phantom753 - Thanks so much! I already answered your questions but thanks again so much for the feed back and the help! Greatly appreciate it all!

Sorry I went from being an every day updater to like a week gap. August is the most insane month for us and here we are only four days in and have had to literally sit down and schedule time for everything! Hopefully I can catch back up rather quickly!

So there is a trigger chapter. I left a lot of it to your imagination but please proceed with caution on this chapter.

Disclaimer : I do not own Percy Jackson, or any of the content published from Rick Riordan or Ed Sheeran and his song Photograph.

Chapter 8

Annabeth groaned as she heard her phone ring. Blindly she smacked at her side table until her hand hit her phone and she picked it up. She glanced at the caller ID through one squinted eye and slid the green button to answer the call. She didn't even bother saying hello, she just yawned into the phone instead.

"Hey babe. Sorry to wake you again but I am going to be just a little longer than expected. I know I locked the door but please double check it," Percy pleaded with her.

"I will and is it that bad over there?" She yawned and sat up so that she could go double check her locks.

"Yes. I will call you when we are on the way back. I have a feeling it's going to be an extremely long night." He listened as Annabeth sighed heavily into the phone. "Back to bed with you. Love you."

"Love you too." She stood up and stretched and then ran to the front door. 'Locked. Thank God.' Annabeth walked back to her bed and plopped down in the middle. She shivered and then crawled back under the covers falling asleep with the phone in her hand.

With Annabeth's room being so far from the door, she never heard the key slip into the lock nor the door open. She was exhausted, having spent every last minute either worrying about Luke and his threats or how she was going to ensure that she got the Texas job. Add in Percy and trying to make sure this new relationship was going to work and trying to keep her safe from Luke, and she wasn't exactly sure how she even got through the last couple of days.

Annabeth rolled onto her stomach and was startled when her cast bumped into something on the bed beside her. "Per . . ." was all she managed to get out before there was a ton of weight on top of her. Her right hand which was hidden under a pillow from her roll, still held her phone. She was beyond thankful that she knew her phone inside and out at this moment and hit the home button to unlock it. She knew that it would return to the previous screen which would be her contacts and since Percy was the last person that called her it would be his page that popped up. Knowing right where the green call button was, she tapped it with her thumb and prayed to God that making a phone call blindly would work.

Annabeth let go of the phone just as she was flipped on to her back. She went to scream but all she could do was flail her arms and legs as her attacker began to choke her. She tried to beat him but he was able to dodge every throw she made. She was starting to see block dots in her eyes and she realized that she had the same shot she had made back in the club.

Annabeth pulled her right knee up as hard as she could and once again her attacker was down. She gasped for air and then struggled to get out from under him, knocking everything out of her way, including the pillows and her phone hidden underneath. She managed to sit up and scoot away but he sat up and grabbed her around the ankles and pulled her hard back toward him.

As she slid closer to him she let out a blood curdling scream in hopes that a neighbor would hear her and come to her aid.

Alexa covered her ears with her hands and screamed at Percy, "What is going on?"

"Annabeth!" Percy was in panic mode and stepped on the gas in his Jeep, forcing it to do the max limit. 'I'm coming babe, I'm coming,' he thought as he listened to her cries. He quickly hung up the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

"9-1-1, please state your emergency."

"My girlfriend is being attacked. She called and all I could hear were things falling and then her screaming and crying for help. I am on my way to her place now!"

"Sir, I need her address and I need you to stay away so that the police can do their job."

"You're crazy if you think that I am going to let whoever is hurting her continue to do so," he screamed at the operator as he flew down the expressway.

"Sir, the address please," she tried to say calmly.

"The Helena Apartments, 601 West 57th, apartment #54B." Percy's hands were shaking and the drive back to Annabeth's felt like it was taking forever.

"Sir, is there a pass code to get into the apartment?"

"Only if they park in resident's garage. Parking out front and taking the elevator up would be the fastest way to get to her." He could hear the operator typing furiously on her keyboard.

"I have officers in route to the vicinity. ETA is about ten minutes."

"Are you kidding me? You better pray they get there before I do," Percy screamed at the operator. He glanced back in the rear view, remembering suddenly that he had Alexa in tow. She was rocking with her hands over her ears still as tears streamed down her face again.

"Sir, I need you to remain calm and not enter the apartment on your own," the operator pleaded with him.

Annabeth cried and screamed her heart out and yet no one was coming to help. She was never overly friendly to her neighbors but she was never rude. If she had she heard one of them screaming she would have come running to their side.

Luke slapped her across the face and she snapped back to reality. She tried to hit him back but he had her hands pinned above her head. He had crushed her cast in several places and she could no longer feel the pain that was once pulsating down her arm. Other places hurt far more than the pain in her wrist.

She had tried to kick him but he hit her so hard that she blacked out for several minutes. When she woke she found her ankles bound in rope and tied to the foot posts of her bed. He kept her positioned in the middle of the bed and every time she tried to scoot down to close her legs he would yank her back up by the arms and leave her partially spread eagle.

