A/N: This is the last part to this AU. I've had a great time writing it, and I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as I have. Remember to go over to my tumblr if you want to see any extra stuff or leave me an ask! I would love to talk to you!

I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, or anything else you may recognize.

-152015-

Percy woke up.

Honestly, it was kind of a surprise when he recognized the beeping sound and the white walls. It shocked him when he realized he had an IV in his left arm. He looked down curiously when he could feel his chest aching. He had thought that he would be dead. He didn't know that he was in a hospital room.

It also surprised him when he looked to his right to see Annabeth sitting in the chair beside his bed. She was holding his hand and staring at the television hanging from the wall.

For a second, Percy wondered if she was alright. She looked awful. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her arm was wrapped tightly in bandages. Her shoulders were hunched over, and she was curled in a ball in the chair except for the hand that held his.

He smiled. She was here with him. Percy had figured that she would have been at the office or at home dealing with the consequences and stuff from earlier. He never would have thought that she would have been here when he woke up.

Percy squeezed her hand, and her head snapped back to him faster than he expected. He smiled softly at her. His voice was rough when he said, "Hey."

Before he could move (not that he was able even if he wanted to), she stood up and leaned over him, shoving her face in his and staring at him. Her gray eyes were bloodshot, and the circles under her eyes were darker than he had expected. Her mouth was held in a tight line. Percy could tell he was about to get in trouble.

"Do you understand what you did?" Annabeth said. Her voice wasn't exactly warm, but it wasn't ice cold either.

"Yes," he said, staring back at her.

"And you realize that either one of us could have died, correct?"

"Yes."

"And I still don't understand why you did it."

He blinked down at their hands where they were resting softly on his stomach before he looked back up at her. He said, "I didn't want to be somewhere without you. I just wanted to be with you, but you wouldn't listen to me."

She frowned, "If you had been in Seattle with your mom, you wouldn't have had to go through a five hour surgery. You wouldn't have almost died. Do you understand that? I almost lost you."

"But you didn't," he said.

"By some miracle," she said shortly. Her expression darkened.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, looking down at their hands again.

"Yes. You should be," she said. "When you decided to come to New York instead of going to Seattle, I nearly lost my mind. When you wouldn't answer the phone, I almost ran out and searched for you myself. And when Luke called me and told me he had you, I was ready to throw away everything I have ever worked for to get you back. Do you understand that? I was ready to give up everything so you would be safe again. Do you know how dangerous that is for me?"

He shook his head.

Annabeth continued, "The only thing that has ever really been mine is this business. For a long time, it's been me and my work, and that's all. When I married you, I never expected to like you. I thought we would make appearances together in public and keep two separate lives outside of everything. But now, that's not possible. I need you, and I won't live in a world without you. And for a few hours, I thought I was going to have to. You almost took yourself away from me."

Percy didn't know what to say. Of course, she was right. Percy did almost get himself killed coming to New York, but he didn't regret it. If he had gone to Seattle then she could have died instead. And how could she expect him to live in a world without her?

"If I had gone to Seattle instead, then you would be dead," he said defiantly, lifting his eyes to hers.

She narrowed her gaze. "Might be. I might be dead."

He tried to shrug, but his shoulder flared with pain. He said, "Well, it's the same thing. You could have died if I went to Seattle, and I could have died by coming to New York. I wasn't going to sit out there and drive myself crazy waiting for you to call. You can't live without me, and I can't live without you. Next time, you'll be better off if you let me come with you and sit in the car."

Annabeth glared at him for another second until she bent her head the rest of the way and pressed her lips to his.

He sighed against her mouth and opened wider. He lifted his hand to put against her face, and he grunted when the IV tugged his skin. Instead, he squeezed her fingers a little tighter.

She pulled back from his lips and leaned her forehead against his. She buried her other hand in his hair. There were tears running down her face, and she kept her eyes squeezed shut. She whispered, "You scared me, Percy. When you jumped in front of that gun, I thought you were going to die. I thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry," he muttered, pressing his lips to hers again.

Annabeth pulled back enough to put a little room between them. She had stopped crying, and she caught the rest of her tears before they could fall. Her eyes were fierce again. She said, "Never do it again, understand? I may not be able to live without you, but I would rather die instead of you. Your life is worth ten of mine."

Percy shook his head and whispered, "Not to me."

She turned away, and he had to squeeze her fingers to get her attention again.

"Tell me what happened after," he said.

She scowled, "An ambulance came to get you, and the bodies were burned along with all of the other evidence. I have a team monitoring any activity that opens up, and they report back to Frank immediately."

