Chapter 14: Annabeth and I Watch a Video of Ourselves

Time seemed to freeze, and my lungs even stopped functioning.

Or was I just over reacting?

It was like I was seeing Annabeth holding a Greek Fire.

I shouted "No!" before she could flip the blue album open.

Annabeth looked sharply at me. "Percy, what in Hades is wrong with you?"

I closed my eyes to breathe normally. "Where did you find that?" I knew where I'd put it last, but I was just making sure.

"Under your bed," Annabeth said. "I was about to mop the floor and checked under the bed if some things were lying there, and I just found this one."

"Oh." I slapped my forehead. I'd forgotten to put it inside my drawer. Gods, why was I being forgetful these days.

Time to lay down the cards, then.

"Look," Annabeth said, "if this is confidential, I'll not look inside, okay? I bet the pictures in that album are your baby pictures, though. Heh."

I laughed. "Er, not quite close." I held her hand, directing her to sit down on the edge of my bed. "Feel free to check it out. It's yours, anyway."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? You were telling me not to open it. Why the sudden change of heart, Seaweed Brain? "

I just grinned as I sat beside her. "Just open it, Wise Girl."

She opened the album and read, "To Wise Girl. From Seaweed Brain." Annabeth looked at me, clearly surprised.

"Go on," I encouraged her.

She turned to the next page, and gasped. There was a caption below a photo: Annabeth and I sitting on the sand of Long Island Sound.

We were smiling at the camera, and Annabeth's face was so cute shining under the moonlight.

"I remember this," Annabeth said. "We took this after watching the fireworks."

"Yeah. Good times," I replied with a wistful smile plastered on my face.

We'd started taking pictures to remember the best moments, but every day with Annabeth were my best moments in my life.

Then there was me and Annabeth at the Amphitheatre, at Zeus' Fist, the Climbing Wall, the Canoe Lake, and at the Big House with Grover and Chiron. There were also pictures of us with the other campers-even Argus and Peleus the dragon. Every picture had a caption and date below when the picture had been taken.

The first ten pages were our pictures from Camp Half-Blood. We couldn't wait to go back there again. The next page was when we'd been at the park days ago-the time when there had been a blackout because of the heavy rain.

"So that's why you were so desperate," Annabeth mused. "But why, Percy? It's not even my birthday. Or our first anniversary. Or even our first monthsary. Er, is this for our advance first monthsary...?"

I sheepishly ran my hand through my hair. "I was supposed to give it you to surprise, but you found it accidentally. I just wanted to give you something for what you did to me all these years. I'm very thankful that you came into my life, and I hope that whatever trials we'll face, we'll not break apar—"

I didn't get to finish what I was saying, 'cause Annabeth pressed her lips on mine. I closed my eyes and kissed her back.

She pulled away after a moment. "I'm also thankful, Percy, and I appreciate the gift so much. I wasn't even expecting this, so you indeed surprised me."

I grinned. "I'm glad you were surprised."

Annabeth squeezed my hand. "And don't worry. We will always be together."

"Always." I squeezed back and kissed her again.

We were reminiscing our past adventures for, like, an hour. Trust me, if you're with the person you love, you'll cherish every second of it.

At the last page there was a picture of Annabeth sleeping peacefully with the caption Sleeping Beauty.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "You sneaker."

I smirked. "What? I was looking for you that afternoon and found you in your cabin sleeping. You weren't even wearing your Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. You look beautiful when you're asleep, so yeah. But you always look beautiful."

Annabeth studied the picture intently. "You're right. I do look beautiful when I'm sleeping."

"Nah, I was just joking."

She stuck her tongue out and then laughed. "Shut up."

Annabeth closed the album. "Good thing you didn't write a letter. I'm not a fan of letters."

I laughed. "Same here."

She poked me in the chest. "But I can't believe that I bought your story about the pictures-the 'it's for my mom' line. Liar."

I raised my hands in defense. "Hey, I was just protecting my real reason. And besides, you know the truth now."

Annabeth rolled her eyes with a smile. "Whatever, Seaweed Brain. By the way, what were you about to say a while ago?"

"Oh, right. Hermes delivered the prizes already. It's in the living room," I said. "And, er, he said that there was a bonus inside the package."

