It has been two months since we defeated Gaea. Leo is back from Calypso's island and figuring out how to remove her curse. It is a good thing that after the war the seven of us didn't go our separate ways. I mean Hazel and Frank are living in New Rome, but we keep in touch and they come visit us every once in a while. The other five of us are living in camp half-blood and we are having the time of our lives. I know we all lived in the same ship during the war, but as you might guess, there was not much time to socialize. During the war, there was some kind of tension between me and Piper. I don't know what it was, we just didn't really talk to each other. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like we hated each other, we just didn't click at the moment and I didn't have time to get to know her. At the ship we kind of tried to avoid each other, but now we are actually really good friends.

To sum everything up, my life has been great since we defeated Gaea. And of course, I had to save the best for last. Annabeth and I are together, and as I learned this past year, that is everything that matters. It terrifies me to think that just a year ago Hera wiped my memory and I hardly even knew my name. I felt so lost and confused. I didn't even know if I had lost everything because I didn't remember anything, except for the name that makes my heart skip a beat every time I hear it. "Annabeth." I had always been afraid to love Annabeth though. I feared that the more I loved her, the more it was going to hurt if I lost her. For me, there has always been a reason to keep fighting and don't give up. She was the reason. But, what if I lost her? what would be my reason to keep fighting? This was a thought that scared the crap out of me. This fear went away when I was reunited with Annabeth. That was the moment I realized we were supposed to be together and nothing or no one could change that. Annabeth and I have been having a great time at camp. We were discovering how it was to date at a warless time, and all I can say is that I fall more and more in love with her every single day. I saw Jason and Piper together and they were just starting to know each other. I felt happy for them that they were having a good time getting to know the other, but I honestly prefer my situation with Annabeth.

We've known each other since we were twelve. We know everything about each other. Nevertheless, we want to be together all the time catching life as it goes, but together. We spent entire nights talking at the beach with our feet in the water. One of the reasons I love Annabeth is that she doesn't gossip. She respects everyone's privacy, and finds gossiping ridiculous. This just makes me love her even more. We could talk about real stuff. We talked about our families, she would tell me architecture stuff that I tried my best to understand but it was just hopeless. I would talk to her about surfing and how to catch the perfect wave. Everything was great, so I was really surprised one night I heard a knock on my door. I saw my watch: 2:00 AM. I went out to open it kind of angry because it was freaking 2:00 AM. All my anger went away when I saw it was Annabeth covered in sweat and red from crying. I reacted quickly. I pulled her in for a hug and with my other arm shut the door behind her. She buried her head in my chest and cried harder. I remembered something she told me earlier that week: "It's a good thing you grew Seaweed Brain, do you know how awkward it is to have a girlfriend who's taller than you?" I just laughed. When we started dating we were about the same height. I was probably an inch taller, but before that she was a little taller than me and it did feel awkward. Even though we weren't dating I didn't like her being taller than me. I hadn't realized how much I grew since Hera kidnapped me. Now I am a head taller than her. She can put her head in my chest perfectly without having to bend down a little.

Anyways, she was crying so hard in my chest I could feel her tears going through my shirt. When she removed her head my shirt looked like I had spilled water in it earlier. I put my arm around her shoulders and walked her to my bunk. She layed in my bed and I gave her my softest pillow—she was still crying. I sitted indian style beside her in the bed. She ignored the pillow I gave her and put her head in my lap and hugged my arm as if it was her teddy bear. When she finally stopped sobbing I waited for her to tell me what was wrong. It's not that I didn't care enough to ask, it's just that I didn't know if she wanted to talk about it. I was going to do anything to make her feel better. If it was just comforing her while not knowing what she was crying about then that's what I was going to do. She finally spoke. "I— I had a dream" When demigods have dreams, it is usually a terrible sign. It means there is probably a quest about to come our way, or in the worst of the cases, a war. She looked at my worried face and said between sobs "No, not that kind of dream. It was a nightmare". I took a breath of relief. I still felt bad for her though, demigod nightmares are very intense. I can't describe how real they feel.

