Hello people. I know I didn't post last week, and I also said I'd be updating Happily Ever After. I've been a little busy, but I'm back. And in those few weeks, I forgot what I was going to do next in HEA. I'll figure it out. Anyway, if you haven't read my one-shot (Monochrome) go ahead and read that. It's pretty great (if I do say so myself). I finally got a cover image for this. I hope you like that. Ok, so I'm not Rick Riordan. I don't own PJO, HOO or any of the characters.

Broken

Chapter 4: La Casa

Leo

Ok, so maybe letting a strange girl I just met into my car wasn't a great idea. And bringing her to my house was an even worse one. But what was I gonna do? She insisted on it. It's not like I wanted to spill her coffee on her clothes. And I sure as hell didn't want her in my house. I tried everything I could, didn't I? Hopefully I could just have her wait outside. If she saw the inside… Dios, that wouldn't be good.

The car ride was silent, awkward, and long. At least, it felt like eternity. I guess it wasn't any longer than usual. But my ADHD brain just destroys my sense of time sometimes, especially when there was an annoying girl in the passenger seat. When we finally got to my house, she followed me to my front door.

"Uh, Calypso," I said, "Maybe you should wait out here."

"And why would I do that?" She retorted, "I gotta get that 'miracle' stuff, right?"

"I can get it."

"What's wrong, Leo Valdez? Are you ashamed of your own home?"

"No, that's not it." Well, maybe a little. "It's just-"

"Well, let's get going. I don't want to miss visiting hours."

I held my head in defeat. "Let's go, Valdez."

Glaring at her, I took out my keys. I might have been shaking at this point. That would've explained Calypso's laugh. Taking my good old time, I stuck the keys in the hole and turned. Ok, I thought, maybe we can just get in and out. She doesn't have to see-

My hopes were struck down as soon as I opened the door. Standing right there was the five foot bane of my existence, and he looked particularly red.

"Gleeson," I said, trying to avoid the rage building up. He looked like he was about to explode on me, but then he squinted in confusion. Oh no. He saw her.

"Who is this, Valdez?"

"Gleeson, this is Calypso. Calypso, this is Gleeson Hedge," I gulped, "My-"

"His foster parent. I'm his foster parent." He explained with a little smirk. "And stop calling me Gleeson."

Well, there it was. I don't know why I didn't want Calypso to know about my situation. I probably would never see her after today, and it's not like I was trying to impress her. Let's face it, if I was, I was doing a shit job so far.

Calypso held out her hand. Gleeson took it and shook it. It was oddly formal for him. "How do you do, Mister Hedge."

He turned to me. "Your girlfriend's a keeper, Valdez."

"She's not my girlfriend. I accidentally spilt some coffee on her." I tried to explain. "She needed to clean up."

"Wait a second," Gleeson said, "You just met this girl?"

"Well," I said, not sure what to say. "I guess so."

"It was my fault," Calypso chimed in "I insisted on coming over."

I turned to her. Why did she do that? "We still have to talk about that. But, we can do that after she gets cleaned up."

Jason and Piper came down the stairs at that moment. I can only imagine what they were up to up there. "Ah, Piper," Gleeson said. "Right on time. Maybe you could help Calypso here into a new outfit. Valdez messed up the one she's wearing now."

Piper smiled. "Sure. You wanna come up to my room?"

"Uh," Calypso said, "sure."

The two went upstairs. "I'm about to go visit Nico." Jason said as he headed for the door

"He has an appointment." I said.

"Uh, how do you know that?" he said.

"I just came from there. That's where I ran into her."

"So she was leaving the hospital?"

"No, she was coming in."

"Oh my god, Leo." Jason said "You ruined her outfit before she even got into the hospital?"

"Yeah."

"That's not how you hit on someone, Leo"

"I wasn't hitting on her," my voice went up about half an octave, "I was on my way out, I rounded a corner and BAM, there she was."

Jason snickered. He could be a real gilipollas sometimes. "Ok," interrupted Gleeson, "Maybe you could start up the washing machine, Leo."

"Sure thing." I said.

Jason turned to Gleeson as I walked to the laundry room. "What's his problem?"

Gleeson shushed him and mumbled something. I was too far away to decipher it. I strolled over to the washing machine and turned the knob, letting the water flow. Unfortunately, the water just trickled out. So that's why Gleeson told me to start it. I turned off the water and turned the machine around. The intake valve was loose. Really, it wasn't that big of a problem. I fixed it with a flick of a wrench and turned the machine back around.

"Hey," Calypso's voice surprised me. I dropped the wrench.

"Uh… H-hey, Calypso" I said, turning to her. If I wasn't blushing before, I sure was now. I could feel the heat on my cheeks as I looked over her new outfit. It was a really simple outfit, jeans and a silk t-shirt, hair pulled back and braided, but she looked like a goddess. Immortal. Beautiful. I snapped out of it pretty quickly, though my ears were still hot. She chuckled.

"I figured you should have my dress." She tossed me the simple garment. "So you're adopted?"

"Um… Not exactly." I explained. "This is my foster home. It's court ordered." I felt the blush come back.

"Oh," she said, "What did you do?"

"Uh, it was something stupid. I ran away from my last few homes. This is my last stop before I'm sent away to a correctional… thing." I managed to sputter out.

"What happened to to your parents?"

At that point I started to just mutter out random syllables while tapping a beat on my leg. It was a little thing my mom taught me. Morse code. I sometimes did that when I remembered her, or I was nervous. It sometimes calmed me down.

"Ok," she said before I lost my struggle with breathing, "I shouldn't have asked. Sorry."

I gulped. "No," I gasped, "It's fine."

"Are you ok. Your fingers are going crazy."

"No, I'm fine. It's just a habbit." I said, shoving my fingers into my pockets. They were still furiously tapping. .. / .-.. - ...- . / -.- - ..-

"I'm so sorry." She said, again. "Maybe you should sit down. I'll get some water." And with that she rushed out of the room. I sat down next to the washing machine. I reached up and turned it on, trying to distract myself from the panic attack I was having. Great, I thought, I haven't had one of these in two years. I really thought I was finally done with these. I tossed the dress into the machine right as Calypso ran back in. She had a glass of water in her hand and Gleeson hedge on her ass.

"What's wrong?!" He yelled. "What happened?!"

"I'm so sorry," Calypso sputtered out. "I didn't mean to- I didn't know- I was just asking-"

"It's not your fault." Gleeson said. "He gets these sometimes."

"Yeah," I said weekly, "I'll be fine."

I sat down and drank the water that she gave me. I hope my acting was good enough to fool her. So far, the only one to see past it was Gleeson. Calypso opened her mouth, as if to say something, but she shut it almost right away. "ok," she said.

After about twenty minutes, my vision stopped spinning. I stood up, still a little weak from the attack. Gleeson had finished preparing the laundry, so now we just had to wait for it to finish.

"Um," Calypso said, "Could I- I'm sorry- Could I go back to the hospital now? Visiting hours will be over if we wait much longer."

"I guess so," I said, "but what about your dress?"

"Well," she said, "I was planning to come back anyway." Wait, what?

"Valdez, you are in no shape to drive."

"But Gleeson-"

"No buts. Maybe Jason will take you. He wants to visit Di Angelo anyway."

"Yeah," I said, "I guess you're right."

"That's right, I'm right." He said.

Calypso and I left the room to find Jason. It wasn't hard. He was one of those people who just owned any room that he walked into. He was also waiting by the door. Weird how things work out, huh?

"Hey Jason," I said, "would you mind-"

"I heard," he said. "Let's go. Nico's appointment will be over soon, and visiting hours are over a half hour after that. No time to lose."

And with that, Calypso's first unofficial tour of la casa de Valdez ended. It would certainly not be her last.

To be continued…

Ok, so I'm not sure how my one-shot has more reviews than this. Guys, that's not good. This has three chapters. Monochrome had one. Please please please please please review this. I need your opinions on stuff. Honestly, a follow/favorite doesn't really tell me how you feel. I don't care how short it is, I just really need your review.

Ok, so that mental breakdown aside, I really appreciate every single reader. So, as always, make good decisions. Peace!