Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"I can't tell you just how wonderful she is. I don't want you to know. I don't want any one to know."
~This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Chapter 38: We're Going Home

Luke

"I can't believe my big brother is married!" Silena exclaimed. "You two are going to be so happy together!"

"You'll be married soon though," Hallie chimed in. "Yours and Derek's wedding is in two months."

"I know, it's so surreal but I can't wait! And then yours and Bradley's, have you decided a date yet?"

"No, we're still figuring it out." Hallie turned to Luke. Scrunching her eyebrows, she asked, "Are you okay? You looked dazed."

"Yeah," he replied with a smile. "Just taking this all in. I never thought I'd marry the girl of my dreams."

He felt someone wrap their arms around his shoulders. "You weren't getting rid of me that easily Sharkboy."

He twisted around in his chair to kiss Bryn, his new wife. "I'm glad. Come here."

Luke pulled Bryn into his lap. She laughed. They'd officially been together for six years and they couldn't be happier. They'd certainly had their fights and their disagreements, but nothing could come between them.

"With the way these two are acting, we're going to have little Lukyn's running around sooner rather than later," Brady remarked, walking up to the table. Bryn and Luke hastily pulled out of their kiss.

"Then you'll be an uncle," Luke said.

"I'd be the better uncle."

"You would not," Bradley argued. "I'm obviously the more fun one."

"You're definitely the blonder one."

"At least I'm not the dumber one."

"I'm not dumber!"

"Yes you are."

"Boys, please don't argue on my wedding day," Bryn said, raising her eyebrows at them. They shut up but glared at each other.

"There's the newlyweds," Percy Jackson announced, walking up to the group with Annabeth on his arm. He smiled at them. "I'm so proud right now."

"Hey dad," Luke said with a grin.

"Here, we wanted to give you a gift," Annabeth said, handing them a beautifully wrapped gift. Luke let Bryn have the honor of unwrapping it. He smiled when he saw it was pictures of him and Bryn throughout their years, from their first photo together to their engagement photo. "It's to remind you of everything you've been through so that whenever your marriage hits a rough patch, which it undoubtedly will as every marriage does, you will remember that you can get through it."

"I mean, you survived Tartarus together so if you two could survive that, you'll survive anything, but still, just a reminder," Percy added. Luke and Bryn hugged the Jacksons but something was nagging Luke in the back of his mind. At first he couldn't figure it out. It wasn't until Bryn mentioned their time in Tartarus that it hit him.

"How did you survive that? You died," Luke stated, staring at her.

Bryn cocked her head. "What do you mean how did I survive? You were there. How can you not remember?"

He blinked, the slow realization coming over him. "This isn't real. This is a dream."

"You like what you see, Mr. Jackson?" a voice queried. He turned around to see who it was. A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes approached him. She was beyond beautiful but she still had nothing on Bryn.

"Grandma!" Bryn exclaimed, hugging her.

"Hello dear," Aphrodite said.

"This is a dream," Luke repeated. Bryn looped her arm through his and rested her chin on his shoulder. Having her rub her hand up and down his arm didn't help his concentration on Aphrodite because if this really was a dream, he didn't want to wake up from it.

The goddess simply looked at him and laughed.
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Luke woke up with a start. He looked down at his arm because he thought he felt someone still rubbing it, but it was only an illusion, only wishful thinking that Bryn was still there. He fell back down onto his pillow, rubbing his head until he got a strange sensation that something had happened. The sensation wasn't alerting him to danger, it just alerted him that he needed to check something out.

Luke rolled out of bed and headed to the top deck. The rest of the demigods were up there, making small talk. Silena was the first to see him. She gave him a small smile.

"Hey, how are you doing?" she inquired.

"Aphrodite's screwing with me," he muttered. When his sister gave him a questioning look, he said he'd explain it later. "I just got a weird feeling. I thought I'd come up here to check on everyone, make sure everyone's all right."

"I think it's an effect from being in Tartarus. I've been getting a weird feeling ever since we left that awful place," Derek said. Luke nodded, excused himself from the conversation, and headed back downstairs. He simply wasn't in the mood to be around people. But he wanted, needed, to tell someone about his dream, so he went to Bryn's room. He felt weird talking to her when she was dead, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about to anyone else but her.

