Annabeth could see why no one knew that the house existed. To get to it they had to drive on a dirt road through the forest, only to pass a gate and go a couple more miles. She also wasn't sure that house was the right word. The home in front of her looked like something off those tiny homes shows she loved to watch. They were going to be on top of each other for their entire stay, and that was either going to be a big help or someone was going to die.

"Welcome to The Cabin Annabeth. This is the lake house I was telling you about." Annabeth looked for the lake, but she couldn't see it. "It's behind the house. I'll show you once we get settled in," Percy said sensing her confusion.

Percy went to the back of the car and opened the trunk. Hopefully he would be able to get all the heavy bags because the medicine she had taken was making her drowsy, plus she just didn't want to lift anything. Instead she grabbed Sadie from the backseat and cooed at her. Percy came around the car with two of the four suitcases and made his way to the front door. At some point he had brought out a key, and he used it to let her in.

Cozy was an interesting word for the cabin. Upon entrance you walked into a family room with a TV and a fireplace. Connected to that was the kitchen. There was an island separating the two rooms, but both rooms were fully visible. The walls were made of wooden logs and the floor was hardwood, so basically the place was a wood overload. The other side of the family room had a single door to what Annabeth guessed was the bedroom, but she was sure hoping there was more than one.

She hadn't noticed, but as she had been taking the place in Percy had gone back and gotten the other two bags. Making his way into the room he said "Come on, the bedroom is this way and we need to unpack." Deciding to give him a chance she didn't say anything about the one room.

The bedroom was much bigger than she expected it to be. There was a king size bed in the middle of the room and another fireplace. Although this room was all wood too, it had a lighter vibe than the rest of the house. There were light blues all over, and it made it seem more homey. There were three doors, and Annabeth couldn't help but hope one was another bedroom.

"That door is your closet," Percy said gesturing to the second of the three doors on the wall. "This one is mine," he said pointing to the third, "and the first one is the bathroom." Her face fell.

"Percy there is only one bed."

"Yeah I know. I figured it was a big enough bed that we could share it." She hadn't meant to grimace, she really hadn't, but something in her just wasn't ready for that step yet. Even if she was trying to be nicer. "But if it makes you uncomfortable I can sleep in the living room on the couch. It's a pull out." Her subconscious hissed at her, but Annabeth nodded in agreement.

They both unpacked their clothes into their respective closets, and Annabeth couldn't help but notice that Percy had no rhyme or reason to his organizing. Giggling she asked, "Percy do you need help?"

"No," he huffed, but couldn't help but look at how nice her closet looked.

"Yeah okay, move over," Annabeth ordered as she descended on his closet. "Okay first pants go on the bottom, so hold these," she said as she pulled all the pants from the top rack. "Now we are going to organize by style of clothing and color. That way blue t-shirts will be with blue t-shirts and red long sleeves will be with red long sleeves."

Eventually Percy gave up on trying to help her tackle his closet. Annabeth was doing just fine alone, and honestly all he had been doing was getting in the way. It was cute the way she stomped around the room all flustered. When packing their things he had kinda just folded as he went, so everything was everywhere in their suitcases, and apparently that isn't how one was supposed to pack, or at least that's what Annabeth kept telling him. She managed though.

"There," Annabeth announced proudly as she stepped back from both of their closets. Percy had to admit that they looked good, but there was no way he was going to be able to keep in that organized. Maybe he could convince her to do it for him.

"Looks good. Is this one of those likes to be in control things?" He was laughing when he said it, but deep down he was actually curious.

"An organized space is an organized mind. This just makes everything run smoother." Percy didn't get it, but if it was going to keep her calm he'd go along with it. "Oh, I have a question." Percy nodded and gestured for her to answer. "Is it safe here? I mean you gave me this big speech about how everyone is trying to kill us, and this place doesn't seem that secure."

"This place is honestly probably safer than the big house. No one knows about it, not even the staff. I made sure that we weren't being followed, and I have an electric fence around the whole property. It would be pretty hard to get in here. Plus if it makes you feel any better I conceal and carry."

"Yeah that last part doesn't help much, but what if someone was to get on the property? I mean are there other people here to help us?" As much as Annabeth wasn't a fan of his family, she didn't want to die either. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

"No there isn't. It's just you and me for miles, but I promise it will be alright. I've been her a bunch of times by myself and nothing has ever happened. If anyone knew about this place they would have been here already." That did little to calm her nerves. "Beth don't worry. I guess I'll be sleeping in the family room, so I'll be the first one to know if anything happens."

"You said you'd show me the lake?" Annabeth asked hoping to change the subject.

"Oh yeah!" Percy exclaimed getting up. He made his way over the the thick curtains that were blocking the windows in the room. As soon as he pulled them back light flooded into the room, but that wasn't what got Annabeth's attention. Off the room was a large porch that overlooked a monstrous lake. The whole area was wooded, but the lake itself was calm and smooth.

"Wow," she breathed as she pushed herself up against the window.

"I know right," Percy grinned like a school boy. "Annabeth, this is Lake Sally. I hope you enjoy her.

"Percy this is beautiful. Can we swim in it?"

"Yeah we could, it's probably a bit cold though. I haven't swam in it in years. There's a hot tub on the porch though, so we can always use that instead."

