Piper's P.O.V
Percy and Annabeth get back from their honeymoon today and I was excited. It's been three weeks since the wedding and I wanted all the details.
I still couldn't believe how romantic a honeymoon Percy had planned for her, he didn't even like architecture but he still planned to take her to see all these monuments because she would love it. Even Malcolm looked jealous of the trip he sister was going on although I suspected that was less about the romantic side of things and more about the architecture. That man, I swear, I rolled my eyes, I couldn't blame him I knew he loved architecture, maybe we could go to one of his favourites for a date, I thought. Focus Piper you're getting off topic, I thought to myself, where was I? Oh yes Annabeth and Percy, I hoped he had planned in time for actual romance rather than just verbally drowning in the facts Annabeth would undoubtedly spout about every place they visited. Gods, they were so good together.
But I would have to wait for my gossip.
Thalia's P.O.V
I had had three weeks looking after Nightshade and today I had to return her. I was saddened by the thought but I was excited to see Annabeth and Percy again.
Nightshade and I had really bonded and I was very fond of her. It was going to be hard to say goodbye.
"Why do you always want to spend time with them? With him?" Hayley one of the hunters asked me, I was about to answer but Lady Artemis beat me too it.
"If you knew what he has done for us, you would not take offence to this one man so easily." She said.
"My Lady?" Another hunter asked Artemis looked at me with a 'you should tell them' look.
"Some of you may remember before I became lieutenant that Artemis was missing for a period of time, four days was it my Lady?" I asked.
"Yes that sounds about right" she said and I continued.
"There was a quest to find Lady Artemis, one where campers and hunters had to work together." I said and I sighed at the memory, I wished I had behaved better back then. Lady Artemis gave me a sad smile like she knew what I was thinking, I continued my story.
"Percy said that three hunters should go and two campers, then we were following the prophecy and also satisfying Zoë, who had wanted to take five hunters. In the end it was decided, Zoë, Phoebe, Bianca, Grover and I would go on the quest. Percy was not happy about it."
"Why wasn't he happy? Why did he want to find Lady Artemis?" Hayley asked.
"He didn't" I said "Percy had another reason for wanting to leave camp, the same reason I had at the time, Annabeth, she was also missing." There were frowns in the group but I continued anyway.
"Phoebe didn't end up leaving camp due to a prank that put her in the infirmary. So, the four of us left, and Percy snuck out and followed us."
"What prank? Why would they even do that?" Several hunters looked angry and Lady Artemis stepped in to settle them down.
"This is all in the past my hunters, the point you need to remember is that Percy is now on the quest." She said.
"A good thing too, we all would have died without him. Percy followed us until we stopped at a museum he was going to follow us in but someone else caught his attention. The manticore that had taken Annabeth got out of a van that had been following us. He followed him instead, hoping for a lead to Annabeth." I said and as I thought about the take the more I thought that Annabeth and Percy were fated to be together.
"This is where you find out what he did for us. There was a meeting led by The General and he order the resurrection of skeleton warriors. 12 teeth were placed into the ground and watered with blood to raise them. They hunt their pray by their scent and they never stop looking until they've eliminated them." I paused and let that sink in, it had been a good couple of years before Percy had told me the whole truth about why they followed him but I was proud when he had finally told me.
"The General wanted to send them after the hunters, he had one of our silver scarves and that was going to give these 12 monsters the scent of the hunt, all of the hunt not just the ones on the quest. As the scarf was released Percy jumped and caught it before the monsters could smell it. Unfortunately for him they took his scent. It all worked out in the end for Percy obviously but it might not have done for us." I finished.
"Wait, that's why you respect him my Lady?" Hayley asked.
"One of the reasons" she conceded. "There are a few reasons, from that quest, I won't go into them now. Just know that he saved you all from being hunted for an eternity and I am forever grateful for that." She said and the hunters nodded.
"You don't have to like him, just maybe don't hate him" I said "besides it's not like your endanger of him hitting on you, he'd never do that to Annabeth."
