Chapter Text
Percy would be lying if he said he wasn't thinking about Annabeth - because in honesty she was all he thought about for the past two days (and the four years preceding that).
He made an attempt to reach out to her days ago via Iris message and had hit a dead end, which shocked him before it troubled him. Paul and Sally had taken him to Washington DC last week and he had filed away all his thoughts about the buildings and monuments, excited to tell Annabeth all about it - but she wasn't picking up.
After the second try, he decided to change tactics to anyone in Camp Half Blood, coming face to face with Chiron who waved his concerns and told him she was busy working on something. He had tried again the next day to be hit with the same thing - a dead end from Annabeth and Mr D dismissing him (less kindly than Chiron) - leaving him seriously running low on drachmas and patience.
His frustration took on a mind of its own as his leg bounced restlessly beneath the dinner table as Sally and Paul made conversation with Rachel. Percy tried his best to hide his agitation throughout the meal (or at least he thinks he did) but the glance his mum sent at the direction of his leg told him he was failing miserably. He had attempted to cancel his plans with Rachel earlier when he realised his mind was somewhere else, but his mum had suggested she stop by for dinner instead and she jumped at the chance to say yes. Frankly it was hard to even pay attention to the conversation, let alone contribute to it when a gnawing sense of concern ate at Percy.
Something's wrong with Annabeth he thought over and over again. It wasn't a question, it was a fact. Despite how distant things had been between them this summer, she never missed an IM from him and she never went this long without at least shooting a text to his mum's phone. Something in his gut knew something was up and the last time this gut feeling washed over him was the night she fell off the cliff and he knew she survived.
He shuffled the food on his plate around and nodded at whatever his mum was saying when a slight gasp from Rachel grew Percy's attention to the table. An IM had manifested above the kitchen table, showing Connor outside the infirmary doors and the lack of the Stoll's trademark grin felt like an ominous warning.
"Percy-" Connor started to speak but Percy couldn't wait.
"Where's Annabeth?” he blurted out. Connor sighed and nodded his head like he expected it.
"I should have known you already had a feeling. Chiron mentioned you've been trying to..." Percy got up anxiously to move the conversation to his room when Connor made out an unintelligible noise, making him pause.
"I think we should have this convo in front of witnesses" Connor stated half jokingly, making Percy furrow his brows in confusion.
"Why?"
"So you don't kill me?"
"I doubt i would have a reason too"
"ehhh you're a little unhinged when it comes to Annabeth" he reasoned. Percy felt like the best response was to keep his mouth shut. He felt his face go a little warm and made a concerted effort to ignore the blatant stares emanating from Rachel and his mum, before he cleared his throat and simply slipped into the hallway to continue the conversation.
"What's going on Connor?" He asked.
"I want to preface by saying that she is all good and recovered". Percy tensed at the implications of his sentence and frowned. He really didn't like what he was hearing.
Percy wondered briefly if this is how Annabeth felt when she faced a problem - frustrated and angry at not knowing things, of wanting to know things but not having all the pieces. He suddenly felt fidgety, like his brain was preparing his legs to run into his room and ask his mum to leg it to camp immediately.
"Recovering from what exactly? a bad cold? It's been two days. Do demigods even get sick?" Percy's mind was racing with questions and Connor held his hand up to trying to calm him down.
"No, it's some injuries on her last raid-"
"What!" Percy yelled.
"She's fine now but she's been in the infirmary for three days-"
"No one thought to call me for three days?!" Percy didn't really mean to raise his voice but he also seriously wished he could reach over the IM and strangle Connor a little. Annabeth was hurt, and he wasn't there. He was at home, eating blue pancakes with Sally, skating down the streets of Manhattan, and having dinner with Rachel and Paul like everything was normal. He had been grasping for any sense of normalcy all summer and he knew his time was running out on playing pretend, but the reality had felt like it was crashing down on him.
"How bad is it? what raid did she even go on? why didn't i know about this? why didn't anybody call me?"
