Sober

by Reincarnations

There was no mistake. Thalia Grace—daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis—had a problem that she couldn't control. She swore to herself that she would never do this when she was younger. She grew up with her mother, who was worse than anyone Thalia could imagine.

So, I listened to Demi Lovato's newer song and for some reason Thalia came to mind. I had finally read 'The Burning Maze' so I thought this could fit. I will admit I still get emotional every time I think of Jason—I had only finished the book a few days ago but knew what happened to him for three months.

Although this isn't long, it took me a while to do this because of how depressed it made me. I had to stop a few times because I couldn't handle it. This story is special to me because I swore I would never drink after seeing my mom drunk so many times in the early afternoon (ranging from noon to three) and from staying the night at my brother's apartment when he got so angry-drunk to the point that his now ex-girlfriend hid his gun and knife in the bathroom while I was on the couch. Anyways-

Enjoy.

Or cry.

---

THERE WAS NO MISTAKE.

Thalia Grace—daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis—had a problem that she couldn't control. She swore to herself that she would never do this when she was younger. She grew up with her mother, who was worse than anyone Thalia could imagine. Her mother's problem grew with each passing day, even more so after the birth of her baby brother Jaso-

Thalia held back a sob as she leaned her head against the cabin wall. She had trapped herself in Cabin One of Camp Half Blood for what felt like years, but was merely a handful of days. A few year-round campers have tried to speak with her. Nothing worked. Some considered having Annabeth snap her out of it again, but none wanted her to make the travel from New Rome for something they could surely fix. Besides, she would be coming to camp in a couple more days.

She couldn't say, think, or hear her baby brother's name without getting into a hysterical fit.

Her brother, the one she finally reunited with after so many years, was killed when he helped the mortal Apollo on his quest. Those who participated in that portion of the long quest claimed Jas-her brother knew either he or his ex-girlfriend were supposed to be killed. He loved Piper McLean so much, he willingly let himself be killed so she could live.

I got no excuses
For all of these goodbyes
Call me when it's over
'Cause I'm dying inside

No one knew about Thalia's oath except for one person. They had only known each other for a couple days at most when she revealed her secret. He claimed he would help to keep her word. They were only twelve years old at the time, but it didn't make it any less meaningful.

That person was Luke Castellan, her old friend and the closest thing she had to a love. He too was killed and wrongfully taken away from her. In the end, he broke his promise—

So, she broke hers.

Thalia realized—after looking at the scary number of empty bottles which surrounded her—that her problem was a thousand times worse than her mothers could ever be. This was only the third—or was it the fourth? —day back at camp, yet there was enough to fill half a liquor store.

That's right.

Thalia Grace, the daughter of the woman who died by drunk driving, had a drinking problem.

Wake me when the shakes are gone
And the cold sweats disappear
Call me when it's over
And myself has reappeared

When the news about his death reached her, Thalia didn't know what to do. She mourned more than what was considered healthy. She took a leave of absence from the Hunters for what was supposed to be a month. Thalia informed the group back in March, but now it was close to the end of December, which meant nine months has passed.

This wasn't the first time this happened. This was the third time she has had a binge drinking fiasco. The first time, she had somebody buy a couple cases of beer for her a couple days after her brother's death while she drank in a sleezy motel room in New York. Thalia stayed for a good two weeks, periodically having strangers buy her more.

Annabeth Chase, her dearest and oldest friend, discovered Thalia's actions when she caught a woman giving her a case. She followed Thalia to her motel room and confronted her. Thalia burst into tear and incoherent words turned into sobs. Annabeth stayed to keep an eye on her.

When Thalia fell asleep, Annabeth opened and poured the case of beer down the bathroom drain. Once Thalia woke up, she saw a clean room that didn't show any sign of there being over a hundred empty beer cans. Annabeth had handed her her small backpack and informed her they were going to Camp Jupiter.

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know why
I do it every, every, every time
It's only when I'm lonely

Sometimes I just wanna cave
And I don't wanna fight
I try and I try and I try and I try and I try
Just hold me, I'm lonely

Thalia felt only slightly better after staying at Camp Jupiter for a few days. Annabeth told a couple other Roman campers about Thalia's problem to help keep an eye on her. They made sure she had no alcohol with any of her meals and that she wasn't alone to drink.

