Hey guys,

I worked REALLY hard on this chapter and I'm pretty sure it's the longest fan fiction chapter I've ever written, so I really hope you like it!

Disclaimer: As much as I'd love to say that I do, I don't own Percy Jackson or any of the characters

This chapter is a continuation of the Call of Duty chapter (called "COD") so if you don't remember that chapter or haven't read it, you might want to read through it quickly.

Percy and his friends had decided to watch a movie after Annabeth left, tired of being annihilated in video games by Percy and now his gorgeous girlfriend. They had yet to find a game that Percy couldn't play and win. Then again, if they'd bothered to play a game that required some brain power, Percy probably would have given up before the game began. Still, even the girls were starting to feel sympathetically defeated, and they weren't even playing Call of Duty. Everyone knew Percy's favorite movie was Finding Nemo-they watched it every time the group came over, so as soon as the word "movie" was mentioned, the DVD was in the TV.

Ten minutes through the movie, all of the girls had joined their boyfriends on the couch or were leaning on each other. Everyone had someone to lean on-well, except Percy, but he didn't mind. He was too enraptured by the movie to even notice. Sally had brought popcorn and the plate of blue cookies. There was not a teen in the apartment who wasn't feeling overall cozy.

About the time Merlin was meeting Dory, Annabeth came down the hall in a Goode High Swim Team sweatshirt and leggings, her hair falling lazily around her face. Percy couldn't explain why her wearing his clothes made him feel so good, but seeing her in his sweatshirt had his heart doing a little dance. She looked tired and worn out and not a guy there could disagree she looked amazing, even in comfort clothes.

Percy sat with his arm resting on the back of the couch, tearing his eyes from the screen to see his girlfriend. "Welcome back to the land of the living," Percy smiled before realizing what he had just said. Annabeth tried to glare as she fell onto the couch, curling into his side with her head on his chest and her hand on his stomach as his arm wrapped around her. In her half asleep state, she couldn't sustain the look for long. Still, Percy felt terrible and he immediately tried to take back his words. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even think. Really, I was just focused on the movie and…"

"I'm barely awake enough to even process what you said. And I'm not the only one here who's sensitive to…that stuff. Cut yourself some slack." Everyone's attention was slowly turning back to the movie, even though at this point they could all basically quote the movie line for line. Percy kissed her hair and ran his hand slowly up and down her arm.

One of the girls turned and sighed, jealous of the happy couple. After a few minutes Percy whispered, "How did you sleep?" Annabeth simply shook her head. "You didn't scream, that's a good sign right?" She shrugged. "I'm guessing you'd rather not talk about it?" She nodded. "Then a more important question arises: What the Hades are we having for dinner?" Annabeth chuckled and shook her head, grateful for the change in subject. Percy's preferred topics of conversation always ending up being Annabeth or Food. Or both. Yeah, both was even better.

Before they knew it the movie was over and everyone was stretching like they hadn't used their limbs for a thousand years. Thunder rumbled outside and rain pounded the windows, the storm coming on suddenly. "Looks like Zeus lost another game of poker," Percy murmured. "So…what do you guys want to do now?"

Kyle grabbed a cookie before flopping dramatically onto the floor, spreading out on his back like a starfish. Jared looked up with a slightly evil look in his eye, like he'd figured out how to make a machine do your homework. "That look terrifies me. Last time you had that look on your face, we ended up with whipped cream all over my bedsheets and my favorite shirt being completely ripped down the front. Do we even want to know?" his girlfriend Sarah asked. Everyone cringed at the image she'd put in their heads while Sam subtly gave Jared a high five.

He blushed and glared at Sarah. "Well, we know that Percy can beat all of us at Call of Duty. And we know that Annabeth can beat all of us at Call of Duty. What happens when they're playing each other?" Everyone smiled and looked to the couple, still cuddled together on the couch. Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other and smiled. "You're on, Seaweed Brain."

"I could beat you in my sleep, Owl face." They grabbed the controllers and sat down, everyone else crowding around the back of the couch to watch the death match unfold.