She finally spoke "I dreamed we were back in Tartarus, I was unable to move and you were stabbed in the stomach." She said while touching the spot in my stomach I assumed I was stabbed on. "I felt I had lost you again." She said. I instantly felt terrible. I knew there was no way this was my fault but I still felt guilty. I left Annabeth alone. Even if it was just a dream, I left her, again. The same way I left her when Hera kidnapped me. I couldn't stand the thought of dying and leaving Annabeth alone in the world. I remembered the time when I feared that she would die and I would be left alone with nothing to live for. In that moment I realized she feared the same thing about me. I held back a tear that was starting to form in my left eye. I said to myself. Knock it off Jackson, you have to comfort her. I gently lifted her head so she was looking right to my eyes. I tried my most confident face and said "Annabeth, I can't tell you what will happen in the future, and I can't promise you that we will never suffer again. But what I can promise, is that if we suffer, we will do it together. Whatever awaits for us in the future, good or bad we will be ready for it, because we will always have each other to lean into. I am sorry to tell you Annabeth, you're stuck with me for the rest of your life." After I said that, I knew it worked. She let a tiny smile escape out of her face. She stopped crying and asked "Percy, can I stay here tonight?" It was obviously against camp rules for campers with different godly parents to stay at the same cabin, but I could tell she was scared. "of course Wise girl" I said with a smile and kissed her forehead. I tucked her in carefully. It was a cold night and I didn't want her to get sick. When I accommodated her pillow, I grabbed one she wasn't using and made my way to the couch. When I started walking she asked kind of surprised "Where are you going?" "Umm to the couch?" I answered awkwardly. "Why?" she replied. I just stood there with a stupid face saying "uhhh". She let out a little laugh and said "Well don't be so awkward about it! Why would you sleep in the couch?" she said while tapping the space next to her in my bed. When I laid down beside her she rested her head in my shoulder and said "You are also stuck with me Seaweed Brain! For the rest of your life". I whispered loud enough so she could hear me "Sounds good to me". And we fell asleep holding hands with her head on my shoulder.

When I woke up, I quickly realized I had overslept. I had to give a sword fighting lesson at 8:00 and it was already 8:12. Knowing I had missed breakfast, I grabbed an apple I kept in a small refrigerator in my room (not the first time I missed breakfast for oversleeping) and made my way to the arena. I equipped my armor on top of my Camp Half-blood orange t-shirt, and by doing so I realized I needed a shower. I figured I would take one after giving my lesson. There is nothing more annoying than giving sword fighting lessons to newcomers at camp. They don't know how to hold the sword and don't have any technique at all.

During the lesson I realized that there was something missing in my room when I woke up. Oh that's right! Annabeth wasn't there! How could I have forgotten she spent the night? Most logically she had something to do early in the morning and unlike me, she is responsible. I finished giving my lesson and headed to my cabin to take a shower. There wasn't much going on at camp. My only activity was giving the early morning sword fighting lesson. After my long, warm shower I headed to the strawberry fields. Since there wasn't much to do at camp lately, the day before, me, Leo, Jason and Grover decided to hang out. A sleepy day at camp turned out to be really fun with those three guys' company. We went fishing, we played volleyball with the nymphs and concluded our hangout with a 2v2 game of touch football. My teammate was obviously Grover, (because we are the most iconic duo) so that meant we were up against Leo and Jason. Leo isn't pretty athletic so he wasn't a threat. Grover could take him easily. Jason surely could be considered a threat since he is really fast. I know I'm smarter than him though and I am stronger. None of that mattered since we didn't keep score. None of us cared enough to be competitive in this sort of thing.

After maybe half an hour of touch football it was finally time for lunch. The day had gone so fast I realized I hadn't seen Annabeth at all. I couldn't help but feel like a sucky boyfriend. Before going to the mess hall I stopped by the Athena cabin and went in looking for Annabeth. I ran into Annabeth's godly brother Malcolm. Malcolm was a good friend of mine. I liked that he didn't play the jealous brother card on me, he knew my intentions with Annabeth just as much as anyone else. Anyways he gave me a smile and said "Hey Perce, she's inside. She's been writing stuff in that notebook of hers the entire day." I returned the smile and thanked him. I entered the room and went to Annabeth's bunk. She was sitting in her desk drawing something that appeared to be a building design. I almost didn't want to interrupt her. I love the way she looks when she is concentrated, but I really wanted to grab some lunch.

