Annabeth

The police took me to the hospital first, pushing me into the car with careful, steady hands, asking if I was hurt anywhere. The bandages caught their eyes immediately, but left it alone for the doctors to look at.

"Can't I see my family first? Let them know I'm okay?" I asked as they pulled out of the station.

The police officer besides me shook his head. "We've informed them that you came here, but we need to make sure you're okay before we let you go anywhere."

I wanted to fight back, argue and yell until they let me go see Percy and Thalia and, hell, even my father, but I kept quiet and curled my hands into fists. The sooner I finished this, the sooner I could see them again. I let out a slow breath, trying to stay focused and not distract myself on thoughts of what will happen once I'm free to go. I wanted to gather Percy and Thalia into my arms and never let them go, I wanted to talk to my father and figure out if there's anything we could do to fix our family, I wanted to visit my mother's grave and let her know everything that's happened.

I just wanted to go home.

"Will it be alright if we ask you a few questions, Ms. Chase?" the officer asked, pulling out a notepad.

"Of course."

He flipped the notepad open and pulled out a pen. He took a moment to scribble in the corner of the paper to get the ink flowing, then looked up. "Right. Where did the kidnappers keep you?"

I frowned, and thought back to where Rachel had found me. "I'm not sure, but it was an old warehouse in the middle of the woods. There was one road that I found where someone found me and took me somewhere safe. It was out past Suffern, though."

He nodded, jotting down notes for a moment. "And who was the person who found you?"

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was the girl who came into the station with me. Red hair, kind of messy, clothes covered in paint?"

"Right, we'll get in contact with her to see if she can help us find where you were being held." He flipped to a new page. When he looked up, he looked much more serious than before. I swallowed past the dryness in my throat and tensed, preparing myself for what he was going to ask next.

"Can you tell me what happened to you? Everything you can remember, from the very beginning."

I let out a breath and shifted, tugging the sleeve of my shirt as I tried to find the words I needed. "Well, they got me just as I got home from school," I began, "Hit me on the head and knocked me out the moment I opened my door and stepped inside. I don't know if they were waiting for me and hiding or if they followed me and I never noticed."

The side of my head throbbed at the memory, caught in some phantom pain. I delved deeper into my memories, trying to remember what happened through that pained daze I was in the first day they had me tied to that chair.

"When I woke up, I was in a room, tied to a chair. You know how in movies, hostages are always left in empty rooms with one light and everything's made of concrete and it looks a bit like a prison cell? Yeah, that's were they kept me." I paused, licked my lips and tried to picked out the details of my memory. "There were about five? Six? People in the room with me. Big, tough looking guys. They were on the phone with my father, talking about the ransom. I remember they let me talk to my dad for a minute. He was crying, I think, and I was yelling. I can't remember what I said, but I guess they didn't like it. One of them slapped me and punched my nose."

I reached up and tenderly pressed on the bruise on my face and gave a small smile. "I don't think they broke it, but it bled a ton."

The officer flipped to a new page. I waited until he was ready before I continued. "I was there for a while. They came in sometimes to give me food and water. The guy who brought the food untied me so I could eat without being fed, but he brought in the guard who looked ready to shoot me. They only fed me every other day though, so I was able to loosen the ropes enough to get myself out. Ruined my wrists though," I rubbed one wrist, feeling the bandage on my skin and remembering the feeling of warm blood dripping down my had. "They didn't lock the door. The guard was sleeping so I stole his gun and ran. The guy who brought me food found me, and told me how to get out and let me knock him out. I got out of there and ran like hell before I found the road. That's where Rachel found me."

"Did you recognize any of the people who kidnapped you?" the officer asked, writing things down as fast as he could.

I shook my head. "No. I've never seen them before in my life."

"Right. So, Rachel found you?"

"Rachel found me. She recognized me from the news and the posters put up. She drove me to her house, let me rest a bit and get something to eat, then drove me here."

The officer nodded, wrote down a few more things, then flipped the notepad closed. "Thank you for sharing your story, Ms. Chase. We'll be at the hospital in just a few minutes. We've already alerted them to your situation. Some nurses and doctors will be there to help you."

"Thank you," I said, and relaxed back against the seat.

