AN: After Percy's and Annabeth's happy reunion, the question arises: Where has Percy been and what happened?
JustNotNormal - I'm so happy the last chapter made you smile! This one's a little more intense, but I hope you love it!
After Sally had gone down, Annabeth finally managed to fully calm herself. Percy stepped out, in just his boxers, revealing a new series of barely healed bruises and slashes across his torso. Gods above, she thought, it didn't look pretty. Annabeth wondered how he'd managed to hug her without screaming in pain, bit her lip in worry. It didn't matter that he'd left her again, and never mind the fact that he was the single person in the world that could cause her the pain and heartache that she'd sworn never to feel again, he was hurt and Annabeth was going to fix him.
"Where's the kit?" She asked quickly. All demigods who were only summer campers received a backup kit of nectar, ambrosia, common poison antidotes, antiseptic, and heavy-duty bandages. This way, in case of an emergency away from camp, they had something to rebound on -unless it was a dire or a fatal case.
"Its in the drawer under my nightstand," Percy grunted, as he sat down gingerly on his bed. The adrenaline of seeing Annabeth safe had worn off, and his body felt tender and painful. Annabeth reached his nightstand and paused. Resting on the top was a collection of pictures. A few were of Percy and his mother, and others were of their friends at camp including Grover and Tyson. But most were of her. Pictures of Annabeth smiling, laughing, reaching her arms up with her head thrown back, at the beach, on top of the Eiffel Tower, ready to spar in her armor. And there was one that Percy's mother had snapped on their official first date, where she had leaned over to discreetly kiss him. When had he taken all those pictures? She'd never even realized. He just shrugged sheepishly, and winced in pain again.
"Ow."
"Oh gods, Percy I'm sorry!" Shaking the pictures out of her head, she quickly reached down into the drawer and pulled out the little tin kit. Yanking it open, she retrieved the nectar and ambrosia first. Breaking off a piece of ambrosia she gave it to Percy to eat. She unrolled the bandages efficiently, and, to Percy's interest, she doused them with nectar.
"Percy, why didn't these heal in the shower?"
He sighed, and then thought about what he would say. "They did heal…as much as they could." Annabeth stared at him horrified, and then blew up.
"THESE ARE YOUR INJURIES AFTER THEY'VE HEALED? PERCY, what in gods name have you been doing?!" She could barely imagine how extensive his injuries had to have been, for only partial healing to have worked.
He winced again, "Baby, relax, please, I'm fine really. I'm home and I can heal properly now right? These things take time…and stuff." He was a pretty horrible liar. She glared at him, until he sighed and relented.
"I think it was slightly poisoned, I dunked myself in water as soon as I could, but only some of the poison seeped out. I don't think it was able to heal fully or as quickly."
Annabeth went very quiet, "Percy, exactly what, was poisoned?"
He looked away, and seemed to retreat into himself, shuddering. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, it seemed like something in him was broken. He'd thought he would die without seeing Annabeth again. Chained and bloody, he'd nearly been broken, but a final desperate desire to see Annabeth, had pushed him, and he'd escaped.
His eyes looked far away in the distance. He stared at her for an instant before showing his back, a mutilated mess, and whispered "The whip. Poisoned."
Annabeth stared at his back in horror, and then she leaned forward, and pressed her lips against his hard, careful not to touch him. Pulling away, she began to work on him efficiently. He tried hard not to cry out in pain, biting his lip and drawing blood. It hurt like hell now, although as she wound the bandages around his body, he could feel the nectar begin to work, and seal some of his wounds. He started eating the ambrosia, it was absolutely delicious and tasted like….he blinked and ate it again. It tasted like the awful pancakes Annabeth had made one morning. He'd never know ambrosia to taste so awful and wonderful at once, and he grinned as he finished them.
"What so funny?" Annabeth asked grumpily, as she bent around to work on the slash at the back of his neck. He laughed, "These ambrosia pieces taste like those delicious pancakes you made."
Annabeth stared at him. "You hated those pancakes," she muttered suspiciously.
"I know," Percy answered, chuckling.
"Hey!" She cried in mock offense, but Percy just twisted to look at her. She was holding a roll of white gauze, and dabbing at his wounds. He reached up and gently wrapped his hand around her chin, "I hated them, but I love you. And by default, I love your pancakes. I love anything you make, I love the way you walk and talk. I love the way you can go on for hours about architecture, and I love the way you smile when you fight. I love the way you close your eyes when I'm about to kiss you, and the way you blush after. I love the way you yell when you're angry, I love the way you will do anything to protect those you love, and I can't stop loving you Annabeth. So yes, my ambrosia turns into awful pancakes, because by the gods, I could happily eat those pancakes for the rest of my life, if it meant I had you."
The gauze fall from her hands as she looked at him stunned. He pulled her into his lap, and pressed his lips into her collarbone. He trailed up, softly pressing kisses up her neck and ear, and she closed her eyes. Pressing one more to her nose, he finally reached her mouth and their lips touched softly. She was heaven, he thought. She was bliss, she was his dream, and she was home.
