I'm sorry for the major fluff. But it was too hard not too. :) Sorry for the multiple time changes.

"Checkmate," I said triumphantly, moving my Rook to mirror Percy's coffee-colored, wooden King. That marked my fourth winning game in a row.

Percy took a second to glance anxiously around the board, searching for some way to contradict me. When finding nothing, he let out a long groan, collapsing back onto the shaggy carpet.

I watched in amusement as he groveled like a baby, muttering something about "Stupid, smart, pretty, Wise Girl."

"Percy, you weren't that bad."

At my words, Percy gave me a hard stare. "You checkmated me in five moves."

I hid a smile. "Well, it's better than last time, which I checkmated you in four."

A scowl entered his countenance, and I couldn't help but laugh, getting up from my seat by the floor and stretching my body. We'd been playing for a while, and my tummy was telling me it was time for dinner. I gathered the pieces of the game and put it back in the closet. We had been looking for something to do, and Percy had stumbled across the old chess set. Now I think he was regretting pulling it out.

"You hungry?" I asked, walking past him to the kitchen. I hadn't gotten two steps past until I felt a hand grab my own. In a second I was tugged down to the floor, Percy's arm snaking around my waist and trapping me there curled up against him.

He snuggled his nose into my neck and I giggled, planting a kiss on his hair.

"Seaweed Brain. We won't get anything to eat if we just lay here all day."

He took a deep, content breath, mumbling, "Lay here all day."

I rolled my eyes. When I looked back down, Percy was looking right at me.

"Have I told you you're beautiful?"

Smiling, I replied, "Just about ten minutes ago."

"Oh." He shifted, hugging me closer and pushing his nose back against my shoulder. "Well, you're beautiful."

I laughed and wriggled out of his grip, coming to a standing position.

"Ah, come on, Annabeth," he whined. "I need my cuddles."

"You're such a sap, Perce," I told him, grabbing his hand and hauling him up. "We need to eat something."

"Fine, fine," he complied. "I guess food can come before cuddles."

"After food we're going to bed," I said sternly. "We have a long flight tomorrow, and we have to leave early."

"Pooey on that," he called over his shoulder as he crossed the room to the kitchen. We had gone out for pizza this morning for lunch, and decided to just eat the leftovers for dinner. You can't get tired of pizza.

"Do you want the pizza cold or warmed up?" he asked, sticking his head out through the doorway so that only his crazy, black hair and bright green eyes were visible.

"Whichever works," I said absentmindedly as I folded some of his clothes that were strewn about on the living room floor. Seriously. We had been here a couple days and he already filled it with his things.

"Don't be a girl, just make a decision, Wise Girl," Percy told me.

"Percy, I am a girl."

"Woah, really? That makes a lot of sense."

I threw a pair of gym shorts at his head, smirking as it hit his face and fell off lazily onto the floor in a slumped pile.

In a split second Percy had dashed across the floor and grabbed my waist, slinging me onto his shoulder. I shrieked in delight, pounding at his back. He let me down with a laugh, stooping to plant a light kiss on my lips—soft as a butterfly, and the wings of it fluttering around in my mind and body.

Even though we had shared quite a few kisses throughout the past hours, and even more little stolen ones in between, they never failed to take my breath away.

It has been absolutely bliss now that we overcame that little obstacle holding us apart. Just knowing I was Percy's girlfriend (and when he called me that today when ordering our meal, I blushed as red as a tomato) made me so happy.

"Why're you smiling?" Percy asked.

"I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," I teased, tapping his nose. He sent me a lopsided grin.

"This still feels like a dream," he admitted. I was pulled into a hug, and I rested my cheek on his shoulder.

"Let's hope we never wake up then, Percy."

"Percy! Annabeth"

A second later my body was crushed against Poseidon's in a great bear hug, my backpack falling to the ground as I lost my hold on it.

I laughed. "'S good to see you again too."

"Hey, Dad," Percy said as we were both let down.

After a long trip back, I was glad to be at the place I considered home once more. It was sunny and warm; the forest was lush and green, looming around us like a giant, protecting wall; the horses' familiar knickers from the barn were like music to my ears. The ocean was nice, but it couldn't beat this.

"How was the trip?" Poseidon continued, grabbing my backpack for me as we started towards the door.

I sent him a grateful smile and walked beside Percy to the house. "It was nice."

"Very nice," Percy added, sending me a sidelong smile. I caught the undertone, and a blush tinted my ears. I longed to grab his free hand with mine like we did so many times during the trip throughout the airports and on the small walks. It felt so right to have our hands linked. But before coming to the house, we had agreed to keep it quiet for a little while.

So I kept my hand to myself, averting my eyes. But a smile grew on my face as well.

"I'm glad you had a good time. Sally is better, but Paul caught whatever she had. So she won't be here to welcome you back. But we're going over to their house tomorrow for dinner. Paul should be done with the sickness by then."

