Hello, hello! I was re-reading the House of Hades and it occurred to me that we don't get to really debrief with Percy and Annabeth. I would like to fix that.

Set the morning/day they get out of Tartarus and before Reyna and Nico leave with the Athena Parthenos.


The mood of the group became as gloomy as Tartarus' air, until Piper broke the tension.

"Well!" She sheathed her blade and patted her cornucopia. "Good picnic. Who wants dessert?"

Annabeth's mouth watered at the thought of something sweet, but her stomach promptly informed her she could hold no more. She stole a glance at Percy to find he was already looking at her with a mixture of sadness and disbelief. She saw a thousand nightmares in his gaze and she knew hers was an exact replica.

Annabeth had to look away and settled on Piper. Her friend had practically tackled Annabeth when she first saw her. Now, she was busy producing cookies and milk for the rest of the crew out of her cornucopia until she turned to face the couple.

"If you two aren't going to eat," Piper suggested. "Go get cleaned up and take a nap," her tone was light, but Annabeth silently thanked her friend for giving them an excuse to leave.

"Yeah!" Leo chimed in between bites, "I can smell you from over here!"

The group laughed as Percy slowly rose to his feet and offered a hand to Annabeth. His upturned palm was healing, but there were still gashes along his arms and a few beneath his clothes.

"Come on, Wise Girl," he grunted with effort as she took his hand to stand. "Wouldn't want to get lost trying to find my way out of another paper bag."

Annabeth laughed as Percy wrapped a warm, strong arm around her waist and they leaned in to one another. She wasn't entirely sure either of them could stand on their own, but no one seemed to notice as they limped together toward the Argo II.

Once onboard, they were greeted by an excited Festus the Dragon. He whirred and creaked happily as celebratory steam poured from his nostrils.

"Hey, buddy," her voice was weaker than she intended, but the dragon motioned his head to her. She petted him gently and cooed, "Yes, we missed you, too."

Percy chuckled as he ran a hand over Festus's snout, "Thanks for keeping the ship together without me, man."

Festus whirred happily again as the couple turned to head below deck to their cabins. Annabeth's legs buckled on the first step, but Percy caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Annab–" his voice was filled with a concern that broke her heart. Here he was, half dead, and he still wanted her to be alright.

"I'm okay," she promised breathlessly, but Percy's grip didn't loosen. Annabeth turned into him and placed a small kiss on his lips. "I promise, Seaweed Brain. I'm fine," she whispered to him in the dim corridor, resting her forehead against his.

Neither one of them spoke as they drank in the feeling of being together in a safe place. Annabeth closed her eyes and felt hot tears burning, threatening to spill over as Percy placed a kiss on her hair.

"Come on," his voice was soft, but she could hear that he was holding back tears too. "Let's go get cleaned up."

She didn't argue as he led them down the hallway to her closed cabin door and turned the knob to swing open the door. In the warm light of the lanterns, everything was exactly how she had left it. Schematics and maps of Rome were strewn all across her desk, the space that used to belong to Daedalus' laptop painfully empty. Her Yankees cap still lay on the stand next to her bed on a stack of books written in Ancient Greek. Leaning against the books was a picture of her and Percy on their one month anniversary in France. The picture was tattered from countless days in her pocket while searching for her boyfriend, but she loved it all the same.

And now? Now, he was here. He was here and they were safe, if only for a moment.

Percy walked into the adjoining bathroom to start heating the shower water and pulled a fluffy towel from one of the bins. Annabeth studied the remains of his clothes and wondered how he hadn't died of blood loss. The ambrosia had stopped the bleeding when they had resurfaced, but she could still see angry, red gashes between the rips in his shirt and jeans. She knew she probably didn't look much better, but he was taking care of her even while in such a state. Her heart ached to touch him again and she stumbled behind him to wrap her arms around his strong torso. His hand came up to cover hers before turning to face her.

Percy untangled her arms from his waist and bent to kiss her temple, "I'll let you–"

"Stay," her voice wavered, but he didn't turn away. "If you want," she added quickly, unsure why she was suddenly self-conscious. "If you want to, I want you to stay," her voice was quiet, but Percy said nothing. Only when he turned away did she start to worry, but he only peaked his head in the hallway and quietly shut the cabin door.

"Did you forget?" His tone was light as he crossed the floor back to her and wrapped his large hands around her upper arms. "You're never getting away from me again," and brought his mouth down to hers.

Annabeth kissed him back gently and her hands came to rest on his hips, the fabric beneath was covered in dried blood and dirt like her own. The feel of him solid under her fingertips made something in her heart crack. All the pain and anguish she had been holding back spilled over from her eyes as the warm, salty tears began to fall, smudging the dirt on both their faces. Percy pulled back to wipe some of the grime away and Annabeth realized he too was crying. The liquid streamed down his face, cutting streaks through the dirt like rivers carving through a canyon.

Annabeth placed a palm to his cheek and his face fell against her touch as his hand came to rest over hers. The bathroom began to fill with steam as she pulled her hand away and down to the hem of his shirt. She raised the tattered thing over his head and let it fall to the floor. If she had thought the shirt looked beat up, she had no idea what to say for the skin that had been hidden away beneath it..

"Percy," she gasped, taking in all the havoc Tartarus had wreaked on him. She ran her hands along one of the cuts on his abdomen and was certain it would need stitches despite the best efforts of the ambrosia. As she moved to pull her own shirt off, pain flared up her arm and she winced. Apparently, she had a few injuries that would need attention as well.

"Let me," his voice was soft as he tugged the top free, leaving her in her once favorite sports bra. Instead of the bright blue that it used to be, it was now an almost navy color, but he didn't seem to mind as he carefully undid the clasp at the back. Instinctively, her hands came up to catch the garment before it could fall to the ground, but the pain shot through her and she was forced to let gravity do its job.

