I do not own any of this. Percy Jackson belongs to the beloved Uncle Rick and the storyline goes to the amazing Michelle Do for her play of the same name.

Percy laid down his napkin over the empty plate and patted Mr. Chase on the shoulder.

"Mr. Chase, please give my compliments to your cook, it was a marvelous dinner tonight. You are a lucky man to be in the company of such fine ladies." Percy said the last sentence all while locking eyes with Annabeth.

She was sitting across the table from him, and all through dinner she had been giving him shy glances and hidden smirks that she knew he saw, but didn't know she purposefully gave them. She had made up her mind to finally woo him. To make him realize that they we meant for each other. Tonight was the night that she would confess her feelings for him. Nothing could go wrong. She had strategized about this the whole afternoon and the plan was going swimmingly.

"Oh, please Percy, call me Frederick. You've earned it." Frederick clapped Percy on the shoulder and smiled at him then looked at Annabeth. "Well, I shall retire to my office if you two want to go into the sitting room and talk," he said as he rose from the table. "Have a lovely night you too." Frederick winked at Percy and gave Annabeth a kiss on the cheek before leaving the dining room.

Percy stood and extended his arm to Annabeth. "Well, shall we?"

Annabeth stood as well and took his arm. She peaked up at him from underneath her lashes, "We shall."

Percy and Annabeth had spend a wonderful afternoon together, but Percy could not help but think that there was something a little...off with Annabeth. The entire time they talked she was always sitting close to him, or putting a hand on his arm, or tucking one of his errant pieces of hair behind his ear. It was quite distracting and did nothing to help him focus on his real mission. He had to tell her the truth, today, if it was the last thing he did.

Annabeth could not help but notice that there was something a little...off with Percy. Everytime she would try to initiate contact between them, he would tense up and go stiff as a board. She would try to sit close to him and make things a little more intimate but he would scoot farther away from her. She would lay a hand on his arm to offer comfort but she could feel his muscles tensing up like he wanted to run away at any second. It was quite discouraging for her to see that he was immune to her advances, but that did not deter her from her mission. She was going to make him admit that he was falling in love with her, today, if it was the last thing she did.

As the conversation turned towards her studies she smiled inwardly, forming a plan in her mind that could not possibly fail. Percy was talking animatedly about architecture and her interest in pursuing a job there. That was one of the things she loved about him, he was always encouraging her to do what she wanted. She could follow her dreams, when she was with him, she felt like she could take on the Hades himself.

"...he's a really nice guy. He's more of a mechanic, but he dabbles in architecture. If you want, I can have him meet you and you two can talk to your hearts' content. Mostly because most of the things you'll say will go way over my head." Percy gave her that half smile that made her insides melt.

"That sounds lovely, I would love to meet Charles sometime. He sounds like a good friend to you."

"Oh, he sure is. We grew up together, but nothing can beat my best friend Grover. He owns the bar down on nineteenth. We have been best friends since birth. We know everything about each other. He would kill me if he found out I told you this, but he has this thing for nature. He even writes poetry."

"Poetry? That's amazing. In fact, I was just reading a book about poetry earlier, it's not the nature type, but still fascinating none the less."

"Really? Maybe I should read it and give Grover a few tips," Percy laughed at this, and Annabeth smirked knowing her plan was now set into action.

"You should, in fact," Annabeth got up and retrieved a book lying on the end table. "Why don't you read it aloud? I think that poetry is much more beautiful when read to someone instead to oneself." Annabeth handed him the book and he opened it to the bookmark.

Annabeth walked around to the back of the couch and leaned over Percy's shoulder to point at the spot where she wanted him to start. "Just keep reading from right, there."

Percy cleared his throat at its sudden dryness and began to read. "From the beginning of my life I have been looking for your face, but today I have seen it." Percy fidgeted, slightly uncomfortable now knowing that he was reading a love poem. "Today I have seen the charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face that I was looking for." Annabeth all the while had been rubbing his shoulders then walking around the chair to sit on the armrest to look at the words herself. Percy found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the words on the page, when he has the very woman that described everything he was saying perched so close to him. He could smell her hair at this proximity. She smelled like lemons and something distinctly Annabeth. Her arm was perched on the back of the chair but it quickly came down around his shoulders to give her more stability on the armrest. She would occasionally lean in to read the words and her cheek would be so close to his lips it was a struggle not to close the distance and kiss her.

Percy blinked several times to try and clear away the cloudiness that was in his eyes from basking in her presence. He cleared his throat again to try and remove the huskiness there and prayed that he made it through the rest of the poem. "Your fragrant breath like the morning breeze, has come to the stillness of the garden. You have breathed new life into me, I have become your sunshine and also your shadow." Percy couldn't help but remember the first conversation they had together about gardens and how that was what love was like. He had told her that he was an orchid because he was one of a kind and special. Now, with her sitting so close to him and him reading this poem, he realized that she had now become a fixture in his garden of life. Something that he could not afford, but yet something that he did not want to get rid of. They had their own garden now, and he was hesitant to let it die.

"Your effulgence has lit a fire in my heart, for me the earth and sky. My arrow of love has arrived at the target." Percy was completely engrossed in the words of truth he was reading, and Annabeth was completely wrapped around his essence, that she slipped into his lap to get closer to the man that inspired the feelings raging within her. They were cheek to cheek before Annabeth or Percy realized what had happened, but neither pulled away from the other. Percy could feel her warm breath fan across his cheek as he read the last lines of the poem. "My heart has burned with passion and has searched forever for this wondrous beauty that I now hold."

There was a silence that seemed to extend forever. Percy was all too soon aware of the closeness of Annabeth in his lap and felt his arms instinctively wrap around her. He looked up into her eyes and was immediately lost in her grey orbs. Her arms tightened around his neck and his went around her waist so that they were as close as they could possibly be to each other. And then, in silent agreement, they both closed the distance between their lips. This meeting was so long awaited and the actual deed was so much greater than either of them could have imagined. Percy's hand went to the back of Annabeth's head to curl into her blonde tresses and her hand went to the nape of his neck to pull him closer to her.

They both pulled away from each other, not saying a word and both feeling that the kiss had ended all too soon. Annabeth opened her mouth to say something but Percy couldn't have cared because he pulled her back to him and kissed her again. Their first kiss had been sweet and slow. Just a meeting of lips. But this one held all of their pent up passion for one another. Their unsaid feelings and everything that they were wanting to say to the other was said through that kiss. Annabeth put both of her hands on either side of his face to deepen the kiss, and that's when one word popped into his mind that felt like a cold bucket of water was dumped on him.

Rachel. That was it. He stiffened underneath her lips and she immediately knew something was wrong. He gently pulled away from her and she saw panic in his eyes.

Annabeth tried to recover from what just happened and hide her disappointment at being stopped. "Did...did I do something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

Percy looked up startled at her question. Done something wrong? Never.

"Oh sweetie, of course not. You did everything right...it's just…"

"What?"

"Annabeth….I love you, but...I'm married."

Cliffhanger! AHHHHHHHH

The poem read by Percy is Rumis "Looking For Your Face".