Hey guys so this is just a one-shot that I have been thinking about lately. I've been re-reading the PJO/HOO series' and I came up with this one-shot to help explain everything that happened between Annabeth and her family.

All rights belong to Rick Riordan.

Heart to Heart

Annabeth Chase sat in her bedroom reading as rain pelted against her window. She was currently lying on her bed in a pair of sweats and one of her dad's old college sweatshirts with A Mid-Summer Night's Dream open in her lap. Now reading Shakespeare was a difficult task for students who didn't have ADHD and Dyslexia, but for a student who does it is twice as difficult.

However, she didn't stop. Annabeth always pushed herself to do the best she can, and as a daughter of the Greek goddess Athena she almost always succeeds. Although tonight her ADHD must have been in overdrive because she would read a couple of sentences, but then her mind would trail off. She actually had mild ADHD for a demigod, but for some reason it seemed heightened this night, almost as if her body was preparing for some type of battle or fight.

She prayed that that wasn't the case. Only a few months ago she was captured by a manticore named Dr. Thorn who took her to Mount Tam here in San Francisco. She was then tricked into holding the sky as a way to manipulate the goddess Artemis. Even thinking about her time on Mount Tam made her shoulders and back ache as if she were still on her knees struggling to balance the weight on her hands while sweat dripped onto the floor.

Honestly she may be physically ready to fight again, but she wasn't sure if she was ready mentally. She had allowed herself to be tricked by a boy she still had a crush on, while her best friend (who she was also beginning to care for) travelled across the country to save her. To say she was confused would be a big understatement.

Annabeth considered calling Percy. She hasn't spoken with him since the end of winter break. It would be nice to see how he was doing, but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to leave her bed in order to make a rainbow for an Iris Message. Besides it was seven o'clock on a Friday night. He was probably busy.

Everyone seemed busy today. The few mortal school friends she had were either on dates or spending time with their family. Her father had even taken Bobby and Matthew out to a movie so they could have "guy time." So it was just Annabeth and her stepmom in the house. As she usually does on rainy nights her stepmom was baking. Annabeth wasn't sure why, but it seemed like something she liked to do whenever it was pouring down rain.

Maybe it relaxed her? Maybe it kept her busy? Annabeth wasn't sure, but even from the second floor of their home she could smell of warm sweet scent of cookies and brownies. Grudgingly giving up on reading Shakespeare for the night, Annabeth put the book down, and got up from her bed. Slipping on her slippers she made her way out of her bedroom and down the stairs.

The house always seemed to have a toasty warm feeling to it that Annabeth never noticed when she was first growing up. At the age of seven she always remembered the house being cold and uninviting, only now at the age of fourteen did it feel more like a home rather than a house.

The living room and dining room were open concept rooms while the kitchen was closed off at the back of the house. Annabeth pulled up her hair and brought it into a messy ponytail as she made her way into the kitchen. Once reaching the doorway she brought her hands down while her hair remained securely in the elastic band she had kept around her wrist only moments before.

Leaning against the archway that lead into the kitchen, Annabeth couldn't help but smile amused at the sight in front of her. Her stepmom was from an Asian-American family. Her parents moved to the US for college and never moved back. Her hair was black with red highlights throughout. She usually kept her hair in a bun with different clips, pencils, even chopsticks.

Annabeth's stepmom, who hadn't yet noticed Annabeth's entrance, was currently dancing around the kitchen singing while she stirred some type of batter in a glass bowl. There was always a radio in the kitchen for whoever wanted to cook that day, but Annabeth had never seen her stepmom do this before.

Using the batter-covered whisk as a microphone, she belted out the lyrics to the song Respect which was sang by Aretha Franklin who was actually a daughter of Apollo. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me! R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Take care of TCB!" While she wasn't necessarily a good singer, Annabeth's stepmom still gave it her all.

Annabeth laughed with a large smile across her face. Even in her wildest demigod dreams she never imagined walking in on a scene like this. Turning around her stepmom froze at the sight of her stepdaughter before her. Her cheeks warmed in embarrassment.

With a hand gripping her waist Annabeth continued to roar with laughter at her stepmom's actions. Once she started it was hard to stop.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" her stepmom asked with a sly grin.

Annabeth gasped for breath unable to form words. Unable to say anything she instead shook her head.

Not noticing her stepmom put down her whisk, Annabeth was shocked as a glob of brown batter splattered against her stomach. She gasped surprised. Between her dad and stepmom it was usually her dad who would act like a big adult and make the kids laugh while her stepmom was the more serious one.

Looking at her, she smiled to notice that she was now the one bent over laughing with her hand dripping brown batter. Noticing another bowl of batter on the counter, Annabeth picked it up, took a handful and threw it at the opposite party.

Shocked her stepmom raised a challenging eyebrow. With a sly smirk upon her face the two soon began throwing batter at each other and laughing as they did so. Soon the cabinets, floor, countertops, even themselves were covered head-to-toe in baking batter.

Sitting at the dining table the two laughed together for probably the first time with several plates between them. Each plate seemed to have a different desert on it. One plate had chocolate chip cookies, and another had peanut butter blossoms. A few of the plates even had brownies and a cake as well.

"I can't remember the last time I had this much fun," Annabeth's stepmom confessed.

