I am so SORRY YOU GUYS. you have been waiting forever for this update and I am so so so sorry. Thank you for your continued support there's just so much going on right now but your guys love helps me so much, I love you. Also I only edited half of this because it's 2:38 am and I am exHAUSTED so if you see any errors lemme know and I'll fix em tomorrow

Annabeth's bump ^^^ I have to keep her bump small so she can stay in school and stuff lol. And everyone's pregnancy is different, there's not really one specific size that every pregnant woman should be so Annabeth is gonna be a little bit on the smaller side for a while.

Wednesday, October 31st
8:30 pm - Annabeth's bedroom
13 weeks

Annabeth opened her laptop, accepting Percy's FaceTime request. His face popped up on her screen and she smiled. His grin was just so infectious.

"Hey," he said, smiling. "You ready for tonight?" She could hear the excitement in his voice. She too was honestly excited for this party. Ever since she had told everyone that she was pregnant, she felt so much better. It was like some of the bricks she was carrying had fallen from her shoulders.

"I'm a little bit nervous, but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. My costume is all laid out and ready. How about you, Barnacle Boy?" She smirked.

"Well, my costume is also ready, thanks to my mom," he mumbled that last part, making Annabeth laugh.

Just then the door opened. Annabeth knew it was Thalia—she and Jason were the only other people who knew where the spare key was, and Thalia was coming over anyways.

"That's Thalia," Annabeth said. "She's coming over for moral support. You know, someone to hug me when I start crying because I feel like my bump is totally showing and that I can never leave the house again," she explained.

"Yeah totally," Percy said casually.

"Annie!" Thalia called, her combat boots clomping up the stairs. It was a little funny how heavy her steps were.

"I'm in here!" she called. Thalia came into the room, throwing down her things on Annabeth's neatly made bed. This was the same thing she did every time she came over. Annabeth didn't really care at this point.

"Hey," Thalia said. "You ready to part-ay!" she exclaimed, laughing.

Annabeth sighed. "Yeah," she chuckled. Then she walked over to her calendar—she had always had one hanging above her desk, but now she used it a lot more to keep track of her pregnancy. "Hey," she said, noticing the date. "I am officially done with my first trimester," Annabeth announced.

"Hey," Percy's voice came through her computer. She walked over, smiling at him. "Well done, Miss Chase," he said, nodding to her.

Thalia threw an arm over her shoulder. "That's right! That thing's gotta be like the size of an orange, or something, by now, huh?"

Annabeth laughed at her best friend. "Actually, you were close. Its the size of a lemon."

"Wow, that's awesome," Percy chuckled, grinning.

"Yeah." Annabeth instinctively put her hand over her stomach. "Its a little scary how fast the past three months went by." She chuckled nervously. Then she walked to her mirror

"Well, don't worry about, it everything's gonna be fine," Thalia reassured her. "And besides, I'm pretty sure that the slowest part of the pregnancy is the labor," she pointed out. Annabeth didn't entirely know if that was true—she had never been pregnant before. It was also difficult to process her words when all Annabeth could think about was her growing belly and how everyone would see it tonight.

"Everyone's gonna see my bump," Annabeth said, tears suddenly in her eyes. She couldn't go out. There was no way. People were going to notice and when they did? All of her efforts would go to nothing, she wouldn't get into college and that would mean she also would never get the job of her dreams which means that she wouldn't live the happy successful life she had always dreamed of and for what? A stupid party? No, no she wasn't going. "I can't go."

"Oh. My. Fucking. God," Thalia started. "Annabeth Marie Chase you are going to this party and you are going to stop worrying about your orange—"

"Lemon," Percy corrected.

"Whatever!—size baby and have fun!" Thalia scolded. "Am I clear?"

Annabeth sighed, dropping her shirt and putting her hands over her face. "Yes," she sighed.

"Do I look like I asked for 'yes,'?" she mimicked Annabeth, hanging her arms and putting on a mopey face.

"No." Annabeth stood straight up, at attention. She figured why not entertain her spunky and pushy best friend? (That was really just the hormones talking. Annabeth loved Thalia.)

"Good! At ease, soldier." Then Thalia smirked at her. "Let's get you in that cute-ass costume. You too, Kelp Head!"

Annabeth grabbed her costume from her closet as Thalia left the room, probably to go get her costume downstairs.

"Wow," Percy said. "She's pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yep," Annabeth chuckled, nodding. "But, hey, very effective."

"True. I gotta put on my costume," Percy said.

"Alright, me too. I'll call you back in a minute?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

Then Annabeth hung up. She began to put on her costume; it was an orange sweatshirt that she had glued these purple shells that she found at the craft store onto with green tights and black shorts. She was also wearing green rubber gloves and this belt she made; it was purple with a yellow 'M' for, well you guessed it—Mermaid Man. And to top it all off, she wore pink slippers. When she looked in the mirror, it wasn't so bad. She actually felt proud of her costume.

Thalia came back upstairs. She saw Annabeth. "Aye!" she shouted. "You did it! And ya look great," she exclaimed, throwing her costume on the bed.

"Thanks. I gotta call back Percy," she said, going to her laptop.

"Why didn't you just let him stay on, he would've enjoyed the show," Thalia teased, winking at her.

"What?" Annabeth said in that weird-high pitched way that people do when someone says something that could be true but makes them a little bit uncomfortable.

"Oh please, don't tell me you don't know," Thalia said, getting things ready for her costume.

Annabeth looked at her like, yeah, I really don't know.

"Ah, shit you don't know." Thalia sighed, then started laughing. "Wow and I thought you were smart," she mumbled, teasing her.

"Hey!" Annabeth swatted her arm. "Percy does not have a crush on me! He can't."

"Why? I've known both of you my whole life and oddly enough, you'd balance out really well," she insisted.

"It doesn't matter how well we get along, Thalia. I'm pregnant. Percy has a bright future ahead of him. My entire world is kinda crashing down around me, and there's no way I'd let him throw his future away over me," Annabeth protested.

"Annabeth baby or not you're fucking awesome," Thalia said, getting a little angry at her. "You need to stop thinking that you don't deserve to be happy or that you're not good enough because Annabeth," she walked up to her and put her hands on her shoulders, looking her dead in the eyes, "you are more than enough."

Annabeth sniffled. She swallowed and blinked back her tears. Thalia was such a good friend—Annabeth didn't know how she'd gotten so lucky. "Thank you,"

"Don't thank me. I'm just spitting facts—something I learned from you miss captain of the debate team." She smirked.

Oh, yeah, Annabeth was captain of the debate team last year before she quit because it interfered with volleyball. Volleyball. God, Annabeth missed volleyball. She had talked to her coach about not being able to play this year, and she didn't tell her she was pregnant, but her coach already knew.

When Annabeth asked how, she said she could just tell. Annabeth proceeded to cry and then her coach hugged her—she was a tough coach, but a good woman, and she and Annabeth had some sort of bond. After Annabeth gave her recommendations for new captain, Coach Wess wished her good luck.

Annabeth called Percy back and he picked up immediately. Her jaw dropped when she saw him. He did a little spin, giving her a 360 view. She laughed at how adorable he looked.

"Ha!" Thalia squawked. "You're such a dork!" She snickered.

"I think you look adorable," Annabeth said, smiling at him.

He grinned at her. "I'd have to say the same."

"Alright if you two love birds would stop being all mushy," Thalia said, going back to her costume. Annabeth's cheeks turned bright red as she remembered what Thalia had said. She couldn't let Percy fall for her and she couldn't let herself fall for him. It wasn't that he wasn't sweet, and funny, and gorgeous, or that he didn't look so good in his swi—

She needed to stop. It was all about circumstance. It just wasn't in the stars. She needed to let go of whatever feelings she had for him.

"I'm gonna go put on my costume and you guys are gonna tell me what you think." Thalia grabbed her costume and headed to the other side of the room, where Percy couldn't see her. Annabeth also turned the laptop, just because. Thalia got dressed while Percy and Annabeth made some small talk—not having much else to talk about.

"Alright!" Thalia announced. She walked in front of the camera so both of them could see her. She was wearing a tight—tight—black jumpsuit with straps around the legs and a zipper half way down the bodice. She was black widow.

Annabeth whistled. "Wow my best friend is hot." Thalia laughed, clicking her tongue and giving ginger guns.

"It would be weird to hit on my cousin so I'm not gonna, but you do look pretty badass, Pinecone Face," Percy said.

"I know," Thalia said, brushing off her shoulder. He hair wasn't long enough to be swooped back over her shoulder, but even if it was that would be too 'straight' for Thalia. Her words.

"Well. It seems like we're ready to go," Annabeth pointed out. "At least costume wise. I am starving. And I doubt there's gonna be anything safe for me to eat at this party," Annabeth mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"I'll be there in five?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, okay." Annabeth smiled.

