I don't own anything
Percy was completely and utterly exhausted.
It took the last few ounces of energy he had in him to put his arm around Annabeth and to walk back to his cabin. His eyes were already closing, but he still got a glimpse of Annabeth waving to the rest of the seven, then they shut completely for a second. He tried to force them back up, but his eyes didn't seem to be cooperating with him, and he was still so tired that he didn't feel as if he could make it to his cabin.
He heard Annabeth yawn next to him, and managed to open his eyes the slightest bit so he could see his cabin in the distance. Before he knew it, his feet had carried him to the familiar steps of his cabin.
All he could think of was that he really needed a shower. He would've gotten up to go and have one, but the muscles in his body didn't want to move an inch from the warmth of his bed and Annabeth, who was still sleeping comfortably on his arm.
Sighing, he closed his eyes again, content with being covered in grime for a few more hours until Annabeth woke up. Before he could be lulled back to sleep by the sound of Annabeth's breathing, he heard a knock on the door.
Too lazy to get up, he cracked one eye open and grumbled. The annoying person at the door took that as a 'come in', and opened the door to his cabin.
"Percy? Chiron sent me to ask you if you wanted any food." Rachel says, holding the door fully open so bright sun came streaming into the room.
It took Percy a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light, and for a few seconds he remembers the never ending darkness of Tartarus, but the memory is soon gone when Rachel steps in front of him, frowning as he groans and covers his eyes.
Next to him, Annabeth rolls onto her side, and then shoots up suddenly, breathing hard. Percy puts a hand on her shoulder and mumbles something about going back to sleep, but it's too late, and her eyes are open and she's focused on Rachel, who is standing there awkwardly, holding a plate of sandwiches.
Annabeth's eyes light up when she sees both Rachel and the food, and she stands up shakily and goes to hug Rachel. He groans some more, than follows her example and does the same thing. He makes sure to keep the hug short because he's pretty sure he doesn't smell too pleasant right now.
They are silent for a moment, Percy and Annabeth eating the food messily while Rachel stands there, observing the two of them.
"So..." Rachel says. "How have you guys been doing?"
Percy lets out a snort and says, "Us? Oh, we've been fine. Nothing that interesting. How 'bout you? Any new prophecies we should know about?"
Annabeth laughs a little, and Rachel manages a smile. They fall back into silence, until Annabeth stands.
"I'm gonna go take a shower."
She walks slowly over to Percy's bathroom, and they can see the extent of her injuries cleary. She is covered in tiny scratches everywhere, with a large one on her leg and one on her lower back that has cut through her already mangled shirt. She is holding her wrist stiffly, and he curses quietly under his breath when he sees the fresh bruise beginning to turn purple there.
"I'm gonna go get you guys some Ambrosia and Nectar." Rachel says quietly, turning to leave.
"How are the others? Is anyone hurt?" Percy says, suddenly alert.
"They're all fine. Leo's asleep in his cabin, but he managed to break his ankle and one toe. Jason and Piper are eating at the mess hall and Hazel and Frank are still sleeping in the Big House." She says.
"And Nico? Reyna?" He asks, eyes full of worry.
"They're at the Roman Camp. Nico's been shadow traveling kids around all day."
Percy gave her a questioning look.
"A few of the campers wanted to go home to see their mom or dad. Most just tried to IM, but some of the younger kids..."
When he nodded in understanding, she smiled at him and walked away.
Once she was gone, Percy flops down onto his bed to wait for Annabeth to get out of the shower.
He doesn't have to wait long, only fifteen minutes until she comes out, steam rushing out of the bathroom with her, wearing a fluffy green towel of his.
"Rachel's gone to get ambrosia and nectar for us." Percy says, answering her question before she even asked it.
"You're gonna need to get someone from the Apollo cabin to fix your wrist, though, it might be sprained, or broken. Ambrosia won't fix that completely." Percy continues, shooting a glance to her bruised wrist.
She nods at him, and he relaxes a little, knowing that her injuries aren't that bad that she needed to go to the infirmary.
"You gonna go for a shower?" Annabeth asks, grabbing an extra towel and using it to dry her damp hair. She looks like she was having trouble keeping the towel on her body up while drying her hair using only one hand.
"Probably. You're hogging all the towels, though." Percy says, smiling slightly
'"Idiot. You don't need a towel." She says, even though she laughs slightly when she says it.
Finally clean and smelling a whole lot better than he had before, he walks out completely dry wearing a camp T-shirt and a pair of shorts that Paul had given him.
Annabeth's sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing one of his camp T-shirt and a pair of his old shorts that he had outgrown. Grover is next to her, holding a baggie of ambrosia and laughing at something she said.
"Perce! I haven't seen you in forever!" He says
"Grover!" Percy replies, hugging him with one arm.
"How's being Lord of the Wild working out for you?" He asks
"Fine. I still haven't gotten used to all the young satyrs and dryads looking at me like I'm some kinda god, or something. It's kinda creepy." He replies, shuddering slightly, "No offence." He adds, staring up at the ceiling.
"Do you guys still have that empathy link?" Annabeth cuts in, looking at both of them with narrowed eyes. " 'Cause that coulda helped a lot when Percy was…you know, kidnapped." She adds, glaring up at the ceiling like it had personally wronged her.
"Um… I think we still have it, but it wasn't working too well…" Grover says. "Like the IM'ing, that wasn't working either during the war."
Annabeth nods, looking at them thoughtfully.
"So..." Percy asks, looking around. "Where's Juniper?"
"Sick. Some idiot camper decided to hit her with an arrow so she's not been feeling too well." Grover says, making a sour face.
