Are you ready for Poseidon?! :D

It was the middle of the afternoon when Reyna joined her friends in the Jackson's driveway. She found the boys and Annabeth in the middle of a game of HORSE while Will, Piper, and Hazel watched from the sidelines like the most indifferent cheerleaders in the world. 'Play That Funky Music' by Wild Cherry was blaring from the Vista Cruiser's speakers.

Nico's sunglasses were hooked to the collar of his Led Zeppelin T-shirt and his black jeans were burned at the bottom (probably from Leo playing with matches again). Hazel's golden hair was pulled back in a sad attempt to tame her curls and she wore a sunflower yellow blouse with bell bottoms. The two were such polar-opposites and both preferred to act as if the other was not there, thus Hazel pretended not to notice when Nico made a difficult shot from the end of the driveway.

Leo was wearing some grease-stained overalls and an overflowing tool belt hung off a low-hanging branch nearby. His face was covered in black smudges either from playing with fire or fixing cars with his parents. Will was dressed impeccably as always in a crisp sky blue shirt and jeans that looked fresh off the rack from some department store. Reyna could not tell what Will saw in Leo.

Beside them stood a thoughtful Frank whose shirt looked like a kaleidoscope threw up on it. Annabeth stood between Reyna and the Cruiser wearing her usual lumberjack-esque apparel while Percy tried not to swoon over her from a few feet away. Percy's T-shirt was the same color as his eyes and strangely enough the same color as Jason's shirt, too. Reyna wouldn't be surprised in the least if they had planned to dress alike.

Piper was in a designer lavender sundress which she kept fiddling with as if it made her nervous.

Percy barely made a shot from the end of the driveway before moving aside for Leo to attempt the shot. The basketball left Leo's fingertips in slow-motion it seemed and sailed overhead towards the goal before continuing its course over the goal and straight into the garage.

"Damn!" Leo cursed as Percy and Reyna laughed.

Nico snorted. "Well, surprise, surprise. Leo misses another one. I believe that's H-O-R."

Frank nodded sagely. "Ah, you are a whore."

Hazel covered her rapidly reddening face with both of her hands as Will tried to stifle a giggle behind his own hand. Percy and Nico doubled over in a fit of laughter as Frank looked around in confusion. Reyna patted Frank on the shoulder as she chuckled.

"No, man, the game is HORSE," Leo explained quickly.

"Oh," Frank muttered before wandering away to hide in the Jackson's house.

Will hopped off the Vista Cruiser's hood and walked towards his boyfriend. "Okay, Leo, I'm going home. I've got a ton of homework to work on."

The guys stared at Will as if he'd grown a second head. "You do your homework on a Saturday night? What? You going to be a doctor or something?" Percy joked.

Silence followed his questioning as Will looked down in embarrassment.

"Holy Hades, really? Why are you dating this one then?" Hazel asked with a finger pointed at Leo who was attempting to balance a basketball on his nose.

"Bye, Leo!" Will mumbled as he scurried off.

The group watched Will run off. Eventually, Nico turned to face Leo with a look of mock excitement. "Leo, Will does his homework on Saturday night. That's so hip."

Leo rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You guys don't have to worry about Will anymore 'cause I'm breaking up with him."

Annabeth scoffed. "I am so tired of hearing you say that."

"No! I really am breaking up with him!" Leo argued.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? When?"

Leo floundered for a moment before blurting out, 'I'm picking my moment."

Before Nico could make a snarky remark, Percy asked, "Hey where's Frank?"

They all turned to see Frank standing in the Jackson's backyard where he took a shot that went straight in. The gang stared at the basketball goal in utter shock as Frank came back to join them.

"Your turn, Annabeth," Frank said kindly as he handed her the ball.

(***)

The Jackson's were in their kitchen, Percy was eating blueberry waffles while Paul poured his coffee at the kitchen counter. Sally was dancing around the kitchen singing happily along to the radio.

Percy put his fork down when his mother bumped Paul playfully with her hip, he was suddenly suspicious. "Mom, did you quit smoking again?"

