Percy's P.O.V
I was really looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow I was allowed to go home, finally. Mom had made me promise to stay with them for a couple of weeks before moving back into my university accommodation. I had one day left in the hospital. Annabeth had a lecture today, so I wasn't going to see her until later.
Everyone was continuing in their normal routines, and I told them all I could handle a day alone. So I wasn't surprised when no-one turned up, to sit with me, by the time I'd finished my breakfast and pulled out one of the legal pads Annabeth had left for me, and a pen, to do some writing.
I got halfway through a new story, The Seal and The Rainy Day, when Chris came into my room.
"Hey Percy, can I talk to you?" He asked.
"Sure," I said putting my pad and pen down on the table in front of me. "What about?" I asked.
"Luke." He replied and I could see he was nervous.
"What about him?" I asked, gesturing for him to take a seat in the chair next to me.
"I didn't know," He said. "I didn't know until he told me that he'd taken you. I knew he was obsessed with Annabeth, but I didn't think he'd do anything about it because she's so happy with you. I didn't tell you because I trusted him to respect Annabeth's happiness and leave her alone and I guess. Well, I guess, I'm sorry Percy. I'm so sorry." He said putting his head in his hands.
"Chris, I don't blame you for what Luke did. There was nothing you could have done."
"But I should have seen how much he'd deteriorated. Gotten him proper help, but I didn't see any of it. I know we hadn't spent a lot of time together since I started seeing Clarisse, but I just thought it was because he didn't like her and didn't want to say anything to me. I know she can be a little abrasive if you don't know her." He said. "I missed every sign, if there were signs, that he was sick. That he was twisting his own sense of right and wrong in his head because of it, that he was willing to go this far. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry you got hurt because of it, you and Annabeth both." He said.
"Chris, first off, understatement on Clarisse, second you're allowed to have your own life y'know?" I said and he laughed when I mentioned Clarisse. "Look I know Luke took you under his wing and told you who your dad was, but that doesn't mean you owe him anything. I mean look at what knowing your dad has done for you, has it benefited you in any way?" I asked.
"No." He answered. "He's caused major problems with Clarisse recently too, but you'll know all about that." He said and I was a little confused because I didn't know all about it at all.
"No, sorry I don't know, what's he done to Clarisse?" I asked concerned. Chris and I met back in middle school at a summer camp. We'd become friends quite quickly and stayed in touch. Chris lived with his mom, and at the time didn't have a clue, who his father was. I remembered him and his mom talking about it a lot when we were younger. Then one summer Luke had turned up and Chris hadn't returned to camp in favour of hanging out and getting to know his half-brother. We grew apart a little but still remained friends. Clarisse also went to the summer camp that we attended, she was a tomboy, still is as far as I know, we had a rocky start but over the years, but we learnt to be at least civil to each other, at least when the three of us hung out, especially once the two of them started dating.
"I thought Thalia would have told you." He said.
"Thalia, what does Thalia- Oh!" I said piecing it together. "You're the one?" I asked.
"Yeah, I mean I knew dad didn't approve of my relationship with Clarisse, I didn't realise it was that bad though." He said.
"I told Thalia to tell her dad to shove it up his arse." I said and he laughed. "You should tell your dad the same."
"Oh I don't have too." He said with a smirk.
"She didn't?" I asked raising an eyebrow in question at him.
"Oh she did, you know how Clarisse gets when she feels threatened." He said.
"Oh I wish I'd been there to see it." I said genuinely.
"So – err – are we good?" He asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, Chris we're good, as far as I'm concerned the only person at fault is Luke. The way Annabeth tells it, as soon as you knew you tried to help, and when she asked you to, you even told the police everything you knew too, so thank you Chris. You probably saved my life." I said.
"It was the least I could do." He said standing. "Oh and Percy, if you wanted to see Clarisse tell dad to shove it again, Thalia and I are supposed to be having dinner with our dads to discuss everything, she's insisting on coming with me. I'm sure things will get out of hand, as you can probably imagine."
