A distraught Annabeth who explains herself

Annabeth was nowhere to be found in the dining pavilion, which I kind of expected. She probably stayed behind in the Athena cabin to brood over what she'd done instead of going to dinner with the other Athena kids. As messed up as it sounds, it made me feel a little better to know that she was hurt by what she did. It was way out of character for her to begin with. She definitely put on a good act though. Or..well.. She had me fooled at least. I guess that's not the highest bar.

I could tell the Athena Cabin was empty pretty easily when I got to the steps. Obviously that was because people were having dinner in the pavilion, but also because no light or sound escaped the windows as I approached. I reached for the door to peek inside, and I noticed it was cracked open already. I froze. Faint sobbing could be heard coming from the inside. I took a deep breath.

As soon as I opened the door, she quickly calmed herself enough to pretend like she hadn't been crying and said "I told you guys to eat without me". She picked her head fully up off the desk, wiped her eyes again, and turned around to face me. "Percy?..."

"Look.. Annabeth, Thalia told me everything. Its okay. I know, and I'm okay with it. You don't have to hide from me."

Annabeth sighed after burying her hands in her face once more. "Come in Percy.. and close the door." I shut the door behind me, leaving us undisturbed by the noise of the rowdy crowd having dinner in the pavilion. The only light in the entire cabin was a warmly-colored desk lamp near Annabeth who sat in a leather office chair befitting the Athena cabin. I sat in the bunk nearest to her.

I lowered the volume of my voice to a more appropriately intimate level. "Look I get why you said what you said Annabeth, but its gonna take a lot more than that to stop me from seeing a future with you. I've been with you for years, and we've never even done anything sexual. What makes you think that something sex related so important to me that I'd leave you? And why didn't you feel like you couldn't talk to me about it?"

"Look.. Percy.. Thalia didn't tell you everything."

"What do you mean?"

"Its not exactly her fault either. She wouldn't have known. With her not being a daughter of Athena and all.. I wanted to protect you Percy." She hid her face by turning away.

"Protect me from what? Annabeth I already told you it doesn't bother me. What is it that Thalia didn't know"

"Well.. Artemis isn't the only goddess with a negative opinion of men. My mom has her own sadistic tendencies.. She went so far as to curse her daughters with the ability to bind men to their will. When a daughter of Athena binds herself to a man, they remain bound for life. Unlike Thalia and everyone else, we don't have female reproductive organs at all. We're **** to dominate men if we want children. The curse magically takes care of the anatomical obstacles to that being possible. It also affects other aspects of the male's physiology." She paused but I could tell she wasn't finished so I held my tongue.

"I would never **** you into being the victim of my mother's sick fantasies. Its not something I can just switch off Percy. I knew all of this from the start, and I still led you on. You're a dream come true and I don't deserve you. The best thing you can do for the both of us is just leave. just forget about me." She returns to sobbing face-down in her arms on the desk like I found her.

I get up and walk over slowly. I put my hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me through the tears in her eyes, and I tenderly pull her out of the chair and into my embrace. "I jumped into Tartarus for you. Its gonna take more than a curse to stop me from living out my happily-ever-after with you."

"But Percy I don't know what it will do to you exactly..."

"I don't care" I say as I nudge her face to the side with mine to kiss her neck.

"I want you." I say in a breathy whisper.

"I love you wise girl."

I can hear Annabeth breathing more heavily at this point so I think its safe to assume I'm back in business. "Let's go to your cabin Percy..."