The Gods Must Be Crazy

by aprill99

As a daughter of Apollo and a granddaughter of Mercury who has lived through wars with Titans, Giants, and undead Romans, Cassie is well aware that "normal" must be judged on a curve. Still, the invasion of a Norse god backed by an alien army is taking it a little far. Now she's involved with the Avengers and it seems like life won't be getting less weird. The gods must be crazy.

41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine guys.

Cassie does not, in fact, know what Percy's newly reclaimed invulnerability is about. Cassie hadn't ever really understood how that particular ancient cheat code worked in the first place. Like sure, she understood the basics. Get a blessing from your mom, sneak in to the underworld, pick a mental anchor point and one part of your body to stay vulnerable, then hop on in to the worst hut tubbing experience of your life. Try not to dissolve in the process and when you got out nothing could kill you.

She's got that much wired. It's all pretty basic cause and effect. The actual mechanics on how the Styx made you invulnerable is still a mystery. Cassie understands the results but not the mechanism.

How the Tiber undid the Styx blessing is also a mystery for her.

The hows and whys of the blessing reasserting itself now (through a dream no less) are about as clear as the Egyptian Duat. There's also absolutely zero mythological precedence for this kind of thing happening.

Cassie very calmly explains this to Percy, but none the less promises to look in to it. She talks him through a few basic tests she wants him to do for her and send her the results. She's not expecting much from those tests, but they'll at least confirm for her that this invulnerability thing is legit and not going away.

She also makes Percy swear to her on all things Olympian that he's going to tell Annabeth and Grover about his dream and the clear physical results. If Annabeth doesn't call her to NOT PANIC in the next few days, she'll call and tell her herself. Percy knows by now to take her threats seriously so Cassie is reasonably sure her instructions will be carried out.

Percy keeps the Iris Message open for a little while after that and Cassie obligingly masters her own impulses and chats with him about other subjects. This, she thinks, is the other half of her job as a physician. To provide comfort and support and ease the worries that fill her patients. Fear and stress could cause physical damage as much as it could cause psychological and emotional distress.

When they've said their goodbyes and the message ends Cassie takes a few quick, shallow, breaths. There's a pillow on the couch to her left and she picks it up and moves it in to her lap. She strokes her fingers over the case and contemplates the warm softness against her skin. This should work beautifully,

Next she lifts the pillow up, presses her face against it, and screams as loudly as she can in to the fabric. She registers that her decibel level is increasing to a near terrifying degree and the sound of footsteps getting closer. Seconds later, the pillow explodes before her in a flurry of goose down. They flutter to the ground in a fluffy swirl and Cassie pauses to watch them float and spiral in the apartment's ventilation.

Steve's concerned face crosses in to her field of vision and Cassie suddenly realizes that he's been saying her name over and over again for the last several moments. He's in a crouch in front of her with his hands on her knees. Apparently, your fiance staring vacantly in to space after having screamed in to a pillow so hard it explodes is cause for worry in the world of Steve Rogers.

To his eternal credit, he doesn't push. He just stays where he is and calmly waits for Cassie to tell him what's wrong. She lowers one hand to cover his on top of her knee and squeezes. She doesn't know at this point if she's asking for reassurance or giving it but the contact feels important.

"Percy's invulnerable again," Cassie says. And her voice is so blankly tired that it barely even sounds like hers. "And I don't know why, and I don't know how."

Steve absorbs that for a moment then asks, "Isn't invulnerable a good thing? You said before that the stronger a demigod you are the more things try to kill you. I saw Percy fight when we went up against Ultron and he seemed pretty damn powerful. Being un-killable seems like it would be an advantage for him."

"When he first did it it was," Cassie agrees. "Or really, then it just leveled the playing field. You know the Achillies story?" she waits for Steve to nod before she continues. "Well, Luke worked out that following his example was going to be the only way for him to host Kronos. Or maybe Kronos figured it out and made Luke do it I don't know. Anyway, bathing in the Styx let Luke host Cronos without burning up and meant that the titan was sitting pretty in a virtually un-killable body when he got resurrected. Nico figured out what had happened and that Percy was going to have to take the plunge too if wee were going to have any shot at winning the war."

"I'm guessing that worked," Steve surmises. "Seeing as how the world is still here."

Cassie nods. "It did work. Maybe a little too well even. Percy was already one of the most dangerous demigods for a millennium. Him fighting without any fear? That's nothing short of terrifying. But moving on from that and flashing through the end of the Titan War, the blessing vanished when Percy crossed the Little Tiber in to New Rome. The curse of Achillies is exclusively Greek. To enter the realm of Roman gods, Percy had to give it up. It being restored now is... not good."

Steve frowns. "How bad is not good?"

Cassie smiles grimly. "You know that phrase 'there's no such thing as a free lunch'? It's adapted form an ancient Greek saying. We practically invented the nothing comes from nothing mentality. The Romans weren't any better. Ex nihil, nihil fit, was a favorite phrase. If the gods or fate are going around bestowing invulnerability, it's not because they think Percy deserves a break. It's because they want something."

"Like what?"

She sighs and shakes her head. "I don't know. That's a lot of why this," she gestures at the remnants of her exploded pillow. "Happened."

Steve has a contemplative expression on his face and a moment later he opens his arms. "Hug?" he offers.

Cassie nods and gratefully slides off the sofa in to his lap to rest against of his chest. She wraps her arms around his back and tucks her head in underneath Steve's chin. He adjusts his head to press a kiss in to her hair and trails his fingers up and down her spine.

