Hey Guys!

I planned on updating yesterday or today's morning, but I'm at cottage, and right now I'm hot spotting, and typing this really quickly, so not much A/N notes this chapter.

ENJOY!

Halloween, 2013

PERCY

"So," Helen remarked, "What happened?"

The twins looked expectantly at Annabeth, Annabeth met their gaze, then quickly looked over to Percy. Percy subtly shrugged back.

"Well um…" Bobby said.

"We ran into the lake!" Matthew said suddenly.

Bobby took this as a signal to pick up the story, "A crazy lady was chasing after us so we ran and the streetlight didn't work so we ran into the lake!"

Somehow the two seemed to get energy and excitement about the story when it wasn't needed at all, "Yeah! It was super deep!"

"We couldn't touch the bottom."

Matthew pointed at his mother, "You gave us swimming lessons but they didn't work. Our boots were heavy. I tried to doggy paddle."

Bobby nodded energetically, "So Percy and Annabeth saved us! Annabeth got Matthew out and Percy got me!'

Matthew continued, "It was super cool to watch. You were screaming and Percy just stands there holding his head. Then he shakes his head and it's like he becomes Aqua man or something! He was shoom!" Matthew sliced his hands through the air, "through the water and reached you lightning quick!"

Bobby nodded earnestly, "I was choking and Percy hit me on the back so I didn't die. Then he brought me to Matthew and Annie and he helped us stay warmer and then we walked back."

"And he gave Annie his jacket."

"Mom, you should have seen her."

Matthew nodded, "Annie saved me real fast."

"But Percy saved me."

"They were a super team!"

Helen clapped her hands together, "Now. I don't even want to know why an elderly woman was chasing after you, and I'll let it slide, but you're still in trouble. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Bobby and Matthew pumped their heads, obviously happy that they didn't have to confess to their Halloween antics.

"You two look dry enough, so change into your PJ's, Daddy will get you another cup of warm milk," Helen smiled, "does that sound good?"

"Thanks mom," The slid off their cushy footstool that they had pushed in front of the blazing electric fireplace.

Helen turned to Percy, "Thank you so much Percy for saving my boys," She gushed, "Goodness you're still wet! You must be freezing!"

Percy didn't know how to answer. "Uh…"

Helen took his empty mug from his hands, "You can warm up with a nice shower. Frederick, you don't mind finding some clothes for Percy to wear?"

Mr. Chase looked slightly worried, "I think I can find something that should fit him. I'll go look."

Mr. Chase kissed his wife on the check and went upstairs, no doubt, to his closet.

Percy scratched his head, "Mrs. Chase, you don't have to do this! I'm fine! Honestly!" Percy started to get up.

Annabeth intercepted him and pulled his arm out from the blanket she took a hold of his hand. Percy resisted smiling at the warmth of Annabeth's hands.

Annabeth turned to Helen, "His hands are freezing. He's lying."

Helen felt his temperature, "Percy! You shouldn't lie about this! You're going to get a cold!" her eyes blazed with determination, "You are going to take a nice warm shower, and it has to be long," She pointed upstairs, "Go!"

Percy mumbled, "Yes ma'am," and trudged upstairs.

"The bathroom is the first door on the left."

Percy was walking upstairs when he heard Helen speak in a tone that he hadn't heard before, "And you."

Percy realized that she hadn't said anything to Annabeth.

"We are going to talk about your behavior tonight."

Percy stopped in his tracks. He listened for anything else but all he heard was Helen telling Annabeth to go to her room and vaguely wondered where it was when she didn't walk upstairs.

Mr. Chase was waiting near the bathroom, "Here," he said awkwardly, "I hope that they fit, and that you don't mind dressing nicely, although considering your present attire," he said wryly but with warmth, "you should be fine."

He disappeared into a room at the end of the hall which looked like his office and closed the door. Even though it was glass he guessed that the room had some sort of soundproofing, because he could hear Mr. Chase walking, but when he shut the door he couldn't.

Percy entered the bathroom and smiled at the messy solo sink that had superhero electric tooth brushes and a small bundle of clothes in the corner. Percy laid the clothes on a little outcropping that seemed designed just for that and took the towel from the bottom of the pile and threw it near the shower doors to take when he was finished. He walked over to the door and made sure it was locked. Whenever he was in another persons' house he never felt safe in the bathroom, even if it was somebody he knew.

