Lisa sat quietly at the kitchen bench. She watched as her dad meticulously poured pancake batter onto the pan, his arm stretching out to the bag of chocolate chips and sprinkling a few into the circular concoction before it hardened too much.

"Why do you do it like that?" She queried curiously. Her dad had always done it that one way, pancake batter, then chocolate. He'd done it that way since she could remember and she'd always been taught that way. "I'm just- I only noticed now, but Milly's mum does it differently." Lisa placed her fork down and gesticulated as she talked.

"She'll mix the chocolate into the batter and then put it all into the pan together," Lisa explained, watching as her dad made a second pancake. She watched as he flipped one of the readied ones before placing another on to cook before turning to his daughter.

"I do it this way, because my mum taught me how to do it like this."

Oh. Lisa thought dumbly. Her father never really liked talking about his parents, neither of her parents did, because it was always a real mood killer when they were brought up. Lisa looked at her father, his expression light and happy. A small, concentrated smile on his face as he cooked away. She looked at his arms and not for the first time, found herself looking at his tattoo.

The dark ink. The markings. She quite liked the idea of getting a tattoo, they all looked super cool, and the ones you get from the Legion all had cool designs. Dads was a trident with his 12 service years marked in tallies, the standard SPQR branded just above it. Mum's was a torch and sword crossed over each other with 10 service years - something about her taking medical leave for ages.

"Hey dad," she asked again, and Percy flicked a look and response over his shoulder. "Could I join the Legion?" He froze, and Lisa coughed out an awkward laugh as he turned off the stove and turned slowly, his face set in the most expressionless look she'd ever seen him have.

"What? It's just the Legion, you and mum were in it for ages… so I thought I'd-" he cut her off.

"Did you get a letter asking for admittance?" He asked quietly. Lisa blinked in confusion at him.

"What the heck is that? I just looked at your tattoo," she motioned to it with her fork before shoving the pancake, bacon combo in her mouth and chewing. "Is it wrong for me to want to join the Legion?" Lisa placed a hand at her chin in thought. "It's kinda like joining the army, just… for us, right?"

"Do you want to join the Legion? Or do you feel you need to?" Lisa swallowed nervously as her dad looked at her with that same, neutral expression.

"Dad you're kinda scaring me," she sat up straighter. "What's wrong with me joining the Legion?"

"You shouldn't need to, first of all." His face slowly morphed into a scowl that had her shivering, even if it wasn't directed at her, as he paced the kitchen.

"If either of- oh gods, what're their names now?" He looked away and rubbed at his brow. "It doesn't matter. If either of those dipshit Praetors-" Lisa squeaked at the curse, "-sends you a letter asking for admittance you tell them to fuck off." He looked directly at her as he finished.

"Better yet, you give me the letters, and I'll tell them to fuck off. Understood?" She nodded slowly. Noticing her scared look, Percy reached across the table and gripped her hand softly.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "That was rather harsh wasn't it?" Lisa affirmed his question.

"I just- what if there's another war? What if they need help or something?" Lisa suddenly spoke, Percy glanced up at her. "You and mum, and Uncle Jason and Aunt Piper and Uncle Nico," she listed off their close relatives and friends. "You guys are all they talk about! They talk about you all like you're heroes and I-" She stopped, looking down at her empty plate, feeling suddenly a little silly,

"Go ahead," said her father in that gentle voice he reserved just for her.

"I don't know," she admitted uncomfortably, scratching behind her ear. "Sometimes I feel like I'm not living up to your standards." She looked down. "I just wanted to be a daughter you could be proud of."

She had never seen the expression that settled on her father's face before, it was as though she had just punched him in the chest, and told him that Mrs. O had died at the same time,

"Hey," Percy whispered as he swiftly made his way around the marble bench. "I am proud of you, don't you dare let anyone tell you otherwise." He spoke as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I've been proud of you since the day you were born, and nothing will ever change that." He rubbed at her back as he hugged her. "And so what if they need help? They can ask Jason, or Frank, or Hazel. If they tried us, they'd ask Reyna or me, before they came to you." He tilted her head up to look at him.

"And there won't ever be another war that you'll ever have to fight in. I made sure of that before I left, and I'll damn well make sure it stays that way." He hugged her back into his chest. "I don't want you to be a demigod Lisa, because you'll never need to be a demigod. It sucks, and it's hard, and it's dangerous, and so many things could go wrong, and I love you too much to ever put you in that kind of situation." Percy took a deep breath.

"I don't ever want you to have to be the people we were, because in the end the only heroes that there are, are the ones we have to bury." He placed a kiss on her head. "And I don't ever want to have to bury my kids."

They sat in a comfortable silence as they embraced before Lisa spoke again.

"Could I still get a tattoo?"

"Oh. My gods. I swear to all that is holy child." Percy sighed as he stood from the seat. Lisa immediately picked up her phone.

"No! Like, okay look at this." She scrolled through to find her photo album, Percy had already crossed to the kitchen and started up the stove again.

"Here! This is cute right?" She showed him the screen, a small rose with the stem wrapped around a sword. Not too big, kind of interesting, could be explained as some sort of weird art concept. Percy hummed in thought before sliding some more pancakes onto her plate.

"I'll think about it." He decided.

"Yes!"

"You still have to convince your mother."

"Oh come on!"