Chapter Seven - Surprise!

Disclaimer - I don't own PJO or HoO, Rick Riordan does.

Thanks to ShatterMyHeart710, SingleSilver, percabeth10, Kipperinca, blankslate37, LongLiveLaughter, cocky-gurl, ValdezEcho, hopesolofan, dont judge a book by its cover, RedNebulosity, percabethlovever (Guest), everett2, foreverfanfiction, Codex (Guest), allen r, Shandia99, Liveyourlifedanceing, Love-and-Luck-are-Lies, Piperness, Queen of Reading, TheOracle18, ouatpercabeth, Hpfanx100, turquoiserainlilies, qwertzkey, riptidedaggerpercabeth33, and all the guests!

Anonymous review replies:

percabethlovever - :D Nice to meet another Castle fan! I agree, that show is absolutely one of the best I've ever watched :)

Codex - Hehe, Jealous Percy is fun to write. Thanks :)

Guest who said 'Awesomelyness! That's a new word invented for this story! Please update! But I want to know more about Luke and Annabeth and how Percy knows Luke... I'm so curious!' - Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying it :) And if you read this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it as well. As for Luke and Percy's mini history, I hope you'll be mighty surprised by it ;-D

Guest who said 'I love she's the man! "i get really bad nosebleeds". But every time I see channing Tatum in another movie he reminds me of the awkward guy in she's the man!' - Same here! I loved that scene! :D I think I died by laughter when I saw it :)

Summary - There were many ways Annabeth Chase imagined that she'd meet her soulmate. Spilling her coffee on him certainly wasn't the way. She also didn't expect her soulmate to be such an idiot - a Seaweed Brain, in fact. Neither did she expect her soulmate to have a daughter.


"Thank you," I say to the waitress as she places my chicken parmigiana in front of me. She smiles politely at me and leaves the table.

I turn to face Connor, who's sitting opposite me. Brody is seated beside him, currently shoveling his lasagna into his mouth at an extremely fast rate. I'm pretty sure that the only person who could eat faster than that is Percy. The thought of him almost makes me smile. Almost. With a pang, I remember our argument earlier, that was brief yet tense.

"So, why were you talking to yourself earlier, Annabeth?" Connor questions, as another waitress appears and places down his food as well. The two of us start to eat as I begin talking.

"I just had a little argument with a friend." I state. Connor raises an eyebrow.

"You sounded pretty angry." Connor says, "Does this friend need to be set straight?"

I shake my head, feeling a smile begin to appear on my lips. "No, but thanks. I can handle it on my own."

"Okay, but you know you can call me whenever, right?"

"I know I can. Thanks, Connor."

He flashes me a toothy grin.

"So, how's Travis? I haven't talked to him in quite a while."

Connor laughs as he thinks about his answer. "Poor brother of mine can't find the right way to propose to Katie." He chuckles, "And Katie's just getting impatient with every single moment that passes by."

I smile at the thought of two of my friends. Katie and Travis have quite a funny love story. If I were to tell it, it would take some time.

"Well, tell him good luck from me."

"Will do."

I look over at Brody, "Anything new happening at school these days?" I ask, watching Brody gulp down his food hastily to talk to me.

"Not much. I was invited to this other party, though! Its on the... Tenth."

"I see." I smile at Brody's happy expression. "Did they invite everyone in your class?"

Brody nods, his smile faltering a little. "That means Sophie will be there." He murmurs, almost to himself. I raise an eyebrow.

"Did you and Sophie make amends?"

"Amends?" Brody's eyebrows furrow thoughtfully, his eyes shining with curiosity as he looks up at me. "What is that?"

"Did you and Sophie settle your differences?" I rephrase the question and Brody nods at my answer.

"I think she does not dislike me as much as she did before." Brody offers quietly, "And I bought her a new color pencil. Well, a whole set of them!"

"That's sweet," I smile.

Brody blinks, the color beginning to rise into his cheeks. He crosses his arms, pouting. "It's not sweet!" He protests, "It was a manly gesture."

I blink at him, staring blankly. "Manly?" I choke out, trying not to burst out in laughter. Brody nods defiantly.

"Yeah! A man needs to set things right! Right, Dad?" Brody cocks his head towards his father, and Connor nods, his eyes serious.

"Yeah. Never make a woman angry," Connor warns.

"Woman? Sophie is a girl," Brody crunches up his eyebrows. Connor shrugs, a tiny smile playing on his lips as he takes a bite of his food.

"Same diff, son."

"Diff?"

Connor sighs, "Difference."

"Oh, okay."

