Daddy Issues

Dinner with the In-Laws

Nico's POV) 

"Hey, Nico?" Percy ran up to me just as I was about to part with my sister and walk home. "Um... I know this is a little sudden, but... Would you... Both of you, actually... Would you like to come over for dinner at my mom's tonight?" 

I choked on my spit. "Would we like to what now?" 

He laughed nervously. "Don't worry, I called ahead. I just, um... She's making cookies. So I thought, y'know, maybe you'd wanna get some?" 

Hazel perked up at the mention of cookies. "Well, I'm not one to pass up a free cookie. You wanna come with me?" 

I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent. "Um, yeah, sure. Let's go. Are you coming with us?" 

Percy sighed. "I've gotta get to swim practice. You two go ahead." 

-

When we got there, we were greeted by his mother with open arms. "Hi, Nico! So nice to see you again, and who's this?" 

She put her and forward. "Hi, I'm Hazel, his little sister." 

"Oh, nice to meet you!" She took her hand. "I didn't know he had a sister. Well... A younger sister, that is." She trailed off, before clearing her throat. "Come on in, you two. I'm making waffle paninis! Because I don't have a panini press, but I have a waffle press." She ushered us to the couch. "Do either of you need a snack or a drink, or anything? I can make you some chocolate milk if you want." 

I was about to turn her offers down, but Hazel spoke up. "That sounds wonderful, Miss Jackson. Oh, and get some for him too, please? He's bad at asking for things." 

She smiled. "Sure thing, sweetheart." She walked off to the kitchen, leaving us alone. 

I huffed and turned to her. "Don't embarrass me like that." 

"Oh hush, you know it's true." 

She came back with two glasses of chocolate milk. "Here. So... Hazel, right?" 

"Yes ma'am." 

"So, how old are you?" 

"Fifteen, going on sixteen." 

"Oh, when's your birthday?" 

"December 17th." 

She clicked her tongue. "Poor little lamb. Probably get cheated out of quite a few Christmas presents, don't you?"

She shrugged. "Well, we don't really do Christmas anyway. I mean, we do the gifts, but we don't decorate or anything. Just watch movies together, gorging ourselves on cinnamon rolls. He makes really good cinnamon rolls, by the way." 

"Oh... Well, what did you get?" 

She smiled over at me. "He got me these really fancy watercolors, and a DVD of Secretariat too." 

"They weren't that fancy. They were only like, 25 bucks." 

"They're a step up from Crayola." 

"And... Your dad?" Sally cut in. "What did he get you?" 

She went quiet. "He, uh... Just gave me cash." He didn't even give her that, and I knew it. That made me angry, really angry. I can forgive him for how he treats me, but not how he treats her. She deserves so much better. And I try the best I can to give it to her, but I know it's not good enough. At least Frank can succeed where I've failed. 

"Does he only ever give you cash?" 

"Well, I've only had one Christmas with him so far, the rest were either in Saint Agnes or New Orleans. That's... Where I was born actually."