A/N: Hey guys. Survived Dead Week without stabbing anyone with a fork; I deserve a medal. I should be studying and finishing my essays, but I'm not. You should be happy I love you all this much.

Here's CH5. We're heading into finals week at my college, so I might not be able to post the next chapter until after the 14th of December. Bear with me, guys! Unfortunately essays, projects, and tests are more important than writing right now.

WOW, 100 REVIEWS! You guys are incredible, thank you. Thank you also to those of you guys who set me straight on Delphin. I think I'm just going to keep him as vocal dialogue since that's how he was in the last chapter, so I don't confuse myself and in so doing confuse you.

Hope you don't find this too fluffy, but there are some things Percy's family needs to work out before I start speeding through his childhood…

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Rick Riordan. Well . . . the Greek Gods technically don't, but these versions of them do.

/

Chapter Five
Bonding

Amphitrite ignored her mounting worry and shot a sharp look at Triton, who was standing to her left glaring at the wall and refusing to meet her eyes. Percy had awoken from his short nap and was cradled in her arms again, his head resting trustingly on her shoulder as he blinked sleepily.

"I do not understand, mother," Triton said finally in a tight voice. "Father has betrayed you yet again, and still you protect the spawn in your arms."

"His name is Percy," she reminded him mildly, rubbing gentle circles on Percy's back, "and for all the anger I harbor towards your father, I cannot be angry with him."

Triton rounded on her, his eyes fierce as he bit out, "Why?"

"Triton, he had no say in his creation. Percy had no say in who his father is, and no influence over the choices your father made. He played no part in his creation, and as such he is innocent. Tell me why I should blame him, when he cannot even speak or defend himself."

"Hera would hate him, were Zeus his father," he pointed out darkly.

"Hera hates all of Zeus' children, including the two he fathered by her," Amphitrite countered, raising an eyebrow. "She pitched your cousin Hephaestus off Olympus because he was imperfect, in case you had forgotten, and she holds little love for that mindless brute, Ares. I am nothing like her. I have never truly hated the children your father has sired over the centuries, because they had no say in who their father was, either."

"So you are not angry with him?"

Amphitrite's eyes flashed. "Do not misunderstand me, son, I am furious with him for breaking his oath on the Styx and cheating on me yet again." Her eyes softened as she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "No matter what he does, I love him still, Gods help me."

Triton shifted uneasily, staring down at the moving mosaic on the floor that displayed their kingdom. "I am sorry that he hurt you, mother," he muttered, crossing his arms as if to protect himself from having to reveal such emotion.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," she reprimanded him gently. "I just ask that you please do not be angry with Percy. He does not understand what is happening. If you must be angry at someone, be angry at your father."

"I am," he promised darkly.

"I know you are, son. But you cannot fault him overly much. It is in the nature of the Gods to bed mortals. It always has been."

Suddenly feeling very tired, Triton's shoulders slumped. He opened his mouth to retort and closed it abruptly when his father stormed into the room looking like Hades warmed over.

Poseidon had no words for either of them. He instead settled his trident in its place beside his throne and strode over to Amphitrite, lifting Percy out of her arms.

As soon as Percy saw who was holding him, his face broke out in a sweet smile, his tiny hands reaching down to press against Poseidon's cheeks.

Just like that, Poseidon's anger was pushed to the back of his mind for the time being. His face relaxed from its tense expression as he returned the smile and pulled his boy down to gently kiss his forehead.

"Hello, Percy," he murmured, nuzzling the baby's cheek and making him giggle at the sensation of his beard across his sensitive skin. He lifted his eyes briefly to meet Amphitrite's, saying a quick and quiet, "Thank you." He nodded to Triton and strode from the room with Percy tucked securely against his shoulder and already dozing off again.

Poseidon made a beeline for the room he had furnished with the items from Sally's apartment. It had not been difficult to make a brief side trip and to will everything in the room back into the ocean. It was hard for him to do so, but he kept the photo albums as well. Many of the items he had ordered to be moved to the vacant underground palace he had built for Sa—for her. He had kept only a few items for the palace while the masons worked on a crib for his son, including the rocking chair from Montauk he knew she had loved.

