Disclaimer: Riordan owns it all, except for the ideas that I am creative enough to come up with. Enjoy…

My feet propel me forward faster than my mind wants to get to its goal. I have never had this much indecision with myself and the actions I decide to do out of impulse. And let's categorize rushing over to Percy's house under the impulse ideas.

And yet something won't let me turn around to go back to the office, or even back to my apartment. I reach the entrance of Percy's rather large and grandiose apartment building. There's a doorman situated outside of the building.

I make my way over to him, and he opens the door so fast that I am greeted with a cool blast of fresh air. My hair whips around my face in a halo of blond.

"Thank you." I say to him. He seems slightly surprised that I've said anything to him at all. I give him a kind smile, which he returns and head towards the nearest elevators. Stepping inside, I use this brief, solitary moment to catch my breath.

I'm about to see Percy and I will not loose my cool. I am here to check on the health of another human being. That is it.

Thinking back to what Thalia told me on the phone about which floor Percy lived on, I click floor eighteen. Nervous tingles start to form in me as the elevator rises. A big part of me hopes that he is just sleeping and doesn't even answer the door.

The elevator dings signaling that I've made it to the eighteenth floor. I step out into the hallway and am instantly welcomed by two woman bickering while making their way over to the elevator next to the one that I am stepping out of. It's made clear to me immediately that these two are a mother and daughter.

"But Mom! I spilled coffee on my old Gucci purse yesterday, so obviously I need a new one!"

"Rebecca, I don't care what you buy as long as you don't exceed your max of ten-thousand a week."

"Yes! Thank you, Mommy!" The daughter exclaims, throwing her arms around her mother in what looks to me as fake love.

The mother only looks annoyed at this action. "Do not wrinkle my new blazer, Rebecca." She rudely says, bumping into my shoulder on her way to the elevator. She doesn't make any move to notice my existence or apologize so therefore, I make no move to do either of these things to her in return. The elevator doors close on the two woman before I can throw a malicious comment at them.

It's people like them that make my blood boil. They have no idea how lucky they are. And what's worse, they take it all for granted. The selfishness that graces people truly amazes me sometimes. It's pitiful.

My mood worsening with each second those horrid people remain in my mind, I knock on Percy's door harder than I intend to. My ears are met by a muffled noise and then Percy is standing in the doorway, looking dashing as ever. Even in sweats and an old T-shirt he still manages to look adorable.

A smirk lights up his face upon recognizing me. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?" He says to me as he opens the door to let me into his apartment. I step in with a huff and plop onto his couch, throwing all of my bags onto the floor.

"Please, make yourself at home." He says sarcastically. I roll my eyes at him.

I look at Percy's appearance, he seems healthy. An invisible weight is lifted off my shoulders.

"You know what annoys me?" Percy, sensing this is a rhetorical question, keeps quiet. "People who take what they have for granted, that's who."

Percy smiles, finding my outburst funny, I assume. "Where is this coming from?"

"Your neighbors, the daughters name is Rebecca, I think. They're very rich, aren't they?"

"You mean the Salvatore's? Yeah, you could say that. The dad owns like half of Continental Airlines. What about them?" He says, as he takes a seat in the loveseat across from me.

"They just seem like such spoiled people. They aren't thankful for what they have and that's terrible!"

He laughs. "You should have seen how many presents were delivered to their door last Christmas. And something told me they were all for Rebecca."

I shake my head and roll my eyes. "I have never wanted to punch a stranger in the face so badly."

"The wise words of Annabeth Chase, everyone." I glare at him playfully. "If you're jealous of all her presents, stick with me and I'll buy you something nice."

He says that in joking manner so I know he's just kidding. But I still feel like I need to set the record straight.

"I am not jealous." I say, and the smirk is wiped right off of his face when he realizes that I truly mean it. "I'm appalled that there are people in this world that are so conceited, that are so incapable of having the morals to do what is truly right. It disgusts me."

The long silence that follows my outburst is broken by Percy. "Wow. Now I really don't want to tell you why I took off today."