A giggle answered him followed by a sing-song voice asking, "And why do you ask, little one?"

"Well, you're kind of talking like Snow White, so I figured…"

Paul regarded him in a stern manner as he sat down across from Percy at the dining room table.

Percy quickly backtracked. "Which is so great! I really want you to quit! I'm so proud!"

"Well, I should have quit a long time ago," Sally agreed as she sat down, still talking with a too-chipper tone. "I'm an adult, I know better. More sausage?"

The phone's ringing cut Percy off before he could answer. Paul stood up to answer the phone. Listening to half the phone call, Percy and Sally could tell that the call was none too pleasant given the crestfallen tone of Paul's voice.

The blueberry waffle in Percy's stomach was threatening to come back up as he realized with absolute certainty that the call was about his biological father. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mother's fingers fidgeting, itching for a cigarette. His real father had just ruined his mother's chances of quitting smoking and he wasn't even physically here.

Paul hung up the phone before quietly walking back to his seat with his head down. "So, that was Poseidon. He made it here a little early and he's going to church with us today."

Tension filled the silent kitchen while that information sank in.

"This is wonderful," Sally said eagerly even though her face said it was anything but wonderful. She quickly jumped up and pulled a ham out of the oven. "I'll need to get some salmon and maybe some shrimp. Because, King Poseidon doesn't like ham!"

With that emotional outburst she threw the ham down on the stove top and stormed out of the kitchen in a teary-eyed blur. Paul rubbed his face and Percy used his fork to poke sullenly at his blueberry waffle.

"I'll call him back and tell him no?" Paul suggested weakly.

"Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul," Percy said his name as if he were a silly child. "Really? He'd probably just show up with his lawyers, ready to take me away, if you told him not to come."

His stepfather sighed resignedly.

Percy ran a hand through his hair out of frustration. He couldn't figure out why his father suddenly wanted him back in his life after all these years. It wasn't like Percy or Sally had any monetary wealth nor were they even remotely famous.

"I'll hang out with Poseidon. That way Mom won't have to deal with him and I can say I at least pretend to give him a chance," Percy suggested instead. "What do you say?"

Sally stormed back into the kitchen with her purse in hand. "Get in the car, we're going to church and we're going to have a damn nice Sunday. You understand?"

Paul scrambled out after his wife as she rushed off to their car.

"Damn," Percy said to the empty kitchen as he stood and followed his parents out.

(***)

Paul and Sally sat in the front seat of their Camaro watching Percy awkwardly greet his biological father in front of the church. Neither wanted to get out and face the old sailor.

"Oh, Paul, I don't think I can do this!" Sally cried.

"Sal, do us all a favor, and light up," Paul replied absently.

She slapped his arm which only caused him to shrug. Eventually, Paul managed to convince Sally to get of the car and confront her ex-boyfriend. The walk up to the church was longer than normal due to how many times Sally almost turned back.

When they arrived they find Percy and Poseidon in the midst of an intense argument. From what the two could gather, Poseidon had fought in the Vietnam war and now father and son were in disagreement over whether that war in particular had been a spectacular waste of time or not.

"It was a complete waste of time to send American troops over there to fight a war that was none of our business," Percy was arguing animatedly. "I could understand World War II, Hitler was threatening the world and they attacked us. I can agree that America should have joined that war, but the freaking Vietnam War? Please!"

Paul laughed nervously as he tried to defuse the situation before anything bad happened. "So, Poseidon, nice to meet you. I'm Paul Jackson, Percy's stepfather."

It took a second but eventually Poseidon's anger subsided and he turned his attention to his ex-girlfriend and her husband. "Yes, it's a pleasure," he answered, sounding more like it was torture. He gestured towards Paul's Camaro. "Is that a Camaro? I hate those cars. You know, I just really hate those cars." Paul and Percy shared a look. "I have a Lincoln. Now, that is a beautiful car. But it's probably too expensive for you."

Percy rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that his biological father was such a dillhole.

"So, Sally," Poseidon continued on with a slight chuckle. "I hear you quit smoking?"

Sally eyed him warily as she nodded.

