A/N: I'd like to thank my betas: AlEmily360, SapphireTrafficker, tigerlilycorinne, AshenMoon42, Lesbian101, Shiuanc2, and LadyHW.

It's funny how the mind works.

Usually, Annabeth's was running at a million miles per hour, but now it was in a daze. It processed things in lists—Annabeth had always been good at lists.

Goodbye. Taxi. Airport. Plane. Airport. Taxi.

Hello.

:::

It was the start of the New Year.

And it was apparently a day for miracles.

Miracle one: Thalia, after three years in a coma, had woken up.

Miracle two: Frederick was able to find a last-minute empty seat on a flight from San Francisco to New York that found her pushing through the hospital doors ten minutes to midnight on January first.

Annabeth also supposed it was sad that the receptionist working at the front desk recognized her.

"Visiting hours are over at ten," she said. She held out a visitor pass anyway. Annabeth thanked her, looping it over her neck.

Hospitals had never scared Annabeth before, but now here she was, feeling scared. And happy. And nervous. And excited. And sick.

She leaned against the elevator wall to catch her breath, feeling like she had been gasping for air—for a moment to process—since she received the call less than twenty-four hours earlier. She closed her eyes.

She's awake.

This was what Annabeth had wanted for years. She still wanted it, of course. Yet, a part of her couldn't help but wonder… would it be the same Thalia she knew who was awake in that hospital room? Was she the same Annabeth?

Annabeth forced her breath out. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

The elevator dinged. Annabeth stepped out.

Inhale, Exhale.

Room number…

There it was. She put her hand on the door.

Inhale, Exhale.

The door swung out. Annabeth stepped back to avoid being hit reflexively.

"Oh...Annabeth. Um—" Luke stood in the doorway. She blinked up at him. He held open the door. "Here."

She pushed past him and into the crowded room, barely recognizing the fact that he was there.

"Annabeth," Thalia's father started.

"Annabeth?" Jason asked.

"Annabeth," Thalia murmured.

"Thalia."

Her hair was messy. Her hair had usually been messy, but this looked much less intentional. The thin, blonde strands stuck to her clammy skin and splayed over the pillow. Annabeth could hear every breath she took, long and dragged out like it took effort. Her eyes were blurry and tired. But they were open.

Thalia reached her hand out for Annabeth. The IV's cord clattered against the timer on her wrist. Annabeth went to join her.

"Careful," Zeus said, putting his hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "She's delicate."

Thalia had barely enough energy to stay awake, nonetheless, she used it to glare at her father.

Annabeth felt a sob choke out of her. She couldn't believe this was real. She had imagined this so many times in so many ways. It felt too much like a dream.

"Annabeth, you look so much older. You look so grown up," Thalia rasped.

"I know." Annabeth wept. "It's been so long. I have so much to tell you."

"Is it Christmas?" Thalia asked blurrily, dazed eyes sweeping around to the leftover decorations around the room.

Annabeth sniffled and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"It's the New Year," Jason said.

"Happy New Year," she whispered.

:::

"Here," Jason said, holding out a cup of coffee.

Thalia had fallen asleep, and while Annabeth would have been content waiting in the room for her to wake up, Zeus told her and Jason to wait in the waiting room. Luke, who had apparently been one of the first to show up, had already left, after much pleading from Thalia's father for him to look after himself and a promise that he could visit later. Annabeth supposed she would feel thankful later for not having to deal with him, but for now, she was too tired to spend any of her remaining energy on thoughts of her ex. She could only focus on Thalia, and on the cup of coffee Jason was handing her.

"Thanks," Annabeth said, taking it and wrapping her fingers around it. She took a sip. It was predictably disgusting.

"I didn't know you knew Thalia," Jason said.

"I didn't know you did," Annabeth responded. She didn't know Jason very well, despite him being her best friend's boyfriend, and her having met him a few times.

"I'm actually her brother," he said.

Annabeth was too emotionally exhausted to feel surprised. "I didn't know Thalia had a brother."

"Yeah, neither did I until about a year ago. I lived with dad when I was younger, but then all of a sudden I had to go to boarding school. I guess that was around the time…"

"Yeah."

He took off his gold wire frames and rubbed his eyes. "Anyways, dad reached out about a year ago, telling me I had a sister who was in the hospital. It was like that Lindsay Lohan movie where she finds out she has a twin—"

"Parent Trap?"