"No, don't feel like that. I just have a lot on my mind, and ranting usually helps with that. So what was with you not showing up today?" I'm about to add that he looks perfectly fine, but then I think back to Matthew. Sometimes diseases are silent killers…no, I shake my head to clear those thoughts immediately. Percy gives me an odd stare.

"I don't know, didn't feel like showing up I guess." He says, while shrugging his shoulders and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

I stare at him in amazement. "You do realize that that place practically falls apart without you, right?"

"Yes, I am very aware of that." He's silent for a moment, and I think it's to ponder how to phrase what he's going to say next. "My job is a lot of…pressure, you could say. I don't know, it just makes my life extremely overwhelming sometimes."

Well doesn't that sound familiar. "I can understand where you're coming from. With work, school, and my family, it gets pretty hard to keep up with a social life."

"Seems like we both need a little fun in our lives" He holds my gaze for a long time, giving me conspiratorial look. I avert my eyes as my cheeks flare. "My father is definitely on the top of the list of people who don't understand."

"Why's that?" I hope he doesn't think I'm probing too far.

"Who knows." I have a feeling he does, though.

"Oh, I just remembered…" I reach into my bag, searching for the thing I purchased from a food stand on the side of the street. I hand it over to him. "…I bought you some chicken noodle soup earlier. Considering you made me dinner last time I didn't come into work, I thought I'd return the favor."

"Hmm, so you buy me some spoiled chicken soup to make up for it. How sweet."

"I'm ninety-five percent sure it's not spoiled!"

"Well that makes me feel better." I laugh at him. He goes to the kitchen to receive a spoon and I'm left to my thoughts, which is never a safe thing to do.

"You're frowning again. Why do you keep frowning?" I jump as Percy makes a reappearance into the room.

"Sorry, it's just wow this is a really big apartment. You must have some rich neighbors living in a place like this."

He chuckles under his breath. "You could definitely say that."

"I bet they're all just like those two women I ran into earlier. Too good for charity. Then again,I don't know why I am saying this to you. I mean you probably don't even know what the word donate means." The words slip out of my mouth before I can register how harsh they sound. This is the shit I do. I have good things going for myself and then the inevitable walls that I build around my emotions get in the way.

Percy's face takes on a steely resolve. He seems equally hurt and surprised by what I said. I regret my words as soon as I see how much they upset him.

When he talks, his words have a very dangerous and icy edge to them. "Not that it's any of your business, Annabeth, but I donate half of my salary to charity each year. So don't judge a book by its cover."

My face turns so red I'm sure I look like a tomato. Oh god, now I feel like the biggest idiot on the planet. I open and close my mouth, unsure of what to say to him.

"I'm so sorry, Percy. That was a really stupid thing to say. I just assumed-"

"Yeah, you assumed. I get it. Hot shot CEO doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone but himself. You couldn't be further from the truth." He stands up suddenly. "Where are my manners? Would you like something to drink?" His tone is anything but hospitable when he says this.

I can't remember the last time I've been this embarrassed. I force words out of my mouth, even though the giant lump forming in my throat makes it difficult. "I'll just have a water, please."

He walks hastily out of the room, into the kitchen. Before I have time to think about just how much of a bitch I just was, my phone rings from somewhere inside my purse. I find it quickly and look at the screen to see who it is. Maggie. I answer it immediately when I see that it is her.

"Hello?"

"Annabeth, oh thank god! Listen, you need to come down to the hospital. The doctor wants to talk to Matthew's guardians after his Chemo session tonight. This could be the verdict of whether he's cancer free or not." Hope and nervousness set in like a lead weight, and all thoughts of how idiotic I was with Percy a few minutes earlier dwindle into oblivion. Suddenly, I'm bursting with need to get over to the hospital.

"Okay, I'll be there in ten." I hang up the phone and stand up within less than a second.

"Percy!" I yell out. He walks into the room with a glass of water in one hand. I take it and chug the glass until it's drained. I hand it back to him and grab my bags off the couch.

"Whoa, slow down there. What's the rush?"

"I have to go…family stuff. I'm sorry." Percy looks offended by my sudden departure. I can't dwell on that though, Matthew is waiting for me. I'll explain all of this to Percy one day. I practically run to the door and out of his apartment, turning around only to wave goodbye to his angry expression.

