Disclaimer: Not Rick Riordan, I don't own them.

Chapter II: The Fighting Sailor

PERCY

Percy sat talking with his mom, trying to catch up on everything he'd missed in the last six months. (Six months deterrence patrols sucked. Why couldn't patrols be shorter? Or, you know, just make a single port call? It sucked being away from family so long, and Family Grams- six fifty word messages from family or loved ones- only went so far.) Thalia had left about ten minutes ago, after a few minutes of catching up. It was good to see his cousin again, even if they weren't the closest. He was closest with Nico, his other cousin, who served as his Weapons Officer, called Weps, the man responsible for maintenance and storage of the tools that made his boat the most dangerous vessel in the world. But Nico was still over at Bangor, electing to sleep on his first night back rather than see loved ones.

"So Mom, who's the new girl?"

Sally raised an eyebrow. "You mean the one you nearly steamrolled a few minutes ago?" She replied archly.

"Yes Mom, that one," Percy said exasperatedly.

"Her name is Annabeth. She's a graduate architecture student at UW. Why?"

"She's cute, that's all. Though her grey eyes did look like they were planning how to kill me."

"Yeah, she can do that. She might have also been reacting to you, Percy."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you didn't tell me you were coming tonight, so I thought we were done for the night. Between startling her and your aura, she probably registered you as a threat. We've talked about you needing to soften your image."

"Yes, we have talked about it. And I've tried. It's hard when I'm not aware of it."

"I know. But you need to keep trying, okay? Now, I want to hear about this patrol."

"Mom, you know I can't talk about it."

"C'mon, I'm your mom. The Navy won't kill you for telling me something. Not everything is classified."

"The patrol went fine. Nico wouldn't stop whining about being bored. Leo- remember him Mom, the little Latino kid, curly hair, not sure how he got a clearance, always lighting things on fire?"

"I remember he had something to do with the reactor, right? Enn-jooo?"

"Enge, Mom, but yes. He's my Engineering Officer. He nearly burnt down the Chief's Mess- not sure how he got in there, or what he was doing in there, either- when he tried to jury rig a radio from some spare parts one of the machinist's mates found."

"Why is it remarkable he was in the Chief's Mess again?"

"He's not a Chief, he shouldn't have been in the goat locker. It's not allowed without an invitation. Besides, it was also the choice to try to jury rig a radio in there that was weird. It was just kind of random. And of course Reyna- you know, Captain of the Gold Crew?- She wouldn't stop bitching about 'all these damn smurfs, always leaving my ship all fucked up for me' all because one of her Chiefs told her it still smells a bit like smoke in there."

Sally, with tears of mirth streaming down her face, choked out, "She calls you smurfs because you're the Blue Crew!"

Percy merely shook his head at this as his mother once more dissolved in her laughter.

"C'mon, Mom, if you want me to help open tomorrow we'd better get home," Percy sad as he took his mother's arm and used it to guide her up.

Percy slept for a long time, which meant for him that after going to bed at midnight he rose at eight. (Fuck, I wanted to be up fifteen minutes ago so I could make a big breakfast for Mom and I…. Oh well, I'll just make something fast.)

Percy rolled out of his bed in the spare room of his Mom's apartment and stood up. He raced thru his morning routine, his shower still as short as when he was at sea; no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to bring himself to take a longer shower. After his shower, he shaved, yet another habit he couldn't break when he didn't need to.

Once Percy was dressed in a graphic tee and a pair of blue jeans, he went to the kitchen (8:10. Good. I have 20 minutes to make breakfast, 15 to eat, and 15 to get to the cafe.) and made himself a quick breakfast. His mom walked in about five minutes after him, and helped him cook. They ate quickly, scrapped the dishes in the sink, and left.

They had arrived at the cafe with a minute to spare before the nine o'clock opening time to find a very irate Thalia and Annabeth, though the latter had one of her textbooks open and was very intently working on something. She didn't bat an eye when Sally opened up the cafe, she was so absorbed. Percy, realizing they needed her to be doing her job, took it upon himself to get her attention.

He walked up next to her, and put his mouth right next to her ear (Jesus, she didn't even bat an eyelid. Does this girl notice anything?) and said, "Hey, Book Brain, you gonna join us or sit here all day?"

Annabeth jerked away, startled, her eyes wide and frantic. (Maybe she was more easily startled than she appeared… Oops. She clearly wasn't a fan of being surprised.) When she spotted him, her eyes narrowed and blazed with anger. (Fuck, dying wasn't on my list of things to do today… It looks a touch unavoidable, now.)

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Nothing at all, ma'am. Nothing at all," Percy replied with an arrogant smirk, "Just wondering if the fair lady intends to do her job today."

She looked a little sheepish as she glanced around and realized that Sally and Thalia were already bustling around, getting things set up. They were lucky it was a slow morning, since elsewise they'd never had made up for the late start.

