Percy's Work and Worry

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Disclaimer: I don't own PJO!

Olympus (Poseidon's POV)

"Athena, aren't you concerned about our grandchildren?" I asked her.

"No, of course I'm not! I'm not worried that every powerful monster that went into hiding after the second Titan War will be trailing my grandchildren. Of course I'm worried!" the first part was obviously sarcastic, "I have a heart you know."

Just then, Zeus, Apollo, and Hades (the Winter Solstice was a few days away) walked into the room Athena and I were in, "What is going on here?" Zeus demanded.

"All of our grandchildren, Sophia, Hallie, Gregory, Tanya, and Stella, are in danger," I summarized. The arriving gods frowned.

"Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, Theodore, Nico, Aura, Tommy, and Rachel are going to Greek Myth to discuss this matter further," Athena mentioned.

"Do you suggest we spy?" Apollo asked gleefully.

"Only to make sure they are making wise decisions, right Athena?" Zeus answered.

"Wise decisions," Athena repeated, smirking.

"We will all go for our children and grandchildren," Hades concluded. We all agreed on something for a change.

Hallie's POV

I needed to know what Sophia did at school with Greg! I snuck out of my room quietly when I was positive Mom and Dad were asleep. I crept down the hallway, avoiding creaky floorboards. I softly opened Sophia's door, and slowly closed it behind me. I crept over to her drawers and opened her sock drawer. I took out a pair of socks, crept over to Sophia in her bed, and gently shoved the socks in her mouth. She woke up!

She seemed scared at first, but then relaxed once she saw me. She removed the socks from her mouth and whispered, "Your hand would have muffled my screams just as effectively."

"Yes, that is true, but would my hand have woken you up?" I contradicted, whispering back.

Sophia rolled her sea-green eyes at me and pushed a strand of blonde hair away from her mouth, "Whatever. Why are you here? Let me guess: Greg?"

"Yes! You promised to tell me!" I begged.

"Fine," she said, and she did. She told me how much she liked him, and how a lot of the girls liked him, including Ashley. She told me that Ashley accepted the dibs, but was a little bummed about it. Ashley is a really good friend to Sophia, like Tanya and Stella are to me. I told her that I think that Greg has a crush on her. I told her what I observed, and she was hopeful. It was written all over her face!

I had to eventually go back to my room, and I was just as cautious. I do not want to wake up my parents; they can be scary when they want to. But to my dismay, there sat my mother, on my bed, waiting for me to return.

"Hi Mom…," I said carefully.

"Hallie, you need to sleep. You have school tomorrow," she started, "But I want to tell you something. If you see anything unusual, anything that seems like it doesn't belong, like what Sophia saw today, I want you to run away. As fast as you can, and don't look back. I'm begging you; it's for your own safety. Don't ask questions. If something similar to what happened to Sophia happens, I fear we have no choice but to tell you everything that we have kept secret. Do not lie to gain this knowledge; I have resources that will let me know if you do," Mom warned.

"Okay…," I replied to her warning. What resources?

"Goodnight, Hallie. I love you," she said as she kissed me on my forehead.

"Goodnight Mom. I love you too," I responded. With that, Mom left my room.

Percy's POV

I'm still worried about Sophia and Hallie. What if another monster approaches them? I was wary of sending them to school this morning. Rachel assured me that Greg would be able to protect Sophia from any harm, because he has her gift (or curse, whichever way you look at it). But who would protect Hallie? My youngest daughter was warned by Annabeth to run whenever she saw something like what Sophia saw, so I hope she will be able to remember.

Now it's time for work. There, I am Dr. Jackson, a marine biologist that all of the sea creatures love at the aquarium. They respond to my interaction better than anyone that I've ever seen. If I find anyone as good, I'll have to accuse them of being a child of Poseidon like myself.

"Good morning Dr. Jackson," Dr. Jack Jones greeted.

"Do we have any sick or injured creatures today Dr. Jones?" I'm kind of the vet here; the last one we had went loony, insisting that the fish were talking to him. We had to let him go. No one wanted the position after that, and so I added veterinarian to my list of jobs here at the aquarium. I kind of do everything here that requires interaction with the animals.

