Hades

"Betrayal?" I questioned as Percy excused himself for the bathroom. "It's been twenty minutes."

"Oh, not between us." Nico assured me that a fight didn't go down. "Percy and his parents?

"What?" Zeus questioned.

"Oh, we're not deaf." Thalia told her dad, rolling her eyes. "The whole thing about his parents getting back together? Poseidon spending the weekend with Sally? Percy called his Mom and Poseidon and they both lied to him about it. Said they haven't seen or talked to each other in weeks."

Hades contemplated that to himself for a moment. And concluded that Poseidon will never trust him after this.

Poseidon

We just had a simple lunch and a relaxing afternoon. Snuggled on the couch for most of it. Dinner was a little nicer, and she told me to get my swim suit back on afterwards.

"Sally, the water is going to be freezing." I told her, thinking that this was just a basic cabin.

"Not in the hot tub it won't be." She corrected that statement. "There's a hot tub on the back porch. You'll love it."

The hot tub sounded amazing. So, of course, I got on my trunks and got in with Sally. Sitting down next to her, she rested her head on my shoulder as I put my arm around her shoulder, rubbing her far shoulder.

I missed this. I missed it a lot.

"What you told Percy earlier." Sally commented, pulling me back into the real world.

"Hm?" I asked, not sure if I heard the entire thing or not.

"What you told Percy earlier today, on the phone." She explained to me, recalling my talk with Percy. How I told them that I had missed Sally. That, as much as I might want it myself, I believed for years that we'd never get back together. She'd find another guy. She almost did like 3 times. "I... I missed you, too."

And suddenly I just felt kind of bad for everything I had put Sally through.

"So I hoped." I responded and sighed. "I'm sorry that I had to leave. I know it was tough on you and the kids. I wanted to watch them grow up, I really did. But I couldn't. And I'm sorry. I tell Percy that all the time. I don't think I've ever told you, though."

I could tell she rolled her eyes. She's too nice sometimes. Percy gets it from her.

"It wasn't your choice," Sally told me, looking at me. "And I survived, didn't I? One way or another, all three of them are alive at the same time and we're here. You showed up when you could. There's nothing to be sorry about."

At this point I knew that, sure. I just needed to get it off my chest. Make sure that she knew that I did feel bad for being a deadbeat all those years.

We relaxed out there for quite a while before decided it was time to get ready for bed. And as Sally was changing and I was about to lay down, I noticed I had a text from Percy. A long one, at that.

Figuring it must be important to be that long, I opened it.

Percy: Hey, Dad. I figured that I'd text you before I went to bed because it's sort of been on my mind. And you don't need to respond. This doesn't need to be a full blown conversation. And don't blame Hades for this. Please. It's not his fault.

Despite what you guys seem to think, I could care less if you and Mom got back together. If anything, it makes my life easier.

I'm not an idiot. Mom has missed you since you left. Gabe knew that. Paul knew that. I know it. Mom knows it. You've missed her, too. You've always been honest about that. I mean, gods, you'd both be happier together. That's a giveaway.

Before Hades even said anything about what happened with you this weekend (he didn't tell me, I just happened to be in hearing range) he said that yes, it involved a woman. And nobody wanted to believe it until he actually said that you were spending the weekend with my mom at Montauk because Gordon's flight got cancelled.

And there's nothing wrong with that, Dad. There nothing to be ashamed of in that you found a woman 20 years ago, and gods forbid you fell in love. But when kids came along Zeus said no and younger to leave. There's no shame in going back. A little guilt, maybe.

But you guys don't have to lie to me about it. It doesn't bother me that you guys don't tell me right away. But it does when I find out, go to ask about it, and get lied to by both of you. I get that you don't always want people knowing about a relationship right away. I was terrified of coming out when I first started dating Nico. Much less come out as anyone's actual boyfriend.

So I get it. And I'm not mad. I'm a little upset that both of you lied to me about it, but I get it. I'm sending this same thing to Mom with a few adjustments just because you're different people and all. But you guys should know that I'm not mad. I do know. I don't care if you guys break up next week or never do. Just don't hurt her and I won't hurt you.

Smiling for a moment, I debated to myself for a moment. This must've taken him like five minutes to type out, if not more.

So I typed out just something small before crawling into bed.

Me: Thanks champ :) I'll keep that in mind here on out.

Sally

Not even bothering to see if I had any messages on my phone, I got into bed and fell asleep pretty quickly.

But waking up the next morning was a little different. Poseidon was still out cold so I managed to slip out of the room. I had a text from Percy. But because of how long it must've been, it wouldn't let me open it and read it. So I called him. He's normally up by now.

And he was. He answered the phone. Sounding like he's been awake for awhile.

"Hey, Mom," Percy said as he answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Not a whole lot," I answered his question and shrugged. "I just got up. Tried to open your message from last night but my phone won't let me. Is everything alright? You never send messages like that."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Percy assured me and he paused for a second.

Which, as his mother, that worried me. I didn't want him telling me he was okay when he really was feeling suicidal or something. But he spoke up again after a few seconds.

"Mom," my son suddenly sounded more concerned and not casual. "Why did you lie to me when I called yesterday?"

I got confused.

"What are you—"

"Yesterday." He cut me off, and it seemed like it bugged him a little bit. "I called you asking if Gordon would be there. And then I asked about Dad and you said you didn't know where he was, which was a lie. I called Dad five minutes later and he said the same thing about you."

And this is why you don't lie. Because it comes back and bites you in the ass.

With that, he started off on a rant.

"Like, I know you guys have this crazy idea that I'm against you guys being together." Percy told me, in his rant mode. "But believe me, I'm not. I could care less about who you're with, Mom. If they don't hurt you and you're happy, I don't care. If you don't tell me right away, I get it. It's new. You're not used to it yet. But when I heard it out of somebody else's mouth and figured that you just hadn't gotten around to telling others it still wasn't a big deal. It kind of hurt, though, when I asked about it, knowing Gordon wasn't there, knowing Dad was probably right next to you, and you still lied about it. And then, five minutes later, when I called and he lied about it. I even specified asking if anything such as a date had happened when I talked to Dad. And he still lied about it. I told Dad this last night. I texted him an almost identical message to what I sent you."

He paused for a second and I felt bad for what I did yesterday. I didn't realize that he actually knew we were back together. I thought that maybe he just had a hunch or something.

"Look," he started to finish off his rant. "I don't care if you guys are together. If you break up in a week or are together until death do you part, great. You've been hung up over Dad for as long as I can remember, and he has been over you. If you guys are happy, great. As long as it's nothing abusive, I won't interfere with anything you guys don't want me to. But you have to be honest with me when I ask you stuff. That's my only request. But I have to head out, were leaving to go get some fireworks for tonight and to get breakfast. Like I told Dad, if you want to talk and make this into a conversation, just text or call me later. But you guys just need to know that I don't care what goes on as long as you're honest about—*

The call cut out and I was left there, not sure how to feel about that entire sort of situation.