Annabeth woke up to find herself in Percy's bed with his arms comfortably around her bare waist.
She looked over to see Percy still sleeping with soft breathes in and out.
With a slight smile, she leaned over and kissed his forehead before getting out of the bed and putting on her plaid pj pants and a white pocket tee.
She went over to the bathroom to wash up. Annabeth splashed water on her face to wake herself up a bit more. She suddenly had the worst head ache. She was sure she didn't drink at all yesterday for her to have a hangover. So why did…
She grimaced and held her forehead. Everything was shaking, twirling.
She could hear voices.
Voices?
Or—a memory?
"Percy, just..let me be with you…here. That's all I ask."
Was that her speaking?
The man in front of her smirked. His green radiant eyes looking straight into hers,
"Why would I? The person I want is Reyna...not you."
Annabeth knocked over things on the bathroom counter, making things crash onto the floor. Her head was throbbing like crazy and it wasn't stopping. she couldn't make sense of anything.
"So, I really was just one of the other girls, huh."
She slammed her fist into the mirror. A loud crack then shattering of glass.
"Yeah...you were."
She felt two strong arms wrap around her. She struggled against them, but they were resistant.
"Annabeth, what's wrong?"
The voice was like it was underwater. All she could really hear was the ringing. And the voices. Or memories. She didn't know.
The pain was too much.
Eventually, it receded. Someone's calming words reverberating through her head. Her own heavy, fast breathes were now audible. Her head ache dulled down so that she now felt the sharp cuts on her hand from punching the glass mirror.
Percy's arms were still around her.
"Annabeth?"
Her heavy breathes heaved in and out. She simply turned to him and looked up at him with her grey eyes.
"I don't know what happened, Percy. My head just started hurting like crazy."
She didn't tell him about the memory—at least she thought it was a memory.
His hand lifted up to hold her face gently, "It's fine. Now let's get your hand fixed."
Annabeth let him bandage her bloody knuckles.
Percy watched Annabeth as he set drinks in front of customers. He figured it was okay to bring her outside. She chatted away with Thalia. Percy didn't know what they were talking about because the bar was pretty busy today. But every so often, Annabeth would look over at him and give him a smile which would immediately make his heart thump loud in his chest. He would smile back then serve another customer.
She made his day brighter. With her soft grey eyes.
Percy slowly got caught up in his thoughts as he wiped down the glasses. Annabeth's major head aches weren't anything to brush off as nothing. Hurting her hand in a frenzy.
He knew deep inside that she was going to remember everything— very soon.
He felt someone touch his arm, making him look up to a pair of two gray eyes.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked with genuine concern on her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
She brushed his hair away from his face in a sweet gesture then held his cheek, "Hurry up and finish your shift."
He smiled a sweet smile, "Okay."
Two black pits of eyes.
A flash of color, then nothing—just darkness.
Another set of eyes. The color pale blue. One eye had a scar ripped down across it, marring the man's handsome face.
His lips were turned up in a wide smirk.
"Don't worry, Annabeth. I'll always be here for you."
Annabeth sat up in the bed she was in, sweat beading her forehead.
Her heart beat fast and rhythmic. Her breathes loud and heavy.
"Hey, you okay?" A husky deep voice whispered next to her. "Annabeth." She felt a hand touch her arm, it calmed her almost instantly.
Annabeth turned to him and gave him small smile, "Sorry I woke you." She held the hand that was touching her arm, "I'm fine. Go back to sleep."
He seemed hesitant for a second, then gave her a sleepy smile laying his head back down to sleep.
She looked down at him, running her fingers through his hair in habit. Annabeth had grown to love being by his side.
She knew she wasn't going to go back to sleep any time soon, so she got out of the covers and went down the stairs to the kitchen. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she sat at the island counter taking sip after sip out of her mug.
Something had been bugging her for a while now.
Why had Reyna, who was supposedly her step mother, targeted both her and Percy?
The woman must have a good reason to do so.
