Percy's tired eyes threatened to shut as he adamantly tried to force himself to stay awake. The clinic was quiet, too quiet to keep him alert. His stomach, nurtured only on fast food the past day, growled as it realised it hadn't been taken care of for hours. He couldn't go eat now, not when any moment they could open the door and call him in.

The surgery had gone well. Well in the sense that Artemis hadn't bled out on the operating table. Whether the surgery was a success was a different story. This was experimental in the field of medicine, and Artemis was not known to be a healthy person immune to disease and disorder. She'd had to stay at the hospital overnight or several nights before.

The door opened, nearly giving Percy a heart attack, but it wasn't the door he had been waiting hours for. It was the front door, and in came two adults and two children. Hera rushed over while Zeus shut the door behind them. "Thank god. Are we late, how is it?" The worried mother of the patient asked her son-in-law feverishly.

Percy smiled half-heartedly and shook his head. "No, no, you're not late. They're still in there, haven't heard anything." He assured her as Zeus came and sat down at a seat over by the window.

The older girl let go of Hera's hand and walked over to Percy. "Hi, daddy." Selena greeted quietly. She seemed tired like her father, even though she had gone back to her grandparents' for the night.

Percy smiled and took her hands. "Hey baby. Mommy's still in the room. We can see her soon, okay?" He assured her softly, and the little girl nodded. Percy looked to his left and pointed to the box of toys. "Why don't you go sit down and play while we wait?" He suggested, knowing she'd die of boredom sitting here for hours like he had. Selena agreed though it was clear she'd rather just go see her mom and bring her home.

While the little girl sat on the ground and reached in for one of the many McDonald's toys, Zeus handed the other child over to Percy. "Hilo, Kaylee." Percy said in his baby-voice to his one and a half year old daughter, who in opposition to Selena's black locks had inherited Artemis' auburn hair.

The child grinned with her hand in her mouth as Percy took her from her grandmother onto his lap. "Dada." She said as Hera sat down next to Zeus. She was excited to see him but the sadness at her mothers absence was weighing down on her. The kids weren't often away from either of their parents for so long. "Where mama?" She asked, and Percy sighed in defeat. The girls had missed their mom despite it only being a day. They knew she was getting something done to her and were worried, despite everyone's assurances that their mom would be okay.

He frowned. "She in with the doctor and uncle. We go see her soon, princess." He assured her just as he had Selena. Worriedly chewing on the fingers of her right hand, Kaylee looked around the room and softly whimpered, breaking Percy's heart.

The toddler then decided to lean into her dad's chest as they waited for Artemis to be ready. As she sat cuddled up to him like a baby in the womb, Percy honestly felt like they would both be fast asleep by the time the doctor came out to get them.

The clock felt slower now than it had been the whole time he was here. His eyes constantly switched between rereading the posters on the wall, watching Selena play with the toys absentmindedly and the top of Kaylee's head as she was cuddled up almost asleep.

Thankfully they were the only ones in the waiting room of this clinic so he didn't have to mind Selena. He would let her sprawl out on the floor in boredom and she wouldn't trip anyone up.

When the clock struck three minutes past 1pm, they heard a door down the hall open and the sound of footsteps on the carpeted floor. A familiar head adorned in shoulder-length blonde hair snuck it's way around the corner, looking at them all. Selena visibly perked up when she saw Apollo standing there. "Uncle!" She said excitedly.

The young doctor grinned brightly back at her and then his eyes flicked back to Percy. "Ready to try?" He asked, and Percy nodded.

Not sure if she was awake, Percy gently pulled himself up off the seat while still holding Kaylee tight so that she wouldn't suddenly drop. At the feeling of being lifted up, the toddler shifted around in her overalls, moving to rub her eyes from tiredness. Percy doubted she even processed that they were going to go see her mom, nor that her uncle had finally showed up. Selena though had better cognition and she hurried to wrap her arms around uncle Apollo's waist.

He hugged his niece back before parting and taking her hand in his. Standing up to his waist, Selena was much shorter than the young adult that happened to be her mom's twin. While Percy carried Kaylee, Apollo led Selena and the four ventured down the hallway until they reached a door left ajar.

Apollo pushed it open, allowing the smaller family entry into the room. Struggling with holding Kaylee up by only one arm, Percy turned around to shut the door behind them but Apollo was already doing so. "Remember what you're doing?" He asked, and Percy nodded, still not saying anything.

Apollo shut the door and Percy turned around, looking to make sure Selena hadn't broken anything. Instead he found her standing by the large window on one side of the small room. The room was a small booth, like something you'd record music in. It barely had enough space to fit the three of them, but Kaylee wasn't taking up much space clinging onto her dad.

Selena was waving at the window, and as Percy came around to look he saw that the opposing room through the window was a bit bigger. That one could definitely fit three people, and with a bit of space too, as demonstrated by there being three people in there. There was some older looking guy Percy knew to be the doctor, and Apollo had just entered the room and started saying things to the doctor that Percy couldn't hear.

That wasn't what Selena was focused on though. In the middle of the room sitting on a stool was her mother Artemis, smiling and waving back to her elder daughter. Percy saw and acted much the same as Selena, smiling and giving a wave. He turned his head to the half-conscious Kaylee. "Look, there's mom." He whispered.

