Everything Has Changed

A/N: Well guys its been a while since inspiration hit for this fic but it has and I've been writing and managed to finish this chapter and get a start on the next. Hopefully I get it done soon but anyway, here is the chapter. Enjoy. Forgive any mistakes.

Chapter Six: Preparations and Guidance

...::Poseidon POV::...

It was safe to say that I was both shocked and not at the same time.

I knew deep within myself that he was our boy, that the little boy I saw was my son but a big part of me thought believed that there was a possibility that Sally and I were hoping for the impossible...

But that wasn't the case.

Percy was my son.

Percy was our son.

The reality hit me. our baby boy was almost five years old, we'd missed so much of his life. We missed hearing his first cry. Missed holding him in our arms for the first time. Missed hearing him say his first word and take his first steps. Missed teaching him how to ride a bike or missed dropping him off on his first day of preschool. We'd missed four birthdays with our son.

I felt Sally's hand rest on mine which was seated on her shoulder. I felt the tear rolling down my cheek before I even knew I was crying. My heart was heavy the pain was something that I never believed I would ever feel in my life. Questions raced through my mind as Sally squeezed my hand, letting me know that she felt the same without even having to look at me.

Why?

I move and take a seat next to Sally, taking her hand in mind as I look at Hestia and the detective and ask, "What do we do now?" my voice was quieter than expected but my question was seemingly what Sally wanted to ask.

Hestia sighed as she sat down pulled out a folder and made sure she had on her reading glasses as she skimmed through the pages before she found what she was looking for, "Well this is the issue we have to deal with. Legally, Themis is Percy's adoptive mother so she hold parental rights over Percy."

"But we are his biological parents, we have rights over him don't we?" Sally inquired, her voice strong and unwavering.

"That's the issue." Gleeson spoke, "Themis basically striped you of your rights when she adopted Percy but with this case against both her and her so child abuse, neglect and a number of other things, she is obviously unfit to raise Percy but by state law, Percy has to be put into the foster care system."

"But this is where I come in." Hestia said with a calm and collected smile, "By being his biological parents you have first right to adopt him and legally change his name to his birth name."

"So we have to adopt our own son?" I say with a raised eyebrow, shock and confusion pretty evident within me.

"Yes." Hestia said calmly. "For now Percy has be placed under the care of Helios and Selene but legally, Themis is still his guardian so we have to get her to sign over her guardianship rights to Helios and Selene which Gleeson is currently getting done. He spoke with the judge who is in the process of getting a court order issued that she must sign over her rights."

"So after she signs our son over to them, what's next?" Sally inquired, squeezing my hand to assure both herself and I as we looked into each other's eyes.

"Whilst that is being done, we are going to have you put on file, saying you wish to foster a child so that whilst the signing over of rights is being done so that we can get someone to come and do an inspection of living standards." Hestia explained as she placed a stack of papers on the table. "What I am planning we do is have you become foster parents for Percy because I know you want him to come as soon as possible but the adoption process will take an extended period of time."

"Can you explain what you mean?" I asked, this whole situation confusing me. one minute we are being told we are adopting, and the next, we are becoming foster parents.

"I know the both of you." Hestia said calmly, reaching up and pulling off her glasses to rub her eyes as she sighed, "You want him to come home as soon as possible. The only way to get him as soon as possible is for you to become his foster parents. Legally by fostering him, it's a start into the adoption process where you legally make him you son by the law." I could see Hestia was getting slightly frustrated, "By fostering him, he's there with you already so you can start the long and arduous adoption process. You'd only be waiting a short while to get him by fostering him but trying to straight up adopt him could takes months. Which would you prefer?"

I look at Sally and can see her brain rapidly processing everything that Hestia was saying but Detective Hedge spoke up.

"This is easier because he isn't a baby. The adoption process is difficult for a baby, he is your son, we have the results to prove it, and his guardian is going to be a convicted criminal of child abuse and neglect." He said in his gruff voice, standing up and walking up to the two of us and held out a picture of Percy, "Do you want your child to be living in the foster house of another family whilst you wait for him to be approved by the law as your son."

