Forest Sisters

returning home

Percy POV flashback

It was after the war, and everyone was at a type of piece. Annabeth and me were looking at schools, Jason was hard at work with his project, Frank and Hazel were back at the Roman camp, and Leo had miraculously shown up unharmed. He even had a girl with him. Him? He was dead for only a few weeks, then he gets a girl? Well, now he was in camp and Calipso was off on some life changing journey to see how the world had changed. She had told Leo it was a journey she needed to do alone, so now they write, but Leo seems to be recovering. The others, not so much. Jason and Piper won't let him out of their sights, and Hazel Irish messages every day. Frank seems happy, but uncomfortable with how many messages she sends him. So life was finally calming down, and I didn't want to wait a second longer to see my mom.

I walked up the stairs, and when I made it to the all too familiar door, I raised my hand to knock, but froze. For some reason I was scared to knock. Why? I faced armies of monsters and a giant earth mother, but I was too terrified to knock? After about a minute of standing there awkwardly, I finally built up the courage and knocked.

"Come right in, the doors open." I didn't hesitate this time. I opened the door and walked in. Looking a round, I saw that some things were different, but it still felt the same. I smelled cookies and got excited. "Mom?" I called. I heard something metal drop and she came out of the kitchen. She held her shaking hands to her face. "Percy." She whispered, tears in her eyes. I smiled at her and she came over and hugged me. Just then I noticed something different. I backed away and looked down at her large belly. My mom was not a fat women, no matter what she ate she never got fat, but right now her belly was about as big as Santa's. She didn't look chubby, only her belly was big.

"Mom, is that what I think it is?" I say. She opens her mouth to answer, but then her eyes fall to my arm. "Percy Jackson!" She yells, "is that a tattoo?"
"Mom, don't change the subject. Are you . . . Expecting?" She ignored me and grabbed my arm. "Percy! First you disappear, then you just decide to get tattoos? Even if you lost your memories, what makes you think I'd be okay with this?" I raise an eyebrow at her. "How did you know I lost my memory?" She only waves her arm. "Oh, I got a call from a certain son of mine, then was called by a sweet blond girl explaining why my son was missing."
I grab my mom's shoulders and make her look at me. "Mom," I say slowly, "are you pregnant?"

My mom's eyes water up again. She seems to be glowing and I don't need her to answer to know the answer.

-

Soon I find my self in the kitchen, stuffing my face with blue cookies. I moan in delight. I had missed these things. Mom just watches me eat, but it doesn't make it awkward. After I've devoured a few cookies (okay, maybe a couple dozen and three cups of milk) I look up at mom.

"So," I ask, "do you want to talk about it?" Mom looks down for a little bit, thinking, then looks up at me.

"After you left, I stopped eating. I got depressed and couldn't take care of my self."

"Mom," I say, "I'm so sorry I-" she shakes her head and cuts me off.

"It wasn't your fault." She says. I open my mouth to say something, but she was too fast. She says in a matter of fact tone,"it was that stupid, stuck up goddess's fault." I smile at my mom. Not many people would speak badly about Hera, especially when they know first hand about her power.

Mom continues. "When you disappeared, I started to let my self go. Paul had to force me to eat, to move, to just live. It was unhealthy. With you gone, I felt like it wasn't worth fighting for. Then we found out about the baby. When I found out about her I realized that I wasn't just taking care of my self anymore, I was providing for two people now." A small smile spreads across her lips.

"It took me a little bit to process, but after I excepted it I started to eat again. We had some scares, some bumps along the way, but it was easier then you." She laughs a little. "Even before you were burn, you were making trouble." I look down. I had heard about this many times, it was like a inside joke between us.

She continues. "As I said, I started to eat again and started taking care of my self, but I was still crying a couple times a week. After a little while, Poseidon came. He said that they were still looking for you. It gave me a little hope, just enough to keep my self going. We took a walk down to the beach and had a talk. He told me about how he was worried about me. I talked on and on about my fears, and about life in general. It really helped."

She laughs a little. "He admitted to me that he had approached Paul after he proposed to me and threatened him. You may not remember this, but Paul was a little jumpy. I had thought that he just had wedding day jitters, but the truth was Poseidon be as in the back, watching." I laugh. I had thought I'd seen someone looking like him, but hadn't really been thinking about it.

"Back to the baby," she says, "after the talk, I had a lot of hope and seemed to just know that somehow you were okay. When we got back to the apartment, Paul was waiting there. Poseidon walked in and Paul looked terrified." She laughs. "You should have seen his face. He looked like Hadies him self had walked in to take him to the underworld." We laughed for a little bit.

"After we got back to the apartment, I checked the messaging machine, and do you know what I heard? A certain lost son of mine had called." Her eyes tear up again. I start to get up to comfort her, but she just shakes her head. "No, no." She says. I sit down again and she takes a deep breath, pushing down the tears. "When I heard your voice, I cried and cried. Paul thought there was something wrong with me, but the truth was I was crying with pure joy. I was filled with so much hope. Your father was tearing up too, the big baby. Don't tell him I said that, he'll deny it. After that, I started to pick up the pieces of my life. You know, I'm naming her after you."

I look at her, "your calling her Percy! She'll just get bullied." Mom just laughs. "No, no." She says. "I'm naming her for you." I hesitate then ask, "are you naming her blue cookies?" Mom bursts out laughing. I don't know why she would, Blue Cookies is a cool name. It's a lot better then Percy.

Mom finally calms down. "No, Percy. I'm not calling her that." She looks up and must have seen my disappointment. "How about this, you can call your kid Blue Cookies." I frown. "She probably won't let me call them that." Mom raises her eye brow. "She? Do you have some one in mind?" I feel my face start to hear up. "I, um, but-" mom starts to laugh.

"Oh, Percy, I've know for a long time. It's not that hard to figure out." I turn even redder. "So," I say, trying to change the subject. "Whats her name?" Mom looks down at her over sized stomach.

"Hope." She says, then looks up at me. "Her names Hope Blue Mernafay Blowfish."

-Back at camp for the blessing-

I stood tall besides my father and mother and watch as Poseidon gently takes hope from my mom. He holds her in his arms lovingly and turns to the camp. "Today is a great day." He says. Hope looks up at him and laughs. Poseidon looks down at her and tickes her belly. "A very great day." He says. He looks back up at the camp and continues in his booming voice.

"Today, for the first time in centuries, we will be able to witness a baby being blessed. This means she is clamed, by me, and there for she will be as my own child. I claim her and bless her. This day, Hope Blue Mernafay Blowfish is blessed with powers of the sea and there for will be excepted to this camp when she comes of age. This day, I claim her as my own." He leans down and kisses her forehead, and a blue glowing mark is left on her head. It slowly spreads in till her whole body is glowing a soft greenish bluish color. He holds her up for everyone to see. Cheers and yells shake the beach as Poseidon shows her around. He hands her back to my mom and hugs all three of us.

Paul looks awkward standing a little farther away. Poseidon releases us and turns to him. "Someday soon, I will have to give you another little talk." He says in a stern voice. Paul's face goes white and my mom slaps Poseidon's arm. He laughs and pats Paul on the back, hard. "I'm only teasing." He says. He turns to Paul and says, "it looks like you are cut out to be with Sally. Well, at least you did one thing right." He looks at Hope and smiles. A faint smile forms on his lips. "Yeah," he says, "something went right."

Hope looks around and gives Paul a big toothless smile. Mom seems to be glowing. I look down at Hope and tickle her belly. Her big green eyes look up at me, her raven black hair hidden under her little hat.

I hug my mom and she laughs. "Congratulations," she says, "your a big brother now."