Kind of another long chapter today but I feel like the content makes it worth it. Hope you guys all enjoy it and again thank you for all the support and comments!

Annabeth's POV

As Percy walked off to his room Piper walked over to me and sat me down at the bar again. She stood next to me and watched the hall until she heard the door to Percy's room close.

"What else is wrong, Annabeth? Piper asked, looking at me as I stared into the counter.

"What do I do? How do I tell Percy that he has a daughter and that even though I've been a shit friend I have begun falling in love with him again but I used hookups as a distraction I'm scared of how I feel about him and Diana and everything?" I said, looking up at her and starting to tremble a little from holding back tears. "Are you even sure he still loves me? The way he seems around you….the way he seems in general lately has been nice and sweet but…."

"Yes he loves you Annabeth. I am one-thousand percent sure of it and do not have a doubt in my mind. And sure he seems happy and different around me, but that's because I've been there for him for the past five years. As for how to tell him…I'm not sure. You're going to have to figure that out by yourself. All I do know is that he needs honesty from you more than anything." She said, leaning against the counter and placing a hand on mine.

I looked at her and silently nodded, this rush of emotions was embarrassing and scary for me. I wasn't sure where this all came from but getting all of it out made me feel a little better.

"Anything else?" She softly asked.

"I just wish Percy could hold me, and I could just take back the past three weeks of mistakes I've made." I said, putting my head down on the counter.

"Yeah, I'm sure you do. But now all you can do is wait and fix the things you need to." She said, rather bluntly but in a soft, kind tone. I turned my head and looked at her and nodded again.

"Do you need help to your room?" She asked.

"No it's okay." I said, getting up and heading to my room with Piper right behind me.

Time skip to next morning on the boat

I sat with Diana in my lap and tried keeping my breakfast down as my hangover made it feel like a rollercoaster every time we hit a wave. Piper was sitting next to Percy but seemed to be doing fine even though I was sure she had more wine than me last night.

"LOOK DOLPHINS!" Diana suddenly and very loudly screamed in my ear. She pointed in front of us and I saw the dolphins swimming along the boat. Percy slowed the boat down and they continued on but came back a couple times to seemingly show off.

After a while they all swam off and disappeared, Percy started the boat up again. After about another half hour he finally stopped the boat and said he was going to start getting everything ready. He lightly smacked Piper's arm that jolted her awake. She gave him a killer look and Diana snickered and hopped off my lap to go see what they were doing. Letting out a big sigh I laid down and closed my eyes. I barely slept last night. After getting back to my room I went to the bathroom and threw up, I then took a shower and laid down but couldn't fall asleep. I finally had fallen asleep but for only about three hours before I was woken up by Diana who was excited that it was her birthday. Percy had made a wonderful pancake breakfast for Diana and us which was really sweet. I didn't know how I was going to tell him that she was his but I knew I had to do it soon. As I had started to doze off while lost in my thoughts, the warmness of the sun on my skin cooled and I opened my eyes.
"I told you not to drink too much last night." Percy said, standing over me with a bottle of water in his hand. He handed me the bottle of water and I gladly accepted it.

"Thanks. I didn't think I did, Piper must like the strong shit…how is Piper doing?" I asked, taking a long sip of the cold water.

"Eh, she's doing pretty good. She's used to drinking that wine, it's all she really likes." He said, picking my legs up and sitting down and setting them back down on his lap.

"Hmm, she's a borderline alcoholic then." I jokingly said between taking another gulp of water.

"Yeah, she uh, she can drink." He chuckled a little. "Anyway, I came over to let you know that we are almost ready to put the shark cage in the water and to also just check on how you are doing. You seemed like you were having a bit of a rough day."

"Yeah, just everything that's been going on over the past month, with you coming back, finding out the truth, Piper calling me out for being a bad friend, and just life. It's all been a lot and I think it just hit me harder yesterday." I said, biting my tongue and trying not to just flat out say what I truly wanted to.

"I get it, it's been a lot for me too. But hey I'm here if you need to talk or need help with anything. I don't mind watching Diana, I just kind of mind when it's the only time I get to talk or see you." He sheepishly added.

"I know, and I know you probably still have feelings for me and me using you to babysit while I went out on dates probably hurt." I said, noticing that he looked down as I mentioned his feelings for me. "What? You don't think I knew you still had feelings for me?"