"No. I want my son. I want him to come home." Sally whispered, her voice full of emotion as she squeezed my hand. "I'll do whatever we have to but I want my son, no matter how long it takes to give him our name, as long as he is home... with us, I will do anything."

And I knew I felt the same as I looked to my sister, "What do we need to do for this fostering of our son?" I asked, feeling a little emotional at myself as I leaned on my knees.

"You have to fill in these forms I have with me and I will get them forwarded and moved quickly. Once that is done, a house inspection will happen a few days later so that means you need to clear a space for Percy and be as prepared as possible for the inspection." Hestia said calmly, "That mean that you have to clear out the things from Percy's old room and make it into a room for a five year old as well as child proof the apartment."

"We're going to need help then." Sally said softly as our gazes met. "We have to tell the others" By others I knew who she meant. My brothers, sister, our friends. "We have the results now, so we can tell them the situation now."

I nodded as I gripped her hand, "Is there anything else we need to know and expect."

"They will do a background check on you both to determine if they are sure you can provide for him which we know you can. You have to prepare in terms of the future. Plans for Percy's tuition since he will need to finish kindergarten as well as primary school." Hestia explained calmly shifting through her bag, "They will also need to know about income and since you guys are finishing your final year of University and Poseidon already has a stable job that provides income, they will appreciate that since you are hard working and determined, the both of you."

This is honestly really complicated and the longer she explained what we were needing to do, the more complicated and overwhelming everything got but I kept a level head because this was my son. This was our son so no matter how much stuff we had to go through, no matter how overwhelming the situation may seem, the end result would be worth it because it meant we were getting out son. that is what mattered to me and I was damn well going to make sure we got our son back.

"After that, they will see how you interact with Percy before they give the approval or not but with the given situation, they may not even need to see you interact with Percy because you have witnesses who can vouch and the given situation will convince the judge to approve it for Percy's sake." Hestia was cool calm and collected, it made me wonder how mentally and emotionally strong she had to be in order to do this kind of work she does.

Seeing my sister in her element made me admire her more, made me admire how strong and brace she was when it came to seeing abused and neglected children. How she dealt with finding them a home, giving them happiness and dealing with grief stricken and hurt parents and newly wishing to adopt or foster families. She had really done a lot in terms of studies to acquire the career she is in and it is admirable how well she has done for herself.

"Let's do it." I say firmly, knowing that this is going to be a long journey but we are ready and willing to do whatever it takes to get our son home.

"Well I have spoken with the university and they have allowed you to leave class early to fill in these forms for us so I can get them submitted asap." Hestia said as she slid the stack of papers towards us, a comforting smile on her face. "Let's begin."

The next day

...::Sally POV::...

Tuesday was the freest of my days which I was thankful for because I had been allowed to come home before lunch and as had Poseidon who had taken the afternoon off. Yesterday we'd come home and spent hours going through the paperwork with Hestia and Gleeson and my mother and Uncle had opted to come and help.

We'd also been discussing and organising to bring a single bed and other necessities for Percy's room for when the inspector comes to do the inspection. We haven't heard from Hestia yet about whether or not we'd been approved for the inspector to come but we had to be focused on our task today.

My family had offered to help with what we were doing but this is something Poseidon and I needed to do for ourselves.

I stood outside the door with the key in hand, Poseidon standing behind me with his hands on my shoulders. I never realised how much emotion had been put in the back until I stood in front of the door that would have been Percy's bedroom growing up has this not happened. I never knew if I would ever do what I was going to do, I guess it was more of a mental way to torture and blame myself, seeing what could have been but what wasn't.

"Are you ready to do this, Sally?" Poseidon asked with a worried tone. "I know this is something that our therapist said would put a lot of strain on you emotionally so if you don't want to do this I can do it with your mom and uncle."

