or something, so I feel like this would go good on an application to medical school." He grinned cheekily.

Despite his joke, Artemis felt like she was gonna tear up. This was all she wanted out of him, and he was finally accepting her. He wouldn't ostracize her and look down on her in shame. Maybe he'd even start to like Percy, and her son or daughter would have an uncle who actually cared about them. Now they would have more than Aunty Aphrodite.

Artemis hugged her brother tighter than she'd ever hugged him before. Even harder than when she was 8 years old and she sprained her ankle falling out of a tree, and Percy carried her the whole two miles back to the house, where Apollo hugged her while her father bandaged her foot. She smiled and cried into his shirt as they held each other close for a few long minutes.

Month 6 (June)

Artemis smiled despite the discomfort she was in as her baby kicked at her stomach once more. "It's kicking." She told Percy as she held her stomach happily. She was pretty bloated now, her stomach pointed outwards and sort of hung down in front of her a bit, like a fat girl wearing skinny jeans.

That was one of the things that really annoyed her about pregnancy, she felt hideous, disgusting. Her and Percy hadn't had sex in four months, since they didn't want to hurt the baby and Percy personally didn't find huge stomachs attractive. That didn't mean they had gone clean though. No, they were still very prone to making out, and they even still did oral sometimes, usually Percy to alleviate her mood swings.

Percy looked over at her, then down at her stomach, before looking back up at her and smiling. He only did so for a second or two before his eyes turned back to the road. The two of them were currently heading up to get an ultrasound, which they hadn't done yet. They originally didn't want to know things like the gender or size or what it looked like. They wanted it to be a complete surprise when the baby popped out sometime in September. They had just been to the doctor's a few times and she'd scanned it to make sure it was healthy, but she'd never revealed things they didn't want to know or showed them scans.

Recently the baby had started kicking, and Percy commented in passing that the baby was gonna be a fighter. That had gotten Artemis thinking about how big it was, if it was a boy, if it would look more like her or Percy. She thought about that for a long time, then came to the conclusion that she at least wanted to know the gender. After talking to Percy, they agreed to get an ultrasound and finally see their baby.

So as their parents sat at home waiting for the gender of their first grandchild, Percy and Artemis sat in the pickup, the latter worrying slightly about the upcoming ultrasound. She voiced her concerns to her boyfriend. "What if it… what if it's not right? Deformed, or… or not breathing, or something!" She panicked, starting to hug her stomach and hyperventilate.

Percy took a double take at her, then quickly pulled over to the side of the road when he realised his girlfriend was about to have a panic attack. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay Arty. The baby's fine. It's perfectly fine. If it wasn't, they would've told us, they're not allowed to not tell us." He reassured her, but it wasn't enough.

Artemis felt like crying. She had never really thought about these things before, and now as they were on their way to meet their child, these worries all rammed into her like she was tied to a train track. Then suddenly, she looked over and saw her angel. Percy engulfed her in a hug, and Artemis felt safe again. As he whispered comforts in her ear with that soothing voice of his, Artemis felt calm again.

The radio played Train quietly in the background as they embraced each other. When Artemis felt she was presentable for wherever the hell they were going, Percy parted from her and started up the car, smiling reassuringly towards her. They took off again, and managed to get there in 8 minutes, Artemis was counting, and pulled into the small parking lot that was mainly employees.

Percy shut off the car and got out, making his way around to the other side to open the door for Artemis. As he smirked charmingly, she rolled her eyes. "I'm pregnant, not crippled." She told him, making her way towards the front door of the clinic. Percy quickly caught up to her after locking the truck. "According to literally everyone we know, it's practically the same." He said truthfully.

They walked into the planned parenthood, and Percy gestured for her to go take a seat. His girlfriend did so, and he walked up to the front desk, where a large and scary woman stared down at him. Seriously, she looked like the office lady from Monsters Inc and it was scaring Percy. "Uh, hi, we're here for an ultrasound with Dr Ilithyia at 1:30?" He asked, though it came out as a question. Best not to anger the beast with demands.

The lady's neck shifted so she was looking down at her notes. "Go wait over there." She said, not pointing or looking anywhere. Confused, Percy just sat down next to Artemis.

They waited for around 20 minutes, 5 minutes past when they were due to go in. Then, a woman walked out wearing the stereotypical white coat. "Mr and Mrs Jackson, come in." She smiled, knowing full well that calling Artemis 'Mrs Jackson' embarrassed them both. They got up and followed her down a hall into a room.

"Sorry, just got here from the hospital. Someone else gave birth only a couple hours ago, I was helping out with that." She said, taking off the white coat and sitting down on a roller chair. "So I hear you want to get an ultrasound?" She said, gathering some papers on the desk. The two teens nodded. "We decided we don't want to wait anymore. We want to know the gender and see our baby." Artemis said, clutching Percy's hand.

Their doctor smiled. "Great! Follow me and we'll get you guys sorted." She said, getting up and leading them out of the room. They followed her out into a larger room with a bed that looked really uncomfortable. "Just lie on there, Artemis. You can sit next to her, Percy." She said, going over to the machine that did the actual ultrasound.

Artemis lay down on the bed, and found it was way more comfortable than it looked. She felt relaxed on it as Percy sat next to her and held her hand. Artemis looked over at him and smiled as the doctor came back over with some weird gel stuff on her hand.

"Lift your shirt up above your stomach." She said, to which Artemis managed to pull it over. Artemis still wore normal sized shirts, since having her pregnant stomach fully visible thanks to the outline of the shirt was better than wearing one of the huge dresses from her Aunt Demeter that looked straight out of the 1950s.

The doctor applied the weird cream, spreading it over her stomach and pelvic area, which made Artemis uncomfortable. Not only was it a part of her body that she was not enthusiastic on being touched, but the gel was really fucking cold. It felt like melted ice cream, and Artemis did not like the feeling of a McDonald's ice cream being spooned all over her unborn child.

It didn't take long, and the doctor then went and got some weird probe thingy, and Artemis' eyes widened as she realised her legs were spread and the doctor was right in front of her. Thankfully, the doctor didn't do that. She turned on the TV and sat down next to Artemis, on the opposite side of Percy.

"Okay, so it should be appearing on the screen any second now." She said as she pressed the probe to Artemis' stomach. The teen shivered from the touch, but squeezed Percy's hand as they both stared at the TV in anticipation.