"Ah." Percy says, thinking back to the time when he accidentally hit a dryad with riptide and she went crazy on him. Literally, she started screaming things like 'Curse you, idiot Demigods!' and scratching him before he ran away.
"Oh! Here, have some." Grover says, handing him the bag of ambrosia.
"Thanks." Percy says, taking some. They taste like cookies to him, and he realizes with a start that he hasn't seen his mom for almost a year.
"I should probably IM mom, shouldn't I?" He says, sheepishly.
Annabeth rolls her eyes at him. "Obviously, Seaweed Brain. She hasn't seen you for, like, a year."
He chuckles, shoving her half-heartedly. "Hey! Not my fault, okay!"
He goes over to the fountain that's been stored away in the corner of his cabin and manipulates the water to make a rainbow.
"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." He says, tossing a drachma into the mist and waiting for it to disappear before saying, "Sally Jackson, New York."
The mist shimmers and his mom appears. She is holding a laundry basket, standing next to the dryer.
Percy clears his throat slightly and says, "Hey mom."
His mom jumps violently, dropping the basket of wet clothes and turning around to face the Iris Message.
"Percy! Oh, thank the Gods, you're alive!" She screams.
"Sally? What's wrong?" Paul's voice in the distance asks.
Paul runs into the laundry room, looking shaken up, wearing his pajamas and holding a toothbrush. His eyes widen comically when he sees Percy and he stands there, gaping.
"You scared us to death! Where were you?" Sally asks, trying to be stern but having trouble fighting the smile on her face.
"Well… I was, never mind, I'll tell when I get back home." Percy says
His mother doesn't look pleased, but she nods. "Are you hurt? Where's Annabeth?"
Annabeth drags herself off the bed and joins Percy, "Hi Sally, Paul. We're fine, just a little tired."
Sally sighs, leaning back against Paul for support. "When are you guys coming home?"
"It's almost the end of summer, so soon." Percy answers, putting his arm around Annabeth
Grover jumps off the bed, joining the other two. "Hey Mrs. Jackson, Paul. How've you two been doing?" He says, waving at them through the Iris message.
"Hi, Grover." Sally says, giving him a small smile. Paul looks a little thrown at the sight of the horns and furry legs, but he lets it go without saying anything.
"I'll IM you later, mom." Percy says.
"And I'll make sure he doesn't forget." Annabeth adds from her place at his side.
Percy glares at her halfheartedly.
They say their goodbyes, and Percy swipes his hand through the mist and the picture disappears, taking his mother's teary face and Paul's surprised one with it.
"You are coming with me to New York, right?" Percy asks, turning to Annabeth.
"I'll have to ask dad, but I think he'll say yes." She replies.
"Why don't you do it now?" Grover asks "'Cause I think Chiron wants us to meet at the big house in a few hours. And the next day most of the campers go home.
"Summer's over already? Aw man, we get, like, no time to relax." Percy groans.
Grover nods his head and Annabeth shakes her head exasperatedly at both of them.
"How 'bout you, Grover? Where are you going?" Percy asks.
"Me? Oh, I'm going to Washington." He replies, looking slightly put out.
"Washington? Why?" Annabeth asks
"Mr. D has a daughter who lives over there. He says that she should be thirteen in a few days, so I'm going to make sure she gets to camp."
"Does he do that for all of his kids?" Percy asks.
"He only has, like, three kids. Well, two, after Castor died." He replies
"Oh." Percy says
"Anyway, are you going to call your dad?" Grover asks, suddenly switching topics.
Annabeth nods, then nudges Percy. He groans, but waves his arm and creates a mist.
"Hey, I'm gonna go, okay? I was supposed to go visit Juniper…" Grover says.
" Ok, bye man." Percy says and Annabeth waves goodbye at him, then turns back to the Iris Message.
"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." She says "Fredrick chase, California"
The picture shimmers and Annabeth's dad appears on the screen. He's watching T.V with Bobby, some cartoon that Annabeth herself never watched.
"Dad." Mr. Chase doesn't look up from the show he's watching, so Annabeth repeats it again. "Dad"
Bobby turns his head slightly to the left and his eyes widen comically. He pokes Mr. Chase in the stomach, gesturing to the Iris Message.
Mr. Chase finally turns his head and for a while all he does is gape.
"Annabeth? Where were you? Why didn't you call me?"
"Sorry dad, we were a bit busy." Annabeth says, a ghost of a smile on her face.
"Busy? With what?" He asks
Annabeth opens her mouth to speak, but closes it.
"Well…" She begins
"Long story short, we went to Greece, fought a war, and won." Percy cuts in.
Her father's jaw drops even lower and he starts spluttering.
Annabeth slaps Percy on his chest before asking, "Dad… Are you alright?"
Fredrick Chase stops spluttering long enough to say "Are you alright? Any injuries?"
"I'm fine, dad. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if I could go to New York instead of coming to California for school." She says
"You want to go to New York? Where would you stay?" He asks
"She'd stay with us." Percy says.
Annabeth turns her head towards him and arches her eyebrow at him.
"What?" He says in response to her look, "Mom and Paul wouldn't mind."
She shakes her head at him, turning back to her dad.
"Okay." He says grudgingly, "But you have to come down here during a weekend sometime."
Annabeth smiles at him and says bye to her dad and to Bobby, who is still sitting there, shocked, as he stares at the Iris Message.
"Well, that's done." She says, turning back to Percy.
"Yep." He says, "Hey, what time did Grover say that we had to go to the Big House?"
"Not for a few hours." She says
"I'm gonna take a nap till then." He replies
"I'll join you" She says.
They huddle back up on the bed, and Percy falls asleep immediately with his head on Annabeth's chest. Annabeth runs her fingers through Percy's hair for a while until she falls asleep.