AN: Hey guys! So I don't have much to say, so I hope you like it and thanks so much for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

Percy's PoV:

To say that Percy was panicking was an understatement.

He and Annabeth had rushed over to camp to find two chimeras and a manticore on the loose, a lot of scared campers who were obviously new, and some older campers who were fighting with a passion but quickly growing tired. Annabeth had shot him a look as they took everything in before yelling above all the noise, "Where's Clarisse? She never turns down a fight!" Almost as if she had known we were talking about her, Clarisse ran up next to us with Chris.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Gods, I leave camp for one day!" she yelled.

Needless to say, they had quickly joined the fight; that was two chimeras ago. Now only the manticore remained, and Percy couldn't find Annabeth. How he had managed to lose his fighting partner, he'd never know. Suddenly the manticore let out an ear-piercing howl as it disintegrated into golden dust, and Percy watched a baseball cap fly through the air. Everything from there seemed to go in slow motion: Percy squinted at the cap and realized with a sinking feeling in his gut that it wasn't just a baseball cap, it was a Yankee's cap. He whipped around, seeing exactly what he had feared in his mind: Annabeth, laying on the ground face-down, right where the manticore had previously been. Her name tore it's way out of his mouth as he ran to her, rolling her over and checking her pulse; it was steady. In fact, Annabeth was already starting to wake up, but that didn't stop Percy from cradling her as her gray eyes slowly opened, staring into his green ones.

Percy didn't realize how fast his heart was pounding until Annabeth's calloused hand rose to stroke his cheek as she whispered soothingly, "I'm okay Perce, I'm fine."

"Annabeth," he whispered back, unable to say anything despite the numerous thoughts whirling around in his mind.

"Help me up Seaweed Brain." A smile formed on Annabeth's face, and Percy wished desperately that he could smile back, but he couldn't. So instead, he simply helped her up as she requested and began walking to Argus's car with her hand in his. He was faintly aware of Annabeth protesting, saying that they needed to stay and help clean up camp. But then he heard Clarisse tell Annabeth that it was okay, take him back home because the idiot looks like he's having a moment, and never in his life had he been more thankful for Clarisse La Rue.

The ride home was silent, Annabeth knowing that something was deeply wrong but not wanting to push her boyfriend. Percy didn't talk until they were in the living room of Sally's apartment. He had been leading Annabeth to his bedroom, needing to just get away from the fight, to get her away from the fight, when Annabeth finally stopped him. "Percy," she said gently.

He turned to face her, suddenly aware of his mother's presence on the couch. But Percy didn't care, because he came undone the second he looked into his girlfriend's eyes. "Why did you do that Annabeth?" he asked, his voice a dangerous sort of calm.

Annabeth looked at him strangely before saying, "What?"

"Why did you do that? Huh? I'm not as stupid as everyone says that I am-"

"I never called you stupid, Percy-"

"And I can figure out what you did to kill that manticore. You jumped on top of it didn't you?"

Annabeth blinked. "Well yeah, Percy, I had to."

"No, but see, you didn't have to. There are other ways to kill a monster than putting your life in jeopardy, Annabeth." His voice rose at the end, which didn't go unnoticed by the two women.

"Percy, there were four other campers attacking that thing and none of us could do it! But I saw an opening and I took it, I did what I had to in order to protect our home away from here and if you have a problem with that-"

"If I have a problem with that? HELL YES I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT!" Percy smacked his fist on the wall, causing both his girlfriend and his mother to jump slightly in surprise; Percy never showed any signs of violence in front of either of them unless he had to.

"Percy!" Sally said, a warning tone creeping into her voice. But he was on a roll now, and he wasn't going down easily.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW FUCKING DANGEROUS THAT IS ANNABETH? DO YOU? DID YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT YOURSELF, DID YOU EVEN STOP TO CONSIDER THAT YOU MIGHT GET HURT?"

"No, Percy, I didn't! I was thinking about how I needed to kill that thing before it killed one of our friends or you! What is your problem here?"

"MY PROBLEM IS THAT YOU COULD'VE DIED ANNABETH! I COULD'VE LOST YOU!"

Annabeth's words caught in her throat as she watched Percy's chest rise and fall heavily. She knew that he wasn't doing this out of anger towards her, he was doing it out of worry, out of fear. Still, it hurt to see the man whom she loved so much (and who returned the same love just as deeply) like this; so scared, so loud. They had argued and even fought plenty of times in the past, usually because one was worried about the other. But never had Percy screamed at her or cursed; he raised his voice occasionally but even that was rare. Maybe that was why even Sally looked shocked, finally snapping out of her slight daze once she saw Annabeth's eyes beginning to well up.