"I don't know. I mean I tried going out on a date to seem like I had moved on like you did…I feel like seeing me with Piper probably made you think I actually did move on…" He said, clearly feeling embarrassed.

"Percy, Piper explained to me your little arrangement, so I know it's not based on anything deeper than a friendly love. Plus I see the way you look at me, it's the same way you looked at me when we were together." I said, smiling, trying to calm his nerves.

"I'm sorry, I know you have moved on and truly want to be friends, and so do I. It's just going to take time for me to move on…" He apologetically said, rushing his words out like if he took too long I would get upset or something.

"Percy. Calm down, I understand. To be honest…I did move on a while ago. But seeing you and finding out the truth and about what you've been up to for the past five years…has changed some things…. I don't want to get your hopes up or try to lead you on but I do feel something for you again…as bad as this will sound and make me seem like a shit person…I kind of started using sex as a distraction from my feelings towards you. I know that doesn't sound like me, at least the me that you had known five years ago…but that's the truth and I'm sorry if it hurts to know that. I just think you should know, in case that changes how you feel about me." I said, feeling a bit embarrassed and nervous about saying that to him.

"Annabeth, I figured you moved on when I saw you with Diana for the first time at the store. And I am the last one to judge about using sex as a distraction from feelings I don't want to deal with. I'm not sure what to do though honestly…I would like to try and make things work between us again but I do feel like we need to try and build up a healthy friendship to then build anything more off of." He said, looking at me with a serious but apologetic look on his face.

"That's very mature of you and I agree too. Also, I think we should talk tonight after dinner and Diana is asleep. Preferably alone…" I said, mentally preparing myself to acknowledge that it was time to tell him the truth.

"Okay, that sounds good." He affirmed, nodding his head.

"PERCY I WANT TO SEE SHARKS!" Diana then yelled from the opposite side of the boat.

"OKAY HOLD ON BIRTHDAY GIRL!" Percy shouted back, he winced a little and cracked a small smile when he saw me covering my ears in pain.

"Sorry, I forgot you were hungover…" He said, patting my legs as I moved them off of him and let him get up. "You can go lay down in the bed below deck if you need to."
"No it's okay, I should get up now anyway and be a part of Diana's birthday." I groaned, standing up and stretching.

"Do you wanna come down with us?" He asked as we walked towards the back of the boat.

"Not right now, maybe after you guys see your first shark." I said, following behind him. "And Percy please be careful and watch Diana."

"Okay, and don't worry I'll watch and protect Diana as if she was my own." He smiled, clearly making a little joke but also trying to comfort any nerves I had.

I smiled back, trying not to think too much of the irony that he had just portrayed without even knowing it.

Time skip

We had a great day out on the ocean, after Diana and Percy went down in the shark cage Piper asked me how I was feeling and I told her my plan as well as what Percy and I had discussed. She seemed happy and told me that she's glad I'm not waiting any longer like she thought I was going to. She also told me that I needed to be understanding of anything Percy feels when finding out, and that if he seems to get upset most likely it will be towards my mother and the gods rather than me. I asked her what she meant and she explained that Percy is at a point, powers wise and reputation wise, where he is an actual and credible threat to the gods. That the only reason he's not dead is because the fates have basically made him untouchable, at least from Zeus and the other Olympians. But that being so, Percy has sort of lost any respect he had for the gods, sometimes seeing himself as equal to them, because of the past five years but also because he has basically become one of them. His father treats him now like he would treat Triton and any other godly children, sometimes even a bit better, probably out of fear but also out of love for the fact that Percy has helped him grow his business. He however has apparently had a long standing complicated relationship with my mother, he blames her for a lot and his little respect for her, so much so that he will actively just talk back to her and not treat her like a god. I was shocked to learn this but according to Piper, a lot of the gods don't mind Percy actually, they see him as a little brother or cousin, which technically he is, but they see him as an equal more so now. After most gods decided to start running mortal businesses to help both of the camps grow and to help struggling demigods find their way to the camps. They have seemingly changed and while they still show favoritism, mostly to the remaining Seven, they try to help their children more. After learning all of this information, I wondered if maybe I should let Diana know the truth about me and about the other side of her family.