"Luke, stop! Please, just stop," she begged him as tears poured down her face.

"You know you want this Annabeth, stop denying it."

"NO," she screamed at him. "GET OFF OF ME!" She yelled as she thrashed and tried to throw him off of her.

"If you would just stop fighting and give in you would figure out that this is what you want," Luke hissed in her ear.

Luke tried to kiss her but she kept moving her head away from him until finally he grabbed her face with both hands and forced a kiss on her. Luke tried to break her lips open with his tongue and when he did she bit down hard enough to draw blood.

Luke screamed in her face, "You bitch!" He then punched her in the gut and stood up to remove his pants before lying back on top of her.

It was then her world shattered. She lay there broken, lost in the blackness of despair.

Her last thought before spiraling down into the darkness was of Percy. 'You shouldn't make promises you can't keep.'

Percy's tires squealed as he pulled up in front of the building. He didn't have time to wait for the parking garage. He pulled into the drop off circle, threw the car in park and jumped out of the Jeep.

Upon entering the building, Percy had completely forgotten that Alexa was even with him until her tiny body slammed into him in front of the elevators. "Stay here, you don't need to see this," he told Alexa quietly. He pressed the up arrow and thanked God that the car was already there and the doors were slowly opening. Percy jumped in the car and started beating on the close door button and watched the tears pour down Alexa's face as the doors slowly closed on her. He began pacing the floor of the elevator as it slowly rose to the 5th floor.

When the elevator door opened he noticed that Annabeth's door was open a tiny sliver. He quietly stepped into the apartment and tried to become invisible. He listened in the foyer for any sign of Annabeth. Once he walked farther into the apartment he finally heard her, crying uncontrollably from her bedroom.

"Shut up! Why do you have to ruin this Annabeth?" Luke screamed at her.

Percy then heard what sounded like a slap and Annabeth's pleas turned to quiet cries.

Percy couldn't take it and ran as fast as he could into Annabeth's room. Even with no lights on he knew exactly where they were just from Luke's disgruntled breath and Annabeth's whimpers for him to stop.

Percy hit her doorway and turned to the left just slightly, throwing himself full force at the body on top of his girlfriend. Percy hit Luke with so much force the two of them flew off the end of the bed and flipped head over heels over the foot board.

Luke was dazed which gave Percy the advantage. He pulled back with his right hand and swung forward with all his might, making contact with the left side of Luke's jaw. Percy wasn't sure but he thought he heard the jaw crack. This didn't stop him and Percy went in again with his left hand. This time the punch landed just next to Luke's right eye and a slit appeared and blood began to flow.

Percy was able to get a few more blows in before he was snapped out of his fit of rage by Annabeth's cries. He quickly jumped off of Luke and untied the ropes from the ends of the foot board. He then grabbed a blanket from the floor and tried to wrap Annabeth up in the blanket but when his skin made contact with hers she flew off the handle.

Annabeth screamed at Percy, "NO! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"Annabeth, it's okay. It's me, Percy. I swear I am not going to hurt you," Percy said as calmly as he could to her.

Annabeth jumped up from her spot on the bed and tried to back away from him. In her attempts she ended up falling off the bed and tried to hide from him in the corner of her room.

Percy walked over to her and kneeled in front of her, wrapping his arms around her as tightly as possible. She screamed and cried and tried to break free but Percy wouldn't let her go. He managed to get her into his lap and he instantly started singing to her.

'And if you hurt me, that's okay baby only words bleed,
Inside these pages you just hold me and I won't ever let you go,
Wait for me to come home . . .'

Percy sang the last line to her several times as she slowly calmed in his lap. He wasn't sure how long they were sitting there but the light flickered on and an officer looked at the pair hiding in the corner of the room and then at the beaten man at the foot of the bed.

"Sir, I take it the situation is under control now or do we need to look for someone else," the officer asked calmly.

"It's as taken care of as it can get for the moment," Percy replied sadly.

The officer just nodded and pressed a button on his shoulder radio. "Suspect taken down. We need EMS, send two. I will not subject this girl to riding in the same vehicle with this trash. She's been tortured enough as it is."

Percy listened as the radio squawked back and another officer replied, "In route, ETA three minutes for the first truck and five for the second."

Percy looked down at Annabeth, her eyes were glazed over as she stared at the edge of her bed. He carefully pulled the blanket around her tighter and she snuggled into his chest, never removing her gaze from the edge of her bed. Percy could see the bruises beginning to dust her cheeks. He knew there were more but he wasn't about to try and see how badly she was injured at this moment, mostly because he was afraid that she would fly off the handle again and he wouldn't be able to calm her.

Percy wasn't paying attention to anything in the room but he noticed that there were now four officers, all trying to get Luke to wake up so they could possibly cuff him and walk him out to a car.

"Was that his handy work," Percy heard an officer ask. He looked over at Luke for the first time in the light and he saw what he was capable of when overwhelming rage took over. He was almost sick at the sight, but just almost, as Luke deserved every last blow Percy delivered to him.

