Percy woke the next morning to an empty bed. He stretched his fingers out only to be met with cold sheets. He let out a little sigh and sat up, rubbing his eyes hard. Reaching over the side of the bed, he grabbed his pajama bottoms and yanked them on. He put bottoms on every night in hopes of having a nice, comfortable, fully-clothed sleep, but Annabeth always managed to talk him out of them in some form.

Percy shuffled out of the room, squinting at the sunlight pouring in through the closest window. He peeked in Lilly's room, but her bed was as empty as his now. Maybe Annabeth took her out for a girl's day or something. They needed one.

He rounded the corner into the living room and screamed.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"What-what the hell!"

Annabeth grinned at him in her pajamas, her curly hair messy from sleep, and she was clutching some balloons between her fingers. Lilly was jumping on the couch in her princess nightgown, making excited squeals.

Was it his birthday already? Really? He nearly forgot.

Annabeth let the balloons go, and they floated up towards the ceiling. She jumped forward and wrapped both of her arms around his neck. She kissed him quickly and grinned again.

"You didn't think we'd forget, did you? You are twenty-four now."

Percy grimaced. "Don't remind me." But he smiled at her and kissed her again, his fingers sliding up the back of her shirt. She pulled away, smirking, and moved out of his reach. Lilly took her place easily, holding her arms up for Percy to lift her.

"Happy birthday, Daddy!" she squealed. She caught his face in her tiny, chubby hands and kissed his forehead.

"You're old," was all she said, and Percy groaned.

Annabeth stretched up to throw her arm over Percy's shoulders.

"Come on, birthday boy. I made you breakfast."

Placed on the dining table was a big stack of blue pancakes.

"Oh, man," Percy said. He turned to Annabeth. "How did you know I like blue food?"

"Your mom told me," Annabeth said matter-of-factly as she lifted Lilly into the chair and stacked the smallest two pancakes on her Little Mermaid plate.

"You talked to my mom?" Percy asked, moving toward the fridge to get drinks. Annabeth caught his wrist and pulled him back toward to table.

"It's your birthday. Let me do it," she said. He nodded, feeling guilty, as he took his seat next to Lilly. He tickled her belly underneath the table.

"And yes, I talked to your mom. How else was I supposed to plan your surprise today?"

Percy paused the fork piled with blue pancakes and syrup and stared at his girlfriend.

"Surprise? I'm pretty sure the last time I had a surprise three people went to the hospital and someone ended up pregnant."

Annabeth swatted at Percy and he laughed, dodging her easily.

"It wasn't me though, I swear."

"You're an idiot," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"The birthday idiot."

Annabeth caught Percy as he slipped out of Lilly's room. The morning was full of birthday activities that eventually wore the five year-old down. She needed a nap before Percy's surprise.

"Hi," Percy said as Annabeth tugged him further down the hall. She backed him up against the wall and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hi," she answered, smiling.

"Is this my birthday surprise?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Annabeth said. "That's later."

He stared at her, waiting for her move. Why did she back him against the wall again? Wasn't he supposed to be getting ready for his surprise?

Annabeth pulled herself up on her toes and ran her lips over Percy's neck, just barely grazing his jaw. He let his head drop back against the wall and closed his eyes. He felt the tension in his muscles slowly leak out as Annabeth pressed herself against him. He sighed, his hands moving down her back and up underneath her shirt.

"I love you," she said as she threaded her fingers though his dark messy hair.

"I love you too," Percy answered. Her skin was hot underneath his fingers and he let out a groan as she pulled away. He caught her around the waist and pulled her back against him.

"What's my surprise?" he murmured against her temple.

"No cheating," she replied.

"I'm not cheating. I'm baiting."

"No baiting either," Annabeth said, frowning. She pulled away again, probably planning to clean up all the board games they pulled out to play. Percy tugged her back against him.

"Come take a nap with me."

Annabeth gave him a look that told him she knew exactly what he meant when he said "nap." She smirked at him and turned around to walk away. He pulled her so her back was pressed tightly against his chest. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist in preparation to push him away.

"I'm the birthday boy," he said, sounding somewhat whiny.

"You can't keep using that as your excuse."

"Mmm," was all Percy said. He kissed the exposed skin on her shoulder, tightening his arms. It was her turn to lean her head back and she sighed. His fingers danced over the skin of her belly before prushing against the button on her jeans. She lurched forward then, straight out of his arms and into the living. She laughed as he groaned again, but he decided to let her go.

For now.

Percy kept his eyes closed as instructed. It wasn't like he couldn't smell the ocean just a mile away or feel the sand shifting beneath his feet. But Lilly's chubby little hands were over his eyes as he held on to her ankles. Annabeth's hand was pressed firmly against Percy's back, guiding him toward the beach.

