Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

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December 23rd

Percy POV

We ended up staying up most of the night working on my control of the mist. I had gotten it once, but it was still difficult. Now that I had a general idea of how to make it occur though, it went a lot better than before. I just had to picture exactly what I wanted to happen. Hazel and Apollo had been right. Once I had figured out how to do it once on purpose, things went a lot more quickly.

Still, by the time we called it quits the sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon. Apollo decided to sleep on the other couch in the living room with me since it was still so cold. The fireplace had the living room and kitchen warm but it wasn't doing much to abate the cold at the other end of his apartment.

I was exhausted, but happy with the progress I had made. It was very satisfying to see that my skin no longer glowed. The god of the sun had made me practice slipping in and out of my godly form for almost an hour until it was second nature. It may have been rather tedious practice, but I was pleased that I could now do it with barely a thought.

I may have been an immortal and had a lot more stamina then I used to, but I was still asleep within moments of hitting the pillow.

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Apollo POV

I woke up when I made the mistake of rolling over to my other side. I was so used to sleeping in a bed that I wasn't prepared for the narrow couch.

I hit the ground hard. I laid there for a moment before I sat up with a groan. I shook my head and glanced over at Percy. I had to smile when I saw that he was still sleeping peacefully. Only the son of Poseidon could sleep through a thump that loud a few feet from him and yet, be awake in an instant at the smell of breakfast.

I chuckled quietly to myself as I stood up. I was still a little tired from our late night but there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep again. When I was still a god, I had gone days at a time without sleep when I needed. Now that I was mortal though, I had problems staying up past midnight.

I yawned and stretched as I glanced at the clock. It took a moment before my mind processed what I was seeing.

"HOLY ZEUS!"

Percy may have slept through my fall but at my outburst, he was on his feet with a hand automatically reaching to the pocket where he normally kept his sword. His eyes raked over the room before glancing back at me.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

I shook my head in disbelief, "Its noon!"

He gave me an incredulous look before shaking his head and dropping back down onto the couch, "Di Immortals Apollo. I'm surprised it's that late too, but you had me thinking there was a hellhound in the apartment or something."

I grimaced and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, it's just; I'm the god of the sun. I don't think I've ever slept in this late, regardless of how late I stayed up the night before."

He waved off my apology and smiled. "It's fine; just try not to give me a heart attack next time."

I raised one eyebrow and returned his smile. "Need I remind you? You are a god now Percy. That's impossible."

He rolled his eyes. "At least all the lines had the proper number of syllables this time. It's better than your usual poems."

I noticed something and laughed. "Speaking of Poetry..." I reached down and picked up a book that was neatly tucked under the edge of the couch. "Would you mind telling me how my collection of Shakespearian sonnets ended up in the living room?"

The blood rushed to his cheeks and he gave an unconvincing shrug. "I have absolutely no idea. Maybe you were studying it in your sleep."

I chuckled, "Really? You have no idea? So you weren't reading poetry?"

He shook his head and gave me an incredibly fake innocent look. "Nope, why would I do that?"

I smiled at his act. There was something incredibly endearing about the thought of Percy reading poetry.

I was just about to respond when he jumped to his feet and cleared his throat.

"We should get ready. We're supposed to be at the welcome party for Piper in an hour."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I wasn't aware that I was invited."

He gave me a confused look. "Of course you are Apollo. You're my best friend, why wouldn't you be invited?"

I gave him a non-committal shrug. He flashed me a smile before heading to wash up. I was trying not to show any outward forms of acknowledgement to his statement, but inside I was not nearly so indifferent.

I liked Percy, a lot in fact. I was surprised by how rapidly our friendship had grown. He was quickly becoming as good of friend to me as Hermes, and I had known Hermes for several millennia. Hearing that Percy considered me his best friend caused a warm feeling to unfurl in my stomach.

It was an unusual feeling. I wasn't certain I had experienced it before, but it was pleasant.