The doctor shifted the probe around a bit, and after a few moments the faint outline of a shape came into view. Artemis and Percy both held in a breath as the doctor got a more accurate view. She found one soon enough, and both Percy and Artemis gasped at the sight.

It was their baby, sleeping peacefully inside of her. It wasn't quite human-looking yet, being only six months old, but Artemis could already notice some familiar features. It would probably change shape, but Artemis could see Percy's face in the baby, and her own nose. It was still a fetus, so she couldn't gauge much more than that. But still, the sight of a little Percy sleeping softly inside her stomach was enough to make her cry.

"What's the gender?" Percy asked, and the doctor grabbed a sticky note and wrote something down, before scrunching it up into a ball and throwing it at him, smiling. Percy managed to catch the ball with a shaky hand, and briefly let go of Artemis' hand to unfold it. The two of them eagerly looked to see what the doctor had written.

They were not disappointed.

The two of them left the planned parenthood beaming, having finally met their child, with Artemis clutching a photo of the baby in her arms. As Percy helped her into the pickup, he suddenly got an idea. "So I've got an idea on how to break this to our families." He said, still happy. Artemis was too delighted to even worry about his plan. "What is it?" She asked, and he leaned over to whisper it in his ear.

Artemis grinned when he pulled back. "I'm in, let's go." She said, strapping herself in. Once Percy had done the same, he took off while Artemis searched for a good radio station. The two of them spent the next three quarters of an hour at Walmart preparing for the big reveal.

Meanwhile, at the Olympia residence, most of the family of both Percy and Artemis were there. That being: Zeus, Hera, Sally, Paul, Poseidon, Amphitrite, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo and Hestia. They eagerly awaited the big reveal of the baby's gender. They had been here for nearly three hours, drinking wine -yes Aphrodite and Apollo were allowed some- and watching television in Zeus and Hera's lounge. Ares and Dionysus had been told to go out for the day.

As the front door opened, they paused the show and looked at the entrance to the living room, anticipating both Percy and Artemis to come through screaming 'It's a boy!' Or 'It's a girl!'. Instead, Percy came alone, and was soon bombarded with questions.

He put his hands up to silence them, and when they had quietened down, he spoke. "Alright, here's what gonna happen. You're gonna give us 5 or 10 minutes to get ready, and when we come in, you'll know what the gender is. The only catch? No peeking. Got it?" He told them, receiving many nods and a few okays. Percy left the house, and the whole room erupted into conversation as everyone wondered what they were doing and more importantly, what the gender was.

"I still think it's gonna be a boy. Big and strong like his father and grandfather." Poseidon said laughing, earning an agreement from Zeus. "Are you kidding? It's gonna be a girl. I can feel it." Hera interjected. Still, there was no way of knowing until they came in, so the lot of them returned to their wine and tv.

The front opened once more,about five minutes later, and Paul paused the tv. They all put down their glasses and looked towards the entrance, where the future parents would appear any second. They heard footsteps, and sat with bated breath until Percy and Artemis showed themselves, making everyone's jaw drop.

Percy was wearing a skirt and holding one of those fairy wands with the star on the end. A long cape draped down his back, and he had a plastic crown adorning his head. He had a huge fake beard that he'd found for two bucks, almost smothering his head. The rest of his face had paint on it, with what appeared to be a handprint over his left eye.

Artemis' getup was much simpler. It was a panther onesie, with the same fairy skirt as Percy wore overtop of it. She also had paint on her face, though hers was styled so that she looked like she was straight out of the band KISS.

As you can probably guess, their entire costume was pink. Percy and Artemis were having a baby girl.

Aphrodite was the first to break, squealing so loudly the baby was probably gonna come out deaf before she tackled them both in a hug. Not literally of course. The rest of them gradually woke up and smiled, getting up and congratulating the two.

Only 3 more months.

Month 7 (July)

She had to admit, Artemis was slightly worried as Aphrodite and Piper led her down the hallway of her own home with a blindfold over her eyes. They held one arm each, steering her to avoid injury, but to Artemis it felt like she was being led to the chopping block.

Artemis knew when they arrived, because the aura around her immediately changed. The blindfold was removed from her eyes, and Artemis gasped. The entire room was decorated, with the large silver banner over the window screaming HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARTEMIS! Balloons were bunched up in all corners of the room, amplifying the party atmosphere even more.

Her female friends were all there, along with her mom, sister, Percy's moms and aunt Hestia. Aphrodite grasped her shoulders and leaned in beside her ear. "You like it?" She asked, and Artemis couldn't lie. She was shocked, shocked that they did all this for her birthday. "Yes… Yes I love it!" She almost squealed, which was very unlike her. Very unlike her.

Hera and Athena gave each other a strange look as Artemis hugged Aphrodite, but didn't say anything about it. Finally, Artemis broke away and looked at everyone. "Where's all the guys?" She asked, noticing a distinct lack of males in the building. Sally explained it for her. "Well, not only is this your birthday party, but we decided to combine it with the baby shower. We'll do the latter first, and once we're done the boys will come back and we'll have the actual birthday party." She said.

"I assume Zeus and Poseidon brought Percy to the bar with them, you know how Ganymede can be bought over easily by Zeus. I'm sure for a couple thousand and the promise that no one would call the cops, he'd let Percy have some drinks with half the men in town. They said they'd be home once the game ended, so we have until about, what? 8?" Amphitrite elaborated.

Piper nodded. "Yep, so we better hurry up before the dad-chelor party gets back. What's first?" She said, clapping her hands and sitting down on the couch. Artemis followed her, and waited patiently for someone to kick things off.

"Well, I guess I'll volunteer to start with mine." Hazel said, going over to the pile of presents and picking out her one. She picked up a relatively small green box and handed it to Artemis. The teen was still dazed over what was happening, so she just tore the gift wrap off and opened the box. She pulled out a large piece of fabric, and almost made a noise reminiscent of someone like Aphrodite or Piper or Sally.

It was a onesie, baby sized, made to look like a tiger. It had an orange and black striped pattern along it, and it was woolen to keep the baby warm. On top it had a small hood, appearing as the head of a tiger. Artemis thought her daughter would look very cute in the attire, something which she wasn't one to think about.

"This is amazing, Hazel. Thank you!" She said, putting the onesie down and pulling her younger friend in for a hug.

Thalia got up next, and handed Artemis a long present. "Here. It's a birthday present, not really suitable for kids." She said simply, placing the box in Artemis' arms and patting it. Artemis looked down at the box and wondered for a second if it was a shotgun. She wouldn't put it past Thalia. Then she realised it was too light to be a gun, so she opened the box.

