Sally's eyes opened and for the first few beats of a heart she only saw the vague darkness of her ceiling. The sliver of light from an orangish streetlight came in through the slightest of cracks where the blackout curtains parted. Her heart wasn't hammering in her chest so it wasn't a nightmare that woke her though god knew she'd had plenty of those when Percy had gone missing. Paul let out a quiet snore interrupted by a brief smacking of his lips and a murmur of nothing coherent. No, it wasn't that either. A few seconds later it came again, a clanging noise and the thing that had pulled her from sleep.

Fire escape. Her mind still half wrapped in sleep conjured the connection.

A few months ago a noise on the fire escape would have set her reaching under her bed for the wooden baseball bat tucked just in reach. But it wasn't the first time she had heard the rust worn metal creak under the weight of someone sneaking in.

Someone needs to tell them they have this whole thing backwards. But Sally was hardly going to be the one to tell her son he should be trying to sneak away from his mother instead of attempting to sneak someone in. Oh, she'd much rather he sneak someone in. At least under your roof you know that they're safe. Not like when they were out in the world, or at Camp, or gods knew where. The clanging pulled her thoughts back into focus as did the whine of the hinges of the window in the room down the hall being lifted just a little bit wider. Slipping out of bed, Sally reached for her robe from the back of the door and slipped it around her frame. Each step she took down the hall was soft and she tip toed skipping the boards that groaned the most under any weight and applauded herself.

Go on, Sally. Still got it… They could learn a thing or two from you.

The distance between their rooms was not great. The apartment was bigger than the one that she and Percy had shared with her first husband but it was only a handful of careful steps before she was stood outside her son's room. The door was the slightest bit ajar with the gentle light of a lamp spilling into the dark of the hallway. Maybe it was wrong to infringe on her son's privacy like this but stood in the hallway, her breath quiet and just outside of the view of the doorway she listened to the sound of Nico setting his boots down on the floor (he'd stopped wearing them when creeping up the fire escape since a half dressed bat-wielding frazzle haired Sally with sleep in her eye ready to fight a monster come to take her son from her probably had a special place in the scariest-things-a-demigod-could-see category).

"Couldn't sleep?" Percy's voice came softly and from the silence that followed she imagined the other teenager shaking his head in answer. "Yeah, me either."

Sally had been surprised when she received the call from Chiron to come pick Percy up. Getting expelled and suspended from schools wasn't exactly new territory for the mother but being called because her child who had been raised at camp in highly questionable ways, ones that Sally herself honestly didn't agree with, could use a 'break' from camp life was a new curveball. It had taken Sally a whole minute to pick her chin up off of the floor and ask Chiron to repeat himself while it took every ounce of restraint inside of her to not start shouting at the camp leader because what could her son have possibly done that merited a call home to come get him? Sally had never been allowed inside the walls of camp but when she pulled up both Percy and Nico were stood there with only the latter looking guilty. Apparently the night before the two had broken into Dionysus' wine cellar and decided to redecorate the son of Hades' cabin. Said redecorating included tearing the thing down from the inside, breaking up a number of coffin like items of furniture, and dragging their destruction onto the beach during the night and starting camp's largest bonfire to date. No one had been hurt but the two had been found passed out sleeping side by side with an empty bottle either side of them as the embers smouldered.

Percy had taken the brunt of the blame because he insisted that he had broken into the wine cellar and it was his idea. Nico had just been along for the ride, not able to convince her son that it wasn't a good idea. And after everything they'd been through, well, he'd joined in. But mostly he'd just been there, or so her son had said. When she'd arrived to pick him up from Camp Half Blood only one of the two had looked sheepish and guilty, with the son of Hades a foot taller than she remembered, dark hair fallen across his face. He couldn't meet her eyes. Percy, on the other hand, could. He didn't look sorry and he didn't bother trying to pretend that he was. Not to Chiron. Not to Sally. Whatever shred of childhood Percy had managed to keep after the first war, it was gone after the second. He wasn't sorry but he took responsibility. She mourned the loss of his childhood, but she couldn't say that she wasn't proud of the sort of man he'd become. He'd hugged the son of Hades goodbye and told him he'd be back soon, Chiron couldn't banish him forever and, besides, there was always New Rome. Nico insisted he'd visit.

"Can I crash here tonight? Seymour snores."

"That the only reason?"

Sally could practically hear the son of Hades rolling his eyes. "My cabin looks like a bomb went off… or two children of the big three. No one's allowed in except for the renovation crew." Percy chuckled and she dared to move her head just a sliver until she could glimpse into her son's bedroom. Her son was sat on the floor, playstation controller forgotten to the side with his avatar for fortnite standing ready on the screen also forgotten. His long legs were sprawled out in front of him and he was leaning against his bed. Nico had dropped down to the spot next to him, further away from Sally at an angle, his arm resting against her son's bed. One leg was tucked under him, the other was comfortably crooked over Percy's legs. From the sliver of doorway she could see the tail end of the scar across his face peeking out from under the dark mop of hair. "Speaking of renovations…"

"Don't," Percy groaned and threw his head back against the bed.

"So it's safe to assume you're the reason she's stalking around like she's just sucked a bag of lemons."

"She called me today."

She should have headed back to her room but Sally was nothing if not curious. There were enough portions of her son's life that she knew next to nothing about. Things the camp had taught him. Things that she was sure he skipped over or vaguely danced around to save her from worrying. Or to save you feeling like a bad mother for letting your child go. They'd both known there was no other choice. He would have wound up dead. That didn't mean she agreed with any of the things that Chiron had taught him. Besides, maybe, how to stay alive. And the breakup with the daughter of Athena had been one of those conversations where it had happened but the details were scarce. Sally hadn't wanted to push. But as she held her robe tight around her she made a conscious to decision to listen to this line of thought and then she'd join Paul back in bed.