She shrugged. "Only one way to find out what that is."

We went to the living room, opened the package, and rummaged through the mini Styrofoam balls to check the contents. Annabeth's eyes brightened when she held the music box with owl carvings on each side, opening it. A sweet melody came out of the box.

"It's Yiruma's 'River Flows in You,'" she informed me.

I held a teddy bear with a "My First Teddy" engraved on its left foot. Well, this was indeed my first teddy bear. "Thank the gods. This one's color blue. This is mine."

Annabeth held the other teddy bear. "That's for you, obviously. Don't tell me you want the pink one."

"No."

"This is also cute."

"That's for girls."

Annabeth rummaged again the contents of the box. "Where is the bo—oh." She got a transparent CD case with a white CD inside. There wasn't any indication of what the CD contained.

"Okay," I said, perplexed.

We turned the television on. Annabeth was about to put the CD inside the player when the front door suddenly opened, then two familiar faces appeared in the living room.

"Mom? Paul?" I asked in disbelief. I thought they were going to extend their vacation a little longer.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Mom exclaimed and gave each of us a hug.

"Hi, Sally and Paul," Annabeth greeted.

"How were your days?" Paul asked while carrying a luggage to put it back into their room.

"Great and fun," she answered, grinning. "Yours?"

"We'll answer that later. Percy, you look like you're not happy to see us," Mom said.

I closed my mouth. "Yes. I mean, no. I'm just surprised, Mom. I wasn't expecting you two would be home this soon."

"Paul and I weren't expecting, either. But Cynthia called yesterday and said that we should go home right away because...Er, are we disturbing you two?"

Annabeth and I blushed. "Of course not, Sally," she said. "We were just about to watch something. We don't know what movie this is, though." She held the CD for my mom to see.

Paul came back to the living room and saw it. "Could that be...?"

Mom suddenly squealed, snatched the CD from Annabeth's hand, and put it inside the player. Gods, what was happening today?

"Um, Sally?" Annabeth asked, then turned to me, giving me a confused look.

I shook my head and shrugged. I also have no idea, I mouthed to her.

"We all should watch this," Mom said jovially.

"You know what movie that is, Mom?" I asked as we took a seat on the couch.

"Of course! Cynthia told me about it. But it's not a movie. I can't wait!"

Paul giggled. Wait, Paul giggled. Every second was getting weirder.

"Cynthia?" I asked with raised eyebrows. "What's she got to do—"

Mom shushed me. I suddenly went silent mode.

Then the film started.

Annabeth and I saw ourselves with Lance in the video at the front stage near the Lake of Central Park. We heard the speaker talking, and then many raised their hands, including us.

Oh my gods! The video was the contest at Central Park! And the most embarrassing part was that Annabeth, Lance, and I were the stars of the show, since the cameraman was always following us.

I groaned, covering my face with my hands. I took a peek to my left where Annabeth was seating, and saw that she was blushing furiously. Mom kept squealing, then gasped when Lance almost hit the waters. I didn't bother to know Paul's reaction since he'd already known the secret.

Mom squealed again when I licked the milk lines near Annabeth's lips, and when we kissed in front of the Bethesda Fountain.

I wanted to roll on the floor many times, but resisted. I didn't know what was running on Annabeth's mind. Maybe something more dangerous, I guess.

Then we were announced as winners. Lance clapped his hands happily, and the cameraman had revealed himself before the video ended.

I was wrong. It was a camerawoman, and it was none other than the goddess of love herself: Aphrodite.

"Hope you enjoyed watching this priceless video, Percy, Annabeth, and to whoever else is watching," the goddess said with dignity. "There's still something inside the package, if you haven't checked it yet. Cynthia, thank you, thank you! I had so much fun working with you. Hope we'll get to do this again soon. Well, then. This is Aphrodite Hawkins. Au revoir!"

"So Aphrodite was the one behind the video the entire time," Annabeth said, arms crossed as Paul turned off the television.

"I was right about goddess Aphrodite being with her," Mom said. "Let's watch it again!"

Paul was trying hard not to laugh. "I agree, Sally."

I blushed. "I guess you two should watch it again later. I want to ask something first."

