Hello readers,

This is my first fanfiction story, probably the only one I'll ever write. I wish Rick Riordan had touched on the recovery of the characters after the war or the emotional trauma they are sure to have after their childhood, but he didn't, so I'm writing it instead.

This story takes place after Blood of Olympus. While the Trials of Apollo were good, I didn't like some of the things that happened in those books, so my story will act as though ToA never happened.

Most of the characters belong to Rick Riordan. There will be a few characters that are my own, which I will point out after each chapter. The plot is mine as well.

Enjoy and please review!

Percy stood staring at the blue door in front of him. He had stood in this spot countless times looking at the same door, yet he never realized the way the handle hung crooked or the long scratch in the corner.

The war with Gaea had ended about two weeks ago; everyone was alright, physically at least. Leo had come back alive with Calypso (which was more than a little bit awkward) and Frank and Hazel made it back to Camp Jupiter.

But, physicality aside, Percy understood how not alright he was mentally. He often woke up with nightmares, having to scream himself awake. The nightmares hadn't been bad at first; his body had been too exhausted to torment him and he had a quest to focus on. But since things started to slow down, his body seemed to speed up with anxiety and nightmares.

Luckily, Percy lived in a cabin alone at Camp Half-Blood, so he didn't have to worry about waking anyone else up with his nightmares. Flashbacks during the day, though, were a different story. Annabeth suffered with nightmares too, but she was quieter during them. Her cabin mates also seemed to try to understand what she was going through and they didn't tease her. No one knew, however, the extent to which the couple were breaking under the constant stress.

Now, two weeks after the last sword dropped, Percy was finally able to see his parents. With all the repairs and aftermath of the battle to deal with, Percy hadn't been able to see his parents until now. And he was nervous.

As Percy stood, looking at the door of his parent's apartment, he forgot his friends were behind him. The longer he stood, the more he physically shook, until Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm right here Percy," she said. "We do this together."

"Yeah man," Leo snickered behind him. "We don't judge you for needing your mommy." That earned him a glare from Piper.

Percy didn't seem to hear him. If he did, he didn't care. He hesitantly looked at Annabeth and she nodded. After taking a deep breath, Percy put the key in the lock and opened the door.

"Mom?" he called. "I'm home."

The rapid thumping of feet could be heard coming down the hallway as Sally called her son's name. Out of nowhere Percy was engulfed in Sally's arms as she broke down crying. "Percy, you're really here. I can't believe you're really home," she said.

At this point, Percy had a silent stream of tears running down his cheeks. After several minutes, he managed to choke out, "I'm sorry mom. I'm so sorry."

At this, Sally pulled her son away from her to examine him. She noticed the strong muscles under her hands as she held her son at an arm's length; he had gotten so much taller and leaner since she had seen him last. She looked him in the eyes and was shocked at what she found. Those eyes that once seemed to contain all the wild and playful aspects of the sea now seemed to emulate broken glass. Sally had no idea the things that he had seen and experienced.

"No Percy, don't you ever blame yourself for the actions of the gods. Annabeth explained to me all about Hera's little plan. I will never blame you for what she did," she said tearfully.

Percy looked at his mother gratefully and gave her a small smile. Then he remembered all of his friends standing in the doorway. "Oh um mom," he started. "These are some of my friends that took part in the quest to defeat Gaea. That's Jason, son of Jupiter, Nico, whom you've met, Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, Leo, son of Hephaestus and of course, you know Annabeth," he said with a blush.

Sally pulled Percy's girlfriend into a hug. "Annabeth dear," she whispered. "It's so good to see you. Thank you for bringing my son home to me."

"Of course Sally," was all she said in response.

When the two women pulled apart, Sally waved the rest of the group in. "Come, come. You all must be hungry. Let me make you some food."

"Thanks mom," Percy replied as he plopped on the floor. "I'm starving."

"You always are," she said with a small smile.

The rest of the demigods settled around the living room; Piper, Nico and Leo plopped on the couch with Jason on the floor while Annabeth walked into the kitchen to help Sally.

"Hello dear," Sally nodded towards Annabeth. "Can you bring those cookies and sodas into the other room?"

