Hey everyone, I'm back with the next chapter. I know I took my time with it but life's been pretty hectic and at the moment I'm sick but I managed to get this done so props to me. Hope you all enjoy it. I am sorry it took so long but I hope you enjoy it. Its inspired by What I've Done by Linkin Park.

It Had Begun Again With A Simple Hello

The drive back to the apartment was a quiet one.

Annabeth couldn't help but feel nervous, this was the first time the two of them would speak about the past, about the skeletons and demons of their relationship before they parted the way they did.

She knew it would eventually come; she'd been waiting for this for a long time. She'd been waiting to speak her piece, the piece that should have been spoke years ago. That night she should have stayed, they would have talked, she could have told him the truths of her past, told him everything about Luke and her messed up reasoning's for her infidelity.

There was no excuse for doing that but they needed to air the dirty laundry of the past in order to fix them. This is the only way they could move forward, they need to talk about the past in order to move on with their future, if they still had one after but all she could do was hope that after this, they could really start afresh and maybe have the love and relationship they once shared.

It was an agonizing walk up the stairs to their floor, the tension could well and truly be cut through effortlessly with a blunt knife. Annabeth could feel her nerves racing to severe extremes but somehow, she remained calm and collected as Percy unlocked the door of their apartment and allowed her to enter first, being the gentleman he was raised to be, before following her in.

"Do you need something to drink?" Annabeth asked softly, trying to ease the tension so that this talk or confession would go as smoothly as possible.

"Just a beer." Percy answered politely as Annabeth handed one to him before pulling out a wine glass and pouring herself a glass of white wine before they went and occupied the lounge, both unsure of how to begin anything.

"Well since I'm the lady, I guess I should go first," She said, trying to lighten the mood with a little odd humor but Percy just seemed tense so she just breathed in and asked, "Where do you want me to begin?"

Percy had a thoughtful expression on his face, the gears of his brain turning before he spoke up, "The beginning. When, where and how you two met?" Annabeth knew that the thought of Luke's name made him hurt, there was no fooling her because she knew Percy and even thinking of the name of the man she cheated on him with hurt him, wounded him badly.

She sighed and closed her eyes as she spoke calmly, recalling the events, "It was the night we had that big fight and I walked out to cool off." That had been the most brutal argument they had had in their entire relationship, they both said some hurtful things and they had never really recovered from that fight. "I ended up in this bar, and he approached me, laid a stupid corny line on me and offered to buy me a drink. I let him but told him that I wasn't interested."

She shook her head, thinking back to that night, the countless advances he'd made that she kept turning down but she didn't turn down the possibility of confessing to a complete stranger.

"He didn't get the hint at first but he could see I was upset and I guess I confided in a stranger about my feelings and it was nice to talk to someone and not have a full blown fight." Annabeth said softly as she rubbed her shoulder, focusing on what she should have told him years ago, "We went our separate ways and I never thought I would see him again but I had a consultation at the firm and he showed up with his father, Hermes Castellan, a regular client."

"What happened then?" Percy asked, finally speaking up, his voice void of emotion.

"After the awkward meeting, he approached me and he was sweet and genuine and asked if I'd meet him for coffee and I did." Annabeth said, her voice filled heavily with guilt. "After that, he'd invite me out to lunch and drinks and I'd go, just enjoying the company since neither of us were really on speaking terms with each other and one night he kissed me and my immediate reaction was to push him away and I told him that I was with someone."

She recalled the sad, kicked puppy look on his face when she said that she was with someone. "What did he say."

"He didn't care and that he wanted a chance and I told him that I couldn't see him anymore and true to my word, I didn't, not until the day we had the falling out about you caring more about your job because we'd started speaking and planned our anniversary date," She froze, remembering the hours she waited, hoped and prayed for him to come when he never did, "but when you didn't show and didn't get home until two and we fought like gladiators with our words and you walked out, then I got weak, called him and sought comfort in him."

She couldn't bring herself to look up at Percy, she knew she was subconsciously blaming him for her infidelity but it wasn't his fault, it was her own.

"I shouldn't have. I should have fought for us but I was hurt and weak and ran into his arms and the more we distanced ourselves, the more I fell into his arms." Annabeth confessed with a heavy heart, burdened with guilt and anguish from her past transgressions. "Eventually, he kissed me again but this time, I didn't push away, I let him."

She could visibly see Percy tense, his eyes definitely with sadness and betrayal which he was honestly allowed to feel.

"It felt so wrong but so right. I didn't know if it was because I was using him as a human guinea pig to get the intimacy we had lost or if it was because I was developing feeling for him but I just kept him around." Annabeth closed her eyes, knowing in her heart that it was a mistake, that it shouldn't have happened but the past is the past and they needed to focus on the future and this is how they were going to get there.

