Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not updating until it's my birthday! *ducks whatever you throw at me* Well, to tell you the truth, the last chapter got 3 reviews at first and that sunk my inspiration a bit. But after I wrote everything out, my mom took forever to type it up for me. (Because I was busy writing other stuff.) And well, I decided why not?

And I've changed a bit in the story. Clarisse, Will, and Nyssa are staying in Camp Half-Blood to defend it, so only a few other counselors will be going.

Well, I want your opinion on this because...I'm not sure if I should continue this. It will take up time and effort and I will have less time to procrastinate/carry out my plans for my future. So, vote, will you? (On my profile, preferrably.)

Disclaimer: Mark of Athena has been out for a few months. I don't own most characters(except for maybe an OC or two). And well, perhaps the plot idea is sort of mine? But that's not the point. All hail Rick Riordan, god of trolling.

Percy Jackson managed to stand still as the gigantic warship landed. He was surprised, really, and quite proud of himself. He dared to glance back at the Legion in battle formation. None of the Romans had flinched and their eyes betrayed nothing but a fierce protectiveness and confidence. He realized, they were trained to bring down the enemy at all costs and know how to handle even a flying warship.

He could feel his palms sweating already. He knew he shouldn't be that hopeful and excited. But even his eyes betrayed how his heart was bursting from his ribcage as a ladder was lowered from the ship.

"Stand still!" Reyna hissed beside him through gritted teeth.

"Sorry!" He whispered back sheepishly.

He felt bad for her already. Reyna had been all on her own, waiting on a miracle to happen. He didn't even want to think about what would happen when Reyna meets the girl with brown hair from his dream.

Of course, all he could think about was when a certain blond-haired grey-eyed daughter of Athena descends from the ladder…

Yes, the mighty Greek hero is a sappy, romantic idiot at heart. Suck it up. Percy turned his eyes to the ladder as he held a breath unknowingly. He felt nervousness, excitement, and dread at the same time. A meteorite shower of questions rained in his mind. What would happen? Would they all get along? Will a fight break out? Who are on the ship? What will happen next? After they greet each other, what then? What if Annabeth moved on? What if she doesn't love him anymore? More importantly, what if Annabeth wasn't even there? And what about his mother…?

Guilt and warmth swarmed in his stomach as he thought of his mother. But he forced it out as he turned his attention back to the welcoming yet unfamiliar warship and made a mental note to call his mother later.

Then the first figure merged from the ship. He was a blond-haired guy with somehow familiar bright blue eyes around Percy's own age. Not only the dude floated down from the ship, his whole aura was built from honour, confidence, and an air of nobility. Percy felt wary in his presence. This guy is definitely as powerful as he was (if not more) and seemed to have a longer experience in fighting. He must admit that he wasn't so used to having a match as equal as this guy.

He saw Reyna's eyes soften for a fraction of a millisecond. The Legion was gasping and he saw Dakota try to step out but was restrained by Gwen, who insisted to come even though she is retired. That's when it hit him.

That must be Jason Grace.

Next, came the pretty Cherokee girl with choppy brown hair down with two thin braids dangling a dove feather each. His guess was a daughter of Aphrodite with genetic mutation. (What? He learned the words from X-men!) For a second, he thought her eyes were multicolored but decided it seemed more of a gray to him. The girl was definitely pretty, true. But far from his type (aka Annabeth).

He saw Reyna's grip on her dagger's hilt tighten inevitably when the girl placed herself next to Jason and laced his fingers with hers somewhat defiantly. Dissatisfied murmurs were silenced by a sharp look from their praetor. At their feet, Argentum and Aurum were growling silently at the two (which made him kind of nervous in an I-don't-want-to-witness-dogs-eating-humans way.) But when Reyna turned around, the whispering got louder.

"Is he still Roman?"

"I bet he's with that oh-so-pretty greacus."

"Wasn't he with Reyna?"

"Filthy traitor. He's practically a Greek."