It still felt like a dream. After a week in captivity, it was hard to believe that it was over. I had escaped and found help, and now I was just a few steps away from getting home.

The urge to cry hit me suddenly - from fear or relief I didn't know - but tears sprang up in my eyes before I could fully blink them away and push back all those feelings.

We pulled up to the hospital just a minute later. The car comes to a slow stop at the entrance. Already, I can see a group of nurses waiting to receive me, shifting anxiously, pointing outside to us. The moment I leave the car, a nurse is already by my side, looking me up and down with concern, a hand hover over my back just in case I fall. I walk as tall as I can, despite how my injuries make me take smaller steps, and make my way into the hospital.

The nurses crowd me and I can't help but flinch away from them, trying to find a space for myself. Hands push me forwards to walk with them as they lead me away, asking me too many questions all at once. My head spins and I stumble. I can't push away the hands that help me keep my balance, no matter how much I want to.

The hospital is filled with the same frantic energy as the police station. Nurses and doctors rush through hallways as patients walk along in a daze, swept up in the movement.

I don't get much time to look around before I'm lead into a room where a doctor waits, looking through a clipboard. She looks up as soon as the group of nurses help me into the room and set me on the chair.

"Ms. Chase? I'm Dr. Ifinne, I'll be checking you for any dangerous injuries and sicknesses." She flips through a few pages on the clipboard, a frown barely on her face. "Your medical history shows that you don't have any genetic illnesses that can crop up later in life and you've only had a few bad cases of the flu, as well as chicken pox. You do have ADHD and dyslexia, but I doubt that will affect your physical state too much. Have you been injured anywhere while you were kidnapped?"

She barrels through everything, skipping past reassuring words to get straight to business.

"My ankles and wrists," I said, holding out my hands for her to inspect. "They tied me to a chair and I got really bad rope burn from loosening it."

Dr. Ifinne frowns and takes hold of my left arm, gently unraveling the bandage Rachel had given me. She brushes her fingers over the raw skin and scabs, then bends down to check my ankles.

"No sign of infection," she muttered to herself as she grabbed a pen and scribbled something down on the paper. She takes me through what I normally go through during a doctor's appointment: checking the heart and lung, reflexes, shining a light in my eyes and ears and nose.

"Right," she says, "Everything looks good so far. How much have you gotten to eat and drink this past week?"

"Half a bowl of ramen every other day and some water. I had some food this morning too."

"Step on this scale for me," Dr. Ifinne instructed. I hopped down from the chair and kicked my shoes off before getting onto the scale.

"How much did you way before this?"

I frowned as I tried to remember. "About 160," I answered.

"You've lost too much weight too quickly," she said, "Take it easy for the next two weeks. No physical activity that takes a lot of energy, and eat as much as you can - healthy foods, that is."

"Is that it?" I asked.

She nodded. "That's it," she said. "Take care now, Ms. Chase." She held out a hand for me to shake.

I grabbed it and stared at our clasping hands for a moment - her skin was dark and mine was pale and covered in cuts - and smiled. "Thank you."

Dr. Ifinne smiled. "I'm glad you're safe. Now go see your family, I'm sure you've missed them something terrible this past week."

I didn't bother with a goodbye, just nodded and took off out the door, no matter how much it made my ankles ache.

Finally, finally, I could go home.

Percy

She's safe. She's safe. She's safe.

Annabeth is safe.

The words kept repeating themselves in a continuous loop in my mind, taking all my attention, all my focus, into the single fact that Annabeth is safe.

Besides me, Thalia had pressed her hands against her eyes, taking deep, steady breaths as she seemed to go boneless and melt back against the chair. Annabeth's father held his head in his hands, unashamed of the tears that fell from his eyes.

I collapsed back against the chair and let out a breath, letting my head fall back until I stared up at the ceiling, slowly getting over my shock. The knot in my chest loosened for the first time since we found Annabeth missing, and I lifted a hand to wipe at the tears that sprung up in my eyes.

She had come back.

Annabeth was safe.

It took a few more breaths to compose myself enough to look at Deputy Klairson. She stood, smiling softly if not a little awkwardly, and waited for the three of us to process our emotions.

"When can we see her?" I asked, my voice weak and shaky.

