CHAPTER 12

Bad mistakes. They were something Percy had never made since he had Annabeth by his side. How screwed up was he without her.

Annabeth. God.

F0ck.

He had f-ked everything up.

Every single thing.

He did.

Bad mistakes. He made one. That night. With another woman. Waking up, he didn't want to even open his eyes, since he knew the girl who was sleeping beside him was not who he had thought she was those twelve hours before when he had been so lost in his stupid drunk stupor.

Stupid f-ked up mistakes. Why did they even happen to people in the first place. He hated them. They ruined him.

Waking up that night. He had felt like he couldn't breathe.

He had felt like the whole sky was pushing down on him.

The guilt had been that heavy. He yelled out to anyone that could hear the pain from the amount of guilt that had been pounding down on his chest— that had been throbbing with excruciating pain.

And that pain now was doubled with Katie in his living room, telling him she was pregnant?

He was the worst scum in the world.

How could he have done this? He never would have thought he would have been capable of doing something like this. Especially to her. Katie didn't deserve this either. All this crazy idiocy and stupidity that made up his life.

Emotions not even comprehendable shook him whole. He crouched on the floor next to the couch, his head in his arms and couldn't help the tears that rushed down his face—not caring how he looked.

Nothing but her name fell from his lips.

All the guilt.

The guilt

The stupid deserving guilt.

He hated it.

There was no denying it though. He had done the irredeemable. The absolute low of lows.

How would he ever forgive himself….

He wouldn't...

He couldn't.

How could he do this to her.

She was the one he wanted to be with for the rest of his life. They had been through thick and thin and he ruined it all with one mistake.

One mista— a hand touched his shoulder. He knew whose hand it belonged to.

"I'm so sorry, Percy." Katie's sad voice said behind him.

He looked up to look her in the eye, "You're not the one who should be sorry, Katie. This is all on me."

"No, Percy. We can get through this. Together, or not."

He got up from his crouched position and stood in front of her, "Hey, no. Don't think that. This is all my fault. I would never leave you to this alone, even if this should never have happened."

Katie gave him a silent nod, "Thank you, Percy. You don't know how much this means to me, truly."

"Katie. If you don't mind. I need some time to— gather myself together."

"Of course." She touched him one last time on the shoulder, then she went over to her purse, picked it up then left his place.

Percy's guilt rushed ten times strong.

He had thought the night after that he could tell Annabeth about the mistake he made drunk and make it right by her. But now that a baby was involved.

It was over.

The words bit into him like knives.

He was going to be a parent with the wrong woman.

Percy bit his lips, sinking down to the cushions of the couch, "How did it end up like this?" he said to himself.

His fist slammed into the glass of a mirror hanging on a wall over and over, splitting his knuckles and making blood seep down his arm. He needed pain that would bring him relief from the inner turmoil now invading his senses.

But nothing helped.

He didn't know if anything could.

~o00o~

Percy had looked so pained. But Katie knew she couldn't have done anything else.

This was going to be good for him too and his dying relationship with Annabeth.

He could move on in raising their baby together with time.

Things were going according to plan.

But, Katie still couldn't get the image of his tears out of her head.

Solace could never know.

It was Percy who was the child's father.

It would always be Percy.

She kept telling herself that.

And she would forever, until she would believe it herself.

Because that's what she would do for the life she had planned.

For her baby.

To the future, Katie.

You can do this.

~o00o~

Percy sat at the table near the window. His starbucks coffee in hand. He had her order too, placed right next to his out of habit. It wasn't a waste, there was always a homeless person nearby who loved a free cup of really strong coffee.

But right now, he just liked having her order too whenever he ordered his.

Percy let out a tired breath and looked out of the window. It was pretty early in the morning. The sun was just about to rise. And he had a lot on his mind.

His pocket was buzzing. His fingers fished out his phone. His eyes moved to the screen and widened.

It was Annabeth. The caller ID had a picutre of her. She was smiling at the camera, winking at him.

Oh God.

He slowly placed his finger over the green pick up icon and swiped to the right. Then he raised the cell to his ear.

"Hey." He said.

He heard her smile throuh the phone, "Hey, stranger- What are you doing? I just got back to my flat."

