Wonderwall

Chapter 34-Awake

I know I said that I would update by Jan 31st if I reached 15 reviews for the last chapter-I did reach 15 reviews, but most of them were from the same anonymous person. Guys, no spam please. Just one review per person with some meaningful comment is enough. I didn't update this story that day, but I did put up 5k words of something PJO-it's called the game of life, a longggg complete one shot of ten Percabeth moments post HoO. Go read it!

Thanks to thundever1, FutureOlympian, Demigods, Mansi Somani, many anonymous Guests, juliewise123, AncientTide, Seaweed and Wise, soccerlover91, Allegra M, Dud3inator, and luigiman210 for reviewing!

This chapter is specifically dedicated to FutureOlympian (Sydney), since she's always been extremely supportive of me and my story. Love you, Sydney.

"How nice - to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive."
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

The first things I registered when I finally came to my senses were the harsh fluorescent lights overhead, the slow but steady beeps of the heart monitor, and the distinctive smell of disinfectant. The world was rushing back to me as my consciousness slowly pieced itself back together. I was so confused, as to where I was, how I got here, and what exactly happened.

The beeps of the heart monitor picked up speed, echoing to the nervousness I felt at the moment. I was so disoriented that I did not have the sense to panic yet, but I felt a surge of emotions coming up, making me nauseous.

I calmed myself down, and pushed back the white, sterile blankets that covered me. I was in this ridiculously loose hospital gown, an ugly thing that made me itch all over. My throat was dry beyond describable, and it took my eyes a little too long to adjust to the lighting at last.

I was in a hospital, that much was certain. I searched for my last memories before I woke up just now-trip with Percy, he left, went to Daisy's and met up with Katie, her boyfriend Travis showed up, we went to Times Square's McDonald's, and that when I fainted.

...So then I ended up here.

I knew I really should have called the nurse or something, (and it sort of disappointed me that my dad or anyone else wasn't next to me when I wake up from all of this) but I decided to do that later. I needed to figure more out. I hate not knowing, not having control over this situation at all.

Besides me, there laid more beds. My curtains were aside, surprisingly, and I could see the occupant of the bed neighbouring my bed, along with her friend. There were more beds further down the room, but their curtains were pulled together and I couldn't see beyond that.

The other occupant was sleeping peacefully; her leg was propped up in a cast. I winced. I remembered how much it hurt when I broke my arm. Her friend was a blond haired girl, sitting right next to her and just reading. I couldn't see the book title, but I bet it was good if the girl was that absorbed into it.

I must be staring, because the next thing I knew, the girl asked, "hey, how are you feeling? Should I get the nurse?"

I shook my head. I wasn't feeling that well, and I didn't want her to get the nurse just yet. But then, I realized that I should probably say something because just shaking my head was not that efficient in conveying what I mean.

"I'm okay. Don't get the nurse just yet. I need a moment here." I said all of that with my hurting throat. I noticed that there's a small nightstand right next to me, and had some bottles of water on it. Usually, I would ask whether I had the permission to drink those, but I figured that I was the only person those bottles could be for. I made a motion reaching for it, when the girl saw, she came over, took a bottle and opened it. She handed it for me and I accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks." I took a sip, and then another.

"No problem. I'm Sydney, I'm just hanging around here. You've been here for a while now, and I bet your family and friends would be so glad that you're awake-you should probably call them or something right now." Sydney said excitedly. How she managed to stay so upbeat in a hospital, I have no idea.

"I'm Annabeth." I greeted lamely. I handed her back the bottle, and she put it on the stand. "You have any idea where my family and friends are?" I asked, hoping that she would say that they at least visited me or hanged out around for some amount of time.

"Your dad, or at least I think he is, hangs around here for almost the whole time you're here. He just left, maybe for lunch or something. Really impressive, considering that it's been days-"

"Days?!" I interrupted her and exclaimed. What? "What day is it now?"

"January 6th." She replied, concerned. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little pale. I'm not sure what's up," she said, waving her arms and gesturing at me, not wanting to say anything accidentally offensive, "but I heard they say that they think you have had a concussion of some sort. You'd probably want to get medical attention to make sure you're okay as soon as possible."

"Yeah." I signed, giving in, pressing the 'assistance' button on the wall right next to my bed. I was relieved that it has only been three days. Not too bad, but already alarming since I didn't know there was anything wrong with me. I didn't want this to be a big deal, and I especially didn't want Percy to find out. He would freak out, and who knew what he'd do with all that power?

Also, I was secretly glad that my dad has been here the whole time. We have been so adrift from each other that I would expect him to just stay with Helen and not quite care that his only daughter was in the hospital. Now that I looked around in detail, I saw that his stuff (the dufflebag, some change of clothes and toiletries, etc.) was around the chair on my left side. There was the newest issues of an aviation magazine that my dad read, lying on that chair.

I was really touched.

