Percy:

I stared out the window, remembering other times.

They weren't necessarily better times, but they were other times.

I remembered the day I met my wife, Calli. She was from South Carolina and had just moved to New York City. She was a writer, basically talking about the Millionaire's social life and such. Calli was at an event for my company, where I met her, and I fell for her southern charm instantly. I even remember the first moment I saw her.

My friend, Nick, was talking about work. I had been listening completely until I saw her. Over his shoulder, I could see a woman in the middle of the party. She was wearing a black evening gown, making her summer-fresh tan seem darker. Her brown eyes scanned the crowd, and her lips were pursed as if she was searching for someone. Calli's brown hair was straight and brought back in the front in a way that reminded me of a goddess for some reason. I excused myself from Nick and went straight over to her.

It didn't take long until we were a couple, and we went through the usual dating stuff. She met my mom, and I met her parents. Her brothers scared me, and my mom loved her. I fell in love with her when we went to Charleston for a summer vacation. Actually, it was as she taught me the shag on the warm sand and how her smile always brightened at the beach.

I asked her dad for his daughter's hand in marriage about three years ago. We were young, but I knew I wanted to marry her. She reminded me so much of Annabeth, and I couldn't let her get away too. I asked on New Year's Eve, and we were married by April. That's when we moved out of our old place to here, where we could have enough room if we wanted kids, which I did. Calli wanted to wait, so I did. Then, I came home one day, where she was smiling. She held up a positive pregnancy test as if there was no question at all if it was mine. I was always too busy to go to a doctor's appointment with her, and I wanted to end that. I told her I'd come to one, but she shook her head saying no. I didn't think anything of it at the time, of course. A week later, I got a call from the doctor, telling me she missed an appointment.

It was then that the nurse let it slip.

She told me that, just as Calli requested, they got her test results back as to how far along she was. The time was impossible because I was at a work retreat for two weeks when this baby was supposedly conceived. My mind was reeling as I hung up. I didn't believe it as first. About three minutes after I hung up the phone, Calli walked in. I confronted her, and she didn't deny a thing. While I was still in shock with everything, Calli packed a bag and left. I barely even noticed her leaving.

It wasn't too long after that that she sent me the divorce papers.

The divorce went through about two weeks ago, and her baby was just born. Calli even used the name I picked out, Amanda. I've never met the little girl. I don't think I would be able to handle it. No, I know I couldn't handle it.

There were days where I thought about the times when I thought that baby was mine. Calli and I sat around, thinking of names. I told my mom, who was overjoyed. We went nursery shopping together. It was everything I wanted to do with Annabeth but never did. I baby-proofed pretty much everything in sight. And then one day, everything shattered.

I was fine about the divorce, but there were days were I woke up, expecting to see Calli asleep beside me. But I didn't. Sometimes, I came home thinking I'd see Calli, but I don't. If anything, I just missed that baby that I was so sure was mine.

I took the empty bottle of vodka that was sitting beside me and threw it away. It felt weird not to see everything perfectly organized like Calli had been obsessed with. It saddened me to think about her, about Annabeth, and sometimes even about Sarah. She was the only good thing I had in my life these days, and I definitely wasn't going to let her go like I did before.

I heard a knock at the door, and I pulled myself together.

Going straight to the door, I forced myself not to think of my two most prominent exes, Annabeth and Calli. Calli simply haunted me, but Annabeth was a mixture. Memories of her made me frown and smile at the same time. It's weird, really weird.

"Annabeth?" I asked. She really didn't come over here.

Ever.

It makes sense and all. After what happened seven years ago…

I bit my lip to stop thinking of that.

"Okay, so did everyone know Ryan was cheating?" Annabeth asked, and I knit my eyebrows in confusion.

"Uh…huh?"

"Sarah told me that she didn't like him. Gina knew he was lying to me. And I found out that he was cheating. So, did you have a hunch that he might have been cheating?" Annabeth asked, looking up at me with those big grey eyes.

I held my fingers about a centiliter apart as if to say 'a little bit'.

"And nobody told me?" Annabeth complained.

"Wanna come in?" I asked, and Annabeth nodded, still in thought. She did and continued to stay in her thinking trance as she sat down on the couch. Annabeth crossed her arms across a Harvard tee shirt, and I sat beside her.

"You okay?"

"That's the weird thing! I'm perfect. I don't care that we're over or anything. I just care that no one told me. He was lying. Sarah didn't tell me until today that she didn't trust him. Gina didn't tell me all these things that he had been lying about until now. You didn't tell me that you thought he might be cheating," Annabeth didn't look at me. She just looked out the window, like I had before.

"So, you don't give a damn that you broke up with Ryan, but you care about everyone lying?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah," Annabeth nodded, "I told him off and left, and I'm going to take up on that offer to bump Sarah up to the next age group. I don't want him anywhere near Sarah. So, I started thinking."

"About what?" I could tell from the look in her eyes that she wanted me to keep this going. Annabeth loves to do this all. I never really liked it because she usually had something important to say but wouldn't just come out with it, like I have told her to do a million times. Instead, Annabeth just ends up rolling her eyes and saying "I will speak how I want to speak."