"Can't wait" I said picking up my pad and paper to finish my story as Chris left to go about his day.
I felt good about my talk with Chris. I didn't blame him at all for Luke, having not had a connection to my dad until I was twelve, I understood why he wanted to get to know his dad once Luke had told him who he was. It seemed only natural for their relationship to grow as Chris tried to get to know his dad too. I could just imagine Clarisse yelling at his dad for trying to break them up for an arranged marriage. I was definitely going to have to try and talk Thalia in to letting me tag along to that dinner.
Jason's P.O.V
Things had been getting progressively more difficult since PJ had gone missing. Most of it was that he was missing, but then there was also Thalia's marriage and senior year wasn't getting any easier either. All I can say is thank god for Piper. She's been like a rock for me through everything.
Piper had a lecture today and Thalia had a day shift, so I was at home waiting for Thalia to return, finishing off an essay for Professor Clark's class. I was actually feeling much more at peace with life now that Percy was due to come home tomorrow. I was hoping things would settle down and go back to normal, well normal with my sister fighting an arranged marriage. I agreed with Percy, I wasn't going to let her marry some random guy just because dad wanted her too. I knew that she knew who the guy was, but she hadn't mentioned it, with everything going on with Percy there just hadn't really been time.
Thankfully dad hadn't used Percy's kidnapping as an opportunity to force Thalia's hand when she wasn't firing on all cylinders. I had thought about telling Aunt Sally about it all. Talking to Aunt Sally always helped both me and Thalia especially after everything with mom. The only reason I hadn't mentioned it was because Thalia had asked me not too. She knew it would upset and anger Aunt Sally and with everything going on with Percy she didn't want to make things worse. I understood that. I hadn't wanted to make things worse either.
Still now Percy was back I was seriously debating talking to Aunt Sally, she was a powerful person to have in your corner especially with dad's family. I decided I would talk to Thalia about it all when she got home from work. I didn't have to wait long until I heard her opening the door.
"Hey Jace" She said as she entered and kicked off her shoes.
"Hey Thals" I replied, "how was work?"
"Not too bad today, have you remembered we'd said we'd head over to Aunt Sally's to help her decorate for bringing Percy home tomorrow?" She asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Can we have a chat before that though?" I asked.
"Sure, everything alright Jace?" She asked and I nodded albeit a little uncertainly.
"Yeah mostly, I just, well, about your marriage, I want to talk to Aunt Sally about it. Maybe she can help y'know?" I said.
"Not today Jace, besides you don't need to worry about my arranged marriage I'm taking care of it." She told me.
"What does that mean?" I asked, "Taking care of it?"
Thalia looked at me and her eyes softened.
"Jace, you don't need to worry okay. I'm not getting married, not today, not tomorrow, hell maybe not ever. I don't know yet. But when I do know, and if I do want to get married later on in my life, it's going to be because I love whoever it is I want to marry. And not because dad is wants me too." She said softly. "I'm not going anywhere Jace, you're stuck with me. Let's let Aunt Sally have time with Percy before worrying her with this, hopefully it'll all be sorted before she has to know."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes, come on, I hear Estelle has party invites to hand out as well." She said and I perked up a little at the mention of Estelle's birthday. Thalia laughed at me as she noticed.
"Come on, can't keep little Twinkle waiting now, can we?" She teased.
"Hey! Twinkle is my nickname for her. But no we definitely can't keep her waiting." I agreed hoping up off the sofa, my finished essay long forgotten to change before heading over to Aunt Sally's.
Piper's P.O.V
Things were finally getting back on track. Percy was going home tomorrow, Jason was more relaxed, Annabeth was happier, and for the first night in a long while I didn't have a shift or any assignments due.
Jason and I were in the apartment with Hazel and Thalia. Frank was working and we'd just finished helping Mrs. B decorate for Percy's homecoming tomorrow. Keys jingled in the door and Annabeth entered the apartment.
"Hey," I said. "I wasn't expecting you back tonight." I told her honestly.
"I have an early morning lecture, and I didn't want to wake Percy when I left for it." She said by way of explanation. "Hey" She said to the room when she realised, we had company.
