AN:

I hope you guys like it, forgive me for a few grammatical errors I am doing my best. Please follow and mark favorite if you like it.

Characters belong to Rick Riordan, but the plot is mine.

Chapter 6

Percy P.O.V.

A couple of hospital security guards addressed her call

"Please take these 3 out of here, they just keep on pestering us" she ordered

"But Ma'am we were just asking…" Luke tried to reason with her

"Just leave us alo…" her voice was cut out as we got pushed out of the hall

We went to a park nearby after being thrown out. We decided that we will not go in again today. We did not want to anger Mrs. Chase anymore as she was our headmistress too. We would just make more trouble for ourselves.

We picked up some hot dogs from a vendor and went to this park near the hospital.

"This sucks", Thalia said sitting down on a bench.

"Ya but there is nothing we can do right now", Luke replied.

"Is there any way we could make up to her?" I asked them both.

"There must be something that we could do to make her forgive us", I continued.

"Forgive us? What wrong have we done?" Thalia questioned me.

"Still, I don't I blame her. She is going through a tough time. This her daughter we are talking about", I replied.

"He's right", Luke said.

"We have to do something that will convince her that we are on her side", I said.

"Who's looking after Bobby and Mathew?" Luke asked.

"Annabeth looks after the kids when her parents are away", I said.

"A neighbor used to babysit Annabeth when she was younger. But I guess she is in college now", Thalia replied.

"Summer just ended maybe she's still here", Luke added.

"Let's check it out", I replied.

We decided that we will leave for Annabeth's home as soon as we finish the hot dogs. We went over our memories with Annabeth while eating trying to lighten the mood.

When we reached her place, we checked for any sign of her parents. Both of their cars were missing from the garage which was still open. Mrs. Chase must be in a hurry to miss something like that.

We decided to go in the backyard to try and look in the window if it was the same girl Thalia remembered or someone else.

When we entered the yard, we saw that one of the twins was sitting under the tree and was crying.

"Hey bud", Luke called out.

"That's Matthew", Thalia whispered to Luke.

"Matthew it's Luke, Annabeth friend", Luke added.

"I know who you… you are", Matthew replied, he sounded like he has been crying for a while.

Thalia rushed forward and hugged him. Matthew started to cry even harder.

"It's ok... hush now", Thalia said wiping his tears.

"Where is Bobby and who is looking for you guys?" Thalia asked.

"Bobby has locked himself in our room", he said taking in deep breaths.

"Dad is trying to get him out of there", he finished.

"Dad? When did he return?" Luke asked.

"Not long ago, when I called him and told him that Bobby had locked himself in and the sitter wasn't able to get him out", Matthew replied.

We took Matthew inside, while Thalia stayed downstairs with him me and Luke went towards his room. We saw Mr. Chase standing in front of the door trying to convince Bobby to come outside.

"Hey Mr. Chase", Luke called.

"Oh! Hello Luke", he answered visibly surprised seeing us there.

"If you don't mind me asking who let you guys in?" Mr. Chase asked.

"We found Matthew outside crying, so we brought him home", I answered.

"Really!" Mr. Chase replied and then sighed loudly.

"First Bobby now Matthew too. I appreciate you guys helping us out", he said.

"It's the least we could do", Luke replied.

"Where is he right now?" Mr. Chase asked.

"He's in the kitchen with Thalia", I replied.

"She helped him calm down", Luke added.

"I should check on him", Mr. Chase said as he went past us.

"So, should we try talking to him", Luke whispered.

"Not now let's first see what is going on down there", I answered.

We both went down, all of them were still in the kitchen. Mr. Chase was hugging Matthew and Thalia was smiling sadly looking at those two.

Thalia laid out snacks for all of us and put some aside for Bobby as well.

"So, what brings you guys here?" Mr. Chase asked.

"We came here to apologize for causing you trouble earlier today", Thalia answered.

"Oh, that! You have no need to apologize for that. In fact, I should apologize to you guys on Athena's behalf", Mr. Chase said.

"You did nothing wrong there. Athena has been through the ringer. She cares about Annabeth even if she doesn't show it usually", he said sighing.

"She interpreted the scene wrong and vented her distress on you guys. She was sorry when I told what happened there", he finished.

"It's ok Mr. Chase. We get it, after all, she is her mother", Luke replied.

