Chapter Text
As Mom wandered around the apartment looking for anything they may have forgotten, checking to make sure the oven was off, and trying to find her keys, Paul followed after her trying to reassure her. I sat on the worn-in and comfy blue couch, watching the TV where Dean Winchester was so obviously flirting with Castiel, and finishing the dutch braids I had spent the last 30 minutes working on. I checked the finished product in the camera of the StarkPhone 10 Leo had modified with celestial bronze. Satisfied with my work I got off the couch and made my way to the kitchen to help Mom, only to turn the corner to find that Paul had already taken care of it.
"Darling," he said, softly rubbing her arms to soothe her nerves, "we have everything we need. We have all our bags, our IDs, the oven is turned off, and your keys are right here." he said, holding up a set of keys in his left hand "We're ready to go." I smiled, thinking of all the times I'd done the same for Annabeth before a quest, and her for me.
"Thank you, honey." Mom said with a loving smile. "I'm going to say bye to Percy and we can head to the airport." I took that as my cue to enter the kitchen and say what I'd been wanting to ask before my mom turned into a hurricane that even I would have trouble controlling.
"Yeah, so here's the thing," I started with a sheepish smile to my mom, "I know we definitely talked about it before but I have no idea what the plan is for the next month." I chuckled awkwardly, hoping they wouldn't be too annoyed. I should've known that they wouldn't be. Paul just laughed with me and Mom gave me her signature loving eye roll.
"Paul and I are going on a trip, and before you ask, no you cannot stay here on your own."
Dam, there goes my plans to invite Annabeth, Piper, Leo, and Nico over for the month. They're all year-rounders these days but I know they'd like to stay somewhere they're not responsible for 8-year-olds for a while. I get why I shouldn't though, last time was home alone for more than a couple hours, Paul came home to me summoning three gallons of water from the moisture in the air to put out a fire that I accidentally started on the stove trying to make mac n' cheese. Then, upon him announcing his presence by screaming, I slipped on some of said water and gave myself a mild concussion. So, yeah, it's understandable.
"Okay," I said, "but since Mr. D says I need to 'expand my comfort zone outside of camp', whatever that means, I don't have anywhere to stay." My mom shook her head.
"First of all, you know exactly what it means. He's tired of you telling everyone who praises you for saving the world that you 'did it for the vine' and pointing at him." I giggled at that. "Second of all, I've already got you a place to stay. With your uncle."
Um...okay? I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean Zeus or Hades so this is going to be interesting. "Uncle?" I asked, very clearly confused and skeptical. She smiled like she used to when she would surprise me with blue candy from work.
"Yep. It was a shock to me too," she told me to sit down so we made our way back to the living room and I sat back on the couch. "When I was about 16 years old, my parents died in a car crash. I had an older brother, Tony. He was legally old enough to be my guardian until I turned 18. But for some reason, the judge deemed him unfit and I was put in the foster system. I never heard from Tony after that and I thought that he had decided he didn't want to be a part of my life, that's why I've never mentioned him."
Despite my shock at finding out about my new family member, I could feel myself getting angry for my mom, who could ever do that to a kid? But as she finished her story I calmed down.
"Until a few months ago, when I got a call from him. Apparently, he'd been searching for me for a while. He told me that the reason we lost touch was because our parents' old business partner bribed the judge to put me in the system and cut off contact between us. He had been looking for me under the last name I had before one of my foster families adopted me."
Her excitement to tell me about her brother had dissipated into bitterness about the circumstances of her and Tony's estrangement. I glanced over at Paul, who had his arm around her and was doing his best to comfort her. When she continued I tried not to convey my dislike for this so-called business partner that was definitely an ass.
"Anyways, when he had explained that Obie - that's the ass of a guy who separated us - had been the reason behind our separation, we got to talking and catching up, and he said he wanted to meet you. His place is about as safe as it gets and I think you'll get along with the people you meet there so I accepted his offer to have you stay with him while we're away." Mom was smiling at me hopefully and Paul was still rubbing her back in comfort. I could tell they were waiting on my reaction to all of this, and that they were hoping I'd be happy about it all so I smiled back at them.
"Honestly, I'm kind of excited to know I have some more mortal, maybe even normal family. But it will be really stressful hiding my unfortunate demigodliness from someone I'm living with and getting my uncle smited for knowing too much is not a great first impression.'' I tried to portray my sincerity in the fact that I wanted to meet him because I could tell it meant a lot to my mom, but I had to be realistic. And really I was holding back the rest. I didn't even bring up the whole, hiding-the-fact-I've-been-in-two-wars-and-have-so-much-PTSD thing.
But mom just perked up a bit and cheerily told me, "That's not a problem! Posideon gave us permission to tell him everything. He did say it would have to be you who tells him though, so it's up to you whether you decide to tell him and when."
Oh, well, that's convenient Dad. I guess there's only one question left to ask. The one that will be the deciding factor of whether or not I go. "Can Annabeth visit?"
Paul laughed and Mom rolled her eyes and smiled amusedly at me. "Of course, sweetheart. I've already told him you two are a package deal."
"Ok then! I'll pack a bag. You send me the address and I'll pick up Annie on the way." I said beaming and hopping up from the couch. I gave them both an aggressive hug and ran to my room, sliding on my socks around the corners.