As praetor, he still had to do something. He turned around and commanded, "Shut up and stay in formation." With a satisfied smile, he turned back to face the Argo II. A life-sized Latino Santa's elf he recognized as Leo Valdez was practically jumping down the ladders. This was a guy who could be Dakota's long lost brother, to put it bluntly. He's definitely not introducing them. (He could already see a Kool-Aid-drunk Leo and "normal" Dakota dancing to Poker Fare on top of a table in the middle of muster.) Percy felt something akin to respect when Leo had the nerve to wink flirtatiously at Reyna, who shot him a laser-death-ray (pun unintended) glare.

At last, he saw her.

It seemed like eons ago, since he saw her familiar golden ponytail with that matching grey streak and those stormy eyes that lit up when he told her he loves her.

Annabeth.

She looked up and their eyes connected. He wanted to run over to her, to kiss her, to hold her tight in his arms and tell her he remembers, that this nightmare was over, and that he will never leave again. But he couldn't. At least, not now.

Annabeth looked away again as he emitted a strangled noise and made a move forward. He felt the sheath of Reyna's dagger poke him in the side. Reyna glared at him warningly as if to say, "Make one wrong move and I will personally behead you." Unfortunately, both he and Annabeth would know how many wrong moves he is capable of in one day.

Reyna signaled him to let her do the talking as she stepped forward proudly, head held high with a posture fitting for any great Roman general, "Greetings, Greeks. I am Reyna Gilmore, Daughter of Bellona, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, and senator of New Rome. State your names and godly parents."

"Hey! No 'Welcome to Camp Jupiter' or anything" That's rude." Leo had the nerve to say with a pout.

Reyna just looked at him coldly and said with glinting eyes, "Rome welcomes the worthy. As well as any enemy who dares to cross Rome."

Percy shifted a bit when he heard the last sentence. The Greeks aren't enemies. He's Greek, too! What do they expect him to do if a battle breaks out? He might as well drown himself in Little Tiber.

"So you and me, Friday night…?" Leo faltered when almost over two hundred pairs of predatory glares met him.

"Leo!" The Cherokee scolded sternly.

An eerie silence settled between the two sides before Reyna stated more forcefully, "State who you are, your godly parents, and your intentions now. Or, we will attack."

"Reyna, I thought you said-"

"We come in peace," the brown-haired girl said in a sweet voice that made Percy truly believe her with all his heart. He saw Reyna's eyes darken and her automaton dogs got up to pace back and force with glittering ruby eyes.

Some of the Romans exchanged confused glances.

"You don't want to attack us. You want to be friend with us." The girl continued charmingly.

He barely noticed when Argentum and Aurum crouched down, growling warningly.

More Romans looked at their weapons with dazed and dreamy expressions. Reyna glanced back before barking out a clear, ringing Latin word, "Veritas!" ("Truth!")

Something snapped inside him, retrieving his instincts just in time to sense an attack. Snarling furiously and snapping viciously with razor-sharp teeth, Argentum and Aurum pounced at the girl, causing her to scream a bit. Jason pulled the girl aside and said to the dogs sternly, "Regredior." ("Retreat.") It seemed to Percy that whatever he said had no affect because the metal dogs advanced towards him and the girl hanging off his arm. Annabeth drew her knife and Leo pulled out…a hammer? Percy himself felt his hand edge to the hilt of this sword nervously. He can handle two (absolutely pee-your-pants' terrifying) metal dogs right? (He'll have to ignore the fact that these were the pee-your-pants terrifying metal dos that Reyna loves a lot._

"Recede illuc." ("Stand back.") Reyna commanded coldly, giving her beloved hounds a hard glare.

Percy watched nervously between Reyna, her dogs, and its targets. The automaton dogs remained unresponsive and Aurum only bit its lips into a sneering snarl at the girl (who should really be given a name).

Reyna repeated the words even more forcefully before.

Behind them, Octavian was smirking jeeringly, "Well, well, well. Looks like our praetor can't even handle her own pitiful metal dogs." (All of the Legionnaires, including Octavian's lackeys, had the sense not to even think about laughing.)

