Hey. This one-shot was written off a prompt given to me by Stormfire76 back in like September when we did a story exchange thing and I'm just super super late in posting this. Whoops. Summary credit to the amazing and talented Stormfire76, and if you haven't seen her story from my prompt (called Plans) you should totally go check it out it's adorable. Alright that's all, on with the show.

"Centurion." Gwen said clearly, annunciating each syllable.

"Sss-in-ur-on." Cornelius attempted to copy her.

"Centurion." Gwen repeated for him.

"Sss-in-sur-ee-on?" Cornelius sounded out again hopefully.

"There you go!" Gwen smiled fondly and held out a hand to high five the toddler.

Cornelius slammed her hand with all his might. He perked up as Dakota entered the living room, sipping a glass or red Kool-Aid. "Hey Daddy!" He called out. "I'm gonna be a sin-sur-ee-on of the fif cort!" He held up four fingers to emphasize his point. Gwen quickly reached over and pried up his fifth finger.

"Very cool, little man." Dakota sat down on the couch next to Gwen and rested a hand on her swollen belly. "How's Kota Jr.?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "We've been over this- it's a girl."

"Eww." Dakota teased. "Come on Cornelius, repeat after Daddy. 'Girls are icky!'"

Cornelius jumped up and down excitedly. "Girls are icky!" He repeated confidently.

Dakota grinned. "See, Cornelius knows what's up. Come here." He picked up the toddler and lifted him into his lap. "So you're going to be a Centurion, huh?"

Cornelius nodded enthusiastically.

"And how are you going to do that?" Dakota questioned. Cornelius waved his hands around in an impression of swinging a sword and made wishing sounds. Dakota chuckled. "Kill lots of monsters, huh?" Cornelius nodded. Dakota ruffled his hair. "It's going to take a lot more than that. See your mommy, she's very very smart. Smarter than all the dumb boys. And she's very good at leading people and making people feel happy. Everyone likes her. That's why she got to be a centurion. And killing lots of monsters of course."

Cornelius seemed to consider this, even if he couldn't really understand. "What about Daddy?"

Gwen chuckled now. "Lots of luck and lots of stupidity. And my help, of course."

"That is not how it happened. I could have totally done it without you." Dakota said defensively.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Oh you could have?"

"Not at all." Dakota admitted. "Come on Cornelius, it's story time."

"But I get to tell it." Gwen said.

"Not a chance." Dakota countered.

"I do it better." Gwen argued.

"Okay, Cornelius, who tells better stories? Mommy or Daddy?"

Cornelius grinned, obviously happy at being placed in charge of a very important decision. With a sheepish look at Gwen, he pointed a stubby finger at Dakota.

Dakota winked at Gwen. "There you have it. It's my turn." He shifted his legs to settle Cornelius into his lap. "Okay, so a long time ago, back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth,"

"Dakota!"

"Okay not quite that long ago. There were only a few dinosaurs left..."

"Whoo! New praetor in the house!" Dakota and Bobby cheered like overenthusiastic football fans as Jason walked over to sit with them.

Jason blushed. "Stop." He whispered. "People are staring."

"Not at us." Bobby said. "They all want to check out their new praetor."

"Reyna's really checking him out." Dakota teased.

Bobby elbowed him. "Be careful, she can kill you more ways than you can count."

Dakota didn't say anything, but looked slightly more wary when Reyna glanced their way again.

"So how does it feel being praetor?" Bobby asked. "Is the power getting to your head all ready? Are you ready to throw us out for new more popular friends only to realize in the end that you need to be yourself and made a huge mistake in dumping the only people who truly loved you?"

"It feels… the same, I guess." Jason answered, ignoring the second half of the question.

"The power will get to him, just wait." Bobby whispered loudly to Dakota.

Jason groaned. "I do know I outrank you both now, so I can tell you to shut up about it."

"It's already getting to him." Dakota mock-whispered back.

Jason dropped his head into his hands in defeat.

"I think we broke him." Bobby whispered. He took a bite of his food. "So, now that you're praetor, whose replacing you as centurion?"

Jason raised his head and began picking at his food. "They don't know yet."

Dakota perked up. "Not the slightest clue?"

