AN: So kind of been a while since i have added a chapter idk how often i will update

NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED. I DON'T OWN PERCY J AND THE OLYMPIANS.

Annabeth POV

Annabeth felt Percy's presence behind her. She sat on the edge of the pushed-together hay bales and stared out the tack room's window as never-ending rain flowed down the glass.

She finished what she had to say about Leo. "It just so happens that Leo would have like to have taken me with him, but he was going to be very busy with the Australian children and I had things I could be doing here at home. We have summer school in case you didn't know and I…" her voice trailed off.

Percy hadn't said anything for a while. Had he fallen asleep? She wouldn't put it past him. He was such an annoying, impossible person. Always has been, and no doubt always will be. So why am I starting to feel ashamed of myself?

Annabeth's cheeks were flaming. She tucked her chin down into the scratchy saddle blanket he'd wrapped around her. At least he couldn't see her embarrassment at her own behavior. She gathered her blankets close again. All right, she probably shouldn't have gone off on Percy like that. No matter how humiliating her history with the guy, he'd been there when she desperately needed him. He'd saved her life a few hours ago, at no small risk to himself.

Plus, she hadn't really been honest while she was getting in his face just now. She hadn't bothered to mention that she had serious reservations about her and Leo. Leo was the greatest guy in the world and he did want to marry her, but she didn't want to leave her home and he wasn't about to give up his wonderful coaching job. And more important than geography, Leo somehow didn't quite feel like her guy.

Whatever her guy should feel like, she wasn't sure, she just had a certain intuition that Leo wasn't it. And worse than her doubts about her future with an ideal man like Leo, well, there was that longtime thing she'd had for Percy. That night at the bar had put an end to her schoolgirl crush on the town bad boy, but before that night she used to fantasize about him now and then. Well sometimes more than now and then.

She used to wonder what it would be like if Percy were to kiss her. Or do more than kiss her. . . Not that it mattered now. None of her past silliness over Percy mattered to anyone. It had been a fantasy that was all. He'd never been the least interested in her. He'd made that painfully clear on the night he led her on and then laughed in her face. And really, after all that had happened today, her four year grudge against him for not having sex with her was beginning to seem nothing short of petty. She really needed to let the past go. She needed to be a bigger person than she'd been so far about this. She needed to be a better person.

And she needed to start doing that now. Annabeth cleared her throat. "Um. Percy?"

He shifted a little, "What now, Annabeth?" His voice was scratchy and deep. Lazy. What was it about him he just always made her think of wrinkled sheets and passion. In a purely platonic way, of course.

"I, um I'm sorry, okay?" She hauled her blanket wrapped legs back up on the hay bales and wiggled around until she was facing him again. He lay sprawled under his blankets, his head propped against the wall, his eyes shut, his eyelashes black as coal, his mouth lax and lazy, just like his voice had been. Curls of his impossibly thick black hair hung over his forehead. She clutched her blankets tighter to keep from reaching out and smoothing it back. "I shouldn't have jumped all over you like that. I shouldn't have called you a tool. That was small and mean of me, especially after all you've done for me today."

He didn't say anything for a minute. And he didn't open his eyes. Again, she wondered if he'd dropped off to sleep and she had to resist the urge to reach out and shake him, but then those lips curved upward in a slow smile. "So you don't think that I'm a tool, then?"

"Um. No. No, of course not. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. I am."

"and you think maybe you could stop racing off every time you see me coming?"

A fresh wave of embarrassment had her cheeks flaming all over again. But what did it matter? He couldn't see her blush his eyes were shut. Also, she truly wanted to make amends. "Fair enough, I will stop avoiding you."

"Well, all right then. I accept your apology." He patted the empty space beside him. "Stretch out. Try and get some sleep. I'm thinking we're going to be busy when the rain stops and the water goes down."

His words brought reality crashing back down on her. She hung her head. "Oh, Percy, it seems like it's never going to stop. I know my brother's house is already underwater. And if it just keeps rising, what if we-?"

"shh." He reached out and clasped her arm through the thick wool of blanket. His grip was strong. It made her glad that he was here with her, that she wasn't in the barn all alone, waiting out the storm. "Don't go there." His voice was calm and firm. "There's no point."

She lifted her head. His beautiful sea green eyes were open now, steady on her gray eyes. "Tell me that we are going to be okay.

He didn't hesitate. He told her what she needed to hear. "We will. Just watch. Now come here. Come on. . ." He lifted the blanket that covered him. She didn't think twice. She went down into the shelter of his offered arm, resting her head on his shoulder. He was so warm and muscular and safe. He smelled of mud and man, which at that moment she found wonderfully reassuring. He fiddled with the blankets, smoothing them over both of them.

Annabeth smiled to herself. All those crazy teenage dreams she'd had about him. And here she was, damp and dirty, bruised and scratched up lying practically on top of him, grateful beyond measure to share a pile of saddle blankets with him. The world seemed to have gone crazy in the space of a day. But right now in Percy's arms, she felt safe. Protected. She closed her eyes. "I didn't realize until now how tired I am."

He touched her hair, gently. Lightly. "Rest, then."

She started to answer him, but then she found she didn't have the energy to make a sound. Sleep closed over her. She surrendered to it with a grateful sigh.

AN: So this chapter was a little shorter than my other chapters idk what is better long chapters or shorter chapters Review please thank you.