This has nothing to do with the story but does anyone else like the LeoxReyna pairing? I've been reading a couple fics with that pairing, and while I don't exactly ship the couple, I find their dynamic very intriguing. Still team caleo tho…

Again, that has nothing to do with the story lol

R&R

I do not own most of the characters, nor most of the plot. I merely adapted it.

CHAPTER 19

"So," her father looked at her curiously, "this had nothing to do with the reason you and Dr. Castellan aren't talking anymore? He wasn't scared off by Drew or Lacy's antics, was he?"

"No," Annabeth replied adamantly, "That has nothing to do with it, I- "

She wanted to believe that it had nothing to do with it. That she was genuinely concerned about the family's reputation for the family's sake, not because she cared about outside opinions. Certainly not because some guy had ill views on her family, enough to make him believe that any union with them was a mistake. This is what Annabeth told herself over and over again, until she believed it completely… mostly.

Mr. Chase let go of her hand, and leaned back in his chair, "Whatever you say, my dear."

….

About 4 months later…

The winter months went by somewhat quickly, as Annabeth and Piper both settled into rather monotonous routines. They're schedules consisted mostly of work, sleep, work, some family time, and more work. Annabeth had finished all of her designs for Zoe's Community Center a while ago, and the contractor had begun the construction phase just a couple months ago. She had thrown herself into her work now, as she found it to be the only thing capable of distracting her fully, and Piper had followed suit with writing her articles for the magazine.

If you didn't know Piper as well as Annabeth did, you would think that she had gotten completely over Jason Grace, and had moved on to better things… if such things existed. She seemed to be happy, content, satisfied, whatever you want to call it, and she had even gone on a couple dates with a few random guys, just to prove how she was truly over Jason.

But Annabeth knew Piper better than anyone, including Piper, and she could tell that her sister was still not completely over the blonde-haired man. She knew this, because, despite the few dates Piper did go on, none of them were ever second dates. She also knew that Piper had never thrown away that baby picture of Jason that he had given her after Piper practically died when she saw it in his house. The brunette still kept it in a shoe box in her closet, even after she had told Annabeth she was going to throw it away at some point.

Annabeth also knew because, though Piper did smile, and laugh, and giggle at random things, it wasn't the same. Her sister, who had always been known as having the brightest smile, and the friendliest laugh, had lost that gleam in her eye, and subsequently, her smile was dimmer, and her laughs less frequent. Piper hotly denies this, because she was nothing if she was not a strong girl who was not going to get torn up over a guy she had never even officially dated. But alas, despite her sister's stubborn insistence, Annabeth knows that it takes a while to truly get over some heartbreaks, no matter how strong you are.

They had not heard anything regarding either Jason Grace, or Perseus Jackson, for months, not since Annabeth's return from Long Island. They spoke little of either man, if at all, and spent their nights making fun of cheesy rom-coms and period dramas.

As for Dr. Castellan, they never saw much of him either after Drew's party. He would hang out with Drew and Lacy on occasion, usually tagging along with his cousins, Travis and Connor, but both of the elder sisters made sure to steer clear of the Chase house when that happened. But ever since Drew had left for the cruise along with Travis and Connor, Luke had stopped paying visits to the family.

Drew had been gone for about two months on her world cruise now, and was set to return from her vacation this weekend. During her absence, the house had been noticeably quieter. Lacy was constantly in a sour mood, as she was eternally upset that she had not been invited, and thus, felt left out. Mary was as philosophical as ever, and Mr. Chase was content to busy himself with work, and reading in his office, enjoying the serenity that came with the lack of his youngest stepdaughter.

Aphrodite was the only threat to the calmness of the house, as she found it fit to complain constantly about missing her youngest daughter, and about the lack of male attention her two eldest were receiving. Most everyone found that if you just ignored her, she would give it up after a while.

As the winter days had gone by, and the winds shifted, and the temperature began to slowly rise, Annabeth found that though she was able to distract herself most of the time with work and meaningless diversions, she still thought about a certain dark-haired man a lot. Not in a sense that she desired to see him, or that she even felt something for him; that was definitely not the case. It was more like, she wished she knew how he felt.

Annabeth was convinced that Mr. Jackson hated her, there could be no other possibility. What man in his right mind wouldn't hate her? After seeing her grow closer to the man he hated most, after saying what she said to him, and after ultimately rejecting him; there was no way Perseus Jackson didn't feel anything but animosity towards Annabeth. And for some reason, that bothered her.

