Hey, guys! I'm sorry for the long wait! I'm on vacation but I've finally got a chance to update! It's kinda long, and I hope you enjoy the Thaluke and Jasper! (Please no flames if you're not a Thaluke shipper) :) I do not own PJO.

Thalia sat out on the balcony of their apartment. Their flat faced the alley. Thalia stared at the bricks that were plastered together and in the corner of her eye she could see a sliver of the New York streets. An old lady lived in the apartment building across from them and she treated her cats a little too well. She always left the window open so she also treated Thalia well because she kept the TV on for her cats. Fortunately, for Thalia, she got to watch free TV.

But she wasn't exactly in the mood for it. She sat in one of the dirty lawn chairs that sat on their balcony, her knees drawn up to her chest, and her arms crossed on her kneecaps. Her chin buried into her soft, gray, over-sized sweatshirt. She was buried deep in her mind and her troubles. So many problems riding on her shoulders and making her back ache and clutching her heart in a death grip.

Firstly, she got fired. She didn't tell any of them. But it wasn't her fault; their daughter had a sleepover with teenagers who had their tiny bodies filled with hormones and a smartass attitude that tried to compete with her. Just one smack, that was all she asked for, and that led to her being kicked out. Those girls had given her looks, and she desperately wanted to punch the daylights out of their smirks.

But she couldn't, and she didn't feel like it, because secondly, there was Luke. Her best friend since before college, who had been by her side all this time, and he decided that now was the time to drift away from them. He was getting into trouble, she knew. The way he acted, the way he was never there anymore, the way he just ignored her half the time. They were all reasons for the scar on his face.

And yet, the thought of him made her heart seize and retract in her chest. She buried her nose and freckles deeper into her sleeves, closing her eyes, and turning off the electric blue light for a split second.

And in that split second, she saw another pair of blue eyes. At first, they were bright with a twist of dullness in them. And then they turned electrifying cerulean. She remembered those wide eyes on a small face. She opened her eyes.

Thirdly, there was Jason, her brother. Her little brother who went into the military—but a different military, one she hadn't ever heard before, called Camp Jupiter. She hadn't seen him since. He wrote letters to her, and then they stopped because of her. Thalia had sent letters, but began to get too caught up in her work and she stopped. She didn't want to, but soon, she forgot.

Until yesterday, when she stumbled upon a letter that she had taken out of the mail years ago, but forgot to read. The last letter ever sent between them. And she read it.

All those years, when the sudden thought of him came up, she wondered—and that soon led to convincing herself—that he had died. That something horrific had happened to him in that camp.

But in that letter, he explained that he dropped out and was settling down. She gasped sharply when he was in the same state as her. He didn't put the full address, and as much as she wanted to jump in the car to see him, she couldn't.

He explained that he thinks he met someone, someone nice. And that he can't wait for Thalia to meet her. It was odd, because he didn't mention what this girl's name was. Jason told her that everything was well with him. He wondered what she was doing.

Thalia wondered the same thing.

What was she going to do?

In this moment, she just sat, with the letter in the pocket of her sweat jacket. She could feel it against her stomach from the way she sat. Her gaze went up to that open window and she watched as the old lady shuffled through her apartment wearing pink slippers and a nightgown. She plucked her black cat with a white diamond-shape on its forehead from its small bed in the corner and carried it over to the loveseat in front of the TV.

"Now you sit on down here while I take a bath and put my face on," She said.

Thalia smiled a little. "Put my face on" was such a creepy sentence, but she knew it meant putting her makeup on. Thalia wondered if she would use that phrase when she was older, telling her grandchildren—or cats—that she was putting on her heavy makeup.

She would never give up on her black eyeliner and mascara. If she did, it meant the end of the world.

The reason how she knew what the lady had said from such a distance was because she could read lips. Luke had taught her how. During college, when she used to work at one of the restaurants at the school, he leaned on the counter and they watched the customers and predicted what they were saying.

The thought of it, the thought of that moment, made her heart bruise. It churned from the pain and her eyelids fluttered down a little and she settled her gaze on nothing.

She heard the sights around her: cars honking, curses being yelled, just a lot of mechanical machinery rattling through the city. Sometimes, she liked it. But now, she wished she could just mute it all.