"That's good, the kid's really proud of you," Poseidon said, too casually.

Then, it hit Percy like a flying sea-cow, his biological father still loved his mother. As that realization sunk in, all Percy wanted was to find Annabeth and freak out. Instead, he followed the three adults into the church just as service was starting.

"In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, amen," Pastor Chiron said towards the end of church. "Please stand for a moment of silent meditation."

Dear God, Sally thought, thank you for helping me quit such a filthy, disgusting, soothing, delicious habit. Oh, I can't do this. No, no! I'm fine! Amen.

Paul looked up a little as he thought, Dear Lord, would it kill you to give the Yankees a winning season? Amen. Oh, and, uh, don't let Poseidon take Percy from us.

Dear God, I don't mean to bother you on your day off, but, I promised to help out with my estranged father, but I have a term paper due tomorrow. So, if you could either, get him out of my life again or burn down the school tomorrow… I mean, either/or! God's choice. It'd really help me out, man. God. Lord. Percy shook his head, he was being stupid again. Amen.

Poseidon glanced around and spotted his brother in a pew behind him, glaring. He smiled and gave him a little wave which was ignored. He bowed his head again. Dear God, help me figure out what I'm actually doing here.

(***)

In Percy's basement, Nico was sitting in his favorite chair while Leo and Annabeth sat on the couch with Will sitting on the arm of the chair between Leo and Nico. Jason sat in front of Piper who was seated in the lawn chair. Frank was scooting a tricycle back and forth near the television.

A TV host announced, "Welcome to worship for shut-ins."

"Change it," Leo ordered.

Frank scooted closer to the TV and changed the channel.

The sound of a bowling ball hitting pins came from the television then.

"Ugh, change that," Nico grumbled.

Frank changed the channel again.

Annabeth pursed her lips together in thought. "How did we change channels before Frank?"

Jason looked up in thought. "Um, I don't think we ever did."

Percy came down the stairs before coming to a halt on the landing. "Oh, you guys. I gotta work on my term paper."

"Where's dear old dad?" Jason asked warily.

"He and Reyna are arguing about the best war strategies of history, so I've got about, like, an hour, two hours tops?" Percy explained.

Annabeth slid over for Percy to sit between her and Leo on the couch. He plopped down and opened his notebook. Flipping through the pages, he finally found the one he was looking for.

"What's the assignment?" Annabeth asked.

Percy read through the information he'd written down. "Alright. In a thousand words, describe the three branches of the United States government, and their functions. I'll never make it."

Piper spoke up, "Well, go up and tell them you have homework to do."

"No, I need to keep peace in the family," Percy explained in frustration.

"Yeah, Piper," Nico said, "Jackson wants the Hallmark card family."

Percy grumbled. "Kind of late for that. Never heard of a Hallmark card family with a stepdad, a mom, a whore of a sister, and an estranged father."

"No, no, just imagine," Nico said. "Father comes over…"

**Sally, Paul, Poseidon, and Percy were standing in the standard Hallmark card family pose. As they spoke, Nico's voice came out instead of their normal voices.

"To my dear husband this beautiful Sunday," Sally said cheerfully to Paul. "Your smiling face, your kind embrace, have made my home a happy place!"

Poseidon happily told Paul, "And I'm so happy you're the one, who raised my loving son."

"And I'm so happy, you're all happy," Percy said delightedly. "'Cause otherwise, life would be crappy."**

A pencil was hurled towards NIco which he easily dodged. Percy grumbled, "I don't want him here at all."

"Yeah, you do," Leo snickered.

Nico nodded knowingly. "But the reality of it, is this…"

**The family was standing in the same pose as before but this time they were all glaring at Poseidon.

"To this jerk, you took my son," Poseidon accused Paul.

Sally complained to Poseidon, "You wrecked my life."

"You missed my youth," Percy grumbled to Poseidon.

"You hurt my wife," Paul criticized.

Paul argued, "I'm trying to fix this, that's the truth."

"That's a joke," Percy grouched.

"I'm going out," Paul griped.

