Annabeth's P.O.V

I'd just finished my last lecture of the week, and I made my way to the hospital immediately. When I arrived, Sally said she would go and fetch Estelle from school, which left me alone with Percy. I kissed his forehead before settling into the chair next to his bed and taking his hand. I ran my thumb over the knuckles of his hand before lacing my fingers with his and telling him about my day.

It had become a bit of a routine to tell him about my day at college. I had wanted to stay by his bedside until he woke up like he had done for me. But Sally had convinced me that it was hard enough to convince NYU to hold Percy's spot, (in light of everything they really had no choice but to hold it for him), and that it would take a lot more to convince them to hold mine too, just because I wanted to be here with him when he woke up. And as much as I hoped it would be today, we really didn't know when that would be.

Sally also reminded me that Percy would want me to succeed in school. He'd always been supportive of my dreams and just because he was unconscious didn't change that. In truth that was probably the real reason I'd accepted going back to school, I didn't want to let Percy down. I wished beyond anything else, that he would come back to me. I loved him so much, I just wanted him to wake up so I could tell him again.

"Annabeth!" Estelle called as she ran to sit in my lap. This had become a common occurrence since Percy had gone missing.

"Estelle!" I said, trying to add as much excitement to my voice as she had done.

"Can you tell me a story?" She asked.

"Sure what book have you got today?" I asked.

"No, not a book, like Percy's" she said.

Oh.

"Oh," I said, I didn't know any of the ones that Percy had shared with Estelle, and I wasn't as good at making them up on the spot as he was.

"Estelle, sweetheart, Annabeth might not know Percy's stories." Sally tried to intervene for me, but Estelle looked at me with what I'd coined as the 'Seal look' and I knew I'd at least have to try.

"It's okay Sally," I said. "Thank you." Sally smiled and nodded at me.

"I'll do my best Estelle, but I can't promise it'll be as good as Percy's." I said and she nodded eagerly at me. "Alright then… There was once an Owl, who worked for a lovely Seal…"

Percy's P.O.V

Pain. That was all I could feel. Pain in my face, pain in my chest, pain in my stomach and pain in my legs. There was a voice I could hear that was helping to clear my pain. It kept changing though, sometimes it was deep, sometimes it was soft, sometimes it was flat and sometimes it was tearful.

I tried to concentrate on the voice, use it to block out the pain. It worked for a bit, but it didn't always work. When it was soft and sometimes tearful it seemed to help best.

The soft voice was back. It sounded really familiar. I tried really hard to place all the voices I had heard recently. One was mom and one was Paul, that much I knew. But this softer one warmed my chest, and I knew, I should know who it was. It was on the tip of my tongue; I just couldn't quite get it out. Based on how I felt hearing it though I knew they were important to me.

I didn't know how much time had passed before I heard her voice again. Her voice, Annabeth's voice. She was talking to Estelle about something. I tried really hard to concentrate on her words.

"…and from then on, the Owl and the Seal were the best of friends."

I tried to respond but I just ended up choking.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried and I felt my hand being squeezed. I desperately wanted to see her, to tell her I was okay. Well as okay as being in this much pain meant I was. I tried to open my eyes they were sore and heavy, but I kept trying. Just when I thought I wasn't going to manage it light flooded into my eyes. My eyes snapped closed again instinctively, but I forced them open again. I had to see her.

A different type of light now shone in my eyes.

"Follow my torch Mr. Jackson." A male voice I didn't recognise said. "Good. I'm going to place a straw in your mouth so you can sip some water. Take your time." He said.

I felt the straw, and I drew a few gulps of water. The coolness of it felt amazing against my sore throat. Once my eyes adjusted more, I searched for her. It didn't take me long to find her. Sitting next to my bed with my sister sat in her lap, was the woman I knew I wanted to marry.

"Annabeth" I croaked out, "Estelle." I turned my head and found my mom too. "Mom" I felt so overwhelmed, with all of Luke's ravings, I wasn't entirely sure he was going to let me go and therefore I hadn't been sure that I'd ever see any of them again. I went to sit up and hissed in pain.

"Woah there," the male voice, my doctor, said. "Lay back down, you have a few broken ribs." I immediately did that. But the pain didn't subside.

