Beneath the Surface (A PJO Fanfic)

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Percy slides shakily into the passenger seat of Poseidon's car. It's been three days since he met his father and he still isn't sure what to think. The man stayed by his side the entire time at the hospital, refusing to leave for anything besides a bathroom break or a quick chat with the doctor.

He settles back into the seat with a heavy sigh. His arm is in a sling and his whole body aches. Idiopathic Aplastic Anemia, they said. It probably wouldn't have affected him, but that particular day and the couple before had turned into an extremely taxing scenario that accelerated the disease. Now they say that he will have times when he is simply tired and sore, times when he absolutely cannot get out of bed, and times when he feels perfectly fine. 

How troublesome.

Mr. Herondale has officially taken custody of Percy. It appears his mother was very eager to sign the papers to keep herself from getting charged with child abuse. He doesn't know how to feel about that. There's some legal stuff that Poseidon has to handle and some court dates, but Percy's been told he doesn't have to be present if he doesn't want to be.

Gabe is nowhere to be found, but the cops are keeping an eye out. Turns out he's racked up quite the jail time from his 'interactions' with Percy. 

In some ways, things will be better now. In others, not so much. 

After all, Percy is going to be home-schooled. At least for time it takes him to heal and adjust. 

"How do you feel?" Poseidon asks sliding into the driver's seat.

"Pretty good, just a bit tired. I haven't moved around for three days after all," Percy replies, straightening in his seat slightly, wincing as pain shoots through his arm. "Are we going back to your place?"

Poseidon sighs. "It's your place too you know and yes we are. Why? Is there somewhere you wanted to go?"

Percy shakes his head and turns to look out the window. 

They pull out of the parking lot and within moments leave the hospital behind. The ride to the mansion is too long for Percy, all he feels like doing is sleeping which is odd considering he should be going mad after spending three days in bed. He is ADHD after all. Must be this anemia thing.

He's grateful when they finally arrive.

They stumble in the door, Poseidon because of the sleepless nights he's spent worrying about his new son. They both expect to be able to go to bed, but freeze when a beautiful woman appears around the corner. She has long brown hair and soft amber eyes.

"Hestia," Poseidon says, standing up straight. "What a pleasant surprise."

"I just stopped by because I thought you might want some company." The woman replies.

Percy holds one hand up in a stop-everything motion. "Wait your name is Hestia? Like the Greek goddess?"

Instead of getting mad, Hestia only smiles. "My parents were a bit conceited. My sister's name is Hera. In fact, Poseidon's parents were much the same. It's how our families met." 

Percy smiles slightly but sways on his feet. Poseidon steadies him and leads him to the couch. "How about you rest while I talk to my sister-in-law? We can have dinner later." 

Percy nods as he plops facedown onto the white surface, jostling his arm just slightly. "Sure. What are we having?' 

"I was thinking Marco's. You like pepperoni right?"

"And sausage," Percy says with a smile, his eyes already closed and within moments he's asleep.

Poseidon grimaces a bit before turning back to Hestia. She's looking at him with a curious expression on her face. He sighs, placing his hands in his pockets. "I guess I better explain then."

"Yes, that might be best," she replies, smoothly and turns to go back into the kitchen. When they are settled at the table she leans forward slightly and smiles gently. "I don't mean to invade, but I'm guessing that he isn't just some random boy you decided to help out of the goodness of your heart."

The black-haired man makes a face. "You don't have to phrase it like that." A sigh. "His name is Percy and he is my son."

Hestia blinks slowly and then she smiles wide, letting out a small laugh. "It actually happened. You had a child. You know Athena and I always said you would. He's older than I expected, so I guess she wins the bet."

"Oh shut up," Poseidon grumbles, taking a drink from the glass of water on the table. 

"You were so rambunctious in your teen years." she continues. "I bet the kid is just as troublesome as you were."

He narrows his eyes at her. "He's a good kid."

Hestia raises her hands. "Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it and anyway you turned out all right........... mostly." A smirk. They lapse into silence for a moment. "Poseidon, what's wrong with the boy?"

When her brother-in-law doesn't speak, Hestia worries that she may have asked too much. Poseidon is normally quite the laid-back person, but on occasion and over certain subjects he can become unapproachably moody. It's almost five minutes before he speaks. "He was abused."

"What? How?! Who did it?" she says worriedly, leaning forward slightly. She looks like she has more questions and he can guess them all, namely how he let this happen in the first place. 

"From what the doctor can tell since he was three or four up until just a couple of days ago," Poseidon replies. He looks several years older than when she last saw him just last week. He aches for the pain his new son has gone through. 

Hestia's heart completely misses a beat at his next words. "Now on top of his injuries, he's been diagnosed with anemia."

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Percy shifts, slowly blinking awake. 

It's been nearly two weeks since he got back from the hospital and his arm has healed almost completely. The anemia for the most part has done little more than make him slightly more tired than usual. 

Hestia has been a huge help, keeping him company whenever everyone is busy, which is often. Poseidon's niece, Athena, has begun to home-school him despite the fact that she obviously despises his dad.

He goes to raise out of bed, but his body convulses and a dull pain shoots up his spine. He falls back with a gasp. He realizes now how crappy he feels and the not-so-small amount of sweat beading his brow. He's hot all over and thoroughly feels sick. When he went to bed last night he definitely didn't feel like this and right now his body is barely responding to him.

"Dad," he rasps. "Dad!" His newly discovered father responds well to being called Dad, almost preens with pride every time Percy says and oddly enough the word comes more easily than one might expect.

It doesn't seem as if Poseidon can hear him. He finally stumbles out from under the sheets and over to the door, only barely making it. His head is spinning madly and a headache has begun to beat at his temple. He opens the door wide open and calls down the hall as loud as he can manage. 

His voice doesn't carry as much as he thinks it should.

The door at the end of the hall swings open and an older replica of Percy peaks out, sleep still blurring his vision. "Yeah? What do you need Percy?"

Percy staggers forward, tripping and falling against the wall in the process. "I don't feel so hot."

Poseidon is there in moments. He helps his son back to bed, quickly makes a call for the doctor, and then fusses over the black-haired boy, who in turn tells him to stop being a mother hen. It's annoying. 

After that they sit in silence, waiting for Dr. Michael. It's not until almost ten minutes later that Poseidon notices Percy's flushed cheeks and grabs a thermometer.

He curses as he reads it. "104!"