Percy's P.O.V
We were on our way to my mom's place and I was super excited to see them. It had been a while since our last visit and I was looking forward to seeing them all. We decided to take the car so we could take Nightshade with us; she also seemed super excited to be coming with us. We sent out our wedding invitations before we left, and also our requests for groomsmen and bridesmaids. That was one thing that was so brilliant about the Hermes Express service, it was almost instant.
It took us about an hour to get to my mom's place. I parked the car in the spot that had kind of become mine but it was actually for all visitors.
Mom opened the door after my hand had barely made contact with it.
"Percy! Annabeth! Nightshade!" She greeted us both with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Nightshade got a scratch behind her ears and a kiss on the head which she seemed to appreciate - though I suspect it was more the scratching behind the ears. Paul was in the lounge with Estelle and they both greeted us with hugs. Estelle then took Nightshade from Annabeth and they started playing together, my heart warmed at the sight of my sister and our dog playing, whatever game she had decided on, she looked so happy.
"Happy birthday Percy!" My mom said placing a blue cake with candles in, in front of me.
"Thanks" I said and blew out the candles and as silly as it sounds, I did make a wish.
We sat and chatted about what gifts I had been given by ours friends and I have to say they were awesome, especially Annabeth's gift. I couldn't wait to have Estelle visit again so I could read to her. Mom and Paul read her a chapter of a book for bed every night and I knew she loved stories almost as much as Annabeth.
Paul passed me a parcel, wrapped in blue paper; of course, I smiled at the fact we still had these small traditions. I opened it, and smiled, it was a beautifully carved box for cufflinks, I'd seen the one that Paul had and mentioned that I needed to get one in passing; I just hadn't gotten around to it. And, I had a draw full of cufflinks that needed a home.
"Thank mom, thank you Paul, I love it" I told them and I really did.
"Pwcy!" Estelle exclaimed tugging at my T-shirt.
"Yes Little Star?" I asked her as I pulled her up and she sat in my lap. She passed me another blue present. "Is this one from you?" I asked and she nodded at me smiling. "Hmm I wonder what it is..." and I made a big show of pretending to shake it by my ear.
Annabeth was laughing at me; Paul and mom were smiling too. Estelle crosses her arms and pouted letting me know she was not impressed by my teasing. "Want to help me open it?" I asked and she nodded eagerly at me. I offered her the corner nearest to her and she tore into it. It was a photo album for my collection, but it wasn't empty. I opened it and there were photos of our day together on the beach, and our dinner here. I really loved it.
"Thank you Little Star" I said giving her a hug "I love it" she smiled and jumped down off my lap and ran after Nightshade again chasing her around the lounge.
I smiled, I was so lucky. I knew Annabeth had taken most of the pictures in this album. I looked a silent thank you at her and she smiled knowingly at me. Lunch was incredible. Mom and Paul had done an old school birthday styled buffet it reminded me of my birthdays when I was younger. I had so much fun, I was almost sorry it had to come to an end. But, my mom knew I had plans for this afternoon and evening for Annabeth for our anniversary, as did Paul, so they didn't mind when we departed. Little Star in the other hand wasn't happy - I promised we'd hang out again for the day really soon and that seemed to cheer her up, in my head I was mentally planning all the things we could do on that day.
Man! I've spent so much time with Annabeth my first thoughts are plans! I chuckled to myself as we made our way through Manhattan traffic back to camp.
"What are you laughing at?" Annabeth asked me, I smiled at her and told her and she laughed too. "I don't think that's a bad thing." She said.
"I don't think it's a bad thing either." I said.
"So, what have you got planned for this afternoon?" She asked me.
"Am I that transparent?" I asked her, she smiled and laughed a little before she responded.
"It's not a bad thing Seaweed Brain" she said to me.
I smiled slyly said "if I'm so transparent, you should know the plan." I hoped I wasn't that transparent, if I was all my surprises past, present and future were completely blown.
