Chapter 25

"You're flight is scheduled to be in about two weeks." her mother told her when she came in.

Annabeth was too tired to argue.

She was finally discharged from the hospital and unfortunately Athena was there, nagging on and on about how she had to go back home.

Oh gods. Make her stop.

Percy had a business meeting and he was going to skip it, but Annabeth insisted he go. He was the CEO of the company after all. But she secretly would have still liked it if he were there with her at the moment instead of her mother.

She changed out of her hospital gown into some jeans, a white cami and a navy blue cardigan to go over that. Man, was she exhausted. Her lower abdomen was still throbbing, but other than that, she felt great— well as great as you would expect a shot, tortured person to feel.

"Before we leave to my hotel, I need to use the bathroom."

Annabeth looked at her weirdly, "Mom, you went just a few minutes ago."

"I want to wash my hands. That's all." she said.

Annabeth shrugged, "Okay. I'll meet you outside."

Annabeth eventually escorted her mom back to the hotel she was staying at, before a cab took her to Thalia's apartment. Athena had wanted to talk, but she said she wanted to rest. Annabeth was used to being ditched or put off by her mother, so it was fine for her.

The first thing she did was take a shower, she changed back into the cami, but ditched the jeans for her favorite pair of yoga pants.

She slumped comfortably on the white leather couch and started sketching in her sketchbook. Though you would think she would like to draw buildings all the time, she also loved to simply sketch whatever came to her. Her pencil flew smoothly across the pages with swift expertise, letting her imagination manifest itself on the pages. It was truly relaxing, though nothing matched sleeping next to Percy with his arm wrapped around her in a protective embrace.

Soon, Thalia came loudly in with Nico laughing at a story she had just told.

"Anniebear! You're alive!" She exclaimed coming over to hug her friend.

Annabeth made an amused, but weirded out expression at the nickname, then smiled, "Yeup last time I checked."

Thalia pulled away and examined her with a serious face, "You're okay, right? No pains?"

"Nope." she said, popping the 'p'.

"Great to see that your up and walking, Chase. You're not a zombie anymore." Nico joked.

"Why thanks, Nico. That warms my heart." Annabeth said with mock thanks, putting her sketchbook on the coffee table.

"We should totally go celebrate for dinner and invite everybody!" Thalia said excitedly.

"Yeah babe, we should." Nico said.

Annabeth smirked at the couple— all thanks to her.

She saw Nico eyeing Thalia as if she were going to collapse any second. Annabeth passed it off as the lightheadedness that was still lingering in her head.

Ugh, she was too lazy to change. Annabeth didn't want another reason to have to look at what was carved on her left arm. And besides, she doubted anyone would judge her, now that she was the 'injured girl' of the group. She got out of the cab after Thalia and Nico and soon spotted a familiar mess of raven hair. Smiling, she walked up to him. Everybody else went inside first. He smiled a warm sweet smile seeing her and rustled her hair.

"You're never going to stop doing that, are you?" she said with a annoyed groan.

"Nope." he said still smiling.

She shook her head, a small smile of her own played on her lips as Percy led her in with his hand resting on the small of her back.

During the whole dinner time, Annabeth wasn't tuned into the conversation, because Percy's fingers were playing with hers under the table. His presence took her mind off of the stuff with her mother. Gods, and she really didn't want to think about that right now.

Percy leaned to whisper in her ear, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing important."

"It looked important from the expression on your face."

"I'll tell you later." She said giving him a smile back, before tuning into the conversation.

She knew Percy's curious eyes were still staring at her, but she ignored him. There was no need to worry herself over mother problems.

Percy's fingers left hers and eventually traveled down to her thigh. The moment of contact sparked warm, shivering sensations through her body. She almost totally lost it when he started drawing shapes and patterns into her skin.

Thalia seemed to notice and gave her a knowing smirk with her brow raised. Annabeth felt redness creeping up her neck. Gods, the affect Percy had on her.

She let her own hand travel up his pant leg and hover near the buckles of his jeans.

Payback time… She let her hands graze over his jeans, just nearly avoiding him, right there. Annabeth smirked as his hand that was holding his fork clenched until his knuckles were white. She gasped silently as he squeezed her thigh.

She sipped her red wine and let her grey eyes meet his. The look in her eyes sent him a pretty clear message—

Oh yeah, she wanted him.

Just as Percy followed Annabeth inside his apartment, she pushed him down onto the couch and started kissing him hard, moving her leg to straddle his waist.

He knew something was wrong, but the feel of her lips which never failed to make his mind go to mush, silenced any amount of resistance he could muster.

The second she pulled away from him and started to go after his neck, his mind was able to think clearly.

"Woah, Annie, wait." he said pushing her gently away.

