Sorry for the long wait, between getting sick, summer class, and 4th of July it has been a busy couple weeks. Anyway this isn't that much of a long chapter but hope ya'll enjoy it. The next one will be longer and jucier!

Annabeth's POV

Percy kept talking but slowly faded as his words echoed in my head and I even questioned if I had heard him right. Percy really chose death over staying alive but never being able to see me again… I must've had a look on my face as I heard him call out my name several times.

"Annabeth! You okay?" He concernedly asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, can you restart I…um I kind of didn't hear anything after you said you chose death." I looked at him, embarrassed but also now concerned for him too.

He shifted uncomfortably as if he regretted telling me, I put my hand on his knee to reassure him that it was okay. He continued on saying that even though he chose death, his dad and others came to his defense and made Athena not kill him. After that he held resentment towards Athena and even a little towards the gods in general. He was able to finish college, remotely, and then began working for his dad's start up company. However, as soon as he graduated he found out that since Athena did not kill him he was put under her servitude until she deemed his actions paid off. This also allowed him a temporary type of immortality that allowed him to age but not die. He then hesitated as he explained his temporary immortality, probably because my eyes drifted to all of his scars on his chest.

"Sorry." I muttered, looking back at him in the eyes.

He nodded and looked down and continued talking.

"I didn't know I was granted immortality until I got tired of fighting one night and just…just let a manticore impale me in the chest…" He said looking at me with sorrow and pain in his eyes. My heart broke a little as I realized that meant every scar on his body that should've killed him was a "death" Percy had suffered. He looked like he was going to continue but I leaned in and hugged him before he could say anything else. He slowly wrapped his arms around me and squeezed back a little. Hugging him now felt so different from when we were together, he was a lot bigger and I could feel his strength just by the little squeeze he gave. We held each other tight for a minute before he started to pull away and I did too. We awkwardly sat there before I broke the silence.

"We can be friends just so you know. I never was not going to say no to being friends. Also I'm really sorry… for everything, for the past and for what I said the other night. I truly am deeply sorry Percy." He nodded in acknowledgment and said that it was okay and he's glad we can be friends again.

After that he got up and said he was gonna start taking us to shore before it got too late. I nodded and went to wake Diana up from her nap as well so that she didn't stay up too late tonight. After waking her up and nearly getting punched by her sleepy self, she clearly inherited that from Percy who also did not like getting woken up, we went back up to the top of the boat and looked out at the ocean as we drove towards Percy's place.

As we slowly stopped in his dock he jumped out and started tying the ship up. I helped clean up any messes and grabbed the trash and bags we brought with us. Percy came over and offered some help by grabbing the trash from me. We then made our way back up to his house, it was now almost seven o'clock and Diana and I were getting hungry, thankfully as we got into Percy's house he surprised us with pizza he had ordered as we were heading back. As we all sat at Percy's kitchen island and ate the pizza he asked Diana what her favorite part of the day was. As she rambled on about swimming and seeing the sharks my phone buzzed. I looked down and it was a notification from a random number, I swiped to open the message and saw that it was the random hookup from Lucas's apartment. His name was Kenneth and I had apparently left my number for him and he was now messaging me asking to get drinks tonight. I looked up at Percy and Diana who were making silly faces at each other now and looked back down at the text. I hesitated and then texted him back saying I was busy tonight but I could tomorrow night and then I put my phone back in my pocket. Percy looked over at me with a concerned look on his face, I mouthed the word "work" and then stuffed my face with pizza. I didn't know why but I was beginning to feel guilty and bad for texting Kenneth. Diana started asking Percy if he had any ice cream or dessert, to which he looked at me for approval to give her some dessert. For a second I wondered why he was asking for approval since he was her father. I quickly remembered why and smiled and nodded, as my mouth was still full of pizza. Diana squealed with joy as Percy proceeded to bring out a pint of blue mint chocolate chip ice cream and made the three of us a bowl. My heart quickly sank as he handed me and Diana our bowls of ice cream as the thoughts of us being a family and this being just any other Friday night flashed through my mind. Percy noticed something was wrong as I probably was not hiding it very well and asked me if everything was okay.

"Oh yeah, I'm just now feeling the tiredness of being out all day. We should probably head home after you finish your ice cream Diana." I said, doing my best to make it sound believable.

