Authors Note: (Press the fast forward on your TV remote to skip this) Chapter four ... whoa, we've come a loooong way. Yeah right. Anyway, I've changed the rating to T, because when I was doing it the first time, I forgot about the violence in the later chapters. Plus, the bleeped out swears are esay to figure out. And thanks for the reviews and tips, guys. (And girls). Sorry I forgot to thank you in chapter 3, but I was so eager to post that I didn't have time to add it in. So now that everything's cool with the whole Ooc and Oc mix up, (Again, thanks!) read on...

Nico was really pushing it lately. Rose was getting fed up with it. He acted like a jerk, he forgot things Rose would say or not even listen in the first place, and she even saw him flirting with other girls! They got into big fights, too. Not just like the small one they had over the cherry-bombs, but big fights. Ones that made that one seem microscopic. But maybe things would be okay, Rose thought. He was taking her out to dinner. That was also another thing he'd do lately. He'd say or do something sweet and she'd forgive him. It wasn't right. That shouldn't be what their relationship was. But she thought this would be Nico's chance to redeem himself. Otherwise... she just didn't know.

Meanwhile, Percy, Thalia, and Nico had finished cleaning the room, and were talking about their lives up to this point. Percy would tell Thalia about his part-time job at McHale's, (Thalia cracked up when he told her)and how Annabeth was almost done with the plans for Olympus. "She put in a Hall of Heroes there. Grover, Tyson, Me, Her, You, Nico, Rachel - every body's in there somewhere. It's really cool. Even heroes from way, way back. And Luke has a big shrine. She'll be done real soon, and then maybe we could spend a little more time together." Percy explained, looking dreamily out the window towards the empire state building.

"Awesome. The hunters have been on the trail of the Chimera," Thalia said. Percy shivered at the name, he must've had a bad experience with it before. "We trailed it all the way to California.." Thalia remembered what happened in California. How could she have been so stupid? It happened too fast. At first it was just him doing the kissing, but after about ten minutes she just gave in. It was more assault then her betraying Artimis, but that didn't matter now. Thalia blinked hard, but she knew it was already done. "We- uh, haven't found it yet, but we were really close." Thalia said after a long silence.

"Cool. But once again I say, why are you here?" Nico asked. Thalia had been avoiding it ever since she got there.

"I already told you, I'll explain later." Thalia snapped irritably. Percy could tell it, for whatever reason, had become a touchy subject.

"Okay, it doesn't matter now. You're here not there, that's good enough for me. How about we go out to the movies or something to, uh celebrate your arrival? Annabeth'll be home from Olympus at seven, we can go then." Percy suggested to get Nico off Thalia's back.

Thalia and Nico nodded in approval of the idea. "Cool. What should we see?" Nico asked. They argued over it for a while, then decided to go see the Green Lantern movie. (Remember, the Last Olympian was back in 2009, so obviously two years from the end of the Titan war would be 2011. I don't know if it'll be a good movie, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't wanna see Kung Fu Panda 2)

"I'll IM (Obviously, Iris Message) Annabeth. You can go tell Rose, Nico. Maybe she could sneak out." Percy suggested.

"Nah. Lately she's been all on my case about the stupidest things. Nico, you're being emotionally distant. Nico, you can't put skunks in the girls' bathroom." Nico imatitated in a horribly highpitched voice. "She's become way too protective. Hovers over everything I do."

"What? But what about all that hand holding and those nicknames?" Thalia asked in disbelief.

"Yeah we always act like that after a fight. Even a little one. And those nicknames can get really embarrassing." Nico explained, shaking his head.

"Nico, that's terrible. But whatever. Think what you want, but your relationship'll go down the toilet." Thalia remarked. Nico just shrugged, not taking the suggestion seriously.

(After Annabeth get's home)

Annabeth walked through the door, checking over some blueprints. "Hey Percy, check this out. I think I'm going to make the shrine to Athena look like the Parthenon. That way, I-" She stopped when she saw Thalia sprawled out on the coach with Nico, and Percy. "Thalia!" She squealed

Thalia turned and waved gingerly. Annabeth sprang across the room, locking Thalia in a death-grip. "Uh, nice to see you, too." Thalia wheezed.

Annabeth blushed and released her. "Sorry, it's just so good to see you! Percy didn't tell me that you were here." She said glaring at Percy playfully.

"Uh, surprise?" Percy said, remembering how he forgot to tell her on the phone. "Ready for the movie?"

"Totally, should be good. And don't worry Percy, you can hold my hand during the scawy parts." Annabeth mocked

After the movie, the four of them were driving home, talking about how good or bad they thought the movie was. "I still think they should've made his head look like a lantern." Nico remarked.

"What? Nico, that doesn't make sense." Percy said.

"He's the green lantern. It makes total sense." Nico fought.

