Hi Guys! This is the longest one yet, so I guess it makes up for the late update. I'm so sorry. Thank you all for your reviews. They really make me smile whenever I read them.

Hope you like this chapter. I loved writing it.

I do not own anything from Rick Riordan's Universe.

Chapter 13

Aurora had so not forgiven her for her little drama at the Charity Ball. She knew her boss could be pretty resentful, but Annabeth never imagined she would be the objective of her wrath. How was she so sure Aurora was still mad at her? First, she had asked her assistant to go with Malcolm to San Francisco so they could review the last details of their project (which was eighty percent completed). It might not seem like a bad thing, but Aurora always needed Annabeth at her side. If she sent her away to a routine procedure, it was surely because she didn't want to see her face.

The second thing that had shown her she was a persona non-grata for her boss at the time, was the fact that Malcolm was traveling on first-class, while Annabeth got a sit in economic class. And, to top it off, she had the middle seat.

She put her handbag on the compartment above her and muttered an apology to the big guy seating next to her as she squeezed her body through the narrow gap between lines fifteen and sixteen. She sat down, buckled up, and closed her eyes as she waited for departure.

There was one good thing about her trip to San Francisco. She would be able to see her family again. Her dad had been overjoyed and had practically implored her to stay with them for those four days.

Thirty minutes passed until they reached a stable altitude. Annabeth got her computer out and started working on Aurora's schedule for next week. She thought Meghan would be in charge of it while she was away, but her boss was still wary of her new assistant.

She was quickly done with her tasks and found herself boringly staring at the window, trying not to shove something through the throat of the woman sitting on her left to quiet her pretty loud snores. She'd hoped the guy on her right was as equally irritated, but he had huge headphones on and seemed pretty focused on his tablet. She sighed and looked at her watch. Five and a half hours to go.

The mouse pointer was hovering over her design's folder. She pursed her lips. So many of her designs were screaming for her to finish them, but the ideas had just run away from her. Two days ago, Thalia had asked her for an idea of how her future party house would be. After just 40 minutes, Annabeth had cursed more times than Thalia on a regular day and had dropped the blueprint with only one wall in it.

"You're just on a creative block. That thing happens to writers all the time. You just have to wait" Thalia had said, omitting the fact that Annabeth's 'block' had been going on for months.

She closed her laptop and closed her eyes, focusing on the noise coming from the left turbine. Thinking about her lack of ideas was giving her a headache. Her therapist was not helping much, and she couldn't speak to Percy about it without them getting into a fight.

"Maybe you're not inspired because you're not doing something you love," he had said, one evening as they worked on his office.

"I love what I do, Percy" she had replied, eating another blue cookie.

He'd arched his eyebrow and simply responded, "Oh I'm sure filling Excel sheets and chronograms makes you squeal with excitement."

She had dropped the subject avoiding a fight with him.

After her birthday, things had been pretty intense between the two. They laughed, cried, and fight harder when the other one was around. Percy used to make her feel calm and centered, but now she could barely control her feelings when he was around. It was thrilling but scary at the same time. Not even Luke had had that power over her.

"Annabeth," a deep voice said.

She opened her eyes and found Malcolm standing on the aisle. He had his laptop under his arm and kept leaning forward allowing transit through the narrow hallway. The big guy shot annoyed looks at her coworker but didn't say a thing.

"Hey, Malcolm. How's first-class?" she asked, trying to hide her envy.

He gave her a sheepish smile. "Actually, that's why I'm here. There's a really annoying guy beside me and I need to finish my report for Poseidon. Could we change seats for a few hours?"

Annabeth blinked. "Malcolm you can't seriously be asking that. You'll work more comfortably in first class."

"This guy is really, really annoying" he pressed. "And you know I have trouble focusing."

She sighed and unbuckled her belt. "Fine. But you must be pretty crazy to change your first-class seat." She squeezed again her way out and, this time, the big guy grumbled a not-so-kind comment about flying.

"Oh, believe me. You'll know why I did it once you meet the guy," he replied, and Annabeth noticed a hinge of humor on his voice. They exchanged tickets and Malcolm called a flying assistant to explain the situation. The young employee asked Annabeth to follow him to the front of the plane. As she passed business class, she tried thinking how bad the guy could be if Malcolm, with his infinite patience, had decided it was too much for him.

Finally, she reached the seat and found herself looking into sea-green eyes.

"Wise Girl!" Percy greeted a little bit too excitedly, making some people look their way.

