Annabeth couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, more and more spiders crawled over her body. They must have known what she was planning to do tomorrow in Rome because they had never been this bad.

She decided to calm herself but looking through Daedalus' laptop. If one thing could settle the mind of a child of Athena, it was more knowledge. She opened to one of her favorites, the design for an inverted skyscraper. As her mind started to shape improvements and additions, she heard footsteps outside of her door. She froze, worried it was more spiders and simultaneously realizing spiders didn't have feet. She started padding to the door when she heard the softest knock possible. Her confusion was stifled when she heard the most beautiful voice on the other side.

"Annabeth?" Percy whispered. "Are you awake?"

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door to see wide sea green eyes and a tangled mop of black hair.

"Percy..."

They stood staring at each other, feeling the promiscuity of the situation.

"Can I, er, come in?" he finally said nervously.

Annabeth became conscious of her thin tank top and pajama shorts but gestured that he could.

As he shuffled past her, their hands touched and Annabeth felt a spark of warmth spread from her fingertips to her toes. She took a deep breath an turned to see that Percy had done the same. With a slight smirk, she leaned backwards against the door until it shut with a soft click.

"What brings you to my humble abode at this ungodly hour?"

"I, er, I wanted, um..."

Percy trailed off and looked at his feet. Annabeth always found his nervousness endearing and started to step towards him.

"Maybe I could just show you."

And before she got an inch away from the door, he matched the distance in one long stride. He pressed their bodies together against the door and let their breaths mingle for a split second before kissing her.

Percy was Annabeth's first official relationship. She had kissed boys before but it never meant anything. Percy was the first person to accept all of Annabeth and embrace her.

About two weeks into their relationship it had turned more physical. Annabeth liked to think they had been dating since the moment they met and 4 years of foreplay certainly was enough. The first night they had sex in the privacy of Percy's cabin after a campfire was the best night of both of their lives. Neither ever regretted the decision and they had only grown closer afterwards.

Annabeth thought of this as Percy's hand ran up and down her thigh. She broke away for a second and heard Percy's quiet groan of discontent.

"Maybe we could go to my bed" Annabeth suggested.

Always trying to make everything perfect, Percy picked up Annabeth and carried her over to her bed. He was trailing kissing down her neck and placed her head softly down on the pillow. Percy climbed onto the bed himself and straddled her waist.

At this point, they knew what the other was comfortable with and was not. One time, they had experimented with Percy's water abilities and it ended badly for the cabin and Annabeth's entire body. Another time, they tried using 'toys' which ended with them not looking at each other straight for a week. Unfortunately, it was the week before Percy was kidnapped. Their emotions had grown painfully strong and since the reunion, there hasn't been a real moment of release. In the stables, both again felt new to the relationship and didn't want to take it too far. They could feel something building, leading to this moment.

They both shifted onto their sides. One of Percy's hands held Annabeth's faces and the other rubbed her stomach. She felt her tank top riding up and after a few moments sat up and took it off. Percy stared up at his bare chested goddess, haloed by the light the moon shed through the window. A look of wonder crept across his face that always came during times like these. He sat up beside her and removed his shirt as well, tossing it lightly over her shoulder. Annabeth started to trail her hand over Percy's well defined chest. He captured her lips with his again and placed his hands with fervor on her hips. He moved up and down her body until landing on her shoulder blades. Percy lightly brought his hands around until they cupped her breasts and then moved back to her hips to push her down to the bed.

Percy sat up and took off his sweatpants and boxers. He tossed them to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. Annabeth moved to take off her pajama shorts and underwear. Their hands met at her waistband and together they pulled her remaining clothing off. Percy couldn't help but notice how perfect Annabeth's body was. She had closed her eyes briefly and looked like a sleeping angel. Her blonde hair, messy from her attempts at sleep, fell in soft curls around her face and landed perfectly on her shoulders. Whenever Percy saw her, he felt like the luckiest man in the world. He kept trying not to screw everything uo and somehow was successful.

Captured in his thoughts, Percy didn't realize Annabeth had opened her eyes and was thinking the exact same things. Percy kissed her again briefly before bending down to grab a condom from his pants pocket.

"Always the little optimist, aren't we?"

A smile broke out across Percy's face as he tore open the little foil package and swiftly rolled it on.

"Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready for you seaweed brain."

At these reassuring words, Percy bent down to kiss her and started to make love to her. He thrusted in time with the ship and the general rocking was soothing. No longer was this particularly painful or exciting. Annabeth and Percy kept level and could only think of their love for each other. As Percy's thrusts grew more intense, Annabeth felt herself coming close. They broke away at the same second and whispered the other's name.

"Percy."

"Annabeth."

Still inside of her, Percy rested his head against her should for a second. When he had fully come down, he slipped out and discarded the well used condom. He lay down beside Annabeth who had pulled the sheets up around both of them, forming an impossibly comforting and warm cocoon. They lay there quietly enjoying each other's warmth until Percy started and said "I didn't lock the door."

Annabeth murmured, "I did. No one's going to walk in on us this time. Just stay with me."

Percy lay back down.

"I love you, wise girl."

Annabeth's eyes were closed but a slight grin lifted the corners of her mouth. He wrapped a protective arm around her and they drifted off into a dreamless sleep.