"Good to see you, Percy," Chiron said as he walked into the room with Piper and an intern behind him.

"Thanks, I wore my best gown for the occasion," said Percy.

"Ha! I'm Dr. Piper McLean," she said, looking amused. "I'll be working with Dr. Chiron today."

"I feel like I already know you, Dr. Piper," Percy said, smiling at her.

"Dr frank here will run labs and scans and then we'll be ready to go," Piper said motioning to the tall baby looking like a man who waved nervously.

Percy nodded. "Sounds like an idyllic day."

"Dr. Piper, did you know that Percy was originally denied this surgery because he was uninsured?" Chiron asked, turning toward her.

"Uhh wow I didn't know that, that's too bad," Piper said dumbfounded.

"Yeah, well I got married," Percy said grinning at Piper. "I'm now on my wife's insurance," he concluded as Piper bit her lip.

"Oh congratulations, your girlfriend finally wised up, huh?" Chiron asked.

"Um nope "Just then the door opened and Annabeth walked in not looking up from the charts as she spoke, "Hey do you have the insurance papers?" she asked just as she looked up stunned.

"Oh uh sorry um. I'll come back later "she said looking back and forth between Piper and Chiron.

"No, no, it's okay, I have the forms right here," Percy replied, pulling them out of his pocket and extending his hand toward her. "Just a few signatures and we're good to go."

"Great, great I'll have them over to you in a few hours" she mumbled as she quickly left the room.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but hear, did you say insurance papers, " Chiron asked his eyebrows furrowed.

"Uhh yeah, she's my wife, " Percy said nervously.

"You married a patient to give him insurance?" Chiron asked outrage

Annabeth winced; she knew this would be a problem.

"Have you lost your mind? Insurance fraud is a serious offense," he whispered, his eyes wide.

" Actually, according to the national medical anti-fraud association, it's not insurance fraud, it's just frowned upon" Hazel supported from beside her.

"It's highly unethical, you're a doctor for god's sake"

"The medical community is fairly split on this, is it unethical to deny a patient health care or to marry home and give him that care-"

"Don't you have somewhere to be, Dr. Levesque?" Chiron asked irritably.

"I'm on Dr chase's service today " she replied

"We save people's lives every day without marrying them," he said, " you marry someone you love "

"Well, I love him. I do, I love him so much " Annabeth said

He signed, looking at her with a softer expression "This isn't a joke Annabeth "

"I appreciate your concern, sir," she said, "but it's done; he has insurance, and you are his doctor—you can save his life." The man huffed and left, leaving Hazel grinning at her.

"Check on Mr Morris, have all his reports ready for me, I have to go meet my husband "Annabeth spoke, as she strolled towards Percy's room.

"Hey, here are the forms, you are officially insured," Annabeth said

"Amazing," Percy said shaking his head, "and I have nothing to give you in return." He paused and looked at Annabeth. "Wait…are you Hungry? You want a fruit cup?"

"Percy, you needed insurance I was happy to give it" Annabeth said smiling

"Come on, take the fruit cup," he urged.

She signed "ok, I'm starving." She sat on his bed, picked up the fruit cup, took a spoonful in her mouth, and looked at him. "That's disgusting," she said, making a face.

"yeah, I wouldn't eat that even if I were dying " he withered

She laughed as she put the fruit cup back, "So surgery's in an hour; are you nervous?"

"Not so much," he replied. "I've been through more surgeries than I can count on my fingers."

Annabeth nodded. "Good, I'll see you after the surgery, okay?"

"See you then," he smiled.

"Okay, good luck." She got up as he spoke. "Thank you, Annabeth," he said. She smiled as she left his room.

Percy closed his eyes for a second as Piper walked in with Frank.

"Hey, Dr. Chiron will be here any minute to talk to you about those scans," Piper said.

"How did my tumour look?"

"Oh, we don't have the results yet," she replied unbothered.

He said, giving her a knowing look, "I've had eleven procedures done in the past three years; I have tumours removed as a hobby."

"Come on, give me a hint, marble, grapefruit, what is it?"

"Dr Chiron will be here shortly to discuss the scans " she replied in a monotone voice.

"Come on Frank, what'd you see ?" he said looking at a quiet frank

"Oh, he's a first-year med student, he can't even read a scan," Piper interrupted.

"Then why does he look like he's gonna piss himself? No offence," Percy said. "What's going on? Am I gonna die?"

Frank started to stutter. "No, my face isn't…Don't look at me…Like she said, just pretend."

"Keep quiet" Piper scolded

"What did you see, Frank?" Percy pressed on.

