Percy Jackson Ship weeks 2014, week one: Sally and Paul or Poseidon.
June 29- July 5
Words: 2080
Title: Finally going to be happy
I really should be working on some one-shots for some of my readers, but I figured I would post this first, as this is the last day of Sally and Paul.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sally Jackson, or Paul Blofis. Or Poseidon, Percy, Tyson, or any others mention within this fanfiction except unimportant random oc's that matter nothing at all.
Paul Blofis sat down with a sigh, dumping his backpack onto the floor next to him. It had been a long, rather stressful day. He'd been a teacher at Goode for three and a half years, and he still wasn't used to Principal Kilian's yelling. The teacher's morning would have gone smoothly, except apparently there had been a few phone calls from parents complaining about one of the other teacher's teaching habits, and he'd happened to be standing near Professor Kilian at the time.
He was grateful that he'd signed up for the writing seminar that was every other afternoon, but at the same time . . . He could have gone home and enjoyed a nice long nap before getting to work on some grading he had to do.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" A soft voice tore him away from his thoughts, and Paul turned to see a pretty woman with long, straight brown hair and beautiful eyes standing next to him.
For a moment he just stared, barely keeping his jaw from dropping open. Then, as the woman tilted her head questioningly, he mutely nodded. She flashed him a brilliant smile, sighing as she sat down. "Thanks. My name's Sally, Sally Jackson. What's yours?"
"Paul Blofis," Paul managed, reaching out and shaking her hand. He felt as though he'd seen her from a distance before, most likely in this very class.
"Nice to meet you," Sally said, opening her bag and pulling out a notebook and a pencil. Although she'd seemed friendly, she also seemed distracted now that Paul looked closer. There was a crease of worry on her forehead, and although she seemed like a normally happy person, as soon as she stopped talking to Paul, a sad expression came like a permanent fixture to her face.
Before Paul had the chance to ask her if anything was wrong, Professor Mirian walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat, allowing the chattering of his students to die down before he started his lesson for the day.
Frustrated Paul decided that he would wait until the end of class.
However, the instant Professor Mirian was done, Sally Jackson stood, putting her notebook and pencil in her bag and heading for the door. "It was nice to meet you Paul," she called over her shoulder, flashing one more beautiful smile as she left.
Paul Blofis stared after her for several minutes, and decided that perhaps his day hadn't been so bad after all.
Sally Jackson sighed, collapsing onto the couch in her living room and closing her eyes. In two days she was supposed to drop Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth off at Westover hall before her seminar.
Hopefully she didn't have a reason to be worried, but she was a mother, and every time she sent him off she couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last time she would see him.
Camp Half-blood was supposed to be the safest place for demigods, but there hadn't been a year yet where Percy hadn't gone off on some quest, or been poisoned, or almost killed in some way. And this time he was going to a school to get a couple of powerful demigods, because Grover was sure that there was a monster nearby.
Sally frowned. "Snap out of it," she murmured to herself. "Think of something happier."
Immediately her thoughts flew to Paul Blofis, the guy she'd met in her seminar that afternoon. She'd seen him before, with his good looks, his longish salt and pepper hair, and the way he always dressed in layers of some sort, generally adding a brown jacket over a nice t-shirt.
He'd seemed a bit down today, and Sally had decided that she might as well sit next to him, find out his name.
It had surprised her that he seemed to react when she spoke to him. Maybe it had been too long since she took any notice of men. She'd been married to Gabe Ugliano for so long . . . And he'd been cruel enough that it was hard for her to think that maybe there was a guy out there who she could love as she had loved Poseidon, and maybe even more.
Maybe it was time to let go of the past and start making a future. She was going to college now, she was no longer in the horrid apartment she and Percy had shared with Gabe, and her job at the candy shop was more comfortable now that she wasn't paying for Gabe's drinking and smoking habits, not to mention his gambling.
Sally decided that she would ask Paul if he wanted to study with her after the next class. It wasn't too forward, especially if she could mention that she was trying to get a study group together, which was true although so far all of her efforts had failed.
Sally suddenly felt determined that she was going to make the most of the time until Percy came back home. She wouldn't worry, she wouldn't think too much about what he could be getting himself into, and she wouldn't-
Oh who was she kidding, there was no way she wasn't going to worry. Percy was her son, and no mother she'd ever met never worried about their child.
Paul had a hard time trying to hide his excitement when he walked into the seminar and saw that the seat next to Sally Jackson was empty. She was digging through her bag as walked over to her, and when Paul cleared his throat, she glanced up distractedly.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked quickly, not trusting himself with words anymore.
She smiled and nodded. "Sure! I was actually wondering if you'd like to come to my apartment and study later. I've been trying to get a study group together for a while, but so far no one has taken up the offer."
Paul was entirely caught off guard by that, but grinned. "Sure, sounds like it could be fun," he said, sitting next to her and feeling as though he was going to fly away.
A few hours later, as he walked into Sally Jackson's apartment, he felt his heart drop. On the wall in the entryway there was a picture of Sally and a teenage boy with black hair and green eyes. It was obvious that the two of them were related, and the love in Sally's eyes as she glanced at the picture almost made Paul wince.
