Hey guys!

So, here's the update. Originally, it seemed like a much better idea than it turned out being. I feel like it's kind of cheesy, especially toward the end, but I'm not really sure what specifically I don't like about it, so I'm just going to post it. It turned out way longer than I expected too, almost 3,000 words. So that's good news for you, I think. :)

Anyway, let me know what you think. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Annabeth

Percy met my eyes across the backseat of Paul's Prius and smiled at me, his eyes sparkling like a little kid's on Christmas morning. Being close to the ocean always had that effect on him; his stance loosened, his posture relaxed, and his green eyes lightened and took on the color of the sea. Being near any of his father's domain was good for him, and while I'd only been there with him one other time before, I knew Montauk in particular had an even greater effect.

I returned his smile. Spring Break was finally here and we were spending the week at the beach cabin Percy had grown up visiting. The windows were open in the car and the sea air blowing in blew the loose strands of my hair around. I had a book in my lap, which I had abandoned reading in favor of admiring the scenery along the beach roads that made up the final leg of the trip. Percy sat next to me, behind his mom on the passenger side, and the closer we got to the cabin, the more excited he became. It was obvious he loved it here. Sally and Paul, immersed in their own conversation, paid us little attention.

The ocean glittered outside his window. The beach was surprisingly empty and the waves crashed against the shore, creating a very peaceful and picturesque scene. This time of year, the weather tended to go either way as far as temperatures were concerned, which was maybe why there weren't a lot of people around, but the sun was shining and even with the breeze blowing off the water, the temperature was very comfortable. The ocean would probably still be too cold for anyone except Percy to swim in, but there was nothing that would prevent us from enjoying the sand and the sunshine.

Prior to meeting Percy, while I hadn't disliked the beach, I hadn't been particularly fond of it either, but falling in love with a son of Poseidon had sort of changed my opinion. I'd clocked more than a few hours on the beach at camp during the months he had been missing. Being near the ocean had been like being just a little bit closer to him then. It had made that awful time the slightest bit more tolerable.

At some point, my eyes wandered from the view outside to focus on Percy. He held Riptide in his hand and tapped the pen restlessly against his knee as he we drove. It was an absentminded gesture, typical of his hyperactive self. The wind blew his dark hair, which needed cutting, in every direction and he seemed relaxed (as close as a demigod could ever really be to relaxed anyway), like he'd left every stress he'd had back in Manhattan and with every mile he put between himself and it, the farther away it got from his mind.

I couldn't pretend I wasn't feeling the high of the break myself. School, while it was better than questing around and preventing the end of the world, which I sadly had more than enough experience doing, was still more than enough pressure. I was glad for the week off.

We got to the cabin a few minutes later. The place looked unchanged from the last time I'd been there, a year and a half earlier. Percy was first out of the car. "Before we do anything, let's get unpack a little first," Sally requested.

"All hands on deck," Paul agreed, making his way past me to the back of the car. He opened the trunk.

I arrived beside him and reached in to grab the bag I'd brought for the week. Percy came up behind me then, grabbed his own, and then took mine smoothly from me as well. "I've got it," he told me and kissed me on the cheek before turning and walking away toward the cabin, a duffel bag in each hand. Paul, luggage in one hand and the cabin key in the other, walked a little ahead of him. I smiled, watching him go, and shook my head.

"I dare say, I taught that boy well," Sally, still standing beside me, said in amusement.

I laughed. "You taught him everything he knows, I'm sure."

"Of course I did," she smiled, "Though it helps that he loves you so much. Keeps him motivated."

I chuckled, reached in, and grabbed one of the reusable grocery bags Sally had packed with dry goods for the week. Most of the food was in the large cooler still in the back of the car, but it was awkward and kind of heavy, so I figured the men could handle that. I slung the bag over my shoulder and followed Percy's mother up the cabin's sandy driveway.

The cabin itself was tiny. It technically had two bedrooms, but they were large enough only for a double bed, a chest of drawers, and absolutely nothing else. It also had a little living room, an even smaller kitchen, and a single bathroom that was barely larger than a broom closet. But it was cozy and homey and, aside from the unfortunately high probability of spiders hiding in the cabinets, I liked it.

