Hey guys!

Before I start to ramble on about this chapter, can I just say, thank you SO much for all the reviews I've been getting lately! Special thanks to reviewers:

Tairulz

CrazyPeopleLikeMe

Miabug02

hello darkness

mw1234

MollieMae

PoppyOhare

James Birdsong

sapphirelg

I appreciate the feedback so much. It really means a lot to me that you guys like the story – and that you're taking the time to write it all down in reviews!

Anyway, in the last chapter, we left off with a few romantic fluff scenes between Percy and Annabeth. This chapter is going to focus a lot more on the relationship between Annabeth and her family. There might even be some Tony drama.

Please, read and enjoy! And don't forget to favourite, follow and review!

LilRed17 :)


Annabeth wiped down one last table as Percy waved the last customer out the door, clutching his takeaway dessert package of tiramisu.

"Well, that worked out fine," he commented, locking the door securely.

Annabeth looked up as he began drawing the blinds, her hand stilling on the cloth. "What did?"

"Sending the last customer out the door, on time, for once," he grimaced. She grinned.

"Yeah, well, people love your food, you can't blame them," she pointed out, continuing to wipe the table down. Percy finished the windows, then walked around to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her upper body and hugging her to him. She closed her eyes, cloth stilling again, enjoying the blissful moment. He leaned in and kissed the spot where her neck and shoulder met, murmuring, "Well, I love you, so you can't blame me for kissing you."

She laughed. "That's not even a good analogy."

He paused for a moment, then tried again. " You can't blame me for making bad analogies, because I love you?"

Annabeth considered, then relented. "Better."

She could feel Percy grinning against her neck, then he began trailing gentle kisses up the side of it. Her eyes fluttered shut briefly, then she gently shoved him off her, laughing at the mock-hurt look on his face. "Go shower, diner boy. You stink."

"Do not," he retorted. "And it's a restaurant, not a diner!"

She laughed again and he took the opportunity to dart forward and kiss her. His hands came up to cradle the back of her head as he deepened the kiss, causing her to abandon the cloth on the table and raise her hands to the back of his neck, playing softly with the dark strands of hair on the nape of his neck. His hands pulled her ponytail out gently until her hair lay in messy heaps over her shoulders, then moved down from her shoulders to grip her waist. She leant into him, twining her arms around his neck, knees buckling just a little.

Finally, he pulled back gently, leaving her wide-eyed and dazed. He grinned, an impish glint in his eye. "I do not stink." And with that, he darted up the stairs.

All Annabeth could do was stare at the spot he had vacated as she laughed quietly to herself.


She went upstairs two minutes later, to the sound of water running and cars zooming past outside.

She crossed the room and grabbed an oversize T-shirt out of his chest-of-drawers, throwing it over the back of the couch as she flopped down on it, eyes already closed, content to wait.

The apartment phone began ringing. She scrambled off the couch and picked it up. "Hello?"

No one answered, but she heard crackling noises on the other end. She frowned. "Hello?"

"Annabeth?" Her blood turned to ice as that familiar voice ricocheted through her brain. "Annabeth, I know you're there." That voice… those words…

"Annabeth?"

"Annabeth, answer me. I know you're there."

Oh, God, she thought, shutting her eyes tight. Her mouth felt like it was glued shut.

"The police came to our house," her father continued, his tone turning to a plea. "Tony's in trouble with the law – selling drugs and alcohol to minors, along with numerous other charges. They asked about you, whether we'd had any contact with you. The police told us that you'd last been seen near this restaurant, so I called, on a whim and…" His voice broke. "Please, just let me know you're safe. Please… I'm… We're so worried… Your stepmother's been going out of her mind… So have I. Annabeth, please… You don't have to tell us anything else, but please…"

He was begging. Her cultivated, intelligent, educated professor of a father was actually begging her to tell him she was okay. And yet he still had the nerve to use plurals. We're so worried. And he mentioned her. How dare he? Didn't he know that she'd run away because she had known – she knew – that she'd never belong with them, in their family.

Annabeth's heart hardened to cover the fact that those thoughts and his words had chiselled a chunk out of it. Swallowing back a drop of her pride and hurt, she spat two words, "I'm fine" and hung up abruptly.

She was standing there, staring at the phone, when Percy emerged from the shower a minute later. She could hear him still towelling off his wet hair. "Hey, Annabeth, your turn for the shower," he called, dumping the towel on the back of a chair. When she didn't move from where she stood, frozen, he approached her, concern radiating from his entire body.

"Annabeth?"

She forced herself to move, to turn and start walking towards the bathroom, staring at the floor. "Shower, right? Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." A chill began to rise through her body, freezing even her bones to the core.

"Annabeth." His voice was gentle, reprimanding, as he lightly grasped her elbow and turned her towards him. "What's wrong?" When she didn't reply, he asked, "Who was that on the phone?"

She finally looked at him, her eyes widening a bit. "You heard that?"

"Yeah," he said, his sea-green eyes warm with concern. "Well, not that there was much to hear; I couldn't hear the person on the other line and you only said four words. Not much to go on."

She pulled her elbow out of his grasp, walking the last few step to the bathroom, staring at the floor again. "I have to shower."

"Annabeth, wait." She could hear frustration ripple in his tone.

"I'll be right back," she murmured, stepping inside and drawing the door closed behind her.


When she turned off the light and exited the bathroom, dressed in the oversized T-shirt she had worn to work that day – she'd forgotten to grab the one off the couch – the room was dark. Blinking in the sudden blackness, she blindly made her way across the room to the couch, judging her steps entirely by the foggy shapes around her.