Luke's entire face was covered in deep blue and purple bruises, there was blood pouring out of his nose as well as from a gash on his right eye. From Percy's current position, it also looked like there was a bit of blood coming out of his right ear.

Time seemed to be moving slowly and just as Percy wondered what was taking the EMS team so long, a gurney was pushed into the room.

"He's breathing but there's no telling what kind of damage the kid did to him," He heard an officer say to the EMS crew walking in. "Just leave the two of them be, I will let the second crew handle both of them as soon as he is out of here. She's pretty shaken up and I doubt he has a clue what he did."

The EMS team just nodded and quickly went to work getting Luke covered and onto the gurney. Percy decided not to watch and simply closed his eyes as he continued to rock Annabeth.

Percy again wasn't sure how long he had been rocking Annabeth when he was snapped back to reality by a familiar voice.

"Percy. Percy can you hear me?"

Percy blinked several times and looked up to find Thalia and her partner crouched down, poised and ready to do what they needed to do to help.

"Yeah."

"Can you stand with her and get her on the gurney? We need to get her checked out and to the hospital. John will look at your hands while I tend to her once we get her moved, okay?"

Percy simply nodded. He hung on to Annabeth as both Thalia and John helped hoist him to his feet. He slowly walked to the gurney that was at the foot of her bed and gently laid her down. "Don't wake her up," Percy said quietly to Thalia. "She completely flew off the handle when I touched her and I had to hold her down until she was able to calm down," he added as he tucked the blanket around her tightly, not allowing any part of her to be exposed to anyone.

Percy looked up at Thalia and he was surprised to see a tear make its way down her cheek. "I can handle this Perce. Just let John take care of your hands and then you need to tend to Alexa. She's a wreck out there," she said as she gently stroked Annabeth's blonde curls.

Percy turned his back to Thalia and Annabeth and sat down on the edge of the bed. This was the first time since he barged in and attacked Luke that he let the whole situation sink in. He looked down at his hands and they were bloody and bruised. Several fingers on his left hand were swollen and he couldn't make a fist. He was pretty sure his hand was broken from the force of slamming his fists into Luke's head repeatedly.

Percy sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair for what seemed like forever, when finally an officer sat down next to him. Percy glanced at him sadly and then looked back down at his bandaged and casted hand.

"I know it's been a really long night but may I ask you a few questions Mr. Jackson?" He droned off while flipping through his small notebook and readying his pen.

Percy simply nodded and continued to look at his damaged hands.

"Can you tell me what happened tonight?"

Percy sighed and said, "Long story short, I left my girlfriend's apartment to go pick up my sister as she was kicked out of camp. My girlfriend called back as we were on our way back to her place but all I heard was what sounded like things falling and then a scream I will never get out of my head. She screamed for help and that is when I hung up, called 9-1-1 and rushed to her place. I didn't think, I just reacted. All I remember was tackling Luke and falling off the bed. I had the upper hand and hit him. I don't know how many times I hit him. I just seemed to black out for a few minutes. Annabeth's cries brought me back from where ever I was at and I went to help her. And now, here we are."

Percy glanced up and noticed the officer furiously writing down everything he just said. 'I just want to get Annabeth and get out of here,' He thought as he knew the all-important question was about pop up and it wasn't one that he really wanted to answer.

"Do you have any idea why Mr. Castellan would attack Miss Chase like that?"

And there it was. The question Percy didn't want to answer. He leaned back in the chair and went to run his hand through his hair, something he always did when he was nervous or upset. He winced as he remember he couldn't use his hands. "Look," Percy started, "it's beyond complicated. Luke has a reputation and is known for buying people off to get what he wants to stay out of trouble. Annabeth made a mistake last month when she kneed him in the balls after he made an unwanted pass at her. He started stalking her and threatening her."

"Why didn't she get a restraining order out on him?"

"Have you ever actually seen a restraining order work? I mean really, what keeps a man from beating a woman who is alone in home when she has a restraining order? He simply walks through it and then generally posts bail. Something we all knew Luke would do. We also know that his family has paid police officers off before, what was to stop him from doing it this time?"

"Do you have proof of this?" The officer asked cautiously.

"Just Luke bragging about it. Nothing concrete. Just our word against his." Percy leaned forward again, elbows resting on his knees. He was getting restless. He needed out of the hospital and away from the officer. He hated the smell, the lights and just the overall feel. The only happy place was the maternity ward and he had no desire to be in one of those at the time being. "What happens now?" He asked quietly.

The officer sighed and closed his notebook. "That will depend on what the Castellan family wants to do. They could press charges on you for any damages to their son. Have a lawyer ready just in case. Miss Chase absolutely needs to follow through with all charges we book him on when he wakes up. He will go straight into custody and be booked and listed as a sexual predator. He faces serious jail time."

Percy was quiet for a moment and then felt pressure on his shoulder. He turned to see the officer trying to offer his best support. "I can't be bought Mr. Jackson." The officer gave him a nod and then got up and walked off, leaving Percy to his thoughts.