Epilogue (October)

Artemis was passed out in their bed at around 7pm at night, having needed many naps over the past six weeks. Not just because she had to get over the pregnancy, but because their daughter Selena had been so much work. They were up at 2 in the morning feeding the girl, and changing her diapers every twenty minutes.

Thankfully, she was quiet… when she wasn't upset that was. Selena seemed to be hungry very often, and apparently loved the feeling of her food coming out the other end. It was good when they stayed at Sally's, because she volunteered to take Artemis' diaper duties, knowing she needed rest.

Three miles away, Percy was standing inside a Dominos staring wistfully at the screen with everyone's names on it. Aphrodite stood beside him, baby Selena on her hip as she went messed around on Snapchat

Percy'd had an eventful afternoon. There was football practice, which went swimmingly. He'd convinced Aphrodite's crush Hephaestus ro play again, this season, and the brute was doing well. The usually timid and quiet kid was getting along with his teammates after the previous season, and thanks to the two wins he'd scored the team in Junior year, some girls even took a notice to him.

Of course, Coach Hedge was running it, while the Sports Director Mr Brunner was there as well. Aphrodite sat in the stands just behind them with Selena, since it was Percy's day to watch her. Practice finished up in just over two hours after school ended, and then since the field was free, it was the cheerleader's turn.

It was a weird sight, seeing Percy holding an infant with half the football team in the stands. Selena was enjoying the show as much as the guys were, but probably not for the same reason. Once that practice was over, they got held back for around 15 minutes while the entire cheerleading squad gushed over how cute Artemis's daughter was, despite the fact that they had all seen her around 4 times now.

After that, they had rushed to the local pool, since Percy's swim team had to reschedule their practice for 5:30, meaning they had yet another place ro go for over an hour. Luckily, Selena had something to do there. The three of them got changed into their bathing suits, Aphrodite taking Selena of course, and got into the pool.

As Percy trained with his team, which he was actually the captain of, Aphrodite slapped some floaties of Selena and let her drift around the pool, occasionally hugging her for long periods of time to regulate her body temperature. Even at a month and a half old, Selena found the water to be the best thing since Canned Bread, which was promising considering her father.

She would splash around and giggle loudly, and the female Jackson kid briefly wondered how she hadn't passed out from exhaustion yet. Did all babies have this much energy? For the next hour, while Percy trained both his team and himself, Aphrodite paddled around with her niece in the pool, enjoying their little time together. Eventually, practice ended, and they all got changed and left.

So now they ended up here, in a Domino's past Selena's bedtime ordering their dinner. "What do you want?" He asked Aphrodite. She was busy taking a photo of her and Selena with the dog filter on, and just said "Hawaiian."

Percy gave her a concerned side-glance. "H-Hawaiian?" He shakily asked in fear. She nodded. "Yeah, It's pretty good without pineapple. I'll give the pineapples to this little girl. You like pineapples don't you? Yes you do. Good girl." She said, nuzzling the giggling infant.

Percy cringed. "But it… its tainted." He said, making his sister roll her eyes. "Why do you care? You're not eating my pizza." She argued. Percy had to suck it up and order. "Yeah, i'll have a Hawaiian, Cheesy Garlic (he likes it simple), and Meatlovers, thanks." He said.

Aphrodite piped up from behind him. "With garlic bread, dummy!" Percy smirked. "Of course, how could I forget. Three rolls of garlic bread and two bottles of Pepsi. That's all, thanks." He said, paying and standing back by Aph to wait.

The pizzas took a moderate amount of time to get made, and the three of them left the place feeling happy with the smell of fresh pizza under their noses. Aph buckled her niece in and gave her the teddy, Mr Bear, whom she hugged tightly to her chest and waited for the truck to start.

Percy had the radio playing some Soul Asylum playing softly so as to not traumatize Selena on the way home. They pulled into the Jackson household's driveway at around 7:35pm. Poseidon and Amphitrite were working late, so the four of them had the house all to themselves.

As Aphrodite sat Selena in her highchair and went to find her pizza, Percy ascended the stairs looking for his fiance. Of course, knowing how tired she was, he checked their bedroom first. The room was dark, the curtains were drawn back, and as Percy lightly opened the door, he saw a lump under the blankets laying on top of their bed. He smiled, and approached it.