My internal examination of my reaction was interrupted by the sound of the shower being turned on. It reminded me that I was supposed to be getting ready.

I would have to examine my reactions to his sentiments at a later time.

ΩΩΩ

We made it to the house a few minutes before Jason returned with Piper, Nico, and Will in tow. I was surprised to see my son there. I had no idea that he was going to be in New Rome for Christmas.

Their arrival was heralded by the classic greetings as everyone rushed to meet the friends they had not seen in months.

The son of Poseidon wrapped both Piper and Will in a big huge. He also hugged the son of Hades but neither of them looked one hundred percent comfortable with it and they pulled away quickly. I could only assume that it had to do with an incident that I had not been present for.

Regardless of the awkward hug, the two didn't seem to have any lingering tension. Shortly after everyone dispersed, the two were engaging in a friendly argument with Jason over which camp was better. I smiled and laughed quietly to myself. Immortal or not, Percy was braver then I if he was going to say Camp Half-Blood was better while in front of both of the Praetors of New Rome.

"Son of Apollo?"

I looked around in surprise to see that Will had come to stand beside me. I couldn't lie, but that didn't mean I couldn't convince him without answering the question. I raised one eyebrow and smiled. "What makes you say that?"

He chuckled. "Well I'm just guessing based on the fact that we look so much alike."

I laughed, "Ya I think it's a safe guess to say that we may be related."

He joined in and held out a hand for me to shake. "Will."

I smiled and took the proffered hand. "Call me Fred."

ΩΩΩ

The barbeque was surprisingly fun. I enjoyed myself more then I had assumed I would. I had a good time talking to Will over different cures for injuries. Since he was here for a full two weeks, I had even agreed to his request for an archery contest.

I had smiled when he first asked. My children may have been good by human standards, but whether I was mortal or not, they couldn't compete with me.

Percy seemed to be having a good time too, although I did notice that he and Annabeth seemed to be ignoring each other a little bit. It wasn't obvious unless you were looking for it though.

I was rather unsurprised when the daughter of Athena pulled the son of Poseidon away for a bit. I was tempted to follow them but I didn't want to make it worse. This was their chance to repair what had gone wrong in their relationship. I may have lost my gift of prophecy, but I had a gut feeling that if this conversation didn't go well for Percy, the two of them would never completely heal their relationship.

ΩΩΩ

Percy POV

Annabeth pulled me into the laundry room and shut the door. For a few minutes, neither of us spoke. I wasn't certain about her but I knew that I didn't know what to say.

The atmosphere in the room was more than a little awkward. I really shouldn't have been surprised though. Having your girlfriend believe that you don't want to talk to her for almost five days is bound to create a bit of tension in any relationship...

"So how are you enjoying the party?"

I may have been dreading the conversation but by the time she finally spoke, I just grateful that the silence had been broken, even if it was just small talk.

"It's good. I was surprised to see Nico and Will. I didn't know they were coming."

The daughter of Athena shrugged. "I did. Jason told me a while ago, when he asked if it was alright if he had the party here."

"Oh..."

I scratched the back of my neck. The level of awkwardness in the room was quickly approaching the level of your parent giving you the 'talk'. It was even worse since I could still see some water damage from my loss of control. I could tell they had cleaned it up though, and it only made me feel even worse for not being able to help.

I sighed. I supposed it was up to me to break the silence. "Listen Annabeth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose control. It was just..."

The daughter of Athena smiled and shook her head. "It's okay Percy. I understand. I'm not mad at you anymore."

I opened my mouth only to close it again. "Wait, what do you mean 'anymore'?"

"Well, I will admit I was pretty mad at the time. It was even worse after you ran out for no reason."

"I didn't leave for 'no reason'. I had to do it."

Wisdoms daughter frowned. "Percy, I already told you I'm not mad. You don't need to make up reasons for your behaviour."

