Author's Note: Happy Mother's Day to everyone! I just had to write this one-shot, because I heard the song "Get Yourself Back Home" by Gym Class Heroes and I thought You know this may be a love song, but this would be a great Sally/Percy song, too, for the scene where Percy calls his mom in The Son of Neptune, right? Especially for Mother's Day. I love their relationship so much, because even though he's a fictional character, I admire the way Percy treats his mother. He's the best son anyone could ask for. He's kind of my role model on how to treat my own mom.

So Mom, I dedicate this story to you, because you're the best mom in the world. You're also a great example of a great daughter, and I love you so much.

Disclaimer: Don't own Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus or the song. So yeah.

I don't know, where you're going
Or when you're coming home
I left the keys under the mat to our front door
For one more chance to hold you close
I don't know, where you're going
Just get yourself back home

Six months of pacing.

Six months of burying my face in my pillow to hide my tears.

Six months of looking at the skyline, pretending that he was safe inside the Empire State building.

Six months of staring at the phone, dreading its ring, afraid of who it would be…what they would tell me.

Although, I'd rather know he was dead than not know anything at all.

Paul tries his best to make me feel better. And I love him for it. Everyday telling me that it'll be okay. But it was June 23rd, past the solstice, and still no word from anyone about anything. I was starting to lose my mind. They promised they'd have found him by the solstice. Why hadn't they found my son yet?

I sat on the couch, shivering, despite the fact that it was eighty-five degrees outside at midnight. I wasn't sleepy. I just stared at the television, even though it was off and I was just staring at a blank, black screen. My mind was floating. I should've known—no I did know what I was getting myself into, being the mother of a demigod like Percy. And there had definitely been scary moments when I thought I'd lost him forever. But he always made it back home in a few weeks at most.

Paul came into the living room and sat next to me, readjusting the blanket around my shoulders. I glanced at him and tried for a weak smile.

He shook his head sadly. "You can't fake it, Sally," he whispered. "And I hate seeing you like this."

"I hate feeling like this," I murmured. I could feel the tears threatening to fall down my face. I glanced above the TV at the pictures on the wall. Pictures of a smiling Percy lying on his stomach on the beach, his green eyes shining like the ocean in the background, and a ten-year-old Percy laughing with joy on Christmas morning with a stocking full of candy. Or the most recent, his sophomore yearbook picture, his cool, collected expression, green eyes contrasting against the purple tie of his uniform, his camp beads showing under the collar of his white shirt.

I shook my head, feeling shaky again.

Paul hugged me tightly, and for a moment, although the panic didn't go away, the cold shivers did. Only two people in the entire world could do that: Paul and Percy. Paul gently brushed his lips against my cheek, making my heart race.

"Sally," he said, "he's going to be alright, you know that."

I closed my eyes, suddenly seeing a five-year-old version of my son splashing through the waves at Montauk. An almost-sixteen-year-old Percy sitting on this very couch, asking me for my blessing to jump into a magical river of acid. Then the feeling of hugging him goodbye on top of Half-Blood Hill just six months ago, watching him go down into the valley hand-in-hand with Annabeth, his new girlfriend.

I sighed. "I never know if he's going to be alright," I admitted. "Honestly, I never even know where he's going, or when he's coming home…" I kept myself from saying any "ifs."

Paul said, "I don't know Percy like you do, and I never will." He chuckled almost humorlessly. "Heck, I've only known him for a few years. But one thing I've learned about him…is that he's got too much waiting for him, too many people he loves back home. And he knows that. He's got the motivation to survive. He's the kind of guy that won't let himself die because he knows how devastated his loved ones would be."

I couldn't help smiling. "You know Percy a lot better than you think," I laughed through the tears.

"One more thing I'm sure of," Paul added with a smile, "is that we'd know if something happened to him. He's fine, and I can't stop you from being worried about him, but hopefully I can calm you down just a little bit. Because I know he's fine, and he wouldn't want you worried about him."

I nodded and almost said something to answer, but then the phone rang. My heart raced with fear. Don't be Chiron, I prayed. Don't be camp. Or if it is…please tell me you've finally found Percy.

Paul glanced at me. "Do you want me to pick up?" he asked.

I shook my head frantically. "Let them take a message," I told him. "I don't feel like answering right now."

The phone kept ringing and ringing, and finally Paul's voice came on the answering machine, asking them to leave a message. The machine beeped, and for a half-second I wondered if the person actually would leave a message or just hang up. But the familiar, yet shaky voice flooded my heart with relief.

"Mom," Percy's voice said, wavering. "Hey, I'm alive."

Those four words were enough, but he continued, hesitantly. "Hera put me to sleep for a while, and then she took my memory, and…" He trailed off with a sigh. He sounded scared, and I wished I could just take him in my arms.

"Anyway," he picked up again, "I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest—" He broke off suddenly, and it sounded like it had slipped out by accident. I sighed, shaking my head again. A quest…what else is new? I wondered. I looked at Paul, who was grinning from ear to ear.

Percy's voice kept talking, "I'll make it home. I promise." Then he finished with his familiar, "Love you." Then the sound of a phone hanging up.

I was beyond relief. The tears where just flowing down my face uncontrollably. I hugged Paul fiercely, laughing and sobbing at the same time. "He's okay," I whispered over and over again; I couldn't think of anything else…it was the only thing running through my head.

Paul was laughing and smiling with me. "I told you," he chuckled. "I told you Percy would be alright. I told you it's going to take a lot to keep him from what he loves."

"You're right," I cried. I heard the answering machine tell me to press 1 to replay the message. I must've pressed 1 over a thousand times, engraving his every intonation into my head before I went to bed in the early hours of the morning. The last time I heard his, "Love you," I couldn't help but blow a kiss at the phone and whisper, "Love you more. Just get yourself back home, okay?"