Hello!

I know, it's literally been forever. I'm so sorry. Writing has been really hard lately. This chapter has been in the works for actual months and I finally found the time and inspiration to finish it.

I still have a few more plans for this story and I am really going to try to get them written so I can give you all the ending you deserve. Thank you so much for your continued support and patience with this fic. It means so much!

It was a long time coming, but I hope you enjoy this update!


For anyone out there who may not know, New York is brutally cold in early February. It's right in the middle of that miserable time of the winter where the holidays are all over and the snow has lost its luster for the season, but there's still at least a solid month and a half left of the freezing temperatures before spring even starts to take effect and it feels like it just goes on forever.

Walking along the coast of the Hudson River in early February is even colder.

I'd met an excited Leo at a boat launch in Riverdale a few minutes before noon on Sunday, where I received a hasty hello before being immediately and excitedly ushered to follow him down the banks because the Celestial Bronze deposit he'd located in the river was "just up here."

That apparently meant something different to the son of Hephaestus than it did to me because we'd been walking for nearly half a mile now and I still saw no signs that we were getting close. But then, I also didn't know what I was looking for.

We'd spent the walk so far discussing the current state of things at the Valdez ranch home in Texas, where business at the machine shop was booming and where he was currently in the midst of a debate with his wife and daughters about the topic of getting the twins horses. Apparently Calypso, who had been raised by a Titan a few thousand years ago before meeting Leo and becoming mortal, rode horses all the time as a child and wanted her daughters to learn to do so as well. The girls, of course, loved the idea and Leo, the only member of the family opposed to the idea, was fighting a losing battle.

"So basically they've ganged up on me and they know I'm gonna cave because I really can't say no to any of them," he finished glumly, his thumbs looped casually through his toolbelt.

"Huh," was all I could think to say in response. I'd been a city dweller my entire life and even with the affinity for horses - especially a certain winged black one with a sugar addiction - that came with being a child of Poseidon, I had never had the desire to actually own one, even if I'd had the space for it. It seemed crazy, if I was being honest, but if the Valdez's were going to get the girls horses, I supposed Texas was the place to do it.

Leo, apparently satisfied with that answer, sighed. "Yeah. I guess I'd better start designing a stable to keep them in." He brightened considerably at that.

"Well," I offered, "good luck, man. Better you than me."

Leo smirked. "Yeah, I guess." He stopped walking abruptly and nodded towards the river. "We're here."

I looked around the surrounding area. The businesses along the water had thinned as we walked and we currently stood on a fairly deserted stretch of bank. How Leo knew the exact location, I had no idea, but I'd learned long ago not to question him. "How far out should I look?" I asked.

"It's about two hundred feet from the bank," Leo supplied, "The bottom's about fifty feet down." He looked at me. "It's a sheet of bronze about fifteen feet by twenty. You'll be able to bring that up okay?"

"Piece of cake," I said, waving him off. "I can't speak for once it's out of the water though. You have a plan for that?"

"I've got it covered. How long do you think you'll be?"

I shrugged. "As long as it's not buried deep in mud or anything, it shouldn't be too long. Finding it is probably going to take the longest. Maybe ten minutes, max?"

Leo grinned. "Perfect. See you in a few then." He gave a salute that I could only describe as 'Leo-like', and then turned on his heel and started off toward a small copse of trees nearby. I watched him go for a second, slightly amazed at how bossy the normally laid-back son of Hephaestus could be when he was in the middle of a project, before turning and striding into the cold water of the Hudson.

It had been a while since I'd been underwater without a wetsuit and diving gear. Not that I needed it, but most of the diving I did nowadays was for work and always with other, very mortal, people, so I had to keep up appearances. I didn't get wet as my head dropped below the water's surface but the cold of it still hit me and I couldn't help the shiver that went down my spine in response. I willed warmer currents toward me and rode them down to the river's bottom.

