December

Poseidon shivered as he, Delphin, and Triton were on a rescue call.

The ocean was frigid during this time of year. They could technically only do jobs that wouldn't take too long in order to prevent risk of hyperthermia.

There was a manatee caught on the surface on a fishing net. Poseidon and Delphin stayed on the boat while Triton freed the mammal from it's trap.

Delphin is along on the rescue as the net left some injuries. The ones on the boat are preparing to transport the manatee to the aquarium.

"It's free" Triton called through chattering teeth. Poseidon went in the cabin of the boat to steer the back end of the boat towards the manatee.

Poseidon exited the cabin once he was pleased with the position of the boat. He lend a hand with Delphin to lift the manatee onto the designated tub they had custom built to the boat.

As the sea cow was lifted from the Ocean. Triton booked it to the cabin to dry off and warm up before the hyperthermia could set in.

Delphin was checking the manatee over as it was placed in the tub, "There's a nasty cut on right by the right flipper, that I'll need to see to at the aquarium."

"Is that all?" Poseidon asked drying his hands on a towel.

"Well the manatee has smaller cuts all around the body. I don't think those will need any interference on my end."

Delphin snatched the towel from Poseidon's hands, after making sure the manatee was secured.

"Damn it's cold!" Delphin muttered.

"Don't let Triton hear you say that." Poseidon commented before they both made their way back to the cabin of the boat.

Triton has already changed out of his wetsuit and was dressed in a thick pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt with a blanket draped around his shoulders.

"Well that's another job done! We still need to name the manatee. Any thoughts?" Delphin asked.

Triton remained silent, staring out the window of the boat looking at nothing.

Poseidon frowned. Triton has been acting more reserved and out of the ordinary in the past couple weeks. He thought it may had to do with the unexpected visit from his grandfather, but that was a month ago.

"How about Bessie?"

"Bessie? Why do you want to name it that, Poseidon?" Delphin asked.

"What's wrong with Bessie? I think it fits! Besides we never had a "Bessie" in the aquarium before." Poseidon exclaimed.

"Bessie it is!" Delphin agreed while writing notes on a clipboard regarding the manatee.

"Alright let's get this manatee back to the aquarium." Poseidon said while starting up the boat.

"Good! I'm freezing my ass off." Delphin said while shivering.

Poseidon rolled his eyes.

As Poseidon turned the key in the ignition something caught his eye. He spotted Triton's hand as he readjusted his blanket. Normally that wouldn't catch his attention, but the ugly purple bruise that lay around his knuckles did.

Poseidon clenched his eyes shut for a moment. The bruise resembled the ones you get by punching something. Poseidon just got Triton's Christmas gift - and it was a generous one - for not getting into any fights this semester.

Poseidon hoped he could still give the gift to him. Triton will surely be upset if he didn't anything compared to what he got Percy for Christmas.


They made it to the aquarium without any catastrophes . The aquarium wasn't as full as it usually is during the summer season, leaving a few empty tanks.

"Percy why don't you go help Delphin with Bessie." Poseidon ordered his son as soon as he spotted him.

"Who's Bessie?" Percy asked furrowing his brow.

"The new manatee. C'mon I'll show you how to inspect the wounds." Delphin said leading the boy to the examination room.

Triton took a step to go back to his regular duties before Poseidon gripped his forearm, stopping him.

Poseidon rolled up the sleeve where the bruise was hidden, "What happened to your hand?"

Triton shrugged, "I injured it at school. It's just a bruise." Triton broke free from his grip and pulled the sleeve over the hand to hide it.

"I asked what happened, not where. You didn't get into another fight, did you?"

Triton rolled his eyes, " No. If I did you will know as you would've been called to the school. I just accidentally slammed my locker shut on it."

"How can you accidentally shut your locker on your hand?"

"It just happened. I was on my caffeine crash, and wasn't paying attention. Am I free to go now?"

Poseidon nodded, watching his son go, not believing a word he said.


Christmas

Poseidon watched out of the corner of his eye with a smirk. Percy was absently pouring half the bottle of syrup on his pancakes.

"You think he'll like it?" Amphitrite whispered.

"Why wouldn't he? It's a new car, and Percy will get his old one."

"You're positive it's a good idea to let Percy drive?"

"His physical therapist gave him the all clear. And if Percy agrees to drive, I will not stop him. Besides it give both Triton and Percy a little bit more of independence." Poseidon reasoned.

Amphitrite opened her mouth to speak but closed it as Triton walked down the stairs rubbing his eyes.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Amphitrite continued. "I guess your right. I think the both of them need something nice, especially after the stress of you father."

Poseidon frowned. He never heard his wife complementing or giving Percy praise before. Maybe Christmas really is a miracle.

"Triton you better not be taking that plate to your room, young man!" Amphitrite yelled as Triton was halfway up the stairs with the plate.

"No mother I wasn't." Triton replied as he grumpily trudged back downstairs and into the kitchen.

Both Poseidon and Amphitrite shared a glance silently asking if it was time to reveal the surprise. They both nodded simultaneously and walked together into the kitchen

"Boys, we have a surprise for you." Poseidon said with a smile.

Percy raised a brow, while Triton pours the whole bottle of syrup onto his pancakes.

Amphitrite scoffed, "Triton that is way too much syrup. You're going to have a heart attack if you eat that much syrup."

Triton ignored her and still proceeded to drown the pancakes in syrup.

Poseidon cleared his throat, "Heart attacks aside; since this is the first semester I didn't have to make an appearance at the principals office for a scrabble with Luke. Also since there hasn't been an incident between the two of you. I've got you something."

Poseidon reached into his pockets, barely catching the sight of Triton's eyes widen at the unmistakable sound of keys. He tossed the keys to Triton and he caught them.

"You're joking, right?" Triton with the eyes as the size of saucer plates asked.

Poseidon smiled, "Nope. It's all yours."

Triton shot up from his chair and bolted to the window facing the driveway, a new green Kia Sportage car sat in the driveway. He let out a high pitch shriek before rushing outside barefooted.

Amphitrite face palmed before rushing after their son. "Triton put on your shoes! It's icy out. Do you not know it's winter?"

Poseidon let out a chuckle watching his eldest being scolded by his mother.

He then turned to Percy. He recalled a conversation that Triton brought up to him during one of the rescue calls a few weeks ago

"So I've heard that you got roped into doing a project with Athena's daughter for the semester?"

Percy groaned taking another bite of his pancakes, "Don't remind me. I'm just happy it's over with."

Poseidon nodded, remembering the time where he was around Annabeth's mother.

"Well if she's anything like her mother... Yikes!I swear that woman is from Satan itself. Impossible to get along with, always have something to knit-pick. Did you know she had a pet owl? She brought it to school once and it almost pecked my eyes out! That woman is bizarre, and a nuisance. She crawled out of someone's ass, that's for sure." Poseidon shivered.

Percy hummed taking another bite of his pancakes.

Poseidon smile grew wider excited to give the gift he went to extreme lengths for, "Since you had zero incidents with her, better than what I would've done, I got you a gift."

Poseidon dug through his other pocket and produced another set of keys. He tossed it towards Percy.

Percy caught the keys with a confused expression, "I can't drive."

"Who said they're keys for a car?"

Percy turned the keys over to read the label.

He dropped the keys and stared at Poseidon in shock. "These aren't... You couldn't have! I thought they were going demolish the cabin last year? How did you get a chance to rent it again?"

"The mayor actually shut the project down and used the funds to improve the subway station instead. I didn't rent it either, I bought it. That's yours forever."

Poseidon wasn't prepared for Percy to bolt out of his chair and tackle him into a hug. Poseidon embraced him back, It was a pleasant surprise.

The keys belonged to the Montauk cabin. It was the cabin where Percy's mother rented when she visited during the summers he had him. Poseidon often joined, happy to spend time with Percy and Sally. Though it had to stop once he married Amphitrite. The city was going to demolish it, but was sidetrack with another project. Poseidon pulled a couple strings but was able to purchase the cabin.

"Merry Christmas Percy!" Poseidon said as he pulled back from the hug.

"Merry Christmas dad!" Percy let out a genuine smile, that Poseidon haven't seen grace his face in over a year. Poseidon almost teared up at the sight, but held it back. There was another surprise he had in store for his son.

"There's also something else that I need to tell you. Your physical therapist pulled me aside during your last appointment."

Percy sat back down on at the table with a concern expression, "What is it?"

"How do you feel about relearning to drive again? I knew you already practiced before the accident, and your physical therapist told me you can start practicing again. If you do want to learn, you can have Triton's old car. We'll maybe do some modifications on it if need be."

