Another possible trigger chapter and a little language thrown in as well...mostly toward the end of the chapter. Updates will come much slower as my free time was just thrown out the window. I will try to be back within a week! Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them! Read, review and enjoy!

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

Chapter 11

The music coming from Annabeth was beyond beautiful but at the same time Percy wanted to throw the keyboard out the window. He never thought it would ever be pulled out again and was regretting that he never sold the thing when he had the chance.

Percy blinked back the tears and slowly walked into the living room and genuinely smiled at the sight in front of him despite the emotions running through him. Annabeth was sitting in the chair with Alexa in her lap and hands on top of Annabeth's. She played a song he had never heard before but that didn't stop him from instantly liking it. "Hey ladies. Dinner's ready."

Annabeth looked up at him and smiled and continued to play.

"Let her finish Perce. I like this song," Alexa exclaimed as Percy sat down on the arm of the chair.

Percy simply nodded and watched as Annabeth's fingers glided effortlessly over the keys. Her foot on the pedal, would press down causing the sound to change and hold the sound longer and he was amazed at how she easily combined the two. The last time he saw someone play with such ease, other than his mother, was his half-brother Tyson. He had bought the keyboard as a birthday present for his brother but he never got to give it to him.

Tyson passed away a week before his birthday. He and Percy's step-mother were on their way to meet Percy and Poseidon for a surprise dinner when they were hit head on by a texting teenager. The girl survived and left a part of Percy's family broken and grieving. Tyson was pronounced dead on the scene and his step-mother let go not long after the entire family was gathered to see her.

Percy glared at the keyboard, angry at the memories that were flooding him right now. He felt something on his knee and he looked down to see Annabeth's hand gently squeezing his knee cap.

"You okay?"

Percy again blinked away the tears and then shook his head and said, "Yeah. I was just thinking about some things."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"Not right now. Let's just eat and relax. Alexa, please go get the plates and silverware ready for us."

Percy watched as Alexa jumped up and ran to the kitchen to do as she was told. He then turned his attention back to Annabeth and stood up from the arm and held his hands out to help her up.

"What a pair we are. You with two bum hands and me with the broken wrist that is never going to heal," She said with a small giggle.

Percy smiled at her and slowly pulled her in for a hug. He felt her tense slightly and then quickly relax as he rested his head on top of hers. "Thank you for being so wonderful with her."

Annabeth smiled slightly and looked up at Percy. "No problem. She is a sweet kid . . . I just hope this whole ordeal doesn't break her."

Percy simply nodded and then pushed the keyboard out of the way so they could get to the kitchen easier.

Annabeth found his bandaged hand with her good one and as he started to walk she stopped him by not moving and pulling him back. She stood up on tip toe and kissed him on the forehead. "Give me time Percy." She ran her finger tips of her cast hand down the side of his face. All he could do was smile weakly and nod. He would do whatever she needed and if time is what she needed he would give it to her.

Percy woke on the sofa to find himself alone in the living room, the menu to The Hunger Games running on a loop on his television. He stretched and sighed and tried to block the images of his dreams from his mind.

A week ago their lives were turned upside down. He managed to get Alexa in with great therapist and with his mom and step-dad's help, she is healing. His dad was also on top of every legal thing they needed for her, so that was an added bonus. Annabeth had been amazing with her this week as well and has promised her their own private therapy sessions at his mother's before their weekly dinners. Annabeth promised her she would be there for her as long as she needed her and Alexa graciously accepted. Progress. There was progress with at least one of them.

Annabeth on the other hand was falling apart. Percy could see it in her eyes. Since the incident she had spent every night at his place. He went with her back to her apartment after they dropped Alexa off with his mom and Paul and all hell broke loose. He followed her into the apartment that hadn't been touched and she flipped. It took him almost an hour and half to calm her down and get what they needed and get out before she had another anxiety attack. She spent most of Sunday evening at the keyboard, pouring her soul into the songs she played.

While it pained Percy to look at the keyboard sitting out, he accepted the fact that it was needed. He couldn't change the past but he could help change the future.

He stretched again and shut the television off and made his way to the bedroom. He stopped when he saw that Annabeth was still awake. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging her knees and looking out the window in front of her. He slowly made his way to her and sat down next to her. For the first time in the past week she didn't shy away from him. Instead she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed deeply.

"We need to talk Percy."

He carefully placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He rested his chin on her head and she hugged him back.

"Can we talk in the morning," Percy asked cautiously. "I am not trying to blow you or your needs off, I am just beyond exhausted right now."

She smiled up at him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Yeah," she replied quietly.

Annabeth didn't sleep more than two hours that night. Visions from a week ago haunted her dreams and it made it almost impossible for her to sleep anymore. When Percy woke, he found her back in the same spot at the foot of the bed, just as she was when he found in the wee hours of the morning.