I looked at her in disbelief. I couldn't believe it. "You think I'm making things up? I lost control of my powers Annabeth. I could have killed you."

"So you blew up the pipes, it's not that big of deal. It's happened before and you didn't run away. Besides, if you were that worried about your lack of control, why did you go to Fred's house?" I bit my lip. I wanted to tell her but it wasn't up to me. It was Apollo's secret. When I didn't answer she shook her head and smiled. "Like I said, it's fine. I forgive you."

I repeated her in a voice devoid of any emotion. "You forgive me?"

She nodded. "Yes. I understand that you just needed some time to calm down. Though I will admit, it would have been nice if you could have helped clean up the water. It took me and Jason hours but I was able to catch up on the work that I missed so it's fine."

I scrubbed a hand across my eyes. It was clear that she hadn't listened to anything I said during the fight.

"It wasn't only my fault Annabeth. I did tell you to stop pushing me."

She raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "So it's my fault?"

I bit my lip and closed my eyes. I really didn't want to play the blame game. We were supposed to be out there with our friends. They were only here for a few weeks. Instead of spending time with them though, we were busy fighting in the laundry room.

I shook my head and sighed. We could finish this conversation later. "You weren't the one who lost control of your powers. Come on; let's get back to the party."

She smiled and leaned up to give me a kiss. I returned it but it was missing something fundamental. I felt like we had lost a piece of our relationship during that fight. I could only hope that we could find it again.

She took my hand and led us back to the others. I smiled and continued to talk to everyone but it wasn't the same as it had been before our talk. Holding Annabeth's hand usually made my heart thrum. Right now, all my heart was doing was hurting at the knowledge that she held me wholly responsible for our fight. At least I'd admitted my own fault in it.

I tried to focus on seeing my friends but it seemed the more I tried to get our talk out of my head, the more I thought about it.

"So are you staying here tonight?"

I shook my head and looked at the daughter of Athena. At some point that I hadn't noticed, Jason and Piper had come over to talk to us. "What?"

She rolled he eyes at the fact that I wasn't paying attention. "You've been staying at Fred's the last few nights. Are you staying the night?"

I frowned. It almost sounded like she was hoping that I'd say no.

Piper looked at me in concern, "Are you feeling okay Percy? You look a little... off."

I gave her a smile that was only slightly forced. I had really missed the daughter of Aphrodite. "I'm fine. And I don't know what I'm doing later. I hadn't really thought about it"

Piper smiled, "It's fine Annabeth. Like I said, I don't mind staying at a hotel."

Wisdoms daughter shook her head. "I already called. There aren't any rooms available. I'd offer you a couch but Nico and Will are already sleeping on them."

"Piper if you need a place to stay you can have my room. I can stay with him a while longer. I'm sure Fred won't mind."

"What won't I mind?"

I looked over at the god of the sun and smiled. "Piper doesn't have anywhere to stay. I offered her my room as long as you don't have a problem with me sleeping on your couch a while longer."

The god of the son gave me a pained look, "Well you do drool a lot."

I glared at him and stuck out my tongue. "I'm not that bad."

He laughed. "I'm kidding. It's fine with me. I already told you Perce, you're welcome to stay over whenever you want."

Jason smiled at me. "Thanks Percy. Come on Piper. I will show you where you can put your bags. You can feel free to use his dresser considering he's never bothered to unpack anything."

The daughter of Aphrodite smiled but she didn't say anything. She was too busy looking between me and Apollo, with a frown creasing her forehead.

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Authors Note

Don't worry Apollo, you're not the only one who was surprised that Nico and Will came to New Rome with Piper. It was just as surprising to me. I hadn't planned to have either of them show up till later but they just wanted to be here. :-)

Well this is at least one week that went as planned. Lets see if I can keep it going. I always do better when I have a due date.

Next update will be on June 28th. Here's a little sneak peek.

Next Chapter:

The entire room fell silent. The person standing in the doorway just laughed.

"Hey guys, did you miss me?"