The Wise Detective

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/30199785.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related
Fandoms - All Media Types
Relationship: Jake Peralta & Annabeth Chase, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Annabeth
Chase/Percy Jackson
Character: Jake Peralta, Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson), Ray Holt, Terry
Jeffords, Rosa Diaz, Amy Santiago, Percy Jackson, Charles Boyle,
McClane "Mac" Peralta
Additional Tags: Crossover, Season/Series 07 Spoilers
Language: English
Series: Part 1 of Detective Annabeth Chase of the 99th precinct, Part 1 of my
Percy Jackson crossovers
Stats: Published: 2021-03-22 Completed: 2021-07-05 Words: 79,138
Chapters: 21/21

The Wise Detective

by Dusana

Summary

A new Detective joins the squad of the 99th precinct.

Her name is Annabeth Chase.

Notes

Hi, sooo...
I had this idea, wrote it down, it kind of exploded on me, you know how it is ;)
English is not my first language and I always appreciate a quick info if I made a mistake.
This is going to be a couple of chapters, not sure how many just yet. I have a couple of
chapters ready, others planned out at least. If any of you have prompts, I'm happy to hear
them and would certainly try to incorporate them.
I jump between points of view in the beginning, but will mostly write from Jake's POV
later.
Have fun reading :)

See the end of the work for more notes

 The new Detective
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Lieutenant Terry Jeffords has just finished giving an update on a murder case during the morning
briefing when Captain Holt steps up to the podium and demands the attention of his detective
squad.

It is a normal Tuesday on the end of summer and things have been going well for most of the
squad. Amy had returned to work after giving birth to Mac and taking three months of maternity
leave. The baby was enrolled in a daycare facility where he needed to be picked up at five in the
afternoon. Most days, Amy and Jake could manage their time well enough that one of them was
able to get him. On the few occasions that wasn’t possible, Karen Peralta was more than happy to
spend time with her grandson.

Holt clears his throat and the murmur in the room dies down. He glances at his paper as he begins
to speak.

“Attention, squad! We finally get a new detective as a replacement for Sargent Santiago, who, as
we all now, has worked with the uniformed officers for months now.” He pauses for a moment, but
nobody dares to interrupt the Captain. “The new detective comes highly recommended, graduated
at the top of her class at the academy and you will be welcoming to her.”

At that, Rosa can’t keep back a comment. “Top of the class, fitting replacement for Santiago.”

“Nobody will ever be able to replace you, babe.” Jake smiles at his wife, who lovingly rolls her
eyes.

Holt throws them a dark look and the room quiets once again. “Annabeth Chase will start on
Monday; I expect all of you to be on your best behavior.”

He looks at each of them until he has received a nod in confirmation. “I will not allow you to scare
her off before she even gets a chance to settle in. That means you in particular, Detective Peralta.”

Jake meets the Captain’s eyes. He doesn’t want a new partner. He doesn’t want someone new in
the squad. These are not just his colleagues, they are his friends, his family and he doesn’t want
some upstart detective to disrupt the dynamic they have with each other.

It wouldn’t be the first time he got rid of someone by being an ass, but he would have to be careful
how to approach this new person. Holt would be furious if he discovered that Jake scared off the
new detective. And Amy would be as well. He would have to tread lightly.

Holt is still staring him down, so Jake simply nods.

His superior seems to be satisfied with that for the moment. His shoulders sag a fraction of an inch.
“Dismissed.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

Annabeth hadn’t had the best experiences in the police force so far. She never expected it to be
easy, being a woman on the force, but it was demoralizing that she always had to work harder to be
taken seriously amongst her mainly male colleagues.
The precinct she had worked for these past years was largely male dominated, with only a few
women splattered in between, none of whom were on her squad. When she made detective and her
Captain informed her not-too-kindly that there was no opening for another detective in their
precinct, she happily applied to the open position in the 9-9.

She had learned to keep her head down, not stick her nose into matters that weren’t her own and to
be as unobtrusive as possible. She hated it but still held up hope that it would get better as she
climbed the ladder.

She hopes that her new squad would be more accepting of her and more appreciative of her talents.

The men at her former precinct resented being shown up by her, be it knowledge-based, in terms of
arrest numbers or in physical competitions. She had resigned to having a strictly professional
relationship with those people, only offering knowledge when asked, only lending a hand when
explicitly assigned to a task. Everything else only got her in trouble.

Annabeth reaches the top of the stairs – always preferring the exercise over taking the elevator -
and can see the bullpen of her new precinct for the first time.

Officers in uniform are walking around, herding perps from one place to another. People in civil
clothing stand and sit around, most likely lawyers, witnesses, and the likes. She can spot a few
detectives, their badges prominently displayed on their person. Her hand goes to her own badge,
shiny and new and a calming weight where it is latched to her belt.

She takes quick notice of all doors, the adjoining rooms, the exit leading to the roof.

Her eyes fall on the Captain’s office on the other side of the bullpen. She spots a man inside, sitting
at the desk. That must be her new Captain, then. Captain Holt. She sends one last quick prayer to
her mother that this Captain will be better than her previous one. Then, she strides through the
room to introduce herself to superior officer.

----------------------------------------------------------

When Jake comes into work on Monday, the door to the Captain’s office is closed and the blinds
are shut.

When he asks Rosa about it, she shrugs. “The new detective is in there.”

That piques Jake’s interest. “Have you seen her? What’s she like?”

“She took the stairs, went straight for Holt’s office, has been in there for twenty minutes. She
is….” Rosa is obviously looking for something to say. “…blonde.”, the other detective finally
settles on.

“Blonde? Really? That’s all?”

Attracted by his presence, like moths are to light, Boyle comes over to join the conversation.

“Well, she is not wrong. Chase is blonde, about your height, seems to be in her late twenties.”

“She’s hot”, Hitchcock butts in and promptly earns a smack on the head from Rosa.

“Captain wants us on our best behavior”, she reminds them. “That includes not hitting on the new
girl. Especially since she is half your age.”
“Why do you care so much?” Jake has known Rosa since the academy and she usually doesn’t care
about people she doesn’t even know.

“Would be good to have another woman on the team.” She receives a series of surprised stares.
“What? Santiago is downstairs with her uniformed morons all the time, Gina left… I’m the only
woman on a squad full of men. And if you scare her away” She gestures towards the Captain’s
office. “the next detective we get might be a guy and I will have to put up with you guys all alone
until Hitchcock and Scully retire.”

“Rosa, you know you can always come to me if you want to talk”, Charles immediately offers.

The fakest smile Jake has ever seen appears on Rosa’s face as she turns to Boyle.

“Oh yes, please. Let’s braid each other’s hair while we’re at it.”

“You know, I actually saw a tutorial on different hair styles on television a couple of days ago, so I
probably could…”

“Not the point I was trying to make, and you know that, Boyle! You know I like working with you,
I enjoy the squad as it is. But a second woman would make things better.”

“A second woman would make things better – title of your sex tape”, Jake exclaims. This is – of
course – the moment when the Captain’s office door opens to reveal Holt who levels a glare at him.

Jake tries an apologetic smile. Rosa is probably right, he shouldn’t be too hard on the new
detective. It is true that they could use another detective and if this lady is as good as Holt thinks
her to be, he would at least give her a shot.

Holt steps out of his office and gestures for the person behind him to follow.

As much as Jake hates it, he has to agree with Hitchcock. The new detective is hot. She is tall and
athletic, her honey blonde hair is pulled back into a pony tail. Her stormy grey eyes roam around
the room as Holt introduces her.

“This is Detective Annabeth Chase. As previously stated, she takes over Santiago’s former
position. Since I know you enjoy forming personal attachments to your colleagues, each of you
will be allowed to ask one question after stating your name before we continue our tour.” He turns
towards Chase. “If that is all right with you.”

Chase nods and turns towards the group. Due to their former conversation, they already stand
closely together, just Scully and Hitchcock sit a little to the side at their desk.

“Lieutenant Terry Jeffords. What did you do previously to becoming a cop?”

She gives the detective a respectful nod. “Studied architecture at the west coast.”

“Detective Charles Boyle. Who is your favorite Disney princess?”

A smile ghosts over her features. “Arielle.”

“Detective Rose Diaz. Why did you go to the force? Why not work as an architect?”

“I got bored sitting at a desk most of the time, so I applied to the academy. I still do some freelance
architectural work, though.”

“Detective Jake Peralta. What made you decide to change precincts?”

The trace of a smile she had while talking to Boyle and Rosa vanishes. “My old precinct didn’t
have an opening for another detective.”

“I’m Scully. What’s your favorite food?”

She seems genuinely surprised by the question, but answers anyways. “Pancakes.”

“Detective Hitchcock. Wha…”

“I believe that is enough for now. If you would follow me, please.” Captain Holt ushers Chase out
of the bullpen and towards the interrogation rooms.

“Jup, smart choice”, Hitchcock declares and takes another bite from his bagel.

----------------------------------------------------------

Annabeth is tense when she returns to the bullpen after being shown the other levels of the precinct
by the Captain.

She heard the sex joke Detective Peralta made when she came out of the Captain’s office. The only
other female of the squad, whom the joke seemed to be directed towards, didn’t seem very happy
about it either.

The bullpen is mostly empty, and Captain Holt dismisses her for lunch. She considers going out
and putting off properly meeting her new colleagues. She is stressed out enough as it is with the
new job that she doesn’t want to force herself into a conversation.

Her ADHD had her bouncing on her feet all morning and she knows that makes her expel a
nervous energy.

Laughter bubbles from the break room and Annabeth decides that she should get to know her
colleagues better if she is to work with them for the foreseeable future.

She lets her hand ghost over the knife strapped to her back and walks over to join the team.

Conversation comes to a halt when she enters the break room.

You are the daughter of a goddess, you will not be cowed by a bunch of humans, she tells herself.

She straightens her shoulders and heads for the only free chair, opting not to sit on the couch with
Detectives Hitchcock and Scully.

She pulls her water bottle and her sandwich out of her bag and is relieved when conversation picks
back up again.

The man sitting next to her, Detective Charles Boyle, if her memory is correct – of course it is, she
is a child of Athena – extends his hands towards her.

“Charles Boyle. So nice to meet you. After Amy got promoted, we really needed another woman
up here. Wow, you have a firm handshake. Wonder, what else you can do with these hands of
yours.”

Annabeth quickly pulls her hand back.

The Lieutenant groans. “Back off, Boyle. You know you come off rather creepy to people who
don’t know you.” He turns to Annabeth. “It’s nice to have you on the team, tough. Terry loves
 having a full squad.”

Something about the man – probably the wide shoulders and the even wider smile – reminds her of
Frank and it calms her down a bit. “Happy to be here.”

Detective Diaz comes over from the coffee maker. She shoots one glare at Detective Boyle, wo
immediately scrambles to get out of his chair. Rosa plops down next to her. “Listen. Those guys
are idiots.”

“Hey!”

“Not fair, Rosa, I know you like me!”

“Still your commanding officer.”

Rosa shoots the men in the room another glare and the complaints die down almost instantly. “But
they are the good kind of idiots. Just punch them in the chest or lightly stab them in the arm if they
do anything stupid, and you’ll be fine.”

Another wave of protests washes over them.

“Did you just tell her to stab us?”

“We don’t solve our problems with violence.”

“Are you really assuming she just carries a knife everywhere she goes?”

Annabeth looks at Peralta at the last comment. “Of course I do. Which self-respecting woman
doesn’t?”

Annabeth doesn’t know it yet, but in this exact moment, Rosa Diaz decides that the new Detective
would fit in just fine with the squad.

The rest of the team ponders if they had just gotten a second Rosa and if any of them would
survive the experience.

Chapter End Notes

I'm sorry if Annabeth comes off as standoffish and insecure in the beginning but I
know what idiots in a workplace can do to your demeanor, so I viewed it as
appropriate.
I live for comments, who on this site doesn't?
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The First Case
Chapter Notes

After recieving positive comments yesterday, I hurried up and got the next chapter
ready to upload.
Have fun :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Annabeth’s first week in the 9-9 is slow-going. She gets to familiarize herself with the precinct,
reads through open case files and takes on some paperwork.

She mostly keeps to herself; Peralta and Diaz are out most of the time working on a series of
robberies. She has learned in her previous precinct that one should stay clear of higher-ranking staff
and she isn’t really comfortable spending more time than necessary with Detectives Boyle, Scully,
and Hitchcock.

When the morning briefing on Friday rolls around, she sits alone at a desk at the very front of the
room and pays attention to what is being said.

Jake and Rosa present their string of break-ins that currently has a frustrating lack of leads. They
were able to connect the cases through DNA-samples, but otherwise can’t find a common factor.

The victims don’t know each other, don’t run in the same circles, live in different parts of the city.
None of them has seen someone stake out their place, yet the robber managed to hit the apartments
and get away with valuables he seemed to have known about in advance.

Jake watches the team as Rosa presents the case. The new detective is listening intently, but she
always is. It reminds her of Amy, but Detective Chase doesn’t take notes and usually expels a
nervous energy wherever she goes. But as Rosa goes through the pictures of the crime scenes, the
younger woman goes strangely still.

“So, if anyone has a new idea…” Rosa trails off. “Because we are completely out of leads.”

Detective Chase’s hand shoots in the air, and Jake immediately gets curious. “Anything you want
to share with us, Chase?”

She looks to him, then to Rosa, who is still glowering next to the TV-screen.

“It’s the windows”, she rushes to say.

“What? None of the apartments is on ground level, and we know that the robber entered through
the door.”

“No. Well, yes. But that’s not what I mean. They are the connection.”

Rosa looks to the picture on screen, showing the last of the broken-in apartments. “The connection
is that they all have windows?”
Detective Chase gets out of her chair and walks up to the screen. “They all have windows with
integrated solar panels from the same manufacturer.” She points at the picture, displaying a broken
vitrine, standing next to a window. There is a small sticker on the window. “This is the logo of
solar engineering.” She grabs the remote from Rosa and pulls up another picture. It shows the
office of the second break-in. “They have a prospect of solar engineering on their bookshelf. The
third apartment doesn’t have anything so obvious, but the apartment seems very environmentally
friendly, lots of plants, barely any plastic, stuff like that.” She scrolls through some pictures to
prove her point. “I bet their windows are from solar engineering as well.”

“But none of them had recent construction work going on. The windows must have been in for
years”, Jake interjects. Of course, they checked for construction workers.

Detective Chase shrugs. “Solar windows mainly use their energy to open and close on their own
according to the current weather. Solar engineering had software problems a couple of months ago.
They ran some updates, straightened out their mistakes. And they are sending staff to install the
update. Probably including your perp.”

They all stare at her for a long moment. Chase starts to fidget under their gazes but shoots Jake a
challenging look. The nervous energy surrounding her is back.

“If this pans out, I owe you a drink”, Jake declares.

Two hours later, they arrest Jim Blakely, a costumer worker for solar engineering who suddenly
came into money some days ago and can’t present any alibies for the times of the break-ins.

------------------------------------------

“Sooo, that was an impressive solve this morning.” Jake puts a beer in front of his co-worker where
she sits alone in a booth at Shaw’s.

The blonde looks up at him and grabs the bottle but doesn’t drink. “I studied architecture before
going to the academy”, she says in explanation. “The windows stood out to me, and they just
happened to be the lead you needed.”

Jake regards her, thinks back to the conference room, the way Chase had fidgeted after speaking
up. She is currently scratching the label off the bottle, her leg wildly bouncing underneath the
table.

“Still pretty impressive. Even if you needed a second look at the pictures.” He had noticed Chase
eyeing his crime board the day before.

“I didn’t.” Her eyes flick quickly through the bar, only temporarily settling on him.

“What?”

“I figured it out yesterday when I saw your board.”

“But… Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because it wasn’t my case and you didn’t ask until this morning”, Chase states as if it was the
most obvious thing in the world.

“So?”
“It’s not like we’re supposed to get involved with other cases.”

“Who on earth told you that?”

By now, their conversation had drawn the attention of the remaining squad and Terry, Rosa and
Charles shuffle into their booth.

“Literally everyone in my old precinct”, Chase answers.

They all look at her incredulously.

“They told you nobody was supposed to get involved with other cases, even if they could help?”
Charles shakes his head. “That’s crazy.”

Chase shrugs. “It might have been limited to me”, she admits.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Have you messed up one of your cases by getting involved in
another?”

Chase looks up at Terry, who sits next to her in the narrow booth, blocking her exit. Her yaw is set,
and she seems ready for a fight, even while sitting at a bar with her colleagues.

Jake is reminded of a very unsettling conversation he had with Amy a few years ago, where she
talked about being the only woman in her precinct. Their squad is largely male, and Rosa doesn’t
necessarily emit warmth and comfort.

“They got tired being shown up by a girl.” Annabeth’s voice is small, and it speaks volumes about
the kind of work environment she’d been in before transferring to the 9–9.

Her eyes are fixed on the full beer bottle in front of her, and her whole body seems to brim with
energy, almost causing her to vibrate.

Jake has the sinking feeling that Chase is prepared to fight all of them at a moment’s notice, should
the need arise.

“Detective Chase.” She looks up at the Lieutenant at the sound of his voice. “Terry doesn’t know
how things were at your former precinct. But at the 9-9, everyone gets involved in everyone’s
business. Please don’t ever hold back out of fear of bruising someone’s ego.”

“Yeah, whoever told you to hold back to protect a man’s ego is a dumdum.”

Her eyes flicker back to Jake and he realizes that, since he is her partner and hasn’t exactly been
kind to her so far, she might not believe he agrees with the sentiment.

“I can’t show that I’m the best detective in the precinct if everybody else is holding back.” He
smiles at her. “So please, bring your A-game.” He extends his hand. “Truce?”

She regards him for a moment, then shakes his hand with a firm grip. “Truce.”

Annabeth returns his smile. She is still fidgeting, but her jaw is not as set, her shoulders not as
straight. Her eyes ghost over the group. “In this case: Who is willing to be beaten at darts?”

This breaks the severe mood that had descended upon the table.

“Oh, you’re on!”, Charles exclaims.

 “Terry will crush all of you.”

Annabeth beats them all at darts by bounds and leaps. When no hard feelings arise from her
winning the first round, she happily continues hitting the inner ring with every single throw.

Chapter End Notes

Do I know a lot about solar windows? No.

Did I think they would be a fun plot device? Definetely.

Hope you enjoyed reading just as much as I enjoyed writing.

Have a great day, stay safe.

 The Chase
Chapter Notes

Yes, the chapter title is a very poor pun.

THANK YOU for all your kind comments, they make me want to want more :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

After that evening in the bar, Chase gets more approachable.

She sits with the squad at lunch, goes to Shaw’s with them after work and participates in
conversations during breaks. She doesn’t volunteer much about her private life but proves to be a
very intelligent and well-educated person, even if she proves to have a rather short attention span.

She becomes fast friends with Amy, bonding over obscure knowledge, love for organizing and
growing up in a large family.

“How many siblings do you have?”, Amy asks her one day over lunch after Annabeth finished a
story about her brother Malcom.

Annabeth goes still for a moment. “It’s complicated”, she says.

“How is that complicated?”

The Detective puts down her sandwich. “I ran away from home when I was seven”, she finally
reveals.

The other conversations in the room fall silent while Annabeth continues her tale. “My father got
married to my stepmom and they had two sons. My stepmother hates me and when I was seven, I
had enough, and I ran away from home.”