Klairson turned her attention solely to me. "We're taking her to the hospital right now to make sure she's okay, but once she's out she'll be brought back here. We'll have to ask her a few questions before letting her go."

I nodded. "And she can come back with us?"

"Yes, she'll be free to go with you."

"Will you let us know when she comes back from the hospital?" I asked, something desperate clinging to my words.

Klairson hesitated for a second, then seemed to soften and said, "Of course. For now, you'll just have to wait a bit."

She left when I nodded, hurrying away to take care of whatever she had put aside to tell us the news.

Thalia shifted, then lifted her head, eyes red-rimmed. "We should get her something nice once this is all completely over," she said.

"Yeah, we should. I could ask my mom for help baking cookies."

"Throw in a few flowers too, make this place look a little nicer." We shared a weak grin, still shaky from the relief that hit us alongside the news.

Annabeth is safe.

Annabeth's father cleared his throat and looked to us. "Think I could help out with a thank-you card?" he asked, a little nervous, a little tired.

Rather uncharacteristically, Thalia sighed and looked him over, lacking her usual fire and fury. "I'll be honest," she said, "You pretty much abandoned Annabeth and left her to deal with the grief of losing her mother alone while you slept with another woman. I don't like you. I don't want you anywhere near Annabeth since you caused her so much pain. But it's not really my place to tell you to do any of these things, so once she comes back, I want you to talk to Annabeth, listen to her, and respect her wishes."

He sighed and dropped his gaze to the dirty tile of the floor. "I know. I messed up. I keep messing up. But she's my daughter, I'll always love her. I just-" He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated, then said, "I want to fix things."

"Fine. But as soon as you start hurting her again, I'll break your fingers."

He swallowed, looking nervous, but nodded.

Thalia turned her attention to me. "What do you think, Percy?"

I shrugged. "Not really any of my business. To be honest, I don't really know much about you since Annabeth prefers not to talk about you. It's pretty obvious that you hurt her a lot, though." I paused, and tried to figure out how to phrase my thoughts. "You want to fix things. That's good. You're on your own for that, though. I'm familiar with bad relations, but I'm not- I don't really-" I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest defensively. "I don't know anything about fixing those kinds of things. Never experienced it. But I do care for Annabeth a lot and if you hurt her again, I will keep you away from her until she wants to see you again. So don't push, alright?"

Thalia narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at my words, eyes clear and focused. I shoved away my nervousness - there's no way she couldn't smell fear after all - and aimed for indifference. She regarded me carefully for a few more seconds, then looked away without saying a word.

I almost sighed in relief, but managed to catch myself in time.

Annabeth's father turned to me. "Are you her boyfriend?" he asked without warning.

"I am," I replied, slow and cautious.

"I'm Fredrick," he said, holding out a hand for me to shake. "It's nice to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Percy," I said, shaking his hand. "And likewise. Could you save threatening me not to break Annabeth's heart until she actually wants to introduce me to you?"

Fredrick laughed, easing the tension of the last few hours, and withdrew his hand. "Sure, I don't mind waiting a little longer."

I turned away from both of them, focusing my attention on the activity in the hallways. I was never good with fathers of any kind; Gabe had left a lasting impact on me that I hated but couldn't get rid of. Fredrick had hurt Annabeth, that much was clear. But he wanted to fix things, make up for abandoning her and her mother and be a better father. I had no idea what a better father could even look like.

All this past trauma was suddenly catching up to me and I was beginning to wonder if I had ever really recovered from having Gabe in my life. If I was any good for Annabeth when I couldn't sleep if I thought I saw that old shadow step past my bedroom door.

I had too, though. She had just escaped from the people who had kidnapped her; she needed the steady support of her friends and family now, not nightmare and fear I carried with me.

It was hard not to think about it, so I gave up and let the thoughts torture me as much as they wanted.

It passed the time, though. All those self-deprecating thoughts were the center of my focus for a hour and a half before Klairson appeared again.

"Annabeth is back," she said, "And an officer already talked to her. We just need to retell her story so we can get a recording. It'll only take a few minutes, then we'll send her over to you."

"Thank you," Fredrick said, sounding lighter than before.

Annabeth is safe, I thought again, and let my worries leave with my breath. She was safe. So was I.

We'll be okay.

We'll be just fine.