Thalia's POV

"Wake up." Reyna said bluntly for the eightieth time.

"No."

"Thals! Seriously, get up."

"No!"

"What's it gonna take?"

"You leaving and letting me sleep."

"Not happening. There's an afternoon meeting," Reyna sighed, and jumped up and down on the bed.

"I don't like meetings! They're stupid and dumb!" Groaning, I grabbed her by the ankle and tugged her down so she'd stop jumping.

"Stupid and dumb mean the same thing, babe," she laughed, not ending her annoying pursuit to get me out of bed.

"If you poke me in the ribs again I will bite your fingers off." Grabbing a pillow I covered my head with it.

"Right and what would you do without my fingers?" Reyna jerked the pillow from my grip and smacked me with it.

"You have a mouth!"

"You are absolutely insufferable sometimes! Just get your butt out of bed. It's not complicated!" Reyna growled smacking me hard on the back.

"Ow! I'm gonna have five freaking fingers on my back now thank you very much." I was quite certain a full handprint would be visible.

"Merry Christmas." Reyna huffed. Silence settled for a moment before I groaned and peeled my eyes open. Before she could squirm away in irritation I wrapped an arm around her and tugged her close.

"You don't even want to go to the meeting do you?" I knew to an extent that Reyna had been losing vital sleep overthinking pretty much everything. She probably just wanted another dumb distraction.

"It could be important," she protested.

"Then we'll hear about it anyways." Reyna frowned in distaste but grudgingly rested her head next to mine.

"You're so obnoxiously stubborn it makes me wanna-" She didn't finish the sentence. She just made two fists and opened and closed her hands.

"Strangle the air." I couldn't help but smirk at my own joke. Reyna on the other hand gave me a flat expression in return. "I'm kidding. I'm also sorry."

Reyna didn't say anything and her eyes just settled on the ceiling with a glassy look. I didn't like seeing her so anxious and troubled.

"Hey, talk to me." I nudged her out of her trance. "I know you've been having a hard time lately. Are you doing alright?"

"I don't think any of us are to be honest," she replied.

"I'm not talking about anyone else. I'm talking about you. My wife. Not my cousins or brother." Reyna grudgingly met my eyes. "I'm not gonna be upset. Promise."

Holding up my hand I offered her my pinkie. She gave me a skeptical look like she couldn't believe I was going to seriously pinkie promise her. With a roll of the eyes she took my pinkie in hers and gave a firm shake.

"There," I smiled. "Now what's got you upset Wonder Woman?"

"Nothing. I've just been thinking a lot lately. That's all. I can't really explain it," Reyna shrugged, eyes studying the white fabric of the sheets.

"What kind of stuff? Cool stuff?" I asked, trying not to be too direct so she wouldn't shut down and put up defenses. "Like maybe what would happen if someone mixed bacon with donuts? Or if rats could fly would we still technically have pigeons?"

"What? No!" Reyna laughed, giving me an incredulous look. "You think way to deep about those sorts of things."

"Eh. Maybe, maybe not, I'd certainly sell my soul for anyone who could properly make a good ass bacon donut. That's gotta be like the best breakfast invention ever." Reyna's expression softened and she playfully pushed my face away.

"Maybe I'll figure out how. Just for you. And I'm sure Thia would like it as much as you. She's weird like that." I honestly thought that would be a pretty amazing thing.

"If you do, consider yourself a goddess in my book," I winked, Reyna rolled her eyes jokingly but snuggled down next to me. She was softening up a bit, that was good.

"Well, I'm deeply flattered," she muse, taking my hand in hers and tracing lines on my palm. She was thinking, trying to formulate an approach to the topic, always calculating, even now. "Anyways, it's just, I find myself thinking about what the future is gonna look like. All the possibilities at this point and trying to prepare myself for things I can't-we-can't avoid."

"What types of things?" I asked, running my free hand that she wasn't studying through her hair.

"That if we all make it through this, including Thia, they'll all get older." I felt a pang of realization and understanding flare in my chest. The idea had occurred to me on occasion but I'd shoved it aside and locked it up. Reyna seemed to notice a subconscious change in my behavior. "You've thought of it too."

"It's hard not to," I admitted. Reyna nodded and closed her eyes her breath shaky.

"We'll be the same Thals. Always, and Thia will get older. She'll grow up and one day when we go out in public they're gonna ask us if we're her kids or something. And then the others, like Jaxon and Maria, they'll get older too. They'll have families and they'll branch off and forget about us. They'll have new obligations and people to take care of."

