THE JOY OF BABYSITTING

Jason had just parked his car in front of their apartment building when he saw a hellhound cornering a little boy in the alley. The little boy looked about around seven or eight years old. Jason immediately ran to the alley and got out his sword, he crept behind the hellhound and stabbed it right before it pounced on the little boy. The monster exploded to dust in front of Jason and he went over and knelt next to the boy, to check on him. The boy was sitting on the ground with his head in his arms, Jason saw that he had bruises on his arms, and that his clothes were dirty, probably from all the running.

"Hey there little guy, are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked

The little boy lifted his head and looked at Jason then he nodded "Where did the bad dog go?"

"I made him go away" Jason answered

"My names Jason, I live in the apartment over there" he said pointing at their apartment building "Do you want to come with me for a while? I could get you some food and get you cleaned up. What do you say?"

"Okay" The boy answered "But my foot hurts mister Jason. It twisted when the dog chased me"

Jason offered to carry the little boy on his back and brought him back to their apartment. It was around four in the afternoon and Leo was there babysitting his kids.

Jason found his son sitting in the living room watching television while Leo and Jessy were no where to be seen.

"Hey there buddy!" he greeted his son and placed the boy next to Josh. He ruffled his sons hair and kissed his forehead

"Hi dad!"

"Where's your sister and Uncle Leo?"

"Jessy's sleeping and Uncle Leo's in the bathroom" He answered then looked at the boy beside him

"What's your name?"

It had just occurred to Jason that he had forgotten to ask the boys name

"I'm Alex" the boy answered "What's your name?"

"My name's Josh"

"I'm just going to get you some clean clothes and we'll get you cleaned up in the bathroom okay?" he asked Alex then turned to Josh "You'll keep him company right bud?" the two boys nodded and Jason went to one of the closets. He was looking for the clothes that were still too big for Josh, when Leo suddenly popped in the room.

"Hey Jase, you found another kid for me to babysit?" he asked

"Uh Yeah.. He was being cornered by a hellhound down the alley. I think he's a demigod" he brought out a pair of t-shirt and pants "Do you think this will fit him?"

"I think so" Leo answered

"I think he has a sprained ankle. Don't know if we could give him some nectar or ambrosia. Is Will downstairs?"

"Don't know but I could check" Leo said and started walking down the hall

"Can you order Pizza too?" He called out to Leo

"Got it!"

When Leo had returned, Jason was helping Alex get cleaned up and dressed. Luckily, the clothes fit Alex perfectly.

"Will's still in the hospital, don't know what time he'll go home" Leo told him "Pizza will be here at 10 minutes. Your paying'"

"As always" Jason muttered and Leo let out a laugh

It was a good thing that Will had already taught all of them first aid, Jason at least knew how to bandage a sprained ankle correctly. When the boy was all cleaned up, and his ankle was bandaged, the pizza had arrived.

When the four boys were seated in the dinning room, Jason asked Alex if the bad dog had caused his bruises on his arms as well. He only asked about the arm, but when Jason was helping the kid change to the new pairs of clothes he also saw a bruise that looked new, on the boys back. The bruise looked suspiciously like a persons hand. The little boy looked down and shook his head.

"Where did you get those bruises then?" Leo asked "You can tell us. We're friends. We can help you"

Alex seemed to consider it for a moment then looked up at Leo and Jason

"My mom's boyfriend hit me" he whispered just loud enough for them to hear

Jason and Leo looked at each other and it was clear that they were both furious with what they heard

Then Jason looked at Josh, he would kill anyone who ever dares hit his son.

"Does he hit you a lot?" Jason asked

"Sometimes. When mom's not there. He doesn't like me"

"Did he hit you today?" Jason continued

And the boy nodded "He hit me today then I ran away from him, then the dog chased me. Then you saved me. Now I'm here"

"Daddy won't let that bad man hit you again" Josh assured Alex

"I wish my dad was here too" Alex told Josh

"Who's your dad?" Josh asked

"His names Apollo. I only see him on my birthday and during my music recitals"

Leo and Jason looked at each other again. Alex had just confirmed that he was a demigod, he's a demigod son of Apollo. Jason had just realized that the boy had the same blue eyes as Apollo, but the kid had black hair instead of Apollo's blond hair.

