Count on Me

It was the middle of the night when Percy woke up by the sound of his phone ringing.

"What the fuck." He mumbled, but looked at the caller's ID and saw that it was his work. So he picked up, hoping it wasn't too bad and he could sleep some more.

"Hello, Percy Jackson."

"Yes, hi, Percy. Jackie here. We're on the Breezy Point Beach in Queens, there is a stranded rorqual here. He's really upset and we don't have enough people, so is it possible for you to come?"

He cursed inside his head, but was already getting up.

"Yes, I'm coming. Give me half an hour." He told her as he began searching for his work clothes for things like this.

"Wait, shit!" Percy cursed, realising that there was a problem.

"What?" Jackie asked.

"Damon. My son. I can't leave him alone. Normally I would drop him off at my parents. But they're out of town."

"But he can stay with your wife right? Come on, Percy, now is not the time to try and not go to work. We're all here and you're not an exception to the rest of us. So don't try the kid excuse, I left mine with my husband just fine."

He couldn't speak. His mouth had turned dry. The reminder of his wife, more specifically his wife's death, terrible. She had only died about 10 months ago, but he couldn't get used to it.

He heard a guy on the other line say to Jackie, "His wife is dead, jerk."

Then someone else on the phone began talking to him.

"Hello, Percy, this is Gary." His boss. "Is it possible for you to come? You're the best with these things and your team is also already called and coming. Isn't there anywhere where you can drop Damon off?"

"Not in the middle of the night. I'm sorry." He only really had his mother and Paul here in the city since Estelle was away for college and other friends lived too far away for this.

"Can you take him with you then? I'm sorry I have to ask this of you, but I'm desperate Percy. I'm afraid he won't survive."

Percy sighed, but knew his boss and his team needed him.

"Yeah. I'll be there. You can count on me."

He had been saving sea animals since he was twelve and this rorqual needed him.

So he got dressed, brushed his teeth, grabbed a bag and walked over to Damon's room, who was still sleeping.

He had just started to sleep in his own bed again, he didn't want to sleep in his own bed after Annabeth died and Percy didn't mind. He liked the company of his son. But this was healthier. Though from time to time he still woke up by a tiny man sneaking into his bed next to him. Their dog, Pythias, always at Damon's side.

He walked over to him and softly shook him awake.

He was greeted by a confused face, rubbing his eyes. He sat down on the feet of his bed, Pythias jumping on his lap - who was about a year old by now.

"Hey buddy, I'm so sorry to wake you up. But I need to go to work, there is this rorqual that is stranded in Queens and they need my help. I can't leave you here, so you need to come with me. Are you okay with you and Pythias waiting in the car? It shouldn't take too long."

Damon stared at him blankly, his little eyes tired, and then asked, "What's a rorqual?"

Percy laughed, giving his son a kiss on the cheek. "A kind of whale."

Damon scrunched his eyebrows, his brain turning. He had the same expression Annabeth always had when she was thinking something over.

Then he nodded. "Okay. I'm already awake now anyways and for a-"

"Rorqual." Percy filled in.

"For a rorqual I'm willing to go. But can I stay in my pyjamas?"

Percy laughed, setting the dog down on the ground softly and kissing his son again, "Of course, buddy. Come on, let's go. And thank you, you're really helping me out."

And so there they went. Half an hour later they arrived on the beach. It was four o'clock now. He made Damon promise to stay inside, though Pythias was on a lease, just in case.

Percy got out of his car and walked on the beach towards the rorqual and the other marine biologists. He saw his team and was about to walk towards them when Jackie came running towards him.

"Hi, Percy. Good you're here."

He pursed his lips and tried to walk on, but she grabbed his arm.

He hadn't ever liked Jackie. Not that ranks mattered, but she was at a lower rank than he was and still always telling him what to do and how to do it best. And the people she did have authority on were forced to listen to her.

She was just an annoying know-it-all who truly didn't know that much.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I didn't know. People talked about it at work, but I just thought it was a rumour. I really liked Annabeth."

"Me too." He replied blankly, "It's fine Jackie, I know you didn't mean too." Though really it was not. The reminder of Annabeth not being with him anymore made him sick

But he soldiered on. Like he did every day. And so he walked towards the rorqual and began talking to him, telling him how he was dying and that he needed his help. Percy told him that it was going to be okay and that they were going to help him.

The rorqual, whose name was Dave he'd learned, was too far away from the shore since it was ebb right now and probably had been high tide when Dave stranded.

But that wasn't a problem for a son of Poseidon as he willed the sea to come closer to them so it would be easier to get Dave back into the ocean.

He greeted his team and pulled off his top layers so that he was only wearing a wetsuit now. Not that he needed it, but it would otherwise raise suspicion.

As they started to make a plan, Percy often looked over his shoulder to his car where he could vaguely see the silhouette of Damon, while his hand was on Dave's body to comfort him.

It took some time, but eventually with everybody's help and Percy's water powers helping them out big time, they got Dave back into the ocean. He would survive just fine and should make it out alive if only he didn't do stupid things like this again.

It was an hour later when he walked back to the car. Where Damon was sleeping. He got Pythias out and walked on the beach with him for a while so that he could do his thing there instead of at home later.

He saw his boss Gary nearing him and knew he couldn't escape the conversation that was coming.

"Good job, Percy." Gary complimented.

"Thanks."

"I really appreciate what you did tonight. I'll certainly remember it. You're a valuable asset to the company. And I'm really sorry about Jackie, she should know her place to not talk to you like that about things she doesn't know anything about."

"It's fine between me and Jackie, we fixed it."

"Good. Do you have some time? We're all going to get breakfast, since it's already 5 am. I'm buying." Gary offered.

"Thank you, but I can't." He apologised, gesturing towards the car with Damon in it and the dog at his feet. "He is going to his grandparents in the morning and I should be at work again at 9 am. I work on Saturdays nowadays. I'm working more to cover everything."

He and Annabeth had made a plan for when one of them would die. And that plan included still earning enough to keep living in their apartment to keep Damon as steady as possible, still have money for fun stuff especially so that Damon could have an as normal childhood as possible and of course a college fund for Damon.

And of course, when Annabeth passed away, a lot of their income was no longer there. So he had to start working more. But for Damon he did it happily.

"You're a really hard worker, Percy. And a really good guy."

Percy started to protest, but he was cut off.

"So take the day off. Sleep in and have a fun day with your son. You deserve it."

"Thank you sir." Percy thanked Gary, shaking his hand.

"I'm happy we can count on you. And that he can. Now go. I don't want to see you for the whole weekend." Gary told him, smiling.

Percy gave Gary a smile and thanked him and walked back to the car. He smiled when he saw Damon, still asleep. He put Pythias in the car and got in himself.

Damon woke up as they pulled into the driveway.

"How did it go with the rorqual?"

"We saved him."

Damon nodded contently.

Percy got out and got Pythias out and then Damon and lifted Damon and pulled him close to him.

"Thank you for helping me out, buddy. I'm so glad I can always count on you." He whispered, putting him into bed again.

Damon didn't say anything back, already fallen asleep again. Pythias laid down next to Damon. Percy padded Pythias on the head and kissed his son's forehead.

"And you can always count on me."

A/N

Since I've been working on a lot of big pieces I haven't updated much - sorry! - so I wanted to write something small. This doesn't really is anything or anything good, but it's okay and just a small head canon that I wanted to work into a larger story, but meh - nevermind. Well I hope you like it! And have a great day!