A/N: Hey guys back with another chapter! Hope you like it!

Nico and Will arrive fifteen minutes late to the party, which is surprising since they're only two floors up.

Percy gives them a look which causes both of them to blush and he doesn't want to know why. He moves aside and lets them in.

Piper and Jason had arrived first to "assist," which really meant that Piper had brought Annabeth wine as they hung out in the living room while Percy finished the food since he was the better cook. Jason actually assisted by keeping him company and cutting fruit.

Frank shows up soon after, and Percy offers him a drink, stumbling through three words of what would have been a very embarrassing apology before Frank puts him out of his misery by accepting the drink and asking how he's been.

He decides he likes Frank.

The one coworker Annabeth's deemed close enough to invite shows up five minutes after apologizing profusely for her lateness. (A stark contrast to Leo, who shows up 45 minutes late with a grin so dumb that Calypso apologizes for him).

She's small and petite and rather quiet from what Percy gathers, but far from fading back, her presence makes itself known.

"Hi Hazel, it's nice to meet you," he says with a smile. "Annabeth has told me a lot about you."

Hazel smiles. "Likewise."

Percy gets why Annabeth likes her. Speaking of, his girlfriend swoops in with a drink and hug to tell her how happy she is that she was able to make it.

"Let me introduce you to everyone," she says, pulling Hazel away and going directly over to Franks who's chatting with Piper and Jason.

He doesn't think Annabeth is subtle at all when she introduces the two but with the way they end up looking at each other Percy doesn't think they even notice. Frank is blushing a shade of pink Percy could never achieve.

"I see what you did there," Percy whispers to Annabeth when she returns to his side.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she says primly. He rolls his eyes.

"Uh huh, like you didn't invite two people who don't really know anyone else here and happen to be single on purpose."

Annabeth shrugs lightly, but she can't hide the twinkle in her eye or the way the corners of her mouth are tugging upward in a grin.

The party seems to be going well despite their initial worries about the different friend groups mixing and they're all eating ice cream when Annabeth stands up to get everyone's attention.

"Thank you all for coming to this party," she says with a smile as everyone turns towards her. "I have some exciting news I want to share with you all."

Percy's taken back by this. He has no idea what she's talking about.

"As most of you know, I recently started a Youtube channel and," she pauses to take a breath, "I entered a contest/raffle thing for the opportunity to get a chance to visit the Youtube space in California and film some videos."

She smiles a little nervously. "And it turns out I was one of the winners."

Everyone cheers at the news and Percy continues to stand there in surprise.

Piper is first to approach her, pulling her into a hug and scolding her for keeping this a secret. Honestly, Percy has to agree, it's a pretty big deal.

"Congrats Annabeth!" Calypso says brightly, also giving her a hug and Leo gives her a high five. "You're going to LA, you better back some sunscreen!"

"Yeah, forgot what the sun looks like here in New York," Annabeth jokes back.

Frank and Nico and a few others all move to congratulate her and it's not till the music is back on and everyone's settled back does he finally speak up.

"How long?"

Annabeth turns to look at him, guilt written clear on her face. "Three weeks."

Three weeks. And she waited till now to let him know?

Annabeth looks down, her face coloring red, and Percy feels...well, he doesn't quite know how he feels.

But before he can figure it out there's a loud knock on the door before it swings open to reveal a girl with freshly dyed purple streaks and striking blue eyes.

Thalia has entered the chat.

-.-

Annabeth doesn't immediately recognize the girl who's just walked in but Percy evidently has, striding forward to pull her into a hug.

She tries to ignore the twist in her gut at the motion.

The girl quickly wiggles out of the hug though, and makes a face at him. Ignoring it, Percy turns to address the room at large. "And let me introduce my cousin Thalia, who's two and a half hours late."

Thalia elbows him and frowns. "I had a show, but not to worry, I made it." Her eyes move across the room as she talks before finally stopping on her.

"I'm guessing you're Annabeth?" she asks, marching over to her. Annabeth barely nods before Thalia continues talking. "So you're the one who stole Percy's heart, huh?"

She feels a little like she's being sized up but Annabeth can hold her own.

"Fair is fair," she replies with a shrug.

"What?" Thalia looks at her with confusion and a hint of reserve.

"He stole mine so I had to make it even."

Thalia's eyebrows disappear behind her purple streaks and Piper breaks the moment with a small "aww!"

She chances a glance at Percy who's been listening to this conversation. He looks just as surprised by her answer, but a smile is starting to form on his face,

Thalia nods appreciatively. "I like you."

Annabeth doesn't know how to respond so she just nods as Percy walks over to put an arm around her waist. "Thalia stop! There's some food left in the kitchen by the way."

She's gone before he even finishes the sentence and Percy shakes his head.

"Sorry about her," he says looking down at her, but there's something in his voice.

"Percy, listen, I'm—" she starts but he shakes his head.

"Not now."

She feels her heart sink. She fucked up. She knows she should have told him earlier, but she just couldn't bring herself to. This might have been the easiest option, but it wasn't the right one.

