~Come on skinny love, just last the year.
Poor a little salt we were never hear.
My, my, my, my, my.
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer~

PIPER:

"Jason," she speaks the words slowly, barely audible, almost as if that would change the deadpanned facts. How did this happen? How did her sudden happiness and sweetness turn sour? For the first time in her life she was relatively elated. Happy. Now it was gone. Seemingly identical to wind whisking away anything in its path. And on it's path was her happiness.

How was her mother here? After all those years of neglectance, why did she even bother to show up now? "I think you should go."

A flicker of pain and hurt forms across his face, like she's rejecting him. But when he notices the meaningful look in Piper's Kaleidoscope eyes, his mouth snaps shut. She nods in encouragement as Jason walks out the door. He looks back one last time and she stares into his wise, blue eyes, one last time hoping that they would give her some form of confidence.

It doesn't.

"Would you like me to send your mother in now?" The nurse asks, completely oblivious to the situation. All this innocent nurse knows is that Piper's mother was here. She didn't know the rest of the story. If Aphrodite is anything like Piper Mclean vaguely remembers her, then she won't take 'no' for an answer. So she practically had no choice but to nod her head weakly, wondering if she was going to become a mute.

"I'll be right back," the nurse cheerfully says in a sing-song voice, exiting Piper's hospital room. She takes a seat, numbness passing over her like multiple waves crashing over a person at the beach. Every time Piper thinks that it might be over, something drastic and abrupt has to happen. Every single time the storm settles, another flash of lightning has to wiggle it's way in, proof of another problem. Another sad, heart wrenching experience. Piper swallows, feeling the urge to revolt all over the hospital room. But she's promised herself-made an oath- that she was never going to puke for her mother again. She's already too far along to give up now.

The door opens.

And standing in front of her is her glamorous, blonde mother- Aphrodite.

She looks exactly as she did ten years ago, minus the small wrinkles coated by makeup. Her blonde hair is still shiny, but a little bit shorter. And if Piper looks close enough she sees light streaks of grey, overlapped by highlights. The grey streaks of adulthood are vague, but certainly there. Her shiny, light blue eyes are swimming with pain and remorse, a feature on her mother that Piper is not yet familiar with. Her tan skin is still there, from her obvious layouts in the sun. Her hair is curled into perfect spirals, one that so perfectly represents Annabeth's. She's wearing a slim light-blue dress, with a black jacket and black high heels.

"M-m-mom?" Is all Piper can manage. She feels slightly envious and subconscious from her own mother.

There's a look of confusion in Aphrodite's eyes, but she nods curtly. Makeup is spread lightly across her face, and it's starting to see her bright red lipstick gone.

"Piper," Aphrodite breathed, like she was staring and gawking at a famous monument. She slowly walks in a circle around her. Piper hugs herself, wondering what her mother thinks of her. "My, you've grown. You're so beautiful."

It's one thing to recall your mother in memories, it's another thing to have her standing in front of you ten years later. Piper freezes, feeling small and shy compared to Aphrodite. Then she crosses her arms tightly across her chest, standing firm. She wasn't going to be her puppet- not anymore. She was Piper Mclean, Jason's girlfriend.

And After all this time Aphrodite thinks that she can simply drop in? No, Piper thinks in absolute certainty, this isn't happening. She hasn't forgotten what she's done.

Piper knew that she would never forget.

"Beautiful?" Piper asks, forgetting her manners altogether. "Or anorexic?"

There's a flash of pain amongst her mother's flawless face, but Piper can't find it in her heart to care. She remembered what she had done. Aphrodite, her own mother, had made her into...this. Some skinny, unconfident, vain, anorexic teenage girl.

Not anymore, though. Piper was going to change that, but her mother just dropping a bomb like this wasn't speeding up the process.

"I'm so sorry for that," she says somewhat ashamed. She reaches out her hand to perhaps comfort Piper, but then seemingly changes her mind from the look of pure astonishment on Piper's face, and lets it hang from her side. Piper watches her actions carefully wondering what she is going to do. "I was young, dear. Drunk with power and rich with money. All I wanted was a picture-perfect family. I neglected you. I know that's true. But I'm here to make amends."

"After all these years you've decided now to bury the hatchet?" Piper snarls, glowering at her own mother. Her own flesh and blood. She's never felt so much rage, anger, and betrayal before so much in her life. Even when Jason had confessed to her father, it was nothing compared to the redness she was seeing now. "Why not ten years ago?"