Artemis smiled when she saw what it was. She knows me so well, she thought to herself. Inside was a long silver recurve bow, glistening up at her. She recognized it as one she had pointed out to Percy when they were going through some magazines they stole from the dumpster of a doctor's office nearly a year ago. Don't ask why they were going through that. That led her to believe that Percy had something to do with the choosing of this gift.

"I'm guessing Percy suggested this to you?" She asked her close friend, and Thalia nodded. "You like it?" She asked, nodding to the bow. She knew Artemis was a big time archery fan. She was off every couple of months competing in competitions, and usually taking home the gold as well. If not her, then her twin brother Apollo, who was also big on archery. The two could often be seen challenging each other in the backyard, but at the end of the day they were practically equal in skill.

Artemis nodded. "Thank you so much Thalia." She said, placing the bow down beside Hazel's onesie. Amphitrite was next, giving her two boxes. Upon opening the larger one, Artemis found an empty scrapbook. "For the baby. I don't know how many photos you take, but it'd be nice to get some memories there." She explained, and Artemis thanked her. She didn't really take photos, at least not as much as an Instagram thot like Aphrodite or Piper. Perhaps that would change once the baby came along. Not the thot part though.

"The other one is your birthday gift. Percy suggested it to me." She said, pointing to the smaller present. Artemis tore off the wrapping paper, and grinned as she found a stack of three PS4 games. Until Dawn, Terraria, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Old games, but ones she hadn't gotten around to yet.

"Thanks 'Trite." She said, using the nickname Amphitrite had permissed her to use. Sure, there wasn't much you could do with Amphitrite, but Mermaid had already been claimed by Poseidon.

"I got something a little more useful than a scrapbook." Piper said suggestively, which worried Artemis. She then walked over to the largest present, which was large. It was half Artemis' height, and about her width from shoulder to shoulder. As Piper got out a knife and tore the paper apart, Artemis could see why it was so big.

It was a cardboard box, and as Piper pulled open the lid, Artemis' jaw hit the floor. A crate's worth of diapers, all fresh and still in the packaging. This gift alone probably saved her and Percy hundreds of dollars. "I… don't know whether to be grateful or pissed." She said, while Piper smirked continuously. "Why would you be pissed?" She asked innocently.

"You got me diapers for my birthday. How much did this even cost?" She asked, dumbfounded. Piper tsked. "A rude question, Arty. But, I took a small loan from dad's bank account. He's got millions, he won't miss a thousand or so bucks." She said. Everyone else in the room was shocked, but generally agreed that it was a good gift on account of how much money it'd save them.

"Okay, well mine was nowhere near as valuable as that, but it's the thought that counts." Hestia said, dragging over a big box. Smaller than the last, but definitely second biggest. Artemis opened it, and gasped as she pulled out a giant teddy bear. The thing went up to her thighs, and was bright pink with a love heart sewn into the chest. The thing would absolutely dwarf the baby, but Artemis saw it as one of the most wonderful things on earth.

"Oh. My. God. This is amazing, Hestia!" She said, launching herself at Hestia for a hug, forgetting that she was like 6 inches pregnant. The older woman chuckled and patted her back. "It's quite alright, dear. Now hurry up and move on, we haven't got all day." She said, gently pushing the teen off.

Artemis herself went to the gifts and picked one out herself. "That one's mine." Athena said, sipping on her cup of coffee. Artemis kept her smile, but to be honest she was entirely expecting a copy of Pride and Prejudice for when the girl turned 3, which was about the age Athena thinks children should be reading high school stuff at.

But, when she tore open the present, she got a bit of a surprise. It was a blanket, far too small for her. It was obviously for the baby, and it was silver with a picture of a deer on it. The deer was Artemis' favorite animal, and silver her favorite color, and Athena knew that, so Artemis appreciated the symbolism.

Of course, since it was Athena, she couldn't not giver Artemis a book, so there one was. It wasn't Pride and Prejudice like Artemis expected. No, this one was called Baby 101, and it was clearly supposed to be a joke, some sort of gag gift. Artemis smiled at the book, and thanked her sister. "Not what I expected, but thanks." She said, putting the book and blanket down on the pile of opened gifts.

Sally gave her the next present. "As the grandmother of your child, I declare my gift to be the most important." She joked, giving Artemis a very small box. Artemis wondered for a second if it was a wedding ring, and if Sally was proposing to her. Tentatively, she opened the gift wrap to find a jewellery box. After opening the box, she found a small locket, even more silver than the blanket.

She looked up at Sally, silently asking what the purpose of the locket was. "Percy told me you like silver, so I got you that. It's to put a picture of you and Percy inside it, I gave him one as well, though his is cobalt blue. I thought it would be quite romantic." Sally clasped her hands together, looking proud of herself.

Artemis had to admit, she felt like she was going to cry. She looked down at the locket and flipped it open. Though it was empty, she could imagine her and Percy forever smiling at each other. TL;DR, she absolutely loved it. "It's beautiful, Sally." She said, engulfing her probable-future-mother-in-law in a hug. Sally hugged her back, smiling and chuckling softly. "It's fine, Artemis. Just take care of my son, and my granddaughter.

They broke away, and Hera cleared her throat. "Well, mine certainly isn't as romantic as that, but I'm sure you'll like it all the same." She said, scooting a rectangular box over to her. Artemis opened it, and almost gasped when she saw it.

It was a tiny dress, so regal and elegant, but somehow still clearly a baby item. It was light green, with little sparkles on the skirt. Artemis began to get rapid flashbacks, but she couldn't pinpoint them or really even see them. Still, she knew the dress from somewhere.

"That was your dress when you were a baby, you used to love it. You were wearing it up until you were almost 3, and we had to keep extending it. I got it back down to infant size, since I thought you might want your daughter to wear it." She said, and suddenly Artemis could remember. Some of her earliest memories were of her looking in the mirror at her green dress while her mother did her hair. It brought a huge smile to her face.

"Thank you so much mom. I thought we lost this!" She said, quickly hugging Hera, before pulling back and re-examining the dress to make sure it was real. Her mother shook her head. "No, I found it buried under Ares' stuff in the attic a couple of weeks ago. Slob doesn't know how to properly store things up there, he literally threw all his boxes into a corner, which ended up crossing into your area." Hera ranted.