The Hudson River had come a long way with the conservation efforts of recent decades, but the water was still far from clean. Fifty feet below the surface, the overcast winter daylight barely penetrated and I squinted through the murky water for any sign of Leo's bronze. I spun a slow circle, and then another one, but the visibility was really bad.

I had been noticed by the river's inhabitants by now, and I felt the stares as schools of fish, turtles, and sturgeon swam by. The majority of them did not seem overly surprised by my presence. I frequented the nearby rivers often enough that they'd apparently grown used to me. I willed the current to carry me a little further away from the bank and did another sweep. I was about to ask a nearby river creature for help when I caught a glint of something in the corner of my eye. Moving closer, I found the wide, mostly flat sheet of Celestial Bronze buried under about three inches of sediment except for a small part at the edge where something had disturbed it just enough that the metal just barely caught the dim light.

Dislodging the Celestial Bronze from the river floor was the easy part. Not so easy was reasoning with the family of Blue Crab that had taken up residence underneath one side of it. They were not very happy to have it disturbed, even by a son of Poseidon.

"This is our home!" the largest of the group insisted angrily, "You can't just take it!"

"I'm sorry," I said, "I didn't realize anyone was living under it."

The crab harrumphed, clicking his claws for emphasis. "You half-bloods think because you're related to the gods that you can do whatever you all want. Well, you can't! I won't allow it."

Feeling adequately chastised and more than a little taken aback by it all, I started to speak up. "I promise I didn't-"

"My children live here! How would you like it if someone came and stole your family's home away from you? You wouldn't!"

"You're right, I wouldn't like that at all," I answered reasonably. "I don't want to uproot you and your family. I was trying to bring the Celestial Bronze to my friend. He's really good at building things-"

The crab interrupted me once more with "Well, that's just too bad!" before continuing on in lecturing me about the injustice of it all. And he really had every right to. But mentioning Leo had given me an idea.

"What if I could get you a different home? A better one?" I asked when he finally finished..

"My family has no interest in moving," the crab replied scathingly.

"What if you didn't have to?" I countered.

There was a pause. Then, "Go on."

"My friend, the Son of Hephaestus," I explained, "he's just up there, on the bank. He's excellent at designing and building. What if I got him to build you a better home, maybe one with a higher roof and some windows to let the sunlight in, to replace the Celestial Bronze? That way, Leo can use it to build what he needs to, and your family gets to have an even better place to live without having to move somewhere new."

The crab, looking taken aback, seemed to consider this. "It is very dark under here," he allowed after a moment.

"So is it a deal?" I asked, hopeful. No way was Leo leaving here without that Celestial Bronze, and I knew he'd jump at the chance to build something.

The Blue Crab considered it for another few seconds. "Fine," he decided begrudgingly, but I had a feeling he was more excited at the prospect than he let on. "But the house needs to be here before you take the bronze. I'm not letting you leave us without shelter while you take your time putting something together, or giving you a chance just to take it and run."

"I understand," I answered. "Let me go talk to Leo and see what he can figure out for you."

"Yes, do that." I tried not to bristle too much at his tone. He had every right to be upset, but it wasn't my intention to hurt or anger anyone. This whole thing hadn't even been my idea. I swam away wondering, despite myself, whatever happened to the good old days when I'd go underwater and have to all but beg the creatures there not to bow and scrape before me. I'd really hated it at the time. Now, part of me wasn't so sure.

Leo was waiting at the river's edge, his arms crossed over his chest and a slightly worried expression on his face. He visibly relaxed when I broke the surface. "Dude!" he yelled indignantly, "What happened to 'ten minutes, max'? I thought you got attacked or something!"

"Sorry," I said, making my way out of the river and trading one type of cold for another, "It got kind of complicated."

Leo, clearly realizing now that I did not have the expected payload with me, narrowed his eyes in concern. "What happened? Could you not find it?"

"No, I found it," I assured him, "but there's a family of crab living underneath the sheet and they won't let me take it without giving them a new home to replace it. One that lets in more light than the bronze."

