This is late but thanks everyone for your comments and votes and reading!!! You guys are the best and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!

It was uncomfortably bright when Percy woke up.

He was used to the soft light of his cabin when he woke up; even his small room at home had thick curtains to block out the sun. It was one of the only ways to successfully sleep until noon; to do it consistently was one of his top 5 life goals, next to marrying Annabeth and keeping his participation in great prophecies down to zero.

Unfortunately, the nightmares made that goal increasingly difficult.

They annoyed him to no extent, especially in that the worse ones panicked him enough to act more irrationally than normal. The pained looks of his friends when he came to, looks of worry and fear, embarrassed him to no extent. What kind of leader was he supposed to be? One who can't even keep his mind straight? He realized that it was still only about a year after what had happened, but it was sickening that Chiron didn't trust him to participate in Capture the Flag after he was left a mess after a camper had startled him from behind. It took Annabeth nearly half an hour to calm him down.

She had cried.

He had made her cry.

He blinked his eyes groggily, partly to discredit the memory and partly to avoid the artificial white light boring into his eyes; they did little to help the migraine he currently had. Eventually his eyes adjusted and he glanced around. His stomach jumped when he realized he had no idea where he was. The white fluffy walls and furniture were alien and frankly, quite creepy.

He sat up quickly, hissing at a sudden burst of pain in his hand; he held it against his chest and allowed the memories to come back to him. His body seemed heavy, and his thoughts processed slowly.

The attackers. The fight. The gun.

The gun. He glanced down at his chest and pulled up the fitted shirt shakily with his good hand; his eyebrows furrowed at the lack of dressing, unless the small square of gauze counted for anything. He touched it gingerly, wincing a little at the slight sting. It was definitely bruised, at the least.

"You're awake," a voice beside him said softly. Annabeth brought herself to a sitting position and pulled her knees to her chest, staring at his fingers, which were still on the small wound. He quickly tugged the black shirt back down over his scarred chest and frowned at her. "How long was I out?"

The small smile on her face dropped instantly. She glanced down at her feet, refusing to look at him. Fear ran through him.

"Annabeth?"

She looked up nervously. "Three years."

He narrowed his eyes, refusing to believe it; the growing smirk on her face gave him good reason not to. "Shut up," he laughed, shoving her with his good hand; the movement sent an ache though his body, like he had just finished an Iron man race. He ignored it at the sound of her laugh, but she still noticed his slight wince.

"Are you okay?"

He flinched at her words but scoffed to cover it up. "Of course I am, I'm with you." He mockingly copied the annoyed look she sent him in response. "Jackson, I swear-"

"I'm good, I swear."

Her grey eyes narrowed at him. She glanced down at the hand he was cradling against his chest still and raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," he groaned, reaching it out to her. "Ouch, it hurts, help," he cried out.

"I'm trying to help, Seaweed Brain. Stop being so difficult."

"Sorry," he muttered. He leaned back down onto the bed, letting her play doctor. He tilted his head so he could watch her. She had pulled her golden curls back behind her, but a few still curled in her face, falling next to her eyes. Her tanned face was tight with concentration as she slowly turned his hand over; he was mesmerized. She was so beautiful. Her lips pursed, and he didn't have time to react before she pushed her thumbs under his knuckles- it was meant to be gentle, but

"Okay okay okay," he yelped, yanking his hand back. The pain made him nauseous, and he was almost afraid he was going to barf up the McDonald's he had eaten all over the white comforter.

Annabeth sat back and sighed. "I think it's safe to say you fractured your hand."

"Nah, it's just a sprain probably," he complained, shoving his head into the pillow.

"I hope that was sarcasm, because in case you haven't noticed, it's swelling like crazy. Put it up on some pillows."

She adjusted it for him before he had a chance to even move. The scene was too familar. He took a breath before a memory slammed into him.

