It will be evident that I've never had a broken bone, but I'm writing a fictional story so idgaf.

If I lapse into 2nd person or past tense- no I didn't. Shit is hard for me to keep straight when I have multiple stories going, but I'm trying ok? At least I'm updating again, I guess. Let me know what y'all think though? These crowds be hard to please 'round here lately.

Chapter 9

At some point I began to be vaguely aware of the light through the windows. Attempting to cling to my sleep, I tried to cover my face with my blankets. The immediate sharp pain that came with the movement was enough to rob me of any chance of falling back asleep.

The fogginess of the previous night proving too much to try to wade through in the moment. I reach my good hand over to turn off my fan. Peeling the covers off, I go to move my legs to the side and wince.

I look up to the bathroom, determined to hobble my way there. I look down to my throbbing knee, swollen and purple. I touch it gingerly, suddenly aware that my hand was in a cast. I groan, the fall flashing before my eyes. I take a deep breath and stand up, gritting my teeth as I start my walk.

When I get to the bathroom I turn on the light, appalled by the absolute mess that is my hair and face. "What the hell."

I sat there staring for a second, contemplating how to fix myself. I just shook my head, heading to the toilet.

When I get back to the sink, I wipe my face with a wet towel, effectively correcting some of the smeared makeup. I try to get my hair into a bun or something, but I can't do much one handed. I let out a loud groan of frustration.

There was a knock on my bedroom door, immediately followed by a concerned Percy, "Annabeth? You ok?"

"Percy? What are you doing up here?" I look at myself in the mirror, slightly horrified that this is what I look like at this moment if he were to see me.

"Can I come in?"

"I'd rather you not..I'm a mess." I hate how it sounds coming out of my mouth- small and insecure.

"I have your meds. Oh, and a fresh water. Oh, and I made breakfast up here so that I wouldn't miss you waking up. In case you woke up and needed something."

I internally groan at how sweet it all was, and make eye contact with myself in the mirror. "Actually," I throw my head back in hesitation, "I could use your help…I can't get my hair up." The door cracks open. "But I don't want you to say anything about my disheveled state."

Percy walks in, and the smell of coffee and bacon fills into the room. He sees me and his eyes light up. His hair was disheveled, and he was still in his PJ's.

He walks slowly towards me, "I don't know what you're talking about, you're still gorgeous." That goofy smile melts my heart.

I roll my eyes, "Whatever."

He holds out the handful of meds, and I take it with my good hand. I popped them into my mouth, and then grabbed the cup of water he held out with his other hand. I swallowed the mouthful, and then finished the rest of the glass.

He watched me, the same stupid grin all over his face. "How are you feeling?" He asks quietly.

I look at him with a curled lip, "I feel like shit, and I don't remember much." I held up my hurt hand, "Did I at least get to see the x-ray?"

I watch as his smile falters at my words, "You don't remember any of it?" He looked a little crestfallen for a split second before answering my question, "Oh, and check your email, you had them send you a copy of it! The doctor said it was a clean break, considering."

I hobble to my bed, unplugging my phone, looking through the new mail, and finding one that said X-rays. I open it and zoom in. There was no denying the obvious break. "I can't argue with that. It's definitely broken." I grumble.

Percy snickers, "That's what you said last night, too. It was basically your last coherent thought before the drugs set in." He looks down, "What do you remember from last night?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose, "Honestly, I forgot I even hurt myself until I tried to do anything this morning. I can't even put my hair up." It sounds pitiful, even to me.

I walk back to the mirror, and Percy follows closely. I pout to the mirror and he chuckles, "Let me help you."

Percy walks behind me looking at me in the mirror from over my shoulder. His expression is soft, and I watch him brush the hair off one side of my neck to the other. The action sent tingles in a million different places, and I feel my breath quicken, memories flashing

He carefully gathers my hair, brushing his fingers through it in an attempt to tame it as he pulls it up into a ponytail. He holds it with one hand and then looks back to the mirror, "Is this ok?" he asks, "I haven't done a grown person's hair before, but I used to help my little cousins a lot when they'd stay with us."

Our eyes meet in the reflection, and he notices the face I'm making, "What?" he frowns, taking it as a face of displeasure, "I can try again, I'm just rusty" He moves to stand behind me again.

"Percy," I say, making him pause, "The hair is perfect, thank you." I hold my hair tie up for him to take.

He looks at it for a moment and then looks at me again, caution on his features. He takes the tie and starts the process of securing the ponytail, smiling to himself when he's done. He takes a step back, making room for me to turn to him.

My breathing was practically labored at this point, my heart racing as I spin around.