Percy and Diana did end up seeing a couple of sharks, great whites to be exact, and while I have faced against gods, monsters, and giants. Something about a great white swimming so close to Diana and to the boat but a deep fear in me. Soon though they came up safe and sound and it was my turn to go down and see the sharks with Diana and Percy. I had a great time and from the looks of it so did Diana. After several hours of just watching sea life and even finding a little beach for Diana to play on while we made lunch. We finally made our way back to Percy's house so we could shower and rest before heading to dinner. We were apparently going to this really nice restaurant that Piper had been to before. She said they were kid friendly for how nice it may seem and that she reserved a table towards the back of the restaurant anyway so we can have a little more privacy.

After a shower and quick nap I got Diana dressed in her birthday "dress" that she finally had agreed to wear, with the added fact that Piper helped make it look more "birthday dressy" according to Diana. I myself got dressed in a grayish/silver dress that had an open back that went into two small slits on my side. As I finished putting on some earrings Piper called out that the car was here to drive us to the restaurant. I quickly finished and grabbed Diana, she asked about presents and cake and I told her that we were going to do that after we got home from dinner. However, when I got to the front door I saw Piper loading handing the cake box to the driver as he put it in a cooler and placed it up front with him.

"Pipes, I thought we were going to do cake and presents after dinner? I asked, as Diana ran off to look at the limo.

"We still are going to do presents here after dinner, I just thought that Diana would like to have the cake at the restaurant after dinner." She said, before calling out for Percy to get out here.

"Is that going to be okay?" I asked, not sure how a fancy restaurant would react to a grocery store bakery cake.

"Yeah, it's fine." She said, as if it was common knowledge.

"PERCY COME ON!" Piper yelled again, before jumping as Percy had appeared in front of the open door.

"I'm already out here jeez, you two are the ones taking so long." He jokingly said while having a devilish grin on his face. I chuckled a little as Piper looked annoyed at him.

"Fuck you." Piper said, rolling her eyes as we walked out and she locked the door behind us.

"You look very beautiful, Annabeth." Percy said, looking back at me as he walked in front of us.

"Thank you, Percy. You look very beautiful too." I smiled, as Piper let out a laugh too.

Diana, who was already in the limo, was running around and asking if we saw how cool the inside was. She kept bouncing from seat to seat trying to find the best one to sit on, I told her to stop being rambunctious and she needs to sit still so we can drive to her birthday dinner. She got up and moved to sit right next to me, Piper and Percy then came in and sat right across from us.

As we pulled up to the restaurant I realized I had heard about this place before from some of the higher ups at work. It was supposedly a really nice but expensive place.

"Piper, are you sure this is the place? I've heard about it at work and it's really expensive apparently." I said, concerned on how I was going to afford mine and Diana's dinner.

"Yeah and don't worry about the price, you and Diana are fully taken care of tonight." She smiled, patting my hand as the door opened next to us. Piper and Percy went out first with me and Diana following behind. As we entered the restaurant, Piper took the lead and we were soon being led to the back of the restaurant. As we walked back I heard a voice call my name from the bar, I turned and saw that it was Brian, a guy I had once slept with/dated. My heart started pounding as I didn't know what to do or what to say. Percy must've seen my reaction and told Diana to follow Piper and that we'll be right there. As Brian approached us Percy asked me who he was.

"His name is Brian, I kind of dated him right after I had Diana…" I nervously whispered. Percy let out a huff as he figured what I meant by dated.

"Annabeth Chase, I did not think of ever seeing you in a place like this." He smiled, clearly a little drunk. Another guy was coming up behind him, who was clearly more sober and trying to reign in Brian.

"Brian, nice to see you too." I said, ignoring his comment.

"Oh I'm sorry, how rude of me." He said, looking at Percy and extending his hand. "Brian Wilcox, and you are?"

"Perseus Jackson.'' Percy said, his voice sounding more authoritative and commanding, and shook Brian's hand. It wasn't until I saw them shake hands I realized the size difference, while Brian stood at six foot and had a lean but muscular build, Percy made him seem small in comparison. Brian then looked at me and then at Percy before smiling. I quickly realized why and my heart sank to my stomach as I tried to think of something to keep Brian occupied until his friend made it over here.

"No fucking way. You are Percy?" He asked, looking at Percy as he pulled his hand back and took another sip of his drink.

"Yes?" Percy said, looking at me and then back at Brian.

"Well this just got a bit more awkward now didn't it Annabeth?" He said, chuckling a little and slurring his words. Percy looked confused still and Brian saw that. "Oh you look confused, well you see I used to hear your name every now and then whenever I gave baby mama over here a good drilling while you were gone screwing whoever. I'm assuming you're that Percy though right? I don't think I've met many other guys named Percy who would have left such a beautiful and flexible young woman to raise a baby on her own."