"Okay, so maybe you aren't that transparent." She conceded and I was secretly really pleased, that I was transparent enough for her to know that I was hiding something but not transparent enough for her to know what it was. It would make all the surprises I wanted to put into place for the week of the wedding much easier to pull off.
"Would you rather I was?" I asked her, genuinely curious.
"No" she didn't even hesitate. "As much as not knowing irritates me, I love your surprises and plans." She said.
"So they're not stupid?" I teased as I parked the car.
"Not these ones" she teased me back and I rolled my eyes as I turned to look at her. She laughed again and I laughed too, before she kissed me. Gods, I loved this woman. I don't know how I got so lucky but I was beyond thankful.
The afternoon passed really quickly and we had received a lot of RSVPs back already for the wedding by the time we'd come back from mom and Paul's, including mom and Paul's reply.
Piper came for Annabeth around four, which gave me two hours to set up our moonlight dinner in the garden. Thalia had been a massive help in this. I had gone to her for help with one of my gifts, which had kind of inspired her help. The Hunters had these cool tents that looked like a pocket square when they were unassembled. But, it you put it on the ground and said the correct word it would turn into a fully fledged tent, with everything already set up inside. I hoped Annabeth liked her gift.
Annabeth's P.O.V
Piper and I were sat on the porch of cabin 10.
"How long have you known he was planning to do something tonight?" I asked her.
"How long have I known Percy?" She replied laughing. "He asked me last week if I would grab you for a few hours of girl talk so he could set up. I swear that's all I know, and I did press for answers." I laughed I knew she would have.
"Well, seeing as we have time for girl talk" I said "how was your dinner with Malcolm?" I asked.
"Oh no!" She said teasingly "girl talk is going to be all about your wedding" she was serious too, I raised an eyebrow and she did relent. "Fine! But, only, because it was the most magical evening, that's all I'm giving you, and thank you in all seriousness it really was magical."
"I'm glad you had a good time" I said and then preparing myself for the onslaught of questions I asked; "what do you want to know about the wedding?" She already knew quite a lot.
"Where do I start?!" She replied and I've never seen her so animated about love, she normally played it down, apparently though, a wedding was what really set this daughter of Aphrodite off on the path of love. "Ooo! I know, first dance what song have you picked?" She asked. She would pick something I didn't yet have an answer for.
"We haven't, Percy has a few ideas but we haven't discussed them yet" I answered, and my mind drifted back to slow dancing with Percy on Olympus after we had both held the sky. I smiled at the memory.
"You're trusting Percy's taste in music?" She asked me, like I was crazy, I wondered why.
"What do you think his taste in music is?" I asked her, genuinely curious, a lot of people misjudged his tasted in music.
"I don't know" she said and I could see her thinking about it. "I bet it's not rap or metal, I bet he likes various genres though."
"Not bad Piper, closer than anyone else has ever guessed, for some reason rap seems to be the one everyone guesses. Can you picture my Seaweed Brain rapping along to a song?" I asked laughing.
"No" she said laughing with me. "Oh Gods, he's a Disney fan isn't he, he's not going to pick the little mermaid is he?" She groaned and I laughed.
"Estelle is the Disney fan, but I doubt he's picked a song from the little mermaid" I smiled, I had no idea what songs he wanted to discuss but if one was from the little mermaid I doubt I'd be able to agree to it now. Though, part of me thought it would be funny if I did.
"Why don't you want to have songs you like as options?" She asked.
"Well I've lived at camp since I was seven, we didn't really listen to music. Percy introduced me to a lot of the music I like, so I trust his judgement on it." I answered "I mean can you see me scaling the lava wall with headphones in?" I laughed "talk about a distraction, and we always had the sing-alongs at the camp fire- they just weren't modern songs."
"I guess I never thought about it like that." She told me. "Okay I'll come back to that another day then, who else is in the bridal party?" She asked, knowing she was one of them.
"Thalia"
"Obviously" she interrupted me.
"Hazel"
"Again-"
I interrupted "if you already know, why did you ask?" I laughed.
