"Hi guys," Leo says, as he finds Frank and Hazel with her brother Nico and Dakota from the Roman Camp.
"Hey Leo," Frank says taking his hand.
"So how's my stepmom?" Leo asks with a laugh.
"What do you mean? Didn't she talk to you any?" Frank asks.
"Are you kidding? There is no way in Hades she's gonna talk to me," Leo says with a laugh.
"That's just not right," Hazel says trying to make Leo feel better.
"No biggie, I mean we all know how she feels about Dad. I'm just sorry she was pestering you," Leo tells them.
"For some reason she feels the need to make excuses for Dad," Frank says, "She talked to Clarisse too."
"Well he is an ass," Leo says with a chuckle, "I guess he needs his girlfriend to go around behind him makin' nice with everybody."
"You just called his dad an ass," Dakota says looking a little surprised at Leo.
"He is and ass," Frank says then laughs.
"And just wait until you spend some time with him, your dad's an ass too," Leo says with a chuckle.
"That, I already knew," Dakota says with a smile.
"Hello everyone," Reyna says greeting the others when she walks up to them.
"Hello Beautiful," Leo says with a big smile.
Reyna rolls her eyes thinking, this guy just doesn't give up. "It's been a lovely day hasn't it?" she continues.
"Yes, it has," Hazel agrees, "And Annabeth and Percy look so happy."
"Yes, very happy," Reyna says with a touch of sadness in her voice.
"When do you head back to Camp Jupiter?" Frank asks trying to change the subject.
"Tomorrow, we can't have all of the praetors gone for too long," she says.
"I think it was really nice that you came," Nico tells her.
"I wanted to be here for Percy. Even though he wasn't with us for very long, he means a lot to Camp Jupiter," she tells them. "Are you guys all set for the summer at Camp Half-Blood?" she asks Hazel, Frank and Dakota since they will all be staying for the summer in sort of an exchange program.
"All set," Dakota says taking a swig of his Kool-Aid.
"I sure hope spending some time with your dad helps you kick that," Nico says looking at the cup of almost pure sugar Dakota is holding.
"He told me that once I get back from the wedding, I have to start drinking Diet Coke," Dakota says then makes a gagging motion.
"Like father like son," Leo says with a chuckle.
"Just because he's miserable I don't see why I have to be," Dakota grumbles.
"You really do need to cut back on the sugar," Reyna says hoping that coming from her he'll take it more seriously.
"Whatever," Dakota grumbles, which wasn't the right thing to say to his praetor.
"You are here to represent our camp, to teach the Greeks about our Roman ways. If you can't do that appropriately…" she barks at him.
"I can, I'm sorry. I'll try really hard to lay off the sugar. I promise I'll make you and Camp Jupiter proud," Dakota says trying to make up for sounding ungrateful for the opportunity.
"In addition to your father being here, you were chosen for this position because you understand and respect our ways. You are a good Roman Dakota. I know you will serve us well," Reyna says now trying to rebuilding his spirit since she just shredded it.
"Thank you, praetor," Dakota says giving her a nod of his head.
"Well, you sure know how to drag a party down," Leo says to Reyna.
"What are you two doing?" Katie asks walking up behind the guys.
"Katie, you scared the Hades out of us," Connor says startled.
"What are you doing sneaking up behind us like that?" Travis adds.
"All I did was ask a simple question. It sounds to me like the two of you are up to something," she tells them.
"Not," Travis says in denial.
"Then let me see what you have behind your backs," she says.
"We don't have anything," Connor says then brings his hands around in front of him after obviously handing something off to his brother.
"Look, you're the ones that told me you promised Percy," she tells them trying to make them feel bad.
"We're not doing anything," Travis insists.
"You know what will happen if you break your promise when you swear like that," she continues.
"Nothing happened to Zeus or Poseidon when they did it," Connor says.
"They're gods you're not," she reminds them.
"Fine," Travis says then shoves the fireworks he's been holding behind his back into his brother's hands then starts to walk away.
"Hey!" Connor yells after him, but he keeps walking.
"Would you please remove your tongue from my daughter's mouth," a booming voice says that causes Frank to jump about three feet.
"Dad," Hazel says in shock, "What are you doing here?"
"Percy is my nephew, and I don't want my brothers to have all the fun," Pluto says, as he stands over the two kids.
"My Lord," Frank now says thinking I'm so dead.
"Leave us, Frank, Son of Mars. I should like some privacy with my daughter," Pluto barks.
Frank gives Hazel a quick look to make sure she wants him to leave. She nods, so Frank bows then tries to kiss his girl before he leaves them. Pluto clears his throat loudly, so Frank skips the kiss and heads to find anyone else who is around.
"Dad, please don't be mean to Frank," Hazel now says.
