Percy could feel her soft lips on him, gently kissing him back; her hand on his face pulled him closer. Percy's phone abruptly started to ring, making them both quickly pull away.

Annabeth turned toward the sky without making eye contact, while Percy quickly pulled out his phone; the screen flashed Grover's name, and he picked it up, then soon after hung up.

It had become awkward; none of them were ready to look at each other, and they stayed like that for God knew how long before Percy spoke.

"That's my favorite constellation, right there," Percy said, pointing toward a part of the sky filled with stars.

"Which one?" Annabeth asked confusedly.

"That one, right there," Percy said, pointing again. "It's Orion; it looks like a man with a shield and sword."

"Oh! Yah, I see it. Why is that your favorite?" Annabeth asked.

"Well in Greek mythology, he's supposed to be the son of Poseidon, and he can walk on the sea -

"Wait didn't Artemis love him, and Apollo tricked her into killing him, " Annabeth said cutting him off, suddenly recalling the story.

"Yah" Percy said looking taken back "How-how did you know that ?"

"You aren't the only one who's read Greek mythology," Annabeth said slyly.

"Okay, right, so there goes that story," Percy said, leaning back on the blanket and laughing.

Annabeth found herself laughing as well. "So, how do you know about Greek mythology?"

"My mom used to tell me these stories at bedtime, mostly to take my mind off Gabe's late-night drunken poker games."

"Gabe was your….?" Annabeth asked in a softly

"My stepfather, but more like a boozer who just made everything complicated…" Percy trailed off awkwardly, not wanting to elaborate.

"That sucks, I'm sorry "

"Ah, it's all in the past," Percy said, waving his hand and dismissing the topic.

"You know, I should probably tell you a bit about my past as well, considering you told me about yours." Annabeth said, turning towards him.

Percy started to protest, "You don't have to, really."

"No, no it's only fair, "she said." And I want to tell you," she added.

Percy nodded at her, turning toward her, his hand supporting his head.

"So it's not all rainbows and joy, well not the whole part at least. Until I was seven it was, or I believed it was, my parents were not people who should have been in a marriage in the first place." She laughed. "I mean they were miserable, absolutely pathetic."

"You know they would stay late at work, just to avoid each other " she pointed "And my dad is a professor, so it's not like he could stay at the school late at night, but dam he would sit at a late-night cafe, just to avoid talking with my mom"

Anyways, they finally tolerated each other for seven years, and realized they needed to go their separate ways." She paused, looking up at the sky as she took a deep breath before continuing, "I stayed with my dad because I got along with him better, but that was also short-lived because he found someone to start a new family with, and I guess I got left behind.

"So for high school, I had to live with my mother, which was not that pleasant, but I guess.…… I guess I am what I am because of her.…… sure she's stern at times, but she did push me to be better ." Annabeth said her eyes getting moist, she looked away as a tear rolled out of her eye, and she laughed wiping it away " God look at me crying over stupid things " she said shaking her head.

"Hey, it's not stupid; it's okay to cry. Life is hard, every single part of it. Crying just means that you care about it, and I've heard that crying reduces the risk of having a heart attack." Percy said, rubbing her arm.

Annabeth let out a chuckle, shaking her head at him, and just like that the awkwardness was gone, forgotten in between laughter.

"So just out of curiosity how many people know about this place ?"

"I don't know; I've never seen anyone, and I come here pretty frequently."

"So yours saying nobody knows this place exists, not even Grover?!" Annabeth asked surprised

"Nope, not even Grover, I guess that makes you the second person who has been here, " Percy said proudly beaming.

"Well, aren't I just lucky?" Annabeth replied with a chuckle, she looked down towards the city. Percy turned to look at it as well and pointed out an area "You can see the hospital from here."

True enough, you could see the hospital from where we were, just barely making out the building, but still far enough away for it to look somewhat blurry.

"Oh, wait, what's the time?" Annabeth asked, noticing that the lights of several buildings had gone out. Percy shuffled around for his phone. "Um, roughly 10:15," he said, putting his phone away.

"Oh, I think we should head back; I've got to get up early for a seminar tomorrow morning," said Annabeth as she sat up straight.

Percy nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'll drop you off."

No, it's okay; I'll take a taxi," Annabeth said as she put on her shoes.

"No, it's fine," Percy said. "I'll drop you off." Annabeth raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright."

They then began the short trek back to the car, during which Annabeth sadly stumbled multiple times despite the flashlight and Percy's attempts to guide her through safely. Alas, they reached the car, and finally, in the safety and warmth of the vehicle, they were back on the road in no time.

During the car ride, neither of them spoke; Annabeth nodded off, the motion of the car and her day-long tiredness finally catching up to her. She didn't wake up until they reached home, where Percy was nudging her awake.

"Huh? Oh! Did we arrive already?" Annabeth asked slowly coming to consciousness after falling asleep.

"Yeah, do you have your keys?" Percy asked as he turned on the overhead lights.

"Yeah, but Piper's probably inside," Annabeth said, sitting up straighter.

"Oh, I didn't know you guys lived together," Percy said surprised.

"Yes, it's a big house, but it gets lonely when you stay alone," said Annabeth "so Piper and Reyna moved in". She glanced toward the house; through the tiny window, she could see Piper peeking out from behind the curtain cracks.

"Uh thank you, Percy, for everything, it did take my mind off things " Annabeth smiled, her hand on the handle.

"Your welcome, goodnight Annabeth, " Percy said smiling right back at her.

"Goodnight, Percy," Annabeth said, opening the door and getting out, then closing it and waving as Percy drove away.

Annabeth walked over to the door, smiling absently, before she could knock; Piper flung open the door, her eyebrow raised in question. "Late night with your husband?"

"Yeah?" Annabeth challenged, walking past her and slumping down on the couch.

"You're smiling; what, did you go on a romantic dinner?" Piper asked as she sat beside her.

"Nope, can't tell you, it's a secret place," Annabeth said winking at her as she grabbed the popcorn from the coffee table.

"Yeah sure" Piper scoffed

"You do know you can't get involved with him, right?" Piper asked, getting serious, looking at her with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah I know that, it's just going to make things complicated, " Annabeth said looking away.

"OK good, we have enough problems as it is " Piper said

"But I think I might have made a tiny mistake " Annabeth said looking guilty as she stuffed her mouth with popcorn.

"What?"

"Imighthavekissedpercy" Annabeth mumbled quietly

"Huh? What was that?"

"I….might have.……kissed Percy, " Annabeth said wincing.

"You did what!!?" Piper yelled, standing up, and staring down at Annabeth in fury. Annabeth hushed her, grabbing her hand and pulling her down on the couch " Reyna still asleep, keep it down ."

"Are you out of your mind Chase, do you have any idea what you have done ?" Piper half whispered and yelled at her, her eyes wide in anger.

"Yeah I know, it was stupid, it just happened so fast," Annabeth said burying her head in a cushion pillow. Piper huffed beside her, pulling the pillow away.

"So are you guys in a relationship or something?"

"No.….. It.…. We pulled away…. And it got awkward.… we didn't talk about it later "

"That's good? I guess " Piper sighed shaking her head

"What do I do now ?" Annabeth asked in a small voice .

"You get your mind off him, I'll get you a date and you can just forget about Percy Jackson," Piper said, placing her hand on Annabeth's thigh. "With your mom being who she is and everything, it's just better if you avoid him for a while."

"I guess you're right "

Piper then smacked Annabeth with said pillow " but seriously what is wrong with you!? , also give me the deeds now."