"Hey Annie, how's Kelp Head doing?" Thalia asked her as she sat down.
"Alright, a bit bored of being in the hospital I think, but he's done some really great writing while he's been there." She replied. "How are you?" She asked, ignoring the fact that Thalia had called her Annie, which we all knew she hated.
"I'm alright, I was wondering if we could all have a catch up. Percy's kidnapping threw a spanner into our original post valentine's day plans." Thalia said and I noticed a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she asked.
"On that note, I'm going to go and start my assignment for Professor Granger, can I use your room Pipes?" He asked me.
"Of course," I told him, and he kissed me before heading into my room and out of sight. I turned to Thalia and asked, "Do you really want to hear about my Valentine's Day with your brother?"
"I'd like your opinion on how it went, but maybe not all the juicy details, if there are any. He is still my brother." She said scrunching her nose, probably at the thought of Jason and I sleeping together, and I didn't blame her. Though I could see she had a goal in mind, and I didn't know what that was. I had a pretty good idea that it was something to do with Annabeth, but that was all I knew. I'll admit I was intrigued.
"Fair," I said turning to Annabeth and Hazel as it was their Valentine's Day, we were going to end up talking about, so it was up to them if they wanted to disclose it.
"We can if you want, I don't have any assignments due, Hazel?" Annabeth asked.
"Count me in." She said.
"Great." Thalia declared, turning to Hazel first. "What did you and Frank do?"
"We went to the Zoo, had lunch at my favourite restaurant and then had a movie marathon of the Underworld series before snuggling up in bed for the night where he told me he loved me." She said smiling and looking like she'd been wanting to share that piece of information for a little while.
"Did you say it back?" I asked.
"Yes" She answered me.
"Frank looks like a tank but he's a real teddy bear at heart, isn't he?" Thalia asked.
Hazel chuckled. "Yeah, he is."
"Sound like you had a lovely day, Hazel." Annabeth said.
"Yeah, I did," She said in a dreamy voice which she always reserved for talking about Frank. Props to the guy, he really knew how to woo Hazel and make her feel special. Thalia nodded approvingly and turned to me.
"Did you have a good day Piper?" She asked. I noticed she didn't ask what we did, like she had with Hazel, and I had to bite my lip to stop myself chuckling at her choice of words.
"Yeah, I did, it was perfect." I said honestly.
"What did Jason do?" Annabeth asked, because Thalia was right, we hadn't had a chance to really chat about it all.
"It was really cute actually, he wanted to get me something to prove to me how much he loved me, but he didn't know what to get me, so he looked up possible gifts online and bought a load of them. He then hid them all for me to find and once I'd found them, he put prices on them." I said and I noticed Thalia roll her eyes as something must have clicked in her mind. "Then he put a sticker on himself and a sticker on me. Mine said priceless and his said unconditional."
"Aww" Hazel said and the same time that Annabeth snorted.
"Sorry," She said looking at me with great amusement in her eyes.
"I know he's a dork" I said knowing what she was going to say. "But he's my dork and I love him."
"Then what did you do?" Hazel asked.
"I think that might fall into the juicy details Thalia doesn't want to know about her brother." I answered unashamed about the fact that I'd pretty much jumped Jason after he'd explained it all to me and we'd spent the rest of the afternoon in bed before ordering take-out. Annabeth smirked at me, and Hazel nodded. Surprisingly Thalia asked me another question, instead of moving on to Annabeth.
"You love him?" She asked.
"I do." I confirmed.
"Does he know?" She asked.
"Yes." I replied smiling.
"When did you know?" Hazel asked.
"That I loved Sparky?" I asked and Hazel nodded.
"When Percy showed her the photo of him in his spelling bee outfit." Annabeth answered and I shook my head a little.
"Nah, though that did make me love him more, he looked adorable in that outfit. It was actually over Christmas that I knew." I said.
"So when did you guys first tell each other, assuming he has told you that he loves you?" Hazel asked, ever the hopeless romantic.