She takes a bite from her sandwich, buying herself time to think about her next words. “I met other
runaways and together we travelled to that camp-style school for… special-needs children. They
took us in, and I stayed there for many years. The other students became like family, especially
those living in my cabin. So, I refer to them as my siblings.”

“You ran away from home at age seven?”

“Yeah. I returned to live with my father at twelve but went back to camp for vacations and stuff
like that.”

Chase continues munching on her sandwich, not realizing, or not caring about everyone in the
room staring at her.

“That must have been horrible”, Charles says.

Chase just shakes her head. “Nah, it was fun. Maybe not in the beginning, but I met a bunch of
great people.”

She smiles in a way that tells Jake that there is a world of stories to be told about those people, but
she doesn’t offer them up and they don’t press for it.

---------------------------------------

“It’s just a stakeout, you don’t have to be so nervous.” Jake looks over at his new partner, who is
sitting next to him in his car. Chase is fiddling with the picture in her hands, her knees are
bouncing restlessly while her gaze constantly shifts from the windows to the mirrors and back.

“I’m not nervous”, she deflects.

Jake eyes her skeptically.

Her knees still for a moment, her hands lie on her legs unmoving. It doesn’t even take a minute for
her to pick the paper back up, her legs bouncing once again. “Not nervous”, she repeats. “I’m just
not good at sitting still for a long time. It’s the ADHD.”

Jake gapes at her. It makes sense, she is always in action, always moving, never sitting still.
Combine that with the short attention span, the hyper-focus he had witnessed a few times
already…

“Since when…” He lets the sentence trail off.

“They told me at Camp once I arrived. Almost everyone there has it and they always made sure
that we did a lot of outdoor activities to expel the excess energy.”

Jake nods slowly. Whenever Chase talks about her elusive Camp, she brightens a bit. It’s a nice
thing to see.

“Growing up in a Camp full of hyperactive ADHD-teens must have been quite an experience.”

“You have no idea.” Annabeth barks out a laugh. “We got grouped in with people who had similar
manifestations and activities were planned according to our strengths. But most days it was pretty
chaotic.”

“Which group were you in?”

“Cabin of the owl”, she answers with great fondness in her voice. “People with a penchant for
knowledge with many long stretches of hyper-focus. No matter the time, you’d always find
someone awake and reading.”

“Camp counselors didn’t enforce light-out-rules?”

“Nah, would have been too much work. As long as we stayed inside during the night, they were
happy. And cabin leaders were chosen from the existing group, so they were more likely to
participate than to shut down an all-night-reading-session.”

“So, I gather you were part of the most high-functioning group. Which one was the worst?”

“Caduceus”, Annabeth answers without hesitation. “They were a lot of work.”

“What’s a Cadce-…”

“Caduceus”, Annabeth supplies helpfully. “The staff with the snakes that is used as the logo for the
American Red Cross.”

“Interesting choice.”
Annabeth lets out a fond grumble. “Yeah, ARC messed up with that one. Should have used the staff
of Asclepius instead. Would have been so much more fitting, but probably didn’t look fancy
enough.”

Jake doesn’t quite know what to do with the information, so he returns to the previous topic. “What
was their strength?”

“They were all over the place. Kind of had a “jacks-of-all-trades”-thing going for them, but mainly
used that to pick pockets and play pranks. Only cabin with two counsellors during the time I was
there, but the Stoll-brothers didn’t do much to try and reign them in.”

Jake is just about to respond something when the woman next to him suddenly sits up straighter.

“That’s him”, she says, holding up the picture and pointing at the guy who just left the apartment
building across the street. Sure enough, the drug dealer they planned to arrest crosses the street and
passes by the car.

Jake opens the door, lifting his badge from where it dangles from the chain around his neck.
“NYPD, you are under arrest”, he states.

The perp’s eyes widen, then he turns and runs away. Jake takes off sprinting after him, he can hear
Chase closing in on him. She catches up to him just as the perp rounds a corner, running into a
narrow alley.

The alley ends with a wall, at least 8ft tall and for a moment, Jake is sure that they got him.

But their perp doesn’t slow down, jumps onto some boxes. He manages to grab onto the ledge of
the wall before the pile collapses underneath him and pulls himself up on top of the wall. The guy
jumps down the other side and gives a shout of pain as he lands.

But he successfully put a wall between himself and his pursuers.

Jake slows down, he knows that there is no way for him to clear that wall without the pile of boxes
that had just collapsed.

Chase doesn’t slow down. She races past him, jumps at the building enclosing the alley and hoists
herself onto the wall from there.

She vanishes from Jake’s sight on the other side of the wall, a moment later there is the sound of a
scuffle.

Then, he hears Chase’s voice. “Peralta, can you bring the car around? Someone broke their ankle.”
There is laughter in her voice as she says it and Jake just stares at the wall, taller than him, taller
than the detective he had just witnessed hurdling over it.

He is impressed, he has to give her that.

Jake walks back to his car, driving it to the other side of the wall where their perp sits on the curb,
Detective Chase standing over him and smiling.

Jake gestures to the wall as he exits the car. “That was impressive.”

Annabeth shrugs as she loads their perp in the back of his car. “That was nothing. I enjoyed the
exercise.” She closes the back door of the car behind their perp and gets in the front. “Plus, you
should see the lava wall at camp.”
 With that, she slams the passenger door of the vehicle and it takes Jake a moment to remind himself
that he should get in the car as well and drive them to the precinct.

Chapter End Notes

I did some research on ADHD, hopefully I didn't do too badly.

It is mentioned times and again during the series that pretty much everyone has
ADHD, but since we only see the charaters through the eyes of other people with
ADHD, many symptons probably go unntoticed?
Just so she doesn't get lost in lies, Annabeth largely tells the truth when talking about
her past, simply leaving out the supernatural stuff and focussing on the human factors.
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Murder Case
Chapter Notes

Me again!
Updates will considerably slow down starting tomorrow, since I'm going to visit my
sister.
But today, you finally get to see Percy :-)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It’s early in the evening when they get a call one Wednesday to come into the precinct.

Shots have been fired, officers found a pool of blood in an alley, but they have no witnesses, no
camera footage and no body. The ME assures them that whoever was shot was likely dead, due to
the amount of blood they found at the scene. Persistent rain had washed away all footprints, the
blood-trail vanishing where it leaves the shelter of a bus stop.

Jake had tried calling his mother to look after Mac, but she wouldn’t answer her phone. After a
short discussion, they just strap him in his seat and bring him to the precinct.

Mac is fast asleep when they enter the bullpen and Jake simply sets his car seat down in the break
room where no one would disturb his son and goes to work.

Chase comes in shortly after, complaining that her boyfriend was cooking, and she would miss
dinner.

Charles perks up at the mention of her boyfriend, always curious about the guy. Chase doesn’t
share much about her personal life and while she had mentioned the existence of said boyfriend,
her colleagues only know that they met at their elusive Camp, have been together for many years
and share an apartment.

“What is he cooking?” Charles, eager to bond over shared interests, asks.

“Spaghetti Bolognese”, Chase answers with an easy smile. “He got the recipe from a friend with
Italian ancestry.”

Charles is about to go into a monologue about food when Holt enters the bullpen, obviously
annoyed by having to give up his evening with his husband.

Their conversation is cut short, and they go to work solving a murder without a body. Only good
thing is that the DNA of the blood of the crime scene was in the database and they were able to
identify their victim.

The bullpen is empty when Jake returns from the evidence lockup almost an hour later. Everyone
is running down leads, but he doesn’t mind the peace since he got some files he has to work
through.

He puts the folder on his desk and goes over to the break room to check on Mac. The blinds are
still closed but the door is slightly ajar, and he hears someone talking inside.
The Detective pushes the door open and his blood freezes in his veins.

There is a stranger, standing in the middle of the room, holding his child, lowly talking to the
infant. Jake sizes the man up. Jeans, Hoodie, black hair, tall. His back is turned to the door and
Jake is presented with a set of broad shoulders over which his son peeks.

Mac, who normally doesn’t allow strangers to hold him, looks up at the other man, happily
gurgling in response to the soft words.

The man is slowly turning, rocking the infant in his arms.

He stills as he spots Jake in the door, protectively cradling a hand to the back of Mac’s head.

That spurns Jake into action and he pulls out his gun, pointing it at the man’s legs as to not
accidentally shoot his own son. “Give me the child”, he demands.

The stranger’s piercing green eyes widen at the threat, his face hardens. He turns his body,
shielding Mac further from view like Jake is the threat.

Thoughts race through Jake’s mind. How could a complete stranger simply walk into the precinct?
Why is he here? How did he know that Mac would be unsupervised? Was he planning on
kidnapping the baby and Jake just happened on him on accident?

“Put down the gun.” The words are hard and unyielding and in any other situation, Jake might just
have followed the visitor’s demand. But with his child’s well-being on the line, Jake resolutely
shakes his head.

“Not before you put down my son.”

The change in demeanor is instant. The stranger’s shoulders sag, he turns to face Jake fully, his
face relaxes into an open smile.

“You must be Detective Peralta”, the man exclaims. “So nice to meet you.”

He approaches Jake, completely ignoring the gun still ready to shoot out his knee. He shuffles Mac
around a bit, freeing one arm and extending it to Jake. “I’m Percy Jackson.”

They stare at each other over the extended hand and the loaded gun, until Jackson withdraws his
hand. There is a calculating gaze in his eyes as if he is trying to figure out why there is still a gun
trained on him.

“Annabeth’s boyfriend”, he says slowly. “I brought dinner, the bullpen was empty and this little
man” – he strokes Mac’s head – “had just woken up and demanded attention.”

Jake’s mind catches on the word boyfriend for a moment. His partner had mentioned him cooking
dinner and being upset that they couldn’t eat together.

Jake lowers his gun, and the last tension vanishes from Jackson’s pose. He shuffles even closer and
presents the Detective with Mac. Jake takes his son, relieved for this unspectacular ending of what
could have become a very devastating scenario.

He inhales Mac’s scent, forcing his racing heart to calm down.

Jackson, for his part, has gone into overdrive the second the infant left his arms. He bounces on his
feet, his eyes scanning over the posters on the walls, the vending machine, the microwave.
He suddenly doesn’t seem threateningly or out of place. His happy demeanor and excess energy
while still being very aware of his surroundings remind Jake of Annabeth and he figures they make
a great team.

The elevator dings and a moment later, they are joined by Chase and Rosa. The blonde smiles as
she spots her boyfriend, while Rosa just scowls.

“Seaweed brain, what are you doing here?” She goes over to him, hugging him and pressing a kiss
to his cheek.

“Brought you dinner.” He gestures towards a container, sitting on the kitchenette. “Talked down
your partner from shooting me for holding his son.” He gestures towards Jake, who earns a punch
to the shoulder from Rosa and a very pointedly raised eyebrow from Chase. “Thought about going
grocery shopping on my way home and wanted to ask if you’ll make it in time for breakfast”, he
continues as if being held at gunpoint wasn’t worth a second thought.

Rosa pulls Jake out of the room, so the young couple is left alone in the break room.

“We have a witness who saw a man drag something heavy into the construction site next to the
crime scene, ten minutes after the shots were fired. We’ll check it out in the morning”, she informs
him.

“How far are they with construction? Still pouring cement or some other way you could make a
person vanish?”

“Not really. They are laying brick walls, slating the roof, putting in flooring.”

Jake whistles through his teeth. “Sounds like a lot is going on in there.”

Annabeth appears next to them, followed by her boyfriend. “It’s a high-end neighborhood. They
want to get construction done as quickly as possible. I talked with the architectural firm, they are
sending over the plans right now, so we’ll have an idea what we’ll walk into tomorrow.”

Jake is nodding along with her approvingly while Rosa is busy sizing Jackson up. The visitor
seems as unfazed by Rosa’s scowl as he was by Jake’s gun on him earlier. He extends his hand.

“Percy Jackson.”

“Diaz.”

“So great to finally meet you guys”, Jackson reiterates. “Annabeth told me a lot about you.”

“Strange. She told us almost nothing about you.” Rosa’s voice is as flat as always.

“I’m sure she just didn’t want to brag.” Jackson slings an arm around his girlfriend, who punches
his shoulder even as she leans into him.

“Yeah, right. It was more along the lines of if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t
say anything.”

Percy sticks his tongue out at his girlfriend while she lovingly grins up at him. It’s rather cute.

The elevator dings again, revealing Amy with a stack of papers.

She joins the group and eyes their visitor with a questioning look.
“Sarge, that’s my boyfriend, Percy Jackson”, Annabeth introduces them. “Percy, that’s Sargant
Amy Santiago, she’s married to Jake, and Mac’s mother.”

They shake hands and Amy quickly strokes Mac’s head. “Nice to meet you. What brings you
here?”

“I’m dropping off dinner for Annabeth.”

“Oh, that’s nice. You must really care for her.”

There is a strange glint in his eyes as Jackson answers. “Jup. I’ve fallen hard for her.”

There is a beat of silence in which Jackson grins like he just made a joke no one but him
understood. Then, Jackson lets out a yelp as Chase punches him in the chest, hard. “I told you not
to joke about that!”, she reprimands him.

Jake turns to his wife, who still has the stack of papers in her hands. “What’ve you got there?”

Amy looks up at him, then at the papers. “Oh, right. A messenger just dropped that off. Some kind
of blueprints?” She looks around the group.

That immediately takes Annabeth’s attention away from her boyfriend, who is still making faces at
her. “Those are for me.”

Amy hands over the papers and the Detective immediately begins flipping through them.

Jackson removes his arm from around his girlfriend’s shoulder. “I know I can’t compete with
blueprints, so I’ll be off. It was nice to meet you”, he announces, smiling at Jake, Amy and Rosa.
He pats Mac’s head and presses a kiss to Annabeth’s cheek. “I love you.”

“Ditto.” It sounds more like a reflex and less like she actually heard the declaration, but their guest
just smiles and bounds off.

They watch Jackson leave via the stairs.

Jake takes a deep breath and turns to his partner. “The threatening your boyfriend with a gun
was…”

“Water under the bridge”, Chase interrupts him absentmindedly. “If he doesn’t hold it against you,
I won’t either.”

“He’s hot”, Rosa states, before Amy can ask why Jake pulled a gun on his partner’s boyfriend.

That catches Annabeth’s attention, and she barks out a laugh. “I know! I got myself the jackpot.”
She smiles wistfully and fingers the necklace she always wears.

That’s when Mac decides he’d been quiet for long enough. He goes from a quiet gurgling to an ear-
piercing scream in ten seconds flat and Jake goes outside to calm his son down while Annabeth
starts looking through blueprints.

---------------------------------------------

When they arrive at the construction site the next day, they have a prime suspect.

John Beck works as a carpenter at the construction site in question and had loaned a lot of money
to the victim recently. They just need to find the body, so they can match the bullet wound to the
gun in Beck’s possession.

The construction site is bustling with activity. Annabeth identifies the foreman with a trained eye
who allows them free movement but assures them that if there was a body, one of his guys would
already have found it.

“There are no nooks and crannies, no doors, no fresh concrete pours. Just a bunch of large, empty
rooms”, he explains.

The detectives soon have to concede to his point. They go through stacked boxes, look behind piles
of rolled-up flooring and shift through any bag large enough to hide a body.

They come up empty.

On their way up, they skipped the empty rooms, so to make absolutely sure they didn’t miss
anything, they enter every single room on their way down.

They are in the last room, a storage area close to the back entrance of the building and Jake gives
up any hope of finding the body here. The room is empty, just four walls surrounding a concrete
floor and he exits the room shortly after entering.

As he opens the back door, he realizes that he is alone.

He finds Annabeth in the empty room, slowly turning on the spot.

“Something doesn’t make sense”, she mumbles as she sees Jake come in.

“It was a good lead”, he admits. “But the body isn’t here. Sometimes, leads just don’t pan out, no
matter how convenient it might have been for us.”

Annabeth waves his comment away. “Not what I meant.” She stops spinning, facing the wall
opposite the door. “This wall is wrong.”

Jake looks at the wall. It’s made of bricks, spans the 6ft width from floor to ceiling. “It’s a wall”,
he says. “Why is it wrong?”

Annabeth shrugs, like she can’t quite put her finger on what bothers her. “It’s just so… ugly.”

“So? Maybe the let the new guy build it.”

Annabeth shakes her head. “But we’ve seen this wall from the other side. Remember? It was in the
bathroom with the green tiles.”

Jake nods. He remembers the bathroom. But since it belongs to a different apartment, he couldn’t
have said that it was the room on the other side of the wall.

“So?”, he prompts, when the other Detective doesn’t continue talking.

“It was perfectly fine from the other side. It was clean and nice, and this side is just… crooked and
messy.”

She walks over to the door and crosses the room in measured strides. She comes to a stand just
inches from the wall and stares at it for a moment. “It’s too short.”

“What?”
“I’ll be right back.” Annabeth spins and rushes from the room, leaving Jake alone in a room with
an apparently messy wall.

She returns some minutes later, a sledgehammer in one hand, the foreman on her heels.

“You can’t just tear down a wall”, the man exclaims.

Annabeth spins to face him and gestures to the wall. “Should I be wrong, I’ll repair it myself. And
believe me, I can do better than whoever did this.”

“It does look somewhat crooked”, the foreman admits.

Jake still doesn’t quite understand what is going on, but Annabeth is already swinging the hammer.
It makes contact with the wall and some of the stones give in. Chase puts the hammer down and
carefully removes the stones; breaking others free until she has produced a hole the size of her
head.

As she steps back, Jake expects to see the green tiles of the room on the other side. But instead, he
sees the red bricks of another wall, barely two feet from the first.

Annabeth grabs her flashlight, switches it on and peeks in the interspace between walls. “Found
him”, she proclaims.

She backs away from the wall and allows Jake a glimpse. Sure enough, crumpled between walls,
still in the clothes he was last seen in, is their murder victim.

The carpenter confesses when presented with the fact that they found the body. After shooting the
victim, he had dragged him inside the construction site and masoned him in.

Captain Holt praises Chase for finding the body and they celebrate by going out for drinks at
Shaw’s.

Jackson shows up at some point in the night, dropping down in a seat between Jake and Terry after
pressing a kiss to his girlfriend’s head.

He introduces himself to Terry and Boyle and asks after Mac.

“He’s with my brother”, Amy says. “He and his girlfriend wanted to try out being parents for one
evening. They are thinking about trying themselves.”

“What about you?”, Charles immediately asks, gesturing to the young couple. “Any plans of your
own?”

“I’ve got enough kids to look after right now, no need to add my own to that just yet.”

As he sees the confused stares, Jackson elaborates. “I run a youth center of sorts. It’s a lot of work
but totally worth it.”

“He works with children from certain social environments who benefit from his program”,
Annabeth supplies. “The kids love him.”

“I bet. He even got Mac to calm down.”

 “That is impressive”, Terry acknowledges.

The whole squad had witnessed Mac’s tantrums and calming him down was never easy.

“So… how long have you been together?”, Charles asks.

“We became a couple at sixteen”, Jackson tells them. “Started living together during college.”

“Oh, what’d you graduate in?”, Amy immediately wants to know.

Percy blushes a bit as Annabeth replies. “While I was very busy studying architecture, my dear
boyfriend did anything but taking classes.”