"Percy?" Annabeth whispered. He could barely hear her over the ringing in his ears. It was as though someone has hooked a dog whistle up to an amp and projected it into his face. He felt as though he had just been hit by a bus. His head hurt like Hades, he couldn't even feel his limbs, and his thoughts raced around in circles.

  "Hi," he croaked as he slowly opened his eyes. The air smelled musky and sour, and the unmistakable scent of gasoline filled the air, like the room could burst into flames at any moment. It wouldn't be hard. It seemed that all the moisture had been sucked up by a power vacuum in the dry air. Despite the pain, he sent her a small smile. The worry in her face, barely visible in the low light, concerned him- did he look that bad?

He certainly FELT that bad, but he wasn't about to admit that.

"Thank gods... are you okay?"

"Seaweed Brain!"

Percy jolted back to reality before squeezing his eyes shut. Annabeth shook his shoulders and demanded that he opened his eyes; she stared into them with a steady face. "Where are we, Percy?"

He looked down and felt his anxiety rise when he didn't in fact no where he was. Black flashed across his vision before Annabeth repeated herself.

"I- I don't know," he stuttered. Gods dammit, he sounded so weak!

"We're in a white fluffy cell on a S.H.I.E.L.D. airplane, okay?" she said.

"Why?" he asked bluntly. She laughed and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Because we're terrorists? Heck if I know, Jackson. They were calling your name when they kidnapped us."

"They shot me," he remembered, gladly jumping on the new topic. It wasn't necessarily a better topic, but hey.

Annabeth's grey eyes narrowed at him as she rolled back onto her feet. "It's your fault. I thought you were dead as soon as they pulled the trigger, you ass."

"But I didn't die, so ha."

"You could've. You practically asked for it." Her voice was bitter, the tone of the conversation shifting from that of comforting to heated.

"Yes, because it had always been on my bucket list to get shot and die. Doesn't it sound fun?"

Annabeth didn't respond. She dropped her hands from him and turned away angrily. "What?" Percy demanded defensively. "I wasn't the one kidnapping people! How was I supposed to know they were so dam trigger happy, why are you mad at me?"

"You weren't the one thinking you lost your boyfriend for the tenth time. It wasn't funny," Annabeth snapped.

Silence fell over them as the weight of Annabeth's words settled into them.  Percy broke the glass first.

"I'm sorry."

He looked up at his girlfriend, who had turned her head away. She moved to face him at his words, her face red and eyes filled with tears. His heart broke. "Annabeth-"

"I was scared, you asshole" she exasperated, her voice cracking on her final word. "I didn't-"

He didn't respond, but pulled her to his chest, ignoring the ache that followed. He softened her hair before brushing the fallen tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry..." he whispered into her ear, feeling awful. He didn't deserve this girl. He was continuously hurting her, but for some reason she still loved him. Annabeth was the strongest girl he knew. If she cried, he had screwed up.

They sat there on the starch white bed for a while, just in silence. He held his arm around her as she nuzzled into the warmth of his chest. Tears of relief flowed easily, the stress of the situation just now being released. The weight of her head on the wound stung mercilessly, but he refused to move or let her know. The hum of the air conditioning was a relaxing, welcome white noise.

Minutes passed before they moved; whatever they had drugged him with left him laggy, and Percy had just about fallen back asleep when he felt his girlfriend stir next to him.

"Don't get shot again and I'll forgive you," she sat up, pecking him on the lips, as though she hadn't been crying a second ago. He pulled her back down and whispered an agreement before kissing her gently. The exhaustion disappeared as his lips moved against hers.

"Speaking of..." he mumbled against her lips in reference to being shot, "why am I not dead?"

She pulled back and sighed. "It was dendrotoxin."

"Den doe what?"

With that, she launched into an explanation of everything he had missed, including the people and interviews and apparent hatred he had already earned from the agents.

"Schist," he mumbled when she mentioned it. The harder he thought about it, the more he could remember the nightmare that he must have been concious for. He pulled his leg up to his chest and pulled up the sweats; there was a small bandage where he remembered being hit; shot, again. He had completely flipped out on those people. He had thought they were monsters... he had been fucking stuck in his head again.

