Author's notes: This is one of six fics I wrote for the pjo_kinkmeme over at LiveJournal during the last week, and the only one of them I will be posting on my FFnet profile. It was inspired by the prompt, "Annabeth's chained to rock at sea a la Andromeda from the original Perseus legend. Author's choice as to how she got there and what Percy decides to do from there." This is the edited version of the fic as the rest of it has heavy adult content, and the rules about lemons/PWP on FFnet are lame. If you're interested in reading the full version or the other fics I wrote during the week, head over to my LiveJournal (greenconverses) to read them.

And yes, I will be updating Death's Dare sometime in the next week or so. Finals are fast approaching though, so it might not be as fast as I would like, especially since I have some nasty research papers due in the next week.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Between a Rock (and a Hard Place)

"Don't you dare say anything."

"What?" Percy said from Blackjack's back as the winged horse circled around the jagged rock, looking for a good place to land. There was barely enough room on the rock for the current occupant, let alone a full-grown pegasus and another demigod. "What makes you think I was going to say anything?"

"I know that shit eating grin of yours. If you say I told you so – "

"Well, I did tell you not to mess with the Nereids," Percy replied, unable to stop the grin from crossing his face. He rocked back on Blackjack as he batted his wings, trying to stay level. "They don't really like to be called coral encrusted water trollops. Or ugly sea hags. Or – "

"Well, maybe I don't like seeing those miserable old bags flirting with my boyfriend!" Annabeth snarled, tugging at the chains that held her in place. "You can go back and tell them to keep their briny claws to themselves, and that once I get free from this rock, they'll be lucky if they – "

The ocean surrounding the rock surged suddenly, and a large wave crashed onto the surface. Blackjack reared, flying out of the wave's range; unfortunately, moving was not an option for Annabeth and full force of the water smacked into her, soaking her to the bone.

"Percy!" she howled, spitting water out of her mouth and glaring at him through a mop of wet, blonde curls. "Tell them to knock it off!"

"I told you not to insult them! It's your own fault," Percy replied playfully, trying his hardest not to laugh. Annabeth noticed his smirk though, and said quite a few things about him and his immortal relatives in Ancient Greek that would make a sailor blush in shame.

Woah, the lady boss is not happy, boss, Blackjack said, circling the rock once more. And I don't think I'm gonna be able to land here.

"That's fine," Percy said, having figured as much. "Just get me as close as you can and I'll jump off."

Whaddya going to do to get her back to land? You know your pop won't let her into the ocean –

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Percy interrupted as the horse moved closer. "Go get some hay at the stables, recharge, and come back in like an hour with Porkiepie. Maybe she'll have calmed down by then."

Blackjack snorted. Knowin' the lady boss, you're gonna be some deep horseshit for a long time, if you don't mind me saying so.

Percy sighed in agreement, and swung his leg over Blackjack's side, careful to avoid his beating wings. He waited until his movement had stabilized, and then he slipped off, landing with a bone jarring jolt on the surface of the rock seven feet below. Thank the gods for invulnerability, otherwise his knees would crying in agony right about now.

"Thanks Blackjack!" Percy shouted, waving to the horse as he soared away, back toward the distant coast of New York state. He turned, walked around to the other side of the rock, and then grinned at Annabeth. "Hey, there. Ready to be rescued, oh fair damsel?"

Percy was lucky Annabeth was chained to said rock, otherwise he was sure she would've gutted him and thrown him to the sharks by now. Fortunately for his intestines, she could only rattle her chains threateningly as she tried to lunge at him. The Nereids had done a pretty good job of tying her down – then again, it wasn't like they didn't have a history with this whole chaining women to rocks and feeding them to sea monsters sort of thing.

Both of Annabeth's hands were shackled above her head with Celestial bronze chains, and two chains crisscrossed her stomach, holding her midsection in place. Her legs were shackled as well, but not as tightly as her arms because she had enough reach to try and kick Percy in the ankles as he moved closer.

