Hey! I'm back! Had to drag myself away from my stupid online summer class (I'm trying to learn ahead for this fall and not fail the class) and being ridiculously lazy for three weeks of summer break and finally do some writing.
Anyways...
So in my previous fic, I had a lot of reviews asking if that was the last one of this series. I can assure you that it's not.
And anyways, I decided to make things a little new, and ended up posting a story that I'd written some time ago, but never got around to editing it. The particular fic actually is written in Sally Jackson's point of view, and her meeting with a certain person as Percy is off preparing for the final battle with the Titans. I'd been debating between posting this as a fic for this series, or a one-shot on it's own. My concience made me choose this one.
I've been writing a lot of Pre-The Last Olympian fics haven't I?

Enjoy!

Sally Jackson was, by far, not your average mother.

Not many parents in the world could say that their child was of Greek god decent, fully equipped with the power to control an entire ocean, erupt a volcano, or defeat a fully grown monster with simply his sword and his wits. Even less could claim that their so-called delinquent son was a child of the Great Prophecy, destined to save the world from forces of evil so dark that evil couldn't come close to describing it.

But Sally Jackson wasn't one to brag. She was happy with just having her son to herself. Alive and whole.

For the moment, at least.

Sally's mind was drifting idly in space, subconsciously lingering on the previous session with her writing mentor, Paul Blofis, as she was driving down the streets of Manhattan. Her eyes barely took in the familiar city of New York, the famous skyline in the distance, the bustling cars, taxis and motorists. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Percy subtly cleared his throat. She did, however, notice when Percy finally spoke up.

"Uh, mom. Are you okay?"

Sally's thoughts jerked violently back to reality as she realized she was mere inches away from swerving off the road and into the East River. Immediately, she wrenched the wheel back to the left, ignoring the surprised "Whoa!" as Percy tried valiantly not to slam his head against the window.

"Sorry." Sally winced as Percy rubbed his head. He was just about to go into battle with the most powerful Titan of all time, and she could have possibly made the battle a little bit harder for him by simply not paying attention to the road.

"Don't sweat it." he said, breathless. Catching her expression, he added jokingly. "I just didn't want to let the Great Prophecy down by being, you know, a pile of demigod road kill."

Sally laughed hysterically, suddenly unable to face the fact that her child might not make it until the end of the summer, road kill or not.

After another funny look from Percy and then finally managing to calm herself, she grudgingly realized that she had taken the alternative to stressing: holding her breath. Because as she turned into a deserted road by the East River, it all came out in a huge huff.

"Tell me what you're gonna do again?" she said through clenched teeth, fighting desperately against the torrent of emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

Percy glanced questioningly at his mom, catching the sudden change in her voice. "Um…" he trailed off. "Warn any surviving marine animal about the war, and try to get a few on our side?" He spoke it more like a question than a statement. And it really didn't help with Sally's nerves.

She stared at the mucky water, suddenly doubtful of her son's abilities. The river almost seemed to be growing trash, leaving it in slimy piles everywhere it touched.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay down there?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Mom," he protested as the car slowly came to a stop at a deserted construction site directly behind the river. "You should have seen the Hudson. It was almost as bad as this."

And then, without waiting for a reply, he hopped out of the car. Sally hurriedly followed him, determined to see her son off to the water.

He grinned as he turned back to look at his mom. "See you back at the other side." he joked. And then, before Sally could say anything, he dove in to the murky water just as any other child would in an average, community swimming pool. Sally stared at the ripples on the surface of the water, eyes desperately searching for any sign of distress from her demigod son, any sign of trouble.

Even as he didn't resurface, it didn't reassure her too much.

Sally sighed. She knew that it was almost time for her session with Paul; at this rate she'd even be late. But for the moment, she wanted to take a break, to be by herself for a little while.

"Did your son just jump in the water?"

Or not.

Sally started. She hadn't realized that she'd been crept up on. Whirling around, she saw a small Asian woman walking up to her, one hand held up in apology as the other gripped a small cell phone.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." the woman confessed. "But I could have sworn that somebody just jumped in there."

Sally glanced at the water, praying to Poseidon that Percy wouldn't come back up and shock both her and the other woman. He didn't. "I don't think anybody would want to take a nosedive in there." she lied hesitantly. The Asian woman smiled.

