Chapter 32

It had been a few weeks since Stephen Dennis' very public execution. Truth be told, it didn't change much. Not for Percy and his friends. Camp Jupiter was probably dealing with a considerable amount of shock, and honestly, Percy couldn't blame them. Reyna had shown up and announced out of the blue, that their beloved leader had been viciously murdered, by their top choice to replace him. It was a lot to process, but he didn't really care. His friends were hurting a hell of a lot more.

It had taken some time, but eventually Percy was able to go back to his original Chaos-asigned mission. But with one variation. He brought Hazel with him. He had thought long and hard about it, and eventually reached the conclusion that he was going to give her an audition of sorts. If she was hurting in the same way that he had been, after Annabeth, then there was a good chance he was going to talk Chaos into recruiting her.

To ensure her safety. before he took her out on a mission with him, he gave her one test. Percy gave her his gun, walked around 20 paces away, and turned around. Then he told her to shoot him in the chest. Of course, he was wearing his Chaos-blessed armor, so there was virtually no chance that the bullet would penetrate. That being said, it was going to hurt like Hades, so he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. But then again, it would give him a chance to see exactly what it would be like, to be shot while wearing the armor. That still hadn't happened. He had taken a few hits from swords and monster claws, but no bullets yet.

The test for Hazel, was as to whether or not she would follow instructions, even if they would result in him getting hurt. He wanted to know that if something went bad one day, and he told her to leave him behind and save herself, she would. If she wouldn't, then he would call the whole thing off.

She hesitated for a few seconds but eventually, she did as he asked. True to his predictions, it hurt. It hurt a lot. But it didn't penetrate the armor. Hazel had been using his own gun, too, so if that hadn't been enough to pierce the armor, no mortal weapons short of a rocket launcher, would be able to. And besides, he could almost feel Chaos' second blessing healing the bruise that was rapidly forming above his right peck. He also managed not to scream at all. He didn't want Hazel to feel bad.

He told her she had done well, and then told her explicitly that if he was going to bring her on a mission with him, she was to do as he said the entire time. No matter what. She agreed, tentatively.

Percy and Hazel got on a plane - first class, so that they could talk about things they needed to talk about, without being disturbed - heading to Madrid, Spain. The flight was long, and neither of them enjoyed it a lot. First class was wonderful, of course, but they were far too used to constantly being on the move and doing things, that 7 hours on a plane was abject torture. Not to mention the fact that they were both children of the Big Three, so Zeus was off somewhere, undoubtably having a fit over them being in his domain, and while they both felt reasonably sure that he wasn't going to blow them out of the sky, neither could really be sure. So, that added a particularly annoying flavor to the whole affair.

But eventually, they landed in Madrid in one piece, and went about their business. After what had happened in London, Percy wasn't about to leave anything close to the wire, so he had done everything he possibly could to prepare, before hand. He knew where they were, and he knew how many of them to expect. He knew how they were armed, and he knew how well they were trained.

This particular cell of terrorists, were hiding out in a small compound around half way between a place called "Campo Real" and another place called "Villalbilla". The compound itself was around half an acre, and it was enclosed in concrete walls nearly 16 feet high, topped with barbed wire. There would be around 20 terrorists inside, mostly Spanish nationals, with a few Americans mixed in. They would be armed with M4 Carbine assault rifles, and Glock 17 sidearms mostly, though a few would elect to use the Glock 19 model, which was essentially the same thing as the 17, but made for smaller hands. From what he could tell, they were actually trained relatively well. But he and Hazel wouldn't have much trouble with them. He had Chaos' training and blessings, and Hazel had been a vigilante for two decades. They both had experience and natural talent to burn.

Percy had planned the whole thing, from start to finish, and had briefed Hazel. Then he'd made her repeat the whole thing back to him, backwards and forwards, just to make sure there was no chance she was going to get in there and forget what to do. But she was a pro, and she was more than ready for the challenge.

For Hazel's sake, he had toned down the balls-to-the-wall-ness of all his other raids, and decided on a more considered, tactical approach. That meant picking up certain pieces of gear he hadn't used at all since arriving on Earth, but it would be nice to mix things up.

Around an hour after they landed, Percy and Hazel were in the car they had rented at the airport, nearly half an hour away from the compound. That was where the drive ended. They got out, and Percy shadow travelled them the rest of the way, in small jumps, only going as far as he could see each time. He didn't want anyone to hear the car. It was pretty quiet, so they might get nervous.