Aphrodite cleared her throat. "Finally, we can do mine." She said. Artemis looked over and saw there were no gifts left. Before she could ask where Aphrodite's was, the teen reached behind the couch and pulled out a badly wrapped lump. "I didn't want you to accidentally pick mine, since I wanted it to be last, so I hid it here." She explained, handing Artemis the blob.

To be honest, Artemis wasn't really excited, in fact she was a bit worried. She had known Aphrodite since they were little kids, and the girl was a bit… unpredictable. She most likely bought Artemis lingerie for later one. So, she was extremely cautious when opening the present to be the only one to see it at first, lest her mother and friends be traumatized.

She was wholly unprepared to find inside… a teddy bear? As she pulled it out of the wrapping, she held it in her hands. It was cream colored, and about the average size of teddy bears, unlike the monstrosity Hestia got her. The bear was in a state of semi-disrepair. One of the eyes had fallen off, and was barely being held on by glue. It had three lines of stitches along the stomach, looking like a war vet or a chucky doll.

It had a weird green stain on the right arm, which looked like it'd been bleached. The ear was slightly torn, like Mike Tyson had owned this bear when he was a young lad. Finally, the thread that made the line of a smile on the bear's face was slowly slipping off, and if she tugged on one end Artemis might've gotten rid of the bear's mouth.

Sally gasped when she saw it, and looked at Aphrodite with happiness in her eyes. Percy's sister spoke. "That was my teddy bear when I was little, Mr Bear. Very original name, I know. I tried to fix him up a bit before we came here, but he's been loved a hell of a lot, as you can see." She smiled, folding her hands in front of her.

As Artemis traced her thumb over the bear's face, Sally laughed and sipped some wine. "I remember the day you and Percy both broke bones at the exact same moment." She said, catching everyone's attention.

"The two of them were playing in the backyard, Percy in the pool and Aphrodite just on the grass. Poseidon and I were sitting on the porch watching, and we both went inside to get more drinks. Apparently Aph ended up getting Mr Bear stuck on the tallest branch of the tree. Instead of asking for help, she climbed all the way up and got it." She began, and Artemis already started to cringe. She remembered this all too well, as her, Apollo, and Zeus all went to visit Percy and Aphrodite in hospital afterwards.

"Meanwhile, Percy had dragged the 6 foot slide all the way from the backyard to the pool area and got on it. Right as Poseidon and I came outside, these two both simultaneously almost killed themselves. As Aphrodite jumped from a 15 foot tall tree to the solid ground, Percy went down the slide. Unfortunately, Aphrodite miscalculated the height and broke her left leg upon impact, while Percy misjudged how fast the slide was gonna make him go and he held out his hand to stop himself. Of course, his arm hit the opposite wall of the pool and the right wrist snapped." A chorus of 'ooh's rang out as everyone cringed.

"I don't think neither your father nor I will forget the horrid sounds of two different people's bones going krrk at the same time. Moral of the story, don't leave your daughter out of sight with that bear. Trouble's bound to happen." She winked at Artemis as they all laughed at the story, even Aphrodite.

Artemis took another look at the bear, then got up and softly hugged Aphrodite. "Thank you Aph, it means a lot for you to give my daughter such a precious item." She said, still managing to hold in tears. Aphrodite on the other hand was having plenty of trouble. "It's okay…" She sniffled. "I'm gonna miss that bear. Make sure you get him patched up." She said, crying onto Artemis shoulder. Hera mouthed to her daughter from behind Aphrodite. I can do that.

As she placed Mr Bear down on the coffee table, Artemis clapped her hands. "Alright, who wants some cake?" She asked, but was immediately rebuked by Amphitrite. "Actually, the boys were supposed to be picking up the cake from Mrs Gemini from down the street, but they've probably started a food fight with some local gangsters, only they're using food and the gangsters are using guns." She joked.

Right as she said that, the door burst open, and 7 men walked into the house. 5 of them were clearly slightly intoxicated, while the two sober ones held a birthday cake in their hands, and Apollo sat down next to her quickly.

The drunk men started the party off. "Happy birthday to you!" Then everyone else joined in as Piper turned off the lights and Thalia tried to quickly light the candles. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Artemis and Apollo! Happy birthday to you!" They finished as Jason placed the cake in front of them. He and Nico were the sober ones, while Zeus, Paul, Poseidon, Apollo and Percy had clearly had some silly juice.

Artemis smiled at the cake, which was banana with white icing on top. Happy 17th Birthday Artemis & Apollo was written in cursive with chocolate icing, courtesy of Mrs Gemini.

Percy walked over to her and sat down next to her, stopping halfway there to pick up the teddy bear. "Hey, Mr Bear. Where've you been?" He asked, bringing the bear to the couch and hugging it. He leaned over to Artemis and kissed her temple. "Happy birthday Moonbeam. Make a wish." He said hazily.

Artemis smiled and closed her eyes. I wish for my daughter to have the best life imaginable. Please, just give me that. She wished, then waiting for Apollo to make his wish. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and nodded at Artemis. The three of them silently counted to three, before blowing out the candle and plunging them into darkness. Like seriously, it was pitch black. When the light came on, Percy was holding something out.

As Artemis looked over, she gasped, and dropped her wine glass, as did Sally and Hera, while everyone else just gasped. He was holding out a silver ring, with a deep blue gem beautifully woven into it.

"Percy." Poseidon hissed, suddenly sober. "I told you to wait a few years." He reprimanded, but Percy didn't spare him a glance.

"Artemis, we've been together for, what, nearly two years now? It hasn't been that long, but I already know you're the one for me. You're the mother of my child, the love of my life. I don't care if you wanna wait, we can wait forever, till we're out of college, till we've got a house, till our daughter's in college, I don't care. You may think I'm doing this because I'm drunk, but I'm not. Artemis Phoebe Olympia, will you do me the pleasure of marrying me, when the time finally comes?" He asked, holding out the ring a bit more.

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Everyone was waiting to see Artemis' reaction, and as time wore on, Percy began to notice the silence and his arm shook slightly as he clutched Mr Bear closer to him.

Artemis felt her life flashing before her eyes. She couldn't believe it. She was getting proposed to at age 17. Senior year hadn't even started and Percy was popping the big question. She felt the salty flow of tears leaving her eyes, and didn't know what to say. She dared not look around the room, for fear of seeing the angry glare of her father, or the pressuring glare of Sally, or the scarily neutral faces of Aphrodite and Apollo.

She popped a glance, and surprisingly found none of those things. Everyone was just shocked, and wondering what she would do next. As time froze and Artemis thought it all over, she knew her answer.