I watch the two of them, amused. Being with his son brings up a whole new different side of Connor, in my opinion. Being with Brody makes Connor seem much more adultlike yet still have that boyish quality with his son. Sort of like Percy. I suck in a tight breath, and Connor raises an eyebrow in concern.

"Everything okay?" He asks quietly, looking over the table at me. Brody slurps down his ice lemon tea noisily and Connor shoots him a look. Brody returns it with a sheepish smile. Connor turns to face me again, "Annabeth?"

I plaster a smile on my face, "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. Really." I add.

Connor continues to look at me, his expression unreadable. Finally, he says, "Okay."


The next day at work, both Luke and I are quiet as we work.

"What's wrong, Annabeth?" He pipes up, his tone wary. "Did I say something?"

I shake my head quietly, not looking up from my papers.

"Oh." Luke is silent for about two seconds, "But something's wrong, isn't there?"

I shrug, this time looking up at him. "Its okay, I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

"About what?" Luke prods me gently with his arm. I raise an eyebrow over at him,

"Do you really want to hear about my problems?" I drawl, watching Luke roll his eyes at my response.

"You can tell me anything, you know?"

I shrug, resisting the childish urge to stick my tongue out at him. "Luke, I still want to go slow with our new... Friendship?" I pause, thinking my sentence over. "Gosh, that sounds super weird," I admit, only a tad bit sheepish.

Luke chuckles but still looks at me, his eyes curious. "Annabeth, I promised I wouldn't hurt you anymore, right? I'm going to try and keep that promise."

I purse my lips. "Thats the key word, isn't it? Try."

Luke sighs and licks his lips, clearing his throat. "Annabeth, give me chance, okay?"

I nod, "I already said I would, Luke. But, there's some things I want to keep private."

Luke looks at me, nodding his head slowly, his obvious hesitance clear in his eyes. "I get it, Annabeth. Let's work, alright? This time, no awkward silence, okay?"

I smirk, "Sure, Luke."

The rest of the work day passes with the two of us talking about ideas about our project.

"Nice work today, you two!" Charles beams at the two of us, his teeth a shocking shade of white.

"Thanks." Both Luke and I reply in unison, returning his compliment with a sincere smile.

"I'm glad the two of you are working so well together," Charles admits, looking quite sheepish. "To be honest, Annabeth, I wasn't so sure how you would respond to having a partner. I know you are independent, but I was sure you needed a break. That led up to my decision with having Luke partner up with you." Charles finishes his small speech with a proud gleam in his eye. I nod at him, plastering a smile on my lips once again.

"Thank you, sir." Is all that I say. Charles gives the two of us another smile before walking away, a bounce in his step.

"Well, Annabeth. I think this is where we say our goodbyes for the day." Luke says, his tone somber. I roll my eyes at him playfully.

"See you tomorrow, Luke."

"Bye, Annabeth."

The two of us then part ways, Luke heading back to his office for some more work, and I heading towards the elevator.

My phone rings just as the elevator doors slide shut. I answer it after a few brief seconds of ruffling in my purse, "Annabeth here."

"Hey, Annabeth."

"Percy," I tighten my grip on my phone, "Hi."

I hear him give a soft chuckle on the end. I feel a smile begin to force its way onto my lips, "Annabeth, I'm sorry. I had no right to sound that harsh with you yesterday."

"Its fine."

"No, its not. So... Let me make it up to you."

I blink, feeling my cheeks beginning to become hot, "No, no, its fine!" I protest weakly, Percy snickers.

"Are you scared of spending some quality time with me?" Percy sounds offended, but I can tell he's faking it. I roll my eyes as the elevator doors ding open and I step out.

"No, I'm not. Well, kind of. I'm quite a bit scared of what you mean by 'quality time'." I repeat his words and I hear Percy snort on the other end of the phone. "Ah, snorting. What an unattractive quality you have."

I can practically see Percy roll his eyes as he speaks, "As if you don't ever snort."

I ignore his statement, however true it may be. "So, how are you going to make it up to me?" I inquire, "Besides, you really don't owe me."

"But I want to."

I sigh, "Don't you find spending time with me boring?"

"Why would I? I like you."

I feel my heart stop for one, painstakingly confusing second, "Excuse me?"

"Whoa, you sound offended. Sorry."

I blush furiously as I step out of the building, I open my mouth to speak but walk right into some guy's back.

"Sorry!" I stammer, looking down at the ground furiously and reaching down to pick up my fallen phone.

"Ha, its no problem." The guy leans down to pick up his own phone and when he looks back at me, his sea-green eyes brighten up and his smile widens. "Hi, again, Annabeth," Percy chuckles, wrapping his two massive (and muscular) arms around me in a tight hug. Once again, my blush is back and is even more prominent than before. I manage to stop heating up as Percy releases me.

