A/N: Hey! This is my EDITED version of this one-shot. I was so proud of it, until I re-read it, and then I realized how bad and OOC it was.

Thalia Grace was in a great mood. A week ago the war against Kronos had ended and she didn't have to worry about any more evil Titan lords sending hordes of monsters after her Hunters anymore. In fact, in the past week there had been such a low number of monster attacks that Thalia had pinched herself several times to reassure herself that she was awake. Those Hunters who were older than her (and, unfortunately, the majority of them still were) had assured her that this was what it was normally like. The only monsters they fought were ones they sought to destroy. Even so, Thalia was on edge, always ready to grab her bow and arrows. Past experiences had taught her that you never knew when someone was going to turn you into a tree.

Thalia had also found out that without a monster attacking her every second of the day she had was actually permitted to have free time, as long as Lady Artemis approved and she could be assured there were no boys. Of course this time around Thalia was visiting a boy, but he was her cousin and had the hots for her best friend, so Lady Artemis had no problems with it. So, there Thalia was, strolling down the streets of Manhattan, looking very inconspicuous in her 'Death to Barbie' shirt and silver camo pants. She paid no attention to the pedestrians swarming around her for lunch rush. She made an abrupt turn onto West 57th and walked up to a relatively small hotel (for New York) with a crumbling stone facade. She pushed through the glass revolving doors, which inexplicably made her think about Jason. He used to love playing in revolving doors before he die. Where had that come from? She hadn't thought about Jason forever, it was a thing of the past, and she didn't want to cry over anymore boys. Still, she had this feeling in her gut... Shaking off the odd chill, she marched into the restaurant. It wasn't very fancy, thank the gods, and not very full either. She shuffled her feet and shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, then started scanning the tables for her friends.

There were a few old ladies eating lunch and…ew, false teeth. Thalia jerked her head away, shuddering. There was a family; a skinny mom with dead-looking hair and dark circles under her eyes, scolding her daughter who looked about seven while trying to feed a baby boy with big blue eyes. Jason. Thalia froze, this was the second time she had thought of Jason in a day, after years of not thinking about it. She resisted the urge to go kill the lady, and turned to the next booth. She almost retched at the sight of a teenage couple sucking face in a corner booth. A few other people, but no Percy or Annabeth. Thalia sighed exasperatedly and studied the clock. Why couldn't they use a digital clock? Analogs were too damn hard for her ADHD. After a few minutes spent deciphering the minute Roman numerals she cursed. She was a half-hour late! It had to be those Girl Scouts. Thalia couldn't resist Girl Scout cookies…There was no way they were late, too! Then again they were demigods. Still, Thalia reasoned, Percy's mom had said she would drop them off and Thalia was pretty sure a couple of Greek monsters weren't going to stop Sally Jackson from dropping her son and his best friend off at the restaurant. Thalia cast one more look around the place and froze. She felt her heart thud to a stop and bile rise in her throat. She gulped nervously and swiped the back of her hand over her forehead. Because…because the couple sitting in the corner booth, who had been making out a minute ago had stopped and were beckoning her over. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Oh gods. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were (finally) going out. And Thalia, an eternal virgin, was about to eat lunch with them. And from what she'd seen they weren't afraid of acting like a regular 16-year old couple. (Not that she could really blame them, after a week of battling Titans and monsters she wanted to just be a normal teen sometimes, too.) It wasn't that Thalia was completely against it. There was a part of her that was screaming, 'Finally! It took you guys long enough!' She (and everyone else who knew them, she was pretty sure) was getting sick and tired of them constantly biting each others heads off. Obviously, that was over, but Thalia didn't like the whole lip-lock thing, either.

She felt her legs move stiffly towards them and sat down across from them. They were both suppressing giant smiles. Thalia smiled nervously back. There went her normal afternoon with friends.

"Oh my gods, Thalia! What took you so long getting here? I mean you were like a half hour late and then you just stood there for five minutes staring at us! You looked more nervous than a satyr around an angry Mr. D!"

