Annabeth

The entire time I had held Percy's hand, even when I first thought of grabbing it, my heart went crazy.

I don't know why I wanted to, to just be next to him, hold his hand, have some sort of contact between us. And if that's how I felt holding his hand, imagine how I felt when I fell asleep on his shoulder. Not to mention the fact that he had to be such a gentleman and lay me down on the bed and pull the covers over me.

He also spent the night with me, promising to not leave unless I wanted him to.

I found it odd. I didn't want him to suddenly change and stop doing things like this, it was just that people usually weren't nice to me. When was the last time someone did something sweet for me that wasn't part of my family? It saddened me when I realized that I honestly couldn't remember.

When we got up the next morning, a but late seeing how it was Saturday, we headed to the kitchen for breakfast. I made pancakes as Percy got the plates and forks, even getting the both of us a glass of water. Once done, we ate quietly, simply enjoying being in each others presence. We washed the dishes together after we finished eating, and quietly talked.

"Are you okay with me stay tomorrow to?" he asked politely, as if worried that I'd get tired of him.

Shaking my head, I said, "It's fine, I really don't mind."

Percy smiled, saying, "I'm going to go back to my house to get some clothes. I'll be back in like ten minutes."

I nodded, and we finished washing and drying the dishes. He left, giving me a quick goodbye, and left me to my thoughts.

"What will we do I don't want to bore him. Would Percy be okay with bringing me to the hospital to see mom?" I thought, pacing back and forth. I would have to ask him when he gets back, I decided. But it sounded a bit sad, and that was one thing I didn't want to have Percy feel. But if he agreed to take me to the hospital, then there was nothing I could do about it. Unless I just didn't go at all. But I had to, I wanted to see my mom.

Since it didn't seem like he would be back for a few minutes, I went to my room to get changed. When done, I returned to silently pacing in the living room.

The sound of the door opening stopped my pacing. I looked up from the floor to see Percy walk in.

He carried a bag over his shoulder, the same one I fell asleep on. I blushed and glanced at the floor before looking back at him. he smiled and went to go put his things down in my room. I wondered how I was going to ask him, but it turned out that I didn't need to, as he came back and gave me the opening I needed.

"So," began Percy, "What should we do?"

I swallowed nervously before asking, "Do you think you could take me to the hospital? I want to see my mom quickly if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, that's fine with me. Which hospital is she staying at?"

"Saint Mary's."

"Alright, let's go," he said with a smile. I couldn't help but smile back at him, even though it was small and barely there. I grabbed my keys and followed him outside. After locking the door, I got into Percy's car. He began driving as I looked through his CD's. I found The Fray's self titled album, and put it in. Percy looked over and smiled at seeing which CD I choose.

Syndicate came on and I leaned back into the seat, focusing on the music.

"Halfway around the world lies the one thing that you want.
Buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down.
First thing that arises in your mind while you awake, is bending you til you break.
Let me hold you now."

My shoulders relaxed as I let the music wash over me. Percy began tapping his fingers to the rhythm on the steering wheel as he drove.

"Baby close your eyes,
Don't open til the morning light.
Baby don't forget,
You haven't lost it all yet."

As though we had jumped forward through time, we were suddenly in the parking lot of the hospital, the song coming to an end. Nervousness filled every bone in my body. I was petrified, staring out at the cars in front of us, motionless. But I refused to stop and give up when I was already there.

Forcing myself out of the car, I took deep, calming breaths. "Please still be alive," was the only thought that echoed in my head as I walked with Percy to the receptionist's desk.

"How may I help?"

"I'm here to see Athena Chase."

The receptionist nodded and said, "You may go."

Percy walked by my side to the elevator as I went back up to the fourth floor. As the elevator made it's way up, I clenched and unclenched my hands until Percy sudden ;y grabbed my left hand and squeezed it tightly. I returned the squeeze, and together, we walked hand in hand to my mom's room.

Just as I was about to open the door, it flew open and revealed my dad standing in front of me.

"Annabeth?" he asked upon seeing me, "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing mom."

Ignoring Percy, he looked me in the eyes and spoke softly. "Listen Annabeth, about what I've said before..."

"Don't," I said, equally soft but much colder, "Don't. I'm here to see mom. Not you. And since you're done seeing her, move and leave."

"Annabeth-"

I didn't listen to what he was going to say. Instead I pushed past him, letting go of Percy's hand. As I walked towards mom, I heard him quietly say, "I'll just wait here then. Yep, just going to wait. Here. Outside this room."

My lips twitched upwards, but otherwise, my face remained blank as I walked over to my mom. She tiredly turned her head to see me and smiled.

"Annabeth."

"Hi mom."

I sat down and spoke, taking in the fact that she still had a while to live. And I was happy with that. If that was the best this situation had to offer, I wasn't going to look to change it.