A little more than four months ago, Annabeth couldn't have cared less if Mr. Jackson hated her, since she assumed he already felt that way, that is, up until he asked her out. But now, knowing that he truly did hate her for sure, it was different. It didn't bother Annabeth a whole lot, but just enough for her to notice, and to be annoyed by it. When she wasn't doing anything, and her mind was allowed to wander, it somehow always drifted to that particular fact.

Perseus Jackson despises you, and you deserve it. Whatever feelings he may have had for you, they're long gone… not that it matters, because you don't care for him at all… right?

…..

Annabeth flung another pair of mismatched socks into her suitcase, and with a breath of relief, zipped it up, and pulled it off her bed, lugging it into the living room. Piper smiled up at her from the couch, and placed her bowl of popcorn off to the side.

"When are Malcolm and Claire getting here?"

Annabeth was searching under the chairs and couch for her phone charger, as she replied, "In about an hour." She finally spotted her charger, and pulled it from its hiding spot.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay, Piper?" The blonde sister asked as she placed the charger in her purse, "I don't want to leave you here all by your lonesome for a whole weekend."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Yes, mother, I'll be fine. You go have fun! I know you've been wanting to go to the beach ever since it started getting warmer."

Annabeth just shrugged, "What can I say? I need to work on my tan."

"I still can't believe that after all these years, you've never been to Montauk Beach."

"I've never been a big beach person; you know that Piper."

Her sister snorted, "Pfft, then why are you going?"

"Do you really think I would miss out on an opportunity to hang out with Malcolm and Claire for a whole weekend?"

"You make a fair point," Piper got up from the couch, and made her way into the kitchen, "Consider yourself lucky; while you're on the beach soaking up the sun, I'll have to pick up Drew from LaGuardia."

Annabeth winced in pity for her sister, "Impeccable timing on my cousin's part to be sure."

Piper returned from the kitchen with a glass of wine in hand, "Remind me again what your plan is for the weekend?"

"Driving up tonight to the lodge in Montauk, then on Friday morning, I think we were going to visit the beach, and then spend most of the afternoon touring the Hamptons. There are a lot of nature parks on Montauk as well, so I think we're going to visit some of those on Saturday and Sunday."

"Beach the rest of the time?"

Annabeth nodded, as she stacked her suitcase, sleeping bag, and other random belongings all together in a bit pile.

"Well, in that case," Piper stood up and jerked the suitcase away from Annabeth, "I have to approve whatever bikini you're taking."

…..

The lodge wasn't anything super fancy, merely a two-story, beach-house looking, structure. But there was more than enough room for three people, and Annabeth chose to have one of the upstairs bedrooms, leaving the downstairs master bedroom for Malcolm and Claire. As soon as she unpacked her suitcase, she ran down the stairs, out the backdoor, and down to the beach. The smell of saltwater hit her like a tidal wave, as she dipped her toes in the retreating surf.

Like she had told her sister, Annabeth wasn't really a big 'beach' person, but she still enjoyed it, and it had been ages since she had been to any beach of any kind. It was getting dark though, and she had already made Malcolm and Claire promise that they would get up early with her tomorrow to watch the sunrise. The real vacation would begin in the morning.

As she made her way back into the lodge, she found Malcolm attempting to help Claire prepare dinner, emphasis on attempting.

"Malcolm, honey," Claire said as her husband leaned against the counter, "You're burning the lasagna."

They thought they were lucky that no fire alarms inside the house went off, with how much smoke billowed out of the oven, until they discovered that there were no fire alarms inside the house.

"That's gotta be against some code or something," Malcolm noted.

"So that's why this lodge was so cheap."

As the three of them sat around the dining table eating slightly burnt lasagna, they discussed their plans for tomorrow.

"I should like to visit East Hampton in particular," Malcolm said between mouthfuls of food, "The estates there are incredible. You'd appreciate them particularly, Annabeth."

Annabeth nodded her approval, as she also scarfed down the hearty meal.

Claire took a small sip of her water, before placing it back down on the table. "I do remember there were some fantastic houses back when I first came to visit your family, Malcolm."

"If I do recall," her husband said slowly, "The Callisto estate is in East Hampton…"

Annabeth stopped eating, and let her fork drop to her plate, as she stared at her cousin.

"I'm just saying," Malcolm stated while shrugging his shoulders, "I've heard it is a grand house, and I should very much like to see it."

"That's the place Dr. Castellan was talking about, correct?" Claire chimed in, "Isn't it owned by that man you were telling me about once, Annabeth? The one you hated so much."

"Perthesus Yackthon," Malcolm said, his mouth full of lasagna. His wife smacked him on the shoulder.

Once he had finished swallowing his food, Malcolm wiped his mouth with a napkin, and turned towards his cousin.

"How do you feel, Annabeth, about visiting the Callisto estate?"