"Keep your eyes closed!" Lilly insisted, her hands planted firmly against his eyelids.

"I am!"

"Don't open them!"

"I won't!"

Percy would feel the waves crashing inside of his veins, lapping up at his heart and turning up the corners of his mouth. He didn't know what it was about the beach, but he'd always loved it, even as a baby. His mother had plenty of pictures to prove that.

He loved the wind, even when it was whipping sand hard against his legs; he loved the waves even when they tore down his sandcastles and sucked him further into the never ending sea. Annabeth said his eyes were the exact same color as the sea, which he thought was a little cliché, but he believed her. He felt like the ocean was a part of him. It lived in his blood and pumped through every inch of his skin.

When Annabeth pulled on Percy's shirt he stopped.

"Can I open my ey-" he started tentively.

"No!" Annabeth and Lilly cried at the same time.

So he waited patiently, taking off one of Lilly's sandals and tickling the bottom of her tiny feet. She cried out and squirmed on his shoulders.

"Okay, open them."

Percy wrapped his fingers gently around Lilly's wrists and pulled her hands away. He blinked at the blinding white sand before his eyes could adjust. Just a few inches away was a striped blanket with a matching umbrella stuck in the sand next to it. And then on that blanket was a large picnic basket. Percy feigned surprise for Lilly's benefit.

"Oh my God, the beach? I love the beach! How could you have possibly known?"

He gently eased Lilly from his shoulders and into his arms before spinning her around, trying not to kick up sand. He covered her face in wet, slobbery kisses. She squirmed away, giggling madly.

"All right, all right," Annabeth said, wrapping her arms round Lilly's middle. "Give me the child and sit down."

Percy frowned. "I can-"

"Sit," she commanded.

Percy sat.

Annabeth pulled Lilly's sundress over her head and dug through her big beach bag until she found baby sunscreen. She rubbed in on Lilly's squishy body from head to toe, doing a better and more precise job than Percy could have done. She tapped Lilly's bottom, signaling she was done, and Lilly crawled into Percy's arms.

Annabeth pulled at the hem of her old, faded T-shirt, frowning slightly. Percy could tell she was thinking, but before he could ask what she was thinking about, she was already sliding her shirt over her head. She stepped out of her shorts and Percy couldn't tear his eyes away from her bikini. Or her body. Or her in general.

He blinked when she sad down beside him and Lilly immediately shifted into her lap. Annabeth dug through the basket, pulling out sandwiches and fruit and cupcakes. Percy previously had three slices of the blue cake his mother brought over (a Jackson tradition) and he felt like he'd already gained ten pounds per slice.

"I'm going to get fat," he said, gesturing to the cupcakes.

"No, you won't. Even if you did, Lilly and I would both still love you. Right?"

"Yeah!" Lilly said around a mouthful of turkey and cheese sandwich.

"Terribly cliché, but a bit touching," Percy said, reaching for his own sandwich.

They ate in a peaceful silence, the waves crashing against the wet sand as background noise. Percy hadn't been to the beach in a long, long time. He remembered bringing Lilly when she just started to walk on her own. And then Percy's father gave him the restaurant and headed off to Greece for a long time vacation; he moved out of his mother's and step-father's apartment, finally having enough money to support himself; Lilly began to say full sentences which got all of Percy's attention because he was sure it was too late for her to start talking at her age when the books said it would be around the first year.

So, yes, Percy hadn't been to the beach in a long, long, long time. And he missed it. Him and his mother used to make annual trips to the beach. And then Lilly was born and neither of them had the time. He would make time now, though. There was always time for his mom.

Percy didn't realize Annabeth had been talking.

"What?" he asked.

"I said are you going to eat?"

He realized he hadn't taken a bite of his sandwich and his fingers had left indents in the white bread. He took a bite.

Eventually, Lilly dug through Annabeth's monster bag before she found the toys to make sandcastles. After Percy ate a cupcake, he moved over to help her, packing the sand in tight, collecting water for the moat. Annabeth joined in too, after she cleaned everything up.

Percy's back was to the surf so he didn't see what exactly made Annabeth's eyes widen. He glanced behind his shoulder, seeing nothing but people before he turned back to her.

"What?" he asked. "What is it?"

"Hmm?" Annabeth asked, snapping her eyes back to her assigned task. "Oh...I think I saw a shark."

But he could tell she was lying.

Once the elaborate sandcastle was complete, and Percy was sure he was sunburnt, Annabeth stood up, brushing the sand off of her legs and hands.

"I'll be right back," she said carefully, avoiding Percy's eyes. "I'm going to wash off."

