Travis led the group to a sleek black Mercedes Sprinter. It looked intimidating because it wasn't the passenger design on the outside, but when they opened the back doors it was completely decked out. It almost looked as cool as Rachel's Oracle cave. It seemed like it was even more technologically up-to-date than Rachel's cave too.

Nico had to physically poke Annabeth in the back, so she would stop examining and admiring and actually get in. There were plenty places to sit, but Annabeth didn't think any were safe for driving, seeing as none of them actually had a seat belt attached to or nearby it. When all the other boys were seated comfortably with Travis up in the driver's seat, she was still standing looking around.

Finally Frank said lowly, "Annabeth, just sit down. It's perfectly safe. You can admire the interior from a seated standpoint you know."

Annabeth looked around for any seat this time. She sat in the closest one she could find, which happened to be another swivel chair with the bottom nailed to the floor. The van moved forward.

The ride was surprisingly very smooth in the back. When Annabeth had previously ridden in the back of any van, even the passenger ones, the ride was always fairly jostling. This ride was just as smooth as a small car from the front seat. Annabeth wanted to get a lot of these ideas into other useful things, but she figured that could wait until she was back on good terms with all the men around her.

When they stopped, about a half hour later, Travis said, "Hey Perce, this is the hotel right?"

Percy stood from his seat and leaned over the driver and shotgun seats to see out the front window. He nodded and said, "Yep. That's us. I'll go check us in. We've got three rooms reserved?"

"Yeah. Or at least we should have three rooms but you did the reservations so….." That was Nico in a teasing voice.

"Thanks for your confidence in me Nico," Percy said sarcastically.

Nico just grinned. Percy rolled his eyes resembling quite closely Annabeth's look when she rolls her eyes at him. Percy jumped out of the back of the van and went through the front doors into the hotel.

When Percy came back he just leaned out the door and said, "Come on guys. I've got three rooms ready. Same floor and next to each other with one across the hall, so they tell me."

All the men jumped from the truck nimbly. They grabbed bags from where they had been stashed to the side of the doors at the back. They then jumped out of the van and proceeded to the doors. Annabeth stopped by the place they had gotten their bags to find it empty. She wasn't sure if they had anything in terms of women wear, which made her slightly anxious. She jumped out of the van to find Travis and Leo holding the two doors and shut them once she was outside.

She wanted to ask about her own clothing situation, but Leo shook his head slightly. It was not an opportune time to speak. She looked towards where Percy was standing by the elevators. He had three bags, while the rest of the men only had two at the most. At first, Annabeth assumed that, since he was the leader, he was allowed another. However, based on her knowledge of Percy, he was never one to shove leadership privileges in others' faces, in fact he hardly ever used the privilege if he was allowed to.

Annabeth came to the conclusion that the extra bag held whatever provisions they had for her. Her heart warmed at the thought that he was still looking out for her even though he was angry with her for coming. Assuming that she was correct, she wondered how he actually got women's clothing and any other provisions. She didn't know, but she figured she would be able to ask him when he had cooled down. Annabeth might not have been near him at that moment, but she was still able to feel the wafts of anger that were radiating off of him.

The elevator finally arrived. There were four elevators and the one that arrived for them was in the back by the wall on the right side. They all piled in and it was then that Annabeth realized that Connor had not met back up with them. At first that made her slightly nervous, but she figured that she would just add that to the list of things she would ask Percy once he was calm and himself again. Percy pressed the 7 button and the elevator ascended. Briefly, Annabeth wondered how the room situation would work out, but she just assumed that with three rooms and six people couldn't be that hard. Two people per room would work out just fine and she was sure that the boys could figure that one out by themselves.

Well she found out it was difficult for a couple of them to get it. Travis seemed to just notice the problem and couldn't figure it out, whereas Nico was too indifferent about where he slept to care about sleeping and room arrangements. Then all the boys minus Nico and Percy got into an argument about who would bunk together and which room they would take.

It became a full out shouting match in the elevator until Nico said loudly, "Hey look! It's our floor we should get out now."

Nico's timing was perfect too. Just as he finished speaking, the elevator doors opened on the seventh floor. The entire group went through the hallway and stopped in front of the three doors that were theirs.

Percy said, "Okay. There are six of us right?"

"Right," the group responded quietly.

"We have three rooms right?"

"Right."

"So we have two people per room, and before you start to say anything, I've got ideas on who is going to be with who. I'm thinking Frank and Travis, Leo and Nico, and Me and Annabeth. Sound good? All these rooms have two beds, so don't get all jumpy. Nico and Leo, you guys are in 7708. Here's your keys," Percy paused to distribute the two room key cards. "Frank and Travis, you're in 7709 which is the room across the hall from the other two and here's your two keys," again he paused to give the two boys their key cards. Then continued with, "Annabeth, you and me are in 7710 right here next to Nico and Leo, oh boy!"

As the boys had been assigned rooms and given keys they simply nodded. When Percy was finished, they turned to their rooms and began the struggle of working key cards. Leo got his the first try and he and Nico went into their room with their luggage casting boasting grins over their shoulders. Percy had trouble the first few times and then gave up and gave his card to Annabeth who promptly unlocked the door her first try. When they had all their luggage inside, they looked back to find Travis leaning against the door frame and Frank struggling to make the light turn green so they could go inside. Percy just chuckled and called softly for Frank to let Travis try. Travis didn't get it the first time, but it didn't take him nearly as long as Frank would have taken.

Once Percy saw that everyone in their group was inside their rooms, he went in his and shut the door. He dropped the three bags he had and checked the mini bar and grabbed one of the beers with the label TSINGTAO out of the fridge. Annabeth didn't recognize the beer name, but apparently Percy did because when he read the label he nodded, opened it and took a swig. Then he came over to where Annabeth was sitting on one of the two beds in the room. He went over to the second bed, relaxing into a horizontal position, placed the beer on the nightstand between the beds, and looked over at Annabeth. He didn't have an angry air to him anymore and his eyes held no negative emotions toward her. All good signs for Annabeth.

Finally he spoke. He took a deep breath and said, "I'm not exactly happy that you're here, but I also know that you're going to win any argument I make against it. I don't like you putting yourself in danger, even if it is in the mortal world."

Annabeth nodded, suddenly finding it hard to meet Percy's eyes. When she finally did, she was comforted by the familiar look in his sea green eyes. The look that seemed to be ever present when she felt lost. The look of compassion, understanding, and above all, love. Deep love towards her. The love that drives him to care for her no matter how much she might mess up. The love that she craves whenever he is not around. The love she values when he is around. The love that she prays he knows she feels towards him.

He offered a small smile. "Hey. It's alright Annabeth. I'm not mad, okay?"

Annabeth returned the smile and nodded. She had tears begin pooling in her eyes, but she was determined not to let them fall. Percy noticed and pulled himself into a sitting position leaning against the headboard.

"C'mere," he said. That was all it took. The dam broke and as Annabeth went over to Percy and sat by him on the bed, she let all the fear and loneliness that she had been feeling ever since he first left over a year ago for the operation. She soaked his shirt with her tears. Thankfully it was not one of his uniform shirts. It was just a t-shirt that said Capt. on the front with a small ship emblem beneath it. While she sobbed, Percy just rubbed his hand in circles on her back whispering comforting words in her ear.

When she was finished, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She lifted her head off of Percy's shoulder and he just grinned at her. It gave her a warm sense, tingly feeling that spread throughout her body. She felt better and she was at last welcomed back into Percy's loving arms. She was at peace, if only for a little while, and filled with contentment.