Percy stepped into the shower and turned on the water. He made sure the knob was pointing to a point in the red section which symbolized hot and quickly stepped out to avoid the initially cold water while he undressed. Percy unbuttoned his shirt and stripped off his socks and grimaced as the smell of pond water. Maybe he should just throw the suit out. He tested the water again and it was hot so he stripped off his remaining clothes and hopped in.

He was suddenly pelted by thousands of hot droplets. Percy realized just how cold he had been. Hot warmth spread throughout him pleasurably and he stared at his hands, red from the extreme heat of the water. It almost scalded his back but it was perfect. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the tile and allowed his mind to drift while he felt more and more warm.

Eventually Percy stepped out and immediately shivered as the colder air of the bathroom met his skin. He quickly picked up the towel and ran it through his hair a couple times to stop it from dripping and gave himself a quickly dry. He stepped over to the pile of clothes and slipped them on.

Mr. Chase's dark blue jeans were a bit big so he rolled up the bottoms once and took his belt from his own suit to keep the pants from sagging. Percy then rolled up the sleeves on the shirt and left the top two buttons undone. His socks were dry – he hung them on the radiator- and he slipped them on. He next dried off his hair a bit better and tried to tame it a bit. Over the years he had realized that it would almost always look like he had a minor case of bed head, or look like he had showered without combing his hair. Still, just managing to flatten it made it look a bit more presentable.

Percy scooped up his clothes and wrapped them into a ball to carry. He hung up the towel, not wanting to be a bad guest and stepped out of the room. The colder air from the hall rushed into him and he couldn't help but shiver.

Percy silently stepped downstairs, not wanting to attract too much attention to himself. He heard the twins in the family room, and judging by their sleepy voices it sounded like they were watching TV and were about to pass out. Mr. Chase was still in his office so that left Helen and Annabeth.

Percy couldn't believe that he didn't notice it before, but a door, just outside the kitchen and the living room was slightly agar, and he saw that steps were going down. Percy felt like an idiot for not thinking that the Chases had a basement. He stopped and held his breath when he heard voices.

"… I told you! There was nothing else I could do!"

He heard a slight cracking sound and a minor intake of air.

"Don't you tell me that! The boys were your responsibility! They wanted Percy to come, and he was supposed to have fun, not become a lifeguard!"

Percy slid down against the wall next to the door and continued to listen.

"Helen, they're eight years old! They should know that guns, even Nerf guns are dangerous and to at least not point them at people's faces! I even told Percy that they might be a handful, he knew what he was getting into."

He heard another crack like the first one.

"Don't you dare speak about your brothers like that! They did nothing wrong! They're supposed to have fun. You should be happy that I let you go out for Halloween again after last year."

"At least they're fine now Helen," Percy tensed. Annabeth never backed down in a fight.

"No thanks to your idiocy! I expect breakfast waiting for us the next two weeks. You're grounded. And consider Chiron's appointments over. He isn't cheap, you know. I thought that maybe he could sort out your little twisted miserable messed up mind, but it's evident that you're broken and unfixable, even after this special program. You should be ashamed, dragging a nice boy like Percy into your pathetic problems."

Percy stared at the wall in front of him. Parents shouldn't talk to their kids like that. Ever. Yelling and punishments were deserved but this was crossing the line. His mind whirred and it didn't take much imagination to guess what the cracking noises were from. He felt anger rush through his veins and it was hot and dangerous.

But he forced calm over his rapidly spreading heat of rage as he heard footsteps getting nearer. He scrambled onto his feet and to the staircase upstairs and pretended to start walking down, as if he had been upstairs the whole time.

"Um, Helen?" Percy asked as she closed the door to the basement.

"Percy!" she smiled, "how was your shower? Are you feeling better?"

Truth to be told, he had a thumping headache, and his ears hurt, although he felt much better than he did twenty minutes ago. Not to mention that the woman that he was talking to was a two-faced, backstabbing…

"Percy?"

Percy smiled back, "Yes," He said, "I've got to thank Frederick for lending me these. They're big but they're comfortable."

"Good. I'll tell him that," she checked her watch, "I'm going to tell the boys that it's bedtime. You can stay here if you want a bit."

"Um, okay. What's in the basement?" Percy asked pointing to the descending stairs.

Helen gave a forced smile, "Another TV," she frowned, "and Annabeth's room."

"Is it alright if I go down there?"

Helen gave a moment before a quick forced nod, "Annabeth's in her room."

Percy hoped he didn't look too eager to get down to the floor below, "Thanks."

