This story is complete baby fluff. I was just a little stressed so I wrote this to make myself feel better. Also, Leo Valdez is adorable. I only reread this a few times, so I apologize for any typoes.
Annabeth huffed in annoyance as she quickly made her way up the stairs of the small apartment complex, a diaper bag thrown over her shoulder and her small daughter clutched to her hip.
Why would the entire project at work seem to be falling to ruins the one weekend Percy and his parents go on a trip to Long Island? Her bad luck had only gotten worse when she found every single person she might call on to watch her daughter busy. Now, she was forced to use her last resort and she couldn't help but feel things would go horribly wrong. With some reluctance she knocked on the shabby apartment door.
Almost immediately the door swung open to reveal Leo Valdez, smiling uncertainly. His hair was a complete mess and stains of dirt and oil littered his old t-shirt and jeans.
"Hey, Annabeth," Leo greeted, warily eyeing the baby, who was now trying to pull Annabeth's blonde hair.
"Hi, Leo," Annabeth responded as she glanced uncomfortably at the piles of broken parts littering the floor of his apartment. "I thought you said you'd clean up."
"I did," Leo answered with a shrug. "Believe me, you should have seen this place before you got here."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Well, you have to be careful she doesn't choke on any of that stuff. She likes to get into all kinds of trouble... like her father." The little girl squirmed, trying to free herself from her mother's tight grip, but Annabeth hardly noticed.
"Why would she try to eat this stuff...?" Leo asked, genuinely confused.
Annabeth sighed. "Because she's a baby. But don't worry. Just keep an eye on her and she'll be okay."
Leo bit his lip. "Look, about that. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Organic life forms really aren't my thing."
"You say that, but you're great with people. Really, you'll be fine."
Leo raised an eyebrow at her and chuckled. "You really believe that?"
Annabeth huffed. "I'm sorry, Leo, but I have to get to the office right now. I know the circumstances aren't the best, but it will only be for a few hours. If you need anything at all, call me. Everything you need will be in the diaper bag. Just be careful and don't do anything stupid."
Leo laughed uneasily. "Yeah, alright... I can do that. Watch baby... nothing stupid... sure... sounds like a good idea..." Annabeth ignored his sarcasm and set the diaper bag on the floor, before holding her daughter out to Leo. He awkwardly grabbed the girl under the armpits and held her as far away from his face as he possibly could.
"Uh... hiya, Chase, I'm Uncle Leo." He tried his best to give her a wide smile. Chase looked back at him, expressionless, her striking green eyes hardly blinking. Then, she scrunched her face into a slight pout and tried to squirm free.
Annabeth watched as Leo struggled to hold her daughter, wondering if this idea was really worth it. "Okay, Leo, if you can't handle this, maybe..."
Leo gave her his best fake laugh. "No, no... I mean, me and Chase will have lots of erm... fun together and stuff."
Annabeth weighed her options. There really wasn't anyone else to watch her daughter and the she needed to supervise the project if it had any chance of being ready for its due date. However, she really preferred her daughter... not dead. But Leo could handle her for a few hours... right? "Just keep her safe. I'll be back in a few hours. If anything goes wrong, call me." She walked out the door and took one last minute look at her daughter. "But make sure nothing goes wrong!" She added sternly as the door shut.
Once she was gone Leo laughed uncomfortably and took a moment to examine the baby more carefully; dark hair, chubby cheeks, and small chubby fingers that were incidentally try to reach his tool belt. Leo could never really understand why everyone found babies so cute and appealing. They just terrified him.
"No, no little girl, that's not for you," he told her. She, inevitably, didn't listen and continued to squirm and kick to get his tool belt. "No, how about we play on the ground?" he cooed in his most cheery voice. He set Chase down onto a clean area of floor, thinking perhaps she would sit there and he could just watch her until Annabeth returned.
Chase sat there for a moment to take in her surroundings before, much to Leo's dismay, bolting off towards a pile of old tools on the floor.
"No, no, no," Leo chanted as he chased down the surprisingly fast infant. Chase whined and cried when he grabbed her, squirming to get free. Leo set her back down and quickly set the tools onto an already flooded shelf. He turned around only to find her already across the room, reaching into a bucket of nails.