"Rey..." She wasn't finished.

"And Neeks and Percy and the others will get old and we will never understand what that's like. We'll watch from the outside wanting to help but know there's nothing we can do." By now I could tell she was trying hard not to cry. In truth Reyna had been worrying me lately. It seemed she was increasingly more emotional, and I didn't know why let alone how to fix it.

Maybe it was because Thia was gone. Reyna didn't do that well with change. Sure, she could adapt to an extent but this was different. Maybe it was Thia's quest that suddenly bombarded her with hard to swallow truths. Or it was something else entirely. Whatever the case she needed me and I had to be strong for her.

"Maybe it won't be so bad. We could look after the others' grandkids and all the generations of their families but it'll be the same process over and over again. A never ending cycle," Reyna sighed, and hastily wiped at her eyes as if I wouldn't notice.

"Zoë told me a long time ago that it's hard, but you have to find someone to love and hold on to for those times where it gets rough. And that's why I have you and you have me. If we're lucky we'll go together." Reyna nodded and sniffled turning to hide her face in my chest.

"I don't know why I'm so upset all the time and I hate it because it's not fair to you but I'm trying so hard to hope for the best. That this will all go away but my heart hurts not knowing what's going to happen." That's when I realized the real underlying pain behind all of this. Once again it tied back to Thia.

What if she didn't make it out of this?
It would literally kill Reyna. It would kill me too.

In the beginning Reyna had been hesitant to love Thia when she was just over two hands big. It took nearly a week to convince her that she could hold Thia without breaking her. Another to convince her it was normal for babies to cry and it had nothing to do with her inability to parent. The transition was slow for her as she hadn't had to raise a baby brother like I did.

She'd been severely scared which was understandable but she'd adapted in time. I remembered the first time Reyna really looked comfortable with Thia. Thia had been a few months old at the time and I'd felt horribly guilty for having to leave for an emergency with the hunters. When I came back though, Reyna was laying on the couch looking pretty content with tiny Thia sound asleep on her chest.

It was a nice sight to come home to. After that, Reyna was absolutely absorbed in everything Thia did. It was always so adorable like Reyna herself was a kid all over again.

I recalled the first time Thia walked clumsily into our room, pillow in one hand and blanket in the other having woken from a dream. Her small high pitched voice asking, "Can I stay?"

Of course neither Reyna or I could say no. She was way to cute in her dinosaur footie pajamas; courtesy of Percy. She'd clambered into bed and wedged herself between Reyna and I giggling to herself. I asked her what was so funny and she smiled happily; "I got a mommy on both sides!"

"Reyna, there is no way in hell we are going to be able to predict the future. We both know that but we're gonna be there when everything goes down. When Chaos decides he's had enough and Thia has to stand her ground." Reyna pulled back from where she'd nestled against me and gave me an uncertain look. "We've prepared her. She's one of a kind and she's got both of us in her genetics. That's better odds than I had and I'm the daughter of the king of the gods! Trust her. I'm not saying I won't be devastated if something happens to her but if we dwell on what might happen it could very well be a self fulfilling prophecy."

Reyna just gave a small whimper as a response. Gently taking her face in my hands I pressed her forehead to mine. "She's smart and brilliant and she's a leader. She is you through and through, Reyna. She learned her glare from you, she learned how to rub dirt in her wounds and get up from you. She used to wear your cape and march around the house when you weren't there or when you were asleep. I asked why and she told me it was because you were pretty and strong."

"Then if I taught her all of that, if she fails it's my fault," Reyna whispered.

"No. It would be mine. I'm the one who let her jump in puddles, sing silly songs, and pretend that dragons were real. I let her fantasize and I took away from her some of the instincts of survival." Reyna closed her eyes and nodded. "Now, no more thinking about this okay?"

"Okay," she whispered. Smiling softly I gave her a gentle kiss that caused her to relax. Pulling back Reyna wrapped her arms around me and moved so she was using me as the bed. It was ironic to say the least, that the one who had tried so desperately to wake me up was now falling asleep.

Sighing, I ran my hand up and down her back tracing the bumps of her spine. She was precious. Her and Thia both. I'd done them both a disservice in my antics during Thia's youth. Still, I couldn't bring myself to regret them entirely.

I never wanted Thia to feel how I had with my own parents. Perhaps that meant less training and more living. Reyna stirred slightly in her light sleep and I expected her to wake up. Instead she just reached blindly for my other hand and took it in her own.

Meeting or not I wasn't keen on moving. Like I'd said earlier; we would find out no matter what.