Still, with all four of us crammed into the same area, it was slightly claustrophobic.

The living room and kitchen were connected by a narrow entryway, beside which was the front door. Paul and Percy had stacked the luggage neatly against the wall. They were on their way back out when we stepped inside.

The air inside the cabin was musty and stale, a fact that was not lost on Sally. She set down her bags and looked at me. "This place has been closed up tight for most of the winter. Can you me open some windows?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great. You want to get the ones in here? I'll take the bedrooms."

"No problem," I replied, and stepped across the small space to the kitchen window while she headed down the short hallway and disappeared through the first doorway. The window stuck a little, but it was easy enough to open. A burst of fresh sea air made its way inside, filling my nostrils with the scent of the beach at camp and… well, Percy. He always seemed to smell like ocean air.

Between the kitchen and living room, there were only three windows to open. I finished quickly. Sally met me back in the kitchen, where I leaned against the countertop. She handed me the bag of dry goods I'd brought in across the small space. "Could you put this behind you?" I set it atop the counter where I'd been leaning, next to another one already waiting there.

In the same moment, Percy and Paul made their way through the doorway, carrying the cooler from the car between them. "Coming through," Percy announced.

Sally, stepping out of the way, came to stand next to me while they squeezed through the narrow space. "Tight quarters," Paul commented. They set their load on the floor next to the refrigerator and straightened. "It's going to be interesting squeezing four people in here for a week." He didn't say that like it was a bad thing though.

Sally hummed in agreement, removing cereal, pasta, and other dry foods from the bag and placing them in the cabinet next to me. I moved to help her. "Just wait until the grandkids start coming. It'll really be crowded then," she said.

"A bigger cabin might be in order," Paul agreed as he turned the refrigerator on and closed the door so it could cool down. They both spoke so casually. It wasn't the first reference to my and Percy's potential future children I'd heard, from the Blofis's among others, and not something I hadn't given thought to once or twice myself, but it still struck a chord somewhere inside me. One that said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. We're only seventeen!" while at the same time, also, "I definitely want that someday." That was the sort of thing that went with the territory of being Athena's daughter: lots of internal arguments between heart and head.

Percy looked at me from across the tiny kitchen with something like resigned embarrassment in his features. This wasn't even close to the first time he'd heard this spiel. I held his gaze for a second and then looked down, smiling at the floor. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyway, Mom, is it okay if Annabeth and I go now?"

Sally, like any good parent is inclined to, asked, "Where are you going?"

"To the beach," Percy answered, like that was self-explanatory. Given who was speaking, it kind of was. Freezing water or not, if there was an ocean nearby, Percy was there.

His mom smirked. "Help me finish putting this food away, then, yes."

With little more than an answering grin, he closed the distance between himself and where we stood, and assisted with unpacking the grocery bags.

Percy is very efficient when he's motivated. Five minutes later, he held my hand in his and was essentially dragging me out the front door, in a manner that reminded me more of a boy of seven than seventeen. This place was special to him though and I was honored that he cared enough to share it with me, so I simply smiled and went along with it.

I didn't say anything until we were walking barefoot across the sand and, by Percy's leading, bee lining for the sea. I put the brakes on. "We're not going in the water, are we?" I asked, eyeing him. Granted, he could be a bit dense at times, but I was sure he was aware that I didn't share his waterproofing abilities.

"Why not?" he asked easily.

I blinked. "Percy, it's April. That water's fifty degrees."

His tone was still casual. "I know."

I continued to stare at him. "You do realize," I asked slowly, "That being in water that cold for very long will give a normal person hypothermia, right?"

Percy didn't do or say anything for a three-count. Then he just smiled. "Wise Girl, I'm not going to let you get hypothermia." He tugged gently on my hand to get me moving again.

"You can't keep me warm just by sheer force of will, you know," I informed him.

"Oh, come on, give me a little credit. I happen to know what I'm doing. You won't even get wet."

That brought me up short. We were mere feet from where the waves lapped against the shore now. I watched them skeptically for a moment before meeting his eyes again. "How?"

He grinned. "Just trust me." And with that, he proceeded to close the distance between the water and the two of us. I braced myself for the sting of the icy water on my feet. I'm sorry, I trusted Percy with my life and knew that he knew what he was talking about when it came to the ocean, but that didn't mean he could perform miracles.