When she turned back to him, Percy was sure she was going to kill him. But her expression softened, and she seemed a bit humiliated. (Perhaps I was overly harsh…) Yet when she spoke, her voice was still tinged with a bitter steel.

"And who are you to know, much less say anything?"

"Ah, introductions. I probably should have led with those, shouldn't I've? I am Commander Perseus Jackson of the United States Navy, and rightful heir of this here establishment, at your service," Percy said, starting off somewhat serious but rapidly striking a ludicrous pose, trying to evoke the image of British aristocracy. Annabeth smiled and giggled, though Percy couldn't help but note that she didn't seem to want to.

At her continued silence, he asked, "And who might you be, fair maiden?"

"Annabeth Chase, Princess of Seattle and heiress to student debt."

"You know, you kind of look like one, with the way your curls frame your face. But I was being serious. Sally's my mom, and I'm a commander in the US Navy. What do you actually do, other than work here and lie to strangers about being a princess?"

"Who says I was lying?"

"Um, the fact that the US has no royalty structures."

"Touche. I study architecture at UW."

"See, was that so hard? But we should probably get going, preferably before my mother kills me."

"Somehow I doubt she'd do that. She seems to adore you," Annabeth said as she stood.

"She's my mother, she's kind of supposed too, isn't she?"

Percy turned and walked off to give his mom a hand, Annabeth rising and going to take the order of a customer who had just walked in.

"So what do you do, Halsey?"

Annabeth's melodic voice interrupted his dishwashing reverie. He glanced down at his watch, which read 1504.

"Hit hard, hit fast, hit often," Percy replied using a quote from the famed admiral.

"Humorous, Bull, but not useful," Annabeth retorted. Percy chuckled at her use of the admiral's nickname in the press.

"I'm a missile submarine captain. Missile subs have two crews, Blue and Gold. I'm Blue Crew Captain for the USS Kentucky. My counterpart is one of the only female submarine captains out there. She calls us the Smurfs, and naturally, I'm Captain of the Smurfs."

"So what does that mean?"

"Which bit?"

"Well, kind of all of it. I mean, I know what a missile is, obviously, and I know what a submarine is, but what is a missile submarine? What does that mean?" Annabeth asked.

"A missile submarine is just that, a submarine armed with ballistic missiles. We're a nuclear deterrence force. We put to sea for six months at a time and vanish. We're bigger than attack submarines, which hunt enemy ships and subs. Our job is to make sure our enemies don't launch nuclear missiles at us, and if necessary use force to prevent such an event," Percy responded, passing Annabeth a plate to put away.

"So where do you go?"

"Twenty thousand leagues under the sea," Percy smiled grimly.

Annabeth laughed and smacked him.

"No, really. Do you just-"

Annabeth cowed at the look Percy gave her.

"We vanish. We cease to exist for six months, as far as you're concerned. My ship doesn't exist. I do not exist. Do you understand?" Percy responded curtly, the danger evident in his voice.

Percy watched as Annabeth's face mutinied, the pain, curiosity and pride all at war with each other. (Fuck, that was too harsh. Okay, time to backpedal…)

Percy shut off the water and turned to face Annabeth properly, taking her hands in his leathery, calloused ones.

"Annabeth, look at me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. You're naturally inquisitive; that much is clear. I should have just been upfront that I can't talk about it rather than made a joke, okay? I'm sorry. Now please, take a deep breath or two before you decide to punch me, okay?" Percy said, trying to prevent the tears of rage and hurt from spilling out of those stormy grey eyes. She looked at him with those huge eyes, blinking the tears away, and then shivered.

"Hey, Wise Girl, now that you're not going to punch me- or at least I don't think you're about to punch me anymore- could I ask a question?"

Annabeth took her hands back and picked up the last plate, examining it before answering.

"Yeah?"

"What time did your shift end? Because I'm pretty sure you were supposed to leave like fifteen minutes ago."

"Yeah, well, I needed the hours, and so I decided to stay later. Have you met your mom? She's not exactly strict about hours."

At that, Percy laughed.

"Of course she isn't. What did you take her for, a prison warden?"

She just gently smacked him in reply.

Hours later, as Percy was helping his mom close down for the night, he found himself thinking of the beautiful blonde, and wondering how he already felt so close to her- closer than anyone outside his crew or his mom- in just about a day. Uncharacteristically, he didn't notice his mother's tiny smirk.

A/N: So, before you crucify me for the tears of rage thing, remember Percy's insanely good at reading people. Also, if you think Percy's too rule bound, don't worry, he gets less so. But Percy seems to break rules and act impulsively for a good reason (other than the Medusa head incident, which no one can justify, every time he does something against the rules I can think of his rationale.) Thanks for reading, and please review.

Very respectfully,

Charles Basilone