The Time We Have To Spend Apart

To say that Percy was nervous was a huge understatement.

More something along the lines of being so jumpy and sweaty and - God his pulse has probably never been so high before - feeling like he was on the verge of dying.

But besides that he was doing great.

He was 21, about to turn 22 in a month and he only had to do one more year of college. He had a great apartment in New York, a great internship and he was good with all of his family.

Only one thing was missing.

And he hoped that he could get a part of that back.

"Hey Percy!" A man said, shaking him out of thoughts. 

He greeted the man back, though he didn't know his name exactly, something with an A.

He hadn't been here in a long time.

He thought about the last time it was; Christmas when he was 19? Yeah. He had run into her then and had gotten so scared that he didn't come back for the summer, even though he had initially planned to do so.

But nobody could really blame him right? Seeing the love of your life making out with her ex isn't exactly fun.

But he had been talking with her again from time to time. Once every few months they would call and he had fallen in love with her again. Though he doubted that he ever fell out of love with her.

He thought about what he was going to say when he saw her, she didn't know that he was here. She didn't know anything about what he was about to do.

The last time that they had spoken was about two months ago. First he wasn't even sure if she was home, but his father had reassured him a hundred times that he had seen her last week so he was 99% sure that she was here.

He was almost there.

It felt so familiar but more like something out of a dream. He had walked this route so many times that he could do it with his eyes closed.

Before he could fully comprehend it he was standing in front of her door and was knocking.

He heard faint footsteps, his heart beating at full tilt.

She opened the door, hair wet and wearing sweatpants and a loose T-shirt.

"I love you." He blurred out, forgetting about the whole speech that he had spent hours on thinking about.

"Sorry. Shit- I'm totally overwhelming you. If you just close the door and open it again we can start over. I'm so sorry, I-"

But he quickly shut up when she hugged him tight.

"I love you too." She said. Making his face spread in the widest grin ever.

She let out a nervous laugh as she let go of him and took a step back.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" She asked, smiling as well.

"Uh, yeah." He muttered, completely overwhelmed and happier than ever.

"Okay well let me change real fast, I just got out of the shower." She said as she already walked in the house again.

"You can come in, silly." She called over her shoulder as she walked up the stairs.

He slowly walked in the house and noticed that nothing had changed over the years.

He began looking around and eventually noticed a few pictures of them actually when they dated and pictures he had taken of her.

His favorite was one of them at the beach, he was hugging her from behind, his arms wrapped around her and her hands over his. His head was leaning on her head and they were both smiling brightly.

"Is it weird that I still have those?" Annabeth asked, suddenly behind him.

"You kept them all this time?"

"Yeah well I couldn't throw them away, even when I was furious with you." She admitted.

"That's so sweet. And you call me a dork?" He teased, "They're really great pictures. I especially love those." He admitted, pointing at the picture of them on the beach.

"Yeah me too. Tyson took it I think. God, I was so in love with you."

"Was?" He asked teasingly with a frown. "You just told me that you loved me."

She said nothing and just rolled her eyes and smiled sheepishly, but she didn't deny anything either.

"You look beautiful by the way." He complimented, she had changed into jeans and a simple top.

"I so do not." She mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Well let's go."

They walked in silence, both now knowing what to say, she apparently had a destination in mind because he remarked that they were heading to the beach after some time.

Their hands brushed against each other multiple times and finally he just grabbed hers, intertwining their fingers.

She looked up at him smiling brightly and he couldn't do otherwise, but to copy that smile.

"Hi." She beamed.

"Hi." He said back. "I got an internship here. It's with this really nice guy, he has this large clinic here and probably won't fire me since I'm his son."

She chuckled, making his heart do a somersault.

"For my last year I had to find an internship so I thought that this would be the perfect place. Since someone very special to me lives here and when we started talking again lately I was reminded how much I missed her. And of the fact that I love her and never want to let go of her again."

"Slow down there Casanova." Annabeth teased, though she was blushing.

"What? I'm only telling the truth."

She lightly pushed him, laughing loudly.

