It was months before Cleo encountered the Stoll brothers again.

The snow clung to the branches of trees, glittering in the streetlights of Manhattan.

Manhattan was rather a long way to go for birthday shopping, but Shelby, the youngest of the ankle biters, had taken to an odd form of scrying with her crayons. Cleo didn't know how the five year old did it, but it was very effective.

Cleo also knew Shelby would be trying her best to figure out what she was going to get for her birthday, and as Manhattan was somewhat harder for Shelby to view than other places (for reasons Cleo couldn't guess) she'd decided to take her shopping needs there.

The drawback, however, was that Cleo was much less familiar with the west side of the river. So, frustrated to no end, she huddled over a street map with large red letters declaring "YOU ARE HERE". 'Here' was still three blocks away from where she needed to be. It was really quite embarrassing, not being able to navigate such a simple layout.

Sighing, she shoved her hands deeper into her pockets and trundled along, resisting the call of a hot coco stand.

Cleo's eyes darted around the street, determined not to miss the Toy's-R-Us she knew was near, when she saw them. Standing on a park bench, they were encouraging impromptu Christmas caroling. (Which wasn't going very smoothly, as they were both singing different songs. Also, Christmas was long gone and they were plunging into January.)

Cleo rolled her eyes, then sighed when she spotted the Toy's-R-Us behind the Stoll's bench. She resigned herself to crossing the street; thinking, hoping, they wouldn't recognize her. After all, they'd only met once.

But, apparently, she'd made an impression.

"Hey!" She could tell it was Connor, recalling he was the shorter of the two.

Cleo made a quick decision to duck her head and try to make a getaway, pretending not to notice them, or pretending not to notice they were talking to her.

"Yeah!" Said the other one, Travis. "Carrie!"

"Idiot," Connor snorted. "It's Cleo, right?"

"Right." Cleo stopped and muttered under her breath.

She felt them coming up behind her, and flinched when Connor said, "Here's an idea, why don't you come carol with us? You look like you could use some Christmas spirit."

"No, I'm sorry," Cleo refused as politely as she could, backing away, clutching the book she'd brought (just in case there were any long, boring lines to stand in) protectively to her chest. "I really need to get some shopping done. Thanks for the offer." She spared them a smile.

Connor gave her a critical eye. "Oh, shopping?"

"Hey, that's what we were here for!" Travis exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah," Connor said, as if just remembering.

The boys looked shocked at the revelation. "Well, you two had better get on it, and so should I. Goodbye." Cleo nodded her head and set course for the shop door.

"What do you think this store has?" Cleo scowled when she heard the boys fall into step behind her. It wasn't that she hated them, she didn't, she just got the feeling they drew more trouble than she was prepared to deal with. She didn't like trouble, and she'd had enough of it to last her a lifetime.

"Don't know, Travis. Toys, maybe?" Cleo could picture Connor pairing an eye roll with this sarcastic statement.

"Right," Travis nodded. "That would make sense. Just checking."

"So, who are you shopping for, Cleo?" Connor asked.

"A girl I babysit," Cleo answered.

"Cool," Connor said. "What are you going to get her?"

Cleo thought on it. "A doll, maybe."

"You don't know yet?" Travis chided.

"Well, who are you shopping for? What are you going to get them?" Cleo challenged as she surveyed the store, looking for the correct aisle.

"Hmmm…" Connor's face screwed up. "We could get Annabeth some crayons and paper."

"And Katie wanted a new spade." Travis put in.

"You're hardly going to find a spade here," Cleo said and gestured at the plastic toy wonderland.

"Yeah, I suppose not." Travis shrugged.

-0-

Cleo managed to lose the brothers in a particularly crowded aisle, then beelined it to the checkout.

Cleo made her way down the street, bracing herself for another half hour of the wandering she called navigation that would be necessary to get back to the bus that let out near Brooklyn House.

She'd only been walking for ten minutes when a series of rapid honks sounded behind her. Cleo spun around, searching the street for the maniac driver, and backpedaled and almost fell over when she saw two nearly identical figures occupying the cabin of a rusty blue pickup truck.

"Hey Cleo, need a lift?" Travis called out the window.

"Can you even drive?" Cleo asked as the car pulled to a stop next to her.

"Well, we are, aren't we?" Connor pointed out.

"That's not what I meant," Cleo said, then spotted a particularly vulgar bobble head on the dashboard.

"Oh, that," Connor said, following her glance. "Don't worry, that's not ours."

"Then what's it doing in your car?" Cleo wondered.

The brothers exchanged knowing grins.

"This is your car, right?" Cleo demanded, catching on. "Right?"

"Well, it's borrowed." Travis hedged.

Cleo's eyes went wide as she saw a tangle of exposed wires and no key in the ignition. "You hotwired this car?"

"Don't worry, we know the guy," Connor assured her.

"He won't mind," Travis added.

"Much." Connor shrugged. "You want that ride or not?"

"Do I want to be driven home by dois malucos in a stolen car?" Cleo asked incredulously.

"Is that a yes?"

"I think that's a yes."

"No!" Cleo exclaimed. "That is most certainly a no!"

"Alright," Connor sighed. "You're skipping out on a perfectly fine offer."

"It is not 'perfectly fine'." Cleo scowled. "It's illegal and I hardly know you two. You could be kidnappers for all I know. You've already proven to be felons."

A particularly strong gust of wind struck at that moment.

"You really want to walk in this weather?" Travis asked.

"Yes." Cleo told him.

"Okay," Connor put up his hands in mock surrender. "But when you are lying on the side of the road, dying of frostbite, remember how generous we tried to be."

The car pulled away from the shoulder, taking the Stoll brothers with it.

"Loucos," Cleo muttered to herself. "They are, without a doubt, insane."

And there it is!

Thanks to DemiGoddess2012 for reminding me Cleo spoke Portuguese and for the translation help.