"What about Luke?" Percy asked.

Her face hardened. "Dead."

He nodded.

Her expression softened again, and she ran her hand through his hair. Her voice was soft when she said, "How do you feel?"

"My shoulder is hurting really bad," he said. He shifted again, and another flare of pain shot through his body. "And my chest?"

"You were shot in the shoulder. During the surgery, some of the ligaments were damaged, so we will have to go through a lot of physical therapy if you want to swim again," she started, rubbing her hand down his face and to his shoulder. "And some of your ribs were already broken, but when I fell on you, it shattered the rest of them. They had to do reconstructive surgery. You have to stay in the hospital for at least three weeks."

Damn, that would be a long time. Three weeks of sitting in a hospital bed? This sucked.

"But what about you?" He asked.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

She raised an eyebrow. Percy thought that there could be a trace of a smile just a few seconds away.

He went for it, "I mean, you always look beautiful to me, but you don't look 'fine.'"

She rolled her eyes and smiled. Percy cheered internally; he loved to make her smile.

Annabeth said, "I already had surgery today, and I've had three meetings at the office before I came back. I told you that I'm fine."

"You look tired," he said.

She hesitated for a second before she nodded. "Yeah, I haven't slept since the night before we left Miami."

"Mmm. Well, we didn't do much sleeping that night," he grinned when she rolled her eyes again. "You should go home and get some sleep. I'll be fine here."

"I can't," she said, looking away from him. "I can't sleep alone anymore."

Percy frowned, "What?"

"I don't sleep when I'm alone anymore. I never slept that much anyway, but when I started sleeping next to you, I could sleep for longer," she rubbed her hand down his chest. "I don't know why. I just can't."

"Go home and try," Percy said.

"No, I'm not wasting my time when I'll just go there and lay in our bed by myself until I give up and drive back down here," she said. "I'll sleep later, but you should definitely rest."

"I'm alright."

She pushed closer to him and hovered over his face, "You're not alright, and I need you to rest."

He started to object, but her expression made him stop. He blinked up at her and nodded before he titled his chin up.

She knew exactly what he wanted. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his. Her hand slipped up to his chin, and her fingers traced the stubble on his jaw from not shaving for a few days.

When she pulled back, Percy looked up at her and whispered, "I love you."

She hesitated before she said, "I love you, too, Percy."

"You don't have to say it back," he told her. His eyes were getting heavy again, but he forced them to stay open.

"I know that I don't, but I love you so I'm going to say it," she said, leaning down to hug him softly. "I love you. I love you. Percy, I love you so much. I was so scared that something was going to happen. I love you."

Even though this was really heavy situation, Percy was grinning. He knew that Annabeth cared about him, but he never imagined that she would fall in love with him like he did with her.

"Stop smiling," she said in his ear.

"I can't." His grin widened.

She tightened her arms a little more and pressed her lips to his hair.

Percy slipped his fingers out of her grasp and carefully moved his arm down to her legs. He slipped his hand into the crook of her knees and pulled her up onto the hospital bed to rest beside him. She started to object, but Percy traced his hand up her back and buried it in her curls.

"You said you can't sleep alone," he said. "And you need to sleep just as much as I do. Stay here with me."

She hesitated, and her gray eyes met his. Percy knew what she was going to say before she said it. She nodded.

Percy let his arm wrap around her waist, and Annabeth laid her head right beside his. He stared at her until he fell asleep.

Ω

He woke up again when he felt something press against his forehead. His eyes were heavy, and by the time he opened them, Annabeth was already walking to the door. She had her phone to her ear, and her purse on her shoulder. She shut the door behind her quietly.

His attention shifted when something touched his hand, and Percy looked to the right to see his mom sitting on the edge of his hospital bed.

"Mom?" Percy asked. His voice was rough.

She smiled and leaned forward to brush his hair off of his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, but what are you doing here?" He asked. "I thought you were in Seattle?"

"I was, but Annabeth booked my flight back to New York. I just got off of the plane and came straight here," she said.

"You should have gone home and slept first. I'm fine," he said, trying for a smile.

She rolled her eyes, "You look fine. Annabeth said that the doctors came in this morning and that your vitals were okay. She also said that they were supposed to be coming back to change your bandages on your shoulder and chest. She was going to wait, but I told her that we would be fine."

"Where did she go?"

"She said something about an emergency meeting at the office? I'm not sure, but she said that she would answer her phone if you wanted to call her," she said.

Percy shook his head and leaned into his mom's hand on his face. "No, it's okay. Did she say when she would be back?"

