Hello once again, lovely readers!
Percy: Disclaimer: Read-Them-On doesn't own the series or the characters.
Me: Wha- Percy! Ugh, fine. Well, I'd like to thank Willow Lark, bananasdontwearpants, can't-think-of-a-name123 and pokemonmasterfire for adding the story to their profiles as their favorites and the followers who are patiently waiting for more! Now on with chapter number four! Here comes Never and Smiles: Of Weddings and Vows. Enjoy!
Never and Smiles: Of Weddings and Vows
Annabeth smiled, looking at herself in the mirror.
Even after hearing Percy call her "mindbogglingly beautiful goddess and the most gorgeous woman to ever live since the creation of the world", she wasn't self-obsessed or arrogant about her looks, but this once she had to admit that she did look pretty in the white and bluish gown.
The dress itself was simple and elegant and it was a surprise since she had left Piper with the decision, who had finally decided to show her hidden Aphrodite from time to time. It had a slightly shimmering, single-stepped bodice, which looked like diamonds were sewn on it here and there. Piper had apparently gone for the "trendy yet primarily Graeco-American orthodox" look. The material from waist down hugged her curves until it flared down near the knees and made a high-low cut trail of silky white material almost two meters long, which slowly faded into a pretty sky-blue at the end. There were also elbow-length white gloves and a light blue colored satin sash on her waist that she had donned for the occasion and white heels with tiny blue bows adorned her feet. Not that she needed them anyways; she was tall enough. But the thing she loved the most about that dress was that it had pockets.
Oh, and the most important thing: Reyna, Piper, Hazel and Rachel had actually made the dress! It was a funny story, to be honest. Annabeth, being her usual self was busy planning the wedding venue – which was the beach (Percy insisted) – and menu (the cake was blue and the Sally-special) and everything. Well, Percy had wanted to make all the food blue, but Annabeth had argued that their mortal friends and guests were going to get a heart attack if that were to be the case.
Back to the point: while she was planning the more important stuff, she couldn't remember to add 'Find The Dress' to her to-do list. That was when the 'Festive Four', as they now called themselves, came to the rescue. One fine day, when Annabeth was busy fretting over almost everything, Piper came to her and asked her to choose the best one from a pile of wedding dresses' sketches. Annabeth, too tired and worrisome to assess the situation and the motive, had chosen the dress that had caught her eye in a blink; the one which she was wearing right now. And she was told afterwards, that the sketches were drawn by none other than Rachel Elizabeth Dare and the ladies had created the wonderful piece of clothing, doing all the 'finding of the fabric', stitching and sewing, secretly asking for her measurements and hoping to surprise her, all by themselves. Percy was all "I'm in!" as well, and that cleared out why she had found him in her walk-in closet (yeah, their house was big), snooping through her clothes; apparently, he was trying to sneak out a dress for the gown which fit her perfectly. Then when they had just a week to spare, (also the day the thought about the dress had struck her mind for the first time) her awesome friends had surprised her with the dress. She was too happy and giggly and teary-eyed that she had hugged them all one by one at least ten times.
Coming out of the reverie, her eyes traveled from her dress to her face. Hazel and Reyna had been the ones to do her makeup, because she had been wary of what Piper would've done to her face had she been allowed to do it. And she was thankful to herself for that specific decision: the foundation, eyeliner, lipstick, mascara, blush and whatever else the Roman girls had used was perfectly in sync with Annabeth's personal choices and it went well with the dress as well.
Her hair, however, were styled by Aphrodite herself.
When she had come in the room, smiling as radiantly as ever, Annabeth had been suspicious; the goddess had, after all, once vowed to make their love-life interesting. She could only think of the numerous ways in which the goddess of love and beauty could ruin their special day.
Instead, she had only wanted to style the bride's hair.
And in a daze, Annabeth had agreed. Now, if Hera had asked her, she'd have had a door slammed on her face.
But no one had been disappointed when Aphrodite had used curlers, straighteners, hairsprays and whatnot to create something utterly pretty, which added to the whole outfit marvelously. Surprisingly, she hadn't gone overboard with all the glam.
Well, she did cut off some hair from the front to create wispy side-fringes, but Annabeth hadn't even flinched, for once trusting the goddess to not mess up.
And the final result, all in all, was breathtakingly admirable.
"You look beautiful, dear."
