Two snake woman in one day? Alright, considering one went down without a fight, we can chalk that up to poor luck.

But, two snake woman in the evening, and then the growling hellbeast the following day? I was beginning to think that the Greek monsters were holding my previous lack of belief in them against me.

Neither me or Annabeth dared to move a muscle. Whatever the hell was outside the cabin was still growling as it wandered around the perimeter of the cabin. Part of me hoped that if we stayed quiet enough, it would just go away, but the way Annabeth's eyes were frantically darting around like an escape hatch would suddenly appear from thin air.

My eyes wander over to the baseball bat propped up against the sink, and the image of a sword briefly replaces it. If I could just…

My attention is torn from the sword by Annabeth giving me a frantic wave and a pointed look. Once my eyes were on her she mouthed a 'no' that I'm sure would have sounded pretty harsh if she could talk right now.

I grimace at her and gesture toward the sword desperately widening my eyes meaningfully at her. I failed to see why that would be a bad idea. I know I would feel a whole lot safer if I had a sword to stick between me and whatever the hell is out there.

But she just shook her head vigorously at me, and pointed down at the table several times before sinking down in her chair and silently slipping under the table. I had to resist a powerful urge to roll my eyes and huff as I slid under the table to join her.

My joints popped as I twisted myself to avoid scraping the chair against the floor, each one sending little waves of electric worry up my spine. It was highly unlikely that whatever was out there could hear my joints cracking from outside the cabin, but if you tried to tell my brain that, he'd ignore you. With some difficulty I managed to get myself under the table with only the barest hint of a scrape from the chair.

Annabeth was crouched down low, creeping towards me slowly, but her eyes still shifting. I met her halfway, out faces only inches apart.

"What's out there?" I whispered to her as quietly as I could manage.

I saw her swallow, and then shook her head. "Nothing friendly," she whispered back, though she honestly sounded more exasperated than rightfully terrified. "but I have a hunch. Stay low and as silent as possible. If we're lucky, it might leave."

"And if we're unlucky?"

She pulled her dagger out and locked eyes with me. "You run."

"What?!" I whispered a little too harshly, and I heard the monster growl outside again, this time, it scraped something that sounded sharp and heavy on the cabin walls.

The two us of flinched at the sound. I had expected to hear another growl or another scrape, but instead I heard something big bound around the cabin in a few leaps. I breathed a small sigh of relief before turning back to Annabeth.

"Annabeth," I whispered, my voice just short of silent again, "I'm not just gonna leave you here!"

Her free hand shot out and grabbed my wrist tightly, her expression grim. "Percy, this is not a discussion. Whatever is out there is going to go for me first. I can hold it off while you-"

"You're injured!"

"I'm trained."

I grit my teeth and wrenched my hand away from her grasp, only to place it on her shoulder with a grip to match hers. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving you here to die." I stressed, "That's-"

I was interrupted by a bark as loud as a car alarm, and another harsh scrape, stronger this time, enough to make the entire cabin tremor. Whatever was out there, it as big, strong, and sharp. The both of us remained frozen until once again the sound of to monster moving could be heard.

"Percy," Annabeth hissed, "You will only get yourself hurt or worse if you try to fight that thing. Please, just make a break for it. I'll be fine."

Her face was filled with an unshakable determination that made of of her previous stony glares look like they were made from damp sand. There was a new level of intensity in her stare that I wasn't able to place until I noticed the slight tremble of her hand.

She was afraid.

Be it for herself(which was likely), or for me(which was unlikely), she was afraid right now. That's exactly why I couldn't leave her.

I had let plenty of people die for the sake of my own survival in the past four months. Hell, that guy getting chased yesterday was probably dead by now as well. I felt bad about it, on some level, but if I went back, I don't think I would honestly make a different choice. I wasn't a hero, and even if I did try to help, I probably would have just gotten myself killed along with them.

But I didn't know those people.

Sure, maybe I had only known Annabeth a few hours, and maybe for most of those hours, we had been arguing, but I still knew her. Her fear felt real, and personal, and relevant. I felt it alongside her, and the thought of abandoning her to face that fear alone was sickening.