"Wha-" Percy started as he looked at me.

"Oh. Oops, did she not tell you? I just assumed since I saw you both enter with a kid and who I'm guessing is your nanny, although if you are open to thirds I am available." He said, smiling and downing the rest of his drink. His friend finally got to him and tried pulling him back as he apologized for his behavior.

"No, no stop it bro. This is Annabeth and her baby daddy, you know Angle Annie. I called her that because you could put her in any angle and-" He had started but before he could finish his sentence Percy's fist came in and hit his nose, causing it to literally scrunch back into his face like a Looney Tunes character. Blood poured from his face as he fell back into his friend and yelled out in pain. The manager and some servers came over to pick up the man and his friend, while the manager came and looked at Percy as if to see what had happened. Everyone had stopped eating and was looking at us but when the manager announced that everything was okay and everyone got a drink on the house no one paid any more attention.

"I'm sorry, this overly intoxicated man was insulting Ms. Chase and I here" He said, shaking his hand out. "So I felt the need to…defend Ms. Chase's honor."

"No, no my apologies Mr. Jackson, we will have him and his friend here taken care of and banned from the premises. Please, allow me to show you both to your table, and again apologies for this, you of course will also have a drink and appetizer on the house from us." The manager apologetically said and quickly led us back to the table. It was a circular table, with Diana and Piper sitting across from each other, leaving a seat on each side open for Percy and I to sit between the both of them.

Piper looked at Percy as he sat down between her and Diana, grabbing the cloth napkin at his seat to wipe off some of Brian's blood from his knuckles. A server quickly came over with some water for us as well as a new napkin for Percy while taking the old one. Diana was too preoccupied coloring what appeared to be a kids menu with the Mona Lisa on it.
"What happened?" Piper leaned over and whispered to me as I sat and took a shaky sip of water.

"Percy, found out about Diana from an asshole I used to see, and he punched him in the nose…" I shakily whispered back and looked at the drink menu.

"Did the guy look like a Looney Tunes character when he was punched?" Piper asked, as if she already knew the answer. I nodded as I kept my eyes on the menu, I could feel Percy's eyes on me and I was too scared to face them.
Piper leaned over and whispered to Percy some before letting out a huff and sat back up. Our waiter then came up quickly and asked what appetizer and drink we would like, Diana asked if she could have apple juice, to which the server confirmed she could. Percy asked for some beer I had never heard of, the server looking scared said okay, to which Piper rolled her eyes and motioned her hand to the restaurant environment we were in. Percy rolled his eyes and changed his order to a blueberry old fashioned and Piper ordered some type of white wine. I asked for the same wine Piper had ordered before we ordered our appetizer and food as well. Thankfully Diana didn't ask for chicken tender but instead asked for the kid's salmon and rice, which was odd in general that they offered that, but then again it was odd to me that they would have a kids menu when Diana seemed to be the only kid here.

"Diana, would you like to go to the kitchen with me and tell the chef what kind of ice cream you would like with your cake tonight?" Piper asked, taking a sip of her wine that had just arrived.

"Ooo can I?" Diana asked me, looking excited to pick ice cream. I hesitantly said of course she could and they both got up and walked back towards the kitchen, leaving Percy and I alone. Not wanting to make things worse by avoiding it I started to speak.

"Percy, I'm sorry. I was going to tell you tonight, that's why I asked to talk to you alone. I never thought that this is how you would find out and I'm truly sorry." I said, leaning forward and trying to grab his hand, but he pulled away.

"So it's true?" He asked, looking at me with pain in his eyes. "Diana is mine?"

"...Yes." I said, looking down in shame for how he had found out.

"Does Piper know?" He asked.

"Yeah…" I said, looking down still not meeting his eyes.

"What does Diana know about her father-me? Or whatever." He asked, getting confused and angry.

"I told her that her father was a good man that got lost and that I'm not sure if we would ever find him. She doesn't know that you are her father." I said, looking at him finally and seeing that he had tears forming in his eyes.

"Do you want her to know?" He asked, clearly trying not to cry.

"If you want her to, yes, but it's entirely up to you Percy." I said, trying not to cry too. "I would like for us to talk about things more before telling her though."

"Okay. We can talk more tonight as planned then." He said, straightening himself up and wiping his eyes as we heard Diana and Piper make their way back over to us.