She looked at her father's reflection in the mirror and smiled.
"Thanks, Dad."
She turned around, careful not to ruin the trail, and noticed that he had tears in the corner of his eyes. To Annabeth, he himself looked like he had on his own wedding day, back when she was five years old: ready with a dashing grayish-white tux and blue bow-tie, similar to what all the males (except Percy) at the wedding were wearing.
Helen and the twins were standing beside him as well.
She went forward, accepting the open arms, and hugged her father, trying hard not to cry and ruin her eyeliner.
"I love you, Dad."
"Love you too, sweetheart."
She must have stayed in the same position for a long time, as Piper suddenly untangled her from her father, muttering how it would get creases on the dress.
Just as Piper was flattening out the (non-existent) creases, Reyna came in the room, looking fantastic in her blue bridesmaid dress, and announced, "It is time."
Annabeth took in a deep breath.
The next few hours went away in a blur.
It was finally nighttime; or early morning, you could say (the ceremony was held at dusk and the reception went on till three in the morning). Even though Annabeth had absolutely loved the day – it was their wedding day, for Hera's sake – she was glad to be alone with the love of her life.
They both lay down on the soft mattress in the cruise ship (which was taking them to Hawaii) suite, cuddling with their significant other after a rather euphoric first round of love-making as a married couple. While Percy attempted to snuggle closer to his wife (oh, how exciting that sounded), she recalled all the instances that had made the special day even more special.
She remembered laughing at Thalia, who was grumbling about the "itchy, un-comfy and too girly" bridesmaid dress, which was not-so-exaggerated (it had ruffles).
She remembered taking tons of selfies with the bridesmaids and groomsmen on their Hephaestus Cabin-made smartphones.
She remembered Athena, her hard-core mother, hugging and congratulating her, saying that after all she accepted Percy, reasoning that he had majored and graduated successfully (though in "not-so-nice" Marine Biology) with a 3.7 GPA and had pulled drastic all-nighters so that he could stay in the same year as her and not fail.
She remembered Poseidon, Paul and Chiron giving her their blessings, kissing her forehead and smiling down at her like her own father would (which had brought tears in her eyes again).
She remembered little Estelle Blofis scattering flower petals from her basket, smiling gleefully at her big brother, whom she hugged tightly a split second later.
She remembered walking down the aisle under the beautifully set white wedding pergola with her father, as soon as the sun began to set and the wedding bells chimed, trying not to trip over the carpeted sandy floor.
She remembered seeing her soon-to-be husband at the just an arm's reach wearing a deep blue tux and white bow-tie, grinning at her already.
She remembered her father finally letting the tears fall as he kissed her on the cheeks, muttering a stern but loving, "Take care of my daughter," to the groom as he placed her hand in his.
She remembered almost crying, looking at Percy cry as he lifted up her veil and saw her for the first time as soon as she reached him.
She very vaguely remembered the priest starting the ceremony with a warm welcome to all the guests.
She remembered the photographers – some Apollo and Hephaestus children – snapping pictures and recording the video of the wedding.
She remembered Hazel sneezing in the middle of the vows, even muttering a quick apology afterwards.
She remembered exchanging the wedding bands with Percy, trying hard not to cry for the hundredth time that evening.
She remembered Sally and (astonishingly) Helen crying when they were declared Mr. and Mrs. Jackson.
She remembered Jason, Leo and Nico loudly whooping along with almost every single one of their friends when Percy kissed her as her husband for the first time.
She remembered piling into the cars with their friends from both the camps, their families, all their guests (the gods, really) and the few mortal friends they had made over the years, and traveling a short distance to the reception hall.
She remembered giving a short speech with Percy when everyone got seated at their respective tables, thanking everyone for making the wedding a life-lasting memory.
She remembered cutting the delicious four-tiered blue cake, a Sally Jackson trademark (how she had managed to whip up something so yummy and BIG, Annabeth would never get, really).
She remembered Jason and Piper (the best man and maid of honor respectively) raise a toast to them during dinner, which included eighty-four water related puns (courtesy to Jason) and a long list of how they made each other better with each passing millisecond.
She remembered Percy get up and hug his mother (and her mother-in-law, who loved Annabeth like her own daughter as she had told her countless of times) when she couldn't hold back her tears during her speech.
She remembered their dance, which had earned gasps of "Aww!" and whistles and claps.