Jason shrugged. "Right now? No."

"Okay." Bobby said. "Put in your bet now. Losers have to-"

"I want to." Dakota blurted out. He quickly regretted saying it when he saw the puzzled looks on his friends' faces. He had been up last night worrying, and he was right- they didn't think he had a chance.

"To pick the bet?" Bobby said. "Because you did it last time, and I was cleaning mayonnaise off my-"

"No." Dakota interrupted again. "I want to be centurion."

Jason and Bobby shared a look. "Dakota?" Bobby said, "Are you especially drunk off Kool-Aid today?"

Dakota put down the Kool-Aid he was drinking. "No. I just, I want to be centurion. I was thinking about it last night too."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Bobby said cautiously.

'Why not?"

"It's just, uh," Bobby struggled, "You're not exactly the centurion type. And uh, I mean, I don't think Reyna likes you that much. Tell him why it's a bad idea, Jason."

Jason shot Bobby a glare, but spoke up. "Bobby's right. I mean, not that we think you can't do it, but you're not exactly on the list for consideration."

Dakota deflated a bit. "You're right. Its dumb."

"Right. Too much work." Bobby said, then rushed to change the topic. "So now that you're praetor, do you think you can hook us up with some cute girls?"

Dakota tuned them out. If he couldn't even get his friends to take him seriously, how the hell was he supposed to get all of new Rome?

"Dakota!" Gwen exclaimed.

"What?"

"Don't use bad words in front of the toddler." Gwen scolded.

"What? Oh, you mean hell." Dakota realized his mistake. "Oops! Sorry, Gwen."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"What's hell mean?" Cornelius piped up.

Gwen shot Dakota a 'now look what you've done' look. "It's a city." She said, at the same time Dakota said, "It's a restaurant."

"It's a city. And there's a restaurant named after the city." Gwen corrected.

"Oh." Cornelius said. "Why is it bad?"

"There are lots of monsters in the city." Gwen explained.

"And I got food poisoning at the restaurant." Dakota added. "Their pizza tasted like socks."

"Eww!" Cornelius laughed.

"Okay," Dakota continued, "So where was I…"

Swish. Gwen's sword hit its mark perfectly, again.

"How is she so gosh dang perfect?" Dakota grumbled from where he was kind of secretly watching her practice. It definitely wasn't stalkerish.

"I don't know, bro. Steroids?"

Dakota nearly jumped when he heard the voice behind him. "Bobby!" He exclaimed, then quickly quieted when he saw Gwen looking curiously in their direction. "Where did you come from?"

"Do steroids work on demigods?" Bobby mused.

Dakota continued to stare at him.

"Oh right," Bobby said. "I came to check on you. You seemed kind of upset earlier. And wackier than normal." He looked over towards Gwen, who had deemed them as unimportant and resumed her training. "But it totally makes sense now."

"What does?"

"Why you want to be centurion." Bobby said. "You totally have the hots for Gwen."

Dakota tried to brush off the comment. "I told you I was joking earlier. And I so do not like Gwen."

"You so do." Bobby retorted.

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

Dakota crossed his arms. "You sound like you're five years old. Are you going to blow a raspberry at my now?"

"Doesn't matter how I sound," Bobby replied, unoffended, "Because I am totally right."

"Are not."

"Am too-" Bobby cut himself off. "Okay we are not doing this again." A grin slowly crawled across Bobby's face. "Okay, so if you don't like her, you wouldn't mind if I went and asked her out right now?"

"Fine, maybe I like her a little bit." Dakota admitted sheepishly.

Bobby's face lit up. "I totally knew it!"

Dakota didn't share his enthusiasm. "It doesn't matter. Because there is no way she would like me."

Bobby was beginning to look slightly devious now. "She might if you became centurion. You'd have to spend a lot of time together. Go to romantic Senate meetings. Rip the guts out of monsters together."

Dakota shrugged. "Maybe. But there's no way I could become a centurion. You and Jason both said so earlier."

"But that was before I knew it was for a girl."

"Woah, woah, woah." Gwen interrupted again.

Dakota gave an exaggerated sigh. "I was literally right in the middle of the story, Gwen."

"Yah!" Cornelius backed him up.

