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"By Any Other Name" - Bianca Jackson, Percy, Nico.
He’d had no idea that he was going to give her that name.
In the months leading up to the birth of their first child, Percy and Annabeth had made a sort of game of coming up with potential names for their daughter, and while Annabeth’s suggestions were generally serious, Percy’s were a little more...imaginative.
“How about Lexus?”
“You want to name our daughter after a car? No way, Seaweed Brain!”
“Ursula?”
“Your dad is the god of the ocean. Do you want our daughter to be called a sea witch?”
“Gertrudahlia?”
“Ugh, that’s the worst one yet, and it’s not even a real name!”
“It will be when we name our daughter that,” he said with his trademark troublemaker grin, earning himself an amused smack on the shoulder from his wife.
“Percy, NO.”
But, all joking aside, it was a problem. There were plenty of pretty names out there (and Percy was partial to ‘Sally’ to be completely honest), their friends had come up with a landslide of suggestions, some of which were actually legitimate (“Hey, Princess Power-Fist is TOTALLY legitimate!” “No, Leo, it really isn’t.”), and Annabeth, ever the organized one, had created a long list of all sorts of possibilities. They had plenty of good options. They had plenty of great options. It was just, Percy thought, none of them felt exactly right. The feeling that there must be something they were missing, something they’d overlooked, lingered uncomfortably in the back of his mind in a very atypical way. He didn’t exactly lose sleep over it, but it was still on his mind a lot more than he’d ever have admitted.
“I know why you picked my name,” he said to his mother on one of his visits to her apartment in New York City. Sally had known something was on his mind, and when she’d asked about it, he’d spilled immediately, eager to ask for her advice. “You said that you wanted to name me after a hero who got a happy ending, since most of them didn’t.”
Sally just smiled her usual warm smile and patted his hand, sliding a plate of fresh-made blue sugar cookies a little closer. “I’m glad you’re putting a lot of thought into this, and taking it so seriously, but I wouldn’t worry too much. This probably doesn’t sound very helpful right now, but you’ll know what to name her when the time comes, I think. I wasn’t completely sure of your name until I saw you myself. But once I had, I knew I’d gotten it right.”
Percy nodded, but Sally was right: it was good advice, but it didn’t feel very helpful. Once he’d gone back to the house he and Annabeth shared in New Rome, he dove into Annabeth’s list again, more determined than ever to find the right name.
Sally was good. He could’ve used Estelle if his mom hadn’t already. Maybe something like Bethany or Alanna...
But as it turned out, Percy’s mom had been right after all: the instant that he held her in his arms, and the same sea-green eyes that looked back at him from the mirror looked up at him from that tiny, wrinkled, red face, Percy knew what her name was.
“Bianca,” he breathed, the name just audible above the usual sounds of the hospital, and in his peripheral vision, he saw Annabeth go completely still. “She’s Bianca,” he murmured again as his wife slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, giving his arm a gentle squeeze to indicate her support and agreement.
Percy was never sure why that name had come to mind so strongly. She didn’t look anything like Nico’s sister had looked; the wisps of hair on her head were Annabeth’s golden blonde, her skin wasn’t straight-up pink but it was still less olive-tinted, and she had those already-alert sea-green eyes, not the deep, dark, almost-black pools that Bianca and Nico had both shared.
And yet...it had fit, completely and wholly, like a puzzle piece snapping perfectly into place, like none of the other names had.
She was Bianca. Anything else just didn’t feel right.
"By Any Other Name" - Bianca Jackson, Percy, Nico.
He’d had no idea that he was going to give her that name.
In the months leading up to the birth of their first child, Percy and Annabeth had made a sort of game of coming up with potential names for their daughter, and while Annabeth’s suggestions were generally serious, Percy’s were a little more...imaginative.
“How about Lexus?”
“You want to name our daughter after a car? No way, Seaweed Brain!”
“Ursula?”
“Your dad is the god of the ocean. Do you want our daughter to be called a sea witch?”
“Gertrudahlia?”
“Ugh, that’s the worst one yet, and it’s not even a real name!”
“It will be when we name our daughter that,” he said with his trademark troublemaker grin, earning himself an amused smack on the shoulder from his wife.
“Percy, NO.”
But, all joking aside, it was a problem. There were plenty of pretty names out there (and Percy was partial to ‘Sally’ to be completely honest), their friends had come up with a landslide of suggestions, some of which were actually legitimate (“Hey, Princess Power-Fist is TOTALLY legitimate!” “No, Leo, it really isn’t.”), and Annabeth, ever the organized one, had created a long list of all sorts of possibilities. They had plenty of good options. They had plenty of great options. It was just, Percy thought, none of them felt exactly right. The feeling that there must be something they were missing, something they’d overlooked, lingered uncomfortably in the back of his mind in a very atypical way. He didn’t exactly lose sleep over it, but it was still on his mind a lot more than he’d ever have admitted.
“I know why you picked my name,” he said to his mother on one of his visits to her apartment in New York City. Sally had known something was on his mind, and when she’d asked about it, he’d spilled immediately, eager to ask for her advice. “You said that you wanted to name me after a hero who got a happy ending, since most of them didn’t.”
Sally just smiled her usual warm smile and patted his hand, sliding a plate of fresh-made blue sugar cookies a little closer. “I’m glad you’re putting a lot of thought into this, and taking it so seriously, but I wouldn’t worry too much. This probably doesn’t sound very helpful right now, but you’ll know what to name her when the time comes, I think. I wasn’t completely sure of your name until I saw you myself. But once I had, I knew I’d gotten it right.”
Percy nodded, but Sally was right: it was good advice, but it didn’t feel very helpful. Once he’d gone back to the house he and Annabeth shared in New Rome, he dove into Annabeth’s list again, more determined than ever to find the right name.
Sally was good. He could’ve used Estelle if his mom hadn’t already. Maybe something like Bethany or Alanna...
But as it turned out, Percy’s mom had been right after all: the instant that he held her in his arms, and the same sea-green eyes that looked back at him from the mirror looked up at him from that tiny, wrinkled, red face, Percy knew what her name was.
“Bianca,” he breathed, the name just audible above the usual sounds of the hospital, and in his peripheral vision, he saw Annabeth go completely still. “She’s Bianca,” he murmured again as his wife slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, giving his arm a gentle squeeze to indicate her support and agreement.
Percy was never sure why that name had come to mind so strongly. She didn’t look anything like Nico’s sister had looked; the wisps of hair on her head were Annabeth’s golden blonde, her skin wasn’t straight-up pink but it was still less olive-tinted, and she had those already-alert sea-green eyes, not the deep, dark, almost-black pools that Bianca and Nico had both shared.
And yet...it had fit, completely and wholly, like a puzzle piece snapping perfectly into place, like none of the other names had.
She was Bianca. Anything else just didn’t feel right.