He looks at me, eyebrows raised, leaning one ear down towards me, "Earth to Annabeth. What's wrong?"

I look at him, swallowing forcefully, "I just remembered." I glance away awkwardly.

He stands back straight, "Just remembered the-?"

He watches me closely. I meet his eye, only to quickly glance down to his lips and back up. There's no way he missed the movement.

"Ah, that." He seems uncharacteristically nervous.

"Percy, I'm sorry. I was drugged and didn't mean to-" He cut me off.

"I'm not." I shy away from his words as he continues, "I'm not sorry. I'm glad. I just wish you hadn't been so out of it that you couldn't even remember."

I shift my weight from one foot to the other, only after does itt register that my leg can't handle the movement.

Percy grabs my arms, catching me before my knee could even fully buckle. I was too busy wincing in pain to realise that he was holding me until I looked up to his sea green eyes.

I can feel his breath on my face, he was so close.

He furrows his brow, "Are you awake?"

I give him a questioning look, "What? Yes?"

His resolve visibly solidifies, "Good. I just wanted to make sure you would remember it this time."

With that, he kisses me. Whatever nervous tension we had had in the moments prior was immediately gone. All I could feel was him.

I felt myself smiling into him. It wasn't anything heavy, just a sweet kiss. I could feel the charge of emotion that it held though.

He cups my cheek with one hand, the other still holding me up. Slowly he broke away, just far enough to look into my eyes. His grin was big enough for the both of us.

"That," he said with a dramatic pause, "will never get old." His thumb rubs my cheekbone slightly.

I feel my eyes roll involuntarily, "Took you long enough, you freaking tease." My smile never falters.

He flashes me an open mouth look of mock hurt, "Look who's talking."

I reach up to his neck, pulling him into another kiss that he gladly accepts.

I try to put my other arm up around him. Forgetting it's broken, I wince into the kiss.

He realizes what happened, "Mmmph," he grunts before breaking away again, "Your sling. You have to have your arm in a sling."

I glare at him, "Seriously?"

He tilts his head from side to side, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm bad with timing." He smiles at me, briefly pecking my lips before continuing, "BUT, As much as I would love to continue this in your bathroom, I would much rather continue it on the couch. After you've eaten the breakfast I worked hard on, and with your arm in its sling like I promised to make sure of."

His toothy grin makes me chuckle, "You're insufferable. But I'll allow it, but only because standing is starting to hurt."

At that he frowns, "Let's go then, Morning Breath."

Without even hesitating, I open my mouth and breathe out at him.

His nose crinkles, but his smile just gets bigger. Grabbing my good hand, he turned around dramatically his bed head now obvious. He apparently remembers that I'm temporarily crippled, so he slowly starts walking out in front of me at a snail's pace

I let him drag me slowly for a moment, "Let's get a move on there, Cowlick."

He turns his head and winks at me before walking a little quicker. I feel warmth flood me.

As we make our way to the kitchen, I see Mrs. O'Leary sprawled on the pallet that he had made last night.

Percy lets go of my hand, walking quickly over to the collection of stuff the doctor had apparently given me. He grabs the sling from behind the medicine bottles and walks back to me.

He holds it up as I slide my arm into it before he puts the strap over my head.

When he's done he drops his hands, and I feel my face pout at my misfortune. He pinches his lips between his teeth, trying not to smile, "You're absolutely pitiful. I didn't take you for such a klutz."

I glare at him, "I'm not, but you made me fall."

It was his turn to pout, "I'm so sorry." The actual look of misery on his face as he spoke makes me break out of the glare.

I take a step closer to him, my good hand reaching for his. "Hey," I squeeze the hand in comfort, "I'm just kidding Perce. I blame the socks if anything. You didn't do this."

His lips move to one side, "Still." He looks at me, "I'll take half credit at least. That's why I'm gonna pay half the bill, and I'm going to be your personal assistant with whatever you need. You name it. Hair? Done. Makeup? I'll do my best, or I'll find Thalia."

I laugh, pulling him closer, "You're ridiculous, but sweet. Thank you."

He smiles, leaning down and kissing me again. My eyes are still closed when he pulls away this time.

"Go sit down, I'll make you a plate." He gestures to the couch.

Reluctantly, I agree. On the way I make sure to stop and greet the sleeping puppy.

"How'd her first night go?" I ask as I rub her belly. She barely even stirs long enough to look at me.

"Well, after that first accident, we've been going outside super often, but she slept all night. I half expected a really high energy puppy, but she's just super chill. I can't complain."

I limp over to the couch, watching him after I sit down. "Did you get to ask your mom how she did while we were gonne?"