They continued eating in the dinning room, Alex and Josh were munching on their pizza while they were talking. Jason and Leo decided to stop questioning the boy for now and let him and Josh talk. Jason smiled at the two, Josh rarely got to play with boys near his age. The few times that he gets to play with boys his age are when they're at Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood. Most of the time his only playmates are Jessy and Trina. After a few minutes Jason saw Jessy peeking from the doorway but she wasn't making any attempt to come in. Jason was the only one who noticed her, he stood up and came towards his daughter, kneeling in front of her.

"Hi Princess, what are you doing here? Why don't you come and join us?" Jason said and kissed his daughters forehead

"Daddy there's a boy" she whispered

"Yeah there is. Do you want to meet him?"

"I have to brush my teeth first. Daddy help me" she whispered and tugged on Jason's arm, dragging him to the bathroom.

"Why Princess?"

"There's a boy daddy" she said like it should be obvious to Jason

"So?" Jason asked putting toothpaste on his daughters toothbrush

"I want to be pretty and smell good"

"You are pretty and you do smell good"

"Not yet" she shook her head and opened her mouth waiting for Jason to brush her teeth

Piper had already taught the twins on how to brush their teeth, and Josh could already brush his teeth but Jessy still insisted on her parents brushing her teeth for her. When Jason was done brushing his daughters teeth, she then dragged him to the twins bedroom and asked Jason to help her look for a pretty dress and she started to brush her hair, with one of her pink hairbrushes.

"Aren't you already wearing a pretty dress, Princess?"

"Dress smell bad now"

Jason took a sniff of the dress his daughter was still wearing and it smelled perfectly fine to him. But he didn't want to argue any further with his daughter so he just helped her change into a new dress.

"Do I look pretty now, daddy?" His daughter smiled at him

"You always do, Princess"

"I can meet the boy now daddy! I look pretty already!" she giggled

Jason couldn't help but facepalm at his daughters antics. Though he has never seen her act like this around a boy before, and she's already met boys her age at both camps.

When they got back, Leo, Josh and Alex were already seated in the living room watching TV.

"That's my sister" Josh told Alex and pointed at Jessy who approached them

"Hi I'm Jessy" she said introducing herself

"I'm Alex" he said and smiled at her

"I like you. You're handsome. Can you be my prince charming?" she asked him smiling widely and sitting beside Alex

"Straight to the point isn't she?" Leo whispered to Jason

Alex laughed for a moment while Josh was looking at his sister weirdly like he was saying 'What in Jupiter's name are you doing sis?'

"Okay" Alex answered Jessy while he was still laughing "You're pretty"

Jessy gasped and Jason swore he saw his daughter blushing "Thank you"

Then she looked at Jason "Daddy he said I'm pretty!"

Leo facepalmed while, Jason didn't have time to respond he was too busy thinking if 5 year old girls could actually blush when they're complimented by a boy.

A little while later, Jason and Leo retreated to the kitchen.

"Should we just take him to camp?" Leo asked him

"His mom might come looking for him Leo"

"Let's tell Apollo then! We can't take the kid home if his mom boyfriend keeps on hitting him"

"I know" Jason replied then sighed. He didn't want to take the kid home either.

"Let's ask Piper what to do when she gets home" Jason said

"Yeah but what if" Leo started but got interrupted but Josh

"Daddy! Jessy stole my playmate away from me" he pouted

Jason and Leo looked over at Jessy and Alex and saw that Jessy was talking excitedly, and giggling and flipping her hair

"Is she flirting with him?" Leo asked

"I don't really know" Jason answered "Can a five year old even flirt?"

"Jessy won't let me talk to Alex anymore, she keeps pushing me away daddy!"

"Uncle Leo and I will play with you" Jason told him

"But I want to play with Alex"

"Come on buddy, why don't we go sit with them again"

The three of them went back to the living room and Josh sat beside Alex. Jason had heard Alex whisper to Josh "Your sister talks a lot"

Josh laughed "It's quiet here when she's sleeping"

Jessy seemed to notice that the boys attention wasn't on her anymore she frowned then tapped Alex on the shoulder making him look at her again.

"I wonder how she'll be like when she's a teenager" Leo whispered to Jason who groaned. They suddenly heard a knock on the door "I'll get it" Jason said and stood up. He opened the door and came face to face with the one and only Apollo.

"Why didn't you just pop in?" Jason asked him

"My son doesn't know I'm a god" Apollo answered "He's here right?"

