A/N: Hola amigos. Smart Girl and I weren't planning on updating any time soon (even though we've had this chapter written for... a while...) but then my favorite dynamic duo prince of death and prince of fortune reviewed a different fic, asking me to update this, so... Here it is. Enjoy!

I'd just like to say that Leo makes me cry in this chapter. And also Frazel is beautiful. And Annabeth is just so spot-on. Smart Girl, I love you.

Disclaimer: Neither Smart Girl nor I own PJO. Or, at least, I don't... Hopefully, she hasn't been holding out on me...

please review!

Chapter Two

The next day, Percy woke with a splitting headache, hugging a pillow almost obscenely. He blinked furiously, trying to remember what had happened the night before. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, hoping the sledgehammer in his head would go away.

It didn't.

He looked around his living room, trying to piece together what had happened last night. Nico and Jason were wrapped around each other, shirtless, and asleep on the other's shoulder. It was actually surprisingly cute for a couple whose PDAs usually made Percy want to flee or throw up. Sometimes both.

Percy glanced around for Rachel and Thalia, but didn't see them, so he decided to make himself some coffee. As he stumbled to the kitchenette, he stepped on something warm and squishy. He squeaked in alarm (ok, maybe it was more of a scream. But a very manly scream) and looked down to see Rachel and Thalia lying on the floor hugging each other the way Percy had been hugging his pillow.

Percy rubbed his eyes, saw that the girls were still there, then muttered, "I did not need that image first thing in the morning." He covered his eyes partially, then carefully walked through his apartment, to the coffee machine. He kissed it. "Mmm. I love you, coffee machine."

"I see I've been replaced." A voice said from behind him. He whirled around to see Annabeth leaning in the doorway of their bedroom, wrapped in a comforter.

Percy chuckled nervously. Even though she was joking, she had that steel in her eyes that reminded Percy of the few times he had seen her mother. It was the look that made him feel about two inches tall. He picked his way across the living room and picked her up, kissing her soundly on the lips. "Of course not, Annabeth. My love for the coffee machine is purely ionic."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to assume you meant 'platonic' there. Otherwise that sentence makes very little sense."

Percy grinned. "I love it when you say smart things."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're pathetic. I bet you don't even know what either of those words mean."

Percy smiled. "I actually do. I just like it when you correct me."

Annabeth chuckled and started to reply with a witty comeback, but started coughing.

"You are still sick, Miss Chase," Percy scolded. "I insist as the friend of a pre-med student that you go back to bed."

"Mr. Jackson, I am shocked by such a suggestion. What will the neighbors think?"

"Miss Chase, how dare you accuse me of anything of that nature. And I thought you were a well-bred young lady."

"While this is all absolutely adorable," A lazy voice drawled from the couch, "can you do it when I'm not here? I have to deal with enough of this from Jason and Nico."

"You're just jealous you don't have anybody to be sickeningly adorable with," Percy said, carrying Annabeth bridal-style into their bedroom.

Behind him, he heard Leo muttering, "I keep telling them, she's in Greece. It's not like it's some country nobody's ever heard of. How hard is it to remember that I have a girlfriend?"

"You shouldn't tease Leo so much, you know. He's had some pretty serious issues," Annabeth chided when he set her down.

"I know, but he just makes it too easy. Like, it's not even fair." He tucked her in and smoothed her hair away from her forehead.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever Seaweed Brain. You need to get to work."

"Oh crap!" Percy exclaimed. Either because of the panic, or his voice had been just a little too loud, Percy's brain suddenly remembered that he had drunk far more than he should have and was, therefore, hungover. His headache returned stronger than it had been when he woke up. He groaned, but waved off Annabeth's concern.

Fumbling through his pockets, he found his cell phone and made a call. "Hey Frank. How's it going? How's Hazel?"

"What do you need, Percy? You were supposed to be here half an hour ago, which means you're either sick or hungover. Given Annabeth hasn't called me, I'll go with-"

"Actually, Annabeth's sick. Also, would it kill you to talk quieter?"