"Sure," Annabeth said softly, deeply inhaling the smell of the apartment she had visited so often while Percy was missing. The smell was comforting, but brought back some unpleasant memories. She and Sally had spent many tearful nights in this very kitchen, wondering where on earth Percy was. Even once they found his location, Annabeth had come to this apartment looking for comfort from Sally.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Annabeth turned with the food and drinks and started to walk towards the living room when Sally softly called out to her.

"Annabeth? I can tell that you all went through some pretty awful things these past few months. I really want to know what happened to my son, but I don't want to push him or you into telling me. Will you please let me know when you are ready?"

"Of course," Annabeth replied. "I don't know if we'll ever be ready, but I hope that one day we will be." With that, she walked out of the room.

As the demigods sat in the living room, Sally came in with meat platters, sandwiches and apples.

"Where's Paul?" Percy asked his mother.

"He had some back to school preparations he had to take care of at school today. He said he would be coming home late," she replied.

Percy nodded.

"So," Sally continued. "While you eat, why don't the rest of you tell me about yourselves, hm? I certainly would like to hear more about this roman camp."

Later that evening, when Paul arrived, saying that he was surprised to see all these young adults in his living room would be an understatement. When his eyes made contact with Percy's, he basically tackled his son in a hug. "Percy!" he exclaimed in relief. "You're home!"

As far as Percy was concerned, Paul was his father just as much as Poseidon was. "Hi dad," he whispered into Paul's shoulder.

Paul looked at his step-son in disbelief. "Did you just call me dad?"

Percy shrugged. "I guess I did. Is that okay?"

"Is that okay? It's perfect!" Paul exclaimed. "You are my son after all." The two men finally pulled apart and Percy sat back down on the floor. Paul joined Sally on the armchair.

Annabeth spoke up. "It's good to see you Paul, but we should really get back to camp. It's already past curfew."

"Oh that's okay dear, you can stay with us tonight!" Sally said. "I know our apartment is small, but we can figure out how to fit everybody. We have a few camping pads and extra pillows and blankets."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances. They seemed to be having a silent conversation.

Percy: We can't stay the night. I don't want my mom to know about the nightmares.

Annabeth: In her eyes, there's no reason for us not to stay. She'll suspect something if we go back to camp now.

Percy: But I can't put her through the pain.

Annabeth: Maybe being home will make the nightmares better. If not, we'll get through the night together.

Percy: Okay, together then.

"Sounds great mom," he said through a forced smile.

"Okay!" She started, clapping her hands. "The girls can take Percy's room and the boys can sleep in here. I think we have enough camping mats for everyone."

When everyone was settled, Sally turned out the lights. Almost immediately, Percy and Annabeth stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the lights. Sally was bewildered. "What's wrong Percy?" she asked.

He looked sheepish and he scratched the back of his head. "Um, mom, weird question, but do you have any nightlights?" Both Percy and Annabeth had grown scared of the dark and small places. It reminded them too much of that place.

After digging around, Sally could only find one nightlight. When she told Percy as such, his eyes flashed with panic, but he told Annabeth to take it. She tried to protest, but he was adamant. "I'll be fine," was all he said.

As Sally went back to her room and climbed in bed next to Paul, she could only think one thought over and over. What happened to my boy?

Later that night, Percy sat on the floor of the bathroom, simply staring at the bathtub. When his mom had found only one nightlight he had panicked, he couldn't help it. Since coming back from that place, it was significantly harder for Percy to control his emotions in dark or cramped spaces. His mind took over, telling him he needed to get out. The darkness suffocated him and his mind kept telling him to find air. It made him act out and do things he wouldn't normally want to do. So, not wanting to wake anyone with his frantic actions, he had gone back into the bathroom and turned the light on as soon as everyone went to sleep.

Percy refused to sleep. He just sat on the cold floor with his back against the door, staring at the bathtub. He stared until his eyes watered and his vision blurred. He wouldn't sleep. He couldn't.

As Percy sat, strong emotions flooded his thoughts. He was scared. No, terrified. Terrified of the darkness that seemed to invade his insides every time he was left alone or lay in the dark. Terrified of what he was becoming.

He felt disgusted with himself everytime he thought of that place. He hadn't meant to enjoy what he had done to Akhlys, he had just been so angry.

As his fear turned to anger, Percy clamped his eyes shut and balled his fists. He was angry at the gods for being so selfish, angry at the fates for being so cruel, and angry at himself for being so scared. He opened his mouth in a silent scream.