The blonde girl shook her head in disapproval. "The last thing I want to do is to show up to Mr. Jackson's house, and have him give me a tour of the place."

Malcolm actually laughed at her words. "Nonsense, cous, he won't even be there."

Annabeth stared at him with confusion and uncertainty. "How could you possibly know that? And how do we know they even let people tour the place?"

"I have a friend from back in high school who works the grounds for several of the estates in East Hampton. He said that Mr. Jackson is not expected back home until Saturday. As for the tours, technically, they don't give official tours, but he said if you go up and ask the housekeeper, she'll give you one anyways. Apparently, she's an extremely nice lady."

Annabeth still didn't like it, and she told them as much, saying that it would still make her uncomfortable, especially considering her tense relationship with the man who owns the place. Malcolm and Claire gave up arguing eventually; they cleared the table, and prepared to go to bed.

"Maybe sleep on it a little," Malcolm told Annabeth as she headed for the stairs, "And let us know if you change your mind."

…..

She didn't change her mind, to the disappointment of Malcolm and Claire.

The next morning, after watching the sunrise, and then eating a hearty breakfast, the three vacationers made preparations to spend the midmorning day at the beach. Annabeth went up into her room, and changed into her swimsuit, a dark blue bikini that Piper had forced her to bring, because that girl would die before she let Annabeth make fashion choices without her. Annabeth then pulled on a pair of ripped, whitewash jean shorts also, and grabbed her beach towel, before joining her cousins downstairs.

The sand was shimmering, and the surf was just the perfect temperature, not cold, but cool enough to be soothing and relaxing. The water was a beautiful blue color, with a soft green hue to it, that made it look like rippling glass. They spent the morning wandering the beach, taking dips in the waves, collecting seashells, and even had a sandcastle-building competition. Annabeth won obviously.

It wasn't long before lunchtime came around, and the trio made their way back up to the lodge. Annabeth's hair was windswept and wild, but she didn't care, because for the first time in a long time, she felt truly relaxed, and carefree. Maybe she could become a beach person after all.

After lunch, Malcolm and Claire went to go change into some different clothes for their visit to East Hampton, but Annabeth decided to just throw on a simple, crochet blouse that hid her bikini top easily, and allowed for her jean shorts to barely peak out. She didn't bother fixing her hair, instead she just threw it into a messy bun, allowing a few loose strands to dangle around her face. Now she looked like a true beach bum.

…...

East Hampton was a delightful place in Annabeth's mind, as they explored the town, and visited fancy estate after fancy estate. They never actually got to tour the inside of any of the houses, but she didn't mind; just getting to appreciate the extraordinary architecture of some of these houses was rewarding enough. Malcolm drove around pointing out random spots that he recognized, which as a lot surprisingly, for someone who grew up down the road in Southampton.

It seemed they had explored just about all East Hampton had to offer, when Malcolm suddenly pulled onto a tiny road that anyone who didn't know what they were doing could have easily missed.

"Um, Malcolm," his wife said unsurely, "What are you doing?"

Her husband pulled over onto the side of the road, and stopped the car. He put it in park, and then turned to look at his cousin in the back seat.

"Do you know what's just up this road, Annabeth?"

The blonde girl gave him a confused shake of her head.

"The Callisto Estate," he said, gesturing his chin towards the gravel path that wound up a faint hill.

Annabeth's confused look turned into a glare. "You can't be serious?"

Malcolm raised his hands in the universal woah, calm down sign. "Look, Annabeth, I know you don't want to see Mr. Jackson, but as I said last night, I've been told on good authority, that he is not going to be back until tomorrow. It's like the universe is telling us we should visit."

He made a good point, Annabeth had to admit, but she was still uncertain about the whole thing.

"Haven't we seen enough houses?" Annabeth complained, "I mean, I appreciate a beautiful house more than anyone really, but we've seen so many today already. What difference is this one going to make?"

"This is not just another house, Annabeth," Claire spoke up, "I've done some research, and from what I've seen, the Callisto is probably the finest house in all the northeast United States."

"Plus, we would actually get to see the inside," Malcolm added.

"And I've heard the park that makes up the estate is absolutely gorgeous." It seemed Claire and Malcolm were on a roll.

They both turned to look at Annabeth with pleading eyes.

"Fine," She huffed, "Let's go see the Callisto estate."

I'm sure you can probably guess what next chapter's gonna be like… I would be lying if I said that next chapter is not the chapter I have anticipated the most. It's probably gonna be long, and full of the good stuff. #twss

I think the hardest part for me will be not making it too long, because I don't want to end having to split it into two chapters if I can help it. I don't think I'll have to, but it's a definite possibility. We'll have to see…