Sydney coughed awkwardly, getting back my attention. "The nurse shouldn't take too long to get over here, they're pretty good with that." She absentmindedly flipped through her book and then back again. "If you need anything, just holler, okay? I'm with my friend Cecilia over here anyway, and since she's out cold with all that morphine, I'm pretty much dying of boredom right now, so let me know if I can help."

I nodded, and waited for the nurse, who came a minute afterwards.

"Miss Chase! I am glad that you're awake. Are you feeling all right?"

I nodded. For somebody who woke up in the hospital after three days of coma, I was feeling pretty good.

She jotted something down, and then read from the clipboard. "You are scheduled for a MRI as soon as you're awake, so if you don't mind, I would like to ask you a couple of questions."

The nurse said slowly, as if I might not understand her. I hated to be treated as someone powerless, but I understood where she was coming from. I was feeling pretty weak after all.

"Sure. I didn't know I was scheduled for one though." I said, and then felt stupid. How could I have known?
"Your father scheduled it for you. He wanted to make sure you're okay. Doctor Hu couldn't diagnose you while you were in a coma, so we needed to image you to make sure."

"Okay," I said. Sydney's friend stirred, and she helped her up. She caught my eye and gave an encouraging smile. Bless that girl.

"Are you allergic to any medicines?"

"No." I answered, the nurse circled something on the clipboard.

"Do you have a health condition, such as diabetes, sickle cell anemia, or kidney problems?"

"No."

"Are you pregnant?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "What kind of question is that?"

"Sorry, it's just standard questions for all female patients."

I scowled; I was sixteen! But I didn't say anything and motioned for the nurse to move on to the next question.

"Do you have any metal implanted in your body such as pacemakers and braces?"

"No."

"Are you claustrophobic?"

"No."

"Then you're set. Let me take off your IV and the heart monitor and we can go to the MRSI room." After we got rid of the tubes, I followed her with my wobbly legs into a closed room. The technician explained to me what I had to do-drink the chemicals for contrast on MRI, and then just go into that machine and lie absolutely still for an hour. Sounds easy. After that, my scan just had to be read by a radiologist and hopefully, I would be all set and permitted to leave the hospital. I couldn't wait.

After I came back from the MRI, my father was already sitting there, waiting for me by my bed. He looked so worried that I was actually touched. I knew he cared, but he never showed.

"Annie!" He said, crossing the room to give me a hug.

"Dad." I said, hugging him back. I didn't see him much during the New Years at all, with him visiting Helen's friends all the time and me hanging with Percy secretly.

"How are you feeling?"
Good question. But I didn't want to just say 'all right'. I thought about how my dad had just came back from lunch and gave an honest answer. "I'm hungry."
He laughed and I was a lot more relieved. "Good thing that a nurse had brought in your lunch here earlier." He gestured to my bedside. I didn't even care that it was hospital food; it was food. I eagerly devoured everything on that tray while my father gave me water and urged me to just slow down a bit.

"Annabeth, why did you say anything about you not feeling so well?" My dad asked after I eat and settled on the bed. I was a bit tired, and I wanted to take a nap.

"I was feeling well." I frowned. "There wasn't any symptoms. I just fainted all of the sudden. I had never even had severe headaches before." It was actually really weird, and I had not expected it at all.

"Okay." He said, not entirely convinced. "But just for future references, if you aren't feeling that well, tell me, all right?" He said, looking at me concerned.

I wanted to say something about Helen, about how she didn't care and she would say that I was just being whiny, but I bit it down. I was having a nice conversation with my father, and I didn't want to ruin it by bringing Helen in.

"I know you don't get along with Helen that well," my dad started-oh crap, just my luck, "but try, all right? She's still your step-mother, and just tolerate her for the moment."

I nodded silently. I would tolerate her, respect and all. There was no use of me saying anything else about the matter.

My dad sighed. "I'm glad that you at least have your friends to keep you company, I know I'm not the best father in the world. I know that I'm away a lot and I'm sorry…" He said, making me want to cry, too. "That Katie girl, your best friend, she wouldn't leave until yesterday when I made her leave. Her father was actually getting worried about how much time she stayed in the hospital. She came today morning with Will too."

Oh my god, I was nearing tears again. I should have never doubted her. I should have known better, she's always here for me.

"Percy never came, though," my dad frowned, "I thought he's your boyfriend?"

I blushed a bit. "He is, but he's away with his family," I said, biting my lip. That's technically true.

"I see. I thought he stayed for the break since he was over for Christmas." My dad commented and asked, "where's his family at anyways?"

"Olympus." The answer slipped out of me. I meant to say Greece, or something. Even making it up and say California would work. But damn it, I said 'Olympus'.

I knew my dad heard, so I just stared at him, wide-eyed, and tried to backtrack unsuccessfully.

Part of the reason why I didn't update earlier is that I lost the paper where I drafted the whole chapter out. A longer conversation with Sydney was supposed to happen and Annabeth's dad was supposed to know, but it was another slip of tongue that did it. I didn't remember exactly how, so I settled with this. Check back next week to see if I updated it.

Meanwhile, review for a quicker update!