Annabeth stood frozen in the aisle for a few seconds.

"Percy?" she asked. "I thought you had to stay in New York for work."

"I thought that too. But Poseidon had a last-minute emergency in Iceland, so he sent me to San Francisco in his place." He explained as she took the seat beside him. Malcolm's seat. "I was planning to surprise you there, but I was the one surprised to see Malcolm seating next to me".

"How did you convince him to change places with me?"

He scratched the back of his neck, sheepishly. "I didn't. He decided that himself."

"Jeez, Percy. You surely have a way of scaring my coworkers" she said, trying to suppress her smile.

"Hey!"

"Seems like I'm the only one with sufficient patience to babysit you."

He stuck out his tongue at her and she laughed.

"Do you have to work?" he asked, noticing her laptop.

"Eh…no. I've already finished what I had to do."

"So, what were you doing?"

"Nothing. I was just looking at the screen."

"By screen, you mean your unfinished designs?"

She sighed and gave him a half-smile. "How did you know?"

"I know you," he said proudly, but his expression turned into a serious one. "You still have trouble with that?"

"Yeah." She simply said. Percy looked like he wanted to say something more, but he quickly bit his tongue and looked at the entertainment system on his seat. He clearly wanted to avoid fighting again. He got his headphones out and passed one to her. "You owe me a movie."

Annabeth blushed faintly as she accepted the small auricular and Percy looked through the in-flight multimedia selection. She slapped his hand as he was about to press play.

"Ouch," he said, frowning. "What was that for?"

"We are not gonna watch another one from Fast and Furious."

He pouted. "Why not?"

"You already made Thalia, Grover and I watch the entire franchise last time you guys went to the apartment. It's my time to choose."

"Fine."

"Mm…Roman Holiday?"

He grimaced. "Black and white…again?"

"You're insufferable," she said rolling her eyes but continued browsing anyway.

"How about Forest Gump?" he said, grabbing her hand to stop her from scrolling further.

"Sure." She said, now too focused on his touch to argue. He pressed play and Annabeth leaned closer to him. He smelled like saltwater and ocean breeze. Percy was wearing a dark blue buttoned shirt and black pants. She thought his business clothes made him look very handsome, even though she knew he hated them.

"Try not to fall asleep this time." He joked.

"Ha, ha."

She totally fell asleep. Annabeth had really tried not to give Percy the satisfaction, but the cozy blanket around her, the quietness from first-class, and his warmness made it too hard for her not to fall asleep. Besides, she'd had a ton of work at the office that day. Around forty minutes into the movie, she rested her head on his shoulder and started nodding off. A moment later, she felt Percy's arm sneaking around her back.

"I'm awake." She muttered, clearly not awake.

Percy chuckled and gently pulled her closer to him, so she was more comfortable. Her face was only an inch away from his neck, and she could smell him better. She had never been a beach person, but he was making her a believer.

"There's no shame in being tired, Annabeth." He whispered. "Sleep."

"Just a few minutes."

She felt him smirking.

"Sure."

Sleeping on planes had never been easy for Annabeth. However, she was on pretty deep sleep when she felt someone firmly shaking her shoulder. Groggily, she opened her eyes and slowly turned toward the aisle. Again, her coworker Malcolm was looking at her, hardly containing his smile.

"Malcolm?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes. "Do you want to change again?"

"Eh, actually, we are about to land."

Annabeth's eyes widened and she felt fully awake. She looked at her watch and noticed it was almost midnight. The flying attendants were asking people to straighten up their seats and fasten their seatbelts, as the captain gave details about San Francisco's weather. She cursed.

"I'm so sorry Malcolm. I fell asleep and lost track of time."

"It's okay." He didn't look mad at all. Instead, he seemed to be having a blast. She leaned away from Percy, who had also fallen asleep at some point, and suppressed her smile as he drooled with his head against the window. She wrapped the blanket around him before gathering her laptop and changing places with Malcolm. Before she left her coworker winked at her and said, "I told you he was pretty annoying."

She felt everybody was staring at her red face as she embarrassingly walked back to her seat in the economy class.

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"Have I told you how sexy you look with your safety helmet on?" Percy whispered in her ear, sending an amazing shiver through her body.

She nervously looked around through the group of Poseidon's biggest shareholders, trying to determine if someone had heard Percy's comment. Luckily, they all seemed too absorbed on Malcolm's tour of the last two floors. She elbowed him in the ribs.

"Stop flirting, Percy," she hissed. "You should be paying attention too, so you can report it to your dad."