Aphrodite flinches, like she's being slapped. "After your father divorced me, I ran. City after city, state after state. I was...hurt. I missed you so badly, but I couldn't come back. I couldn't face you. Couldn't face what I had done to you. Then, I saw you on the news. How you passed out in a mental hospital from your anorexia. That gave me the confidence to come here. But that's no excuse. I should've been there for you Piper. I shouldn't have done those horrible things to you."

Piper's permanent scowl is still there, but she feels her face soften at her mother.

Aphrodite really did regret what she had done, didn't she?

"Why are you here? For forgiveness? Because that will never, ever happen."

"I know," Aphrodite replies, her eyes filled with pain. "I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I'm here to make up for the past. I'm here to make up for the fifteen years I've hurt and forgotten you. With your permission, of course."

Piper ignores her previous comment and simply states, "dad told me that you were dead."

"Your father and I decided that it was best that you forgot the whole experience altogether. Eventually, you blacked it out. But you never truly forgot, did you?"

Piper stares down at her skinny body, her fists clenching securely at her sides. "No. I guess I didn't. But eventually I did. I remembered everything that you did to me. You made into this."

"I know."

"Is that all you have to say?" Piper asks, her face twisting outraged. Tears are spilling in Aphrodite's eyes, and Piper has to blink them back. No, she can't cry. Not in front of her. Aphrodite doesn't deserve her tears. "I made myself puke every morning. I heard voices inside of my head, monsters, telling me everything that was wrong about me. Every. Single. Flaw. But that's when I realized that those voices didn't come from me- they came from you. You ruined my life. You shattered it. You ran away like a coward, not even bothering to help me pick up the pieces!"

By the time she's done, she can't contain the tears that begin to slide down her cheeks in heavy pools. Aphrodite stifles a sob, and Piper just stares at her through blurred tears.

"When people asked me if I was okay, I would just say I was fine. Because it was too hard to explain how broken I was."

"Piper, I'm so sorry."

"No," she says squeezing her eyelids shut. "You're not." She turned away from her mother, staring out the window, letting the water just slowly cascade down her cheeks. "It's too late for me to give you another chance. I don't want you in my life anymore. I've moved on, and I think it's time that you do too."

When Piper turns around again, she's gone, and on her bed is a piece of paper with a phone number on it. And underneath the numbers is a sentence.

In case you change your mind.

Piper sighs, wrapping her sweater tightly around her, like she can conceal herself from the outside world. She missed her mother far more than she let on, and now that she saw her again her craving for motherly love and nurturing only increased. Her father never remarried again, and she never had a female role model in her life. Her dad was loving and kind, but didn't really hug her or give her the kind of comfort that mothers did.

"Piper?" There was a knock at the door. Jason stood there and she bolted into his arms, not crying, but just being held. "What happened? I thought your mother was dead."

She pressed tighter into his arms, almost like she's trying to blend into him.

In a hoarse, raspy voice she whispers, "she is."

~Tell my love to wreck it all, cut out all the ropes and let me fall. "
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my...
right in the moment this orders tall~

Piper hugs Annabeth tightly, then Leo, and so on. "You promise to visit me, right?"

"Of course, Pipes," Leo tugs on her braid from the side of her. "I've always wanted to be inside a mental hospital."

Laughter. "Oh, Leo...you'll fit right in."

Percy chuckles, wrapping an arm around Annabeth. "You'll do fine, Piper. In fact, you almost look normal."

Piper rolled her eyes, but an amused smile played at her lips. "Gee, thanks, Percy."

He salutes her, and Annabeth elbows him the ribs, sending him a death glare that he cringes under. "I mean, you look spectacular! You're practically glowing."

After all goodbyes are said, Piper feels...fulfilled. And sad, too. She wishes desperately that she could spend her summer with them, but they would never enjoy her accompany. Not until she was fixed. And she was going to get fixed, no matter what the cost.

Jason stays last, practically forcing her to let him accompany her to the bus station. Her dad had called and offered a limousine, but she had declined politely. She wanted to do this her way. It was time for her dad to let go of the girl that he once thought he know, and embrace the new one. The better one. The girl who doesn't spend her time alone anymore. The girl who's done being insecure.

He presses his lips against hers, it's a quick peck, but it still makes Piper's heart race with anticipation. "I could never get tired of kissing you."

"Me too," she leans against his broad frame, snuggling deeper into his chest breathing in that Jason smell of licorice and cologne. "I'm going to miss you." She felt him stiffen and he wrapped his arms around her tighter, kissing her forehead before placing his chin on top of her head.