"Well I don't know if I'm right" she told me like it was obvious, and I rolled my eyes before I continued.
"Rachel, Reyna, you and Estelle" I finished.
"Ooo! is Estelle going to be the flower girl?" She asked and I nodded.
"Aww, she'll be a pretty flower girl" she told me, I agreed she'd been really excited earlier today when she and Percy had talked about it.
"Yeah I think so too." I replied.
"What colour dresses are we wearing? No wait don't tell me, it's silver?!" She guessed and I smiled.
"No, I know I like grey, but I've actually decided to go with sea green"
"I wonder why" She teased me and I knew I blushing but I didn't care. I loved the colour of his eyes and that was the colour I wanted.
Percy being Percy had let me decide the colour scheme, silver was part of it as well; it actually scented the sea green really well.
"Okay big question, important question, what's happening for your bachelorette party?" She asked and if I'm being honest I didn't really know, but I didn't really want a huge wild night out or anything, just something low key would be perfect. So that's what I told her.
"Who's planning it?" She asked.
"I assume Thalia, as she's my maid of honour but, I'm sure she'll welcome your input." I said to her.
We carried on chatting back and forth about who the groomsmen were going to be; Grover, Frank, Malcolm, Nico, Tyson, Bobby & Matthew, what kind of cake we wanted, what flowers I was going to have. Eventually, I had to draw a close to her questions, because if I didn't leave now I was going to be seriously late for my anniversary dinner. I hugged Piper goodbye and headed back home at a jog.
Percy's P.O.V
Everything was almost ready when Annabeth ran through the front door and straight up the stairs.
"Everything okay Wise Girl?" I called up to her.
"Fine! Sorry I'm late back, I'll be down in a second, just need to change!" She called back.
"Okay! Take your time!" I said, we had all evening and what I'd planned to do for dinner wasn't going to spoil.
Nightshade ran around the lounge with her ball in her mouth, we had been playing a game of fetch but now Annabeth was home she wouldn't give me the ball back. She would listen to me as long as Annabeth wasn't around, Annabeth was the boss, as far as Nightshade was concerned and she wasn't wrong. Annabeth was definitely the boss of this household and if I'm being honest, I loved it that way.
I walked out into the garden and made sure everything was ready. I poured her a glass of white wine, we didn't drink often but when we did, Annabeth usually had white wine. I sat in the porch swing while I waited for her to get changed.
I heard Annabeth step out into the garden and gasp. "Percy, it's beautiful." I was so glad she thought so.
I got up off the swing and turned to hand her the glass of wine I poured for her and I almost dropped it. Wow! She looked seriously beautiful tonight, not that she doesn't always!
She was wearing a navy silk top that crossed around her body and really hugged her figure; she'd tied it at the small of her back. It really showed her off in a good way and she'd paired it with white jeans. Her blonde curls hung loosely on her shoulders, as always she wore no makeup but she's never needed it.
"You look incredible Wise Girl" I said blinking my eyes back into my head. I must have looked like one of the cartoons I used to watch as a child when their eyes bugged out of their heads in shock. Not that I was shocked, she'd just taken my breath away, like she so often did.
"Thank you" she said accepting the glass "you scrub up nicely too" she teased me and I smiled at her.
"I do try" I replied.
"How long did it take to put all of this together?" She asked me, as we walked to the other end of the garden where I had set up the small shelter Thalia had given me, with a candle lit table for two. I had put a bouquet of forget-me-nots in a vase on the table and to the side of that table was a table with ingredients for making our own pizzas. I had fired up the pizza oven when I heard her come through the door, but by the time we make our pizzas and exchanged gifts it would be ready to cook; it didn't take long to heat.
Around the edge of the small shelter, I guess it was like a small summer house that you could take down whenever you wanted, I had placed fairy lights. Thalia had also fitted it with a small hard floor, so we could have a dance later if Annabeth fancied it. I wasn't the best dancer but Paul has been giving lessons, so I don't step on her feet in our wedding day. Gods! That would be embarrassing!