Thalia was pretty proud of herself. It was the middle of April and she hadn't taken a sip of anything. She distracted herself through-out the day and forced herself to sleep earlier than she usual would. She was doing great!

Until she accidentally walked past her brother's grave.

Momma, I'm so sorry, I'm not sober anymore
And daddy, please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor
To the ones who never left me
We've been down this road before
I'm so sorry, I'm not sober anymore

Thalia had locked herself in the room provided for her and had a crying fit. She waited until most of the camp had fallen asleep before she snuck away. By midnight she found herself in another hotel room with a handful of small vodka bottles. They were easier at making everything disappear than beer and most definitely faster.

There was no way she could return to the Hunters with her problem and in her condition. Thalia was setting a bad example to the others. Then again, almost all were tens of hundreds of years older than her. However, they did look up to her, almost like a remodel.

With that thought in mind, she poured the rest of her drink down the sink, gathered her things, and made the walk back to Camp Jupiter.

And I'm sorry for the fans I lost
Who watched me fall again
I wanna be a role model
But I'm only human

Annabeth helped Thalia enroll in a strict boarding school in New York. They allowed absolutely no alcohol beverages or any other substance in their buildings. There are dorm inspections every other day to look specifically for those items.

The school was mainly built for teens who have become addicted. There are counseling sessions, peer groups, etc. to help students go through withdrawals. Students can stay at the school over the summer if they think they will drink if they were away.

Instead of going to Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter for the summer, Thalia stayed at the school to be on the safe side.

And to not be reminded of her brother's birthday.

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know why
I do it every, every, every time
It's only when I'm lonely
Sometimes I just wanna cave
And I don't wanna fight
I try and I try and I try and I try and I try
Just hold me, I'm lonely

Thalia couldn't exactly remember what made her crack for the third time. She finally returned to camp during her Christmas break because Annabeth and Percy requested it. They had some sort of big announcement that they wanted to make announcement. They wanted to tell the Greek demigods something first before they told the Romans.

The Greeks were speculating on what the announcement was. Most thought they were engaged. Others thought they married in secret and wanted to tell everyone. Some thought they finished the list and model for Jason's promi-

JASON!

Thalia let out a cry of agony. That's what it was. Somebody had mentioned J-his promise to acknowledge every god in both camps. Someone commented how things would be so different if he was alive. Piper wouldn't be depressed, so quiet, and would sing again at the sing-a-longs. Another added that Thalia wouldn't be fighting a drinking problem.

Of course, the daughter of Zeus happened to be right behind the group when they made the offhand remark. She fled from them and barricaded herself in her cabin.

Momma, I'm so sorry I'm not sober anymore
And daddy, please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor
To the ones who never left me
We've been down this road before
I'm so sorry, I'm not sober anymore
I'm not sober anymore

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Thalia wiped away her tears and tried to control her emotions. After a moment or two, she shouted at the door she was staring directly at, "Whoever it is, go away! I want no visitors!"

"Open up, Thalia." Percy? "We need to talk. I know about your problem—Annabeth and the campers told me."

Thalia groaned. The couple was a couple days early. The lieutenant of the Hunters was going to make a conscious effort tomorrow to clean the place and herself up to hide her actions.

She decided to play stupid with her cousin. "What problem? I'm perfectly fine."

"Keep telling yourself that," the son of Poseidon growled sarcastically. "If this door doesn't open within ten seconds, I swear on the River Styx that I will knock it down."

With a sigh, Thalia willed the wind to slightly crack the door. In the next second, Percy emerged and quickly closed it behind him. He shook his head in disappointment at seeing her condition.

"You're worse than I thought," he admitted as he gazed around the room. "Why didn't you come to me first? I could have helped you better than the others."

Thalia scoffed. "Yeah right. What could you possibly do besides being a constant reminder of my brother? You know nothing- "

"Did you forget about Smelly Gabe?" He reminded a bit harshly. Percy snarled his nose at the remembering his first step-father. The alcohol in the room wasn't helping. Without asking permission, Percy began to grab as many bottles as he could and walked to the bathroom sink.

