Annabeth was late to her wedding; to be honest, she didn't even know if this was a wedding. Firstly, she wasn't marrying the love of her life, nor was she in a wedding dress. The ceremony was taking place at a marriage registry, so all in all, it felt more like one of her third surgery- confident but still nervous about screwing up.

She quickly raced down the stairs and towards the kitchen as the front door opened; it was Reyna. She had a night shift and she looked rotten.

"Still going forward with this crazy idea?" Reyna asked as she took off her shoes and paced towards Annabeth.

"Yeah, the wedding is in 10 minutes and I'm late," Annabelle said as she moved quickly past her and toward the kitchen where Piper was eating her cereal.

"Well then, good luck! I guess. Sorry, I can't be there; I'm too tired. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to attend your actual wedding in the future." Reyna spoke as she made her way up to her room.

"I can't believe you're doing this! Am I the only sane person in this house? Piper asked, putting her bowl in the sink and turning toward Annabeth.

"Piper, we've already had this conversation yesterday," Annabeth said dismissively, grabbing a piece of bread with peanut butter.

"I'll be in the car," she said as she walked away toward the car. Piper had a massive fit last night Annabeth had told her everything. It wasn't a big deal though; it was just paperwork. She wasn't even his doctor.

"He could be a serial killer," she said. "Or a thief." She shrugged. "God knows Annabeth, have you considered that?" Piper questioned as she slid into the passenger seat of the car.

Annabeth rolled her eyes " He's been in the hospital for the past 3 years for far too long, he's nothing more than an unfortunate patient ".

"Sorry, I'm late," Annabeth said apologetically as she walked over to where Percy was sitting, next to him was a guy who looked like a panicking goat.

"ah no problem " Percy said as he got up, "this my friend and witness Grover " Percy said pointing at Grover

"yeah nice to meet you " Annabeth said as she shook Grover's hand which was a bit clammy, " this is my friend and witness Piper" Annabeth said motioning towards Piper

"So you're the guy who wants to use my friend as an insurance policy?" Piper said as she squinted her eyes at him.

"She doesn't mean that," Annabeth said, waving her hands dismissively. "Piper, come on." She gave Piper a look.

"Fine, but I've got my eye on you," Piper said, glaring at him. This made Grover whimper a bit.

"Okay, so, are we looking at the standard package or the extravagant one?" A man asked cheerfully as he approached them.

Just then, Annabeth's beeper beeped; she looked at it and saw that it was the hospital.

"Umm, can we just skip to the end? Make it quick?" Annabeth asked as she put her beeper away, motioning for him to continue.

The man just looked back and forth between Annabeth and Percy, a bit taken aback.

"So the standard?" He asked again, glancing helplessly at her.

Annabeth sighed. "Yeah, but fast," she said, moving already with the man following her, shaking his head.

"Okay, you can go right in; the celebrant will be inside. I've given him your names." The man said as he sat at his desk, shuffling through the papers, pulling one out. "After the marriage, you will have to come here and sign these documents. It will make you official," he said, smiling at them.

"Okay, thank you. Let's go," Annabeth said as she looked at Percy, who gave her a thumbs up.

The officiant didn't take long, it was more like awkward silence and uncomfortable "I do's", but other than that it was over pretty quickly. They signed the documents and walked out.

"Alright, so I have to hurry back," Annabeth said quickly as she walked towards her car. "You have the surgery tomorrow, right?" Annabeth asked, half-turning around and looking at Percy.

"Yes, around noon."

"Um, okay. So, I'll meet you there with the insurance papers, okay?" Annabelle said as she turned on her car, looking at Percy for confirmation.

"Yeah, okay," Percy said, taking a deep breath and looking at her with a genuine smile. "And thank you for everything, Annabeth."

Annabeth gave him a quick smile. "You're welcome, Percy," she said. "See you tomorrow." Annabeth smiled and waved as he closed the door, waving back at her.

