The Seal and The Owl Chapter 7: Going Home, a percy jackson and the olympians fanfic

Jason's P.O.V

It was game night. I'll admit I was nervous Piper was watching somewhere in the stands and I wanted to show off a little to her, and hopefully impress her.

I'd bought a NYU jersey at the college store and dropped it off at Piper's apartment earlier that day with Annabeth. I hadn't realised but Piper was working at Jackson's before the game. I hoped she'd wear it. It was purple and white, which were the university's colours, and I'd had my name and number printed on the back. Grace obviously and seven was my number.

I put my headphones on when I realised, I was more nervous about the jersey thing than the game to try and put my mind back in the game.

Ten minutes later, Andrew tapped me on the shoulder, and I took my headphones off.

"Dude, you good? Coach wants us out on the court to warm up" he told me.

"Yeah, I'm good" I said putting my headphones in my gym locker, tonight we were playing the Washington Huskies. It was going to be a tough game.

Coach called a time out in the third quarter. We were down by 4, the score was 80-84 to the Huskies.

"Listen up Bobcats, I want to step it up on defence for the last ten minutes of this quarter. I want a man-to-man defence. They're expecting a zone, and we're not going to give them what they want. It will tire you out, but it'll tire them out more. You're going to have to dig deep because this game will be down to who can defend better. Four points is nothing we can make that up. They're tiring and soon their coach will swap out the current five for fresh people of the bench, show him he needs to do more than that to beat us."

"Yes coach!" We called back.

"Okay, Bobcats on three" he said, and we all put our hands in, "1, 2, 3".

"BOBCATS!" We all yelled at the same time the Huskies yelled "OFFENCE!"

I found Piper in the crowd with Annabeth, Hazel, Frank and Thalia, they were all cheering us on, and Piper had worn the jersey to the game. Just seeing them all gave me a newfound confidence and reminder that I wanted to impress the girl I was dating. Percy unfortunately had a shift at the aquarium, but he usually came to the games too.

The Huskies inbounded the ball and immediately we put on a full court press. Andrew pushed their point guard to the left side line, and I noticed what he was doing. I left my player and joined Andrew just inside the Huskies half and we double teamed their point guard, he picked up the ball, he was trapped now with nowhere to go. This was exactly what we wanted.

He tried moving the ball out of our reach, but Andrew was too quick putting the ball within my reach I knocked it out of his hands and immediately made a break for the basket and scored a lay-up. The crowd cheered and coached yelled 'THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT GRACE!" but I barely noticed, we we're right up in the Huskies faces again making inbounding the ball very difficult for them.

Andrew intercepted the inbound and put up a shot for nothing but net, we were level now and we just had to keep this up.

There was only nine seconds left on the clock we were one point behind and on the attack, we had to get a basket to win. Jack set the pick, I went around my player into the top of the key and jumped to put up the shot. Just as I was about to let go of the ball the Huskies captain purposely ploughed into me, knocking me down just as the buzzer sounded. My shot missed, but fortunately the ref had called a foul which meant even though time had run out, I had two shots left to potentially win the game.

There were shouts from the crowd in outrage from our supporters and the noise was extreme. I blocked it all out as I approached the free-throw line.

I concentrated on the basket, just like I did every morning at 6am before class when I shot 50 free-throws in a row and made 90% of them. I needed to make 100% right now.

The ref threw the ball to me and I stepped up to the line and span the ball, bouncing it a few times before collecting it in my hands. I took a deep breath and then put up the shot and got nothing but net as the ball swished through the hoop. We were tied. The cheers from the crowd vaguely registered in my mind but again I tried to shut them out and think of the quiet court I used every morning for practice, this was no different.

The ref threw me the ball for the last time in this game, this was the last play, and everything was riding on me making this shot. I stepped up to the line and went through the same motions as before, before taking the ball in my hands, and without thinking anymore about it, I put up the shot. The ball bounce on top of the ring, hit the backboard and dropped through the net.

I immediately felt my teammates swarm me in a huddle, and that was what brought the sound of the crowd back to me. The cheering was so loud you could hear nothing else! We'd won the game!

Percy's P.O.V

'What a day!' I thought as I crashed on my bed after my shift from the aquarium.

Firstly, I had had an early start at the aquarium to check up on Summer, thankfully she was much more interactive, and she's been interacting with other members of staff as well. Which meant her fin was recovering well and others can care for her while I'm off over Christmas. That alone, took a huge weight off my shoulders, knowing she was on the mend.

