Home At Last

It had been almost a week since the war with Gaea.

Leo's sudden reappearance with none other than Calypso had both startled and excited everyone to the point where Festus soaring over the camp and setting the cabin rooftops on fire hadn't annoyed anyone.

(Except the Demeter kids who were just beginning to organize their rooftop shrubbery)

As awesome as everything was going, (even Nico was smiling more) (whoa) there was still something very important that had been put off longer than it should have.

There was still someone who needed to be reunited with their son.

Argus drove Percy Jackson from camp to the bus stop and waited until the son of Poseidon was safely on the Greyhound.

Hoping all the while that there would be no more unfortunate encounters with Furies.

Percy had a lot of time to think, sitting in the back of the bus.

He leant his forehead against the cold glass and hugged himself.

His tattered blue backpack rested against his ankles.

Obviously, he wanted to see his mom.

But…what would he say?

Almost a year had gone by and the only interaction he had, had with his mother was a phone call she hadn't even been a part of.

He had the childish fear that she might be angry with him.

And why wouldn't she?

What kind of son just up and disappears for a year?

What would Paul think?

Percy had been fighting monsters, beating the odds, and going on life threatening quests since he was twelve years old.

But now, as the bus rumbled through Manhattan, he was more terrified then he had ever been in all that time.

After everything that had happened with Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, the war with Gaea, the Argo II….

Everything around him seemed almost too peaceful.

Kind of…..surreal.

As if, a sheet would be torn away by an angry monster and everything would crumble back into chaos.

Gods of Olympus he hoped that didn't happen.

He glanced around at all the regular people sitting on the bus around him.

Most had earbuds in or were texting on their phones.

Like most demigods, Percy didn't use a lot of technology because it sent up a signal to monsters.

Like, "Please eat me!"

He was planning on getting back to his mom and step-dad alive.

As far as he could tell, there weren't any monsters seated on the Greyhound.

But he was no Satyr.

His hand tightened around his trusty pen-sword, Riptide that was in his hoodie pocket.

It was funny that the deadly weapon provided a sense of protection to him.

A few years ago the idea that a pen could turn into a sword would have made him laugh.

There was no way he would have believed it was possible.

So much had changed.

He had no idea how his mom had dealt with his secret for so long.

Even before Percy himself knew.

When it was finally his stop, he slung his backpack across his shoulders and climbed off.

He was relieved that he was the only one who stopped there.

That downplayed the threat of monsters by a lot.

He walked about a block, wolf-glaring anyone who seemed like they might give him trouble.

That caused them all to back off pretty quickly.

The wolf-glare was one thing he would always be glad he had learned from Lupa.

He climbed up the steps to his apartment and pushed the front door open, entering the lobby.

The poor doorman looked like he was going to have a heart attack when he saw Percy Jackson standing there.

"Percy?!" He spluttered. "Where have you been? Haven't seen you around here in months!"

"A year." Percy said. "Actually. I've been…..uh…..away at a new school. It covers the summer too."

His mind wandered back to Tartarus and he suppressed a shudder. He didn't think he would ever stop having nightmares about that place. If he hadn't had Annabeth with him he wouldn't have made it.

"Oh." The doorman probably didn't care enough to keep asking questions, which Percy was grateful for, and he just went straight to his apartment.

He hesitated outside the door.

In that one moment, he felt scared.

But he pictured his mom in his mind's eye.

Her gentle smile, brown eyes and matching hair.

He knocked on the door three times.

He waited a few minutes but there was no answer.

He knocked again, a little harder this time.

Still no answer.

Icy cold fear gripped his heart.

He dug around in his pocket until he found the key on the little blue fish key chain Tyson had given him for his birthday and slid it into the lock.

The door clicked open.

He stepped over the threshold.

"Mom?"

No answer.

"Paul?"

No answer.

"Hello?"

Still no answer.

Percy's knees felt weak.

He almost collapsed but caught himself on the doorframe.

It was almost midnight.

Where could they be?

He shut the door behind him carefully, but left it unlocked.

Percy wandered down the short hall and opened the door to his bedroom.

After Gabe had been…Medusaified, Percy had regained actual ownership of his room.

It was exactly the way he had left it.

The walls were blue and decorated with taped up photos of his friends from camp and their family trips. (Which still mostly consisted of going to Long Island which was a little awkward with the Stoll brothers sneaking out of camp to leave pranks at their cabin)

He placed his backpack on the neatly made bed, (proof that his mom had been inside) and closed the curtains.

He glanced at a framed picture of Annabeth on his small desk and smiled slightly.

Then, he went into the little living room and sat on the couch.

Sally Jackson and her husband Paul entered the apartment building.

"Mrs. Jackson!" The doorman said, the instant they stepped inside.

"Yes?" Sally asked. The doorman hardly ever noticed anyone unless he had to.

"Did you know your son was back?"

Sally stopped dead in her tracks.

Paul stared at her with huge eyes.

"P-Percy?!" She exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

"Unless you have another son with black hair and green eyes".

Sally was up the stairs and outside her apartment in seconds.

Paul was close behind her.

She creaked the door open.

A small smile crept across her face, but fear clouded her eyes.

It was unlocked.

Percy tapped his foot in agitation.

He glanced at his watch.

Where were they?

He heard the door creak and was on his feet in an instant.

But there was no need for Riptide when he saw his mother's hopeful face emerge from behind the door.

Paul entered after her.

Percy folded his arms across his chest.

His mom and step-dad stared at him.

"And where exactly have you two been?" He questioned.

A huge smile broke out across Paul's face.

His mom raced towards him and wrapped her arms around him.

And for the first time in almost a year, Percy hugged his mother.

Paul joined in and they sunk to the floor in a crying laughing mess.

And in that one moment, nothing else in the world mattered.

Because he was back home at last.

A/N: Hey guys! So…..yeah. This was my first Percy Jackson drabble! I've been completely obsessed with the book forever and why I'm only writing one of these now, I have no idea! I was thinking about turning this into a short one-shot series about our favorite son of Poseidon and his mom (And sometimes Paul) let me know if any of you would like that to happen!