Johnny's daddy was taking him fishin'
When he was eight years old.
Little girl came through the front gate
Holdin' a fishin' pole
Leo Valdez glared at Michelle Kelley as she skipped through his front gate with an ice blue plastic fishing pole. He then turned his glare to his red one, to Percy, then back to Michelle. Percy Jackson and he were going fishing. Michelle was apparently coming along too. He rolled his eyes.
His dad looked down and smiled
Said "We can't leave her behind.
Son, I know you don't want her to go,
But someday you'll change your mind."
Percy smiled and waved over the shy Michelle, "C'mon Michelle."
Michelle shook her head and nodded at the glaring Leo in front of her.
Percy pulled Leo aside, and held up a finger to Michelle, explaining to give them a minute. "Leo, I promised her mom I'd watch her today. Besides, one day you'll thank me for this."
And Johnny said,
"Take Jimmy Johnson.
Take Tommy Thompson.
Take my best friend Bo."
Leo glared at Percy, "Take Frank Zhang! Or Jason Grace! Or my best friend Will!" he yelled at Percy
"Take anybody that you want as
Long as she don't go.
Take any boy in the world,
Daddy please, don't take the girl."
"Or Mrs. Jackson! Or Mrs. Grace! Take anybody that you want! Or any other boy in the world! Just don't take her!" Leo pointed at Michelle as he yelled the last part. Percy took a deep breath.
"She's coming Leo. Now come on." He waved Michelle over, and she dutifully agreed, coming over to stand behind Percy, hiding from Leo.
Leo glared at her through Percy. "GO HOME!"
"NO!" Michelle screamed back, stepping from behind Percy and glaring her ice blue eyes into Leo's fiery brownish-red ones.
Leo muttered, "Fine!" and stalked off to Percy's car.
Percy took Michelle's hand and lead her over to his car, where he'd put in Michelle and Leo's carseats from their mothers. They were on opposite sides and after Percy had buckled them, they faced their windows, arms folded and glaring. Percy sat in the driver's seat and took off.
Same old boy, same sweet girl
Ten years down the road.
He held her tight and kissed her lips in
Front of the picture show.
"Great movie." Michelle said quietly as they stepped from the theatre.
Leo smiled, "Really? I was too busy watching you to notice."
Michelle blushed, "Oh, Leo-"
Leo suddenly grabbed her and kissed her on the lips.
They pulled from each other and blushed.
Stranger came and pulled a gun
Grabbed her by the arm, said "If you do what I tell you to
There won't be any harm."
Some stranger seeped from the shadows of an alley and grabbed Michelle by the arm, causing her to shriek. Leo stopped as he glanced at the gun against Michelle's head.
"Do what I tell you to, and this bullet won't go through her head." the stranger sneered.
And Johnny said, "Take my money.
Take my wallet,
Take my credit cards.
Here's the watch my grandpa gave me.
Leo threw the guy his wallet. "Take my wallet, my money, these baseball cards." He pulled the magic watch from his father and threw it on the ground next to the wallet, "This watch from my dad." Michelle just whimpered as Leo threw all his prized stuff on the ground.
Here's the keys to my car.
Mister give it a whirl,
But please,
Don't take the girl.
"Here's my keys! Dude, it's that cool red and orange hotrod over there. Just don't take her! Don't take my girl!" The stranger grabbed the wallet and the keys as sirens screamed down the street. As she was released Michelle froze the guy's feet, he dropped the keys and wallet before he fell on his face. The cops pulled up and loaded him in the back for attempted robbery and threatening murder. Michelle picked up all of Leo's stuff and handed it to him. He put his wallet and keys in his toolbelt, (Yes, he still wears that thing! This is Leo for Zeus' sake! XD) and put the watch back on his wrist before pulling Michelle to him. "Gods are you okay, babe?" Michelle could only whimper, nod and sob in response. Leo pulled her closer, her face buried in his shoulder.
"Lee?"
"Yeah?"
"Th-thank you."
Leo gripped her tighter, a determined look on his face, "Chelle, I swear to the gods NO ONE will take you from me."
Same old boy
Same sweet girl
Five years down the road
There's gonna be a little one and she
Says it's time to go.
"Leo?!" Michelle said slightly panicked.
"Is it time, Chelle?"
Michelle could only nod as another contraction rocked her body.
Leo loaded her into the car and they drove to the hospital, twelve hours later their sweet twins, a boy and a girl, were born.
Doctor says, "The baby's fine,
But you'll have to leave
'Cause his momma's fading fast." and
Johnny hit his knees, and there he prayed.
A doctor pulled Leo aside, pulling him from the delivery room. "The twins are fine, but, you have to leave, sir."
