He had first seen her on the beach, right at the edge of the waves, from his Kingdom-under-the-Sea. Her beauty had enticed him, but what had truly drawn him in was her aura – full of compassion and warmth and sweetness. So he met her on the beach and she had seen him through the Mist as what he truly was, had seen his trident and godly power and she still loved him.

He knew he couldn't do this – couldn't love, no matter how easy it would be, like falling. He was climbing an impossible cliff, with hardly any hand-holds and a vertical slope. It would be too easy to just let go; to give up and let himself fall. The hard part was to keep climbing, to leave behind everything good because it was the right thing to do. If he stayed she would suffer, she would carry his child and that would bring her danger and he wouldn't – couldn't – be there to protect her. It hurt him, every time he grasped another handhold that carried him farther away from her, but he had to do it, so he would.

But he couldn't tear himself away from her, with her chestnut-colored hair and ocean-blue eyes. They were sitting together, side-by-side at the very edge of the sand, right where the sea met land. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he smelled sugar and chocolate and all-around sweetness, a scent he always recognized as her. He knew that he would have to decide right then what he would do – to keep climbing or let go. The small beach waves churned, crashing onto the sand with growing ferocity, but always just missing them. His decision kept swirling back and forth – stay or leave – like the rhythm of the waves. Damn it all, she was ten times a goddess than the ones he knew.

Sally Jackson.

And then she looked up at him with those ocean-blue eyes, so open and full of trust and love just for him, and he knew he couldn't leave her. The waves calmed, and his sea-green eyes met ocean-blue and their lips met halfway and he knew then he was falling. They spent the night there, where the waves crashed on the sand, and he was the waves and she was the sand and that night they crashed together in a whirlwind of passion. In the morning he awoke as the sun rose over the sea and he gazed at the beautiful woman beside him and realized he loved her. But no one could know about that night. It would be their secret, a secret only known by the waves that still broke on the sandy beach.

But then she was pregnant and everything came crashing down and he knew he shouldn't have let himself fall. She would bear his child and he (or she, but he just had this feeling that he would be a boy) would be powerful and he might even be part of The Great Prophecy and life just got a whole lot more complicated. He had fallen, and now he was broken because she was in danger and it was all his fault. The summer was almost over and he would have to leave her and his child and he couldn't bear it, but he had to. He was Earthshaker, or Stormbringer – The God of the Seas and Oceans, and he had his godly duties to attend to. They spent their last day holding each other on the beach, right at the edge of the waves, and she promised she would always love him and he promised he would see her again and then he kissed her – one last, passionate kiss with all the power of the Ocean behind it – and he took up his trident and he disappeared beneath the waves.

He watched from his underwater Court as she cried and cried and wouldn't leave the beach for days, and every day she would always be at the edge of the waves and he would see her and something inside him would break. But the summer was over and she soon returned to the city with his child and he still turned his eyes towards that beach every day, even though he knew she wouldn't be there. Months passed and it was the winter solstice and he traveled to Mount Olympus for the meeting of the gods. But then it was over and he was in the city and he just had to see her. When he arrived at her apartment she had gone out for a moment, but he heard a baby's cry and opened the door to a tiny nursery and saw him, and he was falling in love all over again.

Perseus Jackson.

His smile, as he looked down at the baby – his son – was filled with warmth and love. He knew he could never regret that summer at the beach, and his fall had rather been a leap, with His Ocean below to catch him. His son would live and grow up and do great things because he was the son of Poseidon. And then the front door creaked open and he heard her, and he would see her again but not now, so he slipped out of the tiny nursery like mist on a warm sea breeze and he saw her stiffen and look straight at him. But then she turned away and he was gone, and he wouldn't see her again for years to come.

The fall – leap – had been worth it. He had discovered a Queen among women, a precious pearl in the confines of a clam. She'll survive, and she'll protect herself and her son, for him. His son – Perseus Jackson – would grow up and live and even if he was part of The Great Prophecy he would survive because he was her son, and he knew that she would never let him give up.

He was Poseidon, and this mortal woman, and now her – their – son, had captured his heart and he had fallen, but oh what a sweet fall it had been.