Annabeth could see the skyline of Piraeus on the horizon. Percy came and put his arms around her.
"Almost home," he said.
A pair of dolphins raced alongside the ship. They wove in and out of the water like shuttles through a loom. When they came to the surface, they blew water out of the holes in their foreheads. The spray dampened Annabeth's face and hair.

"Messengers to welcome us back to Athens," she said.
"They remind me of a fresco in my mother's chambers at Knossos... I haven't seen it in years. My mother says it's the room where I was born."

"We'll leave for Crete as soon as we can after the wedding. I want to see the room where you were born."
Watching the dolphins leap into the sky then dive below the surface of the water made Annabeth smile.  She breathed in the brisk, salty sea breeze and thanked Poseidon, Hermes, and Artemis for bringing her home safely. 

A/N dolphins are generally considered a good omen though in  Greek mythology, they are among the creatures tasked with bringing the souls of the dead to the underworld. They represent a peaceful death and a smooth transition to the next life.

As the Orestes sailed closer to Piraeus, Annabeth could see individual buildings: forts and garrisons where the Athenian army was stationed prior to deployment, warehouses and customs buildings where merchants did business and stored their goods, and temples to Poseidon and Hermes, where one prayed for a safe sea voyage or a successful commercial venture.
Ships cluttered the city's harbor. From the hundreds of triremes which made up to the Athenian navy to many smaller merchant vessels carrying Attic silver, copper, wine, olive oil, and pottery, grain from Egypt, timber from Thrace and the Black Sea, iron from Italy, and tin from Massalia, Iberia, and Afghanistan.

An eternity passed before they finally docked in Piraeus. Percy leads her off of the ship. With their worn clothes and bedraggled appearance, they did not look like anything grander than a common sailor and his dockside strumpet.  Without the escort provided by the crew of the Nereid, the trireme that came to find them on Ogygia, no one would have suspected they were anyone important.
The captain of the Nereid dispatched a messenger to Athens to bring the news of his ship's safe return.
Annabeth removed a golden chain from around her neck. From the chain hung a golden signet ring with the seal of Athens.
"Bring this to King Frederick, " she told the messenger. "Tell him that the owl chick has flown home."

The swift-footed messenger took off down the walled road which connected Piraeus to Athens.

They brought Jason to the Piraeus naval hospital. He was too weak to withstand the six-kilometer trip to Athens.  The hospital's staff did their best to make him comfortable. They cleaned and rebandaged his wounds, milk of the poppy to ease his pain, and willow bark tea to help bring his fever down.
Piper sat by his side, mopping his brow with a cold, wet rag. She managed to get him to sip down a few ladles full of watered-down vinegar.
After Jason fell asleep, a man wearing a Corinthian helmet, and a woman shrouded in a himation entered the hospital ward. The staff and patients bowed and nodded their heads as they passed. They must have been surprised to see their king, even more so to see their queen, who, like a respectable Athenian woman, rarely left the palace, except for important civic and religious functions.
Throwing propriety to the wind, Annabeth rushed over to them. They were taken aback at first, wondering why this urchin would dare approach them.
"Mítir, " Annabeth said. "Patír."
Mítir blinked.
"My poor Annabeth, is that you?"
Patír kissed her on her forehead.
"My little amazon. I was afraid I'd never see you again."
Percy bowed to his future in-laws. Patír clapped him on the back.
"Percy, thank you for bringing our little girl back to us. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"Annabeth's hand in marriage will be thanks enough, " Percy replied. He turned and winked at Annabeth. "She's the greatest treasure Athens posses."
Annabeth kissed him.
"Save it for after the wedding, " Thalia winked at the couple.

The physicians tried everything to bring Jason's fever down. They gave him teas made from willow bark and yarrow and syrups made from peppermint and elderberry. Piper nursed his brow with a cold, wet rag and moistened his lips with vinegar diluted in water. Accept for the few hours a day she could be prevailed up to rest, Piper sat by his side the entire time.
As each day passed, they lost hope that Jason would recover. Annabeth suggested to her parents that they move him into the palace so he could spend his final days in comfort.
Piper had confided in Annabeth that she and Jason were married in the eyes of the gods. They made the necessary sacrifices to the necessary goddesses and consummated their union. 
Jason expressed a wish to have their marriage recognized before his death. His shade would not find peace in the underworld if Piper were shamed as his concubine and any children she might be carrying called bastards.
His father, King Zeus, and her father, Lord Tristan, who had both come from Thessaloniki and Cyprus respectively to meet their children, agreed to a dowry. Lord Tristan had to pay a sum that nearly ruined him but it was cheap at the price of saving his family's honor.
Annabeth helped Piper dress for her wedding in her best peplos (the white linen with the crimson embroidery) and himation (made from flesh pink Babylonian silk).

Piper's hair was twisted and pulled back into her prized golden hair net. Pearls were stitched to twists using woolen thread and a dull needle. Corkscrew curls framed her face.

Annabeth had never seen a lovelier nor a sadder bride.
"I always thought my wedding day would be the happiest of my life, " Piper said.
The ceremony involved Piper ceremonially entering Jason's chambers, shrouded in a veil. Tears ran down her cheeks when she saw her beloved groom. The fever had eaten away at Jason's strength and vigor. Crimson blotches and a thick sheen of sweat covered his skin and he was barely strong enough to sit up in his bed and remove Piper's veil.  Piper had to make the sacrifices to Aphrodite, Artemis, and the Queen of Goddesses by herself.
The leftovers from their wedding feast were served at Jason's funeral dinner.  Before his death, Jason asked his father to look after his bride. King Zeus swore an oath to the Queen of Goddesses that Piper would always have his protection. Jason's body was cremated and the ashes were sent home to Macedonia in a splendid funerary urn.
The Athenian court received word a few days later that Queen Hera had hung herself when she heard of her son's death. Rumors swirled about that Queen Hera left a letter detailing how she was responsible for the murders of Luke, Prince Eros, and his bride, Princess Psyche. Luke's father, King Hermes, and Prince Eros's father, King Ares, has been the ones who held Queen Hera down while King Zeus raped her and she dispatched their sons as revenge for this outrage.
Despite her supposed crimes, King Zeus buried his wife in a manner which befitted a queen, perhaps to avoid a scandal, perhaps because he felt remorse for how he had abused her.