A/N: Soooo... I haven't updated for a while now . . . that's because our stupid WiFi broke again. Thankfully it's repaired now (after a week of torturous internetless life). To make it up to you guys, there will be TWO chapters posted :)

Starting Point

Annabeth tentatively peered inside Percy's room, and Fredrick, seeing her, motioned for her to come in. He was talking to his private doctor about the young man's condition. With heavy steps, she walked towards her father as he listened attentively to what the doctor was saying.

"It seems he got shot on the left side of his neck. Maybe he thought it was just a graze but the bullet lodged in deeply. I had difficulty during the operation." The doctor stated.

"But you were able to take it out?" Fredrick asked.

"Yes, although he lost a lot of blood. I had to do an emergency blood transfusion. It's a good thing he and Ms. McLean have the same blood type. If it wasn't for that, we would have lost him hours ago."

Annabeth's heart almost stopped upon hearing this. "Is he out of danger, doctor?" It was her turn to ask, and it was all she could do to stop her voice from shaking.

The doctor shook his head sadly. "I don't want to raise your hopes up, but it's touch and go for the next 24 hours. If not for this storm, we could have flown him to the nearest hospital immediately. But it's still raining hard, the helicopter can't fly at this weather. And we cannot use the speedboats, the giant waves will eat us up. I wish this storm would stop."

"Cellphone signals are still down too. But we already radioed in our situation, especially about the prisoners. Thank goodness we have a generator on the island, we still have electricity. Once the weather clears, we'll take him to the hospital. We'll just have to wait and pray." Fredrick put his hand on the doctor's shoulder as he led him outside the room, nodding his head to his daughter on his way out.

His voice trailed off as they walked away. "Thanks you for all your help, Dr. Blofis... but you have to eat and rest, you've been up the whole night."

Clutching her chest with her hand, Annabeth let her eyes wander around the room, finally resting on Percy's motionless body lying on the bed. Piper was seated on a divan sofa beside the bed, her face streaked with traces of tears. Annabeth kneeled in front of her, holding her hands tight to console her.

"Oh, Annabeth. Look at what I've done! I won't be able to forgive myself if he dies. . ." She looked so forlorn and at the same time felt weak after donating her blood to Percy.

"Pipes, you already did your part to save his life. We just have to wait. . ." Annabeth's voice broke down a little, but she struggled to continue, "and pray that he survives this."

"He has to!" Piper stated emphatically. "He still has a job to do, he vowed he'll not stop until it's done, he still has to find. . ." She caught herself, covering her mouth as Annabeth, brows knitting in puzzlement, prodded her for answers to questions that long ago had already consumed her mind.

"What? What is it, Pipes? Please, tell me. Who is Percy, really? What is it that he has to do? Please, Piper. I need to know."

The brunette forced herself to smile. "I told you before, Annabeth, he's a gentleman and the most decent man I know. That's all you need to know. . . and believe."

Annabeth sighed in disappointment and defeat. She got up and restlessly sat beside her friend.

Piper studied her for a while then smiled. "You two really have something, you know."

"What? Pssh! No!" Her words came out vehemently, even she can hear herself scoff in disbelief.

"Look, Annabeth. I've known Percy almost all my life and I've never seen him like that with other women. And believe me, there were many."

She felt a twang of jealousy when she heard this, which she swiftly shrugged away. "You mistake his physical attraction to me for something that's not there, Piper."

"Well, let's see, yeah, I caught him many times looking at your killer lips." Piper was grinning now, almost like her old self.

"Exactly! That's it, Piper! It's just physical. You should not read more into it. It's not anything, not even a start of anything at all!"

At this, her friend laughed softly, shaking her head. "You silly, silly girl. Of course, it is! Everything has a beginning, you know. Love has to start somewhere. And sometimes, it starts with the physical."

She was still thinking of a reply to that when Jason and Leo came in. Leo cheekily said, "Hey, beauty queen! We need your help downstairs to guard the prisoners. All the staff have their hands full already with Mr. D ordering them around."

"You're n-not angry with me anymore?" It was a plea, rather than a question.

Leo scoffed then laughed, "Nah! Of course not! I can never stay mad at you for too long, Pipes. Although, Grover is still cautious, he'll forgive you eventually. He's just taking his time. . . you know how protective he is of Percy, right?" Leo was smiling from ear to ear.

Thankful, Piper embraced Leo, and then turned to Jason and hugged him, saying, "Honey, I'm sorry I kept it from you... I was so ashamed of myself when you were hurt in San Diego, and. . ."