"A week or so before Valentine's day" I replied smiling. Thalia nodded, as Hazel cooed, before rounding on Annabeth.
"So what about you and Percy, what did you get up to?" She asked.
"Well I know you and Piper know but Hazel doesn't, so just so everyone is on the same page. Valentine's Day is the anniversary of my mom's death, so I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day, normally." Annabeth said.
"Oh Annabeth, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Hazel said.
"It's okay Hazel, it's not something I talk about much." She replied, normally I would pick up on the fact that she'd openly brought up her mom which never happened re-Percy, but I was stuck on the word normally.
"Oh and Percy had all those grand plans!" Hazel said with a wince, "He didn't know, did he?" She asked.
"He did, around the time, Piper told Jason she loved him, I told Percy about my mom. It's why we went to Virginia actually, so I could visit her grave on the anniversary of her death. I've not been since we moved out to San Francisco, well until this year that is." Annabeth said.
I looked at Thalia and I knew she'd also caught the 'normally' at the end of Annabeth's original statement and had no intention of letting Annabeth get away with not spilling her Valentine's day weekend news, like the rest of us had.
"You said normally," Thalia said smirking, "indicating that this year you did actually celebrate it."
Annabeth nodded and not for the first time, I realised, since Valentine's Day, took the red pendent around her neck in her hand and started running it from side to side on the chain around her neck.
"It wasn't part of the plan originally, but, well, you know Percy. He wanted me to have a good weekend even if we weren't celebrating valentine's day. So he booked a nice hotel for the night and arranged for a picnic in the park where we first met. He also brought a bucket and spade with him, and we built the sandcastle I told him he owed me at Christmas." She said with a smile on her face.
"I remember the picture Percy sent us." Thalia said nodding.
"He what?" Annabeth asked.
"Oh yeah, he sent the cousin chat a picture of you and him in front of your completed sandcastle, same one you sent to Piper actually." Hazel told her and Annabeth blushed.
"Of course he did." She said and rolled her eyes fondly, only Percy got a fond eye roll from Annabeth.
"So after that you did what?" Thalia asked.
"We went back to the hotel, and I told him that I loved him, and he said back to me." Annabeth said. "He wasn't going to, he wanted to say it to me after Valentine's Day, so I wouldn't feel pressured to celebrate the day instead of visiting my mom. He explained it to me before saying it back."
"Of course he did." Thalia said smiling at her and I had to admit I was smiling too; we all were, but none as brightly as Annabeth.
"Then what did you do, nap? I know you'd had a long drive." I asked, I had a feeling they hadn't napped based on the dark red blush that was now seeded in Annabeth face.
Thalia's P.O.V
"I think that might fall into that category of things that Thalia doesn't want to talk about." Annabeth said diplomatically and I was grateful for that, but I knew exactly what she wasn't saying.
"ANNABETH CHASE! How could you not tell me?!" Piper said as she hit Annabeth with a pillow. "I realise things went a little pear shaped the day after you got back but you could have sent me a text on Valentine's Day once you got home!" Piper said and Annabeth laughed.
"I didn't want to disturb your time with Jason; besides you know now, right?" She said unabashed by it all. Like it wasn't a huge thing for her when it absolutely was.
"I'm asking more about this when his cousins aren't present" Piper said leaving no room for her to doubt that she would. And I was immensely thankful that I would not be there for that blow by blow account.
"I never doubted that you would." Annabeth responded clearly amused.
"Percy gave you the necklace?" Hazel asked nodding towards Annabeth.
"Oh," Annabeth said, and let go of it letting it drop on to her chest. "Yes, he bought it before he knew that I didn't celebrate the day. He gave it to me after." She said looking a little lost in the memory but with a bright smile on her face.
"We got room service for dinner and crashed out after that. We got up early on Valentine's Day and headed out to my mom's grave. After the visit he took me to a Lego store to distract me before the drive home. When we got back, we spent the evening building what we'd bought from the Lego store with the TV on in the background and that's it." Annabeth said. "What about you Thalia what did you do this year?" She asked me.