“That’s not true! I took one class each semester for our entire stay”, Jackson tries to defend
himself.

“Yes, important classes like Introduction To Marine Biology – by the way, I still don’t understand
how you managed to fail that, Anatomy 101 – where I still don’t understand how you passed it, and
Aerodynamics and Engineering - which you only took so you could spend more time with Jason.”

“I always felt my future laid outside the scholarly world?”, Jackson tries to deflect.

“Are you saying you went to college for five years and didn’t even get a degree? How on earth did
you afford that?”, Amy wonders.

“Scholarship?” It sounds more like a question than an answer, but Annabeth is quick to come to her
boyfriend’s rescue.

“We… had a few outstanding favors with the university management and they were kind enough to
wave all fees”, she explains.

The conversation goes from college and admission fees to other topics and after a while, Chase and
Jackson leave, heading for the cinema to catch a movie.

The group watches as they leave.

“They are cute together”, Amy says when the door closed behind them. “I somehow assumed
Annabeth would have a completely kickass boyfriend though, not a social worker who spends his
life trailing after her.”

There are mumbled agreements around the table, but helped along with copious amounts of beer,
the topic soon shifts to something else.

Chapter End Notes

I kind of have this headcanon that Mac is going to be one of these work babies that just
chills at their parent's job a lot since childcare is exhausting to get on short notice.
I know very little about Universities in the US, just that they are absurdly expensive.
Where I come from, you can take pretty much any class you want at the University
you are enrolled in, even if it doesn't contribute to your degree. That's pretty much
what Percy did, because I really don't see him focussing on anything for long enough
to get a college degree.
Hope you enjoyed reading.
Have a great day, stay safe.
 Cookies and Fights
Chapter Notes

I finished packing early and had time to finish and edit another chapter :)
I'll be off to catch my train soon, but I thought I'd quickly upload this.
As always, if you find any mistakes, I'd like to know so I can correct them.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

After that first evening during the murder case, Jackson randomly shows up at the precinct at least
twice a week.

Most of the time, he presents some kind of reason, be it as flimsy as “I didn’t know if you’d prefer
pasta or rice for dinner” or “I talked to Hazel, she sends her regards”.

One midmorning, he simply comes in, says “I had a stupid morning and just wanted to see your
face”, and plops down in his girlfriend’s visitor’s chair.

“What happened?”

Percy grumbles, but doesn’t answer right away. Annabeth puts her pen down and waits him out.

“Estelle is cranky because she screwed up a test at school, so I tried baking cookies to cheer her up
and I burned them.”

“You could just buy cookies”, Jake suggests.

“No, because normal cookies are boring, and my sister deserves better than boring cookies.”

Annabeth shakes his head as she addresses Jake. “Just let him sulk for a bit.” She turns to Percy. “I
have paperwork to do. You are welcome to stay, but I can’t entertain you.”

“I know. It’s fine.”

Annabeth grabs his hand and continues her work one-handed while her boyfriend plays with her
fingers.

Jackson’s mood actually improves during the next twenty minutes he’s just sitting there.

At the end, he gets up, kisses his girlfriend on the cheek. “I really needed that, thanks Wise Girl.”

She grins up at him. “Every time, Seaweed Brain.”

Jake stares after Jackson as he bounds down the stairs. “What was that?”

His partner follows his gaze to the stairs. “He sometimes needs a calm place to decompress when
he is stressed.”

Jake gestures around the precinct, bustling with activity. “This is a good place to decompress?”

Annabeth runs both her hands over her face and leans back in her chair. „No, it’s not the precinct.
We… We’ve been through some nasty stuff together. And sometimes, when one of us starts
spiraling, it helps seeing the other’s face.”

“Why?”

“Knowing that I’m safe takes his biggest worry off his plate and he can concentrate on what is
really bothering him.” Her voice has a grave undertone and Jake doesn’t quite know how to
respond to that.

“The burnt cookies for his sister?”

Annabeth shrugs. “That was just the tipping point. He’ll deal with whatever problems he has and if
he needs help, he’ll ask me.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“Less then it used to.” Annabeth’s voice is heavy with what Jake guesses are years upon years of
little breakdowns like this.

He has a dozen other questions on the tip of his tongue, but he swallows them down and returns to
his paperwork instead.

When Jake and Annabeth return to the bullpen in the afternoon after investigating a break-in, there
is a box filled with blue cookies on Annabeth’s desk.

She smiles as she lifts the lid and is rewarded with the smell of freshly baked goods. “Was Percy
here?”, she asks Terry, who looked up from his work upon their arrival.

“Yes, about an hour ago. Dropped off the box and was gone in less than two minutes.”

Annabeth carefully takes one of the cookies. “The problem with blue food”, she muses, “is that you
never know what kind of cookie you get or how it is supposed to taste.” She takes a bite and hums
happily. “Hmm - Citrus.”

She offers Jake the box who takes a cookie for himself. “Why blue?”, he questions.

“It’s Percy’s comfort food.”

“Blue citrus cookies?”

Annabeth shakes her head. “Blue food in general. He… simply likes blue food. Especially baked
goods. He once tried to make blue pasta. And he refused to let me help. It was a disaster.” She
smiles at the memory.

Jake has a mental image of Percy Jackson in an apron in a kitchen full of pasta making utensils and
blue dough with Annabeth sitting at the counter laughing at her boyfriend’s attempts to cook
dinner.

--------------------------------------------------------

“There are reports of a man wielding a knife in the park, unsettling civilians”, Captain Holt
announces shortly after lunch on a warm Friday. “Peralta, Chase, go and check it out. Apparently,
he hasn’t hurt anyone yet, but we don’t want the situation to escalate.”
The two Detectives get up and leave the precinct. When they arrive at the park, the man in question
is nowhere to be seen.

“We should split up, so we can cover more ground”, Jake suggests.

Annabeth nods in agreement and takes off in a jog. Jake starts in a different direction, circling the
pond in the middle of the park.

He spots the man with the knife after a while. He is brandishing his knife, shouting at pedestrians.
He is on the other side of the pond, giving Jake a clear look at him. As the guy turns his head, Jake
lets out a little gasp. He knows that knife-wielding maniac!

He takes off in a run to get to the commotion, but his partner is there before him.

Jake watches as Annabeth approaches the man. He wants to caution her, tell her not to rile up the
other man or engage in a physical fight with him, but they are too far away to hear him.

Annabeth says something, catching Adrian Pimento’s attention. Adrian doesn’t seem willing to put
down his weapon and in the change of stance, Jake can see that Annabeth is preparing to take him
down.

Jake tries to run faster.

He has seen Pimento fight, he is ruthless. Annabeth doesn’t stand a chance and Jake doesn’t want
to see his partner harmed by the hand of a friend.

Annabeth steps closer to Pimento, who lashes out with the knife. The Detective ducks under the
stroke, getting her closer to her opponent. He stabs at her and Annabeth spins past him with a quick
move, pulling a second knife from the sheath on Adrian’s thigh.

She drops in a slight crouch facing Adrian. There is a gleam in her eyes Jake had only seen a few
times so far. Impossible as it should be, she is enjoying this.

Pimento lets out a crazed laugh as he regards his opponent with watchful eyes.

Jake is finally close enough to intervene. He isn’t so stupid as to step in front of Pimento with a
knife though, so he halts a couple of paces away.

“Pimento, Chase, you can stop it, it’s fine”, he pants.

Pimento’s eyes flicker over to him, a happy gleam in them, and grins in acknowledgement of his
friend.

Chase doesn’t even flinch. She seems to be brimming with energy, never taking her eyes off her
opponent.

“Pimento, that’s Detective Annabeth Chase, she’s my new partner. Chase, Adrian Pimento was
with the NYPD until he left the force some years ago. There is no need to fight.”

“Maybe there is no need, but I’m certainly curious”, Pimento says. He gestures to his knife in
Chase’s hand. “It’s been a while since someone was able to get the drop on me. I’m eager to see
what else she can do.”

“Oh, this?” Annabeth spins the blade in her hand. “Like taking candy from a baby. I can easily take
you”, she challenges.
Despite her big words, Chase doesn’t loosen her stand one bit and Jake gets anxious. He really
doesn’t need to see how this ends.

“Bring it!”, Adrian dares her.

Jake doubts he has ever seen someone move so quickly.

Annabeth jumps forwards, rolls under Adrian’s strike, jumps to her feet just inches behind him.
She grabs the hand holding the other knife and twists it in a sharp movement, causing Adrian to
drop his weapon. It falls to the ground hilt-first, where Annabeth kicks it up and catches it with her
left hand.

Before Adrian hat time to do anything more than turn to face his opponent again, Annabeth has
already stepped back, bringing a safe distance between them once again.

Both men stare at the two knives with disbelief.

“You still think you can take me?” Annabeth’s voice is challenging and happy. Her eyes sparkle
with mirth.

Adrian cracks his fingers, nodding and indicating for another round.

The two opponents move in a slow circle around each other, intently watching the other for a gap
in their defense.

Annabeth changes direction, her feet moving in half-circles over the ground, pushing sticks out of
her way. When her left foot catches on a stone, Pimento takes his chance and jumps at his
opponent.

It seems to be exactly what Chase was planning for, though, for she sidesteps him and brings her
right hand up in one swift movement, nicking Adrian’s cheek and drawing some droplets of blood.

Adrian looks at her in astonishment and touches his cheek to wipe the blood away.

The maneuver has been dangerous, all three of them know that. Had she slipped just a little, Chase
could easily have taken out the man’s eye, yet the shallow cut proves her control over the blade in
a terrifying manner.

Adrian prepares for another round, dropping back into a defensive stance and gesturing for his
adversary to come at him.

She does, but her strike goes wild, missing it’s mark by a foot as Adrian ducks away. He grabs the
hand with the offending weapon, twisting it so Annabeth has to step in closer to him.

Jake expects the older man to take the knife, to disarm his opponent, but instead he lets go of the
wrist and raises both hands in surrender. Jake spots the blade in Chase’s left hand, not even an inch
from Pimento’s throat.

The two fighters split again, dropping back in their stances.

There are matching grins on their faces, one part challenge, one part crazy and one part pure
delight. Pimento’s forehead glistens with sweat, his hair, while as messy as always, is weighted
down by the moisture. Chase is panting lightly as she sticks some strands of hair that have escaped
from her braid behind her ear.
Jake leans against a tall tree as he waits for the next round to start.

A loose circle of people has formed by now, curiously watching the fight now that Pimento doesn’t
present a threat to the passersby anymore.

Instead of going in for another attack, Annabeth hurls the knives in Jake’s direction. He has half a
mind to dodge, but the blades just harmlessly plunge into the tree trunk with a thwack.

“Levelling the playing field”, she says in explanation and just barely evades the punch Adrian has
thrown in her moment of distraction.

She drops down, swipes at Pimento’s legs with her foot, but he jumps back and keeps his footing.

Annabeth goes in hard with a series of punches and kicks until she gets a kick through his defenses
and her foot slams into the former Detective’s chest. He stumbles backwards.

Being cautioned by the previous events, Pimento takes on a more defensive fighting style and
manages to block some more kicks and punches.

Then he makes the mistake of trying for an attack. Annabeth catches the advancing fist, turns her
body into the arm, bends her back and pulls.

Pimento is thrown over her shoulder and lands hard in the gras. It drives the air out of his lungs,
and he stares up at Annabeth in wonder.

Jake stares at Annabeth, too.

Winning against an unarmed opponent while armed with knives was one thing, but this… He’s
never has seen anyone fight like this.

He is absolutely in awe and half expects her to mock the man on the ground before her.

But his partner just stands there, waits for Pimento to get to his feet again, even offers a hand to
help him up.

When Adrian drops into a defensive stance, a feral grin takes over the young Detective’s face as
she mirrors his stance.

Pimento goes in for another attack.

Both fighters are sweaty and panting heavily when they finally call an end to the matches.

Annabeth pulls the knives out of the tree and offers them to Pimento who stows them away.

“Annabeth Chase”, she introduces herself and offers Adrian her hand to shake.

He laughs as he takes it. “Adrian Pimento. You’re one hell of a fighter.”

“Likewise.”

Jake didn’t expect them to get along after the combats he had just witnessed, but the two fall into
idle chatter as they walk back to the precinct, talking about fighting styles and how to properly
maintain a sharp knife.
 “Where did you learn how to fight like that?”, Jake asks her after they have dropped Arian off with
Captain Holt to explain why he was wielding a knife in the park in the first place.

She gives them a sly grin. “Told you we had a lot of exercises to burn off excess energy at camp.”

Chapter End Notes

Do I need a reason to put Pimento in a park, wielding knives and scaring passersby? I
don't think so...
I fell like Annabeth and (especially) Percy are mostly functioning people but probably
have breakdowns once in a while when stuff starts to pile up? And someone suggested
Percy dropping off blue cookies in the comments and I thought it might be fun to do in
this chapter.
Have a great day, an even better weekend and stay safe :)
 Monster Hunters
Chapter Notes

My niece is keeping me awake (it's past midnight) and since I can't sleep anyways, I
thought I'd get some work in...
Have fun reading :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Jake and Charles have just closed a case and are returning to the precinct when they meet Lucy.

Lucy is a girl of eight, maybe nine years, with curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. She has a
cut on her left cheek and a nasty bump forming on her forehead.

She stands in front of the 99th precinct, eying the building with trepidation, her hands restlessly
running up and down her arms, through her hair and over the pole she’s leaning against.

Charles stops Jake, pointing the girl out. “She seems nervous”, he observes.

“And hurt”, Jake adds.

A young girl, without adult supervision, injured in front of a police precinct? The image doesn’t sit
well with him.

The girl is roughly Nikolaj’s age (“it’s pronounced Nikolaj, Jake, how hard can it be?”), so Jake
lets Boyle take the lead in approaching her.

Charles strolls over and sinks into a crouch a few feet from the kid, stabilizing himself by placing a
hand on the pole.

The girl eyes him wearily, scratching one foot over the floor. Her gaze quickly shoots from Charles
to Jake, who hangs back but is obviously waiting for the other man.

She focusses back on Charles as he addresses her.

“Can we help you?”

Jake has the urge to take the girl into the precinct, to take care of her injuries, but kidnapping her
from the streets would not help them in winning her trust or calming her nerves. So, he lets Charles
take the sensitive route of talking to her.

“Are you cops?”

Jake tentatively comes closer, since she’s including him in the conversation anyways. He smiles at
the girl, but she just stares back, waiting for an answer.

“We are.” Charles taps his badge and points to the precinct. “We work in there. You wanna come
in and take a look around?”

The girl nods and walks past Charles towards the front door of the precinct, ignoring his proffered
hand. While in the elevator, she tells them her name – Lucy Martins – and that she will turn nine in
December.

She skirts the question about her mother’s whereabouts, and they reach their floor before they can
press the issue.

Jake offers Lucy his visitor’s chair and hands her some papers and pens to doodle while Charles
gets the first aid kit.

The kid ignores his pens, instead pulling a pencil case out of her backpack. She opens it, revealing
neat rows of crayons and a class schedule of a nearby elementary school.

Jake quickly scans the precinct, his eyes flying over boards and paperwork, but nothing displays
anything a nine-year-old shouldn’t be allowed to see.

Annabeth looks up from her work on the other side of their desks. She raises a questioning
eyebrow and makes a jerking motion with her head towards the injured child. Jake just shrugs in
response.

After all, he doesn’t know what happened to her, either.

His partner returns to her work, but her focus is broken, and she keeps shooting assessing glances at
the girl.

Charles returns with a bag of frozen peas which he hands off to Lucy. She takes them without
complaint and presses them to the lump on her forehead.

The Detective proceeds by taking out a disinfectant spray and knees in front of her chair.

“That might burn a little”, he warns before carefully cleaning the cut on her cheek.

Lucy gives a little hiss at the contact, but stays mostly calm, bravely holding Boyle’s gaze where
he hovers in front of her.

“Do you want to tell us what happened to you?” Charles asks the question while putting the spray
back in the kit.

Lucy looks down at her feet, dangling a few inches from the floor, swinging widely back and forth,
and shakes her head.

She suddenly seems shy, gone is the eerie confidence with which she had just stared down a man
more than three times her age.

“Did you fall?”, Charles asks, still from his position on the floor in front of the girl.

She shakes her head. Her feet stop in their swinging, her hands come to rest on her knees.

“Did someone do that to you?”

She looks down at Charles, up at Jake, then back to Charles. Then she nods.

“Was it another child, maybe during playtime?”, Charles presses carefully, hopefully. Both men
dread the alternative.

She shakes her head.

“Was it a grown-up?”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders non-committedly. She’s withdrawing into herself, not quite meeting
their gazes anymore.

She seems… not quite scared, but unsure. Like she’s had this conversation before, and people
didn’t believe her.

He scans the skin peeking out of her collar at her throat, the bare arms sticking out of her shirt.
They are pale and scrawny but free of scars or bruises. She doesn’t seem to have any old, healing
injuries, just the fresh ones.

That a least indicates that this is probably not a case of domestic abuse or a repeat transgression by
someone in her life.

Jake feels rage bubbling up in him. Which adult in their right mind would harm a child?

Charles has more success pressing past his anger, it seems. “Did you know them?”

The girl firmly shakes her head.

It surprises the two Detectives in charge of the girl.

“So, a stranger attacked you in the streets?” It seems unlikely, but Lucy nods.

“Did they try to convince you to come with them or get into their car? Did they take something
from you?”

“I know I mustn’t go with strangers.” Her voice is firm, and she meets Charles’ gaze again. “He
didn’t want to grab me. He wanted to hurt me.” She says it with such conviction that Jake is
inclined to believe her.

He exchanges a glance with Charles. A strange man, attacking a young, lone girl in the streets of
New York? That story could have ended much worse than with a scratched cheek and a lump on
the forehead.

“What happened?”

“I ran away and somehow lost him.” Her legs slowly start swinging again and the return to her
previous behavior is reassuring.

“Can you describe him?”

She averts her eyes, shakes her head. She’s distractedly playing with the crayons in her pencil case.

“Maybe you could draw a picture”, Jake suggests and pushes the papers closer to her.

Lucy grabs a paper, chooses a light brown crayon, and gets to work.

Charles exchanges a glance with Jake. After all those years, they are able to hold entire
conversations without saying a word.

This one boils down to “We have to make sure she’s safe”.

Charles goes over to his own desk to try and reach the child’s parents, while Jake turns to some
paperwork to allow the girl some peace while drawing.
He meets Annabeth’s gaze over their desks. She shoots a concerned look at the girl, then taps
something into her keyboard. A moment later, his inbox pops up with a new message.

From: Annabeth Chase

What happened? Where did you find her? Who is she?
Sincerely,
Annabeth Chase
Detective
99th Precinct; NYPD

To: Annabeth Chase

She was standing outside the precinct.
Lucy Martins, 8 years old.
You heard the rest.

Annabeth nods. Of course, she listened in on the conversation.

From: Annabeth Chase

Do you want me to run background on her? Find the parents?
Sincerely,
Annabeth Chase
Detective
99th Precinct; NYPD

To: Annabeth Chase

Boyle’s already on it.
You know that you don’t have to sign every mail?

From: Annabeth Chase

I programmed my E-mails to add the signature on their own.
Sincerely,
Annabeth Chase
Detective
99th Precinct; NYPD

Jake fondly shakes his head. It’s such an Amy thing to do.