As soon as he reached the room he slipped inside quietly, watching as Percy tilted his head around to study the room in the soft underwater lighting.

He sat on the rocking chair and picked up the most worn children's book from the apartment's collection, Swimming With Dolphins.

Percy chattered excitedly and pulled the book open with clumsy fingers, running his pudgy hands over the colorful images. With a tender smile, he watched the baby, lifting a hand to run his fingers over his head and trail them through his son's soft hair. The baby beamed up at him with a sparkle in his eyes and pointed at the book.

"Would you like me to read it, little one?" he murmured, pushing off the floor with one foot and setting the chair rocking. With one hand he lifted his son a little higher on his chest and leaned back into the movement.

Poseidon read the story to him in a deep, soothing voice, smiling as Percy reverently ran his hands over the images of the little girl swimming on the reef with the dolphins. Halfway through the colorful pages, Percy's eyes were drooping, and by the end he was fast asleep curled into his shoulder, the baby's little cheek resting at the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

"You will swim with dolphins, my son," he promised, pressing a tender kiss to Percy's forehead. "I know you will love it, just as your mother did." His voice had tapered off to a pained whisper, as he rubbed soothing circles on his child's back.

There, Poseidon allowed himself to grieve, rocking his son back and forth in his mother's chair under the sea, feeling impossibly relieved that Zeus had not taken his son from him, too — silently vowing to himself that he would protect Percy for as long as he lived.

/

Three and a half weeks had passed in the city beneath the sea, a mere blink of time to the immortals.

An infant's loud cry split the peaceful city, echoing through the dark sea.

The fish outside the windows scattered as sharks stirred restlessly, reacting to the raging emotions of the littlest prince.

"Your child never sleeps, my lord," Amphitrite groaned, burying her face in the soft pillow. On the other side of the bed, Poseidon grunted into his own pillow. Despite popular belief, the Olympian gods did eat and sleep. Less than mortals, yes, but even for Poseidon three and a half weeks with no sleep was pushing it. Her husband had developed an intense fear of letting the baby out of his sight, though he would never admit it, and as a result he had pushed himself nearly past the point of exhaustion. He had finally relented when they moved Percy's crib into their room for the time being.

There was blessed silence again in the royal bedroom. Amphitrite was almost asleep again when a second cry, louder than the first, split the silence.

"Poseidon," she groaned, grabbing a free pillow and launching it across the bed at him.

"Your turn," he muttered, lobbing the pillow back half-heartedly.

Amphitrite rolled her eyes. "Gods," she muttered as she exhaustedly pulled herself up and to her feet, "always walking away and leaving us women with all the work. It is no wonder you do not know what in Hades to do with your infant son, my lord."

She left it unsaid that half-mortal children — especially this half-mortal child — made Triton's infancy seem like a stroll through the park by comparison. They were much needier than immortal children, and grew far slower.

Percy's cries were winding up and getting louder than ever. She bent over the bassinette cleverly fashioned by one of the palace masons to be in the shape of a seashell. Percy had kicked his sea-green blankets off of him, leaving him in naught but his cloth diaper.

At the sight of her, Percy cried louder, turning his head from side to side as if searching over her shoulder for someone else.

"Oh, little one," she sighed, scooping him up and smoothing a hand down his bare back. The baby leaned away from her and cried still louder, face turning red as two fat tears slid down his cheeks.

Pain and sympathy lanced through her. Three and a half weeks the baby had been with them so far, and he still searched for his mother. He liked her whenever they were alone. He burst into tears whenever Triton was near unless her son had adopted his human-looking guise, and would tolerate him as soon as he did. The one being he truly adored was Poseidon.

To be fair, she suspected it was because her son's skin was green and he always scowled, both of which frightened the baby, while he associated Poseidon with warmth and safety and love because some part of his tiny infant mind knew that Poseidon was his father.

Of course, it could also be that Poseidon had hardly set his son down since that night he returned from his talk with Hades in the Underworld. Their subjects had grown used to seeing the dark-haired infant nesled into his shoulder.

With a soft sigh, Amphitrite shifted the baby to her shoulder and glided over to Poseidon's side of the massive bed. He had yet to even crack an eye open a look at her, but when Percy wailed again — the loudest yet so far — he grumbled a curse in ancient Greek and snapped an eye open to stare blearily up at her.

