Hello again! This time the coauthor is writing the AN lol!

Just your regularly scheduled upload. Hopefully you all enjoyed the fun coffee shop detour! Now, however, we're heading back into the main plot. How do you think the confrontation with Luke and Annabeth will go?

Also, please check out both SoVeryTired's other stories, as well as my own (MANation on FFnet, DerpinDot on ao3, though I post everything on both). Without further ado, enjoy and let us know what you think!

(ok, SoVeryTired again)

OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY I MISSED THE TIME AUGHHH I COMPLETELY FORGOT. Haha… please forgive me.

OoOoOoOoO

Percy stared out the window as the sights and streets of New York passed him by. He tuned out the sounds of angry drivers and the mindless chatter of passersby. He was deep in his own mind, humming a tune he couldn't get out of his head.

It had been building in his mind ever since he last saw her. Growing more and more defined. He knew soon enough he'd have to put it down, and put lyrics to it after that. Not today though. Today he had to work at his job. As a janitor.

He hadn't made music in a long time. He just hadn't been inspired. Not until he met her. And now the music wouldn't leave his head, not anymore than she would.

The bus jerked to a sudden stop and Percy snapped back to the real world. He quickly looked up and sure enough, his stop.

Welp, he thought, here we go I guess.

OoOoOoOoO

Annabeth paced anxiously around her office - five more minutes until he gets here.

"Beth," Silena said worriedly, "stop walking so much - you'll tire yourself out. And wear holes into the floor. Maybe. It's only one chat - you can do this!" She made a fist-pump motion, but Annabeth wasn't comforted.

"Silena, I'm just not sure what to do or how this is gonna go. This shouldn't be happening here, at my work. What if it gets loud, what if it gets ugly? We should've scheduled to meet somewhere else. And he should've contacted me directly! The fact he went through you pisses me off, the fact he cheated pisses me off, the fact we even have to do this pisses me off! I just-"

Silena stepped in front of Annabeth and cupped her face in her hands. "Breathe. Now. Breathe with me." She slowly inhaled, held it briefly, and exhaled. Annabeth followed suit, and after several breaths she started to relax.

"Annabeth, you're missing the point here, I think," Silena said gently. "You're mad he cheated, and that's good, that's the right thing to feel, but there's more to it than that. What is really hurting you about all this?"

Annabeth continued breathing deeply while Silena waited patiently. Finally, she spoke.

"I just didn't want this to end. Not like this. Not at all." Annabeth's voice shook and she struggled to keep the tears out of her eyes. Silena held her in a good hug for a while.

"You'll be okay, Beth. I'll always support you. And so will our friends, our coworkers - even my sneaky little half-sister! But you need to work this out so he doesn't hold you down anymore. All you need to do is-"

Before Silena could finish her sentence, there were three sharp knocks on the door. Without waiting for an invitation, Luke stepped into the room.

Silena gave him a cold glare, then turned to Annabeth, gave her one last supportive hug, whispered, "You've got this," and strode past him, out of the room.

Luke stayed where he was by the door, his expression polite yet reserved. Annabeth's face was impassive. After a long minute, he finally spoke.

"Hey."

'Hey.' After everything: 'Hey.' What a joke.

"Hey," she said back.

"So." Luke ran a hand through his hair, looking away. "Where do we start?"

How about the part where you cheated on me?

"I don't know," Annabeth said coldly. "You're the one who called this 'meeting.'"

Luke winced. "Right. Look, I'm not going to pretend I can make amends for anything, and I'm not gonna try to justify what I did. We should've settled this a long time ago… but I can't change the past.

"This has been over for a while, Annabeth. I wanted things to work out, but I knew they wouldn't, and I think maybe you did too, deep down. But I let you keep trying, because I knew you always wanted something permanent, and I'm sorry I couldn't be that for you. For what it's worth, you are still important to me, even now, even if I haven't always acted like it. And I am truly sorry."

Annabeth's thoughts had been racing in her head, all the things she wanted to scream at him, but she stayed silent.

If you knew this was over, why didn't you tell me that? Why did we never talk about it? Because no, Luke, I didn't know it was over, no matter what you want to tell yourself. Why did you never try, if I was so important to you? Why would you let me waste my time on you if you didn't care?! Sorry? You're sorry?! You have the audacity to say you're sorry to me, after everything?!