I smiled sadly, I knew that my recovering after losing Percy had been an emotional one. I was in such a dark place for so long, it took me years to recover but not enough to the point where I could actually step into this room and pack the past away. Inside, I was still dying but not dead like I was once upon a dream. Now this happened and I didn't know if I was ready for this but I had to be.

This was the only way I was going to be able to recover. "I need to do this... but I need you there with me." I whispered as I inserted the key into the keyhole and turned, opening the door to the world that I had thought that I had left behind and would never have again.

It was still a mess from the day we found out that my son never died like we'd been told. I took a deep breath and looked at the folded up boxes under my arm and let out a shaky breath as I walked into the room, Poseidon following behind me as I set the down. "it's time to say good bye to the past and hello to the future."

"Do we know what we want to do with his stuff?" Poseidon asked softly as he started on fixes a large box together with a might marker in his teeth.

"I don't know. Donate it I guess. It's not like we're going to need it." I didn't realize how bitter that actually sounded. Poseidon cupping my cheek brought me back to reality.

"We can always save it for the future for when we try again... or for if we want to... I don't know... maybe one day we could adopt." Poseidon was hesitant and quiet as he spoke and I perfectly understood the reasons why. "I don't just think we can get rid of it in case we have another child because you and I both know we want another baby one day."

I sighed and turned to Poseidon, feeling my eyes starting to water, "There's no guarantees, no assurances, and according to the doctor there isn't even a possibility of it happening." I always wanted a baby, a family and knowing that I may not ever be able to get pregnant ever again hurt and killed me on the inside.

"But there is a chance Sally. Even if you cant, we can always adopt or if we want another child of our blood we could use a surrogate mother if it comes to that." Poseidon said as he cupped my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away my tears. "you were born to be a mother and born to have a family."

"If that is true why did the fates take away our son from us for almost five years." I cried, feeling Poseidon pull me into his arms, my cheek resting against his chest. "We were prepared and ready and willing but they took our son from us and we missed so much of his life that we will never get back."

"I know it hurts but we have no control over fate." Poseidon was calm and just full of love and assurance. "Maybe they decided that we weren't emotionally ready to raise a child when we were still children ourselves. Its a cruel reality but they have given us a second chance to look after our son like we wished we had been."

I pull away and look into Poseidon's eyes that were glassed over and I looked deep into them and saw all the honesty and love that he could muster in them.

"I know it hurts and it kills me too." He cupped my face in his hands and leaned his forehead against mine. "But we have a stronger bond, a stronger love and better understanding of life. We've grown up into something stronger and now we can do what needs to be done. We are gonna do right by our son." He promised, "We won't give up on him and we wont give up on each other. Everything will be alright.'

The reassuring smile he gives me instantly make me smile which makes his smile grown a little more as I lean forward and brush my lips against his, my smile growing when he gives me a light peck back.

"Thank you." I whispered when we separated. "I don't know what I would've down without you Poseidon. You are the light of my life and my beacon of hope that's brought me back from the dark times."

"I'd do anything to keep you. I know it took me some time in the beginning but the moment I realized I wanted you and no one else was the moment I promised I would be there for you, protect you and love you with every ounce of my being." I loved when he got like this, passionate and spoken, "Sally when it comes to you, the word love doesn't even truly describe my feelings for you. We've had a rocky road to get here but we've done it together and we will be together for a long time to come. We're in this together you and I."

I smile and nod as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a warm and comforting embrace. We stand in our own little bubble, our own little world, oblivious to the world around us. I ignored the vibrating phone in my pocket because I just wanted to be here with Poseidon and that is what mattered right in this moment.

Later on I would see on my phone a message that would confirm everything Poseidon and I needed to know.

Hey Sally

Its Hestia. It's been approved. The inspection will happen Friday so be ready.

A/N: hey guys, I know its been lord knows how long its been since I updated, I'm sorry about the wait but I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will hopefully see you soon with the next chapter. Thanks for sticking round. I love you guys.