All eyes looked at me.

"Why was Cynthia involved?"

Mom laughed. "Oh, Percy. Actually, Cynthia planned the event at Central Park, and then I agreed. I was praying that you two would win, and it came true. I'm so proud of you." Mom hugged us, again.

"Thanks, Sally," Annabeth said when Mom had released us from the hug. "But the clues were so simple like they weren't clues at all."

"Thanks too, Mom," I said. "But how did Cynthia do that?"

"Because, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said before Mom could reply, "she's an event organizer of Central Park."

I blinked. "How did you know?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Remember when Cynthia retrieved Lance? She still wore her I.D. and I saw what was typed on it. I bet she forgot about it because of hurry. And then the speaker and the lady who took the picture of us at Balto's statue...it was all her. The voice and the sunglasses she wore, I saw there was a scratch on one side of it. And that evening, I noticed the same shades inside her bag, which was half open. So yeah, go figure." She paused, staring at me. "Judging from your face, Seaweed Brain, you didn't notice any of that stuff."

It was my turn to roll eyes. "Thanks for stating the obvious facts, Sherlock Holmes."

She punched me in the arm playfully. "Get out of here! And just to let you know, Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes, was also a child of Athena."

"Say," Paul interrupted, "Sally said that was Aphrodite. Er, didn't she say something about another bonus inside the box?"

"Oh, right." Annabeth rummaged the contents of the box again, then held an envelope. I gestured her to open it.

She gasped. "These are the pictures from Central Park's event-two copies each!"

My eyes brightened. "I bet that's for you and me!"

"Let us see!" Mom exclaimed, her eyes also sparkling.

We huddled together and checked out the pictures. I was so glad that there had been pictures of us when we'd been at Central Park. Now, Annabeth could add them in her album, since there were still enough blank pages left.

The picture of Annabeth, Lance and me on Balto's statue had also been included.

Mom wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm so happy this has happened. Well," she sniffed, "Paul and I still need to do some grocery shopping. And I thank you two for cleaning the apartment. Yes, Percy, I noticed, of course."

"No problem, Sally," Annabeth replied.

"Ah, yes. Before I forgot," Mom said, "we also took some pictures while we were at the Atlantic. We'll show it to you later. And, Annabeth, dear, please do stay for another night. I'd love to talk to you all afternoon."

Annabeth smiled. "It would be an honor, Sally."

I grinned at Paul and my mom. "We can't wait to see your pictures."

000

After dinner, Annabeth and I were talking about the Central Park's event in my room. We'd finished cleaning my room before three in the afternoon. Then Annabeth and Mom had talked about girly stuff while flipping through the pictures of Paul and her at the Atlantic. Paul had mumbled something about girls, and I'd agreed with him.

Their trip to the Atlantic had been great. I wished I could go there with Annabeth someday.

"One thing's for sure," Annabeth was saying, "I had a lot of fun at Central Park, and I can't wait to see Cynthia again. To thank her, I guess. I hope we can see her tomorrow and play with Lance. I miss him already."

"Me, too," I said. "And I'm thankful to Cynthia for taking pictures of us at the park. I was saved."

Annabeth laughed. "I know, right? That's because you're such a seaweed brain."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Wise Girl."

She held the album. "I've already put my share of the pictures inside. Where are yours?"

"I gave them to Mom for safekeeping. I'm sure she'll buy a new photo album for the pictures," I said.

Annabeth looked at me with her strikingly, beautiful gray eyes, resulting in me for butterflies to start swarming in my stomach. "A photo album's really a collector of memories that you could cherish through the years. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift, Percy."

I gave her a passionate kiss, then smiled. "I thank you more, Annabeth."

That night, Annabeth was sleeping while hugging the photo album with a joyful smile plastered on her face.

A/N: Readers, thank you so much for reading this Percabeth fanfic, especially to the ones who reviewed, favorited, and followed it. You guys encouraged me to continue and finish this fic. I also thank the ones who added me to their Favorite Authors and Author Alert.

BTW, I have a favor to ask of you: please share this fic with your friends. I'd really appreciate it.

Once again, thank you so much and God bless! :D

| Last revised: September 30, 2015 |