Frustration flashed through her face, almost making him regret pulling away from her. He let out a deep breathe.

"You should be resting yourself, Annabeth. You're still recovering. And I don't want you to get hurt in any way." he said with much difficulty, as she had leaned her head down to his neck again— using her mouth sinfully well to break down his resolve. And though it was working and he loved it, the risk that she could get hurt kept him determined to resist. So he gently held her shoulders and kept her at a safe distance away from him again.

"Oh stop worrying about me. I'm fine."

"No, you aren't."

"Yes, I am."

He pulled up her shirt to expose the scar on her slim waist, his face turning into a grimace, "No. You need to go to bed and rest." Ignoring her protests, he picked her up bridal style and carried her up to his bedroom. He laid her on the bed, pinning her down gently, but firmly so that she couldn't escape.

"Sleep." he said.

"No." she said back, pursing her lips. She looked so cute, Percy had trouble keeping a straight face.

He sighed and leaned further down to her face, "Fine then. If you're not going to sleep, you can tell me what's been bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me." Her eyes instantly seemed to darken with worry, betraying her words.

Percy cradled her cheek, "What is it? Tell me."

"I'll tell you tomorrow, Percy."

"Annie, tell me now."

She exhaled a shaky breathe, "I'm… I'm leaving in two weeks, Percy, and I doubt I can go against my mom."

His eyes widened, "Two weeks?"

"Yeah." she said with heart-wrenching remorse.

"Can't you— like.. I don't know. Go against her? I feel bad saying it, but—she can't force you to stay."

She smiled up at him with a sad expression, "I know, but— she has her ways of persuading people." She let out a sigh, "I just don't know what to do. Going home is the one thing I don't want to think about right now."

His green eyes looked pained then he leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. His every touch wasn't making it any easier trying to not jump him again. Gods.

"Go to sleep, Annabeth. You'll feel better with rest. Everything's going to be okay."
Her eyes eventually grew heavy and she soon fell asleep to his lulling caresses in her hair and his smooth caramel voice.

-line break-

You're Mine.

Forever.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

The sounds echoed in her head as she felt strong beefy hands choke her hard. Lights now spiraling around her, and then darkness…

Two pale blue eyes appeared before her, intruding and disturbing her hazy thoughts.

"You're mine, Annabeth. Don't you forget it."

Annabeth woke up, with a soundless scream trapped in her chest. Sweat beaded her forehead and she was panting loudly. The sudden action of sitting up too quickly rewarded her with a sharp pain shooting from her abdomen to her head. She winced and tried not to make a sound, seeing that Percy was laying beside her, still sleeping. The dream had been so vivid, her heart was still pounding from the adrenaline rush and she could almost feel the fingers still choking her neck.

Gods, these nightmares would be the death of her.

She went into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her skin that used to be healthily tanned was now almost sickly pale and her hair seemed to have lost its golden vibrance. She looked pretty terrible. It was like the life had been sucked from her.

Annabeth looked into her own deep grey eyes and saw only fear and pain. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the feelings off. Everything felt broken inside her. And she didn't know if she could become that confident, beautiful person she once was ever again.

She looked away from her eyes and examined her body. Her neck was scabbing and the teeth marks were still visible on her pale skin. Lifting her shirt, she saw the purple bruising that marked where her ribs had broke. They were almost fully healed, but they still throbbed when she moved too rashly. Her eyes moved down to the bullet shot that had left an ugly scar on her lower right abdomen. No wonder Percy had made a grimace seeing it.

Letting out a shaky breath, her eyes went to her arm. It hurt the least out of all her injuries since it was fully healed, but somehow… — it was the only injury which made her want to scream and rip the scarred skin off her arm off. She hated it— the feeling of being brutally branded by someone, the feeling of being scared. And it was then that she realized that every time she would look at her arm, that hateful feeling would always come to her and overwhelm her constantly.

She averted her eyes from the mirror and proceeded to strip off her clothes and took a quick shower, which succeeded in calming her nerves a bit. She put on some dark sweats and a plain white t- shirt and walked into the bedroom to see that Percy was awake, his eyes brooding. She climbed up on the bed with him and wrapped her arms around his waist. His arm came around her as she did so, bringing her closer to him.

Her fingers gently pushed away his messy dark hair from his forehead.

"What's bothering you?" she asked him.

"I'm thinking of how to keep you here by my side instead of in California."

She let out a sigh and buried her face into the side of his chest, taking in his calming salty ocean scent.

"Good luck with that." she said back.

He brought his lips to her forehead, "Why thanks."

She smiled, but let it disappear— a thought came into her head that had been bothering her for a while.

"Percy?"

"Yeah."

"What would you do if I suddenly turned old and wrinkly?"