"Yes… yes, yes I will marry you!" She shouted, tackling Percy in a hug. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and cheered, while she parted so that Percy could slip the ring onto her finger. As Percy leaned in for a kiss, Artemis placed a finger on his lips. "One thing, let's leave the marriage until after high school." She said, and Percy agreed, before capturing her lips for a passionate kiss.

Month 8 (August)

Percy woke up on the 18th of August with a bad migraine, already giving a good start to his birthday. Not only that, but Artemis had already gotten up, so he couldn't even kiss her good morning. He figured she was probably having breakfast downstairs, so he gathered himself and left the bedroom.

Artemis was not there, however. Instead he found his sister Aphrodite at the counter eating cereal. "Arty wasn't feeling well so Dad dropped her home." She said, sounding very chipper. Percy went over to the cupboard to get his breakfast. "Happy birthday, sis." He said, sneakily reminding her of their shared birthday. Aphrodite smirked. "Why thank you, dear brother." She said, immediately leaving the room without acknowledging his birthday.

Percy blew a raspberry at her after she left, though whether she knew about it, he didn't know.

Since Artemis was sick, Percy didn't really know what to do, so he abandoned a normal breakfast and went back up to his room to play video games. He grabbed a bag of doritos on the way up, and managed to find a 2 litre bottle of coke in the fridge. He didn't know what to play, so he scrolled through his list of games absentmindedly.

He heard the door to his room creak open, and when he looked over he saw Aphrodite. "Hey, you seen anyone else around?" She asked, and Percy had to shake his head. "No, I came right back up here after we talked. Where are they?" He asked, putting down the controller. "I don't know. Amphitrite went to work hours ago, and Dad hasn't come back since he left to drop off Artemis." She told him, then she saw what he was doing.

"Ooh, you down for some Modern Warfare?" She asked, which cracked a smile on Percy's face. "Why do you always suggest that when you never seem to win." He asked, making her giggle. "Practice makes perfect. Besides, I like the look on our face when I finally kill you." She said, which taken out of context may have sounded strange.

Percy rolled his eyes, before picking up the red controller. "Fine, your funeral." He offered, and she sat down next to him. He loaded up the game while she opened the bag of doritos and set it down between them. "Gun game?" He asked, and she gave a 'mhmm' in response as she chomped down on the food.

So the twins fought, and what a legendary battle it was. Percy was clearly the better warrior, but Aphrodite was cunning, and knew how to play the world to her advantage…

"APH! GET OFF!" Percy screamed as Aphrodite wrapped her arms around Percy's head and continued to play. She killed him twice more before he managed to throw her arms off and push her over. She squealed as she fell over, but before he could get a kill she leaped up and tipped him onto his side. The controller slid across the room, and Aphrodite seated herself on top of Percy. He threw her around on top of him, trying to get her off, but Aphrodite had suddenly gained 300 pounds, and he became too weak to move.

Percy was forced to watch as Aphrodite slowly walked up and killed him one last time, ending the game. Percy dropped the controller in frustration and rubbed his face. "You cheated." He mumbled, as Aphrodite sat there looking very pleased with herself. "Brains over brawn, Percy." She smirked.

He got up and exited Modern Warfare. "You don't have any brains. Besides, that's not what you say when you see the football team." He teased her, making his sister blush furiously. "Whatever. Ooh, Minecraft!" She said as Percy scrolled through the games. Percy rolled his eyes and launched the app, quickly creating a world while Aphrodite got comfortable again.

They played for three whole hours, just mining and building their house, which in the end didn't look too bad. It was mainly wooden, though they had a stone foundation and stone walls around the property to stay safe. Around lunchtime, however, they became bored and hungry.

"You wanna go get some lunch? I got $30." Percy offered, grabbing some money out of his drawer. The sound of Aphrodite's stomach screeching answered his question, so they left the house.

They were wearing normal clothes. Percy a deep blue hoodie and some black jeans while Aphrodite had a green blouse with blue skinny jeans. Both of them wore sneakers and had shades resting on top of their heads.

They felt it would be fun to walk, so they did. It wasn't too far, about a 35 minute walk into town and not long after they found a decent burger joint. There were only two other people there, which they liked since it would be quiet, so while Aphrodite got a window seat Percy went up to order. Honestly, the fat, hairy, greasy man behind the counter flipping patties scared Percy, but he ordered what they wanted and returned to his twin.

"So. 17 now, huh? You're getting old, and uglier by the day." Percy began the conversation, earning a slap on the shoulder from Aphrodite. "Asshole." She scoffed. Their drinks were brought over, him a coke zero and her a sprite. Two different kinds of people.

Aphrodite took off the conversation. "One month left. You excited?" She asked, and Percy turned back from looking out the window. "For what, being a father? Yeah, yeah I guess so." He said, going back to staring out at passing cars. Aphrodite raised an eyebrow as she slurped on her sprite. "You guess? What's that supposed to mean?" Was the question that left her lips.

Percy shrugged, and took a swig out of the glass. "I… You know how I feel about it. We've had this conversation like three times. I'm… happy but worried at the same time, you know?" He said. "Yeah, I know. This is serious. Still, you must be excited. It's your daughter." She said. "Yeah. Yeah I am. I'm really happy that it's happening. That it's with Artemis. That it's healthy. Even that it's a girl. I don't think I'm ready for a son yet." He admitted.

Their burgers arrived. He had gotten a cheeseburger and she had gotten a salad between two buns. Literally, she got rid of the patty and ordered extra lettuce and tomato. Percy didn't understand how she could do it. He loved meat too much.

"It's fun paying for your own lunch on your birthday." Percy commented, as Aphrodite hummed in agreement. "Yeah, I still have no idea where they all went. Dad was supposed to be back like 10 minutes after he left." She said with a faraway look in her eyes, like she was thinking. Percy wondered the same thing. His father probably just went off to work, but still, it was their birthday and he hadn't even said goodbye.

They finished their burgers in relative peace, occasionally making small talk. It wasn't the best burger Percy's ever had, but it was still good. "What do you wanna do now?" Percy asked. Pushing his plate aside. Aphrodite had her phone out, and was scrolling through her instagram feed. "You wanna see a movie?" He asked, piquing Aphrodite's interest.

"What one?" She asked, and he shrugged. "I don't know. Let's go check." He said, wanting to get out of this greasy diner. Aphrodite nodded, putting her phone in her pocket and getting up, leaving their plates for the waiter to take away. They left the diner and entered the cold atmosphere, unusual for an August day. Fall must be coming soon.