Percy

When Annabeth walked out of the room, I pushed myself off the wall I was leaning on. She waited for me to walk to her side before we walked back to the elevator, holding hands once again.

I couldn't imagine how hard everything must have been for her.

In silence, we walked back to the car.

"Anything else you wanted to do today?" I asked, hoping I wasn't sounding rude.

Annabeth shook her head and replied, "We can do whatever you want to do."

I thought for a moment before remembering Jason told me a while back. "There's a new thing at Hero's Training. We could go check it out if you want."

"What is it?"

"Sword fights."

"Let's go."

I gave a small laugh at her immediate answer, but complied, driving to the mall. To try to distract her from any sad thoughts, I began to softly sing along to the music. Annabeth kept quiet for a few minutes, looking out the window, until she turned her head to look at me. I gave her a smile and kept singing along. Annabeth chuckled before going me. We sang loudly, smiles on our lips until we arrived at the mall.

Once parked, we got out, and with one look at each others faces, we took off running and laughing. Everything was going fine until a sudden weight crashed into my back and arms wrapped around me. Panic filled me until I heard Annabeth's voice say, "Run Seaweed Brain, run!"

Letting out a laugh, I did just that.

Despite all the weird looks we were getting from the people in the mall, we didn't stop until we were in front of Hero's Training. After all, it was the mall. The people there have definitely seen weirder.

When we stepped into Hero's Training, there was indeed a new area for sword fighting. It was a separate room, but had a large opening that you could see through. Blue mats lined the floor and a few people were already in there, fighting.

It looked so ridiculous fun.

Annabeth hopped off of my back, took one look at it, and took off running to the changing room. I walked quickly, but calmly, to the men's changing room. After throwing on the usual black clothes and boots, I ran out to see Annabeth waiting impatiently for me in front of the Quests. Upon seeing me, she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the sword fighting room.

Apparently it's called the Dueling Chamber, which seemed a bit "Harry Potter" to me.

But all thoughts fled my mind as we entered the Dueling Chamber. Blue mats covered every inch of floor, more than what I expected to see, and to one side was another room filled with armor and weapons. I loved it.

Annabeth tossed me a helmet and some other pieces that went around my arms and legs. Once I put those on, she handed me a chest piece that covered my entire torso. She dressed similarly, grey eyes peeking out from the helmet she wore.

I grabbed a few swords, but found that they didn't feel right, either too heavy or too light. Annabeth seemed to be having similar troubles. At last, I had found a perfect sword, bronze, fit my hand and was the right weight. I walked out of the room, grabbing a shield as I went. Since Annabeth seemed to be taking longer than me, I decided to practice a bit. I was a bit unsure as to what to do at first, so I simply swung. My body suddenly felt as though it knew what to do, stepping and swinging quickly and balanced.

A knife suddenly popped in front me, aiming for my right shoulder. My arm moved so suddenly, I didn't quite know what happened. One second, there was a knife aimed for my shoulder, and the next, my sword was blocking it and pushing it upward, away from me.

Annabeth smiled at me from the slight crouch she was in before attacking again.

I swung my sword again, but she stopped it with her shield and her hand flashed out, the knife headed for my stomach. In one quick movement, I knocked her shield with my own, my sword swinging down in front of my stomach knocking her knife to the side. It fell onto the floor, and Annabeth kicked out a leg, pushing my knee outwards, causing me to fall. My sword flew out to her again, but through some laws of physics, she leaped over it, shield positioned over her head.

The shield hit the ground first, and using it, Annabeth, pushed off against it, turning her body to make it a roll, when she landed next to her knife. I was impressed by the amount of skill she had. Who would have thought she could do something like this? She usually didn't bother with conflict and usually always had a book. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't too good at sports. I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.

I stood up at the same time Annabeth did, and we both charged at each other. My sword went for her stomach as her knife was aimed at my shoulder again. My shield went up in time, and she turned her body sideways, causing her knife to slide against my shield as my sword scraped her shield as it went past.

I did not expect dueling to be so intense.

For a few more minutes, our weapons hit again and again until suddenly my sword wasn't in my hand anymore. I blinked once in confusion before feeling a blade press lightly against my throat. Annabeth smirked as she held her knife on my throat, my sword in her other hand.

"I win."

A/N: Sorry, it isn't that good but I had less time to write this, with the last week of school coming up, getting ready to move, and the fact that I had spent an entire day packing. Either this chapter, or the next one will be the last for a while since my computer won't be hooked up when I get to the new house. Unless I manage to steal my brother's laptop again, but I doubt I can do that.

Anyways, I'll try to do better in my writing in the next chapter and the ones after that.

Also: Party's coming up at Drew's. What do you think is going to happen?