He’s glad he got partnered with Chase. She’s good at her job, she thinks outside the box, she’s
quick on her feet and good company. They obviously would never have the same work relationship
he had with Amy when she was still his partner – being married to each other did that to you – but
he feels that this might be the next best thing.

He glances over at Lucy’s drawing and his spirit sinks. What had been a rather normal picture of a
tall man in the beginning had been turned into a weird, caricaturized sketch of a monster.

The man has bat-like wings sprouting from his back, arms and legs seem deformed beneath ragged
clothing, fangs and bulging eyes are sprouting from a furry face with a scrunched-up nose.

It looks more like a picture you would find in a children’s book than someone you would meet on
the streets.

He opens a new message.

To: Charles Boyle

Any luck reaching the parents?
Her picture is a bust.

From: Charles Boyle

Found her and her Dad in the database, they only live a few blocks from here. No mention of her
mother in our systems, though.
The precinct seems to be just a block off her route to school.

Charles comes over a moment later. He glances at the picture and quickly disregards it, turning to
Lucy instead.

“I tried calling your dad, but he didn’t answer his phone. Do you know how I can reach him?”

“Daddy works late today. I was supposed to walk home from school and stay inside until he
returns.”

“And your mother?”

“I don’t know her. Dad is all the family I have.” She lets her head hang.

“Anyone else who could pick you up and look after you ‘til your dad gets home?”

It’s just after lunch and they couldn’t just let the girl walk home on their own, could they?

She shakes her head and Charles and Jake simultaneously deflate. They probably could allow her
to stay in the precinct for a few hours.

They have another short conversation entirely made up of glances, before Jake makes the offer.

“Do you want to stay here until your dad can pick you up?”

She shakes her head. “That thing is still out there.”

Jake can see Annabeth making a grabbing motion form her place at her desk and hands her Lucy’s
drawing while answering the girl. “You don’t have to worry. It can’t hurt you here.”

“But that’s not what you’re worried about, is it?”

All three of them look over at Annabeth, who had just spoken up. She is still looking at the
drawing.

Lucy shakes her head.

“You’re afraid he might hurt someone else, since he’s still out there, right?”

Lucy nods. She almost seems eager, now that Annabeth has joined their conversation. “But I don’t
know how to stop him alone.”

Annabeth pushes away from her desk and rolls her chair around, so she sits in front of their young
guest. “You don’t have to”, she says in a reassuring tone.

“I don’t?”

“No, of course not.” She holds up the picture with the deformed figure. “This is obviously not a
person. This is a monster.” Lucy nods her head in agreement. “And it’s the police’s job to hunt
down bad humans, but do you know who hunts down monsters?”
Lucy shakes her head.

Annabeth casts a quick glance towards Jake and Charles, then shuffles closer to the girl. “Monster
hunters”, she says in a low and secretive voice.

Lucy’s eyes grow big. “Really?”

“Really.”

Jake suppresses a grin. Stories of monster hunters would have gotten him in a better mood, had he
ever been in a situation like this at that age. Still do, to be honest. His mind flashes to super heroes
and ninja turtles.

“Are you a monster hunter?” Lucy obviously means to whisper into Annabeth’s ear, but it is loud
enough for Jake and Charles to easily understand the question.

Annabeth nods. Her voice is still low, as if speaking of a great secret. “Yes, but you cannot tell
anyone. It must remain a secret.” She gasps, as if she just had an idea. “Want to see something
cool?”

Lucy nods eagerly. She flourishes under the female Detective’s attention, carefully grinning up at
her and showing trust in a way that was missing when Jake and Charles talked to her.

Annabeth grabs the knife she has strapped to her back at all times. Jake knows it is there, had seen
it a couple of times when her jacket rode up her back. It is an elegant looking thing, with a long
bronze-colored blade, the grip wrapped in leather.

He has never seen his partner use the blade, though. She never even pulled it out of its sheath in the
months they worked together.

Chase presents the knife to the girl. “This is not a toy”, the woman warns. “This is a special
weapon that can harm monsters. Do you want to hold it? You have to be careful, for it is very
sharp.” Her voice is heavy with importance.

Jake thinks about objecting to giving a girl a knife and so does Charles next to him. But the
females are both so calm, so certain in what they are doing that the men just let the scene play out.

Lucy’s face takes on a grave expression as she takes the weapon and carefully shifts it in her hands.
She slowly runs a finger along the blade and hisses as it draws a single drop of blood.

“I told you it was sharp”, Annabeth gently chastises the girl as she takes the blade back. Her eyes
hold something Jake can’t quite place, like Lucy handling her blade had some kind of deeper
meaning. “You know what that means?” She points to the red spot on Lucy’s forefinger.

The girl shakes her head.

“That means that you have what it takes to be a monster hunter. This blade wouldn’t just cut
anybody. It only acknowledges those worthy of the hunt.”

Lucy’s eyes grow big. “Does that mean I get to meet other monster hunters?”

“It does!” Annabeth shoots another quick glance to Jake and Charles, who watch the scene unfold
with growing smiles on their faces. She conspicuously leans in even closer to the child. “But I
currently have to work, and I can’t let them know I’m a monster hunter by leaving with you now.”
She puts on a show of pondering her conundrum before excitedly clapping her hands together. “I
know! A friend of mine runs a training center for monster hunters. I could call him, he’ll pick you
up, start your training as a real monster hunter and he’ll even bring you home in time for you to
have dinner with your dad. How does that sound?”

That sounds like Annabeth is trying to pass the girl off to some stranger just hours after her being
attacked. Jake is about to object, but Annabeth seems to notice his change of mood. She looks over
at him, quirks her eyebrow in a way that says “do you really think I’m going to do something
stupid?” and gives him a reassuring smile.

She holds his gaze until Jake deflates a bit and nods at her.

“That sounds great.” Lucy is already giddy with excitement.

“Amazing. I’ll call him right away.” Annabeth starts rolling her chair back towards her desk but
returns before she’s come far. She leans in closely to Lucy and points at Jake and Charles, the two
Detectives still watching the events unfold. “Don’t tell them about the monster hunt – remember, it
has to remain a secret!”

Lucy nods eagerly and Annabeth finally takes off for her desk where she grabs her phone.

She dials a number and presses the device to her ear. Jake watches curiously as Annabeth waits for
whoever she’s calling to pick up.

He can faintly hear someone talking on the other end of the line and Annabeth brightens in a way
Jake has almost gotten used to. It’s an expression she only has when one particular person is
around.

“Hey, Percy”, she greets, shooting Jake a superior grin. “I have a young girl here who wants to join
your monster hunts.” With that, she wanders off to the break room to finish her conversation in
relative private.

Jake has never given much thought to the community center Annabeth’s boyfriend runs. As he
watches Percy jog up the stairs in leather armor, he thinks that maybe he should have looked into it
earlier.

At the very least, the entrance impresses Lucy, who beams and turns to Annabeth upon seeing the
newcomer. “Is that him?”

The detective looks up from her paperwork to watch her boyfriend walk across the bullpen. “Jup.”

Percy strides over to Annabeth, presses a kiss to her hair and lets his eyes roam around the room
before settling on Lucy.

He smiles at the girl, his expression soft and calm, his whole demeanor soothing and unthreatening
despite the armor he’s wearing.

He still exudes energy, slightly bouncing on his feet, but his left hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder
seems to center him.

He extends his right hand to the girl. “I’m Percy Jackson”, the man introduces himself.

Lucy gets up from her chair to shake his hand. “Lucy Martins.”
“Great to meet you. I heard you need help with some monster hunting?”

Lucy’s finger flies to his lips, shushing Jackson and jerking her head towards Jake. “You can’t tell
him”, she whispers, still way too loudly for Jake not to hear. “He’s not a monster hunter like us.”

Percy lowers his voice considerably. “What kind of monster are we hunting, anyways?”

Annabeth hands him the picture the girl had drawn and studies it for a moment. The couple
exchanges a glance before Percy puffs out his chest and addresses Lucy once again. “It’s good that
you got help.” He points at the picture. “This is a Keres”, he claims. “Otherwise known as
Deamons. I’ve been hunting this guy for almost a week, but he keeps getting away.” Lucy stares up
at the man in wonder as he continues spinning his tale.

“He probably attacked you because he thought you’d be an easy target and he needed the energy
he’d gain from beating you. He didn’t expect you to be this strong. Will you help me find him?”

Lucy nods eagerly and bounds over to Jake’s desk to pack her crayons.

Chase and Jackson whisper to each other and Jake focusses on the girl in front of him.

“Thank you”, she says. “For helping with my wounds and bringing me in here.”

She doesn’t give Jake time to answer, just takes off to join Jackson, who takes her hand. “Let’s go
slay a monster. We have a lot to talk about on the way.”

Jake watches their backs - one towering and wide, the other small and slim - as they walk down the
stairs and vanish from sight.

He notices Annabeth watching the two retreating forms as well. “What exactly does he do in this
community center of his?”

His partner’s gaze snaps from the stairs to him as she answers. “I told you of the Camp I grew up
in?” Jake nods in confirmation. “Well, most kids don’t stay there all year. But it is fun, and most
people miss having peers to relate to and to do certain activities with during the school year. So,
Percy founded the center as an outpost of a sort.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

Annabeth nods. “Yeah, it really took off quickly. Everyone enjoyed having a save space to come to
in the city, where they knew someone. Few people come to Camp after reaching adulthood, but at
Percy’s center, he offers activities for everyone.”

“And you think Lucy will fit in with them?”

“Oh, I know it”, Annabeth says with absolute certainty. “She’ll love it. By this time next week,
she’ll have all the family she ever wished for.”

-----------------------------------------------

Annabeth tells him the next morning that Lucy had hit it off with Percy and the rest of the kids at
the community center, that she “slayed her first monster” - whatever that means – and that she
would join them at Camp over the holidays next summer.

“So, she was already assigned a cabin?”, Jake asks, remembering another conversation about the
Camp, featuring grouping the kids by personality. “How do you do that anyways? Sorting hat?”
 “Don’t be ridiculous”, Annabeth shoots back. “They are claimed by a higher power.”

Jake stares at her. He thought he’d gotten quite good at calling her bluffs, her jittery nature often
being squashed when she is telling a lie.

A grin breaks through his partner’s solemn expression. “She’s with the cabin of the sickle.”

“The silver currency from Harry Potter?”

Annabeth laughs. “No, the classical agricultural tool with a curved blade. But I like the way you’re
thinking.”

And somehow, as the conversation shifts from Lucy Martins to Harry Potter, Jake stops
questioning what kind of youth center Percy Jackson is running.

Chapter End Notes

Let's be honest, none of us would really think twice about someone telling stories like
that to a kid in need of someone to look up to, would we?
Maybe leave a comment, they give me serious mood-highs
I'm just a little bit sleep-deprived, so I hope I didn't leave too many mistakes in.
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Kidnapping Case
Chapter Notes

I fell asleep on the train home and almost missed my stop, then I got home, slept for
elen hours straight and started checking things off my to-do-list.
I love my sister and my niece, but staying with them is not a relaxing holiday...
Have fun reading

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The call about the kidnapping of a banker comes in the beginning of October, destroying every
hope of an early day off.

Amy coordinates a search for Julian Esposito and any witnesses, Chase and Diaz talk to his wife
and Jake drives to Mac’s daycare to pick up the toddler.

Having Mac in the precinct has become somewhat usual. When they work late, Jake or Amy just
picks their son up from daycare and sets him down in the break room. A few weeks back, Boyle
had dropped off a small crib that can be folded up and put into easy storage when it isn’t used.

Mac doesn’t mind much. At half a year of age, he doesn’t need much movement and having
someone around at all times keeps him happy and calm.

The ransom call for Julian Esposito comes while Amy feeds Mac some mush for dinner. He starts
crying because of the sudden flutter of activity but calms down soon enough when offered a slice
of apple.

Esposito’s wife is able to keep the kidnapper on the phone for long enough that the call can be
traced back to a landline close to the harbor. It’s the flat of one Ken Smith, a weaselly looking man
who had recently been fired by the missing banker.

Half an hour later, Rosa and Charles bring in the man who was waiting for them in his flat where
he didn’t even try to resist arrest or deny having kidnapped a man.

But he doesn’t talk much, so they still don’t know where Esposito is.

They throw Smith into the interrogation box and question him.

He is infuriatingly calm. He doesn’t deny having kidnapped Esposito but isn’t willing to give up
his whereabouts, either.

Chase and Terry work on buildings the kidnapper might have access to. They find an abandoned
warehouse where his brother used to work, but it’s empty when uniforms get there.

Amy has her people go through footage of traffic cameras, but while they find footage of Smith
pressing a rag (probably doused in chloroform) to Esposito’s face, they don’t find trace of where
they went after.

Boyle goes back to talk to the family, to calm them down and reassure them that everything will be
done to safe the father of two.
Jake and Rosa interrogate Smith. They go at him hard, telling him of a long and gruesome stay in
prison, about the reduced sentence he will receive if he just tells them where to find the hostage.

It doesn’t lead anywhere.

Smith just sits there, periodically checking his watch and looking very bored otherwise.

“You really should let me go”, he says around ten in the evening.

It’s the first thing he has said in hours.

“Why? We have video footage of you kidnapping a man”, Rosa informs him.

“But if you do that, poor Julian will die.”

That of course catches their immediate and undivided attention. “What did you do to him?”

An evil smile stretches over his face. “I put him in a room with a bomb that will go off at midnight
if I don’t reset the countdown.”

Jake curses internally. Two hours may not be enough time to find their victim. They have been
going at him for hours already. Going against the clock in matters of dehydration was one thing,
their hostage is in good physical health and would easily be able to survive two days without food
or water.

He will not survive the bomb, should it exist.

Jake leaves Rosa to lean on the kidnapper while he briefs the rest of the team about the new time
frame.

He finds the bullpen mostly empty. Terry is with Captain Holt and they both react as badly as
expected to the news. They assure Jake that they’ll tell the others, so Jake returns to the
interrogation after making sure his son is still asleep.

Before he reenters the interrogation room, Jake hears Terry telling Chase over the phone to hit
Smith’s apartment and look for signs that he built a bomb. He hopes his partner will come up
empty and that this is just a bluff. But Smith is way to calm for that to be true.

They don’t make process.

After a while, Terry comes in to take over for Rosa. While Smith appears intimidated by the
muscular man, it doesn’t make him talk.

They try every angle; Jake even brings in his guitar to try and annoy their perp into talking.

When he returns it to it’s place in the break room, he finds Chase, who tells him in no uncertain
terms that there is ample evidence of Smith working with C4 and probably building a bomb in the
apartment.

Things aren’t going well.

It’s past eleven and they are seriously considering letting Smith walk when Boyle comes in to take
over for Jake.

He wants to resist, wants to argue that he can break the guy. But if he didn’t succeed in the last
hours, why would he now?

The bullpen is deserted, the doors and the blinds to Holt’s office are shut but he hears voices
inside.

Jake decides to check up on his son first.

But instead of sleeping in his crib, his son is lying on top of Percy Jackson, who had fallen asleep
on the couch.

Jake didn’t even know that Chase’s boyfriend had come in. He looks around and finds a container
with blue pastries on the counter. Jake really couldn’t say he’s surprised.

Upon Jakes entry, the other man cracks open an eye, his arm tightening around the infant in a
protective gesture. Jackson sits up when he spots the Detective in the doorway, careful not to rouse
the toddler pressed to his chest.

“He was fussing when I came in”, he defends his position. He still appears half asleep, slowly
blinking up at Jake. “I changed his diaper, but he didn’t want to go back in the crib and Annabeth is
in a meeting with Holt, so…”

“You voluntarily changed his diaper?”, Jake interrupts the younger man. After Jake pulled a gun on
him the first time they met, Jackson had always been careful to get his or Amy’s permission before
picking Mac up.

While Jake appreciates the consideration on principal, he has come to trust Chase fully and in
extension her boyfriend to an extent as well.

Jackson just shrugs. “Annabeth called to say you guys are pulling an all-nighter, so I figured
whatever you’re investigating must be important and I didn’t want to interrupt your work. I didn’t
really have anything else to do and he really needed the change...” His sentence ends in a long
yawn.

Jake lets out a perplexed laugh. “I’m really glad you don’t carry a grudge for me pulling that gun
on you.”

“If I carried a grudge for anyone who ever threatened my life, I’d have very few friends.” A smile
blooms on his features, breaking through his sleep-befuddled expression. “And no girlfriend.”

That catches Jakes interest. “Chase threatened you? I don’t suppose she was serious?”

Jackson visibly tries to hold in his laughter as to not wake the sleeping child in his arms. “Dead
serious, believe me. But it’s fine. We talked it out. I’m not planning on giving her a reason to kill
me.”

He says it with a certainty that makes Jake smile. He is happy that his partner has someone who
obviously is completely and utterly in love with her. And while he wonders why the tough
Detective he works with is with this soft social worker he sees before him; he isn’t one to judge
dissimilar couples.

“Peralta!”
Jake turns his head to the Captain’s office where Holt just stuck his head through the door.

He quickly takes his leave from his son and Jackson to join the Captain and Annabeth in their
meeting.

“Where are we with the location of the bomb and Mr. Esposito?”, Captain Holt demands to know.

“Nowhere”, Jake admits. “He didn’t give up any information. Says he wants full immunity plus the
250.000 dollars ransom. Otherwise, he lets the bomb blow.”

“We don’t negotiate with criminals.”

“I know. I just don’t see any other way to save Esposito’s life. We need to break him and it’s more
than unlikely we’ll be able to in the half hour we have left. Plus, if the bomb is in an inhabited
apartment building…” Jake lets the sentence trail off. They all know what could be at stake.

Holt nods in defeat, but Jake recognizes the way Annabeth suddenly goes still. She has an idea.

“What is it, Chase?”

The blonde looks from their Captain to Jake and back to the Captain. “I have an idea”, she says.
“But you probably won’t like it, Sir.”

“We do not have a lot of options right now, Detective. And so far, your ideas have always worked.
What is it?”

“We send in Percy.”

“And why would we send your civilian boyfriend to interrogate our kidnapper?”

Jake knows the way her jaw sets, the way she straightens her shoulders before answering. She has
made her decision and would see it come to fruition.

“Percy can be… rather convincing if he chooses to be. He can get Smith to talk, Sir. I am sure of
it.”

Jake and Holt both look over to the break room, where the man in question is walking up and
down, softly rocking the infant in his arms and singing a tune they can’t hear.

He has some kind of social training, Jake supposes and maybe a softer hand might be the way to go
here. After all, they tried it the hard way and it didn’t work.

The Captain seems to have come to a similar conclusion. “Unfortunately, I do not have a better
idea”, he concedes. “Bring him in.”

Annabeth simply waves Percy over, who immediately leaves the break room. He stops in the
doorway to the Captain’s office, not sure if he is allowed to enter.

Chase just shoots him a look that causes him to come him, coming to a relaxed stand next to his
girlfriend from where he curiously inspects the room.

“We are in need of assistance and Detective Chase believes you are able to help us”, Holt
announces.

“Sure, what is it?” Jackson is swaying on the spot, gently rocking Mac.
Jake extends his hands and the other man willingly hands the child over to his father.