Her shirt was dirty, torn, and sopping wet, and the red flush of a sunburn was beginning to spread across her cheeks and nose. Her hair was a mess, wet and falling out of its usual ponytail, and she looked for like a survivor of a shipwreck than a proper damsel.

"You even think the word damsel one more time, and I will never speak to you again," she said, her grey eyes burning. She flipped her hair, trying to get it out of her eyes. "This is all your fault. If your fish friends weren't so damn sensitive and would just keep their hands to themselves – "

"Careful," Percy said, feeling the water beginning to churn angrily around him. "Or you'll get splashed again."

"They've been doing it to me all day, it's not like one more round of it will matter," Annabeth said, glowering at the ocean as if it had personally offended her. Which it kind of had. She jiggled her chains helplessly. "Or they'd come up on the rock to taunt me. Damn sea nymphs, there was a good reason why I didn't like them before this!"

"You're lucky it's not worse than some splashing. Amphitrite was trying to convince my dad to let her turn you into some kind of monster for retribution because she hates my guts and wants me to suffer, blah blah blah, whatever. Your mom went nuts at that though, and threatened war, and you know how well that went over with the rest of them…"

Annabeth sighed in agitation, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the rock.

"All. Your. Fault," she repeated slowly, knocking her head against the rock with each word. "If I go down in history for causing a new war between the gods because my boyfriend is a chick magnet rather than as the architect of Olympus, I will never ever forgive you."

Percy grinned. "I'm sure you would eventually. Besides, by the time I'd left, my dad had already decided what he'd do to you, and they'd moved on to bickering about some other family drama that might cause war. Apparently Apollo and Hermes have been seeing the same girl, and they don't know which one is the father – "

"Seaweed Brain, I don't care about the latest developments on All My Olympians, so shut up about that," Annabeth interrupted, opening her eyes. If he didn't know any better, he would say that Annabeth looked worried. "What did your dad decide?"

"Well," Percy said, moving closer to her and propping one hand above her head. "He said that you were to be sacrificed to the greatest and more fearsome of his offspring, and he would get to have his way with you."

"And?" Annabeth prompted, shifting restlessly against the rock. "Who is this great and fearsome child of Poseidon that I have to look out for?"

"Me, of course."

Annabeth stared at him uncomprehendingly, and then let out a bark of laughter. "Really, Percy? Fearsome? Your dad said that about you?"

He huffed in annoyance. "All right, he didn't say that exactly, but I thought it'd build up the suspense a bit. For all the fuss your mom put up about it, you'd certainly think I was something fearsome."

"I'm sure," she replied, staring at him expectantly. When he didn't move from his position, she rattled her chain, trying to draw attention to them. "Hello, Percy? Could you maybe cut these loose sometime today?"

"Who said I wanted to cut you loose yet?" he replied, closing the distance between them. Annabeth's breath hitched and he could feel the wet material of her shirt dragging against his. He ran a thumb across her jaw line and she shivered. "As the terrible and powerful son of Poseidon, I get to have my way with you, remember?"

"No way," Annabeth snapped immediately. "You are the one who got me in trouble in the first place, and I am not doing anything with you for the next ten years – oh – "

Annabeth arched as Percy dipped his head and licked up the long line of her throat. She tasted like sweat and saltwater – the perfect combination. His hands dropped to her waist, and began inching her shirt up her stomach, careful to avoid the chains.

"You sure?" he whispered against the shell of her ear. "Blackjack won't be back for a while and we won't have a lot to do until then…"

He paused his hands inches from her chest, and waited. The chains rattled as Annabeth shifted, trying to get her body closer to him, and she fell back after few more moments of futile struggling. He could feel the surrender in her, and a shiver went down his own spine.

"Oh – you – Percy Jackson, you are the worst boyfriend ever," she panted, glaring at him. "You better make this worth all the trouble you've caused."

"Don't I always?" he replied with a grin, and bent to kiss her.