A/N: I am so so so sorry that this chapter has been so long in coming. I've had exams to contend with and severe writer's block. I've been trying to come up with a plot for this for weeks and weeks. Inspiration has finally hit me so we can get on.
A Mother's Touch
'Alright cupcakes, what's all this about?' Coach Hedge's voice rang out over the chatter of small children. The old satyr walked in, using his baseball bat as a cane and followed by Mellie and Chuck. The adults all turned to greet him.
'Coach! We didn't know you were coming. How are you?'
'Got an Iris message from Valdez telling me to come here. And I might not be as young as I once was, but I've still got it.' He hefted his bat onto his shoulder and glared round at them all. They unconsciously backed away a little. They knew from experience that Coach Hedge had still 'got it'.
'Where is Valdez anyway?' He asked, looking around.
'Erm... We don't-
Percy was cut off by the sound of voices coming from down the hallway. They strained to listen.
'But they aren't finished yet. I still need to attach a gear to one of them and switch the-'
'I don't care what you have to do. Put them down right now or I will make you do all of my jobs for the rest of the month.'
'Yes Sunshine.' A very irate looking Calypso stalked in, with Leo, Esperanza and Rose. Leo sat down in front of the waiting children and cleared his throat.
'Hello again kids. Sorry about that. Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to Coach Gleeson Hedge, Mellie and Chuck. You'll hear a bit more about them later. Right, where was I? Oh, right. Hmmm, Piper it's your turn. I've got a cracking one for you.'
'I didn't get much chance to play tricks on Piper because she always saw through me. I did manage to pull one of though. I'd been put on cabin cleaning duty by Annabeth because I'd accidentally burnt some of her plans. It was an accident and I'm sure they weren't important anyway. I got bored and stated pulling things out of my tool belt. I fiddled with them for a while and ended up making a pen. This wasn't any old pen though. It had a little keyboard and a digital screen. I played around with it for a bit and discovered that if I inputted a name it would write in that person's handwriting. An-'
'Hang on,' interrupted Frank. 'How on earth did you manage to build that while just 'messing around'?'
'Frank. I made Annabeth's ever-changing sudoku. I fixed Festus after he'd been rampaging around the woods for months. I completely rebuilt him inside the ship without any of you lot noticing. I'm naturally brilliant. What can I say?'
Frank sighed but he didn't get a chance to say any more as Leo began again,
'As I was saying, an idea started to form in my mind. It was a brilliant trick that I was sure even Piper wouldn't work out. Fortunately we needed some supplies for the ship so I docked at the next port and went off on my own to get the stuff. I returned about two hours later with the supplies, a bag of Fonzies (to detach suspicion from the amount of time I was away) and a whole carrier of designer clothes and make-up and stuff. I told everyone I was going to drop the supplies off then go back to work on the cabin and asked if they could all stay away from that area. They all nodded without looking up from their jobs so I continued with my plan.
I went into Piper's room with the bag of clothes and stuff and a plastic bag for 'rubbish'. I opened all her drawers and removed all her clothes and stuffed them in the bag. I then neatly (yes, Annabeth, I can be neat sometimes) folded the new clothes and placed them in the drawers along with the make-up. I'd recently found an awesome hiding place on the ship which even I hadn't realised I'd built in and shoved the plastic bag inside. I retrieved my newly-built pen and typed in 'APHRODITE' and wrote a quick note that read:
I thought your clothes needed a little sprucing up, dear. Really, they are very shabby. And so last season. Hope you like them!
-Mum'
This earned different reactions from everyone in the room. The children were all rocking with laughter (for Leo had put on a terrible imitation of Aphrodite's voice), Piper was as red as a beet and was glaring daggers at Leo and everyone else was shaking their heads. Leo waited for a moment before carrying on.
'I put this note on top of the clothes and waited. Now, my plan took a while to work because I had to wait until the next morning, but, I'll tell you what, it was definitely worth the wait. The next morning started with sounds of destruction coming from Piper's room. Everyone (including me, faking concern) rushed down to see Piper rootling through her stuff desperately trying to find something. That something was, of course, her ordinary clothes. She cursed Aphrodite, which I wondered was a good idea. I suddenly had a horrible feeling that Aphrodite might take revenge on me for doing this, but I quickly dismissed that thought. To be honest, I think she thanked me for actually getting Piper to wear in fashion clothes, although she did flatly refuse the make-up.
I returned her clothes after two days. Honestly, I didn't think it was safe to leave it any longer. Even that long of her stomping around the ship in her designer clothes was enough to get me twitchy and nervous. Trust me, this daughter of Aphrodite can wield more than a plastic hairbrush! Just to keep up the act, I programmed the pen to Aphrodite again and wrote a second note:
Well, really dear, I did hope you'd be a little more appreciative of your clothes. They were so nice, and suited you perfectly.
Someday you'll learn, I hope.
-Mum'
'I swear, Leo, if you ever try anything like that again...' Piper left the threat hanging. Leo's over-active mind was running through all the different tortures she could subject him to: using that permanent make-up on him, barricading him from his workshop for a week, blowing up Bunker 9... Well, maybe that last one was a bit over the top but you just never knew with Piper. Leo grimaced and turned back to the waiting children.
'On that cheerful note, kids, let's move on...'
A/N: Again, I apologise for how much I've neglected this story. I've just been so focused on my Doctor Who story and my schoolwork and exams and, of course, writer's block have been keeping me away for so long. Still, I never meant to leave it this long. My deepest apologies once more. Please read and review (if you have an idea for a trick for any of the remaining Seven, and that includes Leo, please tell me) and hopefully the next chapter shall be up shortly!