"I am paying attention. It's called multitasking, Wise Girl."

She arched her eyebrow.

"Multitasking?"

"Yeah. It's okay if you don't know the word. Not that you're an assistant or anything."

She elbowed him again. Malcolm guided the group through the innovation labs and the research center. Annabeth was impressed by their technology and equipment and remembered Leo helped to adequate the building with the most advanced tools Poseidon had asked for. He had done a great job. Percy also looked at them with interest.

"Do you know how to use them?" she asked with curiosity.

"Most of them," he replied inspecting a big white machine that seemed like a printer, only it had tons of other buttons, and was clearly not for printing. "Goode had very good labs, but still some of these are way too modern or expensive."

They kept walking and Annabeth praised Magnus for his use of light and a good support system, so he could apply more glass to the structure.

"Thanks," he said. "I actually got the idea from you, while we were having lunch on the break room"

She tried no to blush when Percy winked at her.

They finished reviewing the project and everybody applauded Malcolm and the other group of architects who helped him during the process. The shareholder bombarded her coworker with questions, but they looked overall excited with the final result.

They took off their helmets and gave them back to the construction supervisor. Percy had to take a call from his dad, while Annabeth inhaled the air of the city, she grew up in. Her high school was just a few blocks away, and she remembered how Thalia used to wait for her school day to end so they could go together to the music shop. Those were nicer times.

She felt someone hugging her from behind and her whole body relaxed against Percy's.

"You look sad." He muttered.

"Just remembering how I used to hang out with Thalia and Luke. I had such big dreams then."

"What happened to them?" She took a few seconds to realize he was asking about her dreams.

"They've changed."

"How?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Well…I remembered thinking I could have done a better job with Manhattan. I wanted to build a whole city that was meant to be the center of the world…" she stopped when she noticed an odd man trying to hide behind a car. She looked closely and her eyes widened when she saw the camera hanging from his neck. Quickly, she pushed away from Percy and tried to see how many paparazzi were around.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked with concern.

Annabeth took a shaky breath. "Paparazzi. You can't hug me again like that, Percy. I'm Triton's girlfriend, remember?"

He slowly narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

"Oh, I remember" he scolded. "But I didn't feel you pulling away from me." She was going to answer but Percy kept talking. "I don't understand, Annabeth! Why are you still with him, when you told me no one makes you feel the way I do?"

"You have no right to be mad at me," she said, trying hard no to elevate her voice. "Besides, you were the one who said you weren't ready. Triton might not be my first option, but at least he kisses me without hesitating. He's not afraid of pleasing me and when he touches me…" she stopped and blushed, but Percy paled.

"Have you two…" he started asking in a weak voice.

"No!" she yelled, earning a few stares from some pedestrians. "Not that is any of your business anyway."

He looked relieved but still pretty tense with the whole situation. "But that's the thing, Annabeth. I don't know where your priorities are."

"My priorities?"

"If I had told you I felt something for you, that day on the fire exit. If I had told you I wanted to be more than just your friend. Would you have left Triton?"

"YES!" she yelled again surprising both of them. Malcolm sent her a curious look from the entrance and the shareholders peeked a few times towards them. Percy took a step back as if she had punched him. She cleared her throat and lowered her voice when she spoke again, "I mean I think I would have…" Percy opened and closed his mouth several times, surely looking for something to say. It was Annabeth's turn to take a step closer. "Is there something you want to say to me, now, Percy?" she asked, and her heart stopped for his answer.

He evaded her eyes. "I-I don't…I'm not…"

"Ready" she finished for him. "I know." Annabeth waited for him to say something else, but he kept his gaze on the floor. She grabbed her bag before saying, "You are a coward, Percy Jackson", and heading back towards her coworker.

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"I wish things would go back to normal," she said through the phone as she spun slowly on her old bedroom's chair. Her dad hadn't changed anything since she had gone to New York. All her polaroid photos were still glued to her wall, old blueprints were scattered on her desk (Annabeth had been tempted to correct them), her closet was full of hoodies and jeans and she even had her old Yankee's cap. Her dad didn't admit it, but she knew it belonged to her mother.

"What's normal these days?" Piper asked, probably typing on her computer as she spoke.

"When Percy and I could talk like normal friends, without wanting to either kiss or strangle each other to death…sometimes both."

"It's been like that from the beginning, Annabeth. What you described is normal for both of you. Things now are…intenser"

"Intenser?"

"Whatever. The thing is you're really falling for each other now."