"Don't you get sassy with me, young man." Gwen scolded him. "You either." She added to Dakota, who stuck his tongue out at her.

"Fine." Dakota said, "'What's so important?"

Gwen turned to Cornelius, and gently stroked his hair with her hand. "I know your Daddy is super cool and all, but I just want to make sure you know something. You shouldn't ever do anything just to impress some girl." She told him gently. "Or boy." She added as an afterthought. "If you become a centurion, it should be because you want to do it for yourself and to protect other people."

"Hold on," Dakota interrupted. "I didn't do it just for you. I totally also wanted to save people and stuff. I was very noble."

"I'm trying to be a good parent, don't interrupt me." Gwen shushed him. "This is one of those inspirational speeches he's going to look back on when he comes praetor of the whole legion."

"Praetor?" Cornelius piped up eagerly.

Gwen smiled. "Who knows? Maybe. The point is that leadership positions are a lot of responsibility-"

"That I totally handled!" Dakota cut in.

Gwen ignored him. "And shouldn't be taken lightly. Okay, baby?"

Cornelius looked up at her, and then nodded.

Gwen smiled and ruffled his hair again. "Good boy."

"Are we going to get back to my super awesome story now?" Dakota said impatiently.

Cornelius looked up at his father eagerly, and Gwen smiled. "Yes, I'm done now. Go ahead."

Dakota raised his eyebrows. "I'm not sure the rest of New Rome would see it that way."

Bobby scratched his chin. "You're right. But don't worry, I am here to help you out now."

Dakota rolled his eyes. "Thank the gods, I'm saved."

Bobby remained in deep thought for a moment. "Okay, I have a plan."

"Is it like your usual plans?" Dakota asked cautiously.

"No. This one is actually a good plan."

"Well that's a relief." Dakota muttered sarcastically. "What's the plan?"

"Well, we have war games tonight…" Bobby began.

"I'm aware."

"And you know Reyna is always watching everyone during those." He continued.

Dakota nodded. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Bobby grinned. "It's the perfect opportunity, dude. Everyone will be watching. Reyna, Jason, Gwen. If you kick some butt tonight its just what you need to get noticed. And be taken seriously. And just in time for the election of a new centurion!"

Dakota thought about it for a second. "But that requires me to be able to kick butt."

Bobby shrugged. "That's a minor issue. Look, all you have to do is think about Gwen. Imagine her giving you a victory kiss when you succeed in being awesome."
Dakota raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if that will help."

Bobby dismissed his concern. "It totally will. Winning is all about having lots of self confidence."

Dakota didn't feel any less skeptical, but Bobby was right. It was his last shot to impress everyone. "Okay. But go get your weapons and we're practicing together the rest of the day." Dakota demanded.

Bobby smiled and pumped a fist in the air. "All of my friends are going to have positions of power! I'll be practically ruling the world!"

When the legion gathered for that night's game, the sun was beginning to set, but it was still humid.

"Hold on." Gwen interrupted yet again. "You're not going to tell him all about the game are you?"

"I was?" Dakota said, unsure of himself and not wanting to offend his wife. "Would that be wrong?"

Gwen threw her hands up in exasperation. "Do you know how violent sieges are? He's a toddler, Kota. It'll give him nightmares and then I'll be the one waking up in the middle of the night when he comes crawling into our room. Plus I've read that exposing them to violence at a young age could-"

Dakota frowned. "Come on, I kick major ass in this part!"

"Dakota!"

"Butt." He quickly corrected. "I kick major butt. And it's important to the story"

Gwen crossed her arms. "Then you can tell him the story when he's older."

"No!" Cornelius protested.

"Alright, how about I just skip that part." Dakota said.

"But I want to hear it." Cornelius said, bouncing up and down.

Dakota leaned over and stage whispered to the kid. "Blame Mommy, she's being a poo poo head." Cornelius giggled.

Gwen pretended to check the watch she wasn't actually wearing. "You know what boys, I think it's both of your bedtime."

"But mooooooom." Cornelius pouted.

"I haven't even gotten to the best part." Dakota added. "And I don't have a bedtime."

"That's too just too bad." Gwen said.

Dakota sighed. "I'm sorry I called you a poo poo head."

