/ Author's Note -

Welcome to my third Annabeth-POV story!

A couple notes before we begin -

1) While events of my previous two stories will be referenced, you should be able to enjoy this as a stand-alone story.

2) This takes place a year after the Lost Hero. This means it is after everything in Heroes of Olympus, but it also means it is after the events of the Demigods-Magicians crossover. This story will heavily feature characters and reference events in the Kane Chronicles and Demigods and Magicians. If you haven't read those stories, I'd encourage you to read them first. This will be your only spoiler warning for events of the Kane Chronicles and Demigods and Magicians.

3) Parts of this story overlap with the Magnus Chase trilogy as well as the Trials of Apollo. This story will also heavily involve characters in the Magnus Chase trilogy and Trials of Apollo series, so if you haven't read those series, I'd encourage you to do so. This will be your only spoiler warning about Magnus Chase and Trials of Apollo characters and events.

4) When will this story end? I'm not entirely sure, but I do plan on it being longer than my previous two stories and including the road trip with Grover. And yes, the trip will go up, down and sideways!

As always, thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1 - It's Been A Year

I'd just finished my last final exam for the semester and was officially a free bird when suddenly the feelings swamped me. I knew they would. I'd been trying to keep them at bay for long enough to handle my final exams. But today was the start of winter break - this time last year was the last day I'd spent with Percy before he went missing. It was like my body could feel it - every muscle was tense, ready to jump into a fight. Logically, I knew that there was very little chance of Percy going missing again, and at the same time of year. But there was nothing I could tell my emotions to convince them of that. I got on the train heading to the Jackson's and bounced my legs so much I was surprised there wasn't a hole where my feet had been when I got off the train.

I tried not to run to their apartment, but it was a pretty darn fast walk. I slid my key into the lock and twisted the handle. There he was, happily hanging up a garland on the window.

"Hey - what?" He said as I rammed into him, my arms wrapped around him for a hug.

"Just…. Worried….. Anxious…. It's been a year, you know, and -"

"Hey, I know." He wiggled in my arms until he could turn to face me. His arms wrapped around me, feeling wonderfully solid. He stood there, holding me until my shakes stopped. When I pulled away I saw we had company. Sally was standing nearby, with another garland. Clearly I had interrupted the decorating.

"Sorry."

She grinned at me. "Trust me, I get it."

"She woke me up by coming into my room at 3 AM to 'just check' that I was there."

We shared a smile. "I've been Iris-messaging him every night just to make sure he's still there."

"I'm aware." Percy said with a sad smile. "Those things are bright at night."

I leaned against him, still not wanting to be very far away.

"Are you two still going to Camp during break?" Paul called from the kitchen. He emerged with mugs of hot chocolate for all of us.

I looked at Percy. "We are, right? At least to check in and see everyone?"

He nodded. "Piper and Jason said they'd be there. We're going to have a reunion-slash-holiday party for those of us from the Argo II."

"And their glow-in-the-dark significant others." I reminded him. He grinned at me. It was nice to see Nico looking so happy and at peace recently. Maybe Will could heal more than just battle wounds.

Sally looked troubled. "But what if, I don't know, Hera can snatch him easier from Camp, or there's another prophecy, or -"

"Hera can snatch us from anywhere." Percy reminded them gently.

"There can't be any prophecies since Rachel still isn't seeing the future. Delphi must still not be under Apollo's control." I saw both adults' shoulders relax, so I continued, "And I got the Hephaestus cabin to make me a combination of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold nets and ropes. I'm planning to tie Percy to his bunk tonight with them. Not even the gods can just sneak him away from under those."

Percy's mouth open and shut like a fish's. "I-I honestly can't tell if you're joking."

"I'm not."

"That's what scares me."

"I like that plan." Sally said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Can we get a set for the house?"

"MOM!"

"I approve as well." Paul said with a grin. "Maybe some for the baby, too?"

I looked confused. "Uh, the baby isn't a demigod, right? I mean, Paul, you're fully mortal, right?"

He grinned at me but it was shaky. "I just… what if someone tried to take our kid to hurt you two or something?"

I shook my head and looked at Percy meaningfully.

He looked down. "Ok, so you know we can sometimes get gifts if we do big things like defeat Gaea or the Titans or whatever?"

"Right. You turned down immortality." Paul said, looking between us.

I laced my fingers with Percy's. "Percy asked if he and I could be left out of quests from now on. The gods, uh, sort of said no - at least, they said they couldn't control prophecy any more than we can, which is true. But they agreed to leave us out of any godly favors, anything like that. Anything that doesn't say our name or strongly imply us in the prophecy."

Sally and Paul grinned at us both.

"And they agreed to leave our mortal families out of it all." Percy added with a fierce determination in his eyes.

They both looked between us.

"Gods typically wouldn't use mortals anyway, so it was a small request." I explained.

"But any of our mortal siblings should be safe, as well as our parents."

"Hades wouldn't be allowed to kidnap you again, Sally."

"And they can't use our mortal family as pawns, or bait, or prisoners, or anything."

Both of them looked between us in stunned silence.

"For real?" Paul asked, looking like he couldn't believe it.

"For real." Percy agreed.

Then we had a tradition that I've come to really enjoy - a full family hug. It felt good.

That night I helped Percy finish hanging all the garlands around the apartment and we all finished decorating the tree. Then we watched The Grinch and called it a night. Percy was getting ready for bed when Paul beckoned me over.

"I'm still scared, Annabeth. What if one of the gods takes Percy, or you, and -"

I held out a hand to silence him. "I know. There's not really anything I can say or do about it."

He nodded. "It's just…. Hard. It's only been a few months with him back and he's changed so much."

I looked down the hallway. I was pretty sure I heard Percy singing "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch." as he got ready for bed.

"Change is inevitable." I murmured, a smile on my face. "But so long as you keep changing together, well, it'll all work out."

He looked confused.

"You aren't actually worried about Percy, are you?" I said, looking him in the eye. "You're worried about all the changes that are happening with everyone this year." I saw his shoulders slump and knew I'd hit the nail on the head. "You're worried about how it's going to change you and Sally's relationship to have a new baby, and to have Percy and me go off to college, and everything else."

He nodded. "When did you get so dang wise?" He muttered.

I grinned. "Athena thing. Though, the emotions and relationship stuff are mostly thanks to Piper and Silena."

He looked at me again. "So, as long as we work together -"

"It'll mostly work out. Take that from someone who's literally been to hell and back." I informed him.

He chuckled at that. Paul and Sally knew brief snippets about our time in Tartarus, but not the whole truth. That, well, that was still between Percy and I. And Nico. We'd discuss it at our monthly Post-Tartarus Support Group.

I took Paul's hand. "Try to just enjoy your time together, ok? I've always struggled with that, not trying to think too far ahead and plan for everything. But I've been working on it since You-Know-Where and I'm finding that it's good for me. Just live in the moment."

"Carpe diem." He said with a grin. "Goodnight, Annabeth."

I went to get ready for bed. When I was done brushing my teeth I tried to turn the water off. I say tried, because even though the handle was firmly in the "OFF" position, the water kept running just as strong as when it was on. Even weirder, my hands felt…. Hot. I frowned at the sink faucet. I turned it on and back off again. Thankfully, it switched off perfectly fine that time. My hands still felt a little warm and tingly.

"Hey." Percy said, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Coming to bed?"

I nodded, wrapping my arms around him. "I think I'm cold, my hands are shivering."

He smiled. "Snuggling is a great way to fix that."