I pulled her chair out and answered her question as she sat down.
"If I'm being honest, Thalia did most of it - this is like one of those special tents they have. I just added the tables, lights, flowers and food, so not actually as long as you'd think." I said. What? I had to give credit where credit was due; it wouldn't have looked anywhere near as romantic without Thalia's help. Don't tell her I said that!
"It's perfect" she said.
"The perfect night, for the perfect woman" I said and she laughed.
"So cheesy, Seaweed Brain" she told me and I knew it was; but I meant it.
"Are these forget-me-nots?" She asked me and I nodded, I didn't have to tell her why. She smiled at me, knowingly. "They're beautiful, so what's the plan?"
"Well, seeing as we usually always compete for making each other breakfast and dinner every year. I thought maybe we could make our own pizzas together, I've set up all the ingredients over there ready, and the oven is lit so whenever you're feeling hungry on those. Then; I thought maybe we could have a dance in the moonlight after presents. And, because I know how much you like strategy; I thought if you weren't too tired we could try the game your family got me for my birthday. What do you think?" I asked; I knew it was simple, but I have found over the years we've been together, that actually simple worked in my favour. I had to say though, I was nervous, but then when I make a plan for Annabeth I'm always nervous, I just always want to get it right.
"Sounds perfect" she told me, thank the Gods! I leaned across the table and kissed her.
"So, how was Girl talk?" I asked as we topped our pizzas, Annabeth topped hers with olives as always, I topped mine with pepperoni and olives.
"It was mostly wedding talk" she replied "do not tell her I said this, but she was definitely channelling her mom" she said laughing.
"Oh wow" I said laughing "on a scale of Selina to Drew?" I asked.
"100% Selina" she replied smiling.
"I don't think I've ever seen Piper like that" I said "is it weird?" I asked; knowing that Annabeth and Selina had been good friends.
"Not really, it was kind of nice actually." She said and I smiled in response.
"I'm glad you enjoyed" I said as I put her pizza in the oven.
I sat back down at the table and said "so I have a small confession..." she raised her eyebrow at me. "I haven't wrapped one of your gifts, it's just an awkward shape, so if you could close your eyes..." Annabeth cut me off.
"Seaweed Brain! You didn't have to get me anything, tonight is more than enough and you certainly didn't have to get me more than one gift." She protested but it was really half hearted for her.
"I mean if you don't want the gift..." I teased.
"I never said that, what I'm saying is tonight, all this" She gestured around us "is a gift in itself." I leaned over and kissed her, before going to get her pizza out of the oven and put mine in. One of the great things about having a pizza oven it's so quick to cook.
Ten minutes later mine was ready too and we ate in a comfortable silence. I knew I didn't have to spoil Annabeth and I wouldn't even say that's what I'm doing tonight, but I wanted her to feel like the most important person in the world, because to me, she was.
Once we finished our dinner I finally got her to close her eyes and I went and got her presents.
"Okay, and open" I said once I had placed the unwrapped gift in front of her.
"An Olive tree" she said smiling. I mean seriously how do you wrap a tree? What was I thinking when I decided on it? Though seeing her smile let me know it was the right choice. "Percy thank you" she kissed me and I knew I was smiling too.
"I thought we could plant it in the garden" I said, she nodded, gave me another kiss and then pulled away and passed me a parcel.
I opened it, and opened the box I'd just unwrapped, it looked a lot like an iPod but it was made from celestial bronze. I looked up at Annabeth for confirmation.
"It's a slightly modified iPod, Leo helped me with it. We're working on safe electronic devices for the camp and I know how much you like your music, so..." I cut her explanation short when I leaned over and kissed her. I loved it, and I couldn't wait to use it.
"Thank you, how do I put music on to it?" I asked her.
"Well, that you still need a normal laptop for unfortunately. Paul helped me put all the music you had albums for on it. It would have been easier if I still had the Daedalus laptop but..." she stopped short, I knew losing the laptop still pained her to talk about - all those lost plans and designs. I knew if anyone could recreate such an invention Annabeth and Leo could, and I told her as such.
