Percy trudged back towards his cabin. He was exhausted but still on a high from his latest quest. Okay, so technically it hadn't been a quest so much as a raid on a pack of telkhines he tagged along on.

He had a serious grudge against the dog-like creatures ever since they'd almost killed him back on Mount Saint Helens.

Besides it had been ages since he'd left camp and he was getting restless being cooped up for so long. Training only did so much when it came to taming his ADHD and they hadn't had any time for Capture the Flag since most of the campers were out with the satyrs bringing new half bloods back to camp.

Percy walked up the steps to his cabin. Tyson had gone back to their father to work in the under sea forges again. They needed to restock their armory after the battle with Oceanus and Typhon last summer and Tyson was one of the best weapon makers they had.

Percy missed him but they regularly spoke to each other via Iris message and Percy was allowed to visit whenever he wanted so it wasn't so bad. Besides, Tyson enjoyed it there far more than camp and Percy couldn't find it in him to be sad about it when Tyson was so happy.

Percy walked through the doorway of his cabin and started taking off his armor and hanging up his shield. He'd been about to pull his shirt off when the clearing of someone's throat behind him caused him to whip around and almost trip over his own feet.

"Annabeth! What the hell are you doing in here?" Percy stammered, equal parts terrified and embarrassed at being caught so off guard.

"I came to see you but you weren't here so I waited. I thought you must have gone for a walk or to the Big House but since I've been sat here for almost two hours I'm guessing that's not what you did. So, where did you go?" Her tone was neutral but Percy had known Annabeth long enough to know when she was hurt. He felt a stab of guilt knowing she'd come to see him and he hadn't been here.

"Well...promise not to get mad, okay? It's just I thought you were asleep and I know how exhausted you've been lately with all the extra campers and patrols so I didn't want to wake you and I knew I could handle it, plus I was never in any danger and I didn't go alone and..."

"Percy, what did you do?" Annabeth's eyes glinted suspiciously and crossed her arms, a sure sign that if she didn't get an answer soon she was going to start cursing everyone within a mile radius.

"It was just a little...trip." Percy winced. Gods, he was so screwed.

"Where?" Annabeth stepped closer, her hands falling to her hips and lips pursing slightly.

"Well, I was at the Big House and I saw Will heading towards the armory so I followed him to see what was up and he was going out and I offered to tag along and help out." He smiled nervously.

"Help out with what?" She took another step forward. Jeez, she was scary when she was angry.

"Clearing a nest of telkhines." Percy muttered quickly, head dropping slightly as if he'd just been caught stealing blue candy.

Annabeth huffed in exasperation, trying to stay calm. She hated it when he went on missions without her.

"Who went with you? It wasn't just you and Will was it? You know how dangerous it is to go in small groups."

"No! Gods no, Annabeth. You know I'd never risk that after..." He'd been about to bring up all the people they'd lost in New York but decided against it. It was still too raw for either of them to talk about, "We took Connor and Travis too."

"The Stolls! Have you lost your damn mind?! You know how reckless those two get, especially after everything..." Her voice trailed off, clearly unwilling to bring up New York as well.

"They were fine, great actually, Annabeth everything was fine. We took out the telkhines and none of us got hurt." He opened his arms wide to show that he was fine and then winced again as he remember one of the telkhines had grabbed him and threw him against a wall causing a small gash just below his elbow.

He was sure he'd have several bruises when he woke up tomorrow but he knew the cut had been bleeding and he hadn't had chance to clean it up yet and Annabeth was way too smart not to have noticed the streaks of red all over the back of his right arm.

"Percy! You're hurt!" Annabeth rushed forwards, pulling his arm gently towards her to inspect the damage.

"It's just a scratch."

"It's bleeding everywhere!"

"I was going to clean it up!"

"Why haven't you had any nectar yet?"

"I was going to but then you interrupted me!"

"You're so reckless Percy!"

"Will you just listen!"

"I can't lose you too, okay! You have to be more careful."

"Yeah, well I can't lose you either and I wasn't about to bring you on a mission when we didn't know exactly how many monsters we were facing!" Percy shouted. His chest was heaving in an effort not to panic. He absolutely hated the thought of Annabeth getting hurt. She'd almost died in New York and he still hadn't gotten over how pale she'd looked.

Annabeth stilled for a moment. They stared at each other, both breathing erratically, for what seemed like an age before Annabeth's features softened and Percy began to relax slightly.

"We're a team. We do things together or not at all, okay? I can take care of myself and I trust you to do the same but we don't go on missions behind each other's backs, okay?" Annabeth leaned forwards and pressed her forehead against Percy's.

"Okay." Percy sighed, bringing his uninjured arm up to wrap around her waist and pulling her closer. Annabeth brought her arms up to wrap around his neck and leaned further into him, her eyes closed.

"Come on. I'll clean your cut and then we can go to bed and you can tell me all about this...trip." She pulled away, smiling at him.

Percy gasped in mock horror. "Are you inviting me to bed? Are you sure you can handle breaking the number one rule of camp? Are you even Annabeth because I'm beginning to have my doubts." He grinned as she punched him (ow!) and walked towards his cabinet where he kept an emergency first aid kit.

"Shut up. I'll sneak out before everyone else gets up." She grinned back as Percy almost choked.

"Did you plan this?" He gaped.

"I might have." She smiled devilishly. "I bet you're regretting not being here when I first arrived now aren't you?"

"I'm still processing your rule breaking in order to seduce me."

"I'm not sure if I want to seduce you anymore if I'm honest."

"What if I made it up to you?"

"How?"

"Let's take care of this cut first and then I'll show you."

Annabeth walked back over to him, placing the kit on the table next to his bed before moving to stand in front of him. She brought her face closer to his and smirked.

"Okay." She whispered, pushing her body closer to his and placing a light, lingering kiss to his lips.