Percy was ahead from the start-it seemed as though he was invincible. Then, Annabeth came out of nowhere and stole the game, pulling ahead as both virtual and actual Percy sat shocked. He quickly regained his composure, and so the back and forth battle began. The look on Annabeth's face warned them against trying to interrupt or distract her. Her head was in the game and absolutely nowhere else. Percy, on the other hand, sat nonchalantly, and-as previously demonstrated by Annabeth-he was very distractible. Then again, everyone was too intent on watching the screen to even think to try to pull his focus. It was easy to see that Percy valued the battle while Annabeth focused on strategy.

Percy and Annabeth continued playing, bantering the whole time. The game went back and forth like a see-saw and soon enough bets were exchanged. The friends watched with even more intensity now that there was money at stake. Those betting on Percy crowded around him, even feeding him cookies when he claimed he needed to "fuel up". Annabeth's team stood back and let her think, afraid of the consequences of taking her mind from the competition.

20 minutes later with no sign of a winner prevailing anytime soon, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. The lights flickered a few times before all power shut off. "You've got to be kidding," Annabeth sighed and put down the controller.

"Don't pout, Wise Girl." He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "Looks like Zeus just saved you from an embarrassing defeat."

"Don't even go there. I was going to win and you know it."

When Kyle spoke from behind the couch, they both turned. "Well, I hate to break it to you guys, but I don't think either of you were going to win any time soon. Apparently you're just both unbeatable."

Annabeth smiled. "In video games, at least." Percy's eyes narrowed, but Annabeth continued before he could argue. "Who won our last fight?" Their friends returned to their seats on the couch or floor while Percy stood and began opening the shades on the windows and lighting some candles. Both Percy and Annabeth were still a bit sensitive to darkness.

"Well, you, but-"

"And the one before that?"

"You, but-"

"How about the one before that?"

"That's not fair! You tricked me every time."

"All is fair in love and war. And you'd think by the tenth time you'd learn not to fall for it."

While their friends had been watching them go back and forth, the conversation had gone somewhere they couldn't quite understand.

"Wait, when do you guys fight? How does she trick you?"

Annabeth looked to Percy to explain. "Well, um…" he started. "At the summer camp Annabeth and I met at, one of the activities is sword fighting?" Annabeth nodded that this was an acceptable explanation. Leave it to her Seaweed Brain to panic and expose them right then and there.

She decided to help him out and answer the second question. "You all saw how I distracted Percy so Jared could beat him in Call of Duty. You'd be surprised how well that same method works in the sword fighting ring." Percy rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. It's not like Grover hasn't invited the whole camp to "watch and learn our battle strategy".

Sarah smiled. "So, let me get this straight. You just seduce your boyfriend until he surrenders?"

"Surrenders, drops his sword, both work just as well."

"I'll have to try that some time." she winked at Jared.

"I look forward to it," he smiled back. "Can't you just distract her the same way?" Justin turned his attention to Percy.

Annabeth laughed once. "Trust me, he's tried."

Percy came back to sit on the couch, pulling Annabeth into his side. "When Annabeth goes into battle mode, nothing-and I mean nothing-can distract her. She's too smart for that." He kissed the top of her head.

The group sat around telling stories of capture the flag and wresting and football from their respective summer camps and after school activities. The storm wasn't letting up, Sally was taking a nap, and a group of teenagers, two of whom have ADHD, can get a little antsy without electricity to keep them occupied.

The lights flickered on a minute before the front door slammed shut. "Honey, we're home…" A familiar voice yelled.

Annabeth rocketed out of her seat just as a punk-looking girl rounded the corner into the living room. "Thalia!" she smiled and ran into the girls arms. They hugged like two sisters who hadn't seen each other in months, which was pretty much what they were.

A blond boy followed behind her. "Looks like the generator just turned on," he winked." Percy got up and gave Jason a bro-hug.

"Thanks, man. And, Thalia, for the last time: You. don't. live. here."

She pulled away from Annabeth. "Well it's nice to see you too, former favorite cousin."

Percy clutched his heart. "Former? And to think, I worked so hard to achieve that title."

"Ugh, I've missed you too much. You can be the favorite again." Percy smiled and hugged Thalia.

"I missed you too, Thals."

Lexi coughed from the couch, reminding Percy and Annabeth that they were still there.