"And Daddy can skip all the scary stuff." Cornelius pleaded. "Please?"

Gwen smiled. "Alright Dakota, continue your story."

"So by some miracle I played the best game of siege of my life," Dakota continued, "I was like a super awesome giant. Unfortunately, we still lost the game."

Cornelius pouted. "Really? How?"

"It's not important." Dakota reassured him. "Plus, the cool part comes after that anyways."

Bobby was still reliving their glory while he and Dakota stood on guard at the entrance to camp. "And then you barreled right through them! That was so awesome!"

"We still didn't win." Dakota pointed out. But he couldn't hold back his smile.

"Doesn't matter." Bobby said. "Everyone sure noticed you. Any second Jason is going to come tell us how Reyna said she wants you to be centurion. You and Gwen will be honeymooning in no time."

Dakota's smile grew to a full on grin. "Thanks Bobby. For helping me."

Bobby grinned back. "No problem. You'll have to help me out when I find a girl."

"Of course."

"I totally did, by the way." Dakota trailed off "He and Daisy totally wouldn't have been a thing if I didn't-"

"Some of us have bedtimes." Gwen stopped his tangent, tilting her head to indicate Cornelius. She looked sleepy herself.

"Okay, okay, another time."

"Hey, here comes Jason." Bobby pointed over to where Jason was jogging over.

"Hey." Jason said, slightly out of breathe, when he reached them.

"What did Reyna want to say?" Bobby questioned. "Other than 'I wuv you sooo much Jason'"

"I can't even begin to imagine that sentence coming out of Reyna's mouth." Jason cringed.

"No." Dakota agreed. "Even if she was like standing on the edge of a cliff with a sword pointed at her back and the only way the monster would let her go was if she said it."

Jason nodded. "She'd jump off the cliff."

"Whatever." Bobby said. "So what did she say?"

Jason shot a somewhat guilty glance at Dakota. "Just that we aren't having an official vote until tomorrow, but it looks like Daisy is going to be the new centurion."

"Oh." Dakota mumbled. "Oh."

"That's ridiculous!" Bobby exclaimed. "You didn't argue? Don't you think-"

"That's cool." Dakota interrupted him. "I like Daisy."

"Me too." If Jason sensed the tension, he didn't mention it. "I've got to get back and go to sleep- the meeting is bright and early tomorrow. See you guys then."

"See ya." Dakota said, and Bobby mumbled a "Good night."

As soon as Jason was out of earshot, Bobby turned to Dakota. "Why didn't you say anything? Jason could have at least argued for you. Reyna would have listened to him."

Dakota shrugged. "Jason takes his new job seriously, and he knows I'm not the right choice. No need to force him to an awkward position."

"But what about Gwen?" Bobby said. "Daisy's cute, what if she swoops Gwen out from under you?"

Dakota raised an eyebrow at Bobby. "Umm, I don't think Gwen swings that way."

Bobby shrugged his shoulders. "We're clueless dude, we don't know this stuff."

"Well, thanks for making me feel better." Dakota muttered.

"Come on," Bobby encouraged, "Don't give up now. Okay, what if I dress up as a gorilla and sneak up behind Reyna while she's sleeping-"

"Where are you going to get a gorilla suit?"

Bobby scratched his chin. "Good point. Okay, so we fill the river with your Kool-Aid mix-"

"Give up, Bobby. You're not funny."

Bobby crossed his arms. "Well you've been mopey all week, so someone has to be. Seriously, I like you better on Kool-Aid. You're much more entertaining."

"I'm sorry if I can't always be your personal comedian." Dakota huffed. "Maybe I just want to do something a little more important."

"At the risk of sounding girly and cliché," Bobby said, "Romans have a problem with constantly having sticks up their asses. We could all use a little comic relief."

Dakota smiled. "You know, I think that might have been sweet."

"Should we hug now?" Bobby teased, but Dakota had fixated on something else.

"Bobby." He said anxiously, tapping his friend's shoulder. "I really think we should have been keeping watch."

"What? Nothing ever- oh crap." Bobby had now too spotted the human looking figure just within eyesight.

"Come on." The two took off, catching up to the figure outside the camp entrance.

