"Amphitrite, I know you're not happy. He just lost his mother! You're going to have to accept the fact he's gonna live with us" Poseidon hissed through the phone. He felt his blood pressure rise at the pointless argument with his wife.
"What about the medical bills? How are we gonna pay for it? Triton's going to college next year! How are we going to be able to afford his tuition?" Amphitrite shouted.
"Are you telling me you're worried about money!? Money is not an issue, nor will it ever be. I own one of the best rescues in the world! You know I make three million per year. We can afford the bills and Triton's tuition and still have plenty to spare. If worst comes to shove, Zeus owes me some favors, and he makes triple than what I do. Where's all the concern about money coming from?"
"Just forget it. Triton's eighteenth birthday is next week, and you're already missing it."
"And I'll make up for it when we get back. I'll call him on his birthday, it's not like I'll forget it. Anyways he's helping fill in my place at the aquarium, and I'm sure we'll stay in touch concerning the rescue." Poseidon ran his hand threw his hair, glancing over his shoulder making sure no medical staff was watching him in his ire.
Amphitrite let out a heavy sigh over the line. "Do you have an estimate when you're coming home?"
"No. They said they're keeping Percy under heavy sedation for a few days. I'm not sure how long they're keeping him when he wakes. It all depends on how well he recovers."
He knew she was holding a retort back, he let out a sigh in return. "Look, I already signed the papers. Percy is my son and he doesn't have any other family. He lives with us every summer, it's not like a he's a stranger who is camping with us. This is your stepson who've you known for twelve years! I'm putting my foot down on this, he's living with us."
Amphitrite stayed silent. Poseidon rubbed his face in irritation feeling like he reached nowhere in this conversation.
"I have to go alright. I speak to later." Poseidon said after letting out another sigh.
"Talk to you later. I love you". Amphitrite softly spoke the last part.
"Love you too". He matched her soft tone.
Poseidon ended the call as he saw Dr. Yew hesitantly approach.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Dr. Yew politely asked.
Poseidon shook his head no as he now had his full attention.
"Perseus is doing well under the circumstances. I'll slowly lift the sedation in two days if he continues on this path. Besides the leg, I have high hopes that your son should have no lasting consequences. He has no internal bleeding, no hemorrhaging, and no punctures."
Poseidon nodded. He understood that Percy had defied the odds, but couldn't help but mourn his leg injury.
"Does that mean, he can be released soon?" Poseidon asked.
Dr. Yew sighed, "Leg amputation is a tricky recovery. I cannot predict the exact time he will be admitted here for, but he needs to achieve some independence of mobility on his own. That could possibly take a few weeks to a few months."
"A few months!" Poseidon exclaimed.
Dr. Yew sighed. "Your son will go through vigorous physical therapy with us. It's essential for him to be mobile, and that is our goal. Amputations don't heal overnight, especially if it's a leg. I'm sorry to say that you might want to make some friends with the staff here, you're going to be here for awhile."
Poseidon watched his son's face for over four hours, waiting for any twitch indicating his awareness. They started to slowly take him off the sedation. The nurses warned the father that it might take awhile for him to awake.
He's been anxiously waiting for him to wake up. He hasn't seen his eyes since last August. Even though they're a mirror to his and Triton's, Poseidon missed seeing them on his youngest son.
He has been with Percy for four days now, and he itched to see him alert. His heart would not ease until his son wakes and resumes his sarcastic mischievous behavior. Despite what Dr. Yew has told Poseidon that the leg would be the only lasting injury, he still has doubts that he would be the same Percy once he's up.
His heart clenched as he came to the realization that he had to be the one to inform Percy about his mother. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Percy wouldn't take it well. Percy adored his mother more than anything. Percy's poor heart will be shredded after hearing the news.
As Poseidon tried to come up on what he will say to him, something shifted in his peripheral vision. Percy's face started to scrunch up in pain.
Poseidon stood from his chair and rushed to the side of the bed, "Percy are you awake bud? Are you in pain?"
Percy gave no indication that he heard him as his face was still scrunched up.
"Percy? Can you hear me?" Again Percy gave no indication that he heard him. He sighed and ran his hand threw Percy's hair to try to let him know that he was there, and tried to comfort him.
Percy's face calmed down immediately, "Percy? Are you listening? Can you open your eyes for me?"
