A/N: So this is the last chapter! I'm sorry it took so long. I've never finished a multi-chapter story before, so I'm pretty excited.

Thanks SOOOO much to WiseSeaweed17, Dj, daughterofchaos4, BabaLooWho, and daughterofposeidon950 for commenting, and thank you to everyone who followed and favorited.

Annabeth was starting to wonder if motion sickness was a metaphor for her life.

Her job was going as swimmingly as ever. Her father was still lying in a bed, so terribly, unbearably sick. And now here she was, sitting in a plane, practically doubled over from nausea and desperately wishing for the flight to end.

And there wasn't even any turbulence. Just her luck.

Just as she was pondering whether to ask for a ginger ale, she heard a voice coming from the back of the plane. "Does anyone have anything to stop dizziness?"

This time, Annabeth knew the voice the first time she heard it. "Percy? Is that you?"

It was, as she soon saw. Percy walked up the aisle, stumbling a bit until he reached her seat.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" he asked. Annabeth nodded.

She still felt nauseous, but she was happy now, too. She hadn't seen Percy in what, a month? It felt like it had been longer.

"It's nice to see you!" He said, dropping into the empty seat next to her.

Annabeth smiled. She had missed him. "How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty well!" Percy began drumming his fingers on the armrest. "I'm going to see Estelle in The Little Mermaid, it's her last play, and- oh my gosh. I totally forgot. Is your father okay?"

Annabeth was grimacing now. "He's… He's not great. Not better than before, at least. Things are complicated."

"I'm really sorry," Percy said. They were both quiet for a while.

"So, what were you saying about your sister?" Annabeth completely changed the topic. Everyone had wanted to talk about her father lately, and she was just so, so tired.

"She's in The Little Mermaid!" Percy smiled a little. "It's her last play of the summer. She's playing Flounder."

"Who's Flounder?"

"The fish," Percy answered. "I'm especially excited about this one, seeing as it's about marine biology and all."

"I don't really remember The Little Mermaid being about science." Annabeth teased. They both laughed, leaning into each other a bit.

"This is the play she's happiest about. She loved it as a little kid." Percy continued talking, trying to ignore the flutter he felt when they touched. "And my mother likes this one too. Especially since there's no gambling or death of a parental figure."

"It's weird when you think about it. So many different children's movies are so dark." Annabeth paused, thinking. "I remember watching Willy Wonka and being totally freaked out."

"I saw Home Alone as a kid, and I was terrified for a full week. It's way darker than it looks." Percy shuddered. "My father actually had to…" He stopped talking.

Annabeth could practically see him thinking, though she couldn't read his emotions. He began to speak not long after.

"I'm sorry. It's pretty selfish to be talking about my father while yours is sick. He was just an asshole. He left my mother when I was seven. It kind of traumatized me... Sorry. I'm such an idiot-"

"You're… don't say that. You're not." Annabeth looked straight at him. His eyes looked funny, almost teary. That shocked her. Percy seemed like the type of person who was much too happy to ever cry.

"I don't really mess around." Annabeth continued. "When I'm talking, I mean. If you were an idiot, I would have told you so a long time ago."

"Sorry. Again. I don't really know anything about your experience. I guess we can't really compare."

"Yeah. I mean, trauma is trauma. Different kinds are, well… different." Annabeth paused. "Why do we always end up talking about sad things?" she wondered out loud.

"You're right," Percy said, and she loved him for it. "Let's talk about something happy."

"Like what?"

"Umm… unicorns. Unicorns are happy, right?"

"I've always been more of an owl person."

"How is that possible?" Percy tilted his head in mock confusion. "Penguins are by far the better bird."

Annabeth giggled, poking him gently. "How are penguins better than owls?"

"Well, they always look like they could go to a fancy party-" Percy stifled a laugh- "And then they-" They were clutching each other laughing, the ridiculousness of their conversation settling in.

They were still laughing when a ringing noise came from Annabeth's backpack. She unzipped it and took her phone out, deliberating whether to take the call.

"There's hardly anyone else on the plane." Percy proposed, shrugging. Annabeth looked around. It was true, she could only see about four other people. So she put the phone to her ear, leaning into her seat to muffle the sound.

Percy couldn't hear the call. Nor could he see Annabeth's face. But when she hung up and slipped the phone back into her bag, she was the happiest he had ever seen her.

"It's- it's my father." Annabeth stuttered out. "He's moving up on the treatment waitlist- he'll start chemo next week." She was obviously trying to keep her composure, and failing. "This is fantastic!" She looked at Percy, who was smiling, even bouncing in his seat a little.

Leaning over the armrest, Annabeth reached out to hug him. And then they hugged, and it dawned on Annabeth what had happened. Or what had been happening.

When she looked at Percy, she didn't see the stranger she had met on a plane, or the stranger who would never contact her back. Instead, here he was, a person she was talking to. A person who understood her and listened to her and offered to help her. A person who was so truly wonderful and like no one she had met before.

This beautiful person who asked to kiss her, and she said yes.