I'm back! From vacation that is... And I promised you guys that I'd post this on Monday and since i Houston, it still is Monday, I'm posting. :P The Caribbean was so pretty, guys. Like. Percy's eyes pretty. You know how seagreen they're supposed to be? That was the color of the water whenever we got close to the different ports. In the deep, the water was so blue. Oh, Man. Coming back to Galveston was such a disappointment.
Silverhuntresses: Actually, Annabeth and Malcolm aren't related in this story. They're relationship is purely professional.
Horse1lover3: I've got Burn Notice on my queue on Netflix. I'll have to look into those other shows.
Finding Adventures: I actually have started watching it. Daredevil is amazing. :)
RiptideFTW: I've thought about it... but the whole reason for this story was that they were stranded in the first place. I don't know. I'm probably going to keep it.
anafinchel: Maybe soon we'll see Athena's POV. Who knows?
Magenta Brave: I've seen a couple of episodes of House. Good show, but it doesn't seem like I'd get really into it. I'm not sure I can handle Sherlock with it still being a work in progress since it take two years for three episodes.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Percy Jackson and the Olympians... Obviously since I am in no way, shape, or form Rick Riordan.
Annabeth returned to work on Monday morning, dreading having to meet with her mother if it came down to it. That was one of the downsides of having your mother as your boss. Any family tension could very well bleed into the office. Her only hope was that Athena would honor her own rule on professionalism in the office. As she finished settling into her desk, Gwen came in with a stack of papers in her hands.
"Yes, Gwen?" Annabeth greeted as she waited for her computer to start up. "Did you need something?"
"I'm just here to drop off your schedule for today and a few possible clients," she informed as she held out the papers to her.
"Thank you." Annabeth accepted the papers and leafed through them, scanning each one. Gwen had already let herself out of the room, leaving the architect to herself. Dropping the papers to her desk, Annabeth leant back in her chair and sighed. Without the dread of having to face her mother's wrath hanging over her shoulders, this day in the office would have been one of the ones she looked forward to: getting new clients, a small amount of meetings; it was her definition of a perfect day.
Shaking her head from her thoughts, Annabeth went back to work, researching on the new clients and preparing her 'in progress' prints for her meetings. She decided to take up two of the three clients presented to her, bringing her portfolio to four active projects, however, she was about to close an account, dropping her down to three. She figured that the increase in her portfolio would get her mom off her back or at least lessen the level of disappointment that Athena currently had for her. The third client, she would pass to Malcolm or another one of the senior architects for review. She went ahead and made the calls, letting the clients know that she would be the one in charge of their accounts and set up meetings with them to see what direction they would like to take with their respective projects. "Thank you so much," Annabeth said as she ended her last call. "I look forward to working with you." She hung up and filled out the remainder of the paperwork she would have to file.
Happy that she was done with the formalities of the job, she stood from her desk and went over to her worktable, pulling out the prints for an office building to be built in Brooklyn. The last thing she had to do for the day was her meeting with the client for a final review and she wanted to make sure that it was perfect. Just as she got into her zone, reviewing her notes and revising the draft, a knock on her door ruined it. "Come in!" she called out, annoyance at the intrusion clear in her voice. Annabeth continued working on her draft when Gwen poke her head in.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Ms. Chase," the secretary apologized, "but you have a visitor."
"Can you tell them that I'm busy?"
"I'd rather not."
"And why is that?"
"It's your father." Annabeth stopped working and turned around to look at the woman standing in her office. Her father never paid visits to work, not even to her mother. She made her way to her desk, waving vaguely as a green light gesture for Gwen to go ahead and let him in. As she waited, she wondered what her father could be doing here. Surely her mother wouldn't leave the task of pulling her from the company to him. Soon, another knock on the door pulled her back to reality.
"Come in," she called. Her father's sandy blonde hair creeped in followed by the rest of his body.
"Hi, Sweetie," he greeted. She noticed that he had a plastic bag with takeout containers inside in one of his hands.
"Hi, Dad," she smiled. Unfortunately, even with her relatively light day, she had managed to miss lunch. "What's up?"