"Yeah, exactly. Besides the, y'know, Parent Trap part. And the twin part. She's a few years older than me." Jason took a sip of his coffee and nodded at her. "Your turn."

"We were friends. Are friends. Luke, Thalia, and I. Practically inseparable. It was pretty tough when she..."

"Yeah." Jason paused. "Small world," he quietly remarked. Annabeth nodded somberly in agreement.

Annabeth took another sip of her coffee. Hospital coffee was even worse than regular coffee, but she didn't care enough to stop drinking it. She was sure she had eye bags to rival Thalia's.

Jason chuckled, seeming to sense her disgust. "Yeah, it's pretty nasty. It's better than nothing though."

Annabeth shrugged and put her cup down. She took out her phone. Dead.

"Do you have a charger I could use?" she asked.

Jason shook his head. "I'm sure they have a ton of them at the front desk."

Annabeth nodded and got up. She walked to the front desk. "Do you have a charger for a Samsung?" she asked the receptionist, a pretty young woman with short hair.

The receptionist nodded and reached under the desk. She gave Annabeth a cardboard box filled with cords. "Here's the box of forgotten chargers. Feel free to rummage." Annabeth moved to the side and began digging through it.

A nurse came through the doors from Thalia's ward and settled next to the receptionist. "Jen," she whispered.

"Hey, Lacy." The receptionist whispered back. She glanced towards Annabeth and then lowered her voice. "You look like shit."

"Coma patient woke up," Lacy sighed, slumping onto a chair next to Jen. She lifted her feet up, twisting them at the ankles.

"Seriously?" Jen said. Annabeth knew they were talking about Thalia and she paused. She wasn't sure if she wanted to keep listening, or just go back to her seat. It felt strange to hear the two hospital staff talking about Thalia like she was just another patient. Like the words "Thalia's awake" wouldn't turn their blood to ice.

"Yeah, she had an operation a few days ago. Something experimental, I don't know. Not my shift."

"Experimental?" Jen asked. "Was she the one who…" She tapped the plastic of her timer lightly (forty-nine years, five months, seventeen days, thirty-six seconds).

"Yeah. Some people from DCD came in to work with the surgeon. She's got a whole new one now."

Annabeth remembered seeing Thalia's new timer, if only for a second. Fifty-seven years, ten months, twenty-nine days, and 3 minutes. Only three years less than it had been before she tried to cut it out.

"Wow. They don't think she'll—" She tapped on her timer once more. "Again?"

The nurse shook her head. "We hope not. If she does, it's another coma for her and another fortune from her family."

"God, I can't imagine how—" the receptionist was interrupted by another nurse poking his head through the ward doors.

"Nurse Kupelian, did you get the files?" he asked. The nurse flushed.

"It's the Grace case," she said. The receptionist nodded and handed her a stack of papers.

"Bye." The receptionist waved as the nurses left and then turned to Annabeth. "You find a charger yet?

Annabeth realized she had stopped rummaging to listen, so she quickly turned her eyes back to the box, locating the appropriate cable. She held it up. "Got it."

Walking back to her seat next to Jason, she thought about what the receptionist had said. Annabeth didn't want to admit it, but she shared her fears. Thalia had never wanted a timer and Annabeth didn't imagine she'd be happy to have one again.

:::

They made Annabeth go home. Or at least to one form of it.

Annabeth let herself into her mother's apartment. Her mother wasn't going to be there. Upon being told that Annabeth would spend the holiday with her father, she had simply sniffed tetchily and booked a flight to Greece. Annabeth supposed it was a blessing in disguise. She wasn't sure she wanted to face her mother after… everything.

Annabeth collapsed on the couch. She was too tired to make it to her room, and too awake to fall asleep. She turned on the TV, not to watch it, but just to fill the deafening silence of the empty flat. Her focus turned halfheartedly to her phone. She had been purposely neglecting it, hoping that maybe if she didn't respond to any of her messages, or open any of her emails, then she wouldn't have to face any other realities than the one she was facing now. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

But, as always, the notifications nagged her. She clicked on her emails first.

To: Annabeth Chase

From: Frederick Chase

Subject: How are you?

Hello Annabeth,

We are all so sorry to see you leave so soon. We hope that everything is going well. Good luck.

Love,

Isi, Amy, Matthew, and Bobby

P.S. You are welcome back any time

Annabeth regretted the fact that her vacation was cut so short. She would have liked to spend more time in San Francisco.

She made a mental note to respond later when she felt more together. She then deleted some spam emails. Clicking on her messages she winced. 20 unread.