Then Thalia heard a long and low screech. It almost sounded like a baby crying. She looked back up and saw the black cat on the windowsill of its apartment. It stared at her. She stared back.

Then it hopped down into the balcony and then hopped up, with its perfectly poised paws and landed gracefully on the black railing. With the color of its fur, it looked like it was a cat wearing a tux. There was a white shape that traveled down its chest, kind of like a tie. Its paws were like it was wearing white mittens.

That's probably its name, Thalia thought. Mittens.

She saw its tail thoughtfully swing back and forth, back and forth, almost like it was trying to hypnotize her. But she narrowed her eyes at it, wondering why it was staring at her. Its slit, cat eyes blinking at her.

It meowed again, as if asking what was wrong.

When she didn't meow back, it cocked its head to the side.

She raised her head up a little. With a small smile on her face, she tilted her head a little as well.

It bat its paw at her and then turned and hopped down, and its tail disappeared into its apartment.

Thalia wondered what that was about.

"What are you doing out here?" a voice asked from behind her.

She jumped, her breath catching, and she looked over her shoulder.

Luke was climbing through, a concerned smirk on his face that made his scar curve. She frowned at him. For some reason, she knew that he was going to mix all of her troubles and smoosh it into one giant catastrophe. That's why she looked away from him.

She mumbled, "Fresh air,"

"Whoa," he said softly as he noticed her attitude. He sat down next to her on the same lawn chair and rested his elbows on his thighs. "What's wrong?" There was a crease in between Luke's eyebrows.

"Nothing is wrong," she said through gritted teeth as she buried her mouth deeper into her sleeve.

His eyebrows rose, obviously impressed about something from her. He pressed his lips together and slowly rubbed his hands together. "If nothing's wrong, then why are you lying to me?"

He didn't look at her. He looked up at the sky and the white, puffy clouds silently drifting by.

But Thalia looked at him, resting the side of her head on her sleeve. There was a small crook in the middle of his nose. She wanted to smooth her finger over it, as if she could make it go away. But she resisted it. His blue eyes were shining, not from tears, but because his eyes were so bright.

Finally, as if he sensed her looking at him, he looked back at her.

"Hm?" He asked, nudging her to respond.

"I'm telling you, Luke, nothing is wrong."

"Alright," he nodded his head, looking down at the balcony floor. "It's not just me, you know."

"What do you mean?" Her eyebrows pulled together.

"The cat noticed something was wrong, too,"

Thalia rolled her eyes away from his smile, trying her best to suppress her own. Was that was that cat was doing? She didn't think so, but then she wondered how long Luke had been standing there, watching her.

Luke put an arm around her, bringing her close to his side and he laughed. She could feel his ribs and chest moving against her and the rumble vibrate through her. She felt her ears warm a little but she still looked away from him.

"Thals, I know something's wrong."

"So then why'd you have to ask me?"

"Just making conversation," he said softly and looked down at her. He squeezed her shoulder. "C'mon,"

"What do you think is wrong?" She glared at the building across from them with a scowl on her face. She didn't want to talk about it, and yet again, she wanted to tell Luke anything. It felt like she was holding her breath back and biting on it—if that were possible—and it even hurt her lungs that she couldn't tell anything.

She took that back. She could, she just didn't want to; she didn't know how.

"Well, first of all, it's a work day," he said, and then he took a pause of breath. "And yet, you're here. I just came in a while ago. You were supposed to be at work hours ago. But they didn't call, asking where you were."

Thalia bit her lips and could taste blood, she chomped down on it so hard. He couldn't see it, but she clenched her sleeves a little harder underneath her jacket.

Nevertheless, she didn't say anything.

Luke squeezed her shoulder again, and dipped his head a little. "Did you get fired, Thals?" he asked softly. "It's okay if you did; it's just…why won't you tell me?"

She sighed a little and turned her head to look at him. "It just proves how much I hate teenage girls with attitudes."

He laughed again, and it rumbled through her again, and made her heart trip over its heartbeat. Thalia smiled a little.

"Oh, no," he said. "What'd you do?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't do anything. They did." She met his eyes, and they held the gaze for a long time. Her smile faded and she became painfully solemn again. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But you did get fired, huh?" He hugged her tighter.