Great, he thought. The great Percy Jackson is finally broken.

At around three in the morning, he heard the rustling of sheets in his room. Knowing Annabeth was the one in those sheets, he quickly tiptoed to his bedroom. He almost tripped over Piper, but he eventually made it to the bed where Annabeth was sleeping. She was covered in sweat and her brow was furrowed. If Percy didn't wake her up soon, he knew that she would soon scream herself awake. Percy climbed into the bed and cradled his girlfriend in his arms. He wiped the sweat off her forehead and kissed her forehead softly. "It's okay," he murmured. "I'm here."

Percy ran circles on her arm, just as she had done on his back during their restless nights spent on the Argo II. Her eyes fluttered open in a panic and she sat up quickly. "Shhhhh," Percy hissed. "It's okay Annabeth, I'm here."

As the alarm slowly faded from her eyes, she smiled and kissed Percy deeply. She loved him with all her heart. "Thank you," she whispered.

Eventually, their kiss slowed and Annabeth snuggled back into Percy's arms: the only place in the world where she felt truly safe.

As Annabeth's breathing slowed, Percy relaxed. She was back asleep. Percy held his girlfriend close and didn't move for the rest of the night. He didn't fall asleep, though. He didn't trust himself to not wake up screaming. He couldn't show his mom his pain. Not yet.

"What are we gonna do Annabeth?" he whispered to himself. "How are we going to fix ourselves?"

Little did he know that Piper was awake and listening to the entire ordeal.

At around 7:30 in the morning, Percy slowly untangled himself from underneath Annabeth. He slowly made his way to the living room and lay down on his camping mat. He didn't want the others, especially his mom, to find out that he hadn't slept a wink.

He eventually heard rustling around eight. People were starting to get up, so he shut his eyes and rolled to face the wall. Sally walked over to her son and rubbed her hands down his arms. Thank goodness Percy had been wearing long sleeves, otherwise Sally would have felt a few of the scars that litter his body.

"Percy," she murmured. "It's time to get up. Argus is coming to pick you guys up and bring you back to camp in about an hour."

"Okay mom," he pretended to yawn. It was terrible acting, but Sally didn't seem to notice.

Percy sat up and saw that Leo and Nico were cleaning up all the sleeping mats and folding the extra blankets.

Percy walked into the kitchen and sat in a stool next to Paul. Piper and Jason were in the room too, but they were helping Sally cook breakfast. "Wow Grace," Percy joked. "I didn't know you could cook."

"Shut up Jackson," came the reply. "I could just as easily not make you any breakfast."

"Wow, touchy," Percy chuckled as he raised his hands in surrender. "Where's Annabeth?"

"Annabeth's in your room getting ready," Sally replied. She knew that Percy was putting up a facade. She could sense his hurt underneath his playful demeanor. The deep bags under his eyes were just another indicator of this.

Percy started to walk to his room when his mother called after him, "You better keep the door open Percy! I don't want any funny business this early in the morning."

He groaned to himself as he knocked on his bedroom door. Annabeth answered. "Hey."

"Hey," he said. "How'd you sleep?"

She smiled. "Really good once you came in. How'd you sleep?"

"I didn't, but I'm okay."

Annabeth sighed. She should have known that Percy would keep himself from sleeping, just to save his mother from the unwanted pain of knowing her son was hurting. Percy was too selfless for his own good.

"You can't stay awake forever Percy, you're not a god."

"I know," he chuckled. "I was the one who turned that opportunity down, remember? That ship has sailed."

Annabeth smiled and wrapped her boyfriend in a hug. "I'm glad you're not a god," she said.

"I know."

As the demigods were leaving later that morning, Percy pulled his parents into another large hug. "I'll come visit okay? How about I come up for a day this weekend?"

"Sounds good," Paul replied.

"I love you Percy," Sally said. "Please be careful."

"Always mom," the young demigod replied.

Then Annabeth tugged on Percy's hood, letting him know that Argus was there. "Time to go, Percy," she whispered.

As he walked out the door, he looked back at his parents one last time. He smiled and closed the door, leaving Sally and Paul standing in the middle of the living room. Sally looked up at her husband with silent tears streaming down her face. "What happened to them Paul?"