"Oh, is she ok? What's she got, I know a really good remedy, it's really quick, and works like you couldn't believe." Frank stopped short. "You're trying to distract me. That definitely proves you got drunk last night. You know, there are some times when I'm really glad that my girlfriend is underage. This is why."

Percy groaned. "Yeah, whatever. Can you cover for me until I get there? Make sure Mr. D doesn't find out. Or the coach."

"I know, Percy. I've done it enough times. You know I really think-"

"Thanks Frank. You're a lifesaver. Gotta go. Be there soon." Percy hung up and stumbled into the shower. He turned on the cold water and jumped a little when it hit his bare skin. He cleaned himself as fast as humanly possible and pulled on his teal blue shirt and pants and ran out the door, chewing on a granola bar.

Outside of his apartment building, Percy ran down the sidewalk to his job at the zoo, which was thankfully close to home. It wasn't very large, which was how Percy had gotten the job. He had gone to college for a whole year before realizing he had no idea what he wanted to do with himself. He had been at the California beach when he realized that he could study in the ocean. It had taken all summer to convince his professors he could do the work required, but finally, he had been able to graduate as a marine biologist.

Back in New York, he had taken a job at the first aquarium that would take him. It was part of a full zoo, owned by a (usually drunk) fat old man named Mr. D. The zoo was actually run by Grover's slightly crazy uncle known as Coach Hedge. Coach had actually wanted to start a kickboxing club, but had been forced by his family to become a zookeeper. To ensure he spent as little time as possible with the actual animals, he had hired Frank, who was a surprisingly gentle wall of muscle. This had all been wonderful until Mr. D had decided the zoo needed an aquarium to really "take off." Thus, Percy had been hired.

At the zoo, the first thing Percy had to do was find Frank. He was, unsurprisingly, with his favorite animal, Hannibal the Elephant. "Hey man, I'm here, thanks for covering for me."

Frank rolled his eyes. "I still say you shouldn't do this sort of stuff when you have a job where you're supposed to get here early in the morning. I'm surprised you were only 45 minutes late. It's usually hours."

Percy shushed him. "Not so loud. No yelling."

"I'm not yelling. You're hungover."

"Potato, pot-ah-to. Just shhhhh. I have to make sure Tyson hasn't broken anything in his excitement. Be nice to me." He took a deep breath and composed himself. "Say hi to Hazel for me."

Frank nodded and waved Percy off.

Percy walked to to building that housed all of the aquatic animals and sighed as he walked in. The cool blue-green of the walls and water combined with the fish lazily swimming around their tanks could always calm him down. His peaceful mood, however, was soon to be shattered by Tyson shouting for him.

"Percy Jackson! Percy Jackson! Oh, thank goodness you're here. The, um, um, things don't look happy and they're-"

Percy held up a hand, eyes screwed shut and the other hand ineffectually covering an ear. "Please," he whispered, "don't talk. Just show." He opened his eyes slowly and lowered his hands.

Tyson opened his mouth to respond, but Percy shook his head. "No talking. I didn't get much sleep last night." Tyson nodded and led him to one of the exhibits. As it turned out, Tyson had given them the wrong food and they were still hungry, having been physically unable to eat. It was a simple mistake and easily fixed. Percy spent the rest of the day going about his usual business, which was surprisingly much easier once he downed one of Frank's homemade hangover remedies.

At the lunch break, Coach Hedge came to the table where Frank, Hazel, and Percy were seated. "Jackson. Nice to see you decided to come in to work today."

Percy swallowed the bite of sandwich he had taken and said, "What are you talking about, Coach? I've been here all morning."

Coach Hedge snorted. "Yeah, and I'm a carnivore. I came in to see if you were here and you were not. Tyson was the only one in the aquarium."

Percy put on his best idiot face. People usually thought he was stupid, so he had found meeting their expectations was better for him than actually being himself. "But Coach, I assure you, I've been here all day. I guess I was checking the filters when you were in the aquarium."

Coach Hedge grunted, thought about this, realized he had no good argument against it, glared at Percy, then stalked off.

As soon as the coach had left the building, Hazel burst out laughing while Frank tried not to smile. Percy grinned at the two, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Percy, you should've seen the look on your face." Hazel said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I love it when you do that."