"I'm scared," she murmurs in to his shirt. It's putting words to a thought she's been trying not to vocalize for a while. In fact, Cassie isn't sure she can remember the last time she said them out loud. "Not a lot scares me, but this... The gods don't do things for no reason. The last time they interfered in a way that was anything like this was the blessings they laid on the eight of us when we were born to make us ready for the Giant War. Whatever's coming next must just be-"

But that's where her words choke off.

Steve's arms tighten around her. "You're not on your own," he murmurs fervently. "Whatever is going on with this, whatever it is, whatever you need, I'm here." His right hand moves up to her shoulder, cups the joint, and slides down along her arm to her fingers. He knits them together and Cassie lets him go enough to move back so Steve can bring their joined hands up in between them. Steve kisses the knuckles where her engagement ring rests and then cradles her hand to his chest. "That's what this means."

Cassie breaths deeply and nods. She focuses on the even rhythm of Steve's heart as it pounds away beneath her fingers and breaths deliberately to drop her own down until it matches his. Once she feels calmer, Cassie tips her head to kiss him.

"I'm getting really close to my capacity for crises and new and unexpected events," she admits, working very hard to make her voice seem conversational. "Not forever, but for this month? I think I'm about done."

"Sweetheart, you earned the right to have hit your capacity for crises ten years ago," Steve says. The look on his face is somewhere between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry on her behalf. He cups her cheek. "I wish I could make it stop for you."

Cassie smiles tiredly and leans her head in to his palm. "I know." She tips her head to kiss his palm and then turns back again to be able to look him in the eye. "And I love you for wishing it. But since you can't actually, any chance we could just take a vacation?"

"I was only in Wakanda for like an hour, but it seems like a pretty nice place," Steve offers.

"I can make that work. Find me a beach and there might even be a bikini in the deal."

"Done."

They sit together for a little while longer and Cassie lets her head rest on Steve's shoulder. After a while she says "we kinda missed our wedding."

Steve makes a quite humming noise. "i was thinking about that too. I think we've got a few options. We could wait until we can get back to the US and reschedule the wedding we had been planning. Rebook things, make new reservations, go from there."

"Or?"

Steve's shoulders move under her as he resettles. "Or we see about the legality of getting married in a foreign country. Make some plans here, or in Wakanda, and get married whenever we want."

Cassie thinks about it, weighing out her options. "What if we do a hybrid on those?" she suggests. "Get married here with the friends that are with us sometime in the very near future, and then do the big wedding thing back in New York if we want to once we can go there."

She can't see Steve's face but she can hear the smile in his voice when he speaks. "Sounds like a good plan. We can start working on it tomorrow." He brushes a kiss along her forehead. "One condition though, we're not letting Tony get ordained to be the officiant. Any of our other friends so long as they've got brain to mouth filters."

"Agreed," Cassie says fervently. "I love Rachel and Leo dearly but I really wouldn't want to see what their version of a wedding ceremony would look like."

As it happens, the wedding of Dr. Cassandra Melody Morgenstern to Captain Steven Grant Rogers ends up being officiated by his Royal Excellency King T'Challa of Wakanda.

It takes place three weeks after they've all congregated in Switzerland. The whole team and their associated friends makes the trip to Wakanda for the occasion and to meet the man who has granted them a place of safety. Roughly half of the team plans to stay when the wedding is over to work on keeping the world safe despite the accords. The other half is planning to go back to Switzerland to work for Stark Industries. Most of that half is the people with families.

It's an all together more beautiful and better put together affair than any Cassie had expected. They have it at the top of a cliff at sunrise. Tony grumbles about the time but looks plenty awake when he takes his seat in the front row.

Bucky is Steve's best man and Reyna stands as Cassie's one and only bridesmaid with full blessings and support from Thalia, Annabeth, and Piper. Those three all watch via vide chat and Iris Message but aren't able to get to Wakanda in person for the event. Cassie figures they'll be invited to the massive party she plans to throw one day when they can all be in the same country again.

Meg cheerfully took over catering responsibilities so Cassie is fairly certain that there will be some form of cake at the reception that she can shove in to Steve's face. Pepper had taken Cassie dress shopping and Cassie has ended up with a simple, but beautiful, white satin halter dress. It's backless, and flows out around her feet in a small train. Cassie hadn't bothered with a veil, but Reyna had helped her braid white and gold ribbons in to a crown around her head along with small yellow flowers that look almost exactly like Delos blooms.

Her bouquet is white laurels and sunflowers. She wears her Camp Half-Blood beads around her wrists, her engagement ring, and her bow necklace for jewelry. She layers the acorn charm necklace Steve got her on their vacation to England over it, wanting to wear something non-demigod related on her wedding day.

With her arms bared, her Camp Jupiter tattoo is clearly displayed to anyone with sight who cares to look.

Reyna stands beside her out of sight of the wedding arch Tony had engineered for them the night before. Meg had worked a little nature magic on all florals involved to keep them fresh and healthy looking. Reyna's bridesmaids dress is a deep, royal purple that rustles as she moves. Cassie had given her free reign to pick it herself and isn't a bit surprised that her friend had gravitated towards Roman Senatorial Special.

"Well, they're all assembled," Reyna reports, using her superior height to peer out at the crowd. "Steve doesn't even look nervous."

Cassie smiles. "Well Steve is pretty historically known for his nerves of steel. And Bucky's there. He has his battle back up."

"He's got a pretty good sized army with this crowd," Reyna observes. "I'm counting two types of demigods, at least two super-soldiers, several super-spies, a telepath, a speedster, a few guys with impenetrable flying metal suits, and a very well armed royal family." She looks back at Cassie. "All we're missing is a real live god."

"Present and accounted for."

The voice makes Cassie jump about a foot in her recently acquired gold healed sandals. Any god suddenly announcing their arrival in to your day is enough to make even the calmest hero twitch a little. Having your father, the sun god, announce his unexpected presence from behind you when you're about to walk up the aisle on your wedding day will launch you in to the world of Olympic hurdles.

Reyna is gaping at Cassie's father and makes a concerted effort to put her face back in order. "I'll give the two of you a minute," she says. "But Cassie, they're going to be playing your song pretty soon."

"I know," Cassie acknowledges. "Sunrise, I can feel it coming. Thanks Reyna."

Reyna nods and leans over to give Cassie a quick, surprising, hug before stepping away in to the pre-dawn shadows nearby. Cassie lets a moment pass for Reyna to get out of ear shot before turning to her father. "What are you doing here?" she asks, keeping her voice light and steady.

Apollo steps closer to her. He's dressed in a white tuxedo covered in gold embroidery. A pair of RayBands are propped on his forehead and there's a white laurel sticking out of his lapel. "I don't have any jurisdiction here," he says. "I won't be able to stay all that long. But today is the day that my daughter gets married. There is nowhere else I would be."

Cassie frowns. "Birthdays, Christmases, parent teacher conferences, nights where I woke up screaming and cried myself back to sleep... You don't show up for any of those, but my wedding is something you wouldn't miss for the world?"

The smile her father gives her is a sad one. It's an expression that makes the sun god look older. He doesn't look his age, there's nothing that could make that possible, but it does make him look like an adult- old enough to be her father. "My Cassie," he murmurs, lifting a hand and hesitantly touching her cheek. "My so very special girl..."

"I know," Cassie rolls her eyes. "All that extra quarter of godliness really seals the deal."

"No," Apollo interrupts. "Special because you are you, and you are my daughter." The words make Cassie stop dead. Her father has never said anything like this to her before. Not once in her entire twenty-six years of life on this planet.

"I went to the hospital the day you were born," he continues. "Did you know that?"

Cassie shakes her head. "I knew you'd come to see me once as a baby," she responds. "I didn't know it was that day."

Apollo nods in confirmation. "It was sunrise, like now. I walked straight in to the hospital and up to the nursery. I shouldn't have been allowed but I've always had a way with doctors. And there you were in your bassinet and this tiny, pink, knitted hat. You were awake but you weren't crying. You just stared up at me with those huge blue eyes of yours. They tell you that all babies eyes change color after they're born, but I knew yours wouldn't, and I was right."

Cassie blinks hurriedly, dimly horrified to note that there seem to be the beginnings of tears welling up in her eyes. The blurriness clears quickly which is lucky considering that her senses are telling her that the sun will be over the cliff in a scanty handful of minutes. She doesn't want to be crying when she gets married.

"I picked you up and you were perfect," Apollo continues. "So warm and so small, you even had this tiny downy fuzz of blonde hair on your head." He tucks a few loose strands back in to the half-up braided crown Reyna had fashioned. "You're whole body fit in the space between my elbow and my wrist. I sang you a lullaby, one no one else has ever heard or will ever hear again, it was and will always be just yours. And you fell asleep in my arms."

This time one of her tears escapes and Cassie has to reach up to brush it away. "Why are you telling me this now?" she asks. "Why didn't you ever tell it to me before. I always thought-"

"I know," her father says. "And you didn't think wrongly. I held you the day you were born and then I left you alone for the next ten years. But I wanted you to know what I gave to you that day. Blessings," he clarifies at Cassie's confused expression. "I didn't know you're entire fate, but I knew that it would be difficult. I wanted you to be as safe as you could be, wanted to protect you as well as I could.

Something clicks inside Cassie's mind. "That's why I can do so much," she realizes out loud. "It's not just the extra power from Mercury. You gave me extra. Like Hephaestus did for Leo." She blinks. "What did you say?"

Her father smiles down at her and quotes. "May the sun shine always on your face, but never in your eyes. May you hear one sound you love on every day of your life. May you have true friends and know who they are. if you're heart must break, may you keep all of the most important pieces, and where you are loved may you be certain of it. May the one you choose be worthy of your choice. May you always be able to go where you wish so long as you know where it is. May the hurt you cannot prevent, be pain that you can heal." He comes to the end of his recitation and shrugs. "I knew I wouldn't be able to protect you or give you comfort, so what I could give, I wanted you to have."

Cassie blinks furiously to clear her eyes the rest of the way as the music begins at the edge of the cliff. "I'm not about to say thank you for that," Cassie says vehemently. "I don't care if that's disrespectful or rude or anything else."

"I don't expect you to," Apollo says. "Just this once. I did not come here for thanks. I came because I wanted you to know on a day already full of love, that you have been loved every day of your life."

The god of the sun leans forwards and kisses her forehead. His hands hold her shoulders lightly, and it's the single most fatherly contact that Cassie has ever receiver from her dad. "Goodbye my sunshine," he says as he steps away. "Be happy." Then he grins and holds his hands up dramatically. "My daughter Cassie/ A goddess in her own right/ Shines with love always."

Cassie grins and nods. "Nice haiku dad," she says softly. "Seventeen syllables and everything."

Apollo bows and straightens. With a wave of his hand and a flash of golden light, he vanishes.

Cassie gives her eyes one last wipe, careful not to smear any of the makeup on and around her eyes. Reyna walks back over to her and emits a low whistle. "I have honest to Olympus never seen anything like that before."

"I know," Cassie agrees fervently. "Not once. He hugged me when the Titan war ended and I thought that was going to be the most extreme gesture of affection I ever got from him."

"He even left you a present," Reyna says, sounding markedly impressed. "This wedding hasn't even kicked off yet and I'm already lost for words." She takes Cassie's hand and gives it a squeeze as the music rises. "Hope you've got some left for Steve when you get up there. It sounds like it's time to get on the scene."

The music changes to a tune that is undeniably the bridal march and Cassie gives Reyna a small shove. "Well you're up first. Get on out there and clear the way so I can get married."

Reyna gives her a half-mocking salute and turns on her heel. "Nice that he gave you a wedding present."

Cassie frowns after her and glances around, trying to figure out what her friend means as Reyna glides gracefully up the aisle. It takes her an embarrassingly long time to figure it out. Her bouquet is bigger than it was before and the flowers in her hair have changed. Genuine Delos Blossoms now adorn both and surround her with their lightly sweet scent.

She shuffles them in front of her so that the nicest blooms face forwards. She takes a deep breath and tosses back her head, straightening her spine. "Alright then Cassie," she says out loud to herself. "Here we go."

Then she takes the first of the few steps she needs to reach in to the future and hold on to the rest of her life.

It's as close to a perfect day as Cassie has ever lived. None of her siblings are there, and no one walks her up the aisle, but that's okay. Cassie can walk herself.

There are pieces of it she doesn't remember very clearly and pieces of it that have branded themselves in to her memory in absolute technicolor.

For example, she can't remember exactly what either one of them say in their vows, but the look on Steve's face when he promises to love her forever will stay with her forever. The only look that even comes close is the one he makes when she promises to love him back. She remembers the cool clasp of the wedding ring sliding in to place above her engagement ring and the warmth of Steve's hand when she returns the favor. Cassie remembers the way Steve dips her in a kiss when T'Challa pronounces them married.

The reception is a combination of delicious food, happy faces, and more dancing than she's ever done in her life before. Cassie tries to beg out of the bouquet toss on the grounds that her aim will be perfect no matter what she does about it. Reyna tries to tell her that it's a question of mind over matter and that Cassie simply has to concentrate on not aiming for anything. Cassie makes sure that the bunch of flower in question smacks her right in the face in retaliation.

They spend their honeymoon in an undisclosed location. Cassie is leaving the description that way on purpose because when Stark presses the key fob for the house of his they'll be borrowing in to her hand he looks at her and Steve very seriously and promises to maim them both if they reveal the location. Cassie believes that he'd be determined enough to figure out how to do it, so she takes the warning seriously.

More importantly, it takes a few hours on a private jet to get there which means they've left the relative safe zones of Wakanda and Switzerland behind them. The Avengers Associated Friends need all of the unlisted private safe houses they can possibly get their hands on. Besides, a honeymoon is a private thing. Cassie plans to keep a lot of the details to herself.

There is a sandy beach with white sand like sugar and the buest blue water that Cassie has ever seen. There's amazing fresh produce and even better coffee. And there's the man Cassie loves with not a lot of clothing on most of the time.

In the interests of honesty, Cassie doesn't spend much time dressed either.

They return to Wakanda ten days later.

Married life starts to slip in to a shape. It's not entirely different from the life they were living before, and it's not entirely the same either. They've been living together for more than two years and they know what it is to occupy the same space.

Steve is more comfortable with public displays of affection now than he ever was before which Cassie finds endlessly amusing. It's almost as though legally and publicly acknowledged marriage in his head equates to making out with people around being fully accepted as par for the course. She makes no comments though. Why mess with something good?

Cassie changes her last name. Or at least, she hyphenates it. She likes the idea of being connected to Steve through her name, but the last name "Morgenstern" has survived through two generations of strong, independent women before it became hers. Cassie doesn't want to leave it behind.

Steve starts running training drills in Wakanda with Sam, Bucky, and both Maximoffs. Cassie, Reyna, T'Challa, Barton, and Natasha all join in on a somewhat rotating schedule. They all have other responsibilities the rest of the time.

Natasha isn't the best spy on the planet for no reason and there still isn't a camera in the world that has a clear picture of what Barton looks like so the two of them are the ones most able to travel and gain intel on new threats. Reyna continues to run press for Stark enterprises and Cassie moves back and forth between working with Shuri in Wakanda and working in the Stark labs to develop a new bio-technical aide division. The two of them fly between Wakanda and Switzerland often and it's nice that they can keep each other company.

Wanda takes up new work in Wakanda as a children's counselor and psychologist. Apparently is a real advantage when it comes to counseling. Meg and Pietro have both been occupied by taking up the herculean task of teaching Pietro to cook edible meals. And when Cassie calls a task herculean, she knows what she's talking about.

Eventually, the time comes for the team to begin to go on missions again. They're much more covert than before and tend to only deploy in very small teams. Cassie doesn't go with them that often, and when she does she tends to stay on the plane. Night time mission have never been her particular forte given her somewhat solar powered nature, and more and more of the covert missions are taking place at night. Instead she hangs back with a wide selection of prepared medical supplies and hopes that she won't have to actually us any of them. Sometimes she comes along and waits on the plane when they're expecting more injuries.

Cassie learns to start telling how worried Steve is about any particular mission by the length and intensity of the kiss Steve gives her before he leaves. A quick, soft, brush means he expects to be home by dinner time that night. A longer, deeper, embrace means he'll be gone a little longer and might very well need to make use of the medical supplies.

Of course, Steve does tell her as much as he can about all of the missions he goes on. Most of the time, he even talks through his plans with her. Cassie has a way of seeing distance tactical angles that Steve finds useful. Bucky could probably give him most of the same advice she does, but Cassie appreciates being in the know. it turns out that Steve and Cassie work well together when it comes to planning combat insertions.

The fact that they can still discover new commonalities and complimentary strengths three years in to their relationship and a few months in to their marriage seems like a good sign for the future. Cassie isn't checking with any kind of foresight on that kind of thing, she has always made it a special point to not investigate her own personal future with those gifts, but she enjoys the ability to have a positive outlook on what's to come despite all the uncertainty that hangs around them like a dark cloud now that the Accords have been signed.

Wakanda takes steps to emerge more fully on to the world stage, but T'Challa keeps it quiet that the country is sheltering the Avengers and their closest family members. The teams that Steve takes in to the field stay under the radar and Shuri spends a lot of time developing new stealth and cloaking capabilities. Tony helps and Cassie contributes to their research wherever she can.

This means that she occasionally spends a lot of time in a lab with two bickering geniuses making sure that the building doesn't end up exploding. She's also the one with the magically secured connection to Annabeth and her Daedelus laptop of inventions and hitherto untested technologies. Annabeth video conferences and Iris Messages in to their discussions once a month at a minimum to share new ideas and forwarded blueprints.

This peaceful honeymoon period is brought to a crashing end by Cassie's cell phone and two words.

The phone ringing at 3:19 AM is never a good sign. Literally, never a good thing ever. Cassie hold that this role is true no matter who or what you are form a demigod on down to a regular college kid. Normally, it means one of three things:

1. Someone is about to die (possibly you)

2. Someone is already dead (possibly you)

3. Someone is drunk (possibly you) and it's about to be your problem regardless.

Still, when the little device starts ringing and wakes Cassie up, she reaches for it. Her searching hands come in to contact with a warm wall of bare skin that shifts and squirms under her touch. Cassie moves her hand across and down and her fingers encounter the familiar ridges of Steve's abs. They contract under her touch and Steve mumbles something indistinguishable before rolling over on to his back and dragging Cassie with him.

His left arm lies heavy across her back, pinning her in place. Cassie decides that she can mostly give in to gravity while still making a show of attempting to answer her phone. Following that decision to find the middle ground, she lets most of her body stay collapsed on top of Steve while wiggling one arm free and reaching blindly for the bed side table. Cassie nuzzles in to the notch of Steve's shoulder and sighs as her questing fingers encounter the smooth rectangle of her phone.

"S'it morning?" Steve asks, barely articulating the words in to the air over her temple. This version of Steve, in the very early morning, when he is rumpled and sleepy and ladened with dreams is one of Cassie's favorites for it's rarity. Steve is so often awake before she is and snaps in to awareness so fast when his day begins that indulging in sleepy slowness together is a special sort of treat.

For this reason Cassie exhales a puff of air in to the pillow beside Steve's neck and shakes her head. She withdraws far enough to place a kiss at the hinge of his jaw. "No," she whispers. "Well, maybe. But no. Just my phone. Stay asleep."

Cassie grips her phone and rolls reluctantly off of Steve's chest to answer it. "Hello?" she grumbles to the speaker, folding a pillow over her head to muffle the noise of the phone call. A fervent and perhaps deludedly optimistic part of her is hoping that this phone call will be nothing. That Annabeth will have just called to check in and misjudged the time difference.

Stupid really.

In eighteen years of knowing Annabeth, Cassie has never known her best friend to miscalculate a single thing.

Then Cassie's world shatters. It collapses and explodes and blurs out of shape like water color paints in the rain. What it takes to make this happen is exactly six words.

"Cassie," Annabeth says. Her voice is echoey and jagged sounding, like she's been crying and shaken. She sounds young and lost and so unlike the Annabeth that Cassie knows that it makes cold apprehension trickle down her spine like ice water. "Cassie, it's Luke. He's alive."

Cassie sits bolt upright in bed, the bed covers pulling tight across her knees. Every word she's ever learned how to speak in any of the three languages she knows spins through her head at once but there's an odd ringing in her ears that means all she can say is. "What?"

Her voice doesn't sound like hers any more than Annabeth's sounds like hers. It sounds small and shaky and like the person talking doesn't have any idea what to think. Cassie supposes that's about accurate.

Annabeth is talking again. Or maybe she just never stopped. Her words are tripping out of her mouth like she can barely get her mouth to form them fast enough for the speed at which her brain is moving.

"...In New York. At the top of the Empire State. Not Olympus, on the observation deck. Thalia found him and Iris Messaged me. He's unconscious. We don't know how-"

"I'm on my way," Cassie promises, swinging herself out of bed and starting to fumble around for clothes and shoes. "Annabeth I'm on my way, okay? You just get to New York as quick as you can. Use Mrs. O'Leary. It's dark out here so I'll have to wait a couple hours. The sun should be up in-" she let's her own sense of when sunrise will be kick in. "Eighty-four minutes. I'll be there then. Just, get to Thalia and- and Luke."

"Percy's calling Mrs. O'Leary now," Annabeth says, sounding marginally calmer than she had at the start of the call. "Cassie can you even jump that far? Across the Atlantic-"

"-I'll make it," Cassie interrupts, talking over the sound of Steve rolling out of bed and moving towards her as Cassie rummages under the bed for her other shoe. "I have to. Besides, people have gone farther. Nico Shadow Traveled to China by accident twice when he was learning and he was twelve." She unearths one and is halfway through trying to tug it on when she realizes it doesn't match the one on her other foot. "Call Chiron before you go. And Frank so he can tell Lupa. And ask Rachel if she- Oh Hades I don't know- just if she has any idea what's going on."

"Nico!" Annabeth exclaims, and Cassie can practically hear her brain ticking through a plan at rapid fire. "Don't try jumping Cassie. Just wait there. I'll call Nico and have him come get you. The two of you can take turns jumping as you hit different time zones. "If Luke is really back then maybe..."

Cassie steps in to the bathroom and grabs a hair-tie. "Decent plan," she says. "One change. I'll call Nico. You call the others and get moving."

"Okay," Annabeth says. "Okay I'm moving. Heading out the door now. I'll call on the walk to the arena. This apartment is not Hellhound sized."

"Good," Cassie says, pinning the phone between her chin and her shoulder so she can use both hands to braid her hair back. She ties it off and switches the phone in to her other hand. "Annabeth," she says. "You know I love you right? Whether Luke's really back or- You, me, Thalia, family okay?"

"Family," Annabeth says firmly. "I love you too. Get here as fast as you can."

"I'll see you soon."

She hangs up and quickly moves to brush her teeth and wash her face. Steve comes up behind her and shuts off the water as Cassie pats her face dry. He takes her shoulder and gently tugs to make her turn to face him. "Talk to me," he says seriously. "Because you just got a phone call at three in the morning and you look like you've been gut punched."

Cassie shakes her head. "No it's fine. I'm fine. Everyone is fine. This is all just-"

"-Fine?" Steve guesses, raising his eyebrows. "You know if you say a word enough times in a row it starts to seem less and less like a word with actual meaning?"

He lifts one hand to her cheek. "Talk to me," he repeats, voice soft and pleading.

Cassie takes in the way his hair is sticking up in messy cowlicks and the pillow lines creased in to his cheek. There are violet shadows under his eyes and his skin is pale under the bathroom lights. Steve actually looks exhausted and stressed and this is the two of them in private so he isn't trying to hide it. But he's still standing here in their bathroom at three A.M waiting to help her take on the next twist the universe is throwing at her.

"Luke is alive," she blurts out simply. "In New York. Thalia found him and Annabeth is on her way there. And we don't know how it happened or why." Laying all of the facts out like that makes the situation sound simple. Like it doesn't twist the threads of Cassie's past in to a knot and cut in to the pieces.

It's been boiled down to such a simple chain of information in Cassie's mental biography. Luke was like my brother. He kept me safe. Then he changed. He betrayed us. Then he died to save us all. In the end, my brother died a hero.

She'd been able to work through her feelings about Luke's death. In the quiet stretch of time between winning the titan war and Percy disappearing, she, Annabeth, and Thalia had talked it out. They had shouted and been angry and cried all together and then gone off and done it all again separately. Cassie had accepted his death and the circumstances of it and continued on with life. Sometimes she still grieves for him, but she does it differently from the grieving she does for Lee and Michael and again separately from how she grieves for Silena, Ethan, Castor, and the others who had died in the war.

If Luke is back, back for real and completely alive, then Cassie doesn't know what that means. Not for her, not for Annabeth and Thalia, not for Percy, not for any of them. Jason had been dead for all of three days before he had come back to the land of the living and that had been when the doors of death were only very recently closed and they'd had a bit of an in with Thanatos.

This has literally never happened before, not even in myth. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or miscellaneous other. No one comes back from the dead without complications or strings attached.

"Luke your friend who betrayed you all, resurrected a titan to try to completely destroy the world and plunge humanity in to the dark ages, realized that was a bad plan at the bottom of the ninth, changed his mind, then really and seriously died to save you all and had his body ceremonially burned?" Steve confirms.

Cassie sighs, suddenly feeling completely and utterly exhausted. "Yeah, that's the one."

"But he's not dead now?"

"Evidently not."

"Oh," he blinks. "Okay."

Now Cassie is the one blinking. "Really? That's all ya' got right now?"

Steve shrugs. "Your friend who was more like your brother who had a long history of protecting you and was definitely confirmed to be dead turns out not to be. There's also a long history of complicated betrayal and violence in play. I felt like I could see the parallels. But-" he makes a sort of non-determined hand gesture. "I might just be really tired and projecting. The last few months have been a little..."

"Mindy-bendy?" Cassie offers.

"Sure," he agrees. "Anyway, I kinda figured enough things had happened recently for someone coming back to life to be normal. Ish." He rubs tiredly at his eyes, attempting to banish the last remnants of sleep. "I don't know. My brain isn't actually engaged yet. I'll be, more helpful in a minute?"

"No, honey," Cassie says, lifting her palms to cradle his face. "You don't need to do- Just- just wait here with me for a second, okay? Just-" she steps in to his body and tucks her face in to his chest.

Steve's arms come up around her and for a moment, she gets the temporary sensations of warmth, comfort, and familiarity that she had so hoped for. Nothing is solved. Luke is back and alive in the world and she's going to have to face that soon, but for now the world is back to being something that she can bare.

A few tears leak down Cassie's cheeks to be absorbed in to Steve's tee-shirt. She isn't sure what emotion she'd attach to them because she's feeling so many of them at the moment that it could be anything. Name the emotion, she's probably experiencing it just then- but the undeniable physical reality of the wetness against her cheeks and the vague salty taste of them along with the weight of Steve's arms helps to ground and settle her.

She gives herself the space of five deep breaths before she straightens up and brushes at her eyes with the sleeve of the sweatshirt she's pulled on. She realizes she must have pulled it on inside out in her hurry to get dressed in the dark when she notes the exposed seems. With a shrug she tugs the garment back up over her head, flips it right side out, and slides it back on. The fabric falls nearly to her knees- it must be one of Steve's.

Her husband shifts the arms around her back so that his hands cradle her sides and he can take a half-step back to better see her face. His hand spreads and flexes, rubbing in soothing patterns and his fingers span the majority of her rib cage. The moment is one of very few that Cassie has ever shared with Steve where his proximity has made her feel like something small.

Maybe it's because she's already feeling somewhat breakable.

Steve lifts one hand to brush away the last few errant tears. "I'm not an empath," he murmurs. "I don't know what you're feeling- or thinking- right now. But I remember how you helped me when SHIELD fell and I found Bucky again. You barely even knew me then and you helped- god you helped me so much." He tips her face with his hand to press a fervent kiss in to the crown of her forehead. "How can I help you?" he asks. "What can I- What do you need me to do?"

Cassie blinks up at him to clear her eyes and seen him fully. Steve's face is filled with so much feeling- worry at seeing her so upset, heartbreak for what she's experiencing, confusion at not understanding everything about what's happening, all mixed up with a sort of utterly helpless determination to do something to help- that Cassie has to shut them again for a moment.

"I don't think I know what I'm thinking or feeling either," she admits. "There's too much of both right now for me to try to pick through any of it." She opens her eyes again. "I just know that I have to get there," she tells him helplessly. "Thalia and Annabeth will be waiting. They're my sisters and Luke was- is-"

"-Your brother," Steve completes. "You have to go. I'll ask Tony if we can borrow a plane. Or maybe T'Challa."

Cassie shakes her head. "No, no planes. It wouldn't be quick enough. Nico will some here to get me and then we'll take turns hoping to get through different time zones. We can get there in under an hour that way."

To Steve's credit, he doesn't question her travel plans. "Right," he nods, edging towards mission planning mode. "Call him and I'll pack us a bag-"

"-Not us," Cassie interrupts. Steve looks taken aback and Cassie sighs, leaning up to kiss him and quietly twining the fingers of her right hand with his left where it rests on her waist. "Mortals aren't allowed in Olympus Steve," she says as gently as possible. "Zeus would smite us both on the spot for bringing you there. Whatever level of affection my father has for me wouldn't be enough to stop that from happening. And," she hesitates before going on but bites her lip and gets on with it. "And you can't be in New York Steve," she says plainly. "It's the first place anyone looking for you would watch."

Steve's face goes carefully blank, hiding whatever he feels as he processes the reality of what she has said. Cassie lets him have the moment despite the clock they're operating on. She can be as tactful as the queen of England and that statement still wouldn't be able to avoid stepping all over several of Steve's most major issues.

For example:

1. Being unable to help a person he loves while they're in a crisis.

2. The fact that he and everyone he cares about are currently banned from the country they had previously called home.

3. The Accords

Just to start off with.

As Cassie watches Steve swallows and straightens up, setting his chin. "Right," he says. "You're right. I can't go with you." He manages a smile but it doesn't look exactly natural.

"Steve," Cassie starts. "I wish-"

"No," He says. "No don't. Don't spend your energy worrying about me right now. You'll need it for your trip. I'll pack you a bag while you call Nico." He starts to back away but Cassie won't let go of his hand and pulls him back and down to her height to kiss him.

The kiss is hot and fast and deep, all searching mouths and snatched breaths. It's a kiss flavored with urgency, toothpaste, worry, and frustration. Steve's hands travel in opposite directions, one tangling in the early morning mess of her curls and the other traveling over her ass to tug at her thigh. Cassie does a small hop at the next squeeze and wraps as much as herself as she can around Steve's body. He makes a small guttural sound low in his throat that reverberates through his chest and makes Cassie let out a small and undignified whimper.

Steve moves forward blindly with Cassie still wrapped around him and his weight drives them both back in to the bathroom counter. The faucet of the sink is driving in to Cassie's kidney but she doesn't really care as Steve's hands curl below the edge of her sweatshirt and press warm and heavy against her skin, pulling her close, close, closer. A number of bathroom items clatter in to the sink as Cassie uses one hand to scrabble for purchase on the counter.

Cassie's all for ignoring them at the moment, but the noise seems to bring Steve back to reality. He breaks the kiss suddenly, turning his head away and pressing his face hard against her neck as they both get their breathing back under control. From the speed of the pulse drumming away under Cassie's fingers where they're pressed against the back of his neck, not to mention the drumming filling her own ears, that's an endeavor that will take a little effort.

Steve's exhales are hot against her neck and she feels the depth of the inhale he drags in before he steps away. He straightens the hem of her top and twists some of her loosened hair back behind her ear, the pads of his fingers trailing along her skin in a way that suggests he's either not thinking about it or can't help himself or both. "I'll go and pack," he says, then drops a last quick kiss against her temple. "Call Nico."

He's out the bathroom door before Cassie can think to make him stay. She can hear him moving about in their room and turns back to the bathroom mirror. The face that looks back at her is splotchy with blushes and tears and her lips are swollen from Steve's kisses. The golden curls around it are a mess of tangles from fingers running through them and the wreckage of early attempts at braiding. The blue eyes in the center of it all sparkle with tears that may or may not form yet.

Moving mechanically, Cassie brushes and re-braids her hair before washing her face and brushing her teeth. She lets the water reach nearly scorching temperatures and relishes in the sting of heat along her skin. Boiling water is one of the few things that ever makes Cassie's skin feel like it might burn.

Then she calls Nico and the speed with which she can hear him and her brother both moving around on the other end of the line after she explains the situation tells her that he'll be there within the next five minutes.

When she rejoins Steve in their bedroom it's to find that a few low lights are on to illuminate the space and her medical bag is neatly packed at the end of the bed. Her armor is laid out on top of the newly straightened covers and a pair of sneakers sits beside the bag. A clatter tells her that Steve is in the kitchen so Cassie quickly pulls her armor on over her leggings and Steve's sweatshirt and shoves her feet in to her shoes.

Her medical bag is a comforting and familiar weight where it falls in it's accustomed place and the strap pulls tight along her shoulder. Then she makes her way in to the kitchen and walks up behind Steve where he stands waiting for the coffee to finish percolating. She puts a hand on his shoulder to make him turn.

"Hey," he says. "I made you a plate. I know the teleporting makes you tired."

Cassie follows his gesture with her eyes and sees the large plate of toast and cut up fruit he's left for her on the counter. "Thank you," she tells him, leaning up to kiss Steve's cheek. "I woke Nico up," she explains. "He won't be here for another few minutes. Come and sit with me while I eat?"