Had she and Percy done something wrong? She also knew from the google search engine that her father was dead—the father she remembered nothing of.
She had so many questions left unanswered.
A pair of arms wrapped around her waist in a gently embrace.
"Hey, you should go to sleep."
"I can't sleep when you can't sleep. It makes me nervous."
She smiled, "I'm not going anywhere."
"What's on your mind?"
"I don't know. A lot of things."
"Like what?"
"Things that would be answered if I had my memories."
"Oh."
"Can't you let me meet with Reyna? I want to talk to her. I think it will help me get my memories back"
"I don't think that's a good—"
"Please, Percy? She's my stepmother and she doesn't even know I'm still alive."
"I mean..."
"Please?"
Percy pressed his lips together then nodded, "Alright, we'll make our appearance at the next press conference."
She smiled then kissed him once on the cheek, "Thanks Percy."
It was a simple gesture, but his cheek was still on fire by the time he got back to bed.
"Reyna you have to hold a meeting. People are starting to question your capabilities."
"My capabilities? What of it?" Reyna turned in her desk chair towards Octavian.
"You almost lost half of the company stock. The board is wondering whether or not you can handle this position."
She glare down at the paperwork on her desk, "Fine, schedule a conference as fast as possible."
He gave a nod then walked out of the office.
Reyna sat at the front of a great road of reporters.
She tried to answer as many as she could, but was soon tired of the countless questions which seemed to be all and the same.
"Do you think the board will approve of you at the next meeting?"
"I'm keeping an open mind to the possibilities, but—"
Just at that moment the back doors opened and who Reyna saw there struck her dumb silent.
All the reporters turned and immediately a frenzy of photos and crowds moved towards the back of the room. Security guards had to come in and stop them.
Reyna couldn't get herself to say anything. Her heart felt frozen in her chest. Her eyes remained wide.
Because there, standing at the door was her golden haired daughter, looking more alive than ever and another person standing beside her. Her eyes widened even more seeing the raven haired man— alive.
Both, alive.
The woman with the golden hair simply passed through the crowds, seeming totally oblivious to the reporters. She was walking slowly towards Reyna.
When she was only but a few feet away from her, the girl's lips turned up into a smile, "Mother, it's been a while."
"Ho—how is this possible?" Reyna came up to her and hugged her. Reporters were taking pictures left and right.
She knew what the next newspaper would say:
Daughter of Chase Industries Alive and Well
Reyna looked over Annabeth's shoulder and saw Percy simply standing there with his hands in his pockets. He gave her a smile, she would have thought to be genuine if she didn't know better.
The smile disappeared and only his eyes pierced through hers.
"I was abducted, but Percy found me." Annabeth said with a smile when she pulled away from her.
What were they doing here?
Did they both want revenge?
This ruined all her plans. How could this be happening?
"Excuse me for a second." Annabeth said to her before going up to the podium where Reyna had just been.
Flashes of pictures were taken as Annabeth started to speak.
"Hello, everyone. I know it must be a shock to you all that I'm here. I know you all thought me dead, but sadly I had been abducted. I won't say why or by who since all those things don't matter anymore. The perpetrator is dead and gone. I've recovered fully and have come here to say that I am fully ready to take over my father's company. Thank you." Then she left the stand, instigating a rouse of noise from the crowds of reporters wanting more questions from her.
The guards helped her through the crowds and out of the building. All the reporters followed.
Percy turned to Reyna, "You look well, Reyna." He said with another unnerving smile.
She leaned closer to him and grabbed his collar, "Cut the crap, Percy. How are you alive?"
"Why? Did you miss me?"
"What do you want from me?" Reyna said her voice raised.
"It's not what I want from you, it's what I want from Annabeth."
She scoffed, "and what exactly can Annabeth possibly give you?"
"Forgiveness." he said with his green eyes looking straight into hers.
Reyna's lips pressed together in a tight line, her brown eyes looked back at him. "Forgiveness? Ha, don't make me laugh, Jackson. You don't deserve any forgiveness."
