Saving the world.

Insane, right?

More like insanely hard.

But, I think I finally found something that rivals it.

Babysitting.

Estelle Blofis was Percy's little sister, and she was a little angel.

From time to time, Sally and Paul would ask Percy to babysit, and, of course, I would come along.

It was clear that Percy loved his half-sister, a lot. He spent every spare moment he could with her, playing with her, teaching her.

On this particular day, I was over at Percy's house, hanging out, when I noticed Sally sitting at the kitchen table, sighing.

I discreetly peaked up at her from my book, and recognized her current writing project. She was clearly being pushed by these deadlines, and they were taking their tole.

To my right, Percy was playing dolls with Estelle.

I closed my book and made my way to the table, taking a seat.

Sally looked up. "Annabeth," she said kindly in greeting.

"Hey, Sally. What're you working on?"

"Oh, something here, something there. It's never ending, really."

I smiled at her casual brushing away of my question.

She stared hard at her mass of papers, gripping the pencil tightly in her hand.

"Sally," I said gently, pulling the writing utensil from her hand. "You're working too hard."

Sally smiled a small smile, the wrinkles around her eyes crinkling. "I suppose your right," she relented.

"Well of course I am," I replied.

That caused her smile to grow.

Just then, Paul walked in the front door.

I heard the sound of keys jingling and the shuffling of shoes being slipped off.

Paul appeared in the kitchen doorway, shrugging off his coat.

"Hello Annabeth," he greeted. Then he walked over to Sally and gave her a quick kiss. "Sally."

I studied the image unfolding in front of me, and the gears in my mind began turning.

"Paul," I started, turning to him,"don't you think Sally is working too hard?"

Paul looked slightly taken aback at the question, but nevertheless nodded slowly. "I have been noticing that."

"Why don't you two go out tonight? Go have some fun, we'll hold the fort down. And we've got Estelle covered, too." I folded my hands in front of me, as if it were as easy as that.

Paul and Sally exchanged a look.

Finally, Paul shrugged. "It's hard to say no."

Sally laughed. "Alright, alright. We'll go."

I grinned in triumph. "I knew you would."

~
Time skip brought to you by that dam blue plastic hairbrush
~

Sally and Paul were almost out the door.

And then Sally turned around.

"We've got it covered, Sally. Go have fun," I promised.

She shook her head with a smile. "I know you do. I just wanted to thank you. I guess I do need this." She gave me a quick hug. "And don't forget, there's dinner in the cupboard."

I laughed. "I know."

Eventually, I got them out of the door, and turned to find Percy standing behind me, holding Estelle's hand. "So, what should we do?"

I stared at him.

He returned the look cluelessly, and I gave him a few more seconds.

"A stare," he muttered to himself. "Usually means I'm missing something. I didn't forget to change the...and I did do the...let's see..."

I grabbed his other hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "A cake! That's right."

"Yeah," I said, "and you almost got it without a hint this time."

Percy pouted.

I laughed and reached for Estelle, setting her on the counter. "You ready to bake a cake?" I asked her.

"Ooh, cake," came the reply.

Percy nodded. "And not just any cake, right?" He asked her.

Estelle looked ready to burst with pride, she knew the answer. "A bluuue cake!"

Percy high fived her. "I've taught you well."

Estelle giggled, and I looked to Percy. "Really?"

Percy kissed me on the cheek before moving to grab the ingredients. "Of course."

I let Percy start the batter as I put a pot on the stove and heated up the burner. I grabbed a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese from the pantry.

"Estelle?" Percy asked from behind me. "I have an important job for you."

Estelle bopped up and down.

Percy laughed. He brought the steel mixing bowl over to where she sat on the counter and a cup measure of flour. "Can you pour this into the bowl?"

Estelle stared at the red measuring cup in his hand. "Mmhmm," she replied importantly.

She grabbed the cup from Percy's hand and plopped it straight into the bowl.

A white cloud rose from the small impact, and in less than a second Percy was covered in flour.

I laughed way too hard. "Nice one, Estelle," I said in between laughs, and Percy sneered at me mockingly.

Patches of white contrasted immensely in his raven hair, and when he turned to me it flew everywhere.

I didn't realize he had a handful of flour until it was too late.

"Percy!"

Next thing I knew, I was also covered in flour.

Estelle laughed with Percy, and eventually I joined in.

When we had calmed down, I realized the pot of water behind me was boiling. I poured in the macaroni and turned back to the two goofballs.

Percy was carefully measuring out a teaspoon of baking soda, and Estelle was watching closely with interest.

I made my way to a cabinet in the corner of the kitchen, finding the stash of blue food coloring that I knew was always there.

Percy looked up at me and smiled proudly when Estelle had the cookbook in her hand, and was showing Percy what we were going to do with the cake, pointing at the picture with her small finger.

I smiled back, relieved to see all of us having so much fun for once. Nothing to worry about, no monsters, no trouble at camp, just peace and quiet.

"Annabeth! The water is boiling over!"

I startled and moved the pot from the burner. "Whoops."

Eventually, I finished the Mac and cheese and the cake was in the oven.

We sat at the kitchen bar, enjoying the cheesy noodles when I surveyed the kitchen.

"There's flour everywhere," I noted.

Percy held up Estelle's hands. They were covered in splotched blue food coloring, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh my gods."

