When Annabeth got up, she was met with the usual silence of her apartment, or as silent as an apartment in New York City could be. Her dream last night had been freakishly vivid, a lucid dream. She laid in bed, not wanting to face reality. It was one of those dreams that broke your heart a little because it wasn't real, leaving her with the unfamiliar taste of disappointment. She was not about to spend her Saturday rotting in bed because of some dream with a fictional character. Annabeth wondered if she would ever outgrow her fangirl stage.

She made her way to her kitchen; coffee would help her. That's when she felt her heart begin to beat frantically, a note had been left on her dinner table. Her mind would not believe it, it didn't make sense. It had to be a dream, that was the only logical explanation. It was a note from Percy, he had stepped out and would be back, eventually. He urged her to not wait up for him if she needed to step out, he'd wait outside her door if anything.

Annabeth's body betrayed her mind. She jumped up and down while squealing. She felt like she was thirteen again.

Here stands Annabeth Chase, Harvard graduate, and successful architect, feeling like she was on cloud nine because the dream she had with her childhood fictional crush, turned out to be real. Very uncouth of her.

With this newfound energy the coffee was not needed, she would be bouncing off the walls. If anything, she had to calm herself down. How would Percy feel if she found out she was all giddy and excited about him showing up in this dimension? Keeping her cool was crucial to helping Percy. She also realized that it was Sunday, not Saturday. This whole situation had her all out of whack.

Annabeth was deep into the rabbit hole of multiple dimensions when Percy got back. What started off as a simple Google search had turned into multiple tabs for different websites, ranging from NASA to Reddit to PhD thesis papers. She felt like she was in school again. Except this time she had no idea what she was doing.

She shared her findings with Percy, despite the fact that she didn't fully understand the theories and how they worked exactly. Percy looked as if she was speaking to him in a different language, which wasn't too far off. "Annabeth, this is insane."

"I know," she played with her necklace, a tell that she was nervous.

"You're amazing."

She didn't realize she was holding her breath in until she let a sigh of relief out, "Thank you."

Percy smiled and nodded at her, "On my walk, I kinda came up with a plan. What if I went to visit all the places where something major happened?" Annabeth gave it a thought, it was very sci-fi to believe in portal doors, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Until yesterday she would not have believed if anyone told her fictional characters can turn into real people.

The sentiment of having nothing to lose was present again. "Where were you thinking?"

They found themselves at Penn Station boarding the Long Island Railroad, which Annabeth herself had never taken. They sat across from each other and Percy immediately started talking, "From what you said in your apartment, there's a theory in physics that since black holes are four-dimensional and have a strong gravitational pull, it would be possible that if you go through one, you end up in another universe." Annabeth nodded in approval of his summary, "Correct."

Percy leaned forward from his seat, fully engaged in the conversation, "But I thought black holes were nothing but a gigantic mass of unknown."

"As far as we're aware they are," Annabeth affirmed, "The other possibility is that there are strings inside of these holes, and each string is a different universe."

"We aren't going to any black holes, though," Percy deadpanned. For the first time in a long time, Annabeth laughed so much that her stomach started hurting. "No shit," was all she could manage to say in between laughs.

After composing herself she gave an actual response "It wouldn't even be possible, the closest one would take over 1,000 years to reach." She was sure that if there was a Blackhole in the solar system, the space community would waste no time finding someone to sacrifice for the greater good. "Besides," she continued, "this isn't about actual black holes, it's about the possibility of how there are theories on how multiple universes work and how they can help you. I only read the black hole one, so tomorrow you need to hit the books."

"Oh goody," Percy sarcastically clapped.

"Without me," she added, "I have a work meeting tomorrow."

"Speaking of your work, what do you do?"

"I'm an architect at a firm but slowly transitioning into freelance. I'd work based on contracts," Annabeth answered.

"You must be amazing at what you do if you're becoming a freelancer," Percy noted. Annabeth blushed. While she was very proud of her accomplishments at just 27 years old, she still got flustered when people pointed them out. "Thank you! I've worked hard to get where I am."

Percy looked out the window before placing his elbow on the armrest and resting his head on his hand, "What else?"

Annabeth's hand began fidgeting with her necklace, "What else what?"

Percy met her eyes, "What else should I know about you? I feel like all we've talked about is me. I want to know about the woman who is helping me." She felt like there was a spotlight on her. His sea-green eyes were staring into her soul and she couldn't help but stare back. "I was born on July 12th, my dad is a professor, I was a fan of the Yankees even before moving to New York, and I'm deathly afraid of spiders."

Percy chuckled at her admittance to being afraid of spiders, "You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a daughter of Athena." Annabeth's eyes lit up, "Really?!"

"Yeah," Percy reassured, "You're incredibly smart. The fact that you jumped into researching multiple universes and gave a good explanation with no prior background is amazing. Then there's the fear of spiders. It doesn't get more Athenian than that."

"Thanks! I always thought that if I were part of your world, she'd be my godly parent." Annabeth informed him.

"We would be enemies though," Percy pointed out. Annabeth rolled her eyes, it was her turn to be sarcastic, "Naturally."

