The Senate adjourned and I snuck out the side door of the chamber. I made sure I chose the door furthest from Gwen. I knew if I wanted to talk to Annabeth, I would have to evade her. Thankfully, Annabeth was hot on my heels. I turned a corner about a block away, waiting for her. As Annabeth ran around the corner, I grabbed her arm, pulling her close and out of sight of the general public. I clamped my hand over her mouth to suppress the gasp of surprise she let out when I grabbed her.

I took her hand and pulled her away from the New Rome city center.

"Slow down!" Annabeth complained between breaths, but I had no intention of stopping, at least not right now.

"Not yet, we're almost there."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere people aren't." I replied. I liked that response. It sounded charming in my head and off the tongue.

I came to a stop as we reached the Northeast edge of the city. Terminus let us through with less chatter than normal. We followed the aqueduct, which entered the city about where we exited it, up into the Berkeley Hills. It took us a while, but we finally reached the top.

The hills overlooked Camp Jupiter's valley on one side, and the Sanfrancisco Bay area on the other.

"Oh my gods, I didn't know the camp was in San Francisco, I live here!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Where about?" I asked, eager to hold conversation. I liked this girl, I really did, even though I've only known her for about a day. It's different though, because she's known me so much longer. I guess I've known her for longer too, but if I can't remember does it really count?

Annabeth scanned the horizon before pointing off into the distance. "You can't see it from here." Annabeth explained.

"Do you see that mountain over there," I began, "that's Mount Othyrus, the Titan stronghold during the Second Titan War. You know Jason, he led the legion to the mountain and defeated the Titan army there."

"We've been there too, Seaweed brain." Annabeth replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Our third summer at camp, I was kidnapped by some of Kronos' minions. I was imprisoned on top of Mount Othyrus, where Artemis came to rescue me. Her attempts were futile though, and she ended up captured as well. You and a couple of our other demigod friends, Thalia, Grover, Nico -"

"Di Angelo?" I asked.

"You remember Nico of all people?"

"I don't remember him, he was here when I arrived. Would he recognize me if he saw me?"

"Recognize you? Nico had a crush on you for like two years of course he'd recognize you."

"Then why did he pretend to not know me? When I arrived, I was introduced to Nico, there was something familiar about him, but I couldn't quite place it."

"I'm going to kill him!" Annabeth shouted. I wouldn't be surprised if the Roman's down in camp heard her.

"About that, he's, uh, missing."

"What do you mean?"

"He went looking for the doors of death to try and close them, but we haven't heard anything in a while. Hopefully we'll find him on the way to the Ancient Lands."

"Anyway's," Annabeth interjected. "Enough about Nico. As I was saying before, you led a group of demigods to come save me. Have you seen the grey streak in your hair?" I nodded. I'd seen it in the mirror and been asked a couple questions about it I could never answer. "You got that when you held up the sky." She undid her ponytail and let her blonde hair fall past her shoulders. Her fingers started to play with the loose strands until she found what she was looking for, a matching streak. "I've got one too."

"Tell me more."

"Like what?"

"About me and you. What were we? What was us?"

Annabeth looked towards the ground, as if suddenly disinterested in the conversation. I thought about apologizing, but she took my hand in hers, caressing it softly.

"We were everything to each other. There wasn't a quest we didn't embark on together. There wasn't a battle we didn't fight side by side, a moment we didn't have each other's backs." Hesitantly, Annabeth uncovered her shoulder, revealing a nasty scar that couldn't have been more than a year old. "This was from the Second Titan War, the part that we fought in. While the Roman's attacked Othyrus, we defended Olympus in New York. You were about to get stabbed in your Achilles heel. I didn't know at the time, but I had a feeling you were in danger. I took the knife for you." I nodded, unsure of what to say. Luckily, Annabeth continued.

"You used to have a scar right here." Annabeth ran her finger down the side of my face and neck, drawing a line from just in front of my earlobe to a spot near my jugular. "In our fourth summer, only a couple of months before the Second Titan War, the two of us were exploring Daedalus' labyrinth. You managed to erupt Mt Saint Helens, badly injuring yourself in the process. You woke up on Ogygia with a beautiful nymph named Calypso. She offered you refuge, and a permanent vacation from the horrors of demigod life. But you refused and came home."

"And?" I asked.

"And what?"

"Did you miss me while I was gone?"

"Did I miss you?" Annabeth replied. "Of course I missed you."

"What else have we done together?"

"What haven't we?" Annabeth reached for my necklace, fiddling with the beads. She had a matching one, I noticed, except hers had a ring and a couple extra beads. "Each summer, the camp commemorates the biggest event of the year with a commemorative bead. All five haven been our adventures since you came to Camp."

Annabeth recounted all of our adventures. She skipped over our first prophecy, I'd heard that from Frank and Hazel. We traveled to the Sea of Monsters, to rescue Grover, apparently my best friend, retrieve the golden fleece, and save the camp. She filled me in on more details surrounding the labyrinth. And finally, the Titan's curse. I was in shock, not only at how badass I was, but because of how much we'd been through.

Annabeth was wrapping up the story of me rejecting invincibility and closing the chapter of the Second Titan War when I asked "what happened after?"

"After the war?"

"Yeah, like immediately afterwards." I clarified.

"We went back to camp with the rest of the surviving campers."

"And what happened once we got there?"

"We had dinner and celebrated your birthday."

"How?"

"I made you a cake. Blue, of course." I smiled, blue was my favorite color, but obviously she knew that.

"And then?"

"You remember when I was telling you about the Titan War before and the River Styx?" I nodded and she continued. "When you bathe, you need to think of one mortal thing that is most important to you, the one thing that will keep you grounded to earth."

At this point, our noses were almost touching. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going and that I knew what, or should I say who, my mortal anchor was. "And you were my anchor?" I asked, already knowing the answer. She nodded approvingly.

"What happened after that?" I asked.

"This." Annabeth replied before draping her arms around my shoulders and pulling me in for a kiss. At that moment there was nothing else in my world other than her. I grabbed her waist and pulled her close. Her lips pressed into mine. Our euphoric embrace lasted almost 20 seconds. We both pulled apart, gasping for breath, laughing. Annabeth rested her head on my shoulder.

"We're dating, weren't we?" I asked.

Annabeth smiled. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Yes, yes we were."

"Were?" I asked.

"What about Gwen?"

"We hooked up once, I don't see the problem. We'll be off on the quest soon anyway, she'll be out of the picture."

"I guess so," Annabeth replied, "but what about your memories?"

"What about them? I don't need them to know that I love you."

Annabeth started crying, smiling ear to ear. "I love you too Seaweed Brain."

"Seaweed Brain, huh. What was your nickname?"

"Wise Girl."

"Alright Wise Girl, let's stay here for a while."