Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan has a writing that style that would be very hard to duplicate. My style, imho, is nowhere close to that.

~headline: resolution and sentiment~

…

A day later, Annabeth is still reeling about her meeting with Percy. Everything just went… so much better than she ever thought it would. Although she was doubting she'd ever see him again, she knew that somewhere in her heart she was holding out hope. And that hope ultimately led to something real. Piper did a really good job with hiding it all, or well, maybe that was Annabeth's obliviousness. She really needs to find a way to thank her, Piper's done so much for her these last couple of days and Annabeth would feel inadequate if she didn't give her some type of payment.

Pylos, or Percy, had been exactly what she had expected him to be. Kind, considerate, charming, and even a little cocky. Not in a bad way though, just in a joking way. Once most of their problems had been resolved, they had fallen into an easy conversation, just as they had before online. This time, it felt so much more real. Not necessarily in the sense that before, their conversations weren't genuine or emotion-filled, just in the sense that now she could actually hear his laugh. See the nervous scratch to the back of his neck and his eye roll. Reactions like those always add to the conversation a lot more, and Annabeth didn't think she noticed that before while online. She'd message him, saying, "I'm rolling my eyes," or, "I'm shaking my head," but in real life, you didn't need to say those things. People just saw and understood.

When he'd asked her about the future, she'd hesitated. She knew that she wanted him in her life, and she'd told him so, but thinking that far ahead, even thinking months ahead felt clouded and scary. Ultimately, they'd decided a relationship was best suited, and Annabeth wholeheartedly agreed when they'd chosen to not confirm anything. Annabeth was still in school, getting adjusted, and she really didn't need that added weight.

The truth is, before her mother's death, Annabeth had everything planned out. She would go to college at NYU, graduate early after getting all of her credits, and then become an architectural journalist. Then, she'd find a steady job at a paper, perhaps work with an actual firm, maybe travel the world a bit, and then settle down. But now, with the loss of her mother, and her move to LA, she doesn't really know what she wants. All she knows is that she wants something with Percy in it. Meeting him had a huge impact on her, she's felt giddy for the last twenty-four hours.

They'd exchanged numbers, decided to call, and would try to visit each other later with the chance. Nothing planned for certain, but Annabeth knew that she'd see him again. There's still so much to talk about, so many things to discuss, not just concerning the future.

And Annabeth wants to do that all, with him.

But first, there are personal things she needs to resolve. At this point in life, she's comfortable with having a relationship. She has the capacity to. Thinking about her mother still makes her sad, but she's at a point in time where now, months have passed. Her mother died October fourteenth, and now it's February. That's four and a half months, basically. Her mother's death is always going to affect her heavily, but now there's less crying. She's starting to go into the final state of grief, acceptance. Accepting the yes, sad fact that no matter what she does, she won't get her old life back.

And by truly accepting that, there are a lot of things she needs to resolve. With people, those people, namely being her family. Every conversation she has with them is the same. Tense, awkward, and short. Annabeth knows this is partially her fault but she also knows that conversations are a two way street, so she can't completely shift the blame onto herself.

Or maybe she can. Annabeth's not entirely sure, and to be honest, she doesn't want to. No one likes to say that they're wrong, especially her.

But she will say, something hit her while talking to Percy. It wasn't necessarily a conversation topic, just the realization that if you don't take opportunities while in conversation, you won't get anywhere. And that's maybe where Annabeth is lacking. Maybe she isn't fulfilling her half of the two way street. Maybe… just maybe, she promises, she was wrong. It's not like she's going to admit it or anything out loud. Lets just say she does start making an effort and her view on Helen and Frederick change.

Or maybe, if they address the elephant in the room, the huge one, regarding Frederick's complete abandonment, along with his and Helen's immediately. It's still so unclear what really happened, and no answers to that question are being offered. And to be frank, Annabeth has been avoiding it too. She almost doesn't want to know the answer, doesn't want to find out really why her father left her. It's just— she knows she has to. She knows that for the relationship to fully heal— not be fixed for ever— that she needs to know what really happened. Because the reason she's in the dark is her fault too. She hasn't asked, meaning neither of them haven't provided any answers. And why would they? Why would they want to talk about cheating, leaving, and never contacting Annabeth or her mother. Living a happy life together is obviously a much bigger priority to both of them.

Four and a half months ago, she never thought she'd be in this position. Four and a half months ago, she thought she'd just never see her father again. Four and a half months ago, she was living a normal life. She'd never expect that her online friend was a famous pop-star. She'd never think that she'd meet or even get to fall in love with him. So much has changed. For good, and for bad. A lot for bad. But also, some for good. And that "some" is what Annabeth's going to hold onto.

…

Annabeth knows that she's stalling. Currently, she is washing her plate carefully and slowly. The boys are gone upstairs, probably to play video games or something. She knows they stay up late sometimes, not as late as her, but late. She almost treats it as a competition. Who can fall asleep first?

They win most of the time.

As mentioned, they're gone. Frederick and Helen are talking at the table. All the dishes are clear, and Annabeth is taking an exceptional long time to wash her plate and utensils, even though she can simply put it in the dishwasher and be done with it all.

