A Crown of Golden Leaves: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Caput XLIII: The Coming Storm

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." – Winston Churchill

Caput LXIII: The Coming Storm

INSTEAD of simply opening her eyes like she did every other morning when she woke up, Annabeth burrowed closer to Percy's chest, wrinkling her nose as her muscles ached in ways she had never before experienced, and screwed her eyes shut tight. His warm arms tightened around her, enclosing her shoulders and waist, shielding her from the crisp morning air as he breathed in deeply. A shiver wracked her frame as his hot, somewhat smelly, breath hit her shoulder, and slowly, tentatively, she reached over to trace the contours of his chest, imprinting it into her mind again.

Mine. Yours. That was marriage, wasn't it? Her strengths and weaknesses were balanced with his strengths and weaknesses, and they both gave each other what they were willing. They learned from each other, supported each other...

She liked waking up like this, without any barriers between them getting in the way. It was... nice. More than nice really, but her mind wasn't coming up with any words that were better than that right now. Perhaps he had struck her speechless? Or the equivalent of speechlessness when you weren't talking out loud, at least. But, if she hadn't been hallucinating last name, which she was pretty sure she hadn't, then she knew she had struck him speechless a time or two or maybe seven—

"What are you thinking about?"

She stilled as she felt the way his chest vibrated slightly when he spoke. Huh. Interesting...

Instead of responding to his question, she smiled up at him, and he quirked an eyebrow at her. One of his hands, the one that belonged to the arm she wasn't lying on top of, fell from her shoulder and settled on her waist. His fingers tapped to a rhythm only he could hear, lightly tickling her.

"The sun is up," she commented idly, wondering if Piper or Grover had came in earlier today to wake them up. If Piper had, she would have teased her mercilessly until she had found a way to escape. Grover might have remained obvious... on the surface, at least. She was beginning to suspect that he was more perspective than he let on.

"I'm not moving," he protested, tightening his arms around her again. He rolled them over so that she was lying on top of him. Trying to ignore how every nerve on her body began tingling, she tilted her head to the side and smiled at him. "The world can deal with itself without me for one day. I'm not moving even if the empire implodes on itself. Period. Exclamation mark."

"How romantic," she teased, flexing and curling her toes when her foot started cramping. "However, we would both feel guilty if the empire collapses around us while we're in our small world of bliss."

He sighed melodramatically. She reached up to push the hair out of his eyes, but it stubbornly flopped back down, so she gave up. His eyes softened as a small smile spread across his lips, and she returned it. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," she answered truthfully. Alarm entered his expression, his going from soft to wide in a heartbeat, and his hands fell from her shoulders as he began patting her down before she could explain what she meant.

"I didn't hurt you, did I? Oh, my gods, I'm sorry. Do you need something? Tea? Herbs? Hot water? A—"

"Percy!" she interrupted, laughing at him. "Percy, it's okay. It's normal. I haven't... I mean, obviously, and, well. Anyway. Yeah. You know how I was sore every day when we first started training because I hadn't built up the muscles to fight? It's like that. It goes away as you keep on doing it and your muscles get stronger and... oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, I meant that literally."