Doctor Lawrence came back and they moved to the deck, where a helicopter was already waiting.

“I don’t want to put you in a stretcher, Percy,” the doctor said quietly. “The restraints might aggravate your chest, and you need to be kept upright. The safest I can say for such an abrupt and ill-equipped journey is for someone to hold onto you as tight as you can handle. Is that okay?”

Percy nodded and Luke immediately moved in closer, putting an arm around him.

They boarded the helicopter and sat down.

“They’re no seats,” Luke noted with a frown.

Lawrence sighed, “This helicopter was the best they could send out as fast as they can. There was no time to be wasted and I couldn’t afford to wait for something better. Percy can’t wait.”

Luke nodded and adjusted Percy between his legs, wrapping his arms around him and holding him tight.

“Percy, I know this might be hard to ask of you, but I need you to stay awake until we reach the hospital, alright? It’ll be bad for you if you fall asleep,” Lawrence asked.

“Mmkay,” but Percy sounded sleepy.

“Do you want to hear our favorite song?” Luke murmured to him.

“Yeah,” Percy became a little more alive, eyes blinking to force himself awake.

Luke nodded at his dad, pointing at the guitar case. He’d stolen that from the car he’d also stolen. Hermes handed him the guitar and he put it onto Percy’s lap, adjusting his hold to encircle Percy and be able to hold onto the guitar as well.

That beginning of their ride, Luke played John Lennon’s Working Class Hero to Percy’s delight, and the three men’s depression.

And at the chorus, Luke looked up and stared straight at the gods, lips twisting briefly in bitterness.

“If you want to be a hero, just follow me,” Luke ended, strumming the guitar one last time. He combed a hand through Percy’s hair, who snuggled closer to him.

“When I was younger, I wanted to work as a jet pilot,” Percy told him, snickering. “Now I want to be an underwater diver.”

Luke laughed, and Poseidon and Hermes smiled to themselves. Lawrence chuckled as well, watching the two ‘brothers’.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be a space pilot,” Luke replied derisively, a wry grin spreading across his face. “And I don’t mean an astronaut.”

Percy burst into giggles and Luke started laughing again, glad to see Percy so happy.

“I have some papers I’d like Luke to sign,” Lawrence reluctantly interrupted. “You see, since Percy’s mother is still missing, we need someone to get permission for any time we need for him. I have papers that if you sign, you could become his power of attorney. That means that essentially you’ll be Percy’s guardian, at least temporarily.”

Poseidon looked ready to protest, but he knew that no one was supposed to know he was Percy’s father. He forced himself to stay quiet and reluctantly just watch.

“You’re Percy’s closest relative, not counting his stepfather Gabe Ugliano,” a hint of disgust slipped into his tone. “Besides which, you’re Percy’s blood brother and blood relatives are usually considered higher prioritized.”

No one revealed that Luke technically…wasn’t actually Percy’s brother.

“I’ll sign,” Luke immediately answered, reaching for the papers.

“Hold on, first I’d like to know if Percy is okay with this. Then, I need you to understand this is an important responsibility that you must take very seriously. You are at least 20, right? 18 is alright, but you’ll be taken more seriously if you are a little older…”

“I take this very seriously. Percy means more to me than anything. I’ll do whatever I can for him. And I am exactly 20, recently turned,” Luke said firmly.

“I’m okay with it,” Percy tiredly gave a half-grin. “I trust Luke.”

Luke signed the documents and felt lighter than he ever had in his life.

“When we get there, you’ll need to sign some papers okaying Percy taking chemo at that hospital. I’ll try to help with the insurance stuff, since you probably don’t have any idea, but the two of you should eat some of that food you bought beforehand. I know how much you hate hospital food, Percy, and as soon as we get there they’ll make you eat to get your sugar levels up and so you’ll have more energy.”

Percy blanched at that, and had enough energy to scramble to his father and take the food Luke had bought earlier from the ship restaurant. He began chowing down, with the others laughing at him. Luke began cutting up the steak for him, as Percy finished up his baked potato, and then Luke began feeding Percy the steak.