Finally, they were within sight of the compound, and Percy shadow travelled them to the roof of the 2-story house in the centre of the clearing within the walls. He nodded to her, and they split apart to opposite sides of the house before swinging themselves around the ledge of the roof, and landing on the second-floor balconies beneath them. There was one guard on each balcony, and Percy dealt with his by shoving a knife into his throat with one hand, while using the other to get the guy's gun out of his hand. He didn't want to risk a shot being fired.

Without looking over, he knew Hazel had done pretty much the same thing. He pulled the guns off his back, and gave Hazel her gear. He had decided that both of them would go in armed with silenced submachine guns, and silenced pistols as backup. He also gave her 2 flashbangs, and kept 2 for himself. The plan was to clear the top floor quietly, and then flash the ground floor before picking off the occupants one-by-one.

Almost as if by reflex, they both checked their guns. They were fully loaded, with 40 rounds in each of their submachine gun magazines, and the guns set to single-fire. 80 combined rounds of SMG ammo, along with spare magazines, and sidearms, as well as the powers they each had, made the situation a cakewalk.

Truth be told, he had selected this particular cell of terrorists, because he knew it was a soft target. They were far away from any kind of population, and there weren't many bad guys for them to take care of. He wanted to see how Hazel did with a smaller scale job, before moving on to the more dangerous ones.

As expected, the raid was easy enough. They cleared the top floor in total silence, taking out 2 guys each, with quick double taps, before they each threw a flashbang down the stairs, blinding and deafening everyone down there. Once they'd gone off, Percy and Hazel had moved down, and taken out all the rest of them. It was that easy. The element of surprise, as well as their superior reaction times and readiness, was too much for the terrorists to contend with.

Once they were all dead, Percy and Hazel searched the compound. There was little of any real use, but there was one scrap of paper that caught his attention. Bank details. Percy skimmed the statement and filed it away in his mind for later. He still wasn't sure how this entire network was being financed, but it was only a matter of time. He'd find out eventually. After that, he'd be on his way back to Chaos' realm. Hopefully, with Hazel in tow.

Once they'd searched the compound, Percy used one of the terrorist's phones to call the FBI-Interpol task force, and gave them the address. Then they shadow travelled back to the car and drove away.

After a quick conversation, the two demigods decided it wasn't vitally important to get back to the States as quickly as possible, so they would spend the rest of the day in Madrid. Maybe the night too. It had been a while since either of them had slept in a comfortable bed. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure when the last time was that Hazel had slept at all. He was going to need to see to that.

Madrid was a stunningly beautiful city. During his years with Annabeth, he had unwittingly picked up a bit about architecture. The countless hours she had spent talking about it, must have sunk in on some level, despite his best intentions (Let me know if you get that line). He wasn't exactly a virtuoso, but he could definitely see the similarities between what was before him, and what he had seen in Rome. But there were also a few French influences. It all had a very gothic look, and it really struck him how different it was to anything to be found back in the US. He wasn't sure if he preferred it or not. He was definitely enjoying it more than the architecture back home, but was that just because it was still new to him? He couldn't really tell. And it didn't matter very much.

His point was, it looked nice.

It looked nice, and Annabeth would have loved it there.

The thought brought him down a little.

"She would have loved it," Hazel said softly, without looking at him.

Percy nodded slowly, reached over, and squeezed her hand softly. She squeezed back.

"At least we're not going to get a lecture about the crown molding, or whatever," he tried to joke.

Hazel said nothing.

"Ok, so what do you want to do first?" he asked a few seconds later.

She thought for a moment, "Food. I'm hungry."

He nodded, "Fair enough. But I want to get rid of this backpack first," he said, indicating to the portable armory which he had slung across his shoulder, "Let's check into a hotel room? Then we can ask the concierge to recommend a place."

She nodded, "I'm impressed, Percy."

An eyebrow inched upwards, "Why, exactly?"

"I didn't know you knew words like concierge," she teased.

He couldn't help but smirk, "Yeah, I figured that would impress you. I bought Word of the Day toilet paper." (Another reference! Hot damn, you guys are Chads if you know where this one comes from)."

Her lips curled upwards, and that was that.

They stopped a cab, and asked the driver about hotels. Specifically, luxury hotels. He had been staying in some nice places ever since arriving on Earth, and he didn't want to break the habit now. Besides, Hazel was with him, and she had earned a stay at a nice place, at the very least. So, they went to the Four Seasons.

