***This story takes place immediately following "Crown of Ptolemy," which is definitely my favorite of the three crossover stories, although they're all pretty fun. Fair warning, this story is mostly Percabeth fluff. Hope you enjoy!

And the usual disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan, I'm just borrowing the characters while waiting impatiently for Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle to come out in exactly 3 months!***

"This has been a weird day," I told Annabeth.

She slipped her hand into mine. "I'm thinking cheeseburgers for dinner at P. J. Clarke's."

"With bacon," I said. "We've earned it."

"I love the way you think," she said. "And I'm glad you're not a god."

She kissed me, and I decided that I was glad too. A kiss in the sunset and the promise of a good bacon cheeseburger—with that kind of payoff, who needs immortality?

I would have been perfectly happy for the kiss to last a while, but a horn blasted somewhere nearby and Annabeth jerked away.

She cursed in ancient Greek. "That was the last ferry of the day. We're going to be stuck on this stupid island."

I raised my eyebrows. "Gee, too bad you're not dating a son of Poseidon or something like that."

"Oh." Annabeth looked taken aback for a second, which I had to enjoy because it's not often I catch her off-guard. "Well then, Seaweed Brain, do you have a plan?"

"Yep." I took her hand. We were already standing on the edge of the wall. "Get ready to jump."

You know those trust exercises they sometimes make you do in school? Like the one where you have to fall backwards and hope the person catches you? This was like a relationship trust exercise. For the record, Annabeth and I have voluntarily jumped into some pretty awful places before. But New York Harbor was still pretty high up on the list; that water is so polluted it's practically toxic. It's also deep and there are some crazy currents. So she had to trust that I wouldn't let her drown. And I had to trust that she wouldn't kill me if I got her doused in sewer water. Sadly, it wouldn't be the first time (although it's never been on purpose, I swear). I can will myself dry if I want to, but it's a much tougher trick to pull off on someone else. However, I actually did have a plan; there was even a chance it was going to work.

Thankfully, it did. We hit the water and were immediately enveloped in an air bubble. True, it had an oily sheen, but inside there was oxygen and no water.

"Not bad," Annabeth said, taking in the bubble. "I didn't even end up drenched this time."

"I've got moves, Wise Girl."

"Something like that." She looked like she was fighting back a smile. "So where are we headed?"

"I figure we'll surface at Battery Park, near the South Ferry Station, then catch the One train uptown."

"Sounds like a plan. At least we can still salvage our Saturday night."

"Exactly." I took her hand as the bubble gently drifted towards the shore.

People on the subway were staring. At first I didn't even notice; I've been stared at before. But when I noticed a woman whisper to her friend behind her hand and not so subtly point at us, I looked down and realized what she was pointing at. Our clothes looked like they'd been blasted with broken glass, then dragged through the mud. I nudged Annabeth. "Hey, maybe we should get changed before we go to the restaurant."

Her stormy gray eyes were far away; it took her a moment to focus on what I'd said. "What?"

I gestured at our outfits. "We look like we jumped through several windows, then rolled around in the mud for a while."

She glanced down. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, maybe we should change." She frowned at the map posted on the wall. "My dorm is on the way, but we'll have to backtrack pretty far if we go all the way uptown to your place."

"We don't have to go all the way back," I said. "Don't you have like three of my sweatshirts?"

"Two," she corrected.

"Whatever. I'll just throw one of those on for now. That'll help at least."

"Mmhm." Annabeth was watching me with kind of a funny expression on her face. Then she leaned over and kissed me.

"What was that for?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Nothing. I just like you." She laced her fingers through mine, and I decided to enjoy the moment.

When we got to Annabeth's dorm, the place was hopping. It was Saturday evening, after all, so people were hanging out, getting ready to go to dinner or a movie or a show. New York City has a lot of options. The fact that it was Saturday also meant no one gave us any grief when I followed Annabeth to her room; there are open visiting hours until eleven, and curfew isn't until one.

I flopped down on her bed while she rifled through her dresser drawers. "What's Piper up to tonight?"

"She's in California this weekend, visiting her dad." Annabeth tossed me my old Goode High School sweatshirt. "And you better not be getting mud all over my bedspread."

"Uh," I surreptitiously checked, "nope, all good."

She threw me a suspicious look, but let it go. "Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Because I need to get changed and I don't feel like walking all the way down to the bathroom."

My mouth felt dry. "Oh. I mean, I can go out in the hall if you want."

"It's not that big of a deal, Percy. Just close your eyes for a minute."

"Okay," I relented.

Annabeth smirked. "Wow, I really had to twist your arm on that one."

I grinned, then obediently closed my eyes. And I only peeked once. What? Most of the time I'm a gentleman, but come on, I'm still a dude. For the record, all I saw was her back. It was great.