Reyna's dogs snapped at Octavian as if to say, "We'll deal with you later," with the exact expression of their mistress.

Percy glared at him, too, and lashed out, "Shut your trap, Octavian. You're almost bearable that way." Octavian huffed and turned back to his cohort, leaving Percy smiling, satisfied.

"Argentum, Aurum genuflectunt." ("Argentum, Aurum, kneel.") Reyna walked towards the dogs with a strong air of authority.
With a severe glare from their mistress, the dogs reluctantly obeyed and went into statue mode, ruby eyes still staring down the offenders.

Reyna gave the Cherokee and Jason a reproachful glare, "Now, will you cooperate?" Percy's heart leapt into his throat when Annabeth took a step forward, "I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, or Minerva, as you say."

Murmurs of scandal were heard from the Romans.

"I am Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, former praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata." Jason said with a little hint of defiance.

The Romans started to mutter again.

"Son of Zeus, more likely."

"Son of a gorgon would be more appropriate…"

"Tace!" ("Silence!") Reyna snapped tersely, showing no emotion to Jason. Percy nearly flinched at Reyna's steely eyes at Jason, who was nervously looking away.

"I am Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, or Venus, as you know her." Piper (aka Cherokee girl) glanced around daringly as if to say, "Jason Grace is mine. Got that?"

He saw Reyna pass a cool glance over her. Leo swaggered forward with a grin. "I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus aka Vulcan. Can I have a look at your dogs? They are-"

"-extremely unfriendly to outsiders. If I were you, I'd rather keep my limbs," Reyna continued coldly, "What are your intentions?"

"We come in peace. We seek an alliance with the Romans. We mean no harm." Annabeth stated with a look of determination that made Percy wish this was already over and they could reunite properly.

From a distance, Percy could hear something coming from the air. But he decided to ignore it to concentrate on Reyna's reaction. He prays that she won't order an attack.

Then the sun was blotted out when a helicopter swooped by and, with a flash of color, a girl around fifteen with black, wavy hair tied into a ponytail was in front of them.

"Surrender your weapons or the ship goes into flames," she pronounced each syllable clearly but he could hear the menacing snarl veiled delicately.

"Alyssa." Reyna sighed under her breath.

Percy shot her a quizzical glance and she returned with an 'I'll tell you later' look as she grimly turned to the girl.

"Alyssa, calm down-."

"I will not," Alyssa said stubbornly, still glaring at the four demigods before her, "I leave home for one month to find a Greek battleship on the Fields of Mars, that we have a Greek praetor, the former praetor was actually also a greacus, and the stench of greaci stinking up my nose 200 feet above." He tensed up. How can someone insult that well? He repressed the surge of anger at the Greek insults. The four demigods across them had their weapons drawn, just in case.

Percy was counting on a fight to not break out.

"You will stand down and let me handle this." Reyna narrowed her eyes.

"If I don't?" Alyssa tipped her head a little.

"I will take away your title of Centurion. And going against a praetor's order is considered treason to Rome…" Percy automatically grimaced at the thought of being beheaded if he stands up for his family.

Alyssa let out a long sigh, "I'm content with where my head is." She lowered her bow as if it was the most painful thing she could ever do and walked to Reyna with a stony expression.

Percy thought he was the corner of Reyna's lip twitch as the two saluted to each other.

They seem to look a bit alike.

He turned his gaze to Annabeth, who turned away swiftly. His heart felt a pang. What could be wrong now that they're together? Well, a few meters apart but together all the same.

"Now that we're done with that," Reyna coughed a bit, sending an almost apologetic glance at everyone. Then, it was back to full-on professional plus regal.

Percy was slightly cheered by the fact that Reyna was probably going to let them stay. (It was really because he was itching to reunite with Annabeth.)

"Wait," he heard Alyssa said suddenly, walking from behind.

Honestly, he swears the gods sent her to purposefully torture him by delaying.

"What is it, Centurion Alyssa?" Reyna asked formally with a slightly annoyed look.