The Four Seasons Madrid, was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen in his life. It was like a perfect mix of a grand Church, and a modern masterpiece. Looking at it head-on, it looked a little bit like the Flatiron building in New York.

Picturesque, he decided, was the ideal word to describe it. And they hadn't even gone inside yet. After paying the cabbie, who was happy enough to accept American Dollars considering Percy paid with a $100 bill, they went inside to the front desk, and Percy asked the woman there, a very pretty brunette, who was a bit too made up for his liking, but stunning nonetheless, a few questions about the rooms.

He wanted Hazel to have the best experience possible - it seemed the lease he could do - so he paid an exorbitant price for a night in their Presidential suite. One of the staff offered to show them their room, but they declined, and took the elevator up to the 5th floor.

The room, or maybe apartment was a better word, was stunning. First, it was huge. Easily 3,000 square feet. Probably a little more. The room was decorated in a cool, contemporary design, and there were tasteful antiques strategically placed through the roomes.

There were 2 bedrooms, thankfully, as well as a spacious bathroom, and a living room bigger than the New York apartment he had grown up in. Percy and Hazel explored the place together, and it was truly amazing. Hazel seemed particularly eager to try out the bath. Percy wasn't much of a bath person himself, but he could understand the urge. It looked pretty great.

There was in-room dining, but they still wanted to get out and see the city, so, as reluctant as they were to leave the stunning room, they went downstairs and asked the concierge about the best place to eat.

"Well, there's a wonderful restaurant nearby called Cebo, that's recently earned a Michelin Star, so if you're looking for a great sea food pla-"

"No!" Percy blurted out urgently.

Hazel was trying not to laugh so hard that she ended up biting her own hand, her entire body convulsing, while the poor concierge's eyes went wide in shock at the desperation in his voice.

Percy cleared his throat, shuffled awkwardly, and muttered, "We're really more in the mood for steak."

His face felt hot.

"Damn!" he thought, cursing himself.

"Well," the lady started, recovering from the randomness of his outburst, "There's a wonderful meat restaurant near here. It's called La Vaca Argentina. Would you like me to make a reservation?"

"Hm," Percy cleared his throat, "Yes, that would be perfect, thank you. Around 9 o'clock?"

"As you wish. Will you be needing the car?"

Percy and Hazel, who had finally stopped laughing, shared a look.

"The car?"

"Yes, of course. Anyone in the Presidential Suite has access to the hotel's limo and a chauffeur. Will you be staying in your room, or will you be going into town?"

Percy turned to Hazel, "Up to you. I'm good either way."

She bit her lip and thought for a moment. She was probably thinking about the bath upstairs, which she had been eyeing earlier.

"No," she decided, "Let's go out. But let's walk. I want to see the city on foot."

The concierge smiled, "That's a wonderful decision."

Percy smiled drily, and wondered if there was anything they could have possibly said, that wouldn't have garnered that response.

"Could you recommend anywhere we could visit?"

"Well, you could visit the Royal Palace of Madrid, or perhaps the Temple of Demod? Maybe the Palicio De Cristal?"

She offered them a map, and showed them where the hotel was, and where the various sights were. Percy and Hazel thanked her, and set off. It was only around 4 pm, so they had around 4 more hours until they had to start getting ready for diner. The moment they walked out, Hazel started laughing again.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," he said, sighing.

"I'm sorry," she struggled to say, fighting for breath, "You just sounded so worried about the fish!"

"Well, they're my people, you know? It would be like someone offering you a plate of… death?" he finished, unsure.

She laughed harder. He decided to let her have that one.

They walked around the city for a while, chatting easily. It was a gorgeous day in Madrid, and they saw some beautiful sights. There was one uncomfortable moment when they walked past a rather beautiful cemetery. They both couldn't help but think about the people they'd lost, Annabeth and Frank at the top of both of their lists.

"How are you dealing with things?" he asked, doing his best to come across as casual. It was important that she didn't know how much her answer would matter.

She shrugged, "I'm fine. Nothing to do now, but move forwards, right?"

She was in hell. And she was trying to pretend like she wasn't. Or maybe she had actually convinced herself. He wasn't sure which was worse, but neither was great. She needed help, that was for damn sure. Or she was going to spend a very long time wallowing and ignoring, instead of actually healing.

But that was going to have to wait. They had a day in Madrid, and he was determined to let her enjoy it. They could get into the messy stuff later.

It was fun day, all told. They ended up in a couple tourist traps, but it wasn't too bad. To Percy's utter horror, Hazel wanted to go to a few of the museums they passed by. It was her day, so he couldn't really say no. Fortunately for him, they were interesting enough. Still, he spent most of his time staring into the abyss, while Hazel 'Ooohhh'd and 'Aaahhhhh'd with a group of others.

That wasn't to say that they didn't do anything that appealed to him though. They went to the beach at one point, and went swimming. They got a few weird looks for doing it fully clothed, but they didn't particularly care. Taking care to make sure Hazel had an air-bubble, Percy even took her down to the depths, and showed her a bunch of the sea life there. It was pretty interesting stuff, and she seemed to enjoy it.

Eventually, with a mild sunburn, and sand stuck to ever square milimeter of exposed skin, they made their way back to their hotel. The first thing Hazel did, was take a bath. Sensing she would take a while, Percy left the room again. He found the consierge they had spoken to before, and walked over to her.

After confirming their reservation, Percy asked if she could recommend a place for them to get some nice dinner clothes. She gave him directions, he thanked her, and left the hotel. He made his way to the store the concierge had recommended, and found an assistant. He told her what he wanted, and she helped him out.

Around 15 minutes later, he left with a gorgeous new suit draped over one arm, and a stunning red dress in Hazel's size, over the other, also ballancing a shoe box containing a pair of sleek black high heels. He made the walk quickly, and managed to get back to the hotel just in the nick of time. Hazel was getting out of the bath, just as he walked in.

"Hey, Perce, I was just thinking that we should probably get some nice dress clothes for dinner tonight. That place the lady told us about sounds like they would take issue with the T-Shirt and jeans approach you normally take to fashion."

She turned the corner, and walked into the main living area, to see him standing there, holding the dress up to her eye level. She gaped at it.

"Percy, this is… this is stunning!" she gushed, "When did you get this?"

"I just stepped out while you were taking your bath. The lady downstairs told me where to go. You really like it?"

"It's perfect," she told him with a smile, "Thank you so much."

He shrugged, feeling slightly weird about the thanks, "Well, I figured you deserve the best. What kind of friend would I be, if I didn't get it for you?"

She came over to him, got on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled down at her, and almost beamed. It suddenly occurred to him that she probably had never owned a dress like that. He couldn't think of any circumstance that would demand such a garment, and she wasn't really the type to dress up. Most of the places she and Frank would have gone to, would have been more along the lines of "jeans and T-Shirt", rather than fancy dress. He and Annabeth had been the same. The only time they had gone out to a really high-class restaurant had been the night he'd proposed, and that had been on his father's dime.

He couldn't help but smile at that memory. He and Annabeth, laughing themselves silly amid a sea of snobs, looking down their noses at them. But after everything they had been through in their lives, a few old people with sour expressions, were the least of their concern. It had been a good night. And it had only gotten better after leaving the restaurant.

It was practically a lifetime ago now…

Percy cleared his throat uncomfortably, and clapped his hands together to bring himself back to the present.

"So! You got get yourself ready, I'll do the same, and then we'll get going?"

Hazel nodded, "Yeah, sounds good."

She gingerly took the dress from him, and gazed at it in slight wonder for another few seconds, before offering him a brilliant smile, and turning on her heel to go to one of the bedrooms.

Carrying his newly purchased suit, he went to the other bedroom, and put it on. Having been pressed for time in the store, he hadn't actually tried it on, instead just giving his measurements to the sales assistant. The suit fit, but it was pretty tight. Especially around the shoulders. Percy had a swimmer's body, and swimmers typically had powerful shoulders. He felt like if he exerted himself at all, he'd rip it. And that wasn't a sought-after quality in high end clothing.

With a mental note to get a suit tailor-made for situations like this one, he finished dressing, sprayed on some cologne, and went back out to the main living area. Hazel was still getting ready.

With a mild sigh, he sat down on the couch and concentrate on thinking about absolutely nothing. It was a sniper exercise that he'd learned in Chaos' army, which he hadn't been practising nearly as much as he ought to have been. It was supposed to promote patience, and concentration, but with his ADHD, that was brutally difficult. But he supposed practise made perfect. And "perfect" was Chaos' exact criteria.

