A/N: Edit: OMG YOU GUYS I'M SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT. I COULD MAKE A BUNCH OF HALF-ASSED EXCUSES BUT MAINLY, I'M SO SORRY DX I managed to poop out a chapter… Whether the quality is up to par with my other chapters I have no idea ;-; Seriously sorry guys, you now have permission to throw refrigerators, cookies, washers, irons, toasters, w/e at me ;A; Sorry! I'll try to update it a butt more often from now on! This one is a bit sad/angst, so if you don't really like that stuff, sorry ;n; Just didn't really have any motivation to update this one… OTL Finally did though! :D But yeah! Have fun reading and of course, R&R IS MUCH APPRICIATED :D –Sel, signin' off :3 (Whoo, wall of author note!)

Thalia's POV

After cooling in the shade for a while, I looked over at Annabeth. She was hunched over and concentrated on her drawing. She was unfortunately on the other side of the tree trunk, so I didn't get a chance see what she was sketching. I looked back over the lake and before realizing it, I fell asleep.

~ ~ ~ = w = ~ ~ ~

My dream was odd, and didn't really accomplish much. The only thing it really did was cause a pang of loneliness. It was a horrible.

The room was a dark room with one event happening. Every, single, time. It was Annabeth running off into the darkness to some person. I wasn't sure who it was. I always had that bad feeling and exactly after that I would hear Annabeth yell back towards me, "Thalia! Thanks!" She had a brilliant smile on her face and looked so happy… Even though I didn't know what she was thanking me for, I felt like I had done something that went along the lines of self sacrifice.

But it wasn't what she said that hurt. It was what she didn't say or do. How she didn't tell me who she was running off with. How she didn't look back even once. Not even when she was yelling at me. She was running away to her life, and I was left in the dust turning slowly into a giant, white pine tree. Unable to move, unable to feel, unable to speak. That's probably why I hated my dad so much. I know he did it out of good heart, but it was probably worse than death. At least then I wouldn't have had to watch Annabeth go off on quests with Percy, grow up from the tiny one that clung to me, just change so much without me next to her…

It hurt. It hurt so much to remember this. After the fleece turned me back and I saw Annabeth, I was stunned. The fleece had wrapped me in a comforting light—like being woken up to the sun after a long nap—and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground surrounded by older and new faces. As a tree I didn't exactly pay attention to who exactly came to camp. When I introduced myself to Percy, I was just staring at Annabeth as she ran away. I could see tears in her eyes. So many years had passed… I had to struggle to my feet and remember how to run before chasing after Miss Annabeth Chase.

After I had finally caught up, she was sitting next to the lake wiping away tears. I sat down next to her and stayed quiet for a while. Finally she stopped sniffling and I hugged her. It was nice to finally be able to feel her warmth on my own skin. She had grown up so much. (Gods, I feel old now.) Annabeth curled up against me, and I couldn't help but note that we still fit perfectly together. Even though the time had aged her and slowed for me, we still somehow meshed together.

She filled me on about Luke, Kronos, all of the assorted activities before. She choked a bit and was shifty when she told me about Luke changing sides. I didn't quite know how to feel about that news as she moved on to the next topic I needed to be filled in with. I laughed hard when she told me about Grover and his wedding dress. That was funny shit right there, man.

"…lai! Thalia! Wake uppppp! Come oonnnn." I woke up to Annabeth shaking me awake.

When did I fall asleep…? I opened my eyes sleepily and then looked in her general direction. My eyes were half way closed and still stuck between sleep and reality. "Anna…beth…?"

She smiled at me and nodded. "One and only." I reached out and touched her bangs. It was soft and felt like silk. Most of her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but she had bangs that split unevenly to one side. I didn't realize she was watching me and found myself lost in her eyes. Never quite noticed how amazing they were until that moment. The usual stormy gray eyes were nowhere to be found. Instead, her eyes were sparkling with a silver like color that shined with happiness.

I had my head rested against the tree and was leaning back on it. She had her head hanging above my face and had hair pushed behind her ears. The evening sun was glaring off the surface of the lake and covered everything with a warm color.

Now, before I tell you this next part, just remember that I was half asleep. Why Annabeth did it, I have no idea. Maybe the mood was just like that and she went with it?

We stared at each other for a long time and finally, she leaned down and our lips touched. Just a small tapping of our lips and electricity ran through me. Her lips were soft and melded into mine. I sat forward a bit to feel more of the kiss, and she obliged by moving closer as well. I felt my arms curl around her and pull her into a hug.

