Chapter Eight:

December 21st

Annabeth was gonna kill him if his mom didn't get to him first. It had been a week since he found that strange email on Gabe's computer, but he hadn't said a word to anyone. Percy didn't want to be wrong and create a bigger panic than necessary. But he knew he couldn't just let it go, so Percy had been investigating, as best as he could.

He continued to monitor Gabe's email and keep an eye out for any strange behavior. He hadn't found much, but he did read his stepfather's response to the first email, basically just confirming that he would get the money and the other form of payment, whatever that meant.

With it being winter break, Percy and Annabeth were hanging out more than ever, sometimes with their friends, but more often just the two of them. But after a few attempts, he quickly noticed that she really didn't want to come to his apartment as much anymore. Any time she agreed, she would only ever want to be in his bedroom with the door shut or she'd want to leave not long after arriving. It became an issue, between the two of them, because it meant that they never had a place they could just relax unless Annabeth wanted to sneak Percy into her house whenever her parents were home. The two still refused to accept him as Annabeth's boyfriend and continued to insist that she date Luke. He could tell the issue was weighing heavily on his girlfriend as things kept getting tenser around her apartment, but she still refused to spend too much time at Percy's.

A couple of weeks into winter break, he decided to question her about it. It was one of the rare times where they could meet at Annabeth's house, while both her parents were in long business meetings and her younger brothers, Matthew and Bobby were over at a friend's house.

"Hey Wise Girl, wanna come over to my house for dinner tonight?" He asked as they sat playing a game of Go Fish.

After taking her turn, she quickly looked up at him and said, "Umm, sure. I guess. I mean, only if your mom is okay with it."

It was the answer he wanted to hear, but not the way he wanted to hear it. Percy sent her a quick smile, "She is always okay with it. You know that." He took a deep breath before continuing on, "Annabeth, please tell me the truth."

Her confused eyes shot up from her cards to meet his, "What are you talking about?"

"You don't actually want to come back to my place. You haven't for a while, since before school ended. And… And I need to know why. Please." He pleaded with her.

Annabeth closed her eyes, "Please, Perce, don't ask me that." When he saw the grey of her eyes again, they were covered with a sheen of tears.

He let his cards fall to the ground as he crawled over and swept her into his arms. "Oh god, Annabeth, you're scaring me. Did… Did Gabe do something to you? You can tell me."

She shook her head into his chest and let out a choked laugh, "No, he didn't even really do anything, really. It's honestly pretty stupid. I don't even know why I'm so upset about it."

They sat in silence for a few moments longer before she spoke again.

"A few weeks ago, I was coming out of your bathroom and Gabe was standing there," she took a deep breath, refusing to meet his eyes. "And… h-he made a few weird comments and wouldn't let me out of the bathroom."

Percy's grip on his girlfriend tightened as anger coursed through him. Before he could say anything, she pulled away from him and started cleaning up the forgotten deck of cards.

"See," she said while shaking her head. "I told you. I'm completely overreacting. It's so stupid. Anyway, if we're gonna go over to your place for dinner, we should probably get going. And make sure your mom knows we're coming, okay?"

He watched as she struggled to pack the cards into their box with shaking hands. He reached out and wrapped his around hers, taking the box and closing the cards in himself.

"Wise Girl, stop and listen to me. You're not stupid and you're not overreacting. I can't believe he did that. I just wish you would have told me."

She sighed, "I know, I just didn't know what to say. And I didn't want to create any other issues for you at home. I know things are already really tense. I'm sorry"

He pulled her back towards him and put both hands on her cheeks, "You did nothing wrong." And then he pressed his lips to her.

She returned the kiss with passion, before pushing him down to the floor and straddling him. They laid like that for a couple of minutes, exploring each other and letting all the tension that had built up dissolve. Eventually, Annabeth pulled away, breathless, but smiling. Before he could pull her back, she climbed off, claiming they were going to be late to dinner.

He asked her as they were walking out the door if she was okay with going. She responded with a soft smile, "Yeah. I definitely feel better now that I told you."

Percy felt the pride flowing from his chest with her words, "Good, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

"I know, Seaweed Brain. I know." She said, with a soft kiss on his cheek.

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's a short, but sweet little chapter for you! Not gonna lie, it's kinda a filler because I don't want to jump directly into the next part of the story yet, but I promise the next couple of chapters will be a little more interesting! So I hope you enjoy this one and please leave a review letting me know what you think! And I will update as soon as I can! xoxo

Also a special shout out to TheOneAndOnlyMithun for all of your love for the story! Thank you so much :)