"Your son," she said dryly, grasping the baby under his arms and holding him out like an offering.

Percy was still crying, gasping between each one in order to refill his lungs. He kicked his feet and squirmed, still looking around.

Sighing, Poseidon rolled onto his back and took him, holding the baby up to his face to peer at him.

"You get your lungs from your mother," Poseidon informed him grumpily.

Upon hearing his voice, Percy abruptly stopped mid cry and stared down at him with eyes still filled with tears. He blinked a few times to clear them from his vision. As soon as he recognized his father, he smiled toothlessly and placed his tiny hands on Poseidon's bearded cheeks, immediately starting what the palace as a whole had begun to identify as the "happy babbling".

"And that smile," Poseidon groaned helplessly, unable to stop the answering smile from spreading across his face. He pretended to eat the baby's fingers. Percy moved into a full-body laugh, kicking his feet against his father's bicep.

Percy was like a breath of fresh air in Atlantis, bringing joy, life, and energy back to the palace. No matter the mood anyone was in, one smile from the little baby would lighten their spirits immediately. There were few babies in Atlantis and it had been a long time indeed since a prince or princess had been born. As a result, everyone in the kingdom was fascinated by him. There were more visiting sea creatures now than there had been since Triton was born.

Poseidon sighed and settled the baby on his chest, nestled safely in the crook between his neck and shoulder. He closed his eyes and breathed evenly, letting the exhaustion wash over him once more. His raging emotions and the answering wrath of the sea had drained him for the past weeks; as a result, Amphitrite had all but threatened to knock him out with his own trident if he didn't get some sleep.

Amphitrite watched unobserved by either of them as Percy's limbs went slack, his little face hidden against the skin of her husband's neck. She could see the curve of one tiny rounded cheek and the shell of his small ear, and envied how comfortable he seemed to be in his father's arms. Poseidon was laying perfectly still as well, the anger and pain of the last weeks gone from his face as he slept holding his infant son close. Sprawled on his chest as he was, the baby rose and fell with each of his father's steady breaths, and for some reason the sight made her heart melt just a little more.

With a sigh, she settled back down on her side of the bed, a part of her wishing she could share in Poseidon's warmth as his son was.

/

Another month passed.

Amphitrite had found this new foray into motherhood terrifying. It had been centuries since they had had a child, and neither was quite sure what to do with him most of the time. Percy was growing quickly, having gotten a few of his teeth over the course of the last month. She had found his never ending cries to be equal parts heartbreaking and annoying, even as her heart ached because there was no way to make it better for him.

Poseidon had searched in vain for something to give Percy to chew on to relieve the pain, as nothing was to his liking. In the end, Percy had spent nearly the entire month gnawing on the non-business end of Poseidon's trident. While finding this extremely amusing, his subjects were careful never to laugh about it or mention it in Poseidon's presence. Their king was, understandably, a bit attached to his symbol of power.

When Triton and his sisters had been born, they had been small for a very short period of time and had not needed all the things that Percy needed. For one, the infant had despised most of the foods they tried to feed him. Amphitrite had been terrified the baby would starve to death, and the world would end from her husband's corresponding wrath. While sampling different ideas, they had fed him miniscule amounts of nectar and ambrosia to keep his strength up.

Not knowing what else to do, Poseidon had sent emissaries to the surface in search of baby food products, and they had returned with huge boxes full of various surface world baby food items. Poseidon has been just as baffled as his subjects as to why human children were fed mashed-up food of revolting colors from tiny glass jars. They had then discovered that Percy adored carrots and sweet potatoes, but despised peas and lima beans. The palace cooks took this to heart and fed him what he liked along with surface world formula that she and Poseidon fed him through bottles.

Amphitrite held such a bottle in her hand now, warmed in the hearth while she chatted softly with Hestia.

If Hestia had wondered what a sea goddess was doing with a human-looking baby bottle, she tactfully did not mention it, though Amphitrite was sure she had to have seen a glimpse of Percy or heard talk of him at some point over the past weeks. She only hoped the goddess would keep it to herself until the winter solstice, at least. The world was in a bad enough state of turmoil as it was, given Poseidon's temper—they hardly needed for Zeus' temper to explode as well.

