AN: You know the drill. I don't own anything you recognise and I'm am making no money on this. So far my chapters have been short between 1K and 2K words. I'm thinking of writing linger ones but that would mean that they don't get posted as frequently. Let me know which you prefer, and as always, read, enjoy and review. I love hearing feedback from you guys.

Chapter 4

Percy woke up early the next morning and stretched in bed. His bed was warm and comforting, like a cacoon against the irritations that the day would bring. He sat up slowly taking a deep breath and leaning over to his nightstand for the bottle of water. After a few minutes he sighs and stands up, going to get a shower.

About ten minutes later a curse resounded from the bathroom and was sure to be heard across the camp. I have to tell Annabeth today, and go to the doctors. I just can't win. After that thought crossed through his mind he slowed down considerably, wanting to put it off as long as he could.

An hour later percy was sitting down at his table picking at his food knowing it wasn't a good idea for him to eat a whole bunch right not despite how hungry he was. Halfway through his meager breakfast Annabeth sat down next to him like she did every morning. "Morning Seaweed Brain." she says eating a piece of bacon off her own plate. "Is that all you're eating this morning? You didn't even get pancakes." She comments getting a little worried since it was his favorite breakfast.

He nods a little and pushes what's left of his food around on his plate. "Yeah, I've got to go to an appointment later and I don't want to make myself sick." He says taking drink.

She frowns but doesn't say anything knowing he has a little more time before he promised to tell her what's going on. "Why would it make you sick?"

"They have to run tests today and they usually cause an anxiety attack. If I eat a bunch then when that happens I'll make myself sick and it's not a pleasant experience." He sighs a little. "Are you done eating?" He asks pushing his plate away.

She nods a little and turns to face him. "You know what it means if I say yes?" She asks taking his hand, he nods looking her in the eyes. "Then yes, I'm done." He gives her a small smile as he takes a deep breath.

"Lets go to the docks. I don't want people to overhear us." he says standing up taking a bottle of water with him. Annabeth follows behind him, a worried look on her face.

Once they got to the docks she kicked her sneakers off and sat down, her toes dragging in the water as she waits for Percy to start talking. She had been trying to piece together what could be wrong with him for a week or more. She hadn't thought much about it before now. But since the war had ended he had gotten worse. It seemed like he had more 'Lazy Days' than he did normal days and it scared her. No matter how much she prayed that it was something else the symptoms just kept leading her back to cancer. It seemed like the only thing had could fit. She had even asked will what it could be, she hadn't brought up Percy specifically but he even thought it sounded like cancer. She just prayed she was wrong.

Percy sat down on the dock beside her and pulls her into a gentle kiss. "What are you thinking about? You have that pensive look on your face? Like you are working on a problem but the answer is just off from your solution."

She smiles and kisses him back, ber hands sliding up his arms to rest around his neck. She pulls away as she speaks a faint ghost of a smile still on her lips. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about this last week or so." She sighs a little and leans against his side. "You really do have me scared."

He nods and holds her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. "I know and I'm sorry. You ready for me to explain?" he asks softly laying his head on hers. She nods and he takes a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of Chiari Malformation?" She shakes her head turning to look at him. " It is when your brain doesn't fit in your skull properly. It hangs down in your spinal column and puts pressure on your spine. So the buildup of CSF pressure causes headaches and numbness. Sometimes I have vision problems from it,"he explains.

Annabeth had tensed up halfway through his first sentence, and had yet to relax. Now he was worried. "Annabeth, say something. Please" he says worriedly and she turns her to look at him.

Her face was full of fear as she looked up at him. "What does that mean for you? When did you find out? Why is it so bad all of the sudden?" She rattles off questions as she hugs him tightly. "Is it going to get worse? What are the treatments for it? Is there a cure?" Her face was buried in his chest by the end of her interrogation, tears ran down her cheeks as he waits for him to answer her.

He kisses her head and rubs her back, trying to calm her down some. She normally isn't this emotional. She must have really been worried. He sighs and holds her tightly. " I'm gonna go in the order you asked them okay?" After receiving a nod her takes a deep breath. "It acts like a brain tumor. Meaning I have good days were you can't tell anything is wrong and I have bad days where I wake up in so much pain that the thought of getting out of bed hurts. I was diagnosed when I was 8, and it got worse because for the last year during the war i was off my medication and I didn't do anything to prevent it. Now that year is catching up to me." He stops to let her process all the information.

After a few minutes She looks up at him. "I asked more questions than that," she mumbles looking up at him again. "K-keep going. Please."

He nods and thinks back to her questions. "It is more than likely going to get worse later on down the road. I am on medication to help manage it right now. There is no cure so the treatments for it are either brain surgery which has a very low chance of actually helping the problem. It doesn't fix it, it just makes it more manageable, if it works. But there is no guarantee. The other option is what I am doing now, which is medicating the symptoms and keeping them at bay that way." He explains as he finishes answering her questions. "Did you want to ask anything else?"

