The Dangers of Starting Over, Moving On and Everything in Between

A/N: I freaking love you all. I'm not even kidding. 49 reviews for the Healing of Travis Stoll and 15 for the Wish List! It's the best Christmas present ever! Thank you guys so much for all your support! Hopefully this story lives up to everyone's expectations. Considering it a Christmas present from me to you :) This is a sequel, so if you want the story to make sense, read The Healing of Travis Stoll. Pretty much picks up where the Healing ended. Enjoy and have amazing Christmases all!

Disclaimer: Ha! No :(

Part One: The Façade

It had been two or three hours since Althea Stoll had met her mother for the first time in fifteen years, and her mind was still whirling with millions of questions. Growing up, she had always thought that meeting her mom would finally answer all the questions she had been asking for her whole life, but instead, she was left with more questions and not enough answers.

After the rather awkward confrontation, Althea was quick to slip away and made her way back to the Big House to tell Chiron that his dad and Katie were okay. She didn't quite know where to go after that. Part of her was contemplating going to the Hermes cabin, the place she stayed when she was at camp, but she knew that she wasn't ready to be bombarded with questions.

Somehow, the daughter of Travis had found herself sitting by the archery field. There were not many campers around at this time, as they were all back in their cabins, meeting the new campers and getting to see all their old friends. Althea was aching for everything to go back to the way it was two hours ago, but there was no turning back. She wanted to go back to her cabin and introduce herself to her new uncles and aunties, but Althea couldn't bring herself to move from her secluded spot by the archery fields.

There were many conflicting emotions the young granddaughter of Hermes was feeling at the time, but one of them had stood out the most. She was completely and utterly overwhelmed by the situation. Words could barely describe the overwhelming feeling that threatened to break the young girl's heart. For the first time in a long time, Althea felt the need to burst into tears. She'd hadn't had that feeling since she was eight years old and found out that her mom was never going to come home.

Althea curled up into a small ball, her knees pulled into her chest as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She had never felt so vulnerable, nor so emotional before. As she closed her eyes, a picture of Katie entered her mind. The same emerald colored eyes that Althea herself possessed, the tanned skin that could have only come from many years of constant gardening out in the sun and the same lithe frame. Cursing in Greek, Althea was quick to open her eyes.

Meeting her mom was nothing like she had imagined it. She had always thought that it was going to different, more heartfelt. The young curly haired girl had imagined a big warm hug, and the instant knowing that her mom loved her. There were going to be happy tears as Katie professed her undying love for her daughter, apologizing profusely for that fact that she had ever left her daughter. Althea had imagined her mom making a promise to be a part of her life from now on.

Instead, she got an awkward conversation with no hugs or any love shown whatsoever. There was no promise, barely even an apology. Althea's mind drifted back to the conversation her dad and mom had.

'You had your chances Katie!'

Travis' voice rung through her mind as she replayed the scene in her head. The desperation and hurt that had been etched in his voice was enough to want to make Althea dislike her mom for a long, long period of time.

Throughout the years, Travis was the strong rock in his daughter's life. Sure, he messed up, daily even. But he was her father and had everything he possibly could and then some to give his daughter a better life. He had worked tirelessly day after day to provide a living for them both, but had never bothered to complain about any of it. He was always there for his daughter, the shoulder to cry on, his arms always open for comfort. Yet, there he was, almost on the verge of breaking down right in front of Althea. Katie had been his undoing, and it was quite an undoing indeed.

Travis was seated in one of the rooms in the Big House, the room where he'd be staying with his brother while they were at camp. It was a small room with a blue rug and wooden bunk beds to one side, with a matching chest of drawers directly opposite the bunks. Travis had sat on the edge of the bottom bunk, thinking about Katie.

"Uh, Uncle Trav?" Little Damon Stoll was tugging on the hem of his father's older brother's shirt, trying to get his attention. Ever since he'd talked to Katie, Travis' mind was simply in a whole another universe. He had tried everything to get the beautiful daughter of Demeter out of his head, but there was no use. The voice of his youngest nephew broke his reverie and he was quick to look down at the young boy.

"Yes Damon?" he crouched down to look into his nephew's eyes, smiling as his dark brown eyes met with Damon's light blue.

"Where's Althea?" he asked. Travis thought for a second. He knew that Lysander was taking the new Hermes kids on a tour around the camp with their camp counselor, Jimmy. The elder Stoll had thought that was where his daughter had headed after meeting Katie, and didn't bother to think twice about it.

"I'll go find her, okay?" Travis told his nephew with a reassuring pat on the younger boy's dark curls. He stood up and made his way to the main lounge of the Big House, hoping that someone had spotted his daughter. Travis knew that she couldn't have gone far, but he couldn't help but feel slightly worried for his only child.