"Did you sleep at all?"

She shook her head no. "Well a little bit. The dreams wake me constantly." She didn't even turn around to answer him. She just kept staring out the window.

Percy sighed. "Come here babe." He held his arms out to her and watched as she slowly turned around. Her eyes were puffy but he didn't think she had been crying, just sleep deprived. She carefully crawled over to him and folded herself into his arms. He missed this. He missed her.

She looked up at him and kissed his cheek. "Percy," She started but he cut her off. He pressed his lips to hers and he felt her pull back slightly. After a moment she leaned into the kiss. They pulled away a few minutes later and there were tears in her eyes. "Percy, my designs, with your help are being used on the Texas project. I leave in three weeks," She squeaked out through more tears.

Percy sighed and hugged her to him. "Congratulations," he whispered through his tears.

"You're mad."

"No . . . just sad. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond ecstatic for you Annabeth. I really and truly am. I know how much getting this project means to you and just how much you will get to move up in your mom's firm with this job, but . . ." Percy let his voice trailed off.

Annabeth pushed herself up on her right elbow and looked him as tears rolled down her cheeks. "But what?"

"What about us?"

"What about us? Just because I am going to Texas doesn't mean that we stop being us," She cried to him.

"Well . . . I won't get to see you that often. A couple of days every month max. I don't know that I can do that Annabeth." He moved a stray curl from her face and gently tucked it behind her ear.

Annabeth stared at him intently. His eyes, usually alive like the ocean currents seemed almost dead at this moment.

"What do you mean 'you can't do that,' are you saying that you aren't even willing to work on a long distance relationship?"

Percy shook his head and forced the two of them to sit up. "That's not what I mean." He pulled her closer to him and he felt her tense in his lap. He didn't let that stop him as he pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head. "I told you that I would wait for you in whatever capacity you need me to wait. I stand by every word. But Annabeth, I went from waiting to having you in my life almost daily for the past month. I don't want to move backwards in that regard to us."

Annabeth pulled herself out of his hug and watched as tears slid down his cheeks.

"I know that is insanely selfish of me, but I can't even begin to tell you how much I love you," He whispered to her.

A tear slid down Annabeth's cheek as she gently placed a hand on his cheek to wipe away his tears. "I love you too," she whispered.

Two days later, things between Percy and Annabeth weren't any better than they were when she told him that she was going to be leaving for Texas. She was currently locked in the bathroom, the hot water in the shower running. She was gripping the edge of the sink tightly trying to suck in a deep breath but wasn't having a lot of luck with all of the steam in the air.

"Relax Annabeth. Just relax," she whispered to herself. She squeezed the sink tighter and closed her eyes. She pushed herself angrily away from the sink and turned to fast and caught her shin on a stool that Alexa didn't put away. She didn't have time to catch herself and she landed on her butt next to the shower door.

"Shit!" Annabeth quickly kicked the stool out of the way and leaned back on the shower door. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She dropped her head to her knees and started to cry. After a few moments she was rocking and hitting her head on the door. She was allowing her world to crash around her. It was so much easier to deal with physical pain right now than the pain of everything else going on around her. The pain of leaving Percy for so long, the pain of breaking her promise to Alexa, the pain that Luke caused her. It was all too much for her to take.

Annabeth didn't remember getting up and digging through the medicine cabinet but she did. She didn't remember finding the medical scissors in the first aid kit but they were in her hand. Her world was a sudden blur of pain and angry visions of her rape. She sat back down against the shower door and opened the little scissors all of the way. She managed to wedge them into her fingers on her left hand, making sure to use part of her cast as a lever. She propped her right wrist up on her knee and angled it so that she didn't have to use too much force on her left wrist.

The scissors didn't cut very deep but the burning sensation caused an oddly freeing sensation throughout the rest of her body. Without looking, she ran the scissors across her wrist again. The burning sensation appeared again and this time it was stronger. Her chest felt lighter and she was breathing a bit easier at the moment. She moved her hand again and the burning sensation returned yet again, but this time a warm tingling sensation was running down her arm. She ignored it and went for another slice.

She was pulled from all of her feelings to see Percy in her face calling her name.

". . . nabeth! What in the hell are you doing?" He yanked the scissors out of her hand and threw them in the sink.

He was screaming at her and she didn't know why. She was trying to resurface from her small moment of euphoria and she was only catching bits and pieces of what he was saying to her.

"Jesus, Annabeth, you are so freaking lucky you didn't do any real damage," He yelled at her as he wrapped her wrist in a towel.

He tried to help her up but she wouldn't budge so he just threw a towel over her.

"I'm sorry Percy," she mumbled as he dug through the first aid kit.