"I can drive? I thought I wouldn't be able to do without my leg?" Percy asked wide eyes.

"I looked into it, and many amputees can still drive. You can still use your prosthetic as you would as an ordinary leg. I waited for you to be comfortable with prosthetic, before I brought it up to you. You're getting around much better than you were a month ago. If the prosthetic isn't comfortable for you to drive with, there are devices we can install into the drivers seat if need be."

Percy sat there dumbfounded. His mouth slightly agape as he processed the information.

"So what do you think? You wanna start driving?" You're lucky that you have your learners permit still. We can probably start driving in Montauk, they have an open area with no traffic."

"Yes! Can we go today?" Percy asked with the same pleading eyes Mrs. O'Leary got when someone made bacon.

Poseidon laughed, "Of course we can."


"Slow down Percy." Poseidon said gripping the handle hanging above passenger window.

Percy was doing surprisingly well, though he was little heavy footed when it came to the gas.

Though Percy did what he was told and eased off the gas pedal.

"Alright, let's practice taking some narrow turns. You see that dumpster about thirty meters to your left? You're going to turn behind that dumpster, there's just enough space to drive behind it."

Percy automatically slowed down enough to try to take the turn.

"Keep turning the wheel. Turn, turn, turn." Poseidon instructed as Percy turned the wheel.

"Look in your rearview mirrors. Even though there's no cars, you need to make it a habit to check the mirrors." Poseidon advised.

He reluctantly let go of the handle bar he had a death grip on, straightening up in his seat, "I think that's enough driving for the day, I want you to park on that patch of pavement next to the gravel road."

Percy parked as instructed, they have been driving for over a hour and a half. Poseidon unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car.

He stretched his legs out. Poseidon never enjoyed being in a car for a long period, as it wasn't as spacious as a boat.

"That didn't go as bad as I thought it would. Do you want to check the condition of the cabin before we go?" Poseidon asked as he saw Percy walking over to him.

"Yeah, let's see how much it's aged." Percy stumbled a little as he stretched his prosthetic leg.

"How's your leg? Did you feel comfortable while driving with a prosthetic on?"

"It's a bit stiff, but I'm sure I'll get to the motions soon. I'm just glad I can get a driver's license." Percy got out the keys from his pockets and unlocked the cabin door.

The place was dusty. He didn't think one place could accumulate that much dust as every surface was covered in an inch full of dust. Let's not even get started with the amount of cobwebs that nested in the corners.

"Well this could be a project for the summer." Poseidon inwardly sighed he was not expecting this much work.

He threw his arm around Percy's shoulder, "Think of it as bonding experience."

Percy scoffed, "Bonding experience? Every time you say that you get whisked off on a rescue, leaving Triton and I alone with each other."

Poseidon scratch his neck awkwardly, "I'll send Triton on that call if that happens this year. He's old enough to do those rescue calls himself."

"Speaking of your brother, you do know that I'll be picking you up after school, right? Triton's swim season starts up at the beginning of the semester, and will be practicing after school as well. I'll come and pick up to take you to the aquarium."

"No I did not know that, he doesn't tell me anything. Does that mean it'll be just you and and I at the aquarium?"

"For now yes. I think up until March it will be just you and I at the aquarium, besides the other full-time-employees.

Percy seemed pleased that he didn't have to be constantly around Triton anymore.

Poseidon bit his lip contemplating to bring up what has been bothering him over the couple of weeks. It wouldn't hurt to see if Percy have further information.

Poseidon cleared his throat before he looked at Percy, "Keeping it on topic with Triton, have you by chance notice anything weird about Triton lately?"

Percy shook his head, confused, "Weird? No, not really. It's not like we talk, so I wouldn't know."

Before he could stop himself, he aired out "I don't know, maybe I'm a paranoid parent, but something's off about him these last two months. I hope it doesn't have to deal with the stress my father is making."

Percy kicked the loose gravel by his feet, clearly uncomfortable. Poseidon cursed himself. This was Percy's gift, and he made it about Triton. Besides it was silly to think Percy had any information about his brother as they didn't get along the greatest.

Poseidon thew his arms around Percy's shoulder once more. "Let's go home shall we? It's getting frigid out here. I think Amphitrite made ham for dinner."