"I love this; I can use it on my morning walks to camp – oh! Oh! Is it compatible with the car stereo?" I asked and she nodded. "Wow, Annabeth you really put a lot of thought into this, not that I should be surprised" I teased "thank you" I leaned over and kissed her again before handing her the last gift I had for her.
She opened it and I knew; she had an idea as to what it was. She was holding a square of silver fabric no bigger than a pocket square. She got up and stepped out into the garden and threw it to the ground and said the command word. The pocket square grew until a fully fledged marquee had erected on our lawn. I opened the 'door' for her and she stepped inside. Again, Thalia had helped with the original tech for this but the inside had taken me almost a year to set up. Yes! I had been planning this gift for quite some time. I'd been planning to marry her for quite some time too. Inside the marquee was set out like a reception hall for a wedding.
Annabeth's P.O.V
As I stepped into the marquee, my breath caught in my throat. The gift was so romantic, when I told Piper she was really going to channel her mom, let's just put it that way.
It was set up like a wedding reception, there was a dance floor under my feet, and there was an array of round tables in front of me and a long rectangular table at the far end.
"It's not set in stone, I just thought-" he didn't get much further than that; as I flung my arms around his neck and kissed him, he kissed me back and I felt the familiar flips of my racing heart and the tingles down my spine.
"It's beautiful thank you" I said when we finally broke apart. His hands stayed around my waist and I left mine clasped behind his neck.
"I know planning is usually your thing and I love how much you've put into the wedding. I just wanted to take a bit of the weight off your shoulders, I don't know how you envisioned this part of the day looking but I hope this helps." He said and my heart started doing that familiar relay race.
This was actually one of the parts of the day I had been really unsure about, that I was going to ask for help on. He knew me so well, Gods I was lucky. "It's perfect Percy, thank you" we went back outside and broke the marquee down like we'd seen Thalia do so many times with her hunters. Sometimes, I thought to myself, it's like I don't even need to voice my thoughts or feelings Percy just knows, I loved that.
Tonight was perfect; how did he always manage to do this? He was so romantic, I felt like the lead in one of the romantic comedies I used to watch with my dad when they got their happy ending, or at least how I thought they felt at that point.
"Where did you go?" Percy asked looking into my eyes.
"I was just thinking how perfect tonight has been" I said and closed the gap between us and kissed him, I would never get tired of kissing him, or the feeling I got when I did.
"I'm glad you think so" he said "do you want to dance?" He asked me and I could see he'd borrowed Chiron's boom box.
I raised a teasing eyebrow at him and asked "you didn't borrow Chiron's music as well did you?" I laughed thinking of our second summer together.
"No, I promise" He was laughing too "I thought we could play the songs for the wedding see which, if any, you like best." He suggested almost nervously.
"Why don't you think I'd like any of the songs you picked?" I asked.
"It's not that, I'm just saying there's no pressure to pick one. There are millions of songs out there so if none of these are right; don't worry." He smiled and I could tell he'd put a lot of thought into the songs he'd picked out for tonight.
"Okay, let's hear the first one." I said and he went to press the play button on the boom box, he adjusted the volume level so it wasn't too loud before coming back to me and placing a hand on the small of my back and taking my hand, in his other one. I placed my free hand on his shoulder and as the song started to play we started to sway. I listened to the lyrics as we danced in silence.
There's a new wind blowing like I've never known,
I'm breathing deeper than I've even done,
And it sure feels good to finally feel the way I do,
And I want to love somebody, love somebody like you...
I thought it started off really nicely but I wasn't sure it was the right one for us. It was nice but maybe a bit quick. I liked to dance but I pictured our first dance being fairly slow. Percy and I swayed along to it until the next one started.
Something in your eyes,
Makes me want to lose myself,
Makes me want to lose myself,
In your arms...
Much slower than the last one and I really like this one but again it didn't quite feel like the right one. Percy was looking silent questions at me and I knew his thoughts we the same as mine. Before the song ended I asked "one of these, is one you are really sure of isn't it?"
