Disclaimer- I own nothing.

Luke P.O.V.

I was crouched down in front of our makeshift tent- my jacket raised above the three of us by a couple of sticks- and trying desperately to start a fire. Annabeth and Thalia were attempting to steal some basic necessities from the gas station. I was usually the one doing the stealing- being a son of Hermes- but those two girls- one a feisty seven year old, the other an extremely tough twelve- would never allow themselves to be beaten by me.

As I was attempting to start the fire, I heard a loud crash from behind. As I whirled around, I saw Annabeth had tripped behind me.

"Daddy…" she whimpered.

I sighed. "For the millionth time, Annabeth, I am not your dad."

The little girl looked like I had just smacked her and I instantly felt remorseful. "Why not?" she asked in a small voice.

"Because Annabeth," I started. "Because we're not related. Gods don't have DNA, so we're not related in the least. Second, I'm only six years older than you. And third, we don't have families, we're demigods."

Annabeth seemed to accept this as valid reasoning, and curled up on the floor, using me as a pillow.

Thalia exited the convenience store, a few colorful packages in hand. As soon as she saw me, she let out a suppressed giggle.

"I see you've been demoted," she said, raising one eyebrow.

"Not voluntarily," I said.

Thalia slumped down against a rock. She appeared defeated. I gazed at her in astonishment, this couldn't be Thalia. The Thalia I knew was strong, and never let it show when she was hurting. This girl was the opposite of that. As I watched her, I saw a small teardrop escape her eye. Followed by another one, and then another one, until her whole face was covered.

"Are you crying, Thals?" I asked. She looked up at me, as if she was only first noticing I was even here, and glared. Then she turned her back to me, signaling that she was not in the mood to talk.

"Tell me what's wrong."

She looked up at me, wiping the last remaining teardrop from her eye, as if this symbolically shed her from apparent weakness. "You want to know what's wrong?' she stammered in an icy tone.

I nodded, hoping she would go on.

"That little girl is what's wrong," she declared, pointing at the snoring little girl using me as her own personal pillow.

"What's wrong with Annabeth?" I asked, surprising myself with how defensive I sounded. I didn't know what this little girl was to me- a daughter, a sister, or whatever- but I did know that she was family to me.

"It hurts, Luke," she said. "Do you know how much it hurts to see her every day? My brother would be that age now."

"You have a brother?" I asked in surprise. Apparently there was a lot I didn't know about Thalia.

"Yeah, his name was Jason. My mom, she was pretty unstable, killed him, when he was two."

The words took a long time to sink in. Who in their right mind would allow Thalia to have so much inner suffering? "I'm so sorry," I managed to say.

"It's not really her fault," Thalia said, referring to Annabeth. "It's just that she's a daily reminder of what happened to my brother. It's not a good feeling, Luke."

"I know how it feels not to have a family,' I said.

"No, you don't. Not like I do."

I searched my brain for any possible way to make my friend feel better. "Well, just because we don't like the families we were given, doesn't mean that we don't have a family," I said. "You, me, and Annabeth, we're a family. I promise."

A smile made its way onto Thalia's hard face. "It's not the same."

I shook my head. "Yes it is. We have a mom, a dad, and a child. What's so different about that?"

Thalia snorted. "I guess. But we're still one weird family."

I smiled. "But it's a good weird."

Should I continue this, or should it be a one-shot?