"I might be, but he still has Calypso on his mind. And Rachel. He outnumbers me in suitors. It's clear that I'm not his number one option, and he dares to question my priorities."

"He is a troublemaker, Annabeth. All Jacksons are. I thought you knew what you were getting yourself into."

"But that's the thing! I never wanted to fall for him, but my heart had other stupid plans."

"Then look for another two suitors. You know what they say: a nail drives out another nail."

Annabeth cracked up. "You sound like a grandma."

"Hey! Grandmas have the best advice."

"I don't know. Maybe I should start focusing again on my career. Ditch all Jacksons and gain Aurora's respect again."

"I do like that plan. Seems like going back to your home is finally helping your mind."

"Yeah…"

"Annabeth! Dinner is ready!" she heard her dad yelling, followed by the sound of their doorbell. Helen yelled at Bobby to open the door.

"Homemade dinner?" Piper asked with a dreamy expression.

"Yep," Annabeth got up and headed out of her bedroom. She thought it strange that there were several voices coming from the front door. She walked down the stairs and found the dining room empty. She decided to head towards the living room.

"I never had a homemade dinner. My dad always paid for expensive chefs or expensive take out…"

Annabeth stopped listening and inhaled sharply as she reached their small but cozy living room. Her whole family was gathered at the entrance with huge smiles on their faces. At first, she didn't understand what was happening, until her dad stepped aside and a young handsome man entered their house. He was wearing a beautiful dark gray blazer, blue jeans, and a white shirt. He had a faint blush on his cheeks and smiled awkwardly towards her family. He seemed nervous and clumsy. In his hands, there was a pretty small and simple bouquet of white daisies. Annabeth's favorite flowers. He had tried to comb his hair, but failed miserably, leaving it as rebellious as ever.

Helen noticed her first.

"Oh, honey!" she said in an overly excited tone. "Look who's here."

And then, his sea-green eyes met her grey ones. Her dad stopped shaking Percy's hand and grinned at her.

"Annabeth, you didn't tell us your friend was in town. You should have invited him for dinner!" he said closing the door behind him.

"Beth? Is everything ok?" Piper asked, still on the call.

"Yeah, uh…I'll call you later Pipes" she hung up and found herself at a loss for words.

"It's okay Fredri…I mean Mr. Chase…sir." Percy said, shifting nervously. She had never seen him so out of the water before. "I was actually going to ask Annabeth to have dinner with me."

Her whole family remained quiet, waiting for her answer.

"Uh…I'm already having dinner here," was her intellectual answer. Her dad frowned at her for her rude response, but Helen smiled brighter and said, "Then Percy can have dinner with us! I'll put these in water, young man." She grabbed the daisies from his hands and headed towards the kitchen.

Percy blinked, clearly perplexed that his plan hadn't worked out, but somehow, he had achieved what he wanted. Her dad patted his shoulder and said, "Feel at home, Percy", before following her stepmom to the kitchen. Bobby and Matthew looked at him skeptically.

"What are your intentions with our sister?" Bobby asked, trying to mimic his voice like the godfather.

"Uh…what?" Percy asked, intrigued.

"Are you her lover?" Matthew continued.

"Boyfriend?" Bobby followed.

"Friend with benefits?"

"Acquaintance?"

"Her concubine?"

"You don't even know what that means!" Annabeth interrupted, finally getting out of her trance.

Mathew shrugged. "Sounds embarrassing enough."

"Aha," she said grabbing their shoulders and pushing them away. "Go help setting up the table."

Her brothers agreed reluctantly, and they left the room, finally leaving Annabeth and Percy alone. She had been so distracted by the whole situation, only now she noticed she was wearing an oversized jersey from her old high school and some ragged jeans. Plus, she was barefoot, and her hair was in a messy knot. She felt like a high schooler ready to introduce her boyfriend to her parents.

"Nice shirt," Percy said breaking the ice. "I didn't know you were into sports in high school."

"I wasn't…It's Luke's" she said turning around to show him the 'Castellan' sign on her back, and immediately felt stupid for doing it. "I just wear it out of habit…"

"Ah, it's okay Annabeth. You don't have to explain."

She bit her lip and Percy scratched the back of his neck.

"You look handsome." She said.

His eyes sparkled. "Thanks. I'm sorry if I came at a bad moment. Thalia gave me your address and I thought…after our conversation yesterday…"

She grabbed his hand. "It's fine, Percy. I'm glad you're here. Let's go eat, and we can talk about it later."