"No, but I told her I would stay until she came back. Is that okay?"

"Of course, but you don't have to," Percy said.

She rolled her eyes, "Let me worry about you, sweetheart. You were almost killed by those robbers!"

Percy frowned, "What robbers?"

His mom laughed softly, "Annabeth said that you hit your head. It's okay if you don't remember most of it."

He kept his face blank and confused. If Annabeth had said something about robbers to keep his mom from understanding what had really happened, then he should probably just go with it. She probably had a reason for not telling his mom about her real work.

"Oh," Percy stuttered. "Um, okay."

She smiled down at him. "I'm so glad you're okay, Percy. I was so worried when Annabeth called. Which, I don't think I was as worried as Annabeth."

"She was worried?"

His mom laughed again, "Of course she was worried, Percy. She loves you just as much as I do."

Even though Annabeth had told him that she loved him last night, it made it even more real to hear his mom say that she noticed it.

Percy grinned, "Yeah, she told me not to be such an idiot next time."

"Well, that may be true, but I really hope there's not a next time," she said.

He laughed and let his eyes close. His mom threaded her hand through his hair, and their favorite TV show played in the background.

Ω

He never woke up before she did, so he really had to enjoy the small moments when it happened.

Annabeth was laying on her stomach right beside Percy. Her legs were tangled with his. One of her arms was pulled up by her head, but when Percy leaned up slightly, he could see her face. She looked almost ten years younger in her sleep, and every single worry and frown line was gone from her face. Her hair was in ringlets spread around her head and on top of the pillow. Sometime in the middle of the night, the sheets had slipped down to her waist. Now, Percy was getting a glorious view of her tan skin. Annabeth's back had always been one of Percy's favorite places on her body, but he never really told her that.

Carefully, Percy reached out and drew his fingertips up and down her back and arm. She sighed in her sleep, and Percy smiled.

It had been three month since the incident with Luke. Percy had spent three weeks in the hospital recovering from his wounds, and he was in physical therapy every single day of the week to try and get the movement back in his shoulder. It had been hell, but now, Percy was good. His shoulder and chest never hurt except for a distant ache when his emotions got out of control. It was weird sometimes, but it was a reminder.

Everything else was good though. He was spending more time with Annabeth. Their relationship was rock solid for once, and it kept Percy grounded more than he would admit. He hadn't realized how much he had needed from her.

Annabeth seemed to be doing better with him in her life too. She smiled more. She laughed at his dumb jokes more often. She was willing to come home early from her office. Of course, she was still working with her business, but that didn't seem to matter much anymore. Percy trusted her to be safe, and Annabeth trusted Percy to keep himself safe and listen to her. Somehow, it balanced. Percy knew that she was just trying to keep him from getting hurt again, but he also knew that he would do it all over again to keep Annabeth safe.

After another hour of Percy dozing on and off and rubbing Annabeth's back, she blinked her eyes open. He smiled again when he met her gray eyes.

"Good morning," he murmured softly, pressing his body closer to hers and leaning up over her. He pulled the sheets back up to cover the both of them.

She smiled lightly and stretched, rolling over and settling on her back underneath him. She yawned and then ran one of her hands up his chest to his face, running her fingers over his jaw. "Good morning," she said. Her voice was soft, and Percy leaned down and pressed a kiss to her nose.

"Hi," he said. "Are you still leaving for D.C. today?"

"I don't know," she said, smiling up at him. "Hand me my phone, and we can check."

Percy reached over her, and as he leaned farther up, Annabeth pressed a kiss to his stomach. She laughed when his muscles tightened. He grabbed her phone and pressed it into her hand.

He watched as she scrolled through her messages, and after a few seconds she locked her phone and looked up at him. He frowned.

"The good news is I'll be back late tonight, so I should be here when you wake up in the morning," she reminded him, threading her hand through his hair.

"But not when I go to sleep tonight," he grumbled, rolling off of her and onto his back.

"No," she said gently. "Not tonight. But, I do have an hour before I have to catch my flight, and I may have elected to spend it in bed with you."

He raised an eyebrow as she rolled over and crawled on top of him, straddling his waist. Percy ran his hands up her sides, and she set her hands on his chest. He said, "Is that so?"

"It is actually. So impress me, Mr. Jackson," she said mischievously.

He rolled his eyes, but he pulled her down to his lips. She melted into him, and Percy smiled to himself.

An hour later, she did have to leave, and Percy did have to go to bed by himself that night. But when he woke up the next morning, she was right there beside him, just like she would be for the rest of their lives.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review!

-SomethingMoreCreative