Thalia grabbed her phone. "I'm ordering a pizza."

"I will see you in a bit," Annabeth said. Percy said a goodbye and she ended the call.

~*~

Wednesday, October 31st
10:10 pm - Silena Beauregard's house

"I don't wanna go in there," Annabeth said.

"No come on," Thalia said from the back seat. "You'll be fine it's fun!"

"Hey," Percy said, looking over at her. "It's gonna be fine. Neither of us are drinking, which will make it easier when we have to drag Thalia home after she gets blackout drunk—"

"Hey!" Thalia protested. Percy looked back at her like what. You're really gonna argue it? "Alright fine," she huffed.

"It's gonna be okay. Just have fun. I'll be right next to you," Percy said. He gave her a smile.

Annabeth exhaled and nodded. "Okay." She decided that she just needed to stop worrying for two seconds and at least get in the door. Of course, there were a million things that could've gone wrong and led to awful consequences. But she couldn't think about that. She and Percy looked adorable in their costumes, no matter what anyone said and she was not about to let her work go to waste. (That's a little dramatic but it's kind of hard not to be when your hormones are all over the place.)

"Alright!" Thalia whooped and they all got out of the car. She led them up the path to the house and they walked inside. Annabeth had been here a bunch of times, and she had been to a bunch of parties. However, she was getting painful reminders that night.

Looking around the room, the music so loud she could feel the beat in her finger tips, she felt nauseous. Her hand searched for Percy's next to her until she found it, gripping it tight.

"Hey," he asked, looking over at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Annabeth managed. "It's just a little too familiar." She swallowed. She hadn't thought about how she would react to being at a party again.

Percy looked at her, a little concerned. He grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen. "Here," he said, handing her a water bottle. She  took it and drank it down, eager to calm her nerves.

"Luke isn't here, Annabeth." Percy brought her head to face him, his fingers gently under her chin.

"I know, I just—" she struggled for words. She sighed.

"I am right here. I will not let anyone hurt you," he said. His eyes stared right into hers and she saw nothing but sincerity. After a few long moments, she sighed and bit her lip. She nodded to him.

"Hey!" Thalia showed up in the kitchen. "What happened?" she asked. She rushed to Annabeth, grabbing her face like a protective mother. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "No, I'm okay."

"You sure?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Thalia's face said are you really okay? Don't lie to me.

Annabeth nodded. "I'm alright I promise." She smiled at her best friend.

"Good." Thalia smiled back. "Look who I found!"

"Annabeth!" Will yelled. He hugged her quick before they pulled away. He assessed her and Percy's costumes. "How, CUTE!"

Annabeth and Percy glanced at each other, laughing. "Thank you."

"Silena, Drew!" Will called behind him. "Come look at how adorable our friends are!"

The two girls walked into the kitchen, saw their costumes, and continued to freak out with Will. Annabeth had to admit—it was pretty funny. And the compliments did feel kinda nice.

"Percy!" Jason called, walking towards them. "Hey! Look at you two!" The blonde haired boy flashed a slightly goofy smile. Jason had definitely had a few drinks. Annabeth knew him—he was a lightweight.

"Wow, look at you," Percy laughed.

"I'm a lobster!" Jason yelled. Annabeth—and everyone else—burst out laughing. The big red costume really was something else.

"And you two," Annabeth said to Drew and Silena, "look hot!" She laughed. Silena was an angel and Drew was the devil. Kinda cliche, but they really did look good.

"You should see Katie and Travis! They agreed to do a match-y thing and let me tell you—I ship them so hard," Drew cooed.

"Speak of the devil," Percy said, pointing in the other direction. In cake walking thing one and thing two. They both wore the red shirts and—yes, both of them—blue tutus. Annabeth's jaw dropped.

"You look so cute! And you got Travis in a tutu," Annabeth said, nodding at Katie with respect.

"Aw, thanks! And trust me, he's not so happy about it, but he looks adorable," Katie mumbled. "And you and Percy look so cute too!"

"Thank you." Annabeth smiled.

"Here's my counterpart," Will announced as Nico walked into the kitchen. "I couldn't get him in a costume but since I'm the sun he already dressed like darkness." Will grinned, throwing an arm around the dark haired boy. Nico rolled his eyes but Annabeth noticed how the corner of his lips quirked up. He walked over to Annabeth.