The elder Stoll was greeted with warm smiles as he entered the lounge. Many of the kids he had grown up with camp were seated around the area. He spotted Chris, Connor, Malcolm and Percy sitting together in a corner, laughing their heads off at something Connor had said. Travis made a beeline over to their direction, hoping to find out if any of them had seen his daughter.

"Hey guys," he greeted them all with a slight nod of the head. They all replied with a quick hello, careful to avoid asking how he was. By this time, everyone at camp had heard about Travis and Katie's bitter reunion and all the guys knew better than to ask about it. If Travis wanted to tell them about it, he would've already done so. "Have you seen Althea anywhere?" He asked. When they all shook their heads, the elder Stoll felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine. She's fine, a little voice reassured him. As he left the Big House, he silently prayed to the Gods that the voice was right.

Althea didn't know how much time had passed since she had sat down at the archery field, but she figured it had been at least an hour. The feelings of anger had started to subside and she was left with the raw pain that came from the conformation that her mother didn't love her.

Travis hadn't been the only person at camp who was worried about his daughter. Jess Rodriquez, Thad Ryder and Lysander Stoll had formed a small search party for their food, all hoping that at least one of them was going to find her. Since Lysander had to help Jimmy with the Hermes orientation, he was going to take the dining room and cabin areas. Jess had decided to check the amphitheater and forest, leaving Thad to check the lake and archery fields.

As Thad made his way through the archery fields, he heard a branch snap and a small rustle, followed by a small sniffle. Malcolm's son reached from his back pocket to grab his small celestial bronze dagger as he neared the sounds. He nearly dropped the dagger as he came closer, only to realize who it was. Althea's back was to the blonde haired boy, her shoulder slumped and her dark hair in a messy tangle above her head. She had never looked more beautiful.

"Althea," Thad breathed, forgetting about everything as he quietly came closer, as to not startle her. Travis' daughter didn't say a word as she slowly lifted her head off her arms to glance at one of her best friends. Soon, he was standing in front of her with one of the most sincere expression of sympathy on his face, it nearly made Althea tear up. She was quick to jump and tackle the young boy in a hug.

To say the least, Thad was slightly startled by the immediate display of affection. Sure, he and Althea had hugged plenty of times before, but never like this. Although he was in slight shock by the fact his best friend's arms were wrapped securely around his waist, he was quick to respond, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Althea buried her head into the crook of Thad's neck.

"Hey, it's okay," Thad told her with a reassuring pat on the back. They stood there for who knows how long in that exact position, their arms around each other in a strangely comfortable silence. The only sound they could hear was the leaves rustling around them as the wind started to pick up a bit. They both broke the hug off a while later, looking at each other with pink faces, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Sorry," Althea and Thad were both quick to apologize at the same time. They both let out a little chuckle, Althea's giggle mixing into Thad's low toned laugh.

"It's okay," Thad replied with a smile that sent a little ray of sunshine into the situation. "The question is, are you okay?" There was a silence that followed the question while Althea tried to contemplate whether she wanted to tell her best friend or not. There was a large part of her that just wanted to blurt everything out to the blonde boy, to get everything off her chest, but the more secretive part of her took over. Althea, like her father, didn't particularly like showing her weak side. She liked to portray her strong side all the time, even though it was only a façade sometimes.

"I'm fine T," she told him with what she hoped looked like a reassuring smile. If he didn't believe her, Thad didn't show it. He simply returned the smile and gave her another quick hug.

"Let's get going then. Your dad's been looking for you," he told her as they started to walk back to the cabins.

It was nearing two in the morning, but Althea still hadn't got any sleep. After returning to the main area of camp, she ran into her dad. Literally. She had gotten a five minute lecture on the dangers of going places without anyone knowing where she was before she was sent to the Hermes cabin to get some rest. Ironically enough, she couldn't get any sleep.

Her mind was still reeling with questions while she shifted restlessly in her bunk bed. She was careful to not make too much noise as she didn't want forty Hermes campers on her case for waking them all up. Althea sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. She desperately wanted to talk to someone about everything she was feeling, but she was scared.

She was scared for a few reasons, some of them slightly rational, others, well, not so much. She was worried that nobody was going to understand what she was going through. Out of all of her friends, she was the only person who didn't live with both her mother and father. Although she usually joked about it, or didn't mention it at all, Althea always felt a little pang of pain whenever her friends mentioned their moms.

Another reason was that she was scared of telling anyone about what she felt was because she didn't want to show her weak side. Althea never showed her true colors whenever something was wrong with her, simply because she hated showing people that she was fragile. She had the image and reputation of the strong and confident daughter of Travis, the one who was most likely going to be Hermes cabin counselor when it was her time. And there was no way she wanted to change that. Althea liked the strong girl, so she never bothered to show her weak side.

She was determined to keep the tough façade up as long as she possibly could, no matter what it took. And meeting her mother wasn't going to change that.

A/N: Please let me know what you think! I also am thinking about posting a series of un-related oneshots about Travis and Katie (and yes, some are actually going to be happy.) Thoughts?