"Yes. The rescue team rescued an injured dolphin from the ocean yesterday, and we were hoping you could help her. We haven't given her a name yet; you seem to come up with the best names," Dr. Jones told me. I can come up with the best names because I can talk to them. But my colleagues don't need to know that.

They think I'm joking every time I say this, "I pick the best names because I can talk to them." Dr. Jones laughed at my "joke".

Dr. Jones led me to the tank the dolphin was being kept in, "Hello Ms. Dolphin. What's your name, and are you married?" My colleagues also thought I was joking every time I did that too.

"My name is Shelly, and I'm not married," the dolphin told me, "I'm happy that the Sea Prince will be taking care of me. The others scare me," I stifled a laugh. Dr. Jones noticed though.

"Sometimes I think you can really talk to these amazing creatures," he admitted.

"Her name is Shelly. She's not married. She also said that she's afraid of everyone here but me," I was stretching my limits.

"Can you really talk to her?" Dr. Jones asked warily.

"Yeah, and I'm also known as the Sea Prince," I hope he takes that as sarcasm. I used my sarcastic voice. Dr. Jones chuckled at my response. He thought it was sarcasm. Whew.

"I'll leave you to your job," and with that he left to do his.

"Okay, Shelly. Can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked.

"A shark tried to make me his dinner," Shelly responded through my head as she turned in the water to show me the bite marks near her flipper. They weren't deep, as if the attempt was stopped just after it started, "A human threw a bleeding piece of raw meat in the opposite direction and the shark was stupid enough to take the bait!" Shelly explained.

"Well, whoever that person was, they were pretty smart, don't you think. Outsmart a shark during feeding! Wow. I mean, I could do that, obviously, but a regular mortal? Wow," I kept my voice down so no one but the dolphin could hear me, "To fix that bite, I'm going to have to take you out of your tank, okay? Do you think you will hold up?"

"Yes, I think I'll be okay," Shelly responded.

"Good!" I walked over to the machine that has the stretcher-like thing attached that puts animals in and takes animals out of their tanks. I put my key in the slot and the machine turned on. I grabbed the toggle and made the stretcher lower into the water. Dr. Mia Song walked in the room just as I lowered the stretcher into the water. I didn't notice she was there, watching.

"Okay Shelly, could you do me a favor and swim right onto the stretcher so I can fix you up? Please?" I asked. Shelly listened and swam onto the stretcher.

"How do you do that?" Dr. Song asked from behind me.

I turned to face her, "I didn't see you standing there Doctor. I guess they just like me," I suggested as I shrugged. I lifted Shelly out of the water.

"Dolphins don't normally just go on those things without being forced," she contradicted.

"Whatever I am doing that makes these animals love me I don't know, but whatever it is, it has good results. Why complain?" I asked. I really don't need this, on top of everything my family is going through.

Dr. Song wasn't giving up, "But–."

I interrupted her, "Dr. Song! I do not need your questions right now!"

Her face softened, "I'm sorry Dr. Jackson. If there is anything I can do, I will," she offered.

"The best thing you can do to relieve my stress is to stop asking me questions. I don't need to wonder if there is something different about me than everyone else on this planet. I already have to worry about my children. This conversation is over," I said. Dr. Song finally went back to her work.

I gently laid Shelly down on a work table. I examined her wound, and found a shark tooth in it. I used tweezers to remove it. I would examine that later. I found out that all I needed to do was make sure it wasn't infected, treat it for any infections, and put a water-proof bandage over it. Shelly's wound had not become infected yet, and so all I had to do was carefully apply the bandage. Once I did, I returned Shelly to her tank.

I think of all these animals as my children. At the thought of my children, I was once again worrying over their safety. What if another monster approached one of them? What if Hallie can't run away? What if Greg isn't around to warn Sophia? I need to stop worrying! I love my daughters, and I would give my own life so they could be safe. I need to stop worrying, but I guess I will never stop.

