A/N: So if you've read Fire and Water, here's the fic I wrote that to introduce you to. This follows Amy and Matt, Kate's kids. R&R GODSDAMMIT!

David: What, you aren't going to wisecrack or anything?

Beth: *lets out annoyed breath* David… What are you supposed to be doing right now?

David: Oh, right. David and Beth M, also known as KJtheELMtree, do not own Percy Jackson.

-The awesome one and the awesome one's evil twin

~LINE BREAK OF AWESOMENESS~

Amy Valdez raced her brother across the lawn, her backpack slapping against her back, her binder swinging in its bag. Their father watched them go, standing in the doorway.

Today was, after all, their first day of eighth grade. One more year and they'd be in high school. Since it was picture day, Amy wore a blue and yellow dress that had hung in the closet for as long as she could remember. She had her hair back in a yellow hairband and wore blue socks and gray sandals. Her dad had gotten the sandals new, she thought. Unbeknownst to her, everything, even the socks, had belonged to her mother.

Behind her, their father watched as they ran to the bus stop. He reached up and wiped a tear from his eyes. Going back inside and shutting the door behind him, he took down a picture from the mantle, one of a smiling girl with brown hair and green eyes, looking down at the baby in her arms. "Kate," he murmured, tracing her face as tears splashed. "Oh, Kate, I wish you were still alive to see your kids growing up. Amy looks exactly like you now…"

He sat down on the floor, hugging the photo to his chest, as the memory came flooding back…

It was the day after the war ended. The nine of them- Leo, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Nico, and Coach Hedge- were headed back to the States to stop the war between the Romans and the Greeks, and to tell them of their victory. Everyone was trying to be happy, but something kept dampening their spirits.

Kate.

She wasn't supposed to exist, wasn't supposed to be there. But Fate works in strange ways, and she had landed on the deck of the Argo II, eight months pregnant. She was cagey about her past, only telling them that she was a former street kid, and that she was from Houston, hence her last name.

It wasn't until a week later, after Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus, that she told them the truth: She was a daughter of Poseidon, and more than that, she was Percy's twin sister. Sally had given her up when they were three years old, and she had been on the street ever since.

She'd met Nico, and knew him better than anyone, even Hazel.

She was the one who told Percy he had a baby sister, once he was freed.

She was the one who nicknamed McKenna 'the little blowfish,' a name she would be called the rest of her life.

She loved her children more than anyone Leo knew, even his own mother.

And now here they were, having succeeded in everything- defeating Gaea, freeing Nico, saving the Athena Parthenos, closing the Doors of Death. But Kate had died to accomplish their big goal, and so they felt like… they had failed. No one back home knew about Kate, except Sally, and Paul, and Chiron.

Grief hung over the ship. The coach blew his nose all the time. Hazel and Piper and Frank missed meals that they spent crying. Percy withdrew, shutting himself up in his room for hours. Annabeth didn't bother cheering him up; she needed cheering up herself. Jason spent nearly all his time, it seemed, staring toward whatever came next. Even Festus was sad. Nico… well, Nico was taking it harder than anyone, except Leo.

As for Leo himself, it was hard to say. He worked himself harder than ever, and that was saying something. He thought that if he got lost in his work, the pain might lessen.

It never did.

He'd thought the second time would be easier.

It wasn't.

He'd sworn to himself that he would never love anyone again, for fear of losing them.

But he did, and he did.

The phone ringing jarred him out. He picked up the line; it was Annabeth. "Hey, Leo," she began. "I just thought I should call…. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting. I can call back later."

Leo smiled. "You didn't interrupt anything. Just my memories."

~LINE BREAK OF AWESOMENESS~

So that's chapter one… Hopefully it's not too angsty or anything!

So. You must review. You MUST.

Yours in demigodishness and all that.

-Beth M