*This is the modified version since apparently, I'm not allowed to put lyrics from the song since it's copyright even though I literally said the lyrics were from the song. Whatever. So this is not really an update.*

I recommend you hear the song "Angel with a Shotgun" by The Cab before reading this, since this is a song-fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters or the song "Angel with a Shotgun" by The Cab

"When you grow up, you're going to be just like your father," the proud woman at the small store tells him.

Jason raised his eyebrows like he always does whenever this conversation comes up. "Oh, really?" is always his reply. So when he says it, he waits for the expected reassurance to come back at him from the old lady.

And it did. "Yes, you are. You should be very proud," she said with a smile. He smiled back, only because he knows it's polite to do so, not because he is actually agreeing to what she told him, and walked out of the store carrying the heavy bags.

As he walked back to his home, he thinks back to the conversation bitterly. He was really tired of hearing that. He was nothing like his father at all. His father was a top-general in his soldier unit. That's how that lady in the store (who he had never even seen before today) knew him and his father.

Jupiter Grace was a strict young man. Always following the rules. Always doing what he thinks is best for everyone else. Always and always off in the military to serve his nation proudly. And that's why Jason holds a grudge to him so much. It's because everyone wants him to become exactly like that and is slightly unhappy (although they won't admit it to his face) when they find out he isn't.

Jason Grace is the exact opposite of Jupiter Grace. Well, not exactly, but they definitely have some noticeable differences. For example, Jason does not want to join the military to serve his nation proudly. And not because he's too lazy to or scared, but because frankly, he thinks the nation is broken already. He thinks it cannot be fixed. So he decides, why bother? It won't do anyone any good anyways.

But other people don't think of it like that.

"How was training this year, my son?" Jupiter Grace says from the small kitchen table. Jason turns away from placing the groceries on the ground before turning back to reply.

"Yeah, it was fine. They're giving us a week off before I have to go back. And then we have that mission in March..." he trailed off.

His father smiled. "Good for you, son. You're going to do great."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Can't a father come to say hi to his son once in a while?"

No, Jason thinks, he can't. Not when he's a soldier. "Okay. So what are you really doing here?" He said with a blank face.

He passed him a few letters. "The usual." Jason took them and left the room without a word. These letters that he was holding, were letters from their fellow soldiers from the base to send them back to their families. Jason sighed. He wished he had a family. His 'family' had all died with the bombing that had occurred six years ago. He had a sister and a mother. Both whom he loved dearly.

He knew he still was lucky that he had his dad, but it still wasn't the same. They didn't laugh or talk to each other the same either like they had done with the rest of the family. And it hurt him to even think about them or even look at the letters he was holding. Damn families, he thought bitterly as he was walking to the post office.

That trip, however, had changed his life forever. Because after he had delivered the letters in the mail, he was walking by one of the seamier areas in the small city when it was starting to rain heavily. And in the corner of the street, there was a woman and a baby, huddled together like a lion trying to protect its child. The baby in her arms was crying rather loudly, while the woman was patting its back and trying to comfort it.

They were obviously poor, judging by the ratty clothes they were wearing. And scrawny too, not to mention that.

Jason immediately frowned.

How could someone leave them alone like that? And in this kind of weather? Jason turned around and walked a little while until he came upon a bakery. He quickly bought a couple of loaves of bread and ran back to where he saw the people. They were still there.

He walked up to them slowly, as to not startle them, and patted the woman's shoulder. She turned around quickly and her eyes widened. "No, no, I came here to help. It's not what you think, " Jason reassured the woman. He immediately thought of how suspicious he could have looked in the woman's eyes. Because honestly, how strange was it that a random stranger ran into a poor woman with a baby?

The woman calmed down a little when she saw the loaf of bread then she eyed him suspiciously again. "And why should I take those?" She said nodding her head towards the loaves.

Even with the guarded expression, Jason could still see the hunger written in her eyes. So that gave him the courage to speak against her cold glare. "You should take them because I know you and your baby are hungry. Why else would I be offering fresh, warm bread to you?" He retorted.