Dinner was interesting, to say the least. In the beginning, Annabeth could tell Percy was trying hard to be a serious young man, but he relaxed a bit when her dad started playing with his toy planes on the table. She was about to die from embarrassment, but her friend seemed to be amused by it. Annabeth was also afraid her dad would start talking about her rebel years, but he talked about his research the whole time. Helen would try to ask Percy about his family, but the conversation always ended up of war-related topics. Her little brothers spent the whole time, trying to make Percy uncomfortable, asking him about his love life and his future plans. By dessert, Annabeth was ready to bite her nails out of embarrassment from her family, but Percy found her hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Percy offered to help wash the dishes, but Helen waved dismissively and turned to Annabeth, "Why don't you give him a tour of the house. You can even show him, your old room."

"Uh, sure." They stood up and at least helped in delivering the dirty dishes to the kitchen. She quickly showed Percy the first floor, since he had almost seen it entirely already, and proceeded to go up upstairs when her father yelled, "Open doors, please!" She didn't know who was redder if Percy or her, but she decided to humor his dad even if she was already 24 years old.

"And, this is my room." She said, finally entering the slightly bigger space than her bedroom in New York. She sat on her bed while Percy walked around her old room, inspecting every tiny little detail. He stopped in front of the Polaroids.

"So, Thalia has always been a rock fanatic." He said smirking at the picture of Thalia and Annabeth buying a new electric guitar.

"Yeah…That was her first instrument bought by herself. Before that, she used to lend guitars from school or the public library."

"How did she get the money?"

"She played at our friend's parties and I helped her tutoring some kids for money."

"I see." But he was already looking at another picture. Annabeth's first kiss with Luke. Thalia had surprised them both by taking that photo, and Annabeth had kept it as her most precious possession. Now she was just wondering why she hadn't taken it off her wall sooner.

"What happened to Luke?" he asked, catching her off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he looked like a nice guy in these pictures. And you fell in love with him. I was just wondering the reason why he seems like a total jerk to me" he sat on the bed next to her.

"Luke was an amazing guy, Percy. He took care of Thalia and me when we were really little, and he was so kind to everyone. His mom was a different story. After having Luke, she was diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease and didn't have any family or friends that could take care of her. By the time Luke was fifteen, she had completely lost her mind and Luke was in danger of being taken care of by social services. Then one day, his dad, who he had never met before, appeared out of nowhere and took him to live with him. The first couple of years everything was fine, but soon Luke started to grow resentful at his father for leaving him and her mom. They had pretty nasty fights until he turned nineteen and ran away from home. Everything went downhill from there, but I was too blinded by love to see it. He started hanging out with very bad people and doing jobs I didn't approve of at all." She quieted down when she noticed Percy nervously playing with his favorite pen, which he always kept in his pocket.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Just thinking…him and I, are more similar than I'll like to admit."

"No, Percy." She took her face in her hands. "You two are so different."

"I also resented my dad."

"Yes, but you didn't run to do bad things because of it. You moved on with your life and you're actually able to work peacefully with him. Luke…I now he says he's changed, but I can still fill the resentment emanating from him."

Percy closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "I hope you're right."

"I am." She frowned and ruffled his hair. "Next time don't comb it. I like it natural."

"Thank the gods." He said. "But I didn't do it for you. I did it for your dad."

She laughed softly. "Why?"

He grimaced. "Parents usually don't like me. They think I'm a problem. Rachel's dad hated my guts. He never learned my name and after years of dating his daughter he kept telling me to call him Mr. Dare."

"Well, my dad doesn't hate you. He thinks every guy I'm dating is better than Luke. He doesn't even know Triton and he already told me he likes him more than Luke, which I doubted it was even possible."

"Wait until he meets him" he grumbled, and Annabeth sighed.

"Why are you here, Percy?"

He started playing with his pen again, before stopping and looking curiously at her.

"Annabeth do you resent your mother?"

She felt a pit on her stomach.

"Percy, don't change the subject…"

"This is important. Do you think that maybe you've been feeling down because somehow you haven't forgiven your mom? Maybe the reason you're so obsessed with working it's because you resent her." Percy's eyes were shining with hope. He thought he had found the reason for Annabeth's problems and she adored him for trying to help her. He looked so naïve.

Annabeth started crying, and not in the 'a tear here, a tear there' kind of way, but in the full sobbing and choking kind of way. Percy's eyes were wide open, and he was frozen in place. After a few seconds, he broke from his trance and pulled her into a hug, until she finally calmed down. She gently pulled away from him and wiped her face on her jersey.

