Paul is excited to meet his stepson's girlfriend for the first time, at first wondering if it will be Rachel Dare. But when he opens the door to their small apartment, letting Percy and the unknown girl into the sitting room, he is taken by surprise. She is a bit shorter than Percy (who is, after all, quite tall), with curly blonde hair and steely gray eyes. This is not the sort of girl Percy would go for, Paul imagines, but then, he wonders if he even knows his stepson that well. Ever since the end of the war, Paul doesn't feel as if he knows Percy Jackson or his mother at all. Does he know this girl? She seems familiar, but he doesn't think she goes to Goode.

"Welcome in, Percy, and, er..."

"Annabeth," she fills in, with a warmer smile that he could have expected out of those gray eyes.

"Dad, this is Annabeth Chase. She's been my girlfriend for, um..."

"Four weeks and two days," Annabeth supplies.

Percy grins triumphantly. "We've got our one month anniversary today."

"Congrats," Paul says, since he has his one year anniversary with Sally coming up and he understands the big milestone even a month can be. "Take a seat, guys."

"I'll get a glass of water, I'm kind of thirsty," Percy says, and walks into the kitchen. He grabs a glass, then manipulates a blob of water out of the pitcher into the glass without paying any heed to his girlfriend. Annabeth doesn't seem to notice, however. Paul tenses, worried. Percy can't go around using his son of Poseidon powers around mortals. What if his girlfriend had turned around right then?

"So, er, Annabeth. Do you need a tour around the apartment? It's sort of small, and-"

"It's okay, I've been here plenty of times."

"Well, um, all right. I'm Paul Blofis, Percy's stepdad, in case you didn't know."

"I've heard a lot about you."

"So, do you go to school around here?"

"Yeah, a boarding school near the Empire State Building. I used to live in 'Frisco with my dad, but..."

"But that got complicated," Percy filled in, sitting back down next to his girlfriend.

"Your dad, huh? What's he like?"

"Paul's father was sort of dysfunctional, so he likes to know about normal families. Especially since he wants to be a better dad than my own and all," Percy added. Does she know Percy's dad is a god?

"And my family isn't dysfunctional?" Annabeth laughs. "My dad is, well, interesting. We had a rough time when I was a kid, but we've gotten better now. I see him from time to time, but it's hard to live in San Francisco. So I came to live in Manhattan instead."

"That's where you met Percy, right? Did you guys run into each other in the park or something?" Paul asks, thinking there's going to be some sort of romantic story behind this.

"Er, not exactly," Annabeth says, exchanging an amused glance with Percy.

"Oh, it looks like my mom will be back in a few minutes," Percy says, glancing at his watch. "She's at a meeting with an editor," he explains to his girlfriend.

"Speaking of which, you've mentioned your dad, but what about your mom? She must be a wonderful person to have raised such a lovely daughter. Is she as nice as my wife? I'm sure she loves Percy like a son," Paul suggests, leaning back.

Percy spews water everywhere, dropping his arm from Annabeth's shoulder. She glances at the ceiling, murmuring what looks like "sorry" to the wallpaper, which Paul doesn't understand. Then she pats Percy's back for a moment as he coughs.

"He doesn't know?" she asks.

"Nope. I think he just assumed I'd have a mortal girlfriend." What? No way.

Annabeth stands, sticking out her hand. "Allow me to, er, reintroduce myself. I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom."