17. Gibbs & Dinozzo

"I will make you wish you'd never been born. And believe me, I can do that!" Thalia growled. Thalia wanted to strangle him. He had taken her one Saturday; one she needed desperately. But no. She had to babysit him. She was about to burst. Who else wanted to make her life miserable? Percy just smirked and that infuriated her more; making her fingers curl into fists.

"You wouldn't touch me. You love me too much!" he said teasingly. Thalia's eyes opened wide. Pick a word you shouldn't have said in that sentence.

"You're right," Thalia said with icy calm and Percy, himself, looked shocked and surprised by her words. "I wouldn't touch you, because that means I would have to get close to you. I'd lock you in a room and blow you up!" Percy rolled his eyes.

"Keep your claws in Thalia!"

"Make me."

"Oh come on Thalia," he whined. "I'm smart, but I'm not that smart!"

"That's true."

"That I'm smart?"

"No, the other part."

"Look," Percy said, as Thalia crossed her arms. "I didn't tell mom to call you, I really didn't. She made last minute plans to study at the library, so she called you," he said, trying to put on an honest-looking face.

"Load of baloney," Thalia said as she turned to leave. Percy grasped her arm. Thalia turned her angry blue eyes on him and pulled her arm out of his grip.

"If you leave, I'm going to get in trouble because mom'll think I sent you away!" he said, indirectly pleading that Thalia stay. Thalia looked at him and smirked.

"Fine by me," she said in a low voice. Percy looked shocked.

"You really are a cold-hearted person," he breathed in mock surprise. Then his face straightened. "No seriously! You have to stay!"

Thalia was torn between relaxing in her cozy apartment with blaring music and grill cheese and babysitting for Percy. Well, we all know which way that scale was tipping. But deep, deep, really deep down, she was a helper; which is one thing that people took advantage of when she was little, so she had buried it as far as she could dig. Except somehow, sometimes, that secret characteristic of hers still came through. This seemed to be one of those hated moments. Thalia bit her lip. If he isn't lying, I guess I should stay she decided reluctantly.

"Fine," she said and wondering if she's going to regret her decision afterwards.

"Grea –"

"No," Thalia interrupted. She stepped back inside the apartment with her hand up to show she was still talking and wasn't going to be interrupted. "But under my terms. Which means: no cartoons, no music, NO twister! No pranks, no candy and no flirting!" Thalia said, adding extra emphasis on "flirting".

"No cartoons?" Percy pouted.

"No cartoons."

"Fine, fine. I can live a day without Spongebob," Percy muttered as he turned around and walked into the kitchen.

"But you'll pay, 'cause today they were giving the one where Spongebob creates his bubble buddy!" Percy called from the kitchen.

"I won't be able to live with myself," Thalia said sarcastically. She closed the door behind her and dropped her bag next to it. She walked to their living room and sat down on the couch. It seemed awfully homey and normal, with a coffee table with brown coasters and the tiniest vase, about the size of Thalia's palm, with a stem of fake grapes falling down its purple side. Thalia felt a twinge of sadness as her gaze swept over their apartment. If her mother ever decided to clean up her act, this could all be theirs as well. They could be living happy, because they don't need a huge house or a million bucks to be so. She poked the grapes and they jiggled under her touch.

"We've got some real ones if you want any," she heard Percy say teasingly and she sat back, sending him a scowl as his head poked behind the kitchen wall. He smirked and disappeared again as Thalia reached for the remote, but she felt like something was missing…

"Where's Nico?" she asked as she pulled her feet up onto the coffee table.

"He went out with some friends," Percy answered. "I think they went to the arcade." Thalia didn't say anything, but she was silently happy. That meant one less kid to keep an eye on. She flipped through the channels, looking for something at least semi-decent. She had landed on NCIS when she heard footsteps emerging from the kitchen.

"I hope you like cheese," Percy said as he walked out with two white plates filled with macaroni and cheese. "And I hope you're hungry." Thalia's stomach grumbled when she saw the food, but her pride was too much. She wasn't going to be fed. She wasn't here to socialize and make friends. She was here because his mother asked her to be here. He wasn't going to woo her with food; unless maybe it was buffalo wings, and even that's iffy.

"Nope. Ate before I came," she said as she put her hands behind her head and watched Gibbs smack Dinozzo… again. He ran back to the kitchen and grabbed two coke cans from the kitchen table.

"Yeah, sure, that's why I can hear your stomach growling in the kitchen," Percy teased. Thalia squinted her eyes at him. He was getting on her nerves for sure. She wanted to smack him so much.

"You look cute when you scrunch up your nose," he said.

"YOW!" he yelped, as Thalia's hand came at a hundred miles an hour and smacked him behind the head. Flirting seemed like a good enough reason to get hit. Thalia was angry enough with him that her cheeks didn't blush.

"What was that for?!" he said, as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Muscle spasm," Thalia said nonchalantly, as she pulled her feet down and scooted to the other side of the couch.

Well, I hope this chapter came out good and that you guys enjoyed it. I feel it a little bit choppy, but I'm not sure. Lend me your thoughts and also tell me if you thought it was funny, cause I was trying to aim for that :P Thanks guys :)