Chapter 2

A big blue pancake flew up into the air and landed gracefully back into the pan. Paul turned around and puffed out his chest proudly.

"See?" He told an amused Sally. "Guys can be good cooks and good looking at the same time!"

Sally giggled. "Well, I've lost again. How did you become so good at arguing?" She smiled slyly.

"I'm a high-school teacher. I do it every. Single. Day."

Sally nodded, still smiling. "So I guess guys can be good cooks, good looking but they can't be smart too."

Paul looked crestfallen. "Are you saying I'm not smart?"

"Yes."

"Why not?"

"Because I just made you make me breakfast." She stabbed her fork into the pancake and took it off the pan.

Paul leaned down and kissed her. "I'd do that anyways and you know it."

Sally giggled again just as Percy and Annabeth walked in.

"Hey!" Sally jumped up and went to grab two more plates. "Good morning guys!" She said cheerily.

"Morning." They said in unison.

"Look Percy!" Paul flipped up another pancake. "I made them blue! Just for you!"

"I didn't know you could cook." Percy said blandly. "Or rhyme for that matter."

Sally and Percy chuckled on the outside but on the inside both of their hearts leapt for joy. Percy had made a joke!

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Sally asked.

The two teens shared a look and shrugged.

"Not much I guess..." Annabeth said slowly.

"Good!" Sally beamed at them "So you can come!"

"Where?" Percy asked suspiciously.

"The airport."

"No."

"Percy! You don't have to go on the plane, we're just picking someone up."

"Who?" Annabeth asked shortly.

"My niece." Paul put a stack of blue pancakes on the table. "Summer break started two days ago and she's coming to spend it with me!"

"Ugh, why?"

"Well, she wants to work with seniors when she's done school so she's coming here to work at the Retirement center down the block for the summer. Isn't that wonderful?" Sally helped herself to more pancakes. "Well done Paul, I'm a better teacher then I thought."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Annabeth asked. "I like to be prepared for things like this." She folded her arms and glared at her plate.

"Well you see..." Sally hesitated. "We planned this a few months back, and then you guys made it home and we sort of forgot in all the excitement."

"How old is she?" Annabeth asked, Sally was relieved. At least they weren't protesting it.

"She just turned fifteen." Paul said. "She's very excited to meet you guys!"

"Sure she is." Percy said quietly to Annabeth. "When do we have to leave to go get her?" He said a little louder so Paul could hear.

Paul glanced at the clock. "In about four hours."

The two nodded and started on their food. The rest of the meal was pretty quite.

After Annabeth had finished she made a move to leave, but Percy, who had been eating with his arm flung around her shoulders, tightened his grip.

"Percy, I have to go shower." Annabeth explained slowly.

"No."

"Percy, let her go." Sally said.

Percy all of the sudden had a wild look in his eyes. With sudden force he pulled Annabeth towards him and crushed her in a hug.

"Don't leave me." He whispered hoarsely into her hair.

"Never." She whispered back into his chest. "Never."

*Line break*

"You guys ready to leave?" Paul yelled down the hall.

"Yeah." Annabeth called back. "But you said we didn't have to leave for another hour."

"Just making sure you were paying attention." Paul shouted. He could practically hear Annabeth rolling her eyes at him through the closed door.

"Stupid mortals." He head Annabeth mutter.

"Hey Annabeth! Mortals can be cool too!"

Sally walked out of her room to find Paul grinning madly. "Please stop shouting dear." She said as she slipped an earing in.

After the hour was up they all crawled into Paul's car and set off. Percy and Annabeth sat in the back, leaning against each other. Annabeth only stared out the window while Percy played with her hair. The cars and buildings went by and the sky looked bright, not very cheery though, dark, wispy clouds foretold rain. Annabeth leaned her her head against the window and felt the sun on her cheeks. She sighed, she tried to push the thoughts she had when they were... down there. The thoughts of never seeing the sun again. She made up her mind to be extra kind to Apollo next time she saw him.

"Your hair smells good." Percy commented. His eyes were closed but Annabeth could tell he was tense.

"Thanks... I guess." Without thinking she leaned over and kissed the end of his nose. "You have a cute nose."

"Thanks. I broke it myself." He opened one eye. "No wait, Clarisse did."