After that I had my marine biology lecture and Dr. Tropic (no joke that's his name!) wanted to see how our reef habitats were looking. The habitats were our final for this semester and counted for 40% of our grade. To say I was nervous about it was an understatement, I only had one week left to complete my design and with everything going on with Summer at the aquarium I had hardly had time to do more than a few measurements and scribbles. My nerves regarding my final did not improve when Dr. Tropic had looked over it and said very little about it, he hadn't out rightly said anything, but I knew he was disappointed with my lack of progress. There I was his top student and I'd hardly started a project that counted for most of my grade.

To make matters worse, as my favourite lecturer, Dr. Tropic knew this was what I wanted to do when I graduated. I really wanted to impress him and show him I was serious about it. I hoped my time off from the aquarium would help me put the necessary time into it. I had all the ideas ready I just hadn't sketched them out on to paper yet. Maybe I would have a bit of time in San Francisco to really get on with it.

The other three finals I had were actual exams that I also had to study for. They were Calculus, Sea Mammal Anatomy and Biology IV, the last two I was fairly confident with. I'd been applying those subjects to my job at the aquarium, and I was confident I would be okay in those exams.

Calculus was the one I was most worried about, even if I understood the theories better now, Mrs. Anderson wanted me to get a 75, hopefully Annabeth would have a little time to help me if I needed it.

Biology IV would be tough, but not as tough as Chemistry next semester. I'd been putting it off because Chemistry wasn't what I'd call a strength of mine. But now I couldn't put it off any longer. I had a spring semester packed full of Chemistry I and Chemistry II units. Fun!

At least I would still have Marine Biology V and unfortunately, I'd still have Calculus, but potentially that meant more time with Annabeth, hopefully!

Annabeth, we were flying to see her family tomorrow. I was flying, as in stepping on a plane! I was terrified I won't lie, which is why I had spent the afternoon in the psychology department with Hazel after stopping by the college store for the hoodies for Annabeth's family.

She was trying some theory out on me for her final, but it was also to help me with my fear of flying. I had spent all of my afternoon listening to audio files before heading back to the aquarium for my shift and to check on Summer again.

I was exhausted and I didn't fight it when my eyelids closed heavily.

I woke up to my phone ringing, it was Annabeth.

"Hello?" I said groggily.

"Percy! Where are you, you were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago?" She sounded worried, what time was it?! I checked the clock next to my bed, it was 10:20 I said I'd pick her up at 10am to drive to the airport we were flying at 2pm and we had agreed to get to the airport early. I was late!

"Crap! Annabeth I'm so sorry, I'm on my way right now!" I promised and hung up.

I jumped in the shower had the quickest 3-minute shower of my life, dried and dressed. I had packed my carryon bag last night fortunately before I crashed out, instead, of like I planned to do this morning. I grabbed my duffel bag, my backpack, passport and keys and sprinted for my car.

I pulled up in front of Annabeth's building 4 minutes later and parked.

The door to her flat opened immediately when I knocked on the door.

"So sorry! I overslept!" I panted reaching for her suitcase and backpack.

"It's okay, let's just get to the airport and then we can check everything in, grab a bit to eat and then just wait to board like we planned." She said to me and she didn't even seem annoyed that I was half an hour late to pick her up which I was really thankful for.

"Piper, I'll see you Sunday night!" Annabeth called. Which seemed weird they normally hugged.

"Okay, call me when you land!" She called back before Annabeth closed the door.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"She's studying for her final on Monday" She replied as I put her bags in the back of my car and we set off for JFK.

"Annabeth, I am so sorry I'm late, I didn't mean to sleep so late." I apologised again. I was supposed to be making this less stressful for her not more.

"It's ok Percy," she said and smiled at me. "You've really been pushing yourself this week with the extra hours at the aquarium. Thalia said you might crash out, it's why we built in the extra hours just in case." She said and I nodded.

We arrived at the airport 40 minutes later, we had hit a bit of traffic, fortunately it was only a little. By the time we'd parked up in the short stay car park and checked our bags in and found a seat it was 12 o'clock.

We'd also had our flight moved up to 1pm from 2pm as we were so early, and they'd had a last-minute cancellation. Annabeth sent her dad a message to let him know we'd be landing an hour earlier than we thought and while she did that I put in a headphone and started the audio files Hazel had given me.

