"I hate being hungover," Annabeth groaned as she placed both hands to her face. She couldn't bring herself to pry them open. So, she blindly turned on her side and tried to find the pillow that had been flung off her bed sometime the night before.

"Here," Thalia said. It sounded like she was above Annabeth's head. "Drink up."

"Don't want to get up," Annabeth groaned. She had no chance of defending herself as Thalia pulled her into a sitting position. A glass was gently pushed against her lips. Annabeth drank the concoction and almost gagged, but she forced herself to drink it. Some of the pain subsided.

"Thanks," Annabeth muttered as she took the glass herself and drank the rest of it. She put the glass down and rubbed her eyes. Thalia sat on the bed next to her.

"Did you have fun last night?" Thalia asked. Annabeth groaned. "I got us room service. It should be here soon."

"My head feels like it got hit by a truck," Annabeth muttered as she rubbed her eyes. She tried to stretch out and relax. "It was a lot of fun, though. How are the others?"

"Still sleeping," Thalia answered. "I made sure they didn't puke during their sleep or anything like that."

Annabeth nodded and finished stretching. She curled up on the bed and looked up at Thalia. Her best friend laid on the bed next to her. Thalia spoke, "And I got to talk to Reyna."

"How did that go?" Annabeth questioned as she met Thalia's eyes. The two studied each other. A sigh finally escaped Thalia.

"Have you ever had someone that you know isn't good for you, but you want to keep going back?" Thalia asked.

"I thought you wanted to try and be friends with her again," Annabeth replied. "Are you changing your mind now?"

"I don't know," Thalia sighed. She buried her face into the bed for a few moments. "There's just something about her."

"Yeah. I can see it," Annabeth agreed. "If you can push past the issues, Reyna has a good heart. She just doesn't know how to direct it sometimes."

"I don't even want a relationship really. Just sex," Thalia muttered. "And I know that Reyna doesn't want that. One night stands are not her thing. And no casual hookups either. I just need to get over her."

"You do," Annabeth agreed. She moved closer to Thalia. "Can we talk while I'm still hungover?"

"About what?" Thalia asked as she wrapped an arm around Annabeth and grew serious.

"My dad," Annabeth said.

"Of course," Thalia whispered. "I'm all ears."

"I want to talk to him, but I'm scared. Because I know I am going to get hurt. I know that he doesn't truly accept me for who I am, but he will keep claiming that he does. And I don't know why he won't just tell me that he's disappointed in me and doesn't love me," Annabeth ranted.

Her heart ached, and she felt tears come to her eyes. She thought that she would feel better when she said the words out loud, but she did not feel better. In fact, she felt worse.

Thalia gently wiped a tear from her eye and spoke, "Babe, that is not true. He does love you."

"Yeah right," Annabeth muttered bitterly.

"Annabeth..."

"He rarely shows it," Annabeth said as she rolled onto her back and glared at the ceiling. "He doesn't care about my career. He never goes to any of my fights, and I doubt that he even cares about the result. What was the excuse? He doesn't want to see me hurt? It's bullshit!"

Annabeth felt more tears in her eyes, and she tried to keep herself from turning into a bawling mess. She struggled to a sitting position and wiped her eyes. Thalia wrapped an arm around her and spoke, "Your dad does love you, Annabeth. He's just really bad at showing it.

"I love you, but do you remember how bad you were with emotions as a kid?" Thalia asked. Annabeth didn't answer. "And how it took you forever to open up and tell us what was bothering you. Because your family wasn't there emotionally. It's the same thing here. Your dad is just so bad at emotions and showing that he cares now as he was back then.

"Who do you think taught you?" Thalia questioned. Annabeth sighed and looked at her.

"How do I get him to admit he hates me?" Annabeth asked.

"He can't admit something that isn't true," Thalia stated. She tightened her grip on Annabeth. "He doesn't hate you, Annabeth. He loves you. More than you realize. The problem is that he is also a coward. Your dad folds under the pressure from the rest of your family."

"Why won't he pick his daughter over them?" Annabeth muttered bitterly.

"That one I don't know," Thalia sighed. She kissed Annabeth's forehead. "Didn't you say that's how he met your stepmom? Their parents went to the same school or old, stuffy person convention and talked about their kids, setting them up."

"My dad's parents invited hers to a party," Annabeth explained. "Because they knew hers from the old stuffy person convention. That's where they met and started to date."

"So, upsetting the grandparents would upset her. That's probably why he's so scared of shaking the boat," Thalia said. She rubbed Annabeth's back gently.

"Rocking the boat."

"Whatever. The point is that he's an idiot for picking them over you, and I think that might be why he can't accept your sexuality like he should. It sounds like he wants to, but they don't want to let him. And he cares about their opinion a lot more than he should," Thalia said.

"Why?" Annabeth complained. She hated how whiny her voice sounded, but Thalia just gave her a sad smile.

"Could be related to his work. Or money. Maybe the old farts have some kind of power over him," Thalia said. "If it were me, I would tell your dad to shove it. That you don't care about what he thinks."

"Which is a lie," Annabeth whispered.

"I know," Thalia returned in a quiet voice. "So tell him that. Talk to him and tell him what you really feel. Don't hold back. If you hold back, he won't realize how serious you are."

Annabeth remained silent. Thalia made it sound so easy, but Annabeth was not like her friend. She couldn't walk into a room and command a conversation. She couldn't march up to her father and confront him. Thalia, for better or worse, did things without thinking of the consequences.

Annabeth wasn't wired like that. What if she confronted her father and things went wrong? What if he disowned her? Or the elders of the family heard about it? She didn't care what they thought, but they would just poison her father against her more.

And for all of his faults, Annabeth did not want to lose that connection to her father. She loved him. She really did. Even if he didn't love her.

"What if I learn my dad doesn't love me?" Annabeth asked. Thalia stood and looked at her. She carefully placed both hands to Annabeth's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"Annabeth, listen to me," Thalia said. She moved her hands to Annabeth's face. "Your dad loves you. I know it, and you should too. But you keep torturing yourself with this thought, don't you? The only way to find out is to ask your dad, and I know that you're scared of it.

"But you're Annabeth freakin Chase. You are a badass, and you're not going to let your dad put you down, okay. You're not going to let anyone make you feel like you deserve less or are less. You are an amazing person, and you taught me a lot. That is one of the million reasons that I love you."

Annabeth didn't realize she was crying until Thalia wiped a tear away. She threw herself into Thalia's arms, and her best friend hugged her. Annabeth whispered, "Thank you."

"Always," Thalia said. Annabeth sniffled as she pulled away. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Alright, you go take a shower. We'll get breakfast with the other losers and then go to whatever boring historical site you want to go to."

Annabeth smiled and slowly stood. She gathered a change of clothes and tried to collect herself. Talking to her father was something that would happen sooner or later, but she wasn't looking forward to it. She just hoped it would work out the way she wanted it to.