"Whatever. So, Thalia how long will you get to stay at camp? I mean, when will you be going back to the hunters?" Percy asked stupidly.

Thalia tensed. "Don't know. Could be a few weeks, could be a few years. Artimis wants me to, uh take a break. You know, relax and stuff." Thalia didn't like having to lie to them, but she wasn't ready to unveil her failure yet.

Percy and Nico just accepted it as fact, no questions asked. "Awesome. It's cool of Artimis to let you off like that." Percy happily.

"Uh, yeah... Cool." Thalia confirmed uneasily. She tried to avoid the other's looks by looking out the window.

Before Annabeth could question this, Thalia spotted something out the window. Some poor kid was being terrorized by some big jerk. Big being the key word here. At least 10 feet tall... Cyclopes. Some poor demigod was getting the crud beaten outta them. Thalia wasn't going to let that happen. "Percy, stop the car."

"What? Why?" Percy asked.

"Monster." Thalia replied. That was enough of an answer.

Percy slammed on the breaks and the car slid into a stop in the middle of the two lanes. And before it even got to a complete stop, Thalia opened the door and leaped out. For some reason, she was really angry. A lot more angry than she would get with this kind of thing. She had entered a kind of blinding rage, that she never had before. It didn't make sense. She didn't even know this kid. Weather if it was that she still didn't like cyclopes', or that she was angry about Artimis... she just didn't know.

Thalia's heart raced. Her breath came out in short inraged gasps. Her pupils receded. She screamed in an explosion of fury, then charged at the beast. She ran much faster than she normally would. Or much faster than she normally could. She was ready to jump on it's back and start wailing on the cyclopes, but there was only one problem.

She didn't have any weapons.

She had left them back at Percy's apartment. She later scolded herself for not bringing at least a hunting knife. (Which she shouldn't still have, since she got kicked out, but she didn't think Artimis would miss it) She hated that she let her guard down too long.

But before she realized what had happened she was on the ground winching in terrible pain. The wind had been knocked out of her for a long time, and she was desperately struggling to breath, her lungs violently grappling for air. She managed to breathe in time, sputtering and coughing all the while. After that her breathing hurt. Her pupils returned to their normal size, but her vision was blurry from being hit. She felt a sharp pain at the base of her spine, but her front was the worst. She felt a severe a pain near her ribs, and she figured she must've broken one of them. And there was this odd and uncomfortable tenderness between them.

She tried to get herself up enough to lean on the side of Percy's car, where she had been thrown, but the pain only increased ten fold. She allowed herself to rest, so her breathing could return to normal. Watching her friends (Well, blurry blobs that she assumed to be her friends) fight, while she couldn't do anything to help, was driving Thalia crazy. She tried to hoist herself up to go help, but the pain was too intense, her arms wobbled and she just fell back down. Styx, I'm already going soft Thalia thought miserably.

The demigod that the cyclopes attacked ran away as soon as he could. Percy jabbed with Riptide, and Nico slashed with his Stygian blade. Annabeth snuck up from behind with her invisibility cap, and then stabbed the Cyclopes with her knife in it's back. The knife was directed perfectly to it's hart. The cyclopes howled in pain, grasping desperately at the knife, but it's stubby arms were too short. The monster disintegrated, leaving behind only the dust and the haunting howl that echoed in the crisp night air. Annabeth's knife fell to the ground and hit the pavement with a clang that also hung in the air.

Annabeth took off her Yankees Cap. They gave each other weak smiles, then realized Thalia was still on the ground in pain. Their eyes widened, and they rushed to her aid. "Oh my Gods, Thalia are you okay?" Annabeth asked kneeling down next to Thalia.

Thalia made a sort of gurggling sound in the back of her throat, to signify she could hear them.

"Aw man, she's hurt bad. We gotta get her to a hospital." Percy said worriedly.

Thalia tried to shake her head, and managed to croak out, "N-no. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? That was a pretty bad hit." Nico added.

"I'm fine." Thalia persisted, though her coarse voice wavered as she said this. She tried to push herself up again, but fell back and hit her head on the car door. "Ow!" Thalia groaned in her rough voice.

The three of them gave Thalia concerned looks, but they knew that they weren't going to do anything but make it worse if they kept on pestering her like this. "Okay. Let's just get to the hospital, and see how bad those wounds are." Percy said extending a hand to help her up. Thalia was reluctant, but she took it.

She nearly fell down again when she tried to put some of her weight on her right foot. Percy steadied her while Annabeth looked at it. She tried to take off Thalia's combat boot and Thalia winched and bit her lip trying to stop her groan. When Annabeth finally got it off, she surveyed it and said, "You've got a broken ankle. Nothing serious. But it'll take a few weeks to get better, even with ambrosia and nectar." Annabeth diagnosed.