His eyes combed over her, taking in every scrape and bruise with the same worried expression she knew she had worn moments ago.

"Come on," she took his hand and approached the running water. Before she could think too hard about what she was doing, she removed the rest of her ruined clothes and stepped into the warm water.

The feel of it streaming down her skin almost made her cry again. There was nothing she loved more than a nice shower after an exhausting battle and by her standards, she had faced the worst one yet. She could feel all the dirt and sweat melting off in the nicely pressured stream.

Percy didn't take long to follow Annabeth, but by the time he entered, she had already poured shampoo on her hand before realizing it hurt to raise her arms. When he stepped under the water she was almost shocked to see that he actually was getting wet. Anytime she had seen him in water before, he had wanted to stay dry and none of the liquid could touch him. Now, watching the trails running down his chest, she realized no one ever saw the Son of Poseidon like this and her heart gave a hard thump. He was her Percy and she would not share him with anyone else. No gods, goddesses, titans, or monsters could take him away from her again.

Percy ran his hands over his face before looking down at her where he noticed the dollop of lemon scented shampoo in her hand. Without saying anything, he turned her hand over in his and let the shampoo fall into his palm.

"Come here," he beckoned to her and she obliged.

Percy began to rub the shampoo in for her, working it into a thick lather. Even with her eyes closed she knew the suds became brown from all the grime, but Percy kept going until he was satisfied that it was clean. Then he directed the flow of water to comb through her hair, gently untangling it as the suds flowed down the drain. She had never felt so cared for in her entire life.

Annabeth's back was to Percy as he turned to grab the bar of soap and began to lather it. Slowly bringing the soapy cloth up to her shoulder, he rubbed small circles into her skin, careful to avoid any of the deep cuts, until she felt brand new.

"There," he smiled triumphantly. "There's my Wise Girl."

Her heart fluttered in response as she gave him a short kiss and then pushed him down on the bench, "Sit still. It's your turn."

Annabeth picked the bottle of shampoo back up, squeezed some into her hand, and began to massage it into his dark, thick hair. His eyes closed as she worked the product in and his hands came up to rest on her hips, gently pulling her into him. His face pressed into the skin of her abdomen as he let her work.

Once she was satisfied that chunks of Tartarus dust weren't going to fly out at any moment, she took his hand and pulled him underneath the faucet. As the suds from the shampoo slid down his face under the stream of water, Annabeth reached for the soap and brought the cloth up to his back, washing the pain of the past weeks away with the soap and water. His eyes never opened while he stood beneath the stream of hot water. It may not have been ocean water, but she could tell he was gaining strength beneath it.

When they finished, she turned the knob and the shower slowed to a stop. Percy's eyes opened slowly, clearly still exhausted. Annabeth felt the exhaustion mirrored in herself, but she knew his abdomen must be stitched before they slept.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain," she teased lightly. "I can't have you bleeding all over my bunk."

Percy looked down at the cut on his side and sighed, "I hate stitches."

Annabeth's heart tugged at the pouty expression on his face as he held a huge towel out to wrap her in. She wound the fluffy towel around her as Percy reached for a second towel for himself.

"Well, you've had too much ambrosia as it is," her voice faltered as she watched him run the towel over his hair once and then tucked it around his waist below the deep gash. "And, I'm fresh out of salt water."

Before Percy could utter a word of protest, Annabeth commanded him to sit on the bed while she dressed and got the suture kit from the bathroom.

When she came back into her room, Percy had turned on the bedside lamp and aimed it towards his torso on the bed. Annabeth had stitched him up enough times for him to know that she liked having plenty of light to do it.

She threw on some underwear and one of Percy's t-shirts that she had kept when he disappeared and headed for the main room. As the door opened, he smiled when she came into his view and teased, "That shirt looks oddly familiar."

Annabeth wanted to see that smile for the rest of her life. Percy had always been so easy to smile despite everything they had been through. Even after all the horror they had been through, she felt her stomach flutter and her cheeks reddened.

"We can fight over clothes once you've stopped bleeding all over my stuff," she teased. "Lie down and let me fix that."

Percy lay on the bed with his arm resting on his eyes to give Annabeth full access to the cut. The nectar had removed the dirt and infection, but the cut was still a deep crimson. She neatly readied the suture kit and aimed the lamp at his side.

She gently placed a hand below the cut and prepared to begin, "Here I go."

Percy stayed still as she worked. Only after he heard the final snip of the scissors did he open his eyes and joked, "Am I going to make it, Doc?"

Annabeth chuckled as she put the supplies back in the kit, "If Tartarus didn't kill you, I'm sure some stitches won't either."

He sat up on his elbows and looked down at the fresh sutures and whistled, "I don't know, Doc. Looks fatal to me."

Annabeth rolled her eyes as she stood to return the kit to the bathroom and threw a pair of his shorts at him. "You aren't sleeping in my bed in a bloody towel, get dressed," she teased and disappeared in the bathroom.

As she placed the kit in the cabinet, exhaustion washed over her and returning to the bunk felt like the longest distance she had ever walked. When she finally made it to the bunk, Percy's arms were already open to her and she crawled between the sheets. His strong arms locked around her and she buried her face to his bare chest for a moment.

Annabeth pulled away to look in Percy's eyes and realized they had both been crying. She brought a hand up to his damp face and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. He carefully kissed her back, never loosening his hold around her waist. Slowly she pulled away and tucked her face back into his chest while Percy rested his face on the top of her head, breathing in the lemon scent he knew so well.

They didn't need to speak now. They were safe. More importantly, they were together.


I'm obsessed with these two.

Also, I'm planning a follow-up chapter with spice. Let me know what you think in the reviews!