Till Death Do Us Part

Silena Beauregard

Author's Notes: 

And here's the last chapter to be published! Enjoy! :) 

Chapter 10- Silena Beauregard

Annabeth was working on her first painting when Dr. Luke entered the living room.

"Cheer up Annabeth. I have a surprise for you!"

She smiled."Wow! A litany of never ending surprises. Let me guess. A Mercedes Benz?"

"Silly girl! This one's serious." He looked down at her with a gentle, cautious smile. "I'm going to share a friend with you. A very special lady." He sensed her watching him closely as he went on. "Her name is Silena Beauregard, a psychiatrist. We went to medical school together. She is, without doubt, the most competent psychiatrist in the West, maybe in the country, and she's a very good friend and a very special person. I think you're going to like her."

"And?" Annabeth waited, tense but curious.

"And…I think it might be a good idea for you to see her for a while. You know that. We've talked about it before."

"You don't think I'm adjusting well?" She sounded hurt.

"I think you're doing remarkably well, Annabeth, but if nothing else, you need another person to talk to. You have Lily and Gretchen and me, and that's it. Don't you want someone else to talk to?"

Yes. Percy. I want to talk to Percy. I miss him a lot! I love him a lot!

"I'm not sure," she just said.

"I think you will be once you meet Silena. She is incredibly warm and kind. And she's been very sympathetic to your case from the beginning."

"She knows about me?" Annabeth sounding surprised.

"From the first." She had been there the night Paul Blofis and Dr. Winfield called, but Annabeth should not know about that.

"She's coming to join us for coffee this afternoon. Is it all right with you?"

She doesn't want to but she knew she had little choice. "I suppose so." She grew pensive as she settled herself in the living room. She wasn't at all sure she liked this addition to her scene, particularly a woman. She felt an instant sense of competition.

Until she met Silena Beauregard. Nothing Luke had said had prepared her for the warmth she felt from the other woman. She was tall, slim, black haired, and so beautiful. Her blue eyes were warm and alert; there was an instant joke, an instant answer, an instant burst of laughter always ready in those eyes. Yet one sensed, too, that she was always ready to be serious and compassionate. People love to stare at her. So beautiful and so amazing! Luke left them alone after the first hour, and Annabeth was actually glad.

They talked about thousands of things and none of them about the accident; paintings, museums, San Francisco, children, people, medical school. Silena shared chunks of her life with Annabeth, and Annabeth gave her glimpses of herself that she hadn't given anyone for a long time, not since she had first gotten to know Percy. Views, real views, and not the amusing ones she gave Luke. The loneliness, the questions about who she really was, why she had been neglected and no communication from her father ,what it meant to be totally alone. And then for no reason she could think of, she told Silena about her arrangement with Paul Blofis. There was no shock, no reproach, there was nothing but warmth and understanding in the way Silena Beauregard listened, and Annabeth found herself sharing feelings which covered years, not just the past eight months. But the relief of telling her about Paul Blofis was enormous.