Percy ended up coming back, to Bruce's surprise. It was about two weeks later when she appeared. Bruce had been sitting in his father's study, gazing out the window and that's when he saw her. Her smile was bright and she was walking towards the Manor with a spring in her step. His eyes widened and he ran to the front door. He pulled it open before she even had the chance to ring the bell and smiled at her.

"You came back!" he exclaimed happily.

"Yeah..." Percy replied scratching the back of her neck, smiling sheepishly. Suddenly she straightened. "Can we play hide and seek?"

Bruce looked confused. "How do you play with only two people?"

Percy grinned. "I'll show you." With that, she dragged a confused but smiling Bruce into his own house.

They bumped into Alfred on the way to the living room, who had been making cookies.

"Master Bruce, and oh Miss Percy! What a lovely surprise. Would you both like a cookie?"

Bruce immediately took one, knowing how good Alfred's cooking was and Percy followed.

Her eyes widened as she bit into it.

"This is almost as good as my mom's!" she gasped, taking another one, "But they would taste much better if they were blue."

"Blue?" Bruce asked her.

"Yep!"

"Hey, instead of playing hide and seek which is fun, do you wanna make cookies? My special blue kind, I mean," she asked excitedly.

Bruce, wanting to try this new recipe, grinned at her and pulled her to the kitchen.

They got all of the ingredients ready and set them out on the table.

"Can we start now?" Bruce asked her.

"No, silly, we forgot the most important ingredient," Percy said and pulled out blue food coloring from her pocket.

Bruce looked at her strangely. "Do you carry that with you everywhere?"

"Of course," Percy said seriously.

The two of them laughed and talked with each other while mixing the ingredients. Needless to say, they created a giant mess. When the cookies were finally in the oven, Percy collapsed onto a chair.

"I'm curious," Bruce started, "Why are the cookies supposed to be blue?"

Percy's eyes turned wistful and she gazed ahead. "My mom had this inside joke with me. My stepdad said that food couldn't be blue, so to prove him wrong, she went out of her way to eat blue food. She taught me the cookie recipe."

Bruce immediately picked up on the past tense she used to describe her mom and suddenly knew how she felt.

"When?" he asked, and Percy immediately knew what he meant.

"When I was 5," she sighed, "It got easier over time, but you can't ever fully recover."

Bruce hesitated before speaking. "My parents died about a year ago. It doesn't seem to get any easier."

Percy looked at him with a new light. "It does," she said firmly, "You just have to find the right person to be there for you." She was looking straight at him now.

Bruce's first thought was of Alfred. But while the butler cared for him, it wasn't really the same as his parents. But then he thought of Percy. He had smiled and laughed more int he two days he spent with her than in the last year.

Suddenly, the oven dinged. Percy rushed over to it and pulled out the cookies. She and Bruce blew over them for a few seconds so they cooled. The Bruce picked one up and put it in his mouth while Percy watched. She saw his eyes widen and then close in pleasure.

"Oh my god," he breathed, "I always thought Alfred's cookies were good, but these are so. much. better."

Percy grinned at his excitement and took a couple for herself. They sat there for a long time, just eating cookies and talking like best friends, even though they had only met once before.

When it was time for Percy to go back home, she hugged him, this one lasting slightly longer than the first, and walked out the front door.

Alfred stood behind Bruce as he watched her leave and smiled to himself. He may have absolutely no idea who she was, but she was good for him. Maybe he would have a happy childhood after all.

Percy continued visiting Bruce once every couple of weeks and over time they became best friends. Percy helped him get through his parents' death and he helped Percy get through her mom's. It was over the summer when he missed her the most. She couldn't visit him then, saying she had to go to a summer camp for kids like her. After her first year, she told him about Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood. She talked about them with so much admiration, that for a second, he was worried he was being replaced. But Percy assured him saying that "He was still her best friend and she had met him first."

She first told him about Gabe when she was 13 and he had accidentally noticed a scar when he shirt had lifted up. He was horrified, but he had hugged her tight while she cried into his shirt. Percy had been worried that he would treat her differently, but Bruce had done nothing of the sort. He had continued treating her the same as before, initiating push/shove wars, and tickling her.

Eventually, this friendship turned into a crush. He began noticing all the little things about her that used to slip his mind. Like how her eyes would brighten whenever she saw him and twinkle whenever she laughed. How her lips would sometimes twitch upward when he attempted to make a horrible joke. How she would sometimes kiss his cheek and his would burn at the contact and light up.

And when she told him her secret, it only made her even more amazing than before. It had gone something like this:

Percy and Bruce were both 14 years old, and it was mid-October. They were laying on Bruce's bed and he was telling her about the cop he had met, James Gordon. Suddenly, she sat straight up, and as a result, so did Bruce.

"I have to tell you something. and It's really important," she said, completely serious.

Bruce looked at her, slightly nervous, but he motioned for her to go on.

"I know you're not going to tell anyone, but I still need you to promise."

After Bruce swore on his life, she looked slightly less nervous.