"Oh," Leo said mildly. "How do we do that?"

"Well, I was hoping you could build them something." Leo blinked at me for a two-count, and then grinned.

What followed was the son of Hephaestus taking complete charge of the situation. He immediately set to producing several pieces of wood and metal, as well as a variety of tools, from his tool belt, and asking questions about necessary dimensions, styles, and the number of "crabby residents." I had to make several more trips back and forth to the river bottom to sort out the details with them.

In the end, the crabs relented their control of the Celestial Bronze easily when they saw the finished product Leo produced: a multi-level wooden-structure complete with windows, a retractable roof, and plenty of hidey-holes to allow the family access in and out whenever they wanted, while also being perfectly camouflaged against the river floor. And, Leo assured them, even with the salinity and currents of the river, their home would last them generations, guaranteed or he would come right back and make them another. Needless to say, we left the Blue Crabs to be the talk of the neighborhood and took the bronze sheet with us. All in a day's work for Leo, I supposed.

Waiting on shore was what looked to be a sort of extra-long hand truck, equipped with off-road tires and a winch to load and secure the metal sheet. I had no doubt Leo had retrofitted the device for just this purpose, and it wasn't long after at all that we were heading back toward the boat launch.

About half-way to our destination, Leo broached the subject of Logan's recovery in a tone which made me think he'd been waiting for a good time to bring it up all morning.

I sighed, the scene from two nights ago replaying behind my eyes; Logan's outburst, the broken picture frame, Annabeth's tears. We hadn't heard much from the sixteen-year old since. He'd offered a quiet apology for the broken frame before heading to bed that night, but had refused to discuss the situation and made a hasty retreat for his room. He'd been present but quiet since, obviously hurting but preferring to pretend like it hadn't happened. Annabeth and I had talked at length the next night, not for the first time, about the possibility of pursuing therapy for him. We planned to once again discuss the idea with Logan soon.

"That good, huh?" Leo replied cautiously.

"It's been hard," I admitted, returning to the present. "He's really struggling. We all are."

"Do they really not think he'll ever walk again?"

I sighed again. "They don't know. Madison, the daughter of Apollo who's been working with him, is still optimistic. They made some progress with the PT early on, but there hasn't really been much change lately. She says the nerves were damaged, but not totally severed, so there's a chance he might eventually recover some function, but he'll probably never be fully back to normal. But the spine is a weird thing, so I guess you never know."

"And I'm guessing Logan's not taking being wheelchair-bound very well. Honestly, I can't say that I blame him."

"No. It's been a lot for him. He tried to have a good attitude at first. We all thought the paralysis was just temporary, but it's been almost eight months and he still can't move his legs. He's lost friends, his girlfriend broke up with him. It's taken a big toll." I paused. "He's just a kid."

We'd all just been kids, tasked with saving the world, earning the scars we carried to this day. But the fact that it was my son now made it so, so much worse.

Leo shook his head. "Poor guy." We walked a few steps in silence before he continued. "That's got to be terrifying. This whole thing, you and Annabeth… I just don't know what I would do in that situation.." I just nodded, not really sure what else to do.

"What about monster attacks?" he asked. "Can Logan defend himself from the chair?"

I sighed and shook my head. "He can learn to, but he isn't in much of a mindset to do that right now, and we can't really force him. Not effectively. And there's only so much you can do when your legs don't work anyway. We've been lucky so far, but I've lost a lot of sleep at night worrying about the day that luck runs out."

"I can imagine," Leo said distantly, shaking his head. "Man, that's a lot to deal with." He turned to look at me. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Not unless you can build him a new set of legs," I replied, resigned. Leo looked pained, and I immediately regretted saying anything.

"You know I can't," he answered sadly. "There's no realistic way to connect machinery to nerves like that. Not that wouldn't risk hurting him more, anyway. I wouldn't know how to even go about trying that."