"Why?!" Leo demanded, "I can't leave her!"
"Sir, please calm down, I think she's leaving us."
Leo's eyes widened, he fell to his knees and began praying.
"Take the very breath you gave me.
Take the heart from my chest.
I'll gladly take her place if you'll let me,
Make this my last request."
Leo cried out, "Take my breath, take my heart, let me take her place! Please! This is the last thing I want! Don't let her die like this! I love her! Take my fire power, make me fully mortal! Don't let her die on me! Please! Zeus! Hera! Hades! Thanatos! Whoever controls the death of amazing girls, wives, mothers! Let her stay and take me instead!"
"Take me out of this world.
God please,
Don't take the girl."
"Gods! Take me! Please! Don't take her! Please!" Leo cried. A doctor exited the delivery room, a sullen look on his face.
"She's gone, sir…"
Leo's face fell. "Oh no. Oh my gods. No! She can't." leo was in hysterics, she couldn't die on him, not after everything they'd been through.
"She did, say however, that she picked out a name for your son, and you were to name your daughter, something about a deal you made. She wrote his name on this piece of paper, but I can't read it." The doctor handed him a scrap of paper. Sure enough, it was a letter, written in Michelle's loopy chicken scratch.
Dearest Leo,
It's time to go, sweetie.
I'll be waiting for you.
I'll always wait for you.
Valdez, gods, I can't write out, or express in any way how much I'll miss you everyday.
I'm hoping for Elysium, actually, I'm praying for it.
Because then I KNOW you'll find me.
Waiting at the doors.
I've chosen the name for our boy.
Actually, I've had it chosen since we found out our twins were a boy and a girl.
Jasper Aiden Valdez. His first name means "treasure" Because he's MY treasure. He looks exactly like you.
His middle name means "fire" in honor of his father's power.
I wish you to name our daughter as you please, since that was our deal.
I name our first boy, and you name all boys after. Just as you name first girl, and I name all girls after.
There won't be an after this time Lee.
Hopefully, we get a next time.
Your loving wife,
Michelle Valdez
P.S Love IS forever, you just have to find the right person.
P.S.S Tell Percy and Annabeth I'll say hi to Silena and Beckendorf if they're still around. Odds are they aren't by now.
It brought him to tears, but he nodded, "The boy's name is Jasper Aiden Valdez." he said quietly to the doctor. Then looked him in the eye, "Her name is Lea Lyric Valdez." he confirmed, "And I need to see my kids." he growled. He pushed past him into the delivery room. Two nurses stood there, each holding a child. Leo took his kids from them. "Thank you." he breathed. Lea reached up and grabbed his nose. She had hair like her mom, but her dad's fiery, brownish-red eyes. Jasper gripped his father's sleeve. His hair was the same as his father's. His eyes were like his mother's from birth. They looked up at their daddy with mutual looks of pleasure and curiosity. He held his two children, one in each arm. The doctor came through then, "Sir, will you be able to take care of them. I mean adoption is always an op-" Leo cut him off there.
"No." he muttered darkly, "Just because they lost their mother, DOES NOT mean I'm giving them up. They look too much like her to give them up." he practically growled.
"They need to be placed in the baby room, sir." a nurse said as she and the other nurse each took back a child.
Leo's glare returned to the doctor, "When will they be released to me?" he asked.
"In a few days, they need to be placed in a comfortable environment for a bit to adjust to the world. I assume you have a place set up for each child?"
Leo barely graced his question with a nod of response.
"Alright, you're welcome to stay here for the night, say good-bye, they've yet to cover her up."
Leo glanced over at his wife's dead body. Her skin had lost the slight brightness of life, but she'd always been as pale as death.
"Hey babe. I know we didn't really get to say good-bye and all, but…"
He stopped cleared his throat,
"I've loved you always, ya know that? Ever since we were sixteen, and you came to camp for the first time, you looked everywhere, exploring everything. You weren't specifically looking for me, but you found me."
Not a word from the girl, no, woman, in front of him, but that had been expected.
"I'll miss you so much. Until I see you again."
"Lee?"
Leo jerked his head up, Michelle, pre-pregnancy, stood in the doorway. Her long light brown hair was straight, her icy eyes boring into him, wearing that adorable smirk he'd learned as her smile. She wore a pair of shorts, her ice blue Converse sneakers, and an ice blue t-shirt. "Wha? How are you here?"
Michelle laughed, a tinkling sound, like ice and ice snapping at each other.
"Let's just say, Nico owed me a favor. Asked his dad to give me five minutes to say bye." she looked around the room, her eyes skimming over her dead body as if it wasn't there. "Where's the kids?"