"I need a smoke!" Sally cried.**

Percy picked up a knickknack he found on the table in front of him and threw it at Nico who dodged it again.

"Damn it, Percy," Reyna grumbled as she came down the stairs. "Quit hiding from your father. He's looking for you."

"I thought you two were debating!" Percy said incredulously.

Reyna shrugged. "Eh, he agreed with me."

Annabeth grabbed Percy's notebook, "Look, you go take care of your father, we can handle this."

He sighed as he headed back upstairs.

"How many words does he have?" Jason asked as he sat up.

Annabeth counted the words. "Name, date, class. So, seven."

Nico whistled. "He's screwed."

She nodded in agreement.

With a snap of his fingers, Leo recommended, "Use his middle name!"

"See, this would never have happened if he did his homework on Saturday," Will said.

Nico groaned. "Save it." Then, to Leo, he added, "This is a moment. Pick it!"

"I think you all could learn something from me right now," Will stated.

"Moment number two," Nico said in exasperation.

Leo nodded in understanding. "Hey, Will, we need to talk."

He stood up to confront him before Will clapped his hands excitedly. "Oh! I did this same paper last year in History. I got an A. I'll go home and get it!"

Leo tried to stop his boyfriend but Annabeth stopped him with a vice-like grip on his forearm. Once Will ran out of the basement, she released the latino.

"Don't break up with him until after we get that paper! Understood?" Annabeth said in earnest.

He nodded in understanding as he sat down again.

"Hey, what do we need Will for, man? I know more about this stuff than he does. The three true branches of the government: military, corporate, and Hollywood. I need a pencil. I got it, I got it," Nico declared, motioning for someone to hand him a pencil.

(***)

Percy sat across the table from his father with his mother between them. Paul had disappeared to the garage a long while ago. Poseidon was drumming his fingers on the table as Sally resisted the urge to run outside and light up.

"I hope you're hungry, the salmon will be done soon," Sally said uncomfortably.

Poseidon smiled kindly. "I'm sure it'll be delicious."

"Oh, joy," Percy muttered. "So, Poseidon, what did you think of the service this morning?"

The sliding door opened as Paul came back inside. Paul and Poseidon regarded each other warily for a second. Poseidon slowly turned to face his son, again to answer his question.

"Well, I think the pastor talked too much about forgiveness," Sally answered instead. "Some people shouldn't be forgiven."

Percy nearly choked as the water he'd been drinking went down the wrong pipe. Poseidon jerked back as if he'd been slapped. Even, Paul stared at his wife in shock and awe.

"I don't need forgiveness," Poseidon said hesitantly, "just a little understanding."

Paul stepped in, "You know what I don't understand is how in the hell a brilliant, young man like our Percy came from such a narcissistic, piece of…"

Percy stood up so quickly his chair fell over. The adults turned to look at him in confusion as Percy struggled to find something to break the tension in the room. He wasn't even sure why he was coming to Poseidon's rescue, he didn't feel any connection to him or anything, but he felt compelled to save the man from Paul's tirade.

"Hey! Why don't we go into the living room and get to know each other?" Percy proposed. They quickly made their way out of the kitchen and away from the growing tension that was suffocating them. Each of them breathed out a sigh of relief once the kitchen door swung shut. Poseidon gave his son a grateful smile but Percy ignored it, making his way to the couch.

"So, what is it that you want anyways?" Percy asked blandly. "You've been gone for seventeen years. What made you suddenly want to be a father?"

Poseidon sat down on the other side of the couch. "Honestly? I didn't know you existed until last year. My brother, Zeus, told me in a letter. Hid it in the middle of a paragraph where I would have missed it if I had just skimmed it. I don't know what your mother's told you but I really just want to try and be in your life."

"And you want my mom to take you back, right?" Percy deadpanned.

His father laughed. "Oh, goodness, no. I loved her once, still do. However, I know she's better off with that man in there. He can give her a stable life and he won't be off at sea for long months. And I'm not here to steal you away from your mother either, so calm down, kid."

"You," Percy paused to collect his thoughts. "Wait, you really just want to get to know me?"

