Chapter Three: Percy's POV

It seemed liked Annabeth only had two talents. Not his girlfriend wasn't talented or anything! But recently her two talents seem to be 1- being busy when Percy isn't and 2- pretending to be busy when Percy isn't. Annabeth doesn't lie, not really. But something has been up with her and she just won't tell Percy what it is. Well. He was going to find out. Today.

He found her in her cabin, alone. She was mumbling over some papers. He knocked on the wall before stepping in, a goofy grin on his face. "Hey wise girl."

"Percy!" She beamed up at him for a second before going back to her papers. Percy couldn't tell if this was her pretend busy or if it was the real thing. He thought that she forgot he was here until she finally sighed and looked up. "You know that laptop that. Um. Got busted?"

"Your prized possession. Yes, I remember. What about it?" He leaned on the table where papers in neat, precise handwriting that could only be Annabeth's laid.

"Well. All my work, it seemed, is not lost. I forgot I did it, but when I first got the laptop I summarized each file that was in it. Most of Daedalus's work was common knowledge, and the rest I recorded in my diary. That isn't the problem. The problem is all that info was compiled into one place. It'll take me a fair bit of time, but I think I can do it again." She gave Percy a tired smile. "That's what I've been doing these last few days. Keeps away bad thoughts, I guess."

Percy ignored her last comment, at least for now. He was just happy she wasn't avoiding him. "Great! I can help." Annabeth looked up quickly, then shuffled all her papers away in one swoop.

"What? No. No, babe, I love you. But I have to do this alone. No offence, but I know these architecture books inside and out. It'll go much faster just with me by myself." As she spoke, she pushed Percy out the door. Before he could even argue she kissed his cheek. "See you at dinner!" Then she shut the door. 'Yeah, not happening,' Percy thought.

Percy waited a few hours before he came back to the Athena cabin. He knew Annabeth was still alone, but the mutterings were louder. He waited a few more minutes before edging up to the front door. That's when he heard it.

"Fuck this! Just fuck all of it!" Followed by a large slam of a heavy book and some more swears that Percy didn't hear because he was running into the cabin. Annabeth was over the desk, which was now much more messy and he was panting over a particularly large book which was now laying, spine up, on the wood floor.

"Annabeth." Percy said slowly making sure she knew that he was there. She looked up, and then he saw the tears.

"Percy. I-I just. I just." And then she broke completely, and Percy was pulling her into his arms and pulling her away from the messy cabin and somewhere that no one would bother them. Ironically, his cabin. The sat on his bed, Annabeth crying into his shirt and Percy rocking her slowly back and forth.

"Percy." She said after a while. They were still sitting there.

"Yeah?" He pulled her away so that he could look at her face. She was still s beautiful.

"I didn't mean to push you away. I figured. I figured if I was alone with my thoughts that I could. I don't know. Push them out of the way? I'm just so upset. And I never let myself cry after. Everything. I guess I just broke down. I'm sorry." And Percy just smiled and hugged her tighter.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. Just know that you can come to me, with anything. I just have one question."

"Yes? Anything."

"What were you thinking about that got you so upset?" She slowly pulled herself away and looked at Percy, who was sitting there expectantly.

"I don't know. Just." She took in a deep breath. "Did you ever think that Hazel and Nico were actually right? About. About Leo?"

"Yes. I have faith in it."

"Percy!" She looked at him, a looked mixed with both shock and relief.

"No. You don't get it. I have faith that they are right about him being alive. About that weird feeling that both of them had."

"Oh…"

"Wait. But. You're stronger than me. You can face a reality where Leo is actually dead. I just… can't. I can't deal with the fact that I let him down. If that's what you believe I'm actually happy. I don't think you're the only one of the seven who thinks so, either. I just can't. You're so much stronger than me, Wise Girl."

"Oh, Percy," she said, putting her hand on his cheek and leaning in. "You don't know how strong you actually are. To me." And as they kissed, Percy was glad that he could help her forget, if even for a little while.

Author's Note/ sorry about the long delay. It's been a long/emotional week, and I know this is NOT my best work. I will be better soon, promise. Thanks :)