Annabeth ran up the last flight of stairs to Percy's apartment and knocked on the door. As she waited, she heard laughter through the door, and she smiled to herself. She could just barely make out Estelle's chortling and Percy's laugh. She had missed that laugh in the past couple of years, for Tartarus, the Giant War, and recently, Jason's death had changed both of them. To be fair, Annabeth hadn't laughed much before, but in the first few years that she had known Percy, and then during the three months of peaceful dating they had had, he had seemed to be laughing all the time. She liked it when he laughed, because—well, because he was happy, but also because when he wasn't smiling, he had started to look scary. Tartarus had scarred them both for life, they knew that, but even after almost a whole year had passed, they were both harassed with constant nightmares and sported a haunted look in their eyes. She had officially moved into the Jacksons' flat, for they weren't able to sleep without each other. Annabeth was ready for a quiet evening with the Jacksons after a long day of working on Olympus, and then falling asleep to (hopefully) no nightmares.

She adjusted her bag and glanced down at her watch: 5:06, before wondering what on earth was taking the door so long to open. She was just about to go digging through her bag for her keys when the door flew open. But it wasn't Percy who was at the door. It wasn't Sally or Paul or even little Estelle. It was Piper, albeit a tired-looking, paler, skinnier Piper, standing there in her Cherokee-eagle pajamas, grinning at her wildly as she pulled Annabeth into a fierce hug.

"Annie!" she squealed. Percy came running after her, Estelle squirming in his arms.

"Hands off, Pipes, she is mine, remember? Mine."

Annabeth pulled herself away and raised an eyebrow at him.

Percy visibly paled and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off before he could.

"Ohhhhhh Percy, look, she's mad! We better run!" And with that, Piper grabbed Percy's hand, dragging him and Estelle to the nursery and slamming the door shut.

Annabeth blinked and turned to look at Sally, who stood there completely exhausted. "What—"

Sally shook her head and headed into the kitchen silently. Annabeth followed and watched as Sally silently took two mugs from the cupboard and started making coffee.

"It's nice to see Piper enjoy herself," Annabeth started. "It's been so long since I've seen her smile."

"She came to visit because she couldn't bear to see Camp, and Leo had work there, I never expected to end up adopting her or ending up having to babysit three children," Sally said, sighing tiredly.

"I'm sorry—did you say you adopted her?" Annabeth asked. In the back of her mind, she supposed she found this all very amusing, but the larger part of her brain was occupied with confusion. Last she had checked, Piper and Percy had said a total of about three sentences to each other after the Giant War. Those too, probably about Jason or Annabeth herself. She had definitely not expected this.

Sally smiled wanly. "Her father hasn't been getting better, and the poor girl's exhausted. I think it was the cookies that finally broke her."

Annabeth smiled and took the cup that Sally handed her, hearing laughs of glee coming down the hallway. "So you adopted her? Well, I'm supposing she adopted you first."

"Oh, you have no idea. That girl was awkward for all of five minutes this morning before suddenly throwing an arm around me and Percy and announcing that we were her new family. I guess Percy liked the idea because I have never had more trouble controlling them. Poor Paul excused himself to go hide in the supermarket."

"Well, Sally, mother of three, I suppose I could help you babysit. You have never looked more exhausted. Go take a nap, we'll switch off after dinner."

"Would you really, dear? Thank you so much," Sally's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Dinner's in the fridge, by the way. We'll just have to heat it up. And you remember where Estelle's bottle is? and her diapers? Oh, and Percy's already had seven cookies today, so—"

"Just go Sally, it'll be alright." She pushed Sally towards her bedroom and walked towards the nursery. Annabeth had really thought that she was ready. She had helped with Estelle since her birth, and she knew Percy and Piper very well. She had never been more wrong in her life.

Annabeth was exhausted. A whole day of architecture had left her wanting to sleep, Percy's Greek tea party had left her wanting to eat a horse, Piper's stories had left her wanting a warm hug from Sally, and Estelle's unrequited want of fun had left her wishing that she had a grave. But underneath it all, Annabeth had felt a sense of loss, a sense of missing something that should've been there. It wasn't until after dinner was over and she and Sally had cleaned up that she realized what. She was leaning against the counter, sipping another cup of coffee, Sally was sitting at the table with her own mug, and Paul had been left to the devices of two crazy teenagers and a baby.

She hadn't had the heart to tell Piper and Percy what she was feeling, but the feeling only deepened as time went on. They had seemed so happy, for the first time in a long time. Jason's death had not affected her as much as them. She had felt it was unfair, as she did with all demigod deaths, and had cried for a good week. He had been a good friend and a good person, and he had deserved so much better. But she had Sally and Paul and Estelle and Percy, and she found herself recovering pretty quickly from the hurt of his absence. The thing that did not go away, however, was the hurt she felt from the people closest to her.

Piper, Thalia, and Percy had been shaken to the core. The girl who had loved him, his new-found older sister, and the boy who believed it all to be his fault. Piper had only Iris-messaged once or twice after the event, but she had seen enough in those calls to want nothing more than for Piper to be happy. Her so-called "kaleidoscope" eyes had really seemed to be made of broken glass. And Thalia, her older sister for so many years, that in all senses but blood, Jason should've been Annabeth's brother. Thalia had called much more often than Piper, crying her eyes out over and over, feeling lost and unworthy. She could not believe that she had failed to save her little brother not once, but twice. Percy, who had known Jason for an even shorter while than Annabeth, but had found someone akin to himself in the younger boy. He felt guilty, telling Annabeth over and over that he should have been the one who died, that it was because he refused to help Apollo that Jason had died. He thought he was a selfish hero, for by now Leo, Frank, and Jason had willingly sacrificed their lives.

