Hi Everyone, here is the beta'ed version of the chapter. Also, this will be the last 'serious' chapter for a while. The next few chapters will be fluff :)

Solangelo will finally meet! Yay!

….

Previously

"Sorry, I should probably take this," he said to Annabeth who nodded.

"Hey Paul." Percy was quite friendly with his step-father.

"Percy," said Paul and paused. Percy could tell from his voice that something bad had happened.

"Uh, your mom fell down the stairs and she's unconscious right now. We're at the hospital and I really think that you should come. I'll text you the address."

Percy was panic-stricken and turned white.

"I'm coming," he said quickly and hung up.

…

Now

"Are you ok?" asked Annabeth

Percy was spaced out and kept thinking about his mom in the hospital. He needed to get there as soon as he could.

"Sorry, what?" His distress made him forget that Annabeth was here.

"I asked if you are ok but you clearly aren't. What happened?"

"My mom..she–she..fell down….unconscious….and is in the hospital," Percy stammered, still unable to believe that this was actually happening.

"Oh no, is she going to be okay? I'll ask Piper if I can borrow her car and I'll drive you there. That's the fastest way," Annabeth said, as logical as ever.

"No, it's okay, you don't have to do that. I'll take a cab or the subway." Percy didn't want to trouble Annabeth with his issues, despite the fact that a ride would be greatly appreciated at that moment.

"Don't be silly, I'm driving you and we're taking Piper's car. She's insisting that we take it. In fact, she's driving the car here and she'll take a subway back since she has a class," Annabeth announced firmly.

"Thanks, I owe you," Percy said, visibly relieved. He knew that a cab would cost a fortune at that time and would also be very hard to find. Even a subway wasn't a good idea.

"It's going to be fine: I know as much." Annabeth assured him. Trying to relieve her, Percy attempted a smile and failed.

Piper arrived in 15 minutes and gave a sympathetic look to Percy. She handed over the keys to Annabeth and left hurriedly for her class.

"I can drive since the hospital's pretty far," Percy offered. He wanted to do something, anything to help, and his hands couldn't stop shaking.

"Shut up, you're not in the condition to drive." Annabeth's mouth was set in a hard line as she spoke to him, reminding Percy of his mother. The comparison wasn't appreciated as he started worrying even more.

Annabeth and Percy moved towards the car and started driving to the hospital. Annabeth could sense Percy's nervousness as she drove so she took his hand in her own, hoping to calm him.

Percy was shocked when he felt her hand in his and his brain started short-circuiting. He also felt a calming effect caused by the gesture so he held Annabeth's hand tightly just hoping that his mom would be alright.

They reached the hospital pretty quickly and opted for the valet parking since the hospital was very crowded. Percy didn't realize it but he was still holding Annabeth's hand and embracing the comfort it gave him.

"I need to see Sally Jackson. I'm her son," Percy told the receptionist frantically and finally let go of Annabeth's hand after noticing that he was holding it.

"Of course, sir, she is in room 315," the receptionist replied after looking at her computer and told them the directions.

Annabeth and Percy half ran towards the room but when they finally reached the door marked 315, Percy froze.

"I can't do this. What if she isn't fine?" He felt close to tear as he voiced his question.

"She'll be okay; I can feel it," said Annabeth, softly.

"I hope so."

"Uh do you want me to leave?" Annabeth asked hesitantly.. She wasn't sure if Percy would be comfortable with having her around since they barely knew each other and the day was going to be pretty emotional for him. She really didn't want to be a source of added anxiety for him.

"No, could you stay please? I feel like I need someone calm to be with me. Paul will be there but he'll be a mess too. Oh, you need to study right? You can leave. I'm so sorry; I didn't think about that." Percy rushed the last part, his eyes meeting the ground.

"Are you serious? I'm staying if you need me. I can study anytime" replied Annabeth.

"I could call Leo, it's not an issue, you can go."

"I'm staying so stop procrastinating and get your butt inside your mom's room."

Percy took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a person who Percy instantly recognized as Paul.

He pushed the door and went in with Annabeth following. He saw that his mom was lying on a bed with weird-looking machines around her. There were two doctors, a few nurses and an extremely distressed Paul there as well.

"How is she?" Percy asked, his eyes unable to look away from his unconscious mom.

"She'll be okay. We will be performing a surgery…." The doctor rambled on about some medical nonsense that Percy couldn't understand.

The only thing he understood was the statement that she will be okay. Paul came up to him at that point and engulfed him in a warm hug.

"She's a fighter. She'll be fine," Paul whispered during the hug.

The three of them went out of the room as the medical staff prepared to begin the surgery.

Annabeth's P.O.V.

"Hi, I'm Paul. I don't believe we've met," said Paul to Annabeth who had still not said a word to anyone.

"I'm Percy's friend, Annabeth."

Paul smiled slightly and excused himself to go and get some water and make some calls. Annabeth turned towards Percy and sat down next to him. She was exhausted because she had slept really late the previous night and could not stop herself from falling asleep on the chair almost instantly without even realizing that her head was resting on Percy's shoulder.