"Yeah," she mumbled bitterly.

"It's okay,"

"No!" she snapped. "Nothing is okay!" Thalia leaned away from him and he was forced to take his arm back.

"So now you admit it,"

"Shut up!" she choked out, tears stinging her eyes and she looked up, her chin wobbling and her voice cracking.

Luke was surprised by this because she sounded so broken; like she could shatter in a million pieces and no matter how hard he tried, he probably wouldn't fit her together again. Never in the same exact way she was.

A small track of tears traveled down her face on both cheeks. They were both wet eyeliner and colored her freckles gray.

Luke stared at her.

"Stop looking at me like that," she said as she swiped at the tears before they reached her jaw.

He glanced away. "Thalia, you have to tell me what's wrong."

"Why should I? You don't even care anymore,"

Luke snapped back up at her and looked as if she had just slapped him in the face. There was a concerned crease in between his eyebrows. "Wh-what—where'd you get that from? Of course I care!"

"Barely," she murmured bitterly, her voice now normal, and she wiped her tears from her slender, pale hands to her sweatshirt.

He looked hurt. "Why would you say that?"

"Because you're never around anymore! You're never the same! You've changed and you don't do anything anymore." Thalia said. "There's something wrong with you as much as something's wrong with me."

Luke stared at her solemnly. He didn't argue about it, which told Thalia that she had been right about him. The light slowly flickered from his blue eyes and it seemed like a shadow passed over his face, even though the sun was still brightly lit like a giant light bulb, and it made his eyes look more sunken into his skull, tired. It picked out the hollow places under his high cheek bones and made his jaw squarer. Actually, it didn't. He was just clenching his jaw harder.

Luke looked away from her and she suddenly regretted what she said. But she didn't show that to him. She set her feet down on the floor, and the paper made a crackling noise as she moved. Thalia was wearing purple shorts that were barely hidden underneath her too-big sweatshirt so her legs looked longer. They were so pale, from all those years hidden under jeans, and they were skinny and bony. It made her black hair seem darker and her eyeliner more thick.

He curled his fingers into his palm, clenching them, and a vein hardened over his knuckles.

This action kind of scared Thalia; she'd never seen him get so angry enough to have a maddening passion about it. She reached over, her slender fingers spreading and reaching out to touch his clenched hand that he rested on his knee. And her fingers slipped into the tight space in the middle—between his fingers and palm.

This made him open up his hand. It reminded Thalia of an oyster. How they're so hard to pry apart, but once you do, there's a beautiful pearl sitting inside of it.

Thalia frowned at him as she squeezed his hand, but he didn't move. His hand lay out, still open.

It was almost like he was being hesitant, or because he was guilty of something. Another thing that weighed on Thalia's shoulders about him was that she knew he always cared for Annabeth. She didn't know how, but all she needed to know was that he was always right there beside her, helping her all the time when she needed it. It made Thalia feel like she was invisible.

"What's wrong, Luke?" She asked softly.

He didn't respond for a long time—so long, Thalia thought he might never talk to her again.

But, he said, "Just…trouble. I'm trying to get out of it, but," he sighed and he looked up at her, giving her a smile though he didn't look amused. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Yes, it does," Thalia protested and tightened her hold on his hand. "Remember what I said—you're as much in trouble as I am. I need to know about what's going on. I care about you." She choked out and it was like the words were strangling her because it took her breath away. But she breathed deeply and added on, "I don't want you to get hurt. I can help you with whatever—"

"No." He broke her off in a sharp voice, but his hand twitched around her cold fingers. "No, you can't help me."

"How do you know?"

"Because I…" he sighed, then he met her eyes. "If I tell you, you have to tell me what's wrong with you."

Thalia gritted her teeth and was about to snap back an angry retort, but then thought against it. She wouldn't tell him about her feelings for him. That's the only thing she wouldn't tell.

She nodded. "Fine,"

Luke leaned his head back with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. He seemed surprised by her response.

"What?"

"Nothing;" he said, "Just thought you would argue with me instead of agreeing."

"Yeah, well don't get used to it." She brought her hand back, and smirked a little.

Luke laughed, and there was a small bright flare in his eyes again. But along with the laugh, it died just as it was born. He clasped his hands together, not meeting her eyes. "I…I'm in debt with a lot of people. I owe them too much money."