Percy shut the door behind him and quietly stepped down the flight of stairs. The room was very nice, with a reclining couch with another wide screen TV was in a corner and what looked like a ping-pong table. The only light was from upstairs, and the moonlight coming from a window, near a door in the corner of the room. Percy silently walked towards it and heard a small sob. He stopped. Did he really want to go into the room? He struggled with an internal battle but Annabeth was there for him, so he'd be there for her.

Percy lightly knocked on the door. "Annabeth?"

"Go away Percy."

"Annabeth…"

"I'm fine."

He stared at the door handle and listened to her hiccup one more time and decided that he was coming in. He slowly opened the white door and gave the room a once over before resting his eyes on Annabeth.

The first thing that anybody would say about the room would be small, and bare. There was a closet on one side, and a desk next to it with papers everywhere. Continuing around the room he saw a single low lying bed and a small night side table. The only grand thing was a massive bookshelf. A window was at the top of the room, just above ground level. The walls at first glance looked white, but he realized that the moonlight made it look that way, but they were a pretty blue-gray, the color almost matching Annabeth's eyes.

Percy found Annabeth. She was leaning against her bed on the cold wooden floor and was wrapped up in her duvet and looked tiny in it. Her head was leaning down and her hair covered her eyes. Percy was sure that if he saw her face he would see little tear tracks.

"Annabeth," he breathed.

She looked up, confirming his fears and he took slow deliberate steps towards her. He met her eyes and her gray ones followed him all the way over to her.

She got up and wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, you didn't need to see that," she struggled to say as another tear fell.

They stood and stared at each other. He stopped and lightly bit his tongue as he steeled himself and cautiously wrapped his arms around her. She started to shake again and suddenly she was crying again and holding him tightly. He wasn't quite sure what to do but he felt like just letting her cry might be the best thing.

"Hey. It's okay," Percy stroked the side of her head, "It's okay Annabeth," his voice wavered as she nodded against his shoulder.

He steered them slowly to her bed and when Annabeth's legs hit the edge she sat down and he kneeled in front of her. Her bed was low enough that she was still the same height and he leaned over to the nightstand and got the box of tissues and handed them to her as she needed them until her sobs turned into dryer hiccups.

"I hate you," she whispered, barely smiling. In the moonlight her tear tracks still glistened.

He almost laughed, "I hate you too."

"Fine then."

"Good."

"Okay."

"Sure."

"Whatever." Annabeth smiled and hiccupped again.

Percy felt lighter. She was laughing. "You're feeling better." It was less of a question and more of a statement.

"Yeah… I am."

"I'm glad. It's never nice to see your friend crying."

"That's why you didn't."

Percy blinked, "What?"

"You never saw me crying, okay? Percy…" she said when he frowned, "I forgot about Friday, so you forget about this."

Percy stared at her incredulously, "I can't do that."

"Why?"

Percy realized that he hadn't seen her face in good light yet. He turned on the small bedside lamp and the warm yellow glow fully illuminated her face.

"Because," he said as he reached for her face with one hand, but stopped just shy of her skin.

"Because of this," Percy's eyes widened as he saw her left cheek was a bright cherry red, and he could see a little mark. Helen must have hit her with her left hand, her wedding ring leaving a mark. He couldn't help it as he moved her hair to the side and brushed her cheek.

She flinched when Percy's thumb slid past the darker red mark that Helen had created.

"Percy…please. Just let me take this okay?"

"I-I can't."

"You have to."

"You're getting hurt," He whispered.

Annabeth looked toyed with the hem of her shirt, "If it ever gets worse then, okay? If it does…"

"You'll tell me?"

Annabeth nodded.

Percy shivered. He felt cold, his headache was intensifying but Annabeth was more important.

"You're cold?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Annabeth hugged him, "You're going to get a cold. I'll be fine."

He frowned.

"I'll be fine," she stressed.

"Okay," he said and stood up.

"Bye Percy."

"Bye Annabeth," he said at her door and opened his mouth to add something but shook his head and walked upstairs.

Muh wa hahahaha! Okay. I'm evil. Yes. You didn't know? Surprise!

So…I'll try and update soon although you really do have a horrible author who loves to procrastinate (okay, I don't love it, but it happens okay?) and an author who doesn't know the meaning of 'time management' or at least does but ignores its significance.

And also yeah, this was definitely an emotionally charged chapter. :\ Definitely hard writing stuff like that.

Thank you for all the reviews and favorites and everything. Every time one of you guys does one of those magical things my Inbox gets an email and I'm pouncing on it like a lion and grinning like an idiot.

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PEACE OUT!

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