The waves receded before us for the first few feet, at Percy's command, before he allowed them to flow normally back again over our ankles. The instant the saltwater touched my skin, I gasped at the cold. No surprise, it was freezing. But after a second, it wasn't anymore. I could feel the cool of the sea around me, but it wasn't anywhere close to the ice bath it had been. I realized it was because I was no longer wet. "How are you doing that?" I asked, nothing short of amazed.

Percy shrugged, still holding my hand. "I'm willing you to stay dry the same way I do." He didn't seem to really be concentrating much at all. At my dumbfounded expression, he just grinned, "I have skills, you know."

"Right," I snorted, but I had to admit, I was slightly stunned.

He grinned triumphantly. "Come on," he said, and began pulling me forward again. We moved further in, but instead of getting colder the deeper we went, the water actually seemed to grow warmer, and I realized Percy must have been willing the ocean's warmer currents to surround us. It was actually fairly comfortable.

"Okay," I relented, "I admit it. I'm impressed."

"Trust me now?" he asked cockily. We'd stopped walking and stood almost neck deep in the ocean, both of us perfectly dry and staying upright easily as the waves parted almost completely around us. My hand fit comfortably in his. My smile was answer enough. Percy grinned in reply.

"So," he said, glancing back at the shore, where, maybe a hundred feet behind us, the cabin sat, half-sunken in the dunes. There were a handful of others spaced along the shore, but there was more than a comfortable distance between them. "Not a bad way to spend Spring Break."

"I could think of worse places," I agreed.

He smiled and, after a second, met my eyes, his expression turning oddly nervous. "You know my mom's serious about the whole 'grandkids' thing, right? Like, very serious?"

I smiled. "I know."

"And about bringing them here someday," he continued.

I shrugged. "I think I can live with that." Percy just looked at me, processing. We'd discussed the distant future in the vaguest of terms, but kids had never really been factored in. It just hadn't been brought up, though I was pretty sure I wanted them one day and, knowing Percy, it wasn't hard to guess that he was for the idea. After a few seconds, he smiled. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered, "What would my life be someday without a mini Seaweed Brain or two running around?"

He grinned, "As long as there's a girl too, and she looks exactly like you." He'd clearly put some thought into this.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll be sure to submit your request to the Fates when the time comes, okay?"

He laughed and kissed me. "We'll have awesome kids someday," he said once we'd separated.

"Someday," I agreed, "College first though. And marriage would probably be a good idea too."

Percy scoffed playfully. "Of course. We're gonna do things right. We'd owe it to our kids. Not to mention, if we didn't, your mom would blast me to bits so fast…"

I laughed. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain."

He smiled again, his eyes reflecting back the exact color of the ocean around him. "Hold your breath," he told me suddenly. I did, still slightly concerned I was going to end up wet and freezing by the end of this. Percy tugged us downwards and we dropped smoothly below the surface. I was unsurprised to open my eyes and find us both sitting in an air bubble of his making. This part, at least, I was pretty familiar with. We drifted a little bit with the currents, and he must have still had the warm water circulating around us because the inside of the bubble was rather warm. The afternoon sun broke through the water easily, allowing us more then enough light to see each other.

Percy looked rather pleased with himself, but the gesture was really sweet, I had to admit. He still had his arms wrapped around me, but he pulled me closer still. "I love you," he told me matter-of-factly.

"I love you too," I replied, and in the same breath, added, "Aren't you the least bit concerned about all the sea life who will be watching you kiss me?" It was a valid question, judging from the surprisingly large amount of fish and crabs that had populated the area since we'd been down there.

"Not once I tell them to go away." And, as if by magic, they did all, in fact, go away, though some of them looked distinctly disappointed about it. Percy smirked at me.

"Shut up," I told him, smirking, and brought my lips to his because, frankly, underwater kisses were always some of the best.

And if the fish and crabs, or even Poseidon himself was watching us, I really didn't care. The gods probably did it all the time anyway.

And it was worth it.

So, about that ending... Too much? I was going for something cute, but I'm not really sure now. Whatever.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully you liked it. See you soon!