A/N: Story takes place before the events of TLO prior to Percy and Beckendorf's mission.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Quiet Interludes

Chapter 4: What a Heart Wants.

For the past several hours she had been sitting on the cushion of her bed under the pretense that she was studying. It wasn't difficult for even the casual observer however, to know how that she had done none of her scheduled research this evening, and all of her warnings to her half-siblings that death would befall any of them should they interrupt her had been little more than wasted platitudes. Because even with Daedalus' laptop illuminating it's low, welcoming glow; even with the centuries of data and information and designs of structures and constructs never before dreamed, inviting her into the neurological matrix of consummate mental stimuli, she couldn't concentrate on the treasure trove of information begging her for attention.

Because her mind was elsewhere. No…it wasn't her mind. It was her heart compelled to the thoughts of a silly, foolish, stupid Seaweed Brain of a boy. Her mind was only forced to follow, kicking and screaming the whole way.

She wanted only to study, only to research the mountains of data bequeathed to her by the genius inventor who left it for her to unravel the puzzle of his great mind. But she couldn't, and what was worse was, she didn't understand why. And what bothered her most was she couldn't decide if she was more frustrated that her attention kept drifting to thoughts of Percy, or that she didn't understand why that was. A daughter of Athena never liked not knowing the answers.

So there she was, trapped between confusion and indecision and neither conclusion was particularly desirable to the blond haired genius. So, realizing she was not going to finish any research until she worked through her own emotional problems, she closed the laptop with a sharp snap and set it aside, pulling herself further up the mattress until her back met the headboard. If she were forced into this irresolute dilemma, she would face it as any child of Athena.

And so, considering the situation as a tactical problem, there was no logical reason for her thoughts to constantly be drawn to Percy. He was her friend…her best friend if she were to be brutally honest, and certainly she cared about his well-being. But she cared about Grover and Thailia too, yet neither of them had ever invaded her thoughts so relentlessly as to interfere with her work.

This meant that the problem was with Percy himself. But no, that didn't seem right either, because her initial feelings implied that she wasn't angry with Percy, but she was hurt, and she couldn't understand why that was. She knew Percy was in New York, he had been given an extended leave while preparations for the attack on the Princess Andromeda were being finalized.

She supposed that could have been it all along. Maybe she was just anxious? Maybe she was worried because this would be the first quest without her watching his back so his Seaweed doesn't get separated from his seaweed body. Well, the first quest since he traveled cross-country to rescue her from being trapped beneath the sky. So maybe that wasn't it. It could be something as simple as just missing him. But then, why did it feel so different?

And therein lay the crux of the situation. She was spending so much time analyzing why she felt this way that she didn't bother to think of her feelings at all. She was hurt, and she felt rejected. And it was because Percy had decided to spend his last hours before what could likely be his last mission with her. Annabeth couldn't even think the name of the mortal who had taken up so much of Percy's time of late without an unpleasant, stabbing pain being sliced through her middle.

She wasn't so naïve as to not understand what that feeling was, because admitting it would change everything between her and Percy, and she couldn't handle that. He had decided to spend his time with that red-haired, brainless, paint splattered floozy, not with her. If this was the last time, if he didn't make it back from this mission, would she hurt less by denying what she really knew what was the source of the problem? She didn't want to know.

Whether he made it back from the mission alive or not, she was deathly afraid to admit that her feelings were changing, that her relationship with Percy was changing. Because his desire to spend his last few hours before a potentially deadly mission with Rachel and not her meant he did not feel the same way.

It was painful to even consider, and she did not at first become aware of the slow, grinding ache that began in stomach and worked its way up her body. It was a pain that gripped her heart, strangled her breath and forced the air from her lungs in a bitter sob that she hadn't even known she was repressing. She was jealous. Jealous of Rachel, jealous that Percy would want to spend his time with her and not Annabeth, jealous that, Beckendorf and Silena had something she would never know. And she was angry at the injustice of it all.

She was Percy's friend first, she should have been the one to comfort him before this mission, to encourage him everything would be okay. To promise she would be here waiting for him when he returned. She hated it all, because he didn't know what he did to her. But what she hated more than anything was how her mind, her powerful, glorious, shrewdly decisive mind had lost its battle with her wretched heart.

Her resolve was beaten and defeated, as she knew it would be. Admitting her jealousy had changed everything between her and Percy, because it opened the gates to her emotional deluge, and she was swept away by its fury.

Athena always has a plan. It was her favorite quote spoken to anyone who ever doubted her. But as the tears began to cascade from her eyes and the bitter remorse shook her body, as she clutched the bedspread so tightly her knuckles turned white and realized with bitter finality that the heart trumped the mind, she wished she had been better prepared to deal with this new understanding. Because she could not have a planned for this.

-End

A/N: Not sure how this turned out. Hopefully this doesn't come off too OOC for Annabeth. I know she hides her emotions through most of the series, but I think this was a situation that really should have been dealt with, her realization of her feelings for Percy, especially given that she dropped enough clues for him after he returned.

Anyway, reviews are encouraged, appreciated and welcomed. Thanks for reading.