Mrs-diAngelo25: I'm sorry, but all good things must end. But I'm glad you like it that much. How big is your sister's family? We have a house here on the island and we share it with the entire family. For a week we had fifteen people living here. Now we have twelve, but if we had the entire family here it would be nineteen. In five bedrooms. And every night we have to cook for everyone. That's fun. But actually the ride up here wasn't too bad, we left early so everyone was pretty sleepy. Except we had to suffer through my brother telling jokes. I swear, if we gave him the entire five hours to tell jokes he'd get about five done. Anyway, thanks, I'm glad you liked the chapter. I think this one's a little pathetic, but I hope you like it!

SummerSpirit18: No no, one square mile. That's like if you make a square and every side of the square is a mile long. But yeah, it's tiny. How many high schools do you have? We don't actually have one in my town, I have to go to the one that serves like five or six towns. I tried to get into a boarding school for ninth grade, but I didn't get accepted to either one. I was very sad, but now I'm just annoyed because my school sucks. The other day I was walking into my bedroom (which is right next to the one my grandmother and my great aunt share) and I saw my great aunt (who's 80 something years old) without a shirt on. Or anything else. ANYTHING. You thought you were scarred. Well, this chapter is much tamer, although that doesn't mean much, does it?

Lightning-AND'Death: I know I already PMd you about this but I wanted didn't answer this one specifically. Yeah, it was intense to write, too, especially when they were arguing. The part about the permanent solution to a temporary problem wasn't really going through my head when I wrote it, but it is true. I'm glad you enjoyed reading it, I'm sad it's ending, too, but it can't really go on forever, can it?

Midnight Eevee: Angsty dramatic love stories are amazing and there aren't enough of them. Actually, there aren't enough Thalico AUs either. There are a lot of Percabeth AUs that have Thalico in them, but that's not what I'm looking for. I hope you like this chapter, I think it's a little pathetic but I'm the writer, I'm worried about all the chapters.

I don't own Percy Jackson.

Chapter 15 – Sinead

watch?v=_OxIt6RQQCc

The rest of the school year passed quickly, and before they knew it Nico was graduating. Thalia clapped and cheered with the rest of his family as he walked on stage to receive his diploma. Amy Moore had come, too, and Thalia thought it might have been the first civil conversation they'd ever had. Actually she was almost positive it was the first civil conversation she'd ever had with any of her foster parents.

Thalia had gotten a job at the local Stop and Shop and Nico had gotten one at a jewelry store, and together they'd saved up enough money to buy an apartment. They moved in together a week after graduation. Nico decided not to go to college that year, and was considering it for next year. Thalia had begun night school and was planning to get a GED and maybe take a few classes at the community college nearby.

Nico's eighteenth birthday came at the beginning of July, a few days after they had moved in together, and they decided to have a party to celebrate.

The party was held at night, and because Nico's parents were coming they'd decided that they wouldn't have any alcohol. It had been hard to convince Nico that that was a good idea, but Thalia had managed it after promising him an amazing 21st birthday.

Bianca was one of the first to arrive, after Percy and Annabeth, and she gave Nico a hug and then Thalia, and Nico knew she approved.

Nico tried very hard to be polite to Persephone. Thalia had reminded him that even though Persephone was probably the most annoying person in the world, she really did care about Nico, and he didn't live with her anymore. Luckily Persephone didn't talk to Nico very much, just wished him a happy birthday and gave him an awkward hug. Nico didn't complain.

At about nine Thalia took Nico's hand and told him it was time for cake and presents. The cake was square and black with a hand holding a heart-shaped grenade on it. It was a chocolate and vanilla marble ice-cream cake, but when Thalia had suggested the idea Percy had complained that he didn't like ice-cream (Annabeth had slapped him upside the head and Thalia stared at him in shock) so around the sides there were red and black cupcakes. They sang Happy Birthday even though Nico had insisted that it was the stupidest song ever and by nine-thirty the cake had been demolished.