"I sense there are other Greeks," Alyssa stepped closer to inspect the Argo II, "on the ship."

"See? It's an ambush! We should attack them!" Octavian shouted shrilly.

Percy whipped his head to the blond nuisance and growled, "If you don't want to be flushed down a toilet or worse, I suggest you listen to your praetors' commands. And I command you to shut up and stop interrupting." He hoped Octavian would disobey and then Reyna will have a legit reason to lock him up in jail.

People snickered at the thought of Octavian being flushed down an extra-large toilet. Reyna, however, finished scrutinizing the ship and announce with narrowed eyes, "I sense it, too." She turned to the Greeks. "Can you confirm this?"

The four demigod exchanged glances and Annabeth said steadily with a poker face, "Yes."

"Have them announce themselves to us, or we will make them." Reyna's eyes turned hard. "Since this is the first time, I shall warn you that Rome does not appreciate lies and dishonesty."

"Nicely said," Alyssa whispered with a quick grin, giving a thumbs up for her praetor.

Percy thought he saw Reyna's face twitch with amusement for a second. He heard weapons clanking together as the remaining demigods emerged on deck, grumbling. He grinned when he saw more familiar faces. (Though he was pretty sure Clarisse is going to kick his butt once she gets the chance to.)

When the last demigod, Malcolm (Annabeth's favorite half-brother), came down, Alyssa let out a strangled gasp, "Malcolm?"

This didn't make the least bit of sense. Malcolm hasn't even introduced himself. How would Alyssa, of all Greek-hating people, know who he is?

Apparently, he wasn't the only one confused.

"Wait, how do you know my name? I don't even know you!" Malcolm stared at Alyssa in shock.

Percy exchanged a glance with Annabeth.

For once, not even Annbeh has an answer for that question.

Reyna asked in a softer voice, "Do you know him?"

"No, I must've mistaken him for someone else," Alyssa replied coldly with a hard look in her eyes, all the surprise and vulnerability from when she saw Malcolm gone in less than a second.

People were still murmuring. Even he wasn't sure whether she was lying or not. Then again, if Argentum and Aurum haven't torn her into pieces yet, there's a good chance that she was telling the truth.

"Return to your post." Alyssa obeyed rater stiffly, casting one last cold, haughty glare at Malcolm before stalking off to Third Cohort.

"I believe you owe us an introduction," Reyna said coolly, turning attention away from Alyssa.

The introduction passed as smoothly as a breeze, Percy took the chance to gawk at Annabeth wishfully, recalling everything they ever did together. His heart flooded with warmth, and he once again wished Annabeth was in his arms. He let out a frustrated sigh.

Reyna shot him a quick glare to say 'I'm almost done, okay?' and said confidently as she addressed the Greeks, "You are allowed to land as visitors. We give you a maximum of one day to stay until we decide whether you are our allies or intruders. Centurions, we shall hold a Senate meeting, after forty minutes. Centurion Frank, Centurion Alyssa, Hazel Levesque, and Second Cohort stay. Legion dismissed. Senatus Populsque Romanus!"

Percy let out a breath of relief as he dropped the professional act and grinned. Reyna barked orders for Second Cohort to guard the ship and organized an investigating team for later.

Annabeth was walking towards him with an unreadable expression. He suddenly felt nervous. She had always been scary even though he is her boyfriend. (Well, her boyfriend who was put to sleep for eight months.)

Then she stopped and her poker face altered for a moment when she asked, "Do you…Do you remember me?"

He kept his face blank to tease her a bit. Watching her face fall with despair, he immediately broke into a grin, "How could I ever forget?"

Annabeth blinked at him for a dazed second. Then her expression became a mixture of relief, rage, happiness, exasperation, and …love.

"PERSEUS JACKSON! YOU ARE A NO-GOOD, DESPICABLE" The demigods who were glancing awkwardly at each other had to smile as Annabeth attacked a laughing Percy with various blows. He didn't mind that she showed no mercy and hit harder than he remembered. "I missed you, too."