"Trust me, my daughter, that was not mean," her father tells her.
The two of them stand in silence just looking at one another for several minutes then Pluto says, "You look very much like your mother."
"Dad, did you ever love my mom?" she asks which catches him by surprise.
"Yes, I loved Queen Marie, for a time," he tells her.
"But she was a fake," Hazel says wondering how he could find that attractive.
"She was less of a fake then she ever knew," he tells her then continues, "but I am not here to talk about your mother."
"You brought her up," Hazel tells him, "and I have one more question."
"Fine, what is your question?" he asks.
"How could you be in love with mom after recently losing Nico's mom, if you loved her so much?" she asks.
"Hades was in love with Nico and Bianca's mother," he tells her.
"You're the same person," she says.
"Not totally," he insists.
"So Nico is older than me?" she asks.
"I could not really say," he tells her honestly, "Is that what this is about? Who is older?"
"No, I was just curious about that last part," she says then smiles. "So what did you want to talk with me about?"
"I just wanted to ask if you are happy," he now says. He was actually going to ask more, but then he remembered that he cannot actually acknowledge her situation.
"Yes, father, I am very happy. I have a brother that loves me, friends that support me, and a boyfriend that takes good care of me. I could not be more happy," she says.
"That is good," he says now seeming distracted.
"You sent Frank away to ask me that?" she asks.
"This son of Mars, he's not all that attractive," Pluto now says.
"Seriously, you are going to say my boyfriend is ugly?" she says thinking the Lord of the Underworld has a lot of nerve even if he is her father.
"Never mind," he says the glances around, "Where is Nico?"
"I don't believe you," Hazel shouts at her father then storms off in the same direction Frank went.
Hazel is so pissed at her dad that she doesn't even notice her brother before she bumps into him while he's standing with a group of people.
"Hey," he says then notices it's his sister, "What's wrong?"
"He's such a…" she starts when her brother grabs her.
"Hazel, calm down. Tell me who did something," Nico says thinking that since Frank was standing there with him, so it can't be her boyfriend that made her mad, that as her big brother, he needs to go kick somebody's ass for messing with his little sister.
"Dad's looking for you," you she says hotly.
"Dad, what's he doing here?" Nico says since his dad is the last person he expected at Percy's wedding.
"Insulting my boyfriend," she says then grabs Frank's arm and says, "Come on, we need to go neck in public view."
Frank lets her lead him away but he's got some mixed feelings about necking with his girl now that her dad is here.
It doesn't take Nico long to find his dad. "What did you say to Hazel to make her so mad?" he asks his dad.
"I said nothing," Hades answers, "I only asked where you were."
"You had to say something to make her that mad," his son continues.
"I think Pluto might have said something about her boyfriend being a little homely, but I said nothing," Hades continues.
"You're not really going to try and pull that DID crap are you?" Nico snaps at him.
"DID?" his dad says.
"Sorry, you're so old and out of touch that you probably still call it split personality," Nico says clearly insulting his father.
"So you think you can insult me when we're above ground?" his father scolds.
"You insulted Hazel. She really loves him you know," his son defends.
"Can we start over," Hades says not really wanting to piss off both of his children when he was actually looking forward to an evening away from the Underworld.
"Fine, why are you here?" Nico asks.
"It's a wedding, and I am the groom's Uncle," his father answers.
"Have you even talked to Percy?" his son continues.
"Not yet," Hades says, "but I will."
"Please don't get into it with him on his wedding day," Nico says.
"I have no intention of doing anything but congratulating him, today," Hades promises. "So how long will you be here?"
"About that," Nico says thinking how he had really hoped he could just send his dad a message or something to let him know about his change of plans for the summer. "I'm going to stay up here and attend camp this summer."
"What!" his dad says raising his voice, "But I need you. You promised to help me with inventory for Asphodel."
"Dad, I really need to spend some time with my friends and Hazel," Nico tells him hoping he'll understand.
"But…"
"Look, when you get back home, go to Elysium and find Jobs. He was working with Bell and Darwin on this computer app, and they were almost finished. All you have to do is have the Furies fly over the fields and it will scan DNA then list everyone there," Nico tells him.
"That's…that's amazing son," Hades says really impressed with his son's ingenuity.
"Thanks," Nico says thinking great now he has to be cool with my staying.
"I still wish you would come home. I miss you especially when you mother is away on business," his dad says.
"Stepmother," Nico corrects.
"Just don't forget Dad that you promised to allow a margin for error on the people in Asphodel. Just in case a few people are missing," Nico says.
"I remember, 1%," his dad says thinking how could I forget since you made me swear on that damn river. "Are you at least going to look for a girl while you're up here," his father continues now changing the subject.
Nico smiles and says, "That was actually part of the plan."