In which they're all totally gone on one another and are dumbasses. Also, Piper and Annabeth cannot cook to save their lives and Percy is very amused by that fact.
Replies:
avaatje: Well you shall have to wait! But hopefully it shall be very fun.
ant-death: Your question will be answered fairly soon, and the Luke Annabeth realisation is going to be fun when it happens but right now he believes he killed her. As for Backlog- for this one I have over twenty but I have been struggling with Family Ties and I have two there- though it is closer to the end so hopefully that won't cause me issues.
Zephy0f8: I do love protective cuddles and cute stuff between our girls I won't lie.
Rage2091:I will say I have plans for her birthday in the fic which should be real fun
Georgia: Thank you. And honestly a lot of basics might stay the same but it would be different for sure, either way.
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: It definitely could have gone worse.
12problems89: Thank you!

It really was impressive how quickly Piper popped up from the cabin, a panicked look on her face when she saw Percy- one which matched Annabeth's look. "Percy what happened?" Piper gasped, "Did you get caught? I knew I should have come with you!"

"I am fine." Percy exhaled slowly. "I am completely fine you guys." she leaned back slightly, "I did get hurt but I took a dive and it healed me up fine-"

"The back of your shirt is shredded." Annabeth had moved so that she was behind Percy, her fingers brushing over the fabric Percy's top. "Looks like something with claws got you. And there's blood, the water probably washed some of it out but you must have been bleeding a lot."

"I was." Percy didn't bother lying. The other girls would undoubtedly see through it. And she leaned back slightly, leaning against Annabeth. "Listen you both need to calm down-"

"Your head." that came from Piper, who's eyes were narrowed. "It looks- did you hurt your head?" She asked after a moment. "Gods Percy how bad must it have been if the water didn't completely heal it? It looks sorta bruised." she pressed her fingers around the bruise and Percy hissed slightly- it wasn't as painful as it had been but there was a slight pain when it was touched.

"Yes I did but again, I will be fine. You're both over reacting. You know you are."

"When I woke up Piper told me you were checking out that cruise ship." Annabeth's voice was disapproving, "You should have woken me Percy. You should never go alone on missions like that. What happened to you?" and there was no hiding the concern in Annabeth's voice.

"I went aboard, realised something was wrong real quick, there are mortals there but they're in a trance." Percy informed the other girls. "And monsters too. And- and I think there's demigods there. Ones who are traitors-" and that made Annabeth tense up.

"Other demigods?" her voice was quiet, "You think- you think they're like Luke right-" a look of horror crossed her face when Percy winced slightly at the name, "No. No please tell me- please tell me he isn't-" her head turned sharply, gaze focusing on the cruise ship- which was slowly getting smaller as they put more and more distance between them.

"Hey-" Piper was next to Annabeth in an instant, an arm over her shoulder, "Hey it's okay you're safe here- if he is on the ship, which Percy hasn't confirmed yet, he can't get to you here. You're safe."

"I won't let him touch you." Percy spoke up, "But, unfortunately that asshole is on the ship. I have to assume it's the start of Kronos' army." she told them. "I saw him, followed him and his monster buddies to try and find out what they were up to. They uh- they were talking about the tree- and their plans-"

"It was him-" Annabeth had tears rolling down her cheeks, she was trembling slightly too, and Percy shifted slightly, letting the other girl press her face into her shoulder as she sobbed.

And once again Percy wished she had that asshole in front of her- without his monster buddies. If she hadn't been in a rush and very much outnumbers Percy would have made the time to pummel him just for the damage he'd done to one of her best friends.

And based on the dark look on Piper's face when their gazes met the daughter of Aphrodite was thinking along the same lines as she rubbed Annabeth's back in slow gentle circles.

"Annabeth should we go below deck- take a-"

"K-keep talking." Annabeth's voice was muffled but audible enough. "I- I can handle it. I'll be fine."

"Right." because Percy knew better than to argue otherwise. "Apparently Chiron's been chased off from camp- I guess people are suspecting him. Which isn't great but there's not much we can do about it-" she heard Annabeth let out a low frustrated groan.

"They're idiots." she grumbled the words, "Complete idiots. Chiron loves camp, he lives for it he'd never do anything to hurt it." she shook her head and lifted it slightly. "What else did you learn. Do you know why they did it?"

"To force a quest to get the Golden Fleece, which we knew was a possibility. Apparently no one had figured it out yet though- which is probably good for us, we're less likely to run into any other demigods if they haven't figured it out yet. Though I think he'll be giving someone a tip."

"Wonderful." Piper pulled a face, "Still, we'll have a good head start. Did you find out what they want with the Fleece?"

"Yes." Percy grimaced, "I don't know all of the details but, uh-" she pulled a face. "They plan on using it to revive Kronos- and Luke mentioned something about a casket so- so I guess they plan on using the Fleece to put a bunch of Kronos pieces back together and heal him up."

"Oh that does not sound good-"

"Gods-" Annabeth breathed the words, "We cannot let him get the Fleece- gods what do we do- we won't be able to just drop it on her tree and leave he'll just show up and heal it as soon as he finds out that the Fleece is there."

