Hi, everyone!

This is a ridiculously long author's note, but it is really important, so I ask that you would please read it!

So, as you probably know, about three years ago, I wrote a story called Climbing Mt. Everest, about adult life for Percy and Annabeth. This story was a huge success and turned out to be quite a bit longer than I ever planned for it to be. In the time since ending it, I have gotten numerous requests for a sequel. At first, I was hesitant because I had no real plans for one and wasn't sure what I would even include. However, after quite a while, a lot of thought, and some PMs from you guys, I've planned it out a bit and have decided to go ahead and write it.

As it has been so long since I wrote CME, I'm not sure how many of you are even around anymore, so my plan is to post this first chapter as a one-shot for now and, depending on the response from you guys, I will decide whether or not to expand it from there. That being said, PLEASE let me know if you'd like me to continue with this or not. If you're no longer interested, that's totally fine. It's been 3 years. Things change.

Also, since this is a sequel to CME, if you have not read that yet, I would definitely recommend you do so before reading this, as a lot of important details are covered in that story that will be addressed in chapters to come.

Another important thing: CME was written before the release of Blood Of Olympus, and as such, not everything in that story can be considered canon anymore. My writing has also improved quite a bit in the last three years. For these reasons, I am thinking about going back and rewriting CME bit by bit to make it canon to the books. All major story lines will stay the same, but some of the minor stuff, Nico's situation for example, I will probably change to fit better. This leads me to my last question. The only major thing from CME that I could not easily change is the story line introduced in Trials of Apollo of Percy's little sister. CME is 77 chapters long and not one of them make any mention of a sister for Percy or an aunt for the children. I can do one of two things with this. First option, which I am leaning towards, is just to simply ignore ToA completely and use only the information from PJO and HoO for this story, which is how it is in CME. The other option is to include Percy's sister in this story without ever having her present in the prequel, which is not ideal for obvious reasons, number one being that because the baby hasn't actually been born yet in ToA and we don't even know so much as a name for her, I would have to make a lot up, which would then become inaccurate once we get more information in future books. You're the readers though, so it is up to you. I'd really appreciate your opinion on this!

That all being said, I really enjoyed writing this first chapter and I'm really excited for the possibility of delving back into the specifics of life with the Jacksons!

Please read and review. Enjoy!

Mornings at the Jackson residence were chaotic, to say the least. But then, with Annabeth and I both having full time jobs and three kids who were the opposite of morning people, this wasn't especially surprising.

On this particular morning, a Monday in early April, the sounds of children bickering sounded from the kitchen even before I set foot inside, ushering six-year old Carly in before me. We'd had a small crisis in the form of a missing left shoe and the two of us had spent the last few minutes dealing with it. Annabeth's voice greeted us as we stepped inside, reprimanding our son. "Logan, enough," she said sternly from the counter where she was putting lunches together for the three, "Leave your bother alone."

Logan and Nicholas, the source of the squabbling, were seated at the kitchen table, bowls of cereal in front of them. Nicky was glaring down at the table, the list of spelling words that he was being tested on later today lay in front of him. Logan, at Annabeth's words, looked as if a great injustice had occurred. He began to protest, "But—"

"But nothing," she interrupted him in her patented no-nonsense tone, "Drop it. Now." Logan huffed irritably in defeat and proceeded to eat his cereal in silence. Carly sat herself down in her spot next to Nicholas and I put a bowl together for her hoping we weren't running too late after the shoe debacle. She obediently set to eating and I crossed the kitchen to help Annabeth with the lunches. She was dressed professionally with her hair tied up in a knot at the back of her head and was placing a sandwich in each of the kids' lunchboxes.

"Did you find it?" she asked as I deposited a bottle of water into each after her while she moved to dividing pretzels into three Ziploc bags.

"Yeah," I answered, "It was wedged behind the couch. No idea how it got there." She shook her head and released her breath in a laugh. "Are the boys acting up?" I asked then, lowering my voice to keep said boys from overhearing.

She sighed, zipping Carly's lunchbox closed as she finished with it, "Nicky was studying his words and Logan corrected him when he mixed up the spelling. He didn't take it well and Logan wouldn't let it go." She turned and looked at me, her voice barely more than a whisper, "We're going to have to talk to him soon. Obviously the dyslexia is becoming more of a problem."

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, "Yeah. Alright."

She watched me a moment in shared sympathy before speaking again, her voice returning to a normal volume. "I have to go into the office today for that presentation. You're still good to drop Nicky and Carly off, right?"