As the silence dragged on, Luke's expression grew more and more tired. Finally, he asked, "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"

There was so much she wanted to say, but Annabeth bit her tongue. She wasn't sure she could trust herself to not start screaming, and this wasn't the place for it.

Luke sighed. "I wasn't sure what I was expecting," he muttered to himself. Annabeth could nearly feel her anger boiling over, but again, she said nothing.

After another agonizing minute, Luke shook his head. He looked at her with some combination of remorse and sympathy. "Unless you have anything to say, I'm leaving, Annabeth."

Time passed in silence.

Luke's eyes were tired, but he nodded to himself, like he expected it. With one last sigh, he said, "I hope someday you can forgive me Annabeth, if not for my sake then for yours. Because I know how long you can hold grudges, and I know the longer you hate me the more this whole thing will hurt you, and I don't want to be the reason you're hurting anymore. There will always be a part of me that cares for you, I'm just sorry it's not the way you wanted."

He paused with his hand on the door. "Goodbye, Annabeth."

"Get out," she whispered.

As the door closed behind him, Annabeth sank to her knees, the tears finally starting to flow.

Goodbye, Luke.

OoOoOoOoO

Percy hurried through the door. The bus had been running late, because of course it was. He glanced at the clock hanging in the lobby. Five minutes late. That isn't too bad, right? I hope that's not bad. Oh gosh, please don't be bad.

As he passed the front desk, he caught sight of Beckendorf talking to a small girl with short, curly brown hair who Percy had seen in passing. He waved at Beckendorf as he rushed to clock in. Beckendorf didn't seem to notice, too involved in his conversation with the girl.

Once he had officially started for the day, he walked back up to Beckendorf and the girl. He didn't want to interrupt, since they seemed so deep in their conversation, both of them smiling and laughing, but Beckendorf also looked a little uncomfortable so Percy thought he'd go help by asking him what they were doing for the day.

"Hey, Beckendorf, how's it going, man? I'm so sorry I'm late, the bus was running behind, won't happen again." Well, hopefully it won't happen again, Percy thought. He doubted he would be so lucky though.

Beckendorf and the mystery girl both looked up, startled. Beckendorf glanced at the clock and then back at Percy. "Uh, I mean it's six minutes man, no big deal. I didn't even notice, to be honest." Percy thought Beckendorf may have been blushing for some reason, but he couldn't be sure.

Mystery Girl looked at Percy, her head tilted in confusion. "Charlie, who is this?"

Percy's eyes widened. Nobody in the office called Beckendorf by his first name, not even Annabeth, and she owned the place. His eyes shifted to Beckendorf, but he didn't seem bothered by it for some reason.

"Oh, right, I forgot Percy said he hadn't met you yet." He gestured back and forth between them. "Silena, this is Percy, our recently hired janitor, Percy, this is Silena, personal secretary to Annabeth and the general hiring manager."

"Nice to meet you," Percy said politely. What's Beckendorf doing talking to someone so important? he wondered.

Silena gave him a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Percy. I have to ask though, who hired you? Normally I take care of hiring anyone other than the actual people doing the architectural work."

Percy shrugged. "Um, I just submitted an application online and the next day I was told I got the job."

Silena scrunched her eyebrows. "Really? You weren't interviewed at all?"

He rubbed his arm. "Nope, I just got a confirmation email asking me to start as soon as possible. I just assumed you guys really needed a new janitor."

Silena looked at Beckendorf in confusion, who just shrugged. "I thought it was weird too, but he's a good guy and a good worker. I've been showing him how to do some smaller general maintenance for when I'm too busy, and he's really thrown himself into it, despite having no prior experience."

Percy smiled gratefully at Beckendorf. He really had been trying his best, so he appreciated the praise, especially in front of upper management. Silena was staring at Percy, really looking at him for the first time.

Suddenly she blinked several times in quick succession. Then her eyes widened and she gasped, her hand quickly shooting up to her mouth. "Oh! You're- uh, I mean, I see, okay cool, good, yep. Good." She nodded to herself, her eyes still appraising him like he was suddenly a different person. Percy was really weirded out.

Beckendorf gave Percy a look like, Do you have any idea what that was about? Percy shook his head, just as mystified.