He just shook his head, lifting the two plates now piled with food, and walks over to where I'm sitting.

Setting the plates down he says, "Coffee?"

I thought for a second, "Yeah, sure. I need something caffeinated. Milk and sugar, please."

He gives me a thumbs up. "You don't have a whole lot of the prescription pain relief meds, just for today basically. Something for the swelling in your knee too, I think? There's some antibiotics as well but you seemed to be skeptical about those when the doctor gave them to you, so I didn't add those this morning."

I give him a small smile that he doesn't see since he's walking away, "Yeah thanks for that by the way, and thank you for being there with me. I don't know why those drugs hit me so hard. I'm glad you were there to hear it all too."

He looks back at me somewhat skeptically, "I'm not 100% confident in it all, but you were pretty worked up about the doctor part. They had to give you something pretty strong so you'd quit arguing with them, so I'm not surprised it's a little fuzzy to you. We weren't making any progress, and you were basically calling the guy incompotant. To the point that they couldn't even get your arm wrapped."

I gave him a sheepish smile, "I'm not the biggest fan of doctors and hospitals."

His eyes got wide, "Shocker," he said sarcastically, "You told them to give you something, and then looked at me and said 'don't let them do anything stupid'. As if I know what's going on in situations like that. You're the smart one here." He smiles at me, and I laugh.

He walks back to the couch, drinks and utensils in his hands. I pull the plate of food onto my lap, and he hands me a fork.

I grab it with my left hand awkwardly. I stare at the metal and frown, "How long did they say before my hand is healed?"

"sis do eigh weks." His mouth is full when he responds.

I groan, "This is going to suck."

He gently bumps into my shoulder in encouragement, still chewing his food. As soon as he swallows he adds, "The sling is only for a few days, just until the swelling goes down. It'll go by super fast, I promise."

I lean my head on his shoulder for a moment and sigh. After a moment, I sit up and start to hack into the fried egg, eventually getting the hang of it before I get to the heavy duty waffle.

We ate in a peaceful silence. When he was done, he put his plate down and he turned on the Weather Channel with a knowing look. I shrugged innocently in response before I froze at the time. It was already almost noon.

"Thalia and Nico are going to be back any minute." There was a hint of panic to my tone.

I put my half eaten plate on the coffee table, and Percy watches me closely.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asks curiously.

I pause in thought, "Well, no..." He gestures for me to elaborate. "There's just a lot of things that have happened since they've been gone, and I haven't mentioned any of it to Thalia since they've been gone."

His face morphs as he realizes this as well, he takes hold of my hand again. "To be fair it's all happened within the last 24 hours." There was a comforting squeeze to my hand.

I relax my shoulders, "Plus, we haven't really even talked about, well, any of this." I held up our hands and waved them.

He grinned, reaching up with his free hand to brush some of the fallen hair in my face behind my ear. "Ok, how about we just start with the basics then. Will you go out with me?" I look at him funny and he laughs, "I want to date you, and I want to do it right. I'm not going to call you my girlfriend until we've at least gone out on an actual date."

I frown, "Jeez, way to be an old-fashioned country boy."

His eyebrows raise expectantly, "Is that a yes? I just think there should be no label until an official date, but kissing is fully on the table." He ends with a shrug.

I look up thoughtfully, "It's a yes, but I think you should put your money where our mouth is." I glance at him, his eyes darken with his smirk.

All of a sudden I'm wrapped in another kiss. This one was a little more heated, less innocent. It took my breath away and made my mind foggy. I didn't even hear the door open.

There was a sudden outburst of two voices overlapping.

"HOLD UP!"

"WHAT?"

We practically jump apart, and I wince as the quick movement tweaks my knee.

When I open my eyes, it's too late to play it off. My face was crimson, and so was Percy's.

Thalia was smirking, and Nico's face was full of surprise. "I think we missed a chapter," he says to her as they make their way to stand in front of us.

"Or two?" Thalia adds as she sees my sling, her face morphs with concern.

"Maybe even three?" Nico says, his hand pointing to the now awake Mrs. O'leary who was lazily making her way over to them.

Just as she gets to the ground, the puppy pauses and looks at Percy. There's hardly any hesitation as he leaps up quickly. "Annabeth will fill you guys in! I'm potty training!" he says loudly as he scoops up the dog before she can squat. Before there's any response, he's out the door and thundering down the steps in avoidance.

"PERCY!" I yell angrily, avoiding the gaze of my best friend.

I make the mistake of glancing at her. Her smug face and electric blue eyes shock me into a nervous laughter, "Surprise?" I say with a guilty smile.