"If your talking about Alex, yes he's here. Come on in"

Alex's eyes lit up when he saw Apollo but he immediately hid his arms behind his back "Dad!"

Jessy pouted that Alex's attention was again turned to someone else, but she didn't say anything and instead grabbed one of her dolls from the coffee table and started playing with it. While Josh turned his eyes on the TV.

"Hey son, are you okay?" Apollo asked kneeling in front of him

Alex nodded then said "Mister Jason saved me and brought me here. He's nice"

"Thanks Jason" Jason nodded his head in response

"Hey Apollo you're paying me" Leo said and grinned

"For what?"

"For babysitting your kid"

"Jason's the one who saved him"

"Yeah. But I'm the babysitter today, and your son was an addition to my babysitting load"

"Did that small man take care of you too?" Apollo asked his son who nodded

"Fine, Valdez you'll get paid"

"YES!"

Apollo rolled his eyes at Leo then looked back at his son, he seemed to notice for the first time that Alex was hiding his arms behind his back

"What do you have behind you?"

"Nothing Dad"

"Alex"

The boy sighed then showed Apollo his bruised arm

"Who did that to you?" Apollo said dangerously and Jason and Leo were sure that the god was ready to incinerate the guy that did that to his son

"Mom's boyfriend hit me" Alex whispered "But I'm okay dad. I ran away from him"

"I'll get you home to your mom, and we'll get rid of that guy okay?" Apollo told him ruffling his hair

"But Dad he might hit you too" The boy argued

Jason had to hold back a laugh, he'd like to see a mortal try to hit the sun god. While Leo really laughed "Nah kid. Your dad will be fine. Just his smile is deadly"

The little boy didn't seem to understand but he didn't ask them about it any further.

Apollo touched his sons forehead and instantly the bruises went away "Does your feet feel okay now, Son?"

He nodded "What did you do dad?"

"It's called magic" Apollo said and smiled at him

"Mister Leo's right dad, your smile is deadly. It's too bright" Alex said laughing and high fived Leo

Apollo frowned "You ready to go?"

"He can't go!" Jessy argued "He's my prince he stays!"

"What?" Apollo asked and looked at Jason for answers, who just shrugged

"He's my prince charming! We're going to live happily ever after!"

Apollo laughed then said "Don't worry princess. I'll make sure he gets to be your prince again"

"Promise?"

"Promise. I'll even swear on the river"

"I wouldn't" Jason interrupted preventing Apollo from swearing on the river styx

"They have to go home now Princess, why don't you and Josh say goodbye to your friend for now" Jason told his kids

While Leo was asking Apollo for his babysitting fee, Apollo grumbled but paid Leo anyway

"You can keep this" Josh said handing Alex one of his superman figurines "Then we'll always be friends"

"Thank you Josh. We'll play again soon" Alex told him

"Good bye!" Jessy said and hugged Alex

"Good bye Jessy"

Jessy looked at Alex for a while then leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips "Bye!" she said again and went to her dad who stared at his daughter for a while

"I caught that on camera too!" Leo cried "See? See? My camera's there!" Leo pointed excitedly at his camera on top of the television

"Whatever, Valdez. Let's go Alex" Apollo said grabbing his sons arm "Thank again Jason"

"No Problem" Jason replied "You take care of yourself okay kid?" Jason told Alex who nodded

"How about me?!" Leo cried out

"Thank you Mister Jason and Mister Leo" Alex called out

"You're welcome kiddo! Come back soon!" Leo said as Apollo and Alex exited the apartment

When the two were gone, Jason turned back to his daughter "Princess you can't just kiss boys when you feel like it"

"But Daddy he's my prince!" Jessy argued

Jason sighed and sat in front of his daughter "Can't you stay as my little girl forever?"

"Do little girls get toys?"

"Yes, Princess"

"Okay daddy"

Jason smiled he wished both of his kids won't grow up too fast. If he only he could get them to stay as little children forever.

"Hey Jase you think I should open a babysitting business?" Leo asked counting the money Apollo gave him

"I thought organic life forms weren't much of your thing?"

"Yeah but your kids love me, Percy's kid loves me, maybe other kids will love me too" Leo replied "I could get some serious cash with babysitting!"

"I think you should just focus on your machine shop" Jason told his friend

HELLO EVERYONE! I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER! :) TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS IN A REVIEW

XOXO, CHINFEB1203