He chuckled amusedly, "Why do you suddenly ask that?"

"Just because."

"Wow, very specific."

She laughed. He played with one golden strand of her hair, "I would still love you. But seriously, why do you ask?"

She let out a sigh, lifting her face to look at him, "Because… Now that I'm… like this, I'm scared that you— won't"

The playfulness disappeared from his face as he cut her off, "That I won't love you?! Annie, do you think I'm that shallow?"

"I just. Look at me. I.. I'm broken. Any guy would throw me away seeing me like this..." she couldn't help the tear that fell down her cheek. He scooted from her a bit, taking a hold of her shoulders to make her look at him straight in the eye.

"Annabeth, listen very closely. When I say that I love you. I will love you forever and that's whether or not you are broken, scarred, or even wrinkly old."

Her lips pulled up in a small smile at that.

He squeezed her shoulder, "I love you, Annabeth, no matter what. You got that?"

Her grey eyes met his and she smiled even wider, nodding her head.

"Yeah. I got it."

"And don't you ever forget it. Besides.." he reached up and cradled her face, "You're so insanely gorgeous, you make my heart stop whenever I look at you."

She blushed, then her smile turned to an amused smirk, "Really. Your heart stops? huh?"

His face flushed realizing what he had said, "Uh, yeah." He cleared his throat, "What do you say we make some breakfast?"

Percy picked her up in his strong arms and went downstairs. He set her down on the counter, which was now becoming one of her favorite spots to sit on. Before he went over to do their daily ritual of toasting waffles, she curled her fingers around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

"I love you too, Percy Jackson." she said on his lips.

He smiled and deepened the kiss by leaning into her, putting both of his hands on either side of her on the counter. She, in turn, wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.

She swiped her tongue over his bottom lip before pulling away. Gods, he loved it when she did that.

Her lips gave him one last peck, "Now, go make me some waffles."

He chuckled and turned to the toaster.

She crossed her legs on the counter and watched him endearingly as he shook his burned fingers from holding the hot toasted waffles.
Annabeth jumped off the counter and got whipped cream from the fridge.
Percy set the waffles on the counter as she jumped back onto the counter.

"Just how I like them." she said happily as she squirted a mountain of whipped cream on her plate.

He smiled warmly at her and squeezed her cheeks lovingly.

"Cutie."

"Ew, never call me that."

"Honey bun?" his brows raised suggestively.

"Never."

He laughed as he ripped off a piece of the waffle and ate it.

She smiled back and lifted the can to his mouth, spraying whipped cream into his parted mouth. He frowned as she started giving him a creamed beard, spreading the whipped cream everywhere. She laughed— music to his ears.

"Boy, do you need to shave mister."

He smirked and leaned down, kissing her full on the lips and getting cream on her too.

She licked her lips, "Mmmm. I love whipped cream." She got a piece of her waffle and swiped whipped cream off his face. "You would make a great dip." she said with a smile.

"Oh really." he smiled mischievously. She laughed out loud as he brought his face to her neck.

Whipped cream went all over skin and into her hair.

She got hold of the can and squirted him all over as payback. He laughed back, holding his hands up in defense as whipped cream flew everywhere. Percy looked like a snow man when she was done with him.

He lifted his arms to her, "Come here and give me a hug."

"Oh no. No nonono." She said with wide eyes as she jumped off the counter and away from him. She yelped as he got her around the waist and swung her around.

Percy soon had her trapped against the kitchen wall, and he was smiling like an idiot. She lifted her hands to his hair and gave him a creamed mohawk. He gave her an exaggerated frown before shaking his head to get rid of the hair do, getting even more cream everywhere, including her.

"You'll pay for that." she said with a smirk on her face.

He simply smiled back at her, kissing the whipped cream off her face. She laughed with that bell voice of hers as he licked off every last bit, finally kissing her again on her lips.

He pulled away and swooped her up in his arms, making her laugh again.

"Let's go take a quick shower." he said, "...Or a long one. Whichever you prefer."

She playfully slapped his arm making him chuckle as he carried her upstairs.

Piper was sitting in a cafe shop drinking her latte. Her kaleidoscope eyes brightened up seeing the blonde she was meeting come through the doors.

She waved at her excitedly, "Annabeth! Over here."

Annabeth smiled and went over to her, giving her a hug, "Hey Pipes." She said, as they both sat down at the table next to the window.

"Gods, I've been so drained out lately. Like no joke."

Piper gave her a sympathetic look, "You should take it easy, Annabeth. Recovering from something like what you've gone through- can't be easy."

