Story updates remain to be slow but I'm trying. Track season started and I am swamped currently. Anyways my love for fanfiction runs deep and now that I've posted things I'm accountable for updating and finishing stories. Hurt/Comforts and Sickfics are my favs and specialties. This fanfic is one where everything that can go wrong... does.
No One's POV
Gut wrenching screams sound throughout the small apartment.
There's only one person it could have come from.
Percy Jackson.
Paul jolts awake and scans his room with wide eyes. His eyes suddenly widened more at the realization that the scream came from his step-son.
Sprinting to Percy's room, Paul flings the door open to find Percy doubled over on his side while groaning with tears streaming steadily down his face.
"Annabeth! No! Annabeth I'm here! I'm right here!" Percy yells. "Aagh!" His hands grip tighter around his abdomen as if he were physically injured.
"Percy. Percy!" Paul shouts, shaking Percy's shoulders violently. "Percy, wake up! You're okay! Annabeth's okay!" At this, Percy snaps awake and begins coughing uncontrollably. Paul pats him on the back in hopes of stemming his coughing fit.
"I-it… i-i-it hurts, Paul." Percy cries into Paul's shoulder. "Sh-she was lost. She th-thought I left her. I couldn't save her. I had too many curses."
"I know Percy. You guys are okay now. You're out and safe." Paul assures. Percy slowly calms down and is breathing normally again. He sniffles and tear tracks stain his cheeks.
"I-I'm sorry I woke you up. You can go back to bed if you want." Percy wipes his eyes and his hand is still planted firmly on his stomach.
"Are you gonna be okay? Do you need anything from me?" Paul asks, reluctant to go back to his room.
"Co-could you maybe stay here, until I fall asleep?" Percy asks, hopeful but soon regretting his decision to ask.
"Really?"
"Actually, just forget I asked. I'm okay. You don't have to." Percy states.
"No, I'd be happy to stay. Was there a reason for you to ask other than the obvious nightmares?" Paul questions.
"It-it sounds dumb, but I sleep better with physical touch. In Tar-that place, Annabeth and I slept with our backs to each other with one watching and the other sleeping. It meant we weren't alone and we had each other's backs. It makes it harder not feeling someone there with me. It's dumb. I know. I should be able to handle it myself by now. I shouldn't have asked anything." Percy explains.
"Hey, no. It's not dumb." Paul assures. "Would you maybe want to come sleep in my room?" Paul cringes at the bluntness of his statement.
Meanwhile, little sparks of hope start lighting up Percy's sea green eyes.
"Really? You don't have to do that." Percy says. Paul notices how grateful and hopeful he looks in every aspect.
"I think it'd be easier for both of us to sleep tonight." Paul states. "Come on." The son of Poseidon moves off the bed and follows his step-father into his room. Paul finds his way to the bed and pulls himself under the covers. Percy follows suit and settles into his mom's side of the bed.
"Here Percy, come here." Paul commands, motioning closer towards himself. Percy shuffles towards Paul as his father figure wrapped his arm around Percy's shoulders.
"Paul," Percy starts. "Thank you." He looks at Paul and the older man guides the teen's head onto his shoulder.
Paul's POV
Sleeping in the same bed with a tall, muscular 17 year old was actually a lot more comfortable than people would think.
Paul couldn't help but feel comfort in the fact that he was successfully helping his step son without his wife's guidance.
Percy didn't have any nightmares for the rest of the night. And Paul stopped tossing and turning once he had someone else in the bed.
Paul woke to Percy's moaning and sudden movement. He curled as far into a ball as he possibly could.
"Hey, Perce, what's wrong?" Paul asks, concerned for his son.
"It hurts." The boy moans. Sweat seeps through his pajamas as his fever rises once again.
"Hey, you gotta talk to me, what hurts, Percy?" Paul questions.
