Hopefully a longer chapter. Feedback is encouraged.
I do not own Percy Jackson.
The night, for Percy, was long and extremely painful. His doctors were informed by Apollo that no pain med they could possibly give him was strong enough to relieve even a fraction of his pain, so there were nurses and surgeons coming in and out of his room every thirty minutes.
He was so sick of them and just wanted to sleep but it was impossible. Even breathing hurt.
His mom and Paul woke up a couple of times to check on him but most of his night was spent alone.
Finally, morning came and the Jackson/Blofis family was all awake and sitting in Percy's hospital room in the ICU.
"Hey Perce, your mom and I are going to go get us all some breakfast." Paul states, standing up and motioning for Sally to follow.
"I should probably stay here with Percy." Sally protests, gripping her son's hand tighter.
"No Mom, go. I'll be fine. I'm gonna try to get some more sleep, it was a rough night." Percy says.
"Honey, are you sure?" Sally asks, concerned.
"Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. You need to see something other than the inside of my hospital room. You've been here all night." He pauses once he sees his mother staring teary eyes at him, "Go." He commands.
"Ok, fine." She kisses him on the forehead and gets up to leave, "Bye honey, be good. Listen to the doctors." They both get up to leave, leaving Percy to attempt to get some sleep. He closes his eyes and is quickly interrupted by one of the nicest nurses on the planet. His heavy eyelids have to be pried open for him to see who it is.
"Oh, hi." Percy greets her.
"I'm so sorry, did I wake you?" Nurse Aurelia apologizes.
"No, no, you're good. I haven't slept all night." He states.
"Like, at all?" Percy shakes his head in response.
"I couldn't sleep, it hurts too much."
"Perseus Jackson, come on, why didn't you tell anyone you couldn't sleep or how much pain you were actually in." Aurelia chastises.
"Nothing you could give me would help so what's the point in complaining about it." Percy explains.
"Maybe we can't give you anything to relieve some of your pain, but that doesn't mean you're obliged to hide it from everyone, including the very people who are trying to help you. At the very least, we could give you some ice for your arm and your knee! All you have to do is ask." Aria says.
"I'm sorry." He apologizes again.
"But you're being very brave about it." She compliments, "If you want we can give you some benzodiazepine and that'll knock you out for a while so you can rest."
"That'd actually be really great." Percy says, as she puts on gloves and sterilizes a small area of his left shoulder, "Thank you for helping me, and being really nice about it." She grabs the needle and injects it into his arm.
"You're welcome, now relax, let the meds take over." She commands.
"Ok." He slurs before his eyes roll back into his head and his eyelids fall shut. Aurelia checks his vitals, which are stable, and runs down the hall to the lounge to fill three bags of ice. She runs back to his room and situates the ice on all three of his severe wounds, his stabbed side, his stabbed arm, and his knee. The nurse finishes all of her tasks just before his parents walk in.
The second they enter the room, Sally calls out to her son with no response.
"What's wrong? Percy's a light sleeper? Why isn't he answering?" She questions.
"I gave him something to help him sleep. I came in to check on him after you left and he told me he didn't sleep much last night." Aria answers.
"And the ice?" Paul asks.
"It's to help with the pain and swelling since we can't give him anything else." She continues.
"Ok, well we all appreciate it." Sally says. Aria leaves the room and the Jackson/Blofis's are left to watch over their sleeping son.
Percy sleeps peacefully for about two more hours before he stirs awake.
"Mm." He groans
"Percy, honey, how are you?" His mother asks.
"It hurts." He groans. His eyes are squeezed shut and his face is contorted in a grimace. His breath is hitched and heavy. "I-it's hot."
Sally and Paul shoot each other a look to which they reply by Paul moving from his chair and into the hallway to get a nurse.
"Excuse me, we need a nurse." Paul voices. Aurelia pops up out of nowhere and rushes into the room behind Paul. She moves to his side and checks his vitals on the machine.
"Hey, Percy, can you open your eyes for me a second?" Aurelia asks, politely. Percy does as he's told with great struggle and Aria shines a bright light into his eyes. The boy's eyes are bloodshot but fine other than that.
Right after she shuts her pen off, Percy's eyes fall shut again and he cringes in discomfort.
"Percy, what hurts?" She questions.