"Oh, um, guys, this is my cousin Thalia and her brother Jason. Thalia, Jason, these are my friends from school."

"Nice to meet you, Percy's Friends From School. I hope you don't mind us crashing your party."

The four walked back to the couch and sat down, Annabeth still curled into Percy's side, but with Thalia sitting next to her, their hands clasped together. Jason sat on the floor with some of Percy's friends, smiling them as they each said hi.

"Please, don't stop on our behalf. Continue on with your previous conversation." Jason said.

"Well before the, um, generator started up, we were actually discussing battle strategy." Percy offered.

Thalia grinned, adjusting the tiara on her head. "Battle strategy. Now that's something I know about."

"We were telling everyone how at the summer camp we met at, sword fighting is one of our favorite activities."

They both nodded slightly. "Got it."

"So…Do you guys go to this summer camp too?"

"Yup." Thalia popped the 'P'.

"Well, um, not exactly. But, you know, close enough?" Jason coughed, instinctively needing to clarifying that he was a Roman, not from Camp Halfblood, even if the mortals didn't quite understand.

"This storm sucks," Thalia tried to fill the awkward silence.

"Is someone's daddy having a temper tantrum?" Percy teased, figuring as long as he kept his words vague and ignored the questioning looks from his friends, he'd be fine.

Thalia pushed his shoulder teasingly while Jason just laughed. The conversation was comfortable and easy from that point on. Everyone took turns sharing stories about their past experiences with thunder storms and power outages, laughing at the unfortunate tales.

Sam was telling the story of his camping trip during a near hurricane when Percy felt Annabeth tense beneath his arms. He looked at Thalia and saw a pained look on her face, Annabeth squeezing her hand so tight it hurt.

He looked down to see her eyes full of terror and quickly moved off the couch so he was kneeling on the floor in front of her, holding the hand that wasn't causing Thalia to lose circulation in her arm, Sam's story drifting off.

-SWITCH TO JARED'S POINT OF VIEW-

"Hey. Hey, Wise Girl, can you hear me? What's wrong? Can you tell me what's wrong?" But she couldn't. She was paralyzed with fear. Annabeth just sat and stared and shivered and looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but there. Percy ran his hands up and down her legs, trying to find some way to comfort her-a difficult task considering he didn't know what she needed comforting from.

The rest of us sat spread out on the couch and floor, equal parts confused and scared. I saw Percy have an episode of PTSD after swim team practice one day, but when that happened he screamed and yelled and punched and kicked. It was nothing like Annabeth's terror we were witnessing now.

"Please, Annabeth. Focus on my voice. Just listen to me talk and try to tell me what's wrong." Percy continued softly like this until Thalia grabbed his arm.

"Perce, turn around." He did, only to be faced with a daddy long legs spider about 2 feet away from them and 1 foot away from Sarah. Being her boyfriend, I know Sarah hates spiders. She won't admit to anyone but me that she's afraid of them. As soon as Thalia pointed it out, the rest of us noticed the gross bug and Sarah ran from her seat next to her friends into my lap and hid her face in my shoulder.

"Tell me when it's gone," she whispered and I nodded, wrapping my arms around her. Over Sarah's shoulder I saw a look of understanding dawn on Percy's face.

"I don't have anything to kill it with. I need a paper towel. I'll be right back." But when he tried to stand, Annabeth's hand wouldn't let go.

"Please don't leave me." she finally met his gaze, getting over the initial shock and moving on the pure terror. She pulled her legs up to her chest, trying to make herself as small as possible, maybe even make herself disappear.

He simply nodded and wiped a tear that ran down her cheek. "Jason, paper towels are in the kitchen, next to the sink. Hurry. Please."

Less than a minute later, he returned, sweeping the spider into the towel before running to the bathroom to flush it down the toilet.

"It's gone." I told Sarah and she opened her eyes but didn't move off my lap. Instead, she rested her back against my chest and moved my arms so they were wrapped around her waist.

Jason reentered the living room to find Annabeth sitting on Percy's lap and silently crying onto his shoulder while we looked to him for an explanation.

"We'll explain later." He whispered to us, sitting back down.