"-HOW WORRIED I WAS FOR EIGHT MONTHS?! AND THEN YOU PULL THIS JOKE ON ME AND-mph." She was yelling too much so he crashed his lips into hers. She relaxed into his arms and kissed back with so many emotions that he shared in this moment as his hands found their way to her waist. The kiss was reducing his 'seaweed brain' to a 'plankton brain' until they heard an awkward cough and broke their contact. He'd forgotten Reyna and the others were still there. He didn't need a mirror to tell that there was a goofy, lovesick grin on his face as he laced his fingers through Annabeth's and said, "Sorry?"

Annabeth had a faint blush as she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Seaweed Brain."

Reyna intervened quickly when he was about to retort, "We'll save that for later, thank you." She gave him a quick glare though there was a hint of a wistful smile on her face.

"Oops." Percy shrugged a bit sheepishly. He could feel Annabeth rolling her eyes again. Then Reyna switched back to praetor mode as she said emotionlessly, "Percy, you may be excused to show Annabeth around alone if you like, later. As for the rest of you," she addressed his friend and the three others of the Seven, "Frank and Hazel will show you, and the others, around." Jason's gaze snapped towards Reyna for the first time since the Argo II landed, "But I already-" Ouch, he thought when Reyna completely ignored Jason and continued with an iron-hard look in her eyes, "I would've gone personally but, unfortunately, I am-"

"-inclined to have a nice, long chat with her darling little half-sister who has some very important news from her quest." Alyssa finished her sentence with the slightest hint of sarcasm. It made sense that Alyssa is Reyna's half-sister.

"Thank you, Alyssa," Reyna said scathingly.

"You're welcome." Alyssa grinned brightly.

"Anyway, I'm sending an investigation team. I hope you don't mind." Reyna gestured to a small group of people boarding the ship already.

It's not like they have a choice anyway, Percy suppressed a chuckle.

Leo had a horrified look (that was overly exaggerated to the point you would've thought someone was trying to kill his precious baby) as he gasped, "No! Don't hurt my baby, please."

(Strangely, he mentally pictured Leo pregnant with a huge Greek battleship and wondered who the father is. Then he realized how weird those thoughts actually were.)

Reyna looked like there was an annoying fly bugging her, "I've given them instructions not to…that is, unless there is something else you're hiding on the ship from us."

"There's no need for that," Jason insisted, facing Reyna squarely. Percy had to admire his courage. He'd rather eat seafood than face Annabeth if he forgot her, went missing for eight months, and got a new girlfriend. "We just want to unite the two camps."

"Well," Reyna smiled icily, "sending an investigation team is what my former co-praetor at the very least. Every true Roman would have enough common sense to be wary of any…outsiders." The last word seemed to be referring to Jason directly and even he can feel the frost in her words.

Jason shut up expressionlessly but Percy saw how Reyna's words stabbed him all over. He mentally reminded himself how lucky he was to have Annabeth and remember her even when he wasn't supposed to.

There was an awkward silence that made Percy feel more restless than ever until Alyssa coughed rudely, "Rey, hurry up. I can't hold my breath that long and won't appreciate dying due to suffocating on Greek reek."

He had never heard so much Greek insults in one day before from the same person. "I apologize on behalf of my sister. She is merely being rude and infuriating as always." Reyna added immediately even though the tip of her lips twitched upwards.

Alyssa seemed unruffled and shrugged easily, "Well, I call it being honest."

"Offensively honest." It was Malcolm who retorted with crossed arms. People gave him surprised glances, (including Percy himself) but he was only looking at Alyssa with a hint of a challenging smirk in his slate grey eyes.

Alyssa stared back casually, "I'm not going to apologize to a greacus for voicing my opinions. Unfortunately, my sister already did that on my behalf. Take it or leave it," she abruptly turned to Reyna, "This is taking too much time. I'll be at your villa, stuffing myself with your chocolate stash." Then she left without a second glance.