As soon as he loses contact to the baby, Jackson seems to let go of the barely contained energy
bubbling in him. He eyes the trinkets on Holt’s desk, runs a hand along the back of the couch,
bounces on his feet.

“We have a perp in the interrogation room who kidnapped a man and has him in a room with a
bomb”, Jake explains. “He isn’t talking. And if he doesn’t reset the timer on the bomb, it will
explode at midnight.”

“My Detectives have been going on him hard for hours, but the man isn’t talking. Detective Chase
suggested you and since it is evident that you have social training and could therefore try a
different angle with the kidnapper, I agreed to at least let you try. It is vital that we get this
information, otherwise, innocent people might… Are you even listening?”

“No.” Percy’s eyes flicker between the Captain, Jake and his girlfriend before finally resting on the
latter. He leans over to her like a kid in school who hasn’t understood the assignment. “What do
you want me to do?”

Annabeth fondly rolls her eyes. “We’ve got a kidnapper in interrogation. Go in there, make him tell
you where Julian Esposito is.”

“Sure.” Percy turns to Jake. “You said something about a bomb?”

Holt lets out an exasperated sigh and addresses his newest Detective. “Are you sure this is a good
idea?”

“Yes, I am.” Annabeth turns to Percy. “Yes, there is a bomb in the room where the victim is held,
timed to go off at midnight.”

“Can’t you turn it off?”

“There probably is a code he has to punch into his phone for it to disengage. The hostage is our
priority right now.” Annabeth’s words are calm and measured as she talks to her boyfriend. “Any
questions?”

Jackson shrugs. “Don’t think so. Where is his phone, though?”

Jake just stares at him. “Why?”

Jackson is looking at him like the civilian might have missed something. “We want him to reset the
bomb, right? Just in case?”

“And you think you can make him reset it?”

“Well, I can at least ask him, right?” His green eyes sparkle with something Jake would almost
describe as mirth.

Everything about Jackson’s demeanor confuses Jake, but Holt nods, so Jake goes to fetch Smith’s
phone while the Captain goes to the interrogation room to tell Terry and Charles to leave.

Jake hands the phone over to Percy in front of the interrogation room and gives him one last pat to
the shoulder.

Then he joins the rest of the team in the crammed observation room.
Annabeth and Holt are already there, so are Terry and Boyle who had just been relieved from
interrogation duty as well as Rosa and Amy who came to tell them that they had no more leads to
follow.

Together, they watch as Jackson enters the interrogation room and takes a seat opposite Smith with
his back to the observation room.

“Why is Chase’s boyfriend in there instead of one of us?”, Rosa asks the question on everyone’s
mind.

“Because you’ve been in there for hours and none of you were able to make him talk. Percy has…
a way with people.” Annabeth’s stance is relaxed and confident as she watches her boyfriend.

They are all curious to see how the civilian’s social training will do in the situation, how he would
go about making Smith trust him enough to open up.

“This is how this is going to go”, Percy’s voice filters in from the interrogation room. His voice is
friendly, calm. “I want to know where Esposito is and how to turn off the bomb. I will ask you
nicely once and if you don’t give me an answer, I will ask you a second time in a more convincing
way. Ready?” Jackson puts the phone down on the desk in front of him but keeps his hand on it.

Smith just raises an eyebrow but doesn’t otherwise react to this new strategy.

“What the hell is he doing?” Rosa’s words are laced with skepticism.

“Terry doesn’t think this will work.”

Jake exchanges an uneasy look with his wife. They really don’t have time for futile attempts.

Holt just stands there, stoically staring through the glass.

“Where is Julian Esposito and how do I turn off the bomb?” Jackson’s voice is level, his shoulders
are relaxed. It does nothing to change the malicious expression on Smith’s face.

Silence fills both rooms as Jackson gives the man in front of him time to answer. Smith remains
silent.

Jake is just about to make a sarcastic comment when Jackson explodes. “I ASKED WHERE
JULIAN ESPOSITO IS AND HOW TO TURN OFF THE BOMB!”

His voice is hard, almost a growl. He’s suddenly risen from his chair, towering over Smith who
had fallen backwards out of his chair in his haste to get away. The kidnapper stares up at the man
above him with nothing short of terror in his eyes.

The observing crowd in the room behind the mirror only sees Jackson’s back, the lines that have
become inexplicably hard, shoulders broad and intimidating. They don’t see the look in his eyes,
wild and feral and absolutely terrifying to anyone it is directed at.

“135 Decatur Street, Apartment 7B”, Smith rushes to say while trying to scramble further away
from the man in front of him. “The bomb is in the brown duffle bag next to the bed. I can turn it off
using a code and my fingerprint on my phone.”

Jackson tosses him the phone. “Do it.” The growl is still present, his shoulders are still set in a
threatening line.
Smith fumbles with the phone as he hurries to punch in a number sequence and presses his index
finger to the sensor at the back of the phone.

“It’s done”, he stammers as he hands the device back to Jackson. “The bomb is turned off.”

The younger man takes the phone. As he turns to face the mirror separating him from the squad of
Detectives, his stance relaxes, his shoulders drop.

He gives them a thumbs-up and grins sheepishly.

Everything that has been threatening a moment before is gone and Percy is back to being the
friendly guy who brings blue food and goofs around with Mac whenever he’s given the
opportunity.

“What the hell was that?” Rosa is the first to find her voice, giving air to the question on
everyone’s mind.

Six heads slowly turn from the adjourning room to the youngest Detective in the room.

“Told you he could do it.” Annabeth actually winks at them.

They find Julian Esposito in the apartment Smith had told Jackson about, as well as the explosive
device which isn’t set to blow as they enter.

Jackson sits in Annabeth’s office chair when they escort Smith from the interrogation room into
holding.

He’s happily munching on one of the blue pastries he’d brought for his girlfriend and cheerfully
waves at the kidnapper. Smith flinches away from him.

No one dares to question how exactly Jackson had made the man talk.

From this day on, the squad doesn’t view Percy Jackson as just the soft man who brings his
girlfriend’s dinner to the precinct and cuddles with Mac whenever the opportunity presents itself.

They view him as the man who inexplicably was able to reduce a calm and confident man to a
trembling mess on the floor of the interrogation room in a matter of seconds.

It’s evident that something in Jackson’s past must have happened to make him this way. They can’t
quite guess what it could be, though.

Rosa tries to run a background check on Jackson but can’t find much besides a sealed juvie-file.

They talk about it when Chase is out of the room, not quite knowing how to ask whether her
boyfriend could turn out to be a threat.

It takes a couple of days until someone takes up the courage to approach Annabeth with the
question on everyone’s mind.

“Is he dangerous?”, Jake asks her over lunch in the break room. All other conversations break off,
which is a rare feat of its own.
 “He is”, Annabeth answers between two bites of her sandwich. “to his enemies.”

Nobody dares to ask how and why a guy who runs a community center has enemies.

Nobody really wants to know the answer.

Chapter End Notes

Don't know if I'm happy with the ending, but I couldn't think of anything better, so I
stuck with it.
Since it's October in the story, I guess I have the Halloween Heist coming up - guess
who's going to win ^^
Happy easter Holidays to all of you (or at least to those of you who celebrate or care or
get time off work)
Have a great day, Stay safe.
 The Fist of Capitalism
Chapter Notes

ok, that kind of got away from me and got longer than I intended...
a little bit more investigating this time, with some character moments in between.
Hopr you had a fun easter weekend
Have fun reading.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The October morning is cold, the sky full of looming clouds that promise rain in the future. People
rush to work on the streets of New York, including Jake and Amy, immersed in a discussion after
just having dropped off their son at daycare.

The discussion centers around their plans for the weekend. Jake read about a Die Hard-marathon
one of the local cinemas is going to screen, while Amy has her eye on something more cultured.

“You’ve seen all the Die Hard-movies multiple times, you’ve got them all on Blue-Ray, why do
you want to go to the cinema? And the exhibit is supposed to be great, there was even an article
about it in the New York Times”, she argues while they ride the elevator up to the morning briefing.

“It’s an art exhibit. It has sculptures and paintings and stuff. What can be so great about it?” Jake
contends. He knows how fast he gets bored in museums, and you can never watch Die Hard too
many times.

The couple leaves the elevator, strolls through the bullpen and takes their seats in the conference
room.

“It’s not just any art exhibit”, Amy emphasizes. “It’s the Progression from Person to Propaganda.”

“Because the alliteration makes it so much better…”, Jake remarks.

“Oh, you’re going to the Progression from Person to Propaganda?” Annabeth turns in her seat to
join their conversation. “I read about it. The opening gala was just yesterday. It’s supposed to be
amazing, with a stunning venue.”

A huge grin spreads over Amy’s face, happy to have found someone who shares her enthusiasm.
“Right!?”

“What’s so amazing about a bunch of statues in some fancy house?”, Jake asks and immediately
regrets the question.

“It’s a huge exhibit with very impressive artists, and the building it is hosted in is stunning. The
Jovial Rizzi House is the only building designed by James Rizzi in the United States, the only other
buildings of his are in Germany”, Annabeth lectures.

“Who is James Rizzi?” Jake is met with matching incredulous stares by the women in front of him.

“James Rizzi was an artist, born and raised here in Brooklyn”, Chase immediately rushes to
explain. “He did a lot of 3D artwork, worked on a lot of charitable causes with…”
“I am happy to hear you being so interested in the exhibit.” They all whirl around to see Captain
Holt standing at his podium in front of the room, cutting the conversation short. “It has been
robbed last night.”

“What?” The exclamation comes from Amy and Annabeth simultaneously.

“After the gala last night, one of the sculptures was stolen. The…” - Holt checks his notes - “Fist
of Capitalism is worth about 50 million dollars and has gone missing some time last night.” He
turns on the TV to show a picture of an oversized bronze fist, holding a diamond-covered
banknote.

Jake whistles through his teeth. “That’s a lot of money for a sculpture.”

“35 million dollars of the sculpture’s worth is made up of the diamonds on it”, Amy states.

“How do you know that?”, Rosa asks.

“It was on the cover of last month’s ARTFORUM, with a lead article.” The Sargent just shrugs
when met with stunned silence. “What? I read a lot.”

“Right, I saw the cover, but I didn’t get around to read the article.” Annabeth bemoans.

“Detective Chase”, the Captain interrupts the women. “Since you are so interested in the exhibit,
why don’t you go and find out where the sculpture went? Take Peralta with you.”

Annabeth gets up to receive the file on the case while Amy leans over closely to Jake.

“I can’t believe you’re going to see the exhibit before me”, Amy whispers to her husband.

“I’m investigating a crime, not looking at art!”, Jake exclaims.

-------------------------------------------------

The exhibit is… artsy.

When Chase comes over to him, announcing that the director will be with them shortly, Jake is
looking at himself, his face displayed on half a dozen monitors simultaneously, captured by a
camera which is propped up on a box that almost reaches his waist. The screens are installed at
different heights and angles in a half circle around him, giving him the opportunity to study his
profile in HD.

“I don’t understand this kind of art”, he declares.

“You don’t have to”, his partner assures him. “We only have to find the sculpture.”

She turns to an approaching woman and extends her hand. “I’m Detective Chase, this is my partner,
Detective Peralta.”

The older woman shakes her hand. “I’m Joanna Rodgers, the director of the museum”, she
introduces herself.

Rodgers leads them to the room where the stolen piece was, hands over a prepared list of guests
and employees working the previous evening and presents them with a DVD with the security
tapes.

“People had the chance to walk the exhibit last night during the gala”, she reports last night’s
events. “We started clearing the area around eleven thirty, everyone was out of the museum by
midnight, mingling in the ball room downstairs. The tapes were one a loop beginning some
minutes after midnight. The night guard discovered the empty case at half past one this morning.
So, it must have gone missing in these 90 minutes.”

Annabeth nods along with the director’s statement. “Who does the sculpture belong to?”, she asks.

“Wouldn’t it belong to the museum if it’s supposed to be in here?”

Rodgers throws Jake a dismissive glance. “The piece was on loan from Mr. and Mrs. Peters. They
are very generous donors of the museum and attended the gala last night. I called Mr. Peters earlier
to tell him about the theft and he was very distraught by the loss.”

“We’ll have to talk to them”, Annabeth declares.

“I’ll get their contact information.”

Jake watches the woman leave and turns back to his partner. “Why would someone just give their
stuff to a museum?”

“Multiple reasons”, Chase explains while walking through the room, empty besides the glass case
and the two Detectives. “Some people share the opinion that art has to be observed.”

She smiles at Jake’s questioning expression. “Like tea is there to be drunken and pizza is there to
be eaten”, she elaborates. “If art can’t be experienced, it doesn’t serve its purpose.” Chase walks
along the walls of the room, looking for clues. “Secondly, the museum pays the owners for the
loan.”

“That is a reason I can get behind. But why not just sell it? Would certainly bring in more money.”
Jake looks up at the security cameras, high up on the ceiling, with practically unobstructable view
of the glass case.

“Indeed, it would. And this brings us to the third reason.” Annabeth is kneeling by an air vent,
gently jiggling the cover as she talks. It doesn’t budge, so she gets up and faces the other Detective.
“How are people supposed to know how stupidly rich you are if nobody can see the 50-million-
dollar statue you own?”

She grabs some tools from her bag and removes the screws from the air vent cover.

She triumphally points the dust pattern out to Jake. “Someone was in here recently.”

“But why? It was shut. The thief couldn’t have left this way.” Jake walks over to the vent to have a
closer look. “So, the thief came into the exhibit before yesterday, to loosen the screws, entered
through the air vent last night to steal the Fist and left another way?”, he speculates.

“Seems so.” Annabeth grabs her flashlight and crawls inside the vent. “There are cables, seems to
be part of the security system.” Her voice echoes inside the vent. “And some device connected to
it. That’s probably what knocked out the video feed.”

She backs out of the wall and looks up at Jake. “So, we have an idea how the thief got in and how
they got rid of the security system. But how did they leave?”

“Service entrance.”

“What?”
Jake gestures towards the backwall of the museum, facing a large parking lot. “The service
entrance. It was a big event, probably crawling with caterers and serving staff, right?”

Annabeth nods in confirmation.

“And Rodgers said that security checked everyone coming in, but…”

“They wouldn’t check everyone leaving”, Annabeth completes the thought. “But someone would
have noticed a server carrying a diamond-covered fist out of the museum. How did he get it out?”

“In a bag?”

“You don’t just put a statue worth that kind of money in a bag, Peralta”, Chase immediately
objects.

“One of the catering boxes on wheels, then?”

“That’s… actually not a bad theory”, she admits.

“So, we question the catering staff if they have seen anyone leaving who didn’t belong to the
company, get CSU down here to see if they can get prints or DNA off the device you found, see if
anything shows up on the camera footage we have, talk to the owners. Anything else?”

“Sounds good for now.”

-------------------------------------------------------

Mrs. Peters is already waiting for them at the precinct when they return. She is… not happy. But
she wastes no time, pointing them in the direction of a suspect.

“Obviously, my oaf of a husband stole it”, she claims, sitting stiffly in the uncomfortable chair in
the interrogation room.

“Why would he do that?”, Jake questions. “He already owns the sculpture.”

“He owns half of it.” When met with two questioning stares, the woman lets out an exasperated
sigh. “We are getting a divorce. Anton is trying to screw me over, wants to keep the Fist for
himself.”

“But you want it to stay at the museum?”, Chase questions. She chose not to sit, instead pacing in
front of the mirror at the back of the room.

“Obviously. That’s where art belongs, not in some dusty storage room where no one can see it.”

Jake turns to his partner to meet her small but satisfied grin. She loves being right. He fondly
shakes his head and returns his attention to Mrs. Peters.

The woman is gently picking at her perfectly manicured nails. “At our last meeting with our
divorce lawyers, he screamed at me that he would get the Fist back by any means necessary.”

“And you think that translates to him stealing it?” Jake is skeptical.

Mrs. Peters is not. “Obviously.”

---------------------------------------------------
The uniformed officers they sent to talk with the catering company return with semi-good news.

The serving staff witnessed a stranger leaving around twenty minutes past midnight. Apparently,
he wore the company’s uniform but didn’t help with tidying, just walked out of the museum with a
bag over his shoulder, drawing the ire of his alleged colleagues who thought he was shirking clean-
up-duty.

The bag the staff describes doesn’t seem to be large enough to fit the fist, but it is worth looking
into, at any rate.

They got a description and worked with a sketch-artist, but the sketch is very generic; white male,
mid-fifties, hair greying at the temples. Medium height, medium built, no discerning features.

It was dark, and the catering staff was busy as well as tired.

“Maybe he’s not our guy”, Chase ponders while she scrutinizes the sketch of their mystery man.
“The sculpture is too big to put in the bag they described and it’s way too valuable to just put into a
bag anyways. But if he didn’t take it out of the museum, someone else must have done it.”

Jake’s gut tells him that this guy is definitely involved, but he can’t really dispute her claim about
the bag, either. So, for now, he looks for other leads.

-----------------------------------------------------

CSU sends over their report, stating that they were able to link the device hooked to the security
system to a high-profile art-thief who’d been believed to have retired years ago. Authorities call
him the Ghost, but no one knows his identity. He didn’t leave any prints or DNA in the air vents.

--------------------------------------------------------

By the time Mr. Peters shows up for his interview, the Detectives are surrounded by dead ends and
dearly hoping that the owner might shed some light on the matter.

Neither of them is convinced about his wife’s allegations, and the man is quick to deny them.

“Why would I even do something like that?” He is obviously annoyed by the accusation of stealing
his own property but manages to stay pleasantly polite.

“Because you don’t want your wife to get the sculpture in the divorce”, Jake suggests.

Peters looks tired at the mention of his divorce. “My wife told you about that?” Jake and Annabeth
nod in unison. “It’s just… We’re keeping up appearances. But the legal side drags on for longer
than I anticipated.”

“So, you got tired waiting for your lawyers to settle who gets the Fist and decided to take things in
your own hands, is that it?”

“No.” Peters scoffs at the mere idea. “I didn’t even want the thing. I was just sitting on it as a
bargaining chip. I want the vineyard in France. With the Fist gone, there is no way she’s letting me
keep it.”

He doesn’t seem like he stole the Fist. Peters looks defeated and spiritless and not motivated
enough to pull off a reasonably well-planned heist.

“Where were you between midnight and one thirty last night?”, Chase asks.
“I took a cab home when security started clearing people out of the exhibit, I was tired. Got home,
went to bed, stayed there until I got the call about the robbery this morning.”

“Anyone who can vouch for that?” Jake scribbles the alibi down, seeing as Chase takes notes even
less than he does.

Peters shrugs, waves his hand around in a bored gesture. “My doorman must have seen me when I
came in.”

“We’ll check with him”, Jake assures the man. “Please don’t leave town until we find some more
answers.”

----------------------------------------------------

Sifting through the video tapes of the security system takes a lot of time.

Jake is combing through footage from the exhibit from before the feed goes on a loop while
Annabeth looks through the footage of the service entrance, hoping to get a glimpse of their
mystery man leaving the venue.

She finds footage of the man leaving the museum timestamped at 00:17. Some of the working staff
try to talk to him, but he leaves without answering or turning enough to give the camera a clear
shot of his face.

He has a bag slung over his shoulder, just as witnesses described.

She calls Jake into the conference room where they review the footage on the bigger screen. “This
bag is neither big nor heavy enough to contain the Fist”, Jake observes.