There was another loud scrape, this time with even more force, enough to make the two of us jump a little. Along with it came a sickening crack that echoed through the cabin, and it quivered like the last leaf on a tree. Just as the rumbling began to die down, in the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I caught the look of horror on Annabeth face as she found our downfall:

The baseball bat that was propped up against the sink was falling down.

It hit the ground with an overwhelming clamor that I dully realized didn't sound like a baseball bat hitting the ground at all, but rather the sword it really was. After it finally settled, there was an eerie stillness in the air and outside.

Then, a furious pounding against the sand rang through the air and shook the cabin, as if something that sounded like it was about the weight of a minivan was bounding towards us.

I turned back to Annabeth and I didn't even bother to whisper, "I'm staying this time."

Before she could respond, I darted out from underneath the table, and scooped up the bat. It flickered into its proper form for a second.

"You're a stubborn dipshit."

I looked over to see Annabeth standing on the other side of the table, looking particularly cross with me, but her posture was facing the direction of the running sound at all times.

I tried to adjust my stance so that it more or less mirrored Annabeth's. I was pretty sure I was doing it wrong somehow, but it certainly made me feel like I wasn't being totally suicidal right now, even if I was shaking. The pounding of the monster on the sand was closer now, which did not serve to quell the terror in my stomach.

"It's a feature." I said, as I shot her a shaky smile.

The sound of the monster running was practically at the kitchen door by now. I really felt like I should be praying to some god right now, Greek or otherwise.

"Get back!" Annabeth ordered, and I took a few quick steps back from the sink as the monster approach the outside of the kitchen.

Barely a moment passed before the window above the sink shattered. Glass shards showered over where I had just been standing, and the whole house groaned in response to the attempted entry. I'd have to remember to thank Annabeth for the warning sometime later, provided we lived that long.

A black Tibetan Mastiff that was barking about as loud as a plane engine had its head (which was about the size of a car tire) caught in the window. If it weren't for the glowing red eyes, I would have thought it was just a normal, albeit nasty and enormous dog.

That is, until it reached a paw into the window and ripped the faucet clean off of the sink as it tried to scramble into the cabin. I could even see the corner of the window starting to buckle where it was trying to shoulder through the far too small hole.

"What on earth is that thing?!" I shouted over the pooch as it barked and scrambled over the sink, and subsequently was in the process of turning it into a pile of scrap metal.

"Nothing friendly. Aim for the torso or the head if you want a clean kill… and widen your stance, are you trying to get yourself disemboweled?"

I nodded and shuffled my legs a little further apart, resuming my stare down with the dog as it lashed around. I wasn't sure if I should approach it. Annabeth wasn't going to be getting anywhere near it while it was flailing around like that when she has a dagger as a weapon. But the sword in my hands was as big as… well, a baseball bat. Surely I could stab at it from a safe range, right?

I took a tentative step forward, and the dog suddenly stilled and stared straight at me. Its gleaming red eyes glaring at me like hot coals that actually felt like they were going to bore a hole into me, and a low growl rumbled from its throat. My legs felt like they had been replaced with cement, but I shuffled forward another step.

The hound was having none of that, and promptly pulled itself out of the window with little fuss.

I furrowed my brow. Did I spook it somehow? Did it just realize that it wasn't going to be able to get in and give up? No one's that lucky, which means I'm definitely not that lucky.

"Don't let your guard down." Annabeth's stern voice pulled me from my thoughts. "It's unlikely you managed to intimidate it."

"Thanks for the confidence boost." I muttered, taking a few steps back to where I started, my eyes still trained on the window. But… nothing happened.

The dog didn't bark or growl. It didn't leap around the cabin looking for a better entrance, and it didn't so much as poke it's head back up through the window. Far from a relief, it was actually making me more jittery. Eventually, the silence got to me.

"Ever fight one of these before?" I asked with a nod in Annabeth's direction, while my eyes remained peeled on the window.

"A few," She said slowly. I got the feeling that she was sharing in my discomfort.

"Do they usually do this?"

I saw her shift slightly from the corner of my eye, like she was nervous. I determined this was a bad sign.

"Just stay on guard."