Mentally shaking herself from her stupor, Amphitrite hurried back to the nursery Poseidon had ordered for the room directly next to theirs. The architects had added a doorway between the two rooms so that Percy was easily reached and heard during the night. She was nearly there when she heard the soft murmuring of a voice and froze, fear stabbing into her heart as her mind jumped to the worst possibility: assassin. Her husband was not without enemies, after all.

Percy, she screamed internally, making quick and silent movements towards the nursery, grabbing the sword leaning against the wall of her and Poseidon's bedroom as she did so. She was ready to lift it in defense of her son when she realized that the baby was not in danger.

For a moment, she had trouble processing what she was hearing. A quick glance at the bed confirmed that Poseidon was there and deeply asleep, his trident in the holder beside their bed and his chest bare from the waist up. That sight alone made her relax, for he would never sleep through any danger to their son, no matter how exhausted he may be.

Peering around the doorway entrance, Amphitrite smiled immediately in reaction.

Triton was sitting cross-legged on the floor, having adopted his human-looking form to keep Percy from crying. He was angled away from the doorway, but the light from the torches outside the windows gave just enough for her to see that Percy was cradled in his arms and fussing softly. A bottle was resting beside his hip, half-empty.

"Shh," soothed Triton, "mother and father are exhausted enough as it is with you constantly carrying on as you do. I have never seen them sleep this much before, and am slightly impressed by your ability to exhaust all of us to previously unknown levels. Slightly, mind you," he emphasized. "Sleep, little one. I promise you are safe with me. I will not even pitch you off a cliff into the depths; would not dare, honestly, for I fear Dolphin would kill me himself if Father did not beat him to it. Perhaps when you are older, we can be friends, though I doubt I will like you for long. If you are anything like father and I, you will be an arrogant little brat."

She covered her mouth to keep the laugh back. Arrogant little brat described Triton's brief childhood perfectly. He had been insufferable until they sent him to Camp Fish-Blood, the sea's version of a hero training camp. He had been matured when he returned, no doubt pummeled repeatedly by the Ichthyocentaur trainers Aphros and Bythos. Well, mostly Bythos. Aphros had likely just beaten him with knitting needles and baking utensils rather than swords and spears as Bythos would have done.

Amphitrite had observed Triton's demeanor slowly changing as the weeks passed. It gradually shifted from a true scowl, to a half-hearted scowl, to a scowl he seemed to force whenever she was watching him. A part of her found this amusing, for she was his mother and could clearly see the way his eyes had gradually softened over time whenever Percy stuck his arms up to him in a silent plea to be held. It had been an easy observation that he reacted to Percy's plea and picked him up quicker each time, until all Percy had to do was look up at him and the next moment Triton was lifting him into his arms. She knew her son had fallen for the baby just as hard as she and Poseidon had, even though he would never admit it.

She suddenly realized that Percy had been strangely quiet the past week or so, not waking them up or distracting them from their duties at god-awful hours as he had been before. Perhaps this was why?

"You are not too terrible," Triton continued to murmur, tenderly stroking his fingers down Percy's downy cheek. The baby's fussing had quieted into barely-audible sniffling. "When you are not crying, you can actually be quite entertaining, but tell anyone I said that and I will pitch you off a cliff into the depths, Delphin be damned," he threatened with no heat. "I am expected to be big and tough and heartless, you see. Warriors are more impressive that way. I cannot go around gushing about how cute you are or no one will ever take me seriously."

Amphitrite carefully put the sword down and made sure she was in the shadows, unobserved by her sons.

Sons, she realized silently. Percy was her son, now. Her life would be different and empty if the baby were to vanish. She loved him as she had loved Triton, and strove to teach and protect him as she had her own children.

Until that moment she had never dared think it, but it was true — Sally Jackson would always be his mother by birth, and they would never let him forget her and how she had loved him. But she was his mother now, because it would be she who soothed his tears and his hurts, she who would teach him to talk and walk and be an honorable warrior.