"I need to get an internship too this year. But I'm still doubting." She continued the conversation, "I wanted to get one in New York, because someone I really care about lives there, but he seemed to have moved. So I think that I'm going to find something here."

"You seriously wanted to come to New York? Because of me?"

"Of course." She replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You're amazing." He mumbled and stopped walking to pull her close to him. She let out a small laugh and wrapped her arms around him as he did the same. Their faces were close now and he could see the freckles dancing around on her cheeks and the small one on the right side of her upper lip.

"Can I kiss you?" He muttered.

"God, Percy, you better do." She muttered back with a frustrating undertone. Making him grin and kiss her.

The kiss was amazing. Perfect even. Everything was perfect, the beach, Greece, finally seeing her again, the butterflies in his stomach that were going crazy and his heart that seemed to pop out of his chest any moment.

He looked at her and felt like he was 17 again, when they had first kissed.

Just everything felt right once again. Like everything was how it was supposed to be.

The rest of the day they spent together, walking and talking on the beach and maybe they ended up on their old make out spot under the docks more than once.

They eventually sat down on the sand, the sun already going down.

"My mother died about a year ago." Annabeth admitted quietly. She was sitting between his legs with her back leaning against his chest.

He had been dozing off a bit with his massive jetlag, but this shook him awake right away.

"I'm so sorry, Annabeth. I didn't know that. My condolences."

"It's okay. I never told you. It's not even- it's-" She was silent and sniffled, trying to fight the tears.

He only hugged her, he knew she hated crying.

"It's stupid really." She muttered, letting out a watery chuckle, "We weren't even that close. She was almost always away and before that she left my dad and me. But then a year ago I got a call that she died at work. She had a heart attack. And she was just gone."

"It's not stupid." He said while stroking her arm. "She was your mother and you loved each other. Of course it hurt when she died."

They fell into silence after that. Because what else could be said?

Eventually he thought that something needed to be said so he leaned his head on her shoulder and started telling her a story in a soft tone, "You know the first time that I saw you I was sitting at this exact same beach. Though I first heard you; you were screaming and cursing loudly in Greek. I didn't understand half of what you said, but I thought that you were a total badass."

She chuckled slightly. "Has your Greek gotten any better?" She asked in Greek.

"No." He answered frankly, though in Greek. To be fair he hadn't been coming here that much and he mostly spoke English when he talked to his family here on the phone and Annabeth always spoke in English with him, just some Greek when she was really angry or just simple things he would understand. But English was her first language anyway.

"But the first time when I truly saw you was when you cleaned me up and I could really see again-"

"And you thought that I was beautiful bla bla bla." Annabeth interrupted.

"And I thought that you were really hot too."

She laughed loudly, leaning her head back more against him.

"It's getting really late. We should go home."

"Yeah sure." He mumbled, getting up.

They began to slowly walk back to her house hand in hand again.

"So since you're probably never going to ask," Annabeth started, squeezing his hand softly. "Do you want to date again? Because I would really love to pick up things where we left it."

He immediately stopped walking to face her. "Well I have to think about that, Beth. I came all this way, I'm prepared to live in Greece for you, I confessed my love for you and we spent the whole day together so I think that I would want to."

She clicked her tongue in annoyance, but smiled either way. "You could've asked me then, Mr. Always sarcastic."

"Touché." He replied, pulling her in for a kiss.

———————————

Summer seemed to skip by, but this time he didn't feel resentment towards time, because this time he would stay with her.

Everything seemed to go great, he lived with his father in his room which he now had to pay rent for unfortunately, but fairly. And Annabeth lived with her house, since her mother had left for real, leaving the house for her.

His internship officially hadn't started, but he still helped his father out a lot. Any other moment he spend with Annabeth or Tyson. He and Triton avoided each other even more than usual, but he didn't care.

Amphititre had invited Annabeth and Tyson's girlfriend, Ella, over to dinner. Which was nice yet it had a tense undertone, though he didn't know whyis dinner, which the reason for that was also a mystery for Percy; his parents loved her and she had seen them plently of times already. And she hung out all the time with him, Tyson and Ella. Amphititre had even made her favourite food.

"So what have you been up to Annabeth?" Amphititre asked, turning all attention to Annabeth and drawing him out of his daydreams and into the conversation again. His part of the conversation being staring at his lovely and beautiful girlfriend.

"Well I'm in my last year of studying architecture. And I'm mostly just trying to graduate this year and chill with Percy and my friends. Maybe even patching things up with my father." She admitted.

"How was it to see Percy again? Not too disappointing I hope." His father asked, making Percy roll his eyes and the rest laugh.

"No. It was an amazing surprise. Though I was planning to come to New York soon actually. But he beat me to it. I don't think I've ever been happier than when I saw him again after three years."

"Three years. Such a long time and you didn't fall out of love? Didn't you date some other guys?" Triton asked, making annoyance bubble up in Percy.

"No actually, not anything serious. I missed him too much, but you know about that." Annabeth replied, but somehow her response and the little exchange between the two made him feel like they knew something he didn't.

"Wait but you were here for Christmas two years ago, why didn't you go to see her then Percy?" Triton asked, suddenly very excited to talk. Percy shot him a dead glare; Annabeth wasn't supposed to know about that and everyone knew that. Even Tyson who could sometimes be even more oblivious than he was.

"You were here at Christmas two years ago?" She asked, looking at him. "Why didn't you stop by my house?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter, I wasn't here for that long so I thought I-"

"He saw you kissing your ex." Triton interrupted, a smug smile on his face as Percy shot him a dead glare.

"Oh he was heartbroken. Knowing that he was only a rebound to you while you were his whole world." Triton teased.

"Shut up asshole." Percy replied.

"Boys!" Amphititre cried out indigenously.

"Be nice to your brother." She said pointedly to Triton.

"Half brother." They both said at the same time.

His stepmother wanted to say something again, but was interrupted by the screeching of the chair against the floor.

Percy looked at the direction of the sound and saw Annabeth standing and as pale as a ghost.

"Can you please excuse me. I need to use the restroom." She mumbled weakly and walked away towards the bathroom.

"See what you've done, you massive-"

"Percy," his father said strictly.

"I'm going to check up on her." Percy said, already standing up.

"Percy just give her a moment."

"Yeah maybe she really needs to pee." Tyson joked.

Percy rolled his eyes and muttered some not so nice words aimed at certain people at the table and began eating again.

But when Annabeth didn't return for half an hour he decided that this was enough time and he went after her.

"Hey Beth, it's me." He said gently, knocking on the door softly. "Can I come in?"

He heard shuffling on the other side of the door and heard the lock clicking and Annabeth appeared, tear stains on her cheeks and her eyes and nose red.

"I'm sorry, I didn't intend for you to find out." He apologized, "If only that asshole of a Triton didn't tell you."

"I'm so sorry Percy." She said, her voice cracking. "You were not a rebound. He was. My mother and I just had a big fight and I felt lonely and it was Christmas so when he suddenly was there on my doorstep I-"

"Hey, you don't have to apologize. It's fine, it all worked out in the end right? We weren't dating, it just sucked to see you kissing your ex."

"I know that it isn't the end of the world or anything, but I just feel so guilty. I love you and hate the thought that I'd hurt you." She admitted quietly.

He wrapped her in a hug, "Well I've had worse. It's really fine, Beth. I think that it's better that it's out in the open now. It's better if we don't have any secrets for each other."

"You're right. Sorry that I'm so emotional about this."

"Beth, it's perfectly fine. Do you want me to bring you home or do you want to stay for dessert?"

"Percy, I have something else to tell you." She started, ignoring his question, "Triton and I talked a while back after we broke up and I'd started dating Luke again but then we broke up too and he went to see me."

"What?" He asked, "Why would Triton want to talk to you?"

"Actually about you. He told me about how you missed me and asked me what I thought that I was doing. He actually convinced me to start talking with you again."

"What?" Was the only thing he could stutter out. His complete ideas and view on his brother shattered.

"Percy," She said softly, grabbing his hand and squeezing it softly, "I actually have to tell you something else. I have been all day."

"It can't-" But then she looked in his eyes and apparently saw the desperation in his eyes and sighed softly, "Okay, I'll tell you later. Go talk to him, I'll stay for dessert I guess."

They walked downstairs together and as Annabeth sat down he kept standing.

"Can we talk?" Percy asked Triton, who looked surprised but tried to mask it with nonchalance.

"Sure." He shrugged standing up.

"I'll join you before you two strangle each other." Poseidon said as he stood up as well. "Let's take a walk."

The three of them were walking for a while, but no one said anything.

"So what did you want to talk about dork? Just hurry, I still want some dessert"

Percy ignored it and pushed the urge to say an insult back down and said instead, "I guess I have to thank you."

"What?" Both Poseidon and Triton asked.

"Without you Annabeth and I maybe wouldn't have gotten back together."

"Oh she told you that?"

Percy nodded, hands stuffed into his pockets. "So you don't hate me after all."

"That didn't mean anything."

"I'm proud of you for helping your brother." Poseidon complimented, clapping him on his back.

"Half brother." Percy and Triton mumbled at the same time.

"Okay why can't you two just get along?" Poseidon shouted.

"Just forget about it dad, sometimes people don't get along." Percy mumbled.

"No obviously you two do care!" Poseidon objected, "Otherwise you wouldn't have talked to Annabeth and you wouldn't have thanked him."

Percy kicked some pebble and looked down at the ground. "Well maybe we could do something together once. I'm willing to try if you want to."

Triton looked at him, frowning. "Okay. If you really want to you can buy me lunch to thank me."

Percy nodded silently, they were obviously both not thrilled about it but they were willing to try.

Poseidon wrapped his arms around the both of them and pulled them close.

"Let's go home. Maybe Tyson didn't eat all of the dessert."

———————————

"Good morning." Percy muttered against Annabeth's hair as he woke up with her in his arms.

"Good morning." She mumbled back.

"I forget to ask you what you wanted to tell me at dinner a couple days ago." He said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Right." She muttered and turned around in the bed to face him.

"I better just tell it right away. A couple of days I figured I was a bit late with my period and-"

"And then you got your period again?" He asked hopefully.

But she shook her head, "Then I did a test. And we'll I think that you know where I'm going."

"You're pregnant." He finished, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm pregnant." She confirmed.

He closed his eyes not knowing what to think or to do.

"How do you feel about it?" He asked.

"Scared. But not as scared as I was when I found out."

"When did you?"

"Four days ago. I found out before dinner."

"I'm so sorry." He mumbled, wrapping her in a hug.

"Why?" She asked, confused.

"Because that must've felt lonely."

She pushed him down on the bed again and hugged him as well. "But how do you feel about it?"

"Definitely scared. But not like it's the worst thing in the world that can happen. I mean, how bad can it be if it's partially you."

"You're right. And I already thought about it; we can move in here if you want. We can set up a nursery in my mom's old room. The baby won't be here until we graduate so we can get jobs and I still have my mother's inheritage to help us out at least the first year."

"I could start working at my dad's immediately. And I have some money saved up too." He offered.

"But Percy, I don't want to trap you here. If you want to go back to New York then we'll find something there."

"That would be stupid." He said, shrugging, "You already have a house here where we can live in and I can easily get a job here and you too after the baby or you can take a sort of gap year and start working later. I'm not going to leave Beth." He reassured.

"But your mother."

"She can do fine without me. She's really busy with Estelle and her book anyways. And we can always visit, right?"

She nodded, that being all the confirmation she needed apparently. "Thank you for taking this so well. Not all guys are like this."

"Well, what can I say? You just got lucky."

"I truly did." She muttered and kissed him.

Yes, it was scary and life derailing. But when he held his daughter ten months later as they were sitting on the beach he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

A/N

embermariewrites Well there it is finally!