A/N: Hey guys! So my sister gave me the idea for this story- just because she's that awesome. I couldn't resist, so here it is. I worked late into the night writing this one :) For those of you that haven't read my other stories, Carter is Annabeth and Percy's daughter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Please read, review, and enjoy!
"Hey Perce," Annabeth says, bumping her husband with her hip as she places applesauce in front of a very sleepy Carter. "Do you mind picking her up from daycare today? I have a meeting later today and I'd rather not rush out if you can just grab her for me."
"Sure thing," Percy yawns, sitting down on the table and placing his head in his hands.
Annabeth walks over to Carter and pulls a hair tie off her wrist. Shoving a hairpin in her mouth, she uses both hands to capture the young girl's wild curls. After two or three attempts she succeeds, and finally places the clip in with a satisfying snap.
"What do you want for lunch today, Carter?" Annabeth asks, rummaging through the cabinet with a dissatisfied expression. "Percy we really need to go food shopping. All we have left is—"
"Applesauce!" Carter cries, shoving a spoonful of the green mush into her mouth.
Percy chuckles to himself quietly, but Annabeth wrinkles her nose in disgust.
"What's wrong, Wise Girl?" he mumbles, approaching her from behind and wrapping an arm around her waist.
"I hate applesauce. It's gross. Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? I don't get it," she replies, pulling her long blonde curls up into a messy bun.
"Naturally you dislike the food you don't understand," Percy teases, leaning in for a kiss.
Annabeth obliges, but then quickly turns away, thoroughly frazzled by the morning routine.
"Here Carter, eat a cheese stick as well." Annabeth drops the snack on the table in front of her daughter and goes to finish packing her lunch.
Carter gives the cheese stick a wary look and shakes her head. "I don't want it!" she chirps. "I ate a whole applesauce. I'm not hungry anymore."
"Carter," Annabeth chastises in a disgruntled tone, "you need to eat that. Just eating applesauce isn't a well-rounded breakfast. Your body needs lots of different types of food to stay healthy."
Carter rolls her eyes and crosses her arms stubbornly. Percy smirks at the striking similarity of the reaction—exactly the same as her mother would have. When Annabeth turns her back, he snags the food off the table and eats it, placing a finger over his lips and winking at Carter. This causes her to giggle appreciatively, her huge green eyes sparkling, despite having just woken up.
"Alright, ready to go to school?" Annabeth asks, picking Carter up out of her seat and placing her on the floor. "Go grab your backpack and I'll meet you in the car."
Annabeth turns to Percy. "Remember," she warns, shaking her finger at him threateningly, "you need to pick her up at two-thirty sharp. Got it?"
"Two-thirty," Percy confirms with a nod. "Gods forbid I'm a minute late." She rolls her eyes at him, exactly how Carter did a few moments before. "Have a nice day at work, Annabeth." He tugs on a stray curl that had fallen out of her bun. Annabeth swats his hand away and sighs, giving him a swift kiss on the lips.
"What time are you picking Carter up?"
"Two-thirty."
"Love you, Seaweed Brain."
At two-fifteen Percy is outside 'Happy Kids World,' having cut his traditional afternoon jog short just to be early to pick up his daughter. He leans against the building, sweating slightly and stretching out his aching muscles.
I'm the first one here, he thinks smugly. Bet Annabeth didn't expect that.
Quickly the other mothers start arriving, tiredly waiting outside to pick up their children. Percy acknowledges each of them with a nod, and they all smile back.
Wow, everyone is so friendly here.
The woman next to Percy has an infant strapped to her chest. The baby starts crying and the woman tries to sooth her, accidentally dropping her purse in the scramble to keep the child calm. Percy picks up the bag and hands it back to her, and she flashes him a grateful smile.
"Well, isn't it just sweltering outside?" one of the mothers pipes, fanning her face dramatically and grinning at Percy. "I swear the sun is just so bright!"
"Yeah, it is a hot day," Percy agrees. "And I just went for a jog too. It was pretty brutal."
"A jog?" a small brunette next to Percy asks, shaking her long hair out so that it glistens in the sunlight and falls in a glossy curtain around her shoulders. "That's impressive. The heat doesn't get to you at all?"
"Nah," Percy says, shrugging. "I just drink some water and I feel fine— I react well to it. I guess I was born that way. Hydration is important."
"It sure is," yet another mother concurs. "I tell that to my son all the time."
Within a matter of seconds, a large group of women is crowded around Percy, each member eagerly awaiting an opportunity to join in the conversation.
"Do you jog around here?" one of them asks. "There are a lot of hills. Personally, I run here because I like the challenge." She pulls the side of her mouth into a half smirk.
"Yeah, I agree," Percy laughs, "though I run around here every day, so I'm used to it."
The women nod excitedly, some of them even covering their mouths to gasp.
"So, whose father are you?" the brunette asks. "I haven't noticed you around here before. It's nice to see a new face."
"I'm Carter's dad. My name is Percy," he chuckles. "I'm happy to be here."
"Carter is your daughter?" a blonde woman titters. "I should have known. She has your eyes."
"Yes! I see the resemblance!" another exclaims. "My son is Benny. He absolutely adores your daughter, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I suspect a young romance blossoming." She adds a wink for good measure.