"You."

I had no clue what to say after that. My brain stopped working, even though I had no clue how she was going to finish that. She could easily say something like 'I'm sorry for our past' or something. But I didn't think she was. There was something in her eyes that I had seen once before…. on my sixteenth birthday.

"Good or bad?"

"Both, I guess. I just started thinking about…seven years ago," she told me, letting the words sink in.

It was a hard topic for both of us. I had never stopped thinking about it, though I tried.

That day had started out simple. I went to class. Grover came over to get away from Juniper-who was in wedding planning mode-but the official reason was that I needed help studying. He went home, and it wasn't too long after that when Annabeth called me, saying she was on her way. I had really missed her and was glad about seeing her, but I knew something had to be up for this to be going on. I was scared at first, but it got way worse when I saw the look on her face.

Annabeth sat me down and told me four positive pregnancy tests that she took. I was really shocked-like insanely. I tried to think of how we'd work this all out when she told me she wanted to put it up for adoption. We got in a fight where she left, saying she was going to put that baby up for adoption with or without my consent.

That's when Annabeth went out the front door, leaving me alone.

It all went downhill from there, and the last thing she said to me was "I'll make sure you don't get a say."

"You mean…the fight?"

I swallowed, trying not to seem nervous, but I hated to bring it up. EVER. I didn't even tell my ex-wife, Calli, the full story. Instead, I simpled it down, saying Annabeth put the baby up for adoption and I couldn't get it back as it had already been adopted. It even felt weird to talk about it to Annabeth.

"Yeah," Annabeth nodded, "And I was thinking about Kierra's wedding, too."

Okay, now her point is lost on me.

"Get anything, Wise Girl?" I smiled, trying to fill a smile in my awkward feelings.

"Sort of…" Annabeth paused, "Why'd you tell me to go for it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That night when we were driving home. You told me that you were happy I was moving on and you basically screamed 'go-for-Ryan'. I want to know why you did," Annabeth answered.

I began to vaguely remember said event. It was a dark, cold night with Sarah fast asleep in the car. I was tired and a little hung over. Annabeth was staring out at the night, looking as beautiful as ever, which made not wrecking even more of a chore. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. I knew Ryan had been a sore subject with her, and I also knew I wasn't helping with that. Annabeth tried to let 'Better With the Lights Off' calm her down, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to see it wouldn't work. Pretty much out of nowhere, Annabeth says my name, and I cut her off. I told her that I was happy if she was happy or something like that. Annabeth didn't say a word.

Instead, Sarah informed me three days later that Ryan and Annabeth were then a 'couple'

"I don't know. Why does it matter?" I asked, still wondering where she was going with this.

"It matters because of what I wanted to say that night before you cut me off," Annabeth looked dead straight into my eyes with a serious face, "So, why did you say it?"

For this I really tried to dig deep, but I knew exactly what it was.

I wanted her to be happy because I thought she could never be happy with me, and Ryan was Mr. Perfect back then. We all thought he was the kind of guy who deserved a girl like Annabeth, not a guy who got her pregnant when she was twenty-one.

"I… I thought you would be better off with Bazil. I mean, you couldn't be happy with me," I answered as if it were simple. Annabeth paused and thought about this. This usually didn't mean anything good as I had learned over the many years we were together, especially when she was mad at me.

"Why not?"

I didn't say anything out of pure shock. So, she kept going.

"Why couldn't I be happy with you?"

This one caught me off guard.

"I was happy before. Why not now?" Annabeth asked, and I think I finally understood where she was going with this. I tried to think of an answer, but there wasn't really a sensible one. The truth was that we ended so badly about something so important. It would always be there.

"Well, I mean, seven years ago kind of set it all. We'll always be thinking about it," I tried, but I could tell she wasn't going to go for it.

"Yeah, when I was young and an idiot. We agree on this now," Annabeth reasoned.

"But…"

"Listen," Annabeth took a deep breath, obviously tired of this bantering "I still love you, and either you do or don't. Just answer, Percy."

I started to think about it. I definitely did. There was no question about that, but I wasn't sure if she actually did. She just found out her boyfriend was cheating on her, and she comes straight here to tell me this. There has to be something more to it.

"Why are you asking now?"

Now, Annabeth was the confused one.

"What?" she asked.

"You just found out your boyfriend was cheating, and you come here to say this. I'm not just rebound, Annabeth," I told her, and Annabeth looked at me like I was an idiot for a moment.

"What the hell are you talking about? I was only with him because I was trying to prove I didn't have to be with you, and I couldn't do it because I do," Annabeth answered on the verge of yelling.

Got my answer.

Before I could say anything or she could start screaming, I kissed her.

Annabeth was completely surprised for a moment but gave in soon enough. I always knew this was the way to make her stop thinking, which therefore meant no yelling. It was a trick I had used countless times before and was happy to know it still worked.

It didn't work as well it had before because she pulled up about to say something.

"So, you kiss me and think everything is alright?"

"Well, yeah," I smirked.

"It's working," Annabeth pulled me closer to her.