Title: Not Letting Go

Word Count: 700

Rating: T

Characters/pairings: Sally + Percy

Summary: Sally arrives home from work, only to find that her boy is not okay.

Author's Notes: Written for Sally + Percy: thunderstorm at pjo_fic_battle. Un-beta'd.

x-x-x

It had been a long day at Sweet on America, and the storm she'd driven through on her way home was nasty too. Sally tossed the keys to her Buick on the dirty counter, noting that Gabe had neglected to wipe it off after spilling a huge puddle on tequila on it. She quickly dismissed the thought and cleaned the mess up herself, knowing that even a mention of Gabe's error would be taken as nagging and rewarded with yells with threats.

She was exhausted, she thought as the lightning flashed outside. A rumble of thunder followed almost immediately.

She crept past the living room, where ESPN was blaring, into the room she shared with Gabe. His dirty clothes were strewn all over their bed again, and she wrinkled her nose as she used the tips of her thumb and second finger to pick up a pair of underwear and drop it into their laundry hamper. Ugh, she'd have to deal with the rest of this later. She just couldn't take it right now.

She sneaked through the hall again, but this time he heard. "Hey, babe," he called, too loudly. "Where's my hello?"

She forcefully replaced her grimace with a smile as she strolled into the living room, the thunder and lightning still raging inside. She bent down next to him, aiming to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head and caught her lips with his, slipping his hand up her spine at the same time.

"Ugh!" she spat out, breaking away, and again covering her disgust. "I mean...honey...it's the middle of the day. We can't..."

He ignored her and pulled her down next to him, fingering the front of her low-cut work uniform. He flashed her a feral grin. "Don't worry about it. The kid's holed up in a closet somewhere anyway."

She gasped. "What?"

He played with her collar, sending shivers down her spine. "Oh, yeah. Kid's terrified of the storm." He motioned outside with his head-after all, his hands were busy.

She stood up. "And you just let him sit there? Alone?" She strode out of the room.

"Hey," he called after her. "That little punk could use a little fear-maybe it'll teach 'im to pay more respect to me!"

x-x-x

Sally was nearly frantic by the time she found her boy next to the vacuum in the broom closet. She opened the door, and out spilled 8-year-old Percy, his green eyes wide and darting. A clap of thunder shook the apartment. He scuttled back into the shadows, and Sally scooted in next to him.

"Oh, Percy, it's all right," she assured him. "The sun will come back soon, I promise."

He shivered, his teeth chattering, though it was a humid 80 degrees inside the apartment. Sally rubbed his shoulder. "What's wrong, honey?" She crouched down further and looked into his eyes. She wrinkled her forehead when she saw the tracks that silent tears left on his face.

"A...man," he choked out. "Tried to steal me. At school." He bit back a yelp when the next peal of thunder crashed over their roof.

Sally's heart jumped. "What?"

Percy nodded sorrowfully. "He said there would be a storm later...a storm to come get me. And it is, Mama! It is!"

Sally's mind was racing. It had to be about...that side of him. She blinked back a sob herself. She wasn't ready for this. He had to stay with her, just for a little while longer. A little while longer.

She pulled her boy into her lap and whispered safe things into his ear. "You're okay now. You're okay."

With the storm raging over them and a filthy pig in her living room, she said it over and over-as much for herself as for him. Huddled safely in the closet together... "You're okay."

But she wasn't.