Mortals meet Percabeth (and others)

Annabeth meet: Helen Chase

So I don't know whether you wanted this but a few people have asked for it, so I decided to do it and hey it was fun to write as we don't know much about Helen apart from what was said and shown in a few books so I basically made things up like her apperance but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless 

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Helen Chase 

NO MIST

Nerves wrapped their way around Annabeth Chase's body like a blanket that wrapped around her body keeping her warm and comfortable, she couldn't remember the last time she had been this nervous and she wished she was being chased down by a monster at least then she would know what she would do then 

Now she had no idea what do to, it felt like she was drowning 

She sucked it up however and managed to shake off her nerves before opening the door to the small cafe in San Francisco and her grey eyes studied and shifting across the room looking for her stepmother when her eyes landed on a middle-aged woman her black hair tied tightly up in a bun with red streaks passing through it. Her fingers nervously tapped the rim of her coffee mug as she had the porcelain mug nestled between her palms and for lack of better Helen Chase actually looked nervous 

And then their eyes meet, and both woman quickly looked away before Annabeth took strides over to the booth where Helen sat and slid in, her fingers absentmindedly trekking  through her hair leaving her hair messy and stuck up but she didn't care as she looked at her stepmother with wide eyes waiting for Helen to speak 

Finally, she did  "You've grown up"

"Well I've not seen you in over ten years, so it's no wonder that I look different or as you put it more grown-up" The twenty-two-year-old snapped as she glared at her so-called stepmother and for a moment she wondered about just getting up and leaving, after all, she owed the woman in front of her nothing and she didn't even want to come here but Percy had encouraged her to go and rekindle her relationship with her stepmother as she was worried by the time her and Percy's baby arrived in six months she would be a horrible mother because she had no role model to look up to and that's when Percy told the child of wisdom what her steo mother had told him all those years ago when she was forced to hold up the weight of the sky.

From there she had reached out to her family after a long time of no contact and set up a time and date to meet Helen, much to the surprise of them both that Annabeth of all people was willing to try and put the past behind them, but it was a lot harder than it looked as she stared down the woman who belittled her for so many years, Annabeth's body was littered with old scars that had healed, but this was a scar that had yet to heal 

"Annabeth I know you don't want an apology and an apology won't make up for everything I've done and even if it did you'd probably not want to listen to it any way but I want you to see where I was coming from. I was scared and I know that's not an excuse you were a child for goodness sake but you were attracting those...things and I did the only logical thing I could think of at the time I became the bad cop and that eventually drove you away"  

"Like you said I was a child I needed a parent, not a bad cop!"

"But you were attracting those monsters, I needed to protect my family"

"I was your family too!"

Her voice was a mere broken whisper and it made Helen flinch, Annabeth may be a strong woman now but that was because she had to become one, she had gone through multiple traumas -- and although Helen didn't even know the half of it, she knew that she had contributed to the trauma that she should have been protecting her from for as long as possible and given her at least some semblance of a childhood 

"I know you were, it just took me a long time to realise that, when that boy showed up on our doorstep desperately searching for you I realised how much he cared for you and how I should have cared for you the fraction of the amount that he cared for you, maybe then you would still be with us. With your family"

On instinct, Annabeth snapped "Percy's my family!"

This time a small smile slowly stretched across Helen's lips "So you two finally got together then? I must say I'm not surprised that boy did seem to care about you a great deal, even if he didn't realise it back then"

The twenty-two-year-old's hand came to rest on her stomach and even though she didn't realise it, the other woman did and her small smile grew but she kept quiet and let Annabeth tell her when she was good and ready "Percy's always been there for me. I suppose, even when I didn't want it or didn't think I deserved it, he's always been there" Then she mumbled something under her breath that Helen failed to catch "He's the one that encouraged me to come here, you know? He said something about it being beneficial for us to attempt to rekindle our relationship so that I could prove to myself I would be a good mother and nothing like you"

Ouch. The last statement was a bit of a low blow to the woman's self-esteem but she supposed she deserved it, she deserved every nasty comment that Annabeth threw her way and probably a lot more but for now, she gave the blonde young woman in front of her a sad smile "You're strong Annabeth, a lot stronger than I'll ever be and I know you'll be a great mother but you don't need me to sit here and tell you that. I think that deep down you've always known that and that you just need to believe in yourself but that will come over time, having a baby can be scary, believe me, I had two at once"

A laugh bubbled out of Annabeth's throat as she exchanged stories of what's been happening in the demigod world and what she plans to do for her future family, promising that Helen and the rest of her family would be able to visit the baby once it was born

And yes they had a long way to go but at least her scars have started to heal