Annabeth nods her head in agreement. “Looks like he was disappointed.”

“Looks like he was disappointed – title of your sex tape”, Jake absentmindedly comments, still
staring at the screen in front of him.

And even without watching his partner, he realizes he’s made a mistake.

He can tell by the sharp intake of breath that doesn’t come out in a huff. He can tell by the way she
goes stiff; not just still like when she tries to be inconspicuous, but completely tense and ready for
attack. He can tell by the way her jaw is set, her nostrils are blown, and her eyes are narrowed in
dismay.

He messed up.

Since Chase first came to the 99, or at least since Jake decided to give her a fair chance, he’s toned
down his sex tape jokes. Chase had reacted touchy to jabs of any kind in the beginning and in an
unspoken agreement, the squad had adjusted and toned down their nagging to accommodate her.

Since she had become more confident and closer to the squad on a personal level, the friendly
teasing had picked up again, and Chase gave as good as she got.

But after a very stern talking-to from Rosa after that first day, Jake had tabled all sex tape related
jokes.

“I’m sorry”, he backtracks. “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean…” He stumbles through the beginning of an
apology.
“You didn’t mean any malicious intent”, Chase carefully finishes his statement.

Jake nods in eager agreement. “Exactly. But I know that I don’t get to decide which comments you
take offence to and I shouldn’t have…”

“It’s fine”, Annabeth interrupts him with huge puff of breath.

Jake stops and just looks at his partner. She’s back to fidgeting with her necklace, a careful smile
gracing her features.

“It’s just…” she sits down on one of the desks, takes a moment to think about how to phrase what
she’s going to say. “I told you about my previous squad, how they excluded me for being a woman
and good at my job?”

Jake nods. He hates that she had to go through this, that women in the force get treated that way.
He waits for her to continue.

“I accepted that they froze me out, even if I didn’t like it”, she admits. “But when they made sexual
jokes about me – and they did that a lot – they were always said with malicious intent. And I didn’t
stand for it. I fought them. Every sexist comment, every chauvinist joke or unsavory remark about
me, I fought them.”

She drops her gaze to the floor, staring at her dangling feet. “Didn’t make me popular, but I gave
up any hope for that pretty early anyways.” She looks back up to meet Jake’s eyes. “I fought them
at every turn, and I conditioned myself to get mad when they were misogynistic jerks. So,
whenever I hear a joke about my sexuality, I automatically assume that it is in bad intent, because
for the last couple of years of my life, they were.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

Annabeth gives him a tight smile. “Not your fault. You are a genuinely good guy, Jake. Most of the
squad is, with the very prominent exception of Hitchcock.”

“Yeah, he’s not doing anyone any favors.”

She runs a hand through her hair. “I realize that this kind of joke is not said with malicious intent
around here. But I still have this kneejerk urge to claw your eyes out whenever a joke crosses the
line into crude territory. I’m doing my best to unlearn this response, but it takes time.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Maybe give me some more months to ease into the sex jokes?”

Jake nods. “Deal.” He offers his hand for Annabeth to shake.

She jumps from the desk and takes it. “Thank you.”

She says it with a sincerity that takes Jake aback, coming from the usually kick-ass detective.

Her way to the 99 hasn’t been easy, but he’ll do his best to make her time here better.

“Don’t mention it”, he says as they return to their case.

------------------------------------------

They haven’t gotten any closer to finding out the identity of their thief or how he managed to get
the Fist out of the museum when Amy comes in and announces the end of their shift.

Amy, Jake, and Annabeth ride down on the elevator together, still building theory while leaving
the precinct.

They run into Percy Jackson, who obviously waited for his girlfriend to finish work for the day.

Annabeth’s face lights up when she sees him and receives a kiss to the cheek. Jackson takes her
hand and moves to stand beside the Detective, keeping half a step behind her.

Literally covering her back, Jake notes.

“Caught a fun case?”

As Annabeth tells her boyfriend of the theft, his face falls. “Didn’t you want us to see that
exhibit?”

Jake leans past his partner to get a better look at the other man. “So, you got roped into seeing this
exhibit as well?”

Amy punches his shoulder, but Jackson just shrugs. “Whatever makes her happy, right?”

Jake looks from Annabeth, who is regarding her boyfriend with a content smile, to Amy. He feels a
stupid grin is taking over his face.

“Yeah”, he agrees. “I know what you mean.”

---------------------------------------------

The next morning, rain is pouring down on New York.

Jake gets drenched on the one block walk from Mac’s daycare to the precinct. Annabeth somehow
manages to get into work perfectly dry, although Jake knows she usually uses the subway and has
to walk from the station to the precinct.

When he asks her about it, she simply waves him off. “Percy dropped me off”, she explains.

Jake thinks he can remember a conversation about Percy not having a car because “this is New
York, why would I even need one?”, but he doesn’t press the issue.

Instead, he sits down at his desk to look at another couple of hours of video footage.

He finds footage of cleaning staff going through the exhibit the day before the gala and notices a
man matching the built and height of their mystery man.

Jake first spots him entering with the rest of the cleaning crew and follows the footage through a
number of rooms as he makes a poor job of cleaning some windows.

The guy is careful, though. Obviously, he knows the locations of the cameras and takes great care
to be only captured on film from behind.

When he reaches the room with the Fist of Capitalism, the mystery man knocks over his cleaning
supply wagon in front of the air vent where they found the device disturbing the security system.

His body keeps the duct hidden while apparently picking up his supplies, and Jake is certain that
this is when he loosened the screws to crawl out of the vent later.
He keeps watching the man while he straightens his wagon and wanders off.

Jake gets lucky some rooms later when mystery guy bumps into a well-dressed woman, causing
him to turn and allowing the video camera a clear view of his face.

“Got you!”, Jake exclaims in triumph, catching Annabeth’s attention.

“You found something?” She gets up from her chair and walks around the desks to look at Jake’s
screen. “Is that him?”

“He matches the sketch and the footage you found from the service entrance. And then there is
this.” Jake rewinds the tape to the moment the man knocks over his supply wagon in front of the
air vent.

Annabeth grins at him. “Let’s run him through the system and see if we can find out more about
him.” She looks at the frozen picture, displaying their perp and the woman he ran into. “Do we
know who she is? She looks familiar.”

It takes Jake a moment to put a story to the face, but suddenly, it clicks. “Yes. They have little
leaflets about the artists at the exhibit. Do you remember that strange installation with the camera
and the screens in the first room of the exhibit?” Annabeth just nods. “That’s hers.”

“Why do you know that?”

“I wanted to know what kind of person thinks of such an installation and then calls it art”, he
admits. His hands are already flying over the keyboard, scrolling through the museum’s webpage,
and looking through the featured artists.

“That’s her.” He points at his screen where the woman from the footage smiles back at them.
“Nina Garcia. Alongside being an artist, she works at the museum as an assistant to the curator. Do
you think she has anything to do with this?”

Annabeth shrugs. “Don’t know yet. But it’s one hell of a coincidence that she bumped into the one
person who we needed to turn around in front of the cameras.”

------------------------------------------------

The databank manages to put a name to the face in the video footage.

Leonard Heller was born and raised in Connecticut and has been a suspect in other thefts connected
to the mysterious art thief known as the Ghost, but none of the allegations ever stuck.

Uniforms pick him up at his hotel where he checked in under his own name, not even trying to hide
his stay in the city.

He is twitchy when they talk to him in the interrogation room, reiterating time and again that he
didn’t steal the Fist of Capitalism.

“We have you on tape, the day before the theft, where you loosened the screws to the air vent.”
Jake puts the screencap of Heller bumping into the assistant curator on the desk in front of him.
“We have another video of you leaving the museum the night of the theft and witnesses who sat
down with our sketch artist. Seems familiar?” He places the second screencap and the sketch on
the table.

The man in the sketch and Heller share an unmistakable likeness, but one couldn’t say for sure if it
was him. The differences are enough to give a jury reasonable doubt.

Heller eyes the footage of him leaving the night of the gala. “Well, if that’s me – and I’m not
saying that it is – I don’t see this person carrying the sculpture that was stolen.”

“Good point”, Annabeth admits. “But how do you explain the 100.000 dollars that were transferred
to your bank account three days before the gala and the other 200.000 dollars the night of the theft,
just hours after you left the museum? For a job well done, I presume?”

Heller just stares at her.

“Yes, we found the bank account.”

“You can’t prove that that’s me.” Heller taps the picture of him leaving the night of the theft. “Put
me in a line-up if you want to, because this” – he picks up the sketch and waves it around – “this
could be anyone.”

The Detectives know that a line-up would be futile. It was too dark for the staff to make out
anything particular about the man leaving the museum that night, they said so themselves.
Apparently, Heller knows that, too.

Jake tries another approach. “And what about the money?” He puts the bank statement in front of
their suspect.

“Anonymous donation. Some bank account in Switzerland, no idea why they decided to send me
money.” The lie is so obvious that it is laughable, but he is right that the money came from a swiss
account and the NYPD has no way of tracking it to its source.

“We can still prosecute you for breaking in by posing as a member of the clean-up crew.”
Annabeth is grasping at straws and they all know it.

“You’re welcome to try, but I was there on a job.” Jake tries to interject, but Heller holds up his
hand. “I worked for the cleaning company. Didn’t work out too well, though. I quit after my first
day there. You can check if you want. I still have their phone number somewhere.”

The Detectives leave him behind in interrogation to check his story.

Jake has a defeated look on his face when he hangs up the phone ten minutes later.

“Don’t tell me he really worked for them.” Annabeth sits in the visitor’s chair next to his desk,
fiddling with her necklace.

“He did. Supervisor said he showed up, offered to work for very little money. They were
understaffed and not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Quit the moment he left the museum.”

Annabeth groans. “So, we have nothing on him.”

“Nothing we can make stick.”

They look at each other for a long time.

“It was him, though, right?” There is a hint of doubt in Annabeth’s voice.

“My gut tells me he has something to do with it. I mean, the timing of the money transfers is more
than suspicious. But…” Jake lets his sentence trail off.

Annabeth pulls the tie out of her hair and redoes her ponytail. “300.000 dollars for stealing a
sculpture worth 50 million bucks is not a lot of money. I wouldn’t have done it for that price.”

Jake quirks an eyebrow. “For how much money would you rob a museum?”

His partner just laughs. “That’s not how I meant it.”

Jake grins at her. “I know.” He runs a hand over his face. “It doesn’t add up. I read the Ghost’s file.
He is too good to be caught like that. If he really cared about not being seen, why not take more
precautions? Wear a fake mustache, dye his hair black?”

“Exactly. Plus, he’s supposed to be out of business. Reports say that he hasn’t been in the game for
twelve years.”

“Maybe he has financial troubles? Decided to try one last theft, but got rusty in his time off the
job?” Jake is widely speculating now.

“His financials don’t show uncharacteristic spending and his savings would carry him well through
retirement.” Annabeth stands up and paces in front of their desks. “Plus, how do the 300.000
dollars fit into your theory?”

Jake shakes his head. He doesn’t know, either.

Boyle comes by on his way back from the break room and stops when he sees Chase pacing.
“How’s the case going?”

Annabeth just groans.

“Not good”, Jake answers. “We have a suspect who is almost certainly a former art thief, who has
recently received anonymous payments and has been at the scene of the crime twice, once to
prepare in advance and once at the time of the theft. But we can’t tie him to the stolen sculpture,
and he insists that he didn’t do it.”

“What does your gut tell you?” Boyle, always willing to support his best friend, plops down in the
recently vacated visitor’s chair.

Jake looks at the other man. “That this guy is definitely involved.”

“So, you say he lied to you?” Boyle doesn’t sound convinced, but willing to talk this through.

Jake opens his mouth, then closes it again. He looks over at Chase. “He didn’t seem like he was
lying”, he says, a statement as much as it is a question.

“I… don’t think so, either.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. “But he was there. He broke in,
he…” The blonde suddenly stops her pacing, holds up a finger, points in the direction of the
interrogation room, where Heller still waits for someone to get him. Then she points at Jake. “He
never said that he didn’t break in or disable the security system. He just said he didn’t steal the
Fist.”

“You think he took a job with the cleaning company, overrode the security system, snuck in during
the gala and for some reason didn’t take the Fist? Why all the effort?” Jake is genuinely curious
about her answer.
Annabeth takes a deep breath, then deflates. “I don’t know. Maybe something went wrong?” She
takes up her pacing again.

“But what? And that still doesn’t explain the money… Except if that’s what he was paid to do.”

Annabeth gives a quizzical grunt.

“He got the second payment after the Fist went missing. That implies a job well done, right?
Otherwise, whoever owns this account in Switzerland wouldn’t have made the second payment.”

Boyle just sits between them, looking from one to the other like a spectator at a tennis match.

Annabeth’s pacing gets faster. “Right. But if he wasn’t hired to steal, what was he hired to do? If
someone came up to me and told me please do your best to knock out this security system and
leave without taking anything, I’d want to know why.”

Jake snaps his fingers. “Do your best, that’s it!” Annabeth just throws him a look, silently telling
him to elaborate. “He wasn’t hired to break into the museum. He was hired to try to break in.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“Neither do I, but you’re doing great, Jakey.”

“Thank you, Charles.” Jake turns his attention back to his partner. “He was hired to test the
security system, at least that’s what he was told.”

Annabeth gasps, for a moment rooted to the spot. “And he couldn’t say anything because he would
implicate himself, basically admitting he broke in and facilitated the robbery.”

“Exactly.” Jake grins triumphantly.

They go back to the interrogation room and with the offer of parole, Heller quickly admits his part
in the heist.

He was contacted online, never actually met his client but was told they worked with the museum
and wanted to make sure everything was secure.

The heist coinciding with the gala was supposed to grant some extra security, since no one would
be able to take the sculpture out of the museum with so many people around.

He took out the security system, left the museum and went back to the hotel.

Since he wasn’t actually doing anything illegal in his mind, the former thief didn’t consider it a
necessity to go all out on hiding his identity, allowing the Detectives to track him down pretty
easily.

Heller cooperates, telling the Detectives the route he took back to the hotel, allowing them to pull
traffic footage of his midnight stroll.

There is no sign of him having the Fist or going back to get it.

“Back to square one”, Jake bemoans as they get back to the bullpen.
Annabeth nods and sits down in her chair. “What do we know about Heller’s client?”, she asks and
instantaneously starts answering her question. “They must have had access to the exhibit.”

“They have a bank account in Switzerland and 300.000 dollars to spare”, Jake continues the list.

“Do we need a proper motive or is money enough in this case?” Annabeth, already bored by
sitting, gets up and walks around the desks.

Jake folds his hands behind his head and spins in his chair. “I don’t know. But one way or another,
we should probably concentrate more on the how and less on the why. We know how they got the
fist out of the case, but how did they get it out of the museum?”

Annabeth stares out the window, where the autumn rain is still coming down hard. Her eyes roam
the bullpen before landing on Jake’s computer screen, still displaying the museum’s webpage.

“What if they didn’t?”, she asks, suddenly alert.

“Didn’t what?”

“What if the Fist is still in the museum? What if it never left?”

-------------------------------------------------------

They get to the Rizzi House in record time. Joanna Rodgers is surprised when the Detectives stride
in, quickly making their way through the entrance hall to the exhibit.

“Where is Nina Garcia?”, Jake asks in passing.

“I believe she is in the basement, looking after…”

“Please get her to meet us at her installation”, Jake interrupts the director. “Oh, and don’t tell her
we’re here.”

Garcia is notably surprised when she finds the two Detectives standing next to her installation. She
looks over at Rodgers, but the older woman just shrugs and indicates for her to step closer.

“How can I help you, Detectives?”, the artist cautiously asks as she comes closer.

“Tell us about your installation”, Annabeth requests with a firm voice.

“Well, it is about the way we as humans see ourselves…”, Garcia carefully starts, but is quickly
interrupted by Jake.

“We particularly want to know about this box.” He taps the box on which the camera is propped.

Garcia’s face takes on a confused expression, but she follows the request. “It is smaller than the
average adult, about the size of a child of six. It allows us to see ourselves from the perspective
of…” She trails off. “You didn’t come to ask about the meaning of my installation, did you?”

“No”, Annabeth confirms. “We came to talk to you about the composition of the piece, the
construction.”

“It’s just a wooden frame, covered with different fabrics, creating an almost quilt-like structure,
symbolizing the different layers of… you don’t care.” She stops herself and Annabeth feels for her.

She could go on and on about architecture the same way Garcia obviously wants to talk about her
art.

“What we care about is the hidden compartment in the installation.”

“Hidden compartment?”, the artist asks perplexed.

“There is an open space inside the wooden frame of the box, isn’t there?”

She turns to Jake and just looks at him for a moment. “Yes. I use it for repair parts. Cables and
stuff like that.”

“Would you please open it?” Jake takes a step back to allow her access to the box.

“Sure.”

Garcia kneels in front of the box and with some practiced moves, she folds the fabric in a way that
would allow her to simply drop it back down into the old position later. It reveals a wooden panel
with a small hole on the upper edge. The artist slides her hand inside and closes her eyes in
concentration until she finds a hidden latch which gives a small klick when she opens it.

As she is about to pull open the compartment door, Annabeth stops her with a hand to her shoulder.

Garcia immediately backs off, nervously eying Jake who takes a step towards her, caging her in
between himself and her installation, effectively preventing any chance of an escape.

Annabeth fully opens the unlatched door in one swift movement.

The diamonds on the Fist of Capitalism sparkle as the harsh light of the exhibit hits them.

Garcia and Rodgers let out surprised gasps at the sight of the stolen sculpture inside the hidden
compartment of the wooden box.

Annabeth and Jake exchange a triumphant smile.

“How… Where… What… How did that get in there?” Garcia is reduced to stutters as her gaze is
caught on the priceless art hidden in her installation.

She doesn’t even look away when Jake takes out his cuffs.

“Nina Garcia, you are under arrest for the theft of…”

Jake’s words jostle the artist out of her stupor. “That wasn’t me! I didn’t steal anything!”

“I have to admit, it was a great plan”, Annabeth acknowledges. “Hide the sculpture inside the
secret compartment of the box and when the exhibit is over in a few months, your installation will
be returned to you, 50 million dollars more valuable than it was when you brought it in. Had Heller
just been a little bit more careful…” she lets the sentence trail off.

“But the installation won’t be returned to me”, Garcia exclaims in a desperate attempt to convince
the Detectives of her innocence. “I sold it before the exhibit even opened!”

Jake whirls her around so he could face the artist. His cuffs dangle half-closed from her right wrist.
“Who bought it?”

------------------------------------------------
Mrs. Peters is fuming when officers bring her in.

Jake and Annabeth had gone through the interview transcripts of the evening’s events, but no one
had seen the woman during the time of the theft.

Witnesses place her at the exhibit as one of the last visitors, but the first time anyone remembers
seeing her after the exhibit closed is when she left the bathrooms at quarter to one.

Her husband is kind – and spiteful – enough to give the Detectives full access to the bank
statements of their as of yet shared bank accounts in Switzerland, connecting the money in Heller’s
account to the owners of the sculpture.

Ms. Heller tries shifting the guilt to her husband, but both video footage from his apartment’s lobby
as well as a credit card pursuit place him at the other end of the city at the time of the crime, giving
him an air-tight alibi.

