Annabeth POV, Avenger Tower, New York:

I knew that Percy could handle something like this on his own. That's not what concerned me. What concerned me was that a god came to get him and I was hoping that we were done with doing any god's bidding for the rest of our possibly short lives. After everything, and all that happened in Tartarus, Percy and I deserved one heck of a break from our extended family.

I gazed up at him. Back in October, he told me he wanted to change up his life. I wasn't totally sure about what he meant, but when I saw him later that month, he had definitely changed things up. His hair, for one thing, was shorter instead of his usual mess. It wasn't quite as short as Jason's, but shorter than I had ever seen on him. That wasn't it, though. He pierced his ears with black studs. Why, I had no clue, but he seemed to pull it off. And he had a couple of blue rings at the top of ear, in the cartilage. He even changed the way he dressed.

He still wore the typical jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt combination, but I noticed he was starting to wear more long sleeves that he used to, and a lot of his jeans had holes in the knees. He started skate boarding too. I'd almost classify him as a stereotypical skater boy, except he still wore his bead necklace, and nine handmade bracelets on his left wrist along with a watch. One bracelet for each of the seven, Nico, Reyna, and Thalia. Jason and Thalia's were variations of blue, Hazel's was gold, Leo's was orange, Reyna's was purple, Nico's was black, Frank's was red, Piper's was pink, and mine was silver. His clothes were also not black. The only dark color he wore was navy blue.

His personality changed too. Only a bit. He had definitely matured since we left camp. And he didn't dive head first into things, as shown when Thor showed up with an odd request He always asked me now. I was his voice of reason, among the other things a girlfriend is.

"Look where you're going Wise Girl, we don't want you smacking into any walls." Percy playfully said as he caught me staring at him. I grinned rather sheepishly.

We were in Avenger Tower, and I was inwardly jumping for joy. It was designed by Tony Stark, a genius, and I wanted so bad to talk to him and ask him about his designing process. Only, being here was probably my only opportunity to try and talk to him, since I had school and redesigning Olympus occupying my time, other than Percy.

Thor left us in a conference room. We waited for about ten minutes for someone to come in. Eventually, a man dressed in all black with an eye patch came in and sat rather far from us.

"Percy Jackson. I wasn't sure you'd come in this smoothly." The man said.

"Well, it's not like I'm committing to anything." He responded calmly.

"Brought along a friend I see." The man nodded his head in my direction. Percy sat forward and folded his hands.

'It's been a year."

"So it has."

"Thor said you wanted to talk to me. What about?" Percy asked, getting to the point of our visit.

"My name is Nick Fury, and I want to offer you a job on my team. It's a team of heroes that battle things that the police simply can't. You seem to offer quite a unique set of abilities that I want." The man, Nick, said.

"No." Percy said. Nick frowned.

"No?"

"Look, not to be a dick or anything Mr. Fury, but my fighting days are over. I have a job, I have school, I have extracurricular activities, and I have a girlfriend. I spent the last six years of my life being a hero. It's not rewarded the way everyone thinks. I'm done with all of that. I'm sorry if this disrupts your plans, thank you for having us though." Percy stood up and offered me a hand. We started to leave the room but were stopped.

"They said there were stories told about you. Everything you did, starting at twelve. Thor told me all about you. A demigod, son of Poseidon. Mastered tasks that even the trained couldn't do. Led two wars, all before the age of 18. This team needs you."

I watched Percy turn around, and I prayed to his father that the water pipes in the building wouldn't burst. Percy remained calm, but his eyes were lit with anger.

"Did they mention I was abused as a child? Or that this summer I walked through the darkest part of Hell on the brink of insanity? Did they tell you what I can do? Or the toll it took? Mr. Fury, if I did join your team, which I will not, I don't think you would want me. No I'm not going to join. My days of fighting are over."

"Not even to save the world?" Nick asked. Percy hesitated. This time the world meant his friends and family. We all spread out, and Percy's flaw could get the better of him. I almost wanted him to take it. Maybe he should. By the look on his face, Percy had decided to join.

"What about school and work?"

"You'll be able to attend school for most of the rest of this year and next. As for your job, you don't work there anymore."

"That means you're paying me? Does this mean this job comes with benefits, ones that my mom and step dad can have access to? And what about Annabeth. When am I going to see her? I barely get to see her as it is." Curse his fatal flaw.

"Yes to all. As for your girlfriend, consider this a consulting position unless you're needed in the field. Most weekends you'll be able to see her." Nick said.

"Fine. Now can I leave please?"

"You may go."

Percy and I walked out. Halfway to the elevator I judo flipped him and stuck my knife to his throat. I was obtusely aware of a group of people watching down the hall. It didn't quite matter though. I was focused on my boyfriend.

"We agreed we were done with that. Especially you, and your newly broken limits to what you can do. And you agreed, just like that? There's no telling what could happen if you were out in the field. You promise we would never be apart, ever again." My vision started to blur with tears and I noted a slight voice crack at the end of my small rant.

One of Percy's hands slipped around my waist, and the other carefully took my knife from my hand, setting it down beside us. He then kissed me, with all of his emotions poured into it. Love, pain, desire, joy, pride, and passion were seeping into my bones. I hadn't kissed him this fiercely since we found him in California. He broke the kiss and I rested my forehead on his.

"I wouldn't be doing this if you all weren't at risk. You know me. Everything I do, everything I will do, it's all for you, my Wise Girl. Let's go home okay?" I nodded, breathless. He let me up, then followed suit and we went to the elevator to go home.