Day 4 – December 28th

Annabeth
Taking a sip of my coffee, I felt my nerves ease, but only slightly. I was sick to my stomach. My meeting was in ten minutes and my hip ached from last night's fall which caused me to run a little late this morning. I wanted more time to prepare and I wasn't going to get it.

I hobbled into my office and tried to straighten myself up, but I wasn't even afforded that as my intercom buzzed on my desk.

"Shit," I cried, scrambling to my desk.

"Ms. Chase, Mr. Sanderson would like to see you now."

"Thank you, Piper," I responded back in a nervous, tight voice.

"You're welcome," the girl replied, her voice far too perky for my mood.

I let go of the intercom and stood up wishing I was more prepared for the meeting that was about to ensue, and I tried to choke back the bile that was rising in the back of my throat. I stepped out of my office and into the hallway, turning left and making my way toward the elevator.

"You've got this Chase," I choked back, tears threatening to pour down my face once again.

The elevator lurched, and a hand immediately went to my mouth. The door finally opened, and I made a beeline toward the women's restroom.

"Ms. Chase, glad to see you," Mr. Sanderson called as I ran right past him.

As I sat on the floor in the restroom, trying desperately not to cry, I found myself suddenly retching violently. 'Calm down Annabeth! Quit letting your damn nerves get to you!'

Several minutes later I was at the sink, rinsing my mouth and trying to calm myself. I needed Percy. I needed Percy and our bed, no my bed. We don't exactly have a bed together and that was bothering me again, Helen's words running through my brain once again. 'Knock it off Annabeth! You don't have time for this crap right now!'

I shook my head. Bed and Percy were not an option right now, and neither was discussing my feelings with him about the things Helen told me. I would get there eventually but right now I needed to get my head back into a place where I could save my job.

After several minutes of deep breathing and popping several breath mints, I finally made my way back toward Mr. Sanderson's office.

I braced myself as I walked up to the open door and knocked lightly, causing him to jump up from his desk to greet me.

"Are you okay, Annabeth?" His voice was full of concern and a tiny part of me was ready to punch him as I knew he was about to fire me and here he was leading me on with his fake concern.

"I am fine, thank you Mr. Sanderson," I retorted, trying not to sound like the utter bitch I felt like.

"Annabeth, knock off the formalities please and just have a seat," he replied kindly, motioning to the chair in front of his desk.

"Sorry Mark," I practically whispered to the man who had been my boss for the last six years. "I am just a bit nervous over this whole thing. I honestly don't know what happened and I can't explain it either," I began to whine.

"What exactly do you think you are in this meeting for Annabeth?" Mark asked as he quickly tried to take his seat and look professional.

"Well," I started, pausing and stuttering over the simple word. "I . . . I . . . you yelled at me yesterday! You said that you were highly upset in the way I conducted myself in not fessing up to the mishap with Lacy's book!"

"Oh crap, did I say that?"

"Yes," I whined once again, throwing a hand back over my mouth. My nerves were getting the better of me again and the last thing I wanted was to run out of there or worse, vomit on his floor.

"Look Annabeth, I am sorry. I was just a little mad that we had to eat the cost on two-thousand books. We aren't a huge company and we can't afford that many mistakes. I am sorry that I took that out on you."

My hand remained in its place as he spoke, the bile still burning the back of my throat.

"You, naturally, were the last person to oversee the layout. I did, however, get to the bottom of the issue. When the layout went to press, it was dropped, you were already gone and the idiot who dropped it just shoved it back together the best he could. Employee fired, problem solved," he said with the wave of his hand.

Slowly, I dropped my hand, my nerves calming ever so slightly. "So . . . that's it. You worried me with this meeting all night when you could have just called me?"

He leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Sorry. But I had other reasons for this meeting this morning as well. Actually, I was prepared to demote you –"

"– are you freaking kidding me?" I demanded, leaning forward to yell at my boss. "After all of the work I have put in and you want to demote me over one mistake that wasn't even my mistake!" Suddenly the nerves were gone but the feeling of throwing up everywhere lingered.

"Let me finish please! Damn girl, are you sure you are alright? I have seen you moody before, but this takes the cake. Everything okay with you and Percy?"