She remembered resting her head in the crook of his neck as he mumbled "I love you" in her ear again and again and for once in the whole evening, everyone had decided to stay quiet, if not give them complete privacy.
She remembered the kiss her father had planted on her forehead after their dance, saying how his little daughter had grown up so fast.
She remembered the DJ, their friend Austin Lake, changing the song into something more upbeat than the previous ones so that all the guests can join them on the dance floor. And man, did everyone dance their butts off.
She remembered Piper squealing when she caught the bouquet and Aphrodite squealing along with her.
She remembered the whole crowd screaming and wolf-whistling when Percy rolled up her gown a tiny bit and started to retrieve the garter, a process during which she was sure that her face had totally reddened.
She remembered Leo's nose catching fire when the garter landed on top of his head as his girlfriend (and possibly fiancée) Calypso laughed at him.
She remembered video-calling Grover and Juniper, who couldn't come due to something that they wouldn't tell them until after the reception, which turned out to be the birth of their first child – a satyr baby with tiny hooves and soft brown fur and hair. Percy had pouted and huffed, yelling at the couple for not even mentioning to them that Juniper was pregnant in the first place.
She remembered the campers from both the camps carrying the newly-weds on their shoulders out of the hall and almost pushing them inside the car.
She remembered kissing Percy a lot during the car ride to the cruise ship.
But what stood out the most, was Percy Jackson's vow. It wasn't as formal as hers, but if you ask her, his was way better.
She closed her eyes, trying to recreate her moment, and being the daughter of the goddess of wisdom, it came easily to her.
"Annabeth Chase, when I first saw you, I was half-conscious. Even then, I couldn't help falling in love with your princess curls and stormy grey eyes. Since that day, we've shared thousands of adventures together and I hope we share lots more in future. You're my life, Wise Girl. Many say that they can't live without their significant other. I can; I just don't want to. Man, that was cliché."
Annabeth chuckled and Percy stirred. He planted a soft kiss on her cheek.
"I love your eyes, your nose, your lips; I love you, Wise Girl. And even though I don't understand a word of it, I love your fiery passion about architecture. You're beautiful. There isn't anything more that needs to be said about that. So, I'll get to the main part: there were times when we got – there isn't a mild way to put it – separated. Whatever the reasons may have been at those times, I never forgot you. Every separation was worth the kisses I got when each time we reconciled. Whoa, that was a strong word."
She remembered the guests erupting into chuckles at that. Her Seaweed Brain was really funny sometimes.
"I promise to love you forever, Annabeth. I promise to always go get the TV remote even if I wasn't the one to put it so far away. I promise to turn on the air conditioning when you're feeling hot, even if I'm totally freezing. I promise to love you forever. I know I said the same thing twice, but hey, even if I say that a million times, it would still not be enough. In the name of the gods, I, Perseus Jackson, take you, Annabeth Chase, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold you from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part . . . or maybe scratch that last part. I mean, Uncle Hades wouldn't be that cruel now, would he? This is my solemn vow."
"Wise Girl?"
Annabeth came out of the stupor with the help of a kiss on her neck.
"Yes, dear husband?"
He laughed, "Are we ready for round two?"
She smirked; of course it was that. She decided to pull his leg a little.
"I dunno . . . are we?"
"Annabeth!" Percy whined and his lips morphed into a ridiculous pout.
"Well, you little whiny baby," she smiled, "Are we ever gonna get out of the bed at this rate, to enjoy the sea and all of Hawaii?"
"Ah, never. And it isn't like you don't want to as well."
"That's true."
They never got out of bed until one o'clock in the afternoon.
The smiles, though, never left their faces throughout the entire trip.
And done! That's it for this chapter!
Percy: I . . . I don't know what to say . . .
Annabeth: Uh, Percy? Are you . . . crying?
Percy: Huh? No. Pfft. Absolutely not.
Me: Aww! You guys are so sweet! Well, dear READERS, I have a thing or two to say to everybody. I have been slightly upset of the fact that this story has only one review. I write my head off to please you all, but apart from all the favorites and follows on the story, there isn't much response, whether it be positive or negative. So, I can only request you all to REVIEW/FAVORITE/FOLLOW the story! Also, note that I'm not forcing or criticizing any of you awesome people; I'm just wanting the love and appreciation any writer would want. Anyways, thanks for the support!