A few minutes later, dressed in clean clothes (or, in my case, at least wearing a clean sweatshirt over my filthy clothes), we headed to P. J. Clarke's.

The restaurant was crowded, but it didn't take us too long to get seated and get our food. Which was good, because I was starving.

"Oh gods," I groaned, half closing my eyes. "This is seriously the best cheeseburger ever."

Across from me, Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Should I move to another table and give you two some privacy?"

"That'd be great, thanks." I shot her a grin before taking another bite. She rolled her eyes. "But honestly, tell me this isn't the best burger you've ever had?"

"It's pretty good," she agreed.

Over dinner, we mostly talked about normal stuff, like school and all that. To be honest, school isn't exactly my favorite topic of conversation, but I like watching Annabeth's face light up when she talks about her favorite classes. However, after dinner, while we were waiting for the check, I brought up something that had been nagging at the back of my mind all evening. "So, I wanted to ask you about something."

Annabeth furrowed her brow. "What's up?"

I took a deep breath. "When Nekhbet first suggested using me as a host, you jumped in and told her to inhabit you instead. I guess I've just been wondering why. Was it because you didn't think I could handle it?"

"Of course not, Percy. I have complete faith in you." She reached across the table and took my hand. The smile she gave me was a little sad. "But haven't you ever wanted to take on a risk yourself, rather than put it on someone you care about?"

Half a dozen past situations instantly came to mind. I knew exactly what she was talking about. "Good point."

She squeezed my hand. Her expression grew thoughtful. "So what was it like, merging with the goddess?"

"It wasn't as bad as being possessed by an eidolon," I admitted. As best I could, I told her how I had seen the history of Egypt through Nekhbet's eyes, and the way I'd experienced the Duat. I also filled her in on Nekhbet's disbelief when Setne revealed how I'd turned down immortality. "She couldn't believe I'd give up that kind of power. Neither could Setne. I believe he called me a lovable idiot."

Annabeth frowned. "That's so only okay when I say it. But really—you've never regretted it?"

I paused, thinking, then said, "Not really. I mean, maybe when I'm doing math homework or when, you know, Hera kidnaps me and puts me to sleep for six months, but most of the time, even with all the craziness, I think I have a pretty good life."

Annabeth's smile was brilliant as she leaned across the table and kissed me. When she pulled away, I said, "I believe that proves my point."

"Like I said before, I'm glad you're not a god." Her thumb traced my knuckles, which was kind of distracting, in a good way. "Of course, on the other hand, if you were, it might have made our fight with the giants a lot easier."

"Yeah, because unlike Hercules and Dionysus, I wouldn't have been a dick about helping."

Annabeth swatted my arm. "Percy! I'm pretty sure you shouldn't refer to the gods as dicks."

I shrugged. "I call 'em like I see 'em." I paused to listen, but there was no rumble of thunder from outside and I wasn't incinerated or turned into a porpoise, so I figured I'd gotten away with that one. "How was casting magic?"

"Seriously cool." Annabeth described how it felt to read from the book of Thoth and see the spell take effect, plus how amazing it was to get the insight into Sadie's life and learn more about how modern Egyptian magic worked. Her eyes were shining. I listened, mostly, because it was interesting. But I was also focused on the warm pressure of her hand in mine. And now that we'd eaten, I was starting to feel a little drowsy, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up. So when we left the restaurant and Annabeth asked what I wanted to do now, I shrugged and said, "We could go watch a movie at my place, if you want to."

"Sounds good." Annabeth took a deep breath. "After today, I can totally go for a quiet night in."

"My thoughts exactly." Taking her hand, I led the way to the nearest subway station to catch the train uptown to my family's apartment.

Dinner was awesome. Curling up on the couch in my apartment afterwards to watch a movie was even better. Or it would have been, except for the fact that Annabeth had brought her homework. Now, she was sitting on the floor, using the coffee table as a desk.

"It's Saturday," I complained. "Sunday night is for homework."

She didn't even bother to look up; her attention was on her calculus notes. "This week, Saturday night is for homework. Tomorrow I have to write a paper and it's going to take almost all day."

I flopped back against the couch. "You're killing me."

The hint of a smirk crossed her face. "Actually, I'm usually the one keeping you alive." Before I could respond to that, she asked, "Did you call your mom?"

"Yeah. She's glad we're safe. And she said they'll be home around eleven-thirty." My mom and Paul had gone out with some friends tonight. She'd left a note on the counter, saying she hoped everything had gone well today, and to let her know when I got home. I'd called her after I read it, just to let her know we were okay. My mom understands about demigod business, but after the last year I like to take some of the stress off her and let her know I'm home safe. Yeah, I'm kind of a mama's boy. No, I'm not ashamed. Deal with it.

"That's good," Annabeth said absently, flipping through her textbook as she worked out a problem.