"Well...you know about the Greek Gods, right?"

Bruce nodded. While he wasn't an expert, he found them interesting enough to read several books on.

"They're all real. And I'm the daughter of one. Poseidon, to be exact."

Bruce stared at her. He knew she was being absolutely serious by the look on her face, but he didn't know how to believe it.

"Prove it," he said simply.

Percy smirked at him and brought up her hand. The water from a nearby vase floats out and towards her. Bruce struggled to keep his jaw from dropping. The water...it was floating!

"That's..." he started, his voice hoarse, "That's amazing."

So...you're a demigod?" he asked her.

Percy grinned. "Yep."

"Whoa."

She laughed at him. My dad, as I told you before, is Poseidon, which is why I can control water. That summer camp I told you about, that's for other demigods like me."

"That's so cool! Do they all have powers like you?" he grinned excitedly, reminding her of Nico, the son of Hades that she met this past summer.

"Some of them. It depends on who your godly parent is. And some of them don't have any outward powers. Like the children of Hermes, they are all really good at stealing, lying, and pranking."

Bruce took all of this information in. Then, a thought occurred to him.

"That condition you told me about when we first met, why can't Apollo heal it? So you don't have to leave?" he asked, hoping that Percy hadn't thought of that and she could be cured.

Percy's mood visibly darkened and she sighed. "That's...that's not really a sickness." She hesitated before continuing. "It's a prophecy."

Bruce' eyebrows furrowed so Percy went on to explain.

"There was this Great Prophecy that was issued after World War II. The prophecy speaks of an evil who will overthrow Olympus and the Gods unless a demigod the one of the big three rises up to fight them. We realized that a demigod son of Hermes has been trying to bring Kronos back from the dead and that if we don't fight, we could all die. I'm the hero of the prophecy and it's my responsibility to save my family."

Bruce's heart sunk, but he pushed further. "But why does that mean you'll die?"

"Because of what is said in the prophecy: A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap, a single choice shall end her days, Olympus to preserve or raze. I'm the hero. 'A single choice shall end her days?' I know prophecies always have double meanings, but what else could that mean?"

Bruce floundered for an answer but could come up with nothing that would bring her hope. So he tried a different tactic: distraction.

"You lied to me!" he gasped in mock anger.

Percy rolled her eyes. "Not exactly. I said it was a condition, which technically it is, and I said that the doctor told me I only have until I'm 16, which is also true."

Bruce narrowed him eyes and tried again. "You said 'the doctor!' There is no doctor!"

Percy smirked and him and he knew instantly his argument was invalid. "Actually, there is. Technically it's Apollo's prophecy and therefore, his words. And since Apollo is the god of medicine, he is like the ultimate doctor..."

Bruce groaned at her and threw a pillow. She ducked easily. He tried something else.

"Ok fine, fine, you win. But show me some of those water tricks," That did the charm. Percy immediately jumped up and he followed her to his pool. She jumped in, with all of her clothes and stayed down.

After more than a couple minutes, Bruce was starting to panic. She was just sitting down there, not moving at all. So he jumped in and swam to the bottom, where he shook her. Her eyes snapped open and she smirked at him. Bruce's heart calmed down and he swam to the surface.

"You jerk! I thought you had drowned!" he exclaimed glaring at her, and then stopped, "You're dry..."

"One of the perks," she replied, "Along with breathing underwater."

"No way," Bruce gasped.

Percy smiled and nodded before pulling him under with her. He managed to take a breath before and glared at her while he was under. She made an air bubble around them and told him to breathe. Bruce took a careful small inhale and was pleasantly surprised when he found he could breathe normally.

"This is so cool!" he exclaimed, looking in every direction, and Percy moved the bubble deeper.

They stayed down there for a long time while Bruce asked every question he could think of about the Greek World. Percy told him about the monsters, the cabins, Chiron, Grover the Goat, Thalia, Annabeth, Nico, Bianca, Clarisse, Zoe, anything she could think of. She even told him about the streak in her hair that he noticed but never commented on. She gave him permission to tell Alfred, who was surprised but not as surprised as Bruce because nothing could shock Alfred.

They definitely became closer that day, Percy no longer having to hide the fact that she could vapor travel. She visited whenever, sometimes even teleporting into Bruce's room.

Once, after the battle of the labyrinth, she had accidentally appeared in his room while he was changing. There had been a lot of red faces that day, mostly Percy's who had never seen Bruce without a shirt.

Their crushes for each just seemed to grow and grow, eventually turning to love. Bruce was in love with Percy and she was in love with Bruce. They didn't want to tell each other, and ruin their friendship. Percy didn't think she should because, with her birthday coming up so soon, what was the point. Bruce didn't think she liked him back, and even if she did, what if she didn't return the feelings. She had said herself, that she was mostly likely going to die, so if he did tell her and she returned his feelings, it would just hurt more. And Bruce didn't think he could handle more hurt.

A.N. Please comment. I know a lot of this is just describing what happened but I really wanted to move this along and get to the more main part of the story.