A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback! Hope you guys like Part Two.

Operation Hold Your Peace

Part 2: The Plan

Rachel stared at the gown critically, pirouetting a few times to get the 360 view.

A grand total of fifty layers of tulle made up the skirt, covered in light pink satin and hundreds of bows and tiny crystal beads. The bodice could have been tiny, but Rachel had insisted on putting ruffles and ribbons on every spare inch. The sleeves were nearly as poufy as Lady Diana's, and the dress as a whole was reminiscent of a strawberry-flavored marshmallow.

"It's absolutely repulsive," she cried happily. "This will be perfect."

Percy chuckled and shook his head as the bridal store employees looked at each other quizzically. Clearly, they were not used to heiresses coming in search of the most "hideously princess-like" dress in the world. In fact, he was pretty sure that something like this had never happened before.

The dress was all a ruse, of course. Percy and Rachel had decided (after he finally gave in) that they would have to make the fake wedding as much of a spectacle as possible without giving Annabeth any hints that it was a fraud. Not the easiest task. They had told their relatives and friends (Mr. Dare wasn't very happy) about the falsehood in order to avoid a lot of awkward questions, but that was also part of the plan. If their guests had been suspicious, that would have tipped off Annabeth.

See, Rachel had managed to convince Percy using her all-knowing Oracle skills that pretending to marry someone else was the only way to get Annabeth back, if they were meant to reunite. According to a vision Rachel had had, Annabeth would get up at the "speak now or forever hold your peace" part of the ceremony, if the plan worked.

Which meant that Percy had to completely cut off the love of his life, pretend to be madly infatuated with Rachel (who was supposed to be the virgin Oracle of Delphi) so that Annabeth would become jealous, and go through all the motions of preparing for a wedding, even though the wedding was hopefully going to be interrupted. They had a backup plan in case Annabeth didn't object—Percy would leave Rachel at the altar, claiming that he wasn't comfortable with marrying the Oracle (which he wasn't) and that he was still in love with Annabeth (which he was).

Percy just prayed that the complicated plan would work, because otherwise he would have a lot of uncomfortable explaining to do.

As they walked out of the store (it took both of them to carry the luxuriant dress), Rachel pulled a list.

"Okay," she said purposefully, "We've got the decorator and the dress. And you emailed the invitations guy, right? Good. Now, what else…?"

"Unfortunately, I think a tux is next on the list," Percy muttered, glancing over Rachel's shoulder to look at the offensive list.

She beamed, a wicked glint coming into her eye. "Right you are, Percy. Come on, there's an Eisenberg & Eisenberg we can go to right over near 5th."

It was definitely a good thing that the pseudo-bride-to-be was an heiress. The handmade suits all around Percy were thousands of dollars at the cheapest. Rachel, of course, dragged him over to the manager, gave the name "Dare," and laughed as Percy was led to an even more expensive-looking section in the back with a "you'll-pay-for-this-later" look on his face.

The manager—Percy was pretty sure that his name was Cooper—snatched a few suits off the racks after measuring him with speed that would have made any dryad jealous. He held them up as if imagining them on his client, occasionally muttering "Oh, God no," or "Hmm… maybe."

"What's the theme for your wedding, Mr. Jackson?" Cooper asked.

Percy blinked. "Um… I'm not sure, exactly. Basically as all-out as possible."

"Sort of a princess theme, actually," Rachel said, laughing. Percy jumped—he hadn't even noticed that she was there. "Make sure he doesn't settle for something cheap, Cooper. I want our wedding to be spectacular." She winked at Percy and skipped out the door. He glared after her.

"Ah… a man of simple tastes, I see? Yes, I've had quite a few of those," the manager said. "Don't worry, I think we can find something that will work for the both of you."

Percy focused on taking deep breaths as they tried on what felt like dozens of suits. This is for Annabeth, he reminded himself. You're doing this for Annabeth.

Finally, after buying a ridiculously expensive tuxedo that Cooper insisted looked "debonair" on Percy, they trudged out of the store.

"You know, Rachel," he said uncomfortably, "You really don't have to go through with this. I mean, it's costing a fortune, even for you, and your dad is pretty upset—"

She sighed in exasperation. "Don't start this again, Percy. We've both agreed that this will work, and that it's the best way to get Annabeth back. So you can't go around getting cold feet about a marriage that isn't even real. Okay? This will all turn out fine."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Just three more weeks of torture, right?"