True Love

Suspicion

Annabeth POV:

I rushed through the doors of my company and noticed the clock. 

" Five minutes early," I mutter. 

"Is there ever a day where you aren't early?" Matt, a friend of mine asks.

"No, can't remember one." I said. 

"So anyway, I brought your coffee." 

He put down a cup on my desk. I would've chugged it but Percy had forced me to try a new kind of coffee.

"Oh, that's nice but I already got coffee at home. My husband woke up early to make me a huge breakfast."

"Hm." Matt said. "If only my boyfriend woke up early. He's usually up until 3 AM doing god knows what.

"Gods." I corrected, then mentally slapped myself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Ok." he said with a raised eyebrow but he quickly moved on. 

He started talking about this new project he started but for some reason I could only understand very few of his words. The next few seconds was a blur. My vision flashed and I was on the ground. I could vaguely hear Matt screaming my name. 

"Annabeth!" he exclaimed. "Are you ok?"

"I think so." I said. My vision cleared and I was back up on my feet. 

Matt raised an eyebrow. " Are you sure? You just fell to the ground while I was talking and couldn't get up for a good 30 seconds. Do you need to see a doctor?"

"I'm sure, I'm fine. Don't know what happened to me though. I think I probably just lost my balance."

"That's not like you." He looked down at his watch. " I have a meeting to get to now, but don't think you're off the hook. I'm coming back to check on you after."

"I'm counting on it!" 

He nodded and left.  I walked back to my office and continued on a blueprint for a new fountain that was going to be built in the park downtown. Doing "normal work" is underwhelming, especially after you've designed Olympus, so to make it interesting I hide tiny details throughout my work. Details that you would only understand if you were a demigod. I once made a building with inside jokes lined across the entire building. It made for entertaining walks with Percy. I always test how much I can get away with. Leo once requested I put a dragon on one of my projects. I didn't do though, of course, that would be too obvious. I looked at the coffee Matt had put on my desk and decided to drink it. As soon as I put in near my mouth, I gagged. I put the coffee down and scowled. The coffee was my regular order. I felt my forehead to make sure I wasn't sick. Satisfied with my current temperature, I got up from my desk and felt incredibly dizzy. I stumbled my way to Matt.

"I think I'm sick."

"I never would've guessed." he said sarcastically. "I'm joking. If you need to take the day off, it's totally fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, you're ahead in your project, take the day off and take care of yourself Annabeth." he said.

"Thanks."

"No problem." 

I walked out of the building and got into my car. The car ride was a stressful one. I kept getting migraines every five minutes, which is problem when one is driving in on going traffic. After 30 long minutes, I reached my apartment and trudged up the stairs. Once I opened the door, Percy perked up like a happy dog.

"Why aren't you at work?" I asked

"Why aren't you at work?" Percy asked back.

"I'm wasn't feeling too well."

"Oh, are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I was just a little dizzy and a little nauseous." Percy gave me a look. "Percy, I'm fine, I'm fine, honestly! I think I just need to lie down." I insisted.

"Ok." he said, knowing better than to argue with me.

I put down my briefcase and sat next to him.

"Percy, you never answered my question."

"I didn't feel like it."

"That's called neglecting your job."

"I'm not neglecting my job. I was supposed to go speak at a high school but they cancelled it because of a fire drill." he explained. 

I nodded.

"So what have you been doing?"

"I've become an expert on interior design and I think we need to completely renovate our apartment. Maybe get rid of that wall right there and have more of an open floor plan. I'm thinking we need to add a guest bedroom." he explained.

" Um a) we can't do that, we live in an apartment...and also what?"

"I've been watching some HGTV."

"Oh." I said. We sat for a little bit and I broke the silence. "Percy, have you ever thought about what would happen if there were another prophecy. Another quest?"

Percy's light expression faded away and a darker one took its place. "To be honest, every day. I'm always scared that the gods will call us to fix their problems again. But I can't be scared every day so I do the best I can."

"You ever think of the worst thing that could happen?"

"Never. I can't."

I nodded. Percy squeezed my hand. I squeezed it back. I was terrified but I didn't know why. Now that we were married, it was like the fear of losing the other was greater than it had been. I loved being married, I was just so unsure about the future. 

"I know we've been married for a few months now but it seems like it's actually settling in right now. Like I'm actually processing it." Percy said.

"Yeah. These past few months have been great but the reality is actually setting in now."

"We're married."

"Anything could happen at anytime to either of us. We would be way more affected now than we were when we were 16." I said. "There is so much that could happen."

"Is this normal?"

"No."

We sat together for a little while just talking about how nervous we were. I realized that as teenagers, Percy and I were constantly put in so much danger that we didn't have time to think. Now, the gods basically forgot we existed so it just the two of us and our intrusive thoughts.

"So this is going to be such a roller coaster." I said. Percy laughed lightly.

"It's just you and me Annabeth. Ready for this...but for the rest of your life?" he asked.

"This is scary."

"Yeah I know. It's so great but so overwhelming."

"I guess we're in this together huh?"

"Forever."