Percy caught Annabeth staring after the raven-haired Centurion with analyzing eyes. He had to admit that girl certainly is something. (Not in that way, of course.)

Reyna coughed to get everyone's attention.

"So, that's about it. We have a Senate meeting at four forty. Don't be late because we won't let you in afterwards. Oh, and don't argue with Terminus when you see him." She turned to Percy and Annabeth with a slight nod, "And you, Percy…don't be late for Senate meeting, again."

Then, she turned and left without a second at them.

Percy breathed at last and randomly pulled Annabeth into a hug, "Thank the gods." Annabeth struggled against him, "What are you doing?!"

He laughed and released her, "You didn't hear this coming from me, but Reyna scares the Hades out of me. Especially with those dogs of hers…Add the three terrors and they're definitely scarier than you, Wise Girl."

She shot him a resentful glare that hid amusement, "Seaweed Brain."

Meanwhile, from the corner of his eye, he saw Frank and Hazel handing out a mini-pamphlet of Camp Jupiter and talking like professional tour guides. He reminded himself to tease them about it later as Frank mouthed, "I hate my job" to him.

Someone coughed slightly and then he faced Jason, who said confidently, "Hi, I 'm Jason. Jason Grace. Son of Jupiter." Percy grinned as he took Jason's outstretched hand, "Hi, I'm Percy. Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon."

Then they cracked up together.

"Boys," he could just see Annabeth shaking her head behind him.

"Eh, I'm not getting the joke, here." Leo scratched his head but grinned nonetheless.

"So," he decided to voice his earlier suspicions, "do you happen to know Thalia Grace?"

"I do," Jason nodded with a wide grin, "She's my sister."

Percy pictured the impossible rebel, Thalia Grace, next to Jason, the perfect Roman hero.

He almost snorted out loud but said skeptically, "No offense, but you two look nothing alike."

Jason shrugged with a chuckle, "I've been told that."

No really, Jason was as bright as Thalia was dark. It was almost impossible that they were related. But their eyes were almost the exact same shared of electric blue…sort of.

"Hey! Aren't any of you going to help us out? Hazel shouted with a pout.

Jason and Percy exchanged a glance before shaking their heads with identical apologetic grins. Percy could feel the start of a beautiful friendship already.

"Sorry, Haze!" He shouted back, "You're on your own…with Frank."

Hazel was about to retort but Frank led her and the other Greek demigods away, laughing slightly. He grins proudly at the couple. He should adopt Hazel as his sister. And Frank would be a great brother-in-law. (Also his great-great-great-great- Oh, forget it.)

Annabeth nudged him a bit to make him realize they were wasting time standing around. They seriously need to catch up on eight months.

Instead it was Piper who spoke, "So, um, would you like to show us around, Jason?"

"Sure," Jason smiled warmly at her. He usually like seeing couples together (not going to admit this out loud). But seeing Jason and Piper somehow made his stomach feel strange. In a bad way. Like when he sees sushi. (Poor innocent little fish…) "Hey! But I haven't even gotten to talk with THE epic Percy Jackson properly yet!" Leo protested with a comical expression. "So now I'm epic?" Percy couldn't help but grin widely.

"Almost as much as I am!" Leo grinned cockily.

"Leo, that's it! We're leaving now." Piper snapped and pulled Leo away by the ear with a small hint of a smile.

They were alone at last.

Annabeth looked at him with a twinkle in her eye, "So, Seaweed Brain, any places you want to show me or should we go to New Rome and you have to listen to me talk about architecture?"

Percy shuddered at the thought of the one-sided conversation full of "technical terminology (to him, it means weird words) and stuff he doesn't get. He racked his brain for his favorite place in New Rome then grinned, "Actually, I do know a place you would like to know about…"

Percy led Annabeth to the east hill of Camp Jupiter. She gasped when the golden sunlight of dusk reflected off the polished building of New Rome. He admits there was a tiny bit of pride when he saw the formidable city showing off their scars proudly. He'd grown fond of this place, as much as he still missed Camp Half-Blood.

