Hello Guys! I'm sorry for posting this late, but I'm very busy lately. This a short chapter, but next one will be longer.

Thank you all so much for your support in these crazy times.

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

Chapter 19

Annabeth came back to her senses when the sunlight filtered through her eyelids. She tried to evade it the light by turning one-eighty on the bed, but another variable made her open her eyes. The pillow next to hers was empty. She blinked repeatedly trying to chase the tiredness away and, when her vision cleared, she saw him sitting on his desk, working on his computer, and listening to something with his headphones on.

Why was he up first? Usually, Annabeth was the early bird, and she was the one who worked on her computer while Percy slept. And, why was he working on a Saturday morning? She wanted to ask him, but her eyelids were closing again, and she figured oversleeping for a bit on a Saturday was hardly a sin. But her body was stiffer than usual, and she had to shift a lot in the bed to find a comfortable pose.

Percy must have noticed all her shifting because she heard him pushing his chair back, and then felt something heavy sitting on the mattress. She opened one eye and looked at him expectantly. He had an annoying playful smirk on his face.

"Did you finish hibernating?" he asked, and she stuck her tongue out at him before turning his back on him. "I'm being serious Wise Girl. I was beginning to worry." He said nudging her arm.

She sighed. "Just because I slept a little bit more than you? Even I like to sleep in on some Saturday mornings, Seaweed Brain."

He chuckled. "You have a very weird definition of 'morning'." She finally turned towards him and narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"It's three in the afternoon. Or, in your case, fifteen in the morning."

Annabeth's eyes widened, as she jolted to a sitting position, now fully awake. "You're kidding."

Still smiling, Percy shook his head. "I'm not."

"Then why didn't you wake me up sooner?!" she scolded as she jumped down from his bed and headed towards her charging phone on the kitchen counter. The screen flashed 3:05 p.m. and Annabeth cursed under her breath.

Percy had followed her and leaned against the counter, highly entertained by her alarmed face. "You needed sleep." He said. "And I've learned to respect your character in the morning."

She tried to punch him, but he jumped aside knowing she would try to do that.

"You earn my character when you lack a coffee machine." She grunted, looking through the cabinets for a glass to fill it with tap water.

"You know I don't know how to handle those things," he said as she drank. "Besides, there's an awesome coffee shop just around the corner, that I bet sells better coffee than the one you buy in supermarkets."

"Percy, we both know you don't like them because they don't make you your caramel latte. Which some do…"

"But they are too expensive."

"Right."

She washed the glass as Percy kept giving her reasons on why coffee machines were the worst. Annabeth resisted the urge of rolling her eyes, but she continued smiling because of his relentless speech against her favorite electro domestic.

"…now a hot chocolate machine. That's something I would definitely buy…"

"Then let's go." She interrupted, unplugging her phone and reading the messages.

Percy blinked. "What?"

"Let's go buy the hot chocolate machine. I'm sure it exists." She opened her mail app. "Then we can grab something to eat. I'm starving."

He smiled. "Sounds like a plan. Maybe we can even pass by my mom's and say hi to Stelle. It's been a while since…" He noticed her frowning. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth opened and closed her mouth several times until she finally found the words. "I got a mail from Arachne. The architecture firm Piper recommended me."

"What does it say?" Percy asked with more excitement than she was feeling at the moment.

"They said they reviewed my work and think I'm a very talented architect, but my focus is more towards complex facilities instead of sustainable houses and interior design." She kept reading. "They invite to me send them designs that incorporate the aspects they are asking for…" she finished reading in silence.

Percy blinked again. "Those are good news! Right?"

"I don't know," she grimaced putting her phone aside. "I'm not good at designing houses or interiors, so I doubt I'm what they're looking for."

Percy frowned. "That's not true…hold on." He went to his desk and opened one of its drawers, pulling out a neatly folded piece of napkin. Annabeth walked up to him, and he handed her the improvised blueprint. "You draw this for me, didn't you? I think it's amazing."

"You kept it?" she asked, smiling sweetly as she inspected the beach cabin, she had designed on the boat back in San Francisco, six months ago.

"I did. It was the night that you and I…you know…"

Annabeth shut him up with a kiss. "I know." She said, folding the paper again. "I loved that night."

Percy put away the design on his drawer again, before surrounding her with his arms again and returning the kiss with a little more urgency.

"You know…" he started saying between kisses. "We are not in a rush. Maybe we can take a bath together again."

Annabeth laughed. "You know Percy, for being a Marine Biologist, you surely love wasting water by taking a lot of baths with me."

He smirked. "But we are also saving it by not taking separate baths, Wise Girl. It's simple logic."

"Oh, sure." She said, her voice full of sarcasm. She looked at the PJ she was wearing. "But I don't have any clothes here. Can we go to my place, first? I'll take a shower there and then we can continue with our agenda."

"Uh, sure, let me get ready first." But he didn't move, and his lips were pressed in a thin line. "So, what are you gonna do with Arachne?" He asked, clearly not wanting to let the subject go.