"Annabeth," Percy said softly. She jumped, her heartbeat increasing.

She swallowed. "Yeah?"

"Don't sleep on the couch tonight," he murmured. "I meant to ask you last night. Come sleep in the bed." She froze. "Just sleep," he repeated, uncannily reading her mind. "It's never felt right to me that you're on the couch when there's heaps of room in the bed."

Annabeth unlocked her jaw, taking a deep breath through the nose. "Okay."

Blindly stepping back towards the bed, she dumped her towel over the back of what could possibly be a chair but was probably the table, then stumbled towards where she sensed Percy to be. Her eyes gradually adjusting to the darkness, she reached out with her hands, feeling the air for the mattress and finally, her fingertips alighted upon it.

She felt his hand reach out to cover hers, pulling the sheets back so she could climb in. She hugged the pillow, facing away from him, her shoulders – filled out a bit now, but still above-average thin – hunched over her body as if to shield it.

Percy reached out carefully and hooked an arm around her body, drawing himself closer to her, until she could feel his chest pressing warmly into her back. His hand began travelling up and down her upper arm, rubbing it softly. This wasn't a romantic gesture – it was meant to soothe. And, as if by magic, Annabeth felt her nerves slowly settle, focusing on the feeling of his hand brushing up and down her arm, the love travelling from his fingertips to connect with her nerve-endings.

Wait, she thought, startled. Love?

She had never loved Tony. Not like this. She had thought that what they had had was love, but she had been mistaken. Sorely mistaken. Her heart had broken the first time, when her family had abandoned her; a second time when Tony had revealed himself to be the kind of man she would go to great lengths to avoid – and again tonight, when she hung up on her father, proving to her already much-battered heart that their relationship was beyond salvageable.

But Percy…

He had healed her. Slowly, but surely. She hadn't trusted him, that first day. She'd taken what he'd offered – food, a shower, a clean place to crash – but she had never really planned on being there long-term. Then, as days stretched into weeks and no better plan had presented itself, she had made the unconscious decision to stay. Then… That kiss… And the singing and the dancing to that movie… The joking around… The crooked grins… His sea-green eyes, always ready to express whatever emotion he was feeling… The way he had her back, always…

Somehow, without really recognising the symptoms, she had fallen in love with him. Head over heels in love with the kindest man she had ever known.

"It was my father," she whispered, softly. His hand stilled on her arm, then resumed its soothing pattern. "On the phone tonight. Tony's in trouble with the law and the police told him where I was. He – he asked if I was okay, but he and my stepmother…" Her voice caught in her throat.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," he murmured. "I get it. You guys are not close."

Annabeth turned over and met his gaze, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. "No. You don't get it." She paused. "He and my stepmother," she said, slowly. "They never really wanted me in the family. I never really belonged there. I have two half-brothers – they love them more than they ever loved me, or wanted me. So I took the first ticket out of there that I could get: Tony. He offered me an escape, freedom, everything I'd been searching for but didn't have. And yet, he wasn't the knight I was searching for. He was the villain instead."

Percy continued to meet her gaze. She bit her lip and continued.

"And then I met you… Or, rather, banged into you, to be exact. And you were everything Tony wasn't, from beautiful outside to beautiful inside. But I still didn't trust you. The two main men in my life had betrayed me; why should you be any different? Then, you didn't send me away. You invited me to stay, you gave me a job, a place to crash… And support. You gave me the one thing I really needed. I knew, deep down, that this was the best I'd ever had, or will ever have and I needed desperately not to screw this up. So when you asked tonight who was on the phone, I freaked. I was already messed up from speaking to my father – I didn't want to drag you into this mess as well."

She paused again. "I'm not perfect, Percy. I probably never will be. I'm a hot mess – completely screwed-up and mangled." She stopped talking – realising vaguely that she'd just spilled half her life to this man – and waited.

He didn't speak for a moment. Then she felt soft, warm fingertips on her cheek. "Annabeth, I meant what I said the other night," he said softly. "That you were the bravest, most beautiful, wittiest, wisest girl I'd ever met. What you've just told me only proves that. I'm not running away. You're not a mess – though you are hot," he amended. She could sense his grin in the darkness and rolled her eyes. "You're a bit screwed-up. So am I. But guess what? Before you crashed into me that day, my life was totally boring. Predictable. Standard. You've made it come alive. And I love you for that."

Her breath hitched in her throat. "You – love me?"

His fingertips moved up her face until his entire palm was cupping her cheek. He moved forward and a second later, she felt his lips meet hers. It wasn't passionate, or romantic. But the emotions conveyed – safety, love, acceptance – through that soft, caressing kiss meant more to Annabeth than either of those two things.

He pulled away and she gazed at him in the darkness, making out the shape of his eyes, the contours of his cheeks and the strength in his jaw. She reached up and ran her fingertips along the slight stubble on his cheek, then twined her arms around his back in a hug. His arms surrounded her and pulled the sheet over her back – they were enveloped in a warm bubble. She had never felt so safe – or so loved.

Finally, she curled herself up inside his arms, one of his hands holding the back of her head, the other pressed gently into her back.

Summoning her courage, she whispered softly, "I love you, too." Then she added, hastily, "Just so you know."

She closed her eyes, feeling his jaw shift above her head as he smiled.

And so she fell asleep like this, cradled in the embrace of a kind, gentle man she loved – and she didn't have a single nightmare, for the first night in her life.