I nodded slowly, and adjusted my hold on the sword, holding it up a little higher. I suddenly wished I had given myself a haircut this morning when I trimmed down my scruff, so my hair wouldn't be trying to fall into my face.

Seconds of silence slowly stretched into a minute. With each second, the monster's presence became more and more of a choking uncertainty. Even Annabeth was starting to look a little jittery. A chill ran up my spine, unbidden, sending waves of goosebumps over my skin.

It took me two seconds to realize that the chill that was licking at my backside, wasn't nerves. The temperature of the air had suddenly dropped a good twenty degrees. The floorboards behind me creaked with sudden weight, and froze my blood in my veins. I whipped around to find the monster's red eyes gleaming in the shadowy corner of the living room.

It took a step forward. Well, actually, it was more like it was pulling itself out of the shadowy corner, and the shadows were clinging to it's fur, an odd black on darker black.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted.

"How the fuck-" I started to say, but was rudely interrupted by the monster lunging at me.

I panicked. Completely ignoring the sword in my hands, I jumped to the chair nearest to me, and sprung off in Annabeth's direction, just in time to feel the monster pass by my backside. The chair slid out from under me and I gracelessly landed on top of the sword, which would have been a real problem if the sword wasn't magic, since I could kinda tell it was sticking through my torso again.

I heard the monster crash into the counter, as well as the sound of the chair I dislodged cracking under the weight of the monster. Fueled by an overwhelming surge of adrenaline, I rolled back over, even in my slightly stunned state, just in time to see the monstrous dog leap at me again, teeth bared.

Annabeth, however, was faster, and a hell of a lot more terrifying in that moment.

She tackled the monster as it was mid-lunge and drove her dagger into it's mouth. The monster let out an incredibly unfitting yelp that sounded something like a kicked puppy, and the two tumbled down to the ground together until they collided with a wall, and I heard Annabeth let out a gasp of pain.

The monster quickly sprung away from her as she lay on the ground, her face twisted in grim determination, like she wanted a second round.

The Cujo wannabe shook it's head and made some more unfitting pathetic whimpers and cries, and I realized that Annabeth had cut about half of it's jaw clean off in that tackle.

It's bright red eyes locked back onto me, like somehow I had been the cause of its suffering, and pounced again. I tried to scramble back, but my hand brushed against the hilt of the sword, and I froze.

I was not going to let this thing jump me twice and get away with it. I gripped the sword with my right hand and held up my left arm, placing it directly in front of the mouth of the beast, before swinging for my arm with all the might I could muster.

The monster's mangled maw caught on my forearm and it sunk its teeth through through the layers of clothing I had been wearing like it was nothing, sinking into my skin, setting my arm alight with agony. I grit my teeth and willed my right hand to keep swinging and not freeze up from the pain or drop the sword. Barely a half second later, it passed through my arm like a ghost, but cleaved the head of the monster like a buzz saw through Styrofoam.

Instantly the pressure of the bite faded as the monster dissolved into a flurry of golden dust that rained down on me, but the damage had already been done. It had bitten down pretty hard with the good side of it's jaw, and I could feel the blood oozing from the new set of wounds on my forearm, but I was alive.

I heaved a heavy sigh of relief before dropping my injured arm down on my stomach with a wince. I let myself lie there, breathing heavily, trying to calm myself down from the monster attack.

"Shit…" I heard Annabeth breath from her position on the floor. Almost lazily, I turned my head to look in her direction, only to find her clutching at her gut.

She was injured.

Panic was quick to set back in but I bit it back, and hauled myself back up, careful of my injured arm. She looked up to me and the look on her face told me that her current situation was not a good one.

"You're hurt." I said stupidly.

"I noticed." She said, but her breathing was a little ragged sounding. I saw blood trickle out from between in fingertips at an alarming rate, the rate you call an ambulance for immediately.

There are no ambulances in the apocalypse.

"Shit," I breathed, feeling my chest tighten like my lungs were being sucked out of my body. "shit, shit, shit. Fuck, you're bleeding. You're bleeding a lot."

"Percy,"

"Wait here, I'll get the bandages from my cabin, just keep-"

"Percy!" She cut me off and I looked at her expression helplessly. She looked so calm right now it was almost frightening. "Bandages aren't going to help."