Kaylee's neck snapped up and she looked around until she saw Artemis. "Mama!" She said rather loudly for that tiny room, making Percy cringe a bit. Artemis laughed after seeing Percy's face and she waved at her baby too.

Percy turned back to his daughter and began to sway to keep her alert. "See? Told you she was fine. We might be good to go home soon, princess." He assured his youngest daughter. Kaylee nodded slowly, liking that idea as she was transfixed by her mother on the other side of the glass.

Apollo and the doctor separated and the former turned to the window. He gave a shaky thumbs up gesture, asking if they were good to go. Percy nodded back and pulled Selena over to him and Kaylee. There was a stool in the middle of the room like Artemis', only in front of theirs was a microphone stand.

Apollo walked over to his sister and began conversing with her in sign. Percy watched as his wife understood everything her brother said by watching his hands, and then vice versa when it was her turn to answer. He himself got quite a bit, mainly Artemis' as she was facing him. He'd learned a lot of sign over the few years they'd been married, and now he felt confident enough to hold basic conversations.

When he felt she fully understood what he wanted from her, Apollo backed off and walked back over to the doctor. Meanwhile it seemed like both of her daughters were trying to have staring contests with their mom, and Selena was giggling from Artemis' intense wide-eyed face.

The doctor and Apollo stood around a computer for a few seconds before Apollo turned around and handed Artemis a pair of headphones. The young woman took a deep breath before putting them on. Even though she was literally deaf it still felt like everything became more quiet when she put them on.

Percy got Selena to sit in front of him while Kaylee kinda hung off the side of his neck like a baby koala. Both girls were fixated on their mom as Percy leaned down and whispered something in Selena's ear. Selena nodded, and the three patiently waited for the all-clear.

After another minute or so, Apollo turned around and held up three fingers. Slowly he began to count down visibly to them. Three. Two. One.

Percy squeezed Selena slightly as Artemis felt a noticeable difference instantaneously, and it shocked her. The little girl paused for a second, remembering her lines. This was a lot of pressure for a four year old girl.

She looked between the microphone and then up into Artemis' eyes. "I love you mommy." She said simply, and for the first time in her life Artemis heard her, and for the first time in her life Artemis heard, and it was beautiful.

Tears flooded Artemis' eyes and she choked. Still not able to say anything, she had to simply nod with her hands over her mouth before shakily removing them to do a heart gesture over her chest, making Selena grin.

Upon realising her dad was right about her mom's thingy, Kaylee excitedly yelled. "Mama!" Artemis visibly cringed much like Percy had done just a couple minutes ago, and Apollo looked back with an expression of shared pain. Nevertheless, Artemis fought through it and laughed, squinting and looking at Kaylee before waving to her too.

Percy brought Kaylee closer to the mic so they could say a few more things before it was his turn. Selena hopped off and stood beside him while Kaylee continued to sit on his hip. Percy cleared his throat and brought the mic closer, thinking about what to say again.

"Hey, Artemis. It's me, Percy. This is my voice, you can hear it now. I don't know why I'm talking to you like you just woke up from a coma, but I don't know what to say. You can finally hear us, hear your husband, your twin, your daughters. Holy shit. I... I love you, Artemis. I just realised you've never heard me say that, only read it.... I love you...." He repeated, truly at a loss for words. It was a miracle.

Artemis fully had tears streaming down her face by this point, and after wiping a few away she repeated the same three gestures she had on their wedding day to substitute her vows.

I love you.

Percy nodded at Apollo and he cut the mic. The family of three stood up, and after taking a moment to calm his two ecstatic daughters down, Percy opened the door. They all needed to hug Artemis right now. Artemis herself wss tapped on the shoulder by Apollo, and for the first time in her life, despite sharing a womb with him for 9 months, Artemi heard her brother's voice. He sounded exactly how she imagined.

The family of three showed up in the room a minute or so later, and Selena immediately tackled her mom. Artemis, weak at the knees, crouched down to pull her eldest daughter as close as she could. Percy quickly came over with Kaylee and Artemis stood up, pulling the two of them into a hug.

She parted a bit so that she could grab Kaylee and kiss her on the nose, making the baby giggle. God, she thought that giggle was her new favorite sound in the world.

With both girls in between them, Artemis turned to Percy and locked her eyes with his. The two smiled, tears in their eyes, before Artemis took the plunge and latched her mouth to his.

After over twenty years of hardship, Artemis could finally get her happy ending.

That's a wrap. Over 10k words goddamn. Few things. 1) I wrote this for a Discord challenge, so there's my motives and the reason I haven't updated BSC in like two months. Also still got an ArtemisDianaPercy lemon i'm halfway through but I may focus on BSC just because of popular demand. 2) I'm not deaf, so I obviously don't know what it's like to be deaf, so criticisms allowed but if you want me to change something that would completely upend the story like Artemis being mute then just save it I guess. Idk what else to say. Its time to publish this bad boy, I guess. Cya. Time to get the word count to 13k. Heres eleven words.

Word Count: 13000