"Look, I didn't want to be a politician," Percy remembered telling Reyna over the phone.

"That doesn't change the fact that you are one now. Like it or not, you're one of us. Come on— keep taking pro bono cases and making things better one person at a time, or take a chance to make the system better as a whole?" Reyna had asked.

Percy hadn't been especially surprised when he got the phone call. He'd said no the first time, when Chiron Brunner called him up personally and asked him to be a speechwriter. It hadn't seemed fair, back in 2019. He'd only been two years out of law school at the time, and most of his notoriety came from being an athlete, not a lawyer. He'd been sure that his image, name, and brand would have been more of a distraction to the Brunner campaign than a benefit. And then he'd found out who was running point on policy and who was already setting herself up as Reyna's second-in-command, and it hadn't seemed fair to her, either. He said no the second time, too, when he realized that Luke Castellan was working in their communications department. As long as Luke and Annabeth were on the same team, there was no point in anyone else joining forces with them. Those two had always worked better together than with anyone else.

So he watched from the sidelines as Reyna and Annabeth got the President elected, and he watched from the sidelines as they began to craft their first policies. And in the meantime, he did what he and Annabeth had always talked about— he set his sights on making a difference. And then Luke left the Legislative branch for a seat in the House. And then Reyna called, and he couldn't really say no.

Now, he looked around his office. It wasn't big, not by White House standards, but it was his own space, and it had a door, which was more than he could say for the rest of the communications staff. He hadn't really moved in yet, didn't really think of the space as his, but he'd only been there for a week, so that was to be expected. His desk was already covered in mounds of paper, which some well-meaning assistant had tagged with little post-its that he was pretty sure were meant to be color coded, but no one had told Percy what colors went with what, so for now they were all just in haphazard piles. He had one framed photo on his desk— it was an old picture at this point, but he'd had it on every desk he'd ever had. Himself, in his Team USA jacket, with an arm around a newly graduated Hazel and Leo, who'd finished college the same year he'd finished law school. The three of them were scattered now— Leo in California, Hazel still in New York, and Percy somehow here.

There was another photo that had always sat beside the one of him and Leo and Hazel, but that one was tucked away in a drawer, and he wasn't planning on putting it up until he had a better idea of the lay of the land here.

Someone knocked at the door of his office— Gwen, one of the communications secretaries. "Percy? Jason needs you for half an hour this afternoon."

He glanced at his watch. "What time?"

"He said to just drop by," said Gwen. "But he's in meetings until two, so I'd wait until after."

"Sure, okay," Percy agreed. "Hey, wait. Gwen?"

She poked her head back around the door. "Yeah?"

Percy sighed and gestured at the files strewn across his desk. "No one ever— I mean, this all looks color-coded, but… what colors mean what?"

Gwen chuckled. "Right, it's Luke's old system. Sorry, none of us ever changed it once he left— it just seemed easier to keep the same system going. Green is ag policy, blue is renewable energy, pink is women's issues, yellow is immigration, and then anything in the bankers boxes that's been flagged with a bigger post-it is a previous speech that's been written for the President so you can look back at them for reference. The ones in the boxes are alphabetized."

Percy stifled a groan. It was so reductive, but organized. So Luke. "Man, it's just like having him as a TA again, except he isn't even here," he muttered.

"Hm?" Gwen asked.

Percy waved a hand. "No, nothing, never mind. Just… tell Jason I'll drop by at two fifteen."

"Sure thing," Gwen nodded, ad disappeared around the corner.

With a look of distaste, Percy shuffled the papers back into their original stacks and began sorting through them. Then, he picked up the phone and called Piper.

"Hello, hello, lovely new coworker of mine," she sang into the phone.

Percy frowned. "Are you always this cheerful?"

"Yes. What's up?"

"Do you know if Annabeth has a minute this afternoon? I'm trying to prepare some remarks for an event the President's speaking at…"

"The Green Energy caucus," Piper inserted.

"Yeah," Percy said, surprised. "Does she—"

"Yeah, she's got updates, she talked to Nakamura and Smith. Do you want the numbers or do you just want to talk to her?" Piper asked.

"Um. Both?" Percy said.

"She's got a minute at three. Also, you don't have to call me to call her, you can just walk down here. It's like a two minute walk down a hallway. There's even a coffee machine on the way in case you get tired."

Percy frowned. "That's mean."

"Well, you're wasting time by not calling," Piper said into the phone.

"Fair point, I'll be over there at three," Percy agreed.

With that he hung up, and stared down at the desk that didn't feel like his yet.

"You settling in okay?" Jason asked later that day. The two of them sat at Jason's desk in the office adjacent to Percy's, which was much neater but at least it wasn't bigger than Percy's own.

"Yeah, it's going fine," Percy said over his laptop. "Now, for the bit about resilience, should it be something like 'together we stand against the forces of…'"

"Yeah, sure," Jason agreed. "We stand united, maybe, really bring in that patriotism angle."