"I don't know." Percy let out a groan of her own, tilting her head back. "I can probably cast a spell on the Fleece, make it so that no one can move it once it's been set in place. I'm not sure how long the spell would take to cast but it should be possible."

"We'll figure out the details later." Piper's expression was worried as she watched them both, her gaze flicking between the two of them. "You both look terrible. Come on let's get you guys below deck. I'll make us all some toast and some orange juice- I think we have orange juice anyway. I should be able to do that without burning anything too badly. Percy are you sure you're healed up enough-"

"Piper I am fine. Yeah I hit my head real bad- or more accurately a door hit my head very very hard, opened by these two bear guys."

"Gods-" Annabeth shifted slightly and moved so that she could press her fingers to Percy's temple. "Are you sure you're okay. What about concussions?"

"I am fine." Percy said gently, grabbing Annabeth's wrist. "I probably would have had one if I didn't get into the water as quickly as I did. As it is it's just a little bit sore."

"Oh yeah." Piper was grabbing Percy and Annabeth and hauling them to their feet, and Percy let out a soft noise, the world seemed to spin very slightly as she stood- and both of the girls noticed because their eyes narrowed- and Annabeth's back straightened slightly, and Percy could see a flash of determination in those steely gray eyes as Annabeth slid her arm around Percy, helping her stand steady- and- if looking after Percy made her feel better then maybe she could let them look after her. Just a little bit.

And maybe she still had a teensy concussion despite the fact that she'd been in the water-head injuries were always a bit trickier to deal with, even with the healing powers of water.

And she let them get her inside and she let out a breath as she slipped onto one of the seats, closing her eyes and letting out a breath.

"You stay there." Piper's voice was sharp, tight with worry. "You stay right there, both of you. I'm going to go make that toast and the orange juice.

"I thought I saw Menshikov." Percy said the words suddenly, "For a moment there, after the doors swung open and nearly split my head in two, the spell started sparking like it did in Russia when Carter cast it and my head went all fuzzy and I thought I saw him."

There was a long moment of silence at that before Annabeth's fingers entwined with Percy's and she squeezed Percy's hand.

"Menshikov- that was the Russian right?" her voice was soft, "The one who decided to kidnap you."

"Yeah." Percy nodded, opening her eyes slowly. "Yeah that's the one. It only lasted for a couple of seconds but I could have swore that-" she shuddered. "He looked just like he did last time I saw him. I know it wasn't real but-"

"Bad memories." Annabeth's voice was soft. "But it wasn't real." she Percy felt Annabeth's lips brushing against her cheek, "This boat is real. The water we're on is real. The smell of toast burning is real-"

"Oh come on!" Piper yelped the words, flailing as she realised that the toast was starting to burn.

And Percy burst out laughing, tossing her head back as she slapped her hand over her mouth, unable to stop herself.

"You're hopeless." she called over. "How do you mess up toast-"

"It's not my fault!" Piper called back, "I didn't mean to."

"Of course you didn't." Percy felt a rush of warmth and fondness for Piper at that. It was ridiculous and stupid but something about the situation eased the tension in her shoulders. And she tilted her head to the side, so that she could rest it on Annabeth's shoulder.

"I think it's salvageable." Percy could see Piper rushing around in the little kitchen area, clearly hard at work.

"I would laugh but it would be hypocritical of me." Annabeth shifted slightly, "Can I take the bandana off?" and Percy shifted slightly, smiling when she saw the faint blush on her cheeks. It was adorable.

"Yeah." Percy nodded, "You can take my hair down too." it always felt nice when people played with her hair- or when people she liked did anyway- when people tried to grab at it without asking they tended to get a broken nose- and that was if they were lucky.

She hummed happily as she felt Annabeth fumbling with the bandana and pulling the tie out of Percy's hair, letting it tumble down over her shoulders.

Then fingers were combing through Percy's curls and Percy was closing her eyes again- it was a very nice feeling, it seemed to make the slight ache in her head ease back.

And several moments later Piper was setting down some toast and some juice in front of Percy, and Percy sipped at her juice before picking up her slice of toast-and she could see where Piper had scraped away burned bits.

Still, she smiled as she took a bite- it was still very slightly burned tasting but she didn't care.

It was nice, feeling so loved, so taken care of by both of them. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she didn't have Piper and Annabeth. They were the best friends she could have ever asked for.

And, with their warm familiar presences, it was easy to push away the memories of Menshikov, and if her toast slipped from her fingers back onto the plate and her head ended up lolling onto Annabeth's shoulder, well, the two girls certainly didn't judge her as between the two of them they carefully carried her and set her in the large bed.

Once she was tucked in Annabeth and Piper exchanged looks and Piper gave a strained little smile. "She really will be fine."

"I know." Annabeth exhaled slowly. "It's easier- when I have someone else to focus on. Easier not to think of him-"

"You should take your own advice. He doesn't matter." Piper's smile was soft. "We're here right now. With you. He can't get to you."

"Oh I know." Annabeth nodded, giving Percy a sidelong glance, "She got hurt because of him though- because of my dreams-"

"Don't. This is Percy. She'd have gotten sucked in one way or another. At least we're doing it together."

"Right." Annabeth nodded slowly, "Right. Together." she paused, "No matter what."