Percy pouted, “What did I tell you? I can feed myself!”

Luke rolled his eyes, “That was with that shampoo. And like I said, just let me baby you.”

They finished up the food by the time they reached the hospital, and Luke scooped up Percy into his arms, carrying him into the hospital with the others following behind him.

Percy was admitted and put into a room all by himself, and two gods and a demigod settled in for the long haul.

“Gentlemen, this is Doctor Ruthor. He’ll be taking care of Percy until I’m officially transferred over here,” Doctor Lawrence introduced them to a younger doctor, looking tired but kind.

“I’ll have to leave you for now, since I’m still talking with my superiors, but they like Percy so I’m sure my transfer will go smoothly. For now, I’ll leave you with Doctor Ruthor.”

Doctor Ruthor waited until he was gone before turning to the others.

“Theodore Ruthor, Son of Apollo, the other god of medicine,” he smiled kindly. “It’s nice to meet you all, Lords, fellow demigods.”

Both gods nodded, while Luke tensed though Percy lit up in excitement and leaned over closer.

“I am Poseidon, and my son Perseus is the one being admitted,” the god of sea started off.

“I’m Hermes, my son Luke,” Hermes ended.

“I’ll try to help as much as I can. If you need anything, just ask for me. I’ll leave my personal numbers as well, just in case.”

“You use phones? Isn’t that dangerous?” Luke snapped.

“I’m a doctor. It’s kind of hard not to have one. I just deal with it,” Ruthor shrugged with a grin. “Monsters come, I try to deal with them quickly, and then I get to work. Besides, I’m weak enough that most of them don’t even bother with me. Which actually works for me, because then I can focus on my work.”

Luke grunted an acceptance, trying not to brood.

And so started Percy’s stay in the hospital.

It started off slow, with them taking care of Percy and trying to get him healthy and ready enough to start. And then they did start him on chemotherapy. The effects were quick to appear, with Percy throwing up repeatedly.

Luke was with him every step of the way, and Hermes and Poseidon didn’t budge from their side.

Percy was throwing up again, turned on his side to throw up into the can used for vomit. Luke rubbed soothing circles on his back, whispering comforting words into his ears.

“I’ll get water,” Hermes muttered, while Poseidon sat in the chair next to Percy, keeping his son’s hair away from his mouth while mopping sweat off of Percy’s face.

Once Percy stopped, Luke wiped his mouth and Poseidon moved him back against his aloft bed. Breathing heavily, he accepted the cup of water from Hermes and drank it down, gurgling a little. Percy furrowed his eyebrows, moving his hand to the back of his head and easily retrieving strands of his hair and bringing it up to his face, eyes widening before he started to blink back tears rapidly.

“Luke!” Percy’s voice turned shrill. “I’m losing my hair already. I’m losing my hair!”

Luke winced and snatched the hair out of his hands.

“Hey, you want to shave it all off already?” he murmured.

Percy nodded furiously, eyes closed even though he was still crying.

They moved to the bathroom, and Luke plugged in the shaver.

“I’m going to die, I’m going to die,” Percy cried again and again, his hair starting to be shaved off. “I don’t want to die. I’m scared, Luke!”

“Shh, you’re not going to die,” Luke spoke softly to Percy.

Luke closed the door, and left the two gods to themselves. The two could hear only murmurs and the occasional crying, but they didn’t listen and left their sons to their privacy.

Poseidon shuddered and buried his face into his hands. Hermes patted his back and stared up in the ceiling, closing his eyes.

“Thank you.”

Hermes turned to face him questioning.

“Thank you for your son. Thank you so much for him,” Poseidon said roughly, voice thickened with tears.

Hermes sighed, “Thank Luke. It’s all him. He’s molded himself, and I…I just helped bring him into the world.”

Poseidon snorted self-deprecatingly, “Exactly. Without you, there would never have been a Luke. So thank you for your son.”

Hermes chuckled cynically.

“Well, we deserve the medal for World’s Greatest Dads, don’t we?”

“The sarcasm isn’t helping. I wasn’t being sarcastic.”

“I know. But I feel oddly resentful of myself now.”

The door to the bathroom opened and they looked up, nearly gaping. Percy’s hair was entirely shaved off, but what was more was that Luke had shaved his head as well.

“So, I was thinking that maybe you’d like to go sailing, Percy,” Luke started talking as if nothing was off or wrong. “I’m your guardian, so that’ll help you get out of this place for a day. We could ask Doctor Ruthor, and he’ll probably let you go on behalf of us and our dads and especially if your dad comes to make sure nothing goes wrong in the water.”

Good old Luke, talking about the gods as if they weren’t there and making plans about them without even consulting them.

“That’s awesome! I can’t wait to get out of here, even if it’s for one day. I’m always in here. Did you know, when I was 10, I spent a whole year in a hospital? And then from the time I was diagnosed to now I’ve been in and out of the hospital. It sucks. I hate it here. Especially since Mom had to work all the time to pay bills and Smelly Gabe never visited me –not that I wanted him to –so I was alone a lot. Doctor Lawrence was there though, and he kept me company when it got lonely,” Percy started jabbering, his mood becoming happier that he was almost completely energetic.

“Well, you don’t need me to visit. I’ll be here all the time,” Luke promised, almost slipping into brooding mode before trying to keep happy for Percy.

“I’m not leaving,” Poseidon croaked out. He cleared his throat and gave his son a weak smile, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Percy beamed at him and Luke scrutinized him before giving a discrete approving nod.

“There is a nice beach nearby. We can go to that one,” Hermes commented and Luke glared at him, but nodded sharply. “Good…suggestion,” Luke reluctantly muttered.

“Hi,” a nurse knocked. “I’m here to take Percy’s stats. Is this a good time?”

“It’s fine,” Percy smiled giddily, just happy to not be alone.

The nurse started taking his blood pressure, recorded his heart rate and glucose levels, and other things that started making Percy antsy.

“Sorry, sweetie. Just a while longer,” the nurse smiled at him. “I’ll have to inject some stuff in you. It’ll make you sleepy, so you shouldn’t fight it and try taking a nap, alright? And when you wake up, how about I get you a slice of strawberry shortcake? There’s a special down at the cafeteria and I heard you liked strawberries.”

Percy nodded enthusiastically, “Okay!”

She wiped an alcohol pad onto his skin and slid the needle in, injecting a clear liquid, and then quickly pulled it out. She swabbed at the area with a cotton ball before pressing and then taping it onto the skin.

“There! All done. I’ll see you in a little bit,” the nurse patted his hair and then left.

“You heard her, Percy. Nap time,” Luke smirked at him.

Percy pouted, “I don’ wanna….” He yawned though, so he leaned back and began closing his eyes.

He was asleep soon and the three were about to just slump over and just be depressed together now that Percy couldn’t see them, when Ruthor appeared and they tiredly greeted him.

He didn’t look like he had good news.

The three warily straightened up and focused on him, and he cleared his throat nervously before beginning to talk.

“I don’t want to be the one to tell you this, but his original diagnosis of four more years is incorrect. We’ve determined that his leukemia has steadily been growing worse…and that something seems to be aggravating his condition. I’m sorry…but we don’t think Perseus will be able to live out the rest of the year. It’s even more probable that…we could lose him at any moment.”

He was stared at.

Luke stood up abruptly, his chair clattering backwards onto the floor.

“I-I’m thirsty,” Luke licked his lips. “I’m going to get some water from the cafeteria.”

He staggered out the door, ignoring his lost father and an overcome and trembling Poseidon staring off into space. The jug of ice water on the table was ignored.

Luke hadn’t noticed that his father had followed after him, too busy leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, pressing his forehead hard against it and echoing the action with his hands. Shaking, he screamed and slammed his hands against the wall before bending over to the side and throwing up. He barely registered someone rubbing his back before being pulled into a strong embrace after he was done vomiting. He tensed after a moment, finally realizing Hermes was holding onto him, before he broke down and clutched at his father and breaking into sobs.

“Shh, it’ll be okay. We’ll be there for him. As long as he has us…as along as he has you,” Hermes murmured to him.