"Fucking Arachne…" Thalia muttered under her breath. Percy glared at her over Annabeth's head as he held her. "What? It's true! If she hadn't been such a conceited bitch-"

"Yeah, we get it, Thalia." Jason interjected.

"Two times in one day." Annabeth muttered.

Percy looked down, "What?"

"They're following me," She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "They're everywhere."

"Who's following you? Who's everywhere? I don't understand."

"The spi…The spiders."

Thalia moved closer. "What do you mean two times in one day?"

"My nightmare. When I was taking a nap. They were everywhere, trying to kill all of us. They…They tried to kill us. And then they followed me here. Why are they following me?"

"I had no idea that's what the dream was about. I'm so sorry. But look-It's gone. Jason killed it, see?"

"And with a boyfriend like Percy, you'll probably be drowning in bug spray by tomorrow morning," Jason offered a slight smile.

"I will do everything I can to make sure you never have to see another one. And if you do, I'll always be here to make sure it pays for trying to mess with my Wise Girl." Percy gently pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "Okay?"

She nodded slightly while closing her eyes, leaning the side of her head against his chest, engulfed in Percy's arms.

"So…Who's up for another movie?" I asked, attempting to break the tension. Percy was too focused on what seemed like just staring at Annabeth to care about our decision, so for the first time in the history of hanging out at Percy Jackson's apartment, we watched a movie completely unrelated to water: The Internship.

The movie was just ending when Percy's mom came in. Finding Annabeth asleep on Percy's chest and Sarah asleep with her head in my lap, Sally whispered her hellos Thalia and Jason, seemingly unsurprised by their sudden arrival. I guess they come here often. That would explain Percy's "Thalia, you don't live here" thing.

Looking at her watch, Sally turned back to us. "You guys must be hungry, it's nearly 7 at night. And it seems it's been a long day." She glanced at Annabeth knowingly. "How do we feel about ordering in pizza?"

"Fantastic, Mrs. J," Thalia stood. "Why don't we go in the other room and discuss toppings!" Except when she said toppings, she motioned to Annabeth.

"Right. Yes, Of course. We'll be back to get everyone's orders after we discuss…toppings." And with that, they left for the kitchen. The rest of us turned to Percy, who then turned to Jason. Even Sarah, who had woken up during Sally and Thalia's "conversation", was waiting for an explanation.

"Ok, well…" He glanced at Percy, receiving a look as if to say 'Yeah, she's still asleep'. "Annabeth has arachnophobia. The same way some people have claustrophobia, Annabeth has an…extreme fear of spiders."

"It's not usually that bad though," Percy cut in, speaking quietly to avoid waking Annabeth. "I guess the combination of having a nightmare about them and then actually seeing one kind of sent her over the edge."

Sally then came back, Thalia following close behind. "So, does anyone have any special orders or do you think 3 plain pies will be enough?" We all nodded our approval and she continued. "Ok, then. I'm going to order the food, call the exterminator-just to be safe," she glanced at Annabeth, "And then I'll go pick up the food. Sadly the restaurant with the best pizza happens to be the one that doesn't deliver. Or do you think maybe you'd want to walk over and pick it up? The pizza place is only a few blocks over and the rain has cleared up…"

"Sure, no problem, Mom. We'll leave in like 15 minutes?"

"Great. Be careful." She shot what looked like a meaningful glance at Percy, Thalia, and Jason. I know Percy tends to be like a magnet for trouble, so maybe it runs in the family?

Percy stood, carrying his sleeping girlfriend bridal style, and walked towards his, well their, room. Turning back, he whispered over his shoulder asking for someone to come help him. Although it looked like Thalia was about to volunteer, I jumped up first. To be honest, I really wanted to see what Annabeth had done with Percy's room-I hadn't been in it since she moved in.

I followed Percy through the door and over to his bed, where he asked me to pull back the covers. He laid Annabeth down gently, pulling blankets back on top of her. I took the opportunity to look around and was surprised to find the room didn't look very different. Other than the usually empty desk in the corner being filled with books and papers and the pictures hung all over the walls, it looked pretty much unchanged.

