Hey guys!

I'm going to apologize for this later-than-usual update. I went on a week-long trip to Chicago and I couldn't bring my computer with me because I was babysitting. I like small children, but I know you guys were wondering where on God's green earth I was, so yeah. I was in Chicago. Then my sister hogged the computer because she's addicted to this game. Sorry again!

Thanks again, so very very much, for the reviews! Love you people!

Leo's P.O.V

The last memory triggered another group hug. Leo was breathing slowly and deeply, trying not to cry again. His eyes were closed, his face still hidden in Annabeth's shoulder. Percy was hugging him from behind. He felt Hazel clasping his hand and Piper's hand on his shoulder. He didn't know about Frank and Jason, but he was sure they were there as well.

Why did Hera have to show this? Why did it have to be him? Jason had a traumatic past. So did Annabeth. So why were his memories the ones being shown? Why was he the one struggling to hold back tears? He knew he was weak. Why was that knowledge being reinforced? He should sit up, grin stupidly, and make everyone groan and laugh with a perfectly timed joke or pun… but it felt nice to be hugged like this, like he hadn't been hugged for a long time, the hug of a concerned friend.

But Leo was also pretty sure if he continued hugging Annabeth as desperately as he was now, Percy would strangle him.

Slowly, he sat up away from Annabeth, leaning against Percy. He could feel everyone's concerned eyes on him and he inwardly sighed, knowing that they now thought him weaker than ever before…

"Leo?" Percy's voice sounded beside his ear.

Leo took a breath. "Yeah?"

"I hope you remember her address, because once we kill Gaea, that woman is dead."

Leo's eyes snapped open as he was enveloped in warm smiles and "yeahs" from everyone in the group. A warm glow spread from heart and all through his body. They didn't think he was weak. They were talking about getting revenge for him!

Leo never thought he would be so happy to hear people planning homicide.

There was a grin on his face as the next memory started.

Leo's black eye and split lip were gone. He was sitting against a tattered sofa beside a brunette teenage girl, listening to upbeat music play, a tiny smile on his face. The edge of a Band-Aid could be seen where Teresa had cut him with the glass, but other than that he seemed to be okay. He was tapping his foot against the floor, singing softly along to the song.

"…cause you can't stop the beat, ever since this whole world began a woman found out if she shook it she could shake up a man, so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it the best that I can today. Cause you can't stop the motion of the ocean or the sun in the sky, you can wonder if you wanna but I never ask why, and if you try to hold me down I'm gonna spit in your eye and saaayyy, you can't stop the beat!"

The girl, chewing on gum, laughed and gently ruffled his hair. "You've got a good voice, Leo. Ever heard that song before?"

Leo shook his head. ""What's it from, Amanda? It's catchy."

The girl's brown eyes lit up. "Come on, I'll show you the musical. It's called Hairspray. It's really good!" She jumped up and sprinted over to a small wire rack next to a beat up television, where a small collection of movies resided. She removed one and popped it into the player. Then she ran back and grabbed Leo's hand. "I'll show you how to dance to it."

The stood there in front of the TV as Tracy began singing 'Good Morning Baltimore.'

(I love Hairspray, and Broadway in general, so this will be a recurring theme.)

As Amanda taught him how to dance to the music, Leo's grin got bigger and bigger. When the song was over, they both plopped down on the ground, breathless from dancing and uncontrollable giggling.

Leo allowed himself a small smile. He remembered Amanda and the group home he had lived in. She had been the reason why he and… He yanked his thoughts back from the dangerous train they were taking.

Bad Leo. He chided himself.

He made himself continue watching.

The song 'Nicest Kids in Town' began playing after a bit of time, and Amanda tugged at Leo's hand, pulling him to his feet as Corny Collins began singing.

"Oh, every afternoon when the clock strikes four

(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba bee-ba)

a crazy bunch of kids crash through that door, yeah!

(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba bee-ba)

Well they throw off their coats and leave the squares behind,

And then they shake it, shake it, shake it,

Like their losing their minds!

You'll never see them frown,

Cause their the nicest kids in town!"

"Hey!" laughed Leo, who was trying to lead Amanda in a clumsy jitterbug. He put on a fake mad face. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that the boy is supposed to lead?"

Something in Amanda's face closed. "My mother never taught me anything. She abandoned me when I was three months old on the steps of the courthouse. I don't even know if she bothered to name me."

Leo looked stricken. Just then, Mr. Jacobs, followed by a matronly Hispanic woman with gray-streaked black hair, came walking into the room, arguing. Leo's eyes fixed on the woman.

"El es el Diablo! I will not take him!" (He is the devil!)

"Mrs. de la Cruz, surely you must reconsider! He is your nephew!" (Anyone know Aunt Rosa's last name?)

"I will not reconsider! He is a bastard child who killed his own mother, my dear sister. I will not have my darling Raphael mixing with a child like that!"

Behind the arguing adults came a chubby little boy, his eyes glued to a Game Boy and one finger up his nose.

"Come, Raphael." The woman said imperiously, then lifted her chin to look at Mr. Jacobs in the eye. "Leo Valdez will never live in my house, or my name is not Rosa de la Cruz!" She spun on her heel and marched out. Raphael followed after her, removing the finger from his nose and scratching his butt before sticking in right back up there again.

(And there's Aunt Rosa. I don't like Aunt Rosa. So she is only going to appear in short cameos. At one point, I promise you she will get slapped.)

Mr. Jacobs sighed and started to move back towards the hallway he had come from, flipping through a manila folder in his hands labeled 'Valdez, Leo.' Leo's brown eyes fixed with laser focus on the folder. He grinned and turned to Amanda.

"I have an idea for how we could figure that out…"