He didn't voice an answer but his eyes told me I was right, he just didn't want to influence my opinion.
The next one was beautiful but again not quite right.
I found a love for me,
Darling, just dive right in,
And follow my lead,
Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet,
I never knew you were the someone waiting for me...
The song was lovely but, it again I didn't think it was the right one. The last one that he'd picked started to play and two lines in I knew it was the one for us. I looked into his eyes and I knew he understood.
"This one" I said as we swayed to it, it was almost like it was telling our story.
"I was hoping you would pick this one" he said to me and I let go of his hand and stepped in closing the gap between us and kissed him. "It's beautiful" I said and then started laughing as I remembered what Piper had said about him picking a song from the little mermaid.
"What?" He asked me and once I'd calmed down I told him. He started laughing too. "I think Little Star would have liked that." He said with a teasing note in his voice.
"Maybe you can sing it to her next time you see her" I said seriously and he nodded.
"I love you Annabeth" he said to me as we came to a stop at the end of the song.
"I love you Percy" I said and kissed him again. I was suddenly very aware of how heavy my eyes felt.
"Did you want to kick my ass at that game?" He murmured against my lips, I pressed my lips to his and replied.
"Maybe tomorrow" I murmured I didn't know what the time was but I was exhausted. I looked over at the back porch and saw Nightshade sleeping on the porch swing she really loved that thing. Percy seemed to understand, I hadn't really thought about it but we'd done quite a lot today.
Percy's P.O.V
I could see Annabeth was getting tired the more we swayed on the makeshift dance floor. But, I asked if she wanted to play the game her family had given to me for my birthday anyway, already knowing the answer.
We made our way towards the house and about halfway across the lawn Annabeth about collapsed as she started to fall asleep. I scooped her up in my arms and she mumbled a sorry as her head fell against my shoulder. I smiled, I didn't mind it wasn't often I got to do this. I carried her into the house and as I did I thought about how much she'd done today and was not surprised that she was tired. With the luxury of no nightmares we'd grown accustomed to sleep in a regular pattern, and when we broke that pattern it was awful, how we did quests on no sleep, I don't know. I placed Annabeth on the bed and went back downstairs to retrieve Nightshade and put her in her bed too. I double checked the pizza oven was off before heading back upstairs to our room.
Annabeth was flat out on the bed and before I made her more comfortable I took in just how beautiful she looked. Gods, I was a lucky guy.
I took Annabeth's shoes, jeans and top off and then put her in an old swim team t-shirt of mine and her grey pyjama shorts. I lifted her off the bed enough to pull the covers back and tuck her in. I moved a curl of hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear before kissing her forehead. "Goodnight Wise Girl, I love you" I whispered and turned off the lamp on her bedside table before heading back downstairs.
I pulled out the notebook I was using to jot down my surprises for Annabeth before the wedding. So far I had a day at the spa - it wasn't really her thing but; I thought she'd appreciate a massage to take the tension away. I'd pay for any treatment she wanted; maybe it could be a bridal party thing I thought. We had a spa here in the village...I'd have to ask Piper she what she thought. I'd arranged a dinner with her dad, stepmom and brothers in the city before they all can to camp for the wedding. I'd also arranged a watered down tour of the camp for her family, I thought they might enjoy riding the Pegasi and thought maybe Bobby and Matthew would like to take part in the non-lethal capture the flag.
I decided after going over my plans that I couldn't improve or come up with anything new so I put the book back in my hiding place and called it a night.
~Author's Note~
As promised the second half of that day
It's not as long as it would have been as I took some of the content I was debating out for a future Chapter!
Tirzah19 – So glad you liked it – I feel like if it's an emotional problem she can't solve, Annabeth would turn to Piper after everything they've been through. I'm glad you also liked the part about expression . Hope you enjoy this part too.
Up next Piper and Thalia have some planning to do, but so do Grover and Nico!
Happy reading!
