Chapter Thirteen

February 16th

When Percy's eyes fluttered open, he didn't know what time it was, or even what day it was, but he knew when he saw his mom's smiling face that something good had happened.

"They found her, Percy." His mom said, with tears glistening in her eyes

All the sleep that was muddling his mind vanished instantly.

"They found Annabeth? Is she okay? Where is she?" Percy became frantic, sitting up and looking around like she would be there in the hospital room with him.

"Sweetie, shhh, calm down." It was like deja vu, as his mom pushed him to lie back down on the bed, "Annabeth's okay. She's safe. She's here at the hospital and getting looked at right now. You can't see her yet, but the nurses promised to let us know as soon as you can. Okay?"

He felt the tension escape his body and his shoulders sag at his mom's words. After taking a sip of water, he asked "Do you know how bad she's hurt?"

His mom shook her head and Percy sighed as his head sunk into the pillow. His only thoughts swirling around the three simple words, Annabeth is safe.

It was a few hours of anxiously sitting up every time a nurse walked in before Percy heard anything, but eventually one came in to tell him that Annabeth was resting and where he could find her. Percy was out of his bed and the room before the nurse had finished speaking.

When he found the room number that the nurse had told him, Percy slowly stepped into an identical room to his, except for the person lying in the bed. The bright, fluorescent lights highlighted the dark blue bruise covering the left side of her face and her pale skin, and the obnoxious beeping echoed from one of the machines connected to Annabeth.

As Percy sat in the seat next to the bed and grabbed Annabeth's cold hand, he felt like throwing up and sobbing all at once. How could he let this happen? This was his fault. He knew what Gabe was like, what he was capable of, and yet he did nothing. The two most important things in his life, his mom and Annabeth, and he did nothing to protect either of them. As far as Percy was concerned, he was just as guilty as Gabe.

He felt the squeeze of his hand before he even realized that he was crying and when he looked up, through blurry vision, he saw Annabeth's gray eyes and soft smile, which just made him cry harder.

"Hey." She croaked out, and the sobs continued to rack his body. "Percy? Are you okay?"

And then for some reason, he began to laugh, because here she was lying in bed after going through who knows what and she was asking if HE was okay.

When he looked back up at her, Percy could tell she was worried so he quickly wiped his eyes and worked to compose himself.

"Sorry, sorry. Yea- Yes, I'm okay. Are you okay?" He questioned as he stood to hold a straw to her lips so she could drink some water.

After taking a couple of sips, she replied "Yeah, I'm okay. The police officer told me that Gabe hurt you, your face looks pretty bad, but what else did he do?"

Percy chuckled, "Thanks Wise Girl, although you're not looking too hot yourself. But don't worry, just a couple of bruises and a fractured wrist," he said, as he held up the cast surrounding his right hand.

She smiled, "Okay, okay... That's good, not too bad, I guess."

He was ready to respond before a doctor entered the room. While she checked the machines surrounding Annabeth's bed, Percy asked "Is she okay? How badly is she hurt?"

"I'm fine Percy. Really, nothing hurts too badly."

The doctor smirked at her, "Well, that's probably because of all the pain medication you're on, but nothing that can't heal over time. You do have 2 broken ribs and a mild concussion, so you'll need to spend another couple nights here for observation." After a short pause, she continued. "Annabeth, your mom was here but I think she left to attend a meeting, but I'm sure she'll be back soon."

Annabeth sent a half-hearted smile and thanked her, but once the doctor left she rolled her eyes. "God, her daughter is lying in a hospital bed after being kidnapped and yet, she can't miss a fucking meeting."

Percy masked the slight surprise that crossed his face, he knew how much the lack of effort and attention her parents gave affected her, but she rarely let it show just how much. In an attempt to offer some comfort, he placed another soft kiss on her forehead.

At the gesture, Annabeth smiled, gingerly scooted over on the small bed, trying her best to hold in the expressions of pain, and patted the space she vacated. He climbed into bed and they situated themselves, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders and her head on his chest.

After a few quiet moments, Percy sighed and said, "I can't believe I let this happen. It's all my fault, Beth. I love you and... and I'm supposed to protect you and I-I didn-" He stopped, feeling the guilt, panic, and fear overwhelm him.

She shook her head, "How is it your fault, Percy? You had no idea what Gabe was involved in."

With guilt settling heavily on his chest, he explained everything, starting with the emails he found all the way back in December. Once he explained everything, he expected her to yell and break up with him, instead, Annabeth just shook her head, "That's still not your fault, Percy. Honestly, I would've done the same thing if I was in that situation. There was no way you could've known that Gabe was even capable of something like this. Sure, I wish you would have told me about the emails, but that doesn't matter and I'm not sure that would've stopped anything. You need to let go of the guilt, all that's going to do is continue to allow Gabe control over your life and that just means he wins."

Percy would never understand how she knows exactly what to say to quiet all the thoughts in his head, but he let her words roll over him and just hugged her a little tighter.

"Where do we go from here Annabeth? I-I mean… what happens now?"

He felt her shrug her shoulders, "I don't know, Seaweed Brain. I guess, we try to move on and heal, in more ways than one."

…

When Sally Jackson entered her son's room to find an empty bed, there was a slight moment of panic before she found the nurse's station and asked for Annabeth Chase's room.

After locating the room number, she peeked in to see Percy and Annabeth, asleep, practically on top of one another, in the small bed. Sally shut off the bright lights with a soft smile, grateful to see the two finally getting some rest and having a quiet moment of peace.

A/N: Well, I think that's it for this story, besides the epilogue, I think this one is pretty much wrapped up. Kinda sad, huh?:'( Little shorter than I expected it to be, but I'm still very proud of this story.

Side note: I think I have an idea for my next story, I'm thinking a hockey AU ... kinda like the off-campus series by Elle Kennedy, minus all the spice cause I don't think I could write all that, lol, you never know though ;)

Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter and what you think of that possible new story.

Thanks for all the support, xoxo!