She must look as much of a wreck as she feels because his eyes soften. "We'll talk later, we'll work through it."

It makes things a little better, but she's still feeling like shit when Piper walks over.

"Wow, that was intense…" Piper says, glancing at Thalia who's loading up a plate and chatting with Percy.

"Yeah, thank you by the way," Annabeth says, acknowledging that Piper's aww had really worked to break the moment.

"Of course," She gives her a once over. "You okay?"

Annabeth sighs. "I don't know…Percy didn't know about the Youtube thing before now…"

"Ah…" Piper nods understandingly and slinks her arm through hers. "Not your best move, but you two will be okay."

Annabeth glances over at Percy, who's talking to Thalia. "Yeah…"

She hopes so.

-.-

They don't get a moment alone till two am. The party had run late, Piper and Jason had stayed even later to help clean up, and Thalia had knocked out on the couch.

When they finally do get the moment alone, Percy's too tired to even address the Youtube thing with her.

They're splayed out on the couch, trying to recuperate after all the social interaction.

"Your cousin is nice," Annabeth speaks up, running a hand through her hair.

Percy sighs as he leans back. "She can be intense but she does like you."

"So she said," Annabeth says with a smile.

Percy nods and sighs again. Because he needs to bring this up, even though they're tired. He doesn't want to go to bed with this hanging over him.

"So…" he starts slowly.

Annabeth closes her eyes and winces. "I know, I should have told you...I'm really sorry. I just…" It's her turn to sigh. "I just worked it up in my head until it became a bigger deal than it was and I couldn't bring myself to confront you about it."

She takes a breath and turns towards him, guilt, concern and worry dripping off her face.

"I know you're sorry. I just…" He slumps down. "Why couldn't you have told me before?"

He knows she's already answered this but he just feels the need to ask.

Annabeth looks away. "I guess I was afraid…"

"Of what?"

"Of you being upset…"

"I'm upset that you didn't tell me," Percy says.

She winces again. "I know…I fucked up."

There's a moment of silence. He knows she's sorry, he knows that she didn't mean to, and most of all he knows it was just a mistake. That doesn't make it okay, but he knows it's something he just needs to get over. He knows he's mostly just butthurt.

It's just an unfortunate situation. He sighs again and lays back further into the couch, all the tiredness rushing back to him. He just wants to sleep.

"It's okay," he replies.

She shakes her head and plays with the tassels of the throw pillows again. "It's not…"

"It's okay because you made a mistake." People make mistakes, he can't hate her for fucking up once.

"It's not okay because I hurt you," she says in a small voice. He feels a pang at the words but he's too tired to figure it out. His eyes want to close and his brain is starting to slip from the conversation.

"It'll be okay," he reassures, yawning.

"We'll figure it out?" she asks, looking up at him.

He responds by culling her close and pressing a kiss to her head before finally letting his eyes close.

-.-

Annabeth's nervous to bring the topic up again. It's been a day or so and they're okay, but she can feel that Percy's a bit distant. She knows he's trying to get over it though.

She feels horrible about it and she knows she hasn't lost all his trust but something has changed. And as much as she doesn't want to bring it up, she has to work on rebuilding that.

"So um," she eloquently starts over breakfast. "I, uh, so they reached out to me again with the details of the project…so I'd be leaving mid July and coming back the first week of August." She pauses to anxiously look at his face.

He's chewing toast and looking at her expectantly to continue.

"So um, I need to sign a bunch of stuff and yeah…just thought I'd tell you," she finishes lamely. She looks down at her own toast and decides she's not hungry anymore.

Percy finishes chewing. "Thanks for telling me," he replies.

She doesn't know how to respond properly so she just nods. It's awkward and she's actually glad she needs to leave for work in a few minutes.

She gathers her things in record time, ready to hightail out of there, when he stops her.

"Annabeth…" he starts, there's an unreadable expression on his face.

She turns to face him, standing up from where she's just slipped on her shoes..

He sighs as if he's also struggling with words. There's another moment of silence before—

"I love you," he relents, finally.

She's going to be late to work, but she doesn't care as she heads straight to where he's standing by the table. He actually grabs her hand and pulls her towards him when she gets close enough.

She nuzzles into his neck as he wraps his arms around her and buries his face in her hair. It feels like everything she needs. It feels nice.

It feels like forgiveness.

A/N: I think we all can relate to those moments where someone we're close to makes a mistake, says the wrong thing or does something not cool, and we know they feel bad about it and that it can't be undone so the only thing left to do is just move on and let it go.

That's what I'm trying to get across in this chapter. If it happens in our friendships, it'll happen in our relationships and those are the little hurdles you need to overcome to keep going. Them talking about it, not going to bed angry, is so important in maintaining a healthy relationship.

So after everything that has happened to them, I figured this little thing was the last little real-life thing I wanted to cover in this hyper-realistic book. I hope you guys liked it.

Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And as always, thanks for reading!

See ya! :)