"I-I'm sorry," he started saying. "It's okay if you resent her, I just wanted to…"

"I don't resent her, Percy." She replied, quietly. He looked confused.

"Then why…"

"I'm crying…because I understand why she did it…and because I'm afraid I would be able of doing it too."

Silence fell between them. Annabeth couldn't look at him and Percy was surely deep in thought. She started playing with the leather bracelet he had given her on her birthday when Helen appeared on her doorway with a trail and two steaming cups.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Annabeth said quickly, noticing Helen's murdering look towards Percy. "We were just talking about my biological mom."

Her eyes softened and she approached them. "I made some tea. That always cheers you up."

Annabeth and Percy grabbed their mugs and muttered thank you to Helen. Her stepmother smiled before leaving the room and Annabeth quickly grabbed Percy's cup, before he put it on his lips.

"It's horrible. Don't drink it." She said. He started cracking up as she put the boiling teas on her desk.

"Why do you keep drinking it?" he asked when he finally stopped.

"It makes her happy to see me drinking it, and I'm really trying to be kind to her as a commitment to my dad. She can be pretty sensitive sometimes."

"Well, I might have something that might cheer you up for real" Percy said standing up and walking towards her. She arched her eyebrow.

"What?"

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"Hi! I want more red wine, please."

"Annabeth."

"Yep?"

"He doesn't work here"

"He doesn't?"

"Nop."

"Oh…Then who does?"

Percy chuckled and looked around the giant deck. It was Annabeth's last day in San Francisco and Percy had invited her to a wine tasting experience as his plus one. Apparently, since it was the harvesting season in Napa, Poseidon's associates had decided to have a deluxe party on a massive yacht on San Francisco Bay. Poseidon was supposed to attend, but since he had gone to Iceland, Percy was invited instead. The rich people were not happy with the idea of having an assistant with them, but he was the boss's son, so they couldn't argue about it.

"I think that guy over there" he said, pointing to a middle-aged man with a black vest and a tray full of fancy snacks.

"Let's go then." She tried taking a step forward, but her whole body tingled with a warm sensation. "Never mind, I drank too much."

Percy smirked. "You think?"

"Well, you don't drink. So, I had to drink yours too."

"According to who?"

"According to whom," she corrected, and he rolled his eyes. "It's just a universal law, Percy." He chuckled again as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the breeze coming from the sea. The hired band was playing soft music, and the murmurs of the people aboard the boat were somewhat tranquilizing. There was a sudden move from the boat and Annabeth had to catch the steel railing to prevent her from falling into the bay.

"Wow," Percy said stabilizing her and then taking her away from the edge. "Let's keep some distance from the water, shall we?"

"I'm sure it's fine. We are wearing lifejackets, remember?"

"Then go ahead. Jump." Percy said, mockingly.

"Nah. I'm not in the mood."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Ah, c'mon. I know you're dying to go for a swim." He winked and she threw him a nasty look, making him laugh.

"I would like to go dancing though," she said, eyeing the people swaying on the deck.

He raised an eyebrow. "Sure you can handle it?"

"Yeah…just don't spin too much and I promise to keep the wine inside."

He chuckled again and Annabeth was glad her face was already red from so much wine. They were having a really good time together. They hadn't fought for the entire evening and Annabeth had shared a lot of stories from her life in San Francisco. Together they walked to an emptier corner and they started swaying like the rest of the rich people. She tried resting her head on his shoulder but that only made her dizzier, so she settled for looking directly into his eyes.

"You're changing me," she blurted out, as she looked deeper into his green irises.

"How so?" he asked, smiling softly.

"I never danced before. And now, I love it…but only with you."

"I'm flattered."

"Yeah, just don't let it get to your seaweed brain."

He laughed again, and Annabeth just smiled involuntarily at the sound.

"Too late, Wise Girl."

He seemed so genuinely happy and so at ease, that Annabeth regretted what she asked next.

"Are we gonna talk about the unspoken thing between us?" Damn alcohol. It made her too chatty. However, Percy smiled patiently.

"Which one?"

Annabeth blinked.

"We have more than one?" she asked, and he made a funny face.

"According to Thalia…yes."

"Don't you love it that our friends know more about us than ourselves?" she asked, sarcastically. Percy just shrugged, so she questioned, "What's the first thing?"

He winced. "We'll end up fighting."

"Probably. So, we might as well do it now that I'm drunk and giddy."