When they tell her that they found her fingerprints on the statue, she tries to argue that it is her
sculpture, of course it has her fingerprints on it. But Annabeth has prepared affidavits from the
museum staff, stating that the statue – like all art – was thoroughly cleaned before being put in the
exhibit and that there was no chance of the prints being from before the cleaning.

When Jake tells her about the bank statements her husband has provided, Heller snaps. She curses
him out for ten minutes straight, before finally deflating.

“He would have put it in storage, never to see the light of day again. I couldn’t let him do that.”

“The tragic thing is that your husband didn’t even want the Fist.” Ms. Heller looks up at Annabeth
in surprise. “He was just using it to get you to give up the vineyard in France.”

--------------------------------------------------------

Jake finds himself back at the Rizzi House two days later, buying tickets to the exhibit. Amy is
smiling at him while she gently rocks Mac’s stroller.

They are joined soon after by Chase and Jackson, who had agreed to a double date.

“I really thought I would have to fight you harder to come to see the exhibit”, Amy acknowledges.
“After all, you spent most of last week here.”

Jake shrugs. “Everything for you.” He presses a kiss to his wife’s head. “Besides, I’ve been in this
museum for hours, but still only know a few rooms. Might as well see the rest.”

Jake and Percy let the women walk ahead and trail some paces behind them. Jake pushes the
stroller while Percy makes faces at the toddler inside.

The men walk in relative silence for a while, as the women happily discuss the art on display.

Percy and Jake stop in front of an installation where a crystal breaks the light of a light source into
different colors, creating a bright rainbow.

“Turquoise is the best color in the world”, Percy remarks off-handedly. “It’s cyantifically proven.”

Jake opens his mouth, then closes it again. He grins at the other man. “I bet you red that online.”

Percy matches the grin, absolutely delighted that Jake joined in on the color-puns. “Yes, and it blue
my mind.”
 “I am purplexed”, Jake shoots back.

That startles a laugh out of Jackson, causing Amy and Annabeth to turn around. They grin
innocently at the women in their lives who turn back to the sculpture they’ve been inspecting.

Jake and Percy spend the rest of the afternoon trying to make the other laugh loudly enough for
either Amy or Annabeth to intervene on behalf of propriety in a museum.

Amy bumps shoulders with Annabeth while they circle a room, growing the distance to the men
trailing them. “I’ve never seen Jake so happy at an art exhibit.”

Annabeth looks over at the men. “Percy usually goes up the walls after an hour in a museum, this is
a new record.”

It is the first in a row of double dates in which the women enjoy an exhibit while the men happily
trail them, treating puns and goofing off.

At least this way, everyone thoroughly enjoys the evening.

Chapter End Notes

sooo...
the plot (at least the crime) was closely inpired by an episode of Castle, as some of you
might have noticed.
The jovial rizzi house does not exist, but James Rizzi was an artist from Brooklyn and
he planned some houses in Germany, and they look really fun - check them out!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Braunschweig_Rizzi-
Haus_von_Sueden_%282011%29.JPG/789px-Braunschweig_Rizzi-
Haus_von_Sueden_%282011%29.JPG
I'd love it if you left a comment
Have a great day, stay safe
 the Halloween Heist
Chapter Notes

yay, Halloween Heist...

And another guest star... cameo? whatever...
Have fun reading
Have a great day, stay safe.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

By mid-October, Annabeth Chase is considered a full and valued member of the squad, so her
partner takes it upon himself to inform her of the impending Halloween Heist.

“Even if that gives you only two weeks of preparation instead of the 52 the rest of us had, we
thought it would be fair to tell you”, Jake concludes his monologue after the morning briefing. “To
give you a slight advance, you’ll have the task of suppling whatever we need to steal.”

“In the name of fairness and due to previous… events, it has to be unique and something not easy
to replicate”, Amy adds.

“Any guidelines as to what kind of object it is supposed to be?”

Amy shakes her head. “So far, we have heisted for Holt’s Medal of Valor, his watch, a crown, a
plaque, a cummerbund-”

“It’s a belt”, Jake interrupts.

Amy shoots her husband a look and goes on. “-Scully’s medical bracelet and lastly, three plastic
gems. So, you can pretty much do whatever you want.”

“As long as it is small and light enough to carry”, Jake adds.

Annabeth nods along with the instructions. “I’ll think of something”, she assures her co-workers.
“Is it allowed to bring in outside help?”

“Sure”, Jake replies. His eyes take on a manic gleam. “Just about everything goes. Prepare yourself
for deceit, bribery, and a whole lot of cheating. The heist doesn’t really bring out the best in any of
us.” He finishes with a shrug.

“And you say that you guys started planning this heist as soon as the last one was over? Isn’t that a
little bit excessive?”

“I admit that it might seem…”

Amy gets interrupted by her husband again. “Absolutely not. Every minute of heist prep is
necessary.”, he claims. “And that is why I’m going to win this year.”

“You won enough heists already. This is the year of Charles.” They all turn to Boyle with doubtful
expressions. “Don’t look at me like that! I have it all planned out”, he argues. “You should rather
pity Chase, she’ll never manage to come up with a plan on such short notice.”
“Don’t worry about that”, Annabeth shoots back while texting someone on her phone. “I always
have a plan.”

--------------------------

“So, do you have a plan for tomorrow?”

It’s the day before Halloween when Boyle sits down next to Annabeth in the break room to get her
to talk about the heist.

“Yes. A friend from San Francisco is visiting. We’ll go out for brunch and some sightseeing.”

“But… the heist…” Charles wouldn’t be Charles if the thought of someone not participating in a
team-bonding experience wouldn’t bug him. “You’d miss the heist.”

Annabeth shrugs. “It just matters who has the object at six p.m., right? The way I see it, I just let
you guys run yourselves out and get the thing half an hour before the deadline.” She appears
certain of her ability to do just that.

But this will be her first heist, she doesn’t know how competitive it gets, how much rides on
winning. She doesn’t get the gravity, the bragging rights, the…

Boyle openly gapes at his co-worker. “But… that will never work. You won’t know where the
thing is stashed in time to retrieve it.”

Chase just shrugs, completely unconcerned. “Then I guess you have one less opponent to worry
about.”

Charles doesn’t really have an answer to that. After all, this is supposed to be his year.

-------------------------

The friend Annabeth mentioned turns out to be a friendly African-American woman some years
Annabeth’s junior who goes by the name of Hazel.

The way she carries herself is strange, exuding an air of confidence and importance one seldomly
sees in a woman of 5’2. Her golden eyes roam the bullpen when she enters the floor, assessing the
people around her.

Annabeth introduces her friend to the squad and the smaller woman just nods, like she is more used
to greeting military troops than she is meeting her friend’s co-workers.

She follows Annabeth to the break room and peeks at Mac who is lying in his crib.

Contrary to Annabeth’s boyfriend, Hazel doesn’t make a move to pick up the infant. “Babies don’t
really like me”, she explains and shrugs.

When it is time to begin the heist, everyone meets in the break room as per Annabeth’s request.

She pulls a red blanket out of a bag on which someone had stitched the words “ULTIMATE
HUMAN / GENIUS” in bold, golden letters. Small, colorful gemstones are imbedded in the fabric
around the lettering which look deceivingly real.

The Detective lays the blanket on the table they gathered around and pulls a bottle with a blue
liquid out of her pocket.

“I was tasked with bringing an object, easy to transport, almost impossible to replicate and hard to
initially steal.” She lifts the bottle of paint. “As CSU loves to remind us, splatter patterns can tell
you a lot and are almost impossible to replicate.” She squeezes the bottle, causing a streak of blue
paint to land on the red cloth. She hands the bottle over to Rosa, who is standing beside her.

“Everyone can put some paint on the blanket, we’ll take a picture and send it to everyone via mail.
That way, we can be sure who has the right blanket at the end of the day.” There are nods all
around the table. It sounds like a good plan, impossible to mess with.

The red color of the fabric quickly gives way to blue splashes and drops, but everyone is careful to
avoid the letters and the bright stones.

Captain Holt takes the picture of the finished blanket himself and sends it to everyone in the squad,
causing their phones to go off with notifications of the incoming mail.

“Now, for the initial placement”, Annabeth goes on, strolling over to the crib. Mac isn’t quite
asleep yet and willingly grabs on to the blanket when the Detective drapes it over him.

She herds everyone out of the break room and closes the door.

“Today’s heist ends at six p.m. Whoever has the blanket then will be announced the winner”, she
reminds them. “May the best human slash genius win!”, the blonde exclaims. Then she grabs her
coat from her chair and turns to Hazel. “Brunch?”

Unbelieving stares follow the two women to the stairs and out of sight. As the two half-goddesses
leave the precinct, the annual chaos descends over the rest of the squad.

“Everything all right?”, Annabeth asks her friend as they move away from the precinct. “The
gemstones working for you?”

Hazel grins. “Yeah, I can feel them just fine. As long as nobody takes the blanket out of the
precinct, I’ll be able to tell you where it is stashed later”, she reassures her friend.

“Perfect.”

-------------------------------------------

Getting the blanket from Mac Peralta proves to be a challenge. The toddler has it firmly grabbed in
both hands, making removing it without waking him impossible.

The squad loiters in the bullpen, waiting for an opportunity to get the prized blanket into
circulation. The opportunity presents itself when Mac wakes almost two hours later, screaming for
food.

Amy goes in to feed him some porridge and the rest of the team presses into the room behind her.
At some point between Amy taking Mac from the crib and her sitting down on the couch to feed
him, the blanket vanishes from his hands.

The ensuing chaos allows Boyle to quickly stash the blanket in his cooling bag underneath his
current fermenting project without anyone noticing.

He takes the bag back to the bullpen and places it underneath his desk. For a moment, Charles
Boyle feels save in his victory. At the very least, he’s off to a good start.
Then, the elevator doors open to reveal a parade of children, all dressed in various Star Wars
costumes and Charles’ confidence falls. He does his best to keep in constant touch with his bag, but
somewhere between a 9-year-old Rey and a mini-sized Jabba-the-Hutt, the box vanishes and his
foot presses against the cold metal of his desk.

Jake gives the kid who drops Charles’ cooling bag off in the observation room a full box of candies
– one of the cheaper bribes he’d had to pay during Halloween. The lad’s Yoda-costume has a
strange hue and the ears droop, but he did his job and Jake removes the blanket from under
whatever his friend is currently fermenting.

He quickly checks on the stitching, the stones and the splatter to make sure he secured the right
blanket, then he stashes it in the ceiling.

“No one will think to look up there”, he mutters to himself. “I’m a genius.”

He hides the cooling box in one of the storage rooms for Charles to recover later.

When the Detective returns to the bullpen, Terry is already herding all the kids down the stairs and
out of the precinct. Jake sits down in his chair and meets Amy’s eyes, from where his wife has
taken place at her former desk.

“If Chase isn’t here, might as well use the place I’m most familiar with”, she argues. She takes a
long look at her husband. “You want to know what else I’m familiar with?”

Jake shrugs and tries for an interested, but not too exited expression.

“I’m very familiar with you, Jake. And this” – she gestures to the last children, waiting for the
elevator – “this just screams Peralta stylez. Where did you stash the blanket?”

Jake leans over his desk, bringing his face close to Amy’s, who similarly leans forward. “I’ll never
tell you”, he vows.

Amy is about to argue, but she suddenly sneezes violently.

“Bless you”, Jake says.

“Thank you”, she answers, then sneezes again.

They exchange a look, then simultaneously push back their chairs to look under the desks.

Cheddar happily wags his tail upon seeing their faces appear in front of him. A small microphone
dangles from his collar.

“Captain!”, Amy exclaims.

A moment later, Holt emerges from the corridor leading to the interrogation room and calls the dog
to him. “Santiago, you were supposed to sit at Gina’s desk today”, he chides the Sargent while
feeding his dog a treat.

Jake looks from the Captain to the dog, then to Amy. “So, you trained Cheddar to follow me
around and record me?”

“Yes, you have a strange habit of talking to yourself, Detective Peralta. It was quite an easy thing to
do.”
“Too bad that Amy is allergic to dogs and ruined your plan.” Jake has never been so happy for his
wife’s allergies.

“Did she now?”

Jake runs to the observation room, but the blanket is gone. Holt laughs mockingly when the
Detective returns to the bullpen.

“Seems you activated your mini-flash-mob too soon, Peralta.” Holt vanishes in his office with
Cheddar at his side.

For a while, nothing of note happens. People go in and out the bullpen, Amy goes to check up on
her officers on the floor below after a while, and Jake tries to find out where Holt stashed the
blanket.

It irks him that Chase isn’t part of the heist, because this is the best bonding experience they get all
year, even if it is centered around lies and deceit.

She’d probably be rather good at it, as well.

Jake’s train of thought is suddenly interrupted by a bang in the break room which causes Mac to
startle awake and cry out in distress.

Jake rushes over, takes the infant in his arms and gently rocks him until he calms down again.

He suspiciously eyes the smoldering trashcan in the corner of the room. He shifts Mac so he can
grab it with his other hand and carries the cause of his son’s bad mood into the bullpen.

“Who did this?”, he demands. All heads turn to him. “Seriously, guys. Exploding stuff with Mac in
the room? That’s taking things too far.”

“You tased your wife during the heist two years ago”, Terry reminds him. “You sure you are the
right person to draw lines in the sand about what to do during the Halloween Heist?”

“Sorry, Jakey. We didn’t mean to put him in danger.” Scully immediately receives a kick to the
shin for his words from his partner.

Jake rounds on them. “You did that? Why?”

“Because we got the blanket from Captain Holt.” Scully has a satisfied smile on his face.
Hitchcock buries his face in his hands.

“You weren’t supposed to tell them that, you moron”, he admonishes.

“Where did you stash it?”, Jake asks. Because really, if he is dealing with Scully, it might just be
that easy.

“You’ll never find it”, Hitchcock announces proudly.

“You put it in the towel rack in the ladies’ room”, Rosa evenly states while reentering the bullpen.

“Dammit”, Hitchcock curses.

“I don’t suppose you just left it there since it is such a good hiding place?”, Scully tries his luck.
“Of course, I did.” Rosa’s voice is dripping with sarcasm. “That’s why I announced the place to
the whole bullpen.”

Scully is delighted. “Great.”

“She’s being sarcastic, Scully.”

“Oh.” Scully’s face falls for a moment, but then he smiles at his colleagues. “At least we had it for
some minutes. I vote Hitchcock and Scully for this year’s victors.”

“That’s not how it works, Scully.”

“Too bad.”

------

The bullpen falls quiet for a while, until they hear a shriek from the entrance to one of the
interrogation rooms. When the squad hurries over, they find Charles, a bucket on his head and
completely drenched in water.

He looks at his coworkers in resignation. “Your booby-traps were more sophisticated, once”, he
tells Rosa.

She graces him with a rare smile. “That wasn’t me.” Her face falls. “That means someone else was
in here!” She rushes past Boyle into the room, drops onto one of the chairs and pats the underside
of the desk. “It’s gone- ew.” She pulls her hand back which is unexpectedly covered by a green
slimy substance. She holds it up in accusation. “Who was that?”

Wisely, nobody admits to putting Rosa in a terrifying mood and she wanders off to wash her hands.

-----

Annabeth and her friend return with twenty minutes left on the clock. Nobody pays them any mind;
joining so late in the game made winning as good as impossible.

The youngest Detective announces that she would show Hazel around and takes her on a tour
through the precinct.

They talk in hushed voices as they leave to see the evidence lockup, but the rest of the squad is too
preoccupied to notice their words or the inconspicuous bag they bring back from the tour.

When the clock strikes six, Charles is only half-dry, Rosa’s hand is still greenish, one of Terry’s
suspenders is missing and Hitchcock isn’t wearing a shirt – but that could be completely unrelated
to the heist.

The Detectives linger for a moment, waiting for the winner to announce themselves, but everyone
just blanky stares back. Annabeth and Hazel stand at the edge of the room, largely disregarded by
the rest of the team – they got in too late to change anything, anyways.

They all whirl around when they hear an exclamation of “it’s gone!” coming from the evidence
lockup.

Amy storms into the bullpen, frantically looking around. “Someone took the blanket from the
evidence lockup. Who has it?”

“Looking for this?” Annabeth pulls the attention to herself and the blanket out of the bag she’s
been holding.

“You did not have enough time to pull this off!”

“How on earth did you do this?”

Annabeth just laughs, draping the blanket around her shoulders like a cape. “If I tell you now, I
can’t use the same method next year”, she says instead of an answer.

“But… you have to tell us.”

“Detective Chase, as your superior officer, I command you to tell us how you pulled off this heist.”

Annabeth regards the Captain. She gestures for them all to come closer. Ready to be let in on the
secret, they follow her invitation, shuffling closer together.

“Well, to tell you the truth, it was…” She makes a dramatic pause. “Magic!”, the Detective
exclaims.

Before one of her colleagues can answer, she turns, causing her blanket-cape to billow behind her.
“This ultimate human slash genius promised her friend a drink.” She drapes an arm around Hazel’s
shoulders. “See you at Shaw’s?”

--------------

Drinks at Shaw’s are fun. It’s loud and everyone keeps pestering Annabeth about how she pulled
off the heist.

Amy is adamant that Chase shouldn’t have been able to find the blanket, that it was too well-
hidden, she must have put a tracking device on it.

Everyone who had the blanket over the course of the day assures her that they had checked it for
tracking devices and that there were none on it when they got their hands on it.

“As long as Chase hasn’t learned to magically track cheap plastic gemstones, it probably was just
plain luck”, Jake concludes after a while.

Hazel snorts out a laugh and Annabeth shakes her head. “Yeah sure, if that makes you feel better.”

At first, the squad is careful around Hazel, but she quickly proves herself to be as strong and willful
as she is kind and friendly. Naturally, everyone starts asking her to tell stories about Annabeth
when she was younger.

“Did she always pack such a punch?”, Jake asks. “She’s quite a fighter.”

Hazel laughs and takes another sip of her beer. “The first time I saw her, she judo-flipped Percy
and threatened his life, so… yes, she was like this for as long as I can remember.”

“You judo-flipped Percy and the guy still fell in love with you after that? Not quite what I’d call a
meet-cute”, Charles comments, nudging Annabeth’s shoulder.

“Oh, Percy and I were already a couple when I met Hazel.”

Rosa raises an eyebrow. “You judo-flipped your boyfriend as a greeting? Not that I can’t
 understand the urge, but…”

“He vanished on me without explanation. Of course, I judo-flipped him.”

“Completely appropriate response”, Rosa endorses her. She clinks her glass with Annabeth’s.

Boyle is grinning, loving the dramatic insight he’s getting in his colleague’s life. “Did he try to
defend himself at all?”

“He laughed”, Annabeth grumbles.

Hazel smiles. She regards her friend for a moment. When she talks, it’s with a curious, almost
cautious tone. “Did you ever consider the alternative?”

The Detective just raises her eyebrows in question.

“You were on a diplomatic mission, came in on that ship and attacked our praetor in front of the
entire camp. Most people probably viewed your attack as the start of a hostile take-over. If he
hadn’t found it so funny, you would have been in serious trouble.”

“Diplomatic mission?”, Terry asks, the same time Amy repeats the word “Praetor”. It sounds more
like a question from her.

