Disclaimer: I'm flattered that you thought I was Lin or Rick (heres me pretending y'all think I'm even nearly that talente), but I'm not

A/N: Hello, my readers! Guess whaaat? I'm fully back in-person and it's glorious. I've been seeing people every day that I haven't seen in over a year! Anyway, on with the story.

Quick reminder because in Annabeth's POV we jump right in: Annabeth's going to her mother's office to talk to her after learning that Athena is her mother.

"You have no control. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story." - George Washington, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Annabeth POV

Once Annabeth reached floor 100 of the Empire State Building, she walked down the hallway and opened the same fancy looking door as yesterday. After a moment of waiting in the entrance/waiting room for Athena's office, she was allowed to walk through the mahogany office door.

There sat Athena, as composed as ever.

"Hello, Annabeth," Athena greeted.

"Hi," Annabeth cut to the chase, her voice gradually rising, "Tell me more. Why did you leave? Realizing you can't "be a mother and run a company" is just stupid, okay? Other people do it all the time. Why have you decided to talk to me now?"

There was a flash of something on Athena's face. It looked like -guilt?- but no, Athena didn't care. Right?

"Well, I was -well, to be truthful, I didn't think I could raise a daughter properly. There was one time where I came home from work. It was late, you and Frederick had already had dinner. You were sitting down at the table, and Frederick had gotten out some ice cream. Confused as to the occasion, I asked why.

"I remember him sitting there, looking at me like this was the most obvious thing in the world. He explained that this had been your first day of kindergarten, and you were having ice cream to celebrate. I hadn't realized you were even starting kindergarten anytime soon. I smiled, pretended I knew this all along, and helped serve you some ice cream. I was about to get you strawberry, but your dad said cookies and cream was your favorite. I had no idea.

"I realized that your dad knew you better than I did, and I… barely knew you at all. And he was starting his teaching and was pretty busy. I thought it would be best for you, and for the family, if I wasn't there to be an extra burden. I thought Frederick would remarry. Find someone who could be a good mother to you and a good wife to Frederick than I could ever be. So I… left," Athena explained.

Annabeth pointed out, "You thought that Dad would be less busy when he was raising a daughter by himself?"

Athena opened her mouth to speak, but Annabeth cut her off, "He truly loved you, you know that? After you left, he just kind of… shut down, for a while. He didn't cook. Didn't clean. There were spiders everywhere," Annabeth shuddered, "He threw himself into his work, and just… stopped caring. You weren't the only one who forgot what my favorite flavor of ice cream was.

"And then he met Helen. She didn't like me. I think Dad told her who you were, and she didn't like that I was the daughter of this now-famous genius. She didn't like that I was a reminder of his previous marriage, a reminder of someone she thought she could never compare to. She didn't just basically ignore me. She was mean. Rude. I would have terrible nightmares about rooms filled with spiders, and she "didn't mind playing bad cop." I ran away when I was seven. Didn't come back till I was twelve. My eighteenth birthday was probably the happiest day of my life, one of the few Dad and Helen actually remembered."

Athena was silent for a moment.

"Annabeth, if I could take that decision back I would. I hadn't had the best parents. I didn't really have a role model, someone that showed me that I could be successful and a good mother and wife. I'm… I'm sorry. I was too proud to ask for help, to ask you guys or someone else how I could be a better family member. I should have at least checked back in with you and Frederick every now and then after I left. Been a present person in your life. And for that, too, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that I was so… heartless. I didn't know what to do, so I just did what I usually do and kept all emotion out of the conversation. I'm sorry for that, too," She apologized.

Annabeth was taken aback. Whatever she had expected, it wasn't that. Athena always seemed so… proud. So high and mighty. But, as Annabeth was currently learning, many things about Athena weren't quite what they seemed. For once in her life, she had no idea what to say. "I'm… I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for yelling at you. For getting mad when I didn't really know the whole story."

They talked. Annabeth caught Athena up on the 20 years of her life Athena had missed. Forty minutes later, Annabeth walked out the door with a newfound spring in her step. They had (mostly) made up, and, while Annabeth was still a bit upset that Athena left, they had formed a tentative relationship, and made plans to meet up for lunch next Saturday.

Athena, as it turned out, was actually a pretty cool person, and someone that Annabeth actually didn't mind being around.

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Percy POV:

Percy was relaxing on his couch when he got the call from Annabeth.

"Hey, Annabeth. What's up?" He asked.

"So I've just gotten some really big news that I thought I should let you know about, and I was wondering if you wanted to meet up?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, uh, sure? Where and when?" Percy asked, wondering what this news was.

"I'm actually free right now. Would you want to meet at the usual spot at the park?" The park Annabeth was speaking off was a small, yet beautiful, one tucked away a few blocks from the apartment building.

"Yeah, sure. See you in a bit," He said.

They hung up, and Percy drove over to said park.