"The view is amazing," Annabeth said quietly with sparkling grey eyes that haunted him whenever they were apart.

"Not as amazing as the view I have," he said cheesily, giving her a lopsided grin. She half-snorted with a sort-of blush.

"That was as cheesy as Grover's favorite enchiladas."

He laughed and winked, "You know it's true." It was, for him at the very least. Golden sunlight illuminating her soft silky curls and lighting up every inch of her, it was hard not to think so. Even though he knew her better than most to know that she isn't perfect, she was probably the closest thing to 'perfect'. (Blue jellybeans come as a close runner-up. But, still.) He tentatively traced the faded lines of worry on her cheek with the tip of his fingers.

"What?" Annabeth's voice was barely louder than whisper.

He gazed into her, searching grey eyes and said simply, "You." Then he leaned in and closed the gap between them.

The kiss was slower than the one they shared earlier but much more thorough. He honestly didn't know why but his mind went blank again. All he could think about was Annabeth and Annabeth and, well, Annabeth.

Did he mention Annabeth?

But it was also Annabeth who had to ruin the grand illusion of bliss in the world they live in.

"What was that for?" He asked indignantly.
"I was hoping we could talk," she laughed, ruffling his hair slightly.

"Screw talking!" He cried out, crossing his arms. He would've looked grumpy if it weren't for the grin on his face.

Annabeth laughed and shoved him slightly.

"So, Wise Girl, what have you been up to these eight lonely months without me?" He asked her airily.

She told him about how he nearly drove her crazy when he disappeared, how she kept on searching for him, and how she had to oversee the building of the Argo II. He, in turn, told her about waking up eight months after he was taken and the quest to Alaska. He left out the part about Reyna's past since he felt that Reyna would rather tell Annabeth herself.

"So, what do you think about Reyna?" Percy asked conversationally. He'd found a friend in his fellow praetor and had an impression that she would get along with his girlfriend.

She glanced at him suspiciously and said, "I don't know enough about her yet. But she seems like a fair and strong leader. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side…Why would you ask?"

"Just wondering." Percy shrugged slightly.

Annabeth choked out with hard eyes, "Do you…"

"Di imortals, no!" He burst out, realizing what she was implying. Him? With Reyna? That is a ridiculous though … or a terrifying one. He laughed as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Annabeth, I love you, remember? Reyna scares the Hades of me and her dogs hate me as much as Gaea. Not to mention she's not you."

She blushed again, muttering, "Seaweed Brain." But her fingers laced through his anyways as they spent a few moments in silence, drinking in the fact they were together at last.

Finally, she spoke, "You should call your mom, you know"

The words slapped him across the face. An image of his mother emerged in his mind. He sighed, "I'm really a horrible son, aren't I?"

Annabeth laughed a little and held out her cellphone, "You can call her now."
He hesitated for some reason, "Isn't it, like, 3am in the morning for them?"
"Yes, but you can keep the phone until you call her." Her smile softened, "You must miss her a lot."

"I do," he responded easily with another hint of guilt, "Thanks."

"I trust you," she replied, "As long as you don't somehow break it, I don't have to hurt you."
It was just them left. The sun was becoming more of a fiery orange rather than faint golden.

He mentally cursed when he checked the time, "We're going to be late for Senate meeting in a few minutes."
"What?!"

"C'mon, let's go!"

Hand in hand, the couple ran all the way to the Senate building. With one last desperate attempt to pin his toga right, he flung open the doors, looking disheveled and out of breath. He was met with a sharp, resentful glare.

"You're almost late. Consider yourself lucky, Jackson."

Author's Note: Haha. Did that count as a cliffhanger? (Oops!) What do you think of Alyssa? And had she met Malcolm or had she not? Anyone OOC? What do you think will happen next?

The Senate meeting will be quite spectacular and the next POV is HAZEL'S! Well, if I continue the story, that is.

It's my birthday. Maybe you can review this as a present? (Or any other of my stories?)

Well, have a fabulous and glittering day!