This chapter's a little short, but I figured that was okay, since last chapter was a little longer than normal.

Happy Reading!

Chapter XI

Piper

Piper screams when the sea monster emerges from the water. Festus breathes fire and sounds the alarm as soon as she does. But then Percy waves from his spot on the monster's back and calls to her.

"Relax! I'm friendly!" And then he grins mischeviously at her.

Piper feels as if she's about to faint. Only Percy would show up on a sea monster. She almost laughs, but then she remembers how worried Annabeth is, and that sobers her up immediately. Festus turns off the alarm, but by then most of the others are already on their way up the stairs.

"Annabeth is going to kill you, you know." She yells to Percy. His grin only widens.

"I know." He replies cheerily. The sea monster he's riding moves closer to the ship. Water droplets on its scales catch the sunlight and sparkle like gems. Percy, of course, is perfectly dry, although Piper's pretty sure that he's wearing a different shirt than he was when he fell.

Piper turns to see what's taking the others so long and nearly runs into Jason. He grabs her shoulders to steady her and looks her over for injuries.

"What's wrong, Pipes? Why'd you scream?" The concern in his voice warms Piper's heart. She smiles at him before explaining.

"I screamed because Percy finally showed up." The confusion is clear in Jason's eyes, so she points to the sea monster and watches as his eyes widen and his mouth gapes open.

"I can see why you screamed." He finally says. Then Frank and Hazel show up, and Piper starts to feel a little amused at how everyone reacts.

Then Leo arrives.

"What in the name of-" He starts, and then stops in his tracks when he notices Percy and the sea monster, now right next to the ship. Then he grins, although Piper isn't entirely sure that it's genuine. "Percy! Have you been spending this entire time playing with ponies?" He calls teasingly. The sea monster snorts in indignation. Exactly like a pony.

Percy just grins back. "Yeah, I figured I deserved some time off." Then he talks to the entire group. "This is Roseus."

"Pink?" Jason asks incredulously. Percy shrugs.

"Suits him, don't you think?" Piper has to agree. She's never seen any living creature that was that particular shade of pink.

Percy leans to the side and looks into Roseus' eye. "What color were you originally, anyway?" The monster rumbles unintelligably in response, but Percy seems to understand. He nods his head thoughtfully before addressing Roseus again. "Yeah, blue would have looked a lot better. Especially with your radioactive green eyes, and all." Then he looks up and seems to realize everyone's staring at him. He shrugs it off and scans the group, presumably looking for a certain blonde-haired, grey-eyed girl who hasn't yet showed up.

"Where's Annabeth?" He asks, his smile fading. Piper hurries to reassure him.

"Don't worry, she's fine. Nothing much has happened while you've been gone. I think she's been in the engine room with Leo, mostly." She looks pointedly at Leo, who throws his hands into the air in exasperation at her glare.

"Okay, okay! I'll get her up here. Jeesh." Then he walks over to his controls and hits the intercom button. "Hey, Annabeth, you'd better get up here." Then he walks back to the group.

"Geez, Leo, you're gonna make her think somebody got hurt." Percy teases. Then he seems to decide that meeting Annabeth would be better if he was on the deck. He stands on Roseus' back and walks up his neck, jumping lightly from the top of the monster's head and onto the deck.

At that exact moment, Annabeth bursts through the doorway and immediately freezes, a lot like Leo did. She stares at Percy's face with expressionless eyes for several seconds, until he starts to fidget nervously, and then she blinks and walks quickly forward.

Percy grins in relief. It doesn't fade in the least when Annabeth punches him in the arm-hard-and slaps her other hand against his chest.

"Perseus Jackson!" She yells. "How dare you scare me like that? How dare you?!" Percy wraps an arm around her.

"I missed you too, Annabeth." He says. Then he pulls her in for a kiss. The tension in Annabeth's shoulders disappears, and she leans into Percy, deepening the kiss. Frank, Hazel, and Jason look away in embarassment. Leo just rolls his eyes. Piper feels wistful. Their love is so strong. She wishes she and Jason had that.

Annabeth finally pulls away, trying to hide her smile. "You're still in big trouble, Seaweed Brain."

Piper doesn't believe her, and it's obvious Percy doesn't either, because he just grins again. He does that a lot.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl." He says.

Leo clears his throat, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Okay, now that the two lovebirds have gotten that out of the way, I think I'm right in saying that most of us are curious about how Percy found the pony monster." He jerks his thumb at Roseus, who growls. "So I suggest we all go to the mess hall, and Percy can tell his story there."

"Why do we have to go to the mess hall?" Piper asks. She doesn't particularly care, she just wants to annoy Leo. He's like a brother to her.

"Because I'm hungry. And I'm sure Percy is too, after his adventure." He answers, definitely annoyed.

"Starving." Percy says. He looks at the sea monster. "Roseus, you can go ahead back into the water while we're downstairs. But first, let me introduce you to everyone." He points to each of us in turn as he names us. "That's Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, and Leo. And this is Annabeth." He looks lovingly back down at his girlfriend, but is distracted again when Roseus rumbles something to him.

"What?" Roseus repeats himself, glaring at Leo. "Oh, no, he's not." Percy says, smirking. It's obvious to everyone that whatever Roseus said was less than complimentary, and Leo glares at Percy. But Percy ignores him and starts for the stairs, pulling Annabeth along with him. As soon as Percy turns away, Roseus sinks beneath the waves, barely even causing a ripple. Everyone looks at each other. Then they all stampede to be the first down the stairs. They all really want to hear what happened to him.

Piper's no exception. But she hangs back, watching the others make total fools of themselves. They're like little kids. Jason notices her hesitation and waits with her. When everyone has disappeared down the stairs, he opens his mouth, most likely to ask her why she stayed behind, but Piper silences him with a kiss.

When she pulls back, they're both a little breathless, and Jason smiles down at her.

"What was that for?" He asks.

"That," she answers, smiling back, "was for being worried about me." His smile grows even more warm and gentle.

"Ah, Pipes. Everyone was. How could they not be, you being as great as you are?" Piper studies his face for any sign that he's teasing and finds none. That's one of the things she likes about Jason. Unlike Percy, you can always tell whether he's serious or not. And he almost always means what he says.

Piper holds his hand tightly and turns to the stairs. "Come on." She says. "Let's get down to the mess hall before they start without us."

Just a short little filler chapter, basically. Some Jasper for you all. Because everyone knows you always need some fluff.