Between Two Wars

By Cryellow

Note to all: I do not own the Percy Jackson universe. None of the characters are mine. All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. I do not make any money in this. It is purely my own enjoyment.

Warnings: Graphic content, blood, pain, inner turmoil, period talk, cursing, innuendos, trust issues, explicit intercourse ( In a separate chapter, with a separate warning)

Summary: Percy and Annabeth are finishing college at New Rome soon. Annabeth has a building job making the new temples around Camp Jupiter and Percy is training for the Olympics. There life is peace, as Gaea is dead and the fighting stopped. For now. But what happens when not everyone can be trusted? What happens when a new monster comes to town? Will Percy and Annabeth fight along side their comrades? Or will Annabeth's shocking secret keep them both from saving their friends?

Pairings: Percy/Annabeth , Jason/Piper , Will/Nico , Frank/Hazel , Leo/Calypso , Reyna/Jessica.

Chapter One: Sunny Days

The morning Annabeth cried her eyes to oblivion was a normal one. She woke up like any other day. She had glanced beside her to the handsome black haired man beside her. His eyes were shut peacefully as his drool escaped onto his pillow. She sighed contently as she kept her gaze on the son of Poseidon. She knew she should have woke him up, since he had work this morning as well as she did, but she just was happy letting him sleep. He never seemed to get enough of it, she mused to herself. She left the bed and walked into the dining room to go and find breakfast. To her dismay, they forgot to go shopping. Instead of feeling frustrated at the situation however, she put on some proper clothes, ran a hand through her hair, and left their small apartment.
Annabeth sighed in the warm spring air. She glanced around her surroundings. New Rome was a bustle of people, like usual. There were children running and playing. There was and old couple on their patio, watching the sun rise slowly overhead.
Annabeth remembered Percy's loud whoop, the day she agreed to go to New Rome for college. Sure, she had totally planned to go to another school, but still she had seen the gleam in Percy's eyes and knew she was a goner. After finishing both of their high school exams, she and her boyfriend had moved to New Rome. She smiled at the dim memory of him knocking his head on a cabinet their first day moving in. She really loved that Seaweed Brain.
The college at New Rome, though, was pretty cool. She took up their architecture courses while Percy took up swimming. He was total cheat, since every other student was barely decedent's of Poseidon and even a couple of minor sea gods. He was a pure half blood of Poseidon. She had urged him to take a different field of study, maybe one where he could learn something, but his reply had been "I could go to the Olympics this way". Annabeth shook though her haze of memory and walked over to a donut vendor. She got two to bring home, smiling to the man.
Annabeth was vaguely reminded that her and Percy were finishing their senior year in college in a couple months. She was surprised to find she looked forward to it, since now she could devote most of her time to designing new projects around the city.
She walked back into their apartment, seeing Percy sitting at the table with a coffee mug in hand, only his boxers on. Annabeth plopped the bag with the two donuts and leaned over, giving the sleepy head a kiss.
"Morning," she said, opening the bag.
He grunted, pleased with her offering but not quite awake yet. She handed him a blue donut on a napkin and started eating her own Boston creme with a satisfied expression. She sat across from him on their table in the middle of the apartment. It was a cozy place, but it was relatively small. Annabeth had decorated everything but the bathroom- that was Percy's doing. There was a nice modern feel to the place, yet a nice warm feeling of ancient Greece.
Percy blinked his eyes looking at his girlfriend, confused. His hair was disheveled and his shoulders were slumped. He wasn't quite awake yet.
"What?" She said giving him a side smile.
"Don't you usually get a double chocolate?"
"Why would I do that?" She laughed. "I always get a Boston creme."
"Not on your period. You always get a double chocolate. And trust me, I've kept up to date on when your period starts, Annabeth." He remarked.
She blushed at the innuendo. Why? She didn't know. It's just talking about your period with your boyfriend? Not exactly an easy conversation. Usually ends up with Annabeth blushing or laughing nervously, or Percy completely grossed out. Nevertheless, he was right. They usually kept track of that. Yesterday was supposed to be the day it started but she realized with a jolt that it hadn't occurred to her. She woke up and she was clean.
"It's just late," she said soothingly. "It'll probably come later today."
Percy gave her a side eye but decided not to comment further. It's not like they didn't use protection, Annabeth was on the pill after all. It always worried him when she was late though. She decided not to think too hard about that.
"Don't forget Jason and Piper are coming over for dinner tonight," Annabeth said after swallowing a bite of donut.
"Ah man," Percy said. "I forgot. I was supposed to train for the backstroke tonight. I guess I'll have to cancel."

"I would hope so, seeing as we haven't seen them in what? 5 months?"

"New Years," Percy replied, finishing his donut.

"Right. It's May,"Annabeth noted. "Can you believe we graduate in like a month?"

Percy shook his head. "I swear it was only a month ago that I arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Time flies so fast."

Annabeth agreed. She still remembered the time she came to camp for the first time, Thalia Grace fighting a wave of monsters, Luke Castellan holding Annabeth in his arms, running up a massive hill approaching the valley below. Now darker memories plague her from time to time. Memories of a swirling face and colorful flowers around a poison goddess. She pushed them down and focused on the conversation.

"Have to talked to the two of them at all?" Annabeth mused, wiping her creme filled hands on her napkin. They really did have good food here at New Rome. Not like New York, but it was a close second. She'd never admit that out loud though.

"Actually yeah..." Percy said a goofy grin spreading on his face. "I talked to Jason about 2 weeks ago. He mentioned something about proposing to Piper."

Annabeth let that sink in for a moment before she gasped in happiness and smiled wide. "That's great! Has he done it yet?"

"Well I don't know. He only mentioned it. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it since."