"How?" Thalia was baffled.

"I don't know. One day, I had to borrow a car from someone and then there was a small accident and he didn't have insurance so I had to pay him. I had to borrow money from people, and now I owe practically everyone." He said and looked up at her.

"How much?" Thalia wanted to know.

"More than a hundred—each."

Thalia gave a low whistle. "Jeez, Luke."

"I know. That's why I need money."

"What about your job?"

"What job?" he chuckled, but didn't look amused, as he looked at her. "I never really had one. Just little jobs that…" he shook his head. "Didn't help much."

He looked as if the world had been lifted off his shoulders, but he tried to mask it with a solemn shadow.

"So what about you?" he nudged her.

She glanced down. "I got fired,"

Luke couldn't help but smile. "So I was right,"

Thalia snapped her piercing eyes back up to him. "Shut up—I was also right about you being in trouble."

The smiled dropped. "Right. Sorry,"

She had a confident smirk, but nevertheless continued. "And now I don't have a job. And I found this," she pulled out the letter from her sweat jacket and handed it to him.

He softly took it with a questioning crease in between his eyebrows and unfolded the paper. Luke began to read it, his eyes slowly trailing back and forth, and the crease began to disappear.

"Who's Jason?" he asked.

"My brother,"

Luke stared at her with wide eyes. "You have a brother? You never told me that."

She shrugged. "I didn't tell anyone. No one needed to know."

Luke ignored it and kept reading. But then he paused. "So…his name is Jason Grace?"

Thalia looked over at him, narrowing her electric eyes at him. "Yeah. Why?"

He chuckled, his scar rippling. "I can't believe I never noticed it! This is insane. I knew both of your last names and—"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

Luke's brows furrowed as he stared at her. "Didn't Annabeth tell you?"

She pursed her lips. "Didn't Annabeth tell me what?"

"She works as Piper's maid." He said, but Thalia still stared at him like he'd gone crazy. "Piper's full name is Piper Grace, married to Jason Grace—your brother."

Thalia stared at him. She blinked, and moved her jaw. "What?"

Jason stroked Piper's cheek as they lay in their haven of sheets and pillows. Their grand bedroom had the lights off but it was daylight outside. Piper smiled and her eyes, filled with violet, glanced toward that window where the curtains were hung to where sunlight barely peaked out and a slanted strip lined the carpet.

She got up, bringing the blanket with her and wrapped it around her bare body. Jason lay, propped up on his elbows with the sheet still over half of his body, and watched her as she padded, barefoot, toward the window. She stood in front of the window and reached up, her fingers curling around the light green curtain, embroidered with gold thread, and she jerked it back. The sunlight poured in and hit her like a cold wind on a humid day.

Jason watched as her eyes brightened and the light cast different shades of her native skin color; around her temples and lines streaking down her cheeks, casting a shadow from her long and dark lashes. It curved out hollow places at her collar bones and neck.

Jason smiled a little. Then she turned back to him and jogged to the bed, and jumped, flopping down on her back next to him. Her hair spread out around her, different layers and different colors that the sunlight that now blazed around the room had tinted her dark hair.

He stroked her hair as well, and twirled it around his finger, though it easily fell as the smaller pieces couldn't ravel that far around his forefinger.

Piper smiled a flipped over, putting her elbows on his chest, her hair now hung over one side of her face, tickling his cheek. He leaned all the way back to where his shoulder blades were against the headboard of the bed and he wrapped his arms around her.

"So, I guess it's a good thing I gave Annabeth the day off," Piper said, her fingers dancing on his shoulders.

"I guess so," he murmured and he strained his head up to press his lips to hers.

"Maybe it worked this time," Piper said against his lips, cutting him off.

"Maybe," he kissed her again.

"I hope it did," she pulled away, looking the other way, her eyes going into a daze.

"Me too," he kissed her cheek.

"What if it's a girl?" She squealed. "That would be absolutely wonderful!"

Jason pulled back, a little hurt. "Well," he stammered, "what if it's a boy?"

Her face broke out in startlement and a polite smile. "Oh! Oh, of course! That would be just as wonderful!"

