The sea was blue, and the waves were high and majestic. It was beautiful, Percy thought, as he leaned back on the soft sand and let the sea breeze mess up his hair even more. But then he looked to his left, and the person lying beside him, almost asleep in the last light from the sun, ready to set. And he considered himself wrong, because she was more beautiful than any sea, than anything he ever laid his eyes on. Ever. He smiled and let his finger softly caress her cheek, then her neck and carefully, her collarbone. She smiled, still with her eyes closed.

"Percy, it tickles!"

"Sorry Wise Girl." He grinned, and she opened her eyes.

"Just so you know, you woke me from a wonderful dream." She gave him an irritating look, but then she laughed. He leaned closer to her and placed a kiss on her nose.

"Can we stay like this forever?"

Suddenly the smile vanished of her face.

"You know… You know we can't."

"I know." Percy sighed, and let his hand rest on Annabeths thigh for a while. "I just wish… Sometimes…"

"I wish it all the times."

They sat quiet for a while. Annabeth leaned her head on his shoulder and then she took his hand.

"It's beautiful. The sea."

"You're beautiful"

She smiled, and then he spotted tears in her eyes.

"Are you sad?" He asked, puzzled. She shook her head.

"No. Yes. I don't know. I just wanna stay. I wanna be with you. I don't… Can't we just leave?

"Leave?"

"Yes." She took both his hands, and then looked deep into his eyes, looking more serious than ever. "Leave with me. Now."

"Annabeth, we can't just leave." Percy laughed, nervously, like he thought she was playing him. But she looked dead serious. More serious than he had ever seen her. More serious than she's been in any mortal battle and boy, they had faced a few of those.

"We can. Percy, we can. They shouldn't be able to decide what's best for us. I wanna be with you. And not like this. Not stolen moments in the sunset. All the time."

He didn't know what to say. Then he kissed her, deeply, burying his hands in her hair. She was stunned by the sudden move, but then she returned the kiss, tasting every corner of his mouth like there was no tomorrow. He held her close, so close he could and when he had no air left he stopped kissing her, but kept his lips still close to hers.

"Okay. Let's do it. Lets'… leave."

She suddenly looked like a shining star.

"Really? You mean that?"

"Yes, of course. Why be here, when I can be with you anyplace else than this? So what if we get hunt down by some lethal monsters. We've killed things like that before and… We're the best. Together." He smiled at her.

"Oh Percy!" she jumped into his arms and started kissing him again and again, like it was the only thing she could manage to do at the moment. "It will be great. I'm sure."

"How can it not be?" Percy gave her a big smile and then looked deep into her eyes again. "I'm with you."

"Oh you're such a flirt." She gave him a light punch on the shoulder and then she got up on her feet. "Let's get going!"

"From here?"

"Well you're the son of the sea god. Get us some transport in the sea. Isn't that what you do?" She grinned. He got up and laid his hands around her waist.

"And ask my dad for what? A vessel that can take me and my girlfriend to a hidden place where we can do anything without anyone saying that we can't… or that we should wait until we're married?" he smiled and placed a few kisses on her neck.

"Don't get your hopes up Seaweed brain!" She looked offended but then laughed, turned around and laid her hands around his neck. "But it sounds good…"

And so they kissed. And kissed. And kissed some more. Until the sun had been swallowed by the sea.