Hey guys! Be sure to check out the last chapter (the one I posted Saturday), I think some people may have missed that. It's a real game-changer (:

Finally, a chapter in Percy's perspective! Before, I was doing two chapters for Percy, two chapters for Annabeth thing, but I fell off the bandwagon for that so… I'm sorry. Here's the next chapter:

Percy couldn't tell if his heart was beating fast because of the pain meds, or because of a person. Annabeth, being that person quite obviously. He had been thinking about officially asking her out even before the accident, but decided that it was too fast.

Then things changed, and Percy crashed and Annabeth had a panic attack. So obviously, he had to adapt to the situation. Adapt a lot. A slight pain to his head came whenever he thought about swimming, and how this would affect that. He had worked so hard to get where he was now, and because of this whole ordeal, he was left feeling a bit empty.

His heart was full, that was definite, but his mind was empty. His thoughts only spanned two topics, and he was worried he was fading.

Swimming was his only chance, and to be honest, he should have been more careful about options. He should have had a back up plan. He should have put down his phone. There were a lot of things he regretted.

But the one thing he didn't was Annabeth. Sure, he wished everything hadn't happened, he sometimes even pinched himself to make sure this all wasn't a bad dream. But the thing was, if this hadn't happened, sure, he probably would have a nice time at the party with Annabeth, but she'd probably be left feeling overwhelmed, and Percy, because of that, wouldn't have raised the question.

And yes, maybe she was overwhelmed now, but it was for a different reason, a good reason in his mind, and what he hoped, a good reason in hers.

He was still curious about what Drew said to her. Annabeth had brushed it to the side like it wasn't anything big, but Percy could sense that it meant something more to her. That she was worried about something. Well, more like unsure.

Either way, something unsettled her, and although he was here, alone, in this hospital bed, he knew that overall, she was probably feeling more lonely than him. That wasn't to discredit his situation at all- it was just the truth, and he acknowledged that.

He hoped that she was feeling better now. That whatever had happened with Drew was resolved, and she felt better about it.

And most of all, he hoped he was somewhere in her thoughts. Past the notebook, past the books, past the story, past everything. He hoped that he was somewhere among those.

He shifted positions, trying to sleep. It would be a long night, and he could already feel the pain meds wearing off. Hopefully, doctors would come in and replenish them. They kept telling him he was lucky that he had gotten out with just a few broken bones, that the crash could have potentially killed, but Percy didn't feel lucky. The damage had been done, and now, he was officially useless to the swim team. It didn't help that last year he broke his leg too.

Maybe there was some way he could manage this- heal quickly, and be able to swim. Not as fast, of course, but he'd already gotten letters from some colleges. If he told them his situation, and that he'd be able to properly swim next year, maybe they'd sympathize?

Who was he kidding? They were college board members. That was larger than high school, probably the largest competition he'd ever be in. If they could decide between someone injured but good, and someone not injured and less good, they'd pick the non-injured one. That's just how it goes.

He rolled over in the bed once more, and shut his eyes tight, gripping the blanket. His body was too full of tension to think anything positive. He just had to breath in, and breath out, and soon he'd be fine. Soon he'd be asleep, and then he'd wake up in the morning, and then he'd get discharged.

The doctors said he was making good recovery, and told him he could go home early, and obviously head the precautions they had given him. The normal stuff, don't use the affected limbs, no athletics, be careful, stay at home for two days after discharge, and make sure no contact with other objects comes to the areas of injury.

Boring stuff that he would have to follow if he wanted to get better. This was the second time he'd gotten this talk- the first being last year when he had broken his arm. Obviously, this was more serious, and would require lots of physical therapy.

To be honest, Percy had doubt he'd ever recover in his mind. What if it just stayed this way, and he'd never be able to swim competitively again? Or worse, swim again period. That would cause some… disturbances not just physically, but mentally.

Swimming was an outlet, one of the only available ones he had. His emotions fueled his speed, making him go faster and faster. It was his own little secret, but the competitions where he went the fastest, won the most, did the best were when he was overwhelmed with a single emotion.

His train of thought spiraled from bizarre reason, to naive false hope, until he drifted off to sleep.

The sleep he got wasn't good, but it was sleep, and that was what he needed. Through the tossing and turning, and waking up and shifting positions, he eventually drifted off, steady conscience, into a zone of sleep that lasted four hours.

And then of course, he was woken up by the beeping of a machine. As his eyes slowly pulled open, he saw a doctor talking quietly to his mom, who he had assumed arrived early in the morning. Turning to see what the beeping was, he noticed, even more surprisingly, a card that stood on his bed-side table.

He pushed his body up into a comfortable stance, and picked up the card, slowly opening it, and reading the words on the cover.

"Get well soon," It read in bright colored letters. Inside, teammates, friends and peers had signed their names along the card. He turned it over, seeing a little note from his coach, and smiled sadly at the note he had left.

He opened the card back up again, and read through the notes and names signed. It seemed that the card had been passed around the school rapidly, even kids he didn't know had signed it.

He looked in closer, noticing a scribble almost unidentifiable. "Annabeth Chase," It read in small letting, and Percy wondered why the handwriting she used was so different then the one in her Notebook, which was big, bold and readable.

He set the card down on his lap, and looked through the signatures once more, examining the big ones. The biggest, was Leo's, who scrawled his name, though only three letters, across one half of the card. Coming close in second was Drew's, which was bedazzled, and accompanied with a note he quickly disregarded, as it was in no way one of the things he wanted to read right now.

He turned his attention back to Annabeth's, and although it was small and squished, he marveled at how noticeable it seemed to him. Sort of like Annabeth herself.

Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all the support, and hope you enjoyed this chapter. Four more chapters left including the epilogue!