Annabeth hugged her friend.

"Sorry. I ran into some Girl Scouts, and well…"

Thalia gave a small grin and gestured to a plastic bag filled with five boxes of Tagalongs.

Percy made a face.

"Tagalongs, Thalia? Really? Everyone knows Thin Mints are the best!"

Thalia smiled, momentarily forgetting her nervousness.

"Tagalongs are beast, Jackson! Thin Mints suck! Who ever thought of combining chocolate and mint should be thrown into Tartarus!"

Percy gasped and clutched his chest.

"She wounds me! Chocolate and mint are soul mates! They're like peanut butter and Nutella…cheese and popcorn—"

Thalia made a face and was about to shoot back a sarcastic response, when Annabeth cut in, "How about you two save your cousinly bickering for dessert? I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

She glared at the two of them and they sheepishly picked up their menus, and begin discussing what they wanted to eat.

The lunch was progressing fine, Thalia and Percy had ordered cheeseburgers and fries with chocolate milkshakes, and Annabeth a salad with water. Thalia made a face when she saw the blonde's meal.

"Ugh, rabbit food."

Percy chuckled, but stopped when Annabeth shot a glare at him.

"Sorry." He muttered, before taking a huge bite of his burger.

The only problem came along when their waitress came up to ask if they wanted any water or a refill for Annabeth. However, instead of the dumpy, old lady with a large mole on her chin, it was a pretty brunette with a large smile, and a very skimpy outfit, Thalia noted, under her apron. How she was allowed to wear that in a family-friendly restaurant Thalia didn't know. She smiled prettily at Percy, ignoring Annabeth and Thalia.

"Ahem."

She frowned when she noticed Annabeth, but smirked again when she saw what she was wearing, her camp shirt and capri shorts.

"Can I get you guys anything? Refills? Extra napkins?"

They all shook their heads no.

"Okay, then. If you need anything, you just need to call. The names Cece."

She winked at Percy, then strode off to another table. Percy blinked, then turned back to his fries, and Annabeth looked about ready to punch someone. Thalia smiled shakily.

"Dessert time!"

For dessert, Percy and Thalia ordered the restaurant's renowned 'Molten Chocolate Cake'. It was a chocolate brownie, hollowed out in the middle, over-flowing with hot fudge. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream came on the side. Annabeth, however, ordered a scoop of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. Thalia just shook her head sadly, and dug into her food, in unison with Percy. Neither one of them looked up, until the sound of an obnoxious giggle appeared at their table.

"Are you guys taking anything to go?"

It was their slutty waitress, Cece. Thalia stared at her disgustedly. How stupid did she think they were? All of them had finished their food.

Annabeth frowned. "Um, no thank you. We'll just take the check."

Cece completely ignored her, instead leaning over Percy, showing far too much of her chest. Percy colored slightly.

"Well, if you need anything..." She drawled, then took out a pen and scrawled her number on his hand. She winked, then walked off to another table. Thalia glared at her. Seriously, did mortals have no dignity anymore? She was so glad she had joined the Hunters and rarely had to see stuff like that anymore.

Meanwhile, Annabeth was seeing red and looked about ready to explode. Muttering a quick excuse, she slid past Percy and stalked off to the bathroom, sending a murderous glare at Cece's back on the way.

When Cece came back with their check, she seemed satisfied that Annabeth was no longer there. Before she could flirt though, Thalia angrily snatched the check out of her hand, tossed it to Percy, and pulled the brunette roughly to an empty corner of the restaurant. Cece looked her over critically.

"Look, I'm not into girls, so-"

Smack.

Thalia's fist collided with the waitresses' nose, clearly breaking it. She let out a little shriek and spit blood and saliva onto the tile floor.

"Wha' the 'ell was tha' for bit'?" She slurred.

"That was for flirting with my best friend's boyfriend," Thalia hissed.

