Excellent work to my wonderful reviewer MailMySelfToYou, who discovered Victor's identity outside of this story. If anyone else can as well, it will be a wonderful day indeed :) And now enjoy!

Chapter 7

Everyone's head shot up in alarm, a couple girls in the audience even gave small screams of fright. Leo gave his trademark impish smile before pressing a button in his hand, Let it begin. There was a small bang from the corner of the stage, and confetti rained from the sky. Brass trumpets began to blare, and there came another loud noise, a large banner unrolled from the top of the stage and landed about a third of the way down. The words on the banner just became visible as they blinked into existence. And now the finale. He pressed the button a second time, and an automated recording of his voice began to play as the words on screen flashed and moved. "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOU COULD STOP THE ULTIMATE SUPER-SIZED MCSHIZZLE MAN, THE BAD BOY SUPREME, FROM COMING TO THIS TOTALLY AWESOME PARTY! MAY I PRESENT TO YOU, THE ONE, THE ONLY…" The trumpets reached their crescendo, and Leo leaped from the rafters and landed on the floor just in front of the two praetors. "LEO VALDEZ!" Another round of confetti popped as Leo stood up to his full height, a satisfied smirk on his face.

As the last of the music faded out, everyone was frozen in pure shock, save Reyna. She rolled her eyes and remarked, " You always knew how to make an entrance, Valdez." Leo grinned widely at her before he turned to face his friends. The satisfied smirk gave way to a genuine, emotional smile.

Leo felt his eyes shining when he said in a low, strained voice, "Hey guys, what's up?"

All of the Six remained frozen where they kneeled/stood. Leo gave a slight laugh, hoping to ease the tension of the silent room and suppress his own rising emotions. "Did you miss me?"

All of a sudden, Piper was on her feet, speaking in a trembling voice, "Did we MISS you? Is that really all you have to say?" Leo felt the grin slide off his face. He prepared himself for the worst. Suddenly, he felt himself flying backwards as Piper launched herself at him and tackled him in a fierce embrace. "My gods, Leo, why… why.. you're such an idiot!" she blubbered into his shirt, her hold tightening. Leo reciprocated and ran his hand through her choppy hair, making soothing and reassuring noises. Hazel was also crying, but she was curled under Frank's arm, and Annabeth clung onto Percy for support. Jason quickly scooped up both Piper and Leo and held them close, saying nothing. But no words needed to be said to embrace the beauty of the moment, nor could words describe the intense feeling of happiness and love that surrounded the trio. There were no dry eyes.

Finally, a misty-looking Reyna cleared her throat. Leo looked up, and untangled himself. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh, sorry about this. I didn't mean to make a scene."

Reyna rolled her eyes and gave a slight smile. "Knowing you, Valdez, there's no way it couldn't make a scene." Leo chuckled; so the ice queen did have a sense of humor.

Piper's head shot up. "You-You knew about this? About him?" There was a new venom in her tone that Leo was not used to. Reyna seemed momentarily taken aback, but her face reverted back to an expression of polite indifference.

"I did not know until this morning. It's quite an interesting story; I'm sure Leo would love to recount it." Instantly, everyone looked to Leo, eyes wide with curiosity. Leo turned a little pale and gave a sheepish grin.

"Heh, yeah…" he trailed off, pulling at his collar slightly. Piper narrowed her eyes. She turned to Reyna with deliberate frigidity, opened her mouth to tell the praetor exactly what she thought of Reyna's dictation, when Hazel gave a little gasp.

"Leo! You've gotten… so… tall…" she finished a little breathlessly. Leo been helped up, and standing at his full height, was shortest only to Jason. Reyna analyzed Leo quickly and determined why Hazel had gasped so: Leo was wearing a dress shirt and suspenders, tight enough to show his strong shoulders and chest. Long black slacks truly showed exactly how long Leo's legs were, and his face had lost his boyhood and become that of a man; a very attractive Mexican man. Reyna chuckled. Leave it to Hazel to swoon to a new Leo. Although, she wasn't the only one. Several girls in the audience were whispering and fanning themselves; Leo was completely oblivious.

Frank noticed Hazel's little stutter though, and quickly slipped his arm around her shoulders, a frown upon his face. Leo gave his own laugh before quickly holding out his hand, "Frank, man, how's it going!" Frank extended his own arm and quickly shook it at let go. " And Percy! Wazzup?" Percy gave his own laugh before embracing Leo.

Reyna looked out at the ever-whispering crowd. "Continue as usual, please be seated for the dinner." The people began to trudge to their seats, and Reyna looked back on the Si- Seven. "As sweet as this is, we do have a banquet to eat. Please take your seats so we may begin." Piper frowned. Leo smiled and gave a ridiculous bow.

"Of course, reina. May I escort these two lovely ladies to their seats?" he said, holding out an arm to Piper and Hazel. Both accepted, and with many giggles, allowed themselves to be lead to their seats. Frank gave a huff of annoyance, and Jason good-naturedly slapped him on the back. Both men, however, quickly sat between their girlfriends and Leo. So Leo found himself sitting by Reyna and her date, of whom he had yet to meet. Jason was also to the other side of him, but he was so busy staring at Piper that Leo decided he was a lost cause.

Leo turned to find Reyna and her date silently eating. How fitting, she likes the silent type. Obviously, he would have to be the entertainment tonight. Leo cleared his throat comically, and both turned to stare at him. "So, I've already had the pleasure of meeting Reyna. But I don't know your name? Is it, perhaps, Ginger?", glancing at his reddish hair. Jason, who had been vaguely listening, choked on his food slightly. Reyna sent him a death glare, and Jason had the decency to mutter something about "going down the wrong pipe."

Victor gave a good-natured laugh. "Not quite, Velasquez. My name is Victor. Victor Sage, son of Ceres."

Leo pretended to think. "Ceres, ceres, ah! Demeter to a graceus like me." Reyna frowned at his comical use of the derogatory term. Victor, however, chuckled slightly. "The name is Valdez, by the way. So do you have any magical plant powers? We had a girl by the name of Katie Gardner who could grow strawberries from thin air. And all sorts of plants. She's with a guy named Stoll now, son of Hermes, go figure eh? I suppose that would be, uh, Mercury to you, right?" Leo finally drew breath.

Victor blinked. "Uh… Sorry, I can control plants, never heard of the girl, go figure, and yes it's Mercury." he repeated, amazed that one person could talk so fast. Leo gave a loud guffaw before turning to Jason, who was barely holding back his own laughter. Leo nudged Jason with his elbow.

"Care to give us a demonstration?" Victor shook his head rapidly, as though he abhorred using his powers. Leo smiled slightly, one side of his face lifting higher than the other. "Well, then I suppose the fun is all left to me." Leo opened his palm and let a little spark of fire dance across his palm. The tiny flame whirled and spun gracefully, completely under control. The fire appeared to be dancing to imaginary music; it was mesmerizing. Leo closed his hand and the brief light extinguished. Victor, Jason, and Reyna had been watching so intently that they had to shake their heads to clear their thoughts.

"Very impressive, Valdez. It seems like you have your powers under control now." complimented Reyna. Leo gave a dashing grin and simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe I'll start my own show someday." Jason snorted into his pudding. Leo took advantage of Jason's proximity with said pudding and ever-so-sneakily… shoved his face into the bowl.

The table erupted in laughter as Jason emerged, dripping with little bits of the desert hanging off his nose. Reyna was smothering her giggles with a napkin, and Victor was attempting to stifle his own laughter. Piper smiled before swabbing a bit off of his face before tasting it. "I always knew you were tasty." she said straight-faced. Now everyone was howling, Percy had thrown his head back with laughter, Hazel was fanning herself while giggling, and Leo was holding his sides from laughing too much, trying to hold back tears.

Jason swiped at his face with a napkin, and threw the used cloth in Leo's face. "Good to have you back, Valdez."

Leo gave a roguish grin. Suddenly, people were moving table and a dance floor was set up. As music blared from Zeus-knows-where, everyone converged onto the lit-up dance floor. Several girls were attempting to make their way over to Leo, but Leo quickly turned to Reyna and asked to dance. Reyna raised an eyebrow, and Victor looked sternly at Leo. Leo rolled his eyes before whispering in Reyna's ear, "We need to talk about today."

Sooooo did you like it? I promise we will get some more Leyna action soon, as well as a bit of a surprise!

Please review and leave some words, 'cuz I love some nice words...