Okay, okay, first off, don't get mad! Don't get mad! I am so sorry for my incredibly long hiatus on the story! My explanation is just school. And long nights staying up late doing homework and not even imagining the possibility to be able to find time to update. This is the last chapter, so, yay? Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Chanukah (spelling?), and happy whatever it is you celebrate.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights go to Mister Rick Riordan

Sally POV

Waiting. One of the worst things I've ever had to do. Waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting for that Iris Message where they tell me the fate of my only son.

Crying. Ugly sobs that racked my body every few minutes.

Torture. Definitely the perfect way to describe this feeling. It sucked.

After months and months of waiting for answers, something inside me just snapped. I could no longer handle all of this.

When I found out about my pregnancy and Poseidon explained everything about gods and demigods, I figured it would be easy. I never thought for a second that I'd have to deal with something this difficult.

Paul had suggested a support group with other parents who were going through similar things, but no one else could ever understand this. The only people who had even the slightest clue what she was going through were the parents of other demigods. And it wouldn't ever be possible to have so many of them gathered together at the same time, if a single monster found out about it, then they'd all be doomed. Monsters loved putting demigods through the psychological torture of knowing that it was their fault their parents had died.

Even though Paul rarely left my side, I've still never felt so alone. Percy had always been a constant in my life. It seemed that no matter what happened, he also came back. This time though, she wasn't so sure.

I'd finished writing my book about two weeks ago and now found that I had nothing to do with myself anymore, so I passed the time going through the statistical possibility that Percy would come back alive. Needless to say, the odds weren't in his favor.

And I felt horrible about it, but I decided one day to just, give up. I couldn't keep thinking that he would return to me. It wasn't going to happen and I knew it. If I kept believing he was fine, I would just be that much more devastated when I found out he died.

Paul seemed to have guessed this after a while, but he never said anything about it. I'm not sure if I'll ever get back into the swing of things and have my life back on track, but I was working towards the goal.

My book was approved and the process of printing and distributing it had begun. I sighed, thinking about the call that my editor had given me two days after I submitted the novel to her.

"Hello?"

"Sally, doll! I absolutely adore this book. It was truly inspiring. Now there was one thing that needs to be put in here, it appears you didn't put in your dedication page yet?" She had questioned.

I looked down, previously elated, but now anxious, hoping she could have avoided the question. "Well, you see… I was just holding off putting one in until, uuhh…" She trailed off.

"Listen, if it were up to me, I'd have it published right here, right now, without the dedication page. That's how good this was, but unfortunately my superiors require one. So I honestly don't care if you make it out to your dog, but I need to have a dedication page."

Realizing I wouldn't be able to win this one, I sighed and replied, "Okay, I'll email it to you within the hour."

I could practically here her smile through the phone, "Fantabulis, ta-ta, Sally!"

"Tata," I muttered completely deflated.

I had ended up dedicating my book to Percy:

To my strong son Percy, who I will stay with, to the bitter end.

I was a complete sham.

Time passed though, and the weeks turned to months and nothing changed in my attitude toward Percy. I couldn't handle all of this.

I would go to movies and act like everything was fine, but it wasn't and Paul knew it.

One day, while sitting at home, he suggested going to the park, "To feed the birds," he said.

"It'll be fun," he said with a small smile that ended up coaxing me into the idea. I laughed a little, it was a small laugh, but still brought a huge smile over Paul's face. I knew he was just doing this to make me happy.

"C'mon, let's go," I said.

I grabbed my coat and headed towards the door, I was a bit surprised when I heard the doorbell ring. I scrunched up my eyebrows and heard Paul ask from the other room, "Who could that be?"

I shrugged and then said, "I don't know," when I realized he couldn't see me.

Unsuspectingly I opened the door and dropped my bag when I saw him.

"Sally," Paul asked coming into the room, "Have you seen my…?" The question seemed to die in his throat.

The person standing in front of me was none other than Percy Jackson.

After getting over my initial shock I surged forward and grabbed onto Percy. I clung to him as if he might disappear again if I ever let go.

"Hi, mom," he said quietly.

A sob escaped my lips, closing my eyes I broke down. Percy only hugged me tighter. I opened my eyes and suddenly pulled back from him. In the time it took for us to hug Paul had come forward and was about to hug Percy when I practically shouted, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Both boys seemed taken back by my sudden outburst. Rage had just filled me for a moment, taken over my body until that was the only thing I could focus on. If I focused on my anger, I'd be able to push aside dealing with the other feelings that were overwhelming me.

"Uhh, I just—"

"Just what," I snapped back, "Just left me here, alone, for nearly a year?!"

"Well not totally alone…" Paul interjected. I just ignored him though.

Percy seemed to be at a loss for words. He stammered out a few more uhhs and umms. When Paul said, "You know, Percy, we were just about to go to the park, to, uhh, feed the birds. You should come with us."

Percy seemed relieved at the offer, "Sure, I'd love to!"

"Perfect!" Paul said, "Sally?"

I stared at Percy for a few moments before nodding my head, I pushed myself past them and started the descent down the stairs. Percy quickly followed.

My eyes were watery as he called for me to slow down, when he caught up I could see him struggling to keep up with my fast pace. I glanced over at him, not slowing my pace, I asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Yah, yah, I'm fine," he said wheezing slightly. Paul had been following a safe distance behind us, he knew we needed space at the moment.

I stopped suddenly on the stairs and snapped, "You're clearly not fine, so do you want to tell me what's going on or should I just call one of your friends and make them tell me?"

Percy winced, "Look mom, it's really not that big a deal," he said while staring at the ground, "I'm just tired, that's all."

I sighed, "Percy I'm your mother, I can tell that you're lying to me. Does this have anything to do with," she paused, "Tartarus."

Percy looked up, suddenly alarmed, "What?! How did you know—"

"Your father told me."

He still looked confused, "My father… Poseidon?" He asked incredulously. I nodded a little.

"He came by about a month ago and told me what happened."

"Oh," he said quietly. "Well, to answer your question, yah, I'm just getting winded a bit faster after I got back…"

I understood the unspoken words, and felt horrible, this meant the air down there must have been toxic and my poor baby boy had been forced to breathe that in for who knows how long. Percy, having seen the look in her eyes tried to cover the blow, "No, no, look mom let's just go to the park okay."

I nodded numbly and let him guide me to the park. Once we got their I asked him about what his life had been like these past few months, he didn't avoid the question, but I could tell he left out a lot of gruesome details in order to spare me.

That's what life was life for the next few weeks and it was infuriating. I snapped at him once to finally get him to tell me everything. He did and I felt ten times worse, but refused to show it so he wouldn't feel bad.

The past didn't matter to me anymore, the only thing that mattered was that my baby boy was back.

Frederick POV

I'd never been the type to fall into a depression or slump when losing a loved one. That was why, when I found out about Annabeth, I had just went about life as usual.

It wasn't at all surprising when the doorbell rang that one faithful day. "Boys! Could you get the door?" I was in my office working and didn't feel a need to drop everything for some guy who was probably just selling something useless.

"Annabeth!" I heard in the distance.

I jumped out of my seat and rushed to the door, my daughter stood there seemingly overwhelmed by the tight hugs she was receiving from the twins. I stood there shocked and couldn't do anything but stare at her until she looked up and saw me. She too was frozen. I surged forward, the boys backed up and I held her in my arms.

"Welcome home," I whispered in her ear trying to stop the inevitable tears from falling. She seemed so surprised when she found out how happy my wife was to see her. She seemed surprised that anyone in the house was happy to see her. She stayed for dinner and afterwards, I pulled her aside to talk to her.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, tears in my eyes I said, "Annabeth, sweetie, I am SO sorry. I know I haven't been a good father to you and there is no excuse for that. You deserve so much better than me and everyone else here. I know you probably hate us, but please, give me another chance to be the father you so rightly deserve."

By the end of my speech, she too had tears in her eyes, she brought me into a hug, "Of course, Daddy, of course."

Poseidon POV

Gods don't cry. That's not something that happens very often, so people were alarmed when they saw me crying in a corner. Apollo approached me, "Are you okay," he said with a concerned face.

I looked up numbly, "They're back," I said quietly, smiling at him.

Slowly a grin formed on Apollo's face as well. "That's great! Does Athena know yet?"

I laughed, "She's the one who told me."

I paused suddenly, regaining my composure. "Let's go alert Zeus."

He nodded eagerly. We walked down to the throne room together and told Zeus the news but he didn't seem to care much, the whole Roman VS Greek thing was still affecting him badly. I knew this response was the best I was going to get with the war approaching, and accepted it.

I was just relieved to have my son back.

Athena POV

I knew my daughter would find her way out. She was my daughter after all.

It did surprise me that she managed to get the sea spawn out as well, but then I guess I should've realized she would never give up on him.

It still brought me a numb feeling when I thought about it all. This had never been done before, and I was incredibly impressed.

I would be proud to fight by her side in the upcoming war. Together, the two of us were invincible.

FEW *Wipes sweat off forehead* Well that was stressful. Again let me give my sincerest apologies to all the people that had to wait for me to update this. And I want to thank everyone that reviewed, followed, and took the time to read this. You guys are all AWESOME! Please check out my profile and maybe read some of my other stories. *Wink Wink* Don't worry they're all finished so you don't have to wait for me to update! I'm also curious if anyone would be willing to read a story about Criminal Minds if I were to write one. If you have any story ideas for me, please review!