"My stomach! Oh gods!" Percy exclaims. He quickly covers his mouth with his hand. Paul gets the hint and jumps out of the bed to fumble for the trashcan. He's just a step too slow when Percy can no longer swallow the bile and he throws up all over himself and the sheets.
"Okay." The older man thrusts the trash can under Percy's chin as he continues heaving. Percy is actively attempting to keep the contents of his stomach from expelling through his mouth.
"Perce, let it out. It'll make you feel better." Paul coos.
"I don't… want to. It… hurts." Percy groans. His body betrays him as his stomach convulses and he retches into the can.
Soon his wet coughs and vomit turn to dry heaving and tears of exertion.
"Do you think you're done now?" Percy only nods. "Okay. Do you want to take a shower, or a bath maybe?" Paul suggests.
The boy nods once more, "I don't think I can stand for very long."
"That's okay. I'll go start you a bath." Paul walks to the bathroom and starts the water. It warms up and he retreats back to the bedroom to get Percy.
"Here." Paul holds out his hand to help Percy up and down the hallway. Once there, he sits his young son down on the toilet and shuts off the water. "If you're okay by yourself for a little bit, I'm gonna run down to the store and get some things. Ginger ale, crackers, Tylenol, more bandages, that kind of stuff." Percy's shirt is discarded on the floor and his pants soon follow.
"Do you want me to help or can you do the rest yourself?"
"I got it. When will you be back?" The son of Poseidon asks.
"20 minutes. 30 tops."
(Line Break)
"Percy! I'm back!" Paul shouts as he enters the apartment with bags of groceries. He wanders further into the apartment. Blofis finds the teenager in his room, crying on the floor beside his bed.
"Percy, what's wrong?" Paul questions. He kneels down next to the boy.
"I-I can't. It hu-hurts. Paul, everything hurts so bad!" Percy wails.
"I know. I'm sorry. If I could make it all better, I would." They hug each other tightly. "Did something happen while I was gone?"
"I came in here to get dressed but when I tried to put my shirt on my ribs felt like they were being crushed and my stomach felt like I was being stabbed."
"Does it feel better if we wrap your torso?"
"Yeah. Can you? Please?" Percy pleads. It breaks Paul's heart to see him in so much pain with nothing they can do about it. He walks to the kitchen to retrieve the new bandages.
They successfully wrap Percy's midsection and start transferring him into his bed when he stops and groans, his hand flying down towards his genital.
"Hey, are you okay?" Paul asks, concerned.
"Mhm. Yeah. J-just hurts."
"Swollen groin?" Paul assumes. Percy nods but continues moving into his bed. "Do you want ice?"
"Please." Paul walks off into the kitchen to grab an ice pack out of the freezer. He gives it to Percy just as the boy makes himself comfortable under the covers. The son of Poseidon gladly takes the ice cold object and situates it under the blankets on his crotch.
"Better?"
"A little." The son of Poseidon retreats into his fetal position as if being smaller would make the pain dissipate.
"You need to eat a little something." Paul sadly informs, knowing Percy's stomach will not keep it down. The boy violently shakes his head and curls further into himself.
"Percy. I know you don't want to but you're dehydrated and you need something in your system." Paul pushes.
"I don't wanna throw up again." Percy resists.
"Let's just try a little at a time. We can start with a little bit of Gatorade and Tylenol and if you can keep that down you can try a little more. Deal?" Paul reasons.
"Deal." Percy mumbles miserably. The older man walks into the kitchen to put away the groceries and grab Percy his promised items.
"Here we go. Gatorade and Tylenol, as promised."
"Blue Gatorade?" Percy asks, hopeful.
"Of course. This isn't amateur hour." Paul states. Percy sits up with a groan and takes the medicine along with a sip of electrolytes.
Out of the blue, the phone rings and Paul runs to answer it. 'Sally Jackson' pops up on the screen and he quickly swipes to accept the call.
"Hello?" Paul asks.
"Hey honey. How's Percy doing? I just got done with the book signing." Sally informs.
"Um, well he's still pretty sick. He still has a fever, he's been throwing up, and he's dehydrated but we're handling it. I just gave him some Gatorade and Tylenol and we're going to see if he can keep that down." Paul explains.
"Okay. Has he been taking his UC meds?"
"He took them yesterday morning and I'm gonna see if he can keep the Tylenol down then give them to him. He'll be okay." Paul assured.
"Are you sure I don't need to come home?"
"Absolutely not! Sally, he's okay. You can talk to him if you want to."
"Yes, let me talk to him." Paul passes the phone over to Percy after putting it on speaker. "Hey honey. How are you feeling?"
"Hi Mom. I'm okay. Still feeling a little sick, but I'm good." Percy informs.
"Okay Percy. Be good for Paul. I'm sure he's doing a great job taking care of you." Sally guesses. "I love you both. Goodbye. I'll call you later." With that, the line goes dead and the men are left in a comfortable silence.
"Get some sleep. Sleeping might give your stomach time to settle." Paul commands. Percy buries his head in his blankets and closes his eyes.
(Line Break)
"Okay. You're okay. It's okay." Paul rubs Percy's back as he heaves into a trashcan once again. "Only a little more. You got it." Percy moans as he spits up bile and stomach acid. He leans back onto his step father's chest as tears of exertion slide down his face. "Are you done?"
"Mmhm." The son of Poseidon begins crying harder and curls into his step fathers arms. "Please don't make me try to eat again."
"If you can't start keeping things down, I might have to take you to the doctors." Paul dodges the question.
"No. I hate the doctors. Please. I'm fine." Percy insists.
"You are not fine. You are dehydrated and exhausted and you haven't taken your ulcerative colitis meds today. You need those." Paul pushes. "If you still can't keep things down by tomorrow morning I'll take you in to urgent care."
"Paul please. I can't. I don't wanna be in the hospital again." Percy pleads.
"Are your ribs still hurting you?" Paul asks.
"Y-yeah. A lot."
"What about your groin?"
"Mhm."
"Lay down. I'll get you some ice and we'll see how you're feeling in a little bit." Percy lies back on his bed as Paul makes his way toward the kitchen. He grabs two ice packs from the freezer and trudges back to his son's room. "Here." He hands them to Percy and the boy takes one to put it in between his legs while Paul unstraps his wrist brace and places the ice on his swollen wrist. "Get some sleep. I'll be right here." Paul situates himself onto the bed and Percy uses his arm as a pillow.
(Line Break)
"Hey, Amy, can you call in a sub for me? Percy's still not doing so hot and I'm gonna take him to the doctors tomorrow morning." Paul asks through the phone.
"Sure Paul. I hope Percy starts feeling better." Amy, the office lady, responds.
"Me too. I'll send lesson plans to you for the sub." Paul says. He hangs up the phone and grabs his laptop as he sits down at the kitchen table. He begins working on his lesson plans for the sub.
"No. No. Annabeth. Luke… why? No. Annabeth, don't trust him. Luke!" Percy shouts from his bedroom.
Oh shit!
Paul jumps up from his chair in worry, noting the time from the clock on the wall. 9:45.
"Percy! Percy, wake up! It's just a dream!" Paul grabs Percy by the shoulders and lightly shakes his shoulders. "Come on, Perce."
The son of Poseidon jolts up and shouts in pain. "OW! OW! Ow! Ow!" Percy breaks out into a coughing fit as he rolls onto his side and stifles scream of pain into his pillow.
"Hey. Hey. It's okay." Paul drags his step son into his arms and holds him tightly towards his body. Percy screams in agony into Paul's shoulder as pain wracks his being. Paul threads his left hand through the boy's hair as his other hand rubs smooth but firm circles on his back. Loud shouts echo throughout the small apartment.
"Shh. Shh. Breathe. Come one. Breathe with me." Paul takes deep, audible breaths in hopes of slowing Percy's erratic breathing. Percy struggles to calm down through the tears and panic coursing through his body.
"I-I-I'm sor-sorry. I-I can't." Percy stutters.
"Shh. It's okay. You're okay. Take some deep breaths. You'll be okay." Paul coos. Paul's shirt is soaked through with tears. Minutes pass before either man makes any kind of movement.
"Paul." Percy starts.
"Hm?"
"Paul, I-I need… I need you to take me to the doctor. This all hurts too much. I can't anymore." Percy explains with his head still buried in Paul's shoulder.
"Okay. Are you okay to wait here for a little bit?" Percy nods. "I'll go grab my bag and we'll leave." Paul lays his teenager back down onto the mattress and flees the room to grab his messenger bag.
He shuffles through it and pulls out all of his unnecessary school books and supplies. Paul's logic kicks in once again as he decides to pack the bag with saltine crackers and blue Gatorade along with Percy's UC meds. He throws the bag over his shoulder just as there's a knock at the door. Paul opens it to find their next door neighbors Shane and Traci, a young couple who looked extremely concerned.
"Can I help you?" Paul asks. The couple in front of the door look anxiously at each other.
"Uh, w-we heard someone screaming. Is everything okay over here?" Traci voices her concerns.
"Oh…oh!" Paul exclaims, knowing what they thought he was doing to his son. "We're both okay. My son Percy is sick and he was having a really bad, fever-induced nightmare. He woke up in a lot of pain and he was disoriented from the dream so in his panic he started screaming."
"Are you sure he's okay?" Shane asks. "He sounded pretty terrified."
"Yeah he did. He was um, reliving a scary time from a couple months ago. He's gonna be okay. I'm taking him to the ER right now." Paul says.
"The ER?! Are things really that serious?" Traci shrieks.
"Kinda. Percy's in a lot of pain and we don't have much of a choice. He'll be okay." Paul assures them.
"Okay." Shane starts, still very concerned. "We hope he's okay." Paul closes the door just as Percy slowly makes his way to the entryway.
"What was that?" He whimpers.
"Just our neighbors." Paul informs.
"What did they want?"
"They were just concerned." Paul sees Percy's face of obvious confusion. "They heard you scream and were wondering if you were okay." Percy hears this and immediately knows what they thought was going on.
"Paul, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I-I shouldn't've screamed. Then they wouldn't have thought you were hurting me. I'm sorry. I'm so-"
"Perce." Paul cuts off Percy's persistent apologies. "Percy. It's okay. It's fine. You were scared and in pain. All I care about right now is making sure you're going to be okay." Paul pulls him into a firm hug. "Let's go."
Percy's POV
"Paul." Percy whines. Paul turns around to see Percy clinging to the closed door of the Prius.
"Okay. Here we go." Paul flings Percy's arm around his shoulders as they make their way into the Emergency Room.
"How can I help you?" A nurse behind the nurse's station asks.
"My son, Percy Jackson, has been sick for the last few days. He's been throwing up, dehydrated, and he hasn't been able to take his Ulcerative Colitis medication." Paul explains.
"Wait, Percy Jackson is back?" Nurse Aurelia chimes in.
"Nurse Aria? Thank the gods you're here. We need help." Paul recognizes her.
"Of course. Where is he?" Paul leads the way to where Percy is sitting. "Hey Jane, I'll take this case. Can you take my broken femur kid in bed 7?" She shouts back to the other nurse. 'Jane' nods in response and Aria turns to Percy.
"Hey Percy. I'll be taking care of you today. Paul, can you help me get him into one of the beds." Paul hoists Percy up and into the ER bed that Aria leads them to.
"So your symptoms are nausea, stomach pain, fever, and fatigue. I'll run some tests but it sounds like the stomach flu. We'll get you some IV fluids along with your ulcerative colitis meds." Aria explains.