"Did he know that about you and I?" Percy asked, his voice quiet and hesitant, wavering with thick emotions.

"Yes, from the beginning he knew but he spouted out speeches about how he felt something incredible towards me and wanted to be with me and how he didn't care about if I was taken." Annabeth whispered in a sad regretful tone, if a man was willing to have someone who was already taken, allow themselves to be the other man in the picture, then that was messed up no matter how deep their feelings ran. "He told me he loved me a week before you found out, he begged and pleaded with me to love him back but I couldn't."

"What happened that day I found out because if I recall, you said you didn't know how you felt about him?" Percy asked, for the first time looking up and meeting Annabeth's sad gaze as he leaned his elbows on his knees, watching her closely.

"He'd shown up before lunch, right after you'd called and said that you'd been working late and I was pissed since it was Christmas and it would have been the first one without you and I was hurt," Annabeth said, wiping any signs of pitiful guilt filled tears away to compose herself so she could finish her tale, "He offered to take me to lunch and I went with him but when we got to the office, I'd realized that I had misplaced the bead necklace you gave me, the one where you always gave me a new bead each year and I panicked, thinking how important it was and how I couldn't lose it because I got it from you."

Percy seemed slightly surprised, having completely forgotten about that bead necklace that he'd given her over a decade ago, in fact, almost two decades ago. It was honestly a silly little trinket gift but she took it so seriously that every year, he had another bead made with a new image to symbolize another year being added to their relationship. "Why did you care so much about it? It was just a silly little thing."

Annabeth chuckled, a smile gracing her face, confusing Percy, "Its because you gave it to me that it was so important. It was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me and losing it, made me realize how much of my life I would've been throwing away if I chose to be with Luke like he'd asked me to be that day." Annabeth whispered, the smile never leaving her face, "Misplacing it made me realize just how big a part you held in my heart. It made me realize how unfair and stupid I was being and how wrong it was."

"But you went and saw him for drinks that night. Explain that to me?"

"I went there to tell him that no matter how much you and I fought, no matter what hurtful things we said to each other, I would always love you." Annabeth said with a heavy sigh, "He begged and pleaded me to reconsider, I said I had to decide what I truly wanted but I never made a promise to be with him and I planned to tell you everything that night but when I got home I got scared, knowing you'd be there because you said what time you'd be home, and when I wanted to tell you everything, you told me you already knew."

"you have no idea how much it hurt for someone in your work place tell me, your boyfriend of years that you went out with your boyfriend." Percy said in an angry, yet sad filled voice, "For a moment, I thought you had failed to tell anyone about me but was later informed that it was a newbie who told me unknowingly that my girlfriend was cheating on me and that killed me."

"I know. I was a coward, pulling two people along because I was too stupid and afraid to fight for what I really wanted." Annabeth rubbed her hands over her face, "it's no excuse. I was going to tell you everything but I let fear rule me. I couldn't handle you leaving me so I left because I was wrecked and it was my own fault I just wanted solace and safety, I just wanted you but I at the time I had lost you and I couldn't handle it."

"I came back. I wanted to fight, but you'd gone, left me behind. I didn't know what to think. Had you chosen him over me? Had you given up on us and gone to him? Should I stay or should I look for you and try fight for you?" Percy spoke in a regretful tone, clearly hurt by Annabeth's actions that night, "I was prepared to find you and fight for you but I felt so lost and alone but the one thing I did was track Luke down and I broke his nose because I was so angry."

"I couldn't blame you for that. I should have stayed but as I boarded the plan, he texted me and said he was done and I just was pathetically alone and just ran cause I didn't know what else to do." She wiped her eyes as the tears gathered, "What I've done, what I've been doing, it was unfair to you and I can only imagine what my presence here was doing to you and for that, I'm sorry Percy. I truly am and I will never truly be able to forgive myself for what I've done, which is justice in its own form."

Percy was silent, his brain turning and thinking hard, his eyes closed as he took in a deep shaky breath but before he could speak, Annabeth spoke up.

"I know it will take a lot for you to trust me after that and I am okay with it. If you want to be just be friends after this, I'm okay with it, as long as I have you in some shape or form in my life." Annabeth was close to tears, emotions flaring high within herself, the thought and fear of experiencing the loneliness of not having him in her life overwhelming her as she spoke, "I cant go without you in my life again."

"me neither, which is why I am worried about what you may think of me when I tell you the reason why Octavian hates me." Percy said, looking away from Annabeth, not allowing her to speak, he continued, "Its because of Rachel."

Annabeth frowned, confusion evident within her after he spoke those words, "What do you mean because of Rachel?" She was more curious than angry, they needed to speak and she was going to listen openly to Percy speak without judging because he had given her the same courtesy.

