This went a completely different direction than I'd intended but hey, I guess Luke wanted to avoid that emotional crap for at least another chapter. I suppose the plot point is better analyzed from Thalia's POV anyways. So not much action here.

Enough from me.

Disclaimer: I don't own this. Plain and simple. Inevitability is just me playing with Rick Riordan's characters and I'm not getting paid to write this. Heck if anything I'm losing time writing this when I should be packing for my flight that leaves tomorrow. XD

Enjoy!

Luke readjusts his pack between his shoulder blades. They're a little achy today, he muses absently. He guesses that no amount of ambrosia will ever completely some wounds; just as no amount of time shall heal others. At any rate he doesn't dare take any more. He was never exactly given instructions on how much was okay to take and he didn't want to risk it. He wasn't exactly eager to become a mound of charcoal thank-you-very-much.

It's been a couple days since their run in with the giants. Luke finally managed to convince Thalia the giant's teeth they collected may come in handy; so they stripped them of the giant jawbone and split them between their packs. And Hades, he'd never have guessed they'd be so heavy! Or sharp, he reflects as he shifts again to make the one poking into his back ease up.

Things between him and Thalia are significantly better than they were. They're…well he wouldn't say they're friends or even truly allies. She still glares at him resentfully here and there and he still occasionally goes out of his way to annoy her.

Hey, don't look at him like that. She makes it too damn easy. It doesn't help that her reactions to his taunts, while volatile and sometimes painful to her, are so entertaining. He doesn't even know exactly what it is about seeing her get flustered that is so funny. Maybe it's that he just wants her to show some kind of emotion. She doesn't often otherwise. There was a twinge of pity and sympathy when he got hurt the other day but otherwise it's either hostility or nothing at all. She's too guarded still for him to say he enjoys her company.

Maybe if she gave him a few more smiles or spoke in a tone that wasn't quite so frigid he wouldn't feel the need to be obnoxious. But it's her call. He can pull of the annoying douche bag for as long as she wants to be so distant.

Then again, maybe it's better this way. If she gets herself killed he won't miss her. Perhaps that's her reasoning toward him as well.

"So…what do you want to do about dinner?" He starts as they near a suburb. It's getting late and his stomach is growling. He hasn't eaten anything since that melted candy bar that morning and they'd split that. He's thankful they aren't in the middle of no where and that there's a drug store spitting distance from where they're standing on the corner under the watchful light of a streetlamp.

Thalia digs around in her jean pockets and pulls out the fabric out. Empty. "Got nothing here."

"Me either…" He'd been on the run for quite some time now. The money he'd stolen from his mother's wallet before leaving had long since run dry. Luke jerks his head toward the pharmacy. "Guess that only leaves one option."

Thalia's brow pinches in for a moment before she catches on to what he's implying. "No. Just no."

Luke purses his lips. "Come on. Don't tell me you've never lifted anything before." Thalia says nothing, neither confirming nor denying his statement. But her glare does the talking for her. Luke laughs. "You haven't? Really now. How on earth have you survived?"

"Shut up. We aren't stealing." Thalia says firmly. Luke can't help but look her over again. He'd assumed she'd been on the road for quite a while. It had taken him nearly a year to get a hold of any celestial bronze. Even longer to figure out how to fight with a weapon. And he knew his technique still had a lot to be desired, but that she'd been able to keep pace with him at all made him assume she'd at least had a few years on her own under her belt.

"You haven't been on your own long, have you?" Luke asked, tone sympathetic. She suddenly made a lot more sense to him. He remembered how wild he'd been his first year on his own. How terrified. How many times he'd almost turned around and headed home despite knowing how things were there.

She looked like she was going to deny it, her inner fury evident in the way her eyes had narrowed. But then she looked down, off-balance and looking every part the scared kid he now knew she was. "Three and a half months…" She said softly.