Steve nods. "Just let me pour the coffee and let the toaster finish. I thought I'd make a tupperware for you and Nico to take with you."

She agrees and moves to sit at the counter and dig in to her food. Steve joins her a moment later with a cup of coffee for each of them and a full thermos set to the side with the container of toast. Cassie eats quickly and cradles her coffee between her hands as she leans in to Steve's side. He's added exactly the right amount of milk and sugar to the cup and sprinkled the tiniest pinch of cinnamon on top.

They have the privilege of a few moments of peaceful quiet to share between them. Steve takes her hand early on and doesn't let go, his thumb stroking in gentle swipes over the back of her hand. Cassie finishes her drink and let's her head rest against him.

Nico melts out of the shadows of their living room about twelve minutes after Cassie calls him. He too is dressed in armor and Cassie guesses that's what took the extra few minutes for him to reach her. He wobbles a little as the shadows swirl around him and Cassie gets up quickly to catch his elbow.

"I'm fine," he says, brushing her off. "Your brother cleared the trip before I went. You know he worries. Are you ready?"

His Stygian iron sword is at his belt and lets off a dim purple glow. The skull ring he's worn since he was a twelve year old boy just discovering his powers still rests on his right hand. Cassie notices that he's absently twirling the band around the joint the way he had when he was younger and nervous but trying to hide it. His hair has been trimmed recently and Cassie supposes that Will must have nagged him in to it.

"Yes," Cassie says. "I have my bag and my bow. Knives too. Steve made us some road food." At her words, Steve himself walks over carrying the tupperware and the thermos and hands both to Cassie to be stored in her bag.

"Call," Steve says staring at her face like he wants to memorize it. "When you're done, or when you know, or when you're on your way back. Just... call."

Cassie nods and stretches up to kiss him goodbye. "I will," she says. "I promise." She gives him the best smile she can under the circumstances. "I'll say hello to 'New York' for you."

Steve leans down to kiss her back. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He nods and Cassie steps back so that she's standing next to Nico who has been dedicatedly counting the tiles in the kitchen backsplash to give them some semblance of privacy for their goodbye. Nico holds out a hand and Cassie takes it. "Okay you know the drill. Hang on tight and don't let go," he gives Steve a nod. "Nice to see you again."

"You too," Steve responds. "Take care of each other."

"Obviously," Nico says. "Seeing my father is not on my agenda for the day. Now in three, two..."

Cassie has just enough time to take a deep breath and mouth one last 'I love you' to Steve. The last thing she sees is his face, full of barely veiled concern while he tries to look reassuring, before the chill blackness of Shadow Travel closes around her. Everything is roaring noise, cold winds, wild animal cries, and the howling of the dead. The only real thing is the cool pressure of Nico's hand tightly gripping hers. Cassie squeezes back as tightly as she can and tries to remember that she doesn't have to hold her breath.

They step free of the shadows together in a deserted and dusty corner of a sea port in Morocco. There's sun here so Cassie takes charge of the next jump. She stretches herself a little and lands them in England where they pause to eat and breath. Nico is looking a little paler than Cassie would like so she takes his hand and focuses on making a relatively short trip to the Western coast of Iceland.

Nico grumbles about doctors worrying too much and whisks them through a passing shadow to the lower tip of Western Greenland before she can suggest that they take another moment to rest. Cassie berates him for it and refuses to let them leave again before Nico has drunk some nectar and finished the last of the toast. When she's satisfied that Nico isn't about to fade in to blackness, she extracts a promise that she'll control the next two jumps and he's not aloud to argue with her.

Those jumps take the pair of them in to Canada and very close to the border with New York state. Here Nico takes over again so that Cassie can save some energy to use later for healing. They don't know what state Luke will be in when they arrive or what state any of them will leave in if he wakes up feeling violent.

The last jump drops them in an alleyway three streets from the Empire State Building. The sounds and smells of the city crash in on the pair of them and it's no surprise that it leaves the both of them swaying on their feet. The multiple jumps have been draining, but Cassie can't help but feel a little pride at what they've both accomplished. The two of them together have crossed more than half the globe without passing out and they did it in less than an hour.

Well they haven't passed out yet anyway, Nico is looking quite unsteady on his feet and Cassie is fighting off black spots as they swim across her field of vision. Still, she thinks she's probably doing better than he is and moves towards him with her hands outstretched, intending to give him a quick shot of power to help speed his recovery. Nico backs away from her and shakes his head when she offers.

"Save it," he says. "You'll probably need it later. You can check on me when the rest of this mess is figured out."

It's more of a concession than Cassie was expecting so she takes it and the two of them make their way in to the lobby of the Empire State Building. Cassie approaches the desk and lets her sweatshirt hood fall, revealing the disguised bow at her throat, and the gold hair and blue eyes that are her inheritance from her father. "Six hundredth floor please," she says cooly.

The security guard does something unexpected then. Normally, the guard trots out some line about how there is no six hundredth floor unless the demigods asking can show proof or threats justifying their presence on Olympus. He doesn't do that this time.

Instead, he just nods and digs out the special security card from under the desk. "Go on up. You two know the drill. And kids?"

They pause before leaving to let him finish whatever it is he wants to say.

"I'd get up there quickly if I were you."

Well.

That's...

Comforting.

A/N: So what did you guys think about this nice little resurrection I've pulled off? Don't worry, it's done with purpose. I have plans for Luke going forwards that I think you're all going to like. That said, this might be the last update for a little while. I'm juggling a lot right now with online learning for college and trying to figure out how my job is supposed to be working now. I had to work on this chapter in little bits and pieces and that's probably how the next one will be too. Thank you all so much for sticking with me so far! Review for me! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxx