Annabeth's POV

My feet and my face were killing me, and I was overall just completely exhausted. This elevator ride was taking forever. I looked over at my soon-to-be mother-in-law and she looked the same way I felt. Nonetheless, Sally smiled at me happily.

"Thank you again, dear, for going with me. I know it was a long night," she said, pulling me into a side hug.

Sally had received a call yesterday afternoon from her editor for her most recent novel. There was an open slot at a big showcasing event that would be great publicity for her work. It was just our luck that it was very last minute and Paul was already scheduled to go to a teachers' conference for the week, but of course Sally couldn't pass it up. Percy and I felt bad that she would have to go alone... but formal events were not something that either of us were fans of, and one of us needed to stay to watch Estelle.

"Wise Girl," Percy argued, "you're way better at talking to fancy people and making a good impression than me."

"You're her son!" I retaliated. "I'm sure she'd really appreciate it if you were there."

"Yeah, but, you're practically her daughter so it doesn't matter," he whined. I blushed a little and bit my cheek to stop from smiling - that would be a real sign of weakness in this situation. "And I really wanna spend time with my sister," he finished with his baby seal eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever," I grumbled. "And when have I ever spoke to fancy people?"

The sky rumbled above us.

"Oh no, you guys don't count!" Percy yelled in response. Thunder shook the window panes.

"Perseus! I do not want to be struck down today!"

He just shot me his lopsided grin.

So even though I was insanely jealous of my fiance while I dress shopped, wore said dress and heels for hours, smiled big and spoke politely all night, and even fended off flirty guys, I couldn't help but melt a little when I thought about Percy and Estelle spending the evening together.

"Of course Sally," I responded while returning the hug. "I was just a little out of my element, that's all."

The elevator doors dinged open.

"I know how you feel." We walked to the apartment door and she pulled out her keys. "But nobody ever would have guessed that from seeing you tonight. I was so proud to introduce you as my daughter-in-law."

I felt a lump form in my throat. Before I could say anything, a voice from inside the apartment cut me off.

"Well, it's not official yet," is what Percy greeted us with.

"Hello to you, too," I choke out.

"I would be nicer to my daughter-in-law if I were you, young man," Sally said with a poke to her son's chest. "You owe her after your night on the couch."

"Hey now, we had a busy night! Just ask Estelle."

Sally's mouth dropped open. "Is she still awake? Percy! Do you know how late it is?" She hurried off down the hallway before he could answer.

"Wow," I said sarcastically as I leaned against my fiance to take my heels off, "what a great babysitter you are."

"It's only because we took a really long nap after I picked her up from preschool! I tried to put her in bed but she wouldn't fall asleep!"

I laughed at him as I finished removing my shoes. When my bare feet hit the ground, I winced. Who knew that standing normal after so long of not could be just as painful as the heels?

"What's wrong?" Percy asked me.

"Feet hurt," I grumbled.

"Well, I can help with that." Then he leaned in and kissed me. His hands ran down my sides slowly as mine cupped his face. He lifted me off my feet and I hugged him against me tighter. After a little while, he pulled back slightly and mumbled, "Have I told you yet how beautiful you look tonight?" 

I felt myself blushing, frustrated with how easy he can make me do that, even after all these years. "Only about five times before I left."

"Well, what about how much I love you in that dress? Maybe even more than the one you wore to prom." He gave me a cheeky grin.

I laughed slightly, remembering how infatuated Percy had been with my prom dress senior year.

"I'm sure, though," he whispered in my ear, "that it won't even compare to your wedding dress."

My blush deepened. "You are such a Seaweed Brain." I motioned for him to set me back down. He sighed and did so, then followed me into the kitchen where Estelle was very excitedly telling Sally about her night.

"-and then, Mama, we went to the park and went down the slides and sat on the swings and then we came home and watched a movie and colored some pictures and then Percy said I had to go to bed but I wasn't sleepy so he let me have milk and cookies and then you came home!" She finished with a huge smile.

"I would be very sleepy after all of that," I said, going over to ruffle the toddler's hair.

"Anna!" she squealed, still using my name from when she first started talking. She crawled out of her mother's arms to give me a hug. I picked her up and rocked her back and forth while she giggled.

"See Mom, I'm a great big brother," Percy said defensively.

"The best," Estelle agreed. I smiled.

"Honey, I never doubted your big brother skills. Just your bedtime skills," Sally promised him with a kiss on the cheek. "Speaking of bedtime, Mommy and Annabeth are very tired so it's time for a little girl to hit the hay." She went to take Estelle from my arms but Percy beat his mother to it.

"I've got her, you guys also need to hit the hay."

Goodnights went around and I watched Percy carry his little sister to her room. It made a warm feeling spread through my chest.

"You know," Sally said, breaking me out of my daze, "if they hadn't signed their names, I wouldn't know which of my children colored which page." She held up the two papers. I bust out laughing.

A few minutes later, I was sitting on Percy's bed, feeling much more comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. Pretty soon he walked in and headed straight towards me.

"Took you long enough," I teased as he moved me backwards until I was flat on my back, him laying on top of me. I ran my fingers through his hair as he rested his head on my chest.

"Sorry, she wanted a bedtime story," he said, but he did not sound at all apologetic.

"Oh yeah? What story did you tell her?"

"Something about how her awesome big brother had to clean how some nasty pegasus stalls that one time and it took him all day just to figure out he could use the river. She found the smelly poop very funny."

"Of course she did. She's four."

"I'm pretty sure I found smelly poop funny until I was, like, twelve."

"Of course you did."

We were quiet for a long time. I was about asleep before Percy started talking again.

"Thank you for going with Mom. It really meant a lot for me to spend some time with my little sis." He lightly kissed my collar bone.

I sighed happily. "I know it did. I'm glad you had a great night."

"So, how was your night?"

"It wasn't too bad." I smirked, knowing what I was about to say was going to get a rise out of him. "There was a few guys, though, that would not stop hitting on me."

His head shot up so fast, I swear he got whiplash.

"What?" He propped himself up on his elbows so his face was directly over mine. "How many of them? What did they say? What did they do?"

"Nothing much," I said with a slight giggle. "I can take care of myself, Seaweed Brain. You know that."

"I know, I know, but still-"

I pulled him down for a long kiss.

"I do wish you could have been there though," I told him when we were done. "It would have made the night go a bit quicker."

"I guess I do owe you," he whispered right before going in for another kiss.

"I know how you can repay me," I said, stopping him. He raised his eyebrows. "Foot massage."