Annabeth's hand brushed the gauze. "What's that? What'd you do?"

"Who's clothes are these?" he asked the question as it popped in his head, not wanting to explain yet another nightmare. Annabeth got worked up over them, and it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Don't change the subject."

"What subject?" he asked innocently. The look on her face showed little patience.

"I woke up, had riptide, tried to find you and leave, " he lied. "Obviously I failed," he bristled. He glanced at her warily and was relieved to find that she bought it.  "Well, it would've been nice if you hadn't," she admitted. "But I can take care of myself, Mr. Hero."

He eyed her jacket with a smirk. "Do you even have your dagger?"

"No," she responded with a disappointed sigh. "It's probably still  on the beach with your towels and shirt." She shook her head. How could things have gone so wrong so fast?

Percy frowned. "That sucks. I really liked those shoes," he grumbled. Annabeth resisted the urge to face palm.

"Those things were like ten years old, they barely had soles on them. You've needed new ones for a year now."

"No, they fit and I could walk in them. That's all I need," he scowled, furrowing his eyebrows and pausing for a second. "And my mom bought me that shirt for Christmas last year."

Annabeth's eyes widened in incredulity.  "Are you seriously complaining about losing your clothes right now? You're such a Seaweed Brain," she sighed, the last part mostly to herself. 

He scoffed in response. "Yeah, I mean, I got us kidnapped because I decided it'd be a good idea to go to the beach today. When we should've just gone back to camp, just brought Leo his burger like I told him I would..."

She shook her head, her voice softening at the pained expression on his face. "Percy, it wasn't your fault." And it wasn't. If the government wanted to abduct them, they would eventually. It was only a matter of time; they could fight monsters, but they weren't trained criminals, like these S.H.I.E.L.D. people were suggesting. 

Still, her boyfriend didn't buy it. His expression soured further as he lifted his head to squint at the lights overhead, raising his left hand to scrub it through his hair in frustration. "Annabeth, we were at the beach!" he exclaimed, gesturing frantically with his good hand. " One, I could've avoided this, and two, the ocean was like, right there. And I didn't do anything."

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, but never got the chance. Bobbi and Daisy to appeared at the door, sending Percy scrambling to his feet. He leaned against the wall as a wave of light headedness hit him at the change in position before steadying himself. Annabeth glanced questioningly at him before picking herself up, slowly walking around the bed.

The agents both looked tired, Daisy especially. She was pale, but that didn't lessen the ferocity  of the glare she directed Percy as Bobbi announced the search order. He had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that he pulled Riptide out of thin air; he'd probably freak out at that too, if he was an idiotic mortal thinking he was saving the world by kidnapping a couple of high school kids. 

"Any weapons you want to hand over before we do this?" Bobbi asked as she motioned for the both of them to get into the correct stance. Her condescending tone angered Percy, who was already annoyed that he was responsible for the current search. He momentarily debated shoving his hand into the sweatpants and chucking Riptide, in its pen form, at her just to see her reaction.

Bobbi smoothed her hands down Annabeth's figure before turning to Percy. "Hands up." He complied, hoping she wouldn't notice the pen in his pocket. It would just result in more questions.

His hopes dissolved when she pulled it out slowly, uncomfortably close to his face. He stood rigid and clenched his jaw.

"How'd you get this?" she demanded. " It wasn't in these sweats when we gave them to you."

He tilted his head to the side. "Well it's not like it magically appeared, is it?"

Bobbi stared at him before letting out a sigh. "I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because I don't feel like arguing right now," she deadpanned. "While we're here, we might as well cast your hand. Come on," she motioned for him to leave.

"I don't need your help," he growled, not bothering to hide his fury. He backed away and clenched his good fist. There was a sink in the corner, give or take a few minutes he'd live.