Nearly 15 torturous minutes later, Hazel walked into his line of view, and he understood why she had taken so long. She looked fantastic. Like royalty, he thought. He wondered vaguely if she was technically royalty, technically. Hades was King of the Underworld, and she was his daughter, so probably. But was Hades King in the same way Zeus was King?

Dismissing the matter as utterly irrelevant, he grinned at her and stood up. Even in the high heels he had bought her, she was still tiny next to him. Noticing that, she pouted at him playfully. Her hair, normally rather curly, had been straightened, and flowed down to her mid-back. She was even wearing a touch of makeup, he noticed in mild surprise. She had really gone all out.

"Shall we, m' lady?" he said, in the poshest english accent he could muster, offering her with his hand, with a theatrical bow.

With a grin, she shoved him hard on the shoulder, and strode past him towards the door. A grin of his own, decorating his face, he followed after her.

They took the car that the hotel made available to them, and the chauffeur drove them to the restaurant. The restaurant, La Vaca Argentina, looked a lot like a typical steakhouse, but with the clasiness factor dialed up to 11. It had a rustic design, with lots of dark wood featured prominently. Like a lot of steakhouses Percy had been to, the whole room looked a little bit dark, but that was obviously on purpose.

They were led to their table, and their chairs were pulled out for them and everything. The concierge wasn't lying when she said this place was upclass. The menus were in Spanish, and the waiter seemed slightly sad when they asked for English ones. Probably because he knew that meant he was going to have to talk to them in English all night. Percy made a mental note to give him a good tip.

Right off the bat, Percy ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon. He'd never had it, but based on his limited knowledge of that kind of thing, it was pretty good. Hazel looked vaguely impressed that he even knew the name. The waiter seemed pretty pleased too, apparently having pegged them as uncultered Americans. He wasn't too far off the mark, but still.

"Are you two celebrating something?" he asked with a smile.

Percy shrugged. "Not really. We're only here for the day, so we want to finish up with a good time."

The waiter nodded, "Well, you two make a wonderful couple," he said flatteringly.

Percy and Hazel both laughed.

"I have a girlfriend."

"I'm married," they said at the same time.

They both froze. Percy risked a glance at Hazel and saw the empty, hollow look behind her eyes come back. She'd been having a pretty good day, and everything that had happened recently had slipped her mind. It was back now though.

The waiter, seemingly noticing how uncomfortable things had suddenly become, slinked away awkwardly. Neither of them said a word for a few moments.

"Hazel-" Percy started, before he was cut off.

"Just…" she interjected, sighing heavily, "Just don't. Let's enjoy the rest of our day. Just let me have that. Please."

He gazed at her for a few seconds before nodding a little.

"Fair enough," he said before sighing himself.

Another few seconds went by, as Percy thought of something to say that wasn't too heavy.

"So… what was Jason and Piper's wedding like? I keep meaning to ask."

Hazel fixed him with an odd look.

"What?" he asked, confused at the reaction.

"Percy, I thought you knew," she sounded mildly confused.

"Knew what?"

"They aren't married," she said, like she couldn't believe he didn't know.

"Seriously? How? They got engaged before Annabeth and I, how haven't they done it? Did something happen?"

She paused for a second, and then said, "Talk to them about it."

He watched her for another few seconds, and then accepted that she wasn't going to say anything else on the subject.

Unfortunately, that left him to come up with another topic for them to talk about.

The waiter showed up a few seconds later with the champagne. He revealed it to them with great ceremony, and made a whole show of removing the cork, and pouring them a glass. They toasted, with matching smirks, and took a sip. Hazel's eyes widened a little bit.

"Wow, that's spectacular!" she told him.

Percy nodded adamantly. The waiter, seemingly pleased with himself, left their table.

"Can you tell the difference between this and a regular bottle of white wine?" Percy asked in a whisper.

She shook her head rapidly, and he smothered his laugh. It was ok, but it wasn't in imminent danger of knocking his socks off.

They both took a second to take a good look at their menus. When the waiter came over again, Percy ordered a fillet mignon, medium rare, and Hazel had the same thing. They also ordered a bottle of red wine, because Hazel was pretty sure she'd heard that it went better with meat.

The break in conversation had given Percy the opportunity to think out a few topics that they could discuss lightheartedly.

"You see much of Nico these days?"

She nodded, "Yeah, he spends more time at the camps than he used to. I guess he feels like he saw so much of the world during the years he was travelling, and now he's ready for something more settled. He avoids Camp Half-Blood for the most part though."

