Hello, readers. :)

I sincerely apologize for not being able to update for more than 2 months. I've been so caught up with... things. Yeah.

So anyway, I am really sorry for the long wait. :(

I would like to thank my reviewers for Chapter 7.

username1096, Demigod Kid, AnimalBuddy32, SteffieLovesPJO, buddy .net, Gamma Flame, ilovetoread666, swimmerreader, Clovers13, Kellbell09 and perceabeth.

So without further ado, Chapter 8.

~loverholic09

Love So REAL, Love So TRUE

Chapter 8: The Long Awaited

Percy's POV

I woke up in the hospital bed, feeling as energized as ever. Usually, after being hurt and all, you'd feel sick and disabled. It's a good thing I'm invincible. I guess dipping myself in the River Styx has it's perks.

I looked around the room and noticed that no one was here. I sighed. Is Annabeth avoiding me? I hope not. I wouldn't know what to do if she was.

I sat up on the bed, stretching until I felt all my joints click. I stood up and headed to the hospital window. I looked outside and saw the view. Well, I don't know if you would consider it a view. All I could see was the parking lot of the hospital, which was nearly empty. Like my heart will be if Annabeth rejects me. Again, I sighed. Did I say it too early? Maybe I should have waited for the right time.

I heard the door click and spun on my heel to turn around. As if on cue with my thoughts, I saw Annabeth enter. Her face was brightened with a smile. I felt my heartbeat quicken and I smiled back. Gods, what does this girl do to me?

"You feel better?" she asked as she approached me. I nodded, feeling a tad bit nervous. Wait. Scratch that, I felt really really nervous. My heartbeat was so fast, I felt like any second it would stop. "Great. We can check-out soon. The nurses are wondering how you healed so fast." She laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I looked at the hand on my shoulder. I smiled, looking back into her gray eyes. She smiled even wider, pink creeping on her face. At least I hoped it was blush. Suddenly, she put her arms around my waist and leaned on my chest.

My heart started beating even faster, if that was even possible. I'm not sure if I'm invincible when it comes to heart attacks. This is a dream isn't it?

"Is this a dream?" I asked aloud, vocalizing my thoughts. Annabeth laughed and disengaged herself from me. I frowned at the lost of contact.

She laughed even louder and then her voice quieted down to a whisper. "Did you think of it as a bad or good dream?" Her face was so worried that even I could tell.

I smiled at her and before I knew it, I was engulfing her in a tender hug. I wrapped my arms around her thin waist and she buried her head under my neck. She hugged me back and I felt her smile.

I don't know how long our hug lasted but I didn't complain. I mean, there's nothing to complain about. After all these years, Annabeth was finally in my arms. Even better, I felt that this hug wasn't the friendly type, I would definitely classify it under the romantic type. I smiled even wider, gently squeezing her waist.

"You can let go now, Seaweed Brain," she said with her joy-filled voice.

"No way. I've been waiting 6 years and 8 months for this," I said, bringing her even closer. "But who's counting?"

She laughed at that and I felt the vibration of her laugh throughout my whole body. "C'mon. Let go, I can't tip-toe all day long. And besides, you haven't even heard my answer yet," her voice suddenly sounded serious. I let go of her abruptly, worry all over my face.

No way. She wasn't going to reject me right? Oh, gods. What if this was the last hug type of thing? Is she seriously gonna do this to me? I shook my head at her. I closed my eyes and waited for her answer. Hopefully, it would be what I hoped it would be.

Annabeth's POV

I stared at Percy's face, worry written all over it. Even with his eyes closed, I could see all the tension that was on his face. His eyebrows were scrunched together in an overly cute manner. Does he think I would reject him?

Looking at his face, I suddenly realized that I probably wouldn't get this kind of reaction from him again so I decided to play with him. I forced myself to not laugh and keep a straight face. My insides were hurting of laughter. I didn't say anything for a long while and I could see Percy's face tense even more. He was practically shaking.

"Annabeth, this is killing me. And you know I'm invincible," he said, pain in his voice. "Just tell me your answer already."

I frowned. Maybe I went a little too over. I shouldn't have done that. I laughed manically, hoping for him to get the idea and when he didn't, I quickly cupped his cheek in my hand and kissed his cheek, hoping to release all tension.

He opened his eyes and glared at me but I could see the relief wash over his face. "Were you playing with me?" he asked playfully, but anger still in his voice. I released my hold on his cheek and dropped my hand to my side. I looked up at him, smiling sheepishly.

"I couldn't help it," I said, trying to contain my laughter. "You looked so vulnerable." His featured softened and I took that as my cue to release all my laughter.

He waited for my laughing to cease and when I did stop, he pulled me into another hug. "That wasn't funny. You were killing me. Do you know what I thought during your play time?" I shook my head at him, as he released his hold on me. "Maybe she doesn't want this. Maybe she only think of me as a friend. Maybe she never thought of this and now she's gonna reject me and we won't even be friends anymore."

I looked into his sea green eyes and frowned at him. He really thought of all those maybe's? "Was I really that good at keeping my feelings?" I asked, "Because, seriously, I thought I was pretty obvious."

He chuckled at that. "Yeah. You can be an actress instead of an architect and still win a Grammy." He touched my ponytail and played with my blonde curls. It sent tingling all over my body and I liked it. I like that he could do that to me.

My smile never disappeared from my face as I looked into his eyes. "Perseus Jackson, I love you. So don't even think about those maybe's." I know, I sound so cliched but that's how I felt and that's how I wanted to say it.

He let go of my hair and put his hands on my waist to supposedly pull me into another hug, but before he successfully could, the door to the room barged open.