My stomach dropped like an anchor. No. Not again. Not here.

I shook my head frantically, panic expanding in my chest and taking the place of air. "We've got to at least try! I could-"

"Percy, just shut the fuck up!" She shouted this time, her breath becoming slightly labored in audible huffs. "I need you to go to the room we were in last night and look in the drawer of the nightstand. there's a plastic bag in there, go grab it, and don't question it. Just do it right now, and bring it back to me."

Her grey eyes were wide with desperation, sending me silent pleas to just do what she said. I glanced back at her gut. Her hands were dripping with her own blood as the pressed into the fabric of her shirt in a futile attempt to slow the bleeding.

She was going to die.

"Percy," She repeated her eyes shining with intensity, "get the plastic bag."

Swallowed thickly, but rose up to my feet. I swayed slightly before running down the hall to my mom's room.

I pushed the door open and stumbled inside. The light of that green lantern still lit the room and I scrambled over to the nightstand and started fumbling with the drawer. I pulled it open and my eyes fell on the plastic baggie.

There was a lemon square inside.

I stared at it blankly for a second, before shaking my head of the confusion. No time to question it. I snatched the bag and dashed back to Annabeth.

When I got there, she had sat herself up against the wall, her hands were cupping her now horribly bloodstained shirt.

"Did you get the bag?" She huffed, her skin was starting to lose a bit of color now, which didn't serve to make me feel better at all.

I held out the little bag for her, the churning in my gut keeping the breath knocked out of me. She grimaced when she saw the bag.

"Not as big as I remembered, but It'll do…" Her eyes glanced down at her bloodied hands, as if considering, before meeting mine. "Feed it to me, I need to keep the pressure on his thing."

I took a shaky breath, but nodded, and pulled the treat out of the bag. I still had no idea what a lemon square would do to help, or how she even had one that looked so well-preserved, but I just had to hope that she wasn't requesting a last meal. I held the lemon square up to her lips, and she devoured it within just a few bites.

She licked her lips clean and took a deep breath, her eyes finding mine and offered a weak smile and a quiet sigh. "You can calm down now."

My jaw dropped open and I shook my head wordlessly at her. "I… Annabeth, you're bleeding a lot, you- you're…"

"I'm going to be fine." she completed, shooting me a hard look. "What you just fed me was ambrosia, the food of the gods. Inedible to the point of instant incineration for a mortal, but a half-blood will be healed by eating it, provided they're not a glutton." She pulled her hands back momentarily to peak at her wound, but winced, and pressed her hands back against her stomach not a second later.

"You don't look healed." I ground out, my tone somewhere between angry for making me worry and still profoundly concerned for her well being.

"Well, I didn't have much left." She shrugged slowly. "It's not enough to heal me completely, but I'll be fine… with time. I'm fine for now."

I scrutinized her. She still looked a shade too pale to really be considered alright. If nothing else she was suffering from the blood loss, but somehow I doubted that that's all there was to it. The very fact she was trying to tell me she was fine in any sense of the word while she was sitting in a fairly sized pool of her own blood and clutching a blood-soaked shirt for dear life was ridiculous.

Granted, it was Annabeth, but still.

"do you want some bandages for that?" I asked plainly nodding in the direction of the other cabin.

"That would be…" She inhaled deeply, and I saw her grit her teeth as she did. "appreciated, but your arm needs tending to more than me. We half-bloods are a little bit more sturdy than a mortal."

A fresh throb of pain jolted up my arm. I had almost forgotten about the bite, after all the panic of dealing with Annabeth's wound and magic lemon squares. There was blood soaking in the sweatshirt I wore under my jacket, but it didn't seem too bad from a quick glance at the holes in my jacket.

"I've got enough bandages for the both of us." I said finally.

"Oh." she said, and for the first time she seemed to be poor at hiding the relief in her expression and tone. "If you insist."

"Fuck-!" I hissed under my breath as another fresh jolt of pain scurried up my arm

Annabeth and I were sitting up against the wall of the kitchen, a few feet away from her pool of blood. I had shed the the left sides of my jacket and sweatshirt, leaving it hanging loosely by my right side, and Annabeth had her own denim jacket off and folded next to her.