"After you left, I was alone for so long and it was last year that I met Rachel." Percy began, "We grew pretty close as friends, we had a lot in common, she was a breath of fresh air and one night, she came here upset and we started drinking and then I kissed her by accident and she didn't push me away."

Annabeth wanted to feel angry that Rachel hadn't told her the entire truth about her and Percy but she wasn't angry, she understood. It was Percy's story to tell, not hers. "Did anything else happen that night."

"It wasn't innocent kissing, I was attracted to her but the minute she tried to take my shirt off, I stopped because it didn't feel right, no matter how much I enjoyed the intimacy of the kiss and the closeness I felt, it made me think of you, which is why I couldn't do it." Percy said with a heavy sigh, "You were a forever constant on my mind, I couldn't do anything without missing or thinking about you. I couldn't move on from you, no matter how hard I tried to."

"I take it she told Octavian what happened."

"Not immediately, not until he caught us. It wasn't the last time we kissed, I handled the kissing just fine but I could never go further. It was platonic for me and her, we just did to when we needed comfort." Percy breathed out, running his fingers nervously through his hair as he spoke, "She'd had an argument and came to find me, he'd followed her because he obviously realized how much of a douche was being and he walked into my work and found her straddling me, kissing me in my office."

Annabeth's eyes were wide, she could only imagine how intense the moment was.

"Of course I was completely blindsided to the fact that he was actually her fiancé and not just a boyfriend and he sucker punched me but he had every right too." Percy looked up, his eyes seemingly hurt, "Rachel distanced herself from me physically but occasionally, she'd come and see me and she mostly did it because she wanted to piss him off."

"What made you hate him so much?"

"He came to the apartment to get her and he turned round and said to me that you were right in cheating on me with his half brother and I just lost it and hit him." Percy confessed, Annabeth's eyes going wide, "He blatantly congratulated the fact that his half brother had 'done' you, as in sleeping with you and I just lost it. We fought so badly the cops were involved."

"Wow... I never knew..."

"It was my place to tell you this. We barely tolerate each other because he's an insecure little bitch because Rachel was attracted to me and still holds a slightly flirtatious attitude towards me and also because I kicked his scrawny ass but that's not the point." Percy said, realizing he was getting off topic, "I barely tolerate him because he likes to egg me about Luke and I hold back for Rachel's sake because whether he likes it or not, she's my friend and I'm hers."

"Why did you get so angry that you resorted to violence?"

"Because I was hurt and confused. I knew you and I knew that you wanted to wait until after you got married to take that step but in that moment I was jealous and thought that maybe just maybe he got to be with you in a way that I didn't and I'd never experience that kind of thing with you." Percy shook his head at himself, "It was stupid but I loved you and I wanted to be your one and only but after I'd calmed down, I knew he was lying because I knew you."

Annabeth stood up and bravely walked over to where Percy was seated and sat herself on the table before Percy and took his hands in hers before she spoke, "I know its too early to talk about that but you were the only Percy I ever wanted to be that way with. I wouldn't have ever been able to give that part of myself away because you were the only one for me."

"I felt that way too." Percy confessed as he rubbed his thumb against the back of my hand, "I still feel that way."

"I do too and I know it will take us a long time to get there," Annabeth said as she released his hand and pulled out the chain that held the ring and un-clipped it. She held it in hers hands as she spoke, "but I think the first step we can take is making a promise to one another and my promise to you is to be honest, faithful, true and to love you in every way I can and I do it," She nervously bit her lip as she removed the ring and slotted it hopefully on her finger, "by wearing this as a promise to you. When the time is right, we will have an engagement, and a proposal and a wedding but for now, this is my promise to love you forever and always."

Percy looked a little misty eyed as he took her hand in his and examined the ring on her finger, a sad smile appearing on his face as chuckled, "I always knew it would look good on your finger." He said in an admiring tone as he raised her hand to his lips and kissed the gem, "I'm willing to do this as long as you are."

"I want you Percy, only you." Annabeth whispered as she turned her hand and cupped his cheek tenderly in her hand, "No matter how long it takes for us to get to how we were before the fighting, I want us."

"Then I'm going to take you out next week, on a date, a real date and we are going to start afresh and get back to how we once were, okay?" Percy asked with a smile Annabeth couldn't help but return it with a nod.

"okay." She whispered as she pulled him into a hug and smiled, things were really starting to look up. The skeletons of the past had been aired and now everything was out in the open and everything was going to be okay.

It was a new start for them and soon, things would be back to the way they once were and should have always been but for now, she had Percy and that is was truly mattered to her.

Well that was an interesting one to write, sorry its short but i kind of wrote this in one day cause i saw how long it had been since i updated and i am sorry for taking so long. I hope you enjoyed it and i will see you again soon, hopefully with the next chapter.