i am so sorry for the lack of updates! i planned on ending the story there, but i can't really remember. i just checked back on it and saw people reviewed almost 4 months ago. due to that, i know that you probably forgot entirely about this–as did i, but i'll be continuing especially since i left on kind of a cliffhanger.

enjoy!

The reverberation of beeping machines absolutely ached his mind. The room smelled sanitized, but the lights were too bright for Percy to open his eyes just yet.

The boy mumbled incoherently, unwillingly to rise or even move from his rooted place upon the bed.

He was in a hospital–that much he knew–and why? Well, the memory was blank but the pain was fresh. An oncoming tide of nerve-busting pain rushed into his forehead as if weeks of pent-up agony broke the floodgates.

Percy groaned and tried to roll over to ease the thumping in his head. He felt like he'd run a marathon with asthma and high blood sugar. What did high blood sugar have to do with it? He didn't know either.

"You're awake." A voice said. For the first time, in his minutes–maybe second of slow pain, he hadn't noticed a figure sitting by his bedside.

Percy recognized the person. Annabeth Chase, the same set of eyes that gravitationally pulled him like the tides of the raging sea, up and then down.

She sounded bored, although her eyes betrayed her act.

"Good observation," Percy retorted.

Annabeth sighed, leaning forwards. "I don't have to be here."

Percy snorted, albeit weakly. He cracked a smile, "Who's fault was it that I fell?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, as if she couldn't believe what he'd just said. "Yours."

The boy attempted a weak laugh. "Mine? Who put the stairs there? Who bought the stairs that were put there?"

"You are insufferable." Annabeth declared. "I cannot believe I'm wasting my precious time nursing you back to health."

"Nursing me?" Percy shot back, "It seems all you've been doing is grumbling about how I stained your clean white floor."

"Oh? That's what you think?"

"That's exactly what I think."

Annabeth shot up, furious. "You know, you're lucky that I stayed here at all."

"So that you could insult me? So that you could tease me?"

"Yes!" Annabeth stormed towards the door and flung it open. She looked back and pointed a finger at Percy. "You––you––infuriating little piece of–" she didn't finish her sentence as she slammed the door behind her.