"Done with all this drama?" Thalia said, wiggling her eyes suggestively. She walked into the room with Nico right behind her. I looked at Percy to see if he would let go of my waist but he didn't. He shifted his hold on me so we were side to side, one of his arms still around my waist.

He glared at Nico, and seeming as Nico noticed this, he held his hands up in surrender. "I tried, okay? I told her to give you some more time but she wouldn't listen. So don't glare at me like that. Go glare at her." He pointed to Thalia who was now sitting on the bed.

I laughed because I found it funny, unlike Percy who continued to send death glares to both Thalia and Nico. I squeezed the hand around my waist and Percy turned to look at me, his face softening.

"Time-shime. It doesn't matter. They're together now," she said teasingly, "Besides, if we left them alone, who knows what could have happened."

All eyes turned to her. My eyes were wide at what she said, and I felt my face heating up. I turned to look at Percy and he seemed to blush too.

"Thalia!" Nico half-shouted, half-whispered.

Thalia simply shrugged. "Don't you see all that... tension? Cuz' I certainly do." She started to laugh and soon after, Nico joined in.

Well, I didn't find that funny and neither did Percy. We both felt the tension between us and it felt weird that others felt it too.

Percy's POV

Great. Just great. I like Nico and Thalia and all, but seriously, there are times where-in I just want to punch them. Like now. They always barge in whenever I plan to do something with Annabeth. I was about to hug then kiss her, I've been wanting to kiss her since that day in camp. I couldn't help it, I'm a guy. I still have testosterone in my body. Okay, that did not come out right. Anyway, now they're rubbing in my face that I have testosterone saying that we have tension? Yeah, wouldn't you want to punch them too?

I sighed and ran my free hand through my hair. I turned to look at Annabeth who was raising an eyebrow at the two idiots. I smiled at that, at least I wasn't the only one who was pissed. I turned to stare at Nico and Thalia, who continued laughing non-stop.

I decided to do something childish, though in my book, it meant smart. I picked up the nearest thing to me, which was a pen and threw it at them. It hit Thalia's nose and she turned to glare at me, fire in her eyes. Usually, I'd be scared, running for my life and all and trust me, right now, I was. No one likes it when Thalia's mad.

"I meant for it to hit Nico?" I tried lamely. Annabeth laughed and disengaged herself from me. Thalia was making her way towards me, the fire in her eyes not dying.

"You might want to run, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth laughed, making her way towards the bed and sat down next to Nico.

I started running around the room, making sure Thalia wouldn't touch me. Because if she did, I might actually end up in the hospital with Annabeth as my nurse. Hmm, Annabeth as my nurse, not bad.

Clearly seeing her opening point, Thalia dashed her way towards me before I could react and pinned my hand to my back. Oh man, did that hurt like Hades.

"Ouch! Ouch!" I screamed, and looked at Annabeth, "Not even a little help?" She shrugged and looked at me with a smile playing on her face.

"It's amusing. Never fails to make my day," she said, amusement twinkling in her eyes. I groaned, I can't rely on my new girlfriend to help me. I turned to look at Nico, pleading with my eyes. He simply shook his head and smiled at me or was it directed to Thalia?

Meanwhile, Thalia kept her hold on my arm and tightened her grip on my back. "Never, ever, ever, throw something at me again, Jackson."

"Okay, okay. I surrender," I said, pleadingly, "I, Percy Jackson, promise to never hurt Thalia Grace ever again." When she loosened her grip on me, I stood up and quickly said while dashing to Annabeth, "At least with a pen. I'll never hit you with a pen again."

Thalia chased me but before she reached me, I was already hiding behind Annabeth like the scared kid I am.

Annabeth rolled her eyes while laughing. "Grow up, guys. Seriously, we're like, 16?"

"Not me, I'm only 14." Nico suddenly said. I raised an eyebrow at him. "What? I'm just saying."

I hid behind Annabeth until Thalia finally gave up trying to hurt me. "Watch your back, Jackson," she smirked, sitting down next to Nico.

I relaxed after awhile, sure that Thalia wasn't going to attack for now. We started chatting like old times, except this time, I had my arm around Annabeth's waist. After a while, I got tired of the conversation (Yes, ADHD.) and stood up, knowing that the bed wouldn't hold all four of us. I was about to say something when the door suddenly opened.

A woman with blue flowers covering her face entered the room. I was sure who that was. Thalia, Nico and Annabeth all stood up to greet her and I ran to my mom's side, taking the flowers off her hands and headed to put some water in a vase.

"Well, seeing as you look fine, I don't have to worry about anything at all," my mom addressed me, helping me put the flowers she gave me in a vase for the time being.

"Mom, you didn't have to worry in the first place," I smiled at her.

"Yeah, Mrs. Jackson, your son has already done all kinds of mischief this morning," Thalia turned to look at Annabeth and her faced flushed.

"Oh, did he?" my mom raised an eyebrow at me and I rolled my eyes, feeling slightly conscious.

My mom laughed. "Okay, well, you seem fine so I'd like to talk to you," I nodded my head slowly and turned to see Annabeth, Nico and Thalia about to leave the room. I wonder what I did wrong... "Oh, no. I'd like you children to stay as well, this would be a favor that would involve you all anyways."

I turned to look at my mom, curiosity getting the hand of me. What could she possibly ask from all of us?

-END OF CHAPTER 8-

Hey, guys. :)

So, was this chapter worth the wait? I made it as long as I could.

Was this enough or was it too disappointing? C'mon, people, REVIEW!

I'd seriously like to know what you think! :) I love you guys! :D

So, please look forward to the next chapter. I made this chapter so cliff-hangy. :)

Till' the next time.

~loverholic09