"Yeah, no problem. Are we still on for lunch later?"

"Yes, as long as nothing pressing comes up. You know how Mondays can be."

I hummed in acknowledgement, grabbing a glass from the cabinet behind me and pouring orange juice into it. Since the kids were born, Annabeth had taken to working from home as much as possible. Her job as an architect allowed her the leeway to do so. Typically, she only went into the firm on Thursdays, but occasionally she was called in for important meetings or presentations, like today, and had to leave earlier than usual. On these days, she drove Logan to school like normal but had to head into the city long before the elementary school started, which meant I drove Carly and Nicky on my way in. Not that this arrangement was bad in any way—I liked spending time with my kids before sending them off for the day—but it definitely served to add to our already hectic mornings. All three of them had the option to take the bus to school if they had to; the bus stop was just a few houses down the road, but we had agreed back when Logan first started school that it was probably safer for us just to drive him, and eventually his siblings. There was no telling how soon the monsters could smell them, as it wasn't as exact a science with legacies as it was for half-bloods (which wasn't saying much), and we figured it was better for everyone involved if we just drove them ourselves. My mom helped occasionally too. It probably made little difference in the grand scheme of things, but it made us feel better all the same.

Annabeth glanced at the stove clock, which read 7:13. "Okay, Logan," she said, "Are you almost done? We have to get going soon." Logan, who had been drinking the last of the milk from his cereal, lowered the bowl and nodded, standing up. He deposited it in the sink. "Thank you," she said, coming up behind him and kissing the top of his head, a peace offering after disciplining him, "Go get your stuff together, okay?" He nodded and left the kitchen. Turning to me, Annabeth handed over his lunch. "Can you go put this in his backpack? He can't forget it again."

"Sure," I said, taking it. I met Logan at the bottom of the stairs. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and he had a sweatshirt gripped in his hand. "Here's your lunch, bud," I said, handing him the lunchbox, "Make sure it goes in your backpack. Mom won't be here today to bring it to you if you forget it again."

"Okay," he answered, taking it and putting it obediently in his bag. We walked together back to the kitchen, where Nicholas was placing his empty bowl in the sink and Annabeth was braiding Carly's hair. "I'm ready, Mom," Logan informed her from the doorway.

"Okay, great," she replied, looking away from Carly's curls and at him, "Can you get my work bag out of the office and put it and your backpack by the door? We'll leave in a minute." He nodded and left to do so, appearing again a moment later. Annabeth finished with Carly's hair and tied the braid off at the bottom. "Okay," she said, "I have to go." She bent to kiss our daughter goodbye and said, "Have a good day," before moving on to Nicky and doing the same. "Good luck on your spelling test," she told him. He nodded. She straightened and looked at me, stepping forward and adjusting the collar of my polo shirt, emblazoned with the logo of the aquarium I worked at. I smirked.

"Have a good day," I said.

"You too," she replied and kissed me quickly, "I'll see you later." I nodded and she stepped away, grabbing the travel mug of tea that waited on the counter.

Logan crossed to me and wrapped me in a loose one-armed hug. "Bye, Dad."

"Bye, buddy. Have a good day at school,"

"I will," he replied and moved toward the doorway.

Annabeth ushered him out before her a second later, calling, "I love you all," over her shoulder. The two left with replied love you too's and byes called after them. A moment later, I heard the front door open and close again, and it was just the three of us.

I took my own seat at the table and poured myself some cereal to eat quickly before we, too, had to leave. We still had half an hour. After a minute, Nicky, his spelling words still in front of him, looked up at me. "Dad," he asked as I chewed, "Can you test me on my words? Just the hard ones from last night?"

I swallowed, "Sure, kiddo." I reached out for the list and he handed it to me. I'd gone over it with him the night before and after struggling through the words for a while, he'd gotten pretty good with all but a few of them, though he still seemed unsure. Out of our three kids, Nicholas was the only one who seemed to have inherited Annabeth's and my dyslexia, at least to the extent where it was a problem. While all three of them were hyperactive, Logan had never had an issue with reading or writing, and Carly, though she was still young, seemed okay with it too.

