(A/N: This is gloriously unedited because I forgot about Percy's birthday until this morning.I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!)
It figured that on Percy's birthday, of all days, Paul's Prius would give out on him. He slammed down the hood of the car and cursed. Two weeks of monster attacks, and now that it was all finally over, the car had broken down and Percy didn't know how to fix it. He wished for the thousandth time that he'd brought Annabeth with him. She'd have known how to fix an engine. Hell, even Leo, for all his annoying tendencies, would have been helpful. But both were predisposed with repairing the damage from the battle with Gaea. Percy was stranded on the side of an empty highway in the Adirondacks on the hottest day of the summer, and he was alone.
Hearing the sound of an engine in the distance, Percy jogged around to the front of the car and tried to flag down the eighteen wheeler as it passed by. It didn't even slow down. "Thanks a lot, asshole!" Percy shouted, but he was shouting only to the wind. In the fifteen minutes he'd been stranded, not a single other vehicle had passed by.
Percy climbed in the driver's side of the car and shut the door. Waiting outside was a death sentence in this kind of heat. He banged his head against the steering wheel a couple of times, secretly hoping someone would hear the bleating of the horn and come to his aid. He should have gone back to camp with Piper and Jason. He never was good at figuring things out without friends to help him along. All Percy had wanted was to be home by dinner, and he couldn't even manage to do that. It was looking like he was going to spend the rest of his birthday boiling alone in the Prius.
Percy sat up and cleared his throat. "Hey, Dad. If you're not too busy, listen up," he said, his voice hoarse. "Today is…well, today's my birthday. I didn't expect you to remember or anything, and it's okay you didn't get me a present. But this isn't about me. It's about Mom. I know you loved her once, and I'm asking you to remember that just for today." Percy was crying now. He hated when that happened. He wiped away the wetness on his cheeks and checked the emotion in his voice, then continued. "I told her I'd be home today. I told her we would finally get to be a family on my birthday. And I want to honor that. So just…help me. Please. I don't care how you do it. Just get me from here to there. Get me home."
Sally hated waiting. It made her bones ache, made her feel twenty years older than she was. For six months, she'd waited for Percy to come home without so much as a voicemail from him. And now she was going through it all again. Nothing ever changed.
"He'll be fine," Paul said, coming up behind Sally and massaging her shoulders. "He always is, isn't he?"
Sally nodded half-heartedly. But she feared any day now would be the day Percy left for good. Mothers weren't supposed to outlive their sons.
"He said he would be home by now," Sally said. She looked to the clock. 7:30. Two hours late.
"Things happen. I'm sure we don't have anything to worry about yet," Paul said.
Sally's eyes caught the blue birthday cake on the table. She'd baked it special for Percy this afternoon. What if he never got a chance to eat it?
"Hey, kid."
Percy whirled around to face the figure that had appeared in the passenger seat, nearly knocking his head on the roof of the car. "Dad?" he said instinctively.
"Wrong god."
Percy blinked a few times and took a closer look at the god next to him. He was shorter than Poseidon, and wore a Fed-Ex uniform. "Hermes? What are you doing here?"
Hermes smiled and kicked his feet up on the dashboard. "Your old man isn't the only one with ears, you know. I heard you were in trouble."
Percy eased back in his seat and took a deep breath. Spontaneously appearing gods usually meant bad news. "Look, no offense, but I'm kinda having a bad day. If you're here to send me off on some quest, you're out of luck."
"Watch it kiddo. Most gods would smite you for talking like that," Hermes said. He stopped smiling and dropped his feet back to the floor. "Perseus Jackson, do you remember what I'm the god of?"
"You're the god of thieves. You're not here to mug me, are you?" Percy said, one hand flying to the pocket where he kept his wallet to make sure the god hadn't succeeded in doing so already.
Hermes sighed and rolled his eyes. "Not that. The other thing."
"Mailmen?"
Hermes huffed indignantly. "The other other thing. Travelers, Jackson. People like to forget about that part in favor of the flashier stuff. But I am a man of the road."
"So can you, like, fix my car for me?" Percy said, feeling hopeful for the first time in an hour.
Hermes scrunched up his nose and shook his head. "I'm no mechanic," he said, "But I want to help you get home."
Percy narrowed his eyes. "What's the catch?" he said. There was always a catch with the gods.
"No catch," the traveler god said, "Consider it a birthday gift."
Percy raised an eyebrow. The god sighed.
"You might remember that I don't have the best track record when it comes to parenting," Hermes said, looking out the window and fussing with the hem of his shirt.
"You're talking about Luke," Percy said. With all the trouble surrounding the Giant War, it had been a long time since he'd thought about the war with Kronos.
Hermes flinched at his son's name. "Yes. Luke," he said. "Gods aren't good at family. Sometimes mortals forget just how lucky they are."
"So you're going to take me home, free of charge?" Percy asked.
"I suppose there is one condition," Hermes said, looking Percy in the eye. "Make sure you tell your mom you love her." And with a snap of his fingers, they were gone.
When Percy reappeared, he was stumbling onto the sidewalk in front of his mom's apartment building. Hermes landed calmly next to him and reached out an arm so Percy could steady himself. The Prius was nowhere to be seen.
"Don't worry about your step-father's car," Hermes said, as if reading Percy's mind. "I'll have my people look at it. Should ship back to you within five to ten business days."
Percy was about to ask how the god of messengers planned to Fed-Ex him an entire car, when Sally burst out of the building and wrapped Percy in a bear hug.
"We were so worried about you," she said into his shoulder. She smelled like vanilla and sugar, like she always did when she spent the day baking.
"Mom, I can't breathe," he said, wheezing out a laugh. Sally let go and held him at arm's length, studying him for injuries. When she found none, she broke out into a smile.
"Happy birthday, Percy," Paul said, wrapping him in a hug that was considerably less bone-crushing but still endearing.
Percy turned to where Hermes had stood moments before. "Thank you," Percy said. But the god had already disappeared.
"Who are you talking to?" Sally said, reaching out for Percy's hand.
Percy hesitated. "Nobody," he said, after a long moment. He took his mom's hand in his and walked back towards the apartment. Hermes had managed to give him the best birthday gift of all. Family.