"And?"

"She just wanted to chew my ear off. You know, for ruining all her hard work and design for your cabin. And then for suggesting to Chiron that she shouldn't be allowed to help with the refurbishment."

Nico chuckled and his head fell forward, forehead to the side of her son's face. Nico had always been standoffish, keeping at least half an arm's length between himself and everyone else. She'd caught herself wondering at least once if maybe the son of Hades was afraid that his touch might suck the life from those who dared get too close like some extension of his black sword. Watching him lean into her son, Percy didn't pull away. If that fear still existed, subconscious or otherwise, it didn't include Percy. He lifted his hand and patted the other's dark curls in a touch so tender it made Sally's breath hitch for a moment. "And you're surprised that she's pissed?"

"I'm surprised that anyone let her go through with it in the first place. He saw those plans. Your dad's the god of the Underworld not the god of a goth BDSM dungeon. What the fuck was all that shit inside? I'm glad we burned it."

Nico laughed, his shoulders shaking as he leaned into her son. Percy didn't move to push him away. Instead, he slipped his arm around the other as casually as if a one armed embrace was something that was normal. For all you know, it is. They had been gone for a long time, together for a part of it. Maybe there had been something there. Or maybe there was something happening now. Either way, her son chuckled and shook his head. "What!? It's true! It was hideous. You can't tell me that you honestly think that Annabeth thought it was a good idea. Your father's cabin compared to the rest was a fucking joke. No way I was letting her try to one up herself by making it worse."

"She wouldn't have!"

"She would."

"You're probably right."

There was a brief pause as Nico sat back up, his face a few inches from Percy's who turned to face him as well. Nico was still leaning against the bed, his head resting against his arm. "Why do you think she did it?" The tone of the question implied that he already knew the answer but maybe the other teen was trying to determine if Percy knew. Sally couldn't imagine herself.

"As smart as she is, she's just as petty." Nico exhaled and dropped his eyes for a moment. Whatever the meaning, Sally thought it seemed to be the one that he had meant. "Hey, it's fine. I'd rather wound her pride a little then let her try it again. She can be pissed at me, but she shouldn't take it out on you."

"Thank you… for all of it. For her and for taking the blame. You could have just told them it was my id-"

"Don't."

"But-"

"You don't have to thank me. What I did was nothing, not like what you did." Percy's voice was soft as his hand reached up and he touched the other boy's cheek. For a second she thought she saw the other boy's eyes drop as if briefly considering his lips before they snapped back up to meet Percy's gaze. A fraction of a second. If Sally was a less perceptive woman she might not have noticed.

"You would have done the same." The words were barely a whisper. If it hadn't been the dead of night she wouldn't have caught them.

"I know." Percy answered.

Silence stretched on for a moment and neither one of them moved. The sound of Sally's heart beating in her chest felt magnified, louder than the background noise of the city that never quieted, even at 2am. She stood there watching them, her hand leaning against the wall and watched as two teenagers who had been through more than she could possibly imagine shared a moment. Neither of them moved. Neither of them said anything. Percy's hand had creeped back up to the side of Nico's face but the son of Hades didn't move.

They're going to kiss. She thought and like some perverse version of the Little Mermaid she found herself holding her own breath for her son and wishing him forward. But after a minute neither moved and the moment passed. Nico leaned back and her son did the same.

"I bet we wouldn't have even been in trouble if Annabeth hadn't complained. Okay, some trouble. But like cleaning out the stables and polishing swords sort of trouble. Girls are the worst." Percy complained, filling the silence that had maybe stretched a little too long. He straightened up, his back cracking as he glanced at the television. He reached for his controller and turned the console off. "Are you sure Will isn't going to mind you staying here?" Percy asked, dropping the name in as he turned the television off.

Smooth, Percy. Real smooth. You and Paul are about as subtle as bricks through a window . She might not have recognised the name Will but she didn't need things spelled out to read what was in front of her. Nico huffed out a breath, and blew a few dark curls out of his face before they fell and settled back where they'd come. "Probably but…"

"But what?"

Subtle. Honestly, do you even share any genes with your father? Poseidon had been as natural as they'd come. Maybe that's what not having a suitable male role model growing up does to a boy. Honestly, if that's all he missed out on, I'd say that overall things were okay.

"But he doesn't have to know."

"And if he finds out?"

"Then that's his problem. I don't see why he should get upset if I come stay with you. My cabin's going to take at least a few weeks to fix."

"-that bad, huh?"

Nico flashed a wicked grin. "I might have carried on after you left." That made Percy snort. "Besides, there's things that he doesn't understand. I mean he wants to and he keeps trying to but the more he chases me around and it's sweet, sure, but the more it makes my skin itch. He's just so-" Nico struggled for a moment before finding the word, " clingy ."

"I mean, he is your boyfriend."

Nico's shoulders fell and he groaned. " Boys are the worst."

"Yeah, they are."

Sally stayed for a few seconds longer before turning and heading back to her room. When she slipped back into bed, Paul's breathing stuttered for only a second but he mumbled something incomprehensible and turned away. As much as she wished for her son to be happy, there were things that a mother couldn't teach. There were things that he'd just have to learn for himself. Seeing what was in front of him and untangling his own mess of feelings, well, that was one of them.