Percy Jackson Fanfics

a very jackson (christmas) reunion

Title: a very jackson (christmas) reunion
Author: kirkfall
Site: Archive of Our Own
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21860848

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Sally could give up a lot of things in life if it meant living a peaceful, carefree life with her family. She could give up the gods and monsters, she could begrudgingly give up her favorite sweets, and she could even throw her grandfather’s typewriter out of the window.

Mm, maybe not the typewriter.

But if there was one thing that Sally Jackson could never let go of, it was the makeshift family that the chaos brought into her home every year. They were the kids who saved the world every other day, the kids who should’ve been in school or hanging out at an arcade instead of vanquishing ancient evils. They were the children of gods who’d long forgotten what it meant to be a parent past checking in on their funerals.

God, that’s a depressing thought.

Most importantly, in Sally’s opinion, they were the people who brought her son back to her when he went off on some crazy adventure. They were the reason she could sleep at night knowing that he was with people who cared about him and would do everything in their power to protect him. (Not that Percy needed people to protect him, but the thought is always nice.) So she did what she could to thank them for that.

Speaking of which…

“Paul, dear, could you hand me that—” Sally twisted her torso to gesture vaguely behind her. Her husband looked up from his book, looking around frantically for a moment; his gaze locked on the oven mitts sitting on the counter, and he tossed them to her. “Thanks.” She said, slipping them on and prying the oven open.

She carefully removed the sheets of cookies from the oven — they were those standard sugar cookies from Walmart with those cute festive patterns printed on them — and placed them on the counter.

Paul peered over her shoulder. “Those look great, Sally.” He said, his free hand snaking around her side to grab one of the cookies. Her gaze shot down and locked on his hand and it froze. “Or,” he suggested, slowly backing away from the cookies, “I could wait.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Sally agreed. She tossed her oven mitts on the counter next to the sheets, then paced over to him. She dropped her head onto his shoulder and gave a deep sigh. “Percy will be back with the rest of the kids soon.” She told him. “ Then we can eat cookies.”

Paul closed his book and placed it on the counter. He didn’t say anything, just wrapped one arm around her shoulders and lowered his head on top of hers. There, in the quiet of the kitchen with the man that she loved, Sally was reminded of one more thing she didn’t think she could live without.

She’d been drowning when she met Paul. Drowning in work, drowning in worry all the time, drowning in the memory of the man she married to protect her son. When Gabe was finally gone — finally gone — Sally felt everything that she’d been keeping to herself over the years. The pain, the frustration, the sheer anger at the gods for putting this weight on their family. For putting them through so much because they lack the ability to keep it in their pants. And she knew that Percy felt it, too. He felt the same things she did, and Sally could see that her son was struggling. But eventually they started to pull themselves out of the mud.

Sally figured they were free the moment Gabe opened that freezer to find himself another beer, figured they were free when she sold the statue. But there was nothing more refreshing than finally letting go . (Gabe, she would’ve let go if she saw it as an option. God, Sally would’ve fought monsters herself if she could’ve.)