Mother Sally

Chapter 6

Ok, this is part of a TWO SHOT!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

Clarisse POV.

"Ok, its just a baby. I can do this. Right? How hard can it be?" I was just reashuring myself. The child was already running away. I followed the sound of the adorable baby sounds he was making. Geez, get a hold of yourself. Finally I found him in the bathroom. He was standing up holding on to the side of the bath hopefully.

"Ba?" He asked, I think he meant he wanted a bath, but who am I to critizes people who don't make complete sentences?

"Uhh, no." I picked him up. I tried to place him on my hip as I saw Sally do. It was surprisingly comfortable. He tugged on my hair reminding me I needed to cut it again. He didn't seem too upset that he wasn't getting a bath. We walked back to the living room, I set him down on the floor and looked around. I saw some pictures on the wall. I went closer and I saw they were of Percy, I felt a sharp pain in my chest and I hated myself for it.

You see, theres something that nobody know except me. Not even Chris.

I miss Percy.

I know what you're thinking, 'the great fearless warrior Clarisse has feelings?' Yes, yes I do! (You should be really proud of me for admitting that even to myself. It's impressive.) I miss Percy. Yeah, when he was here I fought with him and called him Prissy and pretended I hated his guts, witch I do most of the time. But he was the only one in the camp who was a worthy appoint. He didn't fear me or my dad. He always helped, even when it was not needed/wanted. I hated it but I also respected it. The respect eventually grew to comradeship. It MIGHT be called friendship but I wouldn't push that. Really, don't.

Coming back to earth I turned around and saw that Eli had pulled out the contence of a large diaper bag on the floor and was happily ripping the wipes out of the container.

"No!" I started towards Eli, "No! What are you doing?" I pulled Eli back and started putting everything back. Then the worst experience of my life started right then, he started to cry. Groaning and cursing the fates I picked him up. Awkwardly I rocked back and forth while he cryed his little eyes out.

"What to do what to do?" I grumbled to myself. I ripped apart the bag I was just trying to put together, found a toy that made the most annoying sound ever. I almost killed it. Then I found a small container of Cheerios! Perfect! I hope…. I opened it up and gave it to him. He shoved them in his mouth happily. Forgetting about the tragedy that had just occurred. I sat on the ground cross legged in front of Eli. I closed my eyes and groaned. This was getting hard. Sally still wouldn't be home for a while yet.

"Stupid Stolls!" I cursed them in my mind.

All of the sudden I felt a small body crawling onto my lap. I looked down and smiled grudgingly at the sight. Eli looked up at my and grinned the most endearing baby grin.

"Babies are so silly." I told Eli. He didn't respond. Again I said out loud. "I wonder what Percy was like as a baby." I bounced Eli on my lap. "Do you think he was just as funny looking now as he was back then? I do. I'll bet we can find some pictures!" You have to understand that it's not like me to do stuff like that. I was curious, and it was kind of a rebellious way of saying, 'Percy disappears? I'm going to look through his stuff.' Whatever, no use explaining it to a mortal.

Balancing Eli on my hip I walked around the small apartment. We found Percy's room. With a defiant snort I walked in.

I set Eli down on the bed and walked around. It was dusty, I peeked into the closet. Just some clothes and weapons and stuff. Then I saw it. A photo book. Looking around I grabbed it. Eli and I sat on the bed and we flipped through the book. There were lots of pictures of Percy when he was little, but they kind of stopped for a few years when he was about 6-12.*

Huh.

Then there were the pictures of camp. I wasn't sure who had taken them but I thought they did a just below average job. That's saying a lot for me. I even found a few of me! One of which I was standing over Percy with a triumphant look on my face. I grinned, I had just kicked his butt!

I miss beating him at stuff. He was always a good sport about it. He always demanded a rematch, and usually lost again. Eli was uninterested in all this; he kept trying to close the book or climb on top of it or knock it out of my hands. Twerp. I looked at some older pictures again. He had been a decent looking kid, what the heck happened?

"Hey, Eli?" I closed the book and looked at him. "What happened to the kid? His looks went down the drain, at least he got some mule now. But what happened? Huh? Where did he go? Without a word too! The little bug. You know what? I'm really mad at him. When he comes back I'll kick his butt for everyone. None of that 'Oh Percy, we couldn't have survived without you! The great Percy Jackson!' oh no! Not me! I'll pulverise him and make him wish he never left, or came back. I swear on my father's name. My hands are practically itching for the beating he's about to receive"

Eli turned himself backwards and slipped off the bed, unperturbed by my wrath. He gave me an expectant look and waddled out.

"You could at least pretend to be afraid of me!" I yelled at him as I followed him out. Hearing him in the bathroom again I quickly grabbed him and held him up so he had to look at me

"Oh babies are so silly." I said. "Where's all your fear? And worry? Why do you not have a care in the world? You will one day. Maybe your friends will stab your back. Maybe you'll do the stabbing. Who knows? But for now I guess you're innocent."

"For now." A soft voice said behind me. I jumped and again reached for my spear. Stupid! I had left it in the living room. Thank father it was only Sally. She took Eli from me and smiled.

"He is innocent, but only for a time. There was a time when you were once innocent. You hadn't felt betray, pride, stress, anger, pain, sadness. There was a time when you hadn't seen war and death." I thought quietly.

"I guess. But that part of me has died. I've decided I'm not going to feel anything anymore. I'll be a stone cold person with no heart." Sally looked dismayed.

"Oh no! You HAVE to feel! When I think of the pain I have because Percy left… it hurts, but it shows I'm still human, that I'm still capable of doing things. It keeps me going." She turned her big eyes on me. "Clarisse, you don't want to stop feeling."

Slowly I shook my head. Then I groaned in disgust. "We'll find Percy. Even if it kills me." Grimly I turned to leave. I had to get out of this woman's presences.

"Buuy!" A small voice cried. Whipping around I saw Eli was reaching for me. I took him from Sally and placed a kiss on his head. He patted my cheek and I left that place almost convinced I didn't completely hate kids.

So yeah, Sorry for the wait!

*The reason they stopped taking pictures is because Smelly Gabe was living with them so it wasn't exactly a happy time.

Sorry if Clarisse was OOC. I wanted to show how babies make people act different. ;) I hope I didn't screw her up.