Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter, made her way towards the beach. In her hand, she has a basket full of various types of foods along with some of her favorite fruits such as strawberries, some sliced apples, grapes and a few others.

If you told her a few years ago that she would be doing this she wouldn't have thought it ludicrous, of course, just very unlikely. But here she was making her way to the beach with a basket full of food inside. Who she was meeting with, you might ask. Well, she was meeting her friend and technically her cousin, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.

Not even she expected the simple acquaintanceship between trusted allies built by mutual respect to bloom into a full-blown friendship.

"Katie!"

Katie turned her head towards the voice, "Percy!" she yelled back.

Katie got closer to where Percy sat and glanced around, she gave a small grin, "Well, you came very prepared for this, didn't you?" she giggled. Percy had set up quite the picnic setting. On the sand there lay a light blue blanket that could fit four people, along with three very fluffy pillows, each on the opposite side of the blanket. They were also colored a light baby blue. Katie internally laughed to herself, what did she expect? This was Percy after all, he wouldn't be Percy if he didn't have a love for the color blue.

Near Percy, there were a few drinks and an assortment of candies in medium-sized bags. a few inches away was another basket. Percy laughed, "What can I say? I live to please."

Katie sat down and set her basket down, "It feels great out here." she commented while opening her basket taking out the food she brought and laying it down.

Percy nodded, "Yeah," he reached over and grabbed his basket. I wasn't really sure what exactly to make, but I hope you like cookies."

Katie smiled, "Cookies are great Percy," she grabbed a blue cookie and bit into it. Katie's eyes widened, "These are really good! Did you make them yourself?" Percy was munching on a sandwich when she asked him. He swallowed and responded, "Yeah, I love baking, my mom taught me. One of the main things I bake are cookies," He smirked at her, "I suppose I did a great job on those?"

Katie shook her head, "Did a great job? These are heavenly!" Their laughter carried across the beach as they enjoyed the snacks and treats they both brought.

"Did the Stolls do anything today?" Percy asked while munching on a chunk of pineapple.

Katie groaned, "Those Stolls! Honestly one day I'm gonna get them…" she trailed off

Percy chuckled, "What did they do?"

Katie proceeded to tell Percy all about Travis and Connor's shenanigans and how she was going to teach them a lesson the next time. Percy listened attentively and added a few comments that made them both break out in giggles. Katie found herself enjoying these moments, Percy was such an easy and honest person, talking to him made her feel easy and light. '

After laughing till their stomachs hurt, a peaceful silence set in, before Percy broke it, of course.

"Remember I met you, Katie?" Percy asked

Katie snorted, "Oh yeah, I remember. How could I forget?" She remembered it quite clearly. She was at the canoe lake with her cabin before she found herself soaked to the bone, she turned and found her siblings soaked as well.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Some five years ago…

"What in Hades?" Miranda questioned. Her second in command was looking around wildly trying to figure out what just happened.

Katie was also trying to figure out what was going on, her siblings groaned and muttered amongst each other,

"I hate being wet."

"Ugh seriously? Never before have we gotten so wet while practicing canoeing."

"Someone must have caused this."

The ones that were in the lake climbed out and were silently cursing and asking one another what happened. The sound of footsteps caused everyone to stop muttering.

"Sorry! I am so sorry! It was an accident." A boy about her age cried out. Katie recognized him. He was shorter than her and scrawny, along with black hair, and bright green eyes. Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon. She remembered his claiming that took place just a few days ago, and how isolated he had become from the rest of camp.

The camp had never seen a son of Poseidon in decades so Percy was a novelty. Nobody really knew what to do with him, especially with the big three pact that had taken place. Percy wasn't even meant to exist.

Percy approached them "I, uh, I apologize for making you guys wet. I was practicing with my powers when I guess I sort of lost control…" Percy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Um, I'm sorry about that."

Katie could see Percy becoming more nervous. He was tapping his foot and tapping his finger on his wrist while most of her siblings were just staring at him. That would not do.

She stepped forward, "It's okay, accidents happen, you're good."

Percy nodded and lost a bit of the nervousness she saw. "Right, still, I should have been more careful and aware. I'm sorry um.." he glanced up at her, asking a silent question.

"Katie." she supplied, "I'm Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter and Head counselor of Cabin Four."

"I'm Percy," Percy said

Katie gave him a knowing look, "Well yes, I know that. You kinda blew up here…."

Percy rubbed his hands, "Well I gotta go back to training, I gotta also meet back up with Luke. He won't be happy if I arrive late." he turned around and waved before walking away.

"Huh, he's shorter than I thought he would be." Marcus, one of her brothers, commented.

Katie rolled her eyes, "He's twelve, c'mon let's clean up here and head back."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Now…

"My siblings were not happy about the shower you gave them," Katie said with a short laugh.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck, he seemed to do that a lot. "Well, I'm not gonna say I was an expert with my power at that age. I was always causing random accidents"

"And that's what they were. Accidents. You got better with your powers. Way better than I- well, anyone thought you could ever be. You are one of the most powerful demigods I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life. And it's not just your powers, your personality as well. You inspire people and you are an amazing leader. "

"Katie-" Percy tried saying

"No Percy, listen to me. I've been hanging out with you for quite some time now. And something I've noticed is how often you downplay yourself. Percy, you are one of the most amazing people I know. Camp just…wouldn't be the same without you. I mean you should have seen us when Hera kidnapped you. Everyone was frantic. You are precious to this camp." Katie uttered firmly. Her green eyes were focused on Percy, almost as if she was trying to get him to believe what she said through her eyes alone.

Percy looked at her with slightly wide eyes, "Thank you, Katie." His voice was thick and he had a small but bright and grateful smile on his face. "That means a lot. But I could have done all of that alone. People like you played a big part too. "

'Of course, he's gonna give credit to us as well,' Katie thought fondly. Her thoughts brought her back to the second Titan War. And how Percy took charge even with the fate of the world on his shoulders. She thought of how old he was, fifteen years old, almost sixteen. And how he was responsible for all these other kids who were fighting for beings who probably didn't care much about them.

And then they were thrown into another war. With Gaea and the giants. And she learned of what happened to two of her friends. Falling into Tartarus. Katie knew deep down she wouldn't have been able to do that. Her respect for not only Percy, but Annabeth and Nico too, grew more.

And so she has to get through his head that he matters. Because he did. To Annabeth. To his parents. To camp.

Their conversation drifted back and forth encompassing first meetings, amusing incidents (when you are friends with the Stoll brothers, those happen a lot), and embarrassing moments.

The sun had begun to go down, casting a golden glow over the beach and Katie had begun to feel a bit tired.

Percy cleared his throat, "I think we should head back soon," He suggested, breaking the peaceful silence that had settled in. "Camp curfew is approaching."

Katie nodded and they both stood to gather their belongings. As they walked back to camp, Katie spoke,

"That was a nice break."

"Yeah," Percy agreed, "Thanks for the food, Katie."

"Your cookies were wonderful Percy, you gotta teach me how to make them."

Percy simply smirked "Sorry, but that's a Jackson secret."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Percy had left to say goodnight to Annabeth while Katie had gone back to her cabin. Her siblings were talking amongst themselves. They looked up as she walked in.

"Katie! You're back! Had fun?" Miranda asked

"Yep," Katie replied.

"Think you're gonna do it again?"

Katie thought back to how she felt talking to Percy, "Yeah definitely."

Hello! This is a one-shot that I thought of a while back. I was thinking a friendship between Percy and Katie would be pretty good, so I decided to write this piece after drawing some inspiration from some other fanfictions I read a while ago.

Don't worry, I will be updating my other two stories soon!

- Lori.