We lapsed into silence as Annabeth continued to solve calculus problems and I idly flipped through channels. I finally settled on a college football game. Basketball is more my speed, but I'll watch football once in a while. I was zoned out, watching the game but not thinking about much, when Annabeth finally shut her math book.

"Done," she announced. Reorganizing her notes, which were scattered across the coffee table, she put them into a folder, then returned everything to her backpack. "You don't really throw away your notes after a test, do you?"

"Uh, yeah. Most normal people do."

The look she gave me was incredulous. She shook her head and muttered, "Crazy," as she dropped onto the couch next to me.

"Whatever you say." But I smiled. "What movie do you want to watch?"

She shrugged. "I don't care. Your choice."

I dragged myself off the couch to look at the shelves of DVDs, most of them Paul's. One of the new James Bond movies caught my eye, so I went with that. James Bond is cool.

"Too bad you're not a magician anymore," I said. "You could probably have just used a hieroglyph to summon calculus answers from the Duat."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way," she said with a tiny smile. "Besides, I'm okay with being just a demigod. According to Sadie, too much magic can burn you up. And I could feel those spells draining me. At least demigods don't really have that problem with their powers."

"That's not always true. I nearly killed myself setting off Mt. St. Helens," I pointed out.

Our eyes locked as the memory of our first kiss flashed between us. We didn't talk about it much, given the circumstances around it. But now Annabeth rolled her eyes, leaned forward, and kissed me lightly.

"That was so not one of your better ideas, Seaweed Brain. But I see your point."

"Uh, I had a point?"

"Idiot." But she kissed me again, so I figured that was a win.

We were quiet for a while, watching the movie. James Bond played poker and looked way smoother fighting bad guys than I ever have in my life. Maybe it's the suit. I hate wearing suits, though, so Bond can keep his look. Honestly, I wasn't really watching that closely. Most of my focus was on Annabeth curled up against me and the way her finger tracing my forearm was sending shivers down my spine, concentrated at the point where my Achilles spot used to be.

I was just about to crack and make a move when Annabeth's phone beeped its text message alert. She sat up to grab her phone off the coffee table, read the message, then laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"It's from Sadie." She held up the phone and showed me the picture Sadie had sent. On a large desk covered in papyrus scrolls, Fruit by the Foot wrappers, and root beer cans, sat the snow globe of Governors Island. And inside, arms crossed over his ridiculous outfit, was Setne.

It was my turn to laugh. "He makes a perfect paperweight."

"I'd say he got what he deserved." Annabeth typed out a quick reply to Sadie, added a couple emojis at the end, then laid her phone back on the coffee table. She curled up next to me again. "Sadie's great, though, isn't she?"

"Oh yeah. Carter, too. I'm glad we got to meet them, despite the circumstances." I glanced sideways at Annabeth. "You know, Sadie reminded me a lot of you when you were younger. Same intensity. Even, kinda, the way she looks."

"Yeah, I thought that too, when I first met her." Annabeth sat up so she could look at me with a teasing smile. "Of course, I knew you two would get along. She's just as impulsive and loves to improvise."

"I noticed. I was thinking earlier, if we had a daughter, she'd probably be a lot like Sadie."

Holy gorgon's tusks. Did I actually just say that? I mean, yeah, I had been thinking it earlier, but I hadn't meant for it to pop out of my mouth.

Annabeth's eyes widened in surprise. Then she shook her head. My stomach plummeted. I mean, we'd talked about the future before, but nothing very definite past college. Maybe she wasn't ready to discuss this? I didn't want to scare her off or freak her out by talking about something like kids too soon. I mean, we're only seventeen. I was just getting ready to apologize when Annabeth spoke first.

"You always manage to surprise me, Seaweed Brain." She stopped shaking her head and smiled slowly. "But that's really sweet. And I think we'd have cute kids."

"Definitely," I managed. My stomach was doing a happy, nervous dance. "Obviously."

She kissed me, and I stopped thinking.

When she pulled away, her eyes narrowed. "But just to be clear, we're talking about way in the future, right?"

"Uh, yeah." My brain was moving a little slowly. "I mean, we need to survive high school first."

"And get through college," Annabeth added. "After that, though," she kissed me again, "then, I think, we can talk about marriage and kids and all that."

A grin broke across my face. "So I'm like a long-term investment for you now, right?"

She returned the smile, her gray eyes sparkling. "Pretty much."

"Works for me." I kissed her again, because have I mentioned that I like kissing her?

Annabeth snuggled up next to me and I put my arms around her. Onscreen, James Bond was being suave and kicking butts. He made it look so easy. I kissed the top of Annabeth's head. The words Hera had said back in June, when she'd given me the choice to go to Camp Jupiter or run away to the sea, came back to me: "A future of pain and possibility." There had definitely been a lot of pain, but, I decided, the possibilities for the future were worth it.