"You're right. I don't." He slid his hands in his jean pockets then turned to leave, "But, it's worth taking a shot—is it not?"
He then smiled at the thought, before walking away and out the room, leaving the brunette standing there alone and wide eyed.
Guards kept the reporters away from her as she stepped inside the elevator of the company building. Solace followed after her. She felt the elevator rise up, heard the bell dinged and the elevator doors opened. Annabeth stepped out and walked left to where the glass rails lined a donut shaped level. The golden haired girl got many weird cursory glances from the employees passing by.
Solace gestured towards the door at the end of a hallway, "Your old office, Miss."
Annabeth reached over and pushed the doors open to a grand office. Her name was imprinted on a plaque that was set on her desk. Couches lined the middle facing a widescreen TV fit on the wall. She walked past the couches and to her desk, running her fingers over the embedded letters of her name. She then went around to sit in her desk chair.
Solace smiled, "Welcome back, Miss Chase."
She took a deep breathe then looked to the stack of papers in front of her, "Oh gods."
"Do you need help with those, miss?"
"No, It's fine. Thank you, Solace. That will be all." she said with a smile.
He looked a bit taken back for a second, then dipped his head with a nod, soon leaving the room.
Annabeth sifted through the paperwork. She didn't understand what these business/finance stuff were one bit. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair.
"Need help?"
She looked up and smiled, "I could use some, yes."
The raven haired man smiled back and went up to her desk, picked up the paperwork out of her desk, "Sorry, I couldn't get here sooner. The reporters are crazy out there."
"Yeah, I know. I wonder what's gotten them so worked up." Annabeth shook her head in a playful manner, "I mean, I just came back from the dead. There's nothing to be all that hyped up about."
Percy chuckled at her sarcasm then leaned over to kiss her, "I agree."
Reyna watched from her wide window that circled three fourths of her office on the twelfth floor. Annabeth walked out of the building with her arm hooked around Percy's and her head leaned endearingly against his shoulder as he called for a taxi.
Something made her chest tight and knees weak. He was smiling. Not a player smile, but a real one. A genuine one. Sweet and warm. All for her— Annabeth.
There was a time when he had given her that smile. It was a time when all betrayal and hate didn't exist.
She longed for that time, desperately. But there was no turning back now.
Annabeth let herself collapse on the bed, then blew raspberry, "I'm exhausted"
She felt him get on top of her, soft laughter coming from his mouth. He placed kisses all over her face, making her laugh.
"Get some rest. You deserve it." He said, placing one last kiss on her lips before pulling away. With a smile on her face, she gently pushed him away to get off the bed and to the bathroom.
She could feel his eyes watching her the whole way- eyes desiring and beautiful. She gave him one last knowing smile before closing the bathroom door. Her grey eyes looked back at her reflection as she started to brush her teeth. She stopped brushing for a second and leaned forward to look closer at the face in front of her. Her grey striking eyes looked back at her.
Suddenly the grey of her eyes turned black. Two black pits of eyes staring back at her. She gasped silently and stepped back from the mirror. She blinked and the blackness was gone. A breathe of relief heaved from her chest. Her hand clutched her chest-her heart was beating fast.
"Annabeth, you okay in there?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." she said in the calmest voice she could muster.
She finished washing then went out of the bathroom and slid under the sheets with her back facing Percy. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, reaching out to hold her hand and run his fingers across her knuckle scars from punching glass. His warm breathes against the flesh of her neck calmed her down a bit, but she was still scared of going to sleep. She was horrified of what was going to be there in her dreams.
Why were those black eyes were haunting her? It had to have something to do with her lost memories.
Gods, she hated not knowing anything.
Percy's breathes became more steady and rhythmic. He was sleeping. Annabeth reached up her hand to hold his forearm which was still wrapped around her middle-as if making sure he was for real. She lifted his hand and kissed it before finally letting herself fall asleep in Percy's safe arms.