The cinema wasn't too far away, since their town wasn't that big, so they made the walk in 10 minutes. The two of them stood outside looking at all the movies showing, when Percy pointed out one. "Hey, Jojo Rabbit's showing again. I heard that's pretty funny." he suggested, and his sister thought it sounded like a great idea.

Percy, since he had all the money, ordered their tickets. Conveniently, Aphrodite left her purse at home, meaning he'd be paying for anything they did that cost. They ordered a bucket of popcorn to share, and their own separate drinks.

The theatre was quiet, probably because everyone had already seen this movie, but neither of them ever got around to it. Thankfully, they got the middle seats, allowing for maximum viewing pleasure.

The movie was good, and had both Aphrodite and Percy laughing. They hadn't eaten all the popcorn, so Percy brought it with him on the way out. They walked down the street, eating popcorn as they wondered what to do next. Percy checked his watch, and was surprised to find it was almost 6 o'clock. They had gone out for lunch at like 1, and with the movie and time they spent at the diner, they'd racked up 5 hours.

"It's almost six." He told her, making her look up at the grey sky. "Maybe we should go back." She said, worried that their dad was panicking because they were gone or something. "Nah, we don't have to. Dad probably thinks we went out with friends or something. What do you wanna do?" He asked, placing the empty popcorn bucket on his head, earning a giggle from his twin.

"What the hell do you do for fun in this dead end town?" She asked, crossing her arms. Percy took off the helmet and 'Kobe'd it into the nearest trash can. "We're not dead end, we have a couple thousand people." He said, slightly offended at what she thought of their town. Aphrodite scoffed. "Yeah, a couple thousand rednecks, a couple thousand normal people and then the 1% rich who are actually gonna do something with their lives." She said. Percy rolled his eyes. "You are such a spoiled brat." He remarked, and she shrugged. "Blame daddy."

Percy then got an idea. "Okay, you're looking for fun? I'm gonna show you something cool." He said, not considering for one second how fucked up his plan was and how Aphrodite could easily die.

He led her over to a chain fence, then began to climb it. She looked up at him curiously as he sat on the top, then held out a hand for her. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "What? No way. I'll fall!" She exclaimed. Percy shrugged. "You'll be fine. At least you're not wearing heels."

Aphrodite couldn't argue with that logic.

She took Percy's hand, then cautiously managed to pull herself up the fence. Once on top, she straddled it like Percy, but she was quivering the whole time. Percy laughed at her fear, then hopped off onto the other side. Aphrodite looked down, expecting to see a blood splatter, but his head was up to her feet,and he was fine. Sighing, she pulled her leg over and jumped down.

They were pretty much out of town now, in the backwoods forest that lay behind the town. After jumping off the fence, they jumped off a ledge, hitting the ground with a thud. Aphrodite looked down and saw railway tracks, so she spun around in fear, expecting to find a freight train about to trample her.

There was nothing though, just a tunnel the tracks went under. "Come on." Percy said, waving his arm as he entered the tunnel. Aphrodite was reluctant. "What? But what if a train comes?" She asked. Percy shook his head. "It won't, trust me. I've done this a hundred times." He reassured her. Aphrodite was still hesitant, but she followed him anyway.

The light was a long way down, and they walked in pitch blackness for what felt like five minutes, all the while Percy talked with her to calm her nerves. "I come here whenever I'm pissed with mom or dad, and the roof isn't an option. It's pretty cool, like my own little man cave." He said.

Aphrodite crossed her arms. "Why haven't I been shown this place yet?" She asked, slightly offended, but her twin merely rolled his eyes. "You think mom and dad are the only ones who piss me off sometimes?" He said, and Aph got the hint.

Eventually, about halfway through the tunnel, Percy told her they were there, and they pulled over to the side. She heard Percy messing around with what sounded like wood, before he took her hand and led her inside. It was even darker, and colder, and as they walked she heard the sound of puddles being stepped through, making her cringe.

Eventually they reached a room, which had plenty of light shining through from a sewer grate up above. It was a small room with wooden floors, looking like something out of a school basement. There was a great large green boiler thing, and next to it was… a tv? "What the fuck?" Aphrodite exclaimed as Percy walked past her.

"Welcome to my humble abode." He said, laying himself upon a dusty bean bag that probably had spiders living inside. She walked around, looking at the random stuff he'd stored here. "What is this?" She asked, feeling the stone walls lined with graffiti.

"This is where I go for some peace. I can watch tv, do homework, read, or practice my art skills on the walls." He said, nodding to a chalk picture of a purple brontosaurus. Aphrodite marveled at the room. "How did you get all this?" She asked in wonder. "My own money. This used to be a maintenance room, but no one apart from me has been here for years." He explained.

Aphrodite nodded, then joined him on a different bean bag. Percy sighed and played a drum solo on his seat. "So what do you wanna do?" Aphrodite asked, and Percy looked over at the boxes of chalk and cans of spray paint. "Wanna art out?" He offered.

So they did.

They both used chalk, since it was easier, and got to drawing. Percy took one wall while she took another. Aphrodite had no idea what to draw, so she decided to draw the Mona Lisa. Or attempt to, at least. Percy decided he wanted to draw a disturbing painting he'd seen when he was a kid. Saturn eating his children, or something like that.

It took them only a few minutes, since they were trash, but to be honest they both thought the other's was pretty good. So they spent an hour just drawing on walls, finding their own way of entertaining themselves. At around 7, Percy decided it was time to go.

They put the chalk away and left, with Percy guiding her through the hallways. Once in the tunnel, Percy blocked the entrance with a wooden pallet, and they trekked out. It was entirely pitch black now. They walked nearly five minutes again, when Aphrodite noticed something.

There was a light barely in front of her, like the tunnel suddenly had a light bulb. She turned around to see what it was, and almost had a heart attack. "TRAIN!" She screamed, before taking off for the end of the tunnel. Percy yelled after her, then ran to catch her. Aph was running for her life, thinking she could make it, when suddenly she tripped. Of course she tripped.

Percy knelt down beside her, checking behind them to see where the train was. It was fast approaching, so he tried pulling her to the side. She wouldn't budge, and that's when he realised her shoe was stuck. Aphrodite was crying now, expecting to die. Percy himself almost cried, thinking he was about to lose his sister because of his idea. It would be his fault.