"But you just said—"

She cut him off with a kiss. "Sparky, you're over-thinking it. I meant I was glad for both of the genders." She kissed him again and then rolled off of him, slipping off the bed and then making her way to the bathroom. She called out to him. "I mean, I'd be grateful for both genders!" She gasped and when she reached the doorframe, she grinned back at him. "Wouldn't it be even better to have twins?!" She giggled with excitement and then walked inside the bathroom.

Jason pondered for a moment. He imagined in his mind himself holding a baby in each hand. Both crying and him trying frantically—but failing—to calm them down. He didn't even have a hand to feed them or have enough room to rock them. He didn't have either or even the bravery to see what was trapped in their diaper.

Jason lay there for a moment, taking that thought in.

"Twins?" He said, his voice somehow climbing an octave higher.

"Or maybe even triplets!" Piper cried with glee from the bathroom.

Jason couldn't even fathom that thought.

Where would he even hold that baby?

"Um…I-I think three would be a little too much to handle for our first time, Pipes,"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous! I think we would take perfect care of all of them!"

He blinked and cleared his throat. "Um. Sure, if you say so,"

Piper popped her head from the bathroom. "Unless if you think you can't handle it."

Jason sat up, his legs half-way criss-crossed. His hands lay limply in his lap. "Well, it's just that…what if we can't take care of all three of them? What if one feels left out? What if we can't pay for the things all three of them need? What if—"

"Jase," Piper had walked out of the bathroom in a tank top and shorts and she leaned forward, taking his hands. "That's too many 'what-ifs' to worry about. We might have triplets, but then again we might not." She smiled. "It's going to be okay. It'll all work out."

Jason smiled up at her. He put his finger under her chin and tilted it and kissed her again.

She smiled back. "Get dressed; I'm going to the kitchen. I'm hungry," she rubbed her stomach.

"Maybe that's a sign!" He pointed his finger in the air.

As Piper walked away, she smiled back at him.

"Maybe this time will finally be it!"

When she was out the door, he plopped backwards, his already raised arm curved under his neck. Jason sighed and with his free hand, he played with the hem of the sheets. He gave a soft smile at the ceiling, how its lines curved and crossed with other lines. It reminded him of something someone once told him—about how you can tell how long someone's life span is just by one line on that person's palm.

Jason wondered if it was the same with ceilings as his eyes skirted around and traced the lines that led to nowhere.

"Tell me something, Luke," Thalia said. "About Annabeth,"

"What about Annabeth?" That crease was in between his brows again.

"Well, you seem to be…" she paused, thinking for the right word to say. "more concerned about Annabeth lately."

"What, you think I have…feelings for her?" Luke asked with a small smile.

Thalia's eyebrows rose.

"You do," he shouted. But then he blinked and said in a normal voice, "No, not really. She's more like my little sister. Besides, doesn't she have that guy, Percy?"

She nodded. "Yeah, she told me they're really moving along. She really likes him," Thalia wouldn't look at him and she messed with the corner of Jason's letter.

Before Luke could respond, the door to the apartment opened and closed. "Guys!" they heard Annabeth's voice holler. "Anyone home?"

"Yeah," Luke hollered back over his shoulder. He stood. "Speaking of the devil," he mumbled to Thalia.

She smiled a little and he walked back inside, stepping off the balcony.

But Thalia sat there for a while. A deep blush passed across her pale cheeks. Then she stood up, holding her letter in her fingers and then she heard that low screeching noise again. She looked up and that cat was sitting on the windowsill, staring at her again.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. It was just a cat, she told herself. Thalia walked back into the apartment, holding the letter in her hand.

Then she remembered about Jason. And that Annabeth knew about him. Anger flared up in her. She looked up as Annabeth was talking to Luke.

"Piper and Jason gave me the day off today," She said.

"How could you not tell me?" Thalia said to her.

Annabeth stopped as she put her bag into a chair. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Well, sorry, I didn't know you'd want to know so much about why I've got the day off."

"No! Not that!"

Luke stared at her, giving her a warning look, telling her that Annabeth couldn't have known more about Jason than he did. But Thalia couldn't believe that they couldn't piece together the last names.

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth was confused. "What's wrong?"

"How could you not know about Jason?!" Thalia felt tears stinging her eyes and that they caused the blurry smudges in her vision. There was a lump in her throat that her voice cracked through. "Why didn't you tell me, Annabeth?"