"I wanted to talk to you," she said simply. "And I brought some food in case you skipped lunch. They're your favorites."
She gestured to the couch in her office and when they sat down, he began unpacking the food. "Mmmm. Gyros," she hummed in delight once she saw what he brought. Her family was half Greek but they never were traditional about it so whenever she got some of the delicious food, she savored it. "Thanks." Her father simply smiled at her and they both dug in, unbothered by the silence that accompanied. Once she had finished her gyro and began working on her potatoes – they were roasted and drenched in lemon juice and delicious – she decided to speak up again. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
Her father wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I wanted to talk to you about your mother," he said. Suddenly, Annabeth's appetite died and she wasn't as enthusiastic about her potatoes.
"What about her?" she asked, picking at her food.
"Well, I wanted to tell you that I talked to her after you left and she was pretty mad."
"I figured as much."
"I also tried to talk her into seeing your side of the story."
"And how did that go?" Annabeth asked facetiously, already knowing her mother's reaction to being told she's wrong.
"I think I may have gotten through to her."
"Sure…"
"I'm serious, Annabeth," he said, shifting in his seat so he could face her better. "She was speechless when I left." She looked at her father in doubt.
"So what do we have to talk about?"
"Her side of the story."
Annabeth sighed and put the rest of her potatoes on the coffee table in front of her. "Dad, I already know her side of the story."
"Is that so? Enlighten me."
"She raised me to be the best, but her vision of 'the best' is herself so whenever I fall short, I'm not good enough. And since I'm not her, I always fall short." She looked at her father and saw him shaking his head.
"No, Annabeth," he said, "that's still your side of the story." Annabeth frowned. "Your mother raised you to be strong and independent, hardworking and focused. And you are all of those things. And she sees that. And, she knows that you can achieve many things, be successful in anything you want to do, but when she sees that you're taking up a minimum amount of work, she feels as though you're not living up to your true potential." He paused to allow her to soak that in before continuing. "Annabeth… Ever since you were born, your mother has placed you on a high pedestal. She just doesn't want you to fall off." Annabeth picked at her nails, unsure of how to respond. Her father's account of her mother's view on things really opened her eyes.
"Well," she said after a while of silent contemplation, "I guess I should tell her that I have a slight fear of heights." The father and daughter laughed at the clever quip. "Thank you, Dad, for everything."
"It's what I'm here for, baby girl." They shared another smile. "Oh! I almost forgot." He dug into the plastic bag for another container and when he opened it, Annabeth found her appetite again.
"Loukoumades," she practically drooled. The Greek honeyballs in front of her were the absolute best, so to speak. They sold some pretty good ones around New York but to her, the best would always be in Houston at a diner called Niko Niko's. She had first tried them while on a business trip down there; they were the gods' gift to humanity. She had yet to find some that compared but the restaurants in New York didn't quite meet the standards that Houston had set. She grabbed her fork and stabbed one, barely managing to fit the whole thing in her mouth. They were just short of heavenly but delicious nonetheless. "Mmmm," she hummed in delight.
"Glad you like them." Her father began clearing up the table of the empty containers. "Go talk to your mother, Annabeth. If anyone can fix this, you can." She set her container of loukoumades down and hugged the older man.
"I'll see," she replied noncommittally. She walked her dad all the way to the elevators, discarding the empty containers in the large bin by the waiting room. "Thank you again, Dad." She hugged her father once again and bid him goodbye. Once the elevator doors closed behind him, Annabeth returned to her office to finish her revisions and make it to the meeting.
•-•
It was the end of the day and Annabeth was ready to call it quits. She managed to stay late an hour after official office hours, despite her rather light day. Unfortunately, she apparently wasn't the only one.
As she packed her things, a knock on the door sounded. "Come in," she called, unsure of what to expect since everyone else had left. To her surprise – though she couldn't have been that surprised – her mother opened the door and stepped in, her posture immediately demanding control of the situation, as usual. "Mother," Annabeth said, the silent question of 'what are you doing here?' implied. Her mother never initiated a conversation with Annabeth when they were arguing. It always had to be the other way around since Athena was always right.
