Percy POV

Once I got my orders from Artemis; I headed down to the lake. When I got there there was a massive mountain of laundry. 'How many clothes do these girls go through?' I asked myself as I sat down by the lake and pile of clothes, getting ready to start washing the clothes. 'A group of immortal monster-hunting, demigod, male-haters can travel across the country killing things, but can't do their own laundry... great to see their priorities are in order- they might've topped Everest with this one' I tried to use my water powers to spin them around but they all got tangled and didn't clean very well, so I started to clean them one at a time. 'This is going to take a while, might as well start with Thalia's, which were the only black clothes in the whole bunch.'

After three hours

I wiped sweat from my forehead. I felt so tired, I just finished and was bringing two baskets to camp. One with their clean clothes and the other with their undergarments, I didn't want to be a pin cushion again. I set the clean clothes basket near the middle of camp and set the undergarment basket outside of Artemis's tent. I knocked on a wooden post attached to Artemis's tent and she called and said I could enter.

I walked in and what I saw brought a blush to my cheeks. She was bending over in a nightgown where I could see her panties. I instantly looked away and said, "M'lady, it's finished."

She looked over her shoulder in surprise and saw I wasn't looking at her. She then realized why and a blush grew on her beautiful face... 'Wait hold up... beautiful?' I questioned, panicking- 'Do I want to be a woodland creature?!'

Then after an awkward moment passed between us, she said, "Good job, that was quick for one person."

A hunter then barged into the tent, "M'lady, he didn't do all of the clothes, he's a slacker and lazy pig like the rest of his disgusting kind!"

Before anyone else could say anything, I said hastily, "Those are your undergarments. I didn't want to disrespect any of you so I decided to not wash them. I didn't even touch them. I willed the water to put them in the basket. I'm sorry for not doing everything but I didn't think you would want a 'disgusting pig' touching your underwear," And with that I left the tent and retreated to my own thinking 'and you'd have killed me if I had...'. I fell on the bed thinking about how... interesting... this new life is going to be. With that, sleep took me over like a bitch. (E/N: This is Alex's editor messing with him during a FaceTime- sorry for the cursing if it offended anyone)

Artemis POV

I can't believe it. Percy, this man I have come to respect, did something else to garner even more respect from me. Since I apparently had to fall for someone, I'm glad that it's him- he is worthy of my admiration. I looked at my hunter expectantly, while she just stood there, frozen in shock. She shook her head and left my tent, grabbing the basket of undergarments on the way out, and headed off to the lake to finish up the laundry.

I then exited my tent and walked to the campfire in the middle of the camp. I picked up the basket of laundry and dropped off the clothes for each girl.

When I was finished I called the girls to eat dinner. When they all arrived I stood and got their attention.

"You are all probably wondering why Percy Jackson has been made the guardian of the hunt. Well, when we were at Camp Half-Blood I came across Percy laying in his own puddle of blood," At this, there were multiple gasps, "He was tortured by that arrogant half-brother of mine, Zack. He was on he brink of death when I found him. I called out to Apollo and he showed up and instantly took Percy back to his temple to heal him. I waited for them both, and when they returned we headed to the throne room. When we were all settled, Percy requested something from the gods...", I took a deep breath as I was about to say the hardest part for me. I couldn't imagine him wanting himself dead. I just wanted to run up and and hug him until he began wanting to live again, "He asked for death, as he was betrayed by all his friends and family at Camp Half-Blood," Some people fell out of their seats from the shock, "My father then asked me telepathically if I wanted him to be our guardian. I accepted, obviously, so that he may gain a purpose in this life yet again. I hope that you all will find him to be deserving of your respect. He has been through as much, if not more than all of you here. I wish for you all to treat him as a brother. He will treat you with respect if you show it to him, I have found him to be a different man to any other I have encountered. I know that you get that that is not a light statement coming from me and I hope, my hunters, that you will consider my words here in future interactions with him. Understood?

They all nodded somberly.

"Well that's good, I was afraid I would be a pin cushion every time I walked out of my tent," I turned and saw Percy smiling at me. I smiled back and he walked towards the hunters.

"But... that's not all... you don't know everything, Artemis, but if I'm going to trust you all, you must swear on the River Styx that you won't ever repeat what you are told unless I allow it."