"Well, maybe Annabeth hired you herself," Beckendorf said. "I figure she's the only other person with control over who gets hired."

Percy immediately wished his words were true, but he doubted it. "Why would she bother hiring a janitor? I'm sure she's way too busy. But, uh, speaking of Annabeth, how is she doing today?"

Beckendorf gave him a look, but then his eyes flashed with understanding, followed quickly by sympathy. Percy wanted to smack himself for being so obvious. He hoped Silena wouldn't pick up on it.

Unfortunately, based on her expression, he figured she had. Silena giggled giddily. "Oh, Annabeth's in her office, she's just… talking to someone. Why do you ask?"

She gave him a knowing look, and Percy groaned internally. He gave her a look that clearly said, Please, please, please don't say anything. Please.

Silena was nearly bursting with excitement, but she gave him a slight nod, and he nearly crumpled with relief. Annabeth finding out I have a crush on her is the last thing I need.

Beckendorf coughed, breaking the tension. "Well, we should probably get to work, eh, Perce? See you around, Silena."

She smiled at him. "Yes, I'll see you around, Charlie. And you too, Percy. I'm glad you decided to come work for us." She gave him another weird look, and he awkwardly waved goodbye.

Once they were out of earshot, Beckendorf asked gruffly, "Do you know her?"

Percy shook his head. "I have never met her before, and I have no idea what that was about. Is she normally that weird?"

Beckendorf scowled. "No, not normally. Anyway, we're gonna start on the tenth floor today. You can go grab the red toolbox and meet me at the stairs." And with that he stormed off.

Percy wanted to complain that they should take the elevator since they were going so far up, and why did they need the red one, that one was the heaviest, but he just sighed. Beckendorf seemed like he was in a bad mood, and Percy didn't want to make it worse, especially after he made him look good earlier.

Percy shook his head. Looks like it's gonna be one of those days.

OoOoOoOoO

Annabeth stood alone in the elevator, wiping the remaining tears off her face. So far, she hadn't run into anyone, and she really hoped her luck would hold out.

After about 15 seconds, the elevator stopped. Already? Annabeth thought. Then she glanced at the floor number, which read 10. She groaned.

Annabeth had just enough time to finish wiping her face one last time before the last person she wanted to see stepped on. And of course as soon as he saw her, Percy looked sweet and concerned. Why did it have to be him? she thought miserably.

He stepped in awkwardly and the doors closed behind him. She kept her eyes focused straight ahead, but she was very aware of his presence beside her, and how awful she looked. Hopefully her makeup hadn't started to run because of her tears.

She could almost feel his stare burning holes into her side, but she ignored him. Annabeth just really hoped Percy would be able to pick up on her cues - not now.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

Are you kidding me? she asked herself. Out loud, she said stiffly, "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

He looked at her closely, leaning in a bit too much for her comfort. "Are you sure you're okay? Because you look-"

"I'm fine. Just- I'm okay. Just drop it, please," she snapped at him. She kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, but she could still see him flinch out of the corner of her eye.

"I- I was just trying to help," he mumbled. "I'm sorry." Percy sounded so dejected, so genuinely hurt, that guilt started to well up inside Annabeth. She gritted her teeth. This isn't fair!

After taking a couple deep breaths in silence, she sighed. "Listen, Percy, it's not your fault. I just- I just have a lot going on, and I don't really want to talk about it, okay? I'm sorry." Despite being difficult for her to say, she did mean it. She watched his reaction.

He nodded slowly, his expression softening. "Okay. Okay, yeah. Sorry for pushing you. I should've backed off."

Annabeth shook her head. "Don't worry about it, you were just trying to help. And thanks for that. It was very kind of you."

Percy shrugged, still frowning. "Doesn't look like I did though." Then his expression lit up. "Oh, I know! Whenever I'm really sad I like to find something to make me laugh, so here, let me tell you my favorite joke! What's the difference-"

Just then, the elevator jerked to a sudden halt. Annabeth saw that they were on the 6th floor, but the doors didn't open. She pressed the, "open door," button, but nothing happened. She mashed the ground floor, the 5th floor, 6th floor, 7th floor, every floor button. Nothing changed. They were stuck.

She groaned and hung her head in her hands. You want a joke? Here's a joke; my whole life.