"If you stopped twitching, this wouldn't be this difficult." Annabeth's tone offered no sympathy as she continued to dab at the lacerations on my arm with a wad of balled up gauze.

"I don't see why we can't just spray the bite like we did with yours wound." I grumbled to myself, but caught Annabeth rolling her eyes as she worked on cleaning my wounds.

I had already finished bandaging her wound a few minutes earlier. That had been awkward, since she had to basically strip down to her bra so the two of us could bandage it together, with her handling the front side and me handling her back. It took way longer than it should have, no thanks to how she continued to argue that my arm needed more immediate attention than her wound, and the fact she insisted I didn't look at the wound. She was surprisingly alert in spite of it all, but her breathing was still a bit labored, which made me certain that the bandages were being put to good use.

"I'm a half-blood, I'm not at huge risk of infection, period." She said as she cleaned the area around one of the smaller lacerations. "Not to mention my wound is caused by a claw and not the mouth of a monster who has been known for devouring corpses when sufficiently hungry. Now stop complaining, you're lucky you don't have a stump." She paused to inspect her work and grabbed the uncapped bottle of disinfectant, re-applying it to the now deep pink wad of gauze in her hand. I grit my teeth in preparation for what I knew she was about to do.

Her eyes found mine, and I could do little to no gulp over the swirling intensity that reminded me of gathering storm clouds. She shook her head, and moved back to my arm.

"I'm strategy of dealing with monsters is going to cost you a limb someday. Or worse if you try another stupid stunt like gambling on surviving impalement." She punctuated her words by pressing the bundle of gauze into the laceration she just cleaned out, sending fresh jolts of pain up my arm again.

I grit out a small grunt of pain. "Yeah, well, I killed the monster, didn't I?"

She frowned, but continued to inspect my arm. "Only because I cut half it's jaw off. If it had it's whole mouth intact, I'd be cauterizing your stump right now. You can't expect these suicidal plans to work every time." She nodded to herself, before grabbing a fresh roll of gauze, and began to wrap it around my arm.

"Sit still," she mumbled distractedly.

I grumbled out an unintelligible, but definitely unhappy response and looked away from her as she wrapped my arm.

In retrospect, I had gotten off pretty easy. With part of it's jaw missing, and the fact I had a few layers on, the bite marks weren't that bad. It was pretty painful to move my arm around, but provided the antiseptic did it's job, It shouldn't prove to be an issue. Hopefully.

Lazily, my eyes scanned the cabin while my foot tapped an uneven beat to try to distract myself from the pain. The shattered remains of the chair were strewn about the kitchen along with a sprinkling of broken glass, all courtesy of Lassie. The curtains on the broken window swayed lazily as the chilly sea breeze gradually filled the cabin, though it was still warmer than when the monster had suddenly appeared in the living room, that cold had a sharp, unnatural tinge to it that made it feel like it seeped into your skin and froze your bones. The natural chill of November was more like a little dog that nipped at your skin.

It was then that my eyes caught sight of something weird lying among the splintered remains of chair that didn't look much like a chair at all.

I leaned closer to get a better look, and was met with a sharp throb of pain from something brushed coarsely against my injuries. I winced, and Annabeth punched my shoulder.

"Ow!"I turned back to her. "The fuck?!"

She glared at me. "What part of sit still do you not understand?"

"So you decided to punch me?"

"Would you listen to me if I didn't punch you?"

"Yes!" I threw up my free hand in exasperation. "I would also have a less injured arm. Everyone would be winning in that situation."

She laughed, quick and disbelieving. "I don't think that's even remotely the case, you're an awful patient."

"Yeah, well, you're an awful nurse. You could be sued with malpractice with bedside manner this shitty."

"Poor bedside manner is not illegal and can't be used to cite malpractice in any state. Now would you hold still so I can finish this?"

I grunted, but leaned back against the wall and let her tend to my arm, but kept my eyes on the bizarre-looking object. I folded my free arm against my chest like I was trying to cross my arms. After a few seconds of silently staring at the strange… thing on the ground, I realized I was getting nowhere.

"There's something on the floor." I sighed.