Artemis was having a good dream, though when she woke up she would come to forget what it was all about, as was the common curse of sleep. Percy walked up behind her and smiled, before gently getting under the blankets and wrapping his arms around her stomach from behind.

Artemis felt the presence, and knowing who it was by instinct, rolled over onto her other side to cuddle into him. She liked the warmth of him, especially on a cold Fall night such as it was. Percy rubbed the back of her hair soothingly. "Dinner's here, babe. Pizza?" He asked softly, and she weakly nodded. The 17 year old looked behind her at the spare crib they had next to the bed for when they wanted their baby to sleep in their room. "Where's Selena?" She asked.

"What do you mean? I left her with you all day." Percy said, and suddenly Artemis' eyes shot open. "What?! I've been asleep all day!" She said, shooting up in bed. Percy laughed, sitting up and hugging her. "I was just kidding, Arty. Aph's downstairs feeding her pineapple off of her pizza." He said, and Artemis took a deep breath, before weakly punching her fiance in the arm.

"Pineapple on pizza?" She asked, kind of disgusted. Percy cringed as well. "Yeah, she says she's just gonna pick them off, but I still wouldn't eat it. I got you Meatlovers." He said, and Artemis nodded, closing her eyes and leaning into him. "Can you carry me?" She asked, and he nodded. "I'll try not to drop you down the stairs." He joked, and she managed a smile.

Percy picked her up bridal style, and the two of them made their way down the stairs. They entered the living room, where Aphrodite was sitting on the floor with Selena sitting in her lap as she fed her pineapples with a spoon. The TV was on, and they were watching Spongebob Squarepants. The Jackson twins had plenty of DVDs of the series, so Percy guessed she had popped one in there.

Percy came in and set Artemis down on the ground next to Aphrodite, before sitting down on her left. Artemis looked over at her child and kissed her on the forehead. "Hey, baby. You smell like chlorine. You been for a swim?" She asked, looking up at Aphrodite. The teen nodded. "Percy had swim practice, so I took her in the shallow end with me." She said.

The three of them dug into their pizzas and watched Spongebob, while Aphrodite set the infant down in front of them with a toy to keep herself occupied. Percy somehow managed to intake what was equivalent to a whole bottle and a quarter of Pepsi, and the garlic bread was demolished by them all.

After their dinner was done, Artemis gave Selena her share of breastmilk to hold her over until morning, and since she was tired, the babe quietly suckled with her eyes closed. As she finished up, it was just past 8 o'clock, so they decided Selena had better go to bed so they (meaning Artemis since Percy and Aph had to go to school on a Friday) can sleep in the next day. Artemis was due to go back to school on Monday, which she was quite ticked off about, but at the same time, it would be good to catch up with everyone.

Artemis pulled her shirt back up as Selena disconnected and stood up, and Percy followed her. Realising she actually wanted to watch more Spongebob, Aphrodite pulled pillows off the couch and gathered up blankets, pausing and gesturing for them to hurry up.

The two teens walked upstairs with their baby, entering the nursery quietly to make sure Selena stayed asleep. Artemis gently lowered the infant into her crib, pulling the blanket up to her chin. She stood there for a moment, staring down at the baby she was so proud of. Her baby went swimming today, which wasn't her first time of course, they had a pool in the backyard, but she still wished she could've been there for it. After this week, we'll have all the time in the world, she thought to herself.

Percy came over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "She's so beautiful, just like her mother." He whispered, reaching up and spinning the mobile. Artemis smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about, she looks a lot like you." She said, and Percy leaned down to kiss just behind her ear. "But she has your eyes, and that's all that matters." He said.

Artemis smiled softly, staring back at her daughter. "Goodnight, my little moon." She said, standing up and walking out with Percy. On the way out, she turned on the small speaker that quietly played a lullabye for about 10 minutes to put her to sleep, and turned on the blue nightlights so she wasn't left in the dark. The two of them left the room and went back downstairs to finish off the night watching Spongebob Squarepants cuddled up in some blankets with Aphrodite.

Okay, now this story is finished. Hope that was some nice little fluff for you guys. I'm gonna update I Wouldn't Mind next, so keep an eye out for that soon. I'm like ¾ of the way through the next chapter, so I will finish that hopefully by the end of this week. Did you guys like this story? Rate it out of ten for me.

Word Count: 1803