A/N: I'm going to apologize up front for this being a short chapter but it was needed for setting up for future chapters. The next couple chapters should be longer. They will also start to get darker from here on out so this is a heads up. There will start to be more profanity and violent content.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Annabeth clutched the door knob with weary fingers. She kept her eyes closed and attempted to ignore the smell of the hospital that saturated her clothes. She let her emotions from work streak through her mind for one last moment. She had made it rule, when she came home she put all of the days turmoil behind her and sealed them out. She gently pushed open the door and gave a soft smile.

Annabeth change from her uniform into a much more comfortable dress before she started up her record player and sat on the couch. She studied the two letters on the small coffee table in front of her. Both her father and Percy had written her, she only had to decide which to read first.

She settled on her father's letter first. She was sure she would be thinking about Percy's letter the entire time she read but she wanted to put off opening it. That way she had a new letter just a little bit longer.

She read through the pleasantries her father had written. Small talk about his life in California, his work teaching at a university, bits about her half brothers. She knew he avoided what he wanted to really talk to her about. He wanted to talk about the war, he wanted to talk about their failing relationship, he wanted to talk about the dark parts of her life that she wasn't ready to delve into. Not when the person that could make it better was still so far away.

When she had finished the letter she grabbed paper and ink and wrote him back. Better to respond while it was still fresh in her mind, while she had the chance to put off the other letter a little longer.

Finally she broke the seal on the envelope and drew out the single sheet of folded paper. It was terrifying how one thing could contain so much and so little at the same time.

June 2nd, 1918

Dear Annabeth,

The Germans have attacked out lines at Belleau Wood. The nearly broke through on our left where our lines met the French. Nico's unit was sent in along with another Marine unit to close the gap. The Germans are ferocious fighters but fight like they are doing math. Too many men get hit or it takes too long and they pull their forces back.

Our boys held their positions and let the Germans walk into our guns and ended up pushing them back. The 2nd Battalion ran into some Frenchmen who told them they should retreat and a Captain responded, 'Retreat? Hell we just got here.' The entire division got a kick out of it. Supposedly the 2nd is using it as a war cry.

Lieutenant Grace says we'll be attacking in a few days. We can't let the Germans have a bulge in our line and the commanders will want the ground taken back from them. You would probably understand the situation better than me and the Lieutenant seems like he knows what he's talking about so I'll have to take his word.

I'm sorry I can't write more but we've been told to watch for more attacks. I'm doing my best to scribble this down in the few minutes I can find. I will continue to write you when I can but I honestly do not know when that will be. If this is going to be a large offensive it may take weeks but I will give up sleep if I have to. I don't want to stop writing you. Please keep writing me, I should be able to get mail often and I know your letters will make me feel better.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours,

Percy

Annabeth broke her rule. She let the day come flooding back into her mind. She saw them, the broken and torn apart men. Bandages wrapped around torsos, arms, and legs. Crimson patches spreading like a mold across a spoiled food. The letters came a week or more after Percy wrote them, so much could have happened in that time. Was he laying somewhere in a cot having nurse wrap more linen around him?

How soon would they get more wounded men, more amputees, more dying boys, more suffering. She thought of the numbers, would there be dozens? Hundreds? The hospital was large and well kept. They could care for hundreds if need be but the thought of that many men coming back so wounded appalled her. What kind of hell would have to be going on in those trenches for so many to be brought so close to death? She knew those in her hospital were just some of the worst wounded and there were many more hospitals both here and in Europe filled with patients like hers.

She shook the thought from her head. She would keep work out, she would not let herself get into this mindset. All it would do is tear her down, rip her mind apart piece by piece until there was nothing but worry and fear. Her sanity forsaken for concern. That wasn't what she wanted.

No, she would focus on the little signs. Like how he asked Annabeth to keep writing him. That her were making him feel better. She reminded herself that he wanted to hear from her again, and soon. Most of all she let herself dwell on that little word at the end. Maybe she read into it too much, maybe she put too much into a closing, maybe she shouldn't focus on it. Yet it was a far better option to put more stock into a word and hope it meant more than to delve into the dark abyss of loss.

She swore she would write him every day. That she would fill pages with her words, tell him about everything she could think of. Even open up to him about the problems with her father. She would do it all so that he could free his mind of the fighting he was in. So that maybe for a few moments each day he could forget where he was and maybe, just maybe, he would truly become hers.

A/N: As always thank you for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought.