A Lofty Choice

Prologue

Natasha over looked out into the night sky. Poseidon hated when he went to high places. She didn't care. He was not in control she was. She had a swollen belly, and was getting closer to giving birth. Natasha looked over at Artie (nickname for Arctic, also known as Poseidon). Natasha knew that his name was fake from years of training. In the end she did not care. She did not want him part of her life or her child's life. Yes, this child was hers and not his. She hated the way he looked at her. His eyes saw her, but not her. He was looking at another woman.

She had escaped the red room. She had done it. Then with her freedom got drunk and slept with a stranger. She didn't expect anything to come of it. But it did she became pregnant.

She remembered when she laid next to him he had said the words "Sally," in a desperate plea. He had never said her name when she was with him. Always refusing. Instead he said endearing nicknames like "Honey." He was trying to erase her by not saying her name. She was not a reflection of someone else. She was Natasha Romanoff and she would make a lofty choice to raise him on her own. She would name him "Aleksandr." A Russian name stemmed from Greek. It means "Defender of Men."

Of course Poseidon had other ideas. Everyday he felt her pulling away from him. He told himself that he was visit her and the baby.

Suddenly Natasha's eyes widened and she looked down. And suddenly she was rushed to the hospital.

* * *

Natasha held her baby. It had been a month and she was in love with her sweet little boy. She gently sang him a lullaby.

Everything was perfect, until it wasn't.

The fates had a meeting with Poseidon and a few other gods. They didn't want the information to reach the wrong ears. If Zeus found out about Percy...

The council sat there while Natasha was singing Aleksandr to sleep. The fates said "The boy will die if he stays with the mortal." There is no more argument from Poseidon. He loved his son. Whenever he visited him he was a gurgling mess, but he had these seal eyes that would stare into your soul and heart. This was his son. He would not die.

Poseidon looked troubled, and conspired with someone else to mess with the memories.

That was the day everything was wiped away. As if his childhood would not matter. The day the music died.

Natasha was there one moment and then she was back in the Red Room as if this had been some amazing dream. She would get out of here. She was almost there to graduation. She thought of the vague memory of those seal eyes. They haunted her in the unconscious part of her brain.

Suddenly there was nothing but pain and despair in her life.

Meanwhile Sally stood there. A bundle in her arms and a warm smile on her face as she looked down at her son. He was so precious. She would love him because she is his son. There is nothing compared to a mother's love./