She woke up about half an hour later to the sound of some people who were seemingly talking to Percy. She could feel that her head was on his shoulder and he was trying not to move so as to not disturb her, even though her eyes were still closed. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that Leo, Jason and three people she didn't know had arrived as well.

"Uh, hi everyone," Annabeth said as she slowly recovered from her disoriented state. She realized that everyone was eyeing her curiously, especially the girl with the red hair.

"Oh, you're up. These are my friends, Frank, Hazel and Rachel. You've met Jason and Leo already." Percy introduced the rest of his friends, but Annabeth couldn't help but feel that she was imposing.

Annabeth greeted them and noticed that Percy looked pretty happy and optimistic. She felt extremely guilty about not being there for him and dozing off instead.

"I'm so sorry that I slept. Did you get any news about your mom?" asked Annabeth hopefully.

"I did. She's out of surgery and will probably wake up pretty soon." Percy looked happy as he told her the news.

"That's great!" Annabeth was truly happy for him and glad that she was right about his mom's recovery.

Just then, she saw a person walk by who she recognized.

"Will?" Annabeth called out.

"Hey Annabeth, why are you here?" asked Will, a little surprised.

Annabeth explained the situation to him and he seemed sympathetic towards Percy.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth wondered the reason for his sudden appearance.

"I'm interning here actually. I need to work right now but I'll catch up with you guys during my break," he said before walking away towards a busy room full of doctors.

Annabeth went to get herself a glass of water and by the time she came back, she saw that there was a new addition to Percy's group of friends.

"Annabeth, this is my cousin Nico." Percy motioned to the newest arrival.

Nico and Annabeth clicked almost immediately and started conversing together since the two of them didn't know the others very well. Annabeth liked Nico immensely, she could tell that he was a little shy but he was very interesting and she loved his dark sense of humour.

After 15 minutes, Will came there since his break had started. Nico's face when he saw Will was the most precious thing Annabeth had ever seen and she made it her mission to play matchmaker right then and there.

…

Percy's P.O.V.

Percy was touched beyond words by the fact that his friends had dropped everything that they to do just to be there for him. He loved them so much and really appreciated their efforts to keep him distracted. He was also amazed by Annabeth's ability to get along with everyone because even Nico had been pretty open with her. She had been his rock throughout the whole ordeal and he had felt overwhelmed by emotion when she had slept with her head on his shoulder.

A nurse came there and said, "Mr. Jackson, your mother is awake now. You can visit her if you wish."

Percy felt as if he could finally exhale and nodded enthusiastically. He let Paul visit her first and tried to wait patiently. While he was waiting, he tried to persuade everyone to leave and managed to convince Frank, Hazel, Rachel and Jason as they all had tests coming up. Annabeth, Leo and Nico refused to leave and said that they would go with him, whenever that happened.

Paul came out of the room a few minutes later with a teary smile and patted Percy's back. He went inside the room and saw that his mom lying down on the bed.

"Hi mom." He had to admit, it was a little scary.

"Hey sweetie" she responded with her blinding smile.

"God I was so scared, please don't ever do that again," he said with a half laugh and half sob.

"I won't. I promise."

"Good. How're you feeling? Any pain?" he inquired, extremely concerned.

"Honey, I'm fine. Please don't worry. It's getting late, you should leave if you want to catch the train back," Sally said, being practical.

"No, it's fine. Annabeth drove me."

"Annabeth? Who's that?" asked Sally with a small smirk.

"My friend. She drove me here and is waiting outside."

"Friend? Really? I want to meet her and thank her for what she has done for you." Sally knew her son very well and she could tell from his face that he liked her as more than a friend.

"Right now? Don't you need to rest?"

"Please Percy. Let me meet her. I won't embarrass you." A small laugh escaped his mother's mouth, no wonder remembering some past events.

"Okay, fine."

Percy went outside and told Annabeth that his mom wanted to meet her. He was not surprised to see the shock in her face when he said that. She agreed and stepped into the room with him, evidently nervous.

"Good evening Mrs Jackson." Annabeth seemed to think that the formal approach was the easiest.

"Sweetie, please call me Sally and you don't need to be so formal with me. Percy's friends are like my own kids."

Annabeth laughed and said, "Okay Sally"

"I just wanted to thank you for taking care of my son. He really needed someone and you were there for him, so thank you."

"Of course, Mrs-uh, sorry, Sally. It was no problem at all." Annabeth flashed Sally a smile.

"I'll be sending cookies for you soon, make sure that you get them and this guy doesn't eat them all," Sally promised, pointing towards Percy who tried to look angry but failed.

Annabeth giggled, and it confused Percy, because Annabeth giggling made no sense. "Thank you so much. I've heard a lot about your blue cookies." Annabeth got a call just then and excused herself.

"I like her, she's really nice," Sally said, breaking the silence.

"Me too," said Percy with a sigh. He knew that he could never be her boyfriend and that hurt a bit but then he comforted himself by the thought that she was his friend.

…

Author's Note

Next chapter will be Solangelo centric.

Thank you, guys, so much for your kind PMs and reviews. I tested negative for Covid but my dad was positive. Both my parents are recovering and hopefully everything will be back to normal in the next 10 days!

I will be updating the story regularly from now i.e. every Monday and Thursday.

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