"It's funny that I met you today," the blonde drawls. "My daughter Amelia actually just asked for a play-date with Carter this morning!"
"My daughter too!" the brunette muses.
"And my son!"
"And mine, too!"
Soon the circle is filled with a chorus of mothers clucking and cooing about their love and their child's love for Carter. Percy raises his eyebrows, a delighted expression plastered on his face, his white teeth gleaming and striking contrast against his raven black hair.
"It's great to hear that Carter has so many wonderful friends!" he remarks. "I don't really know how this kind of thing works, but I'm happy to take your phone numbers and schedule something in the near future."
Each of the women hurriedly digs through her bag, pulling out scraps of paper and jotting down her number. One by one they hand them to Percy, who shoves them all in his pocket. Just as the last piece of paper is exchanged, the door to the building rattles precariously and the toddlers come bursting out, running to their parents with glee.
"Daddy!" Carter squeals, hugging his leg. "You made it!"
"Of course I did, kiddo!" Percy says, pausing to wonder if it's bad that even his three-year-old daughter didn't expect him to show up on time.
Percy grabs Carter's bag and slings it across his back. Using one arm, he scoops her up and she crawls onto his shoulders, waving to her friends when she gets to the top.
Together they walk to the car, Percy returning all the 'goodbyes' and 'have a nice days' from the other parents enthusiastically.
Once in the car, Carter begins to hum to herself quietly.
"Is that a song you learned today?" Percy inquires, looking back at his daughter through the mirror.
She shakes her head and keeps humming, happily kicking her feet in rhythm with the tune.
"Well, what did you do today?" he tries again.
"We learned rhyming words!" she says excitedly. "I know lots now. Listen." She holds up a finger to silence him. "Here are rhyming words with can. Man and fan and ban and…"
"Tan?" Percy suggests.
"I was just going to say that next!" she scolds him. "And tan."
"Very nice!" he praises her. "What else?"
"Well, Benny stole my toys today during play time. I'm not so sure he likes me..." she trails off, frowning at the thought.
"Of course he does sweetie! In fact, his mom told me just before that he wants a play-date with you."
She grins and then changes the subject. "Daddy, what did you bring as a snack?"
Percy winces, mentally banging his head against the steering wheel.
"You know what?" he decides. "Today we're having a special treat. How does ice cream sound?"
"You're the best," she cries, giving her father a double thumbs-up from the back seat.
"We're home!" Percy announces, pushing open the front door, a chocolate-faced Carter straggling a few steps behind him.
"Mommy?" Carter asks, peering from behind the doorframe.
"There are my two favorite people!" Annabeth laughs, walking out of her office and shoving a pen behind her ear. She kneels down, opens her arms, and soon Carter replaces the empty space. Annabeth plants a kiss on top of her golden head and chuckles, attempting to wipe the remnants of Carter's snack off her face.
Annabeth rises and walks over to Percy, kissing his cheek as he empties the contents of his pocket out onto the kitchen counter.
"Thanks again for picking her up," she whispers, pinching his side softly.
"No problem, Wise Girl. I had fun. Actually, I'd be happy to do it more often. Carter and I had a great time, and the other mothers there are really lovely." Percy turns to hunt through the newly stocked fridge for something to eat.
"Um, Percy?" Annabeth asks a few moments later. "What is this?" She holds up all the scraps of paper containing the phone numbers from Carter's classmates, tapping her foot impatiently against the tiled floor. Click, click, click.
"Oh!" Percy replies obliviously. "When I was waiting to pick up Carter, a lot of the mothers gave me their numbers. They said their kids are really friendly with Carter, and they wanted to set up a play-date for the children."
Annabeth sets her jaw into a hard line and narrows her eyes. Immediately, she marches over to the stove, turns it on, and throws the phone numbers into the open flame, muttering something about boundaries.
"Annabeth!" Percy shouts, running to turn off the stove. He tries to recover the snippets but they're all charred beyond recognition, nothing more than a few fragments here and there. He turns towards his wife, one eye twitching slightly, his mouth open in shock. "What was that?" he demands. "Are you trying to ruin our daughter's social life?"
"They don't love Carter," she explains slowly, drawing out her words. "They love you."
"W-what?" Percy stammers, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.
"They were into you, Kelp Head… not Carter."
"Into me?" Percy repeats, an incredulous look spreading across his face. "Are you trying to say—"
"Yes," she interrupts, huffing at the wide grin that stretches between Percy's ears.
"Looks like someone is the big-shot at daycare," Percy teases, poking Annabeth in the stomach repeatedly. "Percy's popular at daycare. Percy's popular at daycare," he says over and over in a singsong voice. Carter quickly catches on and joins in, much to Annabeth's horror.
"Well isn't someone self-centered," Annabeth mutters, placing her hands on her hips in disapproval.
"You're just jealous that all the mommies love me," Percy grins, doing a ridiculous dance and spinning Carter around in circles.
"I guess I'll be picking Carter up from school now on," Annabeth decides, causing Carter and Percy to pause mid-twirl and pout.
"Don't look so sad about it," she grumbles. "Oh, and this reminds me… look what I forgot to throw out!" Annabeth reaches into her pocket and fishes out a few squares of paper, looking Percy directly in the eyes. "Today at the supermarket, three young men gave me their business cards. Weird."