AN: thanks for reading this. I don't own PJO/HoO. Please leave a review or follow/favorite if you like the story. Questions or constructive criticism are okay, and if you have an idea for a memory feel free to send it, though I might not use it.
As soon as dinner was over, the seven found Nyssa and Harley and went back to Leo's room underneath the Hephaestus cabin. They could hardly wait to see more of Leo's life, even if that sounded… well, kind of weird.
They settled back down (Hazel and Harley sat on the floor with Nyssa in Hazel's seat, because there wasn't enough chairs) and waited for the records of Leo's life to start again.
Sure enough, the movie screen (which was still magically hanging in midair where they had left it) flickered to life when they were ready.
On screen, a younger Leo then they had seen before hopped from one junked car to the next. He was in the middle of a scrap yard, rusty metal, old tires, abandoned dishwashers and fridges, and piled-up metal beams. Leo stopped by an old abandoned car. Below Leo appeared the words, Houston, Texas, Local Scrap Yard, and Leo's age: five.
Leo, dressed in grease-stained overalls with patches on the knees and rainboots with little froggy's on them, leaned forward. He dug his fingernails underneath the trunk of the car, trying to pry it up, but couldn't manage it. He leaned his full weight into it, but the tiny boy wasn't strong enough.
"Why is Leo all alone in a scrap yard?" Piper asked. "Isn't that kind of dangerous?"
"No!" Harley protested. The son of Hephaestus couldn't be older then ten, and still had a high sweet voice. "Machine's aren't scary, they're daddy's!" Nyssa just smiled, exchanging a, isn't he cute? look.
"Leo, where are you?" Esperanza's voice came from somewhere. Leo looked up, grinning.
"Over here, mama!"
Esperanza came around a pile of scrap metal, but she was dressed differently from the other times they had seen her. She wore light makeup and her dark brown hair was in a braid. She wore a black skirt (secondhand but still clean and well taken-care of), a white button-up blouse, and black flats. She looked out of place in the neat clothes, and uncomfortable. But she still wore the army jacket that would one day be Leo's.
It was immediately obvious that she was dressed up for the benefit of the woman walking towards Leo with her. The woman looked like Esperanza, but instead of the warm friendly prettiness Leo's mother possessed, this woman had sharp frightening beauty. She had high cheekbones, slightly sunken cheeks, curly black hair in a loose bun, a bit too much makeup, dark eyes, and a red-and-white suit and skirt.
A name appeared over the second woman's head: Rosa Saracco: aka Aunt Rosa.
Hazel gasped. "Aunt Rosa! Leo's Aunt Rosa!"
"How do you know her, Hazel?" Jason asked.
Hazel quickly explained how she and Leo met Nemesis together, and how Nemesis took the face of someone you wanted to get revenge on. Leo had seen his Aunt Rosa's face. "Whatever she did, Leo must really not like his aunt for Nemesis to take her face." Hazel finished.
On screen, Esperanza and Rosa had reached Leo, and Esperanza lifted Leo onto the hood of the car, big dark eyes scanning the engine. Rosa, meanwhile, sniffed haughtily and glanced at Leo like he was mud on her shoes.
"I already don't like her." Piper muttered. Everyone agreed.
"Don't waste time with that stupid car, Espie." Rosa said. Esperanza gritted her teeth at the nickname, but said nothing about it. "It's foolish to care so much about engines. Mechanics aren't that important; it's too bad you aren't as successful as me. I mean, I have a husband. And a good son." Rosa said all this casually, like she wasn't insulting her sister and nephew.
"Okay, I officially hate her." Percy announced. Nyssa and Harley looked furious.
"Mechanics aren't that important! She's nuts!" Nyssa spluttered.
"She's so mean! She's lying!" Harley said, pouting. "Leo says mean people are only mean because they feel bad." He and everyone else winced. "Said."
The older demigods couldn't help but be proud of Leo-it sounded like he'd really been a good older brother to Harley. It was terrible that Leo had been separated from his family so soon after finding them.
"Rosa, I'm sorry you don't approve of what I do, but the insult to Leo is unnecessary." Esperanza said, straightening her spine to look her sister in the eye. Her own eyes flashed with anger and her fists were clenched, but she held her head high and spoke calmly.
All the demigods were impressed that Esperanza wasn't yelling at Rosa. Most of them felt like yelling at the movie screen, even if Rosa wasn't really there.
"He's a bastard."
"Excuse me, but you have no right to-"
"Well he is! His father is a deadbeat and his mother's profession is silly! He won't amount to anything! Just like you! Your machines are stupid, and if you had listened to me-"
"I feel terrible for Leo-his aunt is evil." Frank scowled.
Rosa stormed, poking her sister in the middle of her chest from anger.
Esperanza lost it. She looked like she wanted to smack Rosa, but instead said angrily, "Rosa, please leave. You are wrong and I don't have to listen to your insults anymore." Esperanza pointed the way they'd come. "Go!"
Rosa spun around on her heel and haughtily stormed towards the entrance to the scrap yard. She shouted over her shoulder, "Fine! But if you'd just listened to me in the first place, you would've given that child away when you had him and you'd be much better off!"
"How can they say that!" Piper spluttered.
"Rosa is evil!" Jason scowled.
"I'm gonna find her and kick her butt." Nyssa grumbled.
Esperanza glared after her sister as she left. Leo, sitting on top of the car, looked confused and worried. "Mama, is Auntie Rosa right? Are our machines stupid?" He looked at his mom with big confused eyes.
