The first time, Annabeth woke up to someone pushing her off the bed and screaming. They were 18, still in high school, and she had come over because the nightmares had come again. It was strange, she had mused, how sometimes the nightmares would be really bad, and they couldn't sleep without the other, but sometimes they would be perfectly fine for weeks.

Thoughts of nightmares left as soon as she hit the ground.

"What the Hades?" She heard Percy yell.

She sprang up, dagger already in hand, ready to kill whatever had scared Percy into screaming.

"Whoa!" He yelled again, putting his hands up in an 'I surrender' way. "No need to gut me, lady." Lady?

"What?" Annabeth eyed him. "Percy… Do you know who I am?"

"No, I don't know who you are, where I am, why you were in my bed-heck, I don't even know who I am, all I know is that I'm Percy Jackson and you have a knife."

This can't be happening. Annabeth couldn't think straight. He doesn't remember me?

"Are you sure you don't know me?"

"Yes. Positive. I told you, all I remember is my name." His brow furrowed. "Wait… I think… Annabeth Chase." He blurted out her name, looking at her expectantly. "You're Annabeth."

"Yeah."

"You… You're Annabeth Chase." He screwed his face up, trying to remember more. Under different circumstances, she would've considered that look adorable, but had other things on her mind at that moment.

"Yes. I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. You're Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. Do you remember the Greek gods?"

"I think…" He looked like he remembered something, but then his face dropped. "Nope. But maybe… Something will trigger my memories?" He looked hopefully up at her.

The rest of the day was spent slowly telling his story to him, telling him all the moments she knew of his life, not even in chronological order. At time, he would remember certain details, and his mom helped as well (including calling them in sick). They did not regain all his memories that day, but the next day, he remembered everything. No one could figure out why he had forgotten anything in the first place, or how he had regained his memories again.

~0~

The second time it happened, there was no screaming, no pushing off the bed. Annabeth got up early to go to work, leaving Percy sleeping with a note sitting on the bedside table telling him that she loved him and he drooled in his sleep. It was only after she had gotten home from work when she found him sitting on the couch, a confused look on his face, looking at the note, their address book, and a scrapbook of memories. He recognized her immediately, whether from the pictures (they were all over their house. Percy refused to put up any pictures without her) or from his own, actual memories. She spent the rest of the day and well into the night going through the scrapbook and even address book with him, telling him of the stories of it all. The next day, just like before, his memories had been completely restored.

~0~

It happened a third time, on a Sunday. It was quite a peaceful beginning. Annabeth had woken up beside Percy, who was caressing her hair. It had taken ten whole minutes for her to figure out what was wrong with him, first thinking he was tired, and then thinking he was just being weird, before finally getting it out of him that he only remembered that he was Percy Jackson, she was Annabeth Chase (to-be Chase-Jackson, but it wasn't important at that time), and he loved her. She was sure he had guessed that last thing, but it didn't really matter. This sudden amnesia had to end. Instead of painstakingly explaining his life to him, she merely said, "I'm a daughter of Athena, you're the son of Poseidon, we're going to talk to them, Hera, and Aphrodite now, get you to remember things. Maybe even Hypnos if we need to. If you don't remember or this doesn't make any sense, the Greek gods exist. Just do what I do and try not to offend anyone. You never know."

They dressed, she dragged him into a taxi (without any food, and Percy was complaining-seriously, he didn't remember anything other than his and her name and he was worried about being hungry?), and they set off for Olympus. Thankfully, he didn't ask any questions about why they were going to the Empire State Building, and they went up to the 600th floor easily.

"Hera!" Annabeth roared as soon as she entered the throne room. "Aphrodite, mom, Poseidon, we need to talk to you!"

Coincidently, those four were already sitting on their thrones, ready to talk to any demigods who happened to need an audience with them.

"Fix him." She pointed a finger at Percy, who was looking confused, frightened, and innocent at the same time. "Fix him, tell me why this is happening, and then never do it again. Thank you very much." Annabeth crossed her arms, waiting.

Hera sighed, snapping his fingers. Percy collapsed, but Annabeth caught him. Poseidon made a gesture and a couch appeared, allowing Annabeth to lay him down on it.

"Okay, why is he forgetting things again?"

"We don't know." Hera said.

"Yes we do, Hera!" Aphrodite, the awful goddess, piped up. "Well, I know why. And it's because I just love to see his reactions when he sees you and remembers nothing!"

"So this is some game for you?" Annabeth asked, incredulous. "We are human beings, we're not made for some stupid-"

"Now, now, Annabeth, it's not stupid. It's love. But to put it all simply, I'm just making your love life hard. And I'm afraid it won't stop. You'll just have to get used to it, dear." She smiled sweetly, making Annabeth want to barf. She glared at the woman.

"Fine, then when will they happen?" She ground out.

"Whenever. Percy is waking up. Best run along, children." Not even letting Percy get his bearings, Annabeth dragged him out of the throne room, into a taxi, back home, fuming. Later she told him what had happened.

~0~

It grew to become a routine. Every morning, if she had to go to work, she'd write her number under her name on the note she left him-if he forgot anything, he was to call her ASAP. If she didn't need to go to work, the first thing she'd ask was how he was feeling, if there was anything wrong. Non-amnesiac Percy knew this was a question to see whether he remembered anything or not. Amnesiac Percy thought she was just really intuitive.

He would forget once a year or two, and they would spend the rest of the day remembering moments of his life. It pained Annabeth to do this, to go through memories they were supposed to share and instead see a blank wall, the shell of the man she knew. But he always remembered the next day, and never failed to kiss her every morning, thank her, tell her he was sorry for causing her all that pain. And they'd move on.

At first, they were able to hide it from their children. They were too young before to notice, and then it turned out that Percy remembered their names and faces, at least, and Percy was a perfect parent with or without his memories. They hadn't suspected things for years, until the year Percy woke up panicked again. They rushed to their rooms when they heard his yells, and Annabeth had to deal with telling her children that their father sometimes-and currently-forgot everything except for his wife and children's names and faces. From then on, they worked as a family to recall their father's memories. Annabeth quickly learned that it was always easier with others, then just her, recalling memories shared with the one person who could not recollect them.

They learned to live with it. They got used to it, just as Aphrodite wanted them too. And on the day that Percy forgot not because of some god's spell, but because he was growing old and that's what happens to humans when they get old, Annabeth found it so much easier to stomach. She easily filled in the blanks in his memory. Their children and grandchildren did is more easily as well, telling him the stories they had all told or heard, all stories of his life that he had forgotten many times already. Annabeth never forgot. Up until the very last breath she took, she remembered everything. She guessed it was Aphrodite's way of saying sorry. He didn't remember, so she had to, didn't she? Someone had to remember what they had gone through together, Someone had to remember the secrets told to no one but each other, words whispered in the dark, confessions sobbed onto shoulders, never spoken to another soul.

Wow… That… was definitely better when it was in my head. Not very good, sorry. :) Although, it was supposed to be sadder, so at least I didn't cause people to cry, right?

Okay, yeah, this really sucks.