Hey people, this chapter was so hard to write for some reason! Whatever. Plz Review!! Reviews make me strangely happy! xD

Disclamer: I do not own PJO!

She spun around swiftly and expertly tackled me into the sand. Within seconds she had wrestled me into some sort of judo/tai-kwon-do hold. One of her hands was clamped tightly on my neck while the other got ready to throw a punch.

"Anna…beth...I can't breathe," I choked.

"Oh my gods! Percy!" she gasped as she let go of my neck.

"Wow is this how you greet all your friends, wise girl?" I demanded, stroking my neck gingerly, trying to regain feeling.

"Well you should know better than to sneak up on me!" she exclaimed, punching me playfully. Then she gave me a hug that almost crushed my rib cage and broke my spine at the same time. Why did she always try to kill me with her affections?

"Jeez Annabeth, are you trying to kill me?" I asked jokingly, adjusting my shirt.

I was suddenly aware of the awkward position in which her body was on top of me. If anyone else were watching it would seem as if Annabeth was about to kiss me. Heat rose to my cheeks, as I became very uncomfortable. Gladly, it was dark and she probably couldn't see my tomato red face.

"Umm…wise girl, you can get off me now" I said, my cheeks burning.

"Oh…right, sorry," she muttered.

Her face went scarlet as she quickly scrambled off of me. I came to a sitting position beside her, my face still quite hot. Annabeth was suddenly very interested in her shoe and was avoiding my gaze.

"Sooo, how you been?" I asked, trying to clear up the awkwardness in the air.

"Fantastic" she mumbled sarcastically.

I looked away, slightly hurt. A few seconds later, I felt her warm hand on mine. My eyes darted from our hands to her face.

"Look, I'm sorry Percy. It's just that well, I didn't exactly have an easy year at home," she said, her eyes full of hurt.

I suddenly wanted to comfort her, to hold her in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be ok. My body had a mind of its own as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her towards me. To my surprise instead of moving away, she put her head on my shoulder, tears running down her beautiful face. On that very moment I decided something, I decided that I never wanted to see Annabeth cry again. I decided that until the day I died, I would never allow anything to make my Annabeth cry. Her wet tears fell gently onto my shirt, making it damp against my skin. I didn't care, all I cared about was making Annabeth feel better because when she was hurting, I was hurting. I hated to see her so broken-down…so weak like this.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" I asked tenaciously.

"My stepmom…she died" she mumbled in between sobs.

"It's okay…everything's going to be fine," I whispered, desperately trying to comfort her.

"No. It's not okay! All this time I treated her like a bitch but in the end she still gave her life for me!" Annabeth cried.

"What happened?" I asked curiously.

"I was walking home from school and all of the sudden a hellhound appeared out of no where. I didn't have my knife with me so I tried to run for it but eventually it cornered me. I thought I was done for but as soon as it charged, I saw someone dive in front of me. The hellhound retreated and I saw that the mangled body lying in front of me was my stepmom. There was…so much blood" she cried before sobbing uncontrollably.

I couldn't think of anything to say that could comfort her so I hugged her tighter. Annabeth needed someone to lean (lean on me, when your not strong…LOL awesome song!) on and right now, I was it. I don't know how long we stayed in that position but it must've been at least an hour before we lay down and she fell asleep in my arms. This moment was absolutely perfect. What I would give to stay like this for all of eternity.

As much as I didn't want to, I gently tried to shake Annabeth awake. If we were found by the harpies right now…well let's not go into the details. After a dozen failed attempts at waking her up, Annabeth was still sleeping peacefully on my shoulder. I gently untangled myself from her embrace, only to have her snuggle up even closer to me seeking warmth. I smiled to myself, as a sudden bolt of inspiration hit me.

I shifted positions and somehow managed to unwrap myself from her arms. I leaned over and gently slipped my hands under her, picking her up bridal style. After one last gaze at the sea, I began trudging up the path leading to the cabins.

Damn, Annabeth didn't look it but this girl was heavy. My arms were starting to burn and I was starting to think that this wasn't such a good idea after all. C'mon halfway there! A thin bead of sweat broke out on my forehead as I finally gave in and slowly set her down on a patch of grass. I figured if I took a small break, I would be able to carry her to the Athena cabin without injuring myself.

As I started to recollect myself, I noticed Annabeth's expression change to a frown. She started to shiver and her breathing became ragged and forceful. I quickly leaned down next to her and grasped her hand. She was obviously having a nightmare. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, tears started rolling down her cheeks as she moaned nonsense words. I gently caressed her hand with my thumb and brought her closer to me. "Shhh…its okay, I'm right here…" I whispered soothingly.

Surely enough, her breathing regulated as she relaxed and became still and peaceful once more. I sighed loudly, that was a relief. What could she have been dreaming about? Whatever it was, it was enough to make her cry, even in her sleep. I quickly scooped her up into my arms and walked to the Athena cabin, a newfound energy coursing through my veins.

Just as I approached the cabin door, Annabeth shifted in my arms. She opened her beautiful gray eyes and smiled at me. "Hey seaweed brain," she yawned.

My face went crimson once more as I set her down and racked my brain for a way to explain why I had been carrying her. "Umm…you sort of fell asleep on the beach so I carried you here," I mumbled nervously.

"Why didn't you just wake me up?" she asked, trying to untangle her hair.

"I tried but you just wouldn't wake up," I explained.

She laughed and thanked me. "Wow seaweed brain, you must be getting pretty strong to be able to carry me all this way," she smiled.

"Well I don't mean to brag but…I am pretty ripped aren't I?" I joked.

She laughed and said "I don't know about you but I'm pretty tired. I think I'm going to hit the hay,"

"Okay, sleep tight, wise girl," I said before turning around and heading towards my cabin. On my way I found a sheet of paper on the ground saying "Camp half-blood Dance fest! Got a girl you like? Ask her out to Camp half-blood's first Dance Fest! When you ask? Saturday, July 4th down by the beach! Be there or be square! I chuckled drily at the last line, truly only someone from the Aphrodite cabin could have thought of something like that.

I tossed the paper aside in disgust, a dance? At camp half-blood? This is going to turn out worse than when Chiron tried to host a birthday party for an Ares camper in the big house. First of all no one showed up and second of all the party was egged by none other than the Ares cabin themselves. The whole camp smelled like rotten eggs for a week before Chiron finally got the Ares cabin to clean and repaint the big house.

I put the dance out of my mind as I walked inside, threw aside my shoes, and jumped into bed without bothering to undress. I lay there, trying to recreate that perfect moment with Annabeth in my mind. I suddenly remembered that with all the things that happened tonight, I forgot to ask Annabeth why she hadn't kept in touch with me all year. Whatever. I put that out of my mind and went back to re-enacting the perfect moment in my head as I slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep. For once, everything was just about perfect.

Love it? Hate it? Plz Review! As I said before, reviews make me happy. xD Shouts out to my awesome reviewers olympianchef213, percabeth4ever, LiuKunLin, percabeth777, azngirl313, DJ Tigeress, and everybody else who reviewed!