A/N: So, I was reading The Mark of Athena again for the millionth time when this random idea came to me. I guess it'd take place some time after the events in The Mark of Athena and possibly even after The House of Hades, so this may not be completely canon compliant. Still, I hope it's decent; it's only my second PJO/HoO fanfic and I feel like the characters may be OOC and that the ending is kind of rushed, but my muse refuses to cooperate and if it was up to me, I'd keep editing this forever and never get around to posting it, hehe. XD So, I've decided to post it as is. Hopefully, it's okay! Happy readings!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Something Permanent

When Piper opened the door to Annabeth's cabin aboard the Argo II, she expected to find the daughter of Athena either curled up on her bed, sleeping, or sitting amidst a pile of blueprints. What she didn't expect to find was an empty cabin with no sign of Annabeth at all. Since they'd gotten out of Tartarus, Annabeth and Percy liked to keep busy to keep their mind off the horribly dark things they'd encountered there. So, often times, Annabeth was spotted with a book or a mass of blueprints from some unknown source. Sometimes, she had a notebook with her (Piper couldn't say where she'd gotten it from, but if she had to guess, she'd have ventured to say Annabeth had a stash of notebooks and pens and pencils in her room) and was constantly drawing something or other. It must've been blueprints for something because Annabeth's room was littered with architectural drawings when she was in there. Now, however, there was no sign of Annabeth. Her books were all neatly in place and her bed looked as if it hadn't been slept in. She had said she was going to take a nap. Piper had bugged her about resting until Annabeth had finally consented and Hazel had even walked with her on her way to the engine room to fetch Leo. Hazel had sworn to Piper she saw Annabeth enter her room, but clearly the daughter of Athena hadn't slept at all.

Piper sighed, closing the door and debating what to do. One the one hand, she wasn't in any rush to find the daughter of Athena; it was just meal time and on board the Argo II, no one (except perhaps Coach Hedge, when he was in a strange mood) really minded if everyone was or wasn't present for the meal. On the other hand, certain demigods (namely those who had fallen into a certain pit of evil) had been skipping too many of those meals, so Piper figured it wouldn't hurt at least letting her friend know it was meal time. But that was proving awfully hard to do when Annabeth kept disappearing.

She deliberated for a moment, deciding on what her next course of action should be when Hazel and Leo found her on their way up from the engine room. Leo was covered in something Piper guessed was soot or grease from working down in the engine room and Hazel was brushing some of the stuff off of her shirt, but stopped when she noticed Piper's pensive mood.

"Something wrong?" Hazel wondered.

"What? Oh, no!" Piper said, hurriedly. "I'm sure it's nothing bad. It's just…I can't find Annabeth."

Leo grinned. "Have you checked Percy's room?" He wondered.

"No," Piper admitted, smiling a bit. Logically, that should've been the next place to look since Annabeth and Percy were never far from each other, but somehow or other the thought had completely escaped her.

"I don't think they're in Percy's room, though," Hazel said, pointing towards his cabin. The door was wide open and the cabin was completely empty. Leo frowned.

"If Coach hears about this, he's going to go ballistic again. Can we search for them without telling him?" The son of Hephaestus demanded "I'm in no mood to listen to him gripe and groan about our behavior and threaten to tie bells around us."

Piper laughed. "Point taken. I'll check the stables again. Think you guys can alert Jason and Frank without letting Coach know?"

Leo snorted. "Don't insult me."

As Piper made her way down, past the engine room and the sickbay, towards the stables, she had half a mind to convince Jason to sneak out there with her so they could just spend some time together. She doubted Jason would agree to it because going against the rules wasn't really his thing, but she figured asking couldn't hurt. After all, if Percy and Annabeth could get away with it twice, surely she and Jason could get away with it once.

Much to Piper's relief, she found Percy and Annabeth in the stables, sitting on a blanket over the glass doors as the celestial bronze lamp above them cast a faint glow about the place. Percy was watching the landscape, highlighted by the light of the evening sun, whiz past them and Annabeth was attempting to read a book, but judging by her distracted expression, it was safe to say she wasn't getting much reading done. It may have also had something to do with Percy, who was idly playing with her curls as she rested her head in his lap. Piper was sure that'd have been distracting enough without having ADHD, but somehow Annabeth managed to make the attempt in spite of that. At last, however, Annabeth shut the book and placed it to the side. She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke.

"Hey, Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember how I told you about Arachne?"

The son of Poseidon nodded, casting a puzzled glance down at her. Annabeth sighed and sat up, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face.

"What about her?" Percy wondered.

Piper suddenly felt guilty for being there and eavesdropping and she turned to go but Annabeth's next comment floored her.

"Arachne had a tapestry of us," Annabeth said.