"How did you do that? No, stop!" Leo shouted as he rushed over and grabbed two nails out of her palms. He picked her up and held her in front of himself. "Maybe the floor is a bad idea," he muttered. Then, he noticed how the little girl's lip was protruding and her face was slowly turning red.
"What are you doing? It's okay! Look at my funny face." Leo tried to dance around with his tongue out, but Chase took no notice and began to wail. Leo listened to the abysmal sound in horror as he tried to figure out a solution. With some difficulty, he managed to hold onto the screaming baby while he reached into his tool belt to reveal a cute baby rattle. He offered it to Chase, but the girl hardly touched it before it was thrown across the room.
Leo was trying not to freak out. "Okay..." he muttered to himself. "Stay calm. Hey, Chase, stop crying, I-I'll give you a cookie." The idea didn't work, perhaps because Chase didn't care or perhaps she couldn't hear him over her loud screaming. In any event, the idea was a bad one because Leo didn't have a cookie to speak of. Finally, he remembered Annabeth's diaper bag.
With the baby under his arm Leo hurried to the other side of the room and reluctantly set the screaming child on the floor. "Stay," he ordered, before turning to dig through the bag, finally pulling out a fuzzy dolphin. Leo turned around to show it to her, only to realize the crying had stopped and the baby was nowhere to be seen. Leo glance up in horror to notice Chase had somehow crawled all the way across the room and was now reached for a precariously balanced book on one of his messy shelves.
"Stop!" he shouted as he raced forward and yanked her away, just as a pile of books tumbled to the floor. Leo breathed heavily as he clutched the baby. Chase stared at the pile of books in surprise before she began to giggle.
"Now you laugh..." Leo grumbled, eyeing the mess in defeat. "Maybe you are like your father."
Chase continued to giggle as she tried to pull his hair. At this point, Leo decided the house probably wouldn't be a good place to stay. "Let's go to the park," he suggested. Leo didn't really want to keep carrying the squirmy child, but luckily he remembered an item he picked up a few months ago for a certain idea he'd had that hadn't worked out.
Keeping Chase beneath his arm this time, he opened his closet and dug in with one arm, pulling out an old and battered stroller. Leo examined it for a moment, but then shrugged. "Looks safe enough," he told the baby. She hiccuped in reply.
It took Leo some time to get down the stairs with the stroller, bag, and infant without dropping anything. Finally he was pushing the baby down the street while she sat and quietly watched people go by. "Yes..." Leo muttered. "This isn't so bad." Chase cooed in agreement as a taxi drove by. Leo turned the stroller and headed for the park.
"Oh, wait, you dropped your toy," a voice called from behind him. He turned around to find a beautiful young woman with dark hair and a pearly white smile holding out Chase's stuffed animal.
Leo instantly blushed. She was certainly out of his league and therefore, his type. "Oh, yeah, thanks," he said as smoothly as possible. He handed the stuffed dolphin to Chase who promptly whipped it back onto the ground with a laugh.
"No, hold it," Leo told her sternly as he forced the toy back into her lap. Chase merely chucked it farther away as she laughed maniacally. "Fine," Leo grumbled. "You can't have it back then."
The woman was laughing at him. "She's adorable. Is she yours?"
Leo immediately glanced down at Chase and his face split into a smirk. 'Maybe this isn't such a bad arrangement,' he thought. "No, I'm just watching her for my friends. I thought she could use a little Uncle Leo time."
The girl smiled. "She's very cute. What's her name?"
"Chase, she is precious, isn't she?" Chase's face fell into a pout and she blew a raspberry to disprove his point. Unfortunately for her, it's really hard for a baby to not appear cute and the woman only laughed at her.
"I'm Tasha. My sister has a son about her age. I watch him a lot too."
Leo grinned back at her. "Well little Chase and I were heading to the park to play together."
"Oh, I was heading that way too," Tasha replied. "Is it okay if I walk with you?"
"Yeah, of course. I'm sure Chase would love the company." Chase whined in response, but Leo really wasn't paying attention to the baby anymore.
Once they got to the park Tasha stopped and smiled at Leo. "My nephew always like to swing here," she said, gesturing to an empty baby swing.
"Great idea, I'm sure Chase would love that," Leo replied a little too enthusiastically. He wasn't quite sure if he could actually succeed at getting the infant into the swing without embarrassing himself.
As he lifted Chase out of the stroller she eyed him unblinkingly, still pouting. Leo could imagine what she was thinking. 'Using me to pick up girls? Seriously? Wait until my mother hears about this.'
"Your mother will never have to know," Leo whispered back, and then he mentally smacked himself for having a conversation with an infant. He tried to get the baby into the swing, but Chase really didn't want to and kept bending her legs in awkward angles. Eventually, Leo did manage to get her seated, but only after looking like a complete idiot. At least Tasha didn't seem to notice anything strange, so he assumed he hadn't clued her into the fact that babies terrified him... yet.
Tasha gently began to push the swing. This might have been the moment most babies smiled or laughed, but Chase didn't seem to want to give Leo the satisfaction. She didn't cry, but locked her face in stern scowl.
Leo was trying to determine the best way to broach a conversation with the new hot chick he'd met when Tasha suddenly stopped pushing the swing. "When did you last change her?"
"What?" Leo asked.
"Changed her diaper. I think she needs a change."
It may just have been just his imagination but Chase choose this moment to smile at Leo. 'Revenge'.
Oh, crap. Leo laughed uneasily. "Oh... right, well, uh..." And that was when he heard the scream.
Leo turned turned around to see three large hell-hounds romping towards them. "Dammit," he cursed.
Tasha raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" she asked, watching the giant beasts with mild curiosity.
"Nothing! We'd better go. Bye," he yanked Chase away and nearly threw her into the stroller, not waiting for Tasha to reply. "Stupid monsters. This is why I'll never have a girlfriend." Chase giggled at him to add insult to injury.
For a moment Leo considered simply running for it, but when he saw the trio of monters heading for group of elementary students all staring in confusion he knew he had to intervene. He changed his course and headed straight for the hell-hounds. He stopped the strollers a good distance away and stood in front of Chase. Her face was getting red and squishy.
"Okay, stay here. I'll be right back," he said in the most comforting voice he could muster. She began to wail again, but Leo didn't have time to listen. He shot off towards the rampaging hell-hounds as he pulled a hammer from his tool belt.
One of them barred its yellow mandibles at him and charged. Leo moved to meet it head on, which was probably idiotic considering it was basically a 3 ton dog-shaped bulldozer charging him at upwards of fifty miles an hour. Leo managed to hit the hell-hound in the flat of the nose with his hammer before he rolled out of the way, but the beast hardly seemed to notice. He snarled at Leo in anger, his two friends turning to meet him. The group of students had thankfully disappeared from the area but Leo realized he had bigger problems as a hell-hound came at him from all sides.
In a desperate bid to distract them he lit himself up and launched a wave of fire at the beasts. The hell-hounds blinked, but growled only more angrily.
"Crap," Leo muttered, remembering how little effect fire had on the giant beasts. He was about to get pummeled when suddenly a dark figure stepped out of the shadows.
"Didn't expect to see you here," the figure said dryly.
"Nico! Hey, man. What are you doing here?"
"What do you think?" Nico snarled, right before he dove to one side to avoid being slashed apart by a set of claws. "What about you, Valdez?"
"I'm babysitting."
Nico snickered. "You're clearly doing a great job."
"Shut up," Leo grumbled as he smacked one of the monsters in the back with his hammer. "How long have you been following these guys, anyway?"
Nico scowled. "A while. There used to be a bigger pack, but I've picked most of them off. I've chased them from Hong Kong to Detroit, but I think I have finally tired them out." As he said this Nico stumbled and nearly fell forward.
Leo reached out to steady him. "I don't think they're the only ones."
"I'm fine," Nico hissed. To prove his point he raised his hands above. A large cavern opened up, right there in the middle of New York and sucked two hell-hounds back into the Underworld. Nico let out a dry laugh before collapsing face first into the grass.
"Yeah, Nico, you look fine," Leo grumbled. Now with only one hell-hound left he really wasn't worried. He'd dealt with much worse. The third monster seemed to have gotten over the shock of his buddies falling into the Underworld. He growled at Nico and Leo, clearly unhappy.
Leo ran forward and knocked against the giant dog with all his might. The hell-hound roared in anger but fell over with a loud crunch. Then, Leo realized the crying had stopped. He looked around in terror to realize the hell-hound was lying dazed right in the exact spot he had left the stroller. "No..." Leo muttered.
Anger coursed through his body as the monster stumbled back to its feet. "Damn you!" he shouted as he charged it, rage filling his veins. The hell-hound hardly had time to blink; in mere seconds the beast was nothing but dust. Leo fell to his knees searching the ground desperately, to no avail. He tried not to cry. "I'm sorry. Oh, Chase, I'm so sorry, I'm a terrible babysitter. Please be okay. I didn't mean to... why do I always fail people? Why do I screw everything up...?" he moaned. He put his face in his hands and laid there in despair among the rumble.
He was interrupted by a familiar childish giggle. "Now my imagination is playing tricks on me..." Leo sighed.
"You've got some explaining to do, Valdez," growled a female voice. Surprised, he looked up to see Rachel Dare standing in front of him, Chase clutched to her body. The baby grinned mischievously at him.
"Chase!" Leo cried. He jumped to his feet and ripped the child out of Rachel's hands, not even acknowledging her presence. He spun the baby around happily. "I was so worried! You're alive. Oh, thank the gods!" He cried.
Behind them, Nico stumbled upright. "What happened...?" he asked, dazed.
Rachel sighed. "Annabeth called and told me to check on Leo and her daughter. When I got to his apartment no one was home, so I just followed the sound of chaos... and what do you know? There they were." Leo didn't hear any of her explanation. He was too busy blowing raspberries into the baby's stomach.
"Lucky you got here in time..." Nico muttered as he nearly fell forward. Rachel put an arm around him to steady him.
"You can say that again. I wouldn't want to be the one to explain to Annabeth or Percy that their child was crushed by a hell-hound." Both Nico and Rachel cringed. They stood there for a moment, watching Leo throw the baby into the air and catch her again.
"I was just about ready to kill him," Rachel sighed. "But now watching him, he's just so damn adorable I can't stay mad."
Nico laughed softly. "Leo, I thought you couldn't stand kids."
"I can't," Leo replied as he hugged Chase to his chest. "You're so cute. I love you so much," he cooed.
Rachel shook her head. "Did you even bother to change her? She smells terrible."
"Well, uh..." He held Chase a little farther away from his body.
"Valdez!" Leo's face paled as he turned towards the voice. Annabeth stormed towards the group, still in her work clothes. "What the Hades happened?"
Rachel laughed. "You really don't want to know."
Leo smiled uncomfortably. "Hey, Annabeth. I thought you were working."
"I was until I heard there was an explosion two blocks from your apartment." She walked forward and ripped her daughter from Leo's hands, examining for any signs of injury. Once she was satisfied her daughter was healthy, she stepped back to look at the group. "You know what, Rachel, you're right. I don't want to know. Thanks for watching her, Leo." With that, Annabeth stormed away. Chase waved to them over her mother's shoulder.
"Do you think Annabeth will ever ask me to babysit again?" Leo asked after the mother and daughter were out of sight.
Nico shook his head. "I think she would be insane if she did."
Leo jumped happily in the air. "Thank the gods! Organic lifeforms are so stressful." He slumped forward and laid in the grass. "How could one child be so much work?"
Rachel rolled her eyes at his antics before the three of them hurried away from the area.
That was, as Nico predicted, the last time Leo was ever allowed to babysit a Jackson child. And for that, he was eternally grateful.
Thanks for reading. I hope this made a few of you smile. I just want Percabeth to live a happy little life and have a child and be so cute. And I want to hug Leo Valdez. He's so precious.