AN: I don't own PJO/HoO. WARNING: this chapter is kind of bloody, but nothing too bad. Mostly just emergency first aid stuff, but I thought I should say something. Not like I know emergency first aid, I just watch a lot of cop shows.

On the screen, the same Leo was sitting in the corner of the basement on his sleeping bag. He was fiddling with pipecleaners, forming them into a tiny motorcycle.

Suddenly the door of the basement flew open and people crowded down the stairs. Two large guys were carrying Jamie, her head lolling to one side. "Hurry, go!" Someone snapped.

"Does she still have a pulse?"

"Someone call an ambulance!"

"No, don't!"

They set Jamie down on the ground and crowded around her. Emma followed them down the stairs, carrying a white and red first aid kit. "Move, move." She said, pushing them aside to kneel by Jamie's side.

"Hey, don't let the bartender do it! Lady, backoff!"

"No, she was pre-med. Let her work." Another man said, standing between Emma and the men. It was Slade. "Kid, come help."

"Wait, Emma was pre-med? Anything she can't do?" Annabeth marvelled.

Leo scrambled off his sleeping bag, hurrying through the group to crouch on Jamie's other side, facing Emma. "Leo, be ready with this," Emma shoved a syringe into Leo's hand. Blood soaked Jamie's shoulder and arm. "It wouldn't have been this bad, but she's lost a lot of blood," Emma said. She held up what looked like a long pair of tweezers. "Don't look, Leo. I'm going to take the bullet out."

Nyssa whispered to Harley, "You don't watch either." Harley didn't argue, shielding his eyes with one hand.

Leo shook his head, staring. Emma shrugged and grabbed the tweezers more firmly, digging them into the bullet wound in Jamie's arm.

"Oh my gods," Piper pressed a hand to her mouth.

"That's really nasty." Frank said, looking a little ill.

Leo winced, and Jamie groaned in pain. Emma pulled the tweezers back out, holding up the bullet. "Leo, now! Now!" Leo pressed the needle of the syringe into Jamie's arm, right by the bullet would. "Good. The bullet severed an artery, so that clotting agent is her best bet. Grab those bandages, wrap her arm while I take the bullet out of her shoulder."

Leo nodded and hurried around to Emma's side to start wrapping Jamie's arm with gauze. Working together, Emma and Leo managed to clean and bandage both bullet wounds, give Jamie a sedative to help her sleep, and help carry her upstairs to her room.

Leo's hands trembled a little, and Emma noticed as they walked to the bar. It was full of partiers and drunkards, as always. Emma grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him behind the bar. She reached into the fridge and pulled out a root beer, popped it open, and set it on the bar. "On the house."

Leo smiled and scrambled onto a bar stool. "Hungry?" Emma asked, and he nodded hopefully. She set to work making a sandwich. "Sorry you had to do that, Leo, but you were good at it."

"She should be sorry." Jason grumbled. "He's a nine-year-old, not a trauma surgeon."

"It's cool. I want to put it on my resume."

"You joke, kiddo, but I'm being honest. That's not something someone your age should do. None of this," Emma motioned around the bar with one hand. "Is good for you."

"You're nice to me." Leo said, taking a huge bite out of his sandwich.

"You remind me of my how my little brother used to be. Before he…" Emma trailed off, a pained look on his face."

"Before he what?" Leo asked curiously.

"It's a long story. He made some bad choices, and they came back to haunt him. He's the reason I got caught up in all of this. I came down here, and I guess I found my place." Emma smiled sadly, then her eyes fixed on Leo and she became determined. "But this isn't your place, Leo. That girl you've told me about, Lilian. Your place is with her."

"How can you know?" Leo asked, his face tinting pink.

"I'm just that brilliant, kiddo. You shouldn't stay here, I've got a bad feeling-"

"Hey, kid!" Someone shouted from the stairs to the basement. "You, Valdez!" Leo jumped.

Emma stiffened. Then she reached into a drawer underneath the counter and pulled out a handgun. Leo's eyes widened. "Emma, what are you-"

"You blew that job, kid!" A large man in a gray hoodie shouted, shoving his way through the bar patrons and grabbing Leo's arm. A woman in a leather jacket grabbed Leo's other arm, and he tried to pull away. "Jamie could die because of you, you stupid runt!"
"That wasn't Leo's fault!" Percy said angrily. "He's nine! He shouldn't have gone with them in the first place!"