We were sat by gate 11 and set to board in half an hour. The nerves were really setting in.

"Percy, are you okay?" Annabeth asked me.

"Yep, why wouldn't I be?" I responded as confidently as I could.

"Percy, don't lie to me, you look like you've seen a ghost." She replied. I should have known better than to try and hide my fear of flying from her when I was going to be getting on a plane with her.

"So, I'm sort of afraid of flying" I admitted and paused the audio files.

"Percy! You idiot! Did you get seaweed stuck in your brain when you were at the aquarium? Why would you agree to fly home with me if you are afraid to fly?" She asked punching my in the shoulder for good measure.

"I'm sorry! Not everyone is as wise as you are okay?! I wanted to help, and if I'm being honest, it only really occurred to me that I'd be stepping foot on a plane Wednesday night." I said.

"Thalia's right you do have a head full of Seaweed! But I appreciate the gesture. You don't have to get on the plane if you don't want to Percy. I understand, this must be incredibly difficult for you." She told me.

"No, I promised to help you this weekend and I've got these audio files from Hazel that are supposed to help." I said. I wasn't going to break our deal now.

Annabeth's P.O.V

I couldn't believe he was afraid of flying and he'd still agreed to come with me to San Francisco even after he'd realised, he'd actually have to board a plane. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me and I was certain my face was as red as a tomato.

"How about you tell me about the blue cookies, maybe it'll help distract you?" I said.

"Yeah, okay, Hazel said to use the files in flight anyway." He replied. "You'll laugh at the way I'm going to tell you this but just go with me on it okay?" He asked, I nodded and to say I was intrigued was an understatement.

"There was a beautiful Seal and one day she met a Walrus who was disguised as a seal. The Walrus had the Seal fooled and the Seal agreed to marry the Walrus. The Seal had a Pup, and the Walrus didn't like him. After the Walrus and the Seal married, the Walrus showed the Seal his true colours. One day the Pup asked the Seal if she could make the cookies, she was baking blue. The Walrus told the Pup there was no such thing as blue food this angered the Seal who argued that there most certainly was such a thing as blue food. From then on the Seal went out of her way to make food blue for her the Pup and the Walrus to eat." He told me and I'll admit I definitely thought that he had seaweed for brains with all of his sea analogies. But I got the impression he was telling me about his life, in the easiest way he could.

"So, what happened to the Walrus and the Seal?" I asked as we got up to board our plane, our flight had been called part way through his story.

"The Seal came home early from work one day and saw the Walrus yelling at the Pup. The Walrus was very drunk and had a very sharp spear in his flipper and he ran the tip of the spear down the Pups stomach, cutting it. The Seal saw red and pushed the Walrus out of the way and called for help. The Otters and the Polar Bears came as quickly as they could, both the Pup and the Walrus went to hospital. The Walrus had landed funny after the Seal pushed him out of the way to get to her Pup and the spear head had gone through his flipper" He told me.

I could see that he was distracted from the plane, but lost in another time, as we took our seats on the plane.

"It was the least the Walrus deserved." I said, "Did the Walrus go to prison?" I asked.

"Yes, after the Otters made sure the Pup and the Walrus were okay, the Polar Bears took the Walrus away. The Seal got her marriage annulled and she and the Pup never saw him again." He finished.

"Thank you for telling me" I said, "Can I ask why you told the story the way you did?" I was trying really hard not to pry into Percy's personal life, but I could tell from his reaction to it, that the story was about his past.

"When Estelle was a born, I started making up stories to help get her to sleep. And then from there it progressed to getting her to eat vegetables or share toys with new friends. I started to write them down for her. As I did, I realised that the process of writing cleared my head and I started to adapt the stories to clear my issues from my mind. I've never told anyone the full story of The Seal and The Walrus before but putting it into words really helped me. I didn't mean to spill my life history to you, well at least the darker parts. I really was just going to explain the blue food, but I guess I got a bit carried away." He said.

Percy's hands were now gripped to the armrest so tightly, that I knew his fear of flying had kicked in once more, now he'd finished his story.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, could you tell me another one of your stories?" I asked to try and keep him distracted as we took off. Percy gave me what looked like a grateful smile and nodded before starting his next story.

Percy and I spent the entire flight exchanging stories from our past. I wasn't able to make them into stories the same way Percy had, but I told him about Luke and about Josh. I told him how I'd met Thalia and Piper. He told me how his mom had met Paul, and how he'd struggled at first because of the Walrus. He told me about his ex-girlfriends, but they were known as the Penguin and the Dolphin. He was guarded and after hearing the stories, I understood why. I was really thankful he felt he could be so open with me and that in turn I could be as open with him.

