I yawned as I sat down in an empty chair in the hospital staffroom, checking my pocket timepiece for the hour. I blinked for a few seconds before actually recognizing the time, which read thirty-six minutes after four o'clock in the morning. I was feeling the effects of a long night of surgeries. My posture drooped and there were dark circles forming under my eyes. I started to drift off, but snapped myself awake when I realized that I needed to find Will and Piper so that we could go back to the inn and sleep for a proper eight hours.
I forced my weary body to my feet, and ordered myself to start walking around the hospital to find them. Walking would keep me awake as soon as I got my blood moving faster throughout my body. All down the halls was stretcher after stretcher of the injured, the secluded rooms already being taken up. Small privacy curtains had been hung up between them to offer some concealment from others, though it wasn't much. Seeing some of them reminded me of the man who had refused to leave my thoughts throughout the night. I did not understand what it meant. Was this how Piper and Will felt about their partners? Good Lord, I had to stop thinking like that.
Catching a trace of Piper's voice, I turned the corner and founder her talking to one of the nurses who worked at the hospital. I didn't want to interrupt their conversation, so I glanced around the corridor. And who, out of everyone, did I see? Yes, it was him.
Making my way discreetly over to his cot that seemed to be small beneath his body, I looked him over for any traces of pain or injury. He seemed to be all right, just sleeping. I restrained a grin when I noticed that he was almost drooling in his sleep. I wondered what he was thinking of. Hesitantly, I reached out my hand and brushed some of his unruly hair out of his closed eyes. It was messy, but not unattractively so.
It was odd. I had seen so many injured, hurt men before him, and yet, Captain Perseus Jackson held my attention for some reason. I pulled the sheet higher over his body and accidentally brushed my hand over his arm, jarring him from his sleeping state. I smiled amusedly as his confused green eyes opened, and saw the recognition resonate within them.
"Sorry for waking you." I whispered.
He stared at me for a brief moment before coming to his senses, trying to sit up. I easily pushed his shoulders down, shaking my head. "You should still be resting."
"Dr. Annabeth Chase, right?" He asked. "From the States?"
"Yes." I replied. "How are you faring, Captain? Any—"
He interrupted. "You needn't call me Captain." He paused. "That is, you can call me Percy if you wish. That's my name, after all."
He faintly blushed as I smiled looking down upon him. "Very well, Percy. You can call me Annabeth, as well."
"Annabeth." Percy repeated, looking directly at me. A slight shiver ran down my spine. His gaze was unwavering, but not disconcertingly so.
"How are you faring, Percy?" I asked faintly, trying to remind myself subconsciously to do my job.
"My stomach kind of hurts. What happened? I don't remember much after you started taking my clothes off—" Percy stopped mid-sentence, realizing how bad it sounded.
My face reddened a bit, but I reminded myself that I didn't need to feel embarrassed. I smiled uneasily anyway. "You had a shard of glass lodged into your abdomen. It's been removed and the wound stitched up, so there is no need to worry."
"Thank you." He replied immediately.
"Oh, it was not me who did it." I told him. "One of the other nurses from the hospital is really to thanks."
"No matter." Percy heeded no mind. "You still helped me and Rachel—Oh no! Where is Rachel?!"
"Who?" I inquired quickly, seeing the panic in his expression.
"Rachel! The girl with the red hair—"
"Oh." I answered, feeling my heart dip at the mention of her name. I glanced around, before catching a glimpse of the curly red tresses that could only belong to one woman. "I think I see her down the hall, would you like me to go and see how she is doing?"
"If you wouldn't mind?" Percy replied. "Her father will kill me if I let anything bad happen to her."
I nodded mutely and turned away. He was on a strict basis with her father, then. That could only mean that he was courting her. I sighed and pulled over to Rachel's cot, an unfamiliar feeling of jealousy running through me. She was beautiful, for certain. Much prettier than I. After taking her pulse and establishing that her leg had been set correctly, I made my way back to Percy.
"She is in good health, if I am to say so. Her leg should heal fine." I informed him. "However, I am not sure about how her ear will turn out. She could lose hearing on one side, but there is opportunity for a full recovery."
Percy nodded with relief. I started to turn away, but Percy's voice stopped me.
"Don't go—" He blushed again, stuttering over his words. "I mean, if you have to you can go, but if you have no other place to be, I wouldn't mind if you stayed."
My stomach did a flip-flop and I sat on the edge of his cot near his feet. "Okay."
"Okay." He replied in the same tone. There was an awkward silence as neither of us could decide what to say.
"So how did you decide to become a doctor?" Percy inquired. I was hesitant to answer. Usually men were of the opinion that women should not be anything above the rank of nurse, and they felt threatened by my authority.