“I don’t want him to die,” Luke muttered into his chest. “He’s the only person I love in this world. He can’t die.”

And Hermes didn’t want to say any false promises, so he just kept holding his son.

 ~*~*~

“Today is the day they’re gonna throw it back to you. By now, you should’ve somehow realized what you’ve got to do. I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now,” Luke sang, strumming the guitar as he sat on Percy’s bed, Percy listening to him happily as he ate that slice of strawberry shortcake.

Everyone kept smiles on their face, and no one said a word to Percy. Not about that. Not about what they didn’t want to repeat aloud.

The next day they were able to take Percy to the beach. Luke and Hermes stole two sailing boats and the gods and the demigods raced against each other in good fun. They swam in the water. They splashed water at each other in water fights. They made father and son tag teams, Luke putting aside his bitterness and resentment for one day. They sat on the sand and stared into the waters into sunset and the skies became dark. And they watched stars.

It was great fun and a perfect time to bond.

Especially since two days later, Percy started suffering from a harsh fever that had him sweating and whimpering in his sleep, leading to a coma. Percy was quickly declared in critical condition from the beginning of the fever and had been moved to the Intensive Care Unit immediately. He was in pain, even as Luke stood by his side and brushed back his hair every so often. He couldn’t be reached even with Poseidon trying to soothe and help him by healing whatever he could with water. He stayed quiet except for his whimpers and cries, even when Hermes began telling him about funny stories about the gods in the dark of the night with lights dim and the other two asleep, knowing that had Percy been awake the boy would’ve been laughing silly and he probably would’ve been laughing along with him.

They patiently waited for Percy in their melancholy, and when Percy did wake up it was to a lot of crying and hugging.

Doctor Lawrence was his doctor once more, and decided that it was best to let Percy go. That all they could really do, that the best thing for them now was to take Percy home and give him happy days full of love and support. There was no more the hospital could do, and the only good they could do was to help whenever things got critical.

Percy was dying. And that was it.

Luke quietly took the news and when the doctor left, turned to the gods and was glad Percy was asleep again.

“I would appreciate it if you could transport both Percy and me to Disneyland. I promised him that at least. And that is near where my contact said he’ll meet me to give me both the Master Bolt and Helm of Darkness,” Luke stated quietly.

“Alright. We can take you there. But we have to leave. We’ve been gone too long and we have to go back, especially in time for the gathering for the Summer Solstice meeting,” Hermes told him.

Poseidon was busy murmuring into his son’s ear.

“That’s fine. Whatever,” Luke looked away, tired but still bitter as always.

Hermes sighed and reached out with a hand, his hand hovering in the air before letting it fall back to his side.

“I’m proud of you, Luke,” he said instead.

His son didn’t answer, but he needn’t. It was clear Luke still had misgivings about him and there was nothing he could do about it for now.

The two gods took the two to Disneyland, after signing Percy out and Percy had awoken. They said their goodbyes, Percy sad to see them go and Luke halfway from relieved to slightly longing to have them stay. But then it was just Luke and Percy once more.

“I’ll check us in and then let’s go everywhere,” Luke turned to Percy.

“Everywhere?” Percy asked with wide eyes.

“Everywhere,” Luke smirked.

And so started their week of fun.

They went on all the rides, seen most of the shows and attractions, pigged out at their favorite restaurants, had enough time to go to Universal Studios, and enjoy just hanging out in their room, watching TV and whatever else they wanted to do.

It was close to the time to return the stolen symbols of power, so Luke sent word to Ares. He took his mind off of that and focused on Percy, both of them waiting in line for Space Mountain for the seventh time. They got on and screamed in thrill throughout the ride, both equally thrilled with the speed, especially Luke considering who his father was. Then they went to two water rides, and they decided to go on another marathon of Tower of Terror, the one ride that didn’t really need a wait and they just ran through the line, got in, rode the ride, and then repeated joyfully.

They bought cotton candy, sharing it as they tiredly trekked up to their room. Inside, after making Percy go first to take a shower, Luke found the note from the Greek God of War.

Meet me at LA.

Just the place Luke wanted to go to.