"Well if you're really tired then I don't want you to drive home. You guys can stay in my guest room tonight." He offered, looking concerned still.

I looked over at Diana who was now looking tired too as she had blue ice cream all over her face and was laying her head down on the counter.

"Okay…thank you Percy." I hesitantly said, trying to hide the unknown racking guilt building up now as I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.

Percy picked Diana up for me and showed us over to his guest room, it felt more like a second master bedroom with how big it was. It had its own bathroom with a shower and bathtub in it and a decent sized closet as well as a giant tv in front of the queen sized bed. Percy laid Diana down on the bed for me and showed me where the towels were as well as where some spare clothes were in the closet. Apparently Piper had the closet with an enchanted wardrobe that would give you almost any piece of clothing you would like. I thanked Percy again, avoiding his eyes as my phone buzzed again in my pocket, and wished him a goodnight.

Percy's POV

As I wished Annabeth goodnight and left her room I went and cleaned up the kitchen and put the food away. Today was exhausting both physically and emotionally, after I finished cleaning the kitchen I went straight to my room and took a nice long shower. After the nice warm shower I looked at my phone for the first time since this morning. I had several messages from Piper asking how the day on the boat was and to call her asap. I put some underwear and a t-shirt on before climbing into bed and calling Piper.

"FINALLY!" She yelled as she answered my call. "Tell me everything."

I rolled my eyes and started explaining how my day was and what Annabeth and I discussed on the boat while Diana was taking a nap. I then told her about how Annabeth and I are now friends and that she and Diana are currently sleeping over right now.

"Okay…wow. How are you feeling about everything?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, I just know that I'm happy that we are friends again and that I can be a part of her life again and have her as a part of mine." I said, smiling a little to myself.

"Well I'm glad, but remember you're just friends so try and keep it that way for a bit before trying anything to get her back. You know, like go out with a nice girl and try to move forward a little." She said, with care but also a bit of a pushy tone in her voice.

"Okay, I'll try." I said, thinking of how daunting going on a date sounded.

We went on and talked some more about her day and when she was going to be in town, before long though the exhaustion of today hit me harder and we said goodnight before I fell asleep. Thankfully it was a dreamless sleep before waking up to the sound of Diana knocking on my door furiously and the voice of Annabeth scolding her for doing so. I got out of bed and put some pants on before opening my door to see Diana looking down and apologizing for knocking excessively and waking me up. I chuckled and told her it was alright. Annabeth turned the corner of the hall with her many bags in arm and apologized as well before picking Diana up.

"Did you guys want some breakfast before you left?" I asked, looking at the bags and already dressed for the day Annabeth.

"Oh, um sure. I was just going to put these in the car so I wouldn't forget them." She said, clearly caught trying to leave before I woke up, again.

I nodded as an "okay" and walked towards the kitchen to make some breakfast for us. As I made blue pancakes and bacon Diana watched me, intrigued at my pancake making skills as I made her a shark shaped one. Annabeth came back into the kitchen after taking all of their stuff out to her car and presumably cleaning up the guest room some.

"Here, I made you some coffee." I said, handing her a cup of coffee made the exact way she used to like it. She gave me a look of shock as she realized that it was made how she liked it and took a sip.

"Thank you, I can't believe you remembered after all this time." She spoke gently, like she was truly touched that I remembered.

"No problem. What kind of pancake would you like? Shark, starfish, clownfish, sand dollar or normal?" I asked, pointing at Diana's shark shaped blue chocolate chip pancake that she was eyeing as I flipped it over.

"I'm pretty sure sand dollar and normal are the same shape, but I'll take starfish." She chuckled as she sat next to Diana and made her sit in the chair instead of standing on it.

After I finished up making us breakfast, I stood across the bar from them and ate with them as we let Diana tell us all about the dreams she had of swimming with fish and even a giant seahorse that looked like an actual horse. Annabeth and I both chuckled along as she talked, before I noticed Annaebth look down at her phone and then quickly putting it away and then focusing on her food only. After we finished breakfast, Annabeth said that they had to leave and hurriedly left with Diana. As she left she thanked me again for letting them stay the night and for the fun day yesterday. Something still seemed a bit off with her but I didn't think it was a good idea to press at the moment. After they left I went and started cleaning up.