Percy POV

I had just awoken when I heard a collective gasp come from outside my tent. I walked out and saw all the girls in the dining tent, listening to Artemis intently. A lot of them had sad or discontented looks on their faces. Artemis was saying, "...He has been through as much, if not more than all of you here. I wish for you all to treat him as a brother. He will treat you with respect if you show it to him, I have found him to be a different man to any other I have encountered. I know that you get that that is not a light statement coming from me and I hope, my hunters, that you will consider my words here in future interactions with him. Understood?"

They all nodded somberly at Artemis.

"Well that's good, I was kinda afraid I would be a pin cushion every time I walked out of my tent," I said as I walked out of the shadows and smiled at Artemis as I walked over.

"But... that's not all... you don't know everything, Artemis, but if I'm going to trust you all, you must sweat on the River Styx you won't ever repeat this unless I allow it." E/N: (I had to keep in "sweat on the River Styx" this time because it's just too dam funny)

"We swear," They all chanted as thunder rumbled overhead.

"So that's what happened before I became guardian... you may have heard the stories. Before I had been escorted to Camp Half-Blood when I was twelve I had such a powerful scent that my mom married a guy who was so terrible and had such an awful stench that he masked my own. He didn't only just stink though, he also," I choked up a bit as I continued this, "...He also beat me. He would beat me and I would plead for him to stop. He always threatened that if I didn't shut my mouth he would make it even worse for my mother. I just begged for him not to hurt her and he said that he wouldn't as long as he got to have his way with me," A small tear rolled down my cheek, "He told me I was worthless. That I was a sorry excuse for a human being. That I shouldn't even be alive. He figured out one day when he tried to drown me that water heals me, so when I would get beat up too much he would pour water on me to heal me. Always just enough so that I wouldn't die, but not enough to actually relieve the pain. This right here," As I said this I raised my shirt and pointed to a scar that ran from my right shoulder down to my left thigh, "This one came from him. Not from a monster, not a Greek monster anyways, it was from when he got mad at me the first time I was healed fully by the water that he... he pulled out a knife and slowly dragged this down my side. I have many more scars from that... that.. demon. I have many more from my time as a demigod, but I... I just wanted to tell you since... since I'm going to be apart of your family now, that is- if you'll accept me?"

When I finished, I slowly raised my head to see all of the hunters either just staring at me in shock or crying. Without speaking, without needing to, Artemis came and her arms around me in a hug. I just cried into her shoulder feeling defeated and broken.

"Where is this man, Percy?", asked Artemis with a cold look of hatred in her eyes.

"A statue somewhere, I don't know where exactly. He did beat my mom even though he said he wouldn't. Of course he lied. I gave her Medusa's head, which I recovered on my first quest, and left it up to her to get rid of him and she did..." I trailed off, realizing with horror how long it had been since I'd seen my mom.

"I need to see my mom", I whispered to Artemis in a panicked tone, "I haven't seen her or Paul since Hera swapped Jason and me."

Artemis looked wide-eyed at me and nodded before saying in an understanding tone, "I'll take you to her. Everyone close your eyes and Thalia come along, I bet it would help if she knew someone else besides Percy after all this time.

Thalia just nodded and grabbed ahold of Artemis's hand as well as mine. I held onto Artemis's other hand and everyone looked away from her. She teleported us to my mom's apartment.

I walked up to the door and knocked. I heard commotion on the other side of the door, but couldn't make out any words being said. When the door finally opened I saw Paul. He just stood there when he met my eyes in what seemed to be disbelief.

"Sally, we have company, and you'll want to see this company.", he shouted into the apartment in an urgent tone.

"Coming!" ,Mom called from inside. When she rounded the corner and saw me, her eyes started to tear up, "Is that you, Percy? Is it really you my baby boy?" She asked, on the verge of tears. To be honest, I wasn't much better.

"Yeah Mom, it's me... I've missed you," I managed to get out before a tear escaped and suddenly we were hugging, clinging to each other as if the only thing that mattered was the moment. I could almost feel my bones cracking, but there was no way I'd let go, no way I'd leave her again.

"I love you so, Percy."

"I love you too, Mom... I'm so sorry."