She really missed being an architect, and maybe she could start by doing something she wasn't really into and just get some practical experience, before moving to something better for her.

"What the hades," she shrugged. "I'm gonna try it and see what happens. Worst case scenario, I'll just go back to where I am right now."

"Which is not that bad?" Percy grimaced, trying to elevate the mood.

She sighed. "No, it's not that bad."

"Great!" he said, pecking her lips. "I'm sure you're gonna do great."

"Wow hold your horses, Seaweed Brain. I still need to design a lot of houses, and even so, they might not hire me."

"Uh, right. You better start working then." He said winking at her and heading to the bathroom. Annabeth heard the sound of the bathtub filling up and she smiled. Not bad at all.

HeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebrea

"You're back!" Carla said giving Percy a pearly smile and not so much of a glance to Annabeth. She was used to the waitress cold treatment since they first came into Percy's burger place when they were working together for the tower in San Francisco. Carla clearly had a crush on Percy and Annabeth used to find that cute. Now she found it irritating.

"We are!" Annabeth said with exaggerated cheerfulness and Percy threw her a funny look. The waitress gave her a forced smile before getting her pad out and asking Percy, "The usual?"

Percy who knew the menu like the back of his hand smiled politely at her. "Yes, Carla. Please." She batted her eyelashes playfully before reluctantly turning to Annabeth and taking her order. They handed her the menus, and Percy leaned forward so he could grab her hands in his, making Carla's smile turned into an annoyed expression and then leave with an unattractive frown.

"She's gonna spit in out food," Annabeth noted.

"She's not. Carla is nice."

"When you are single, she's nice. When you're out of the market, however…"

Percy smirked and gave her a sweet kiss on her right hand. "Sorry, I tend to have that power over people."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked around the place. "I can't believe we started coming here together more than a year ago. I lot has changed since then."

"Yeah, you were a real pain in my butt." Percy joked, and Annabeth widened her eyes.

"Excuse me? YOU were the pain in my butt. Always being late and losing important documents. Somedays I just wanted to call Poseidon and ask him why the hades had he hired you." Percy chuckled. "I'm glad we managed to finish eighty percent of it before everything went to hell."

He cleared his throat. "About that…the inauguration event it's going to be in fifteen days. You should come, it was, after all, your project too."

Carla came back with their drinks, and Annabeth waited until she was gone to take a sip of her diet coke. "Nah." She finally said. "Frankly, I'm not ready to see Aurora just yet. Just send me a lot of pictures when you go there."

"I will," Percy said, taking her hands again after drinking half of his milkshake.

"That's what you were working on this morning?" Annabeth asked, remembering how focused he seemed when she had woken up.

He grimaced. "Um, no." He took a deep breath and squeezed her hands. "Listen, Wise Girl, I think we should talk about what happened yesterday."

Annabeth closed her eyes and sighed. "I know." She answered after a few seconds of silence. "What do you wanna talk about first?"

"Well, you were the one who had a lot of things to say to me, so I think you should start."

"Right…" she bit her lip and thought what she wanted to discuss first. She would have to ponder her questions well if she didn't want them to fight like last night. Although, the dinner with his family hadn't exactly helped with their moods, while today they were both relaxed and content with each other. Things literally couldn't be worse than what had happened in the car.

Here we go, Annabeth thought.

"Why didn't you tell Rachel and you had a big fight about me, days before you guys broke up?" she asked.

"I didn't want to worry you," Percy answered quickly, and Annabeth wondered if he had been analyzing her accusations throughout the day. "I knew if I told you Rachel had been mad about us spending time together, you would have stepped away from me. I didn't want that."

"So, you guys broke up because of me?"

"No. What I told you that day was true. You more than anyone know that things between us were weird even before I met you."

"Ok…then why did Connor…"

He frowned. "Connor loves chaos, Annabeth. Don't believe everything he says."

Annabeth bit her lip. "So, if you had nothing to hide, why didn't you tell me you still talk with her?"

"I was scared you were gonna act how Rachel acted when she complained about us, and I didn't want to lose you over a stupid fight…"

"You know I would never stop you from seeing Rachel, Percy. I know how much she means to you."

"I know." He said, smiling sadly. "I guess I didn't want to risk it."

Annabeth nodded. She really wanted to ask if he considered their relationship more complicated than the one he had with Rachel, but she knew it was an answer she didn't want to know.

What else? Percy's job.

"I want to apologize," she started saying. "Your job is yours, Percy, and you are the one who decides what to do with it, not me. I guess I was just being a hypocrite when I got mad at you for commenting on my career and then I would criticize yours. I just don't want you to hold back because of me."

"You won't," he promised. He tapped his fingers on the table before saying, "Actually, I thought about it yesterday…and I've decided to do the trial period. That's what I was arranging on my computer today."