"I am. And I'm doing fine. It's just that my mom's giving me such a hard time about going back to Califronia and everything." she said, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Piper reached out to grab her arm to give it a light squeeze. "You have to at least try to understand her, Annabeth. You know that, right? She is your mother. And she's lonely without you. You're all she has left."

She sighed, "How so you always sound right about everything?"

Piper smiled, "What can I say. It's a gift." Annabeth laughed, knowing Piper had always had a way of speaking ever since she had known her from high school. She could get out of any situation if she wanted, which is what attracted Annabeth to be friends with her.

Piper's face suddenly fell as her eyes caught sight of Annabeth's arm. It was hidden underneath her long sleeved shirt, but it was no doubt that there were scars cut on her skin.

"Oh my gods, Annabeth. What happened?" Piper took Annabeth's arm before she could pull it away.

Piper slid down her sleeve and gasped horrified to see that the carvings made a word.

"What!? Gods, Annabeth!" Piper said shock laced with her words, "I didn't know you had this too!" she asked with sad eyes at Annabeth.

Annabeth gave her a small smile, "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all." She let out a small laugh, "I hardly realize its there." Wrong, she always knew it was there.

Piper seemed to see through her lies, "Annabeth. Ditch the act, I know you're lying to me." she said in all seriousness.

Annabeth let the painful anguish flash through her silvery eyes. She closed her eyes, taking deep breathes to calm her unstable nerves.

"I'm seriously fine, Piper."

"Stop being so stubborn Annabeth. Please, you're just making things harder on yourself by doing so."

Annabeth pulled her sleeve further up her arm, concealing the marks completely.

"Fine, I hate it." she shook her head, her face contorted in a grimace, "I always can feel it there and it's unbearable, like a itch you can't scratch. I feel like tearing the skin off my arm and I know it will be worth it if I can just get rid of the.. carvings…. I hate myself right now. And I feel like screaming whenever I see it, so I grit my teeth down on my tongue as hard as I can to stop myself every time." She pursed her lips trying not to break down in pained frustration in front of Piper.

Annabeth brushed her fingers through her hair, grabbing a fist full in frustration as she waited Piper's reaction.

Piper simply stared at her friend in unbelievable astonishment.

"Annabeth. You're fucking insane for keeping that all to yourself. You know that?"

"It was only because of your fine persuasion that I even told you."

Piper gave her a small, sad smile. She stood up and went over to where Annabeth was sitting.

"Come on, I know what will make everything better. It won't erase the scars, but it will make up for it."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Annabeth asked giving her a weird look.

Piper gave her a big, wide smile and helped her to her feet, "Let's go get tattoos, Annie."

Percy hadn't seen Annabeth in two days, since he was so overwhelmed with loads of work from the company. They would need to hire a new head designer for the A.R.G.O II project. And he had been busy, going through applications for the job.

Anyways, on one of his lunch breaks, he was very glad when he saw her in a Starbucks. He snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, successfully surprising her.

Her grey eyes turned to his and sparkled seeing that it was him, "Crazy bastard." she said punching him in the shoulder. He chuckled with his arms still around her.

"And you love this crazy bastard." he whispered in her ear.

She smirked as her order came and she went over to grab her drink. Something black on the inside of her arm caught his eye. Where her carvings would be there were black markings, covering the pink scars that he knew to be there.

"Nice tat." he said, staring at it.

She looked down at her own arm and smiled, "Thanks."

Percy felt his stomach churn, knowing why she probably got it. He brought her closer to him as they walked out of the Starbucks.

"You look hot with a tat." he said, kissing her neck.

"I think you would look pretty sexy with a tat too. You should get one."

"Yeah, one on each of my butt cheeks." he joked.

She laughed leaning her head against his shoulder, "You do that. I'll watch."

He chuckled and turned to look at her, "So, you going to tell me what the tattoo means?"

She slid down her sleeve, exposing the markings. It was in some other language and was written in black, ancient graphic lettering which looked pretty cool and attractive on her skin.

It said: ατρόμητος

"What does it mean?" he asked her.

"Means 'fearless' in Greek. I just did it in that language, because it looked hella badass."

He laughed, "It's very fitting of you."

She laughed with him, "I'll take that as a compliment."

They walked further down the loud streets of Manhattan, simply enjoying each other's presence and every minute of happiness they got before the worries of life could catch up to them.

Author's note:

I know I say this a lot, but thanks for all the reviews! I threw in that whipped cream scene because it actually happened today. It was with my idiot brother, not my boyfriend. But Gawd, it took the whole fucking day to clean up. Still pretty fun though. Haha.

Anyways, I get that some of you want Crystal to get beaten up or something. Lol, I might put it in. Nothing's certain, but if it did happen- that would be pretty damn satisfying.

Watch out for what will happen next guys! Updates are coming :D:D:D:D:D:D