Well, I got my GCSE results today! It's a major relief that I've finally got them and I'm really pleased. Overall, I've got two A's, two B's, one C and a D (which was in Geography, I'm not too keen about it). And my mum and dad got me choccie as a reward! (I've already eaten most of it). I'm also looking into getting a panda pillow pet. Or I might get a penguin one- I love penguins! Especially the penguins of Madagascar- those guys are ninjas!
Leo's two weeks of healing and training faded into three months. Louisa did help from time-to-time, teaching him self-defence and archery, but most of the time, he was just training to increase his fitness.
She pretty much had three months without Leo. It was nice and quiet, but boring a lot of the time. She had no-one to play pranks on and Annabeth wasn't an ideal target at the minute.
A week after Leo was discharged from the hospital, Annabeth and Percy were allowed to collect their son and finally take him home. For the first five minutes everything was fine.
And then Tobias had woken up.
Louisa hadn't been present at the time, sketching out a timetable for Leo's training sessions. The poor guy was exhausted- ten hours of training a day. Twelve if he had the mean coach.
Annabeth stormed past her, distracting Louisa from the timetable. Dropping her stuff, Louisa bounced after her friend, stopping in front of her. Annabeth's anger was simmering in her eyes and was minutes away from exploding. Last time that had happened, Louisa hadn't dared pull a vicious prank for two weeks.
"Lou, move." Louisa looked at her quizzically and Annabeth bit her lip in annoyance. "Go and see Tobias." She said. Louisa continued to hold her gaze and Annabeth gave a murderous and grim smile. "I have to kill some people." Louisa stepped aside and waved Annabeth on, smiling proudly. Then she went to go and see her nephew.
Walking in, Louisa hadn't seen anything wrong. Percy was sat in a chair, cradling his tiny son in his arms while feeding the infant from a bottle. He glanced up as Louisa approached. His eyes held a mix of emotions- ecstasy that he now held his son and was feeding him, but anger as strong as Annabeth's. The only difference was that his anger wasn't rolling off of him in waves like it had been for Annabeth.
Louisa looked at Tobias, who was dozing off as he fed. He seemed perfectly fine. There was no second head or fifth limb. He was dressed in a simple, flannel blue jumpsuit, kicking his feet occasionally. She looked back at the incubator, noticing that the wires that Tobias had had in him previously still dangled around. She moved towards the supposed supply of steroids and tried to decipher the word on it.
Percy called her back over. He set the bottle down and was now winding Tobias.
"Wait until he opens his eyes." He told her, anger making his voice tremor. She waited, hooking her thumb in Tobias's small hand. He closed his tiny fingers around it with a strength that surprised her. She looked at her brother questioningly. Percy just pulled a face as Tobias hiccupped.
Tobias opened his eyes a few minutes later. Instead of the grey Louisa distinctly remembered, the tot's eyes were a venomous and inhuman yellow. She carefully removed the baby from Percy's arms and held Tobias at eye level. Yup, his eyes were definitely yellow.
Percy stood up and stretched a kink from his back. "Where'd Annabeth go?" He asked. Louisa shot him the Look, but he just stared at her blankly. Louisa rolled her eyes at his confusion (or stupidity- it was hard to tell with him). "Uh… I'm gonna look for her. You mind watch Tobias for a bit?" She smiled and Percy returned it gratefully, leaving the room.
Louisa looked at the infant in her arms to see he was playing with a loose strand of her hair. Despite their odd colour, his eyes were innocent and warm, happy with the simplicity of his small world.
Sighing, she went for a walk, taking Tobias with her. Leo would have a strong opinion on this, no doubt about it.
Leo was on his lunch break, luckily, quite happily sitting down with a towel around his shoulders, a coffee in one hand and a thick wad of what looked like forms he was supposed to be filling in held in his hand and being used to cool him down. Even though he was exhausted, he grinned at Louisa. His grin broadened at the blue tot in her arms and he jumped up.
"Is this Tobias? Whoa, I swear his eyes were-" Louisa clapped a free hand over his mouth and gave him a stern look. She grabbed his arm and dragged him away. "What's going on? Why are his eyes like that?" Leo asked quietly. Louisa shrugged. Leo took Tobias from her and smiled at him. "Are you causing trouble?" He teased. Tobias just gurgled happily, reaching up to play with Leo's hair.
"Annabeth went off to kill some people." Leo couldn't help but grin.
"Oy, Smith!" Louisa peered around Leo, falling mute once again. A trio of her legion friends rambled over, smiling and nudging each other. "Is that kid yours?" Louisa shook her head, surprising them. "Who's it then?"
"He's not an 'it' and he's her brother's kid." Leo replied for her.
"You have a brother?" One of the other legionaries asked. Louisa pulled a face and they all laughed.
"I'd eat my hat if you ever had a kid, Smith." The third legionary smirked.
"I'd eat my hat too- especially if it were for someone like this guy." Leo felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment and annoyance while the three legionaries laughed and nudged each other. Louisa glared at them and they quickly fell silent.
"Louisa!" She held her hands up in innocence before turning and coming face-to-face with her best friend. "When Percy said watch him, he did not mean wander off with him." Louisa glanced at Leo before looking at Annabeth pointedly. Annabeth glowered at her and Louisa promptly shooed her colleagues away. They hurried off, fully aware of the damage Louisa could do.
Annabeth pointed at Louisa accusingly. "What were you thinking?"
"I don't know what she's thinking, but I'm thinking you've gone mad about something." Leo said, trying to ease the tension in the air. "Oh, and you can have Tobias back. He's starting to smell funny." Annabeth turned her glare on him, but it was slightly milder, amused more than angry. "So, who did you kill?"