Thalia moaned, "Aw styx, weeks? Crud!"

"It'll be okay, Thalia. You've got some time off from Artimis remember?" Nico added to cheer her up.

That just made her more miserable. "Whatever. Let's go home already." Thalia snapped.

"No, you're going to the hospital. Just to be sure." Annabeth told Thalia.

"But-"

"But nothing. You're going even if I have to drag you there myself."

Thalia sighed. She never could win a fight with Annabeth. "Okay... okay, but don't want to have to spend the night there. Those places are like prisons." Thalia siad with a shudder.

Percy put an arm under her armpit to help her into his truck. hey drove away in silence. Well, it would've been silence without Thalia's groan's and griping.

"Miss Grace, you're the luckiest patient we've had in a long time." The doctor said after multiple x-rays. "You almost broke your spine. It's just a compression fracture, thankfully."

"Compression fracture? What's that supposed to mean?" Thalia asked nervously.

The doctor chuckled. "Oh no, there's nothing to worry about, dear. A compression fracture occurs when the normal vertebral body of the spine is squished, or compressed, to a smaller height."

"Ouch. Sounds painful." Nico said, and from one glare from Thalia he could tell it was.

"Quite. The treatment for that is just alleviating the pain, and of coarse, preventing any injuries to the spine while you're recovering. It should heal completely in 8-12-"

"Days?" Thalia asked hopefully.

"Weeks." The doctor replied sadly. "And you also have an ankle fracture at the bottom of your tibia. Meaning you'll need a cast on your right leg. But I'd be more worried about your rib cage. You have four bruised ribs, two separated ribs, a pulled rib mussel, and one broken rib."

"Gods **** it, Thalia." Nico said amazed. Percy kept looking back from the doctor to Thalia, trying to see what the doctor was saying. "What do you mean by seperated?" Nico asked the doctor.

"Oh, that's when the rib tears loose from the cartilage in the front."

"Cool." Nico said.

"No, not cool. Thalia's rib ripped out of it's socket!" Annabeth expressed.

"Cool." Nico, Percy, and even Thalia said simultaineously. Everyone looked to Thalia, "What? When you say it like that, it does sound pretty cool. It hurts, but sounds cool."

"Er, yes well, you'll need surgery to correct the broken rib. It seems the sharp edge is poking your-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Surgery? Like, under the knife, surgery?" Thalia asked nervously.

"Yes, quite. No need to worry, it won't hurt a bit. But, unfortunately it will cost an upwards of 5,000 dollars." The doctor said.

"What? I don't have any money, how am I going to pay for this?" Thalia said worried.

"Well, I'll leave the finical bits to you. As for the other treatments, you'll need a rib belt, the cast, and crutches. I'll leave you to figure things out." The doctor said leaving the room.

Thalia was miserable. She couldn't help but think that if she was still with the hunters, she would've remembered to bring a weapon, or at least think to use her powers instead of just charging it like a stupid animal.

And how was she supposed to pay for surgery? She didn't have any family to rely on, and she had no money of her own. This wasn't gonna end well, was all she could think.

Percy and Annabeth exchanged looks. They had an immediate understanding of what they were gonna do. "Thalia, we'll pay for the surgery. I've been saving up for a new car, but this is more important." Percy explained.

"Yeah. I've been saving for a trip to Greece, but Percy's right, you're more important." Annabeth said.

Nico was looking out the widow blankly, not even paying attension. Annabeth elbowed him and he said, "Uh, yeah. What they said."

"You do know that means you're helping pay for Thalia's surgery, right?" Percy asked Nico.

Nico's eyes widened and he was about to protest, but one look from Annabeth and he decided to keep his mouth shut. And his wallet open, apparently.

Thalia was about to thank them, but the doctor came back in an told them to leave. He also said that Thalia would have to stay the night there. Just so they could ceck her over again to see if they missed anything. Styx! I told 'em I didn't wanna stay in this stupid hospital! Thalia thought bitterly.

So there you have it folks! The burst of rage Thalia had will be explained later. I mean like waylater. But there will be hints along he way, with Nico and Percy. And Percy's problem (Well, since it's in the summery, you know what it is) is coming up after they get to camp. Annabeth and Percy have been fighting about it now, (I'll probably do a flash back) but I want to develop Nico's problem a little more. Well, actually a lot. Sorry if you hate the movie choice. Use your imagination as to what they saw if you want. It really doesn't matter. Any who, chapter five will be up... whenever it's up. And remember, reviewing makes me real happy, even if you say dear loser, hate your story and you. Hope you die alone. You can flame me and my story all you want. Just not other users who review.

P.S. I really don't like Wind in the Willows. Why do you need to know this? You don't but you just read it, you can't un-read it. Ha!