A big, burly waiter stalked over and grabbed Thalia's arm, wrenching her away from Cece.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the restaurant," he droned.

Thalia considered making a break from him or fighting back, but decided to simply let herself be led out of the hotel. She avoided looking at Annabeth's confused and angry face, as she left the bathroom, and waited patiently for her friends outside, in front of the bakery next door.

"THALIA GRACE!"

Annabeth turned angrily on her friend who was staring ashamedly at the ground.

"Seriously, Thalia? Seriously?"

"What?" Thalia asked, pretending to be innocent.

"YOU GOT KICKED OUT OF THE RESTAURANT!"

"I'm sorry. That waitress...just bothered me!"

"Why in the world was she bothering you?" Annabeth asked, confused.

Thalia decided to take the leap; she might as well just let them know she knew.

"She was flirting with Percy," she said quietly.

Annabeth gave her an odd look.

"And why did that bother you?"

Thalia muttered, "Because, y'know, you guys are dating."

Annabeth blushed. "How did you know?"

"I kind of saw you guys making out when I first walked into the restaurant."

Might as well be blunt about it.

Now, Percy and Annabeth were blushing.

"Oh, you saw that?" Annabeth asked.

Meanwhile, Percy responded, "Well, this is awkward..."

Both girls gave him an exasperated look.

Annabeth turned back to Thalia, "So, do you care that Percy and me are dating?"

Did she care? Thalia didn't want Annabeth to get hurt, but was it really likely that Percy Jackson would hurt Annabeth? On purpose, that is. She so badly wanted to say no, she didn't want Annabeth to make the same mistakes that she had with Luke, when something stopped her. Percy wasn't Luke. Percy was the Hero of Olympus and even though Thalia wasn't supposed to like love, she was pretty damn sure Percy Jackson loved Annabeth Chase and vice versa. And if it didn't work out, she'd be recruiting a new Huntress!

Looking at Annabeth and Percy's expressions she knew they really cared how she felt and she felt...touched. She opened her mouth, and said, "I approve-"

Before she could finish however, Percy scooped Annabeth up and kissed her right on the mouth. Annabeth kissed back briefly, then drew away, and smiled at Thalia, "Thanks so much, Thals. You don't know how much your approval means to me...Are you okay?"

"You guys never let me finish," she said, "I was going to say that you guys can go out or whatever as long as I don't have to see any of your PDA."

She smirked at their bashful expressions.

"Whoops," Percy said, causing Annabeth to smack him on the arm.

"Didn't hurt," he taunted.

Annabeth shook her head exasperatedly, then turned back to her friend.

"Sorry, Thalia. Starting now?"

Thalia smiled, "Starting now."

She hugged both of them, bade them good-bye and good luck, and watched them walk down the street, at first holding hands. By the time they reached the corner they were arguing. Thalia smiled even wider.

She was about to leave, as well, when she heard a sharp voice behind her.

"Anja, honestly! Do you have to walk so slowly! I've got places to be! Hurry up!"

"But, Mama! I wanted dessert! They have this really cool ice cream—"

"ANJA!"

The little girl Thalia had seen before scurried out of the restaurant. She had a sad look on her face, and tears were starting to well up. Her mother was waiting for her impatiently at the street corner with her baby brother. Thalia gulped, the whole thing reminded her painfully of when she was Anja's age. She made a split second decision. She plunged her hand into the plastic bag containing her Girl Scout cookies and pulled out a box of Tagalongs. She thrust it towards the girl, who looked up at her in awe.

"Take it." Thalia said hoarsely.

"Really?"

"Y-yeah."

Anja smiled giddily and started to go after her mother.

"Wait!" Thalia croaked, barely holding back tears. Don't cry Thalia, don't cry...

Anja turned around.

"Don't…don't give up. It gets better, trust me."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the edited version. I like this one so much more. PLEASE REVIEW! Also, check out my profile for info on up-and-coming stories! Thank you!