"Well, we better get to cleaning before the cake is done."

Estelle pouted, just like Percy did, and I set her up on the couch in the living room with Finding Nemo, while Percy started on the kitchen.

I don't know what I expected to find when I walked in, but it sure wasn't a sparkling clean kitchen.

"Whoa," was all I managed.

Percy flipped his imaginary hair.

I giggled and shoved him. "Less work for me," I reminded him.

He smiled at me. "I know."

I just shook my head.

We leaned closer, and just before our lips met, the timer went off.

Percy settled for a quick kiss on the cheek before moving to get the cake out of the oven.

I grabbed the secret pile of icing tubes from the bottom of the pantry and called for Estelle.

She came hopping in the room, clapping her hands. "Frosting," she guessed.

I handed her the tube of blue. "You're too smart for your own good, you know that?"

Estelle giggled and jumped on a chair.

I turned to find Percy gazing fondly at me, and I sent him a what? look.

I got no response, so I shrugged and sat down next to Estelle. I showed her how to make the blue in wavy lines, to imitate the sea on the side.

Percy was busy with the orange, his tongue stuck out an an odd angle as he concentrated. "Nemo has one smaller fin," he explained to Estelle, who looked on in awe.

I chuckled and worked on the words on top.

When I finished, Percy and Estelle weren't quite done. Estelle begged me to make a Dory, and I relented.

Finally, the cake was finished, and it wasn't too bad, if I do say so.

I offered Estelle a high five.

She laughed, but she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were fixed on Percy, who was behind me.

When I turned to see, I was met with a dollop of white icing on my nose.

"Perseus Jackson!" I yelled, but I was totally laughing.

Estelle was such a good kid, she simply sat there and laughed at me.

I fingered a bit of blue icing and wiped it on his nose.

Percy went cross eyed to look at it. "Now I'm gonna have a blue nose," he whined. "Wise Girl!"

I shook my finger at him. "When will you learn Percy," I scolded, imitating a school teacher, "your actions come with consequences. Tsk tsk."

Percy was too busy trying to lick the frosting off of his nose to worry.

Voices sounded outside of the apartment door, and we all went still.

The other two looked to me for instructions, and I went into full on plan mode.

"Okay, Percy," I whispered, "You take Estelle and hide in the kitchen. Make sure the lights are off. Estelle, if you can stay quiet you can have a piece of cake after, okay?"

Estelle nodded with delight and started to pull Percy towards the kitchen.

Percy look at me. "And you?"

"I'll be right behind you with the cake. When they come in, we turn the lights on and show them."

Percy nodded and turned to go.

At the last second, he whipped around and kissed me full on the lips. "Thanks for doing this, Annabeth. My mom will be ecstatic," a goofy grin had spread across his face.

I nodded, slightly speechless. Then I snapped back to my senses and followed them with the cake.

Sally and Paul came in, their laughter fading when they both caught sight of the dark rooms. "Percy?" Sally called.

Percy, who was standing at the light switch, didn't move a muscle.

"Percy? Annabeth? Estelle?"

Estelle stiffened beside me.

"Hmm." That was Paul's voice.

I smiled inwardly.

Finally, finally, they made their way into the kitchen.

Percy flipped on the lights, and all three of us stepped out from our hiding places.

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"

Sally startled visibly, and Paul smiled knowingly. He gave me a small thumbs up.

Sally had a hand to her heart. "Oh, how lovely. An almost-heart-attack on our anniversary." She said it in a kind, flattered way, probably not realizing what she'd said.

I laughed. "Not just that." I pulled the cake out from behind my back and showed it to the two of them.

Sally gasped and took it from my hands. "Oh my, this is beautiful!"

Paul moved to clap Percy on the back, and Estelle finally burst.

"I MADE THE WAVES!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Sally looked at her with awe. "Estelle, what a good job you did! Come here." She set the cake down and gave little Estelle a hug.

After a few moments of 'thank you's' and 'unbelievable's,' we sat at the table to try our blue cake.

Sally was next to me, and we watched as Paul, Percy, and Estelle fooled around with their cake.

"How in the world did you get Estelle to sit quiet for so long?" Sally asked me under her breath.

"I have my ways."

"It was the cake, wasn't it." She said it as more of a statement rather than a question.

"Yeah," I answered with a laugh.

"And Percy?"

"What about him?"

"How'd you get him to cooperate?" Sally inquired.

I turned to look at her. "Believe it or not, this was all Percy's idea. He wanted, and I quote, 'to give you guys some time out, while hanging out with Estelle, plus spend time with me and at the same time bake you guys a cake.' Oh, and Paul was in on it too."

Sally shook her head. "I should've guessed. Was that entire conversation earlier scripted?"

I laughed. "There were some guidelines."

Sally took my hand. "Thank you."

I nodded. "Don't thank me."

We both turned to look at Percy, who was still trying to wash off the blue stain on his nose.

"He's something else," Sally said.

"Yeah, he really is."

Hey demigods!

Tbh, don't know where I was going with this one, but it was kind of fluffy, so I thought, 'why not?'

I hope you enjoyed it!!

Btw, am I the only one who's slowly falling in love with the name Estelle?

Have a wonderful day!

Peace out in demigodishness and all that,

~ Grace 💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙🥦