Annabeth blinked a few times as she took in his brusque words, raising one of her eyebrows in indignation. She hadn't quite expected the roughness of his tone, but then again, he had just been taken into custody like a common criminal for a murder that took place over a decade beforehand.

"Annabeth Chase of Chase and McLean Law, I'm your lawyer," she said dryly, letting the door fall shut behind her as she stepped forward into her room. The sound of her clicking heels resonated throughout the room, echoing off the metal walls. The double sided mirror spanned almost an entire wall and even though she couldn't see the police, she was sure they were watching her.

"I never asked for a-" The man began, looking at her in a bit confusion before she held up her hand, her eyes darting back to the mirror where the police were watching. The last thing she needed was for Mellie to get into any sort of trouble for letting her through to see her unofficial client. Thankfully, he seemed to understand what she meant and shut his mouth, maybe he wasn't entirely a hopeless case.

Annabeth took the chair across from him, the sound of metal scraping against concrete making her teeth grind. Up close, she found that she couldn't quite disagree with Piper. He wasn't too bad to look at, but then again, he was also a probable-murderer. His eyes were alight with what she could only compare to green fire, blazing and burning in anger, though she could hardly blame him. His hair fell in his face and he seemed to be long overdue for a haircut. He reached up to rub his stubble covered jaw as though it hurt. A faint purpled bruise was blooming on his skin. The way he stared at her reminded her of the way the wolves stared, harsh and intense, without any sort of mercy as they waited to eat you alive. She gave him another once over, maybe being eaten alive wouldn't be so bad- and clearly she had been spending far too much time with Piper. Annabeth shook her head to clear her mind.

"So, Mr. Jackson," she began, folding her hands on the stainless steel table. Before she could continue to speak, he cut her off.

"Percy," he corrected her, "no one calls me Mr. Jackson, unless, of course, they are trying to arrest me," he added with a sardonic smile. She met his smile with a thin one of her own.

"Pardon my mistake, Percy. Now, what all have you told the police? Anything incriminating? Please tell me it has been nothing incriminating," she questioned, throwing in the last sentence exasperatedly. She'd had to defend clients in the past who could do everything but keep their mouths shut. She glanced over her shoulder, looking back towards the double sided mirror as if looking directly at the police officers behind it with her stormy gaze.

Percy snorted and rubbed at his jaw again. "I am not as stupid as I look you know," he grumbled and watched her with that wolfish stare, it honestly sent a chill down her spine, though she would never admit to that. It wasn't hard to assume he was capable of murder when he stared like that.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I have to ask that," she informed him and stood up, "and that is all I needed to hear." The woman turned to face the mirror, as if signaling that she was done speaking to her client. Within the minute, the two interrogating officers stepped through the door, the particularly angry one was holding a can of soda up to his swollen eye.

"Your eye is looking a little swollen, Ultor. Get in a fight with a little girl again?" Percy asked, smirking at the police officer. The one he addressed as Ultor slammed the soda can down on the table, leaning over to get up in his face.

"Watch your mouth, punk. Just be glad I can't charge you with attacking an officer," he growled lowly, his eyes alight with rage. The second officer, a much calmer looking detective whose name tag read "H. Datura," placed her hand on his arm to draw him back. Whereas Ultor radiated anger, Datura seemed to exude an aura of peace, her eyes warm and soothing.

"Seth, calm down," she murmured, talking him down from a rampage from the looks of it. In all honesty, it was impressive how she calmed him with little to no effort. He glowered angrily at Percy, but took a step back. Annabeth cleared her throat loudly.

"Are you two planning on charging my client with anything? If not, you legally cannot continue to hold him and we will be on her way," she said cloyingly, her already pencil thin smile wearing even thinner. The two officers turned to stare at her and Percy leant back in his chair in amusement.

Seth Ultor opened his mouth before closing it, glaring. "No, we aren't charging him with anything, but don't leave the city, we may call you back for more questioning," Datura said firmly, as though making it painfully obvious that they would, in fact, be calling him back for questioning.

Annabeth motioned for Percy to stand. "In that case, we will be on our way now," she said smoothly, walking past the two detectives and out of the interrogation room, her new client close behind. As soon as they were out of earshot from the detectives, she began to speak.

"Antagonizing detectives who are trying to convict you of murder is not the smartest thing to do," she said dryly, walking hurriedly down the hall, only turning to face him before reaching the door that led to the main area of the precinct. He shrugged, his hands shoved in the pockets of his grease covered jeans.

"Ultor is an asshole, worked the case the first time around and has had a problem with me ever since," he said with another shrug. Annabeth sighed, he was not going to be an easy client. She opened the door and was grateful to see that the area had been cleared of any reporters and excess lawyers who had been swarming the area less than an hour beforehand.

As she led Percy out, though he seemed just as comfortable in the precinct as she was- a disconcerting thought- Mellie called over to her from the receptionist's desk. "Annie, there are reporters everywhere outside, so be careful!" She said kindly, flashing the young lawyer a sympathetic smile. Annabeth sighed and offered a small thanks before taking a deep breath and pushing open the doors, her poker face slipping on in preparation for the numerous reporters and excess of the press that hung from the station like spiders who were ready to feed on any information that might possible tangle into their webs, and, god did she hate spiders.

"Don't say a damn word," she muttered under her breath to Percy, though she doubted he would. As soon as they stepped onto the concrete steps, she was startled to find that the reporters knew her name. How had they found out who she was- her train of thought ventured off track when she saw Clarisse standing off to the side, a smirk on her face. She scowled. Of course she would have leaked her name, She must have seen her sneaking into the back of the precienct.

"Ms. Chase! Ms. Chase! Are you defending Mr. Jackson against the murder charge?"

"Mr. Jackson! Did you do it?"

"Any statements?"

"Over here! Ms. Chase, over here!"

The yells and shouts of the reporters were a cacophonous symphony that made her ears ring and her teeth grind. She really hated spiders. When one of the reporters for the local news stations shoved his microphone in her face, she turned to him fiercely, stopping on one of the steps that led down to the sidewalk abruptly.

"My client will be making no comments at this time, or anytime for that matter. And there have been no charges issued at this moment, and I do not appreciate the insinuation that there will be any murder charges pressed against my client," she added sharply. Behind her, she could feel Percy's wolf stare as it bored down on the reporter. He really wasn't making any friends in the media, that would come back to bite him later.

Before anyone else could attempt to interview her, Annabeth grabbed hold of Percy's arm and began leading him down the steps roughly before walking away quickly, heading towards her office. Percy tugged his arm away from her as soon as they were out of sight from the reporters.

"You sure know how to handle the media," he said, just a hint of awe sneaking into his tone. Though she wouldn't say it aloud, she was almost as surprised as he was to see how deftly she managed the onslaught of reporters. She sighed heavily and kept up her brisk pace, not looking back to see if any reporters were following her, not looking over to meet his eyes as he spoke.

"And you don't. If you want any sort of sympathy, we will have to work on that. It's a wonder they didn't arrest you twelve years ago with the way you stare at reporters. You look like you may murder them," she said, her words pithy and caustic. He gave a slight shrug once again. God, he shrugged constantly as if everything was a breeze. He was facing possible murder charges and the most he could do was shrug like a petulant child.

Annabeth sighed as she led him into the office space she and Piper occupied. "We have a lot of work to do if we want to repair the public image that you have spent twelve years systematically shattering into thousands of pieces," she said with a sigh. Why did Piper have to dare her to take his case? When the two of them entered the firm, Piper was busy on her laptop, eyes closely watching the flickering screen, a smile on her face. The familiar voice of her fiancé, Jason, could be heard over the Apple's speakers.

"I love you more," she said playfully, her beautiful face lighting up in a smile. It never astounded Annabeth how Piper had won so many beauty pageants in her teenage years. Hell, before the "borrowing" the BMW incident, she was slated to be accepted as California's entrance into the Miss America pageant.

Jason's voice chimed up from the laptop. "No, I love you more," he challenged. It was sickening at times, how cutesy the two of them could be, but, she could understand it. Jason was currently stationed at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs and the distance was getting to the two of them. Annabeth cleared her throat and Piper shot up in the chair, her eyes widening.

"Babe, I have to go, I'll skype you later? Love you," she said hurriedly, blowing a kiss at the screen before she snapped her laptop shut. Percy was shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably, probably from the little love fest that had just gone on, or maybe it was because Piper was staring.

"Pipes, meet our newest client, Percy Jackson," Annabeth said with a dramatic flourish of her hand. The aforementioned client gave a crooked smile and slight wave of his hand, no doubt hoping it would stop the staring.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Percy," Piper said after regaining her tact. With a smile, she walked over and extended her hand for him to shake, which he ever so warily did. His posture was slumped as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. Annabeth motioned for him to take a seat in one of the thriftstore armchairs- no leather though, one of the downsides of sharing an office with a vegetarian.

"If we want to have any fighting chance if you get accused, we are going to have to hear the entire story, from the beginning, leave nothing out whatsoever," Annabeth ordered as she herself went to take a seat in her own chair, opening up her laptop so she could transcribe what he said. Percy furrowed his brow.

"Why? I didn't do it-" Annabeth cut him off.

"The first thing you need to know is that I don't care if you did it. I don't care if you slit his throat and drank his blood, all I care about is proving your innocence. I am never going to ask you if you are innocent. So, start from the beginning."