"Sshh," Jason consoled her. "It's okay, babe, I understand. I wondered why you had Jaycee sent to your grandfather in Oklahoma, but I was too dizzy with tranquilizers then at the hospital, I didn't bother to ask you. I'm sorry you had to go through that alone." They hugged tightly, their love for each other strengthened and fortified.

Leo, facing Annabeth, made known his other purpose in coming there. "Can you please stay with Percy, Annabeth? We have to make sure the captives will not escape, and we don't know yet if there will be others coming too. We have to stand guard. Grover is currently helping the doc in nursing the other staffs who got hurt. Your father is at the main house, overseeing repairs of the storm's damage while Mr. D is with the unharmed employees, like I said... bossing them around."

Annabeth wanted to refuse, but she knew she couldn't, not when she glanced at Percy's inert figure on the bed. She silently nodded. Leo went on to instruct her that should there be any problem, she can just go to the kitchen downstairs to get help from the staff. Then all three of them left.

With them gone, Annabeth sat quietly on the plush sofa for some time, listening to the patter of the rain as it continued to pour down hard on the island. She roamed her eyes around the room, which is the only room on the third floor of the villa. The other rooms which she and the others occupy are on the second floor. Percy's room was dimly lit by the lone lampshade on the other side of the bed, the air conditioning unit humming softly in the lowest setting. Her father had told her that the generator can only produce a minimum amount of electricity for the whole island to use.

Her eyes inevitably fell on Percy. He was lying on the bed, bare-chested, with a huge gauze on the left side of his neck, the soft duvet covered him from the waist down. His eyes were closed, his skin ghostly-white and pallid. His lips are slightly parted, and his stubble is beginning to thicken. She stared at his shirtless torso, well-toned and muscular, his wide, broad shoulders connected to lean, ripped arms. She would have admired his body which looked like a living work of art, if not for the awful pain she's feeling in her heart right now.

Annabeth have always had a soft spot for the sickly poor with whom she shares her fortune, and on occasion, her time. In the past years, she would assist in medical missions and her heart always melted at the sight of the sick and ailing, giving them whatever they need financially to ease their plight.

But seeing Percy like this. . . is way, way different from those times. Her heart feels like it's breaking, gripped with such agonizing pain that she felt like being tortured, tormenting her, wounding her very core, in that she would welcome death than see him like this.

"I would give my very life for him if that would mean his survival," unconsciously, she told herself, "and if he dies, there is no reason for me to live."

Her thoughts were disrupted by Percy's feeble moan, and she turned to look at his face. Beads of perspiration trickled down his forehead, but he was still asleep. Annabeth stood up, thinking that the room's temperature may be too hot for him, and opened a window slightly. Looking down, she saw all the staff, including Mr. D, struggling in the rain to pull in and tie up the two speedboats to the dock, which the turbulent waves presently threaten to devour. They were shouting and yelling orders amid the heavy rain.

The unconscious boy groaned louder, and she hurriedly walked back to him, she wiped his forehead with her hand, and felt him cold and shivering. Nonplussed, she closed the window back. When she went back again to Percy, his whole body is now shaking uncontrollably, his breathing uneven. She knew there was no one else to help her, everyone else was occupied with something.

Fighting her tears and without thinking, she slid under the blanket and laid beside him, she wrapped her arm around his body and held him tight. His convulsive trembling continued for some time, but she did not lessen her hold, and instead restrained him firmly with all the strength her puny body can give. The heat of her body transferring to his, she felt his convulsions gradually dissipate until she felt his body warming up, his breathing becoming regular, though he remained unconscious.

All of a sudden, her tears came flowing, borne out of a mixture of extreme anxiety and thankfulness on what just happened, and she sobbed, burying her face in the crook of his uninjured neck. And because her body was tired and her strength spent, she drifted off to sleep.

Annabeth opened her eyes and wondered how long she was asleep. Looking up at Percy's face, she saw his eyes are still closed and the color was coming back to his face. Careful not to awaken him, she scooted slowly away from him and was startled when he grabbed her with his arms and pushed her down to the bed, with him now being on top of her. His sea-green eyes showed longing when he leaned down to kiss her.

His kiss was unlike the one they shared in the bathroom. This kiss was gentle, deliberately slow, as if he was luxuriating in the delicate exquisiteness of her lips, awakening a new set of sensation she didn't know existed until now, coaxing her to respond. And respond she did.

Then, abruptly, Percy released her, and she blinked her eyes to see him looking at her fixedly. And then, he said, in a hoarse voice, "Now tell me I don't affect you in any way."

Her hand quickly landed on his right cheek, and crying, she ran out of his room, cursing the day she met him.