Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus.

"We can go fix up that house in Oklahoma," Her dad explained eagerly as he drove her to their house from the airport, "Or we could go camping or snowboarding or surfing..."

This was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

How was she supposed to tell him?

She just got out of school and hadn't seen him in months. The ever so evil Jane was gone and now he had time to be with her. To give her attention and to do all those father-daughter things that she always wanted.

But now she can't.

It was just two weeks till the Summer Solstice and they would be sailing out for the Roman Camp - which Jason still hadn't remembered the location of other than near the Bay Area. The only reason she had come back was to visit her dad before she went off on the most dangerous journey of her life that could possibly end her, her friends, the gods, and the world. Yet to her dad she just got off school and was coming home for a super fun summer that was jam-packed with father-daughter bonding.

How can I tell him?

Not the truth, she tried that once before and he almost went insane. She had a lie all worked out, which technically wasn't a lie... Well, for the most part. But he was so excited and she was too. She would have about a week and a half before she had to go back to Camp Half-Blood in Long Island, so she could sail to the Roman Camp back in California, then to Greece to battle an army of giants. She thought about spending more time with her dad, and then just meeting them near the Golden Gate Bridge, but apparently that wasn't how quests work. She would just have to settle for... Ten days, eleven hours, thirty minutes and twenty-two seconds of quality time.

Should she put it off? No... That would make it harder to convince him. If she did put it off, it could make him think that because she wanted to leave on such short notice that he was doing something wrong. That she didn't want him around. She did want him around, but her friends and her mother needed her. She had to go.

Of course, of there wasn't a war going on and was just one of the 'normal summers' that Annabeth had told her about - which had all ended when Percy Jackson showed up - then she probably could spend the summer with her dad...

She let out a heavy sigh, which her father was too caught up in his rambling to notice. She's head counselor, she can't miss the time of year where everyone shows up. She can't be a 'school year' camper. There were 'summer campers' and 'year round' campers. That was it.

She needed to tell him today.

He wouldn't take it well, but she would be back - hopefully - by the official end of camp. Then she could spend some time with her father before she went back to 'school'. He definitely would never tell her she wasn't allowed to go. If for some strange reason he did tell her 'no' and Mellie or Coach Hedge couldn't convince him otherwise, she would have to resort to Charmspeak him...

No.

Nuh-uh.

No Way.

She would rather run away from him to join her friends than use charmspeak on him.

Her father turned to her as they slowed down at a red light. He seemed just to notice the gloomy demeanor of his daughter, "Something wrong, Pipes?"

Piper's head snapped up from looking at her lap. She shook her head slightly, then sighed, "Dad," she began hesitantly, "there's something I need to tell... well ask you."

Tristan McLean turned his head back to the road as the light turned green, "So it's time for another exciting round of the Three Questions Game?" he asked in a television announcers voice.

Oh Gods no... Not this time.

"No, Dad," Piper said, playing with one of her braids, "It's not a question about something; it's sort of... permission for something..."

Her Dad's grin faded a little, "Oh," he said keeping his eyes on the road, "Well ask away, Pipes."

Piper wrapped one of her braids completely around her index finger, and then untwisted it. She didn't know how to start.

"Pipes?" Her father asked worriedly.

Piper took a deep breath and began, "Do you remember the friends I told you about? The ones that I made at school?"

"Yeah," he said, not sure of the questions importance, "Jason, Leo, Mitchell, Lacy and Annabeth... Right?"

"And Rachel," Piper added, trying to ease the tension.

"Knew I was forgetting someone," he said snapping his fingers, "So what does this have anything to do with my 'permission'?"

"Well..." Piper stalled a she gathered her words, "See... turns out that Annabeth and Rachel are both counselors at this camp, and Mitchell and Lacy both go there."

Her dad gave a small chuckle at this, "Small world."

You have no idea...

"Yeah, right," Piper muttered, "Well they talked Leo and Jason into signing up for the summer and..."

How could she continue this? Her dad looked at her from the corner of his eye, waiting for her to continue.

"...I want to go too," Piper blurted out then tightly shut her eyes. She wasn't afraid of the father, only of the pained look he was probably had upon his face.

"Piper," He said, "They've had you all year... Summer and Winter break are the only times I get to see you."

"I know Dad, I know," Piper said, "But this is something I feel like I need to do."

"When would you leave for camp?" he asked after a period of silence.

"I would leave on the eleventh, and return August sixteenth."