Poseidon nodded with a toothy smile.

Percy noticed the laugh lines around his father's sea-green eyes for the first time.

"Alright," Percy laughed in relief. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

(***)

A few hours later, Percy found his stepfather standing in the garage messing with a his tools.

"Hey, dad," Percy started.

Paul leaped in the air before banging a hammer on a paint can awkwardly in an attempt to hide his surprise. "Whoa! Percy, don't sneak up on a person when they're doing…" He stopped to think before banging on the can a few more times, "this."

"He doesn't want custody of me," Percy said. "Mayor Zeus just told him about me a year ago, so he just wants to get to know me."

His stepfather breathed out a sigh of relief and Percy could see the tension drain from his shoulders. Percy turned to head back into the house but paused when he noticed that Paul hadn't moved.

"You coming back inside?" Percy asked.

"Perce, I love you and your mother," Paul explained, "but I cannot talk to or spend time with that man in there."

Percy laughed. "Yeah, I've noticed."

(***)

In the basement, Nico dictated the essay while Annabeth wrote in Percy's notebook.

"'...with their sugar coated ideals, designed to anesthetize the ignorant masses. Why? So, that the military/corporate branches, can carry out world domination.' Alright, read that back to me."

He sat down as he waited for Annabeth to read the paper.

She cleared her throat dramatically. "Wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh. Wuhwuh, wuh wuhwuh."

"How did you not get that?" Nico complained.

"Let's just use an encyclopedia," Annabeth said.

Nico stubbornly crossed his arms. "You just want to vomit up facts from an encyclopedia?" Annabeth nodded. "Okay, fine. Vomit away, but I will not be a part of this." He turned his attention back to the television.

Sally came running downstairs looking for Percy, when she saw Annabeth, though, she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, Annabeth, wonderful! Why don't you come up and eat with us, I need all the help I can get." Nico started to get up but Sally motioned for him to sit back down. "Not you, Nico, you scare people."

"Lucky bastard," Annabeth whispered as she passed him.

"What am I supposed to eat?" Nico asked.

Sally paused in her attempt to go up the stairs. "Oh, um, I know! Help yourself to the deep freeze!" With those helpful words she raced upstairs.

"But everything's frozen," Nico complained glumly to the now empty basement. Then he smiled evilly, "And I have the dryer."

(***)

The dining room table was full of animated conversation from Percy and his father when Annabeth and Sally joined them. Paul was sitting at the head of the table listening in with reluctant interest.

"So, there I was in the middle of the Parthenon, my pants are missing, I've got a half eaten gyro, and I'm soaking wet," Poseidon was saying. "Oh, good evening, ladies," he said quickly as he leaned across the table to whisper to Percy, "We'll finish that story later."

Annabeth glanced at Percy for more information on what had just happened but he was too busy watching Poseidon with rapt attention.

"Glad to see you two are getting along," Sally laughed nervously.

Percy and Poseidon shared a guilty look.

"Mom, Poseidon's only here to get to know me."

Sally's gaze shifted from Poseidon to her son and back. "You knew I was worried and scared and you didn't say anything?"

Percy and Poseidon stifled their laughter as they both started calming Sally down.

"This is some amazing shrimp and lobster chowder," Poseidon tried.

"Yeah, mom," Percy started. "Did you do something to your hair?"

Sally sat up a little straighter and finally smiled. "Yes, I did, thank you for noticing."

Poseidon gave him a subtle thumbs up and looked genuinely impressed at his son's quick thinking.

"So, who is this?" Poseidon nodded towards Annabeth.

"This is Annabeth Chase, she lives next door," Percy explained.

Annabeth watched Percy out of the corner of her eye as she said, "I was helping Seaweed Brain, here, with his essay. It's about the three branches of government. Could you help?"

Percy groaned.

(***)

Annabeth found her way back to the basement and found Nico sitting on the dryer just before it beeped. She watched him hop off the dryer and pull out a bag of fries from it.

"Fry time," Nico muttered to himself. He winced as he fumbled with the hot bag of fries.

