Here's the next chapter! I'm trying to get as many up as possible before school starts next week.
Disclaimer: Rick Riordon owns Percy Jackson and the rest of the characters in PJO and HoO. :)
Enjoy!
Paul was in the kitchen, "helping" Sally cook. In reality, he was just stirring, while she added the ingredients and, pretty much, did everything else. Jason and Piper, friends of Percy and Annabeth, were coming over for dinner that night.
Percy wanted it to be a surprise, so Annabeth didn't know about it, and she was a little suspicious with all the preparations. Sally had convinced her, or at least tried to, that it was just a little family celebration of Valentine's day, which was the next day, since Paul and she were going out to dinner separate from Percy and her, but Paul wasn't sure if it'd worked or not. Being the daughter of Athena, surprising Annabeth was a difficult thing to do. Sally had managed to convince her that there was nothing she could do to help, so the girl had gone to find Percy instead.
Just then, Percy walked into the kitchen, and asked if they needed any help. "They should be here in half an hour," he said quietly.
"Where's Annabeth?" Sally asked in the same hushed tone.
"My room," Percy answered, "Doing homework that's probably not due for another month." Paul chuckled. Yeah, that sounded like Annabeth.
"You can set the table," Sally told him. Percy nodded and set to work. The next twenty five minutes were spent finishing cooking the food and placing it decoratively on the table. Percy was sent to get Annabeth for "dinner," which wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth.
She showed up a few minutes later, as Sally was placing the last of the food on the table, and Paul was finishing up washing the pots used to cook. Percy was behind her. Thankfully, there was a knock at the door, just as she walked in, keeping her from noticing the extra two places at the table. Annabeth narrowed her eyes.
"Are you expecting someone?" she asked, looking at Sally, and then at Paul.
"Not that I know of," Sally answered, with a perplexed expression. Paul was amazed at how well she could act. He'd been an actor in college, and she still had him beat! He supposed all those years of having to make up stories before Percy had learned the truth had paid off for something after all.
"It's probably just another one of these door to door salesmen," Paul added, turning from the sink to look at Annabeth, totally poker faced.
"Would you mind getting it, Annabeth?" Sally asked, "Tell them we're not interested."
"Um, okay," Annabeth replied slowly, still not totally buying it. She turned and found Percy standing in the hallway behind her. "What do you say, Mr. Two Time Hero of Olympus, want to save me from the annoying door to door salesman and answer the door for me?" she asked, smiling sweetly.
Percy smirked at her. "First of all, you're a two time hero of Olympus too, and second, no, I'll let you handle him. You're scarier than me," he replied smoothly.
"And don't you forget it," Annabeth replied, smiling. She glanced at the door and sighed, smile gone, "Fine," she groaned, and walked to the door. Paul heard the door open, and someone gasped, Annabeth, he assumed. "What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised,with a smile in her voice.
He finished washing the last of the pots and pans, and headed into the hallway. Sally came with him. Paul turned to see Annabeth hugging a teenage girl, around sixteen, with long, choppy brown hair and kaleidoscopic eyes. Jason stood in the doorway, smiling.
"Standing at the front door all night, apparently," Jason answered Annabeth's question sarcastically, "Thought no one was home for a min- Ow!" He was cut short the brown haired girl, Piper, Paul guessed, pulled away from Annabeth and smacked him in the arm.
She turned back around and gave Percy a hug. She pulled away and smiled at Paul and Sally. "Hi," she said lightly, "I'm Piper McLean. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Blowfis."
Sally smiled warmly. "Please," she said, "Call me Sally. This is my husband, Paul," she said, gesturing to him. Paul smiled at the girl. Jason came up behind her.
"I'm Jason," he said, "Nice to meet you Mrs. Bl- Sally." Jason corrected himself when Sally made a face at him. Jason turned to Paul. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Blofis," He said, shaking his head.
"Call me Paul," Paul said with a smile.
After introductions were over with, Sally led everyone into the kitchen for dinner. Everyone took their seats, Paul next to Sally, Percy next to Annabeth, Jason next to Piper.