"I've pre-rounded on the patient and her pre-op labs are all done," Hazel said eagerly as she speed-walked alongside Annabeth.

"I've read up on the procedure, I know it better than my name," Leo countered, walking along her other side.

"Wow! Quadruple bypass surgery is exciting, right?" Annabeth interrupted them, "First assistants get to sew all the grafts on the heart." She said as she stopped at the reception, turning towards them, "Plum job!" She added raising her eyebrows.

"I want it!" Hazel yelled, raising her hand. Just as Leo nodded his head and spoke, "It'll be an honour," she rolled her eyes.

"I know, whoever gets this, gets a leg up in the race for Chief Resident." She said, looking up from the charts. "But, do you know a good way not to get it?"

They looked at her blankly.

"That's for you not to bug the crap out of me before my day even starts," she finished, as she closed the chart and put it on the desk.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll back off, hey maybe I'll even go to the skills lab and practice the graft?" Leo said, still sucking up. As Hazel silently pulled the charts and ran off.

"She took the charts," Leo said, looking outraged.

Annabeth just shrugged, he gave her a ' your unbelievable look' and ran off after Hazel.

Annabeth sighed as she asked the nurse for another patient's chart; flipping through it, she started to write the report. She was halfway through when Piper loomed over her.

"Hey! How's your day going so far? Piper asked as she leaned against the desk.

"Hmmm, I've got a cabbage later this afternoon with Leo and Hazel; they've officially entered the 'dog-rabbit' stage of the competition for chief residency," Annabeth said, looking at Piper who chuckled.

"Yeah, we used to be like that too," Piper said reminiscently. She cleared her throat and continued, "But I was asking about your new husband."

"And what about it?" she asked, looking bored.

"Well, did you tell anyone? Are you just waiting for them to find out?" Piper asked, standing up straight.

"it's nobody's business, Piper, plus it doesn't matter, he'll get better sooner or later and this will be over " Annabeth said finishing her report and handing it to the nurse.

"Well, that's true," she said slinging her arm around Annabelle's as they walked down the hallway. "I've got some news too," Piper said grinning.

"What?"

"Jason just asked me out," Piper beamed at her.

"What? Finally! But how?" Annabeth spoke, returning the grin as she squeezed her arm.

"Yeah, it was this morning. We were getting coffee as usual, and he got all nervous and was like, "Hey, I'm doing it. Do you wanna grab dinner tonight? Like, like a date?" It was so cute." Piper blabbered on, trying to imitate Jason.

Jason was a cute blonde; he was a pediatric surgeon. He had joined them a year ago, and ever since then he and Piper had been flirting. Neither of them had the guts to ask each other out. The strangest thing about Jason was that he and Reyna used to date back in high school, so it was always awkward between them. This was also the reason why Piper was hesitant to ask him out.

"I'm just nervous about Reyna; I don't know how she'll react," Piper said truthfully, a guilty look on her face.

"Yeah, but I think she'll be happy for you; it's all in the past. But I think it's better if you talk to her first." Annabelle said, looking back at her.

"Martha Elkin, age seventy-five, had multivessel coronary disease, confirmed by angiography, and was here today for an off-pump CABG." Hazel provided the patient's details, politely smiling at her.

"That's just doctor talk for a quadruple bypass," Leo whispered soothingly to the stunned patient.

"Ohh, thank you." She beamed at Leo.

"Pre-op labs and her X-rays were normal," Hazel continued, glaring at Leo.

"Okay, you are ready to roll Martha, "Annabeth said smiling at her.

"My husband went down for some coffee, he wanted to know how long I'd be asleep after the procedure, " she said

Hazel opened her mouth to answer but Leo beat her to it

"Well, Martha, it's hard to tell; every patient reacts differently."

"Uh, but we'll keep him posted; most patients wake up within ninety minutes," Hazel said.

