There and Back Again

Chapter One: Birthday Party

"Uncle Percy," a little girl with long blonde hair squealed darting forward to greet her uncle and his fiancée as they walked through the front door; a large smile formed on his face as he crouched down to pick her up. 

It had been a while since he had last visited, college was keeping him busy and if he was not busy studying then his new baby sister was a handful; he was almost relieved that he had babysat for his sister in preparation. 

Finding out that he had yet another sibling had come as quite a surprise, he had only had to deal with brothers before now; though he was closer to Tyson than he ever would be with Triton.

 A sister was not something that Percy had been prepared for, especially one that was grieving a loss that she could barely talk about and the fact that she had been pregnant with twins. 

"How is my favourite niece?" Percy asked giving her a hug, he remembered how small she had been when she had been born and could not believe how fast time seemed to have flown. 

He kissed her cheek and stepped further into the house admiring the decorations that Thalia had put up for the birthday party; it was not every day that the twins would turn six and this year they had friends to invite. 

It was a small gathering none the less and Percy could only imagine the stress that Thalia had gone through trying to accommodate for both of the twins' especially considering how different they were. 

Samara was much more forward than her brother, she might have favoured her mother in the looks department but Percy could already tell that she was going to be trouble when she became a teenager. 

Then there was little Theo, he was quiet, reserved and was much happier to sit in a corner and just read than his sister was. 

Thalia had done well to raise them alone and Percy knew that it had been far from easy, she had done it pretty much alone and he applauded her for that; she had found herself some steady work as a doctor's office receptionist and had worked her ass off to get to where she was now. 

The twins had never wanted for anything and Percy was sure that she had found a level of peace after what had happened; he had never gotten the full story from her but he knew that whatever she had been through had been hard.

"Uncle Percy," Theo called rushing to greet his uncle, a large smile on his face and he wrapped his arms around Percy's legs in a hug; his blue eyes staring up in joy at the sight of him and the fact that he had actually come. 

While Samara favoured her mother in looks, Percy could only guess that Theo looked more like his father; his hair was a dark shade of brown and he had blue eyes just like his sister. 

"Hey Shortie," Percy said setting down Samara and moving to hug Thalia, a laugh escaping him at the look of annoyance on Thalia's face; he was at least five inches taller than her. 

Not that Percy would describe himself as extremely tall but he had to admit that he found it amusing that she was rather on the short side; it was even funnier when Tyson was with them and towered over her completely. 

"I am not short," Thalia insisted hugging her brother, she hated that he pointed it out and she wished that she had hit a growth spurt when she was in her teens. 

"You're like five-foot-tall... you are short," Percy teased letting go of Thalia, who gave him a little glare as she stepped passed him to greet Annabeth; she had no idea how his fiancée put up with him. 

Thalia rolled her eyes, though she had only a little taller than Thorin when she had been in Middle Earth; it was never something that she had focused on before and she guessed that she was not meant to grow any taller than she had.