Then as he pulled on her again, her foot came out of the sneaker, and they tumbled down the side of the tracks. Percy held her close as the train sped past, thinking if he let her go she would be shredded. The thundering of the train rattling by faded, and the two of them opened their eyes.

They were fine, hugging against the edge of a tunnel in pitch darkness. Percy let go of her, and his twin pulled herself to her feet, before vomiting all over the ground. Percy stood behind her and pulled back her hair, lest she get barf on it. "What. The. Fuck." She managed to get out, panting heavily.

Percy sighed as they made their way out of the tunnel. They found a hill leading up to the main road, and they travelled along the dark footpath cold and upset. The sky was black, and there was an eerie chill to the more abandoned side of town.

A few minutes later, a familiar car pulled up, and the window rolled down. "There you two are. What the fuck are you doing out here? Everyone's worried sick about you guys, get in." Sally Jackson scolded them from the driver's seat. The two scared teens didn't question her.

Aphrodite got in the passenger side, while Percy sat in the middle back seat. As Sally bombarded them with questions, Aphrodite broke down and told her everything. Sally ended up having to pull over to comfort her daughter. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Its okay. Never do that again though. You could've died." She soothed. That just made Aphrodite even more upset. "I know!"

Percy felt guilty the whole ride back to Sally's house. As they pulled in, Sally put her coat around Aphrodite's shoulders and led her inside, Percy trailing behind sadly. As the door opened and the two women stepped in front of the dark lounge, the lights turned on and they were deafened by a loud roar. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Percy pulled up the rear, and his jaw dropped. Everyone was there, his family, friends, Artemis, her family, and even some neighbors and people they barely knew. Percy couldn't believe it, this is where his father had been all day, helping put together their surprise birthday party.

Unfortunately, neither twin felt like partying, and immediately went to their separate rooms without saying anything, Sally following Aph. Percy took off his hoodie and flopped onto his bed, staring at his ceiling for a good minute before the door opened. "Percy?" He heard the soft voice of Artemis ask.

Percy smiled. "Hey Arty, come in." He told her. She did as he asked, and shut the door behind him. His fiancee lay down on the bed, looking up at him. "What happened?" She asked, and Percy couldn't contain it. He told her everything, from him pressuring Aphrodite into coming to them almost dying. Artemis was silent and still the whole time, and as Percy finished, she sighed.

"Holy shit. I almost lost you." She said, trying to keep in the tears herself. They hugged in bed for a while, before Artemis looked back up at him. "You need to go apologize. She's probably traumatized." She said, and Percy knew she was most definitely right.

"Yeah, I'll go see her now." He said, getting up. As he left his room, he didn't know what to say. As he walked down the hall, he planned it out, and decided to keep it short and simple.

He knocked twice on the door, hearing a faint "Come in" from the other side, before following the voice's orders. Aphrodite was curled up in a blanket, and sat up when she saw him. "Yeah?"

Percy walked over and pulled something out of his zip up pocket, something which he'd had all day. It was a sea-green bracelet, with flowers carved into it. Which kind? Percy didn't know, but he was sure she'd like it. "I'm sorry. Happy birthday. I love you, sis." He said, and that was all he had to say.

Aphrodite smiled, and tried on the bracelet. It fit like a glove, and she wrapped her arms around Percy's neck. "Thank you, Percy. I forgive you. It wasn't your fault, anyway." She said. They sat there for a while just hugging and enjoying each other's presence.

That was all they had to say, for they were twins, and no matter what happened, they had a bond that nothing could break.

Month 9 (September)

Artemis was staying at Percy's, as she had been all month, since this was the baby's due date. Poseidon and Amphitrite were both at work, and Aphrodite was out with some friends of theirs. Since it was Fall, they decided to stay in and watch movies.

They were watching the first 300 movie, which somehow with her pregnancy, Artemis was managing to bear all the blood flying across the screen. She was in Percy's lap, enjoying the 2 hour long killfest, when she felt something wrong.

Percy was underneath her, simply enjoying the brogasmic special effects and scenes of the more when he felt something wet on his crotch and running down his legs. "Ew, w- OH SHIT, DID YOU JUST PISS ON ME?" He shrieked, managing to crawl out from under her and slide across to the other side of the couch. He sat there staring at her in shock while Artemis' eyes were wider than dinner plates. "My water broke."

It took Percy a full two seconds to register what she said, before all the preparation and knowledge he'd been gathering over the months vanished. "UH, OH FUCK WHAT DO I DO?" He shouted, while Artemis began to hyperventilate slightly. "Shit, shit, shit, um, grab the bag your mom made us!" She said, pointing to the hallway.

Percy sprinted out of the room, leaving her breathing heavily and clutching the arms of the couch as she sat in confusion. She'd been practising this in her head for months, but now in the heat of the moment she had no idea what to do.

Artemis heard the rapid thumps of Percy down the stairs, before he entered the room with a duffel bag in his hands. "OKAY, NOW WHAT?" He screamed, making Artemis cover her ears. "STOP SHOUTING!" She cried, making Percy shut his mouth. "We need to go to the hospital." She said, and he nodded.

Percy grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter and went to help her stand up. Artemis was getting cramps, so she was walking slowly and like she had a side stitch. It took them a few minutes to get down the hallway and out of the house, then to get into Percy's pickup truck. Once in there Artemis buckled herself in and said to Percy "Message the group chat." Referring to the group chat Percy and Artemis were supposed to message if she went into labor. That way their parents and twins would know and get to the hospital.

Percy quickly pulled out his phone and, wanting to go quickly, typed in baby now. They'd understand. After sending it and putting on his seatbelt, Percy put the truck in reverse and sped out of the driveway. The trip to the hospital took 8 minutes by Percy's count, and they entered the emergency ward.

The two of them walked up to the counter, and Percy didn't even have to say anything for the woman to understand. Two doctors arrived less than a minute later with a bed, and Artemis was placed onto it carefully and rolled out. Percy followed them closely, making sure to stay right next to Artemis as they were taken down the hallways.

They moved into a big room with plenty of lights surrounding a spot in the middle, which Percy guessed was the delivery room. Artemis' bed was placed in the middle, and doctors in scrubs started surrounding her. The door suddenly burst open, and Percy spotted the familiar face of Dr Ilithya standing there.

"I'm here. I just got the message. You guys alright?" She asked, putting on some surgical gloves and donning the face mask. Percy nodded. "Yeah, but I think Arty's in pain." He said. A doctor then came over and handed him scrubs. "Put these on if you're going to be in here." He said.

