Sorry for not updating guys, but I'm stumped big time for ideas at the mo- it's a miracle I'm updating now.

To Awesome as Annabeth- GOLDFISH MEMORY, not my fault! :P Google Translate? That thing hates me, so that's a no-no. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A HALO! Not as mean as you? HA! CHALLENGE SO ACCEPTED! :D And no smileys? :'(

Oh! Read the review vovo611 posted for Chapter 20! I've never heard of such creative death threats! :D

Leo dropped the phone to the floor and kicked it across the room, where it cracked against the wall. It wasn't broken, he later discovered, but that only encouraged him to drop a six pound mallet through it.

He was such an idiot!

"Daddy, what w'ong?" Elsie asked quietly from where she sat on the sofa. Her small feet were nowhere near the edge of the settee, but she could just about climb up on to it, with much wiggling and giggling.

"Daddy's just been stupid, Elsie." Leo replied gruffly, swiping the shards of his phone into his hand and tossing them out the window.

"You no stupid, Daddy." He sighed, kneeling in front of her, taking her small hands in his.

"You're probably the only one who thinks that, hija." Elsie smiled, oblivious to anything else, and tumbled forward, her thin arms looping around her beloved father's neck.

"You silly, Daddy, but you no stupid." She tugged playfully on one of his curls.

She fell into a nap not long after that and Leo got a chance to ring Piper on the landline.

"I've been trying your cell, have you switched it off?"

"No."

"Then why isn't it working?"

"I broke it."

"Why?" Leo didn't respond, trying to frame his next words carefully. "Reyna rang you, didn't she? Did she tell you?"

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew; I gave her the pregnancy tests!" Leo held the phone at arm's length as she ranted solidly for another ten minutes about his and her stupidity and what were they going to do, an abortion was completely out of the question as far as Piper was concerned and Leo had better not let Reyna just deal with it or Piper would personally hunt Leo down, wherever he tried to hide, and break him into millions of tiny pieces until he was nothing more than a smoking, bloody splatter on the floor.

"Are you done?" He kept his tone soft and what he hoped to be apologetic.

"Nowhere flipping near!" She let out a long and haggard sigh. "Have you told Elsie? Jessica? Percy? Anyone?"

"No."

"Why not?" Leo kept the phone at arm's length that time, but he still heard her perfectly well. "They should know, Leo!"

"I know, I know!" He called. "I'm… still coming to terms with it myself…"

"Go and come to terms with it then!" Piper cut off. Leo exhaled despairingly and dropped the phone in the receiver.

He sat and sulked on the sofa for a good hour, half-expecting a sea scented invisible presence to suddenly dwell in the apartment, but there was none. He was half-relieved about this, the other half of him disappointed. Despite the risks, he wouldn't have minded to know Louisa was there, even if he couldn't see her.

Maybe Hades had called her back or he had pushed his luck that little bit too much and she had cursed him to her hate list.

Sleep tugged at his mind and he very nearly gave into it when Elsie called him.

"Daddy! I'm hung'y!"

"Coming, hija!" He pinched his arm to wake himself up and found his feet.

Elsie was standing up, holding onto the bars of her coat, with Tigger hooked over her arm.

"Hung'y, Daddy!" She reminded him, securing her arms around his neck as he stooped to pick her up. "Apuh!" She requested. Leo looked at her imploringly and she suddenly came about all sweet. "Pwease have apuh, Daddy?"

"Of course, hija."

"Why you sad, Daddy? Why Aunty Piper tell you off?" She tilted her head to the side curiously. "You break Sparky?"

"No, but I'm working on it." She stared at him until he caved a fraction to give her an answer. "I did something… very silly, Elsie."

"How silly?"

"Silly enough for Aunty Piper to shout at me." Elsie's eyes filled with pity and Leo wished, once again, that they were sea green.

"You fix it, Daddy. You fix everything."

It's a bit longer, but still short. Sorry it's not much, but I've been helping my friend tonight try and find a hobby. I think he should take up knitting and dumpster diving, but he wants to do something much more regular- like swimming and cycling.