Piper: Happy New Year!

Piper: Oh time zones, weird

Piper: Hey is everything okay

Piper: Jason told me thalia just woke up from a coma

Piper: he's her half brother

Piper: are you okay

Piper: let me know if youre ok

Piper: im here for you

Annabeth hurried to type a response.

Annabeth: happy new year

Annabeth: yeah, she's awake

Annabeth: im okay for now

Annabeth: mostly

Annabeth: ill keep you updated

Annabeth assumed Piper would be asleep considering it was, oh fuck, three in the morning.

Now onto the next texts. Annabeth really should go to sleep.

Leo: feliz año nuevo!

Leo: that means happy new year, ms. i took latin in hs

It was nice that Leo was reaching out to her. She sent him a happy New Year's text, but as soon as she sent it, he replied.

Leo: you're friends with jason's sister right? He said shes awake

Annabeth wasn't sure what he was going to ask, and she didn't think she was willing to have this conversation. Especially not with Leo. She didn't respond and moved onto her other texts. She got a happy new year from Hazel (who also gave her one from Frank) and she got a text from her mother as well, which she chose to ignore. Finally, she got to the last person.

Percy: Happy New Year :)

Percy: I hope things are still going well with your dad

Percy: I just realized it's probably a weird time for you

Percy: I'll leave you a waking up gift 3

Percy had attached a picture of himself. He was pulling a strange expression, crossed eyes and puffed out cheeks, and it was so blurred she could barely make out the tree decorated in the background. It was covered in an unusually large amount of blue ornaments, of course. For the first time since leaving Thalia's side, she cracked a tired smile.

Annabeth: hot

Annabeth: things went well

Annabeth: Im in ny

Annabeth: ill explain later

Annabeth could already feel her eyes closing shut as she put her phone to the side, not bothering to plug it in. She fell asleep on the couch, the sound of late night sitcom reruns playing in the background.

:::

Annabeth woke up to sunlight streaming over her face. She pressed her face into the cushion beneath her. There was an awful ache in her neck and her mouth felt like it was full of cotton. And she'd had the weirdest dream…

Thalia, and Jason, and…

Shit.

Annabeth sat up, nearly tumbling off the couch. She looked around. She'd forgotten she was here, in this apartment and in New York. The TV was still on from last night, playing the mid-day news. Annabeth checked her phone. It was dead.

Shit.

I need to get to the hospital, Annabeth thought, not moving. "I need to get to the hospital," she repeated out loud, because sometimes that worked better. She pushed herself from the comfort of the couch cushions and stood up, stretching out the crooks in her neck. She searched her bags for her charger, and plugged it into the wall with shaking hands.

In the bathroom, she took a quick shower, washing off the grime of the plane and the hospital. She stood in the hot steam of the shower, taking deep breaths as the water swirled down the drain. She felt dizzy with exhaustion—she must have only gotten, what? Five hours of sleep in the last forty-eight hours?

Stepping out of the shower, she clutched the edge of the sink. In the mirror her reflection stared back, smudged and out of focus with condensation. She wiped the water away and it dripped down, forming tear tracks on the glassy surface. Four years. What had four years done to her face? How had she changed? When Thalia stared up at her face from the hospital bed, was it the same Annabeth from before that stared back?

Her phone was at forty-one percent when she finished getting dressed. Grabbing a mottled brown and yellow banana, she left the apartment. She hailed a taxi and let it slowly take her through the late morning traffic down to the hospital.

Pulling up outside the main building, she saw a face she wished she could forget.

"Luke," she acknowledged, nodding to him as they met outside of the revolving doors. He nodded, hastily ending his call.

"Annabeth," he said, face carefully neutral. She had forgotten that she had seen him the day before, but of course, he would be here. She felt guilty knowing that her faltering heart rate was more due to the presence of her ex-boyfriend than the fact that she was visiting her ex-comatose friend.

"Come to see Thalia?" Annabeth asked nonsensically.

Luke scoffed lightly, but covered it up with a cough. "Yes, I am." He was all politeness.

They walked in silence, finding their way to the elevator. Luke kept his voice quiet, ducking his mouth to Annabeth's ear when he said, "So, how've you been?"

Annabeth shivered. They stopped on the second floor and one of the passengers left. "Fine," she said, gritting her teeth.

Luke nodded. After a pause, he asked, "Aren't you going to ask how I am?"

"No, I'm not." Maybe it was rude, but Annabeth didn't want to know how he was. She didn't want to be talking to him at all.