He watched her leave, her back rigid as she wove through the crowd. Something wasn't right.

When Annabeth didn't come back after five minutes, Percy searched for her tangled blonde hair in the mass of people. She was a grown-up, she didn't need Percy checking up on her, but something wasn't settling right in his chest.

And then he saw her, talking to a man with his back to Percy. She looked terrified, and Percy was confused until he saw the man's hands gripping Annabeth's upper arms so tight that the skin around his fingertips was turning white. She winced as he jerked her forward.

"Shit," Percy breathed. "Shit, shit, shit. Stay here, Lilly. Do not move a muscle."

Lilly nodded up at him and he knew he could trust her to stay exactly in the same spot. Percy jumped up, pushing through the crowd, his blood roaring in his ears.

"-and who do you think you are, wearing this in public? You look like a whore."

Percy stepped around the man until he was directly beside Annabeth. He reached forward and peeled the man's fingers off of her arms. She looked up at him, her mouth opened in a tiny "o." Percy clenched his teeth so tight he was afraid his teeth would shatter.

"Annabeth, go back to Lilly."

Her eyes darted between the men. Percy had a few inches on the other one, and he did his best to look down on him with disgust.

"Percy-"

"Now."

He could see Annabeth arguing with herself, her grey eyes shifting back and forth. Percy settled a comforting hand against her back and gave her a nudge. She took off.

"Who-"

Percy took a step forward, cutting the man's words short. "Listen to me. If you ever...ever...touch her again I swear to God I will break every bone in your goddamn hands, do you understand?"

"What-"

"Do you understand?"

When he didn't answer, Percy raised his eyebrows, clenching his fingers into fists.

"Try me. Lay a hand on her and I will snap every single one of your joints. This is not a game. She is a human being and you had absolutely no right to treat her any less. She is not coming with you. She does not love you. Leave before I make you."

The last sentences seem to have an effect on the man. Percy expected no man had ever challenged him before. He would only touch women, only hit women because he was too chickenshit to ever do that to a man.

"Leave," was all Percy had to say before the man spun on his heel and stormed away. Percy felt his chest deflate. He'd never been so angry or nervous in his entire life. He quietly found his way back to Annabeth and Lilly.

Annabeth didn't say a word, but her lips were pressed together tightly and she looked like she might cry at any second. Percy helped Lilly demolish their sandcastle so she could start another one. The three of them worked in silence until Percy was sure he would burst.

"That was him, wasn't it?" he asked quietly.

He already knew the answer. He knew no other man would touch her like that.

"Yes," Annabeth said, her voice catching.

"He's not going to come around anymore, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered.

He leaned over and brushed his lips against her temple before sitting back down and scooping sand into a bucket.

Annabeth climbed into bed next to Percy, her eyes briefly closing as she hesitated to curl up next to him. Then suddenly his arms were around her, firm, gentle, and he guided her to him. She felt like a million pieces of a puzzle that someone tried to jam together when they found out they didn't match.

They had avoided the topic the whole day after the beach, through the birthday dinner held at Sally's place, and through the car ride back.

Percy's skin was hot from his slight sunburn and Annabeth rested her cheek against his burning chest. He kept running his hands down her back and for some reason she felt as if he were angry at her.

"Annabeth," he started, his voice measured.

That was all Annabeth needed. She started to cry.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I ruined your birthday. I didn't mean t-"

"No, no, no. Jesus, Annabeth, you didn't ruin my birthday. Hey, look at me."

When Annabeth kept her chin tucked, Percy's fingers found it and he pulled away and tilted her head up so he could see her clearly.

"I'm in love with you. I love you more than anything in the entire world and I would do anything you. Getting rid of him wasn't a problem. You've just been so quiet I wasn't sure if you were okay."

"I'm fine," she answered quickly. "Really."

"He's gone."

"But what if he's not? What if he comes back?"

"He won't," Percy replied. "I can promise you that. And if he does, I'll take care of it. Don't worry about him anymore. If you need...maybe thera-"

Annabeth kissed him quickly. "I'm fine," she repeated. "I can do it on my own."

Percy let out a breath and pulled her back against his chest. She closed her eyes, breathing in the smell of the sea that seemed to cling to Percy's skin. She was so relieved that chapter of her life was finally over. No more hitting, no more crying, no more constant fear. If the past few months were just a preview of what she could really have, God, she never wanted to leave.

She was with Percy now. Percy who kissed her and teased her in an affectionate way and who loved, loved, loved her. He was all she needed.

Well, him and everything that came with.

hi :) this isn't the end. There's going to be a few epilogue chapters after this so please review and tell me what you think :)