A/N: I feel like Sally doesn't get enough credit, so here is my contribution to her appreciation. Just some small chapter-fics of Sally throughout the series(s). I'll try to keep it chronological, but some times I might be inspired to write something in the HoO or ToA timelines, and other times in some good-old fashioned PJO. Some will be more emotional than others and some will be more comedic. Mostly Sally-centric, but there will be Percy (duh), Paul, Poseidon, Annabeth, some other characters, and unfortunately, Smelly Gabe (Ugh).

If you have any feedback or comments, I'd love to know, please tell me!

P.S: I tried my best to avoid the text from becoming too blocky, but tell me if you want me to still change it. Ciao for now!

The moment Sally entered the safe sanctuary of her small New York apartment, she she shut the door tight and paused for a moment, letting out a heavy breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She glanced around her small apartment, at the cobwebs on the small wall crevice by her dining room table (which really was the size of a standard student desk at a high school).

Her arms began to shake as her knees buckled, and she slid down the door, instinctively burying her head in her hands. Her luscious chocolate-colored hair shielded her from the dim light of her kitchen as she tried to control her breathing, willing herself not to succumb to the mind-numbing exhaustion threatening to take over.

Sally recapped her situation: She lived in a one-bedroom apartment, it was a miracle if her bathroom ran hot water for more than thirty minutes, the lights barely worked, and the appliances...oh gods the appliances...

She didn't have a college degree, or even a high school one for that matter. She lived off tips and odd jobs she found here and there. It was okay for her, she didn't mind; thankfully she'd always been one to go with the flow, accepting whatever challenges life had thrown at her.

But things had changed. She'd met him, loved him, and left him without spilling a single tear, accepting it as the fate of the world. But she didn't leave alone. It wasn't just her she had to worry about anymore.

(1) Sally Jackson was pregnant.

(2) She, no joke, really was pregnant.

(3) Her kid was a child of the sea god.

Her hands pressed tightly against her head, urging her to clear her thoughts. She tried to swallow the ball of anxiety and anticipation that had been growing in her throat, threatening to overflow.

"Now, now, Sally dear," she could hear her lover's warm voice fill her ears as she envisioned him laying down with her, his arms comforting her in a well-needed embrace. Despite her predicament, she felt her lips curve up into a small smile remembering his voice, his words.

It really felt like a wave had fallen over her shoulders, taking years of stress off her shoulders as his whispers filled her ears. "Do not worry about finances. At least for the first few years, I can help you."

"First few years, huh?" Sally muttered softly, her hand falling loosely on her stomach.

Her heart lurched at the thought of there being a small human lurking in there, having to wait nine more months to pop out. She was going to be mother. Holy Hera, she was going to be a mother.

For a fleeting moment between her whirlpool of emotions consisting of but not limited to fear, anticipation, horror, and love...she wondered if these same thoughts went through her mother's head.

If she was also lying defeated, leaning against a door. Sally wondered if her father had taken her hand and whispered words of love and encouragement, if he had told her she could get through it. If they could make it in this crazy, monster-infested world.

Sally remembered one particularly warm summer day shortly after her parent's death, she saw a lion prowling around the streets of her hometown. However, when she told her uncle about it, he simply shook his head, chalking it up as a child's imagination.

And then the week later she saw a midnight-black mastiff the size of a grizzly bear, with glowing red eyes that was surrounded by an evil aura of darkness and death. But when she pointed out the creature to her friends, they just cooed at a supposed pink poodle.

Incidents like this occurred consistently throughout Sally's childhood, causing many complications. Teachers often reprimanded her for lies, and her friends left her, thinking she was crazy. Luckily, Sally was adaptive.

Once she realized that others simply didn't see the same things she did, she eventually started to keep her visions to herself. For a time, she even believed she was crazy.

That there was something wrong with her.

But the things she saw gave her nightmares. Her supposed hallucinations...were startlingly clear and seemed extremely lifelike. They drove her crazy as she scrambled for an explanation.

And then finally, for the first time in forever, things started to make sense.

Her eyes glazed over as she picked up on Montauk's distinctive salty seawater smell that was still tangled in her hair from her summer there, letting her heart become one with the sea once again.

She had been walking along the sand, her eyes trained on the sea's horizon, when she noticed a tall, tanned man with jet-black hair, sea-green eyes, and sun-crinkles. She paused mid-step and found herself looking directly at him. He grinned cockily and asked her if she liked what she saw.

Heat rushed to her cheeks and before her mind could process what she was saying, or who she was talking to, she asked him why he had a trident leaning against his shoulder.

The grin was swept off his face, akin to a subsiding wave, and he stared at her like she was an interesting specimen he didn't see too often, "You don't see a fishing rod?"

Under the intensity of his gaze, she could feel her face getting warmer, if that was even possible. She tried to look at the floor, but for some reason, her eyes wouldn't cease eye-contact. She could literally see the sea in his eyes.

It took her a second for her to realize he had asked her a question.

Her initial reaction would have been to brush it off as a joke, and try to hide her hallucinations, but something made her say no. She told him she saw a trident.

She saw a trace of indecisiveness flicker in his eyes before he stuck out a hand. "Poseidon, nice to meet you."

"Poseidon," Sally asked quizzically. She knew a bit about Greek Mythology from reports she'd done in school. She willed her voice to be steady and tried to control the fluttering in her chest.

"Interesting name. I assume your namesake is the god?"

A wide smile spread across his face as he let out a warm laugh, "Not exactly."

He had explained everything to her. The monsters, the hallucinations, the gods. They had stayed together the whole summer, just the two of them. And for the first time in her life since her parents had died in that plane crash, she felt truly happy. Complete. Whole. It was a wondrous thing, love.

Enough that she would gladly accept the horrors in the world. But then again...

A frown appeared on her face as she rubbed the minuscule bump on her stomach.

"A hero's fate is always tragic," Poseidon's voice had taken on a dark tint and he looked at her in the eye, pleading with her to understand, "And a child of the Big Three...even without my brothers, it would be a miracle should the child live past twelve. And with the prophecy looming, it might be better if the child didn't make it to sixtee-"

She had cut him off, refusing to hear the rest of his words. Words that wounded her more than anything ever had before. It was incredible how much Sally hurt for someone who was still unborn, not even much more than a few cells.

Poseidon, for some reason, had told her she was one of the most selfless people he had the pleasure to meet. And though Sally wasn't vain enough to consider herself as selfless, she couldn't really recall an action of hers that was purely selfish.

Until now.

(1) Sally Jackson was pregnant.

(2) She, no joke, was pregnant.

(3) She was pregnant with possibly the person responsible for the destruction of the gods, Olympus...and Western civilization.

But Sally knew already that she would never love anyone as much as the baby growing inside of her. The offspring of her love and affection. The receiver of that same love.

No. Sally already loved the child more than anything. And she knew that if anything were to happen to him or her...

She was terrified.

This had to be how Rhea felt, knowing one of her children could lead to the destruction of her husband and his rule, and yet unable to give them anything other than her utmost love.

Maybe her child would be the destroyer of Olympus. But maybe he'd be the savior. Maybe he'd be the villain, or maybe he'd be a hero.

No...

This child was hers.

Hero. Not monster. Savior. Not destroyer.

Sally would hold her child tight against her and shield him or her from the horrors of the world, the enemies he or she had already made even before being born.

She would protect this child with every fiber in her body.

This child would survive.

Sally would make sure that this half-blood of the eldest gods would reach sixteen against all odds.