It wasn't a sure thing that all demigods were dyslexic. Most were, but a lucky few, Frank Zhang for example, were not. Legacies were less likely than half-bloods to have it, and as it was genetic, there had always been the chance that some of our kids would have it while some wouldn't, which is what happened. Nicky tried really hard to keep up with his brother when it came to school. Both were incredibly smart, not unsurprisingly considering they had Annabeth as a mom, but Logan's grades tended to reflect this more than Nick's did, and the latter was often frustrated with school. It also seemed to be getting worse rather than better, which was why Annabeth was concerned.

It took some adjusting, but eventually it was possible to work around the dyslexia, as I knew only too well. School had been rough for me too, but in the time since, I'd learned to manage the condition. Nicky would figure it out too. It would just take some time. The main thing was making sure he didn't get too frustrated in the interim.

Chewing another bite of cereal, I scanned the list for the words I'd marked the night before as still requiring work. "Okay," I said, "Spell 'rhythm'."

He thought for a few seconds. "R…" he began, "Um, R-Y-H-T-H-M."

"Close," I told him, "You mixed up the 'Y' and the first 'H'."

Nick sighed. "Okay, so R… H-Y-H-T-M?"

"Nope. This time you mixed up the 'T' and the 'H.' Remember, 'T' always comes before 'H.'"

He groaned. Beside me, Carly finished her breakfast and followed her brothers' example, setting her bowl down in the sink as well. "Thanks, honey," I told her offhandedly, "Go put your backpack by the door, okay?" She nodded and left. I looked back at Nicholas. "It's okay. Try again." He took a deep breath and this time managed to spell it correctly. "That's right!" I said. He smiled, relieved.

He got 'assimilate' right on the first try, but struggled similarly with 'reservoir' and 'massacre.'

"It's alright," I told him after he finally spelled the last word and we had to leave in ten minutes, "Those words are hard. You did really good."

"But I'm still not good at them," he fretted, "I'll mix them up on the test."

"You'll be okay. Just go slow. Do your best. I promise we'll all still love you if you don't get them all right."

He sighed, still looking unhappy. "'Kay."

"Alright," I said, standing up and rinsing off my own dish before placing it in the sink with the others. They would have to be properly washed later. "You two come get your lunches and put them in your backpacks. I want shoes and coats on, and you ready at the door in five minutes."

"Okay," the two chorused, leaving to do just that.

Fifteen minutes later, I pulled up in front of Lincoln Elementary School. "Bye, Daddy!" Carly said, flinging her arms around me outside the car.

"Bye, Peanut. Have a good day, okay?"

"Okay!" she said. Nicholas stood on the sidewalk next to her, waiting. He was very good about walking inside with her. I let go of Carly and turned to him.

"Be good," I said, "Don't go too crazy over that test, okay? Just do your best." He nodded and offered a half-hearted hug before stepping back next to his waiting sister. "Hey," I said to him before they turned to go, holding up my left wrist, hand fisted.

Nicky, with a small smile, mimicked the action, showing me the bronze bracelet around his own wrist. It had become something of a shared gesture between us.

The bracelet, unbeknownst to most, had a small button on its side which, when pressed down twice in quick succession, caused it to elongate into a short sword made of Celestial Bronze. It was a gift from Tyson, which we had given to Nick after he'd learned the truth about his godly heritage shortly before Christmas. The bracelet's twin belonged to Logan and he'd been forced once to use it, about a year ago. So far, Nicky had been lucky, but now that he knew the truth, he needed a means to protect himself, should anything happen, and it eased my mind to know he had one if needed; that they both did. Nick hadn't trained at camp yet, but even with almost no battle training, he was safer with a weapon. I knew this from experience.

Smiling back at him, I dropped my hand back to my side and watched as my kids turned and walked inside together before getting back in the car and heading toward the city.

It was mornings like this when I truly appreciated just how chaotic having kids could be, when we all had different places to be at similar times and the logistics of getting everyone where they needed to go was nothing short of a fiasco.

When we'd first had them, I expected it would be trying at times, what with Annabeth and me holding down full time jobs as well as raising three young children who were each so very different and amazing, but I'd had no idea just how crazy it would be. Even so, I loved every chaotic minute. Even when some days with them were comparable to trying to wrangle a hurricane, I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

After all, Logan, Nicholas, and Carly were living proof of just how far Annabeth and I had come, and the life we all led was everything we'd fought so long and hard for. It was all either of us had ever wanted in life. And it was absolutely worth every argument, temper tantrum, and stressful morning that came with it.

Thanks for reading and please, if you don't mind, let me know you're still here and what you think about the things mentioned in the AN above! I'd really appreciate your help in determining the future of this story!