"That would be a combination of monster residue, chair, and glass shards." I rolled my eyes at her tone. I didn't need to be looking at her to tell she didn't take her eyes off my arm.

"I meant other than that." I felt the bandages stop wrapping around my arm.

"Oh, that." She continued wrapping my arm, nonplussed. "It's just the spoils. Sometimes when you kill a monster, it leaves something behind that doesn't turn to dust. By the looks of it, it's probably the jawbone. Teeth and horns are pretty common spoils, but since I cut off half of it's mouth, it must of just left the whole jaw."

"Oh." I said quietly, and something that felt similar to a lump of coal nested in my throat at the memory.

I glanced over at her, her eyes still trained on my arm, wrapping it slowly, like she had to get it perfect on the first try, or something. My eyes drifted down to her midsection, where she had been injured. Drying blotches of blood stained the shirt she was wearing. Considering how much blood was on the floor compared to what was on her shirt, I wasn't even entirely sure how she was conscious, much less functioning.

'I cut off half of it's mouth.' Her words echoed against the back of my head.

"Sorry." I breathed, desperate to fill the silence.

Annabeth looked at me like I had become a snake woman out of the corner of her eye. It must not have been all that interesting, because she brought her focus back to my arm a moment later.

"About what?"

"You- I-" I stammered, realizing that I hadn't actually put any thought into an apology before my mouth moved on it's own. "I panicked when the monster lunged at me, and you had to save me."

"Oh. That." Her shoulders slumped, like a weight had been lifted off her back. "It's fine. Raise your arm a bit."

"That's it?" I stared blankly at her for a few seconds. I had expected her to be angry at me for screwing up, or at least yell at me a little. I had almost gotten her killed and it was 'fine'?

Her eyes flicked back to mine. Her expression was annoyed at best, which wasn't the expression you'd expect from someone who you almost killed, albeit indirectly.

"Yes, now raise your arm, I need better leverage to wrap this right."

I managed to lift my arm up a little higher with a small wince of pain, and she went back to work. It took me a while of staring blankly at her before I could figure out how to respond to her whole attitude towards me screwing up with nearly fatal consequences.

"You could have died."

"Could have, didn't." She replied, nonplussed. "Lower your arm again."

I grit my teeth. I couldn't even understand why, but I was starting to get mad because she wasn't mad at me, which is stupid and ridiculous, but this was easily the second worst fuckup of my life. It was almost patronizing.

"Annabeth, I'm serious!" I snapped.

Finally, she turned to face me, studying me until whatever invisible thing gave her whatever answer she was looking for.

"And so am I," She said coolly. "I just told you that it's not an issue. You've never held a sword before in your life, and you've only ever fought two monsters, so I wasn't expecting you to be my pinch hitter. I've been training to fight these monster for over eight years, and I've actually been fighting them for even longer. Getting hurt was…" She paused like something sour had been placed in her mouth. "An error on my part. I misjudged it's lunge and my knife came up short of it's skull and the kill."

"But I-" I stammered and stumbled on my words. Annabeth was, as usual, making an infuriating amount of sense, but I still couldn't help but feel responsible.

"Percy, even I was startled by it shadow-traveling in here. I've never seen one of those monsters use that so aggressively before. It's almost like..." Her eyes went a little distant, but she quickly found focus again. "Never mind, it was probably just hungry or desperate. It was kind of small."

The thought of running into a larger version of that monster was as unbelievable as it was terrifying, but I shook my head, and stared down at the pool of blood at our feet. It just felt like empty words to me. Even if she wasn't angry with me, it was still all my fault in the first place.

"I don't blame you for being scared, you know." She said slowly, like she was testing her ground. I ignored that.

"I wasn't-!" I opened my mouth to argue as I jerked back up to get in her face, but the words died in my throat when I saw her expression. She was studying me again, but for the first time it didn't feel like she was just looking for reactions and tells. Apparently, she took my silence as a sign to continue.

"Everyone who isn't a total idiot gets scared by their first encounters with monsters." She said with a slight shake of her head, as if to dismiss any arguments I could make before I made them. "Don't beat yourself up over it, and don't feel guilty about me getting hurt, either, because I don't regret helping you the first time, and I don't regret helping you now."

