Percy's POV

"He'll be fine," my mother reminded me. We had been in the hospital for nearly five hours.

All that we had learned was that Jason had taken two bullets, one in the shoulder and one in his lower abdomen, near his small intestine. The doctor said he was in critical condition, and that they needed to conduct a surgery to remove the bullets right away.

I looked around the room; my mom, to my right. Piper sat to the other side of the room, minding her own business, fidgeting with her fingers, jacket zipper, anything. She was nervous out of her mind, and I could see that she couldn't contain it. The feeling was familiar to me. Finally, Annabeth sat to my left, tense and glaring.

"Did you hear the story of it?" Annabeth looked over at me from her seat beside me, where she was leaning back on the chair, but I could see she was tense.

"What do you mean?" I looked back at her, my elbows propped up on my knees.

"A kid said that Jason was shot after he ran in front of her," she explained.

"Really?" I sat up, looking at her more closely.

"Yeah, it sounds like Jason." Her mouth pressed into a thin line, and her jaw clenched. Her eyes were dark, and her walls were up. Her leg bobbed up and down, just like it had at the skatepark, when I almost broke my hand. She was nervous.

"He'll be okay," I soothed, placing my hand on her knee, feeling the exposed skin from her ripped jeans.

"He better be," she mumbled.

"Are you okay?" I leaned my head forward, my eyebrows furrowing. I really hated seeing her so upset.

"I'm fine. I just..." She trailed off. I then her mumble something along the lines of, 'I can't do this again' which made me curious. I decided that now would be a bad time to ask her about it. I grabbed her hand, intertwining our fingers and kissing the back of her hand.

"It'll be okay." I kept my eyes on her as she looked up at me, giving me the slightest little smile. I kissed her hand again, then running circles on her smooth skin with my thumb.

"Annabeth?"

"Dad," Annabeth stood, letting go of my hand and walking over to her father, who stood in he doorway. I missed the warmth of her hand in mine.

They tightly embraced, before sitting down—Annabeth back next to me, and Frederick next to her. She began to explain the situation, and when Annabeth was finished, her father stood. He made is way to me first, which I stood and shook his hand, then to my mother.

What surprised me was when he said, "Sally, nice to see you again," before politely kissing her cheek. I was more appalled to see my mother respond, "Frederick, same here," and doing the same.

Annabeth and I exchanged a look, then looked at our parents.

My mom chuckled. "We went to high school together, don't look so surprised." She waved her hand.

"Um, what the fuck dad?" Annabeth gave her father a look. He shrugged. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know." Frederick shrugged again.

"And, mom?" I asked as well. She just shrugged too. I shook my head.

"Anyways, are you alright? I got down here as soon as I could, I'm sorry I wasn't here before, I couldn't get out an—" Frederick began to explain, but Annabeth cut him off.

"It's fine. You're here now, right?"

"Of course," he hugged her again, kissing the top of her forehead. It was weird to think that I had done the same thing, a little earlier. For whatever reason, a caption that I saw once popped into my head; your daughter calls me daddy too. I shook the thought away, feeling weird and oddly embarrassed, even though no one knew what I was thinking.

"Any news? When can we see him?" Mr. Chase didn't need to specify who he was speaking of; Jason was already occupying 99% of our minds.

"The doctor said we have to wait until after he's up, and has had time to gain his bearings a little," I explained.

"Okay." Frederick nodded, and then we all sat back down.

"You wanna grab a coffee?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"I don't wanna miss being able to see Jason, so maybe after we see him," she said. I nodded, placing my hand back on her knee. I felt her head drop to my shoulder, and I leaned my head on hers. She sighed.

Waiting was torture.

For Annabeth because of obvious reasons, and for me because she was so rattled, and I was worried about Jason. Everything was a mess and I was scared. I was also curious about why Annabeth had said that she can't do this again. It was nagging at me, like a gnat, buzzing around my head. I kept swatting the idea away.

"You can see him now."

Annabeth shot up, and Piper was the first one down the hall. I ran after Annabeth, following close behind the two girls. We finally made it to the room, to find Jason lying in his bed, covered in blankets, and pale as a sheet of paper.

Piper let out a sob and ran to him, engulfing him in a hug. I held Annabeth back before she could run into the room.

"Give 'em a minute," I said.

"But—"

"I know, I know," I said, pulling her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her. Once Piper had stood up straight, Annabeth and I walked into the room.

"You fucking dumbass," Annabeth marched right up to Jason, her jaw clenched.

"Go easy on him, he's frail," I reminded her, putting my hands on her arms.

"Hey, I could still kick your ass, Jackson," Jason gave me a wry smile.

"In your dreams, Grace," I teased.

"Back to what I was saying—Jason you fucking dipshit. I don't know anyone as dense as you," Annabeth started. "When someone is firing a gun you run for cover," she looked angrier now, which was reasonable, since all of our nerves were frayed after today's events.

"I know, Annabeth. But she was just standing there, I wasn't gonna let her get shot," Jason explained, remaining much calmer than Annabeth was.

"But that's her fault! It's not your responsibility to protect everyone," Annabeth said.