After a minute or two she realized that I hadn't arrived alone. She recognized Thalia right away. Yet, she couldn't exactly remember who Artemis was except for the look in her eyes.

"My apologies," she started, still slightly crying, "I didn't realize others came with you, Percy. So nice to see you again Thalia and hello..."

"Artemis," Artemis responded with a slight smile in her face, as Thalia just smiled and nodded her head.

My mom's eyes grew huge with surprise. She started to bow, "My apolog-"

"No need for formalities, Sally. If you are the reason Perseus has grown to be the honorable man he is today then you already have my respect."

My mom smiled at that.

"Very well then, Artemis."

Artemis looked over Paul with a presumptive look, but one look from me and she seemed to grudgingly accept him.

"Paul."

"Lady Artemis," Paul said politely with a bow.

After the curt acknowledgement my mom asked, "Where have you been Percy?"

"I'll tell you all about it once we're allowed to go in," I joked with a smile on my face, tears still staining my face.

"Oh! Of course, come on in everyone! I baked cookies earlier this evening."

We all entered the apartment and sat down in chairs in the living room while Mom went to the kitchen with Paul.

She came back in with a tray of chocolate chip cookies... regular colored ones. Mom saw me staring and started to tear up again.

"It was too painful... to make them blue after so long, Percy. We can make some blue ones together again sometime now that you're back.", she said, wiping her eyes of tears and putting a smile on her face. "Now tell me about where you've been, young man.", she finished in a mock serious tone that made Thalia chuckle from her seat on my left.

"Well...", I began, "for the first year I was unconscious for eight months then went on a quest with six others to defeat Gaia. After a war... we managed to. Something happened at camp afterward. Basically, I don't feel welcomed there anymore, and Annabeth and I broke up. Now I'm the guardian of the Hunt. Actually... today was kinda my first day. I just remembered I needed to see you and Paul, and Artemis flashed us here."

"Well I'm glad you finally remembered me."

I chuckled slightly at that comment, but then I grew sad. I knew we had to leave soon. I just wanted to check up on my Mom and Paul. Before I even said anything my Mom gave me a nod- she always seemed to be able to read my mind. I understood and stood up. Artemis and Thalia followed suit and we said our farewells and goodbyes. Then, Artemis flashed us back ti camp.

It seemed that pretty much all of the hunters were in their tents sleeping. The remaining few were getting ready to head to their tents to sleep. I was walking back to my the tent when I felt someone place their hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and gave Artemis, whose hand was still on my shoulder, a questioning glance.

"May I enter your tent? I wish to speak with you," She said, which confused me, but I nodded my head, too tired to say much.

We entered my tent, one just like all the other hunters'. It had a bed with silver sheets, a full bathroom, and couch and chairs of a light baby blue color. I sat on the couch and she sat next to me. She looked pretty nervous which surprised me. I didn't know why, but after a little while of awkward silence, I could no longer handle the silence, "So......"

"Yes, um, Percy, I just wanted to say, sorry, for what you had to go through because of that swine of stepfather."

"There's no need to apologize m'lady. It wasn't your fault... it was mine." She gave me a hard look.

"Do not say that, Percy, don't blame yourself. You did your best to protect your mother and it isn't your fault. You are kind, loyal, and brave... probably the best male I've ever known and so please, don't say it was your fault.

I was shocked at her words, and before I knew what I was doing I was leaning in toward her. I realized she was too and our lips met. It was like fireworks shooting throughout my body. I felt my body go numb, but at the same time all my senses were on high alert. I could smell the forest and a slight bit of cinnamon. Her lips felt like heaven against mine. She licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I was shocked that she was the one who initiated the deepening of the kiss. After a while of the butterflies soaring through my stomach we pulled back for air. I rested my forehead on hers.

"Percy... I also wanted to say... I love you, Percy," She told me nervously.

At first I didn't respond, still trying to catch my breath. She thought I wasn't going to say it, so she started to get up and a tear fell off her cheek, but before she could get up completely I pulled her back down and kissed her gently.

"I love you too, Artemis."

She looked at me and just smiled. We stayed there and then eventually fell asleep. It was the most peaceful sleep I had gotten in a long time, with a beautiful woman sleeping by my side that night. I couldn't have been happier.