"whoa ok slow your roll hero. we're calling you right now"
"You should have called me three days ago. Actually scratch that - she should have called me four days ago and told me to come along with her"
"Look you would have just spent the three days freaking out about her and being moody. But now you don't have to cause she's already recovered and we're spared from having to deal with grumpy Percy! I mean seriously do you even remember how bad you were that one time she went missing for a week-"
"What happened Connor? How the hell did she get injured this badly?"
"Ran into some old friends trying to scope out a potential forge set up by the Titan army. It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance - in and out in five. Daedalus' shield can only show you so much sometimes.
"Who else was on this raid with her?" Percy asked. Connor remained silent for a beat too long, making Percy suspicious.
"Connor" his voice had a rough edge to it that he didn't really recognise.
"Funny thing about that is that she may have...gone...alone" Connor responded hesitantly, eyeing Percy's reaction. Percy felt like an anvil had dropped on him.
"Sorry I must have heard you wrong because what the hell was she thinking?!"
"I regret taking on this responsibility" Connor muttered not so quietly to himself.
"Is she insane? There's no way Chiron would have approved that" Percy questioned but the real question that nagged him was the one question he felt like he couldn't really express to Connor. Why hadn't she called him?
"Apparently she's been secretly doing a few solo raids this summer on a very need-to-know basis" Connor said. Percy stood there quietly, taking in the revelation. "They've only been the small ones and they've all worked out fine...until well...the one three days ago".
"I'm coming to camp" Percy stated. His mind was buzzing with emotions as all the worry and concerns from the past few days mixed in with frustration.
"Annabeth thought you would say that and she wanted me to tell you that she's fine and there's no need to worry Seaweed Brain" Connor parroted back in a rehearsed manner. Hearing the nickname from Connor had felt unnatural and Percy knew he needed to hear it from the source - with her own voice and unimpressed scowl, attached to her whole self that was well and alive right in front of him.
"I'll be there by tonight" the tone in his voice left little room for an argument and Connor sighed exasperated.
"yeah i figured. See you soon Percy" Connor said as the IM disappeared in front of him. Percy wasted no time running to his room to grab his camp duffle before heading back into the dining room.
"Mum-" Percy stopped at the sight of Sally Jackson already by the door putting on her jacket, with her keys dangling in one hand and a worried look on her face.
"Is Annabeth ok?" he was almost tempted to joke about giving her brownie points for pretending like they couldn't hear the entire conversation but Percy knew she needed to hear Annabeth was fine - she had grown attached to the daughter of Athena over the years and last time Sally had seen Annabeth, she had squeezed her with a tight hug and whispered something in her ear that had her blushing and avoiding all eye contact with him as she exited the apartment, leaving Percy confused and Sally amused.
"Yeah she's good, of course she is. But..." he said weakly.
"You need to be at camp" she finished off for him, nodding her head to let him know he had her permission. Percy turned to Rachel, who sat there quietly processing the past few minutes, and he looked at her apologetically.
"I'm really sorry"
"It's fine Percy. I'm really glad Annabeth's ok" Rachel said and Percy nodded at her words and swung a quick goodbye wave at Paul before heading for the door.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Percy was impressed she had lasted this long into the drive. He expected her to crack before they had even left the city, but it wasn't until they reached more winding roads and the buildings blurred into the silhouettes of trees that Sally had asked the question. She had glanced over at him earlier lost in thought and watched his brow scrunch up, like hers did when she was frustrated.
"I should have been there" He said. Sally should have known the guilt was gnawing at him - loyalty was his fatal flaw after all.
"Percy-"
"She's been in the infirmary for three days and I should have been there" Percy said cutting her off.
Sally went to open her mouth but Percy continued on and she realised it was probably best to let him have this out.
"What was she thinking going on a mission without me? and ALONE? Apparently she's been doing it all summer. She can't be doing that. She’s never been this reckless, doesn’t she know how important she is-" Percy stopped abruptly and sputtered as he tried to save himself from embarrassment.