Luke tutted lightly, obviously enjoying her discomfort. "That's rude," he said. He looked to the other passenger, a man holding a small teddy bear from the hospital gift shop. He shook his head at him lightly, throwing him a sympathetic smile as if to say "you agree with me, right?" The man shrugged, returning Luke's smile. "See, it is."

Annabeth frowned. She clenched her fists at her sides and tried to ignore the blood pumping in her ears. Whether it was anger or anxiety, she didn't know. "I don't care."

They got to their floor and the elevator doors dinged open. Luke nodded to the teddy bear man as they left. He was still too close to Annabeth, walking right beside her. "Well, since you asked so nicely." His voice scraped at her skin and she felt dizzy again. Was this hallway longer than before?

She didn't even hear what he was saying until he grabbed her wrist, halting her abruptly.

"Are you listening to me?" he asked. She didn't respond. His face turned worried. "Hey, you seem a little—are you okay?"

She yanked her wrist back, and the worried expression dropped. "Please, just—" Just…

He put his hands up, palms facing her. "Woah, calm down." His eyes went back down to her wrist.

"You didn't use to cover it up," he said.

Annabeth moved her hand over the athletic tape on her wrist. "Things change."

Luke's face turned stony. "Evidently," he said, then paused. "Is it—is it for him?" At her blank expression, he continued. "For Percy. He didn't want to be reminded that his girlfriend—"

Annabeth's stomach dropped. "No," she lied. She straightened her posture and raised her chin, trying to appear larger than she felt. "It's for me."

Luke just sighed. "Whatever," he said. "I just wanted to say—we're going to be seeing a lot of each other—"

Annabeth made a vaguely disgruntled noise.

"It's inevitable. You're here for Thalia, and so am I. I just wanted to say—let's not cause any unnecessary drama, okay? I'm not leaving just because you want to hold grudges. It wouldn't be good for Thalia."

Annabeth bit her tongue. She didn't think cussing Luke out in the hallway would be very productive, no matter how much she wanted to do it. She took a deep breath and plastered on a smile. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm completely over it."

Luke's eye twitched. His scar shivered with it, but he kept the stiff smile on his face. "Okay. Well. I know we didn't leave things in the best way, but—"

Annabeth matched his energy, letting herself ooze condescension. She tried not to feel too smug about seeing how Luke was obviously affected by her faked nonchalance. "It's okay. I'm over it, seriously. I don't have enough time for it to be wasted thinking about you." She gave him a pointed look. "You'd know about that, wouldn't you."

He brought his own wrist behind his back, almost subconsciously. Maybe it was a low hit to mention his timer, but god, did it feel good to see his face turn a blotchy shade of red and his calm and charismatic demeanor crumble. She felt sick just saying all of this to him, but watching him lose his carefully held composure made her feel powerful in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.

Luke opened his mouth several times before closing it, but before he could speak, Annabeth was walking down the rest of the hall to Thalia's door and pushing inside.

She immediately felt like she walked into something. Thalia's dad was standing over the bed, red in the face, looking accusingly at Annabeth, while Thalia was seated up on the bed with her arms crossed, pointedly not looking at anything.

"Should I come back later?" she asked, looking between them.

"No," Zeus snapped. "We're done here." He blustered past Annabeth and pushed open the door, stopping only briefly when he saw Luke waiting behind the door. Thalia flipped off his back.

"Luke!" Thalia called. Her voice was scratchy and weak, but Luke still heard her.

"Yeah?" Luke asked. He pushed open the door and moved to stand next to Annabeth.

"Could you leave Annabeth and I alone for a bit? And maybe check on my dad?" Thalia asked. "He'll probably be fuming by the vending machines."

Luke shot a sideways glare at Annabeth, but then quickly went back to smiling at Thalia. "Sure. Be back in a few."

Once he left, Thalia leaned back into her pillows, sinking into a slouch. "Annabeth," she sighed in a small, tired voice. Annabeth pulled one of the chairs up next to Thalia's bed. She didn't seem quite as weak as the day before, but she still didn't look like herself. Her skin was still an unhealthy pallor and her greasy, blonde hair was braided into a tight french braid.

Annabeth leaned forward, resting her hand on Thalia's bed. "Is everything okay, Your dad seemed pretty—"

"It's fine. I don't want to think about that." Thalia scowled. Annabeth noticed her hand absentmindedly scratching around her timer on her arm. Her fingernails traced it's outline, prodding at the unwelcome intrusion.