She blinked before looking down. When she looked back up, she had a small smile played across her lips. "Sorry, then." Jason then took the time to actually look at the woman. It was something weird, he thought, he was offering to help her and he didn't really take in what she actually looked like.

So he studied her with a guarded expression of his own. For a poor woman that had ratty clothes on, she sure didn't look ratty. She had dark skin and her hair was about shoulders length. Everything about her face seemed perfect as well; the sculpted nose, the pouty lips, and the eyes. The eyes were the most beautiful thing Jason had ever looked at. He couldn't really focus on the color of them, but they definitely had something sad in them. As if she too, lost something important in her life.

Breaking out of his daze, he handed her the loaves and started to walk away again. He should be ashamed of himself; he had actually checked out a woman. And one that had a child and probably a husband too. He could imagine his father's scolding at him right now.

"Thank you." He turned back and only nodded.

"Why did it take you so long, Jason?" He heard his father ask him as Jason was walking up the stairs to his room.

"Nothing. Just decided to take my time this time walking back," was his reply.

"In the pouring rain?"

"What can I say, I'm an interesting young man."

His father chuckled. "Right you are, son."

They had just come back from their mission a few months later and Jason was incredibly sad to say it had failed. Utterly. His father wouldn't talk to him for a while, but Jason just didn't know. His heart just wasn't in being a soldier. He didn't have anything really worth fighting for. His life felt depressing.

Anyways, he had been coming back from training again when he saw her for the second time. This time, she and her baby seemed to be doing a little bit better. He was watching as she was feeding her baby again. This time, he realized that she and the baby had company. It was a scrawny, black-haired man that was making silly faces at the baby to make the baby laugh. And it did.

Jason's stomach slowly sunk as he realized the baby had the same hair as the man. So she was married. Jason shrugged it off; why should he care? He only interacted with her for about two minutes.

He was about to walk away when the woman turned around and saw him. The first thing she had done was smile which surprised Jason. She seemed to hate him when he had talked to her that day. But now, he sees that things has been working out. So he smiles back.

And then she waves at him to come over to where they are.

And he doesn't know what to do. The other man beside her notices and eyes him suspiciously before whispering something to the woman. She says something back to him and soon, he's also smiling over at him to come join them.

So he does.

At first it's awkward and he doesn't know what to do, but she talks instead. "Thanks again, from that day. It really helped us get back on track."

Jason smiled and replied, "No problem. Is this your child?"

The woman looks down at the baby before smiling up again at him. "No, actually. It's Leo's. I'm just helping him watch over her," she said gesturing towards the black-haired man. The man smiles sadly back at him. Jason had a feeling that something had happened to the man's wife, judging by how the woman's smile drops a little and the man looks down again. But at the same time, Jason couldn't help the way the knots in his stomach had begun to ease when she had told him this news. He didn't know why, but he definitely knew he should be feeling guilty about it.

They talk for a little while, before the man-Leo-tells them that he's got to go do something out in the woods and gives a quick farewell to them both. When he leaves, the woman speaks again. "I'm Piper, by the way. Since we haven't really introduced ourselves."

"I'm Jason," and Jason flinches as he's expecting the woman to go into some weird admiration lecture about how great his father is, or how he's-oh no-going to "grow up to be like his father", or even worse- "Why are you not like your father? Have you seen your last mission?"

But absolutely none comes. Actually, if he's being rather honest with himself, not even a flicker of recognition comes on her face.

And that was one of the many things he liked about her from that day on.

Ever since then, he's been coming back a lot. Even after the missions he's been having. And now, he's starting to realize that they're progressing-a lot. And he's actually starting to feel pride in it. Like he wants to do it.

He blames it all on her.

Because she actually brought him to a new light. She actually made him feel needed; not like others who gave him fake enthusiasm about his job just because his father was the general. She actually made him feel like he belonged in the world. And maybe, he had lost his family and him and his father's relationship was a little rusty, but that was okay. Because things were taking a different turn now.

So as he goes back to Piper and the baby, he returns the smile she gives him. He's now come to really love it whenever she did that. Whenever she smiled, laughed, or made a positive reaction to him at all made his stomach feel something he never felt in a long time.