"Thalia…I don't—"

"Have you ever thought of his last name?"

"It's—," then her face filled with comprehension. "Grace,"

Thalia set her jaw and something hot trickled down her face. She wiped it away, but just as soon as she held herself together, she choked out a sob. Jason's face burned in her memory and she just wanted to hold him the way she hadn't held him for so many years.

Annabeth slowly drew in breath and her fingers floated up to her lips. She was truly startled. "I'm so sorry, Thalia," her brows creased together. "I didn't know. You guys look nothing alike so I didn't think it was possible."

This made Thalia's anger go away. It was true, they didn't look anything alike so she couldn't help that Annabeth didn't realize that. No one could, except if they compared their blue eyes.

Thalia looked down at the floor and Annabeth came over and hugged you. "Why didn't you just say so?" Annabeth said softly.

Thalia pulled back. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth looked at her, her gray eyes twinkling with slight confusion. "Well, don't you want to meet him? How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"Years," Luke spoke up for her. Annabeth looked back at him, and then back at Thalia.

Thalia used to see a blush or a different light in Annabeth whenever she looked at Luke. But now, up close, she could see that that was gone. Had Percy caused that, Thalia thought.

But the thought was ignored as Annabeth said, "Years? How could you not have seen your brother for that long?" She asked with wide eyes.

Thalia gave her a look. "Well I didn't do it on purpose. My job got in the way."

"Which she doesn't have anymore," Luke coughed and made a beeline away from Thalia and the look on her face.

"Luke!" she hissed.

"Thalia!" Annabeth exclaimed. "You don't have a job anymore? When did this happen?"

"I just got fired a couple days ago, okay?"

"Why didn't you tell any of us sooner? We could've helped you!"

"Well Luke doesn't have a job either!" Thalia pointed at him.

"What! Why isn't anyone telling me anything anymore?!" Annabeth cried.

"Oh, and did Thalia forget to mention that she watches the cat lady from across the street?" Luke snickered as he poured himself a glass of water.

Thalia gasped sharply. "That is not true! I only watch her TV!"

"Thalia, that's just weird," Annabeth gave her a look.

"Yeah, well what Luke failed to mention was that he owes practically every badass in the city over a hundred dollars!"

Luke stopped pouring water from a pitcher and looked at her. "Hey!" he pointed a finger at her. "Telling each other's secrets was not mentioned in the deal!"

"Oops, you should've told me that before you told Annabeth my secrets!"

"What deal?!" Annabeth cried again. But then she waved her hands around. "Don't answer that! Everyone just shut up!"

Thalia and Luke stopped and looked at her. Their mouths were closed and they watched as Annabeth had her eyes shut, taking deep breaths.

She suddenly released a breath—and it almost sounded like it was full of relief. Her gray eyes were churning, and Thalia knew that that was the sign that the gears were turning in her head.

"I've got an idea." Annabeth announced.

Thalia sashayed past her and into the kitchen. "Oh, what a surprise,"

"I think I know how to solve both of your problems."

"That's impossible," Luke waved it off. But then he looked at her, interested by the bright light in his eyes. "How?"

Before Annabeth could answer, Thalia stood next to him and slapped him upside the head.

He yelped and jerked forward, his hand flying up to the spot back there. Luke scowled at Thalia, but she was staring down at her fingernails.

"Do continue, Annabeth," she said.

"Well, first off," Annabeth put her hands on her hips. "You're going to meet your brother."

Jason wrapped his arms around Piper's waist as she stood at the kitchen counter. He buried his chin into her shoulder and looked down at what she was making. Sandwiches; he smiled.

Piper looked up at him, smiling. "Hungry?"

"Definitely," he said, his voice muffled into the strap of her tank top.

She chuckled a little and leaned back into his chest.

"Listen," Jason said, "I don't want you to get your hopes up on this. I mean, it takes a while for a woman to have a baby."

"Sparky," Piper dragged on his name. "I know. It's going to be fine."

"Okay, but I'm just telling you beforehand."

"Thanks, but," Piper turned around and lightly kissed him. "I know." Her eyes shined with green.

