Okay, so it came to my attention that these two would be super cute and no one has really done anything with them yet so I've decided to do a little collection of short one shots. The characterizations of Malcolm and Lou Ellen are based on the way I play them on my rp blogs since we got to see way too little of them in the books.
Malcolm paced. It was really what he did best when life threw him a curve ball he didn't know how to think his way out of and this was one hell of a curve ball. Gaea was rising in a few short weeks if the seven couldn't do... whatever they were planning over in Europe, the hills outside the camp were crawling with monsters and Romans and his sister, Annabeth Chase, who should have been there leading the camp to victory with her brilliant strategies, had just sent them a message from Tartarus. That was the real headache. His sister was in Tartarus. That was a kind of problem he didn't have a plan for, even with his layers and layers of plots and contingency plans.
"Is that your plan?"
Malcolm nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the soft, slight Georgian drawl that announced the presence of his best friend and, until his sister came home, fellow head councilor, "What?"
"Is that your plan?" Lou Ellen repeated, crossing her arms, "You're going to pace through the floor and down into the underworld to save her?"
He blinked at her, never ceasing to be surprised at how she never held anything back. Maybe it was her rough past or maybe it was just a Hecate thing, but there were no pulled punched in Lou Ellen Newmarch's repertoire. He stumbled over how to respond to that, not wanting to admit his short coming to the fiery, dark haired southerner with the scarred knuckles and no-nonsense hazel eyes. She looked tough as nails, as always, but he knew she was soft inside and she depended on him and he was so afraid of failing her. When he finally spoke, his voice was thick with emotion, "I... I don't have a plan."
He braced himself for judgment, for the disappointment in her eyes that never came. Instead she crossed the room to him and, despite being nearly a full foot shorter than him, pulled him down to her level, kissing his forehead and smiling sadly at him, "I know."
"But I should-"
"Stop." She ordered firmly, holding his face in her hands so he had no choice but to look her in the eye, "You are a brilliant man, Malcolm, you hear me? Damn brilliant, but there are some things you just can't pre-plan for. Annabeth falling into Tartarus? You'd have to be crazy to pre-plan for that. And I know you ain't crazy."
"I can't fix this." He admitted, "I don't know how to fix this."
"So don't." She advised, "Annabeth is a big girl, she's got herself out of plenty of bad spots and she's got Percy to lean on. She wouldn't want you to get stuck on this. If she were here, you know what she'd say? She'd say, Malcolm, stop laying out spinning impossible problems and deal with those damn, no 'count Romans."
"I don't know what to do about them either." He admitted, his voice so quiet and sorry she almost couldn't hear him, "There's so many..."
"I know." She soothed, pulling him into a hug, "But you will know. You always do. That's why Annabeth leaves you in charge. It's why she believes in you."
Malcolm was quiet a moment, burying his face where her neck met her shoulder, feeling her skin, cool from the walk over from her cabin, against his. His body shook with tears that wouldn't fall as she gently stroked his hair, carefully untangling his undisciplined mass of wavy, curly blonde locks. For a moment, she absently wondered when he'd last made time to brush it. He squeezed her tightly, murmuring into her shoulder, "What would I do without you?"
She chuckled softly, "Oh, probably never shower and have a nervous break down."
He managed a small laugh, which may have been the best sound she'd heard in weeks, pulling back and kissing her cheek, "You're right, you're an angel."
"Don't be ridiculous," She scoffed, "What kind of angel would I make?"
"Exactly the kind I need." He smiled softly, "Now... what are we going to do about all those Romans?"