His chest felt like it was being stabbed over and over, hearing the lovely lull of her voice.

"I'm having my morning coffee." He cleared his throat, "How was work?"

"Oh, it's been pretty crazy here. I swear every patient is treated like royalty. I told you about that one lady patient I had, right? My God. It's been great though. I'm learning a ton from the English."

She said the last line in a Brit accent.

He brought himself to laugh softly, "You sound like one of them already."

"Mmm. Yeah, I'm still learning. So— how's my babe doing? You're doing okay?"

"Yeah, everything's good. Same old."

No everything was bad. Really bad.

"Good. Well, I just called to hear your voice. I haven't called in a while."

"I missed your voice too." He clipped his voice off— having almost lost it.

".. Percy, you okay?"

Only she would be able to catch something was off about him.

"Uh," He clenched his teeth, trying to calm his voice down again, "Yeah, I just choked on my coffee a bit."

"Oh," Her laugh soaked through his entire being, threatening to drown him, "Be careful, Seaweed Balls."

"Yeah, I will."

"You sound tired. I'll call you later tonight, Percy, okay?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Okay. I really wish I was there with you right now."

"Me too, Annabeth. … You have no idea."

He hung up and let out a heaving breath. He pressed the palm of his hand to his chest. What was he going to do? How was he supposed to tell her?

He didn't want to break her heart.

But, he had only ever been honest with her, ever since he met her.

So, what in the world was he supposed to do?

~o00o~

"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital if it hurts so much."

"No, I don't want to." Nico said, whining with his palm pressed against his forehead.

Thalia rolled her eyes. Seriously, sometimes, he could really act like a three year old.

She pulled on his arm, "Come on, buddy, let's go."

thirty minutes later…

Thalia sat with her boyfriend in the waiting room. He was groaning, his hand to his head.

She shook her head at him with an amused smirk on her face then looked to her phone.

She checked all her messages then looked up. A familiar face caught her eye.

She nudged Nico, "Hey, isn't that Katie?"

"Katie?" He looked up for a second, moving his hand away from his head, "Oh, yeah. Percy's friend."

"We should say hi." Thalia was about to get up and walk over there when an even more familiar face appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, it's Percy." Nico said beside her.

Thalia's smile fell from her lips, "Why is Percy going with her to the hospital?"

Nico groaned again, "I don't know, don't ask me."

Thalia's brows furrowed. Her eyes narrowed as she watched her cousin and the brunette beside him. Percy didn't take a seat, he stood there, arms crossed, brooding expression.

Something was going on here.

She started toward them then froze seeing Katie brush her hand over her stomach involuntarily—the brunette's eyes were watching Percy earnestly.

"What?" Thalia said, making eye contact with a shocked Percy.

"Thalia." the words were almost inaudible coming from his lips.

He started toward her, "Why are you—?"

"Why are you two here together?" She asked ignoring his question.

"Thalia—"

"Answer the question, Percy." She glared him down.

"I—" He looked so defeated, Thalia almost felt sorry for asking, but she held her glare.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I can't." His head hung low.

Thalia took a seat in front of Katie, "Why don't you tell me what's going on then, Katie?"

"…I'm pregnant.— with Percy's baby. "

~o00o~

Thalia kept her eyes trained on him, "Does Annabeth know?"

He looked absolutely miserable.

He shook his head, "I haven't been able to tell her yet."

"How long has it been since you've known?"

"… Two weeks." His voice was low and unhurried, like he knew what was going to happen next.

Thalia grabbed the front of his shirt pulling at it roughly, making some patients gasp, but Percy let her do it, "Percy! That's not fair to her and you know it. You better tell her the truth soon, you owe her that much. "

"I can't." His voice was breaking, and Thalia let go of him, "I don't want to hurt her. I just can't. I thought I would never be capable of hurting her again like she was by him. But, this is by far the worse thing I could do to her and I…. just can't."

Thalia simply stayed silent at that. She knew how he was feeling. Percy was just a guy who made a mistake. And he was good guy at that. And he was her cousin

but— she was furious.

"Annabeth is my best friend. If you don't tell her, I will."

And with that she turned, her eyes catching the brown ones of the brunette sitting behind Percy.

Katie immediately looked away from Thalia's eyes, conflict and guilt clouding her eyes.