"Daisy?" Bobby recognized the girl up close, but she didn't look in good shape. She was pale and limping and her clothes were soaked in blood. Bobby put an arm around her shoulders. "What happened?"

"Ambush…" She murmured, though her eyes were unfocused.

"What was she doing out of camp?" Bobby asked.

A memory struck Dakota. "Earlier she left with Gwen to go check out some-" He stiffened. "Where's Gwen?"

"Couldn't escape… ran for help." Daisy forced out.

"Daisy," Bobby coaxed, "this is really important. We're going to get you to the infirmary, but you really need to tell us where Gwen is."

Daisy's head slumped to one side; she was quickly loosing consciousness. She was a silent for a moment, than mumbled something under her breath too quiet for the boys to hear.

"Can you speak up a little bit?" Bobby prodded.

"Wal-Mart." She muttered again. "Broad Street." Then she passed out in Bobby's arms.

Bobby turned to Dakota. "Come on, help me get her to the infirmary than we can wake up Reyna and get a rescue party sent out."

Dakota was silent.

"Dakota?" Bobby pried, "What are you thinking?"

"Okay," Dakota said, "Hear me out."

"No." Bobby replied.

"You haven't even heard what I was going to suggest." Dakota responded.

"You were going to go after Gwen yourself to try and earn macho points."

Dakota crossed his arms. "Okay maybe that was what I was going to say, but come on. Its my only chance of becoming a centurion now."

"Its dangerous."

"Thanks mom. I can do it Bobby. Please. You know I can do it."

Bobby hesitated. "I don't know…"

"You don't think I can do it?"

Bobby was stuck now. "No, uh yes, I mean fine. Go, and I'll take care of Daisy. But when Reyna finds out its your ass on the line."

Dakota might've hugged him if not for the unconscious girl in between them. "Thanks. I can do this." Here it was, a chance to prove himself. Now he just had to not be a huge failure for once in his life.

Dakota wasn't even entirely sure how he got to the Wal-Mart Daisy had indicated. His feet just seemed to carry him there, faster than he had ever moved before. Sure, he knew he was being a giant idiot running in to rescue Gwen without any back up. But hey, love blinds. Or something like that.

The Wal-Mart looked completely and totally ordinary. It looked closed for the night, all the lights inside off. Dakota walked up the front doors, pressing his nose against the glass. He couldn't see anything. He tried the door handle. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. Great, so he could be walking right through the front doors into a giant trap. But hey, it's not like he hadn't done stupider things in his life. He took a swig from the Kool-Aid bottle he had shoved in his jacket for extra confidence. And then walked through the door.

Once inside, the store still seemed just as empty. No wait, he could see a light up in one of the back rooms. He crept through the isles of super cheap school supplies until he was at the Employee's Only door the light was shining out from under. He put his ear up to the door.

"Daddy." Cornelius said nervously. "Is this part scary? Is it going to make Mommy mad again?"

"Shh," Dakota whispered, "Mommy is sleeping." As if to prove his point, Gwen let out a soft snore. "So do you want to hear it?"

Cornelius nodded.

"Remember," Dakota reassured his son, "the good guys always win."

Dakota could hear soft voice talking on the other side.

"Why are we keeping this one alive?" One voice asked. Dakota noticed the way it sort of hissed as it spoke. Dracanae, maybe?

"The other one has already escaped." A second voice said. "They will bring others to come save this one soon. And by then the master will be back, and they won't stand a chance."

Master? Dakota didn't even want to know. It just sounded like he needed to grab Gwen and then get the hell out of dodge. He heard a low moan from the other side of the door. That must have been Gwen.

"She's waking!" One of the voices said.

"We should kill her now, the her friends won't know she's dead until it's too late." The other said.

That was Dakota's cue to break through the door, imperial gold sword blazing. He was met by the sight of two ugly snake women, and a semi conscious Gwen leaning against the back wall. He didn't even hesitate just rushed the first one. She was taken by surprise enough that he managed to impale her just as she was able to push him away. He stumbled backwards into the wall, hitting his head. Hard. The room started to spin a little bit. Damn concrete.

