Come Back to Me[Sequel to YME and Crossing Paths]

Chapter Thirty-Four: Get out of my House

Chapter Thirty-Four: Get out of my House

Percy

That night, at precisely eight pm, Athena Chase knocked on our apartment door. Annie ran to answer the door, and the look on Athena's face was priceless.

"Is this the wrong address?" she asked Annie.

"What do you mean? If you are looking for Annabeth, she's on the roof, I can go get her for you." Annie told her.

Bewilderment spread across the woman's face. "Um, sure." Just as she began to walk away, she called, "Wait, do you live here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering," Athena muttered, looking frustrated. She walked in the door, and once she saw me standing in the kitchen drinking coffee, she sighed. "You shouldn't be drinking coffee this late, Jackson."

I grinned, setting down my mug. "Sorry, it's a bad habit. How've you been?"

"Not happy, since my daughter forgot to tell me about her life."

"Like she said, we've been...extremely busy." I said, just as Annabeth walked down the stairs.

"Hey, mom. Good to see you." she smiled. Athena did not smile back.

"You are living with him?" she demanded. Both of us were taken aback.

"Is that a bad thing? I thought you liked Percy?"

"I did, yes. But then you know what happened? He broke your heart. Do you remember the weeks after you found out what he did? You were broken. Then after Ken broke up with you, guess who you went crying to?" Annabeth's expression turned sour, and I shut my eyes, trying not to lose my temper. We'd moved past that.

When I opened my eyes, my girlfriend's–or rather, fiancee's, eyes were dark. The normally grey irises were almost black now. "You can't say that." She took a deep breath. "We've moved past that. But thank you for bringing it up. I really needed to be reminded." sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"I'm sure you did, Annabeth. Everybody knows you aren't going to be able to stay together. His daughter is in the middle of it all, and I pity her. Must be hard, knowing her father is only a rebound." my eyes widened. I opened my mouth to speak up, but Annie beat me to it.

"You cannot say that to her," she said angrily. "Annabeth has been more of a mom to me than my own mother. And you can't say that utter shit about my dad, either. You had absolutely no problem with us before, why now?"

"Your father is a scoundrel, that's why!" Athena yelled.

"I'm not–" I was cut off by Rosalie merely walking into the room.

"If you are going to yell, why don't you just go onto the roof? You guys are loud." she said. "Wait, who are you?" The question was directed at Athena, her grandmother.

"Oh, and you kept my granddaughter from me too! She's supposed to be dead!" Athena was furious at this point.

"Yeah, go ahead and announce it to the whole world. It's not like I'm right here." she grumbled, pouring herself her own cup of coffee.

"Okay let's just dump half that out, kiddo. You don't need to be up until three am." I poured ¾ of the coffee down the sink.

"What are they arguing about?" she asked me. Annabeth and Athena continued to argue, Annie sometimes popping in to defend one of us.

"I'm not sure anymore. All I know is that Athena, your grandmother, is great at holding a grudge."

Rosalie chuckled. "From my room it sounded like a herd of chickens squawking at each other." She took a long sip of her coffee. "But I can see why they are arguing. From what's going on now, it looks like Mom's been keeping stuff from her, and that lady isn't too pleased about it."

"Precisely."

Annabeth and Athena continued at each other's throats for a few minutes, then the older woman backed away, rubbing her temples. "Do what you want with your life, Annabeth. I'm not the one ruining it."

That seemed to be the last straw for Annabeth, but that straw had been drawn many ruthless comments ago for me. I walked up to Athena, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"It's been a pleasure having you, Athena, but you need to get out." I said calmly.

"You have no right to–"

"I'm sorry, but it's strange. You're telling me that I have no right to tell you to leave...in my own home? That's not how this works. If you don't leave, I'm going to have to call someone to get you out." I smiled, adding extra emphasis on my statement.

She huffed, then turned to leave. The door slammed behind her, and I drew the curtains shut so she wouldn't be able to see inside. After ensuring she had driven away, I locked the door and sighed.

Annabeth was on the verge of tears when I pulled her in for a hug. "The things she said...about you, me, our kids..."

"Everything will be okay, Wise Girl. She's gone now, the doors are locked, she can't say anything to you that will hurt you now." I assured her.

"She was such a huge part of my life until now, but how can I forgive her for everything she said about us?!"

"Healing takes time. Your mother was hurt, but the way she lashed out wasn't right."

Annabeth nodded, then buried her face in my chest. "Why can't anything be normal?"

"Because normal is boring." I answered with a smile.

•••

About half an hour later, I found the three girls in Rosalie's room huddled on her bed, with Annabeth reading The Hidden Oracle to them. "The Arrow of Dodona rattled in my quiver. RELEASE THY BREATH, he advised. DROPPETH THY SHOULDER."

I grinned, at the sight, wishing I had my phone to capture the moment. I stood in the doorway for a couple of minutes, listening to Annabeth reading.

When she'd finished the chapter, she looked up and smiled at me. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Since the Arrow of Dodona told Lester to loosen up,"

"Good stuff," Rosie said.

"Are you two sleeping in here tonight?" I asked. Often at night, they slept in one or the other's room. I understood why. The first few nights after Rosalie came home, we realized that she had trouble sleeping if she were alone in the room. The solution was simple; Annie and her would sleep in the same room. They still had their own rooms to keep things in, just because we wanted them to have a sense of privacy when they wanted time to themselves. The arrangement made us all feel more comfortable, as no one wanted a repeat of what had happened to Rosie a few years back.

"Yeah. You can see the moon tonight and it's so pretty." Rosie gazed out her window, enchanted by the sight of the bright full moon.

"We can go look at it from the roof if you'd like." Annabeth suggested.

"Let's go!" Annie got up excitedly and the two girls ran up the stairs.

Once we were on the roof, the cold air stung, but the view made up for it. The city lights were just far enough away so we could get a (mostly) clear view of the night sky.

My hand brushed Annabeth's, and she took hold of my hand, kissing my knuckles. "Nothing like a clear starry night, hm, Seaweed Brain?"

•••

Wait, so you mean to tell me I was able to muster up two updates in less that a week? What? 

But seriously, I've been feeling good this week. Not to mention we have a four day weekend and that's the only reason I'm in a good mood. I made chocolate milk this morning and it tasted weird and I got a stomach ache for the morning, then I drank a bunch of soap water on accident, then my m&ms melted, then I shot a nine on one of the easiest holes at the golf course I went to today. The hole was a par three. I was a tad pissed with myself since normally I can get under a six or seven(I can't fucking putt I need to work on it).

Anyways yeah it's been a great day other than that stuff. This was kind of a fun chapter to write and dad Percy is one of my favorite personalities to write.

 ~Kenzie <3