"I know," I said, because I did. We'd had this conversation months ago, right after the injury. The risk was too great and Logan's condition too uncertain. "It's okay, I wasn't really asking." I knew he would if he could, but that didn't make the truth any easier to handle.

A pause, then, "I'm so sorry, Percy."

I could only nod. We traveled the rest of the way in a heavy silence. Leo seemed lost in thought, which was maybe just as well because I didn't think I could handle talking about it much more right then anyway. He meant well, all our friends and family did, but rehashing the details of the painful situation never seemed to make dealing with it any easier.


I arrived home an hour later to an uncharacteristically quiet house. Ollie greeted me at the door and followed me, tail wagging. I found Annabeth curled up on the couch with a book. She looked up and offered half a smile at my entrance. "Hey."

"Hey," I replied, leaning down to kiss her.

"How was your treasure hunt?"

I chuckled. "Eventful."

"I'd expect nothing less from an outing with Leo," she answered evenly. I smirked.

"Where is everyone?"

"Logan's upstairs. I haven't seen much of him today, not that that's unusual nowadays." Someone who didn't know her as well would have missed the subtle waver in her voice at those words. "And Nicky and Carly are next door. Hannah invited them over for a Harry Potter marathon."

I smirked. "I'm sure Nicky was thrilled to have his sister tag along."

Annabeth's smile matched mine. "You know Nicky. What Hannah wants, Hannah gets. And she loves Carly. Sue told me she keeps asking them for a little sister."

"Oh boy," I laughed and settled down on the couch beside her. We lapsed into a comfortable silence as Annabeth returned to her book and I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, trying to enjoy the rare peace and quiet and not dwell on my earlier conversation with Leo. I'd spent the entire car ride home, trying to forget it.

It was several minutes later and I was honestly contemplating the benefits of a nap when the quiet was interrupted by a hesitant voice, almost as familiar to me as my own. "Mom, Dad…"

I straightened immediately and turned with Annabeth to see Logan in the room's entrance. He wore an anxious expression and propelled his chair further inside, toward us.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked, her book all but forgotten on the cushion next to her. "Are you okay?"

He paused, then shook his head, his eyes on his lap, and it was another few seconds before he answered. "I'm sorry," he said, voice barely above a whisper, "For everything."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," I told him. Maybe that wasn't strictly true, but no one held it against him under the circumstances.

"Yeah, I do," he answered quickly, with more force in his tone now. "I... " He took a deep breath, as if steeling himself, "I know I act different now than I used to before… everything. I can't… be around people. It hurts. And I don't want to be like that, cause I know it's hurting everyone else too."

"Logan," Annabeth murmured. He just shook his head, blinking hard.

"I… I think I need help. I know I said I didn't want to, but… I don't want to feel like this."

"Done." I said quickly. "Whatever you need, bud. We'll get you through this."

The tears behind his eyes finally escaped and ran free down his cheeks as he nodded, looking overwhelmed, but definitely relieved. Annabeth and I looked at each other and then stood as one and headed for his chair. Logan wrapped his arms around each of our necks like he hadn't done in years, as he cried openly. "I'm sorry about the other night," he managed between sobs.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Annabeth murmured through a few tears of her own, "You were already forgiven." If anything, this only made Logan cry harder. He clung to us as if his life depended on it, and in that moment, maybe it did in a way. Annabeth's hand found mine on our son's back and I squeezed it, channeling every ounce of relief I felt in that moment into my grasp.

I didn't know how long the three of us stayed there, crying together. We held Logan as his sobs quieted, but he did not let go.

For the first time in a while, I felt a glimmer of hope come alive inside me; hope that maybe, just maybe, my son would get through this thing after all, that maybe we all would.

And I didn't think I'd ever wanted anything more.


Thank you for reading! You are the BEST for sticking with this story for so long.

Stay tuned for the next update. I swear I am going to try to get the next one written ASAP!