"So, why are you out here, Percy?" I ask curious. "Is this part of our 'quality time'?"

Percy grins and holds out a hand for me. I raise an eyebrow,

"Percy, I'll take your hand if you promise that you aren't going to kill me."

Percy rolls his eyes and sticks out his tongue at me playfully, "I promise, Annabeth."

I take his hand and let him drag me down the sidewalk. He ignores the weird looks the passer-bys give him when they see him pulling me down the sidewalk with a boyish gleam in his eyes. Finally, we reach a car. Percy's car. I look at him, still quite wary of his idea of 'quality time'.

"So, where are we going?"

Percy opens up the passenger door and rolls his eyes at me, "Its a surprise, Annabeth."

I shut my eyes and slide into the car, "I hope it doesn't kill me."

I hear Percy chuckle in amusement right before he closes the door softly.

"Annabeth!"

I turn rapidly at the sound of the voice, startled. There, sitting in the back, is Sophie. I can't resist the massive smile that appears on my face.

"Sophie!" I grin at her, "Nice to see you again."

"I haven't seen you in a while," Sophie looks at me, chewing her lower lip, "I was worried."

I blink, not knowing what to say. Finally, I settle on a simple, "Why?"

"Because Daddy didn't want to talk about you yesterday when I asked about you." She explains, "I wanted you to eat dinner with us again, but he said that you might not want to."

I purse my lips, "Well, we had a little argument yesterday. But I think we're back on track again."

Sophie nods wisely in agreement, my lips quirk upwards at that sight. "Every couple has arguments sometimes, I know, but I was still worried."

I gape at her, probably looking like an idiot. Then the driver's door opens and Percy slides in, looking sheepish.

"Sorry I took so long to get in here, Mommy called." He explained, craning his neck around to look at Sophie, "She's eating dinner with us tonight, pirate."

I raise an eyebrow at the two of them, "Pirate?" I question, ignoring the way my stomach clenches at the mention of Rachel.

Sophie giggles, "Last night, Daddy and I dressed up as pirates and had a play fight with styrofoam swords, I won."

I grin widely, I can totally picture it. Percy and Sophie dressed up in pirate suits having a play fight. "That must've been fun."

"Maybe you can join in one of them," Sophie offers, an excited gleam entering her eyes. "Its sort of tradition."

"Maybe." I smile.

Percy turns on the engine and he turns to the two of us, "Buckle your seatbelts, my dearest friends."

I roll my eyes but do as he says, Sophie's already buckled her seatbelt, so she sticks her tongue out at Percy.

"Where we going? Can't you tell us?" Sophie pleads, her bright green eyes showing her immense anticipation for an answer. "Please, Daddy!"

Percy chuckles as he drives, not looking away from the road in front of him, "I promise you'll like this surprise, Sophie."

Sophie sighs from the backseat and I look over at Percy, "Can't you give us a hint?"

Percy shakes his head firmly as he takes a left turn. I look out of the window, looking for a sign to give any indication to me where Percy was heading with the two of us in tow.

Finally, I turn back to Sophie, who is pouting and staring at the back of Percy's seat.

"Sophie?"

"Yes?"

"How's school lately?" I ask, "Oh, and Brody was wondering why you are nice to him now."

Sophie chews her lower lip thoughtfully, dragging her eyes away from the back of Percy's chair to me. "School is fine, and I'm just nice to Brody because Daddy wants me to be. He says that Brody really regrets breaking my color pencil and that if he could take it back, he would."

My eyes dart over to Percy and I see a smirk forming on his lips, I grin slightly at it, before turning back to Sophie. "Ah, I see. I'll pass that bit of information over to him, then." Sophie nods and I can't suppress my suspicion about Brody and Sophie any longer, "I think Brody's got a crush on you, to be honest."

Percy begins coughing and nearly crashes into a car in front of us. "What?" He demands, regaining his control on the pedals and steering wheel.

"Sorry?" Sophie splutters, her cheeks flaming red.

"Hey, its just a thought." I say simply, "Are we close now?"

Percy nods weakly, his face still a sickly pale color.

Finally, the car stops and I find that we're in a parking lot in front of the cinema. I stare at it as the three of us exit the car.

"Ooh!" Sophie exclaims, moving to my side, the sunlight hitting her red hair, "What movie are we going to be watching?" She asks, her head turning between Percy and I.

Percy grins over at her, "Whatever you want, Sophie."

She grabs my hand and pulls me along behind her, I throw a glance back at Percy who is grinning at the two of us widely. I roll my eyes at him and continue to let Sophie pull me along, Percy trailing behind the two of us like a little puppy.

