Alright, so here is another Percy Jackson fic(let) a la me. I haven't forgotten about my long neglected "Only the Beginning" but am in the process of trying to find my way back to that place. (I think the release of Mark of Athena will help IMMENSELY). In the meanwhile, this story was desperate to get out so here is the first part of what will probably turn out to be a trilogy. It is cannon compatable, but definitely not so with "Should I Stay or Go" and probably not "Only the Beginning".

Get Set, Go! A.K.A.- The Somewhat Calm Before the Storm

"What are we going to do?" Annabeth demanded. Percy could recognize how upset she was. Of course, he could: they'd been in some kind of relationship since they were twelve. After a little over a decade, you start to get a person. The problem was he just couldn't make himself feel as worried as she was.

"Well I can think of several things that we could do…" he shot Annabeth his trademark troublemaker smile.

"Perseus Jackson, now is SO NOT the time!" Percy walked over to Annabeth and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She suddenly found it hard to concentrate. It was the laughter that did it, the deep, rumble of laughter coming from Percy has he tried to pacify her by trailing kisses down her neck. "This isn't a laughing matter! This is really serious!" she turned around so she could look him in the eyes, "This is us being apart for long periods of time. This is us potentially only ever seeing each other on certain weekends and holidays."

Percy closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers, "You think I don't know that? That I'm fine with the idea of not being able to do this," he raised his hand to stroke her face, "anytime I want. To have to wait months to do this," he kissed her forehead, "or this," her cheek, "and, most importantly, this," he finally placed a gentle, loving kiss on her lips. "It is going to kill me, slowly, painfully, to be away from you, but…" his voice trailed off. Okay, so maybe he could feel as terrible as she did.

"But?" she grabbed his face, "Oh come on Percy! You're great at the romantic speeches, surprisingly good actually. And the inspiring ones! Inspire me!" he might have been more offended by her obviously teasing tone, but the dancing light in her eyes made her way too cute.

"You are teasing me, which isn't helping, you know," though he indicated the opposite by bringing his face closer to hers. "In fact, I'm going to pretend that you aren't teasing me. I'm going to savor this moment because compliments from you are way too rare for me to pass up."

Her mouth turned into a little pout, "Percy, I know you know I love you. And I love you because you are so… so kind and brave and annoyingly charming and unfortunately handsome and secretly brilliant and…"

"Shhhhhush," he kissed her, "You don't have to hurt yourself," she made a disapproving noise so he dropped the joking attitude. "Look, you're right and I'm glad that you know that I know that you love me, and I'm even happier that I know that you know that I love you. And don't get me wrong, it's really great to hear those kind of things from you… Really, really great actually, but you don't have to. Though," he smiled brightly, "while we're on the subject, why don't I return the favor, because I think you're incredible. You amaze me every day with your genius and your passion and your infinite amounts of talent and the fact that you can do more with a dagger than most idiots can do with a sword. Not to mention that you are SO not-so-unfortunately gorgeous and…" this time she interrupted him with a kiss.

"I wasn't joking about you being good at the speeches."

"Hey," he used his mock hurt tone, "you didn't let me finish my speech. I was building up to something, something good."

She leaned away from him and crossed her arms, "Alright, impress me."

"Okay so where was I?"

"I think you were talking about how gorgeous I am."

Percy chuckled, "Right, so you are SO not-so-unfortunately gorgeous," she laughed, "and us together… us together… I thank the gods every day that we're together. I'm so grateful that we somehow, against all odds and chances, and there were a lot of them stacked against us, we've survived. We've been through hell, literally, and I know you don't like talking about it, so I won't, but think about it Wise Girl," a few tears ran down her face at the sound of her old nickname, "think about all that we've made it through. We held up the sky, me and you. And we helped save the world, like twice. Twice! Maybe even more depending on how you look at it! And even more importantly, we've saved each other. We keep on saving each other.

"So this, me living in California and you staying in New York, it'll be hard. I'm not going to sugar coat it: long distance relationships are really difficult. There are going to be times when we're going to be so frustrated that we might start thinking we hate each other. Gods forbid, we might actually start to hate each other, but I believe, no, I know, we will get through this. And when we do… well when we do," his smile was so content, so confident, "you aren't getting rid of me. No matter what, we're going to be a part of each other's lives, okay?" He pulled her close and felt her nod against his chest, "I know you're worried, but I'm not… Well at least not a lot worried. Because I see our future and it's… it's really worth waiting for. And this, right now, us separating, it's just something we have to do. It's just the next chapter in our story, but it's not the end."

"Oh so, SO good at the speeches," it came out as a sigh against his chest.

"Well I'm only good at inspiring speeches because I have you to inspire me."

She laughed at him through a thick throat, "A little corny sometimes, though. I mean still inspiring and all, but a little corny."

"Annoyingly charming, right?"

"Exactly," another kiss, "Hmm, I really am terrible at compliments aren't I?"

"Definitely, but thankfully you have A LOT of other skills."

"My, my, Mr. Jackson I think you might be hitting on me."

Percy sighed and placed his head between her shoulder and collarbone, "now she notices."

She giggled and raised his head to her level with both hands, "Percy, absolutely nothing has changed."

"And nothing will, so let's just enjoy these next couple of months and take each day, and night, as they come!"

"You're night will be just fine, but just wait a second, okay?" he reluctantly nodded, "what if… what if I moved… with you… to California." He froze for a whole minute, enough to make Annabeth really worried.

Then suddenly he put his hands over hers, which were still holding his head, "Annabeth Chase," he said her name like it was some kind of prayer, "you are going to design and build great things. Your name is going to go down in history books, mortal and demi-god. You are going to be, no you already are the best, most accomplished child of Athena ever and I will NOT be the person who stands in your way."

"Percy, that's sweet, but you wouldn't be. There are architectural programs in California, but there is only one Marine Biology Fellowship like the one you're being offered."

"Annabeth, you need to be in New York. It's important that you stay in New York. Olympus is here, and yeah, it's true that there are architectural programs everywhere, but the one you're in right now is…"

She put her hands to his lips, "I know! I know! I just… You promise that we're going to be okay?"

He frowned, "I can't. And I really want to, but I can't. Because this will be hard, and I think we can make it, I hope beyond hope that we can, but…"

"You can't promise."

"No, I can't."

"And that's going to have to be okay?"

"For now, yes, that is all we have."

"Alright, I think I can," she grabbed his hands, "no, I think we can handle this."

"Good," he again shot her his troublemaker smile and so quickly she couldn't stop him, unlaced their hands, pulled her so close to him she could barely think straight, kissed her, and whispered into her ear, "and what about 'for now'?"

"Well, you have been a very patient man."

"So very patient," he was trailing kisses along her neck.

"Fine," she sighed dramatically, "I guess you've earned it."

"Oh thank the gods!"

So if the summary didn't clue you in, our dynamic duo are going to break up in the next installment and that is going to hurt me a little inside, but come on guys, you know me! (or you don't, I really have no idea of knowing) I wouldn't leave them hanging like that!