"Are you okay?" His eyes stared into hers, and she had to admit she was taken aback by how sincere he was towards her. They weren't particularly close, but he seemed to care an awful lot.

Annabeth smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Okay. Good." He nodded and went back to his normal stoic expression.

"Hey, look who it is!" Percy exclaimed as Grover walked into the kitchen, Juniper on his arm. "'Sup man,"

"Hey!" Grover returned the excitement. Annabeth laughed at how adorable they were. Juniper rushed up to her.

"How are you feeling?" Her huge green eyes bore into Annabeth's.

"I'm okay, thank you." She nodded.

"Guys!" Connor stumbled into the kitchen, nearly knocking over half the crowd. "If a girl named Alexis comes looking for me, I was never here!" Then he went to keep running, but Percy grabbed his arm.

"Hey, hey, hey! What'd you do?" He asked.

"Uh..." Connor glanced around nervously, like that girl was coming to pounce on him at any moment. Knowing Connor, she probably was. "Well, I uh, kinda, uh spilled punch on her costume and then insulted it accidentally."

"Connor!" Annabeth scolded. Everyone else either snickered or rolled their eyes.

"It's not my fault!" He squeaked.

"What's not your fault?" Everyone looked to see who had said that. In the doorway of the kitchen stood Rachel Dare.

"Hey!" Percy grinned at her. Annabeth pushed her jealousy away—she couldn't be with Percy, so why couldn't he be with someone else? There was no point in that, despite the small crush she had on him.

"You look awesome," Annabeth complimented. She had decided that she liked Rachel. The girl barely even knew her and she had still said that if Annabeth needed anything, she'd be there. Either way, Rachel really did look incredible. She wore a tight green dress with a sheer overlay that was decorated with fake leaves. Her red hair was curly as ever, and her mask was even on point. Rachel had made her entire Poison Ivy costume, and she did an amazing job.

"Thank you, m'lady," Rachel said, winking. Annabeth laughed. "You two are adorable!" she said.

"Thanks," Percy said for them both.

Rachel looked over at Connor. "So what's with you, Clarke?" Connor was dressed as Superman, so it made sense.

"Well, there's this girl who kinda, maybe wants to kill me," he explained nervously. Annabeth didn't think it was about the girl coming after him anymore, however. It was about the girl standing right in front of him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Well I spilt a drink on her costume and then accidentally insulted it. But if you saw the thing, you'd understand!" Connor cried.

"Alright, don't get your panties in a twist, Stoll." Rachel smirked. "I'll handle it. Where is this girl?"

Connor looked around and yelped, running behind Rachel as this girl walked towards them. She marched right up to Rachel in her teeny, tiny, nurse costume--the slutty kind. Annabeth realized Connor was right. The red stain down the front made it look like she had just gotten out of a brutal operation.

"Move!" she yelled. She stared up at Rachel, considering the girl couldn't have been over 5'2. Annabeth looked at her with pity.

"Okay, here's the deal. Are you really gonna waste your entire night getting worked up over the dumbass behind me--"

"Hey!"

"Shut it, Connor!" Annabeth nudged him.

"Ow!"

"Or are you gonna go enjoy your night? Also, in a costume like that, you really have to know what you're getting yourself into. You knew exactly what you were doing, now go back to friends who are probably dressed just as raunchily as you, fun-sized." With that, Rachel spun the girl around and pushed her back out of the kitchen.

Annabeth laughed as she walked away. "Nice, Red."

"Thanks, Chase."

"Hey!" Silena called at the other end of the kitchen. Beckendorf kissed her before waving hello to the rest of us. He wore a big, fuzzy, light pink onesie along with black sunglasses. He was the Energizer Bunny.

"I like your costume," Katie said.

"Yeah, a cute bunny," Drew said, smiling.

"He's the Energizer Bunny," Annabeth said to her. Drew sometimes didn't understand old references, and Annabeth was usually the one to explain them to her.

"The what?" Drew said.

"Like the batteries," Percy added. Drew's face was still confused.

"Oh forget it," Will said. "He's a bunny."

"Exactly," Drew said, nodding her head. Annabeth shook her own, along with almost everyone else. Beckendorf just nodded, sipping a drink he got for himself.

"I say we dance!" Thalia called out. Everyone headed out of the kitchen, following her to the living room where the music was so loud, Annabeth couldn't hear herself think. Still, Percy grabbed her hand and began dancing. She laughed when her spun her, the biggest smile plastered on her face.