"Is that your son?" he asked carefully, keeping his voice calm, but interested.
Sally glanced back at him. "Yes. That's Percy. He's away at a camp for a little bit over winter break. It's just me and him here."
Immediately Paul felt better, although he didn't see why he should. Was he that interested in Sally already?
As he sat down, and he and Sally started to compare notes, he realized that yes, he was definitely interested in this clever, funny woman with the beautiful eyes and the wonderful smile, who smelled of chocolate and other goodies, and loved her son probably more than anything else in the entire world.
It was Percy's fifteenth birthday, and Sally Jackson was pretty happy at the moment. Her boyfriend Paul was there, and had somehow gotten on Percy's good side, Tyson, Percy's cyclops half brother was there, and the blue birthday cake was almost ready to be eaten.
Just as Percy was about the blow out the candles the doorbell rang, and Sally felt herself frown, a shiver running down her spine. "Who could that be?" she wondered aloud. She saw Percy's eyebrows crease, and quickly went to open the door before he made any assumptions.
She gasped. Standing in front of her, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and Birkenstocks, his black beard neatly trimmed and his sea-green eyes twinkling, stood Poseidon. He also, Sally noted with no surprise, wearing a battered cap decorated with fishing lures. It said NEPTUNE'S LUCKY FISHING HAT.
"Pos-" Sally stopped herself before finishing his name, and inwardly winced as she felt herself blush. "Um, hello," she managed instead.
"Hello, Sally," Poseidon said. "You look as beautiful as ever. May I come in?"
Sally squeaked out something that resembled a yes, or possible "help". She honestly wasn't sure she wanted Poseidon to meet her boyfriend.
Even if Poseidon hadn't really understood her, he took her squeak as a yes, and stepped inside
She could see Paul looking at her and Percy with a mildly confused expression before finally stepping forward. "Hi, I'm Paul Blofis."
Poseidon raised his eyebrows as they shook hands. "Blowfish, did you say?" he asked, and Sally almost glared at him, barely stopping herself. Like father like son.
"Ah, no. Blofis, actually."
"Oh, I see," Poseidon said. "A shame. I quite like blowfish. I am Poseidon."
"Poseidon? That's an interesting name."
"Yes, I like it. I've gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon."
"Like the god of the sea."
"Very much like that, yes."
"Well!" Sally said hurriedly, interrupting the conversation before it could move into dangerous territory. "Um, we're so glad you could drop by. Paul, this is Percy's father."
"Ah." Paul nodded. Sally noted that he didn't seem very happy about it, and felt her heart sink. "I see."
Thankfully Poseidon switched his attention to Percy, smiling brightly. "There you are, my boy. And Tyson, hello, son!"
"Daddy!" Tyson bounded across the room and gave Poseidon a big hug, which almost knocked off his fishing hat. Paul's jaw dropped, and he stared towards Sally, who was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable.
"Tyson is . . ." he started.
"Not mine," Sally promised. "It's a long story."
"I couldn't miss Percy's fifteenth birthday," Poseidon said. "Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!"
"That's true," Paul said. "I used to teach ancient history."
Poseidon's eyes twinkled. "That's me. Ancient history. Sally, Paul, Tyson…would you mind if I borrowed Percy for a moment?" To Sally's utmost relief, he put his arm around Percy and walked out of the kitchen, leaving her to figure out a way to explain the unusual and awkward encounter to Paul.
Paul was pretty nervous, he had to admit. His hands were sweaty, and every time he glanced over at Sally he felt his stomach clench. What if she said no? Just because Percy had okayed it, it didn't mean that Sally Jackson wanted to marry him.
He'd found out quite a lot in the past few weeks since Sally had started explaining things to him. He wasn't sure of anything yet, but some of the hints she'd been dropping made him pretty sure that if he did this his whole life would change entirely.
Sally had invited him to see the beach at Montauk, which was apparently one of her favorite places in the world (according to Percy,) and the Jacksons' most common vacation spot. They weren't staying the night or anything, but Paul couldn't help but feel as if this was the perfect moment for him to ask her.
Percy had declined joining the trip to go see a friend, and before he'd left he'd given Paul a very pointed look.
Yep, this was really the time.
Paul and Sally were standing on the beach. They'd been talking at first, but it had died down in the last couple of minutes.
Before he could stop himself, Paul pulled the box out of his pocket, and went down on one knee. He didn't have a speech prepared, so he just went with the very normal version of the big question. "Sally, would you marry me?" he asked quickly.
She'd turned at his sudden movement, and was staring at him, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling with the golden color of the sun, almost as though her eyes were reflecting the ocean.
Her hands fluttered up to her face, and Paul could tell that she was sincerely shocked. This was something that she hadn't expected at all.
For one terrible, long moment, Paul was sure she was going to say no.
"Yes," Sally said, so softly that Paul wasn't even sure he'd heard her right, and just stared at her for a minute before she threw her arms around his neck. "Yes Paul! I'll marry you."
That was all Paul Blofis needed to hear to become the happiest man in the world.
If anyone was wondering, there is a part where I use something from The Battle of the Labyrinth, only from Sally's point of view.
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