I'm so sorry about the late update. I have been busy studying for EQAO, a provincial test we have to take every three years here in Ontario.
Anyway, I hope this chapter makes up for it; it's longer and I wrote a tad different as it isn't always from the person who is discovering Percabeth's Point of View.
Anyway this one is about Sally, Percy's Mum. Enjoy!
Sally
It had been two weeks since the Gods had won the Titan war, two weeks since Typhon had been defeated, two weeks since Kronos had been sent back to the depths of Tartarus and, Percy blushed at the thought, two weeks since he and Annabeth had started dating. And they had been the best two weeks of his life.
Now, he was headed back to Manhattan for the school year because it had also been two weeks since he had seen his mother, Sally Jackson.
Amidst all the chaos the usually occurs after one fights a war, his mother had seen him once, after the gods had handed out fabulous awards to the demigods who had defended Olympus. Since then, he hadn't had any contact with her. Percy hoped she wouldn't be mad. After all, she was used to having much longer periods of time without contact from him.
"What're you thinking about?" a voice from beside him said. Percy turned to the voice, which, of course, belonged to Annabeth Chase, his girlfriend. She was travelling back to the city with him as she had made arrangements to stay there for the year.
"Huh?" he said. "Nothing, really."
She chuckled. "Come on you were staring out the window, not saying a word for the past five minutes. There has to be something going on in that seaweed filled brain of yours," she said, flicking the side of his head.
"Well, I was just thinking…" he said, rubbing the side of his head where she flicked him, event though they both knew it didn't hurt him.
"I know that, Seaweed Brain" she cut him off. "What were you thinking about?"
'Well, two things," he said. "Number One, well, I was just sort of thinking about the last two weeks." A smile slowly spread across his face.
"Oh yeah?" she said, a grin stretching across her face as well. "What about them?'
"Only that they were the best two weeks of my life," he replied as he, subconsciously or consciously, inched closer to Annabeth.
"Hmm. And what made them so special?" she teased.
'Well for one, the Titans are gone-"
"Of course."
"-There were no monster attacks-"
"Yes, always seems to make things better, doesn't it?"
"-And everything at camp was so peaceful. No battles, no dangerous quests, and no trips to the underworld."
Annabeth chuckled. They were now so close that Percy could feel her breath on his skin. "Was that all?"
"No," he replied. "There was one more thing that made those two weeks so special."
"What was that?" Annabeth breathed. They were nose to nose.
"You." He said it so softly that if they were any further apart she wouldn't have heard. But she did, and her face broke into a huge grin before she leaned upwards and pressed her lips to his softly, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck. Percy brought his hand up to cup her cheek. Both probably would have stayed there forever if the harpy driving the van hadn't spoken up.
'We're almost there," she croaked. "So, for the rest of the drive, could you please keep the romance to a minimum?"
They broke apart, both blushing. There was a silence for a while whilst both tried to recover from there embarrassment.
"So what was the second thing?" Annabeth asked, leaning her head on Percy's shoulder, forcing his attention away from the window and back to her.
"What?" he asked, terribly confused.
"You said you were thinking about two things," she reminded him, lifting her head from his shoulder so she could see him clearer. When his expression didn't change, she continued, "You said you were thinking about the last two weeks and… something else."
"Oh!" he said. "I was just hoping my mum wouldn't be too upset that I didn't contact her."
"Oh." she sighed, settling her head back down on his shoulder. "When was the last time you talked to her?'
"Two weeks ago," he replied. "When we were leaving Olympus."
"So, if that was the last time you saw her, she doesn't know about, you know, us?"
The thought hadn't occurred to him. Of course he planned on telling his mom that he and Annabeth were dating, it's not like they were keeping it a secret, but he had never thought of telling her without Annabeth right next to him. "Well I thought we'd tell her today. So we could do it together."
Annabeth nodded. "Sounds like a plan" she said with a smile.
The van slowed to a stop and the Harpy driver called, "We're here."
Annabeth hopped out first and Percy crawled out after her, grabbing both of their bags. Annabeth was in the middle of a conversation with the harpy. "Could you please-"
"I'm not waiting for you, girly. Get him to drive you home." And with that, she pulled out into traffic.
"Don't worry," Percy said. "I got your bag."
"Thanks," she said. They looked at each other and simultaneously burst out laughing. "Come on," she said, gasping for air after her laughing fit. "Let's head inside."
A knock sounded on the door as Sally Jackson was about to sit down to dinner. She raised her eyes at her husband, Paul, silently asking him if he was expecting someone. He shrugged his shoulders, as confused as she was.
"Who is it?" she called, rising from the table and walking towards the front door.
"Mom?" came the reply. "It's Percy."
Sally flung open the door and saw her sixteen year old son standing in front of her. "Percy! It's so good to see you!" She pulled him into a hug.
"Good to see you, too, Mum," he said, returning the hug.
