Guess what? I'm not dead. I just haven't been in the mood to write anything. It's times like those that are than writer's block. But that has thankfully gone away for now. I'll make the best of it and update all of my stories while I can.

Sally's PoV. (b/c I love her )

As a mother I don't like seeing my children get hurt, but I also don't want them to get killed. I still haven't properly met TJ yet because earlier the other adults pulled me into their conversation and now Percy was training him. It might seem like Percy was beating up his brother but Demigod training has to be more intense in order for them to survive in the real world.

TJ already looked tired when they first started but know he looked dead on his feet. I was surprised he lasted that long and was still going. Everyone else apparently thought Percy was going too hard on his brother and were trying to get him to stop fighting but it was futile. Percy wasn't going to stop until TJ either went down or put him down. Demigods are stubborn like that.

Then TJ rolled his ankle. I think he knew the fight was over then because he used what must have been the last of his energy to send Percy flying back several feet. Walt, I think his name was, called the end of the fight as Percy got back to his feet, TJ stayed down.

"What was all that about, Percy?" He demanded and he sounded angry. That was understandable.

"He could have ended the fight anytime." My oldest son replied.

"You went harder on him than Walt and I." The boy who Percy hit before the fight started said. I believe that he was Matt, the boy Percy said went to school with him in seventh grade.

"Your point?"

"Percy, the human body can only take so much before it shuts down." Mr. Masterrsyn informed him as he knelt down next to my other son. "What do you hope to accomplish from this?"

"To show him who he is." Percy said and I notice the tone he used; no room for argument.

"If that's how you treat your family then you can stay away from my son." The doctor said as he picked up TJ and carried him out of the room before I could tell him off for that comment. Most of the others followed him out, throwing glances at Percy on their way. Only Percy, Paul, one of the Kane children, Walt and myself were left.

"Percy I really hope you know what you're doing." Carter, I just remembered, told him.

"I do."

"You're not going to stay away from TJ like Mr. Masterrsyn said to, are you?" Walt asked him.

"How could you tell?" Percy grinned. Instead of answering he turned to me.

"Is Percy always like this?" he asked.

"Yes." I answered and could help but smile. "Most of it comes from his father. Now if you'll excuse me I have a doctor to yell at." Percy's grin got wider.

"I can't wait to see that." We all headed toward the main room. Most everyone was there and the ones who had seen the fight were telling the ones that hadn't. When they noticed Percy they all went quiet.

"Mrs. Jackson, why didn't you stop that fight?" Mrs. Masterrsyn asked. "Surely you don't approve of your son almost killing –"

"Percy knows what he is doing and he would never seriously hurt a family member without reason. If that had been an actual fight rather than training then I would have tried to stop it." I answered her. "But next training session he won't batter up his brother so much."

"How was that training?" one of the teens asked. "That was nothing like the training we do."

"That was actually more of a test of skills." Percy spoke up.

"Test what skills?" Doctor Masterrsyn entered the room. "My son is not a fighter nor does he have those skills." Percy rolled his eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me young man."

"Doctor Masterrsyn." I got his attention.

"Are you really just going to stand there when your son hurt mine?" he demanded of me.

"You may have raised Theseus but that does not make him your son." I snapped at him. That shut him up and I heard Percy snicker. "If you try claiming him as your own again I will get out my twelve gage. Understood?"

"Percy, is she serious?" the Kane boy asked my son.

"Deadly." Percy replied and I heard the smirk in his tone. Although the smirk suggested it was a joke the tone is what made people take a few steps away from us. I never took my eyes off of the doctor.

"Is that a threat?" Masterrsyn asked, gritting his teeth.

"Yes it is." Paul answered for me.

"So violence runs in the family then?" A red haired girl asked.

"In this instance, Nancy, it's more of a territorial stake than an act of violence to put it layman's terms." Percy told her. "But yes, violence does tend to run in the family but it only really comes out if you mess with our family or our territory. So…"

"You don't want to mess with this family." Paul finished for him. The room was filled with silence.

"What skills were you testing for?" Another of the teens asked hesitantly.

"The ability to adapt and adjust, as well as problem solving, and lastly, endurance and resilience." Percy replied.

"And did he pass?" the Kane girl asked.

"Performance still under review and all test results are confidential." A few of them groaned and Paul and I couldn't help but laugh.

TJ's PoV.

When I finally started to come back around I wished I hadn't. Everything hurt. Not as bad as it was before but still bad. Kind of like waking up from one of my comas; same amount of soreness but less of a burning sensation. All of my limbs felt like lead. I had no idea how long I had been out for and I hoped I hadn't missed dinner. Most likely I had. With some difficulty I managed to open my eyes to see where I was. Looking around I saw that I was in the infirmary. Jazz was just coming in.

"Hey." I greeted her and she jumped a little.

"Hey, you're awake." She said.

"You seem so surprised." I managed to say.

"Well, we weren't expecting you to wake up so soon." She explained as she set something down on the bedside table to my left.

"How long was I out?" I asked dreading the answer.

"About two hours, this is rather surprising after an hour and a half of getting beaten to a pulp. I was sure it was going to be morning by the time you were going to come around."

"That fight lasted an hour and a half? It felt like longer but at the same time not long at all. How is that?"

"During stressful situations the mind doesn't take heed to time." Jazz answered solemnly. Well that made a bit of sense. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked confused.

"Last as long as you did?" I met her eyes when she asked me this and I found myself telling the truth.