~*~

Thursday, November 1st
12:30 am - Silena Beauregard's house

It had been a fun night of dancing, laughing, and drinking (not for Annabeth, of course, but her friends. Except for Percy and Nico—neither of them really liked drinking). Annabeth was having more fun than she thought she would, but it was nice. For the first time in a while, she felt free. Her worries weren't holding her down like a ball and chain.

"Annabeth!" Will came running down the stairs. "We have a situation on the roof!" Then, he ran back up before Annabeth could even ask what.

She assumed it was bad, so with Percy behind her, she flew up the stairs, taking multiple at a time. When she finally made it up the four flights, she realized that may not have been so good for her baby. Will grabbed her arm and led her to the scene.

"Shit," Percy cursed behind her.

A girl stood at the edge of the deck, up on the fence. A crowd had gathered around the roof, and Annabeth assumed the worst—she was going to jump. Her heart fell into her stomach.

When Annabeth caught a glimpse of her face, she recognized the girl—a sophomore, Sidney Walsh. She had pretty green eyes and long blonde hair, but now her face was streaked with mascara filled tears.

"Sidney!" she called out. The girl turned to face Annabeth completely. Annabeth had absolutely no idea how to talk someone off the ledge, but she had to try. She could hear her heartbeat in her fingertips she was so nervous.

"What?" she sobbed.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth decided it would be better to carefully inch closer to her, not making any sudden movements and steering the conversation away from jumping.

"Everyone hates me! I'm ugly and fat and I hate myself," she sobbed. The poor girl was clearly drunk and very out of it. Annabeth needed to get to her. But what if she couldn't do it? What if she wasn't fast enough, or if she said something wrong? She couldn't think like that. She didn't have a choice. This girl's life was now partially in Annabeth's hands.

"That's not true!" Annabeth said. "Sidney you are such a beautiful person. I see it in you. That day in the hall, when Evan Sanders' books were slapped to the floor by Sloan. You helped him pick them up. It was small but I saw it. I saw the way Evan looked at you, and while you might not have seen it this way, you brightened his whole week."

"Really?" She hiccuped.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, nodding. "You really did." You wouldn't think that Annabeth would know sophomores, but she knew as many people as she could. She loved to make friends with people, as cliche and rainbows and butterflies that sounds, it's true. Especially as the student body president, she wanted to know the student body.

"Your friends," Annabeth started. Who had she seen Sidney with? "Marsha and Ralph. They love you. They need you as their friend." Sidney sniffled. "Sidney, whatever you're going through, it will get better I promise you. But only if you come down from there. That's the only way to fix it."

Sidney was silent for a long time. No one moved. Time seemed to have frozen. Annabeth swallowed, saying a tiny prayer that Sidney would come down.

"Okay," she said. Annabeth walked up to her, thinking that now was a good time. She wanted to cry with relief.

But just as Sidney was stepping down, she slipped.

"NO!" A scream ripped through Annabeth as the girl stumbled off the roof. A loud ringing buzzed through Annabeth's head. She slowly backed into Percy, tears falling down her face. She was coming down. She was gonna live. But she slipped.

Annabeth didn't know how long it had been before she was aware of everything around her again. She finally walked to the edge and looked over.

"Oh my god."

There, floating in Silena's open, heated pool, was Sidney Walsh. The people around the pool quickly worked to get her out.

Annabeth flew back down the stairs, Percy right behind her. She pushed through the crowd towards Sidney. Luckily, she was alive. She was coughing up some water, but she was breathing. Annabeth sighed with relief.

Sidney was crying. She tried to grab Annabeth's hand, but it looked like the fall did hurt her. Her arm was bent at an awkward angle, and it just hurt to look at.

"I.." the girl tried to speak, but couldn't.

"I know," Annabeth said. "Call an ambulance," she yelled.

Soon enough, paramedics were loading Sidney into an ambulance and no one was really in the partying mood. Annabeth watched Sidney get loaded up and driven off. She sighed.

"You did talk her down," Percy said from behind her. His arm was wrapped around her, and she liked the warmth from him.

"I was so scared."

"I know, but you did it. You're incredible, you know that?" Percy looked down at her. "I hate to say it, but I didn't even know that girl. But you did. You knew her friends, how she helped someone, I mean," he sighed. "That's pretty amazing."

"Thank you," Annabeth sighed. "I can't really help how observant I am sometimes." Percy chuckled. They stood quietly for a second. "Can you take me home now?"

"Yeah," Percy laughed.

•••