We shouldn't be doing this… What if someone sees? Oh gods, she feels so good… She put her hands on either side of my head and onto the tree bark. One of her legs swung over me and onto my other side. Oh man, we're so dead. She pulled closer into me and finally ended up sitting on my legs, straddling me. This whole time we were still kissing, and I licked the bottom of her lip to ask for entrance. She parted her lips a bit, and I slid a tongue in. We explored the insides of each other's mouths whilst our heads turned to deepen the kiss. By now I was done with worrying. She just felt so good. Her tongue was warm and wrapped around mine as we wrestled a bit.

Finally, like all kisses usually end, we ran out of breath, and she pulled back. There was a line of saliva connect our still out tongues. Both of us had a light blush across our face, and the tips of Annabeth's ears were red. I could still feel her tongue on mine when it was back in its own mouth.

"I—I…" She got off of me and started stuttering.

"Hooollyy shit. My gods, that was…" I was struggling for words. Hey! That was my first kiss, okay?

She stood up and turned around, probably attempting to hide a blush. I stood up and rubbed the back of my neck. We stood in silence until Annabeth couldn't handle it any longer and said, "Thalia, my gods, I'm sorry. I don't—I'm not sure what happened. I just sort of…" She held her head in her hands and I could hear her choking back sobs.

My eyes widened, and I stepped closer. "Whoa, it's not your fault. I actually sort of…" The blush deepened and I looked off to the side.

She sniffled a bit and then choked out, "I'm just gonna…" She started to run off.

Aw, are you going to fucking make me chase after you, Annabeth? I sighed and ran after her. "Annabeth! Hold up!" She picked up the speed and started running further away. I sped up after her and finally managed to grab her hand, spinning her around to face me. "I said to hold on!" She looked into my eyes and tried to wipe away the tears with her other hand.

"What? I'm sorry, Thalia. I didn't want to—I just…" She started crying again, and I pulled her into a hug.

"It's fine. I said it was fine!" She sobbed into my chest as I tried to calm her down.

"You don't understand! It's not fine! I—I shouldn't feel this way! Not only are the gods watching, but you're my friend! I shouldn't—" I cut her off by kissing her again. This time it wasn't a full blown make-out session. It was just a kiss to try and make her understand.

I looked her into the eyes and said with full sincerity, "I do understand." The tears that were teetering on the edge were vanquished by my trusty thumb and banished to the ground. My voice wavered as I started what I was saying, but by the end, it was brimming with confidence. "Annabeth, I've liked you ever since we were kids. When we found you fighting monsters alone with a crazed expression, I knew I wanted to be with you forever. At that time it was just as friends, but now I know it was as something more. The reason I took on the monsters and turned into a tree wasn't anything more than wanting you to make it to camp safely. Honestly, I didn't give a fuck about Grover or Luke at that time. Well okay, maybe I did care a bit, but it was mainly for you. When I thought about you having to fight the monsters and not live happily at camp, I couldn't take it." I could see tears forming in her eyes again as I continued. "Watching you go on quests with Percy and Grover made me happy to see you alive. Then again, I was being eaten alive on whether you'd make it back home or not… Back to me."

She stared back at me in full awe. "Thalia… I…"

"Now's when you say the kiss was unintentional and just a spur-of-the-moment type of thing. Now's where I creep you out and you never want to talk to me. Fantastic. Fan. Fucking. Tastic." I sighed and let go of her. "Go on, tell me."

Annabeth looked around and then grabbed my hand. "Come on, I've got a place I want to show you." I followed her, confused by what she was about to do.

Annabeth's POV

The kiss? That was… Oh man, I can't even describe it. Later Thalia told me it was her first kiss and I freaked. She was amazing at kissing, and it was both of our first kisses. Can I move on to the rest of the story now without you guys asking these stupid questions now?

Oh, uh, the confession… Thalia was… Her eyes… I'm skipping that question and moving onto the story again.

I took her into the Athena cabin and moved aside my bed. Underneath was a trap door that opened up to a stairway down into a small cave I had dug. All the other cabin mates had given up on getting in because I had put a password onto the door. The code? Secret~ We headed down into the cave, and I flipped on the lights. Wiring up the lights had probably been the hardest part about making the hide-y hole.

Inside I had a wooden makeshift bookshelf that had a couple of books of sketches, battle plans, strategies, etc. I pulled out a small, leather backed book and handed it to Thalia.

"Here, read it."

She looked at it funny and then asked cautiously, "Is it… A fanfiction book?"

I blushed and hit her. "No! It's my journal! I started it after you became a barkface."