Percy's eyes remained shut. His face seized to scrunch, his features as calm as they were under full sedation. Poseidon was disappointed as he figured he'd slip back unconscious.
Bowing his head, he left his son's bedside to inform the staff of his brief visit of consciousness.
Poseidon groaned as he rubbed his stiff neck. He must've fallen asleep in the chair.
Today marks the fifth day Poseidon has been in the hospital with Percy. Other than Percy's brief clasp of consciousness yesterday, there hasn't been another sign.
Poseidon stood to stretch his legs, hopefully the hospital's Starbucks isn't busy. A good cup of coffee is just what he needed.
He left the room and headed towards the lobby of the hospital. He has made several trips to the lobby to grab a coffee during his five day stay. The lady at the front desk waved to Poseidon, and he waved back.
"Good morning Poseidon! Did your son wake up yet?"
"Good morning Reyna! No he hasn't fully waken up yet, there was a moment when I thought he will awake yesterday, but he didn't. I have very high hopes he will today though."
"Well I do hope he wakes up today for your sake. I don't how much Starbucks your body can handle?"
Poseidon scoffed in response, "I'm immune to the negative effects, my body can handle the caffeine."
"Suit yourself Poseidon. See you later." Reyna said before addressing the next person who've walked up to her desk.
Poseidon waved a silent goodbye before resuming his direction to Starbucks. Luckily the Starbucks wasn't busy, and they're only two employees on shift.
"Your usual, sir?" The young college barista asked. He nodded and crossed his arms, biting back a shiver at the extreme air conditioner blowing. Poseidon watched as the barista made his coffee.
"Here you go sir, that'll be 6.12" he handed me him the coffee with four espresso shots.
Poseidon payed and nodded his thanks. He had to hold back his urge to drain the whole cup in one gulp. He settled for tiny sips as he made his way back to his son's room.
Poseidon settled back into the chair with his coffee in hand. He was halfway done with his drink when he almost spilled it as Percy started to open his eyes.
Poseidon shot up from his chair and set the coffee on the table. He leaned over his son "Percy, buddy, how are you feeling?" Poseidon grabbed onto his son's hand.
Percy's eyes had confusion written all over them. His brows scrunch up and his eyes traveled throughout the room.
"I - I'm not sure how to put it in words on exactly what I'm feeling... Why am I in the hospital?" Percy asked hesitantly.
Poseidon tensed up as he'll have to tell him what happened. Poseidon sat back into the chair with a sigh. He let go of his hand, and started to fidget with his blanket instead. "What do you remember?" Poseidon asked slowly.
Percy's brow crinkled in concentration, "I remember packing for the trip. Everything after that is blurry. Are we in New York or in San Francisco?"
Poseidon really started to ponder if it was a good idea to tell him what happened? Maybe it will set him back, or cause him too much stress, "Um, we are in uh San Francisco" Poseidon scratched his neck nervously "... you were in a car accident".
Poseidon eyed him wearily, wondering if Percy will put pieces together before he'll tell him. Though he looked to dazed to fully contemplate a thought. His brows continued to crinkle and furrow as if that would jolt his memory.
"Where's mom and Paul? Are they okay? Were they in the accident as well?" Percy asked frantically.
Poseidon stared at the wall over his head. Should he tell him? If he were to lie or hold it off, Percy will wonder where they were. Percy would find out eventually, and that'll be worse.
Poseidon let out a sigh and clenched his eyes shut, he didn't want to see his son's expression. "Percy... buddy... they didn't make it... I'm so sorry"
Poseidon waited for a sob, or a screech, but no sound came. Confused he open one eye, Percy had no expression on his face. He's completely still. If it wasn't for his open eyes Poseidon would think that he was still unconscious. Poseidon opened the other eye and stared at his son. Poseidon wasn't expecting this, he thought Percy would be a blubbery mess, but this is something different.
"Percy?" Poseidon called. "Are you okay?"
Percy didn't respond. Poseidon shifted closer to him and raised his hand to grab his shoulder and give it a little shake. "Percy, are you here bud?"
Percy was silent and still as a statue. His gaze was permanently fixed on the wall behind Poseidon. Poseidon glanced at the wall in question to make sure there wasn't anything abnormal about it. It's the same as it has been for the past fives days.
Poseidon reached and pressed the call button. He grew increasingly concerned once Percy gave no response.