He tensed as he heard her apology and then quickly pulled everything down to the floor. He sat down next to her and took her wrist into his hand and removed the blood stained towel. He sighed heavily as he looked at the angry marks on her wrist. "Were you trying to kill yourself?"

"Huh?" Annabeth looked at him confused and went back to leaning against the shower door.

"I said, were you trying to kill yourself?" Percy was losing his patience with her and his words came out harsh.

Annabeth was still lost in her own world and started hitting her head on the shower door again.

"STOP IT," Percy screamed at the top of his lungs.

Annabeth couldn't stop though. The weak pains shooting down the back of her head were soothing to her and allowing her to escape everything.

Percy ran from the bathroom and grabbed his phone. He quickly dialed Thalia and didn't even wait for her to say hello. "I NEED you here NOW!" He quickly hung up the phone and threw it on his bed. He ran back into the bathroom to find Annabeth in the same position, still beating her head on the door. He ran over and sat back down next to her unsure of what to do. Her wrist was bleeding again and he decided to clean that up before Thalia showed up and they were forced to drag her to the psych ward.

Percy quickly cleaned the wounds and placed Neosporin across the worst of them before wrapping her wrist in gauze. As soon as he was finished Thalia came barreling through the front door.

"PERCY? PERCY WHERE ARE YOU?" She was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"My bathroom. Get in here now!"

Thalia quickly ran through his apartment and stopped in his bathroom door. She stood shocked but only for a second. She had seen behavior like this before at work. It was not something she ever thought her best friend would succumb to and she was suddenly at a loss.

"Thalia, what do we do? I don't know how to help her." Percy was on the verge of tears and his eyes were pleading with his cousin to tell him what to do.

Thalia sucked in a deep breath and walked over to Annabeth. She sat down next to her and took her hand. "Percy, what the hell happened here? Why is there blood all over?"

"She cut herself," He sighed sadly.

"Was she trying to kill herself?" Thalia was trying to remain calm but things were by far worse than she thought they would ever get.

"I don't think so. There were a bunch of little cuts and two bigger cuts . . ."

"She wasn't trying to kill herself," Thalia interrupted him. "She's cutting to drown out the pain." Thalia moved her hands so they were now cupping Annabeth's face. She pulled her closer to her and stared into her dull gray eyes. "Beth, can you hear me?" Annabeth simply blinked at her and continued to try and hit her head on the door. "Annabeth Chase! You look at me right now," Thalia screamed at her.

Annabeth was drowning. She could hear Thalia calling to her. She wanted to slap her for calling her Beth. Thalia knew how much she hated that nick name. She could feel her eyes flutter to Thalia's face, they didn't stay though.

"You're in there," Thalia whispered. "I know you are. What do you need Annabeth? Just tell us what you need," Thalia pleaded with her.

Annabeth continued to rock and hit and suddenly Thalia remembered something she had told her about her childhood. "Percy, sing. Sing to her. Music is the key to her anxiety. Pull her into your lap and sing to her. She needs something to pull her back."

Percy sighed and pulled her into his lap. He carefully placed her so that her back was against his chest, as he tried to block her from hitting her head anymore. "This better work," He growled at Thalia and she slammed her head into his collar bone.

'Darlin' hold me in your arms
The way you did last night
And we'll lie inside
A little while here, oh'

Thalia looked at Percy and interjected, "That is a depressing song Percy!"

"Shut it Thals, I am only singing the chorus to her. What matters is that I mean it, right?"

Thalia sighed and nodded for him to continue.

'I could look into your eyes
Until the sun comes up
And we're wrapped in light and life and love'

Annabeth continued to try to slam her head into him and Percy had to adjust his hold on her so that all she could do was push against him. He continued on, singing to her with all of his heart, meaning every last word he sang.

'Put your open lips on mine
And slowly let them shut
For they're designed to be together, oh'

'Finally, progress,' Percy thought as he felt her relax. She was listening to him now and not grinding her skull into his collar bone anymore. He sucked in a deep breath and continued.

'With your body next to mine
Our hearts will beat as one
And we're set alight
We're afire love
I could look into your eyes
Until the sun comes up
And we're wrapped in light and life and love'

Percy started the chorus over again and he felt Annabeth go limp. Thalia pulled the towel up over her and Percy pressed on as her once rapid breathing began to slow.

'Put your open lips on mine
And slowly let them shut
For they're designed to be together, oh
With your body next to mine
Our hearts will beat as one
And we're set alight
We're afire love'

Finally Annabeth broke the surface of her catatonic state. She buried her face in Percy's shirt as the tears poured out of her.

"I am sorry, so sorry Percy. Please forgive me. Forgive me. Just say you forgive me," She pleaded with him. He wasn't answering her and all she could do was plead and pray he would forgive her.

Percy continued to hold her close. He gently rocked her and let her cry.