She laughed nervously and then opened it up. I had managed to drag a couple of pillows, chairs, blankets, all sorts of things down so I pulled up a chair for Thalia to sit in. My roll-y chair was next to the desk that had a couple of blueprints still thrown around it. Sitting down in it, I started working on some more War Games strategies. The upcoming game was important. The cabins had agreed to a punishment game. The winner could order around any cabin mate for the day after the Games. I had already received about a dozen death threats from allied cabins for if we lose.

After a while Thalia tapped my shoulder. "Wow, uhm…" She was blushing and in the dim light from the light bulbs above, she looked like she was pretty darn red.

I took it back and swirled back around to face her. "So… That was all that was in my mind when you were a tree. I decided to put it down here after you changed back as a keepsake."

She scratched her cheek and then said, "Didn't know that all of that was happening to you…"

I nodded. Probably 90% of the journal was just my writings of how lonely it was. The nights without someone to curl up next to, the feeling of turning around to talk to someone that wasn't there. All of those types of things were logged carefully and in detail on the pages of that journal. Eventually I managed to get used to it, but of course it was still hard. Like being sucker-punched in the face.

"So… Why…?" She shifted around nervously. After that confession she made, pretty sure anyone would be nervous for an answer. Then again, I did kiss her.

"Erm, well, I sort of wanted to show you…" I sat up and looked at her in the eyes, "I also like you. A lot. And… if you're okay with it…" I started blushing and looked down, fidgeting with my fingers.

She stared at me for a few seconds. Shoot, she's going to say no isn't she…? "Are you serious?" I looked up at her, and I could see the suspicion in her eyes. "I thought you liked Percy? I mean, he is sort of the guy every girl would love to date. I clean thought you liked either him or Luke." Disappointment and suspicion dripped from her statements.

"Percy? I guess he's okay… Seaweed brain is a bit too… well I mean, he's called that for a reason. And Luke, I can't like a guy who's that hell bent on destroying my home." I said shrugged a bit.

Thalia's eyes changed from the deep blue that they were back to the usual startlingly electric blue that I was used to. They were one of the reasons why I could never look away from her. "Then the kiss is justified!" She grinned at me.

I sighed a sigh of relief and un-tensed. "Oh man, thank gods that you like me back."

She laughed. "I clean thought you were shootin' for Percy." We moved closer a bit and hugged. She whispered into my ear, "Seriously, thank you for not liking anyone else…" Her breath wrapped around my ear and tickled it. Her voice was nice to hear at that distance. Slightly husky and all round… sexy is the word I guess.

I smiled and buried my face into the crook of her neck. "Thank you for not freaking out." She shivered a bit when I said this. My own breath was probably tickling her neck. I started smirking and kissed it playfully. She yelped slightly and then shoved her hand over her mouth.

I looked up at her, surprised. "Thalia?"

"I—I, uh," she stuttered around before closing in and nibbling on my ear.

"Ah!" A sensation shot through me and I shivered. Man, that felt good. She nibbled her way down to my neck and started kissing it. "Mmm, Thalia. We probably shouldn't—"

I could feel her grin against my skin, and she bit down on my neck. "Shoulda made it soundproof."

"Mhm! Thalia, come on!" I arched into her as she worked her way down my neck and to my collarbone. I couldn't take it, the places her lips touched were so sensitive, I felt like I was going to die. Like electricity had supercharged its way under my skin and into my nerves. She felt so good…

I drew her into another hug, too bad she lost balance and we both fell. She landed on top of me, and I landed on the abundance of blankets and pillows on the ground. Thalia pinned me down and kept kissing her way down. She had moved my Camp Halfblood shirt up so that my stomach was showing. She raised an eyebrow and looked at me questioningly.

I shivered slightly. It was cold in the cave because there was no real way to set up a heating system without having to do some major reconstruction. "Annabeth? You know I don't want to do anything you don't want me to… If you say no, I'll stop. I'm playing this by ear so I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing. I really don't want to hurt you… But I swear, if you don't tell me to stop now, I don't think I'll be able to later…" Her eyes were begging me to tell her to continue, but I could tell she wanted to show she had self control.

I giggled and hooked my arms around her neck. "Good thing I put in some blankets and pillows down here."

She stared at me and then moaned a soft, "My gods, why are you so perfect."

I grinned, "Can't be perfect alone." She kissed me, and the night continued.

A/N: I'VE GONE AND WRITTEN A THING. HELP.

The next chapter (if it ever happens) will be the sweet lemon-y goodness that you guys were probably looking for in the rated M section XD Hope you guys enjoyed~ -terribly sorry if it didn't reach expectations, I didn't get enough reviews to put in a War Game so maybe I'll write an extra chapter or two for it? Idk *flail* you guys need to tell me what you want to read gosh dang it! :I