Luke nodded. "Look, I know it's wrong to steal, but you do what you have to out here to survive. I don't know about you but I don't want to be sent back home. Which is exactly what will happen if we try to go to a food shelf or anywhere like that."

Luke knew from experience. When his money ran out after the first year, he'd tried. He couldn't quite convince himself to take anything from the grocery store down the block. An overbearing, warm-faced woman working at the food shelf had gushed over him and pressed to know where his parents were. His half-hearted answers hadn't been enough to fool her and she'd been about to call the cops to report him a runaway. Fortunately for him, she hadn't been expecting him to be anything more than a flighty child. He managed to pry himself free of her and disappeared before the cops could show.

An hour later he made off with several peaches and a juice box from the grocery store. It had been far too easy; put on a sweet face and act casual. It came to him easily, but that really shouldn't have surprised him. After all, his father was the god of thieves. Theives were always shifty-eyed teenagers and scruffy old men who got all fidgety. Luke was inconspicuous. He always traveled close to another shopper. No one ever questioned him, assuming he was someone's child; he had gotten skilled at blending into the crowd. And he didn't confine himself to only stealing from the stores, although he'd never gone so far as to break into someone's home or rob them directly or armed.

On a few occasions he'd even managed to steal an entire grocery bag from an inattentive shopper or a few bills from an unwatched purse; though he tried to avoid people who looked harried enough. Cloths were obtained by slipping into a dressing room with hidden items. He always made sure he brought in far more cloths than he took and wore his items out underneath the cloths he wore in.

All this, however, did not mean he was proud of stealing. Maybe he'd got a slight thrill the first dozen times or so, but he no longer got a buzz from it. It was just something he knew he had to do to survive. If he could get a job or heck if he could stick around in one place longer than a week, he would never…okay maybe he would very rarely…steal. Given a choice between going hungry and doing something immoral such as shoplifting, he would always chose the latter. Besides, it wasn't as if he was doing something even nastier, like selling drugs or his body. If he happened into some money, he would make his purchases authentically.

"Look. I'll do all the hard work. All you have to do is keep the cashier busy. Go in and ask him something about one of the products or something. All I need is a few seconds distraction."

"And what, exactly, am I supposed to ask him?" Thalia asked, her tone borderline nasty. Luke frowned. The lack of commitment and skepticism etched on her face made him worry a twinge. She'd be in the perfect position to sell him out here. And what better way to give him the slip and be rid of him forever than to get a pair of uniforms to put him behind bars. He supposed he might be putting too much faith in someone he really only just met. Maybe he really should just pull this on his own.

"Figure it out." He drew her dagger from where he had it concealed. "Look, if I go down for this, you'll be defenseless. I'm sure they're not going to give you this back. It's not like we're committing armed robbery here. Just a couple bags of chips and waters."

"Just the bag of chips." Thalia bargained. "You got a pot in your backpack, don't you? There's that stream we crossed a while back. We can boil water from there. No need to steal more than we 'need.'" She said it like that. Like she had another way of getting food if this failed. Which, he supposed given her savage idea of catching and killing rabbits and squirrels, she probably did.

"Fine. Just the chips." He put the dagger away, then smirked obnoxiously. "You're actually kind of a goodie two shoes, aren't you? For all your badass act, that's all it is. An act."

Thalia scowled and Luke only smiled wider. She stormed off across the street, giving him the cold shoulder. Luke followed, knowing that he would likely pay for that comment later. Actually, that was kind of an admirable trait. Despite all that she'd seen and been through, Thalia was surprisingly pure. Unwilling to let herself to become corrupt.

He frowned. She shouldn't have to live like this. This lifestyle…it wasn't for her. One that was forced onto her. Was forced onto him too, but at least he'd had a good teacher to help him out. And it would probably be the death of them both.

Seem a little incomplete? Well I did originally intend for it to be longer, but the actual heist itself isn't much. If I get enough requests I might include it next chapter, otherwise I'm satisfied with it as is. Mostly, in any case.

Until next time,

~Crisi