I don't own PJO.

As soon as Poseidon woke up he knew something was wrong. The halls of Olympus were quiet, you couldn't hear a whisper. He felt like he was in a dream, until he found her there crying her eyes out. In his dreams she would never have cried. It would break his heart, but there she was crying. "Athena?" he asked quietly. He didn't even know she could cry; she always seemed so together like nothing could bring her down. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. When she tried to speak it refused to come out, her throat was thick with sorrow. So she pointed her dainty little finger out the window. He saw something that scared him. Outside there were two smoking towers, the World Trade Center. He didn't know what to say.

He thought the sirens said it all. "When did this happen?"

Athena finally cleared her throat even though it was still filled with sorrow. "At 8:46 a plane hit the North tower," she paused to let a few more tears escape, "and then at 9:03 one hit the South Tower." She leaned her head down. "My daughter works in that tower."

"She'll get out fine," he whispered quietly, before grabbing her hand. "She's a smart girl."

"No," she shook her head vigorously trying to fight back the sobs, "she works on the top floor of the South Tower. There's no way she could get down to the ground. She'll likely die in the fire." She said it calmly, a little too calmly. "She spent twenty years fighting monsters, knowing that she could die at any moment; then she gets killed when she's just trying to do her job. There was no fight she could have prepared for, no monster to best, nothing she could have done."

Poseidon scratched his brain for something to say. "Maybe she didn't go to work today?" he offered weakly.

"Maybe," came the goddess's reply. Her voice was rough and full of sorrow; he got the message, her daughter was definitely in that building. He thought about how he would react if something happened to Percy. Percy was just eight, he had a whole life to live, but did that give him a better reason to live than all these other people. He thought not.

In fact all Poseidon could think of was the girl crying next to him. He had never liked weak women and he'd always figured crying was a part of that, but now he realized tears indicated strength. Strength one has to deal with tragedy, those who smiled in the face of it weren't strong. They were weak.

"What's her name?" he asked quietly.

Athena looked up at him trying to hide the tears in her eyes, "Amelia."

"Why didn't you wake anyone up?"

"Let them keep their innocence a little longer. I don't need to show them this violence." She wiped her cheeks. Sometimes Poseidon forgot she was the goddess of peace; this was tearing her apart in so many different ways. They sat in silence a while with him gently rubbing his thumb along the top of her hand.

He wasn't sure how he caught it before she did, but Poseidon covered his niece's eyes just as the South tower fell. He watched it in horror. He wanted to rush in and save them all, but he knew that he wasn't the best person to do so. These people didn't need an earthquake on their hands. He didn't uncover her eyes until the clock struck ten.

She looked on with horror and came to the definite conclusion that her daughter had perished. Athena couldn't hold it in anymore. She sobbed.

Poseidon just pulled her close to him and let her sob on his shoulder. When the other gods awoke to the horror, they felt extreme guilt. None of their children had died, but so many just lost their lives. No one even noticed the two holding on to each other like they were going to disappear.

They stayed like that the entire day. They say you always find beauty in a tragedy. For some it was the country's new found sense of patriotism, for others it was the heroic actions performed. He found beauty in the woman in his arms, this beautiful, strong woman. When they sat there together like that, no fighting, no silly nicknames, Poseidon began to realize that he just might love this girl.

A/N: This story is for all those who had anything to do with 9/11. Those roughly three thousand people who died; those who tried to save others. And to all those of us who let the world know that we would not be defeated, and that America, though it doesn't always seem like it, will not be torn apart.