"But I wasn't going to watch it happen, Annabeth. You should know what I mean; you've never sat and watched when Luke picked on Percy," Jason started.

"That's different,"

"How?"

"Because there was never a gun involved!" Annabeth's voice was hushed, but excited. Her jaw was clenched, and her eyebrows were furrowed. She turned and marched out of the room. I turned to go after her, but then I realized she needed to cool down.

"She's just worried about you, man." I said apologetically to Jason.

"I know," he said a bit miserably.

"Give her some time to cool down, she'll come around." I shrugged. "You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm ok." Jason have me a weak smile.

"How do you feel?" Piper asked. "I was so..." she trailed off, her voice quiet. "When I heard what had happened, I just... I ran." She sighed.

"I know Pipes, thank you." He smiled gratefully at Piper.

"I'll give you two a minute," I waved my hand before walking out of the room. I decided I'd go find Annabeth. I walked back to the waiting room, seeing Annabeth pacing back and forth, talking to my mother. I didn't see Frederick anywhere, though.

"He's just... he pulls this heroic shit and then gets hurt and that has to stop," Annabeth ranted.

"I know. But sometimes, it's an instinct for people like Jason. Percy used to do that when he was little, before his father..." she decided not to finish the sentence, and Annabeth already knew about my father. "His friend Grover was a bit odd, so the other kids picked on him. Time and time again, Percy would come home with scraped knees or a black eye, and you know what he would tell me?" She asked. "He would say, 'They were being mean, and it wasn't fair,' and this happened everyday."

I remembered those days. I was only in first grade, but I was always able to step up to the fourth graders. After I transferred schools, I never saw Grover again. But I always hoped in the back of my mind that there was someone else to be there for him.

"Sometimes, with people like Jason, they just can't help it. They see something wrong, or someone who needs help, and they can't just watch it happen. Which, is a good quality to have, but it can put them in danger." My mother concluded.

"But I just can't believe that he could be so stupid!" Annabeth said, exasperated.

"Hey," I watched as my mom stood up, putting her hands on Annabeth's arms, stopping her pacing. "At least he's okay," my mother reminded her.

"I guess," Annabeth breathed, closing her eyes and shrugging. "Thank you."

"Of course," my mother said, pulling Annabeth into a hug. They embraced for a second, then pulled away. I smiled at the sight of Annabeth getting along with my mom. It made me happy that Annabeth was accepting of my mother's help.

I decided this was a good time to make my presence known. "Hey,"

Annabeth looked to the doorway. "Hey," she sighed.

"You wanna grab some coffee with me?" I asked, knowing that Annabeth could use a small distraction.

"You should go," My mother said.

"Okay," Annabeth nodded and walked over to me.

"Get me a coffee please?" my mother said. "Half—"

"And half, no sugar?" I looked at her.

"You're the best,"

"I know." I grabbed Annabeth's hand, starting the walk to the food court. We walked in silence for a little while, our intertwined hands swaying back and forth.

Annabeth rested her head on my shoulder. "I was just nervous."

"I know. You were scared, and you change that fear into anger, because it's easier to deal with that way," I explained.

"No I don't," she insisted. I gave her a look. She thought for a second. "Maybe I do," she said, rolling her eyes. "I just don't wanna do this again," she muttered through a sigh.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She suddenly looked up at me, her eyes wide, like a deer in headlights. "Nothing." She shook her head.

"Annabeth," I stopped walking, facing her. "Is there something you need to tell me?" I looked at her.

She swallowed. She exhaled through her nose and then nodded. I led her over to the closest set of chairs, down a quiet hallway.

"I had this friend, back San Francisco. I think I told you about him once, Beckendorf?" She asked.

"I think you maybe have mentioned him before." I recalled only a wisp of the name.

"Well, he was a really, really good friend of mine, since fourth grade. He was actually my first kiss," she wandered. My cheeks felt warm. "But you don't wanna hear about that," she said quickly. I just chuckled slightly. "But," she sighed. "He, uh, died about a year ago." He swallowed.

"Wise Girl," I have her hand a squeeze, and a sympathetic look. I really just wanted Annabeth to have a break. It was like one thing after another in her life. I want her to be able to breath for once.

"Uh, yeah," she sniffled. "It was a car accident. It was really hard losing someone that I was so close to, someone I cared about so much. I just," she swallowed, trying not to cry. "I just hate being in this situation. I hate hospitals. They stress me out, they're a sign that something bad is happening."

"I get it. You don't exactly think, 'party time!' when someone says they're going to the hospital." I reasoned, making Annabeth chuckle.

"Yeah. It just sucks. I mean, I'm really happy that he's okay, and I'm relieved, but..." she took a deep breath. "I don't know. I just don't do well with this sort of thing."

"I get it." I exhaled through my nose. "But hey, everything is alright. Jason is okay, everyone else is fine. It's just stressful," I explained. I titled Annabeth's chin up so she was looking me right in the eyes. "We're okay," I whispered. Annabeth gave me a small smile before kissing me softly.

"Let's go get that coffee," she said, standing up.

"Yeah. My mom's gonna kill me," I chuckled, making Annabeth laugh.

We walked down the hallways with our intertwined hands swaying back and forth.

•••

Oof.