Dad met us at the arrivals gate.

"Annabeth!" He exclaimed wrapping me in an awkward hug, as he always did when I came home. "So glad you came." He said releasing me.

"Me too Dad" I said less awkwardly than I felt. "Dad this is my friend Percy, Percy this is my dad" I introduced them, and Percy stuck out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Chase" Percy said politely, now his feet were firmly on the ground he was noticeably much more comfortable.

Percy took both backpacks. Mine still containing revision that was untouched and also a book in case I got bored on the plane, which seemed laughable now. He also took his duffel bag and would have taken my suitcase if I hadn't of insisted on taking it myself.

Dad had parked in the closest car park to the arrivals gate, so it didn't take long to get to the car and set off home, I was thankful for that, as the flight even though exchanging stories with Percy had been interesting and to an extent entertaining, it was also exhausting. It was only 4pm in San Francisco but it would be 7pm back in New York, I hoped I'd sleep well tonight.

I sat in the back of the car next to Percy and he was on his phone, I suspected texting his mom to let her know that he'd landed safely. I sent Piper a text while I remembered.

Annabeth: Landed safely! See you Sunday, hope your studying went well!

My phone buzzed not more than a minute later with her reply.

Piper: Glad you got there okay! Studying went okay :) Enjoy your time at home and with Percy! ;) See you Sunday.

That girl I swear, she couldn't make it more obvious that she wanted me and Percy to date if she tried!

Piper's P.O.V

I was glad Annabeth and Percy had landed okay, I wondered how Percy was doing with the fact that he'd stepped on a plane.

I thought it was incredibly romantic that he'd flown all that way with her when he was so afraid to be on a plane. I really hoped Annabeth told him soon how she felt or even that he told her how he felt.

I didn't really care you told who, to be honest, I just really wanted them to be together. Seeing how carefree Annabeth was with him, and he seemed really happy around her as well, it didn't take a genius to figure out that they would make a really good couple.

I'd agreed with Annabeth to throw our annual Christmas party while she was out of town. She hated attending it in favour of studying for finals and this way she didn't have too. Hazel and Jason had agreed to help me set up tomorrow during the day for the evening. It was going to be a fairly small party as always. I'd invited Hazel and Frank of course, Leo, Jason obviously, Thalia, my older sister Silena and her husband Charlie, Katie and then a couple of people from my course that I invited every year and who never turned up.

Jason had come over to watch a film, we were going to go out, but I promised Mrs. Blofis I'd cover Annabeth's morning shift tomorrow and I didn't want to be out too late. Jason understood and was happy enough to stay in which I was grateful for.

"They've land safely" I told Jason as I sat down next to him with the bowl of popcorn.

"Oh good, I'll just message Aunt Sally, though I'm sure Percy will have any way, to make sure she knows as well." He said.

"You seem close, with Percy's mom" I noted.

"Yeah, she treats all the cousins as if we're actually her children, always has done" he said with a smile.

"That's really lovely. She kind of does that at the shop too." I said and smiled. It was nice to feel like Mrs. Blofis thought of us like that.

"That doesn't surprise me. Aunt Sally has such a big heart."

"She does" I agreed, "What film did you choose?" I asked.

"It's a new one, that's trending on Netflix, Holidate? I've not seen it yet" He said.

"Oh, I've seen the trailer for this, it looks good" I replied. Added bonus, my dad wasn't in it!

The film was really good, I disagreed with the principal of the idea of a family pressuring their daughter to find someone but, in the end, she had found someone purely by fate.

I wasn't a huge girly girl, but I believed in fate and I believed in love, and when the two coincided together well, true love is the most powerful of all. And I believed that with everything I had.

Part of it was my mom, she believed in love so much, you just had to as well when you were around her. The other part of it was the film industry, watching all the romantic comedies where the guy gets the girl with my older sister, who also believed in love almost as much as our mom.

Which is why I was positive that Annabeth and Percy meeting was fate, I hoped Jason and I meeting was also fate, only time would tell on that, but I liked to think we were off to a good start.

"This party tomorrow, what do you need me to bring?" Jason asked.

"Just you Jason, really all the decorations are already up, the food is in the kitchen it just needs making/ cooking and Silena, and Charlie are bringing the booze." I replied.

