Author's Note: I absolutely adore writing—it's something I do everyday, in my head, at school, whenever. But I'm an Honors student (hate to brag) and my teachers think they're the only teacher I have and give me enough homework for six classes. Well, okay, close enough to that much. I'm trying to keep writing—just please understand that there are only a certain number of hours after sleeping, school, homework, and socialization.

ANNABETH'S POV

Percy drove with his arm draped over the back of my seat towards his—now, our—apartment. Mrs. Blofis jabbered away happily about how excited she was to have another woman around to talk with, how she couldn't wait to start taking shopping trips with Annabeth, how the tiny get-together was going to be a great catchup opportunity. I was mostly tuned out, staring at Percy's beautiful face, his large, strong hand hanging over my shoulder, smiling when I saw the smile plastered to his face, and checking my hair in the mirror every once in awhile.

"Annabeth, are you listening, honey?"

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled. "What was that?"

Mrs. Blofis had been talking about something, but I couldn't remember what it was for the life of me. Embarrassed, I twisted around in my seat to smile apologetically at her, laughing when I saw Paul had fallen asleep on his wife's shoulder. Percy, seeing my uncomfortable position, took his arm off from my seat and put both hands on the wheel. He turned, and then I realized he was parking into his space—now, our space.

"It's okay, Annabeth, but I was just asking if you wanted to go out to eat tomorrow, with Percy of course, and Paul and me, your choice of restaurant."

"Oh. Um, okay," I said without thinking, dazed by Percy winking at me.

Paul was woken up by Sally as Percy ran around to open my door.

He kissed me, though I was embarrassed as Sally and Paul smiled at us, before I could step out of the door.

We walked to his apartment hand in hand, Paul and Percy each carrying three of my suitcases. Sally continued to talk, and we all listened quietly, making "mmhs" and "yeahs" every now and then at appropriate intervals.

PERCY'S POV

I reluctantly let go of Annabeth's hand to unlock our apartment.

It was bigger than my mom's, yeah. The door opened up to a large living room-kitchen, the walls painted pale green. The coffee table was stacked with my textbooks, because I was taking classes on Saturdays at the university. The TV was small, but we didn't watch much TV anyway—Annabeth and I at least. I pecked her on the cheek and went with Paul to Annabeth's and my bedroom down the hall. I had repainted it last weekend so that it now was a medium blue, trimmed with a white stripe around the top. Before, it had been painted a blank white, with posters of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and various music groups (most notably Led Zeppelin and Muse), but I thought that I should girlify my apartment before Annabeth's arrival, thanks to some advice from Nico. The kid could be pretty useful sometimes—he had persuaded the landlord to let Percy repaint the walls of his apartment, and Percy shuddered at how that was made possible.

"Let's just place them on the bed," I said.

Paul nodded, and placed Annabeth's mismatched luggage onto our white bedspread.

"Listen. Perce," he said. Oh gods.

I pretended to not notice his tone that obviously meant he was going to have the talk with me. 'Hey it's kind of too late, Paul!' I wanted to scream.

"Percy...well, I know that you and Annabeth are...you know..."

"Um, Paul?" I said, still searching blindly for a way out of this embarrassing topic. It'd be so much more easier to talk with, well, someone more experienced like, well, Dad.

"Well, uh...you know what I'm trying to say. Just...your mom and I both don't want Annabeth to end up like your mom."

"What do you mean?" I snapped. This conversation was going sharply away from where I thought it was going. I thought that he was trying to tell me to try abstinence, but I guess...

"Do you remember you conversation with your mother this morning?" he asked me.

"Yes. It's not one I could forget, if you know why," I said sharply. "I don't think she realizes yet that Annabeth and I don't want to have kids quite so soon."

"Exactly. So try and be...well...preventive, okay?"

"Um..."

"I don't think either of you are ready for that, am I right? We don't want something to happen to Annabeth incase, well...you two...have a kid and you don't want her afterwards."

"That will never—ever—EVER--happen, Paul. And I don't mean to be rude, but...I love Annabeth more than anything, and, well, I know what you mean."

"Good," he said, sounding relieved. I sighed, and he copied me.

We walked out, then, and found our girls talking animatedly about something so ironic I nearly laughed out loud right then—babies.

"But, of course Annabeth, I love baby boys. They're easier."

"I think it'd be nice to have a boy first—but then, I didn't like having my brothers around when they were littler, so maybe a girl would be funner."

Ugh! Babies. And you know what's more ironic? That's what they talked about the rest of the night, all the way till eight o'clock. Paul and I watched Casino Royale and then Quantum of Solace, then ESPN.

Finally, they left.

"It was so nice seeing you," said Mom, hugging Annabeth tightly. I kept one hand on the small of Annabeth's back, staring at my blue Converse. They were so dirty, now, that they looked gray.

"You too, Sally," said Annabeth, smiling.

Paul hugged Annabeth, then Percy, then took Sally's hand.

"See you two tomorrow at Mel's."

"See ya," I murmured. I shut the door behind them after waving to their backs.

"Finally!" she sighed, laughing.

I smiled, then took her face in my hands and kissed her full on the mouth.

"Oh, I missed you so much!" Annabeth said, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Take me on a tour. I haven't gotten to see it in a few months. Anything changed? Still have Natalie Portman taped to your ceiling?" she teased. I snickered.

"No," I said, chuckling. "But your wish, my command. Let's take a tour! Here, we have the living room."

"Very chic," she said, squeezing my hand.

"Here, we have the kitchen and dining room, sort of."

The kitchen had a quaint essence about it; with white cupboards and counters and green marble counters. The dining room was basically one of those bar things that you can sit at, but it's just counter.

"Nice," she said.

"Then here's our bathroom. Where we shower," I said, emphasizing 'shower'. She giggled; it was small, painted gray with white tiles.

"Then, here is your study slash library slash guest bedroom. The couch's a futon, but I figured I could take naps while you work."

"Oh, how convenient," she said, giggling again. A desk faced a large window with a breathtaking view of the Empire State Building. I thought it might help her out. There were books on architecture, both ones I'd bought at a nearby Barnes and Noble and gotten from Annabeth last week in preparation for her move, stacked on the drafting desk and in mismatched bookcases on either side, the futon on the west wall, and an iHome in a shelf set back into the opposite wall, as well as a small fountain on the balcony outside for iris-Messages.

"Then, milady, we come to our bedroom! I redid it, as you see," I said, waving around the room.

"I do, and I'm happy to see that a half-naked battle-outfit-clad Padme is no longer available for your eyes to see when you're only wearing pants when you wake up in the morning," she said, standing on her toes to kiss me.

It was funny, because I never really got out of the 'brain turning to mush' phase when we kissed. It was like I was dreaming—and after spending time with her, I only wanted more time. I forgot all the memories, all the moments, not like they never happened—just that I was half-conscious, wanting more and more of Annabeth to memorize and familiarize myself with.