We entered the house, Poseidon wandering to the kitchen to whip up some sandwiches, leaving me and Percy to unpack.

Percy helped me bring my luggage up to my room. He dumped it all on the bed and turned to me.

I let out a satisfied sigh. "Ah. Home sweet home."

"You know why would make it sweeter?" Percy asked with a grin as he walked towards me.

An exaggerated thinking face was adopted onto my countenance. "Hmm. Some chocolate? Candy?"

A small laugh was let out of my mouth as he leaned down and captured my lips for a quick kiss.

His soft reply sent a tickle up my lips that were so close to his. "Almost." He kissed me again, this one lingering. "But this is better."

I don't think I'd ever get used to Percy's kisses. Each one seemed better, each one left me wanting another. They were light as a feather, but as strong as the sea. I could almost feel that I meant a lot to him, just through the kiss, through the hands that held me close to him.

A knock on the door snapped me out of my trance. Poseidon's voice followed. "Annabeth?"

Percy sighed, leaning back with a wistful smile. Then he flopped himself down onto my bed while I went to get the door.

"Yeah?" I said after pulling the entry open. Poseidon looked around and saw Percy, saying, "How many sandwiches would you two like?"

"Just one, please," I said.

"Five," Percy's voice called from behind me.

I rolled my eyes and sent an exasperated glance over my shoulder at Percy. He was grinning, and Poseidon chuckled, saying, "That's my boy. By the way, Sally called. She said that Paul was doing a lot better, and the dinner was moved up to tonight. She's meeting with a friend tomorrow, so we had to reschedule. We'll leave around six, okay?"

Both Percy and I agreed, then Poseidon bade us goodbye and walked away.

I kept the door open and looked over at Percy. He gave me a pout as he said, "No more kisses?"

My eyes once again were sent to the heavens. "Percy, you need to unpack."

He grumbled and dragged himself upright. He gave me a pouty face the whole time he walked out the door, but I could see the smile underneath. You'd be hard pressed to find a time over the last couple days when either Percy or I wasn't smiling.

When I shut the door, all those earlier concerns came flooding into my brain. Would this work? Could we keep this up? I was due to leave in about three weeks. I had already prolonged my stay. Could Percy and I do the long-distance relationship?

Ignoring my concerns, the butterflies started fluttering at the word "relationship." I couldn't believe it.

Percy had been right on our last day—this does feel like a dream.

Who knew going to get some extra ketchup for hamburgers could turn into World War III?

Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but with Percy, I guess anything was possible.

We had been eating at Sally's. It'd been a quiet, pleasant occasion. Paul was doing better than any of us expected, but he was hesitant to give me and Percy hugs—he didn't want us to catch the remnants of his sickness. I was still amazed at how well Poseidon and Sally got along, and Poseidon and Paul. I thought these things would be awkward, but they talked as if they were the oldest friends.

Percy and I were left to sneaking smiles at each other across the table. You know the feeling when you're in a happy mood, and if you look at someone, you both are going to start giggling like there's no tomorrow? Yeah, that was me and Percy.

When Sally asked me to go find more ketchup in the kitchen, I excused myself gratefully, letting out my laughter on the way.

I liked Sally's house—it was the cute, cozy kind of house. Small, but it fit all her and Paul's needs. The kitchen was painted a light blue, much like Sally's eyes. The hallway on the way there had many pictures hanging up, and I paused for a moment to look at them. My smile grew at the sight of a baby Percy on a horse. A too big cowboy hat that had fallen over his eyes couldn't cover the grin on his little face. He still had that lopsided smile that I had grown to adore.

Pulling myself away, I trudged into the kitchen. I opened the fridge to look for the ketchup and apparently I was focusing too much on finding it. Only when I had grabbed the ketchup, opened it to make sure it wasn't new and I didn't have to pull away the plastic on top, and had turned around did I realize someone was right behind me.

I let out a little shriek, my heart jumping and my hand tightening.

Yeah, the hand that was around the ketchup bottle.

The ketchup bottle that had its top open.

A split-second later, Percy's green shirt was covered with a string of red ketchup.

I put my hand over my mouth, my heartbeat calming as I realized it was just him.

"Oh, Percy," I said between my fingers. "You scared me."

He glanced down at his shirt, then scowled at me. He had a sparkle in his eyes though. I looked at his shirt, then couldn't help but start laughing.

"I liked this shirt," he said.

"I'm sorry," I replied, trying to hide my smile. "What are you doing in here anyways?"

"Well, I was going to come see if you needed help, but—"

"Needed help?" I asked, seeing right through him. "Because finding a bottle of ketchup is so hard?"

"Since you just used up that one in your hand on my shirt, then it might be hard to find another."

I scoffed. "Don't exaggerate, Seaweed Brain. I barely got you."

"But I got a lot of ketchup on you."

Frowning, I asked him, "What are you talking about?"