"So, what am I helping to set up?" he asked.

"Just making sure, all valuables are out of the main living area, and sorting the food really."

"What about music?" he asked.

"I was just going to ask Leo, why do you have a better plan?" I asked.

"No, I was going to suggest Leo as well".

"You know what they say, great minds think alike." I said, Jason just smiled and kissed me. I really loved when he did that.

Percy's P.O.V

Annabeth managed to distract me for nearly the entire flight by getting me to swap life stories with her. The only parts she couldn't distract me from, were the take off and the landing. Hazel's audio file had helped a little but not much.

I learnt so much more about Annabeth than the 20 questions had shown me in the coffee shop that first week. One of the things I'd learnt on the flight was that we had been relatively 'safe' with our question choices that night at Jackson's.

Annabeth told me about how she'd first met Thalia and Luke, she told me how close they all were until a party in sophomore year had changed that, then it was just her and Thalia. I'll admit hearing about Luke angered me. Partly for what he did to Annabeth, I mean she's an incredible person, who in their right mind would cut her out of their life? But it was also partly because he'd hurt Thalia when she was younger. I didn't have proof, but I was sure it was his fault. Thalia and I were close, but she'd never really told me. Luke was a subject she didn't like to talk about, but I got the impression my suspicions were close to the truth.

I also found that I was really bothered by how Josh, an ex-boyfriend, had treated her. I wanted more than anything to make her smile and see her happy. The fact that those idiots didn't want that or didn't care for that, irritated me beyond belief. Annabeth of course noticed this and told me, that it was sweet that I cared, but she had let it go, and didn't want me to dwell on it. I tried my best to do that.

I'd also opened myself up more than I ever had to anyone else in my life, including my mom. She just made me want to tell her everything about me to have no secrets from her. I'd never felt so compelled to tell anyone so much about my life, like I did with Annabeth.

It was a completely new feeling to me, and it just made me like her more.

Annabeth woke me when we arrived at her parent's home, I'd fallen asleep during the twenty-minute car ride to their house. I felt awful about it, because I had been planning on making small talk with her dad during the journey.

"Sorry" I said to her, she smiled at me and shook her head.

"I fell asleep too." She confessed, and it made me feel a bit better. I took the bags and Annabeth's suitcase this time, as we made our way to the door.

"Percy can I take one of those?" Mr. Chase offered.

"No, I can manage, thank you Sir." I replied, Mr. Chase nodded.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at me and muttered "Seaweed Brain" I'll admit it made me smile. "Wise Girl" I whispered back, and I saw a hint of a smile on her face before she entered her childhood home.

"Helen, we're back" Mr. Chase called out as he closed the door behind me. To say Mr. Chase was not what I expected was an understatement. Annabeth had told me he was a lecturer at the San Francisco State University, so I had been expecting a tall man, that looked like Annabeth, in a business suit to pick us up at the airport.

Who had actually arrived, was an athletic looking middle-aged man, with intense brown eyes and blonde hair, that was the same colour as Annabeth's. She must have inherited her mom's eyes I thought to myself.

Mr. Chase wore jeans and a grey turtleneck jumper. I don't know why I had expected the suit, because none of my lectures wore one, but I had.

Mrs. Chase appeared in the entrance to the Chase home. "Welcome home Annabeth" she said giving her an awkward hug which Annabeth returned just as awkwardly.

"Hi Helen" she replied before introducing me to the pretty Asian woman that was her step-mother. Her hair was dark brown with red streaks in it, she also had brown eyes, but they weren't as intense as Mr. Chase's.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Chase" I said holding out my hand for her to shake.

"Nice to meet you too Percy, please call me Helen." She said ignoring my hand and pulling me in for a hug of my own. "The boys are at a friend's house. They'll be home for dinner. Why don't I show you where you'll be staying?" She said and Annabeth nodded. Mr. Chase entered a room off the entrance hall, and we, Annabeth and I, followed Mrs. Chase up the stairs.

She led us down the landing of the second story, pointing out which doors led where. The first door on the left was the bathroom. Next to that was the twin's room, opposite the twin's room was Annabeth's room, where she'd be sleeping. Next to Annabeth's room was the guest room where I'd be sleeping, and opposite me was the master bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Chase slept.

I thanked Mrs. Chase as did Annabeth and we went into our separate rooms to unpack.

~Author's Note~

Hi All, thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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Happy reading all!