Frank frowned at this, and, putting an arm around Hazel, said, "Hazel, don't encourage him. I'm trying to convince him he shouldn't get drunk out of his mind every two weeks."

Hazel leaned into his embrace and said, "Oh, you just wait until I turn 21. We are going all out. I want to be so drunk I can't remember anything."

Percy chuckled. "Spoken like somebody who's never had a drink in their life. Just you wait Hazel. Two years, and then Frank here won't have an excuse to not hang out with us."

Frank groaned. "Don't remind me. How did I end up with a bunch of friends who like to get drunk?" Before anyone could answer this, their lunch break was over, and the three went their separate ways, to see what havoc their "minions", as Percy called them, had wreaked.

That evening, when the zoo closed and the animals had all been fed, Percy trudged home, tired but happy it was the weekend. Outside of his apartment, his phone rang. Leaning against the door, he answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello Percy, it's me."

Percy's face broke into a grin and he unlocked his door. "Calypso! I haven't heard from you in forever! How's Greece?"

The voice on the other end broke into a chiming laugh. "Greece is wonderful. I've been so busy with my studies I've hardly had time for anything."

Percy walked into his apartment to see Annabeth wrapped in a comforter on the couch, reading a book. She looked up at his entrance and he mouthed, "Calypso." She nodded and patted the seat next to her. As Percy sat down, he said, "That's great. Hey, listen, is it all right if I put you on speakerphone? I just got home and Annabeth's here."

"Is Leo there?" Calypso asked.

Percy checked his watch. Leo's shift wouldn't start for another couple of hours. He glanced around the apartment, and didn't see him. He asked Annabeth and replied, "Nope. He's at his place. Well, Jason's, but you know."

"Ok, then it's alright. But you can't tell him about this phone call."

Percy raised an eyebrow he knew she couldn't see and put his phone on speaker. "Say hi, Annabeth." He whispered.

"Hi Annabeth," Annabeth whispered back sarcastically before saying, "Hi Calypso, it's so nice to hear from you. But isn't it…" she did some mental calculations, "midnight where you are?"

"I know," Calypso said, "but I couldn't wait until tomorrow and I didn't want to call you in the middle of the night."

"Ok," said Percy, "What is it? Did something happen?"

"I'm coming back!" Calypso exclaimed.

"That's great, when?" Annabeth asked. "And why can't we tell Leo?"

Percy smiled at his girlfriend. He kissed the crown of her head and pulled her in to lean on him.

"I'll be getting in tomorrow afternoon around 3 or 4. And you absolutely can't tell Leo because I want to surprise him at his bar. So if you see him before then, don't tell him anything. I want him to be really, truly surprised."

"Hang on." Percy interrupted, "Why are you calling to tell us this?"

"Well," Calypso said, hesitating, "I was wondering if you could keep Leo away from everywhere I am before he starts his shift."

"But that's like, four hours!" Percy moaned until Annabeth smacked him.

"I'm sorry, Calypso. Percy apparently spends so much time with animals, he's becoming one. Of course we'll do it. Do you need somebody to pick you up from the airport?"

"Oh, no, don't bother on my account. I'm going to hire a car." Her voice turned cold and bitter. "It turns out my father is good for some things after all." Then her tone brightened, and she said, "Oh, look at the time. I really need to get some sleep if I want to do anything tomorrow. Goodbye. See you tomorrow."

"Bye Calypso." The couple chorused, and hung up. Annabeth leaned further into Percy and sighed. "I'm glad she and Leo found each other. They're so much happier."

"And this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that she had a thing for me?" Percy asked, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

Annabeth laughed. "Percy, if I got jealous of everybody who ever had a thing for you, I would have to be jealous of everybody who's ever met you."

Percy threw his hands up. "You too? Everybody at the bar yesterday was saying that too!"

She kissed his jaw and said, "It's not your fault. You're just too lovable. But too bad for everybody else, I got you first."

He chuckled, then stood up, sliding Annabeth down on the couch. "As much as I would love to continue this, I need to get out of these clothes. Unless you want to smell salt water and fish all night."