"Aria, there's one other thing we need you to check out." Paul starts. Percy flinches at the realization at what his step father is about to say.
"Paul, no. I'm okay. It's fine. Please." Percy pleads.
"Percy, I don't know what to do and neither do you. You're hurt." Paul reasons. He turns back to Aria and begins explaining. "Percy got beat up by a couple of his classmates at school. He's been in a lot of pain for the last couple of days and I don't know what to do. He was complaining that his ribs hurt and his chest, stomach and shoulders are bruised pretty badly. Can you just check to make sure everything's okay and not broken or anything like that?"
"Of course I can. Percy, can you lay back for me a second?" Aria asks, politely.
"Mhm." The son of Poseidon lays flat on his back and breathes shallowly. Aria lifts his shirt and places her hands on the teenager's sides to push lightly inward to feel for any give. Percy's face contorts into a grimace as she presses on his wounds. The nurse continues her examination and finds a couple ribs that give under the pressure.
"There are a couple of weak points in his ribs that are a little concerning. I'd like to get an x-ray just to make sure everything's good." Aria states.
"Okay." Paul agrees. "Do you need anything from me?"
"No. But you do need to go wait out in the waiting room while I take the x-ray. It should only be about 15 minutes." With that, Paul grabs his back and heads out to said place.
"I'm gonna start prepping you and then I'll get a portable x-ray over here." Aria informs her patient.
(Line Break)
"Hold still." Aria commands. Percy just grimaces in discomfort. "I know it hurts. Just a few more and we'll be done." The nurse shifts the large machine from side to side before declaring that they were done.
She rolls the boy onto his side as gently as she can to remove the acrylic board from under his back.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry… There. You're done." Percy rolls back onto his back with a groan. Aria clears out the x-ray machine and its equipment just leaving Percy to lay in his bed with an IV in his left hand. The son of Poseidon drifts off into a fitful sleep.
Percy flutters back into consciousness slowly after slipping into the realm of Hypnos. He looks around to notice that Paul is nowhere to be seen. Wait, hold on. I got x-rays done, which took about 15 minutes. Then I fell asleep and that had to have been at least 10 more minutes. I'm no Wise Girl but Aria said Paul could come back in 15 minutes, so…
Conveniently, Aria shows up at Percy's bedside within the next five minutes to check on him.
"Percy, how are you feeling?"
"A little better. Still hurts though." Percy declares. "Where's my dad? And how long has it been since he went out to the waiting room?"
"Well it's 11:54 right now and you've been asleep for 45 minutes. So Paul's been out in the waiting room for an hour. Do you want me to go get him?"
"Can you? Please?" Percy pleads.
"Absolutely. I'll go get him right now." Nurse Aria flees the room and comes back quickly with in tow.
"Hey Perce. How did you sleep?" Paul asks.
"Eh. I'm feeling a little better now though." Percy informs his dad.
"That's good. Your x-ray results came back about 10 minutes ago. Aria came and got me and told me what they were. You have 2 cracked ribs and the rest are all bruised. It'll hurt quite a bit for a while but they should heal on their own. As for you being sick, it's the stomach flu. Your Ulcerative Colitis has been fine since you first got it treated. They're gonna keep you here overnight for observation and to keep you hydrated." Paul says. "You should go back to sleep. The gods know you need it."
"Okay. You haven't told mom have you?" Percy asks, anxiously.
"No. If she knows she'll come right home. I mean, I love the woman, but she's a little overprotective. If you want me to call her I will but I don't think you want her to miss the convention." Paul states.
"You're right. She earned that ticket and she deserves to go and be there. She'll only be gone for another couple of days. I'll be okay."
A/N I am sorry if there are typos or grammar issues. I am young and do not have the time to review everything I write and publish so... bear with me. If there are missing words feel free to ask about them bc I have no idea why they're disappearing.