It was time for my show. Yeah, I said show. I'm the shark feeder, and that has a scheduled time for anyone who wants to see the sharks being fed. I grabbed the shark feed and the wetsuit that I "needed". I met up with my assistant, Dr. Jim Yates. We were the only two people willing to go in the shark tank while the sharks were feeding. There was always a person above to lower us in and out of the water.

"Are you ready, Dr. Jackson?" he asked me.

"Just let me get changed and I'll be ready," I said. He nodded and left me to change in the changing rooms. He was already in his wetsuit.

I came out, and Dr. Yates followed me with the shark food and feeding stick. I carried our oxygen tanks and masks. I didn't need one, but how was I supposed to explain that? I led the way to the shark exhibit. There were people already waiting for the show.

We hustled over to Dr. Janine Frau, who would get us in and out of the water. Dr. Yates gave the food and stick to Dr. Frau and we put our oxygen masks and tanks on. Mine was different from Dr. Yates's because mine had an earpiece that was attached to a microphone in the observing room. Viewers could ask me questions, and I had a microphone built into my mouthpiece that allowed me to respond. Cool huh?

I walked into the cage that I would be lowered into the water in. Dr. Yates followed me with the food and feeding stick. He handed me the stick. I would be feeding the sharks, and I would be getting food on the stick from Dr. Yates's container.

Dr. Frau lowered the cage. The sharks knew what that meant, so they avoided the spot where we would descend to prevent getting smashed. They avoided the spot until we stopped moving though. Once we stopped moving, sharks started swimming towards us.

I addressed the audience, "I'm Dr. Jackson, and this is Dr. Yates. How's everyone doing?"

I got a chorus of "good" s from the audience.

"Awesome! Okay, so we are going to feed the sharks using this stick that I'm holding. I stick a fish on the end of it," I took a fish from Dr. Yates and stuck it on the end, "and hold the stick out for a shark to come up and eat it. Any questions?" sticking the stick between the bars, I asked.

A boy in the front with a blue shirt raised his hand, and he was about seven years old, "The young man in the front with the blue shirt. What is your question?"

"Are you afraid?" he asked. His voice was challenging me, as of daring me to say yes. Or if I say no, do something crazy. I'll do the second one.

"No. These sharks might just bite off Dr. Yates's hand. But, when I stick my hand through these bars to an approaching shark…well, watch," a shark was coming my way. I waited for it to come close, and then stuck my hand out. It looked as if it was sniffing my hand like a dog. Then it swam under my hand and let me pet it, just like a dog, "See?"

"How do I know he isn't trained to do that?" the boy asked. He is a smart seven year old!

"I cannot prove that, you'll just have to take my word. I'm an honest man, so you can trust me. I do not lie," I reassured him. I just don't tell you everything I know. Like my past.

I fed some more sharks, and then took another question. This one was from a woman about my age, "Are you single?" she giggled.

"That is a completely inappropriate question. I'm guessing you will ask again if I don't tell you, so no. I have a wife and two kids. If you ask anymore inappropriate questions, I will have to have security escort you out of the building," I responded, "Does anyone have a question about the exhibit?" My audience laughed. I'm still worried about my children; speaking about them reminded me of Sophia, Greg, and the Cyclops. And Hallie unprotected.

Someone asked a question about how much food the sharks ate in a day, another asked what kind of sharks were in the tank, and another asked what kinds of fish they ate. I answered these questions half-heartedly, still worrying about Sophia and Hallie.

I got a flurry of questions like "What's wrong?" and "Why are you worried?" from the sharks. They could sense that I was worried and they wanted to comfort me. Right, that's a little weird coming from a shark, a vicious sea creature. And it looked funny, too, because the sharks were trying to get through the bars to do so.

I answered the question of another seven year old, and I realized that there were a lot of them. Probably a field trip, "Why are the sharks acting like that?"

"They can tell I'm worried about something, and believe it or not, they want to comfort me," I answered. Dr. Yates looked at me funny as I took the next fish from the bucket to feed the sharks. I would ask him about it later, "Anymore questions?"