As Percy went over to the corner to dress, Dr Ilithyia walked over to Artemis. "Shit, okay. Artemis, we're going to have to take your pants and underwear off to do this delivery, okay?" She asked, but Artemis didn't respond. She just groaned in pain as more contractions hit her.

The doctor snapped her fingers for two of the nurses to undress Artemis' lower half, but as they pulled on her skinny jeans, Artemis squirmed like crazy. "No!" She grunted, kicking at their arms. Percy, seeing what was happening, finished dressing and came over. "She's really defensive of other guys touching her, hang on." He said.

The nurses backed up as Percy went up to Artemis. "Arty." He said in a soft voice, which got his girlfriend to stop squirming. "Arty, we need to take your pants off. Your blouse can stay on, but the jeans and underwear need to come off so our baby girl can be born, is that okay? Will you let me do that?" He asked softly and calmingly.

For a moment, the contractions stopped, and Artemis looked at Percy, sweating profusely. "Promise me you'll be here?" She asked, grabbing his hand. Percy smiled, and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "I'm right here, babe." He promised, bring her hand up and kissing it.

Percy then moved down a bit and slowly undressed her lower half, leaving her only in a long blouse that on it's own could pass as a mini-dress. Percy backed up to be next to her as Dr Ilithyia went to work ensuring their baby had a safe passage into the world.

Artemis took Percy's hand tight in her own as the medical experts worked their best on the delivery of the baby. She shivered as the doctor used weird metal tools, relying on Percy's soothing words to get her through this. Percy would talk with her to take her mind off it, for when she wasn't thinking about the pain, it numbed slightly.

"What will our baby be like?" She asked, needing to hear Percy's voice. The man in question smiled through the pain and Artemis crushed his hand, knowing that what she was going through was so much worse.

"I think she'll have black hair like me, but I hope she has your eyes. I can never get enough of them. When she's older she'll be a great swimmer, and really good at archery like her mother. She'll have lots of friends, and maybe even a few siblings down the line." He suggested as Artemis grunted in pain.

The labor lasted for hours upon hours. Percy had spent the entire time soothing Artemis and sitting by her side. The baby was crowning, and neither of them could wait to meet their child. Just as it was getting so good, it went so wrong.

"Percy, what will our daughter be called?" She asked weakly from the bed, on the verge of passing out. Percy smiled again. They had barely discussed this, deciding that the answer would come on the day. "I always liked the name Selena?" He suggested, and Artemis smiled too.

"Selena Aphrodite Jackson." She mumbled, before closing her eyes.

Percy heard the wailing of a baby, and before he could process what was going on, he heard the doctor curse. "Shit, go get it cleaned up." She said, and the nurse who held the infant left the room in a hurry, not even giving Percy a glimpse. "Doc? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly, getting up and walking over to her. A nurse held him back, and the doctor couldn't concentrate on talking to him. "She's bleeding Percy, just stay back." She said.

Percy felt his whole world shatter as he heard those words. He knew what postpartum hemorrhages were, and how lethal they could be. He rushed back over to Artemis' unconscious form, and swiped a sweaty strand of hair out of her face.

"No, no, no, no. Arty, don't do this. Don't you do this to me. You hold on, please. For me. For our daughter." He cried, sobbing and cradling her head in his arms. He sat there for a few minutes holding his fiancee, before realisation struck him. What did they do with the baby? Was there something wrong with it? "I want to see my daughter." He demanded.

Dr Ilithyia looked over at him annoyedly. "Percy, stay over there." She ordered. Percy didn't listen. "Where's my daughter? What have you done with her?" He shouted. The doctor was pissed off now. "Get him out of here. I need to concentrate." She said, and all three nurses came and led him out. Percy contemplated fighting, but he hadn't the strength left in him.

They took him outside, and shut the door behind him, where it needed a keycard to enter again. Percy stood there in silence for a while, staring at the metal door and wondering what had just transpired. Artemis was bleeding, she was dying. His daughter was gone. He never got to see her, and he didn't even know if she was alright. He felt himself cry again as he stood in the hallway.

"Percy?" He heard the voice of Aphrodite ask from down the hallway. There were rapid footsteps before he felt his twin sister take his hand. "We were just getting coffee downstairs. What happened?" She asked, seating him in a chair by the door.

Percy wiped at his tears, but they kept coming. "She's bleeding. Artemis hasn't woken up, and they took Selena away. I don't know where she is." He said, having a mental breakdown. "Selena? Oh. Oh no." Aphrodite said as her face darkened. Soon she started to cry as well. "Percy?" Sally called much like Aphrodite had, before everyone who belonged to the group chat came rushing down the hall, plus Athena.

"What's wrong?" Poseidon asked, and Aphrodite was the one to explain. When they heard the news, everyone was crying, even Zeus. Percy's whole world fell apart as he sat on that seat outside the delivery room, his family and hers crying around him.

He felt alone. They're gone. He thought to himself. My girls are gone. He practically huddled into a ball on the seat, crying as Aphrodite held him. His guardian angel.

Not five minutes later, Dr Ilithyia came out, panting heavily. "Percy." She said, and the man in question sat up, silently preparing for the worst news. "You can come in now. I'm sorry for sending you out." She apologized. Percy gulped, before weakly standing up and entering the room.

Artemis' eyes were barely open, and blood stained the end of the bed where the baby had come out. "Oh, Artemis." He sighed as he rushed to her side. Percy kissed her hand repeatedly as he cried. "I thought you were gone. I thought I lost you." He told her.

His fiancee didn't listen however. "Selena." She weakly gasped. Percy looked up, and a nurse walked into the room holding a little green bundle. Percy immediately shot across the room, carefully taking his daughter into his arms. As he looked down at the bundle, Percy grinned. "Hello Selena." He said, bringing the girl to Artemis.

The 17 year old barely managed to hold onto the newborn as Percy placed her in his arms. Both of them looked down at their daughter with pride, glad that the other was the parent of their child. Glad that they could be together, and that not even death could try and tear them apart.

The three of them were finally a family.

Holy shit. 50 pages in Google Docs, 21k words, 116k characters. This is by far the largest oneshot I've ever done, and it's larger than most of my stories. Thanks Page9900 for her help in getting motivated to keep writing this. I'm running on about 16 litres of coke and I really need sleep. I'll probably post an epilogue, so leave ideas for that. Please tell me what you thought of the story. I worked really hard on it. Love you guys.

Word Count: 21391