I smiled. "I think I had the best day out of all of you." I teased. "I got to Aunt Sally's after work at about 5am, crashed out in the guest room before having Aunt Sally's cooking for lunch which was fantastic as always. Then Uncle Paul took Aunt Sally out for an early dinner while I stayed and looked after Estelle. She told me something rather interesting too." I said looking at Annabeth.
"Oh yeah," Annabeth said raising an eyebrow at me in challenge.
"Yeah." I said smirking, she'd have to ask if she wanted to know.
"And what might that be?" She asked.
"That Percy told her, he was going to marry you." I told her totally unashamed about dropping my favourite cousin in it to his girlfriend.
"I know." She replied unexpectedly.
"You know?" Hazel asked.
"Yes, he's mentioned it." Annabeth said trying to seem nonchalant about it all but the blush on her cheeks gave her away. I guess I shouldn't have really been all that surprised, but I had to confess that, I was a little. I noticed Piper didn't looked surprised either so she must have known too.
We continued to chat and tease Annabeth until Jason popped his head out of Piper's room to ask if it was 'safe' to re-join the conversation, the dork. When we confirmed that we'd indeed stopped talking about Valentine's day he settled next to Piper once more and I gave him a knowing smile. I had after all won our bet, I'd bet him $20 but just seeing how happy the people I cared most about were, it was payment enough for winning.
Ψ
~Author's Note~
Hi all, thank you so much for reading this chapter! I really hope you all enjoyed as some of the loose ends start to get tied up! Who had picked up that Chris was the guy Thalia was being set up to marry? Based on the reviews – no-one's mentioned it so just curious to see who picked up on that in the earlier chapters! Please let me know what you thought about this chapter!
McShizzleSupreme778 – Thank you for your review! And welcome to the story I'm glad you're enjoying, and I look forward to writing about Estelle's party too! I hope you enjoyed this chapter please let me know!
WiseGrl14 – Thank you for your review! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, I hope you enjoyed this one too, please let me know!
Going Dark – Thank you for your review! The Annabeth guilt wasn't an intentional canon cross but if it's worked out that was it's a happy accident! I hope you liked this chapter please let me know!
Sranupama2005 – Thank you for your review! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, looking forward to Estelle's birthday too! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!
QueenAnnabeth18 – Thank you for your review! I'm glad you loved it! The reason I went with computers and coding is because she's a very bright person and I feel she would have put that to use. Also in the canon books she isn't interested in fashion as such as she hated when her mom put her in the dress when she was claimed so I struggled to see her in a fashion designer's role, it's a role I associate more with Silena, with Piper taking an interest but not wanting to pursue it. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!
Astra2111 – Thank you for your review! I always like to take time to reply to my reviews, you all take the time to write them, I feel the least I can do is respond! Your words flatter me, thank you, I hope you achieve whatever it is that you set out to do with that motivation! Please let me know what you thought about this chapter.
Dclark04 – Thank you for your review! I'm glad you loved it! Suggestions are welcome for the fancy dress options, please let me know what you thought of this chapter!
TheDayofRickening – Thank you for your review! Loved the pun! I'm glad you liked the last chapter I hope you liked this one too, please let me know!
Merendinoemiliano – Thank you for your review! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter I hope you enjoyed this one too, please let me know!
SarcasmRocks – Thank you for your review! It's not the first time Reyna's been mentioned in the story, but it is the first time she's been mentioned in the reviews haha! I'm not sure how many chapters are left but a few things left to wrap up so there will definitely be a few more to come at the very least! I hope you liked this chapter please let me know!
Insanedreamer7905 – Thank you for your review! The title is always the hardest part so I'm glad you liked it! I knew I couldn't drag it out anymore than I had, I had to bring Percabeth back into it! And as mentioned above it's not the first time Reyna was mentioned, but that appears to have been missed :). Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!
A few of you have mentioned looking forward to the party for Estelle and I'm really interested to hear your suggestions on who should dress up as who or what so please if you review throw out a suggestion! Happy reading all and stay safe! :)