"Well, that's a relief." she sighed, putting her phone back in her pocket. "I was having a bad enough day as it is."

Sally nodded absentmindedly. If there was one thing she could truly relate to, it was having bad days. Especially since it was to a demigod hero named Percy Jackson.

"What happened?" Sally asked, debating the chances of her making it back to her seminar before her son came home. Highly unlikely at the moment.

The Asian woman sighed again. "It's my stepdaughter. She's run away again."

Sally stared at the woman, startled at the word again. The asian woman continued, unperturbed. "I mean, it's not like she actually ran away. She just left a short voicemail that said she had to help out some friends at this place she goes to a lot."

The woman shuffled her feet as Sally politely looked away, still unsure how to react. It took her a while before she realized she wasn't the only one staring at the water, both of them holding the look that begged for their children to come home. In one piece.

"I've wronged her so many times, though; I wouldn't be surprised if she really hated me."

Sally stared out into the distance, unsure how to respond. It wasn't like Percy ran away from home…exactly. He just had a lot of responsibilities on his hands, what with being such a powerful demigod and all.

"So I came here to see if she was okay." the asian woman continued, breaking the silence and ignoring Sally's silence, "And she said that I shouldn't be here, that I wasn't safe."

The woman turned to look at Sally queerly. "Don't you think it's strange for my child to tell me that?" she half demanded, her voice rising a few degrees. "I'd always thought it was the other way around, that I'd warn her of the dangers in life. Not her… not now…" her voice drifted off into the murky distance again.

Sally finally found the right words to say as she slowly shook her head. "I don't think its weird." She quietly reminisced on all the times Percy had warned her of monsters, of Kronos, and of the war. "Our children our… different. In a good way." And then, she added good-humouredly, "And we don't have to worry about them growing up. In a way, they already have."

The woman bit her lip, mulled over the fact that Sally had talked about their kids as our instead of your. She decided to ignore it.

"I guess you're right…"

Their meager conversation drifted off into silence as both mothers pondered over their own problems.

Sally found herself staring at the river again, playing back all the times Poseidon had ever visited her, had said that he loved her. The image of Poseidon soon morphed into Percy, and all the times he'd ever warned her of anything, or gone out of the way to protect her. She sighed forlornly.

"But there is one thing I know I don't have to worry about." the Asian woman started again suddenly. Sally glanced questioningly at her. The woman smiled.

"There's a boy." The woman sighed. "My daughter won't admit it, but I see it in her eyes whenever she talks about him. It's like… best friends, quite possibly even something more than that. But something totally against her nature. So she would never talk about it. Her feelings I mean."

Sally smiled back. "That's the same with my son." she said. "There's a girl he sometimes can't even stop talking about. But whenever I start with him about her, he closes me off. Embarrassment, maybe?"

The Asian woman chuckled. "Most likely…" And then she stopped talking, lost in her thoughts as she stared off into the distance.

Sally glanced at her for a few more seconds, and then awkwardly turned to look back at the water. Clearing her throat, she finally said, "I should probably be going home."

The Asian woman blinked, and then turned to look at her again. "I should probably as well." She half shrugged. "Fredrick would have burned the house down by now. I've never left him home alone, all by himself and his toys, for this long."

Sally grinned. "Fredrick's your son?"

The Asian woman groaned. Laughing, she shook her head. "Oh, no. Fredrick's my husband."

Sally's eyes widened, and she blushed furiously "Oh…" she said quietly, and coughed a chuckle. The Asian woman smiled.

Holding out her hand, she said, "Well, it was nice talking to you." she said cheerfully. Sally didn't hesitate, grasping her hand and responding just as lightly.

"Likewise."

Suddenly, as an afterthought, she decided on adding one last thing.

"My name's Sally." she said. "Sally Jackson."

The Asian woman smiled, and then nodded. "I'm Susan. Susan Chase."

In all honesty, I have no idea if Susan is the name of Annabeth's mom. I had thought it was when I started writing, therefore naming her that before I did a little research and found that she remained nameless. So if Rick Riordan decides to name her anything else (say...Eloise, or something) I promise I'll go right back in and change it.

Anyways, please review! I LOVE everything that you guys tell me, whether it's criticism or a complement. After all, I'm only a amateur. I don't exactly have everything I need to get payed the big bucks... though I do hope that I can change that someday.