I sitted in her bed so we were facing each other. She instantly looked up as if she was coming out of a trance and immediately smiled at me. "Hey" she said. "Want to go catch the 11:00 AM show of the mermaids on the beach?" she asked. I laughed. "Annabeth it's 1:00 PM." She looked surprised. She quickly looked at her watch and responded "oh" with a small laugh. "Well let's go get lunch I guess." she said playfully. I could tell she had already forgotten about her nightmare. I had never seen her so happy and so light as she was this summer. She finally removed that frown she had in her face during the war. She looked as if all of her problems were solved and she was just living life.

We headed to the mess hall holding hands. Lunch was my favorite meal because it was the one all of us attended to everyday. Sometimes some of us missed breakfast or dinner because we all had chores. Lunch was the only meal it was certain we all could have together. I know what you are going to say "Percy you still have to sit alone at the Poseidon table" and you would be wrong. We made a vote with Chiron and Mr. D to revoke the table rule and it worked, so this meant we had an entire table with all of our friends. I sat next to Annabeth so we faced Jason and Piper, and Leo and Grover sat in the other ends of the rectangular table.

After lunch Annabeth and I decided to go to the Big House and catch up with Chiron. After all, we were his oldest campers and the ones who knew him better than anyone. He will deny it if he is asked but me and Annabeth are his favorite campers. Chiron was busy, he was preparing a 12 year old boy on a quest. I could tell he was just back from Rachel, the Oracle because he seemed kind of shaken up by something. Chiron was advising him and giving him assurance that he will make it. While Chiron was advising him another camper walked in. She was a girl. I could tell they were the same age. Chiron looked at us. "Percy! Annabeth! Your timing couldn't be more precise. I'm about to send these two demigods off to a quest. They are seeking the Stone of Hermes. Since the Golden Fleece was severely damaged in the war against Gaea, we thought the camp could use extra protection and this stone can provide it." I assumed he wanted us to advise the new campers who seemed terrified about going on this quest. The girl had dark blond hair and green eyes. I could tell she was scared but she tried to put a confident face. I wondered if Annabeth looked that way when we were off to our first quest looking for Zeus' lightning bolt.

I looked at the boy. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. He looked confused, like this whole world was new to him. I could relate. I remembered myself when I was twelve and had no idea what was going on with my life. I was surprised to discover that I looked back at those years with a little Nostalgia. The boy looked at me with admiration, as if he had heard legendary tales about me. I decided to talk to both of them. "Hey I'm Percy" I said as I approached both of them. I could tell they already knew my name. They told me their names. The boy was named Nick and the girl was named Emma. "Any suggestions?" Nick asked. It was obvious he needed help. I decided to talk from the heart. I tried to think of what I would have liked to hear when I was twelve and off to my quest. I was tempted to say "don't die" but I wanted to be useful. I finally said "Trust each other. Trust each other with your lives. You have to work as a team. Be each other's friend because at the moment of truth, it doesn't matter how powerful your godly parent is. No god is going to defend you. The ones who are really going to save you are your friends."

My small speech seemed to help them. They stood up straighter and took off saying their goodbyes. When I turned around I saw a smile in Chiron's face. I could see he was proud of me for becoming what I've become. I turned to Annabeth, she was still looking at the young demigods who were taking off. I saw her expression and I knew she saw herself in that twelve year old confused girl trying to play confident. "You know, those two remind me of you two" said Chiron with the smile still in his face. "They care about each other deeply, they just don't know it yet." We just smiled and took off. I went to the Poseidon cabin to take a nap. On my way to the cabin I waved at Jason and Piper who were going on a walk. I took my nap and woke up at 7:00 PM. I missed dinner. (Man I can't catch a break) I walked out of my cabin looking for something to do when I ran into Annabeth. She was holding two slices of pizza and was smiling at me. "I knew you would miss dinner when you told me you were taking that nap!" she said. I just replied "Oh I love you!" with a smile. "I know" she responded with a smile. I ate my pizzas while sitting on the beach with Annabeth. "You know Percy, today, six years ago you came to camp for the first time". She said. I looked at her with disbelief. It honestly felt like more than six years. "Today, six years ago I first met you." I said with a smile. She looked at me. Her expression turned more serious. I could see the nostalgia in her eyes. "I met a girl who told me I drool when I sleep, a girl who claimed to be annoyed by me all the time, a girl with gray, unreadable, mysterious eyes." I could see her smiling while a small tear fell out of her left eye. "Who would have thought I would end up falling in love with her." We embraced each other remembering our adventurous past, but most importantly remembering we were together in it.