Before Annabeth could even question what the little anarchist was up to, the door to the basement swung open and Will strolled in holding a couple pages in his hands. Leo was right behind him with his hair mussed up and his shirt on inside out.

Looking between the weird couple and Nico, Annabeth tried to decide which one to start with. "Okay, where have you two been?"

"Uh, we had to look for the paper. And then some stuff happened," Leo explained.

"Your shirt's on inside out," Nico pointed out.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, "that's the stuff."

Will elbowed his boyfriend in the ribs. "Hush, Leo. Anyways, we found the paper."

"Oh, we don't need that anymore, Poseidon's helping Percy with the paper," Annabeth explained casually. "He's in the Navy so he should know more about the government than we do."

Nico scoffed.

Will shrugged. "Okay, I'll go put this back up I guess?"

As Will meandered back out the door, Nico leaned towards Leo. "You can break up with that nerd now."

"I'm so sick of everybody trying to tear me and Will apart!" Leo complained.

"You moron!" Nico shouted. "Every day you say you're breaking up with him!"

Leo took his shirt off and flipped it inside out. "Well, you guys don't know him like I do." He looked down when Annabeth and Nico snickered. On his chest, he saw a large, purple hickey which he tried to cover up with his hand. "I mean, it's not just about fooling around. He buys me stuff, too."

"He hoovered your chest, man!" Nico laughed.

Percy came down to grab his notebook but paused when he saw the page. "You guys know my middle name is not Jean Claude, right?"

"Yeah, but it's two fewer words you'll need to write," Nico explained.

With a chuckle, Percy bounded back up the stairs, notebook in hand.

Jason and Reyna entered the basement.

"Hey, how's the essay coming along?" Jason asked. "If you still need help, I brought my dad's World Book G."

Annabeth started to explain the situation again when Sally stomped down the stairs.

"Alright," she huffed. "You all, listen up. I have had an extremely stressful day and I am not proud of what I'm about to say. But someone give me a cigarette now."

Everyone stared uneasily at Percy's mother and no one moved.

"I know the statistics: one in five teenagers smoke." She pointed to each one of them in turn and counted them. "One, two, three, four, five! Now, I am going to close my eyes, and when I open them, there had better be a cigarette between these two fingers! Come on people, hop to!"

She held two fingers up and closed her eyes. A second later, Nico placed a cigarette between her fingers.

"Thank you," Sally says. "Light!"

All of them leaned over to offer their lighters.

Before she could take a drag from her cigarette, though, Paul descended the stairs shouting Sally's name. Sally handed the cigarette to Jason who tossed it out the basement door.

Paul paused on the last step and looked around suspiciously. "Was someone smoking down here?"

"No," they all answered at once.

(***)

Later that night, Percy was downstairs finishing off the paper he'd worked on with his father. He only had one hundred words left when his mother came downstairs with concern etched into every inch of her face.

"Honey?" she said. "What are you doing? It's one o'clock in the morning."

"I'm just finishing up some homework." He turns the question on her, "What are you doing down here?"

She smiled sadly. "Snow White came down to gun a stick?"

She pulled a cigarette out of a pocket in her robe and lit it before taking a deep drag from it.

"Mom, I really wish you wouldn't smoke."

"I know. I know," she agreed. "This is my last one, I promise. And thank you for your help with your father today."

Percy sat quietly for a moment, gathering the courage to ask a question that he had been dying to ask. "Why did you not tell Poseidon about me?"

She sighed before sitting hesitantly on the edge of the couch. "He was always off at sea, he'd fought in wars and I never knew if he was coming back. I knew if I told him, he'd stay but he belongs at sea. I couldn't have done that to him, you know? So, we stopped seeing one another, I met Paul a few years later and I never looked back."

"Did you ever regret leaving him?"

There was distant look in her eyes as she thought about it, it was the same look she got whenever she thought of Poseidon. "Sometimes, yeah. But I know I made the right decision for both of us."

Percy hugged his mother tightly as she reminisced.

Sorry this took so long to update. Either been asleep or working. However, since it took so long I'll be posting the next chapter in a short while! Enjoy!