I waited for the nausea to subside before speaking again, rolling my eyes and leaning back in the chair. "Everything is just peachy between us. Why is that everyone's first go to when something is wrong?"

"Because it is the obvious choice. Though you did just go see your dad and step-mother, so I supposed that could be an issue as well."

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner," I deadpanned, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples.

"Well, let's fix that bad attitude, shall we?" He waited for my response and all he got from me was an eye roll. "So, as you know, your Senior Managing Editor, Tom, left us for bigger and better things." We both let out an exasperated sigh under our breath and Mark droned on more. "I want you to take over."

I found myself choking on the breath of air I just took and sat up in the chair, suddenly more alert and the nausea stronger than before. "Excuse me, but what?"

"Annabeth, you have worked your butt off for this company. Every advancement was because you deserved it and you deserve this one as well. No one else is as qualified for this position as you are. It is only right that I offer you the position."

"I . . . I . . . I don't know what to say," I mumbled to the man.

"Say thank you and that you will take the job because I really don't want to give it to anyone else."

"Thank you and of course I want the position," I exploded before jumping up from the chair and running down the hall to the restroom again.

"Katie," I heard Mark call behind me, "get the paperwork for Ms. Chase ready and let Piper know to hold all of her calls. She will be up here until at least lunch."

Percy
"Hey Piper, is Annabeth around? She hasn't answered any of my calls this morning."

"Hi Percy," the younger woman responded back cheerfully, "she has been up in Mr. Sanderson's office since she got here. I was asked to hold all of her calls until she gets back."

"That doesn't sound very encouraging," I replied, mostly to myself but Piper nodded in agreement.

"After yesterday, probably not. I mean Mark yelled at her. Like full out lost his mind on all of us, but especially her. I don't know how she didn't end up crying on the spot. I was, and I didn't even have anything to do with the screw up!"

"Not helping Pipes," I responded dryly, looking down toward her empty office, "do you mind if I go down for a bit? I have something I wanted to give her, but this might actually work out better if I am not there to be seen."

"I am not sure what you are rambling on about but sure go ahead," she replied, waving a hand in the air and going back to the book she was reading.

"You know what is going on, Piper! But stay clueless, she has less of a chance of figuring out what is going on, on the fifth with you not even being able to remember."

She glanced up at me from over the top of her book, her kaleidoscope colored eyes wild in the moment. "Oh yeah, that," she responded with a wicked grin. "Your secret is safe with me!"

"No doubt," I retorted, with a grin on my face as I quickly moved toward Annabeth's office.

I closed the door behind me and sighed as I leaned back into the heavy wood. The office was pristine. Not an item out of place and if I sat down in the chair for a little bit, she would know, despite my best efforts in making it look like I had never been here.

Dropping my bag on the chair across from her desk, I found myself overcome with emotions as I pulled out a twelve by twelve leather bound book. Part of me wanted to run to her and tell her everything I had planned for her. I wanted her to know in just a few days' time she would be my wife and another part of me was struggling to remain on the spot. I couldn't mess up everything I had set up, not to mention my mother would kill me. We spent far too much time planning.

I carefully set the book on her desk and flipped it open, smiling at the first image of us with our friends from camp. These were friends we still had today, more family than anything and some were actually blood related. I tried not to claim a few of them but I loved the losers anyway.

Annabeth had started this book, years ago. Starting from when we first met, and she got all the way through our senior year in high school before she set the book aside and we were too busy making our way in the real world.

I found the book when we were cleaning her apartment; looking for special mementos and photos of her mother just after she passed. I took the book and began filling in the gaps. Chances are this book will make her cry but at least it would be happy tears and not the moody, overly emotional tears she had been spewing since she got back from her father's.

I glanced down at my watch – twelve-fifteen – I needed to get moving. Silena was expecting me across town to help me get Annabeth's dress and tiara. She argued with me she needed a veil, but I argued back that I didn't want her beauty hidden under a sea of hazy fabric. Needless to say, I won that argument.

I moved quietly through the building, so quietly in fact that Piper didn't even hear me walk past her desk and get into the already opened elevator car. An easy escape.

I was lost in the battle on the Xbox when the door to the apartment flung open and slammed into the wall, causing me to fall off the sofa.