Looking over her son's shoulder, Sally noticed that Percy wasn't the only unexpected visitor. "Annabeth!" she said in surprise as Percy pulled away from her and stepped back into the hallway. "Don't take this the wrong way, but shouldn't you be on a plane to San Fransisco?"
Annabeth laughed. "Well, Athena thought that I should be closer to Olympus so that I could work on redesigning it and I wanted to be closer to camp and Per-" she stopped herself. "Yeah, um, closer to camp."
'She's staying in New York for the year, Mum!" Percy added excitedly.
Sally looked between her son and his best friend. "There's something different about you two. What, exactly-"
"Percy! Annabeth! It's so great to see you both!" Paul exclaimed, walking in from the kitchen.
'Hi Paul!" Both teenagers nearly yelled, relieved. They were both sure they were going to have to tell Sally everything while standing awkwardly in the hallway.
"Have you two eaten?" Paul said. "I'm sure we can find something for you."
"Sure," Percy said.
"Come on then, don't just stand there," Sally said, still regarding the pair. "Come on inside."
Percy and Annabeth stepped across the threshold and followed Percy's parents inside.
"Saved by the bell," Annabeth whispered to Percy.
"The last time I checked, my step-dad is not a bell"
"Oh, you know what I mean, Seaweed Brain!"
"What are you two whispering about?" Sally called back.
"Nothing, nothing." Percy said. 'I was just saying that I'm hungry"
'Then sit and eat! Dinner is on the table." Sally replied.
The couple sat next to each other and dug into the spaghetti that was placed in front of them.
"So, Annabeth, you said you had to stay close to Olympus so you ould work on it or something. What's that about?" Sally said, breaking the silence.
Annabeth's face lit up at the chance to explain her work. 'Well, you see, when the battle was finished, the gods agreed that the demigod heroes who helped in the war had to be thanked. So, we each got one gift. Thalia was promised that all the hunters she lost were going to make it to the Elsyum, Tyson was made the lieutenant of Poseidon's army, Grover was made a Lord of the Wild and I was made the official Architect of Olympus, as it was kind of destroyed during the war."
"Congrats, Annabeth, I'm sure you'll do amazing," Sally said.
"Thanks, Sally," Annabeth smiled. An identical grin spread across Percy's face.
"What did you get, Perce?" Paul asked.
Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances. This was going to be hard to explain. "What would you say if I told you I was offered immortality?"
"What?" Paul and Sally yelled.
"That's amazing!" Sally exclaimed.
"Yeah," Percy said. "Um, what would you say if I told you I was offered immortality and turned it down?"
Sally and Paul's mouths nearly hit the floor. "You turned it down? Why?"
Percy glanced at Annabeth again. "It's-uh- it's hard to explain. But I did get something," He continued before they could ask any more questions. "I got them to promise to claim all of their children by the time they were thirteen, to let all the gods have thrones on Mount Olympus and cabins at Camp Half Blood, and to stop punishing the peaceful children of the Titans simply because of their parents."
'Wow," Paul said.
"That's extremely noble of you," Sally agreed.
"Thanks." Percy said. "I only have one regret."
"What's that?" Paul asked.
"That I had asked for better elevator music on the way to the 600th floor," Percy replied.
Everyone burst out laughing. Annabeth punched Percy's arm.
"Ow!" he exclaimed stroking the spot where she hit him.
"Oh come on, Percy!" she said through her laughter. "We both know that didn't hurt." He stuck his tongue out at her.
"How could that not have hurt?" Sally asked. "Oh right, you bathed in the Styx." Percy nodded.
"So your invincible now?" Paul asked.
"Pretty much," he said.
"Well except for one spot on his body," Annabeth added. "His Achilles heel."
"What do you mean?" Sally said.
"Well I had to choose one spot on my body that would tie me to a mortal life. My one weak point."
"I know you can't tell us where it is," Sally said. "But I trust you chose a good spot? One that won't be hit easily?" There was a hint of worry in her voice.
Percy opened his mouth to reply but Annabeth spoke up first. "Don't worry, Sally. He chose well." The moment the words left her tongue she clamped a hand over her mouth.
It didn't take long for it to click in sally and Paul's mind. "You told her?" Sally exclaimed.
Percy nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know. I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but I trust Annabeth with my life. There is no one in the world I trust more."
Annabeth reached over and grabbed Percy's hand, intertwining their fingers. She looked up at him and smiled before leaning up and giving him a soft, quick kiss on the cheek, very aware that Percy's parents were beaming at them. Percy smiled down at her.
"Percy," Sally said. "Do you want to tell us something?"
Percy tore his eyes away from Annabeth to look at his mother. "Oh yeah," he said. "Mum, Annabeth and I are dating."
Holy crap! That was long! 1851 words without the Authour's note!
I really worked hard on this and I look forward to your feed back! I'm still ttaking requests by the way.
-Taryn