"No, mijo! Aunt Rosa is just wrong. Our machines can do anything, and if you can build them, then nobody could rightly say you're bad." Esperanza said, shaking her head and ruffling Leo's hair. "Now let's have a look at this engine you found, huh?" Leo nodded excitedly.
Esperanza looked around at the engine, poking at the metal pieces, twisting a few bolts, attaching wires to different places, and moving things around. "This engine is pretty far gone, mijo." Esperanza said, looking up at her son, who had been waiting quietly while she assessed the damage.
"So we can't fix it?" Leo spluttered, looking upset. His face crumpled.
"I never said that, Leo!" Esperanza laughed. "Most problems look worse then they are. Nothing is unfixable."
"So that's where Leo got that." Nyssa said suddenly. At the other's confused looks (minus Harley, who knew what his sister was talking about), she explained. "He always says that when something is broken. I had wondered where he heard it. I guess it was his mom."
"I know, mama." Leo said, puffing out his chest. "We can fix it!"
"He sounds like Fixit Felix, from that movie," Percy snickered, but Annabeth whacked him on the shoulder and he shut up.
"You bet we can, mijo!" Esperanza smiled. "Come on, let's go back to the shop and get our tools. We'll get to work."
"What about Aunt Rosa?" Leo asked with a worried glance towards where his aunt had gone.
"Forget her. She wouldn't understand our machines-I think she's just jealous she's doesn't know how to use them like us. But we have to be as nice as we can be-it's always good to make someone smile, mijo."
"Something gives me the feeling Leo filed that knowledge away." Jason said with a fake smile.
Leo nodded and giggled, and his mother gave him a piggyback ride out of the scrap yard.
"Leo's mom was crazy nice." Annabeth said. "I probably would've hit Rosa if I was Esperanza in that situation."
"Yeah, definitely. She just doesn't appreciate us mechanics." Nyssa agreed.
The next scene from Leo's life came on the screen.
Esperanza Valdez sat at the kitchen table. There were crumpled papers scattered around her feet, and she propped her head up on one fist as she drew out blueprints for a new machine. There were dark bags under her eyes, but she still wore the army jacket.
Underneath image, it read; Houston, Texas, Valdez Family Apartment, and Leo's age: seven. On screen, Esperanza glanced at her watch. It read ten o'clock. "I should've put Leo to bed two hours ago!" She gasped, jumping up so hard she banged her knee on the kitchen table.
All the demigods winced.
She stumbled out of the kitchen and around a corner, through another door, and into a small bedroom. Leo was sitting on his bed, scribbling something down on a pad of paper. He wore a red onesie with little firetrucks and police cars on it.
A couple of people grinned at the tiny son of Hephaestus. Even Nyssa grinned.
"I'm sorry I'm so late, mijo." Esperanza said, rubbing her forehead. "I was so caught up with my new designs, I just forgot…. mijo, what are you working on?"
"Nothing!" Leo giggled. He leapt off the bed and ran out of the bed, down the hall and into the kitchen. Esperanza laughed despite her tiredness and ran after him. He scrambled into a kitchen chair next to where his mother was working and banged on the table. "Okay, sit down sit down!"
Esperanza, still looking half-amused half-confused, sat down.
"Why did the cookie go to the doctor?" Leo asked, giggling.
All the demigods rolled their eyes. "Oh no, please don't answer him, Esperanza." Frank groaned.
"She can't hear you, Zhang." Percy pointed out, grinning. Frank shrugged, a little pink.
"I don't know, why?" Esperanza asked, splitting into a grin.
"Because he was feeling crummy!" Leo burst into hysterical laughter like he's just told the funniest joke ever.
Harley did to. He was almost rolling on the ground. His sister gave him a concerned look, not sure if he was dying or just thought it was funny.
His mom grinned and shook her head, brushing a stray curl out of Leo's eyes. "Who's the king of the classroom?" This time he didn't even wait for an answer. "The ruler!" He cracked up again.
"Leo's jokes were nutty even when he was a kid," Nyssa smiled. "It's almost funny because it's terrible." Harley, who couldn't breath for laughing, clearly just thought it was hilarious.
Esperanza looked lovingly at Leo. She stood up. "Come on mijo, it's time for bed. Past time for bed, actually."
"But you need moral sup-sup-support," Leo said, yawning. "Please, can I stay up and help, I'll be quiet!" He pleaded with big brown eyes. Esperanza thought about it, then finally nodded. "Yes!"
"Go get your blankets, we can work in the living room."
The camera switched to the living room. Esperanza and Leo sat on an old worn loveseat. Esperanza drew her designs and blueprints on the coffee table, and Leo curled up in his blankets next to her. He sleepily mumbled corny jokes until his eyes closed and he fell asleep.
Esperanza smiled at her sleeping son. "Oh, Leo." She said. "I know you'll do great things. You be my amazing little Repair Boy, okay?"
Piper nearly fell out of her seat. "Oh my gods! She gave him the same nickname I did! That's so crazy!" Her friends looked just as shocked.
"Great minds think alike?" Jason asked.
"Or maybe Repair Boy just fits him so well you both thought of it." Annabeth said, smiling.
On screen, Leo mumbled something in his sleep. A smiling Esperanza shook her head and turned back to her blueprints.
A message appeared on the screen: It's past your curfew. You have to go back to your cabins to avoid the harpies.
The demigods got up and stretched, Harley yawning heavily (and sometimes hiccuping from laughing too hard). They left Leo's room, and the seven had to run for their lives to get back to their cabins safely.
AN: thanks for reading! Thanks to the people who have favorited/followed, you rule! If you haven't already, leave a review or favorite/follow the story. Later taters