At the sight of his love about to cry, Percy's anger instantly deflated. His voice much more calm now, Percy whispered, "Oh, Annabeth, I-"

But she only held up a hand to cut him off as she walked off into the kitchen, a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs. Percy noticed, not for the first time, that Annabeth had been crying much more than usual since Tartarus; his mother insisted that it was just because of the stress that her body needed to release. He started to go after her until his mother stopped him, a gentle but firm tone overtaking her voice. "Percy, why don't you go cool off a little bit."

"But Annabeth-"

"I'll take care of Annabeth, you just go take care of you."

But how could he? How could he take care of himself when he had hurt the love of his life, his best friend, so badly? He needed to take care of Annabeth, to make sure that she was okay, but he could tell by the look in his mother's eyes that she wouldn't allow it. Solemnly, he walked to his room, feeling worse than the monster that had caused all of this.

Annabeth's PoV:

Annabeth looked up, wiping at her eyes as Sally entered the kitchen. The two women simply stared at each other for a minute before the older of the two opened up her arms, letting Annabeth run to her and cling on as she cried. Annabeth felt a strong appreciation for this woman who had been a mother to her for years as said woman stroked her hair soothingly.

"You know, he must really love you," Sally said. Annabeth pulled away slightly, looking up at the older woman as she continued. "I mean, that much was already obvious. But the only other time I've ever seen him get that angry was when he was younger and he saw Gabe hit me for the first time. He had about the same reaction, except he was angry at Gabe instead of some mythological monster."

"I know that he wasn't angry at me, but it still felt like it. It felt like he hated me for a second there," Annabeth whispered.

"Oh sweetie," Sally said, planting a motherly kiss on the top of her head, "Percy could never, ever hate you. Not ever."

Annabeth's tears were now long gone, but she never wanted to leave Sally's motherly embrace. She felt shielded from the world, from all of the monsters and problems she constantly had to face. But there was a man who needed her very badly at the moment, and she couldn't let him down. "Do you think I should go talk to him?"

"I think so. He's worried about you."

"He's always worried about me," Annabeth said, and Sally didn't miss the guilt in her voice.

Annabeth was sure that Sally could've said something more, but instead she just gave Annabeth a small smile and laid a hand on her cheek only to take it off a second later when Annabeth departed for Percy's room, giving the woman a soft but genuine "thank you" as she left.

As Annabeth walked the short distance to Percy's room, she didn't know what to think. She didn't know what she would find, or what she would even say to Percy, she just knew that she needed to be with him. Taking a deep breath, Annabeth pushed lightly on the slightly cracked door and felt her heart break at what she found: she found Percy, sitting on his bed with his back to the door. Even though he wasn't facing her, Annabeth could tell that he was crying by the way his back rose and fell erratically as he held his head in his hands. Percy must not have heard her enter the room because he never turned around, nor did he ever seem to wipe his tears away as a way of denying that he had been crying; he never let her see him cry.

Annabeth slowly made her way over to the bed and kneeled behind her boyfriend, who was now very aware of her presence. He did, in fact, try to act like he hadn't been crying, but both of them knew that he couldn't fool Annabeth. Slowly she reached around him and hugged his shoulders, her hands clasping together in front of them and resting right over his heartbeat. Annabeth put her face in the crook of his neck, planting a soft kiss there as his hands came up to meet her's.

"I love you," she said gently.

"I love you too," he replied, using the same gentle voice that she had opted to use.

Percy unlatched her arms from around his body, only to turn around and pull her into his lap, leaning his back against the bedroom wall. Her head rested below his, and he stroked her hair as he held her, planting a kiss on her temple from time to time. They were quiet for a while, Percy struggling to find the right words to explain his actions and Annabeth knowing that he would talk to her when he was ready. Finally Percy whispered, "You really scared me back there."

"Yeah, I could tell," Annabeth said, her voice serious even though a wry smile made its way onto her face.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Annabeth could hear the regret in his voice. "I feel worse than those fucking monsters."

"Percy," she said, twisting to face him but not leaving his grasp, "You are not a monster. You love me, and you were worried because even though it was necessary, what I did was dangerous."

Percy looked at her grimly. "I can't lose you Annabeth. Not now, not ever. I almost lost you to a manticore once, so when I saw you fall doing exactly what you did the first time..."

And then it clicked for Annabeth. She didn't know how her brain hadn't caught on before, because she remembered that time very well; wishing that she could get out of the situation, that she could just see Percy again. But she hadn't really stopped and thought about how hard it must've been for Percy, having to convince everyone that she wasn't dead even though she very well should've been.

Despite all of the thoughts, all of the understandings, floating around in Annabeth's head, she just couldn't think of what to say to him. So she settled on a simple, "I know," because even though it wasn't much, it was something. She hesitated, and then, "If I ever lost you..."

"I know," Percy repeated.

And maybe that simple sentence wasn't very much, but it was certainly enough for them.

AN: So, I hope that was okay. I know it was kinda rushed but I go back to school tomorrow and I really wanted to update for you guys before I go back. Please let me know what you thought, and what you want to see happen. Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following, if you do! Later!