Lady Artemis nodded in agreement and then said "you should get going, Thalia, I'll let you know where we are, when it's time for you to return."
I nodded "Thank you my Lady." I picked up Nightshade and headed off in the direction of camp half blood.
Annabeth's P.O.V
We were returning home today from an amazing three weeks away. First we went to Sydney, Australia. Percy had everything planned out even the travelling, he'd sorted something out with Hermes so we didn't have to fly etc.
In Sydney he took me to see the the Harbor bridge it was incredible he also took me to see the opera house which was beyond amazing. He took me to see the gray barrier reef one day which was incredible and with Percy's powers we could tour at our leisure. I could tell Percy had also enjoyed the reef. We had a romantic dinner every night on the terrace of our hotel and then we travelled back to Europe.
First to Greece where he took me to see the Parthenon, it had lost a little of its appeal to me in light of the giant war but I still appreciated it. We also saw the acropolis, both had stunning architecture. I probably had bored him senseless with all the facts I had about the monuments. But, Percy didn't seem to mind he just listened to me, as I rattled off all these facts smiling at me as I took in the beauty of the architecture.
We finished the first week off in Greece before heading back to Rome another city I didn't have fond memories off and I understood that Percy was trying to replace those old memories with newer happy ones. Gods, I was so lucky to have him.
In Rome we saw the Colosseum, the valley of temples and the Spanish steps. I knew Percy didn't have fond memories of the Colosseum but the architecture behind it was incredible. Percy took me on a private boat ride down the Tiber at sunset one day and we ate dinner under the stars on the river which was really romantic.
Every day was just perfect Percy took pictures at every point, Leo had given him a water proof camera too so we even managed to get pictures at the bottom of the reef too which was great. He was going to be so busy with his photo albums when we got back.
Next we went to Paris, we'd been before but we hadn't seen all the Arc de Triomphe and we hadn't gone up to the top of the Eiffel tour, this time we did. Percy surprised me yet again by taking me to tour the Louvre, besides the architecture of the museum itself, the art displayed inside was amazing! I couldn't believe he'd planned all of this out for me, I'd asked him if there was anything he wanted to do that wasn't architecture related around the city, he told me that as long as he was with me he was happy. I know, he's such a sap! I smiled at the memory. Before we left Paris we went to Disneyland, it had nothing to do with architecture but that was alright by me.
Percy has always been a kid at heart and I mean that in the best way possible. And it had never been truer than our day at Disneyland. We went on every ride, we ate almost ever snack they had to offer and of course we came home with a set of Mickey ears each. It was probably one of the best days just because of how goofy my husband was being. My husband, that was still strange to say.
From Paris we went to London, I'd always wanted to visit England their architecture is so different to any of the concepts I had studied, different but still beautiful. We saw the Gherkin building, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, we took a ride on the eye and we saw Big Ben. On our last night of the second week before we came home to America we took a romantic walk down the edge of the river Thames before having a romantic dinner at a restaurant that over looked the before mentioned river.
We spent the last week touring American monuments with was amazing, we went all over, we saw Mount Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, The Washington Monument, we even went back to the Gateway Arch and he took me to Hoover Damn which has always been one of my personal favourites.
We made one last stop at the American Natural History Museum which I loved. The entire three weeks had been perfect we spent so much time just being together doing things we wanted to just because we could and the fates must have been blessing us because we didn't run into a single monster not one. Our last stop before returning home was of course to see Sally, Paul and Estelle.
It was a perfect end; we spent the whole afternoon with them Percy and Estelle mostly played Heroes vs. Monsters, while I spoke to Sally and Paul about our trip. It was great, we stayed over and left for home after breakfast.
"So" Percy said as he drove us home from his parents. "What was your favourite part?" He asked me.
"I don't know Percy it was all so amazing, I don't think I can pick a favourite part."
He laughed.
"I didn't think I'd ever find a question the Annabeth Jackson couldn't answer" he teased me.