"How are you doing?" Annabeth asked, pulling her eyes back to Thalia's icy blue ones.

"Oh jeez, stop that," Thalia said. She shook her head. "Everyone's constantly asking me 'how're you doing' in the most annoyingly concerned voice ever. I'm so tired of that fucking question. Let's get into the interesting stuff. What have I missed?"

"Um-"

"They told me it's been four years… who's the president? Is it a woman?"

"No, it's—" Annabeth said, trying to catch up to Thalia's quick chatter.

"Of course it isn't, we still have these fuckers," Thalia said, tapping her new timer.

"What—"

"What about you, what's happened to you? Do you go to school in NYC or…" Thalia dissolved into a fit of rough coughing. She buried her head in her elbow, shudders wracking her slight body. Annabeth offered her a tissue from a box on the bed stand.

"Thalia, are you sure you're okay?" Annabeth asked, her eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"I'm fine, I was just talking too fast," Thalia said in a hoarse voice. She coughed once more before continuing in a teasing voice. "Fuck, I'm just...trying to figure things out."

Annabeth smiled awkwardly. "It's okay."

"I really want you to tell me everything. About the world and about you," Thalia rasped. "Just, could you get me a cup of water first?"

Annabeth nodded. "Sure, I'll be right back." At the door, she paused. "Hey, Thalia?"

"Yeah?" Thalia was sitting up again, adjusting the blankets around her. She tucked an escaped lock of hair back into the braid.

"I've missed you," Annabeth said.

Thalia's face broke out into a wide smile. "I've missed you too, Annie." Warmth spread from Annabeth's chest to the tips of her fingers. But then, before she could leave the room, Thalia called to her "And could you get Luke... I wanna talk to him."

The warmth faded, but only a little bit. Annabeth nodded. She let the door close behind her and sighed. The hallway was empty, save a gurney pushed against one wall. Annabeth had always thought hospitals would be louder before she had been in one. She guessed it made sense. Not much happening in the coma ward.

Around the corner came Luke, impassive expression faltering and then returning to some semblance of itself when he saw Annabeth.

"She kick you out?" he said.

"She wanted to talk to you," Annabeth told him.

He smiled down at her. "Well then," he said, but then just turned away from her and went into the room.

Annabeth didn't want to think about it, but knowing that Luke now had to be a part of her life again was more painful than she was willing to admit. Every time she looked at him she got that same small feeling. She couldn't breathe; her heart pounded and her mouth went dry. And the worst thing was that she felt guilty. She shouldn't feel guilty, but she did, especially now that Thalia was awake. Soon she would learn that it was Annabeth's fault that the trio was broken up.

She knew what Piper would say. That it wasn't constructive to think like that, and that it wasn't her fault. And she knew what Silena would say—would have said—that Luke was an asshole dictator who deserved whatever was coming for him. And then Annabeth would laugh and roll her eyes.

She didn't know what Thalia would say, though.

Annabeth found a water fountain with a stack of paper dixie cups next to it. She filled one up and gulped it down. She threw it away and grabbed another one for Thalia.

Walking back down the quiet hallways, she debated going in while Luke was still there. She didn't want to be anywhere close to him, but at the same time, she didn't like the idea of him spending so much time alone with Thalia. When they were together, he hadn't even let Annabeth talk about her. Now that she was awake and was able to talk back, how would he react?

Annabeth knocked lightly on the door. She heard a chair scrape and footsteps before the door opened.

"You can just come in, Annabeth, you don't need to knock," Thalia said from behind him. Luke just leered down at her.

She moved past him and sat on the edge of the bed. "What are you talking about?"

"Just about when I'm getting out," Thalia said. "I'm fucking dying to leave."

"Is it soon?"

Luke sat back down on the chair. "Too soon if you ask me."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you sound like my dad."

"When are you leaving?" Annabeth asked.

"Friday," Thalia told her. "So like… what day is it today?"

"Tuesday," Luke said.

"So like, three, four days. Thank god. They won't even let me put my metal back in." She gestured to her face and its distinct lack of piercings. "They want to take a few more MRIs, do a few more tests. Wanna watch me run on my little guinea pig wheel."

Annabeth didn't know what to say to that. "That sucks."

Luke nodded in agreement. "But at least you're back."

Thalia nodded, her head turning to the window. She stared out, fingers finding the edges of her new timer again. "At least I'm back," she said, without sounding like she really meant it.