He took a deep breath before saying, "The Charity Ball."

She frowned. "What about it?"

"You never told me why you ended up crying in my arms the whole morning. You just went to bed and never touched the subject again. A couple of weeks later, you were seeing a therapist. What happened?"

She thought for a few seconds. "They played the damn song."

Percy blinked. "What?"

"The song that played when my mom met my dad in a bar near Harvard. It just brought back a lot of painful memories about my father crying over her."

"That's the unspoken thing number two," Percy whispered. "Your mom."

She bit her lip before saying, "I'm not ready to talk about that yet."

"Ok…"

"You know what? You were right. This is a bad idea and I don't wanna fight with you. Let's talk about something else."

He seemed about to protest but finally asked, "What do you want to talk about?"

"How about your future?"

His eyes got foggy. "My future?"

"Yeah. Do you want to be an assistant for your whole life?"

"Nah…Poseidon actually offered me the job of a researcher on one of his boats on the Pacific Ocean."

"That's great Percy! Why haven't you agree?"

"I'll have to be away…for a long time."

"Right…you don't want to leave your family." He smiled sadly at her and gave her a little spin. She giggled softly but tried hard to honor her promise of keeping the wine inside.

"I have other plans," he said, clearly trying to take the attention away from the subject. "I want to build my own beach cabin in Montauk."

"You? Building a cabin?" She tried to hold her laughter. He mocked being offended.

"Don't laugh, Annabeth. That's mean. Besides, you haven't heard my design yet."

"Well, I'm all ears."

Percy explained the distribution of the cabin and Annabeth listened attentively the whole time. When he was done, they had stopped dancing and were just standing still with their arms around each other.

"What do you think?"

"Not bad…"

"But?"

"I can do it better."

"How?" he didn't seem offended and his eyes were shining. She grabbed his hand and guided him to a small table nearby, where there was an unused napkin.

"Give me your pen," she told him, and he got his favorite writing tool out of his pockets. Soon enough, she started talking about lighting, efficiency, air distribution, and support systems. She had to unfold the whole napkin so her design would fit and she even added real measurements as well as different materials for the house.

"Ta-da." She said, proudly admiring her masterpiece on the wrinkled piece of improvised paper. "What do you think?" She almost gasped at how intensely he was looking at her.

"It's perfect."

"You haven't even looked at it." She said out of breath.

"I don't have to." He smiled proudly. "You're designing again."

She looked at the napkin in amazement. He was right. She had finished her first design in months. They heard some voices around the boat shouting and Percy grabbed the improvised blueprint and carefully folded it, putting it in his pockets.

"C'mon. They're disembarking."

Annabeth was still very drunk as she tried stepping off the boat. Percy offered his hand, but she slapped it away, saying she was perfectly fine. She smirked proudly when she managed to jump the small gap successfully.

They walked quietly through the pier, enjoying the night. It was pretty warm, and Annabeth was seriously considering jumping into the water to refresh herself. After a few minutes of walking silently, Percy frowned and got his wallet and cellphone out of his pockets.

"Hold this for a sec. I need to see something in the water." Annabeth put his stuff into her bag and watched him as he crouched on the edge of the pier and started complaining about the pollution and quality of the bay. She really wanted to pay attention, but the alcohol in her system was tempting her to do something else. So, she sneakily approached his back and did what any sane person would do. She pushed him into the water.

Because he really wasn't expecting it, Percy fell face-first into the water with a loud splash. Annabeth bent over her stomach and erupted with laughter. He quickly emerged from the water and pushed himself back into the pier, dripping with water. He had a dangerous smile and a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Oh, it's on Wise Girl"

She barely had time to sprint through the pier, trying to run away from him. To her dismay, Percy was an athlete, and she was drunk and in the middle of a laughing attack. She never had the chance to outrun him. Not even ten seconds passed before she felt him grabbing her arm and then surrounding her stomach with his arms, firmly gripping her body against his.

"You…can't…I…have…our…stuff." She said between laughs, but Percy simply grabbed her bag and put it on the floor. "If someone steals out stuff Perseus Jackson…" she never got to finish the sentence, before he threw her into the bay. Even if it was a warm evening, the water was cold as hell and it sobered her up instantly. She swam back to the surface and she heard Percy cracking up on the pier.

"You're lucky I was not that drunk!" She screamed. "If I had drowned tonight, I would have hunted your dreams for eternity."

Still laughing, Percy extended his arm and helped her up.

