I Go Back For My Daughter

Hey there, sorry for not updating, I really have no excuse :/

Anyway, I know that the story is in Thalia's POV but it was sort of hard to do this chapter in anyone's POV except for Percy's, so that's who's POV it's in.

I just want to say thanks to Fluttersby, Miette in the Rain, LC03, Bella Daughter of Aphrodite and portentous humaniod for favouriting, alerting and/or reviewing this story :)

As our Hyundai pulled up at the 'strawberry farm', I felt a wave of relief wash over me and one look at Annabeth told me she felt the same. We may own a house in Manhattan, but Camp Half Blood was home - especially to her. We drove up to where the strawberry delivery vans were parked and parked beside them. Everyone climbed out of the car and stretched. My back popped. Ahh. That's better. We walked up to the Big House and my heart started doing somersaults and what I think may have been the conga when I realised that Mr. D wasn't there. It was the only part of Camp I disliked - I mean, you'd think that repeatedly saving the world (and the gods) would lessen Doinysus' dislike for you but evidently not.

Chiron came out of the Big House onto the porch.

Herc saw him first, "Hey, Mom! It's the man-horse guy from last year!"

Annabeth looked apologetically at Chiron, "Herc! Chiron is a centaur, not a man-horse! Apologise. Now."

Herc sighed. "Fine, Mom. Sorry Mr. Erm... Chiron."

Chiron chuckled, "Hello young Hercules." He ruffled Herc's hair and Selena laughed.

Herc hated being called by his full name but he had been named partly as a joke, and partly as a gesture to Zeus, as the original Hercules was a son of Zeus, as had Perseus.

"Annabeth! Percy!" Chiron continued, giving Annabeth a hug. "It's good to see you again. Selena, Herc, why don't you go and leave your things into your cabin? I do believe that your friends are all suiting up for some sword practice if you wish to join them."

Annabeth gasped, "You mean the others are here already?"

Chiron nodded and Annabeth and Herc disappeared to go and see the others.

Maybe I should do some explaining. After the war, more demigods had been surviving into adulthood and continued to return each summer. To reduce overcrowding with adults, kids, and teenagers in the same cabins, two new sets of cabins had been built - one for adults and one for the kids of demigods. The adults' cabins were still sorted primarily by godly parent (me in Cabin Three and Annabeth in Cabin Six) but there was sometimes a crossover where spouses stayed together. The kids' cabins were more mixed, with some of them staying in the cabin of their 'godly grandparent', and others in a cabin where they felt they fit in best. Selena stayed in Aphrodite's cabin, and Herc stayed in Apollo's.

As for our friends, Clarisse and Chris got married and now have two boys: George, ten and Dan, twelve. Travis Stoll and Katie Gardener also got married (who would've thought?) and have a son and two daughters: Luke (named after the original), fourteen; Alex, twelve and Ollie (until everybody met her, everyone was convinced she was a boy. Probably Travis, playing a joke), eight. Jason and Piper finally got married and now have a son, Peter, nine, and a daughter, Angela, eight. As excited as I was to see them all, I decided that seeing my friends could wait for a few minutes more. I turned to face Chiron, who was talking to Selena about goodness only knows what. They finished talking and Selena beamed at me on her way past and left in the direction of Cabin 10 with her suitcase.

"Hey, Chiron." I said, awkwardly.

"Percy. I expect you are looking to enquire about your youngest child arriving in a few days."

"Err, yes. Actually, I just wanted to be sure that it was still okay. It's not like there will be two or even three younger kids to keep each other company this time, there's only one, and there hasn't been only one seven year old running around since Annabeth. Even with that thought, Thalia's still the youngest ever to be at ca- Chiron?"

Chiron's eyes had suddenly gone rather glassy, and I was almost afraid that he might cry and even at thirty seven, I wasn't sure I would know how to react to that.

"Chiron?"

The centaur seemed to come out of his thoughts, "Sorry my dear boy. I have found myself thinking about times past a lot in recent weeks. Now, if you will excuse me, I have much to do." With that, he gave me a brief smile and trotted off in the direction of the archery range.

For the next few days, things went really well. Everyone settled back in quickly and settled into the routines. Cabin Six had left Annabeth's usual bunk for her, Selena fitted right back in as though she was a young Silena Beauregard, and, as it turns out, Herc can pick a cabin for himself pretty well despite my early doubts. He clearly hadn't inherited my archery 'skills' and he's actually pretty god at it - only one stray arrow out of eight. After five years at Camp, I think I maybe hit the target once. If I was lucky. After that, I think I just gave up on it.

I really enjoyed staying at Camp Half-Blood. Usually we just went for a couple of weeks but Chiron had written and asked Annabeth and I to more formally coach the kids this year so I've started to teach some of the campers swordplay, kind of like how Luke, my old friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend had taught me. There's this one kid with blond spiky hair and blue eyes called James, a son of Athena, who is looking very promising. I haven't told Annabeth yet and I'm not going to tell her about him until I find a camper from the Poseidon cabin who is great at archery or something else that I can use as a comeback for whatever sarcastic remark she makes.

The third of July came after what seemed like a lifetime. I packed a bag for a few days, said bye to Annabeth, the kids and our friends and drove back to Mom and Paul's. I was really looking forward to seeing Thalia when I got there because she doesn't go to boarding school like her siblings because of severe homesickness and they just end up sending her home after a few months so I'm used to her being around.

When I got to Mom's, Paul was there too, which was nice. I like Paul but I don't get to see him or Mom much now with a house and a job to look after, never mind the kids. Mom gave me a hug when she saw me and told me that Thalia was up in my old bedroom. As I climbed the stairs, I noticed that Mom still had pictures of me on the wall. Awkward. One in particular that caught my eye was one of me, hacking a straw-stuffed dummy from camp to pieces. Chiron or Annabeth must've taken it for her. My money's on Chiron.

I walked into my old room and smiled to myself. It was exactly the way I'd left it when I was twenty. All my photos were still beside my bed. The only difference was the little girl sitting on the bed.

"Dad!" she yelled, jumping up and hugging me.

"Hey kiddo!" I replied, picking her up and hugging her back.

"I thought you were never going to get here!"

"I know, me neither," I said. Setting her down on the bed and sitting down beside her.

"Dad?" she asked

"Mmm?" I replied

"Who are these photos of?" she asked, pointing at the ones on my bedside table.

I smiled. '"This is me, your mom, Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf, two of our friends," I said, pointing at a big one. "I guess your mom and me were about fifteen? This one," I said pointing to a long one, "is of me, Annabeth and Grover. Grover's my best friend; you'll meet him at camp. That one on the left is of my dad, and Tyson, my brother. This is Clarisse, with my head under her arm. These are Thalia, Nico, Rachel and the Stoll brothers, some more of my old friends." I pointed to the biggest photo. "That, Thalia, is everyone at camp when I was sixteen." I picked up the last photo. It was normal sized and of an exhausted, battle worn girl. "This is your mom after the Big War, on my seventeenth birthday." I had started to sound choked up about the word 'my'.

Thalia looked at me, "What's wrong, Dad?"

"Nothing, I'm okay. I promise I'll tell you after we get to Camp."

She nodded and looked back at the photos.

I stood up. "Right, come on downstairs." I said, trying to sound upbeat. "Grandma has dinner out." As we exited the room, I turned around, to have one last look inside. Then, I closed the door and ran down the stairs after my daughter.

When Selena was first born, Annabeth and I hadn't planned on taking her to Camp Half Blood but, we soon learned that if two demigods have a child, that child inherits the being of a half-blood from its parents because it has two quarters of 'godly blood'. That's why our kids always stayed with my Mom; she can see through the mist and can keep them safe. I still always carry Riptide in my pocket, partly out of habit. When I was a kid (between 13 and 17) it got to the point where I even slept with Riptide in my hand. Even now I sleep with it beside the bed or under my pillow and otherwise, it stays in my pocket.

When it was time for Thalia to go to bed, I took her up and tucked her into my bed. I went back to sit with my parents again and we talked about camp, Annabeth, the kids and anything else my Mom could think of to talk to me about. I decided to take an early night seeing as it would be an early start in the morning.

The next morning, I had to half drag first myself, then Thalia out of bed and down the stairs. We shovelled our breakfast down us and hurriedly got washed and dressed. An hour after waking up, Thailia and I were in the car and waving to my Mom as we drove off towards Camp Half-Blood.

Edited 23/05/17