I had failed to see the mischievous smile on his face, and next thing I knew, he had grabbed the ketchup and squirted it all over my own shirt. I gasped, jumping back, my jaw dropping.

"Percy!" I screeched quietly, not wanting to alarm the parents.

He started laughing. I glared at him, then looked around the kitchen while he was focused on his triumph.

A wicked grin grew across my face as I saw the extra mashed potatoes from dinner that Sally hadn't been able to fit in the bowl we had out. I scooped my hand in, then took a deep breath before turning around and flinging it at Percy.

It hit him square in the face, and it was my turn to laugh. Percy wiped the potato off his face, giving me a look. I responded with an innocent smile and a flutter of my fingers. Next thing I knew, we were having an all out food fight.

Percy had grabbed a handful of the whipped cream Sally made for dessert and then I had the fluffy sweetness all in my hair. A couple of M&M's were then chucked at Percy, some clinging to the ketchup and mashed potatoes. Percy had found a tomato somewhere, and that splattered across my dark blue shirt.

We were dancing around, laughing our heads off, and throwing food at each other.

My stomach hurt from laughing so much. I hadn't laughed like this in a long time.

All the breath was taken out of my body as Percy poured ice water on my shirt and my body felt like it had been thrown in a freezer.

He pointed at me with laughter as I scowled at him. My scowl turned into a smile as I saw the ketchup, mashed potatoes, M&M's, whipped cream, Cheerios, squashed banana, coffee, and mayonnaise covering his body.

Though I guess I probably didn't look much different.

I reached behind me and grabbed whatever my hand found. It happened to be a container of flour. Don't ask me how that got there—Percy and I had been pretty much just grabbing things out of cabinets and it probably fell out during then.

Percy saw it, and he watched me take off the cap.

"Wise Girl . . ." he said slowly, holding his hand out as he started to back away. I advanced on him with an evil grin, the smile growing as I saw him back right into the corner of the counter that was shaped like an "L". He was trapped.

"Any last words, Percy?" I asked him smugness as I lifted the plastic container, ready to throw the contents at him.

"Suleedulpholifd." The gibberish he just spoke made me pause and raise an eyebrow.

This gave him time to grab my wrist and spin me around, making me caught in the corner. His free hand took the flour of my grip, and he pushed me against the counter so I couldn't move anywhere.

"Ha, I got you now," he whispered, leaning his head close to mine.

"I can use the distraction card too, Seaweed Brain," I told him, smiling.

He shook his head. "I will never be distracted—"

I pushed my head forward and kissed him, long and sweet. He tasted sweet, but also salty, and a little bit like mashed potatoes. His hand instantly let go of be flour, and it fell to the floor with a crash. But he didn't seem to care as he brought his now open hand up and cupped my blonde curls, pulling me even closer to him.

I had meant to distract him and then grab the flour, but apparently my distraction had also distracted me.

He picked me up effortlessly then stuck me on the counter so my head was at the same height as his. He spared me a smile before tugging me close once more. We were a giggly, sticky mess—and don't you dare make that a dirty statement.

I leaned back, smiling. "You smell, Seaweed Brain."

"I wonder whose fault that is?"

"Percy? Annabeth?" Sally's voice from the hall ways, approaching quickly, made us jump apart. I hopped down from the counter and he took a step away from me. We couldn't hide the grins, though.

When Sally appeared in the kitchen followed by Poseidon and Paul, they all stopped dead in their tracks.

Her kitchen was a mess. Percy and I stood side by side, heads hanging.

"Uh, sorry, Mom," Percy said, offering a weak chuckle. A tomato slid off his shoulder and fell to the floor with a splat, right next to the heap of flour.

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

Sally, gods bless her, just shook her head and smiled ruefully. "What am I going to do with you two?"

Percy shrugged. "Keep us?"

I sent her a grin through the food.

A sound that was similar to a snort trying to be covered by a cough emitted from Poseidon, and I looked over to see his shoulders shaking. A second later, Paul was beginning to laugh, and the clear rings of Sally's laughter bounced about in the room.

"Don't get me wrong," Sally said sternly as we had settled. "You two aren't leaving until my kitchen is as clean as those in a magazine."

Percy groaned. "But that's—"

"Fair," Sally finished for him. "You messed it up, you clean it."

Percy rolled his eyes, but he smiled adorably at his mom, saluting her. "Ma'am, yes ma'am."

We all started laughing again as Percy tried to click his heels together but slipped on food, falling to the floor in a pile.

As I glanced around at all the wide smiles and twinkling eyes, I was struck by how happy I was.

I didn't want to leave this place. I felt like I had found my family, found my home. I never wanted to let them go

Not my best work, but I wanted to get something out for you guys. So how was it? Any guess as to what will happen next?

Thank you to everybody who still kept reading my story—even though I had a two month lazy spell and didn't update for you guys. You deserve a hundred more chapters, but sadly, I'm only human. Thank you for all the reviews, they meant the world. :)