"The baby room I'd suppose."
Michelle smiled, "What'd you name her?"
"Lea Lyric."
Michelle, his wife, was blushing. She looked at the ground, "That's sweet, but, you didn't have to…"
Leo smirked, "I know, I wanted to."
By now, Michelle had used up a minute of her time. They stood there in silence for another minute, just enjoying the quiet and the other's breathing.
"I want to see them." Michelle said, the smallest of tears rolling down her cheek.
"Okay, c'mon." he tried to grab her wrist, the way he used to, but his hand just passed through her. He attempted again. Then tried wiping away the small tear. He passed through her every time.
"I only have three minutes left, sweetie."
Leo nodded, "You should spend it seeing them."
"With you." she smiled, and somehow managed to grab HIS wrist. Michelle pulled him to the baby room. She glanced at each one, until she landed on the names "Jasper" and "Lea" She smiled at them, "My babies…" she said with a sigh.
Leo smiled, Michelle leaning into him, those icy eyes not leaving their kids, the motherly glint appeared, "Protect them with your life, Valdez."
"Sure. Valdez."
She looked at him, a slight laugh escapes her pale lips, "Guess I walked into that one."
Leo laughs back, "Yeah."
Michelle pressed herself to his chest, it simply felt like a breeze blowing against him.
"You were always as light as a feather." he commented, she laughed, then inhaled as she pressed her face into his shirt.
"What are you doing Chelle?" he asked curiously.
"Trying to keep the smell of you in my nose, it'll be years before I smell you again."
By now, they'd used up another two minutes.
"One minute left, babe."
"I know." she sighs, then turns back to the most beautiful babies in the world. "Make them know me."
"Always."
A loud GONG! sounded out, but it appeared only Leo and Michelle heard it.
"That's my cue." She leaned up, grazed his cheek with a peck, and faded, slowly, into thin air.
Leo breathed slowly, "Thank you." he said, looking up at the ceiling. "Thank you." the words were a breath.
Johnny's daddy
Was takin' him fishin'
When he was
Eight years old.
Jasper and Lea were now eight, they were playing in the backyard, swinging their fishing poles and preparing for the trip with their dad. Leo strode out the back, holding the neighbor girl's hand.
"Jasper, Lea, this is Ebony, she lives next door. Her mom's letting her come fishing with us."
Lea smiled, brightening Leo's world like her mother did, "She can have my pole, and my seat in the car Daddy, Jacie's mom invited me over for the day."
Leo smiled, "That's nice of you Lea. Get going then, sweetheart."
Lea giggled and ran to the other next door neighbor's house.
Jasper was glaring at Ebony, his icy blues reminding Leo so much of his mother. "I don't want her to come."
Michelle's laughter filled Leo's head, "Just like us Lee." her voice said. Leo smiled and rolled his eyes at his son.
"C'mon now buddy, I promised her mom. Besides," he winked at his son, "She's a cutie, right?"
Jasper scrunched up his nose, "Girls ruin everything."
"What about Lea?"
"She's my sister, that's different."
Leo pat his kid's mop of curly hair, "You'll thank me later Jas."
Ebony has watched this, her caramel eyes moving back and forth, as if watching a ping-pong match, "So, am I going or not?" she asked, crossing her arms and jutting out her hip, her long, sleek and thick black hair swishing to the side in the ponytail. Even in a high pony, the girl's hair came down to the small of her back. Leo knew that pose. On any girl, it meant "This is serious business, mister." On Michelle, even when they were little, it'd meant the same thing. Leo laughed, and swooped up Jasper in one arm, then swooped up Ebony with the other.
"C'mon kiddos. Let's go fishing."
Jasper opened his mouth, in either question or in protest, but Leo spoke over him, "Son, no, you may not freeze the fish once we catch them. And Ebony is coming, end of story." Jasper slumped agains his dad's shoulder. Leo could hear Michelle laughing again, "He turned out to have your fire in the form of my ice."
"And vice versa." he reminded her silently of their daughter's icy attitude, despite her influence over fire. Leo buckled the two up. Ebony held her hand out to Jasper in Leo's rearview, "Truce?" she asks.
Jasper stares at the foreign hand, then, with a deep sigh, he sticks his own hand out and shakes her's.
"Truce!" he declares, then glares at his father in the mirror, "You. Owe. Me." he mouthed. Michelle burst out laughing in Leo's head, and it took all of Leo's willpower not to join in.
"He's so much like you." she says to Leo.
Leo silently scoffs, "And quite a bit like you." he responds.
"Touché." she laughs.
And the four of them, though only three are visible, the fourth is a memory in Leo's head, drive off for a day of fishing.