Hello readers! I missed you. Or something.

To answer someone's question: No, I am not British. I'm American. :-)

The ship docks, and the cheering gets louder. I glare at the city, biting my lip. The sailors come up from below, and I raise myself on my tiptoes, looking for Percy. I see him and cry out, running to him. He catches me and I bury my face in his neck.

"Percy, look what she did."
"I see. We'll be alright."
"I don't want a big parade."
"But you've got one," He says, gentle, stroking my back. "And you'll be fine."
"I'm wearing pants. She'll be horrified."
"You'll start a new fashion."
"It's already a fashion."
"You'll make it bigger. The city adores you."

"Fine," I say, exhaling on his neck. I come out and peer at him. "You smell."
"I noticed. Do you care?"
"Nope."
"Neither do I. Let's go." Taking my hand, Percy leads me off the boat. The crowd parts automatically for us, still cheering. A few throw flowers, one of which Percy catches and tucks behind my ear, causing even more whoops. He laughs, coaxing a small smile from me. Seeing it, he spins me around, dipping me like we're dancing. Right there, in the middle of the street, we've stopped. He's looking down at me, laughing slightly, and then he kisses me. It's soft, happy, and the world melts away.

"Move it, lovebirds!" Leo shouts. Percy pulls away for a second, sticks his tongue out at Leo, and comes back to me. We stay there, just kissing, until Percy pulls away roughly, standing. He's still holding me by the waist, and I glare at him.

"I almost fell. What a spectacle that would have been."

I roll my eyes at him teasingly, and we start walking again, hand in hand. The crowd members cheer happily, asking for more. Once or twice we oblige.

But eventually, we reach the end. My mother and Malcom, standing on a raised platform, on thrones. Well, Malcom's on the edge of his thrown, and seeing me, he throws himself off, laughing. He catches me in a hug, and I hug him back.

"I missed you, Annabeth!" Malcom says. "Imagine that!"
"Well, thanks. I love you too." We reach the platform and I climb on it, standing in front of Mother.

"Welcome back, Annabeth. I see that your searches were not for naught."
"Indeed, Mother. I found Percy, as well as a few others."
"Welcome, all. Please accompany us back to the castle for a celebratory banquet. Oh, and we must discuss wedding plans."
She stands and turns around, climbing down the stairs and into a carriage. I stare after her, making a small whining sound in the back of my throat. Percy laughs, kissing the top of my head and pulling my hand along. I follow along somewhat grumpily.

We reach the castle, and I have assistance taking off my clothes and running a bath. I don't let the attendants help me bathe, though. I send them out and relax in the warm water.

It turns cold soon, and I reluctantly. Carefully, standing, pulling a dress on. I leave off my sword, knowing Mother won't approve. When I start to walk, the brush of leg on leg scares me so much, I pull on a pair of black leggings under my dress. I then poke my head out to the familiar presence of Likker.

"Do I have to dress for the banquet?"
"Yes, Princess. Would you like me to send in some maidens?"
"No! I mean, no thank you, Likker. That won't be necessary. Thank you, though."
I head back into my room and throw open my wardrobe doors, studying the contents. I keep Percy in mind, imagining what he'd like.
I look at one dress, in the back. It's different than the simple dresses I'd usually wear. It's sea-green, strapless, with a small V on the top, exposing more than normal. It's nice and flowy. I'm in the middle of fingering it when there's a knock on my door. I open it to see Piper, Hazel, and Reyna. Piper's almost in tears.

"We have no dresses, no face colorings, and no hair things!"
"Well, come it! I've got plenty of everything!"
They pour in, studying my dresses. Piper sees the sea-green dress and yanks it out.
"Annabeth, you have to wear this!"
"Oh, but—"
"No buts. It's out. You were thinking about it."
"I know." I take my dress and watch them sift through my other ball gowns that I've collected.

Piper picks a light gold dress with a slit down the side, letting out her leg. Hazel picks a simple dark blue dress, with a twisty top. Reyna picks a light purple dress with small straps and silver lace across the top.

We raid my shoes next, then do our hair, then our face colorings. When we're done, we stand in front of the mirror.

"We look marvelous," Piper remarks. And we do. It also helps that I've stuck a small, silver dagger in my waistband and Piper's got a knife in a thigh sheath that you can see.
Likker tells me that we have some time, so we sit straight in chairs, chatting slightly about random stuff. When it's finally time to go, we use the balcony stairs instead. There's one way glass, so we can see the crowd's reactions. More importantly, the boys. Reyna descends first, and gets a chorus of applause and whistles. I spy Malcom staring.
Hazel goes next, and Jason and Percy look indifferent—happy, smiling, but not stunned. But Frank is smiling so big that I think his face will split in two. Piper starts to go, then comes back and carefully pulls a pin from my hair, letting a curl fall out of my twisty updo. She smiles, I giggle and make shooing gestures, and she goes.

I can almost hear the breath taken in by the crowd, and more applause. Jason looks like he's just been told that he's won everything he's ever wanted, that's how happy he is.

Then it's my turn. Dimly, I hear my name announced, and the small applause start. When I come into view, the room goes dead silent. I see women eying my dress with jealously, men eying me jealously, and Percy—Percy looks like he's been struck with a bolt of lightning. The look passes when I reach ground level and applause and cheers echo around the room.
"Is it that bad?" I ask Percy nervously.

"I forgot."
"What?"
"How beautiful you are when you actually try. It's—it's beyond words," Percy murmurs, tucking the curl Piper let loose behind my ear. I smile at him, shutting out Piper's smirking face over his shoulder.

"And how good you smell, Percy, dear, when you try."
He laughs, kissing my cheek.

We mingle, we chat, we make toasts and explain how much we don't know about our wedding.

When the evening is finally over, we go to my room—and lock the door.

Use your imagination. If you're like, 6, then they went and kissed. If you're like, 16, then you know. If you're 32, then you really know.

Please review! I might do a recap of the banquet/party next chapter, but I don't know. Thanks for reading!