Disclaimer: All Percy Jackson characters belong to Rick Riordan. No profit is being made from the publication of this story, and no copyright infringement is in any way intended.
Author's Note: This fic happened rather randomly one night when I was sitting in front of my computer. I hadn't planned on writing any Percy Jackson fanfic before I'd finished reading the entire series, but then this just sort of happened - my take on how the very first encounter between Sally Jackson and Poseidon might have been. So, this is written with me only having read the first book, and I apologize in advance for any out-of-character-ness and inconsistencies with the later books. This is also my first PJ fanfic, so any reviews and con-crit are very much appreciated.

In the beauty of the ending day a young woman sat on a beach watching the never ending dance of the waves upon the shore. She was barefoot. Her shoes, a pair of black, sensibly high heels stood in the sand next to her, and one of them temporarily held the hair clip that had kept her hair from falling into her face during the funeral.

Now the funeral was over, and her uncle Teddy, at least what remained of him in the physical world, had been safely laid to rest. Sally Jackson was finally all alone.
A soft breeze played with her long hair and dried the tears running down her cheeks. The grief from the funeral had dissipated a little, she had always known that Teddy would die, and lately she had felt so drained from caring for him that, quite frankly, his passing had been something of a relief. She would never admit that, of course. She wasn't the type to complain.

But now she looked out over the ocean and felt sad, contemplating her future. It wasn't looking too good; she was a high school drop out with no family, no connections, and no real prospects.

She sighed, and looked around the beach where she was sitting. It was dusk, and it was pretty quiet, just the way she liked it. There was a couple out walking their dogs, and she could see a father and his son flying a kite in the evening breeze some distance away, but other than that…
Her eyes wandered from one end of the beach to the other and back, and suddenly a man she could not remember having seen before caught her eye.

She blinked, perplexed that she hadn't noticed him before, especially since he was not the kind of man to go unnoticed. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with black hair and tan skin, and even from a distance Sally could tell that he was a very attractive man. But there was something else that intrigued her too, apart from his looks, and that was the fact that he seemed to have walked straight out of the ocean. She could have sworn that he was dripping wet one moment and dry the next.

No, Sally thought to herself, that wasn't possible. She must have just missed him the first time her glance swept over the beach. It was getting dark, and her eyes were playing tricks on her, that was all. But oddly enough her mind didn't seem to settle for that explanation.

He was walking towards her now, and even though she tried to ignore him, she couldn't help but stare. Age-wise he looked to be in his mid-thirties, and he was dressed casually in dark blue shorts and a short-sleeved, white shirt with blue leaves printed on it. As she was watching him, she noticed something else, he was carrying something…something that looked remarkably like a…trident?

She blinked again, hard, trying to force her eyes to focus, convinced that she had to be seeing things that weren't there. Because Sally Jackson had seen some strange things in her life, but nothing like this; never a man walking around with a spear as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She opened her eyes again, and there was no denying it now – the man was definitely carrying a trident. When she realized that she really was seeing what she thought she couldn't help but chuckle, and mumbled to herself;

"What are you fishing for…?"

Then, as he passed her, she smiled and shook her head slightly, looking out over the sea again. It was actually a little funny, now that she thought about it. Because…really, what was a guy doing walking around with a trident?

Only after a minute or so did it start to feel like someone was watching her, and when she looked around again she saw, to her horror, that the man had frozen in his steps a few paces away and was now looking wonderingly at her.

Their eyes met, and Sally found that she could not bring herself to look away, even if her heart was pounding furiously in her chest as he slowly changed direction and approached her.

Up close he seemed even more impressive than he had done from a distance. Not only attractive, but powerful in a way she had never come across before. For the briefest of moments she was genuinely afraid, because his eyes seemed to flash with a force so strong it could rival the strongest and most forceful of waves, but then his eyes seemed to soften and she saw that they were the most striking, brilliant shade of green you could imagine. Involuntarily she thought that those were eyes she could easily get lost in.

"Did you say something?"

His voice when he spoke was pleasant, even a little hypnotic, but that too carried a hidden force, like it could just as easily sound like water crashing upon rocks.

"N-no…" Sally managed to stutter, before managing to retain some control of her own voice and adding;

"No…" She hesitated, and she saw that her answer didn't seem to please him. Thinking for a second that she might be in the process of doing something incredibly stupid, she decided to say what was really on her mind, and finished with;

"I was just wondering what you were planning to catch with that thing…"

She noticed, to her own annoyance that her voice trembled slightly as she finished the sentence. To clarify what she meant, she nodded towards the trident in his hand.

There was a pause, and Sally wondered if she should think about some kind of get-away plan, but then the stranger spoke, and for some reason his voice sounded genuinely surprised.

"You can see this?" He asked, gesturing slightly towards the three-pronged spear in his hand.

She shrugged, and dared to let a hint of a smile cross her lips as she replied;

"It's kind of hard to miss, don't you think?"

At this he smiled, and his eyes seemed to shimmer in the waning daylight. Without invitation he sat down in the sand beside her, and asked;

"What's your name?"

It was a simple enough question, but that didn't mean she was prepared for it, and for a moment she contemplated lying. After all, she had no idea who this man was or what his intentions were, but in the end she went with the truth and said quietly;

"Sally… Sally Jackson."

When she uttered her name he smiled again, suddenly seeming very pleased, and she couldn't help but notice how much nearer he seemed. The feeling of power was still there, but it seemed to be stilled by something else now, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on, but something that threatened to draw her in and consume her… And it felt so warm, so comforting and so pleasant that she thought that she would not mind much if it did.

"Well, Sally Jackson…" she heard his voice say,

"What else can you see?"