"I didn't, unfortunately. I went to see the Government, but the bloody legionaries didn't let me past." Louisa frowned at the 'bloody legionaries' bit, but didn't even have the heart to glare at Annabeth. "Instead I was sent away and had to put my complaint in writing." Annabeth scowled. "Put it in writing, my ass." Louisa smiled proudly, but Annabeth didn't notice.
"Hey, where's Percy?" Leo asked.
"Um…" Annabeth glanced round. "I think I've lost him."
"That was clever." Leo smirked.
"Shut up, Leo." Annabeth sighed. She looked down at Tobias, who was reaching up to curl his fingers in her blonde curls. "I better get this one home. If you see Percy, can you tell him?"
"Tell him what?" Leo asked stupidly. Annabeth just blinked at him in disbelief.
"Lou, you need to sort this one out." Louisa nodded, smirking devilishly. Leo mocked a frightened look, which faded into a real one when his trainers called his name. His lunch break was over. Whimpering, he looked at the two women for pity, but they only smiled in triumph.
"I'm going off you two." He mumbled, sulking off back to his training session.
Louisa and Annabeth cared for Tobias for a few hours before Percy turned up. He, too, didn't look happy, but he smiled when he saw Annabeth, Louisa and Tobias sitting on the floor. Tobias was lying on his back, kicking his legs and waving his arms at the ceiling. He sat with them, gingerly picking his son up and smiling at him.
"Did you find anything?" Annabeth asked. Percy shook his head.
"They didn't let me past the doors, the stupid buggers." He glanced at his sister, his expression softening. "No offense Lou, but you work with some people that seriously annoy me." Louisa smiled and shrugged it off.
"They annoy her too, but she has to work with them." Annabeth translated. "She used to have pictures of the ones that annoyed her and would throw knives at them." Louisa nodded, smirking proudly. Percy simply rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.
"I'm slowly getting used to this… to this womanly madness you two have got going on."
"What? Is that the best you can come up with?"
"Well… kind of, yeah."
"Honestly, Percy, you're really strange."
"And you two are even stranger than me." Louisa nodded in agreement. There was a knock on their door and she got up to answer it. Leo stood there, looking damn tired, yet he was smiling.
"I got off early!" Louisa raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. "I accidently shot at the General, missing him by this much…" He held up his hand, his finger and thumb about a centimetre apart. "They sent me home, but I have to go back tomorrow with full apologies and promises I won't do it again." Louisa was smiling by this point. "It was an accident, I swear." Louisa waved it off and he relaxed slightly. "Well, I need a shower, so I'll be next door if you need more."
"Yeah, OK, Leo, go away now." Percy smiled, getting up and tucking Tobias in his arm. He moved over and past Louisa. "Go on, Leo, go home and get cleaned up." Percy spoke as if he were speaking to a five-year-old. Leo instantly latched onto the game.
"Yes sir." He said dutifully, turning and walking obediently to his apartment next door. Percy watched him go, shaking his head in a brotherly fashion while smiling.
"Lou, keep an eye on him for me. I've got a feeling he's had a sneaky coffee somewhere." Louisa dropped her shoulders and pulled a face of despair. Percy clapped her on the shoulder and sent her out after Leo.
Leo had indeed had several sneaky coffees. The scent of it lingered in the air and she could hear the coffee machine whirring up in the kitchen. The shower was running, but, as always, Leo had left the door open.
Louisa sighed and went to turn off the coffee machine. Leo turned up five minutes later, wrapped only in a towel. Louisa grabbed a knife from the block and hurled it at him, averting her gaze afterwards.
"Put somethin' on, dammit!"
"Well, I didn't smell coffee and that counts as an emergency." He smiled. "And an emergency means no time for clothes!" He declared boldly, waving his free hand in the air in declaration. Louisa glared at him briefly before looking away again. "Aw, come on, Lou. You want to look, don't you?" He teased.
"If you don't put somethin' on, I swear on the Styx I will stab you 'til there ain't blood left for ya to bleed."
"You are violent." Leo sighed deeply. "Well, I guess I could put something on… only if you make me a coffee." Her glare hardened. "OK, OK, I will go and put something on." She continued to glare at him until he left. "You know, Lou, you could try and be nicer sometimes." He called from his room. He didn't get a response, which could prove lethal in the next few hours. "I mean, you could change in that voucher you gave me." He still didn't get a response. "Lou, you haven't run off have you?" Silence continued to reign. "Uh, if there is anybody here could you make a noise or move something to let us know where you are?" Seconds passed before a loud smashing and crashing filled the apartment. Leo pulled his T-shirt over his head. "What was that?" He demanded warily. Louisa didn't reply yet again, prompting Leo into hurrying out of the room to where he had left her in the kitchen.
His precious coffee machine was in pieces on the floor. Louisa stood next to the bits of metal, coffee grains and glass, looking very pleased with herself. "I- why- you…" He looked up at her. "LOUISA, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" She simply laughed. "You've upset me now, you horrible person." Leo ran at her, capturing her in his arms. "You are going to pay, missy."
"Ooh, very scared." She smiled.
"So you should be." Leo sulked. "You owe me a coffee machine." She squirmed in his arms, trying to break free. Leo automatically held on tighter. She looked him in the eye, assuming that he was mad to think she would ever do such a thing.
Leo tried to stay mad at her, but it was very distracting to see that their faces were merely two inches apart, not even that. And she hadn't escaped his hold yet, not resisting as much as she normally would. Was she playing some sort of game with him?
Pulling himself together, Leo forced himself to hold her gaze and not stare at her lips. "You also owe me a kiss. You are in serious debt, chica."
Coolio- what do we think about the whole thing with Tobias and this latest bit of Leoisa?