I answered nonetheless. "I wanted to help people in the world, to create something permanent in terms of the lives I was saving. Being a nurse wasn't enough for me, I wanted to do something completely challenging, so I made it my goal to become one of the world's first female surgeons."
Percy nodded, as if he could understand. "And when the war started?"
"When it started I had just gotten my diploma before I signed up to be sent overseas. I didn't want to waste any time that I could be helping others."
"Your parents must be very proud." He commented and inhaled sharply. Percy noticed with concern, "Did I say something wrong?"
I shook my head in reply. "I would like to think my mother would have been proud of me, but I wouldn't know. She died when I was young."
"I'm sorry. I lost my father when I was a child as well." Percy paused, trying to tread lightly upon the subject. "And what of your father?"
I told him no more than I had to. "He and I do not see eye to eye. He would rather me be at home in a kitchen cooking and cleaning."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Percy resolved. He swallowed, looking anxious all of a sudden. "Do you not want to settle down eventually?"
Both of our faces reddened at the personal question. I looked down at my hands to answer, "I know I would, someday, after the war is over. I know I want a family of my own, but I—well, I haven't—"
"Found the one you want to settle with yet?" Percy interrupted and I glanced up, our eyes seamlessly catching each other's at the same moment. I nodded. He replied with, "Me neither."
My eyebrows shot up a bit at this, glancing down the hall to catch a glimpse of the red-haired maiden. Was he and Rachel not together after all? I couldn't help but feel a little excited at the prospect. Percy caught my drift almost immediately before shaking his head.
"I know what you're thinking, but no, we're not—I mean, she's not—I'm not—I think what I'm trying to say is that we are not courting or anything." Percy stumbled and I couldn't help but smile. "Her father is trying to set us up, but it isn't working. Rachel and I are simply friends, that's all—"
"I understand." I cut him off before he became even more embarrassed. Percy pursed his lips before saying, "Forgive me, I talk when I'm nervous."
I laughed, "What are you nervous about?"
"Umm, you." Was all he said. I smiled a bit in confusion.
"How do I make you nervous?" My heart was starting to beat faster in apprehension.
"Uh, um—well," Percy mumbled.
Before he could continue, however, someone cleared their throat from behind me. I turned to see Piper with a child-like grin on her face. Uh oh. This could only mean one thing. Meddling.
"Hi there, I'm Piper, a friend of Annabeth's." She was very forward, and my face flushed, not that the two of them noticed because they were too busy introducing themselves.
Suddenly Piper turned towards me, saying, "Annabeth, Will is at the entrance waiting for us, would you mind helping him with the coats?" She shot me a look that ordered me not to disagree with her. I bit my lip, then nodded. I got up from my spot on the bed.
"It was lovely to meet you, Percy." I said. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. Finally, he replied, "Yes, it was nice to meet you."
I turned away and headed toward the front of the hospital, even though a feeling in my stomach wanted nothing else but for me to stay. I kept walking though, ignoring every want in my body to turn around just to catch a glimpse of Perseus Jackson. It was stupid, and not to mention, idiotic, to think that he had felt what I did. That didn't happen in real life. At least not to me it didn't. Those sorts of things only happened in Jane Austen romance novels.
When I had made it to where I could see Will, I took a deep breath and approached him.
"Here you go," He said, holding out my coat so I could slip my arms into it. I thanked him as I shoved my hands in my pockets, my gloves being long gone now.
"What's wrong?" Will asked me.
"Nothing." I answered, and even I knew that it was an outright lie.
Will laughed, "Nothing serious, you mean?"
I nodded, relenting to his playful teasing. Piper appeared moments later, a smug expression dancing on her face. What had she done now?
"Ready?" Will quipped, drawing me out of my thoughts. He and Piper were watching me with matching smiles. I rolled my eyes, stifling a yawn. I had been awake for too long.
"Let's go back to the guesthouse. I think we all need to get cleaned up and sleep." I, personally, could not wait to bathe. My blue skirt was ruined. I had put an apron over it when I had gotten to the hospital, but that hadn't helped much. It was almost of sentimental value to me, being one of the few things I had brought with me from Camp. I sighed. There was nothing I could do about it now. I had to move on, get a few hours of sleep, and then investigate more into Beckendorf's life. I had sworn to him, but it was going to take a long, long time before I carried it out.
Why was it that making promises is so effortlessly simple in the moment, but actually carrying out the deed is so much harder. It made me wonder about why some people made promises at all. My father had certainly made and broken enough. Oh, Annabeth, it will always be just you and me. I promise. Then he married a woman who hated me. Annabeth, dear, please come home. We can all be one happy family. I did come home, for a week, and it was one of the most hellish weeks of my life. Annabeth, I promise I will always love you.
Beckendorf's dog tags were cold in my pocket.