Annabeth wrinkled her nose. "I'll pass. Go on, get changed. I'll just sit here with my book."

Percy kissed her forehead and went to their bedroom to get changed. In their bedroom, he sighed, rifling through his clothes drawer, freezing as he touched the small velvet box. He pulled it out carefully, in case Annabeth could hear, and opened it. He stared at the silver band, twisted around itself, with a sapphire sparkling in the center of the top. He tried to imagine it on Annabeth's finger. It's no good, he thought, I have to give it to her. It's just the two of us right now, and I'm pretty sure nobody's going to interrupt. How often does that happen? He took a calming breath, and put it on the dresser, to go into his pocket when he was changed.

He came back in a T-shirt and sweatpants and dropped down on the couch. "I am exhausted. Tyson was being his usual special self."

Annabeth cooed sympathetically and said, "I don't know how somebody can be simultaneously that clumsy and that skilled. Has he ever considered that maybe zookeeping isn't his calling?"

Percy nodded gloomily. "He's told me that he would try a different job, but he knows I can't do it all myself. Which is true, but I still do twice as much work as I should, cleaning up after him." He sighed. "I don't know. But tell me about your day. You sound a lot better."

Annabeth nodded. "I got some medicine at the pharmacy, and I took some this morning when you came in."

Percy blushed. "Did we wake you up?"

"Well, it's never easy to sleep with a cold, and your yelling that you were bringing drunk friends didn't help." Annabeth laughed. "Leo was the only one of you who wasn't drunk out of his mind. We had a lovely little chat."

"With Leo? He's not what I would think of as philosophical."

"Nah. We just talked about how he always gets kicked out of his apartment. Oh, and you won't believe what Mr. Quint did today."

"What did the famous Mr. Quint do today?"

"He gave me his laptop with all of his blueprints on it. The architecture is gorgeous. I spent at least two hours looking at it. I'll have to show it to you sometime. It's given me so many ideas. I redesigned two of the motifs on one of my buildings."

"That's great, honey. I'm so proud of you." Percy turned his girlfriend around for a deep kiss. As they separated, a thought struck Percy. "Annabeth, have you ever wondered what it would be like if we got married?"

Annabeth pulled back, eyes wide. "Percy, are you proposing?"

"Not necessarily." Percy said carefully. "I'm just wondering if you ever wondered."

"Well," Annabeth said, "I'd be lying if I said no. It would be nice, I think. I'd get to introduce you as my husband and we could have a nice ceremony somewhere with all of our friends and your mom and dad and Paul, and my mom and dad, and we'd go on a little honeymoon somewhere without beaches and we would annoy our friends for years to come because we're still madly in love with each other and-" She trailed off. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't let me go on like that."

Percy chuckled. "Not at all. I love hearing you talk about things you love. And I would love it," Percy pulled a small box out of his pants and slid to the floor on one knee, "If you would do me the honor of becoming my wife."

For a few awful seconds, Annabeth sat frozen, staring at him. Then she hugged him and kissed him fiercely. "Can I assume, then," Percy said, in between kisses, "That you're accepting?"

Annabeth stopped kissing him to say, "Of course I am, Seaweed Brain."

"I couldn't help but notice," Percy said a few minutes later, when they were back on the couch, "that you didn't include your stepmother in our guest list."

Annabeth groaned. "No. Just no. My stepbrothers aren't coming either. She'll just try to weasel in with one of them."

"Anybody else who's not allowed to come?" Percy asked teasingly.

"Hmm. Thalia's dad's wife. And that creepy girl at the beauty salon who stalks Jason. And that's about it." Annabeth said after some thought. "Is there anybody you don't want coming?"

"Nah. Everybody loves me, remember?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Of course. I'll make sure to extend a direct invitation to your supervisor at the zoo, then."

Percy's eyes widened. "Wait, no. Not him! Coach Hedge is not coming to our wedding!"

Annabeth laughed at the fear in his face, and pulled him in for a kiss.

A/N: So yeah, there's that. Stuff gets pretty real in the next chapter, so just let us know if/when you want an update. Until then, review!