"I don't know."

"Percy said that you 'could have ended the fight anytime'. What did he mean by that?" she asked and I thought about it a bit.

"The rules said first to stay down loses, right?" she nodded. "If no one stays down, no one loses." another nod. "So my guess would be that the fight wasn't over until someone stayed down."

"But you're not a strong enough fighter to have gotten Percy to stay down…" she trailed off.

"But I didn't have to keep getting back up." I told her as I realized what Percy meant.

"So why did you?" That was the question I had been asking myself.

"I don't really know." I whispered and thought about it some more. "I guess I just didn't want to disappoint my brother. Then I lost the fight."

"I don't think he expected you to win, TJ. And after the fight when you passed out and everyone started yelling at him for beating you up that badly, he said it was to test your skills."

"Great another fail." I grumbled. "How badly did I do?"

"Sadie tried asking but he said and I quote 'Performance still under review and all test results are confidential'." I laughed at that and she also cracked a smile. He's still here if you want me to go and get him so he could tell you." I shook my head.

"I'll ask him later when I don't feel like crap." I told her. "Is Sally still here? I haven't gotten the chance to meet her personally yet. And is it Dinner time yet? I'm hungry." I know that Sally's my mom but I still think it's I bit too early to start calling her mom outside of my mind.

"Yes she's still here. And yes it's almost dinner time. But you are to stay off you ankle for now. Walking might just make it worse." She grinned when I pouted. "It's just a rolled ankle and it will be better in a few days with my magic healing and if you do what I say."

"So what's that you brought in?" I nodded toward the bedside table to my left.

"Your brother told me to give it to you saying it will help make you feel better." She answered. "I have no idea what it is other than a baked good of some sort."

"If it's food I'll take it." she raised an eyebrow. "I told you I'm hungry." She shook her head at me but smiled.

"Boys." She mumbled. "Can you sit up?" I tried and got four inches off the bed before falling back down on to it. "I'll take that as a no." she grinned at me. "Open." I glared at her but complied. What I tasted was most definitely not a baked good. It tasted like the reindeer sausage from back home. I really missed that sausage. I must have made a face because Jazz started laughing. "I'm guessing it doesn't taste as good as it looks."

"Not it's not that it tastes bad, I just wasn't expecting it to taste like that." I told her.

"Open." And once again I got a mouth full of blissful reindeer sausage. I also noticed the soreness that plagued my body was beginning to fade. As well as the pain in my ankle. After a minute I found I could actually sit up, it still hurt, but I could do it. Then I just stuffed the rest of the pastry thing in my mouth.

"That was good." I sighed. "Can we go get dinner now? I'm still hungry." Instead of waiting for a reply I swung my legs over the side of the bed and almost fell over from dizziness. Jazz caught me before I could fall completely.

"TJ, what did I tell you about staying off you ankle?" she asked exasperated.

"It doesn't hurt that bad and I won't put too much weight on it." I told her, somewhat ignoring her question. With Jazz helping to support me I found that I could walk on it, albeit with a limp, but it was better than not being able to walk at all. We slowly made our way out to the balcony where we discovered everyone gathering for dinner. Felix was the first to notice us.

"Hey, TJ." He said and everyone turned to look at us. Relief flooded most of their faces and I saw a few glaring at my brother. My adopted mother rushed over and hugged me.

"Thank goodness you're alright." She said as she let me go. "Go sit down, I'll get you something to eat."

I did as she said. Not like I had much choice because Jazz dragged me over to the table and forced me into a chair across from my brother. Everyone else finished getting their food and found places to sit. Emily came and sat next to me with Felix on her other side. My adopted mother put a plate of chicken and mashed potatoes in front of me and I thanked her. My actual mom sat down next to my brother and my step-father next to her. No seemed to be in the mood for talking.

"So, Percy…" I started but I was really sure how to ask what I wanted to know. Might as well start with something simpler. "I get what you were saying about the ADHD." He rolled his eyes at me. "But is being able to tell when your opponent is going to make a move also a part of that or…?"

"Yes, that's the ADHD." He smiled slightly. "Some people are harder to read but that a conversation for another time. It's also possible for you to not see something coming, too."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like that kick you gave me right before you passed out. I did not see that one coming." He smiled for real this time. "It's moves like that you want to get better at and have more of them to use when you're against an opponent that is stronger and better at fighting than you are." I felt a lot better when he told me that even though I still lost the fight.

"What about time slowing down during a fight?" I asked what had been really bothering me about what had happened. He got a confused look on his face. "Right as you were about to deliver that last blow before I kicked you everything slowed down. Does that happen often?" that seemed to clear up his confusion.

"That happens to quite a few people. It's somewhat connected to ADHD but if anyone is in an extremely high stress situation everything will appear to slow down as their mind tries to process what is happening. It can also give you time to come up with something to stop what's about to happen."

"But time doesn't actually slow down, so how…" Carter asked slightly confused.

"Perceived time, then."

"Speaking from experience, then?" Jeff asked.

"Yup." No one spoke for a few minutes and only continued to eat. I figured it was time to get to a lighter subject.

"Hey, Sally." She looked up at me. "What happened when my brother flooded the gym at Brooklyn Academy when he went there?" she laughed.

"Well Percy was curious to see what the hose in the box on the wall was for and thought it was a good idea to turn the knob the hose was attached to. You could probably guess what happened because of it." Everyone started laughing and seeing the pout on Percy's face was just added to the humor.