Percy and Annabeth-Their future

In Sickness and in Health

I watched as Rion and Sophia raced down the lanes of the pool, each trying to beat each other, and their own times. 

"Haha! I win again!" Rion laughed. Although he was 3 years younger, he and Sophia were almost the same level, except Sophia had the obvious advantage. 

"Race again!" Luke smiled through his donut-covered face. Lena sat next to me, sketchbook in hand. Her small hands skillfully drew Rion and Sophia racing in the depths of the pool. 

"When's Dad gonna get here!?" Rion complained, clearly hoping to impress Percy with his acquired speed. 

"Any minute, Ri. Now, race again!" The two of them stood on the edge of the pool, ready to dive. 

"ON YOUR MARKS! GET SET! GO!!!!" Luke and Taylor screamed in unison. Sophia bolted herself off like a torpedo. Rion did the same, diving deep down. But he didn't come up. Luke ran to the edge, Taylor by his side. 

"Mommy..." I ran over as fast as I could, only to see Rion's face sinking away from me. 

"Sophia!!!!!" I screamed, but she was slready by his side, lifting him out of the water. He coughed and spluttered, water pouring out of his lungs. 

"C'mon, Orion Jackson. You can do it. Breathe. Just breathe." And he obeyed me, but barely. Each breath seemed to hurt him. 

"Go call 911, Sophia. Now!" She ran over to her bag, and rapidly took out her phone, dialing the number.

"Lena, call Daddy. Tell him to meet us at the hospital." I wrapped Rion in a towel and ran. Luke and Taylor trailed behind me, each carrying bags and towels. 

"Mom, an abulence is on the way!" Sophia yelled, her dripping wet hair strewn about her face. She ran like Hades was chasing her (no offense, Hades!) to Tartarus. Lena was right behind her, my phone in hand. 

"Mama, Daddy says he is worried and he will be there!" I smiled for a brief moment, but when I looked down at Rion's face, tinged with slight blue, his eyes open but uncomprehending, it faded. 

We reached the doors just as ambulence pulled up. They took Rion from me, and we all piled into the back. A paramedic got rid of the blue-ness, but told me that Rion could possibly have a major concussion. 

"What exactly happened, Mrs. Jackson?" Another paramedic asked from the front seat. 

"He dove into a pool, I just too hard, and must've hit his head." The man shook his head.

"You're lucky you got him out when you did. He could've died if you'd wasted just one more second." We arrived at the hospital in the nick of time. Doctors carried the strectcher away to the Emergency Room. The kids and I waited in the waiting room. Percy arrived 3 minutes after Rion was taken away. Sally called me, and said that she and Paul were in the area.

"I can take the other kids home if you want, honey," I smiled, and thanked Sally, accepting her kind offer. 

"Thank you so much," Sophia, Lena, Taylor, and Luke all went home with Sally and Paul, and as they left, my worries grew.

"Percy, do you think he'll..." I couldn't finish the sentence. Would Rion die from the accident?

By about 5:00 pm, the doctors had moved Rion to a hospital room, and we were allowed to go see him.

"He has a Grade Three concussion," the doctor informed us. My sweet baby boy had regained his conciousness, but was in serious pain.

"He is extremely fragile at the moment. I would advise against any sports for the next month or so, just to prevent Second Impact Syndrome. For the next week, though, he should stay in bed, looking at the ceiling and sleeping. That's the newest curing method. He can't do anything to engage his brain; no TV, reading, writing, listening to music... nothing. It would probably be best if he stayed in his bedroom all day, so that your family life isn't too obstructed by it." Dr. Stallings handed me a notecard with all off the inormation on it. 

"Thank you, Doctor." He smiled weakly at us, and said that we could talk to Rion if we wanted to, but he might be a little slow.

"Hi Rion. It's Mommy and Daddy." Percy spoke softly and quietly, as if Rion was a sleeping baby. I kissed his forehead lightly.

"Do you remember where we live?" I asked, trying to get a grip of his cognitive ability. 

"Uh...Hingham?" It was actually pretty fast, only hesitating for a millisecond. Percy looked around us, making sure no doctors were around.

"Here, kiddo. Take a bite of this." Percy unwrapped a piece of ambrosia from his coat pocket. Rion ate it quickly. Almost instantly, he seemed better.

"Ri, you're gonna have to stay home from school for the whole week, just to follow Doctor's orders." Rion nodded, trying to mask the smirk on his face.

_______________________________________________

**1 Week Later**

"C'mon, Rion! Go, go, go!" Rion swam his heart out. Ever since Percy's ambrosia gift, he'd been miraculously better. No sports for a month? Pfft. His brain was better that night. He could've played sports the next day. Whatever, though.

Rion's concussion had actually made him... stronger. He was a faster swimmer, and beat every kid by at least 2 seconds, which was huge and ample time in swimming. That day, Rion came home from the tournament with 4 more trophies. 4 more!! That's a whole lot! He won every event. SO I guess his concussion-recovery  was Poseidon's 'Sorry' gift. Who knows with gods, though...

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out to you guys!! But I have some exciting news!! Okay, drumroll........... My mom said that I can get my original work published when I finish, and she'll pay for eveything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know it's going to be really hard, finding a literary agent who will work with me, and then a real publisher. I won't be dissapointed if it doesn't happen. But when I finish my story (which will probably be this summer), my mom and I are going to try to get it published!!!!! I'll keep you guys posted on that, but I'm super excited!! I sent it to a bunch of people, and some of those people are EXTREMELY CRITICAL, but eveyone loved it! I mean, I've sent out other stories before , and they told me it was bad. But this one, every one loved!!! I was so happy :) They made my day :) Even my dad thought it was good! I mean, when he read my research paper, he made me redo the whole thing because it was too biased and one-sided. That's huge for me :) And if I can't get it published like that, then I'm going to self publish it on Lulu, and you guys will still be able to buy it if you want!!! Sorry for ranting, I'm just really excited. :) <3

My second piece of news is----- this account now has an instagram acct!!!!!!! I'm going to be posting sneak-peeks, news, and other stuff on that account, as well as here, but be sure to follow! It's the same name as this acct, @PercyAnnabeth20owl . Can't wait to see you guys on there!!!

Questions of the Chapter:

1. Would you buy my original story if you could?

2. What do you want to happen in the next chapter??

PS:  I can't believe it, but this is Chapter 56!!! That's insane, guys. I'm going to try to go to 100, and I came up with a cool way to end the whole thing, even though I don't want it to end :( And guys, honestly, thank you sooo mcuh for 446,510 reads!!!!!!!   That means soo much to me! And 1,834 comments?!?!?!?!?!!? You are the best readers ever. I'm so thankful to have you guys, you're my best friends :) But what i truly can't believe is that we have 3,760 VOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so special to me, you guys are the best. I have no idea where i'd be without all your support. 

HUGS AND KISSES!!

-PERCYANNABETH20owl