Leo had returned to pick up the baby and left again to go who-knows-where and it was left with only Jason and Piper again, by the small fire she had made. She may have still been poor (Jason tried to offer money to her, but she always refused because she was always too stubborn and modest to take any), but that didn't stop her to constantly take care of their little family every day.

Jason watched the fire as it reflected in Piper's eyes like a mirror. It was really weird how they had met, but Jason still couldn't help the jumpy feeling he got whenever he looked into the colorful marble pools. He would quickly look away because there was either: A.) Leo was watching them B.) Leo would make fun of him like he did last time when he accidentally rubbed his hands against hers while setting up the fire, causing his ears to turn pink C.) He was afraid she would catch him and make fun of him or D.) He was scared of what he might be feeling at the moment.

This moment was different.

"What really happened to Leo's wife?" He asked quietly.

Piper froze, but Jason couldn't think of a way to take it back, but she continued anyways. "She passed away while giving birth to the child," was her only reply.

"You guys still didn't figure out a name for her?"

Piper shook her head. "No. We were too poor to help her in time, and we didn't know what to do... I was really close with her too. That's why she trusted me to look after her along with Leo." A small line of tears were streaking across her face as she spoke.

Jason looked down. "It's a harsh world, isn't it? This world takes away our lives day by day, slowly. It won't stop until it takes our soul. And even then, things seem hopeless."

She surprised him by grabbing his hand. "No. Don't ever think that. Yes, it is true that things happen like that. We may lose the things we love; that will never change. But you have to realize what life has done for you; not what it hasn't. Trust me, it took me a while to come to this as well, but once you do, you know you can't give up hope. Not just yet."

It was another battle that day. But this one was bigger than ever. Jason could barely stand beneath all the pressure. He and his soldier-mates were hiding behind a couple of barrels, trying not to be seen and heard over the roar of bullets being shot. "How are we going to take them all?" His buddy Percy had shouted to him.

It was just then that he had saw it. The flicker of hope. Right in front of his eyes. Lying beneath the barrels about twenty yards away from him, was the bomb that he had to reach in this mission could end this all. The problem? It was leading right into enemy territory.

He realized that if he went for it, he just might die. And ten months ago, he wouldn't have went for it. He would have just tried to look around for something else because, really. It just didn't seem worth it. But then he remembered all of the people who was counting on him.

More importantly the new family he had learned to love. He thought of those poor but happy-to-still-have-each-other faces of Piper, Leo, and the cute delicate face of the baby. This was it. He finally had something worth fighting for. "Cover for me."

So with Percy's screams of protests about what he was about to do, he jumped from his hiding spot and ran to the bomb. It was hectic and very out of control, but that didn't stop him from placing each foot in front of him to continue running. As he did though, he made sure to also protect himself. So he took out his shotgun and aimed straight for his enemy.

As soon as he returned back home, his fellow soldiers threw him a huge party for his mission. It was such a success that people had started to congratulate him again and he heard people say to him, "See. I told you, you would grow up to be like your father," and it would take all of his will to not roll his eyes.

But he didn't want to see any of them at the moment. He wanted to see Leo, the baby, but mostly Piper. So he ran and never stopped until he reached them.

Their first reaction was shock of course when they realized what he was wearing-the soldier's uniform (he hadn't really told them he was a soldier). But he didn't care. He just ran up to Piper, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and also had happened to fall in love with, and cupped her jaw with his hands and kissed her with a happiness he thought he no longer had.

And that happiness only inflated when she began to kiss him back. He felt like all of his insides were on fire; it was a marvelous feeling and really, he was relieved. When she pulled back, she was wearing a smile that mirrored his, but she also raised her eyebrows. He laughed full-heartedly because he realized they had a lot to say to each other, but Leo was starting to cat-call towards them, and the baby was laughing along with Leo.

And it was great. Because now, he finally did have something worth fighting for. He had a family.

~"They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fighting for. Well, baby, you are all that I adore, if love is what you need, a soldier I will be..." -"Angel with a Shotgun" by The Cab~

Okay, finally! I really hope you guys love this story as much I love how it came out to be because I really love this song! And I really hope you do listen to it, because it's honestly one of my favorites. Like. Ever.

Review please!

Till next time,

Penguin