"So," Annabeth asked, after the initial introductions and 'My godly parent is...,' "How long have you guys been planning this?" She was asking everyone, but she was looking at Percy.
Percy blinked. Uh oh. Sally and Annabeth didn't know about their trip to the mall for Valentine's Day gifts yesterday. Paul tried to stay casual, but he was desperately hoping Percy came up with something believable.
"Uh, well I IMed Jason the other day, and he told me that he and Piper were in New York, so I thought it'd be fun for them to come for dinner. You hadn't seen them since the quest, and I figured I'd surprise you," Percy replied. Paul was glad he sounded so calm and collected. Maybe this would work after all. Annabeth studied her boyfriend for a second, before turning to Piper. She didn't look entirely convinced, but she'd apparently, thank the gods, decided not to press the issue.
"So how long are you in New York for?" Annabeth asked the daughter of Aphrodite. Paul noticed Jason also looked relieved. That'd been a close call for all three of them.
"Well," Piper answered, "My dad's filming a scene for a new movie here. We were only supposed to be here for two weeks, but that was almost a month ago."
"You've been here for almost a month, and you didn't stop by once?" Annabeth demanded.
Piper hesitated. "Well," she answered after a moment, "I wanted to, I just wasn't sure if you were… you know, if you were up for visitors. Cause, you know, last time we saw you…" she trailed off awkwardly. Percy and Annabeth both looked down, then at each other.
"I guess we were pretty scary looking the last time…" Percy offered, looking at Annabeth. There was awkward silence for a minute.
As terrible as it was, Paul couldn't really blame Piper. He'd seen Percy and Annabeth just days after they'd returned from Greece, from Tartarus, and he'd been scared at the sight of them too. Thinking back to six months ago, and looking at them now, it was like the two were totally different people. The improvement was almost hard to believe, but the thought made Paul feel better. They had come so far over the last few months.
Annabeth nodded slowly, like she, too, was thinking about that horrible time, not that long ago. "Yeah," she answered, "It's okay, Piper. It is good to see you, though."
Piper smiled at her friend, looking relieved. "You too. I'm sorry, Annabeth. Jason told me when he'd seen Percy at camp a few months ago, that he'd looked pretty terrible, no offense, Percy, so I just assumed you needed some more time…"
"Gee, thanks, Jason," Percy said, jokingly.
Jason shrugged nonchalantly, "Sorry, man, it was the truth," he replied, grinning.
Percy shrugged and grinned back. "Probably," he replied. Annabeth just smacked him playfully.
"Wait, if you've been here for a month, aren't you missing school?" Annabeth asked Piper.
"No," Piper replied, "I actually got kicked out of the one I started in at the beginning of the year, monster attack, don't ask, so I've been home schooled since then. Mellie is a surprisingly good teacher." She smiled at the last part.
"Mellie's a wind spirit," Percy explained to his parents, who had been looking at each other with confused expressions, "She became Mr. McLean's assistant after the old one turned out to be working for Medea, who had came back through the Doors of Death, last December. She's Coach Hedge's girlfriend."
Jason looked surprised. "How do you know that?" he asked.
"Leo," Percy answered simply. Paul had heard all about that son of Hephaestus.
"Figures," replied Jason. The demigods laughed. Paul and Sally, who had finished their food, decided to leave the friends to catch up with each other. They sat in the living room. Sally pulled out her laptop and was typing away, probably writing more of the novel she hoped to finish and have published one day. Paul pulled out some tests that needed grading from his English class. He corrected a few, but got bored pretty quickly. The conversation taking place in the kitchen was much more interesting.
"So, Jason," Percy was asking, "How are things at Camp Jupiter?"
"They're good, I guess. Pretty much the same as always. Julia keeps asking about you, though," Paul heard Jason reply.
"Who's Julia?" Annabeth asked. Paul was wondering this too. He thought he could detect a bit of jealousy in the Daughter of Athena's guarded voice.
"She's this little six year old legacy who lives in New Rome. She helps Terminus guard the city." Percy explained, "Don't worry, Annabeth; I'm all yours."
"She says she wants to be Percy Jackson when she's older," Jason added, a smile evident in his voice.