"Is there anything we can do to help you guys", I asked.

"Just please keep praying that my daughter comes back from this", Mr. Chase said.

"That's all we have been doing since last night", Thalia said.

"Percy meant that anything that could lessen your burden", Thalia added.

"Oh! I don't know about that", Mr. Chase replied.

"We could look after the twins while you two are out", Luke added.

"Yes, that's an excellent idea", I added.

"I will see if I can get Bobby to let me in", Thalia said getting up.

"I'll help her", I said getting up too.

We both went upstairs slowly discussing what we could try to lure Bobby out. Thalia and I came up with a few ideas none of which convinced me.

"Bobby open up, see I brought you snacks you must be starving", Thalia said after knocking.

"I'm not hungry. Go away whoever you are", he replied.

"You sure you don't want any of these Oreos. Should I give all of them to Matthew", she said sweetly.

"Ya go ahead. Like I care", Matthew said.

"This is not working", I whispered.

"Tell me something I don't know", she whisper-yelled.

"Who all are you?" Bobby asked.

"Thalia and Percy", Thalia said.

"H… How can you eat Oreos when your best friend is about to die?" he asked angrily.

"Who said she is dying?" Thalia said.

"When I asked mom if Annabeth was dying, she started crying", he said breaking up.

"No No No", I almost yelled.

"No one is dying", I continued bringing my voice down but still sounding angry.

"She needs us to believe in her so that she could get better", I said now calmer.

"Your locking yourself up is only making her weaker. Do you want that?" I asked.

"How do you know that?" he asked now moving towards the door but still not opening it.

"The doctor told us", Thalia said taking over from me.

"He said that if her friends and family believe that she will be ok, she will get better eventually", she finished.

"Really?" Bobby said.

"Yes son, now come out", Mr. Chase said surprising me as I had not heard him coming over.

We heard the door getting unlocked. Bobby slowly opened the door he looked at all of us. He had dried tears streaked all over his face.

"I am sorry, I won't cry again. I believe in Annabeth too", he said trying to smile.

"That's great buddy", I said rubbing his back while standing on my knees.

He suddenly hugged me. He was trying not to cry but was failing at it.

"I am scared", he said.

"We all are scared, and there is nothing wrong with that", I said.

"Let's go to the kitchen and get you some water", Mr. Chase said.

"You still have those Oreos?" Bobby said pulling out of the hug.

Thalia suddenly laughed a bit then said, "Yes we still have them", I realized that she had tears in her eyes too.

All of us went down and finished our snacks.

We all talked for a long time about any random topic that popped in our mind, from school to politics and from sports to movies.

We informed Mr. Chase that he and Mrs. Chase should not worry about the twins as we will take care of him and no need to call sitters from the agency. We would even stay the night.

He agreed after trying to argue that it is too much burden for us as we have school too as Bobby and Matthew joined our side too.

So, we would bring them home from school and make them do their homework and stuff. Make sure they do not cause too much trouble and put them to bed if it gets late. If Mr. and Mrs. Chase would not be able to come over for the night Luke and I could sleep in the guest room and Thalia in Annabeth's room. Mrs. Chase would cook for food for us whenever possible, or we could order takeout.

As it got late Mr. Chase put the Twins to bed and Luke dropped him at the hospital. Mrs. Chase came in shortly after Luke came back.

She thanked all of us for taking care of the twins and everything else we had done. She also tried to apologize, but we did not let her.

We left soon to go back home. Luke dropped me at my place and said to be ready by ten in the morning as we had promised that we would take over from Mrs. Chase then.

I went straight to my room and dropped on the bed. This was a draining day emotionally and physically.

"Hey", Mom said opening the door a bit.

"Hi Mom", I said getting up on my elbows.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Ya sure", I replied.

"So, you saw Annabeth today?"

"Not really. Only the immediate family was allowed inside the ICU, but I managed to sneak in for a bit. Almost got thrown out for it", I said.

"Hmm… Apollo told me about that", she said.

"He also said that Annabeth's mom later called security on you guys", she said giving me that look again.

"It was a misunderstanding, and we made it up to her later. In fact, I just came back from Annabeth's house", I replied.

"Ok", she said.

"We also promised her that we would take care of Annabeth's younger brothers when both of them have to be at the hospital", I told her.

"That was sweet of you", she said stroking my hair.