And more people she had not been able to stay in touch with. Leo and Reyna, his best friends, one who hadn't seen him since his own death, and one who had loved him for several years. Nico, who Jason had had so much faith in. Frank and Hazel, some of his closest friends, who had looked up to him as so much more than a leader. But these people she was not as worried for. Because they would be ok. Leo had found Calypso, Reyna and Thalia had each other and their sisters, Nico had found Will, Frank and Hazel had each other, and Percy had Annabeth. No, she was not worried about them. She was worried about Piper.

Piper had looked like she wasn't eating or sleeping. And Annabeth could hardly blame her, because she did not know what she would do without Percy. So Annabeth had wished over and over again for the past few months that Piper would visit them, that she would find two really good friends in them, and that they would be able to help her. And Annabeth had known all along that when Piper and Percy finally hit it off, they would be incredibly close and incredibly dangerous. They were both too similar, loving mischief and inclining to not think much, but protective of their family. Fun and light-hearted when saw them first, and deadly on the inside. So Annabeth was happy when the day came that they became friends, but she felt empty.

Because she had seen them be friends slightly different. Yes, she had predicted the crazy stories and tea parties and insane pranks. She had definitely seen herself be exasperated and mildly angry. She had expected the two to behave ten years younger than they really were. What she had not expected, however, was that Jason would not be there.

As much as Piper was like Percy, Jason was like Annabeth. She had seen herself watching Piper braid Percy's hair and him singing "Let It Go," with goofy smiles on their faces. She would have been in the background, banging her head on the table and asking herself why? with Jason standing behind her, using one hand to comfortingly pat her back and the other to cover his face in exasperation. He would've sat there with her, drawing plans for temples together as Piper and Percy used the pencils for walruses and chopsticks. And later, Jason would've been the perfect uncle to babysit Annabeth's kids. He was supposed to have been there at Percy and Annabeth's wedding, at their graduations for college, before Percy's first job interview. He was supposed to have been there when Percy and Annabeth moved to New Rome, he was supposed to grow up and live his life with Piper. He was supposed to be sitting at the table right now, with his own cup of coffee, looking as dead as Annabeth felt, his glasses crooked on his face.

And no, Piper and Percy weren't the same, and neither were Jason and Annabeth. Percy and Annabeth were rebellious and confident in each other without needing structure, while Jason and Piper pined for certainty and assurance, for they had faced less than the older couple and were willing to bow to authority. But the two pairs were perfectly matched: Annabeth thought strategically versus Percy's instinctual decisions. Piper followed emotions while Jason followed logic, and these strengths should've led to great friendships between all four of them. And to think they had never even gone on a double date. He should've been here, he was supposed to be here, and his absence left a hole that he had never gotten the chance to fill.

Annabeth hadn't realized she was crying until Sally wrapped her arms around her.

"What's wrong, dear?" she asked, studying Annabeth's face.

Annabeth shook her head, wiping her tears. "It's nothing, really. I just—"

Piper and Percy chose that moment to come bursting into the room, wearing matching grins and carrying a large piece of paper between the two of them. When they saw Annabeth, their smiles melted. And when Annabeth saw what was on the paper, she started sobbing even harder.

"Annabeth? What—"

Sally shushed Percy and started rubbing circles on her back. Piper laid the paper on the table and came around her other side to comfort her.

Annabeth was still taking in the pictures on the paper. At the top, in large purple block letters was, "PIPER'S FAMILY". Underneath, were pictures of varying quality, from pencil sketches that actually showed people, and others in stick figures that were nonrecognizable if it weren't for the name underneath. There was Piper in the center, and Percy, the "partner-in-crime", Thalia, the "punk older sister", Reyna, "the one who makes the rules", Nico, the "emo kid", Leo, the "annoying little bro". There were Sally and Estelle, Paul and Chiron, Hazel and Frank, Lacy and Mitchell, Will and Calypso, all given different roles in the chaotic family of the one and only Piper. Even Jason was in the corner, given no title, but clearly drawn with love, which made her smile. Annabeth herself was drawn next to Thalia, obviously by Piper's more artistic hand. She was given the title of "future sister-in-law".

Annabeth laughed, sniffling. "I'm sorry about blubbering like a baby, Pipes. But I have to know,—future sister-in-law?"

"Wait, he hasn't proposed yet?"

"We're seventeen, Pipes."

"Still!"

Percy grinned. "Well, if you insist..."

"Seaweed Brain!"

"Oh, look, she's back to normal. Now, care to tell us your sorrows?" Piper led her to a chair and sat down opposite to her.

Annabeth hesitated. She didn't want to ruin their day, but she didn't feel like holding back to her two best friends either. She knew it was probably a mistake, but... "Well, it was about Jason..."

Their faces fell. Percy took a deep breath, and Piper shivered slightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to bring it up, but..."

"No, no, go on Annie, it's alright," Piper said, as Percy sat down and nodded comfortingly to her.

"It's just—today made me realize how wrong it is that he's not here. He should've been here, today, right now. He was supposed to be. He was supposed to help me babysit you and watch you go crazy and he was supposed to grow up and just be here. He was supposed to—" she broke off and looked down at her lap.

"Oh, Annabeth..."

Piper and Percy came over and hugged her. And in their embrace, she realized that yes, Jason was supposed to be there, but also that in a way, he was there. She knew that they would miss him and that Piper would need a long time to grow used to his absence, but his memory was so clear in their minds that his absence need not be so empty. So the three friends cried together, missing someone who should've been there. And when, eventually, they learned to wipe their tears, learned to laugh, learned to live again, they did it together.

For now, however, their tear-fest was interrupted by a certain little baby who insisted on listening to another story about Persassy and Sassiper, and their hug ended in laughs.

"So...would I be Sassabeth?"

That night went down in history as the best sleepover ever.