Annabeth felt a hollow in her chest. She wanted Percy to succeed, but that also meant he was going away from her, and everything she had given up for their relationship would be in vain. Well, she technically didn't quit her job just for Percy, but he had been one of the reasons why.

"It'll be just one week to see how much I like it, and then I can take my time to decide…"

"That's awesome, Percy! You'll finally be doing what you love the most…" she interrupted before her heart could speak for her.

"But I want you to come with me." He finished.

Annabeth was left speechless at his proposition. Percy was so nervous for her answer, that when their food finally came, Carla tried having a conversation with him, but was disappointed when he practically told her to piss off.

"It'll be just a week," Percy insisted, his burger untouched.

"I don't know, Seaweed Brain. I just started my job at the bookstore, and you're asking me to run away with you for seven days…my boss surely won't like that."

"Who cares? You have that Arachne thing now, right? Just tell Connor to cover for you…"

"A whole week?"

"C'mon Annabeth. It'll be something different…something that'll help you have a fresher mind and take a nice breath away from work issues."

"I can't be that careless with my job, Percy. I need the money, and more now that Thalia hasn't had a show in several days…" He took his hands away from hers and looked at his burger with a newly found interest. "I'm so sorry. I really want to go…"

"It's fine." He interrupted as he started to eat. "I get it."

They ate in awkward silence, and even Carla felt the tension in the air because she didn't bring back her flirty eyelashes. Annabeth really hated her job at the bookstore, and she would give anything to travel with Percy, but she couldn't risk not having money. If she got that job with Arachne however…

They didn't speak again until they were in front of her building. Annabeth didn't want to live things sour between them again.

"When are you leaving?" she asked, softly.

Percy took a deep breath and lowered down the volume of the speakers. "In one month."

"And where are you going?"

"Australia."

Annabeth grimaced. "That's pretty far away." He didn't say anything. "But sounds nice. I've always wanted to see Australia." She cursed herself for trying to ease the situation when Percy finally looked at her with a bit of hope in his eyes.

"Then let's go!" He pleaded and she closed her eyes. "Just one week."

"Why do you want me to go so bad?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but then immediately closed it as if he had changed his mind. Then he shook his head. "I just want us to get away from all the drama, and just stop overthinking things for a few days, and I think Australia is far enough. It'll be like some well-deserved vacations."

Annabeth smiled. "You'll be working."

"You know what I mean." He unfastened his seatbelt and leaned towards her, caressing her right cheek. "Annabeth if this is only about money…"

"It is." She assured him.

"Then I can lend you some until you get another job."

"No, Percy, I can't let you do that." She sighed. "I'll talk to Connor and see what I can do, and maybe I can do double shifts…"

Percy shut her up with a deep kiss that left her out of breath. "So, you're going? He asked, excitingly.

Annabeth knew it was not going to be easy. She had only been working for a little more than a month and her boss would never accept her request of going on vacation for so long, and she highly doubted Connor could get her another job in such a short time. But…her life was already upside down, so how much harm going with the man she loved to Australia could do?

A lot, she would find out later.

But now, she was deeply in love and lost in his sea-green eyes.

"Yes."

HeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebrea

Thalia stumbled groggily into the living room with a deep frown on her face. Her spiky hair was all over the place and her pajamas were all wrinkled up. Annabeth smirked at her appearance as she took another sip of her fourth cup of coffee.

"Did we travel back in time?" Thalia mumbled as she tried to reach the kitchen.

"Why do you ask?" Annabeth asked, stretching her back.

Thalia looked at the clock on the wall. "It's three in the morning, and you have a billion blueprints over the coffee table and several empty cups all over the place. It's like you were in Goode all over again."

"Too many 'over' in that sentence." Annabeth pointed out as she adjusted her glasses.

"What are you doing anyway?" Thalia asked, approaching her table with her glass of water.

"No no no no no," Annabeth said making a wide arc with her arms. "Keep that water away from my work."

"You have a cup of coffee right there!"

"It's different. I can only control my actions, not yours." Thalia rolled her eyes but kept her distance. "I'm designing a house to apply for the job at Arachne."

"I thought you were more into buildings and complex infrastructure."

"I am, but this job will be only temporary until I at least get some practical experience. Then I can master something I really like."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"It is. I just need to land the job first."

"You also need to sleep," Thalia said, finishing her water and putting the glass in their sink. "You've given me the creeps by having those huge circles under your eyes recently."

"I just need to finish this view."

Thalia grabbed a napkin from the kitchen and headed towards the coffee table. Annabeth was about to complain when her friend showed her hands and said, "No water." She then grabbed one of Annabeth's expensive pencils and drew (on the napkin) a rectangle with a triangle on top. "Ta-da. There's your house. Now sleep."

Annabeth grabbed the napkin and pursed her lips. "It needs windows and at least a door." She grabbed back her pencil and drew another three rectangles. "There! That's better. Maybe even…"

She was rudely interrupted by the sound of Thalia's bedroom door being slammed shut.