They just stood there for hours. Decades maybe. Never growing annoyed with another ones company.

This, Piper thinks, is how it should be.

This is the start of something new. Something good. And Piper doesn't want to waste another second of it.

"Piper?" Mrs. Jackson's head pops through the doorway, and smiles at the two of them embracing. "Your father's on the phone."

She nodded, but felt a pang of remorse at the mention of her dad, which reminded her of Aphrodite.

Should she have forgiven her?

If there's one thing that Piper learned through all this jumbled mess- it's to forgive. Because that's the only way out.

If you can't forgive, you can't move on.

"Piper?" Sally repeats, and Jason nudges her shoulder. They both looked concerned, like she's going to pass out again. Piper shoves the thoughts about Aphrodite away, but the piece of paper with her phone number still feels heavy in her pocket.

Piper shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm fine. My minds just somewhere else."

Sally nods in understanding, but Jason looks unconvinced. His eyes read; we'll talk later. Mrs. Jackson, Sally, leads her out the door and to the hospital's phone. She presses it against her phone, trying to keep her hand from trembling again.

"Hello?" Her voice is shaky.

"Piper!" Her dad's familiar voice nearly yells with relief. "Iamsosorry I couldn't be there-"

She decides to cut right to the chase, guilt and anger laced into her voice as she selected her words carefully. If she didn't act now, she would cower out of it. "Why did you lie to me?"

There's a pause, a pregnant one. "What do you mean, Pipes?" His voice is troubled, and Piper knows that she's struck some form of nerve.

Piper scoffs, her eyes narrowing. "I think you know, dad."

"I really don't, Piper. I'm sorry if you misinterpreted something."

Piper curls the phone line around her slim finger, wanting so bad for this meeting to be face to face. But she knew that she had to dealt with this problem here, because otherwise she would have to wait a week. "Hard to misinterpret something with your mother standing right in front of you."

Piper hears him distinctively mutter something underneath his breath in rage, but she can't quite catch the words.

"What do you mean? Your mother is there? Right now?" Piper flinches from his irate tone. Truth is, she's never seen or heard her father so angry. No wonder they got divorced. "That wasn't part of the agreement!" He seems to forget about his daughter, which is what he always does. He's caring and takes care of all Piper's needs, but he isn't really there. It's like she's a barbie doll, the owner buys her dresses and gives her a dream house, but never truly treats the doll like an equal.

"Listen to me, dad!"

He stops his angry rant, and averts his rage on her. "You will not talk to me like that young lady. And you will not talk to your mother either!"

"For once in your life LISTEN TO ME!" She earns peculiar, irritated looks from innocent pass buyers, but she can't find the patience to add them into this scenario.

Her father, Tristan is silent, obliging to her screams. He must think that Piper Elizabeth Mclean is off her rocker at the moment, and doesn't want to push her to the edge. This only frustrates Piper more.

"Mom or Aphrodite stopped by because she saw me in the news. And I'm glad that she did-"

"How can you be glad?" He spits the words out icily. "Do you even know what she did to you?"

"Yes, I actually do. She made me throw up, neglected me, left me home alone all day so she could go shopping. Surprised dad? I learned a lot at Sunshine or its previous name Camp Half Blood. And let's not take the fact out that you were being dishonest with me- for fifteen years. You purposely told me that my mother died from cancer, while she was alive this entire time. I could've gone out and found her-"

"Well, Aphrodite didn't want to be found." Tristan counters, and Piper can hear the impatience in his voice.

Piper shrugs. "Maybe not. But that's beside the point. Do you realize that if you had told me what she did to me that I wouldn't be anorexic? I wouldn't blame myself for everything?"

There's a silence, and all Piper can hear is the sound of her voice breathing heavily.

His voice cracks. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't blame you, dad. You have nothing to be sorry for. What's done is done. I just wanted to let you know how I felt. This is the real me, and it's about time that you started accepting it."

"Bye dad, I'll see you next week during visiting hours."

When he finally manages to compose himself he says, "I have to do something for work, Pipes. You know that."

"Then I guess you're going to have to figure something out, because I won't take no for answer. Bye, daddy. I love you."

His voice sounds confused. "I love you, too...?"

She hangs up the phone, then turns to the assistant nurse. "May I take another call?"

"Sure."

Piper Elizabeth Mclean would never forget-

-but she would forgive.

