Chapter 52
For six days after Jason was under strict orders not to leave Percy's side. Or well, to stand outside the door of whatever room he was in. Percy himself had kept insisting that he didn't have to, but Jason wasn't really in a position where he wanted to annoy his captain. No one suspected that he had had anything to do with Leo, believing that he had spent the night at the church, as he sometimes did, and found the horses in the woods on his way back the next day. However, Jason was still eager to not have the captain on his back, just in case he wasn't as in the clear as he thought he was.
So for six days, Jason stood guard. Occasionally, when he got so bored he couldn't really take it anymore, he would slip into Percy's room to talk with him if he was free. Percy had told him that was okay, that he usually even appreciated it, but Jason still tried to keep it to a minimum.
Security had finally relaxed enough that he didn't have to waste most of the day standing outside Percy's door, which meant he was back to having a lot more down time. It was remarkable how much free time came along with being the prince's personal guard. At least, when the prince was someone like Percy who would rather not be guarded at all if he had it his way.
Jason wasn't about to protest the down time. The only issue was, he didn't know what to do with it now. It was Wednesday, which meant he probably would have been able to slip Leo away for awhile to hang out. Especially since he needed something to distract his thoughts. Leo was always good at that.
Except Leo wasn't there. That was the problem.
Sighing, Jason started to make his way through the castle, and after a little while found that really there was only one place he wanted to go. Or, more specifically, one person he wanted to be around other than Leo.
It wasn't a surprise to find a guard standing outside Piper's door. Even though things had started to relax, the king had always seemed more worried about Piper's safety than his son's, and since he had no idea that she'd had anything to do with Leo's disappearance, but seemed to suspect Percy had even if it couldn't be proven, it made sense he would be keeping closer guard of her.
"Hey," Jason smiled as he approached, lifting his hand to wave at the guard.
"Hey," He agreed, looking over at Jason "Are you here to relieve me?"
"Possibly," Jason replied, shrugging a bit "Depends what the princess says when I talk to her. Mind asking if she is free and willing to see me?"
The guard eyed him for a moment, but not about to pass up the opportunity to possibly get off door duty, nodded "Alright."
The man disappeared, and about a minute later the door was being held open for Jason. Smiling at him, Jason nodded to the guard as he entered, waiting for him to exit and the door to close before looking over at Piper, still smiling.
"Jason," Piper smiled at him in return. She was standing near her desk, where Jason assumed she had been sitting prior to the interruption "What can I help you with?"
She seemed surprised, and really Jason couldn't blame her for that. This was the first time he had come to her rather than the other way around. It wasn't that Jason thought Piper would mind, but because Jason had so far not found it appropriate to do so. It was easier for Piper to find an excuse, claiming she needed a guard to accompany her, and it made sense that she would ask Jason giving his position. It was a lot harder for Jason to find an excuse to ask Piper to accompany him somewhere.
"I was wondering- I have the afternoon off and I've been stuck in the castle for the last week, and could use some time outside. I figured since you've been stuck in here as well you would probably like a bit of an escape too-" Jason realized he was rambling and quickly finished with "So I thought I'd come and see if you anted to join me."
Piper was smiling even as Jason rambled, and when he was done she nodded "I would like that very much, but I'm not sure Poseidon would be comfortable with me wandering around again yet."
"Percy's guard has been lifted, so I'm sure I could talk the captain into loosening yours as well, especially if you will still be under guard while out for the walk," Jason shrugged "And since I'm going to be there anyway, that shouldn't be an issue."
"You want to spend your day off guarding me?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow at him again, and if Jason wasn't wrong he caught a hint of teasing in her voice.
"What can I say, I like my job," Jason teased in return, before just smiling at her again "Truth is, I could use some company. Conversation helps take my mind off of- well everything."
"Alright," Piper nodded, smiling softly and to Jason's relief not pushing what he meant "Then I would love to go for a walk with you."
Jason quickly nodded a bit in return "I'll go talk to the captain. Hopefully I will be back soon."
