Chapter Two
Luke stayed unconscious for three days. All that time either Annabeth, Leia, or Grover were by his side. When he finally did wake up, it was Leia who was there. Leia was sitting next to him, reading. Luke shifted underneath his blankets.
"Luke?" Leia set down her book and set her hand on top of Luke's. He moved his hand slowly to hold her hand.
"Luke?" Leia asked again.
He shifted again and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around and finally focused on Leia sitting next to him.
"Leia?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Leia smiled, "Hey there Sleeping Beauty."
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
"That long?"
"Yep, you were starting to worry us, you hit your head pretty hard."
"What happened?"
"What do you remember?" "I remember...running from a cyclops, Thalia...oh no! Thalia!"
Leia looked away tears in her eyes, "She's dead Luke."
"Noooo.." he moaned. "Thalia..."
Leia wiped a tear away from her eye and squeezed Luke's hand. "What else do you remember?"
"You stopped running and we couldn't get you to move...I-..I told Grover to take Annabeth to the camp while I went back for you. I saw the cyclops pick you up...you were screaming...then he threw you into me. My sword flew out of my hand and-and that's all I remember."
"Good, you remember everything."
"What happened after I blacked out?"
"I managed to get your sword and stab the cyclops. He died and I carried you to camp."
Luke looked shocked, "You carried me, unconscious, all the way to camp?"
"Most of the way, then Chiron came and helped me."
"Chiron?"
"He's a centaur."
"Oh..."
They sat in silence for a while until Luke noticed they were still holding hands.
"Oh ummm.." Leia blushed and let go. "Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you come back for me? I mean, you could've made it to camp."
Luke was silent for a while the looked straight into Leia's eyes, "I couldn't let you die. First Thalia then...I couldn't lost both of you, it would've been too much. Remember? I said we were a family and families don't leave each other behind."
Leia smiled at him and leaned over and gently gave him a hug.
Luke returned the hug, whispering in her ear, "I'll never let anything hurt you again."
"You can't promise that Luke." Leia sighed. "You know better than anyone, I always end up hurt in the end."
Luke pulled away and held her face in his hands, "Then I promise I will never hurt you."
Then Luke fell back exhausted against his pillows.
"Sleep Luke, you need your rest. You're safe now." Leia brushed Luke's hair out of his face.
Luke sighed and closed his eyes. Leia leaned over and gave him a light kiss on his forehead before she went to let the others know that Luke had awakened.