"I like the way that sounds" I said ignoring his teasing.
"Me too" he said knowing what I was talking about.
"What was your favourite part?" I asked.
"Hmmm" he said and thought for a while before I interrupted.
"See you can't pick either" I said.
"I can" he said confidently "but I have many favourite parts"
"Nuh-uh you said favourite as in one, you can't then allow yourself to have more than more if I have to only pick one." I said
"I guess you're right Wise Girl, like always" he smiled at me, that lopsided smiled that I'd come to love. I rolled my eyes but smiled back at him.
Percy's P.O.V
We returned home just after 11am. It was so strange stepping back into our home after being away for so long, but at the same time it was perfect.
We'd had an amazing honeymoon, I know Annabeth thought I was bored with all of the facts she told me about all of the places we'd been too. But, honestly that wasn't the case, I love the look she gets in her eyes as she tells me the exact height of a monument or how long it has been standing for or what she would have done differently. She had that look at every monument we saw and at each one I enjoyed listening to the facts she told me about them. Truth? I could go anywhere with her, and I knew as long as we were together, I would never be bored.
I took our suitcases inside, while Annabeth brought the bag of souvenirs.
"I'll unpack" I said why don't you Iris message Piper and Thalia, you promised you would when we got back." I said.
"Are you sure I'm happy to help unpack" she replied.
"I know you are" I said and kissed her "I'm sure, promise" I said and took the suitcases upstairs to unpack.
As I unpacked I thought back to our wedding day. How had it already been three weeks? Three perfect weeks. Annabeth had looked amazing, I've always thought she looked like a goddess but never more so than on our wedding day. It was an image I would carry in my head forever. I unpacked my suitcase first placing all the dirty stuff (so basically everything) in the wash basket. I put my cameras away and put my Mickey ears on my head. What? Disneyland was amazing! They don't call it the magic kingdom for nothing! Unpacking Annabeth's suitcase took a bit longer but that's only because everything I touched reminded me of how great she'd looked in it. Most of her stuff went in the wash too, i took the basket down with her Mickey ears. I found her in the kitchen unpacking the gifts and souvenirs we'd picked up along the way. I put her Mickey ears on her head and proceeded to fill the mashing machine with a load of clothes.
We I looked back at my wife, my wife, Gods that's amazing she's now my wife. Anyway when I looked back at Annabeth she had an eyebrow raised at me.
"Any particular reason you thought we needed to wear these?" She asked and I chuckled. I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind her and whispered.
"I remember a night where it was all we were wearing"
She turned in my arms and linked hers behind my neck.
"I do too, but you'll have to remind me later because we have guests coming over." She replied and kissed me, I smiled at her.
"You can count on it" I told her, and we continued with our chores before our guests arrived, both still wearing our Mickey ears like it was an inside joke, which I guess it would be when the others arrived, though I was sure she'd have taken hers off by then.
I looked out at the garden and red and orange leaves littered the lawn. I couldn't believe we were half way through November already. I would have to start thinking about Annabeth's Christmas present soon. It always took me a while to come up with something I thought she'd love, and after all the monuments we just visited it was going to have to be something with more originality. A thought for another day perhaps.
"So who's arriving and what time at they getting here?" I asked my wife.
"Piper, Malcolm, Thalia, Nico and Will and they said they'd be here for about one ish" she told me.
"So lunch time, anything you particularly fancy? We need to do a food shop anyway, I'll go and get the essentials and whatever I think of for lunch and dinner, assuming they're staying for dinner?" I asked.
"I would assume so" she smiled at me, "why don't we just do something simple for lunch?" She asked me.
"Toasties?" I asked.
"Great" she replied "we've got time why don't I come with you we'll get everything we need in half the time then."
"You know, I never say no to your company" I smiled at her, she kissed my cheek and we headed out to the store.
~Author's Note~
Are people still reading this? Do you want me to continue? Let me know! Happy Reading all if you are reading
