4 am

by Souma Sumire

Spoiler Warning: 'Heroes of Olympus' fanfic published in this category due to lack of corresponding category. The war against Gaia is over and Percy and Annabeth are back at home for the school year. Everything goes mostly smoothly most of the time but when it comes time for these kids to rest and wander the world of dreams and nightmares is when Paul faces his trial as a parent.

Paul was just about to doze off when he heard her scream. It had been 3 months since Percy and Annabeth had come back from the fight with Gaia but nightmares about their time in Tartarus still hit them, hard. They had taken to spending each night together, in either of their houses so that they could be there for each other the most. But that wasn't enough, sometimes, they needed someone to remind them that they are no longer in Tartarus. This responsibility was taken up by the parents.

He checked the clock as he went over to her. 4am. It had barely been an hour since she last woke up. Again, Paul thought about how much these kids had been through. When sally had told him about the Greek gods, he hadn't believed her until Percy and Nico had brought Mrs. O'Leary in the house, not really. Once he saw proof, he tried to understand them, asked them to share as many details as they could bear to. As a result, he knew about the various deaths in the Titan War and how they had affected Percy. But that was nothing compared to this. He had never seen them so… broken.

By the time he reached her, Percy was already awake. He tried to calm her down but she inched away from him. This was the worst. Neither of them had really spoken about the incident but over time he had gathered that Percy had lost control down there and done something that seriously scared her and himself.

Paul grabbed Annabeth by the shoulders and turned her to face him. Had there been even a pencil in her reach, Paul knew, this would have earned him its point to his throat. "Look at me, Annabeth. Who am I? I am Paul, a mortal. There's no way I could be in Tartarus, right? You're at home, at our apartment in Upper East Side. You are safe."

He put a special emphasis on the words 'home' and 'safe'. Slowly, she calmed down. He turned to Percy, "Are you okay?" Percy nodded, mutely. "Both of you, go back to sleep. You've woken thrice tonight already. It's still 4am. You need more sleep." They tried to argue but he shut them down, "You. Need. More. Sleep." Finally, they agreed.

As he went back to his desk, Paul looked at them. Clutching onto each other tightly enough to leave marks on their skin, huddled under the thickest blanket they had, electric light streaming in the room, not leaving a single spot dark.

He knew the memories and their effects would never leave them, but he wondered how long it would take them to have a good night's sleep. It won't be soon.