I answered a few more questions, fed the sharks with the rest of the food, and then the show was over. Dr. Frau pulled the cage up. I willed the water to get me wet. People lingered; I could see this through the water and glass. They all seemed to be looking at one thing.

I turned my attention to the thing they were staring at. It was something I've never seen in a controlled environment! Two sharks were fighting over the last fish! They never do that.

I had to do something, before one killed the other. But I had already taken off my mask and oxygen tank. Oh well. I jumped in the water holding another fish, and right before I hit the water, I heard my colleagues shouting after me, telling me I was insane. I didn't care.

I swam over to the sharks, and pushed them off each other. At first they both had deadly looks in their black, beady eyes. But then, when they realized who I was, their beady eyes actually softened. I took the fish they were fighting over, gave it to one of the sharks, and gave the other fish I brought with me to the other shark. I swam to the surface, glancing at the audience once before breaking the surface. Their mouths were opened in surprise and wonder.

Once I was out of the water, Dr. Frau said, "You are absolutely insane! You could've gotten killed!"

"Why did they not kill you?" Dr. Yates asked me.

"I have a way with the animals. They absolutely love me. It's not just sea creatures. It's equestrians too," I answered.

"It's like they respect you," Dr. Frau stated in wonder, "Like you are their king."

"If I would refer to myself as anything special to those animals, it would be prince. Not king," I clarified.

"But they were trying to comfort you because you were worried!" Dr. Yates mentioned.

"Maybe I was sending negative vibes through the water and they picked them up? I don't know," I suggested. I really did know. But they didn't have to know that.

"Why are you worried?" Dr. Frau asked. She is always worried about peoples' feelings; she said she almost became a psychologist.

"Sophia and Hallie," I said shortly. I said it in a way that screamed 'this conversation is over'. The other two noticed, and they dropped the subject. Every mention of my daughters makes me even more worried.

I went through the rest of my work day, feeding sea creatures, healing them, entertaining them, and making sure their environments were at perfect temperatures. I did all of this, worrying about my daughters.

When I was watching the dolphins play with each other, I didn't notice Dr. Jones walk up behind me, "I heard about your little stunt," he said. I turned to face him. He had a confused expression on his face.

"Yes. What about it?" I asked.

"Why would you risk your life?" he questioned.

"I knew they wouldn't hurt me," I replied simply.

"You are strange, Dr. Jackson. By the way, you have two visitors. In their late twenties, names are Grover and Juniper," he informed me. Grover's here? And Juniper is in her late twenties? I didn't think that nymphs could grow older!

"Where are they?" I asked.

"They are watching the penguin show," he informed me. That's where I went.

I finally arrived at the place where we do the penguin show. I saw Grover sitting with…a pregnant Juniper?! I hustled over to them. I saw Dr. Jones telling people about a nearby exhibit. Did he follow me?

"G-man, I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been? And Juniper! Looks like you are going to have a new family member soon. Congratulations!" I greeted.

"Thanks Percy. We need to talk about something extremely important in a more private spot. I heard that you were having Christmas dinner at Greek Myth?" Grover was clarifying.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked. I wonder what this extremely important thing is?

"That's not the point. So, are you going?" Juniper asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"We'll be there. Should we reserve another table our sit with you guys?" Grover asked.

"Um…well, our kids don't exactly know about you guys yet, so I think it would be best if you reserved another table," I answered, "Do you smell a monster around here?"

Grover sniffed, "No. Why?"

"One of my colleagues, Dr. Jones, followed me over here. He was also asking if I could talk to the sea creatures," I answered.

"No. That guy isn't a monster or a half-blood. He's just a curious mortal," Grover reassured me.

"We better get going. We'll see you Christmas!" Juniper said.

"Bye!" Grover said as he was dragged off.

"Bye!" I responded.

"Bye!" Juniper added.

"Wait!" Grover told Juniper, "Percy, don't worry about your daughters. I'm sure they are okay." He could read emotions, so he could tell I was suffering from worry. I nodded, and they left.

If anyone is confused as to why Grover appears older, it's because he grows slow; he does in fact grow.