"Now get some sleep you look exhausted", she said getting up.

"Good Night Mom", I called out as she reached the door.

"Good Night", she replied.

"I am proud of you Percy", she said before closing the door.

Flashback

It was a lot of fun, playing paintball with my friends. The best thing was to see Frank fail so miserably to hit anyone. Reyna scored the most hits since no one could predict where she was until she shot someone. Overall, it was the best day since I had moved away.

"I told you it's different from archery!" Hazel teased Frank.

"I can't believe it, the rifle I got was a faulty one. I am pretty sure about that", Frank said.

"Oh, come on dude! Just accept it that you cannot handle these babies", Leo said swinging one of the rifles.

"Leo, Put that down. You don't want that going off in here", Reyna scolded Leo.

"So where to now?" I asked.

"Let us grab something to eat. Then we need you and your mom to drop you off at the airport", Jason said.

"Your visit is already over!" Piper said frowning.

"Yeah, time passes so fast when you are enjoying yourself", I said sadly.

"Cheer up, we still have five hours before we need to drop you off", Reyna said rubbing my shoulder.

We went to a fast food place nearby. We all shared some old jokes, while Leo kept making up stuff using the cutlery. To say it simply we had a blast. But as I said earlier, time went by too quickly, and now it was time to go.

The whole gang was coming to drop us off at the airport. But before we left each one of them gave me some stuff that would keep reminding me of them. Leo gave me a mix tape of his one-liners, Frank gave me one of his practice bows, Piper gave me a shirt that she designed, Hazel gave me a small sapphire from her gem collection and Jason gave me a pair of cardboard swords that we used as props in a play once.

Finally, when it was Reyna's turn, everyone was already down waiting for us.

"Hey", she said.

"So, what have you got for me?"

She slowly moved forward and hugged me.

"I have no gift for you", she said.

"No problem. I do not need these gifts anyway to remember you guys", I said taking her face in my hands.

I noticed she was on the verge of breaking into tears.

"It's not that", she said.

"Then what?"

"I don't want you to remember me through a stupid piece of junk."

"I agree. You guys have always been there for me. A few hundred miles will not change that" I stated in a soothing tone.

She just hugged me again and wept silently as I tried to calm her down. She pulled back after a minute.

"Sorry about that", she said wiping her tears.

"You never have to say sorry to me for anything, and you get that?"

"Let's go, everyone is waiting for us", Reyna said.

Rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, and there were some new stories related to the group but nothing out of the blue.

When we reached the airport, there were hugs and goodbyes all around me. While I was taking out my luggage from the trunk, Reyna came and stood beside me.

"I want you to remember all the fun we had, all those times we spent at the beach and finally as your best friend..."

I just smiled and nodded not knowing what she was going to confess.

"...I also want you to know that I have had a crush on you since forever and was mad at you for leaving before," she said taking in a deep breath.

"I am sorry I didn't know that", I said stunned by her revelation.

"Shhhh…let me complete", she berated me.

"But now I know that I should not hold you back and that you never felt the same for me. I want you to know that you will always have a friend who will love you unconditionally no matter what happens", she said tearing up again.

I just dropped the bag from my hand and hugged her.

"That means a lot to me. Thank you", I said, also feeling a bit heavy now.

"You just have to promise me a few things", she said.

"Of course, anything."

"You will never forget me."

"Never."

"You will always remember me as your friend."

"Always."

"You will tell me if anything is troubling you a lot."

"Without a doubt."

"Finally, if you ever start falling for someone, I would like to be the first person to know about it", she said, pulling back so she could look me in the eye.

"Absolutely."

"Percy, we have to go now", Mom said softly.

"Sorry, Sally just give me a sec", Reyna said.

"I will miss you. Goodbye Percy".

She kissed my cheek and hugged briefly and then stepped back.

Mom approached Reyna and hugged her.

"I am glad that my son has such great friends. I will personally make sure he never breaks any of those promises", Mom said.

"Thank you, Sally. This means a lot, and I appreciate it."

Mom kissed her forehead and then she thanked Jason for letting us stay at his place. After we had gone inside, I ran back and yelled goodbye to everyone before leaving.

As our flight took off, I promised myself that I would stay positive now no matter what I would face in the future.

AN:

Please review, would like to get some suggestions and some feedbacks, so the following chapters get better and better.