Enjoy.

Percy stumbled into his room, throwing the keys somewhere near the bed, and dropped himself into the chair. His weight hardly dented the starched cushions. He laced his hands into his hair, letting out a groan.

There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in," Percy called. He knew who it was, and the adjoining door was unlocked.

Percy watched Gatz' feet, as he stepped tentatively into the room. "I take it the dinner did not go swimmingly…" He half asked, observing the younger man with his head in his hands.

Percy looked up, beseeching Gatz for some sort of comfort. "I almost kissed her!" He groaned.

"And that's a bad thing…?"

"Well, yeah…isn't it?" But the more Percy thought about it, Why was it such a bad thing? Annabeth hadn't exactly put up a fight. Sure she had a boyfriend, so technically the kiss would have been cheating, but somehow Percy couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about causing Turner a little pain. Maybe he was letting his embarrassment get the better of him…

"I don't think it's a bad thing. Did Annabeth put a stop to it, is that why it was an 'almost' kiss?"

"Well…no she didn't…Her phone rang," twice!

"Well then I don't see a problem. Except next time, Jackson, try to actually kiss her," Gatz finished with a fake exasperated voice. The effect was ruined by his canary-eating grin.

Almost subconsciously Percy found his face stretching into a similar grin. Work tomorrow would be interesting.


Annabeth was avoiding him, he was sure of it. Gatz and Percy had gotten to the office 15 minutes early. Their excuse was to explore the building and to grab coffee.

He had seen her once, very briefly – she had said 'good morning' in a hurried manner, then said something about needing to make copies for a meeting. Between the blush that lingered on her face, and her failure to meet Percy's eyes, he was sure she was avoiding him. Besides, normally Annabeth would definitely just have had a lesser employee make the copies…

"I'm gonna go down to the copy room," Percy murmured to Gatz quietly, and strode away hopefully nonchalantly, without waiting for a reply.

He found her there – leaning over the machine as it flashed. Her back was to the door.

He entered the room quietly, closing the door behind him. Annabeth whipped around at the telltale click as the door shut.

"Percy! I – uh – what are you doing here?" Percy rarely heard Annabeth stutter.

"You're avoiding me," he replied, ignoring her question.

"N – no, I'm not. I – I just have a lot of cop – copies to make for the meeting," she minced the word "copies" as Percy stepped forward. A blush was creeping onto her face.

He took another step forward, "Annabeth—"

"No, Percy. Stop! We can't do this," He stepped forward again. Now there was barely a foot between them, "Stop!" She finished. Her voice was slowly petering out.

"No, Annabeth, I won't stop." She was shaking her head, "I won't. It's been four years—"

"Percy," she whispered.

"— four years, of missing you." He took a step forward, resting his hands on the copy machine, trapping her between his arms, "And learning to live without you—"

"Percy," her voice was even softer, almost sobbing. She was half-heartedly hitting his shoulders, whether to make him step back or stop talking, he didn't know.

"—and four years of loving you." She stopped moving. Her eyes were training on his. Her hands were resting on his shoulders. "I never stopped loving you." She was stock-still.

Before Percy was even sure what happened, she had pushed him back so hard he barely caught himself from falling. Tears were running down her cheeks, "Then why did you let me leave? Huh? If you 'love me' so much, why did you let me go? You had me, Percy. You had me, and you just let me leave!" Her voice was strong – not yelling, but forceful enough to surprise him.

"Annabeth—"

"No! Don't stand there saying all these perfect things. It's not fair. You let me go!"

"I had to! Don't you understand that? I would have hated myself if I held you back! You would have hated me for holding you back!"

"No, that's bullshit Percy, and you know it! I could never hate you. Never. No, matter how hard I've tried. I can never hate you. I—"

Percy stepped forward, cupping her face. He didn't wait for her reaction like last time. He kissed her in earnest: caressing her cheek with one hand, wrapping the other around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She was still for a moment, before sighing in his mouth. He used it as an excuse to snake his tongue into her mouth. She wrapped an arm around his neck, tangling her hand into his hair, resting the other on his arm.

He pushed her against the copy machine. He loved the way she gasped into his mouth. He needed her closer, impossible close. His hand left her hair, going to her waist, and moving upwards to cup her breast. Her hands were tangled in his hair, pulling his face closer. This was heaven. This was perfection. His entire body was alive – hot, wanting, feeling everything.

Their blissful oblivion was interrupted far too quickly by a knock on the copy room door. Someone called, wanting to know if anyone was inside.

The two stepped back, both breathing heavily. Annabeth's lips were slightly swollen, eyes dark with lust, her breath was ragged. None of this was helping Percy regain his self-control.

"You can come in," Annabeth called, after a couple moments of regaining her composure. She was always quicker than Percy.

She handed Percy a couple of the copies, grabbing some for herself, giving them both a reason for being there. Percy said 'good morning' to the random employee as he left the room. Looking back, he could not describe the woman if his life depended on it. Percy looked sideways at Annabeth as they strode down the hallway. A small, coy smile graced her lips as she met Percy's sideways glance. It really was too bad they actually had a meeting right now…Percy could think of far better uses for their time.

;) reviews please.