"She wants to be you?" Annabeth asked, obviously to Percy, "Gods help her." They all laughed, Paul chuckling along with them.
"Hey!" Percy protested.
"You know, Percy," Jason said after the laughter died down, "Technically, you're still praetor. I don't know how that works, being there's three now, but you were elected, and it's kind of a permanent thing. You're a hero to the Romans, especially the fifth cohort."
Paul could almost see Percy shrugging. "It's not a big deal. It wasn't my idea to become leader or anything. It just, sort of, happened that way."
Paul smirked. That was Percy for you. He didn't seek power, even though he had it. He didn't try to be a leader, even though he naturally was. He didn't like attention, even though he got it. He just wanted to be like everyone else, even though he wasn't. Percy was one of the most powerful demigods ever, and yet, he didn't flaunt it. He put others before himself, and was loyal beyond belief. Paul had never been to camp and he didn't interact much with the demigod world, but, from the little experience he did have with it, Paul knew that much and it was one of his favorite things about his stepson.
"I know," Jason answered, "My point though, is that people ask about you a lot. They count you as a Roman, even if you're Greek, the same way it is for me at Camp Half Blood. You should visit sometime."
"Octavian would love that," Piper said sarcastically.
Percy snorted. "Well, in that case, maybe I will," he said, and the four laughed again.
"But Annabeth has to come too," Percy added.
"No, Percy," Annabeth told him, "The Romans don't really like me, the whole Athena/Minerva maiden goddess thing. It's okay."
"I don't think it'd be a problem," Jason said. "After all, Annabeth, you found the Athena Parthenos. That has to count for something. Besides, like I said, Percy's still a praetor. If he brings you, there's not really anything they can do about it."
"We'll see," Annabeth replied, but she didn't sound very excited about it.
"I think it'd be fun," Percy added, "The war games are great. The fifth cohort kicked some serious butt the last time I was there."
"Hmm, I wonder why." Piper said, a smile in her voice.
The conversation after that was surprisingly normal. Paul graded a few more papers, and almost forgot that the four teenagers talking and laughing in the kitchen were half Greek god. Almost.
A few minutes later, Sally announced that it was time for desert. The demigods placed their dinner plates in the sink, and Sally handed out slices of cake and blue cookies. Paul grabbed a cookie and headed back into the living room. Sally soon joined him.
After another thirty minutes of conversation that consisted of video games, friends at camp, and a rather heated debate about whether sword fighting or knife fighting took more skill, Jason announced that he and Piper should get going.
"I've left Reyna to deal with Octavian long enough," he explained, "And I promised to have Piper back by eight-thirty."
The teenagers made their way into the hall and toward the door. Paul and Sally joined them to say goodbye, which made the hallway pretty crowded, but no one seemed to mind. Annabeth glanced at a clock on the wall, staring at it longer than Paul expected, but then he remembered that, she too, had dyslexia. "Um, Jason?" she asked, "It's eight fifteen now. How are you going to get Piper across town in fifteen minutes?"
Jason just grinned cockily. "Air travel. I can get her there in five."
"Right," Annabeth replied, smiling.
After hugs, handshakes, and goodbyes, Piper and Jason left.
"Air travel?" Paul asked. He'd been wondering about that comment ever since Jason had said it. Surely Jason didn't mean he'd catch a plane to fly across Manhattan.
"Jason can manipulate air currents," Annabeth explained, "He can fly."
"Oh," Paul said, surprised. He hadn't been expecting that. He wondered if the day would come when he'd stop being surprised at these things.
"Son of Jupiter," Percy said, "Though, if you ask me, Poseidon's way cooler." Everyone chuckled. Annabeth smacked Percy on the arm.
"Seaweed Brain," she told him, rolling her eyes and smiling.
Paul smiled wider. Tonight seemed to have been good for the two of them. He'd been concerned that seeing friends from the quest would set back their recovery process, but, looking at them now, Paul realized his worries had been for nothing. If anything, Percy and Annabeth seemed happier than they'd been in a long time.
Since when do I worry so much? He asked himself, but he answered his own question pretty quickly. Since he'd become a husband and a father.
I know, sappy ending, but I couldn't think of anything else! Review!