"I mean...she's a strong demigod and we need her, we won't get out of this without her... but that's not the only reason she's important you know, just that she's a really good friend and person in general and she shouldn't risk that because lots of people are worried about her…like you and Grover".
Sally let a slow knowing smile slip on her face as she watched her son stumble through her words before deciding to put him out of his misery.
"Annabeth is a strong fighter Percy - it's not in her nature to back down so easily and whatever her actions, she probably felt like she had no other choice. I'm confident that she'll be ok but its been a hard summer for her too. Don't add to that when you see her ok, just be her best friend" she said softly, reaching out to squeeze Percy's arm as they pulled up to the hill.
It was an unspoken rule in Camp Half Blood that Annabeth and Percy did not come separately, but like many rules that summer - this one seemed to fly right out the window.
He paused slightly at the door of the infirmary trying to hear signs of movement. It was night time already and the last thing he wanted was disrupt her sleep, but he also needed to make sure she was okay. The door swung open abruptly, with Percy coming face to face with Michael Yew.
"Oh there you are! Connor said you'd probably be stopping by tonight. Make sure she actually finishes that tea will you?" he said, as he moved his way around Percy and out the door, patting him on the shoulder on the way out.
Percy inched forward into the room, his gaze sweeping over the infirmary room before it rested on Annabeth sitting up on a white bed with a tea cup in front of her and a scowl on her face, directed right at him.
"I told you I was fine Seaweed Brain" she said exasperated. Percy smiled as the nickname slipped out.
"Yeah well hearing it from Connor isn't the same as hearing it from you. What if there was some miscommunication and he heard it wrong? Maybe you said you weren't fine. I mean are we really gonna start trusting Connor with important information like that?" Percy joked. Annabeth let out a small laugh and Percy's smile grew a little wider - he liked making her laugh. He liked being the reason she was laughing.
"There really was no need to grab poor Sally out here at this time of night" she reasoned but Percy shook his head.
"Come on Wise Girl, she was just as worried. She would do a lot more for you than just drop me off at camp" he said. Annabeth smiled at the thought of Sally Jackson and she jerked her head in the direction of the chair beside her, urging Percy to sit down.
Physically she looked fine - there were no visible scars and bruises that Percy could see, but the exhaustion in her eyes was hard to miss.
"Three days is a long time for a demigod to heal" Percy noted. He knew he had to ease into this a little bit, there was no use starting up another fight coming in guns a blazing. Annabeth nodded grimly as she shifted to a more comfortable position.
"We're rationing out the ambrosia and nectar these days. More senior campers are stepping out for missions and we just gotta be a little bit careful with the supply - i'm not sure how much we'll need when the time actually comes" Annabeth explained, "Been a while since I've healed more naturally but Chiron insisted so I've just been here sleeping mostly".
Percy nodded his head in understanding as he looked back at Annabeth with a serious look on his face. "I've asked Chiron not to approve anymore solo raids. For you or anybody else".
"Percy-"
"He swore on the river styx"
"What! Percy you can't ask that of him, what if we don't have a choice..."
"There's always a choice and that choice is calling me up and dragging me out there with you"
"You deserve this summer to be normal Percy"
"Not at the expense of you" he said incredulously, "No more solo missions anymore Annabeth. Promise me".
She looked at him unsure but slowly nodded. "Ok... but i'm not swearing on the river styx. I promise i'll try my best to best to avoid them whether Chiron approves or not". Percy sighed knowing that was as good as she was gonna get with her.
"I'm sorry" she said quietly, "for scaring you".
Percy reached over and squeezed her hand gently, feeling her squeeze back in assurance. Percy tried to ignore how much faster his heart seemed to be beating and then immediately tried to control it. Could she sense his heartbeat through a hand hold? how does this work?
"Just remember that I'll always have your back Wise Girl - whenever you need me" he said.
"Ditto" she replied.