Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: biancadiangelo0703, jahfreenalam, ImInCloud9, the ghost king, liesygirl, storyteller1425, MelRose520, Alexandra Nightshade, momsforpercy, HiThereSmiley, lovemeforever04, PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11

I still don't own PJO.

Thalia POV

Percy and I weren't supposed to go out until eight o'clock, but I got ready earlier and headed toward his apartment building. Instead of going up to his door to get him, I waited by his car. He was originally going to pick me up at my house, yet I came here. If we ended up fighting and calling off the date, I would only have to walk a few blocks to get home versus having to sit through an awkward car ride home if he had picked me up. So I made myself comfortable, propping my foot up against the driver's door and leaning back on it. Only a few minutes later, Percy appeared in the parking garage.

"Hey," he greeted walking up to me. "I thought I was supposed to pick you up."

It's now or never. I told myself.

"Is Annabeth staying with you?" I asked flatly.

His face scrunched like it always does when he gets nervous, "Well…y-you see-about that." He caught my serious expression and sighed, "Yeah. I was going to tell you tonight."

"Why? Did you seriously think I wouldn't find out at school?"

"I hoped you wouldn't. I wanted to tell you myself."

Still fighting to keep my temper reigned in, I argued, "Then why didn't you? I have Science with you and Annabeth first period."

He ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know. I guess I thought it would be better if I told you away from school and by ourselves. That way if you got mad we wouldn't be screaming at each other in front of everyone. That would be pretty awkward."

At first I was offended that he just assumed I would get mad, but then I realized he kind of had a right to that assumption.

Before I could speak he continued, "I'm sorry. Are you mad?"

I shook my head, "I'm not mad. I'm slightly disappointed you didn't tell me as if you had something to hide about it. In fact, I'm glad you took her in. I would've done the same thing if my mom wouldn't have probably beaten her too." It was meant to be a joke, yet I saw how tight his jaw clenched. "I guess I just freaked a little because of how rocky things have been with us lately."

A part of me still just wanted to blame him; however, I figured it would be better to simply bring up the obvious fact of how weird things had been between us.

He nodded in understanding, "That's my fault. I've been pushing you away because I have no idea what to do with my girlfriend who's getting abused by her own mother. My first instinct would be to protect you even if it meant beating the woman up, but I doubt you would want me to do that."

Now I felt a little bad that he was putting all of the blame on his shoulders. It wasn't his fault I was getting beaten, it was my witch of a mother's. She even managed to have an effect on my love life, and it was driving me insane.

"No, I wouldn't," I agreed. "If it's any condolence, I'm seeing a therapist."

Even though he tried to cover it up, his smile was evident, "And how's it going?"

I'd only been to one session, yet I was still able to reply, "Alright. The lady's cool. She has some code of silence or something, so she's not going to the authorities to arrest my mom, even though she suggested I should."

"Good," he said with his smile getting wider, "Now that I can put my worries on this woman's shoulders, I can stop the role of your protective boyfriend and take the role of your super awesome and fun boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes at his odd sense of humor as he bent down and kissed me. He placed his hand next to me on the car and the other gently on my hip. Leaning forward a little, I deepened the kiss more. My hands went up into his hair and he moaned slightly. The perverted security guard that I've seen working in the building before was probably creepily watching us on one of the cameras set up in the garage, yet I couldn't have cared less. Percy had been making it seem like I'd snap in half if he simply kissed me lately, and now I finally had the part of him I preferred back.

I pulled away with a smirk, "I'm glad the actual you is back."

He smiled, "Hopefully, this me is here to stay." It was unspoken between us, but we both doubted his words. Something we had was shattered and I wasn't sure it would exactly be easy to get back.

For our date we ended up just going and getting dinner at the local diner. It wasn't anything fancy, which I was happy about. Instead of dropping me back at my house after dinner, I had him bring me to his apartment since I wanted to talk to Annabeth. She probably thought I was ticked off, so I figured I should take her off of red alert. And I hadn't talked to her alone since she got kicked out of her house. Percy's mom wasn't home when we got back, but Annabeth was lounging on the couch, reading some book.

She looked up at us, "Hey."

"Hey," I greeted back.

Percy's gaze shifted awkwardly between the two of us, "I'll be in my room."

He scurried off to his room and I went and sat next to Annabeth on the couch, "So, how's your home away from home?"

"You're mad," she deadpanned.

I face-palmed with a groan, "Why does everyone just assume I'm angry?"

She shot me a sarcastic look that clearly said: Do I really need to answer that for you?

"I'm not mad," I said for the umpteenth time that day. "If anything I would be mad at Percy for not telling me, but I'm not mad at you at all. I'm actually happy with you. You getting kicked out means you finally stood up to your asshole parents."

A slight smile broke out across her face, "Yeah and look where that got me."

"Who cares? You're better off here anyway."

Her face fell a bit, "I guess. I still just can't believe they kicked me out. As much as I love it here, I feel like a burden."

"Things will get better," I assured her even though I didn't believe my own words. Mainly because, despite my therapist, my home life still sucked. There had been plenty of times I had considered telling Annabeth what was going on. After seeing how Percy reacted though, I definitely didn't plan on it anytime soon.

"Do you actually believe that?" she challenged.

I gave her a quick hug, being careful of my scars and bruises, "In your case, I truly believe it."

"Thanks," she whispered.

I got up and headed for the door. I'm very protective of my friends, and I was glad to see her far away from a house that she was always upset in. Percy would take good care of her. He takes good care of everyone.

Before I left, I turned back to her, "Oh, one last thing. You might want to call Luke and talk to him. He feels like he got you kicked out since he got you home late."

ATTENTION ALL PERCABETH FANS: I know most of you probably weren't happy about the Perlia in this chapter, but you should be happy at the same time since you can also see them drifting. Also, I wanted to add in the little scene with Annabeth and Thalia because they're best friends, yet I haven't gotten too much of a chance to show that.

Anyway, I still hope you all loved the chapter since it's helping the tension build :)

Drama's so much fun when you're not involved.

Please review and I'll try and post the next chapter by the end of the week.