A/N: This really is the fluffiest that I could do. Wombat-of-awesomeness, the dear, told me to imagine fluff like a cross between a state dinner and cotton candy. Tastes good, but no real sustenance. This one is for you, Womby: my wondermous, llama-frenching informal beta.
He brushes the tears from her cheeks, lingering on the dew-like drops clinging to her eyelashes. What little signs of sadness that remain on her face are kissed away. She stopped crying a few minutes ago, but the pain of betrayal, heightened by the fact that it was committed by her own family, still gnaws at his insides. It's as if he was the trunk of a tree that some love-drunk sweethearts were carving their initials into, stabbing and scraping. But perhaps sweethearts aren't the best analogy. There is no love in what they have done.
She looks up at him with those usually cunning but now incredibly vulnerable eyes. He can't hurt now. She needs him.
"Can we just forget about it? Act like it never happened?" she whispers. He doesn't like this idea, he thinks, as sorrow is suddenly replaced with rage. No one messes with his girl.
But if this is what she wants, then it will be that way. He won't let my anger get in the way of her happiness.
"Of course," he replies, kissing the top of her head. She curls up in his arms and closes her eyes, resting her head on his chest. "I like this, how we are right now. Nobody can disturb us," she said.
On the outside of their bubble of air, curious fish waste time gawking at the girl he holds so close. With a wave of his hand he sends them on their way. The reason they came down into the lake in the first place was for some privacy.
He loved it when she agreed to swim with him underwater, though. Her hair swirls all around her, and fish nibble her toes like candy. She'd laugh, he'd laugh. But when they get back out, there's always some part of him that wants to stay.
"Percy," she murmurs sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"If we could stay like this forever, I would."
She sighs contentedly once last time before drifting off, all thoughts of betrayal long forgotten.
"Me too, Annabeth. Me too."