Nico decided that the best gift he got was the sign that said "Bang Head Here"with a target that Annabeth gave him, but the giant water gun from Percy that held half a gallon of water came in close second. Thalia had given him an iTunes gift card for twenty-five dollars, but she'd also spent three weeks planning the party, and Nico would have been happy even if she hadn't given him anything.

At eleven Thalia noticed someone standing at the door. She detached herself from Nico and went to the blonde haired boy.

"What do you want?"

"I just needed to talk to you."

Thalia gave a harsh laugh. "You'll be lucky if I ever look at you again, Castellan."

Luke's face was white. "Please, Thalia. I know what I did was wrong…"

"Who's this?" Nico interrupted, putting his arm around Thalia's waist.

Thalia gave Luke a poisonous smile. "Luke, this is my boyfriend Nico. Nico, this is Luke."

Nico's face darkened. He knew exactly who Luke was. "Get out," he snarled.

"Thalia," Luke started, but Nico cut him off.

"Don't even. You really think she'll talk to you?" He started forward, but Thalia grabbed his arm.

"Nico," she said, and pulled him back. "Luke, just leave. I don't want to see you. Ever." She stepped back. "Come on, Nico. He's not fucking worth it."

They turned around. Luke darted forward and grabbed Thalia's arm. "Thalia, wait."

She spun around and hit him. He stumbled back, clutching his bleeding nose, and fell against the door. Thalia stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, opened the door, and threw him out. "Luke, get this through your fucking head. I will never forgive you. But I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore. So stay the hell away from me, or I swear to God I will kill you." She slammed the door.

Nico was next to her in a heartbeat. "You okay?" he asked, taking her hand.

She took a few deep breaths, then turned to him. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." She kissed him quickly, and turned to the crowd who'd gathered to watch them. "Can I help you?"

They turned away, muttering, and Thalia gave Nico a hug. "I'm okay," she whispered.

The party lasted for another hour, and when Nico was done saying goodbye to everyone he collapsed on the couch. He smiled sleepily at his girlfriend and held out his arms. She laughed but lay down next to him.

"You know," he said, kissing the top of her head, "You're pretty hot when you're beating up bastards."

"Yeah, well, that bastard deserved to get beaten up." She pressed her face into his chest. "Happy birthday, Nico."

He didn't answer, and a few minutes later her breathing evened out and he knew she was asleep.

She was strong, he knew. She was broken, but she wasn't as broken as she had been. He would have liked to think that he was fixing her, piece by tiny piece, but he knew that she was really fixing herself. She needed him, but he needed her too. They kept each other together.

He smiled and closed his eyes. His last thought before he fell asleep was that this was all he ever needed.

It's almost done! Just the epilogue left! I'm sad.

I thought this chapter was sort of pathetic, it was definitely shorter. Most of them are three or three-and-a-half pages, this one was like one-and-a-quarter. But I feel like it did what it needed to, Thalia dealt with Luke. The idea of her dealing with him instead of Nico was an epiphany I had while talking to a friend.

I'm about half done with the epilogue so that should be up very soon.

I'm so sad, I'm going home in two days. But I got to see all my cousins (no matter how unwelcome it was at times) and I'm going into town with my great aunt today. She's buying me a birthday present, it's a tradition we have. And I'm going to buy fudge for my friends back home. There's this little store here called Aunt Leah's that sells the best fudge in the entire world. The best fudge they have is Salt of the Earth, it's chocolate with sea salt on top. It's soooooooo good.

Anyone who read Remember has gotten this announcement already. I'm thinking about making Without You By My Side a full length story, and I'm wondering what you guys think about that. I'd really like to elaborate on some parts, but I'm not sure if you would want to read that. I know people say things like "my fans are important but the writing is about me" and shit, but the fact is you guys are what make my writing happen, I write for you, and you're the most important part of this process. So if you guys don't want to read it then I'm not going to write it.

I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but please review anyway!