I opened my mouth to speak only to find I really didn't have any words. Instead I just stared at her like a weirdo for a little bit too long.

Her face suddenly scrunched up and the moment died.

"Now would you lower your arm already? I'm not done." She said, exasperated.

Heat blossomed on my cheeks and I realized that my arm was, in fact, still throbbing, and abruptly dropped it down into her lap, sending sharp jolts of pain running up my arm all over again. She gave me an unimpressed look and I sheepishly raised my arm again, looking away so she could finish her work without dying of embarrassment first.

After a few seconds of silence, I muttered a very quiet 'thanks'.

I felt her pause, but she continued her work without another word.

Almost a full minute later, I heard a small tearing noise and a small click of satisfaction.

"Done." Annabeth announced. Cautiously,I pulled my arm back, and cradled it against my chest, like you do when it's broken. I looked down at the neat wrappings and grimaced. They were pretty much perfect-looking, which was about as annoying as it was unsurprising.

I pulled the left side of my jacket and sweatshirt back up and slung them on my shoulder. I had no interest in trying to get my arm through them both at this point, not after how painful getting them off was.

Annabeth wrapped up the remaining gauze neatly, her lips pursed like she was disappointed in the roll of gauze in her hands.

"You only have one and a half rolls of gauze left," She sighed, putting the roll back into the box. "We'll have to rotate the positioning of our bandages instead of replacing them, or you'll run out. I should have used less on my leg."

"They were made to be used," I said with a shrug. "it's no big deal."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at me, but gave me a terse nod after a moment. The two of us lapsed into a silence that I could tell was going to quickly turn awkward.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

"The wound? Not really."

"Not really isn't no." I raised an eyebrow. "Are you able to like… walk around and stuff?"

I noticed her shift uncomfortably where she was sitting, and a hand ghosted over her stomach. Somehow, I doubted she was feeling as good as she was managing to present herself, which sent a fresh wave of guilt through me. Annabeth might think it's alright, but that didn't mean I had to agree with her, no matter how thankful I was.

"I'm fine." She insisted with an edge to her tone.

"I'm pretty sure you need to take it easy." I said with a frown.

"Percy…" She said in a warning tone, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Annabeth, seriously," I sighed.

"Just drop it," She growled, "I said I would be fine."

"That doesn't mean you need to try to push yourself." I groaned, running my good hand down my face. When I looked back at Annabeth, her arms were crossed. It felt like we were waltzing straight back into arguments again, which I didn't want, and we didn't need.

"Look," I said, " I know you're not interested in being my partner or whatever, but this is different. I'm not half as hurt as you are, and you're probably a lot better off with someone around to help you out. It's my fault you're hurt in the first place."

"I don't need someone to take care of me." She snapped.

"I know! You're better at this than I am, but you're hurt, and I can help make things easier for you until you get better." I paused, and quickly amended, " If you want. I won't even bother you about your family stuff."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, but she seemed hesitant. Eventually she shook her head.

"I don't want to force you."

"I want to." I insisted, "After all you've done for me, helping you out a little while you take some time to heal is the least I could do."

She stared at me for a long time, scrutinizing me, and eventually she smirked.

"I think I'm starting to get that determined thing now," She chuckled softly to herself, and shook her head, when she looked back at me, her expression hardened. "There are gonna be ground rules."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not surprised."

"But first," Her nose wrinkled like she had taken a whiff of something putrid. "let's get off the floor. You're definitely not going to be carrying me now that your arm is a certified chew toy, and it's fucking freezing."

"Good plan."

She held her hands up in mock surrender.

"It's what I do."

AN: Criminally late yet again. Finals week mang. More like finals three weeks of endless papers. On top of that this chapter was being... fussy to say the least. The hellhound scene was originally languid, I needed to trim the fat a shitload and I scrapped a huge portion of it.

The good news is that with me out of school, I have more time to write, and ergo, I can actually follow my schedule! Even more good news is that, provided everything goes well, The plot can finally get off the ground starting next chapter. Yes, I have subjected you to 37000 words of scene setting, bite me.

On top of that, I am still looking or a Beta! Message me if you're interested.