"Annabeth," her mother responded, her voice still stiff with regality. "I wanted to speak with you."
"Is that so?" Annabeth asked with a raised eyebrow. Normally she would never instigate an argument but she didn't want to give in to her mother so easily. She wanted to show her mother that she could demand control and take it from those who didn't want to give it to her.
"Yes." Annabeth sat down in her chair and gestured for her mother to take the chair in front of her desk.
"So," she began, speaking to her mother as though she were just a client, "what did you want to speak about?"
"I wanted to speak to you about what you said the other night."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"What about it?"
"I've done some thinking since then and… I figured that it was time for us to have a real discussion about what you said," her mother said, crossing her legs, yet another surprise to Annabeth. It seemed as though her mother were still trying to demand control of the room while… did this count as apologizing? Annabeth thought. Only my mother.
"Alright," she said out loud, indifference still evident in her voice. "Talk." She was pushing the envelope, she knew. If she said the wrong thing or had the wrong tone, her mother would blow up again and shit would most definitely hit the fan.
"I wanted to ask you… What you said the other night; is it true? Do you really think that?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes.
"I wouldn't have said it otherwise," was her only response.
"Then, Annabeth, I… I apologize." The blonde's eyes widened at her mother's statement.
"Really?"
"Yes," Athena nodded, standing up, pacing the space in front of Annabeth's desk. For the first time, Annabeth was seeing her mother… distraught. "I only ever wanted the best for you, Annabeth. The world that we live in… you have to be a shark in order to survive and I wanted you to not only survive, but to thrive as well. But, I guess… along the way, I've neglected to be the one thing you needed: a mother. And for that, I'm truly sorry."
"Mom…" Annabeth said, her voice soft. Her father was right. All this time, Athena was looking out for her. But, that still didn't excuse her actions. She stood as well and walked over to her mother so that they stood in front of one another. "It's not too late to start now."
Athena looked directly into Annabeth's eyes, grey meeting grey, and gave a smile. "Thank you," she whispered, just loud enough for Annabeth to hear. The older woman held her arms open and Annabeth stepped into her mother's embrace.
"Does this mean I still get the company?" she asked like a child asking if they still got their Christmas gift after being naughty. Both women let out a breathy chuckle.
"Yes," was Athena's answer. "I can't imagine anyone more qualified for the job."
"Good. Because I've been training for it my whole life," Annabeth quipped. Athena pulled out of their embrace, and led Annabeth to her couches.
"So, I never asked," she began as they sat. "But tell me about the island. I know you bought it and are planning something but you never got to talk about the actual experience on it with me. And, before you say anything, I know that it's my fault that you went straight to work after getting back, but now that we've turned a new leaf, I want to know everything." Annabeth smiled at the older woman, a genuine smile. And she knew that in that moment, Athena was her mom, not just her mother.
"Where to begin…"
•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•
Percy was exhausted. With the exhibit opening on Friday, it was all hands on deck, and by that, it was mostly his hands since it was his project. He'd just closed up shop for the day, shutting his laptop after saving all of his progress. It was eight o'clock at night, the latest he'd ever stayed at the Aquarium.
At least one good thing came out of this, he thought. I don't have to sit through traffic.
Percy finished gathering his things, and left his office, navigating the long hallways back to the main lobby. "Hey Gus, you still here man?" he asked the security guard. Gus, never a man for words, simply shrugged. "Alright dude, take it easy." The guard smiled and saluted.
When Percy exited the building he was met with a surprise. "Rachel? What are you doing here?"
And there you have it. I know... A ton of you are thinking, "WHAT THE HELL FLUFFY?" or "YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR NAME TO ANGSTYPIKACHUHATESYOU!" LOL! #sorrynotsorry
I am sorry though for the lack of Percy in this chapter. Oh well.
I did a little stint at an open mic night at the ship's comedy club, so I'm just full of quips and jokes. Expect a lot of them.
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