"Hey guys, I gotta go, Annabeth is home." There was a chorus of damns and goodbyes as I ripped off the headset, not really caring what the group had to say at that moment.

"Percy!"

Her voice echoed in the small foyer and I cringed. 'What was that tone: anger, excitement? Oh shit, what am I in for?'

"Here babe, I'm coming, what's up?" I called to her, tripping over my own two feet and catching myself hard on the wall as I ran to her.

I was once again thrown off balance as she threw herself into my arms.

"Where did you find it?" she cried in my ear loudly, making my eardrum ring at the sound.

"Find what?" I questioned, backing my face away from hers only to have her smash her lips into mine. After several beats, I caved into her needs and then pulled away asking, "Now tell me, what did I find?"

"The book Seaweed Brian! Where the hell did you find the book and how long have you been working on it?" She pushed away from me, rushing to her bag and pulled out the large leather scrapbook I left on her desk at lunch.

"I found it just after your mother passed. When we were looking for photos and things for the funeral," I responded quietly, knowing full well this topic could set her off at any moment.

"It was in my closet. Buried with the rest of the things I had always planned to add to it . . ." she trailed off, lost in thought before looking in my eyes and speaking again, ". . . come on Perce, follow me."

I didn't hesitate and did as she asked, following her through the apartment and to her room. She chunked the book on the bed and smiled up at me. "Flip through that, there is something in there you need to look at while I change."

My brow furrowed as she continued to smile at me.

"Just look, will you? I'll be back in just a minute."

I hopped onto the bed as she disappeared into the walk-in closet and picked up the beast of a book. "How did your meeting with Mark go?" I asked, flipping through the pages to the end of the book, stopping on a photo of her holding her name plaque. 'Annabeth Chase – Senior Managing Editor,' I glanced over the image, not thinking too much of it until I realized she was wearing the same thing she walked into the apartment in.

"Ummmm, Annabeth," I called, confusion crossing my face as I pulled the image from the book and moved it closer to my face. "Do you want to explain this?"

"What's to explain?" She asked happily, bounding from the closet to the bed and landing in my lap.

"Well, for starters you can tell me what the hell happened today?" I pushed the loose curls from her face and for the first time since she got back she was smiling; a genuine smile that lit up the entire room.

"Mark promoted me," she exclaimed, pressing her lips to mine once again.

I returned the gesture and then pulled away from her, "Senior Managing Editor, I am so proud of you babe! You are so close to taking over the world!"

"Well the office at least," she replied with a laugh. "Now, tomorrow I get to finish my contract and Saturday I get to take over Tom's office. Now, let's get down to what this is really about, when on earth did you leave this in my office?" she asked quietly, rolling out of my lap and picking up the scrapbook, placing it between the two of us.

"Lunch, I was hoping to cheer you up with this and lunch, but you were still in Mark's office."

"So, you just took off?"

"I didn't want to," I replied sadly, "but I had some other errands to run that were a bit time sensitive, so I left the book and ran. Don't hate me!"

"I don't hate you Percy," she said quietly, flipping pages and stopping on a photo near the front of the book, "do you remember this day?"

I looked down at the picture, it was our first year at camp together and I replied, "Of course I do. The most amazing day of my life happened that year."

She looked up at me, her curls flying wildly as she shook her head confused.

"I met you and because of that we had the most awkward and amazing friendship which turned you into my girlfriend and I wouldn't have anyone else."

Her face fell for a moment and she plastered on her fake smile. I knew what she wanted from me and for a moment I faltered, but the moment was fleeting as I shoved down the urge to tell all my plans back down. 'Don't cave Percy, you got this!'

"The scrapbook is amazing Percy. We need to keep it out, so we can continue to add to it, don't you think?" She pulled away from me, flipping pages and smiling at the various memories.

"Absolutely," I replied, leaving a kiss on her temple.

Hello again!

So once again, thank you for the likes and faves but guys, don't be afraid to say anything!

Thank you 3 for being my beta. Girl you keep me sane and the writing on track. Without that bridge would have died! And yes, more mommy issues. Kinda hard to avoid with certain events coming up. Guys, don't forget to check out her new fic!

So enjoy and more craziness to come!