Later that night. Leo walks into Annabeth's house. She comes rushing down the stairs.

"Leo! Close the door! Quickly! Quickly!"

Leo slams the door shut and rushes to meet her. "What's going on? Are you okay?

"I'm fine. It's Hippopotamus. He escaped!"

"What?"

Annabeth rushes back out of the hall and towards the stairs. "Hippopotamus the hamster. I was supposed to just put new chips or whatever in his cage and then he…"

"Annabeth, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Julia, my sister. She and my niece, Bella. They are driving from Georgia to New York to go see Julia's dad."

"Yeah?"

"And Bella brought her hamster, but it just got to be a pain in the car and they were worried about my dad's dogs, so I told them they could drop him here and I'd keep him until they drove back through next week."

"Okay."

"And I've had him for like an hour, Leo, and I've lost him." She starts pulling pillows and cushions off the couch. "Which Julia is going to love because she doesn't think I can care for anything, even plants. I mean, she's the maternal one, right? So good at doing all that stuff." She drops down to her knees and starts looking under the couch and chairs. "And now I'm going to have to tell her that I've lost Hippopotamus. But, I'm not going to do that, Leo, because I am going to find him."

"Okay. Well, I'll help you."

"Great! Let's split up. I'll stay down here and you look upstairs."

"Okay. What does he look like?"

Annabeth is crawling around on the living room floor "I don't have a wanted poster, Leo! He looks like a hamster. If you find a small, furry rodent, assume it is Hippopotamus."

Leo throws his jacket on the back of Annabeth's couch and heads upstairs. A few minutes later, he shouts triumphantly. "Annabeth! I found him! I've got him!"

Annabeth rushes upstairs to Leo who is in her bathroom. He's holding Hippopotamus in his cupped hands. "I got him! Ow! Fuck!" He drops Hippopotamus in the toilet. "Dammit. He bit me!"

Leo and Annabeth look in the toilet.

"Leo! You have to grab him."

"Absolutely not. That thing is vicious."

"Leo! I am not fishing the hamster out of the toilet."

"Well then he's staying in there."

"You're not going to help me?"

"I did help. I found him. You wanna thank me?"

"No, Leo, I do not want to thank you! And I am quite sure Hippopotamus the hamster does not want to thank you seeing as how you flung him into the toilet."

They look back at the toilet.

"You wanna go get security?"

"What? You want to shoot him now, Leo? Drowning Hippopotamus was not enough?"

"You gotta stop calling him by his name. It's ridiculous."

"Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm going to go get gloves from downstairs. Then I will grab Hippopotamus and you will have a towel ready for me to put him in. Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

Annabeth comes back upstairs wearing purple mittens. Leo is standing at the ready with a towel. She reaches in, grabs the hamster and drops him in the towel.

"Is he breathing?"

"How the hell would I know, Annabeth? You wanna see if his tiny little hamster chest is moving?"

"Rub him. With the towel. He might be hypothermic!"

Leo rubs him with the towel. He looks up to see Annabeth standing there, looking very concerned, wearing bright purple mittens that are dripping toilet water all over the floor. He starts to laugh.

"This…is…insane." He's hard to understand because he's laughing so hard.

"Leo! Is Hippopotamus breathing?"

He's barely able to get his words out. "Oh. Jesus. You gotta stop using his name. I can't…" He hands Annabeth the towel and braces himself against the sink. He is shaking with laughter.

Annabeth starts to laugh "Did we just…did we just fish a hamster out of a toilet?"

Leo is gasping out his words. "You were all… 'Leo!... Hippopotamus the… hamster…. does not thank you.'

Annabeth looks down at her gloved hands and the hamster in the towel and laughs harder. "You…threw…him…in the…toilet!"

Leo turns, they both are laughing so hard they're crying. He stretches out his arm and leans on Annabeth's shoulder. He's practically doubled over. "Annabeth…Holy shit…" He stands up and wipes tears away. "I goddamn love you."

Annabeth stops laughing. She stares at Leo. He's still recovering from laughing so hard. And then he realizes what he said.