But no, she carefully hand washes the plate with the blue dish detergent and a sponge. Once she's sure each bit of reminisce from the salad and pasta are gone, she takes a towel and hand dries it carefully and slowly. Biding her time. She's planning to bring the subject everyone has been so narrowly avoiding, up when she gets back, and Annabeth, frankly, has no clue how she's going to do it. At all. Her heart is beating fast, and she almost feels like she needs some encouragement. Earlier in the day, she called Percy about it, as they exchanged numbers. She confessed her nervousness, and he distracted her. They even came up with nicknames, Seaweed Brain for him, and Wise Girl (stupid, she knows), for her. No longer is email their only source of contact. Annabeth hasn't even made a new account yet. Anyway, she told him what she was planning to do, and he gave her some encouragement. But that's fading away, leaving her with a sickening feel in her stomach. An unrelenting one.

When she finishes with her plate, she slowly returns it to its home in the white cupboard, and takes extra precautions to make sure that it's completely safe. It's not like the one plate matters. It's just that she wants to waste as much time as she can before this.

She slowly walks back to the table, one foot after the other, counting the amount of steps. Again, this isn't for some grand reasons. It's just to slow everything down. Once she gets back to the dining room, she looks up resolved, to see both Frederick and Helen looking up expectantly. She sits down in the seat that's now become almost assigned to her, everyone sits in the same seat every day, again, slowly because of course, and then folds her hands.

Helen frowns. "What took you so long with that one plate?"

Annabeth almost— and she means almost, says something like, "no reason," or, "It had some extra weird grunge on it," but she stops herself, sighing. "I—" she first hesitates, and then just tries to go in for the kill. "I actually wanted to talk to you guys about something."

Frederick looks at Helen. Helen looks at Frederick. It's almost like they know what's coming. Frederick places both of his hands on the table, one on Helen, the other on his napkin. "What is it you'd like to talk to us about?" He asks, very formally.

"I have a couple of questions," Annabeth tells them slowly. "About my mother. And about you two. Together." She cringes at what she's saying, because it just feels unnatural. Forced. Not robotic, because this is only an awkwardness that could be caused by a human being, just stained.

Frederick nods. "Okay." He looks to Helen, who is staring down at her empty place. "That's fair. What do you want to talk to us about?"

"Well, I guess," Annabeth clears her throat. "Why? Why did you… leave?"

He clears his throat, and looks over to Helen. "I was younger, and dumber. At the time, I thought I was making a sacrifice for you. I didn't want to upset you buy saying that I," he looks around awkwardly, "well—"

Annabeth cuts him off. "Cheated on mom."

"Yes." Frederick winces. "I now know it was selfish. But at the time, well, I was in love. And it makes you stupid."

Annabeth disagrees with that. Love can make you blind, but not stupid. "So, how did it happen?" To be honest, Annabeth doesn't want to know the answer to this question, but she needs to know it. For closure.

Frederick looks over to Helen, and she clears her throat, covering her mouth. "I was living in New York on a four to three year trip. For modeling and photography. I met your father when I was first getting introduced to the city. He charmed me, and well, we eventually started a relationship."

"Did you know?" She doesn't want to finish that, but it's obvious Helen understands. Did you know he had a wife?

Helen nods, looking down at the table once more. "I did. And about, well, five months into it, I got pregnant with Bobby and Matthew."

"You had a whole separate family?" Annabeth did not… she didn't think that it was that bad. Now she's angrier at her father than Helen. Still mad at Helen, but also, how could they both knowling do this.

They have the capacity to look guilty. "You do a lot of things for love." He looks over at Helen sweetly, and then everything comes to Annabeth in an avalanche.

He fell out of love with Athena. Or maybe he never loved her. Annabeth hesitates to ask this. "Did you ever love my mother?" She asks, keeping her calm surprisingly well.

Frederick frowns. "At one point I did. But, I guess that's what happens sometimes. You fall out of love. I'm not going to say what I was doing was right, I should have just divorced, and I've always felt guilty for leaving you but—"

"Then why didn't you ever reach out?" Annabeth cuts him off. It's what's been bothering her. If he felt that guilty, why didn't he ever… try? There had been nothing from him. He was gone, from her life completely. Then he just waltzed back in, unaffected. It doesn't make sense, how could it?

He sighs. "I tried. But Athena wouldn't hear it. I tried to call you, but…" he swallows, "she shouldn't have let me see you. I didn't deserve it. But don't think I didn't try."

"I don't know if I can believe that." Maybe she can. But she can't believe that he didn't know what he was doing when he got with Helen. He knew he was cheating, he knew he was deceiving them, he must have known that what he was doing was wrong. Right? He must have.

"You don't have too." In the smallest bit, she appreciates those words.

Helen stutters a little bit, but then speaks. "Your father was amazing in my eyes, I fell in love with him, it seems, at first sight. I know it sounds horrible, but at the time, I was young, foolish, and didn't care about being a so-called 'home-wrecker.' I'm sorry Annabeth. I was selfish. This is as much as my fault as his."