Jason gently wrapped his hands around her jaw and kissed her again. Telling her, through that, that no matter what happens, he'll make sure everything turned out all right.

They parted and their noses touched. He smiled down at her, the wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.

He kissed her again, more passionate this time. A rush of adrenaline ran through him and suddenly, they couldn't move because the small of Piper's back was already against the counter behind her.

Jason leaned into her and she wrapped her arms around him, keeping their kisses in lock. He picked her up, and her legs wrapped around his body and she sat on the counter. He plucked kisses on her cheeks, and Piper gave a small laugh. Jason grinned and his hands held onto her waist, his thumbs wedged into her hipbones. Then they moved to her knees, where he was about to pick her up again—

Then the doorbell rang.

It startled them both and Piper jerked back, her head bumping into the cabinets behind her. She hissed a curse and rubbed the welt on the back of her head.

A small laugh bubbled from Jason's throat. But then he bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Pipes, that wasn't funny,"

She looked at him, and then snorted. "It kind of was," she said and smiled at him.

Jason was captured into that smile and was tempted to wrap his arms around her again, but she slipped down from the counter and began to walk toward the door. "I wonder who that is, I mean—whoa!"

Jason let his temptation get the best of him. He grabbed her hand and twirled her back around toward him, where she was caught in his arm. He held her tight to him and pressed his lips to hers.

"Jason," she said as she parted from it. "As much as I love this, there are guests waiting at the door,"

"They can wait." He murmured and then kissed her again.

She laughed. "Sparky!"

The doorbell rang again.

He gave her one last kiss and then let her go. Piper squeezed his hand and walked to the door. Jason turned the other way and finished making the sandwiches.

He heard the door open behind his back.

"Annabeth!" Piper greeted. "What are you doing here? We gave you the day off."

"I know. I'm not here about my job. My friend and I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, well come on in!" The door swung wider—he knew because it creaked—and Jason heard footsteps. "Hi, I like your hair," Piper said.

Jason put the other piece of bread on the sandwich and took a bite as he turned around, staring at the new visitors. He leaned against the counter and all he could see was Annabeth and Piper's back, which was hiding the friend Annabeth was talking about.

He chewed and took another bite.

"Thanks," the girl said. She sounded familiar to Jason.

"And you have such pretty eyes. They kind of look like Jason's," Piper turned and Jason could finally see who the girl was.

He stopped chewing.

"Finally, someone sees it." Her glare slid up to Annabeth.

"Thalia?" Jason asked through his sandwich.

She looked at him, her face solemn but she looked as if one touch would break her. "Finish chewing before you talk, bro,"

Piper's eyebrows furrowed toward Thalia and then she looked at Jason, her eyes asking: Do you know her?

He swallowed and then just stared at her.

Thalia gave a soft smile and Jason set down his sandwich on the paper towel on the counter. He began to walk towards her and he grasped her shoulders, staring down at her, taking in what she now looked like.

"Where have you been?" He asked. "I thought you died."

"I thought you did, too," her voice cracked a little. Then she lurched forward and hugged him. "I'm so sorry, Jason. I shouldn't have stopped the letters."

Jason hugged her back. "Why did you?"

She sighed. "It's complicated."

He pulled back. "We've got all day."

"Um…" Piper stood awkwardly next to a smiling Annabeth. "Sorry to interrupt, but who are you?" she looked at Thalia.

"Pipes," Jason put his arm around Thalia's shoulders and ruffled her black hair, making it spikier. "Meet my sister, Thalia,"

She pushed away his hand and then stood on her tiptoes and messed up his hair.

He laughed, his scar on his lip curving, and she stopped once her job was completed. "And Thals—"

She turned toward Piper and offered out a hand. "This is your wife, Piper. I know. Annabeth told me."

Piper seemed a little pale and confused. Her glances cut from between Jason to Thalia and then she looked over at Annabeth. Annabeth just shrugged, still smiling.

Piper turned back to Thalia and then a grin split across her face. She squealed and laughed and disregarded Thalia's offered handshake and moved in for a full hug. She squeezed her arms around Thalia. "I'm so excited! Now I have a sister-in-law!"

"And," Annabeth added on, "Thalia just got fired from her last maid job. So, keep that in mind."

"Annabeth!" Thalia hissed at her.