"Everything." Percy swallows. "It-it's so hot." Nurse Aria pulls out a thermometer and takes his temperature. The device beeps and a number pops up on the small screen.
"102.7. Percy, you have a fever." Aria explains. "Your body is still trying to fight off all the infection from your wounds. I'll give you some acetaminophen." She says as she injects a medication into his IV.
"I'm sorry, some what?" Sally asks.
"Tylenol." She finishes up and snaps her gloves off. "That should help. I'm going to go get some fresh ice." Aria leaves the room and once again walks down to the lounge.
Meanwhile, Percy is struggling to cope with the pain as Paul and Sally try to talk him through it. The nurse runs back into Percy's room and situates the ice on his knee, side, shoulder, arm, and head. "I'll be back to check on you in a little while."
"Thank you, for helping me." Percy thanks through breaths.
"Hey, Perce, you're doing great buddy." Paul reassures.
"Honey, are you hungry or thirsty?" His mother asks.
"Honey, are you hungry or thirsty?" His mother asks.
"Kinda." He replies. Paul grabs a cup of water from the tray table and Sally moves to grab the blueberry muffin and orange juice they got for him earlier.
"Here." Sally commands as she moves an unwrapped muffin to his mouth. He takes a bite out of it and swallows thickly. Paul puts the straw in his mouth and he thirstily drinks the water. His breakfast is almost too much for him to handle, but he finishes it within 10 minutes.
"Thanks for the help." Percy says. The next week goes by with four days in the hospital and 3 days at home, missing school, before he's allowed by his doctors and his mother to go back to Camp Half-Blood (under a fake name) for 'physical therapy' and just to see his friends.
The morning finally came that he would leave for camp. Percy wakes up in pain but very excited. His mind is instantly awake and anxious to get back, so when he jumped up to get dressed, he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. After he pulled himself together, Percy walked out of the hallway.
"Hey, Perce." Paul greets him from the kitchen. His mom had left for work which left Paul to take care of Percy.
"What's up Paul." Percy says.
"Not much. Just have to watch you till Argus comes to pick you up." Paul states. "You?"
"Nothing. Just tired. And sore." He adds.
"Do you need some ice?" Paul asks, his stepson nods in response. Paul walks to the freezer and pulls out one of the many ice packs. Percy holds his hand out and situates the ice on his side.
"Your mom made muffins before she left this morning." Paul states, grabbing a plate from the counter.
"Thanks. Do you know when Argon is coming to pick me up?" Percy asks as he takes a blue, blueberry muffin.
"Chiron called and said he is coming at 8." Paul recalls. "He also said everyone is really excited to see you." The young boy shoves the rest of his muffin into his mouth before taking another and doing the same.
"Hey Paul, I'm gonna go to my room for a while, can you call me when Argus gets here?"
"Yeah, be careful." Percy gets out of his chair, and with a struggle, he limps his way back to his room. The son of Poseidon layed down back on his bed and finally let out all the tears and pain he'd been holding together. It felt so good to let out all of his emotions but it was quickly concluded when Paul called him into the kitchen to go with Argus.
He hobbles back out of his room and back into the kitchen to see the camp's head of security, waiting for him. Paul hugs him goodbye and the mortal is left in his apartment alone. Argon leads him to the camp van parked outside and helps him settle in the back seat.
Their drive to camp is smooth and relatively short but Percy can't stop thinking about how his friends will react or if they even know what happened.
The second they pulled into the boundaries of camp, Percy was ready to jump out of the van and run to see his friends. It had been a week since he was taken to the hospital for an emergency surgery, and he was more than ready to be out of bed. The car stopped and he was out the door limping towards the Big House.
"Percy, welcome back!" Chiron exclaims as Percy walks around the porch.
"I'm glad to be back! Do you know where the seven, Nico, and Will are?" He asks, looking back at Chiron form the stairs.
"They're down in sword practice right now, why don't you go get settled in your cabin for a littl while." Chiron suggests.
"Ok." Percy sighs. He heads off towards the cabins. The hills on Camp Half-Blood were not on his side because Percy almost tripped ten different times on the short trip.
Percy was still getting used to his ACL brace and his doctors locked it at a certain level so he could only bend his knee so far. He finally stumbled into the Poseidon cabin and was greeted by his friends screaming surprise.