OH. MY. GOSHNESS. I am soooooo sorry guys! I didn't realize it had been a whole MONTH since I'd updated! I got a review from the original author, and almost cried when I saw how pleased she was with the changes I'd made. Keep reviewing!

DISCLAIMER: Pfft. Yeah I own it. Completely. Absolutely. The certificate of ownership is right next to crown jewels, and pet elephant, Tiny.

Chapter 11:

What the Hades, Chiron!

Annabeth's POV

Percy and I were sitting on the canoe lake pier, our hands intertwined, just hanging out and watching the sunset together. His hand was warm, but calloused, and I thought it was just like him. Warm, and kind, but battle hardened, and tough from years of fighting waves were now calm and peaceful, once again reacting to Percy's emotions.

"Percy..." I hesitated.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.

Something had been bothering me ever since Kronos had threatened the camp. "Um... I've been thinking... what if Kronos's army is too strong, and we can't hold the camp? What if... what if these few days before he invades are the last that we'll have to be together?" I asked with difficulty. I wasn't yet accustomed to having to always explain my feelings to him. I had been holding this thought in for a long time, and it felt good to finally mention it to him.

Percy took a deep breath, and then gazed into my eyes. "Annabeth, we willhold the camp," he claimed with a determined expression. "I won't let Kronos destroy this camp. Wewon't let Kronos destroy this camp. It's home. And I most definitely will make him pay for intimidating you." He leaned in hesitantly and bravely pecked me on the lips.

Immediately, my face grew warm, and so did his. All the... er, contactbetween us was still awkward. We were still used to holding in our feelings. Gods, I had to get used to this.

I smiled, still worried for the camp and our lives, but I wasn't going to make him worry about me by showing how frightened I was. "What do you think the real Thalia would think about us? Y'know…together?" I asked wistfully, staring out into the ocean.

Percy smiled lightly. "I think she'd be happy for us," he said. Suddenly, his face took on a curious expression. "When I first came to this camp, on my first day, what did you think of me?"

I thought back to a few years ago, to the day that I first met him. "I didn't really know what to think of you," I admitted. "I was a daughter of Athena, and you were a son of Poseidon. I should have hated you, but... I couldn't.You were so caring, so cute, so brave, so willing to be friends. After our first quest, all I knew was that I definitely didn't hate you." I smirked. "I knew you weren't like what I thought a son of Poseidon would be like," I explained.

Percy was silent for a moment, digesting this. "What do mean, you just knew you didn't hate me?"

"Well, I knew I didn't hate you, but I didn't know yet that I….liked you. I didn't figure that out until you took the weight of the sky off my shoulders," I admitted.

A smile slowly grew on Percy's face. He looked into my eyes warmly. "I…kinda love you," he whispered, blushing and looking shy.

I smiled happily with him and blushed lightly. He loved me? Wow. I never thought that he…I mean, I wasn't sure… "I love you, too." I said back, blushing, looking down at my lap. I looked back up to see him smiling, his teeth as white as pearls.

Just then, the conch horn blew, signaling dinnertime. Time for the announcement about Kronos. I had to admit, I wish I'd gotten more time alone with Percy.

"Time to go," I grumbled.

"I wish we didn't have to go, but if we didn't show up, people would get suspicious, or think that we got attacked by a hellhound or something," he muttered.

He stood up and held his hand down to pull me up. We both leaned slowly in. I expected a quick good-bye peck, but Percy had other ideas. Instead of simply pecking me, he put both his hands around my waist, holding me tight,pulling me in and kissing me softly, his lips moving gently against mine, sending chills down to my toes. He tugged on my bottom lip and I let out a little murmur. He then started kissing me more passionately, even more so than this morning. He tugged me closer to his chest and tightened his grip on me while quickening the pace of his kiss. I locked my arms around his neck and leaned into him, deepening the kiss even more. I was out of breath when we pulled away from each other.

"You're... good at…that," I panted, and blushed.

"Not bad yourself," he smiled.

Just then, a satyr fell from the tree on the side of us, landing right between me and Percy.

"Oh my gods, it's true! You twoaretogether! Why didn't you tell me?" Grover stood up and brushed himself off. He looked excited and hurt at the same time, if that was possible.

Percy stared at Grover as if he'd just dropped from the moon. "Were you spyingon us?" he seemed like he was trying to sound upset, but I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Of course I was! But that doesn't matter! All that matters is that a daughter of Athena and a son of Poseidon are in love!Oh my gods, this story's gonna be passed on for centuries!"

"Are you saying that you're gonna tell everybody?" Percy demanded, still not sounding very angry. It would be hard for him to get upset at his best friend.

Grover looked surprised. "Of course not! If you two want it to stay a secret, then I'll keep it a secret. But Aphrodite isn't exactly secretive."