"It tastes horrible," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Pollution" was Percy's response.

She tried to drain her wet hair. "Not cab is gonna take me home like this."

"You can take a shower in my room. It's close." Percy said, grabbing her bag from the floor.

"Okay. Lead the way."

HeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebreake

Percy wasn't kidding when he said his room was close. It was literally floating in the bay. Apparently, instead of booking a normal hotel room, Percy had preferred staying at her dad's ultra-expensive sailboat. Who wouldn't? It had an awesome master bedroom with a cozy little bathroom. The only bad thing? Its slow back and forth movements were making her dizzy.

That's why, after taking a warm shower and putting on Percy's pajamas, Annabeth laid down on the bed and closed her eyes, as Percy took his shower. After a few minutes, she heard him turning off the water followed by cursing sounds as he tried to get dressed in a pretty small room. Finally, the door opened.

"That's only going to make it worse." She felt him saying as he sat next to her on the bed.

"I don't understand how this lulls you."

"It just does. And we are not even in the open sea." He grabbed her arms and said "Up."

She reluctantly sat up and opened her eyes. He was wearing a tank top and boxer shorts. She tried not to blush at the sight of his incredible body.

"Then what do you suggest, all-knowing sailor?"

"Just keep yourself distracted. Stop thinking about the rocking of the boat."

"Easy for you to say."

He just grinned. She looked around.

"Do you know how to sail?" she asked, imagining Percy doing all kinds of navy things. For some reason, it turned her on.

"Yeah."

"How did you learn?"

"Poseidon. He taught me months after we first met. It was nice. And, apparently, I had an innate talent with it." He said, playing again with his pen.

She thought about and then asked, "Do you think you're like him? I mean, have you ever thought about ending up making the same mistakes as him?"

"Uh, no. I mean I do have many of his qualities and flaws, but I also have my mom's. Besides, I think I can learn from his mistakes, so I don't make them again. He smirked. "And I have friends, like you, who would tell me when I'm being an idiot."

Annabeth laughed softly and played with her bracelet. Percy frowned and grabbed her hands, moving closer to her. "Why do you ask?" he whispered.

She took a shaky breath. "Because I'm afraid to turn out to be just like my mom." Annabeth felt a huge weight being lift from her shoulders when she said it. It had been hunting her for months and had finally said it to him.

He gently pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and said, "The fact you're saying you're afraid to end up like her, it's more than enough to show that you won't end up like her."

"How do you know?"

"Because now that you've told me, I'll be able to warn you when you're acting like her." He rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "I'm your friend, Annabeth. You can count on me for that type of thing."

They inched closer to each other until Annabeth smelled his shampoo on him.

"Have I told you how cute you look when you try to comfort me?" she whispered, and his eyes met with hers. "Unspoken thing number three. What are we, Percy?"

Their lips were almost touching, and her chest ached with a desire to kiss him. But first, she needed to know what he wanted. He shook his head.

"Annabeth…"

"Is it because she's prettier?"

Percy frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

"Calypso. That famous actress. You said it was different with her."

"It is."

"Because she's prettier?" she kept pushing, her voice shivering with emotion.

"No." he stated, somewhat irritated.

"Because she has more money?"

"Jeez, Annabeth. No. Who do you think I am?"

"I don't know, Percy!" she yelled, her eyes stinging with tears. "The only thing I know is that every time I talk about you, I smile for no apparent reason. That whenever you laugh, I feel goddamned annoying butterflies on my stomach. And that I have to literally restrain myself from kissing you each time you're close to me. So please, just tell me why you chose her instead of me, and I promise to leave you alone after this. We'll be back at being just friends, but I'll have some closure at least…"

He grabbed her face in his hands and said, "Who says I chose her?"

"On my birthday…"

"You ran away before I could explain, remember?" he said, angrily.

She evaded his eyes for a few seconds before he sighed and made her look at him.

"She's not my best friend."

Annabeth blinked. "What?"

"You wanted to know what was different. Well, Calypso is not my best friend. You are." She remained quiet, so he continued. "If things go wrong with her, I'll still have you at my side. But if I screw things up with you…" he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "You know what happened with Rachel. I don't know what I would do, if…"

She crashed her lips against his. Her hands wandered through his messy hair and she sighed of relief when he surrounded her with his arms and pulled her closer. She broke apart enough to say, "I guess you'll have to live with that risk". Percy chuckled and pushed her, so she was lying on the bed. And they kissed until she couldn't feel the rocking of the boat anymore.