"Is there anyone else that lives on this lake?" That could be a potential way to sneak in.

"No it's just me. I like to come here to think."

"I can see why, it's very calming. When was the last time you were here?"

"The week before we got married. I wanted to think about everything your mother had told me." It was like the wind was knocked out of her. She never thought that is had been hard on him to marry her.

"Oh," was all she could muster.

"I wasn't ready for marriage yet either Annabeth. I'm only 22, and I still have a lot of life left that I want to live, but I ended up deciding to marry you." There was a sadness in his eyes as he looked out over the lake. By this point they had made it out onto the deck and were leaning on the railing.

"Why? Why did you marry me if you didn't want me yet?"

"Don't you ever think that I don't want you. I already told you that marriage is sacred to me, and I will honor that vow until the day we die. However, the choice to marry you wasn't an easy one. I knew that if I committed to this that would be it for me, and that was daunting, but what your mother said was right. By 22 I should have been married and producing an heir for the family, and that was something I had to think about. Family comes first sometimes. Then your mom was so upset. She was begging me to help her, and something about that spoke to me. She cares very deeply for you Annabeth, and I didn't want to end a love like that. Plus I won't lie, I looked you up. You're very pretty Annabeth, and that didn't hurt," Percy paused to look at her.

"So you married me because I'm pretty?" she asked quietly. That stung a little.

"No that's not why. Let me finish," Percy said without looking at her. "I flew into town to tell your mother that I would help her find something for you, but that I wasn't ready to marry you. I decided to pay you a brief visit before I told your mom, so I got a visitor's pass at your high school and went to find you. Right as I was about to approach you, you rounded the corner behind a bunch of who I assumed to be the popular kids. One of them turned and mouthed off to you about being weird and you gave it right back to her before she turned away. As you made your way to your locker I noticed that your hands were shaking. I also saw that you didn't go to class right after that. The bell rang and you went to hide under the stairs for a few minutes. You just kept reminding yourself that in a few weeks none of this was going to matter, and that you could make it through this. Then you went to class.

"I asked around about you after that, and another kid told me that those girls had been giving you shit for years. Yet, you always fought back, and you acted like it didn't bother you. Even though I knew it did, and the kid that I talked to seemed to think the same thing. Something in me just wanted to help you. You were so strong for other people, but in reality you were barely hanging on. That was something that I could relate to. So I left the school and told your mom that I would marry you. The sad girl that was just trying to survive."

Annabeth remembered that day. She hadn't seen him, but she had been having a particularly bad day that day, and those girl had just been on her all day. They were terrible people, but they always seemed to know how to hurt her. "So you married me out of pity?" She wasn't gonna lie. It hurt.

"No not pity. Maybe more like respect with a little bit of wanting to help. I saw how strong you were that day. Those girls were terrible to you, but you kept calm and fought back. That was exactly what I needed in a wife. I may have miscalculated how much of that would come back at me, but you still have that fire Annabeth. It's not a bad thing. Don't ever let it go out." Annabeth was not a crier, but something about Percy seemed to just bring her to tears every time she was around him. He always knew what to say to bring her to tears, whether that was good or bad.

"I think I've cried more since I've met you than I have in my entire life," Annabeth laughed through the tears.

"No don't cry," Percy said as he pulled her into a hug. "I didn't mean to make you upset."

"Oh Percy these aren't sad tears. That was one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me, and I'm just not used to people thinking of me like that. High school was hell on Earth for me, but I never looked at it the way you just put it. I always thought I was the weak one," she hated herself for crying, but at this point she was so far gone she might as well embrace it.

"You are one of the strongest, most stubborn people I have ever met. I admire that, even when it doesn't work out in my favor. High schoolers are terrible, but that doesn't last forever, and I can promise that anything they said to you wasn't true. They honestly did it because they were jealous of you."

Annabeth scoffed. "Trust me they were far from jealous of me. Who'd be jealous of the nerdy girl with crazy hair and no friends?"

"Anyone with half a brain," Percy said as he grabbed her chin, making her look at him. "Annabeth, you are absolutely gorgeous, and so smart. Anyone would want to be like that. You get things that other people don't get, and you have street smarts like no one I've ever met. You have this vibe about you that just shows how strong willed you are, and it makes people think that they don't affect you. Most people would kill for that. And I like your hair. I think it gives you personality." Annabeth hugged him again.

"Thank you Percy. Really that means a lot." Annabeth felt like she was glowing. She was all warm and fuzzy, and that was something that she wasn't used to feeling.

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true. I know that we have both our mistakes Annabeth, but I want to try and work this out. We are married, and I'd like to at least be friends. Can we please try to make this work?" Something in his eyes broke what was left of her resolve. She knew that she couldn't hide from him forever, but she expected to last much longer than this.

"Yeah we can try," she whispered into his chest. "But just for the record it is totally not far that you buttered me up before you asked me that. Of course I was going to say yes after all of that." Percy laughed and planted a light kiss in her hair. "And I don't care how nice you just were, you are still sleeping on the couch." Percy groaned, but reluctantly agreed. He'd made enough progress for one day.

Hi guys! So they are going to try! Yay! So what did you guys think?