Piper gasped and pulled back. "That would be amazing! Then I'll have two friends around here! Oh, my gosh! That'd be so much fun!"

Thalia was shocked. "Um, yeah." A blush creeped across her freckles.

"What's wrong with me?" Piper's hand flew to her forehead. "Are you hungry? Do you want a sandwich?" She hurried to the kitchen.

Thalia turned to Jason. "She's a keeper,"

"Okay, well while you guys enjoy catching up, I'm going to go help my other friend, Luke," Annabeth began to back away from them and toward the front door.

She watched slowly as Jason helped Piper with the sandwiches and they chatted and began to share stories about how their paths crossed. They didn't seem to bother or protest that Annabeth was leaving.

But that was okay. She had to help Luke next.

"Annabeth, why are we at a Café?" Luke asked as Annabeth had gripped his hand and pulled him into the small shop she knew too well.

"Don't worry. This is going to help. I promise you,"

"What do you mean? Are you saying that your great idea was for me to work here?"

"There's someone else who works here and knows almost what you're going through."

"Almost isn't enough, Annabeth,"

"Annabeth!" A voice cried out as they reached the counter. Luke saw a black-haired man on the other side. His sea green eyes were bright.

The man also recognized Luke. "Oh." His voice faltered a little as he wiped off a coffee mug. "Who's this?"

"He's just a friend, Percy," Annabeth leaned forward with a smile. Percy returned the smile and leaned forward, and she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

Luke felt awkward, but they soon parted. "So this is the famous Percy you've been talking about."

Annabeth blushed. "Yeah,"

"Oh, so you've been talking about me?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get used to it Seaweed Brain," she said, but couldn't suppress the smile on her face.

Seaweed Brain? Luke thought to himself.

"Hey, so you want the usual?" Percy asked Annabeth, and she nodded.

He turned and began to take out a coffee filter. "And, uh, what does your friend want?"

"His name's Luke," Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder and forced him up to the counter. "And he wants two things."

Percy furrowed his brows at her. "What are they?"

Annabeth elbowed him.

"Um," he shrugged and shook his head slightly. "Coffee, I guess,"

Percy blinked. "Okay." Then he added on, "Luke,"

Luke pursed his lips.

"And?" Annabeth elbowed

"Um…" he glanced down. "Well, those bagels look pretty good, too—,"

"No, not that!" Annabeth slapped him upside the head.

Luke exclaimed and rubbed the spot. "I swear, there's a bump growing back there."

"See," Annabeth leaned over and began to talk to Percy like Luke hadn't said anything. "Luke is in trouble. He owes people money, but doesn't have a job."

"Annabeth, that's—" Luke began to say.

"And, well, he needs money and he was wondering if you had any job openings." Annabeth finished.

Percy stared at them, but his hands kept moving over the making of Annabeth's Seaweed coffee. "Well, all I do is make coffee."

Annabeth gave him a look.

"But," he sighed, "I guess I could use some help around here."

Annabeth gave a confident smile and then looked up at Luke. "I told you this was a brilliant idea."

"No one ever said it was brilliant, Annie." Then Luke looked up at Percy. "So…can I still get that coffee and bagel?"

"Yeah," Percy threw him an apron. "On your break, you can make it yourself."

Haha...this was fun to write. Some parts, I was a little iffy on, but oh well. :) Please tell me what you thought!

Oh and who else saw The Sea of Monsters? I LOVED IT. I think it was SO MUCH better than Lightning Thief. And it was seriously to the book. The Kronos rising part, yeah, that was a little unexpected, but I kinda realized why they had to do it. They needed to give a connection to Lightning Thief and make sure it was like the book and then they needed something to continue the series. So I'm really excited that now our fandom is back on track! But I was surprised when people said they didn't like it. :/ tell me what you thought about it! I wanna hear all about it; I'm planning on posting a rant that's been traveling around my brain for a while onto my journal on DeviantART.

Anyways, guess what else is out? ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL THOR TRAILER! EEEEPPPPPPP! I'M SO EXCITED! I am a Loki/Jane shipper so I was happy that I saw there was going to be interaction:3 Not as happy as my sister, who's in love with their ship, but, you know. :)

I hope you liked! Please tell me your thoughts so I know you're liking the story!:) Reviews make my day!