Sally chuckled. "You really should try to make friends with that girl Percy."

He made a face. "No."

Sally turned around. "You and Annabeth didn't get alone when you first met."

"EWW! Mom! Gross! I tried being friends with Clarisse already! It ended with me stuck in a tree with talking bird calling me 'mama', not cool."

Percy shook his head as he remembered the scene. That was just after the Titan war. When life looked so good. Before the Giant war, before he fell into hell.

Annabeth glanced out the window again. "Chiron said the amount of monsters has been way down."

Percy nodded. "Good." a hint of bitterness escaped. "Zeus knows we deserve a small break."

Annabeth laughed cruelly, the sound of a laugh coming from her was a forgotten sound to almost everyone. "No he doesn't."

An awkward silence followed. "No Paul." Sally chided. "She's coming from Gate E. This is Gate D."

Paul drove around. "One bad thing about New York. There's no room." He peered around. "I hope she's fast... Oh! There she is!" He hopped out of the car and waved to a confused looking girl. Her face broke out into a huge grin when she saw Paul.

"You guys stay in here." Sally said. She opened up her door, "I'll go help with the bags."

Percy watched as Paul and the girl hugged. She was laughing and talking very fast. Paul took one of her bags and Sally embraced her too. They walked back to the car talking.

Paul popped the trunk and put her bags in while Sally told her to 'hop in the back seat and get acquainted.'

Annabeth slid over so that she was still next to Percy.

"S'up." The girl said as she slipped into the car, grinning. That's when both Percy and Annabeth realized they didn't know her name.

"Hello." Annabeth said.

"Hey." Percy nodded at her.

She was of average height, her slightly wavy hair was about half way down her back and a blondish-brown color. Her eyes were twice the size of normal eyes and were only made bigger by the healthy amount of eyeliner, her also large lips were covered in a very deep red colored lipstick. Her body was very matured and looked like a woman's body, considering she was only 15, but her smile made her seem a lot younger and girly, thanks to the gap in-between her two front teeth and the youthful acne spotted across her forehead.

She leaned over so that she could see Percy. "Hey again!"

Percy looked troubled. "We've met?"

"Yeah, at Uncle Paul's wedding. Remember? We danced, you stepped on me, my little brother puked on you."

"OH!" Percy recognized her. "Now I remember! How's it going... Wren?"

"Yeah, it's Wren." She turned to Annabeth. "And you must be Annabeth. I hung out with Percy for 10 minutes at Uncles Paul's wedding and he mentioned you at least 4 times."

Annabeth smiled wearily and laid her head on Percy. All the people around her was making her nervous.

"Alright! Let's go!" Paul did up his seat belt and they were on their way.

Wren pulled out an Iphone from her pocket and turned it on. "I just have to call my mom." She said. "It'll only take a second. You know how she is, eh Uncle Paul?"

Paul smiled into the review mirror. "I like to think I do."

Wren put the phone to her ear and waited. "Hey Mamma!" She greeted after two rings. "Yeah, just got off the plane. Yep, in the car! Found him no problem! Called you first thing, no. Nope. Yeah... Don't know yet. What was that? Kay, Love you too! Bye!"

She hung up. "Wow. My house is cray cray."

Paul looked at her through the review mirror. "Now that I do know."

"How many kids are in your family again?" Sally asked.

"Mmmm seven including me."

"Seven?!" Annabeth and Percy chorused.

"Yeah..." Wren looked up from her phone and you could almost see her attitude level go up. "Got a problem with that?"

Annabeth snorted at her. "No, why? Is that a touchy subject?" Her instinct was to give the attitude right back. That's what comes from living with a bunch of stressed out teens.

Wren laughed gaily. "I was just kidding! You'll have to get used to me. I'm kind of dramatic which gives the impression that I'm a 'bad' kid."

Paul looked at them through the mirror again. "Are you kidding? You're the worst kid I know."

Wren looked thoughtful. "I'm touched Uncle Paul, really. That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

I'm going to have a lot of fun with this story. But I feel like my main point of interest should be my other story The Boy On The Ground. (Percy Jackson/Avatar the Last Airbender crossover.) I dunno. I need some more inspiration!

Thanks for reading!