"How long have you been watching?" I asked.

"Since Percy asked you, 'What's wrong'," he answered simply.

"So... you basically heard everything?"

"Yep," he answered smugly.

"Okay, whatever," Percy said to Grover. "We have to get to dinner," he reminded us.

"Oh, yeah." I had actually forgotten for a minute.

"I'll see you right after dinner, okay, Annabeth?" he said, pecking me on my cheek.

"Sure," I said, blushing only because Grover was watching. Well, sure, he'd been watching the entire time, but...

As Percy turned unwillingly and walked away, I felt a strange longing. I wasn't usually like this, but it felt so good to finally have him like that, and I didn't want to be away from him.

Grover grinned. "Time to go!"

And then we turned and walked side-by-side to the dining pavilion.

At The Dining Pavilion...

"Everybody, I have an announcement," Chiron said in centaur form, locking eyes with me and then Percy. He gestured with his hand for us to stand up, and we did so simultaneously. "Percy and Annabeth have had an interesting day today." He jumped into the story from the beginning, and now he was at the part when Thalia/Kronos had just dropped a lightning bolt on Percy. "I suppose Percy and Annabeth were not very secretive about their little kiss, now were they?" He chuckled, but then his eyes widened, remembering that he was supposed to keep that a secret.

Percy's eyes widened in surprise at the betrayal, and so did mine. How could Chiron do this to us? I mean, everyone would know at some point, but it just made it so much more awkward and humiliating announcing it like that in front of the whole camp.

Everybody began either cracking up or snickering, but my siblings glared at me in disbelief. The Aphrodite Cabin, on the other hand, were practically squealing with excitement.

Chiron cleared his throat, and then he jumped right back into the story as if nothing had happened, which must've been difficult with the roaring of the other campers.

He finished the story, then he asked, "Okay, any questions?"

A few campers raised their hands, and Chiron pointed to an Ares camper. "Yes?"

"Um, yeah. Did Percy and Annabeth just kiss, or was it full-blown make out, rolling on top of each other and everything?"

The other campers howled, and I don't think I've blushed more than that in my entire life. Percy followed my lead, looking like a tomato.

There was no point in just standing there, with everybody mocking and laughing at me and Percy. I rolled my eyes and stood up, storming toward Thalia's tree.

"Annabeth, wait!" Percy called, sprinting after me.

Chapter 12:

I Love You

Percy's POV

"Annabeth!" I yelled, running after her.

She didn't stop, and I was afraid she would stomp all the way to Mexico, but finally she stopped and sat down with her back against Thalia's tree. I sat down next to her on her left, putting my right arm around her shoulders and holding her hand with the hand on my other arm. She snuggled closer to me, and I kissed her forehead.

"Annabeth, don't worry about them," I tried to comfort her. "I love you. That's all that matters, right?"

Surprisingly, Annabeth didn't look as upset as I'd expected. "No, nothing matters more to me than the fact that you love me. I love you too. But I'm not worried about them. I just hate it when people laugh at me. It was just so unexpected, Chiron blowing the secret. I kinda freaked out," she admitted.

"Y'know, I'd gladly beat any one of them for being so obnoxious if you wanted me to. Maybe even Chiron," I offered.

To my relief, she laughed. "Not today, Seaweed Brain. Maybe later."

Then I remembered what I was planning on telling her. "Hey, you don't have to explain to Thalia about us."

She stared at me in disbelief. "She's my best friend, Percy! Besides, everybody else knows about us already. Of course I'm going to tell her."

"No, no, I didn't mean that. I mean she already knows. She was at dinner, in an Iris Message. Her image popped up by my table out of nowhere; scared the Hades out of me. I don't think anybody else noticed her. She was just visiting; asking me how things were going. Nothing really important. But she was listening during Chiron's announcement," I explained.

She groaned. "That means that she saw me walk away from everybody, doesn't it? Great. She'll probably be here in a few minutes, ready to beat the Hades out of everybody for laughing at us." There was slight humor in her tone.

I actually laughed at the thought- Thalia bringing the rest of the Hunters, dropping lightning bolts and shooting arrows at everybody in sight. "That'd be fun."

She laughed with me, and I could tell that she was already getting over what had just happened at dinner. Without meaning to, we stared into each other's eyes as we laughed, and before I knew it, we were silent, and she was leaning in slowly.

Our lips met, and I have to admit it was the best feeling I've ever gotten. Kissing the person you love... as a teenager, I doubt there's anything better than that. I felt pure admiration for this girl, pure love. Why she chose me, I have no idea; I was the luckiest demigod in the world.