"Can we watch... Despicable Me, please?" Sophie asks, tugging Percy's sleeve. Percy gives her a soft smile and nods.

"Of course," Percy murmurs, before telling the person behind the counter. Soon, the three of us are each carrying our own popcorn and drinks and are walking towards our seats. Well, Percy's carrying two boxes of popcorn, along with two cokes. I admit, the fact that Percy eats too much yet still looks as fit as an Olympic star, makes me quite jealous and annoyed.

The three of us settle down, Sophie takes a seat beside me, much to Percy's amusement and my surprise. Percy takes the seat beside me, leaving me in between them.

After a few minutes of the three of us conversing, the lights dim and the screen flickers on. I shut Percy up, as I'd like to watch the movie in peace, and Sophie giggles at her father.

During the movie, which is quite hilarious, I look down at my hand that's currently lying on the armrest and find it right besides Percy's. I tense and I feel my palms beginning to sweat for some odd reason. I tear my gaze away from our hands back towards the screen.

"Annabeth," Percy whispers, his lips extremely close to my ear, "Are you enjoying it?"

I can hear his nervousness in his voice and I feel a smile rise up on my lips, "I am. Thanks, Percy."

"No problem." He chuckles softly and turns his attention back to the movie and bursts out laughing the moment he does so. Sophie is giggling madly as well, and I turn to look at the screen and see the main character, Gru, dangling above the Vector guy, with two little yellow guys (minions?) holding onto him. I smirk at the sight and hear people guffaw around me.

"This is hilarious!" Sophie whispers excitedly beside me, I turn to look at her and she sends me the sweetest smile I've ever seen.

"Yeah, it is." I murmur quietly. The three of us settle down and Percy chews his popcorn noisily, which draws my attention to him. He's gazing at the screen, a hand full of popcorn in his left hand, and his right hand laying right beside mine. I blink down at the two of them, feeling the intense urge to slip my hand under his.

Unable to concentrate on the comedy any longer, I try and occupy my head with thoughts that have nothing to do with Percy's hand. Unfortunately, it doesn't help, and the fact that Percy's hand is so tantalizingly close to mine makes me quite frustrated. I know, friends shouldn't feel that urge to hold each other's hands, yet I did. Friends also didn't blush around each other, or be worried about how fast their hearts would beat when they were around each other.

"Are you alright, Annabeth?" Percy whispers, his hot breath hitting my ear, making my breath hitch.

"Um," I clear my throat quietly, "I'm fine. Why?"

"I can hear you thinking," Percy chuckles softly.

I smile shakily and gather up the courage to do what I'm about to do, I look down at our hands, raise mine up and slip it underneath his. Percy tenses besides me but doesn't move his hand, I breathe a small sigh of relief and blush lightly. I sneak a glance over at him and see his eyes pointed towards the screen, but his cheeks beginning to color lightly. I can't help but feel that tiny rush of pride that I am making him blush.

The two of us sit like that for a while, my hand in his, the two of us watching the movie with identical, silly grins plastered on our faces.

When the movie ends, the three of us head out, Percy and I still holding hands. I don't mind it though, and neither does he. I see Sophie staring at our joined hands as we walk out of the cinema, but she doesn't comment on it.

When the three of us settle down in Percy's car, Sophie speaks up,

"Are you going to marry Daddy now, Annabeth?" Sophie asks, her voice barely containing her excitement. I blink and feel the heat begin to rise up in my cheeks and I look down at my hand entwined in Percy's. Percy blinks rapidly and I see his cheeks begin to color even more.

"Uh, I don't know," Is all I can manage, not able to meet Percy's eyes as I stammer out my answer. Sophie grins widely,

"Can I be the flower girl?" She asks innocently, however Percy nearly slams into the car in front of us, while I feel as if my whole body has suddenly been set on fire.

"Sophie -" Percy stutters over his words, and I can't blame him for being all flustered.

Sophie laughs from the backseat, "I'm just messing with you two!" She exclaims.

I plaster a smile on my pale face as I look back at her, "Oh."

Sophie giggles cutely, "But you two do look good together."

I gape at her.

Author's Note: Ah... Did I say there was going to be jealousy in this chappie? xD Sorry, I lied :p Heh, anyways, I won't be able to reply to your reviews quickly, so my apologies. I'll probably be able to reply to them near the end of the week.

So how'd you like this chapter? I hope you thought it was fluffy enough :) I suck at writing fluff, but I hope that you think its decent. Well, if you do call the ending fluff xD

Please, follow if you want to see more, favorite if you enjoy this fanfiction so far, and if you'd like to tell me how I'm doing, drop a review!