"He should. They are absolutely perfect for each other." Annabeth said it with a certainty. All of them had too much misery in their lives. Both of them deserve to be happy. She held onto this truth like a strong rope, holding her above all the things they all had done.

"Well don't say anything. He was still a little nervous about it when I talked to him. Mentioning it might make him back down," Percy laughed.

Annabeth held up her hands in a placating manor. "I won't. Besides, I'll probably be too busy talking to Piper about how counseling is going. She's really good at it."

Percy glanced at his watch and frowned. "We gotta go to class," he sighed. "Don't wanna be late. Oh and I have to run an errand after class, so don't wait up."

"Pick up some stuff for dinner while you're out." She said absently, getting ready for school.

The day passed by in a blur. Sure her classes were pretty long and consisted of most of the day, but Annabeth was mainly thinking about the field plans. She had 3 new temples being built right now. The hill was already full from the beginning, but now Annabeth was thinking about remodeling the whole camp. If they wanted the proper temples, it might take that much.

After class, she headed over to the building site, the plans spread over a long table. She was just about to yell at a couple of fighting sons of Mercury, when Reyna walked over from the bridge crossing the Little Tiber. Her purple cape billowed in the wind as she headed toward the blonde. Reyna smiled at the sight of her and stopped beside her in front of the plans.

"Oh wow," Replied the praetor examining the blue paper. The temples on Annabeth's design went from the farther regions of the mountains all the way to south of the little Tiber. Some were spread on the inside of the "G". Instead of a label, each of the temples and a symbol. On seperate smaller plans, were the designs for each individual temple. Annabeth shrugged.

"Unfortunately,"she said, pointing to the southern temples, "it spread farther than I thought. It isn't quite going to be 'Temple Hill' anymore."

Reyna sighed happily at the plans. "It looks amazing, Annabeth. It truly does."

After that, Annabeth's mood changed considerably. "You think so? Thanks"

By the time she came home, Percy was already cooking dinner. She could smell the strong aroma from the hallway. Annabeth took a huge whiff and sighed with pleasure.

"Your mom's famous lasagna," Annabeth replied. She put her keys on the hanger by the door and slipped her shoes off. Padding across the hall into the kitchen she saw Percy taking the baking glass pan out of the oven. Annabeth stopped in the doorway and examined her man. His lean back muscles showed through his shirt. The shirt itself was the same sea green as his eyes, he also wore tight jeans that hugged his butt in a nice way. His bare feet danced around the floor, dancing in time to "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. His hands were delicate as he placed the pan on the stove and shut the oven off. His black hair flew around his hair in waves as he bobbed his head to the music.

Annabeth quietly padded behind him, about to hug his torso, when she realized he was muttering something. She stopped midway and hid behind the fridge. Apparently he didn't notice her, because he continued to mutter under his breath as he slid the oven mitt off his hand. With a jolt, Annabeth heard her own name in his mutterings and listened intently.

"Annabeth, I can't...no. No. Annabeth, you...no no." He sighed in frustration. Annabeth wondered vaguely if he was trying to prepare a speech. There were only two kinds that started like that: He was cheating on her- Or he was breaking up with her. In Annabeth's haste, she had forgotten there was another type of speech. Unfortunately, she wouldn't realize that until much later. She mustered up the courage and walked back to the door opening it and slamming it for effect.

"I'm home!" She called. She walked back to the kitchen once more. When she walked back in he was facing her with a slight green to his cheeks. He honest to goodness looked like the kind of character in children's movies, portraying a sick person. She didn't take that as a good sign. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking at him with concern.

"Y-Yeah," he said, wiping his face with his hand. "Just overworked myself in practice today."

Annabeth wanted to point out that he had went and got groceries and cancelled practice for their dinner, but she decided against it. If he was going to have the balls to tell her the truth, she wasn't going to push him to do so. He had to do it on his own.

"The lasagna smells great," Annabeth said. "When did your mom give you the recipe?"

"Oh it was a while ago, when I went to visit Jane in the hospital." Annabeth remembered when Percy left to go visit his sister after she broke both her left leg and her right arm. The way Sally Jackson had made it sound on the Isris message sounded like she had been attacked- when in fact the only thing that had attacked the 4 year old was her bike as she ran head first into a giant tree. Annabeth almost grinned at the memory, but one look at Percy and the grin died. He still looked very green.

"They'll be here in a few. Is there anything else to do?" She asked looking at the preset table. It was set for four around the tiny kitchen table.

"Nah," He said. "All set. Even made some cookies." Percy gestured to the tray of blue chocolate-chip cookies set on the counter.

"And don't worry," Percy cut in."Didn't use eggs or milk in the cookies, and a veggie lasagna. It's all vegan stuff. Don't wanna be insensitive."

Annabeth felt her cheeks expand into a smile despite herself. Percy walked up to her and put his arms around her waist. Her hands moved to place firmly on his chest. She looked up into his eyes and couldn't imagine a world without him. Then the memory of his mutterings came back to her and she lowered her eyes. Just ignore it, she chastised herself, it probably meant nothing.

Percy grasped her chin in his left hand.

"Hey," He said getting her attention again. "I love you."

Annabeth swallowed some witty retort. She sensed he had something else to tell her. She held onto his every word urging him not to say what she thought he was saying. But she was confused. His arm was around her waist. His eyes shone with love. Then why did he look like he wanted to throw up so bad? Why did he seem so nervous? If he was going to break up with her, why would he get so intimate? To tear her heart out?

"Annabeth I love you and I-"Percy began closing his eyes. Annabeth only had time to think this is it before they both heard the doorbell ring sharply.

Percy sighed, let go of Annabeth, muttered "I got it", and walked to the door.

Annabeth stood in the kitchen feeling like a knife was stabbed through her chest.