Of course, I couldn't help myself from looking through the pictures. Most of them showed Percy and Annabeth together in various places with various different people. There were a couple with Thalia and Jason in them, too. In one photo, Percy and Annabeth kissed in what seemed to be a lake while Jason sat on the dock next to them, a cherokee looking girl leaning back on his chest, their hands clasped together. Another photo showed younger versions of Thalia and Annabeth hugging each other tightly near a tree, Percy smiling at them proudly from the background. Many of the other pictures were of Percy, Annabeth, and some other people in orange or purple t-shirts. One was taped to the wall just next to the bed, and I walked over to get a closer look.

In the picture, Percy and Annabeth lay on this bed, on top of the blankets as though they hadn't meant to fall asleep in the first place. Percy lay on his back, holding Annabeth curled into his side. Her head laid on his chest like a pillow and her hand was curled against his stomach. Percy saw me looking and walked over.

"My mom took that one day when she came home from work and found us here. She didn't tell us she took the picture until I found it on her phone a few weeks later, but Annabeth liked it so we printed and hung it."

"It's nice. I'm not used to seeing you look so…relaxed. Comfortable. It's kind of strange."

"It's hard to be relaxed when she's not here. I'm either worried about her or worried that she's not here not help me fight off the mon- I mean, um, nightmares. As she so often reminds me, bad things can happen when someone forgets to use their brain as much as I do. Luckily, she's smart enough for the both of us-not to mention strong as hell." He smiled and rested his hand on her cheek. "I'm gonna write her a note in case she wakes up and gets scared I'm not here."

"Yeah, sure." I smiled back. I used this time to continue looking at the pictures. I saw one of Percy and Annabeth sword fighting and one of them standing with a boy on crutches in Central Park, but the picture that really caught my eye was one that showed the two of them on the beach, Percy smiling smugly next to a soaking wet Annabeth who looked just slightly murderous. "There has to be a good story behind this one," I looked over my shoulder.

Percy walked over and smiled at the memory of the picture. "Well, we were at the beach and Annabeth, in true Annabeth fashion, brought a book. As I'm sure you're well aware of, I don't like reading, so when we got to the beach-my favorite place on earth- and she just laid down and started reading, you can understand I got a little upset. I tried to be nice and let her finish the chapter, but she just started a new one every time. I tried kissing her, attempting to take her book, whining-a lot of whining, but nothing worked. She just kept on reading. You know what they say, drastic times call for drastic measures, so I poured a little bit of water on her." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Ok, I poured a lot of water on her. But I was very careful not to get her book wet."

"That could not have ended well for you, man."

"Actually, after I promised to let her design a whole building-did I tell you Annabeth is an architect?-without interrupting her, she somewhat happily obliged to having fun in the water. Anyway, my best friend Grover from camp-the one with the crutches in that photo over there-took that picture as 'something to remember me by after she tore my guts out for interrupting her reading and pouring water on her'. And that's almost a direct quote."

"That is a fantastic story."

"Why, thank you. We should probably get going."

With one last glance to make sure Annabeth was okay, we headed out of the room.

-SWITCH TO KYLE'S POINT OF VIEW-

We returned to Percy's apartment to find Annabeth sitting at the table, laughing and talking with Sally. Percy had asked us on the way back not to mention Annabeth's…episode unless she brought it up first. Lexi had offered to carry the pizza and placed the boxes on the counter next to the plates and cups Sally had put out.

We all sat around the table while Percy came to stand behind Annabeth's chair. He put his hands on her shoulders and she smiled up at him before he leaned down to kiss her. Percy then sat down and we all started stuffing our faces with pizza.

Everyone laughed and ate and talked and hung out until it was late and dark. It had been quite an interesting day, and I left with a new understanding of what Percy's life is really like. Something told me that we'd be seeing a lot of Annabeth in the future. Yeah, she was intimidating at first, but she seemed pretty cool. And if what Percy and Annabeth have isn't love, I don't think I even know what love is.

Well, there it was: three weeks of my blood, sweat, and tears. Okay, maybe not blood, sweat, or tears, but there were definitely a lot of late night trying to finish this story. Please review and let me know what you thought as well as ideas for new chapters, cause I'm running out of storylines!

I'll only post the next chapter after I get 7 reviews :)

Thanks for reading and supporting me, you guys are so awesome.

In Demigods we trust...

~ItsAFangirlWorld