Chapter 2

The next morning, I was suppose to wake up early, but I stayed up late because our neighbors decided they don't need sleep, they need to blast music at four o' clock in the morning. I got up at twelve, Seamus was already out, having breakfast without me. I was putting on my gray sweatpants and sweatshirt so I could go out jogging for two hours. I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail, grabbed the spare set of keys, then escaped from the apartment. I took the stairs to the lobby. On my way out, I saw Seamus heading in with a bag of groceries.

"Rough night?" He asked, smirking. I glared at him, tripped him, then continued my way out.

As stepped out, I noticed a few things that I didn't see in California. Like, how the tree's last leaves were hanging loosely from the branches, the sludge from last night's rain/hail storm, the bustling crowd of New Yorkers just walking, minding their own business. In California, I haven't seen a leaf go brown since... years, actually. I can't even remember the last time it snowed, much less hailed. Also, I'm just still so used to New York's constant crowds, always having a bit of black in their wardrobe. Like a pattern. I smiled to myself then sped up my walk to a jog.

About an hour later, I took a break. I stopped at a nearby Starbucks and got a coffee (Black, no milk) and a bagel. Not much people was here, thankfully, so I grabbed a newspaper and sat at a small round table. I hummed quietly to myself while I sipped my coffee and read the paper. I was taking a bite out of my bagel when the bell, signaling someone came in, rang.

I glanced in the door's direction then turned back to my paper, then did a double take. Coming in was a girl who had light brown hair, fair skin, and brown eyes, with a face I could recognize anywhere, I was close with her after the great battle for about a year, until she had to leave. She had her hand wrapped around a younger girl. The younger girl had black long hair, fair skin, and very dark eyes, but other than that, she looked like the woman who held her hand.

The little girl had a flower between her fingers and was twirling it around happily while taking big steps with her colorful raincoats. The woman looked for a seat then caught my eye. Her eyes widened then she grinned and made her way towards me. I smiled sheepishly as she stood next to my table.

"Annabeth Chase, where in Hades' have you been?" Katie Gardner asked, trying to sound firm.

I laughed lightly then stood to give her hug. "California. Studying." I replied, smiling. "How about you? Last time I saw you, you were helping Grover in Central Park." Suddenly, I felt queasy. Grover.

"Yeah, but, I came back to camp and saw all my friends were gone, off to collage. Didn't take long until I decided to go to college, too. Then, something came up." She smiled at the younger girl. "This is my daughter, Genesis. She's three years old."

"Hello, lady." The little girl said. Her mother smiled at her.

I bent down to her level. "Hi, I'm Annabeth. You're so cute." I cooed, then turned back to Katie and gestured her to sit down. She did, then sat Genesis on her lap. "Who's the father?" I asked, smirking.

She blushed, "You're going to find it hard to believe..." I raised an eyebrow. "Remember Nico... Di Angelo?"

I gasped then my hand flew to my mouth. "Seriously? Oh, my gods!" I grinned.

"Yeah, he's one of the reasons why I went to a college here, in New York." She said, while her daughter fiddled with my newspapers.

"I'm so happy for you! So, you're married?" I pressed my hands together.

She nodded beaming. "A year before this little chicken was born." She touched Genesis' nose. "Surprised me, too."

I sighed happily. Nico and Katie. I never would have thought they would end up together. "How's life, then? Everything going good?" I asked, taking a sip of my coffee.

She nodded, "Yes, I own a shop now. I'm a florist." She smiled proudly. "You should stop by sometime!"

"Of course!" I replied and she gave me the address of her shop.

"How have you been?" She asked, smoothing down her daughters hair.

I shrugged, "Good, I guess. I'm in New York for a while, then I gotta head back to California in five months. I'm here with my... business partner. On a business trip." I said nervously.

She nodded, grinning. "I knew you would get into something like that, though I always that you wanted to be an architecture. Speaking of that, how's Olympus?"

I waved that away. "I haven't been there in seven years. Took about a year to finished, a few weeks after you left actually. They were impressed, though I don't think it was my best work." I took another sip. "So... How is... everyone?" I asked casually.

She smirked. "By everyone, do you mean Percy?" My heart nearly stopped when she said his name. She laughed. "Don't worry, everyone's fine, last time I heard. It's been while, though. I haven't seen them in quite a while." She looked off in the distance, thinking.

"How's Nico? He doing alright?" I asked.

She smiled, "He's doing lovely. Except, he's hardly allowed in my shop. He kills everything." She said, whispering the last part.

I chuckled, "That's Nico for ya."

She jumped, "Oh, I was going to grab a coffee then head out to Central Park, do you want to come?" She asked.

I frowned, "I'm so sorry, I would, but I'm on break, in about five minutes I'm going running, then I have to get to my apartment..."

She smiled, "It's okay Annabeth." We stood a the same time. "Promise you'll visit! Nico will be happy to see you, he hasn't had much of his friends pop out here."

I nodded and smiled, "Definitely." I replied, grabbed the remaining of my coffee and started heading out. "Bye, Kate! See you, Genesis!" I called out then exited the shop.

I smiled to myself yet again. That wasn't too bad. It was nice seeing an old friend. It made be kind of sad to see her with a child, I've never told anyone, but I always wished that someday, I would get to hold my child in my arms.

I sighed, sipped the last of my coffee, then started jogging. While jogging, a part of my mind wondered the same things again and again, but I made sure to ignore it.

An hour and thirty minutes later, I was back at my building and heading up the stairs. Going past Rachel's -or what I assumed was Rachel's- floor, I wondered if, by any chance, she would be happy to see me. We parted on bad terms, she wasn't the oh-so-powerful-prophecy-teller-of-the-gods for long, so... she kind of made it a goal to get Percy back.

When I got to the apartment, Seamus was make spaghetti. Raised an eyebrow and sat on a stool. "You cook? Since when?" I asked.

"Since I learned that woman love guys who cook." He said, throwing some vegetables in the pot. I rolled my eyes then shook my head. "You know, we have two more nights in New York, we should make the most of it."

He chopped some sausages. "What are you suggesting?" I asked, watching him chop.

"We should go out, I mean, we're in New York. One of the most greatest states in America." She three in the sliced sausages. It's his third time in New York where he had a vacation – even if it's for two days.

"I don't know... I-"

"Annabeth! Come on, when was the last time you enjoyed yourself?" He sat down across from me.

"Um... This morning when I met an old friend?" I tried, smiling.

"That doesn't count. When was the last time you went out? Even nerds get to have fun, you know." He went back to his spaghetti.

"Hey! I do have fun!" I argued, ignoring the insult.

"Then tonight, we're going out. To a club." He said.

"Seamus, we're not sixteen years old anymore. We-"

"Are young adults wanting to have fun! Also, we're not that old, I'm twenty-five, you're twenty-four! That's the average age for... club-goers!"

"Then, you could go, I'm not!" I crossed my arms. He turned around, looked me in the eye, then narrowed his eyes. He continued this for a while, then I said, "Fine." and he grinned successfully.

Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be in... Percy's point of view! R&R!