Three nurses and Dr. Yew came to Poseidon's rescue. "You called, did something happened?" Dr. Yew asked.
Poseidon motioned with his hand at Percy's face. "Percy woke up, and now he isn't responding to me."
Dr. Yew pulled out a pen looking flashlight. "Alright, you called him Percy. Does he go by Perseus, or Percy?"
"He goes by Percy." It didn't hit Poseidon that he only called Percy as his son for the past five days. He never corrected the doctor either when he called him by his full name.
"Hi Percy. I'm Dr. Yew, I've been caring for you for a couple days now. Can you hear me?"
Dr. Yew shined a light into his eyes. Percy didn't even flinch at the light. The doctor whispered something to the nurses, Poseidon couldn't quite catch what he was telling them.
"Was he like this once he woke up, or was this something that happened after a few minutes of consciousness?" Dr. Yew asked.
Poseidon shook his head, "He was confused once he woke up, he asked a few questions. I kinda told him what happened with his mother and stepfather, and this is what happened."
The doctor shook his head. "I would've waited until a therapist is present, we have a resident therapist that deals with types of these situations. That is my fault for not informing you about her. As for Percy, it appears that he went into shock."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Poseidon seen plenty of movies where someone goes into shock and it causes the medical staff to panic.
"Sorry, I should've clarified. He went into psychological shock, it's different from physical shock. If he was in physical shock his organs will be failing. Psychological shock is when the person experiences high levels of anxiety or stress. It can have different types of reactions, this is one of those reactions. It isn't a life or death situation, but it can be scary." Dr. Yew informed.
"As for treatment, it will go away on its own. The patient needs to relax though, I'll give him another sedative to help him." The nurses started to put the sedative into his IV.
"Oh and before I go. The resident therapist is Ms. Levesque or you can call her Hazel. I'll send her down since Percy has awoke." The doctor and nurses left, leaving Poseidon alone.
His eyes didn't leave off of his son. Percy's eyes are now closed due to the sedative. Poseidon still felt uneasy at the whole situation.
Poseidon sat back down not realizing he got up from the chair. He buried his head into his hands groaning.
At least there's his coffee.
A few hours past before Percy awoke again.
This time Percy was the blubbering mess that Poseidon assumed he would be after telling him the news.
Poseidon let out a sigh of relief as Percy sobbed uncontrollably. Poseidon could deal with this, he couldn't with an unresponsive son.
His heart monitor was going off, and Poseidon tried to coax him to calm down. "Ssshh, Percy... it's going to be okay. It's going to be alright."
His attempts were fruitless and his monitors started to skyrocket in distress. Dr. Yew and four nurses started to pile in the room to see what was all the commotion is about.
Poseidon stood in the corner and gave them room so they could treat him. They fixed Percy when he was unresponsive and he's trusting them to fix in this trial of emotions.
"Percy you got to calm down." A nurse tried to coax him as well. Dr. Yew was trying to ask him questions regarding if he was in pain, but Percy couldn't give any verbal response other than a shake of his head.
"Calm down, we're going to have to sedate you again if you don't calm down" one of the nurses said.
Apparently threatening him to be sedated did the trick. Poseidon could see that he was forcing himself to calm his breathing, his face is red with strain. The monitors calmed simultaneously with his sobs.
One by one the nurses and Dr. Yew left, once they were reassured Percy wasn't in any danger. Dr. Yew whispered to Poseidon before he left he was grabbing the therapist. Poseidon nodded in support of that action.
Percy still had tears running down his face and Poseidon grabbed some tissues, and handed them to him. He quickly wipe them, and blow his nose with it.
"We're going to get through this. I know this is hard, and it will get better in time I promise." Poseidon said while wiping the tears off of his cheek.
Poseidon sat back down in the chair, " You gave me quite a scare last night, Percy. Your body went to shock last night and you were unresponsive. It was very... unreal"
Percy only nodded, and he moved his gaze down to his lap. Poseidon eyes grew in horror as he never thought about Percy's reaction once he finds out that he's missing half a leg. Hopefully that therapist comes down quick.
"What happened to my leg?"
Shit.
Reyna - In Heroes of Olympus. Daughter of Bellona. Praetor of Camp Jupiter.
Hazel Levesque -In Heroes of Olympus. Daughter of Pluto. One of the seven in the prophecy.