Thalia had a feeling in that moment that Katie knew more than she let on, but she let it go. There was going to be major shit to go down in the future and she needed to be there for her best friend when it did.

God, how did all this happen?

~o00o~

After the hospital encounter, Percy anticipated word to spread like mad, but surprisingly Thalia kept her mouth shut.

She was giving him time to tell her. Tell Annabeth.

Tell her.

Tell her everything.

He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged at it.

This may be the hardest thing he may ever have to do. But, he needed to. Thalia was right. He may not want to hurt her, but it was unfair to her for keeping his mistake a secret.

He owed her.

A lot.

He would do anything to keep her.

But he knew. The chances of her staying with him after this were an absoulte zero. He was having a kid for heaven's sakes. He was going to be a father.

The mother was somebody else.

After this, it was going to be over.

Forever.

The girl of his dreams. The one girl he had wanted to be with for the rest of his life.

The girl he was ready to kill a man for—and would be ready to do over and over again just to keep her safe.

The girl who made him alive. Who brought him out of a coma just with her being beside him.

Gone.

With one phone call.

He could almost feel the memory of her stroking his hair disappearing. The memory of her kissing him whenever he did something sweet for her.

The memory of her rubbing the inside of his palm and saying she loved him.

Disappearing..

He reached his hand over to his cell lying on the coffee table in front of him. He brought it over to him, held tight within the palm of his hand.

His eyes roved over the contact list then his finger tapped the favorites section. He then tapped the first contact listed there. Her smiling face popped up in the profile picture at the left corner of the screen. His thumb hovered over the cursed green phone icon.

He let out a defeated breath then pressed and swiped to the right, then bringing the phone slowly to his ear.

~o00o~

Her voice almost brought tears to his eyes immediately.

"Oh, Percy. I have a ten minute break then I have to go back in. What's up?"

"Nothing much."

"What's wrong? You sound like a dead puppy." He heard her smile at that.

"I might as well be. I miss you like crazy."

"Well, hey. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't been sleeping well recently, thinking about how much I miss you every single night."

"That doesn't make me feel better. You work too hard, Annabeth. You should sleep more."

"Okay, I will, Mr. I-get-home-at-two-in-the-morning."

He couldn't help but break into a small smile, "Well, I hate to be taking up all your break time."

"Are you kidding? Listening to your voice, Percy, is relaxing enough for me."

Shit, why did she have to go and say those sorts of things.

"Annabeth, I…need to tell you something." He started to say, before she interrupted him.

"Okay, Perce. I need to handle something right now. It's an emergency. I'll call you later and you can tell me whatever it is you need to tell me then, okay? Love you." She hung up, before he could say it back.

"… I love you too." He said, even though she couldn't hear him anymore.

He tossed the phone beside him then rubbed his split knuckles.

No other pain would be enough.

~o00o~

The phone was ringing.

Thalia picked up her phone and her eyes widened seeing the caller ID.

It was Annabeth. Did Percy finally tell her?

She pressed the green icon.

"Hello?" she said hesitantly.

"Thals! I'm coming back!"

"What?"

"The hospital gave me an early slip to go back home. I'm coming back, Thalia. My year's over. And I was thinking of surprising Percy again."

Oh Dear God.

"Wow, that's great Annabeth. I can't wait to see you again."

She tried to sound excited, but everything was dragging her down. Percy didn't tell her yet.

"I'm scheduled to leave tomorrow. I'll get there around four in the morning, so, you don't need to come pick me up."

Thalia felt a wrenching feeling in her gut.

She couldn't just keep this from her best friend. IT felt wrong. She needed to say something.

Before heart breaks become impossible to move on from.

Sorry Percy.

"Annabeth...wait."

"Yeah?"

Thalia let out a breath, "I need to tell you something."

"Okay?" Annabeth laughed a bit, "You're acting weird, Thals. You okay?"

"It's about Percy."

"Percy? What about him?"

"He's done something bad. I didn't want to be the one to tell you this at all, but if the roles were switched I would want you to tell me too."

"Thalia, you're scaring me. What happened?" The tone of her friend's voice was changed and she hated what she had to say next.

Thalia took another deep breath and told Annabeth what she knew.