Unexpectedly, she seemed to be trying to get on top of me. She was kissing me slowly, but gently nudging me toward the ground. I lay slowly down on the grass without breaking the kiss and allowed her to; I could feel her smiling beneath my lips. She crawled up on top of me, snuggling against my chest and we kissed even more deeply than before, our entire bodies pressed together. I could feel her fingers tangling in my hair, and I slipped my hands on top of the small of her back, rubbing circles and holding her there. She moaned softly, and I shuddered in pleasure. It was hard to believe that we were both still new to this.

She hesitantly pulled away from me, and I sat up. We both were panting heavily; I was slightly light-headed. I wasn't sure how long we'd both just gone without breathing.

Annabeth smiled at me dreamily. "How is it that, no matter what, you always manage to make me feel better?" She asked.

Before I could respond, I heard somebody clear their throat. "So, I see the rumors are true," a familiar voice said.

Annabeth and I looked up, and I blushed deeply at the person's image in front of us. How long had they been watching?

"Hi, Thalia," Annabeth greeted, sounding embarrassed and sheepish.

The daughter of Zeus's misty image was in front of us; apparently, she'd sent another Iris Message. She smiled. "Finally! I was afraid you two would never stop making out!" she teased.

My face grew even warmer, if that was possible. Annabeth laughed. "Shut up, Thalia!"

Thalia grinned. "So, Annabeth, I see you finally went through with your idea." The way she said this, I had a feeling that her and Annabeth were sharing a secret.

"Thalia, you promised me you'd never talk about that in front of him!" Annabeth protested, her eyes growing wide.

"Talk about what in front of me?" I asked curiously.

Thalia turned to me and grinned even more widely. "You see, I was the first one that Annabeth told her feelings about you to," she began.

"Thals!" Annabeth interrupted. Apparently, she really didn't want me to know what Thalia was about to tell me.

Thalia ignored her. "And, well, Annabeth figured that, if she kissed you, you two would end up together. And, apparently, she did kiss you. This morning, right?"

I gave Annabeth a smug grin. She stuck her tongue out at me. "Actually, Thalia, she didn't. I kissed herthis morning.She kissed meon Mount St. Helens," I corrected.

"Thanks a lot, Thalia," Annabeth muttered.

"If you didn't want me to tell him, you should've had me swear on the River Styx," Thalia said innocently. Smiling mischievously.

"Whatever."

Suddenly, Thalia's face took on a serious expression. "I came here so that I could tell you two something important," she said suddenly. "You campers won't be fighting the battle alone. The Hunters will be by your side."

Annabeth gasped. "Thalia, you're the best! But….there's hardly any chance we'll win," she worried. "We'd be leading you into a slaughter."

Thalia frowned. "Since when do you worry so much?" she demanded.

"Since I got a boyfriend," Annabeth muttered, so low that I wasn't sure if she'd meant for us to hear.

I turned to Annabeth. "I promise you, nothing will happen to me or you," I told her. "We may get hurt, but we willsurvive this battle. Everybody will. I know it."

Annabeth looked at me, grateful for the support. "Seaweed Brain, being all stupid." She said, but I could tell from the look in her eyes she didn't mean it.

Thalia smiled. "Well, I see you two are probably about to make out again in a few minutes, so... well, I probably should get going. Artemis is waiting. The Hunters and I should be there by tomorrow morning, because Kronos can strike at any time. So... see you tomorrow?"

"Sure," Annabeth said. "Bye."

"Bye," I said.

"Later," and Thalia broke off the message with a swipe of her hand.

I gazed up at the sky, and I was barely noticing how dark it was out here. There was almost no light at all; everybody else would be asleep already. "Annabeth, it's late," I murmured. "I think we should go to bed."

"Probably," she sighed, standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Why are you standing up?" I objected.

She looked confused. "I'm going to my cabin."

"I never said anything about going back to our cabin," I said mischievously.

Annabeth just looked more confused for a second, but after a moment she smiled widely. "Are you saying we should sleep out here?"

"Don't you feel like it? Besides, it's not like anybody will notice; everyone's asleep. But we don't have to if you don't want to," I added quickly.

"I guess one night wouldn't hurt," she said, laying down on the grass.

"Okay, then," I smiled, laying down beside her.

She wrapped her arms around me. "Goodnight, Seaweed Brain," she whispered as I wrapped my arms around her, too. She tucked her head under my chin and on my chest.

"Goodnight. Love you."

"Love you too."

I leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight." I closed my eyes.

"'Night."

I thought I would never be able to sleep, with Annabeth holding me and everything, but I didn't realize how tired I was. So much had happened today: I bathed in the Styx, I confessed my love to Annabeth, and I kissed Annabeth. Kronos dropped a thunderbolt on my head, and I found out that Kronos had been disguised as Thalia. Plus, Chiron had blown our secret. All at the same time, today had been the best and the worst day of my life. I couldn't wait for tomorrow.

After about a minute of just laying there, I fell asleep with Annabeth in my arms.