"Hey guys." I say to Maggie and Bobby as I sit in one of the waiting room chairs in the Cancer section of the hospital. I'm out of breath from all the running I've done since Maggie has called me.

"Annabeth!" Bobby yells, and then abruptly he's on my lap, hugging me. I hug him back with all of the strength I can muster. Maggie gives me a warm hello and a smile, which I return warmly.

"Bobby, I'm going to go talk to Annabeth quickly in the hallway. Stay in here, okay?" Bobby shakes his head in agreement.

"Here, buddy. You can play games on my phone." His face lights up as I hand him my iPhone.

I step out into the hallway with Maggie hot on my heels.

"I haven't told Bobby yet about this meeting with the doctor." She says.

"I think it's best if we don't tell him until we know any news…good or bad. It's probably best not to get his hopes up."

"Agreed."

"Miss Chase?" Maggie and I both turn as Dr. Barley walks up to us, a grim smile on his face. I know something is wrong immediately by the expression on his face.

"Yes? You're scaring me." I say. Maggie takes my hand silently.

"It's bad news." The words seem to echo around in my head before they register fully.

"Explain." I sound cold even to my own ears.

"We found another tumor in his leg. The good news is that the one we were working on before is gone. But a new one has formed."

"So what does this mean?" Maggie says, sounding as though she's going to break at any moment.

"It means that this will be an even longer journey. I still have very high hopes that he will make it out of this, please know that. His Chemotherapy sessions will be increased, which are going to multiply the side effects. He's back in his hospital room now, but he's sleeping. You may go see him if you would like."

At this point, Maggie and I are frozen in our spots. Dr. Barley is called off to another room. But neither of us seem to notice.

"We're going to get through this, Annabeth. We'll take it day by day like last time." Maggie says, giving me a comforting hug.

After visiting a sleeping Matt, and saying goodbye to everyone, I find myself on a random bench outside of the hospital. I tried to get out of the building as soon as possible because I knew it was only a matter of time before I completely broke down. And I didn't want Bobby to see me like that.

The sobs started as soon as I fell onto the bench. I couldn't help them. I haven't been able to stop since.

I know I should get home, crying in public was not my favorite activity to do. At least at home I could cry in the comfort of my own home.

And that's when I realize that I don't have a ride to said home. I forgot that I ran here out of excitement. And now that it's later at night I don't want to walk home alone.

I call everyone. All of my friends. Katie and Thalia are both busy, and I don't want to interrupt their evenings with my pitiful self.

Then it hits me. I could call Percy. I'm sure he's not doing anything and he'd probably be all too willing. But then the inevitable questioning would commence and I don't want to have to deal with that.

Screw it. I take out my phone from my pocket and dial his number. He answers quicker than I thought he would.

"Wow, I didn't expect to hear from you this quickly. What is it? Do I have a meeting early tomorrow morning that you forgot to tell me about or something?" His tone is disdainful, and I know he's still mad at me for earlier.

"No, no, it's not work related." I clear my throat from the sobs. "I'm at the hospital."

"What?" He says, finally noticing my weeping and his façade turns to clear panic. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. I was just visiting my brother."

"Your brother? Is he alright?"

No, no he isn't, I want to say. I'm just so tired. Tired of not telling anyone. Tired of keeping this huge secret. Tired of doing it all by myself. Tired of having this constant weight on my shoulders. And most importantly, tired of not telling Percy.

I take a deep, shuttering breath. "He has cancer. I've known for three months now. It's been absolutely horrible. He's been going through Chemotherapy and we thought it would all work out but then they called me today because they found another tumor." I break down into sobs once again.

"Stay where you are, I'm coming to get you." I hang up before he can say anything else. I don't want him to hear me cry, and that's all I want to do right now.

A/N: In honor of House of Hades coming out tomorrow, I have decided to update this before your time is solely dedicated to reading that. And because there wasn't any Percabeth in the last chapter, I gave you guys this! The secret is out. :D Anyways, please review, I love hearing from you! Your opinions is always great to hear. Thank you for reading!