"I'm glad we aren't"

Their banter felt so natural. It was hard to believe that they'd only known each other since yesterday. Even harder to believe that before yesterday, he was not real. "Me too."

"MONTAUK" came from the speakers on the cart.

They rushed off the train and Percy reached for Annabeth's hands "C'mon I know how to get to camp from here." On the walk to where camp was supposed to be Annabeth got curious, "Percy, does the universe look the same as yours?"

"Yeah, it's great!" Percy beams. It explained why Annabeth wasn't leading the way yesterday. She began to wonder what he did on his walk, besides a lot of thinking. He had no distractions, but she figured he didn't want any. Did he wander as his thoughts went on? Or did he stick to a route to get back? She decided not to ask, if he wanted to share he would've by now. Plus, Annabeth felt like she knew too much about him against his will, with the books and all.

After a bus ride and some more walking, they got on a trail. Annabeth was thankful there wasn't any snow on the ground. Annabeth also lost track of time, not needing to check her phone. All she knew was that the sun was still up and nowhere near sunset. Percy had taken them off the trail and they walked through the uncharted Long Island wilderness. They came across an open field on a hill. "Here," Percy announced. Annabeth bit back the no fucking way that threatened to escape her. Whether it was possible to find something that would help them here or not didn't make it any less cool.

Percy walked the perimeter of the area and even dipped into the tree-covered areas. Shortly after, he came back disappointed. "Nothing?" Annabeth guesses. "Nothing," Percy confirms.

She offered him a sympathetic smile, "I'm sorry." She wished there was something productive she could do.

Percy let out a long sigh, "It's ok, I was expecting it. It's just the energy here, it feels different."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to describe it, but it's as if camp should be here. You know how in paranormal activity the room feels colder?" Annabeth nodded, letting Percy know to continue his explanation. "That's exactly what this space feels like. It's not colder, but the same shiver the coldness would send down your back is the same feeling I'm getting. It's here, but invisible, like a ghost, I guess."

Annabeth made a mental note about that for research. "Wanna stay here for a bit?" While there wasn't anything either of them could do, she could let him bask in whatever he was feeling.

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all."

They just stood in silence. Annabeth didn't want to keep discussing his situation. Besides, she needed the silence to catch up with her thoughts. Maybe there was a rift in time here or whatever they were called in movies. Maybe Percy was onto something when he compared it to the paranormal. What category would that even fall under? Occult? Maybe they could find a medium. That's probably the only crowd she thinks wouldn't accuse Percy (or her) of being looney. After 30 whopping minutes, Percy spoke up, "I'm getting cold."

"We should probably get going then."

Once home Annabeth jumped straight into preparing for work. She buried herself under tons of paperwork in her office. She had pushed her very real adult responsibilities to the back burner. In her defense, anyone would've gotten swept away by procrastination if they were in the same position as her. Still, it was a really important day tomorrow. This was her last project with the firm and after it was done, in two years, she'd be a free agent. The drawn out ending to an exciting beginning.

She was scared, but so ready. For the longest time, she's been wanting to design what she wanted. This job allowed her to get her name out there. Learn and perfect her craft. Although she was still considered young in her field she had found a style that was distinctive to her. Greatness is what Annabeth wanted. To be brought up in conversation when Zaha Hadid, Lina Bo Bardi, and Elizabeth Wilbraham were talked about.

Annabeth would've forgotten about dinner if it wasn't for Percy knocking on her door. "Dinner's ready."

At the table Annabeth apologized to Percy for making him do all the cooking, "I swear I'm usually not like this."

"Annabeth, you're letting crash at your place and have been paying for everything. The least I can do is be a housewife as an appreciation for your kindness."

"The actual term is house husband," Annabeth corrected him.

Percy shrugged his shoulders, "What matters is you knew what I meant. Don't worry about the dishes, go finish whatever I interrupted." Before Annabeth could protest, Percy shoo'ed her out of her own kitchen.

Luckily Annabeth was nearly finished prepping for tomorrow. She tied up some loose ends and went back out to the living room where Percy was hanging out. "Thanks."

Percy smiled at her and motioned her to come sit next to him. "So, what's happening tomorrow at your job?"

Annabeth decided to sit criss cross with her back against the armrest of her sofa, her body was facing Percy. "We're starting a new project, but it's the last one I'll do with them before leaving." He placed his hands on her knees and shook it, "That's exciting! I'm sure you'll do great."

"I hope so. How are you feeling after today by the way?" Annabeth pivoted the conversation.

Percy gave her a tight smile, "Besides disappointment, I don't know how to feel. I was thinking how long should I keep this up before accepting my fate here?"

Annabeth stared off into space, "Yeah." She can only imagine the range of emotions he's going through, "On the bright side, it's only day two!"

This time Percy actually smiled, "Gotta love that silver lining! I will say," he added, "It's nice not having to worry about monsters anymore."

Annabeth had forgotten about that. "Oh, I bet. Nothing is trying to kill you."

"Yeah, I realized it on my walk this morning, I kept looking back over my shoulder and nothing ever appeared."

There was another silver lining. While she wanted Percy to get back, she was glad he didn't completely hate his time here.

A/N: An update was long overdue.