Annabeth

You are stunned in shocked disbelief.

"Surprise?" she asks hesitantly as if unsure at what your reaction might be. To be fair, you're not sure what your reaction even should be.

Seeing her face to face, some of what happened in the Astral Plane comes back to you. It's mostly images and feelings, you you get the gist of the situation and it was more than you had. Looking back, you can't help but wonder why you hadn't recognized her in the Astral Plane. There were some minor differences between herself and her mental representation of herself, but not enough to make you think she was a completely different person.

"More than a little," you tell her.

Hearing sirens nearby, late, you both decide to leave the area. Neither one of you are known metahumans and neither of you belong to an established team, so it would be easy for some blow hard cop with a chip on his shoulder to label you as troublemaking vigilantes or even supervillains. It's a short jog to her car, which was still running.

"You knew, didn't you, what was going to happen," you inquire as you get into her car.

"It was more of a feeling than any actual knowledge on my part," Annbeth answers. "It was a surprisingly strong feeling."

"Probably your powers acting out of self preservation," you theorize.

"How much do you remember?" Annabeth asked.

"Not as much as I'd like. I tapped into powers I wasn't ready to use and shattered my psyche, the psychic backlash creating a small localized earthquake," you inform her.

"Is that what that was?" she asked in suprise. "Wow!"

"Do you remember much?" you inquire.

"Sort of... It's like... A hazy dream... I remember everything, but I kinda don't, it's hard to explain," Annbeth replies honestly.

"You don't have to tell me," you point out. "I doubt either of us will ever fully remember or understand what exactly happened to us there. Me using my powers like that, broke through my self imposed mental barriers. I'm having a much easier time using my powers, but having a much harder time controlling them."

You are quick to notice that the direction she is driving in, is not towards Jen and Allie's apartment.

Annabeth nodded. "I'm a lot stronger too. Most of the time I could only see the future in dreams. Every now and then, I'd get flashes of something while awake, or a general feeling that something was about to happen, but my powers have changed since I almost lost myself. I can sometimes will my powers to work when and how I want them to. The images while asleep have been clearer too." She blushed at this admission. Before you can ask, she changed the subject. "What brought you out here tonight?"

"You don't know?" you ask teasingly.

Annabeth rolls her eyes, though her blush persists. "I've seen this and many other scenes played out a different number of ways." You can't help but think that she's hoping for a particular outcome to this encounter.

"I just needed some fresh air and to gain some new perspective," you easily tell her. You don't know if it's the shared experiences, the fact that she's a meta or the psychic link that exists between the two of you, but you find it easy to talk to and confide in Annabeth.

"And that led you to picking a fight with one of the more powerful metahumans in the city?" Annabeth asked incredulously.

"I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind. I think I messed up using my empathy earlier," you admit. "I shattered my own mind and had to peice it back together trying to read Max Swift, Jen had just blown up at me and what I did opened up some old emotional wounds for Allie, not to mention what Kathy must have been feeling since she was the one who took me back to their apartment... I impulsively forged a two way empathic bond between me and Allie, filling her with positive emotions while taking on some of her negative ones and I'm pretty sure I over did it. Given how much hurt, rage and anger I was feeling, she must be on cloud nine."

"Now that would be something to experience," Annabeth lamented as she pulled into a parking spot. She bit hre bottom lip as if considering something nervously and seemingly came to a descision as she looked at you. "Since things are kinda weird at Jen's place, how about you stay the rest of the night here and I take you back in the morning?"

You swallow nervously. A thousand thoughts are going through your mind as to what is going to happen, what might happen and what you want to happen.

"What about your roommate?" you ask.

Annabeth shrugs. "She's not here tonight and even if she was, she'd be okay with it. If anything, she'd be encouraging. Even if she wasn't though, it's not like Brit has much of a leg to stand on."

You shrug, not knowing how to respond to that as you get out of the car. Annabeth is quick to take your arm as she leads up up to her apartment. She seems giddy with excitement, and you can't help but smile at that. It doesn't take long to get to her apartment, and she releases your arm to grab her key out of her pocket and unlock the door, opening it. Being the gentlemen you like to think you are most of the time, you enter after she does and you take off the hooded jacket you'd grabbed just before you left Jen's apartment, while Annabeth shuts the door behind the both of you.

You turn around to ask where you can put your jacket, when Annabeth pulls you to her, attaching herself to you at the lips. Her kiss is full of passion and want and you merely react on instinct as her tongue enters your mouth. Your jacket is dropped to the floor, long forgotten. The passionate kissing continues until the need for air becomes an issue. The two of you break apart, while still holding one another, each of you breathing heavily.

"A-Annabeth...?" you question, though you're not entirely sure what question it is your asking.

"I want you," she firmly states, her emerald green eyes meeting yours. There's a sort of **** need in them. "Fuck me."