"Nothing... You're going to be okay, really. My uncle had his kidney removed and he -

"What?" Percy asked as he stood up stunned.

"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry," Frank said, his eyes widening.

"Stop talking," Piper said angrily.

"You have to remove my kidney," Percy said, looking scared at Piper.

She took a deep breath as she looked at him "Yes, Percy. It's better you just wait for Dr. Chiron, okay?" she asked in a soothing voice, helping him back onto the bed.

Percy couldn't process anything at the moment; his kidney was one of the most vital organs, and surely many people lived with just one, but he had never thought it would come to this.

Dr. Chiron walked in and began to explain the problem.

"Percy, the tumour on your adrenal glands compromised your kidney " he frowned as he continued "It's done enough damage that we need to remove it "

"I know it sounds like a lot, but really this is our best option."

"Could we ask Dr chase what she thinks ?"

Piper glanced at Chiron as she spoke. "Dr. Chase is a cardiothoracic surgeon; this isn't her field of expertise."

"I know, but she did this amazing thing for me. I trust her. I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew she was on board with this." Percy said, looking appreciative.

Dr. Chiron looked unsettled as he glanced at Piper.

"Okay if that makes you more comfortable," Dr. Chiron said softly, "we will check in with her and get back to you." He picked up Percy's scans as he strode out of the room.

"Miss Jackson" Chiron spoke out as he stood near the reception

He cleared his throat as he tried again. "Miss Percy Jackson," he said, looking at her cautiously.

Annabeth glanced from the charts at an irate Dr Chiron "Your husband asked whether I would take your advice on his upcoming operation" he said as he handed her the scans "We are going to remove his kidney"

Annabeth didn't need to fuel his anger "Well a man can live without a kidney if that's your medical recommendation "

"Funny," he said, "because that's exactly what I recommended." He paused and then continued, "But apparently my advice, as the Chief of Surgery with thirty years of experience, isn't good enough; he wants the opinion of a cardiologist, which happens to be his wife."

"I see," Annabeth said, raising her eyebrows as she picked up the scans and studied them. As she focused on them, Chiron became impatient, clearing his throat loudly. "Yeah, I agree with you, Dr. Chiron." She said as she handed him the scans.

"Dividing and ligating the renal artery and vein," Piper said aloud as she performed the surgery. "Dr Chang, would you like to see the tumour up close?"

"Sure," he said. "I mean, yes."

"Okay. This is the Hillar vessel." She spoke looking at him, she looked back at Dr. Chiron. "Our medical student is about to faint," and just on cue, Frank fainted.

"Catch him, people," Chiron said as the nurses dragged his unconscious body out of the OR.

"Sorry about that sir," Piper said as she went about the surgery.

"Ah, it's fine. That's the reason I like seeing first-year medical students here once a year. It reminds me of where I started."

Piper focused on the tissues, something was wrong "Sir, you have to take a look at this ".

Dr Chiron leaned in as Piper moved the tissues around "Page Dr chase now !".

"Why Annabeth?" Piper asked, looking at Chiron in confusion.

"We might have to cut a portion of the pancreas and before we do that, we have to ask the patient's family, since he doesn't have a family here, we must call the emergency contact, which is Annabeth " he explained.

"Sir you paged me? "Annabeth walked into the OR holding a mask over her mouth.

"We found a cyst on Percy's pancreas, that's endangering if we were to remove it we will have to remove a large portion of the pancreas " he said turning towards her slowly. "It would make Percy a diabetic, which we didn't discuss the possibility with him."

"Okay," Annabeth said, taking it all in.

"Well, do you think that's something he could live with ?" Chiron contested.

She shook her head and said, "I don't know."

"I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but Dr chase, technical you are his wife, and you are also his emergency contact person " his tone getting angry " so I I'm asking you, do you think Percy has the support system to manage a very tricky disease?"

Annabeth stayed silent, glancing at Piper. "I don't know," she said.

"Is there someone we could call? A next of kin?" he pressed on.

"I don't know " she replied looking at her feet.

"You signed a marriage licence with him and you don't know the basic information on how he wants to live or die" he said furiously

Annabeth stayed silent looking at Piper and then Chiron, the only sound in the OR was that of Percy's heartbeat on the monitor.

Chiron took a deep breath and controlled himself "Do I have your permission to do as I see fit ?" he asked looking at her expectingly.

"Yes " she whispered

He turned back towards the open body "That's all Dr chase " as he continued the surgery. Annabeth silently turned around her eyes swelling with tears.