"Maybe we can reposition the bed so he can sit up instead?" Annabeth asked and I noticed her arms were clamping a wriggling Estelle into place.

Annabeth's P.O.V

He's awake!

I'm so glad he's awake!

The doctor was checking him over, but Estelle wanted to get up and hug him right away. I held her down on my lap as she wiggled around and tried my best to explain why she couldn't do what she wanted too. She was wiggling so much that as soon as the doctor had re-arranged Percy so he could sit comfortably and left, I had no choice but to let her go.

Immediately she jumped on the bed, hugged her brother, and started crying. Percy winced in pain at the contact but shook his head at his mom when she opened her moth to reprimand Estelle. Instead he bore the pain and comforted his little sister. He'd always been a great big brother, and that wasn't about to change just because he was hurt. It only made me love him more than I already did.

"Estelle," Percy said, his voice was still really raspy. I picked up the cup of water and held the straw to his mouth. He looked at me gratefully as he sipped.

"Estelle, Little Star." He tried. Eventually she did release him long enough to look at his face. I could see fear in her eyes that she was going to be dismissed, that things between them weren't going to be the same. I understood that fear. I held some of it myself.

"I missed you." He said simply before pulling her back in for what looked like a painful, for him, hug.

"I missed you too." Estelle sobbed. My heart hurt for her. Percy was helping her to process her feelings about everything. I loved how he instinctively knew how to do that. It brought tears to my eyes as I, myself, started to process how I felt about everything too. It was like Percy's words had given me unspoken and unrequired permission to do so. I glanced across at Sally who was sitting on Percy's other side waiting patiently to hug her son.

"Sally," I whispered. "Would you like me to tell everyone?" I asked. I needed to do something to distract from everything swirling around in my head. I also wanted to be more level headed when I finally got to greet Percy the way I wanted too. Besides they're his family, they should get him to welcome him back first.

"Thank you, Annabeth," She said passing me her phone.

"I'll be right back." I promised Percy squeezing his hand before leaving him to his mom and sister.

It took everyone about twenty minutes to show up after I'd called them. I had tried to suggest taking shifts to come and see him, but I knew how much they all wanted to see him and really, I couldn't deny any of them the chance of that. It would make me the largest hypocrite in the world if I had asked that of them. I sat with Percy holding his hand during the twenty minute wait but when everyone arrived, I moved to let them in, they're his family. That's at least what I told Percy when he protested me moving, but the truth was I was afraid. Just like Estelle, I was worried something would have fundamentally changed between us, I couldn't bear the thought of him looking at me like it was my fault. Especially when I knew it was.

I was standing near the door to let the others in, to see him. I'm not sure when I first noticed something was wrong, but it was definitely before the mass panic broke out in the room. I ran to the nurses station and asked for Percy's doctor.

With in minutes, if that, we were all pushed out into the waiting room and Estelle sat in my lap once more. I wanted to pace, but Estelle was crying and needed me. I'd have to process how I felt later.

"Mrs. Blofis?" Percy's doctor spoke up.

"Is he okay?" She asked.

"For now, we've had to put him in a medically induced coma, his body is reacting to something we've not yet identified. The easiest way to stop that is to shut his body down until we know what to do. I'm sorry it's not the news you were hoping for. We're running every test we can, to find out what is going on with your son. Once I know more, I'll come to you."

"Thank you" Sally said tearfully getting up to sit by Percy once more.

His body was reacting to something they'd not yet identified. I racked my brain for everything I knew about what was going on and then it hit me like a freight train. The failsafe, Luke had done this.

Luke's P.O.V

Where was Annabeth? Didn't she know I wanted to see her?

I was getting pretty bored of staring at the same four walls waiting for them to tell me that Annabeth had finally come back to see me. I was so used to waiting for it, that when it finally came it felt like a dream.

"Looks like you're getting your wish." The officer said opening the door and escorting me to an interview room. When he opened the door Annabeth was waiting for me.

She came back! I knew she'd come back for me!

Ψ

~ Author's Note ~

Hi All, thanks for reading :). Okay I'm sorry I left this chapter where I have and that it wasn't exactly what you all wanted but bear with me okay?! I'll explain it all eventually.

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