When he arrived, Percy quickly spotted Annabeth standing by the entrance. She was wearing the navy blue coat. The same one she wore when they first met. As he walked over to her, he was struck by how far they'd come. For one thing, they didn't hate each other. They'd gone from barely tolerating each other to head over heels in love -or at least that was how Percy felt. He was no longer so unsure in his decisions, and so uncomfortable in the spotlight. She was no longer the same, oh-so-annoying, know-it-all. Or maybe that was just him, just how he viewed her. The things that had peeved him were now just things that were so obviously, endearingly, unalterably, Annabeth.

Gods, now he sounded like Annabeth. Except Annabeth would be able to say all that stuff in a manner that made sense.

After greeting each other, Percy and Annabeth walked next to each other in a comfortable silence for a while, just watching the familiar scenery.

"So," Percy said, breaking the silence, "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Okay," Annabeth began, "I guess I should start from the beginning. Uh, I never really knew my mother. She left when I was five. My dad sort of… shut down, after she left. I had to learn to take care of myself."

Percy opened his mouth to comment, but Annabeth cut him off, "Please? Can I just have, like, a minute?"

Percy nodded.

"A year later, he remarried," Annabeth continued, "To this lady. Her name was Helen. Helen and I didn't have the best relationship -to put it simply, we hated each other. I hated that she was replacing my mother, without even trying to talk to me or be someone in my life first. She hated that I was a constant reminder of my dad's previous marriage, and I think she knew she could never compare to my mother. I would have terrifying nightmares of spiders, spiders crawling all over me, in my hair, into my mouth." Annabeth shuddered.

"And she refused to comfort me. She didn't mind playing bad cop, she said. Along with her, I got two little brothers. They were sweet, they really were, they just had a tendency to make messes and stir up trouble that I was later blamed for. My dad was always away at work, so wrapped up in his job as a history professor he pretty much forgot about his own daughter.

"I ran away when I was seven. I stayed with a girl named Thalia. And a boy. Named Luke. I stayed on the run with them for five years. Eventually, I was sent back. I never saw Luke or Thalia again. I had to go back. The day I moved out to go to college was the happiest day of my life. After a few disastrous encounters a few months ago, I cut ties with that side of my family. I don't talk to Helen. Or the boys. Just my dad, sometimes.

"Recently, I got a text from the owner of the biggest architecture company in the world, Athena Zeus Olympia. She told me to meet her at floor 100 of the Empire State building, so I kind of rushed off and ditched you yesterday to meet her there." Annabeth recounted the story of finding out Athena was her mother, sorting things out with Hazel, and then confronting Athena.

Percy slowed down a little as they walked, processing the information, trying to figure out something to say that would actually help.

Annabeth looked at him, and quickly added, "Sorry, I shouldn't have dumped all that on you. You clearly had a great childhood, I-"

Percy cut her off, his expression dark, "No, no actually, I didn't. My mother is pretty much the nicest person on Earth. She… if she had her way, I would have had a good childhood. But I didn't."

Annabeth stayed silent. When he glanced at her, she gestured for him to continue.

"Uh, so, when I was nine, my mom started to go a little crazy. She was working a lot, and I was really the only person she had to talk to. I think she just really needed an adult that she could talk with and be friends with. I would have needed that too if I had only my nine year old self to talk to. So, she met this guy. Gabe. I don't know how they met, but they started going out, and then they got married.

"Big mistake. He was a really nice guy while they were dating and all that, but once they got married, after the first thirty seconds he showed his true colors. I don't really want to go into the details, even after over a decade and a few years of therapy I still can't talk about it, but he… wasn't a great guy. He was into gambling. He drank a lot. I still don't drink to this day because of that.

"When I was twelve, he was driving, by himself, drunk. He crashed the car and… he died. Couple years later, my mom met Paul. Paul is awesome, they get married, yay, the end."

Annabeth looked at him, her feelings shown clearly on her face, "I'm… I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, no it's okay," Percy leaned into Annabeth and gave her a hug.

Annabeth, her voice muffled by Percy's shoulder, commented with a watery laugh, "We really are messed up, aren't we?"

"And that's what makes us go so well together," Percy responded.

After another couple minutes filled with warm embraces and just… leaning on each other, figuratively and literally, they walked on.

As the couple circled around the park, the sun began to set. The sky was streaked with beautiful colors, with every shade of purple and orange and everything in between, and then faded to black. They walked back to their apartment building, broken but whole, hurt, but ready to heal.

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A/N: So, uh, that was a bit more angsty than usual, wasn't it? That wasn't at all how I planned for this to work out, but that's just kind of how it ended up. It's currently 9:30 on Saturday morning, I've just finished writing, and I don't feel like going back to change half the chapter, so here we are. Thank you so much for reading! Please follow or favorite if you want to be notified when I update, and leave a review to tell me what you think!

Recommendation:

Some Things Aren't Meant To Be Controlled by .bee

(Contains spoilers for House of Hades)

It's the scene in Tartarus where Percy controls the poison, but from Annabeth's point of view. It's a one-shot, and really well written. I enjoyed reading it a lot!

Link:

s/13854489/1/Some-Things-aren-t-Meant-to-be-Controlled

Reviews:

Just The Soulmates: Thanks for the compliment and reviewing, and, yes, I agree. I was kind of running out of things to do for recommendations, and I just remembered that story and how it was pretty good.