"She doesn't want to argue," Daisy reminded him. Annabeth gave her a once over and stopped at the red tinted gauze wrapped around her left arm, which peeked out of her loose black jacket. Her eyes narrowed. That wasn't there before.

Percy didn't tell her that he had fought with Riptide earlier, or that it had actually worked on earthquake girl. She had to be a demigod. There was no other explanation.

She turned to look back at Percy, who was stiff. She could tell he was about to snap, and they couldn't risk angering them more. "It couldn't hurt," she suggested. There was no point in ignoring healing, especially without ambrosia. He didn't want to risk injuring himself more, given that they had no idea what the future held in store for them anymore. 

His eyes widened in shock. "What?" he sputtered. "Are you serious?"

"Listen to your girlfriend, Jackson. We don't have to help you, so take the offer before we take it back."

"I decline the offer."

Annabeth shook her head and pushed him towards them. "Let them align it."

With a huff, the stubborn teen marched past the agents and toward the door; he shoved his hands behind his back mockingly without a word. Annabeth was taken aback. It stung that he didn't agree to her plan, but she supposed he was still pissed about the flashback or the search. She knew it was for the best. 

She thought, at least.

###

"Explain the sword out of thin air," Daisy asked casually. She leaned against the counter as Agent Morse yanked his hand toward the xray machine Fitz had designed. Within seconds it was reading off the different fractured and shattered bones. He wasn't sure what fancy words applied to which anatomical thing, but he hoped they weren't too important.

"I came here because I was promised a cast. An interrogation wasn't on the menu," he said coldly in response.

"I'm sorry, would you prefer running around with a high level boxer's fracture?" Bobbi snapped.

"Sounds tasty, but I save that for special ocasions."

"You think you're hilarious, don't you?"

"Of course I am, thanks for noticing." Bobbi rolled her eyes as she wrapped his hand, refusing to speak again. The room was silent; Percy had to bite his tongue to deal with the pain as the temporary brace was slid over the tape. He wondered how easy it would be to just punch the both of them quickly and escape. He had memorized how to get back to where Annabeth was. He had Riptide...
no. Planning would be better.

They tried to ask him some more questions but eventually gave up trying to get information. They could only handle so many smart ass comments. "Where do you live?" "In a house," he'd reply. "Who do you work for?" "McDonald's, I'm a high-achieving cashier." "Where's the off button for you?" "Well, the gun seemed to do the trick."

Perhaps the last wasn't his best, but Percy was getting tired. The exhaustion he had felt before was beginning to weigh him down, and he sighed in relief when the two women stood up to leave, motioning for him to follow. They walked back to the cell and tossed him in without a second glance. The whole ordeal took ten minutes, and Percy had managed to anger them even more. He wasn't even sure why they decided to help him, especially if they were angry.

It better not have been a trap.

Despite his fears, he was at the point where it was struggle to stay awake.
He nearly collapsed from exhaustion on his way back to the bed, relishing the coolness of the sheets when he finally reached them, startling his girlfriend. She rushed over to him.

"Percy, what's wrong?" she demanded. He didn't open his eyes. "I'm just tired," he mumbled. "Don't worry, they didn't do anything... it was a fracture. I think that dendo stuff- like Tylenol, or something...g'night."  Annabeth didn't have the heart to wake him up and left him be. Questions could wait until after  he woke up. He had, after all, been shot twice and the broken hand must have drained him. She thought about quietly taking the pillow case off of her pillow and running it under the sink across the room to wrap it around his arm before she remembered that the plumbing was bust.

She settled next to him and tapped her hand repetitively on the comforter hyperactively. They weren't going to stay in the cell forever.

She hoped that they checked the beach lot that night and towed Percy's car. She desperately hoped that the tow company called the owner of the vehicle. Because if they called Paul...

Well, there was a certain protocol when Percy went missing. And it certainly wasn't for his friends and family to sit around.

Well... that happened. Any guesses to what the protocol might be? ;) see you next chapter!

JustAnotherGirlmcg