Emma raised the gun with both hands, the barrel pointed at the large man's head. "Let Leo go, assholes." Her hands were steady, and the safety was off.

"What the hell, Emma! You traitor!" The woman shouted. Everyone in the bar was standing back, panicking and staring, not sure what was going on. The other members of the gang were watching, hands on their own guns. "This kid screwed up!"

"He had nothing to do with it." Emma said calmly. She put her finger on the trigger. "I'm not playing. Let Leo go, or I shoot."

"What's she doing?" Piper hissed. "Leo could get hurt!"
"She knows," Jason said. "She's trying to get him out of there."

The two people holding Leo's arms glanced at each other, then let him go. Leo scrambled off the bar stool and tried to run to Emma, but she stepped back, shaking her head. She didn't take her eyes off the gang members, the gun still pointed to his head. But before she could do anything more, two more people in the crowd drew guns and fixed them on Emma.

"Leo. Get out. Get out and don't look back." Emma said coldly. Leo's eyes filled with tears.

"Emma?"
"I'm sorry, kiddo. You need to go. You need to go right now. Don't come back for me, no matter what. Now go!" She snapped, and Leo spun on his heel. He ran out of the bar into pounding rain. Behind him before the door could shut, the demigods saw Emma drop her gun and hold up her hands.

Behind him, in the bar, there was the bang of gunfire. And a scream; Emma's scream. Leo ran into the night, sobbing.

"Oh my gods." Nyssa whispered. "Did Emma just…?"

"I think so." Annabeth murmured.

"Those f***ing bastards!" Jason hissed. Hazel actually punched him in the arm.

"Jason! Harley's eight!"

"Hey, I know that word." Harley protested.

"Those evil-" Percy calmed himself down at a warning look from Hazel. "They killed Emma! And she was so nice to Leo, and convinced him-dang it, they're awful! They killed her!"

Annabeth nodded and grabbed Percy's hand to calm him down. "But Leo made it out okay that time. She gave her life for him, and that's a sacrifice we should respect."

The next memory started. Leo was walking down a dingy dimly lit hallway, in the same clothes he had been in when he left the gang. He looked tired, dirty, and bloody. He was soaking wet, had a black eye, and looked like he might collapse at any moment.

"He isn't looking good," Nyssa observed.

Leo stopped at a door, and knocked. He heard movement on the other side of the door, and reached up to knock again. Then the door flew open, and Lilian stood there. She was dressed in loose-fitting black pajama pants and a green tank top. Her glasses were perched on her nose, and her curly black hair was tangled and tied in two pigtails with red ribbon.

"Leo!" She exclaimed, hugging him. Leo's cheeks went a little pink.

"Hola, bonita." He said, slightly muffled from the hug. Lilian pulled away, smiling at him. But her smile quickly faded.

"Leo, what happened to you? You look totally screwed up."

Leo grinned. "Thanks, that's the look I was going for."

Lilian rolled her eyes and grabbed Leo's hand. "How long has it been since you've eaten? And what happened to your face? I'll clock whoever did it." Lilian said, brushing his black eye with her fingers gently. "Why can't you stay? Why can you never stay? You leave and when you come back you're like this!"

"I'm sorry, Lil. I have to leave again, soon. I just need a place to crash for the night." Leo said, his voice vacant and his face kind of sad. Lilian scowled at him, but didn't argue.

"It really took him three years to figure out how much he needed her?" Piper groaned. "Seriously, what's with these two?"

Lilian pulled Leo into the kitchen, past the living room where a man and a woman were shouting at each other. A tall woman with short curly black hair and a man with Lilian's bright green eyes.

"Lilian's parents?" Annabeth guessed.

Leo glanced at them as they passed. "Will they be okay with me staying the night?"

"I don't think they remember my middle name. It'll be fine." Lilian said, like it didn't matter.

Hazel shook her head. "Poor girl."

Lilian led Leo into the kitchen, and sorted through the cabinet for a first aid kit. She handed Leo an ice pack, which he pressed onto his swollen and bruised eye. "What do you even do? I've seen injuries like that in the boxing gym, but you don't-"

"It's a long story, bonita." Leo interrupted. "Don't worry about it."

Lilian stared at him for a moment, but finally just shook her head. "Sure, stupid."

That memory finished as well. "But that was only four months, tops. That leaves two and a half years where we still don't know what Leo was doing." Nyssa pointed out.

"Hephaestus isn't done yet," Annabeth said, motioning to the screen as it flickered to life once more.

AN: Please leave a review or favorite/follow.