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All that mattered to me was that she was okay, that she was with me.
That's still all that really matters. It's the most important thing.
And I'm not asking for your blessing to be with Annabeth, because you didn't know how incredible she was, how she deserved to have you stay with her, stand by her. You should never have made her feel like a burden. Sir. You had a responsibility as a parent, and she thought she had to run away at just- she was only seven years old! She thought she had to leave to fill holes, to find family. To be taken care of, except she always thought she had to take care of herself, because you wouldn't take care of her. And she had a little family. One she found and also created, but soon enough it was gone too. Thalia became a pine tree, and then a Hunter, and Luke...but you don't really care about that, about what it did to your daughter, do you? You care about the logistics of turning a person into a magic pine tree. You care about the battles and the weapons, yeah you made some pretty cool bullets out of celestial bronze, but you cared more about melting weapons down for that than keeping them in case your daughter came back. You really didn't know what to do with a kid, huh? Well I'll tell you something, Professor Chase- all you have to do is love them. And do your best. But you couldn't do both, I guess.
Don't worry. I love your daughter. And I'll do my best for her every day I'm with her, and even if I'm not, I'll keep showing up and being there and helping her. Because that's what you do when you love someone. Even when it's hard. Especially then, because you can get stronger together, and closer too.
I know this because we survived the war with the Titans together. We both held up the sky, she for way longer than me. She saved me when I would have died multiple times, and I fell into Tartarus to stay with her. And I'll be here no matter what. We got to the doors of death, and she stopped me from destroying Misery. (Which sounds like a good thing, but would've been sUper bad. Trust me.)
I snuck across the country to rescue her, on a quest I wasn't even supposed to be part of. I wouldn't take no for an answer, and I wouldn't let anything stop me.
This isn't to talk myself up to you, because it doesn't matter what you think of me. I know I'm not smart, I can talk to fish and move water. But my real superpower is Annabeth, and she's one of a kind. She believes in me, and we're a team. We fight together naturally and have since we were twelve years old. We work so well because we don't give up on each other and we play to the other's strengths.
The best thing about us is that we were friends, then family, and then we got together. (We probably would have sooner if it wasn't for me being super clueless about Annabeth being interested in me.)
She told me that she was never gonna make anything easy for me, but the thing is, what's easy for me is knowing that I want to be with her. That I don't want to be anywhere else. That honestly, I might not know what I want to do with my life, but I know I want to be with her. I'll figure the rest of it out as I go. As WE go.
I think you should- you might need to figure some things out too. Good luck, Professor Chase. I'll be rooting for you. Because Annabeth deserves to have a father who shows up for her and who stays. At least through the wedding and the reception.