Her face was streaked from tears and her breathing was hitching on each inhale. She shakes her head and cuddles up to him. "N-no." She mumbles and he sighs softly and holds her close to him. He could feel her body shaking as she tried not to full out cry. "I don't know what to say. Why didn't you ever tell me?" She asks looking up at him finally after almost 10 minutes.

" I didn't tell anyone. Only Mom, Paul, and my doctors knew. It always makes people act weird, like I'm made of glass and I'm going to break. I don't want to be treated differently. I'm different but I don't need pity and I hate other people worrying about me. I'm just sorry I let you worry for so long." He says almost ashamedly. " I really am sorry Wise girl."

She nods and kisses him lightly, relishing in the taste of the sea that always seemed to cling to his skin. "It's alright. I forgive you." she mumbles. Now tell me about this appointment you have to go to later." she says worriedly, not forgetting how he was acting during breakfast.

He looks down at her. "I have to go see my neurologist and the neurosurgeon. Mom made me an appointment so they can make sure there isn't anything majorly wrong before we leave. I'll go again at the end of the summer and every 3 months for the rest of my life." He kisses her head. "Honestly I was going to ask you if you wanted to go with me. Chiron already gave me the okay to leave for a few hours. It's up to you if you go or not. I won't force you." He says looking at her.

She looks up at him, surprised at the offer since he had gone to such lengths to avoid telling her anything just the day before. "What exactly does it entail? Like whats going to happen and why do you need someone to go with you?" She asks getting worried again as the word neurosurgeon registers in her mind.

"I have to get an MRI and blood work done, and then it's just a general check up. The problem is the MRI. I'm claustrophobic so it kinda freaks me out. The doctors always end up giving me something to keep me relaxed and after that i'm not allowed to drive, so my mom always makes sure someone goes with me so I don't have to stay." He looks away from her. "If you don't want to go it's fine, mom will come get me and drive me back here."

She shakes her head, "No, I want to go. If you need someone to be there then I will be there," she says determinedly as she hugs him. "What time do you...we have to leave?" She asks amending her sentence halfway through it.

"Just after lunch," he answers looking down at her. "Are you okay?" he was a little worried about her, she was barely reacting to anything he said. If she is still like this around lunch I'm gonna take her to see Will. I think she is in shock.

They sat there like that for a little while as Annabeth processed all the information she had been bombarded with this morning. Percy was just worried that she would start to treat him like he couldn't do anything, like he was too weak to live his life the way he wanted. He sighs, Oh well, there is nothing I can do about it now. He slowly extracts himself from her arms and helps her up. "Come on Wise Girl. You have a Greek lesson to teach," he says walking her towards the building.

After dropping her off there he heads to cabin 1 wanting to talk to Jason about going with him as well this afternoon. He knocks on the door to the cabin and waits for a moment. After a minutes Jason responds, "Come on in." He calls out to you through the heavy marble door.

Percy pushes it open and steps inside. "Hey, I haven't seen you all morning. What are you up to in here?" He asks looking around at the cabin noticing how bare everything was. " It looks like it did before Thalia came back in here." He comments quietly.

Jason was sitting on the bed running his hand through Piper's hair as she slept. Her head was on his leg, using it as a pillow. "What's up Percy?" he asks smiling up at you. " And yeah, I wasn't sure when we would be coming back here and I didn't want to lose anything or leave it behind."

"Yeah I get that. I did pretty much the same thing. I came in here to ask if you would help me with something this afternoon."

" That depends on what it is. I am not going to help you do something stupid and get yourself hurt but if it is important you know I will help." he responds curiously, " Have you told Annabeth yet? She came over here last night and flipped out."

Percy looks down a little embarrassed and sorry for how she acted. "Yeah, I told her after breakfast this morning and she is still processing it. Sorry about her coming over here." He sighs, "I have to go to the doctors this afternoon and she is supposed to go with me but i won't be able to drive back and I'm not sure how she will be. She is kinda in a state of shock right now so I was wondering.." He pauses and runs his fingers through his hair. "I was wondering if you would go too just in case she isn't able to drive either?" He looks at Jason a hopeful smile on his face. "Please?"

Jason smiles, " What is it with the guys in our group of friends and needing big brother Jason to help them all the time?" He asks good naturedly as he plays with Piper's hair. "Yeah I'll go. Honestly I kinda want to know what your doctors say about this and how we can manage it over the course of the summer. How often do you go see them?"

" About every 3 months, except for last year. That's why it got so bad. When Hera took me, she didn't know about me needing the pills and I didn't have them for a whole year. I barely managed to hide the headaches from Hazel and Frank and I got one during a Praetor meeting and Reyna almost set her dogs on me." He admits with a small sheepish smile.

"I can't imagine lying and saying you are fine in front of those dogs would go over well, they barely tolerate me and I never lied to her." He looks down as Piper stirs in her sleep. "What time do we need to leave?" He asks a small smile on his face.

"After lunch, chiron is gonna let us borrow a car." He glances at Piper. "I'm gonna leave you alone before she wakes up. I'll see you later." He says walking over to the door. He stops at the door and turns. "And Jason?" The blonde looks up as Percy calls his name again. "Thanks for coming. I have a feeling I'm gonna need you there." He says before walking out of the door.