Gwen was beginning to pull herself to her feet, while working on the ropes tying her wrists at the same time. Dakota looked over to his sword, which lay in the spot where the first dracanae had turned to dust. He lunged for it, but unfortunately, the second dracanae was faster, She snatched his sword from the ground leaving him weaponless. Why didn't he carry a back up dagger or something? This rescue was going just great.

Dakota charged at her anyway, hoping to wrestle his sword back, but she swatted him back. His head hit the wall again, and his vision darkened for just a second. When the fog cleared, he saw that the dracanae had grabbed Gwen, who had still be trying to untie herself, and now held the demigod at sword point. This was when he really started to panic.

The monster smiled. "I guess I'll just have to kill you both now. Your friends will still come, I'm sure. And the master will be pleased."

"Daddy!" Cornelius worried again.

"Let me finish." Dakota said. "Both Mommy and I are alive today, so nothing bad could have happened, right?"

Cornelius nodded. "Right."

At this point Dakota was really starting to panic. He was defenseless and now a monster was about to slit Gwen's throat. This was definitely not how to get the girl. He should've just stuck to his Kool-Aid.

Wait. He still had an almost full water ball of Kool-Aid in his jacket pocket. He internally shrugged. If he was going to die now, he might as well go out fighting. "Hey ugly!" He called to the dracanae, "Why don't you kill me first?"

She turned to look at him, just in time for him to chuck his bottle of Kool-Aid at her with all his might. It hit the monster straight in the forehead, and she stumbled back a few steps, which was just enough for Gwen to grab the sword from the dracanae's unsuspecting claws. And then Gwen promptly impaled the monster, turning into the dust that settled on the floor among the spilt Kool-Aid.

Gwen turned to Dakota, a look of surprise on her face. "What the hell was that?"

Dakota put on what he thought was a charming smirk, but probably looked more loopy than attractive. "Is it just me or is the room spinning?" And then he passed out.

Dakota was woken up in the infirmary by Bobby. Jason stood next to him. "I told you to leave him be." Jason said.

"He's fine." Bobby insisted. "Plus, he'll want to hear."

"Hear what?" Dakota mumbled, still half asleep.

"The Senate has decided to appoint you the new Centurion of the Fifth Cohort." Jason said.

Dakota shot up in bed. "What? Am I dreaming?"

Bobby pinched him. "Nope. This is real."

"How?" Dakota asked. "Jason, did you-"

"I didn't do anything." Jason said. "I didn't even know you still cared."

"Then what happened?"

"This is the best part." Bobby grinned.

"It was Gwen." Jason said. "She came to me and Reyna and spoke about your bravery and qualifications. She said there wasn't anyone she'd rather work beside. When the heard how highly she spoke of you, the Senate agreed."

"I am definitely dreaming." Dakota said.

Bobby bowed. "All hail Dakota, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort."

"And that's how Daddy saved the princess, slayed to evil monster, and became a Centurion." Dakota finished proudly.

Cornelius looked at him awe stricken, while Gwen had dozed off against the arm of the couch.

"Don't wake mommy." Dakota whispered. "She'll make you go to bed."

"I'm awake." Came a sleepy mumble. Gwen lifted her head and stretched.

"Does that mean I have to go to bed now?" Cornelius pouted.

"Why it's the responsible thing to do-" Dakota said, at the same time Gwen said "Of course not!"

Cornelius looked at both his parents, unsure of who to listen to.

"You don't have to go to bed yet." Gwen said. "First, its only fair I get to tell a story. About a time I saved your father's life-"

"When did that happen?" Dakota said.

"Other than the part you just mentioned when I had to drag your limp body back to camp?" Gwen grinned. "Well, I was going to tell him about-"

"The Cyclops? That was one time." Dakota defended.

"Actually," Gwen said, "I was going to tell the one-"

"The hellhounds?" Dakota asked, "Because I totally could have gotten out of that one myself."

"No,"

"That time I almost set myself on fire?"

"No."

"That time I pissed of Reyna?"

Gwen shook her head, amused. "No, but you still owe me for that one. Now if you're done proving my point, I was going to tell him about the drakon."

"Oh, I remember that." Dakota admitted. "Continue."

"Right." Gwen pulled Cornelius next to her and he snuggled into her side. "So after mommy had killed all the dinosaurs…"