"How come?" he asked, slightly surprised.

"Well, after you disappeared, we didn't really know what happened between you and Jack, and we were willing to hear him out, but when he said what he said to the Gods, we knew he was lying. That's why Jason and Piper moved to New Rome, and the rest of us avoided Camp Half-Blood as much as we could. Seeing how much they worship him over there, that might have been a mistake, but you know what they say about hindsight."

"But what about Will?"

"He moved to New Rome too. They've got an apartment in the city together."

"Wow. I had no idea."

She nodded, sipping her champagne, "Will teaches archery to the Roman sons of Apollo, and serves as a Senator."

Percy whistled appreciatively, "It's kind of dawning on me how many senators we know. I guess we run in some pretty elite circles nowadays."

She smirked, "Long gone are the days of misery in Cohort 5."

Percy shrugged, "They weren't too bad, as I remember."

"No, I suppose not."

They were quiet for a moment before Percy spoke up again.

"I can't believe Will was in New Rome, and I never saw him when I was there. I feel kinda bad now."

She chuckled, "You two were never particularly close. Don't worry about it."

"I could have made an effort for Nico."

"You didn't know, don't worry about it."

"I should send him something," Percy said absently.

She pointed her fork at him threateningly, "You will send nothing."

He held up his hands in surrender, and luckily for him, she lowered her weapon.

"How are they, anyway?"

"Nico and Will?" Hazel asked, "They're ok. But between you and me, I think Nico is starting to realise that it won't last."

Percy frowned, "Why wouldn't it?"

"Well, Nico has partial immortality. Will doesn't."

"Shit," he breathed.

Hazel nodded sadly, "Yeah. It was easier to ignore before, because they looked basically the same age, but now Will's nearly 40, and Nico still gets carded when he goes to bars."

Percy nodded, "How long do you think it'll be until they admit it to each other?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, but the sooner, the better. Then they can both move on with their lives."

Then their food came, and moans of deliciousness dominated any hope of conversation. It was great food. Seriously fantastic stuff. It was so good, in fact, that neither of them said a word until their plates were practically clean.

Percy was a big guy. Bigger than most. His portion stuffed him to the brim. Hazel had devoured the same meal he had, and looked perfectly comfortable. She was tiny, but damn, the girl could eat. He grinned at her as she chased an errant strand of barbeque sauce into her mouth for the corner of her lips, with her pinky. She caught his grin and matched it, completely unashamed.

Eventually, their plates empty, and their bellies busting, Percy decided to ask Hazel a question that he'd been wondering about for the last few hours.

"So, how do you feel about what happened at the compound?"

Hazel shrugged, and took a sip of her wine. When it became clear that he wanted her to elaborate, she sighed.

"I don't really know how I feel about it. On the one hand, we killed a bunch of people," she said, hushing her tone slightly at the mention of the massive crime, "But on the other hand, they were going to hurt people. So, I think I feel pretty good about it."

He stared at her for a second, trying to figure out if she was lying, or embellishing. She wasn't. She meant what she'd said. Good.

"How would you like to do more of it?"

"I'd feel pretty good about it. But I'm not sure you really need me, do you? You seem more than capable of doing this stuff by yourself."

"I am," he said, stating facts, "But I want to know if you have the potential to do the stuff I do."

Her eyebrows scrunched together, "What do you mean?"

He hesitated for a few seconds.

Finally, he decided to tell her.

"In a few weeks, my job here is going to be done, and I'll be going back to the place I was before I came here," he started slowly.

She looked sad at the news, so he reached over and squeezed her hand.a

"And I'm thinking about taking you with me," he finished.

Her eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" she almost whispered.

He nodded.

"If, you want to go, of course."

"I do," she said at once.

He held up a hand, "Let's do the same thing we did today, a few more times. I want you to know, roughly, what you're signing up for. By the end, if you still want it, I'll take you."

She looked pretty excited. He was less so. The training he was going through was pretty brutal, and he couldn't imagine what it would be like when he was finally a full-on operative. It wasn't going to be an easy life, and it most certainly wasn't for everyone. But he thought it might help her. So he was willing to try.

A/N: That's a wrap, folks. Hope you enjoyed this shorter, slower chapter. This story has been a bit high-paced lately, so I just wanted to take a breather, and have Percy and Hazel take a minute to enjoy an almost normal day. Anyway, hope you're having a good day, wherever you are in the world. Stay safe.