" — big enough to walk," Triton was saying, "I will teach you how to fight, too. The Ichthyocentaurs have little love for demigod heroes, but you will do fine at Camp Half-Blood. Father will not let you go there for a long time, though, so in the meantime I can teach you everything you need to know. If you are the prophesized child, I think you will help us win the coming war. As Delphin pointed out, you are here to stay so I might as well get used to it. I kind of like you already, anyway, or at least I do when you refrain from screaming and drooling all over me."

Amphitrite slowly glided back and away from the doorway. When she settled into bed beside her exhausted husband, she was smiling lovingly.

"I fear for him," Poseidon rumbled softly from beside her, his voice rough from exhaustion.

She jumped a little upon hearing his voice and turned to observe him watching her through eyes heavily lidded with exhaustion. "Sleep, my lord," she soothed, placing a gentle hand on his chest and feeling his higher-than-normal heat associated with high consumption of ambrosia and nectar. "You have had a trying week in negotiations with the mermen."

"Sometimes, wife, I think undersea politics are far too complicated," he rumbled with a very faint upward quirk of his lips. His eyes darkened as a sigh parted his lips. "They fear the boy, and that I will turn him against them."

"Why would they fear such a thing?" she murmured, scooting a little closer so as to not be overheard by Triton in the next room.

"My children are powerful, wife," he reminded her tiredly and without twitching a muscle, "they always have been. The last, combined with my brothers' children, nearly ended the world yet again."

"I remember, my lord," Amphitrite promised, preferring not to think of that portion of time. "Why, though, would they fear you unleashing him upon your own kingdom?"

"I know not, my wife." Poseidon sighed again and rolled partially towards her, giving her a full view of the exhaustion in the set of his expression and the stiffness of his shoulders. His internal battle of emotions and the wrath it caused had been sapping his energy for nearly two months now, eliciting fierce storms, two hurricanes, earthquakes, a small tsunami, and massive flooding of the surface world. Despite this, his anger had yet to even fluctuate.

It was a wonder Zeus had not marched down here to demand what the issue was.

Unfortunately, he probably knew Poseidon would order every sea monster to eat him if he ever did such a foolish thing, that is, if Poseidon did not stab him with his trident first.

"I always thought they were an overly-suspicious lot, my lord," she sniffed, remembering the many headaches politics with the merpeople had caused over the millennia.

Poseidon huffed out a laugh at that, his eyes slipping closed before he forced them open again. The raw emotion he displayed made her heart flip over.

"I am terrified of losing him, Amphitrite," he murmured, staring down at his hand, fisted beside his head. "I wonder now if this was why my brother ordered us to avoid our demigod children. My attachment to him is very strong. Dangerously strong."

Emotion surged in her and she promptly shoved it back down. "As is mine."

"He will be hunted all his life, Amphitrite," he whispered, uncurling his fingers before flexing them again, tighter this time. She watched his tendons flex with the movement and hesitantly reached out to place her much smaller hand over his.

"Together, we can protect him, my lord," she promised solemnly. "He is as much in my heart as he is in yours."

For a long moment, Poseidon said nothing, his eyes roving over her expression as if searching for something. Whatever it was, he seemed to find it, for he smiled at her and allowed himself to relax and level his breathing.

"Perhaps, to soothe the mermen, we ought to send him to Camp Fish-Blood for a time," Amphitrite mused aloud as she rolled onto her back.

"Hmm," he agreed, already halfway towards the exhausted sleep of an energy-sapped God of Olympus.

"Bythos would be a fitting teacher until Chiron can take over," she continued, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before withdrawing it to pull the covers up. "What say you, my lord?"

When she turned her head, Poseidon was fast asleep. Rolling her eyes, Amphitrite wiggled a little to get comfortable, and with a soft smile she followed him into oblivion with the lull of Triton's voice soft in her ears.

/

E/N: *sing-song voice* This chapter is impoooooortant… and was quite fun to write. Though this whole raging-emotions-thing leaves ME emotionally drained.

Hope you guys liked it!

As someone predicted, Triton is just as lost as the rest of the kingdom, though he'd rather die than admit it. ;)

From here on out, I will likely be skipping through his childhood, focusing only on important parts and some fluffy stuff, of course.

Reviews are loved!
PLEASE drop me a note, let me know what you think! :)