Chapter 12

(Previously)

All the colour drained from her face as she recognised the gruff, husky voice that had haunted her sleep for weeks now. The guy walked in front of the two of them and coming face to face with the same brown hair and dark eyes made Annabeth's knees go week. He smiled at her completely ignoring Percy. A cold, gruesome smiled that made her stomach go in knots. She barely registered Percy putting his arm around her waist and muttering her name trying to shake her out of her reverie. The need to pass out was too strong. She desperately hoped for some of the adrenalin from that night but luck wasn't at her side.

The man in front of her was Ethan Nakamura.

This incident was surely making its way up the times when Percy felt useless list. Annabeth glanced at him, her eyes unseeing and went on to remove his arm from around her waist taking a step forward towards the guy with the eye-patch maintaining a distance between them.

He could tell by her breathing that whatever this was, it was affecting her. A Lot.

Nonetheless, she took another step towards the guy and said in a controlled voice, "What are you doing here?" Her voice was still shaky and contained undertones of fear that judging by the brunette's smirk were evident to him too.

"Just checking up on you, Annie" He told her with a smile that was nothing if not cold.

"Annabeth…" Percy muttered unsure of what he should do. The eye-patch guy glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow and addressed Annabeth "Well, you seem to be doing good."

"Go away." She told him in a stronger voice than earlier making the guy laugh. "As you wish, My Lady." He said before taking another step towards her. They were close. Very close. Percy didn't like it one bit. Though he had met her only a couple of days ago, there was some sort of protectiveness he had towards her. Maybe it was because of the sick day, he had recently had when she had taken care of him, maybe it was because that she got along great with Thalia, maybe it was because of the fact that he didn't like creepy guys or maybe it was just because she was Annabeth, and that was all that mattered.

This, he assumed, was the time to step in. The guy had placed his hand on Annabeth's shoulder and she was glaring at him despite the fact that her hands were trembling.

"Leave me alone, Ethan." She shouted pushing him away from her. The realisation hit him like a ton of bricks. Hard and it Hurt. Ethan was the guy who had attempted to abuse a girl sexually and physically but had gotten his ass kicked. He had seen Annabeth's bruises.

Annabeth had been that girl.

Meanwhile, Annabeth's shove had had no effect on Ethan who was still standing in front of her though he was not as close as he was earlier, this in no way made a respectable distance. Percy stepped up lacing his fingers with Annabeth's and pulling her back behind him to face Ethan and shove some sense into that asshole. He pushed the guy away from Annabeth; "You do not come near her." He told her ragging out every syllable. The guy however had the audacity to try and shove him away. That's when a person came out of one of the shops and punched Ethan in the face. He repeated the same thrice before kicking the guy where it hurts and pushing him on the ground. Percy might have sneaked in a couple of punches too. the guy stepped back and looked at both of them.

Recognition flooded Percy as he took in the light blonde hair, grey eyes and angular face.

"Malcolm?" He asked incredulously. After what had been happening that day, he wouldn't be surprised if he was ambushed by a unicorn. Moving on, Malcolm gave him a look that was somewhere between grim and sheepish before turning back to Annabeth.

"Are you alright?" He asked her taking in her form.

"Yes." She said even though she looked pretty shaken up to him. She looked at Ethan's beat up body on the ground and back at Malcolm with a sceptic look on her face. Percy didn't feel sorry for the guy despite the multiple fractures and bruises they had inflicted on him. Annabeth didn't too; from the look on her face.

"Good." Malcolm said before realising the questioning gazes directed at him from both of them."I was just walking by and I saw him and I thought that you guys would like some help…Maybe." He somehow manages to sound uncertain despite his confident demeanour which he had up around ninety nine percent of the time, Percy had spent with him.

"Thank you." Annabeth said with a shy, grateful smile. Malcolm smiled back at her; a brotherly affectionate smile before saying, "Stay safe"

And with that he was gone.

Annabeth looked up at him and gave him a weary smile. They had been back in the carriage and off to leave soon as Malcolm had left. But they chose to stay silent and avoid the elephant in the room; it was easier that way. Though that doesn't mean that the weary, grateful smiles and worried glances weren't exchanged.

"Did you find it strange that Malcolm seemed to appear out of nowhere today just to beat Ethan because…" He trailed off looking at Annabeth who looked as if she had a really good idea about it but wasn't ready to share it.

"Can we please not talk about it right now?" She asked him.

He agreed.

The carriage stopped at an old park away from town which was pretty much deserted. The benches were rusted and there was a small artificial lake in the corner. The place was littered with gazebos like it had been a spot for various parties and would've made an awesome one if the place hadn't been as desolate. But it had this calm air around it that made Percy feel at ease. It was his getaway.

After they had sat in the carriage, Percy had thought that none of them were feeling like going back to the manor. He didn't feel like getting fussed over and Annabeth really did deserve a break; so voila, they decided to come to this park.

Currently, both of them were sitting on the feet of a gazebo side by side. They would've taken the benches but they were far too rusted and small for the two of them. She was sitting there with her head lolled back and hands massaging her temples with her eyes lightly shut. She looked stressed… and just so beautiful. That wasn't what he was supposed to notice, he reminded himself.

But he had to resist the urge to lean in and engulf her in a bear hug. As pretty as, adorable and stressed looked together; he didn't really like the awkward air or the fact that she was probably going to worry herself to death. And he wouldn't want that now, would he?

"Stop thinking for some time." He told her being the smooth talker he was. (Note the sarcasm)

"How do you I'm thinking?" She looked up at him opening her eyes turning a bit to face him.

"You're always thinking." He deadpanned.

"Legit."

He decided to tread on dangerous waters now that they were actually speaking and not just giving each other blank stares.

"So, that is why you don't like people touching you."

Her face shot up and her form tensed. He, however didn't regret asking that. If they were to spend time together and be on better terms, it was necessary that they would be on ease with each other.

"I'm not scared." She said raising her chin deliberately.

"Pfft" He scoffed. "Am I supposed to believe that?"

"No, you aren't. But I'd love it if you do."

He looked at her reproachfully making her bury her head in her hands. It was silent for a minute before she started speaking. She told him everything starting from when she came to the orphanage to the point where she ran away from Ethan's house. It was difficult to tell your life story to a person whom you haven't even known for a fortnight but Percy was a good listener. He never interrupted once and listened all while maintaining eye contact; his eyes showing neither pity nor judging her. She finally finished with a sigh, noticing that somewhere in between, he had slid closer to her.

"So that means I don't get to hold you, then?" He asked in a playful voice mentally facepalming a thousand times.

She frowned at him, certainly not expecting this but seeing the mirth in his eyes, she decided to play along, "No, you don't."

"Never?" He asked.

"Never." She confirmed

"Bummer." He shook his head. "Try and make some exceptions."

"Okay then, you can hold me when my arachnophobia starts acting up."

"Arachnophobia?"

'Fear of spiders."

"You're scared of spiders?" He laughed hard. He didn't judge her on the messed up back story but on the irrational fear of spiders. Figures.

She scowled at him. So, naturally he had to do what any other insane person would have chosen to do: He tapped her nose and said, "Don't frown."

It was her turn to be laughing. "Don't mind me sire, but you really are a dork."

He shrugged at the, what he assumed to be a jab at his self esteem before letting a playful grin take over his expression.

They sat in a comfortable silence for about half an hour more before standing up and stretching a hand towards Annabeth to help her up. She stared at it making Percy realise that maybe she didn't want to touch him now. Earlier if he had been in such a situation with a girl, he would've disregarded as elementary but he respected Annabeth as he considered pulling it back.

Before he could, Annabeth's hand slid into his as she stood up giving her a small smile; her grey eyes not their usual stormy colour but a light, calm grey.

Everything might not be perfect right now. They still had to find out about Malcolm's strange appearance out of nowhere, Ethan had to be dealt with and then there was Annabeth and her seriously messed up past but it was in these small moments that everything seemed to be fine and the rest of the world could be disregarded, even if it was only a second or two.

xx-xx

Yeah, I know. I'm a complete and utter bastardette. I haven't uploaded since the ice age and you have my pardon for that. Anyways, next chapter is going to be mine and I am so nervous. Really nervous. Really really nervous. Really-

Okay.

I'll stop.

Anyways, I hope your opinions on this fanfic hasn't changed...

I really hope not as I already got a word about uploading on time from the Queen, so...

:)

Yeah, hope you enjoyed!

RM