Martha took Hazel's hand and squeezed it. "Ohh, thank you, dear." Hazel just smiled and peeked at Leo, who huffed. "Doctor Chase is the very best surgeon; you're in good hands." Hazel continued patting Martha's hand.

Leo took this as an opportunity and grabbed Marth's other hand. "Um, Martha," he said, "I'd like to give you my cell phone number." As he spoke, he pulled a card out of his pocket and placed it on the table beside her, still smiling softly. He continued, "Now, if either you or your husband has any questions or he needs an update, then you can call this number."

"Oh, you are wonderful," she said beaming at him; now it was his turn to smirk at Hazel.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes and smiled at Martha.

"Hey Martha, how are you doing? They're going to take you to the OR any moment," Annabeth said as she pulled out her stethoscope and listened to her heartbeat.

Martha sighed and took deep breaths. "I don't think it's such a good idea," she whispered.

"What, the surgery?" Annabeth asked stepping back and looking at her.

"Well, it's risky, isn't it? It's a five per cent chance of mortality," she said, looking down at her hands.

"Yes, but it's a ninety-five per cent chance of success," Annabeth said, putting her stethoscope away. "Those are good odds."

"My friend Donna had a big surgery; she was never the same, couldn't even feed herself." She said, "It was so hard on her kids. I don't want to do that to my kids. It would be such a burden." Her voice cracked.

"Martha hey" Annabeth sat by her bed taking her hand "You could have 20 more years, with your husband and kids, are you sure you wanna give that up? " Annabeth soothed her, "Sure you can walk out of here right now, you can have a month, but you'll always be thinking about when you're gonna go, " Annabeth said

"Don't give up on yourself," Annabeth encouraged, smiling at her.

"Okay, I'll do it," Martha said confidently, nodding her head at Annabeth.

Annabeth's phone started to ring, she pulled it out, it was Percy, she turned back to Martha "I'll see you in the OR, ok?" Annabeth said as she walked out, picking up the phone.

"Hey Percy, what's up?" Annabeth asked.

"Hey Dr chase, I just wanted to ask if you wanna get dinner tonight ?"

"Umm yeah sure, I'll be out at 7, so..."

"So I'll pick you up at the hospital?"

"Yeah that sounds great "

"Ok then see you at 7"

"Yeah, ok bye" Annabeth smiled absently.

"Hey," Annabeth said as she slid into the car seat.

"Hey, how did your day go?" Percy asked as he started driving away from the hospital.

"Good," she said as she pulled her seatbelt. "I had a bypass surgery today; the patient was a very sweet lady."

"Really, how long was the surgery?" Percy asked.

"About two hours."

"Wow, you stood still that long," Percy said, raising an eyebrow.

Annabeth hummed, as they fell into silence, it occurred to Annabeth that officially this was her husband, which felt bizarre. She didn't know anything about him, she looked over at him, he was focused on the road, Annabeth looked at his face, his jawline, his neck and his arms which looked like he used to go to the gym, he was nicely build, tall and lean.

He must have sensed her staring because he cleared his throat and glanced briefly at her; she looked away, a bit embarrassed.

"So, Percy, how was your day?" she asked, looking back at him.

"Not that exciting, I had a photoshoot with a mother and her daughter, though they were the least interesting people to meet," he said, chuckling.

"Ooh, that's sad," Annabeth said. "I didn't know you were a photographer."

"I'm not, at least I wasn't, I used to be a marine biologist, but I got too ill so they had to let me go," he explained with an upset look on his face.

"Oh." Annabeth pursed her lips. "Well, what's it like being a marine biologist?"

"Amazing, I loved it, we swam with sharks and other sea animals, and researched them for months, I loved the deep ocean, it's very calming " he elaborated

"By the way, you're gonna love this place," Percy said, looking at her. "We are going there; it's got the best cake."

"Cake, you like cake?" Annabeth chuckled

"Ohh yah, I was disappointed that there was no cake on our wedding day because I love cake " he replied winking at her as she cracked up.