"You should have tried harder." Annabeth says. She is not going to cry, no matter how many tears she can feel coming up. Helen sighs, and Frederick squeezes her hand.

It's quiet for a while. Annabeth understands why. No one really knows what to say, Annbaeth doesn't know what to say. "This isn't the type of thing you can easily forgive me for." Frederick finally provides. "But I am your father. And although that doesn't take away my mistakes, although you're new to this all, I'd like it for you to become a part of the family. Because you're my daughter. And I love you."

"I just—" Annabeth puts her elbows down on the table, and rests her head on her hands. "I feel so, so inadequate. I know I don't belong here. Moving was hard enough, but seeing you and your perfect family, just made it all so much harder. Because I saw you were living happily while I was suffering. At first, I just wished I'd stayed with Thalia until I turned eighteen, and went to college. Mom left money for me. I could have. But then, I guess I wanted to take a chance when you said that you wanted to take me in. I mean, you're still my father." She looks over at Helen, who is staring at her, eyes soft. She looks back. "You are. I don't know what else to say."

Helen purses her lips. "I do." She says slowly. "I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you. I— I guess I didn't really understand how much I was hurting. I knew Frederick had a family, but I didn't have faces to put to it. What we did was wrong, a million times wrong. I wish it had happened another way for your sake. But we can't take it back."

"I can't forgive you." Annabeth says bluntly.

Helen nods. "Of course you can't. I wouldn't. Frederick wouldn't either." She looks to her husband. "But we still want you to feel welcomed. Adjusted and happy, okay?"

"I am happy." She thinks so. She has Piper, and now Percy, although she hasn't told them about it yet. Maybe now would be a good time too. "I have Piper. I have a boyfriend. I— I'm adjusting."

Frederick's head snaps up. Annabeth can see she's activated protective mode, something she saw just the other day when she went to meet up with Percy. "Boyfriend? Who?"

This feels weird. Again, as she's said tons and tons of time, way to parently. But now that they've fessed out all of these problems, maybe it's okay. And if any time to tell them, why not now? "We're keeping it private," Annabeth tells them. "It's Percy Jackson."

"Do I know him?" Her father asks, oblivious.

Helen seems a bit more aware of the pop culture scene, and she gapes a bit. "The famous pop-star?"

Annabeth bites her lip, but then decides that if not now, then when? She relays the entire story to them, starting at her blog. She explains how she met him online through a post, and Frederick remarks how unsafe it all is. She ignores this, and goes on to tell them how they began to talk, and when her mother died, he comforted her, and they connected on a deeper level. They helped each other grow, eventually falling in love through words. She tells them the whole Girl in My Corner fiasco, Calypso Atlas, the meet and greet, where she lost her phone (though she reassures them it's returned), the news articles (which they somehow didn't know about), her blogs completely dismantlement, the post Percy put out, and last but not least, Piper's quest to have to reunite. When she's finished both of them look like they have a lot of questions.

"You guys are keeping this between the two of you for now, right?" Frederick asks, "because now doesn't seem like the time to go in full blast."

Annabeth sighs. "Yes, we're keeping it private. I said that. It's all moving pretty fast, but we're planning to meet up again sometime soon."

"Are you being…" Helen hesitates, "safe?"

Annabeth cringes. Yes, she knows Helen is currently the only adult woman in her life, but she doesn't need advice for that yet. They've only been dating for a day and a half. Barely that. Well, actually, maybe more if you're counting the entire length of their relationships, which is actually around a year or so. "Yeah." She answers, and Helen nods, muttering something to herself about never having a girl.

After a couple more questions, Helen decides to call it a day, and goes upstairs to get ready for bed. This leaves Annabeth and Frederick alone at the dining room table. They stare at each other. "Would you," Frederick says, "ever consider calling me 'dad'?" It sounds kind of pitiful to be honest.

Annabeth's first instinct is to say, "when you earn it, maybe," but she decides not to. To be frank, she's gotten so accustomed to calling him Frederick, it would be hard to switch over. "I'd have to think about it," she answers, and he nods like that makes sense.

"I"m so sorry Annabeth," he says. He's already repeated it plenty of times, and Annabeth appreciates it, really, she does. She just doesn't know what to say to it. Thank you for that? or, maybe, I appreciate it but I don't forgive you yet, even better, I'm glad.

No. Those are horrible. She just doesn't know how to respond. So she nods again, and they sit in silence once more. After minutes of this, she gets up from her seat. "I have a lot to think about," she emphasises. "Can I go outside? I'll stay in the front of the house."

"Of course," he says, getting up, "I should be going upstairs now. Don't stay out too late, and when you come back in lock the door behind you."

"Sounds good." Annabeth puts an awkward thumbs up, and watches Frederick as he climbs up the stairs. One more relationship, kind of headled. Not completely, but everything feels resolved now. Relaxed. The elephant in the room has been let out.

…

~until you heal your past, life patterns will continue to be the same~

I hope you all enjoyed this! I really really appreciate all of you guys so much! Tysm for reading, leave a review, lmk what you think! Stay safe and healthy! Until the next chapter!

TheLil'Lion