AN: Thanks for the reviews folks, really. The winner for the last question was theChallanger42, even though they forgot to put a capital on the name. *shakes head* Grammar people, please. I can't really review to your challenge though. Have cookies and donuts to make up for it. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, I don't own it.

Awesome as Annabeth, please tell me a character you want to appear.

Don't worry folks, Piper and Paul will appear eventually.

Some nice person, who evidently likes tortured Leo *cough* rock legend 166 *cough.* asked me if the people who adopt/foster Leo will abuse him. I tried to make it so you'll be happy, but I already have people in mind to adopt him (go look at ch 14 of change through flame) and they won't abuse him, so I've had some of the older kids at the orphanage do it. Cliché I know!

I'd like to say, that the only things I know about being in care is from watching shows and reading fanfics. Please, don't be offended at my rendition of it. I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm just ignorant.

1: fave colo(u)r

2: longest word you know (in any language, though if you can provide a translation if it's not English, please)

3: fave flower.

On with the show...!

In which Leo meets a couple of old friends...

Leo was really regretting leaving camp. Not that he would have liked being thrashed with Clarisse's spear, but it would probably have been better than this. He absentmindedly poked another bruise, wincing at the pain. He had forgotten in the years of fighting monsters, how much of a monster a human could be. He had been in the mortal world a week, and already he was thinking of packing his bags and hiking back to camp.

After he had left camp, and walked to New York, which took a while, he had just loitered outside a police station for a while. Eventually some officer had come out, and must have recognised him as Leo Valdez, the boy who was always running away from foster care, because he immediately dragged Leo back in to the station, and proceeded to call the nearest orphanage. So, here he was, in another orphanage. It wasn't so bad really, the food was good, and the care workers were surprisingly nice.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the other kids. On his first day, forgetting that he was twelve and not sixteen, he had unwisely told one of the fourteen year olds to pick on someone else, when he found him yelling at one of the six year olds. All that did was paint a massive sign over his head. A sign that read-pick on this kid. He lost count of the number of times one of the older kids had seen him in the hall, with no-one nearby, and punched him. Today was by far the worst though. Yesterday the care workers had been called to a conference, and only one had stayed. This meant that it was the perfect time for all the older kids to gang up on him.

They had caught him unaware as he left the games room, which was really a massive room with a piano, loads of board games and a pool table, and had backed him up against a wall. He had nowhere to run, so he just took it. After fighting a war, it didn't hurt that much, so he just kept quiet. He was regretting that now. If he had screamed, then the care worker would have found out, and the punches and stuff would probably have stopped. But then the older kids would have probably gone back to yelling and torturing the little ones, and Leo was less ok with that. At least this way he was helping the younger kids a little.

But today the bruises, though completely hidden by his cloths, (the bullies weren't stupid enough to hit him where the bruises could be seen), were purple, and it looked like he had just gone eight rounds with Frank in elephant form. In other words, he looked beat up. And to top it all, today was visitor day. Once a week, the orphanage would be open for people to visit. It was a scheme to encourage people to adopt, but it didn't seem to work as the care workers had hoped. Meaning, no-one had been adopted yet.

But there was always the next week, and Leo really didn't feel like getting up today. He lay back down on his bed, and closed his eyes, wondering how Percy was doing, back with his mom. Annabeth had gone back to her dad too, and Leo had a feeling that wouldn't go down very well. Annabeth was still very stubborn, and if she had gotten that from her dad... She'd probably be back at camp soon. Leo grabbed the blanket, and curled around it, ignoring the call for breakfast. He could easily get some food later, the cooks liked him anyway.

Before he had realised, he had dozed off again, and was rudely woken by a knock on his bedroom door. That was another good thing about this orphanage. Everyone, unless they specified they would like to share with a specific person, had their own room. It was a plus, because he could always retreat into his, and he refused to call it hiding. The knock came again, and Leo let out a groan.

The door opened, and Liz, one of the care workers, poked her head around it, gazing at the lump on the bed with a small smile. "Leo, you have to get up."

"Don't wanna..." Leo was kind-of surprised at how babyish he was acting. Usually he would have sent a grin in Liz's direction and joked about how he needed his beauty sleep, or something like that. But, he just wanted to sleep today. Maybe it was the bruises he had from yesterday: or maybe it was the fact that he didn't want to meet any visitors that might turn up. It felt a bit like the kids in care were being lined up to be inspected. He didn't like being treated as an object.

It seemed like Liz had picked up on his mood, and she had entered the room, her smile dropping. "Is there something wrong joker?"

All of the care workers had taken to calling him that, since the lot of them had watched batman on his second day, and Leo had constantly pointed out the flaws in the plans, and how he could have made the bat mobile so much better, ect. Eventually Kali, one of the smallest children, had turned round, and told Leo, "Be quiet, you're picking on batman so much you sound like the Joker."

After that moment of hilarity, everyone in the place that didn't hate him had taken to calling him the Joker. He didn't particularly mind, there were worse things they could have called him. Leo poked his head out of the sheets to assess whether he had been too much out of character. From the growing frown on Liz's face, he had. Time for some damage control. He grinned at her blearily. "But then again, if by getting up, I have to look at your ugly mug, well then who can blame me for not getting out of bed."

Liz's smile returned, and the tension in her frame leaked away. "You can't say much, as least I don't go around all day with hair like that!"

"There is nothing whatsoever wrong with my hair, it's part of the reason girls love me!"
"In your dreams perhaps."

Leo gasped, and pretended to be offended. Eventually he sat up and turned his head away from her with a huff, sticking his nose in the air. She giggled, and left the room, calling over her shoulder that he better get up and changed, because the first visitors would be arriving in half an hour.

Within half an hour, Leo was dressed and in the games room, his tool belt firmly strapped around his middle. The supervisor of the orphanage had tried to take it from him, but after him proving it was empty, thanks to the mist, he was allowed to keep it. He had just been to the kitchen, and begged a muffin off Karen, who was the head cook, when the doorbell rang. The games room, which was right by the front door, was perfect for overhearing conversations, a fact which Leo now took advantage of.

He was kinda surprised that he was the only one with this idea, but he reckoned all the other kids were waiting in the dining room, or planning another ambush on Leo. That seemed to be the favourite pastime for half of the older kids. Leo leant agaist the wall, and closed his eyes, trying to hear the conversation. Liz had opened the door, and was talking to a man and a woman. Probably two people who couldn't have kids and were looking for a nice four years old to adopt.

Leo was almost ready to stop listening when he heard a younger voice. That was unusual. Not once in his time in care had a prospective parent brought along a kid. He focused again. "Mommy and daddy said they want another kid, because I'm not enough trouble anymore. They don't want me causing more trouble though, cus I asked that." Leo heard Liz's giggle at that, and couldn't keep from smiling himself.

"The doctor said they couldn't though. Cus it might, en... endager..."

"Endanger."

"That's what I said! It might en... hurt mommy. So, they said they might adopt. An I want a big brother! So I don't mind sharing my parents. They'll still be mine though, but I'll share them!"

Leo couldn't help laugh at that, he didn't mind sharing his parents, just so long as no-one tried to take them away. He wouldn't mind having a little brother like that. That voice sounded familiar though, where had he heard that little boy before? Leo was sure he had, not too long ago. After the time travel thing, but before camp...

He heard Liz asked the little boy a question, and the answer shocked him so much he fell of the chair he had been swinging on. It was the kid from the arch, Benny! Leo rubbed his head absentmindedly, as he winced at the pain from his bruises, where they hit the floor. He didn't notice the door open behind him, until a small head poked around it, and a young voice piped, "Leo?"

Can you name a child of Hecate?