Luke opened her door and closed it so no one could eavesdrop on his conversation with her. Although there was nothing he had to hide, he still felt this was a private conversation. But when Luke turned around and saw Bryn in her bed, he froze. She'd completely changed positions. Instead of laying on her back on top of the sheets, she was on her side underneath the covers. He started moving back towards the door because he thought he was going insane and needed to tell the others about Bryn's new position when she opened her eyes. They immediately fell onto Luke. Bryn pushed herself up into sitting position, appearing just as dumbfounded as Luke. She carefully got out of bed. He could see her hands shaking. Slowly Bryn approached him. He let her.

"You died?" Bryn asked sadly, gently cupping his face with one of her hands.

He covered her hand with his. Feeling the warmth in her hand began confirming that Bryn was really alive. She was really back. "I didn't die. You came back."

"H-how?"

"The Physician's Cure. Your brothers and Hallie got it because they knew..." Luke couldn't finish his sentence. The pain of losing her, even with Bryn standing right in front of him, was still too fresh in his mind.

"They knew I was going to die," Bryn finished his sentence for him. "Does that mean I get a second chance?"

"Yes, yes you do," Luke replied, giving a half laugh, half sob. Bryn started crying as she threw her arms around his neck. He picked her up and swung her around, burying his face in her hair.

"I thought I lost you forever," she whispered. Bryn pulled away a little but only so she could brace her forehead against his. "My first thought when I woke up was that I was in Elysium and that I'd never get to see you again."

Luke kissed her. "You were the first thing in my mind when I woke up and the last thing I thought of when I went to sleep."

The two of them just stood there, enjoying the company of one another before Luke said suddenly, "The others don't know!"

"Know what?"

"That you're alive! Wait here, I'm going to go- wait no, come with me. I fear if I leave you, you'll be gone when I get back. Come on!" Luke grabbed her by the hand and opened the door only to run into Derek, literally.

"Luke, I think Bryn might be-" Derek began but stopped when he saw his best friend. "-alive... Bryn?"

She smiled shyly. "Hi."

Derek pulled her into a hug. "You're alive. Oh my gods, you're alive. Never do that again damn it! I can't lose you a third time!"

"I promise," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Have you told the others?" Luke queried, taking Bryn's hand in his again just so he could keep reassuring himself she was still real and there.

"No, I was going to come check on her myself. I think this is the strange feeling I was getting earlier. Let's go tell the others!" Derek took Bryn's other hand and the three of them went to the top deck. Silena was the first to reach them. She nearly tackled Bryn in a hug. The twins were next. Bryn began crying when they hugged her as she thanked them for getting the Physician's Cure. Hallie was last but Bryn hugged her tightly.

"I swear to the gods, don't you dare die on us like that again," Hallie warned.

"You sound just like Derek," Bryn laughed through her tears. She pulled back, taking Luke's hand. "When do we get home?"

"We should be arriving tomorrow. I thought y'all might need some time before we got back to camp to mourn but that's obviously changed now," Leo said. "Bryn, you might need to get some more rest. The cure takes it out of you."

Bryn nodded. "Sleep sounds good."

"I'll wake y'all up when we're about an hour's away from camp. All of you go get some sleep. No one's going to give you a break when you get back."

The seven demigods took the advice and went below deck.

"Is anyone else actually tired? Because I'm running on an adrenaline high from finding out my sister is actually alive," Bradley commented.

"Why don't we all go to my room and chat for a bit?" Luke suggested.

"I'll grab blankets, make it like old times?" Silena said.

"I'll get some pillows," Derek added.

The group then convened in Luke's room. Bryn curled up Luke's arms, resting her head on his shoulder. He placed his head on top of hers.

"So," Bryn began. "What did you three do while we were stuck in Tartarus?"

Brady and Bradley started the story. Hallie jumped in to clarify things the boys exaggerated on even though they swore up and down that they weren't. Silena poked fun of the twins for getting into the trouble they did (Brady flew around the ship and Festus fired at him because he wasn't expecting a flying demigod; Bradley nearly blew up the ship trying to cook). Derek had a side conversation with Hallie. They seemed to still be getting to know each other but by the looks of it, they were going to get along famously. Luke simply watched and listened to the conversations around them, enjoying being around his friends, his family, his girlfriend, and for the first time in three years, feeling safe and sound.
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I can never kill my favorite characters. I couldn't kill Bryn. Well I mean could, because I did, but I couldn't keep her dead. Review please! :)