Well, hopefully return by then - or at all.

They fell into silence once more. The only sound being that of the car driving on the bumpy asphalt.

Finally, her dad broke the silence just as they entered Beverly Hills, "Gee, Pipes," he said, shaking his head a little, "That's practically the whole summer, I get you for what…" he paused to count the days on his fingers, "…about twenty-six days?"

Hopefully.

"I know Dad, I'm sorry," Piper tried hard to keep her Charmspeak in check, but she found it harder when she was trying to get something she really, really wanted, "But… I've finally made friends. Real friends… and I just feel like I'm supposed to go there…"

"You sound like your Grandpa," He said giving a forced smile, which wiped away as soon as he saw the look on his daughters face, "I'm happy you've finally made friends and all Pipes, but I finally have time to spend with you and now you don't want to-"

"Dad, I do want to spend time with you," Piper said, accidently letting a little bit of her Charmspeak slip out, "I do, I really do… but…"

She shifted uncomfortably and so did her dad. He stopped at another red light and sighed.

"Well… where is this camp anyway?" He asked, drumming his fingers nervously along the steering wheel.

Now what? Piper thought, As close to the truth as possible… as close to the truth as possible…

"Long Island…"

Her father's jaw dropped, "Long Island? As in Long Island, New York?"

"Yes Dad," Piper said hurriedly, "It's on the North Shore, at the Delphi Strawberry Farm."

Her father's jaw dropped even more, "A strawberry farm? What would you do all summer besides pick strawberries?"

"There's a lot to do," Piper explained, trying to sound like she only heard of it, "Annabeth and Rachel said they have archery, a rock wall, a canoe lake and the beach. There's arts and crafts, music, building, gardening…fencing… and a weekly game of capture the flag."

Her father gave a tiny frown, "It's a co-ed camp," he said, "You won't be bunking with any boys will you?"

Well, yeah. But they're all my half-siblings…

"No Dad," Piper said as if it was a reoccurring nagging question, "The girls cabins are on the left side, and the boys cabins are on the right."

Her father still wasn't convinced, "How many people go to this camp?"

Piper sighed, "A lot. There are like, twenty cabins," he was budging a little, Piper could see that, but he needed a little extra push, "The camp has a theme… I thought you would have guessed it from the name…"

Mr. McLean raised an eyebrow, then his mouth went into an 'O' shape, "Delphi? It's a Greek camp?"

Well, with a dash of Roman…

"Ancient Greek actually," Piper said proudly, "They tell the myths like ghost stories; each cabin is decorated for a different God or Goddess, they even teach you a little ancient Greek."

Oh yeah, he was definitely budging now. Piper could almost see his insides squirm in weakness.

"Ancient Greek was our thing," He said giving a little pouty face.

Oh, two can play at that game.

"I know dad, it was when you were doing that movie," Piper said, then put on a child-of-Aphrodite award winning pout, "Please Dad… I really want to do this. It will help keep me out of trouble…"

Well, the legal kind of trouble…

Her father squirmed under his daughter's gaze. She wasn't using Charmspeak, she didn't need to on him.

They drove through the busy streets, taking many detours and side streets to avoid the paparazzi, and all the way the movie star was showered in 'please's and 'I won't ask for anything ever again's. Finally as he unlocked the large driveway gate, he caved.

"Alright! Alright!" He said, a little frustrated smile appearing on his copper face, "You can go to this camp!"

"Thank you!" Piper said excitedly as she hugged him from her seat.

"Watch it Pipes, don't want to crash the car."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She was so thrilled. His approved made leaving all the more easier, made her feel less guilty. She didn't release him from her hug even though she could possibly end up crashing the car. He steadily drove up to the house, careful and slamming to a stop every few seconds. He finally reached the house and parked the car; a huge sigh of relief escaped his lips.

"Pipes… Pipes!" He said laughed and prying her up so he could look at her, "You have me wrapped around your finger don't you?"

Piper grinned widely, thinking of what all her half-siblings would say…

"Come on," he said opening his car door and unblocking his seat belt, "Why don't you show me this camp website?"

Piper's grinned never faded as she followed her dad out of the car to show him the decoy camp website that was created for just these purposes.

...Daddy's little girl.

Random plot bunnies get wrangled up in my mind when I read FanFiction and the book at the same freaking time. It is possible people.

Reviews = More Heroes of Olympus one-shots?

~ Sincerely MNM