For the first time Percy could remember, he was happy. Finals and graduation had been amazing, he and Annabeth had been traveling between camp and his mom's apartment for the past few months helping out where they could. He had gotten an average SAT score, and he was going to New Rome with Annabeth at the end of the summer.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Annabeth asked leaning on his shoulder. They were watching a movie while Estelle slept in Percy's arms, babysitting duty was actually one of the easiest things they had ever done.
"Not much, just happy to be with you," Percy said grinning down at her. Annabeth gave him a peck on the cheek before getting up to make them some more popcorn. "What time is it? Mom and Paul should be home soon, right?"
"It's only nine, they said they'd be back around ten," Annabeth said as she came back with more popcorn. Percy nodded and they settled back down for the last few minutes of the movie. When it ended Percy smiled as he saw that both Estelle and Annabeth were asleep. He went and put Estelle in her cot by his parent's bed, then went and moved Annabeth to the air mattress on the living room floor. He was about to lay down with her when he remembered that he was supposed to take out the trash before his parents got back. He looked at the clock, he still had twenty minutes left. He quietly grabbed the two trash bags from the kitchen and left the apartment.
When he got outside he saw a blue sedan across the street from the ally. Now that in itself wasn't strange, but something seemed off. So he quickly tossed the trash in the dumpster and headed back up to get some sleep. It didn't feel like any monsters were nearby, so he shook off the weird feeling and headed back up to get some sleep. Even if the only way he and Annabeth got to sleep together was on the living room floor, it was better than sleeping apart in their own beds. He needed her, and she needed him. That was the only way to keep the nightmares at bay.
Authors Note:
Entire fic edited/updated 6/25/22
