Annabeth POV-

Estelle is in front of me, salt and pepper curls bouncing as she practically dances down the aisle in her blue dress that matched perfectly with the petals she was throwing.

Then, I look up.

Percy stands at the alter, gaping at me, his teary eyes staring at me as though I'm the only thing in the world. And I begin to cry too.

This was it. Our big moment. I think my pace quickens.

I arrive at the alter and I don't hear a thing. I just see him. Percy.

He was so... perfect. He looked regal in his tux, but his hair was still a mess. It shone like it had gel in it, which was probably Sally's doing, but she must not have been able to tame it.

That was okay, I liked it messy. It suited him better.

A voice interrupts my gaze on him.

"Annabeth." I turn my head to the wedding officiant.

"Annabeth." I feel as though I'm being sucked out of this universe, and suddenly, my brother looms over me, a hand on my arm, stirring me to reality.

That was all a dream and now I'm here. Back in my room. How did I get here?

My last memory of last night was Percy and I watching a movie on the couch. He's really branched out with movies now. He's officially added Moana to his list.

I remember drawing blueprints and ranting about pillars and balconies to a point that must have driven him out of his mind. But he sat, and he listened. And he played with my hair. And he smiled wistfully at me the whole time.

He really is perfect.

"Rise and shine," my brother says, poking at my forehead. "You passed out on the couch last night. You're lucky that Percy brought you up here. I would've just left you."

"Way to show your sister some love," I grumble in my tired morning voice. He laughs.

"I'll get out of here, but you have to get up. You have work. And Percy told me that the girls want to go dress shopping with you again later." I groan again.

"We don't even have a date picked yet! It could be another two years before the wedding even happens!"

"I know. I don't know if they know though. Percy just goes along with it because he doesn't want to face their wrath. And Estelle's one of them, and he doesn't ever want to see her unhappy."

"Well then now I have to go dress shopping."

He laughs and exits my room. I roll out of bed and look at myself in the mirror, imagining the way that Percy looks at me. I don't know how he could look at me like I was some gorgeous princess when I had days where I looked like this. My hair was the epitome of a rats nest, the blonde curls tangling together so the long curls that usually made it down to my mid back only made it barely an inch past my shoulders.

Lovely.

I heave a sigh and grab a comb. After nearly breaking it, I give up and decide that my best bet is to shower and try to untangle it in there with a little conditioner.

Usually, my hair didn't bother me too much. I would just throw it into a ponytail on days like this. But because I was going dress shopping today, I wanted it to be nice. I found out the hard way that it's a lot harder to get a good judge of the dress unless you feel confident in how you look first.

And I was not feeling confident today. Although, I really should. Percy would tell me I was beautiful. That I was beautiful no matter what.

I just couldn't get the way that Percy looked at me in my dream out of my mind. Like the rest of this universe was gone and I was the only thing that remained. Like I was the only thing that kept him here and alive and without me, he would disappear into an abyss. Like I was his greatest weakness, but also the thing that made him the strongest. And I wondered how.

How anyone could look at someone like that. I've never seen it quite as strong on anyone's face before, never anyone else who looked to their love the way he looked at me. It was almost intimate really.

How he could look at me like that. No one else has ever looked at me with such love before. To my mother I was more of an employee than a daughter. At least she showed a little bit of care. More than I could say about my father. I couldn't tell how he viewed me. Helen viewed me how anyone would view a stash of money, that's all I was to her. My brothers viewed me... I guess how any brother would. And even though Magnus was a cousin, he looked at me the same way they did. Thalia looked at me like I was a sister. Reyna, Bianca, Will, Nico, Piper and Hazel; a friend. Luke used to look at me that way. Then he just looked at me. There was no deeper connection. He looked at my lips and my body. He looked at me like a prize to be won. Percy was different though.

To Percy, I was something different, something special.

I also wondered why.

Of all the girls that he could've looked at like that, why did he choose me? What made me so different than all of them? I laughed aloud to myself as I stared into the mirror. I was nothing special.

But he was everything, so I had every reason to feel that same way that he feels about me. Like he was the only thing that kept me going when life was so damn hard. When I kept pushing forward just thinking of seeing him again.

I don't realize the tears that slowly make their way down my cheeks. I don't even know what they were for.

"Annabeth," my mother's voice sounds behind me. It was stupid of me. I got so caught up in my own thought that I hadn't even noticed her come in. I look at her through the mirror. "Why are you crying?"

"Did Dad ever used to make you feel like you were the only thing in his world?" I ask.

Her eyebrows scrunch for a moment, but then, just barely, the corners of her mouth turn up into the smallest hint of a wistful smile. "He did, once." Then she frowns. "And I was blind enough to fall for it, because I was not. He had another woman in his life and it wasn't me."

"What?" I whip around to face my mother. She never told me that before. "Dad..."

"A few years after you were born, I found out he had Helen. And he had had her for a while. I was devastated. I never want you to feel the way that I did then."

"Percy would never-"

"I know. I was skeptical of him at first. The way that boy influenced your every move, I thought I couldn't trust it. But then, the first time I met him, that changed a bit. You seemed to have fun with him. You looked at ease and comfortable. I still didn't trust him fully though."

"But you do now?" I ask. She nods.

"He gave a beautiful talk about you to Malcolm and I when he asked if he could marry you. Your brother still had to do a bit of persuading though. He's good at that. That's why he's in law school. But then, last night when he carried you up the stairs and to your room, I may have followed after I saw him walk by my office with you in his arms. I wanted to make sure you were safe. And you were. I watched, from the doorway, the way he treated you, even when you were into such a deep sleep that you wouldn't know. He even wrote a note for you. It's on your desk." I smile and walk over to the desk. Just as she said, a note laid on it. It was simple, but so sentimental.

I place it in a drawer with all of my other notes from him. All of which I will not mention just how many times I've read.

"Come downstairs when you're ready, Annabeth. I want to take you into the office to work today. I think you'll enjoy it there." My mother says before exiting the room. She passes a soft smile on the way out.

As I get ready for the day, I think of Percy.

How did I get so lucky?

I hum to myself as I shower, closing my eyes and just thinking about him. I get out of the shower and I look in the mirror.

Now, I feel confident.

Hey guys!

Sorry it took me so long to update. It was truly just deciding what to make this chapter about.

Even though Percy was never physically in this chapter, I still think this might be one of the most "Percabeth" chapters in this book. It really shows how Annabeth is really affected by him.

It also answered many questions about why Athena is so bitter about love.

I'll probably do one of these with Percy later on, but before that, we're getting a couple new characters into play, starting during the next update. You already know them, one of them you met once in this story actually, but it's been a while. You actually already love said character, don't worry.

The other hasn't appeared yet. Do not fear though. Everything should be okay. Maybe.

Anyways, I know this chapter wasn't like my usual, but I hope you enjoyed!