It goes to voicemail."Hello, mom? It's Piper. I just wanted to let you that mistakes are always forgivable, if someone has the courage to admit them. The visiting hours at Sunshine Mental hospital are..."

~And I told you to be patient, I told you to be kind.
In the morning I'll be with you... but if will be a different kind.
'Cause I'll be holding all the tickets and you'll be owning the fines~

Jason:

"And I want to take dance lessons after this is all over. Maybe singing, too. But mostly acting, I really, really want to act. I think I'd be good at it. After all, it runs in the family. And then I want to go to the fair, and learn how to do opera just like Aphrodite." Jason smiles at her, their hands tightly clasped together. He was glad that her mother turned out to be alive. Not really so glad when Piper had told him what she had done to her, but he was willing to move on if she was. "And then I want to..."

He could listen to her ramble meaninglessly forever...

"Jason!" She smacks his shoulder lightly with her free hand. "Were you even listening to me?"

He laughs, bending in to kiss her cheek. When he pulls away, her cheeks are flushed. He loved the reaction he could have on the daughter of Tristan. "I was too busy gawking at your beauty."
She laughs, "good save." But there happiness is short lived when the red sign of the bus stop is in their view. Jason frowns. What if she found someone who was better than him in Camp Half Blood? He didn't nearly deserve Piper, and he wasn't sure if he ever would. She was so amazing, full of life, and confident. Even though she didn't used to be, he still loved her.

She puts a delicate hand to his cheek, and he instantly notices her questioning expression. "I've never seen you make that face before...Jason, are you jealous?"

He takes her hand in his, kissing her nose. "Only jealous that you'll find someone that deserves you in CHB."

A look of utter incredulous forms across her face. "You think you don't deserve me? I don't deserve you..."

He kisses her longingly, and when they break he whispers, "you deserve me."

"We deserve each other. And trust me Jason, no guy could compete with you."

"Good." He states, tugging gently on her braid. "Because if any guy even gets close to you, I will kill them."

Piper rolls her eyes, but Jason can see the pleased smile on her face.

They get closer to the sign, just as the bus stop pulls in.

Both their smiles instantly fade in unison.

"So this is it," Piper says bitterly. "The goodbye scene."

Something tugs in Jason's gut, but he manages to stay happy for her sake. "It's only goodbye for a week."

She throws herself into his arms. It's a habit that she does when she's afraid or nervous, and Jason loves it. He wraps his arms around her tightly, repeating the same thing that he did just hours before. "I don't ever want to say goodbye to you."

"I know," Jason confesses. "But this is for a good cause."

She snorts, "you make it sound like you're doing charity."

"You, Piper Elizabeth Mclean, are anything other than charity." Before she could even say anything else, Jason's strong arms were around her, holding her as close as possible while he bent down and kissed Piper gently. The soft gentle kiss gradually escalated into a deep passionate kiss. They were both lost in each other's arms, like a maze, eyes tightly closed, lips locked together in unison. They seemingly melted into one another, never letting go.

"I love you, Jason." She says breathlessly as soon as they break apart. Jason smiles, knowing that he feels the exact same way.

"I love you, too." She pulls away from his arms slowly, and Jason already misses her warmth. Jason hands her the small suitcase and she gives him a hesitant smile, staring awkwardly at the bus.

"Bye, Jason. Love you!"

"Bye, Piper Love you, too!"

She walks onto the bus, and Jason already feels longing for her arms, for her lips, to run his hands through her brunette hair, and there long talks. If he couldn't survive a second, how was he going to survive a week? He has to ball his fists together to keep from running on the bus after her. She disappears from his view, but then appears at the closest window to him. Her head sticks out half way and she's waving at him, blowing kisses as the bus slowly pulls away.

"You're in love with an anorexic girl. Any day now, she could just die. Do you know the heartbreak you're going to go through just to be with her? She could be dead by the end of the year, and I'm not saying this in a mean way. I'm giving you a dose of reality."

Reyna's words are ringing through his eyes as Piper smiles at him, the wind blowing through her braid, messing it.

Forget Reyna.

Forget the rest of the world.

She wasn't just anybody. She was Piper Mclean. She could survive anything.

And she could last the year.

~Come on skinny love, just last the year.~

A/N: Oh my god. It's actually done. And I actually loved how this turned out! I hope the rest of you do, too. There will be an epilogue, so stay tuned. Also, thanks for reviewing, following and favoriting. It meant a bunch!