Annabeth nodded in agreement.

Her stepmom gave her a soft smile. "You know I always wanted a daughter." Annabeth watched her with calculating eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better mother to you. In all honestly, I was jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" Annabeth asked her.

"You're mother," she said. "Even now your father will always care for her. I guess after he told me who your mom was I just got nervous. I didn't know how to compete with her. I worried that he wouldn't love me and the boys as much as he loved you and your mom."

Annabeth shook her head. "My dad loves you."

She nodded. "I know he does, but Athena will always hold a place in his heart that I will never be able to reach. I'm sorry that I wasn't better with you. Honestly, I didn't know what to do. I was young when your father and I got married. One moment all I had to worry about was myself and whether my bills got paid on time, and then all of a sudden I'm in my mid-twenties with a stepdaughter and twin boys on the way. It was a big adjustment and I didn't handle it well, especially upon learning that my stepdaughter was a demigod.

Those nights when you were scared because of the spiders in your room . . . I could have done better. In all honesty, I should have. I could have allowed you to call your father at work, but what you don't know is that the past year up until you ran away, your father and I were having a difficult time."

"'A difficult time?' What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"Well let me just say it's hard to suddenly go from working full-time, to not working at all, and being a sudden mother of three. I was home all the time, and I was becoming bitter to everything. Then to have you wake up screaming about spiders and being bitten," Annabeth shuddered. She still remembered those nights clearly, "I thought maybe you were jealous of all the attention the boys were getting and that was just a way for you to act out and get some attention."

"But it wasn't. I wasn't yelling and screaming for attention. I really did have spiders crawling around in my room haunting me. I was really being bitten and I did wake up with cobwebs covering my eyes," argued Annabeth. "I was yelling for help and you just left me there do deal with it on my own. I thought you hated me."

Looking into her stepmom's almond eyes she noticed something she never thought she'd see. Guilt. Shame. Regret. Her stepmom really did regret it all.

"I know," she reached forward and took Annabeth's hands in her own. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make excuses to you, but Annabeth I could never hate you. I have and I always will care for you as my own daughter, but you also have to remember that you didn't necessarily make things easy on me either. We both know that you never wanted your father to marry me. You always hoped that he would someday reunite with your mom."

Annabeth nodded at this. She remembered last summer when she and Percy were sailing in the Sea of Monsters. She had Percy tie her up so she could listen to the Siren's song. Upon listening to it she saw her parents together and happy while she sat with Luke in front of a newly designed city that she had created.

Looking back on it now, Annabeth knew it could never be. Her parents would never be able to reunite, and not just because of her stepmom. Athena is a maiden goddess who vowed never to marry. Even if she found a man worth risking it all for, she would never break her own oath. Her own pride and stubbornness was far stronger then Annabeth's.

"I'm sure I could have made things easier on you too," Annabeth realized. "I'm sorry as well. I never meant to endanger the boys. I never want them to be forced into my world."

Her stepmom smiled at her words. "How about we agree to start over? If one of us has a problem then we will talk it through and we can try to understand the other better. Maybe every once in a while we can have a girl's night like what your father does with the boys."

Annabeth smiled at her gesture. "That sounds like a plan worth of Athena."

She laughed and pulled her stepdaughter into a hug. They may have had problems in the past, but not anymore. They are going to try harder and do better. Annabeth may have a mother, but she also deserves a mom. Annabeth deserves someone who is there to help her with high school problems, or take her shopping for a school dance, or to give her advice for her first date.

While Athena may be the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, but she couldn't very well come down from Olympus whenever Annabeth had a problem with a girl at school. Athena can help her with any challenges she may be able to face in the demigod world while she can help her with problems in the mortal world, and maybe together they will be able to prepare Annabeth for the challenged that life will throw her.

The two women split apart just in time for the front door to burst open. Frederick, Matthew, and Bobby ran in trying to avoid the rain. Once inside they froze at the sight before them. The walls and floors had brownie batter splattered and thrown about the kitchen and living room. The boys saw that their sister/daughter and mother/wife were covered head to toe in batter as well.

"What happened?" Frederick gaped as the twins burst out laughing at the sight.

"How come when we make a mess we always get in trouble?" Matthew asked while Bobby nodded.

Annabeth and her stepmom looked at their bewildered faces and burst into laughter themselves.

"Should we let them make a mess as well Annabeth?"

Annabeth smiled. "Yeah, how about we spread the fun?"

Before any of the boys knew what was happening, the girls wiped some of the dripping batter out of their hair and clothes before throwing it at the boys. Annabeth managed to hit her father in the shoulder while her stepmom went for the twins. Soon they were just as covered and messy as the girls.

"Come on men, help me with your sister," Frederick commanded as if in a real battle. He ran forward and picked up his daughter then threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. She struggled against her father's tight hold, but he held her there as the twins attacked her with more battery.

Laughter filled the house. She stood aside and watched as her husband played with their children. For many years their home felt incomplete after the loss of Annabeth, but now with her return, they are finally beginning to make up for those lost years. She smiled and caught the eye of her husband.

It was official. With the laughter and love spreading throughout the five of them their lives, their house, and their family were safe and complete.

Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think!

~Kaylee