Someone in the doorway of Jason's office snickered. Jason and Percy turned sharply at the noise, heads swiveling in unison to stare at the door.

Thalia Grace stood there, openly laughing at both of them. "Please tell me that speech is not for the President."

Percy and Jason looked at each other.

"Oh."

"Oops."

"You wouldn't happen to have seen our talent, would you, Thals?" Percy asked as Jason got up out of his chair to hug his sister.

Thalia rolled her eyes, patting Jason on the back. "I'd try to imply that neither of you jokers were ever talented, but that'd be a lie. Just maybe don't imply that the President is going to literally stand up with the public in a speech that he's giving from a wheelchair. Unless there are random new medical developments that none of you nor my wife have told me about?"

Jason shook his head sheepishly. "Yeah, no, you're right."

Thalia flicked her dark hair out of her face to fix Percy in her sights. "You. You didn't work here last time I came around. You're stepping in as the new Luke?"

Percy made a face.

"The new Annabeth, really," Jason supplied. "Thalia, you remember Percy."

Thalia snapped her fingers. "You helped take down DoddsCo. And you lobbied for those after school sports programs in public schools."

"He's also got like three Olympic medals," Jason supplied.

Thalia crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, I thought this was the White House, not the sports hall of fame."

With a sigh, Percy extended his hand. "Hello again. Legal defense for kids without after school programs, and for neighborhoods whose water supply is getting tainted with chemicals, that's me. I like that reputation better."

Thalia reached out to grip his hand. "See, he gets it. Hey, neither of you have seen my wife, have you?"

Percy and Jason shook their heads in unison.

Thalia sighed. "Fine. I'd bet Annabeth knows… have you at least seen her?"

Percy glanced down at his watch. "I'm headed over to her office in a minute, actually. Want to help us with the speech in the meantime?"

Jason shook his head wildly, muttering "no, please don't. She's actually insane."

Thalia chuckled, but the sound was more like a cackle. "I don't think you want my help, I'm too likely to insult people who are stupid. Which is unfortunately like, half your voter base."

Percy glanced pleadingly in Jason's direction. "Can we call them stupid? I don't like lying to the American people."

Jason groaned. "It'd sure make this easier. But no, we can't. Gotta play by the rules here."

"I need a break," Percy said, standing up and stretching his legs. Even five years after his official sports retirement, it felt strange to sit down for too long. "Thalia, I'll walk you over to Annabeth's now if you want?"

In the hallway, Thalia shoved his shoulder lightly. "So, crusading for the innocent got you here, huh? And they say nice guys don't get shit done."

Percy shrugged. "Fix the system from the inside, right? Besides, you're my boss's sister and my boss's boss's wife, I figure you know everything there is to know about me. If you think I'm not crusading for the innocent from this office too…"

Thalia held up her hands in mock defense. "Woah, now. I trust that you're crusading for the innocent, all right. If I hadn't already seen the contracts they make you guys sign, I'd be trying to sign you up to come work for me."

Percy cocked his head to the side. "The ACLU needs another white male lawyer?"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "No, the ACLU needs another lawyer who's good at working with kids. We're getting more and more DACA cases by the day."

"Oh." Percy frowned. "Hey, wait a minute. You don't want me. No, seriously, you don't. But do you know Hazel Levesque?"

Thalia paused. "I don't think so?"

"Here's her number, give her a call." Percy stopped walking long enough to pull up Hazel's contact information on his phone and scribble the number down on the back of one of the stupid pink post-its from the Luke color-coding system.

"Huh," Thalia said, looking down at the post-it. "Thanks, I think. Lawyer?"

"Nah," Percy stuffed his pen and his phone back into his pocket. "Social worker. But trust me, she's who you're looking for, if you've got teenagers or kids who need help."

"Interesting." Thalia looked puzzled, but she pocketed the post-it anyway.

Just then, Piper poked her head out from a nearby hallway. "Percy! Oh, good, you're here. And…" Her voice dropped in tone and volume. "Hi, Thalia."

Percy looked between the two for a moment, but couldn't find anything amiss.

"Annabeth's in her office, Percy," Piper said. "Why don't you go on in?"

He gulped, and went to the appropriate door.

Annabeth was at her desk, long legs crossed at the ankles in a pencil skirt and heels that were both sensible and also somehow shouldn't have been legal. A blouse that was buttoned all the way up and yet still made him think about what it would look like unbuttoned. Hair tucked up into a loose braided bun, the image of professionalism. and those steel-gray eyes, glinting with the challenge of the work in front of her. And somehow, even though he'd seen her every day for the last week, walking into a room with her in it still had the same effect it always had. His throat went dry, his palms felt clammy and damp, and his brain went blank.

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, don't just going to stand there, Seaweed Brain, or are you going to come in and talk?"

Hello hello and welcome back to another snippet of life in the Brunner White House. As always, please feel free to leave me your thoughts, comments, reviews- I always look forward to hearing what y'all have to say! ~GT