As he poured what was left in the bottles, he explained, "For years I had to come home to a man that made drinking his day job. He wasted his money and Mom's on this poison when it could have been used for groceries, bills, rent. Until Mom started putting me in boarding schools, Gabe would abuse me every chance he had. After the first few beatings at six years old, I promised myself I would never drink."

Thalia couldn't help her gasp. There was someone else out there who made the same promise as her? "You did?" She questioned as he walked out of the bathroom and began trashing every bottle in sight. She wrapped her arms around the one in her lap. "Did you break it?"

"No," Percy denied, continuing with his task. "The smell of alcohol reminds me of that bastard and my promise. I have never thought about trying it. After I discovered that I was a demigod, I vowed that I would never end up like him."

Within a few minutes, Percy had collected every bottle—

Except for one.

He knelt in front of Thalia and held out a comforting hand. "Please," he begged pleadingly. "I don't want my son or daughter to know their aunt as the drunk of the family. I want them to know you as the one that will do anything for him or her."

"What?" Thalia leaned back, raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Percy? You're acting like . . ."

She trailed off, not knowing what exactly he was thinking. His lip twitched upward slightly as he let his hand fall to his knee, waiting for her to catch on.

Thalia gasped when the pieces finally connected. "Annabeth's pregnant!" She exclaimed in a hush whisper. "That's the announcement!"

She knew she was right when he smiled, but something bugged her about it. "Are you ready though?" Thalia wondered. "You've only been dating for a little more than a year. Besides, you're traveling across the country all the time, have gone to college for one semester, and are eighteen. Can you handle a kid on top of that?"

"Absolutely." Percy agreed with no hesitation. "I've had practice taking care of a baby when I watched my sister. I know I'm more than ready, and so is Annabeth. We did use protection, of course, but we hoped she would get pregnant anyways."

"Why?"

"Because her family didn't think we were ready," he insisted. Seeing her confusion, Percy told the story, "I proposed to her on our anniversary. I told my three parents what I was planning and asked Lady Athena for permission to propose. My parents were thrilled with the idea and Athena gave me her blessing.

"We visited Annabeth's father and step-mother while her uncle and cousin from Boston were in town. Her cousin was extremely happy for us and he wanted to be one of my groomsmen. Her uncle thought it was ridiculous that we wanted to get married at such a young age and her parents agreed with him. Truth is, we were going to wait until after our four years in college before actually marrying.

"We had no chance to explain it to them because they were too busy yelling to listen. They argued that we couldn't handle the issues that came with being married. They said at the first conflict, we would get into a massive fight that we wouldn't overcome for a few days.

"Annabeth glared at the three adults as she rose from her seat. She had said, 'Percy and I went through Tartarus together. We survived. There is nothing that we can't do or resolve that is worse.' We left shortly after. We didn't speak to them for a while until a couple weeks ago."

"Who knows about the baby?" Thalia wondered, her grip on the bottle loosening.

"My mom and Paul were one of the first to know," he answered. "A couple hours later we told our immortal parent. The four were excited for us. They gave us some advice and tips with dealing with her pregnancy.

"When we told her parents and uncle the next day, they were furious." Percy chuckled at the memory. "They accused us of voluntarily getting pregnant to spite them. I was going to deny it, but Annabeth agreed. I decided to stay quiet to let her do the talking. Knowing her fatal flaw, I knew better than to stop her from defending her pride. She basically told them we would raise our kid with or without them in his or her life."

"How far long is she?"

"Three months?" Percy guesstimated. "She's been able to hide it with extra-large sweaters and sweat pants. We wanted to wait to tell everyone. By the way, congratulations on being one of the first ten to know."

"'Ten'?" Thalia repeated as she thought up the list. "Who's the other one?"

Percy's smile grew. "We told Grover first. We wanted to give him that honor since he will be the godfather."

"Who'll be the godmother?"

"We're hoping you." Percy raised his hand again, motioning to her last vodka bottle. "Unless, you want to continue with what you're doing now. Just know, I won't let my kid around you when you are drunk or hungover."

With that declaration, Thalia eyed his hand and the bottle. At a count of three, the bottle was in the trash where it belonged.

I'm sorry that I'm here again
I promise I'll get help
It wasn't my intention
I'm sorry to myself

Fin.