Piper guessed Percy was as stunned as she was because he was gaping at Annabeth as if such a thing was practically impossible.

"A tapestry, of us?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. Of us, in the canoe lake."

Piper hadn't been there to witness the scene, but she'd heard a lot about it from other campers, namely the Stolls. No one, save Percy and Annabeth really knew what had happened after the campers had dumped them into the lake. The general consensus was that they had kissed underwater and had exchanged heartfelt confessions, but no one was sure, so Piper wondered how a monstrous spider (who certainly wasn't a daughter of Poseidon and couldn't know about the gossip in the seas and other waterways) could manage to weave a tapestry of the two demigods.

"She had a tapestry of us?" Percy repeated.

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, she wove it."

"But she's never seen us before," Percy protested. "How could she have made a tapestry of people she's never seen, especially if she's been sitting down there picking off children of Athena if they make it that far?"

"I don't know," Annabeth admitted. "But she said she was expecting me."

"You, maybe. You're a daughter of Athena after all. But I'm pretty sure I haven't seen her and I think I'd recall seeing a giant spider."

"You were in the tapestry all the same."

Percy was quiet for a minute before talking.

"Was it any good?"

"It was beautiful," Annabeth admitted, wistfully. "I wish it had been saved so you could've seen it."

"I'm not so sure I'd like to see a giant tapestry of us made from spider silk from an overgrown spider," Percy said.

Piper rolled her eyes.

"Besides," Percy said. "I thought you were afraid of spiders. Why would you want one of Arachne's tapestries? Isn't that like keeping a pretty spider web?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know, but she was good at what she did."

"Killing children of Athena?" Percy asked, confused.

"No, Seaweed Brain. Weaving!"

"Oh."

"It's a shame Arachne's tapestries got destroyed. A lot of them were worth saving."

"Yeah, I'm sure spider silk makes real pretty pictures and it'd have been neat to take some with us, but I don't think I'd really want one. I mean, what would we do with it anyway?"

"Hang it, Seaweed Brain. That's usually what one does with tapestries anyway."

"It'd probably just give Clarisse endless reasons to tease us. I don't need a stupid tapestry anyway when I've got the real thing."

Piper half expected to see Annabeth punch Percy for that but, instead, Annabeth gave a small laugh and kissed him.

"If it's any consolation," Percy said. "Maybe Arachne will weave more awesome tapestries of us. After all, if she managed to make one of us before, I'm sure she could do it again. She'll have all the time in the world, down in Tartarus. And who knows? Maybe one day, she'll make a tapestry with little seaweed girls and wise boys."

It took Percy (and Piper, who'd been rooted to the spot) a minute to realize the implications of what he'd just said. Percy mentally berated himself for it. Perhaps he'd scared Annabeth into silence with his grand plans for the future. Or perhaps she was thinking of a million and one ways to kill him for that comment. At least, Piper thought she was, but Annabeth looked oddly calm, as if this wasn't the first time Percy had hinted at a future together. Instead, Annabeth just smiled up at him.

"Seaweed girls and wise boys?" She repeated.

Percy flushed and laughed sheepishly, attempting to explain himself. He managed half a sentence before Annabeth threw her arms around him and kissed him for the second time. Piper took that as her cue to leave and quietly hurried back the way she came.

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, fondly.

Percy wanted to point out she'd called him Seaweed Brain three times in the span of a few minutes, but he was too elated to really care. He'd half expected Annabeth to grow quiet and pensive after his comment but she was smiling and her gray eyes were sparkling and she still hadn't completely let go of him, so Percy took that to mean she wasn't upset at him or feeling nervous or scared by what he'd said. He sighed in relief, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Annabeth. The daughter of Athena chuckled to herself.

The last time she and Percy had sat in the stables like this, they'd had a somewhat similar conversation and Percy had confessed he'd been thinking about their future together. Back then, Annabeth had found the notion incredibly sweet, but there was so much going on that she hadn't had much time to fantasize about it, especially since there was a good chance that either one of them (or perhaps both of them) could've ended up dead. But now that that was all behind them, she found she rather liked the idea of their futures being intertwined. After all, her feelings towards her boyfriend hadn't changed since the last time they'd been down here.

Suddenly, nothing else really mattered. Annabeth remember sitting in her cabin a short while ago and pondering what it'd be like to live the rest of her life without worrying about another prophecy or another war. She'd been craving a relatively peaceful future (or as peaceful a future a demigod could have), but sitting here with Percy, she realized she didn't really care about that anymore if they were together. It wouldn't matter if they had to endure another century's worth of prophecies and fights as long as they had each other. And judging by what Percy had said earlier, Annabeth knew that they were on their way to building something permanent.