“We were evening out animosities between Camps”, Chase explains absentmindedly, before
turning back to her friend. “I haven’t thought about it like that”, she admits. “But you know that he
wasn’t thinking about political ramifications at that moment or any other moment in his life.”
Annabeth takes a deep breath. “And it was never meant to be a hostile take-over.” She says the last
part quietly, like it was an old argument.

“Of course he wasn’t thinking about ramifications. He was only thinking about how happy he was
about seeing you again.”

A light blush starts to color Annabeth’s cheeks. “I know.”

Just then, Captain Holt enters the bar, after haven taken a detour home to drop off Cheddar.

He gets a beer from the bar and joins the squad, raising his glass to a toast. “To Annabeth Chase,
the ultimate human slash genius”, he announces. “May we one day find out how you pulled this
off.”

“To Annabeth Chase, the ultimate human slash genius”, the squad echoes.

“To me!”, Annabeth exclaims and raises her glass high in the air. She lowers the glass to her lips
but stops before drinking. She regards the people around her with a fond expression. “And to all of
you.” She gestures to the group with her glass in hand. “Thank you… for taking me in, for…
accepting me and allowing me to join the family.” She raises her glass for another toast. “To the 9-
9!”

“Nine-nine!” The outcry fills the bar as everyone in the group raises their glasses in unison.

“You always were good at not-so-hostile take-overs”, Hazel whispers in her friend’s ear, almost
causing the newly crowned human slash genius to choke on the day of her victory.

Chapter End Notes

So... I yada-yadaed over parts of the heist, I hope you're not to cross with me for that.
Anybody elso ever thought about that scene where Annabeth came in, as a percieved
mortal enimy, and pretty much starts out by attacking the newly-elected praetor (after
snogging him, I know)? Because that was NOT a smart move.
I thought about Hazel just winning the Heist by doing stuff with the mist, bring Frank
in to change forms and spy, Nico to shadow travel around to get the prize (if Will
allowed it), Piper just talking everyone else into giving up the blanket,... there are just
SO MANY opportunities!
I'm going to bed now.
Toodles.
 The Vulture
Chapter Notes

Wohoo - a new chapter.

It's a rather short one, but I thought it was a fun idea.
Have fun reading.

For some reason, the chapter was first uploaded as the second-to-last instead of the
fast, so I moved it...

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The November air is uncharacteristically warm when Jake and Annabeth stroll through the small
park shortly before noon.

They are talking to each other in low voices, checking in with their colleagues over the head-sets
they all wear.

It had taken weeks to track their perp down, to nail a moment when he would be away from his
mob connections for long enough that they could grab him without inciting a shoot-off.

When they finally figured out his movements, where he will be at a certain time, Holt sent the
majority of the squad to apprehend him, not willing to risk the guy getting away.

Terry and Amy are running mission control from a van at the edge of the park while Jake and
Annabeth circle the south entrance, Rosa and Boyle taking the north entrance of the park, waiting
for their high-level drug-dealer to show his face.

They pick up Rosa’s cursing over radio. “Diaz, what’s wrong?”, Terry immediately demands to
know.

“The Vulture is here.”

Her curses are echoed over the radio.

“You think he’s here for our perp?”

“Why else would he be here?”

“He won’t get this one.”

“Who is the Vulture?” Annabeth’s question cuts through the collective chatter.

“He’s with the major crimes division,” Rosa explains. “Comes in at the last moment to steal cases
that are almost wrapped up, gets all the credit for none of the work.”

“Can’t Terry pull rank on him?” As always, the blonde is already looking for a solution to their
problem. “He’s a Lieutenant, after all.”

“Unfortunately,” Terry answers, “Captain Pembroke outranks me.”

“Pembroke?” Annabeth immediately perks up. “As in Keith Pembroke?”

Jake raises an eyebrow at her. “Yeah. You know him?”

Her look is almost predatory as she scans the park. “Sure do. Where is he? I’ll make him back off.”
There is a bounce in her step as the turns around to seek the Vulture.

“Appreciate the effort, Chase, but I don’t think you can do anything about him.” Terry’s voice is
clipped, he is focused on the mission.

“Just tell me where he is.”

Rosa’s voice comes over the radio. “Came in through the north entrance, now heading east.” Jake
spots Pembroke behind some trees and points him out to the other Detective.

“You get our drug dealer, I’ll make sure Pembroke doesn’t get in your hair,” Chase instructs.

“Really looking forward to seeing how you want to do that.”

Annabeth picks up her pace to intercept the Vulture and Jake follows her, not feeling good about
the idea of leaving her alone with the notorious Captain.

She raises her hand in greeting as they get closer. “Keith, is that you?”

The look Pembroke throws them is spiteful at first. When he spots them, his expression quickly
goes through surprised, annoyed, and apprehensive, before finally settling on a forced smile.

“Annabeth. What are you doing here?”

The Detective flashes him her badge. “Working. I’m with the 99th precinct. What brings you
here?”

Pembroke’s face starts twitching in a way Jake has never seen before. It’s great.

“I’m working as well.” His gaze jumps from Annabeth to Jake and back again. Jake gives him a
small wave. “I’m actually…” Pembroke trails off.

“You what?” Annabeth’s voice is strangely soft. “You weren’t planning on taking our case from
us, were you?”

The Vulture takes in a deep breath. “Well, you say it’s your case, but the major crimes division
outranks the…”

“Are you trying to pull rank on me?” Annabeth sounds genuinely curious, almost amused. She
seems to be suppressing a smile.

Jake has absolutely no idea what is going on between the two of them. He can hear over the radio
that Boyle has spotted their perp and that he and Rosa go to apprehend him. Whatever Chase has on
the Vulture, she only has to keep him occupied for another minute or five.

“You aren’t even…” Whatever the Vulture was going to say, he stops himself. He scratches his
forearm where Jake can spot the outline of a tattoo, then takes a deep breath and tries again.
“You’re not even one of us.” He puts a strange emphasis on the last word.

“Are you saying that I can’t pull rank because you are from the west coast and I’m from the east
coast? You know I have very good friends in your camp.”
Pembroke presses his jaws together hard enough that Jake can hear a crunching sound. “I’ll back
off your case,” he finally offers, gaze shifting to the ground in defeat.

Annabeth gives up none of her standoffish demeanor. She stares her opponent down.

Pembroke doesn’t manage to hold her gaze for long. He averts his eyes. “I’ll back off the 99th in
general as a gesture of friendship,” he grinds out.

Annabeth relaxes her stance and beams. “So nice of you.” She takes a step closer, takes the man’s
right hand, although it wasn’t even offered, and shakes it. “You always puzzled me, Keith. All of
your mother’s competitiveness, none of her actual skill.” She leans in close, and Jake doesn’t think
her next words are meant to reach his ears. “How does it feel for a son of Victoria to lose to a
graceus?”

Pembroke opens his mouth for a reply but thinks better of it. He turns around and storms off.

Over the radio, Rosa announces that she and Boyle have successfully apprehended their drug
dealer.

“How do you know him?”, Jake asks as they walk through the park, back to the van.

“Our Camp had this collaboration with a Camp at the west coast,” she explains, waving her hands
around while talking. “I met Keith at a celebration there a few years back. Never really got along
with him, though.”

“How does ‘we met a party once’ translate to ‘I can pull rank on him’?” Rosa asks while pushing
their perp in the back of the vehicle.

“I can’t pull rank on him,” is the immediate answer. When she sees her coworkers’ looks, the
Detective amends her statement. “I have a certain reputation at both Camps. People tend to… be
receptive to my suggestions.”

“So… you bullied them into submission?”, Rosa asks. “Not that I’m judging. Quite impressed,
actually.”

“I would never! I simply… made them see that following my advice and keeping on my good side
is preferable to antagonizing me,” Annabeth states while climbing in the back of the van and
shuffling through to the window seat.

They all stare at her.

“If you don’t believe me, you’re very welcome to ask Keith himself,” she offers and pulls out her
phone. “I believe I have his number somewhere…”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Terry stops her.

Jake frantically shakes his head. They had just gotten rid of the guy, there was really no need to get
the Vulture back here and in range of their perp.

Annabeth halts in her movements, looks at the rest of the group, one by one. “Anyone else?”

They all shake their heads and climb into the van.

“She totally bullied them into submission,” Boyle whispers as he takes his seat next to Jake.

Annabeth bursts out in laughter behind them.

Chapter End Notes

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?

(Kind of hope it's a "no" on the questions, to be honest, and that I made a good enough
job explaining in the first place...)
I'm currently coming to the point where I have a lot of conversations planned out but
decidedly too little plot to go with it :/ sooo.... chapters might be short for a while.
I'm trying to keep to 2 updates a week, but school starts up again tomorrow and I'll
have to see how well that'll work.
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Polar Swim
Chapter Notes

I've spent most of my Math class correcting and editing this, now I'm spending the
beginning of english class uploading (surely, this counts as furthering my grasp of the
English language? ^^)
Have fun reading

See the end of the chapter for more notes

With Christmas fast approaching, Captain Holt and Rosa once again plan on participating in the
polar swim on December, 23.

Amy, having learned her lesson to not participate, just rolls her eyes when Rosa brings up the
incident some years prior towards the end of their shift.

Before Rosa can needle her about it any further, though, their newest Detective joins the
conversation.

“You’re doing the ice swimming thing?”, Annabeth asks, looking up from her computer.

Rosa nods. “Holt and I have been going for years. Wanna come?”

Amy gasps. She has never been invited, had to fight to come along in the first place. They probably
were right about that, though. The water had been too cold for her.

“Percy has been trying to get me to go with him for years”, the blonde admits with a shrug. “I
never really saw the appeal of it. I don’t go swimming in the Hudson when it’s warm, why would I
go when it’s chilly?”

Like he had been summoned by her words, Captain Holt appears behind his newest recruit. “It’s
not chilly,” he amends. “It’s as cold as the waters of Cocytus, the frozen lake of hell.”

There is a haunted look on Chase’s face as she opens and closes her mouth a couple of times.
Seeing her speechless in the face of her superior’s reprimand immediately brings up memories of
Amy in Holt’s early days.

But this is different, Chase has never taken her superior’s critics to heart like that.

Since so far, the squad has yet to see Chase to try and fail to come up with a comeback, they all
wait eagerly as she gathers her wits, fiddles with the coral on her necklace and turns to stare down
their Captain.

“One, Cocytus is a river, not a lake,” she finally says to the surprise of all. That was not the
direction they saw that argument going. “Two, while the water is exceedingly cold, the body of
water is not actually frozen.” At that, Holt cocks an eyebrow in a very un-Holt-like burst of mimic
display. Annabeth holds up her hand, ticking off her points on her fingers. “And three, if you fall
into the river of Cocytus, the temperature is the least of your problems. You know, after the
desperation and the fact that you’re in hell.”
“Of course, Cocytus is a lake.” Holt sounds absolutely indignant and slips into his lecture-mode.
“In Works and Days, the old Greek poet Hesiod explicitly states, that…”

Annabeth actually groans. “Oh, don’t you quote Hesiod at me! He also wrote that it’d take nine
days to fall from earth to Tartarus, which is a complete exaggeration!”

The heated point takes everyone by surprise, including Holt.

“You know Hesiod?”, he finally asks in obviously pleased surprise.

Again: Not the direction the squad expected this argument to go.

“Of course, I know Hesiod! His writings aren’t quite on Homer’s level, but I know his hobnailed
hexameters just as well as the Odyssey.” The fight slowly leaves her as she looks at the Captain,
who is still staring at her in wonderment. Her gaze drifts through the room, over the disbelieving
faces of her co-workers. She runs a hand through her hair.

“What?”, she asks. “His works are rather famous.”

“Never heard of the guy,” Boyle states.

Jake points to his best friend. “Neither have I.”

“I read more books in one year than you did in your whole life, Peralta. Your literate knowledge is
not the best indicator of adequate reading habits, if I might say so.” Holt levels a stare at the
Detective and receives an affirming nod from Chase.

“That Jake reads very little doesn’t mean that being able to quote ancient Greeks is normal,” Terry
intervenes. “Maybe you should consult someone who is better-read than Jake but doesn’t quite
reach your level of strange knowledge,” he suggests.

In unison, everyone in the room turns to Amy.

She throws her hands up in defense. “What?”

“You read a lot of books. Those two,” Rosa jerks her head towards Chase and Holt. “Read a
freakish number of books and apparently memorize them all. So, you get to tell us if that
knowledge about… What’s his name?”

“Hesiod,” Annabeth supplies helpfully.

“… If that knowledge about Hesiod is due to reading a lot or due to reading a freakish amount.”

Holt nods in approval. “Ah, yes. That sounds fair. Go on, then, Santiago. Tell them you know the
works of Hesiod, so we can put this futile discussion behind us.”

Amy hates to disappoint her superior, but she lowers her gaze to the floor. “I know of him,” she
finally admits. “But I never read any of his texts.”

Jake gives a triumphant laugh.

Holt shakes his head in disappointment. Then, he turns to Chase. “Will you join us for the polar
swim? We could further discuss the merits Homer has over Hesiod.”

“Please don’t!” They turn to Rosa upon her outburst. “Discuss Greek poets,” she is quick to
emphasize. “Not not come.”
Annabeth shoots her a quick smile. “Can I bring Percy? He’ll never let me forget it if after years of
him pestering me to go with him, I’ll go without him.”

“Does he know Hesiod?”

“Not well enough to quote, but he will happily talk about all mundane bodies of water with you,”
she offers.

“Well, I suppose that has to be enough, then. Yes, bring him along.”

Annabeth grins, pulls out her phone and texts her boyfriend. At least this way, she wouldn’t have to
freeze quite as much in the Hudson.

--------

A cold breeze blows along the riverside of the Hudson when nearly hundred people gather there
for the annual polar swim.

Holt, Rosa, Annabeth and Percy stand huddled together in a small group.

As promised, Percy has happily started a conversation with Holt about the differences between sea
live in oceans opposed to that in epicontinental seas. Rosa had immediately tuned out that
conversation and asked Annabeth about the perp she had brought in earlier that day.

They all wear thick cloaks over their swimwear and wait for the signal to run into the water.

The horn blares, causing the crowd around them to shed their coats and run into the river. Annabeth
and Percy make to follow them, but stop when instead of approaching the water, Holt pulls small
silver flasks out of his pocket.

Rosa takes hers without comment, as she does every year.

Annabeth and Percy share a look, then grab their flasks as well. The look on Percy’s face is just a
tad uneasy and it doesn’t seem to be caused by the prospect of running into ice-cold water.

“A toast”, Holt announces. He raises his flask in ceremony. “To the sea.” Percy grins. “Today I am
reminded of a poem by Emily Dickinson.” The Captain glances at Annabeth and Percy as if to
make sure they won’t interrupt him before he starts reciting.
“I started early, took my dog,
And visited the sea;
The mermaids in the basement
Came out to look at me.”

Rosa soon tunes his recital of poetry from two centuries ago out and lets the rumbling words roll
over her. She enjoys this part of the polar swim each year, almost as much as running into the
freezing water itself.

Holt usually keeps to himself at the precinct, certainly keeps most of his thoughts quiet. It’s nice to
see him ramble on about poetry and the sea, uninterrupted and unjudged.

“That’s not a toast,” Jackson exclaims after Holt has finished. Well, mostly unjudged.

“Do you know any other good toasts to the sea?”, Holt asks with a raised eyebrow.

Annabeth and Jackson share another look. It seems to hold an entire conversation. A small smile
spreads over their faces. “As a matter of fact, I do.” He raises his flask in celebration.

“To the sea, so blue and wide

To its creatures, shining bright.”

Annabeth raises her own flask and takes over the toast.

“To all knowledge, new and old

To strategies, finessed and bold.”

She leans to the side, so her shoulder bumps into Percy’s and they finish together.

“To you and me, first and foremost

I raise my glass and make this toast.”

Rosa raises a questioning eyebrow at them.

Annabeth’s smile is soft and full of memories. “It’s something we started doing at Camp a few
years ago. Everyone has a few lines of toast, but in the ending, we drink to us.”

“Well, good enough for me,” the older woman states.

She raises her flask into the air, so does Captain Holt and the four of them clink them together in
the air.

Rosa drinks and feels the alcohol spread pleasantly through her body, warming her from the inside.

While the other three drink, Percy just lets his flask dangle between his fingers, waiting patiently.

Rosa is about to ask about it, but she meets her coworker’s gaze, and the blonde slightly shakes her
head. She lets it go for now.

“Are we going to do this, or what?”, Percy asks after they’ve all drunken their fill.

They all nod eagerly at the suggestion and shed their coats.

The four of them jog into the water, Rosa and Holt stopping when it reaches their knees. She puts
her hands in the river, splashes her thighs a bit.

The water is freezing and prickles on her skin like thousands of little needles. It makes her feel
alive, she can hear her heart pounding underneath the cacophony of sound caused by the people
around her.

When she looks up, the Captain is standing next to her. The other two are not.

She follows Holt’s gaze further into the river. Annabeth has stopped where the water almost
reaches her hip.

Percy is currently emerged to his ribs and is still going. He stops when his girlfriend shouts at him
and turns around. He says something in reply that Rosa can’t hear, but finally makes his way back
to his girlfriend.

They hug and slowly return to Rosa and Holt.

When they are only a few feet away, Percy flops forwards in the freezing water, completely
immerging himself and causing a small wave that reaches Rosa’s mid-thigh.
 He comes back up a moment later, his hair dripping wet, his breaths little cloudy puffs in the icy
air. He shakes his head, causing little droplets of water to fly around. He seems unbothered by the
cold water, almost seems to enjoy it, in fact.

It’s probably just that she is getting used to the temperature, but once Percy and Annabeth join
them, the water around Rosa doesn’t seem quite as cold.

-----------

When they are on land again, dry and changed in their winter clothes and going back to their cars,
Annabeth jerks her head at Rosa, who allows the men to walk ahead, already absorbed in another
discussion about the sea.

Rosa flashes back Jackson’s pinched expression when he was handed the flask and the way he just
stood there while the others drank.

“Percy’s ex-stepfather was abusive and constantly drunk,” Annabeth explains in a low voice.
“Percy… got drunk on his 21st birthday. Never touched a drop of alcohol after that.”

Rosa’s eyes fixate on the mop of black hair some paces in front of her. She is glad that she didn’t
ask before, wouldn’t want to open up old wounds.

“You said his stepfather was abusive as a drunk. When he got drunk, did he…?” She lets the
question trail off, giving Annabeth the opportunity to simply not answer.

The other woman shakes her head. “No, he’d never hurt me. It was… rather cute, to be honest.
Kept telling me that he has a girlfriend, and I shouldn’t try to flirt with him.” She smiles wistfully
at his broad back. “Percy is the kindest person to the people he loves, but he knows that he can get
rather threatening to those he doesn’t. And when I told him in the morning that he couldn’t quite
place me…” She runs a hand through her hair. “He simply decided to make sure he never confused
one with the other.”

She looks just a little bit forlorn.

Rosa feels with her. She knows about parents who aren’t quite what one would hope them to be,
but while her parents weren’t exactly supportive, they never outright abused her, either.

She thinks about something to say, to express her understanding, but everything she comes up with
is either a platitude or too mushy for her likes.

Then Percy turns his head, meets Annabeth’s eyes and slows his walk, so the women can catch up.
He slings his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders, presses a kiss in her hair. He meets Rosa’s eyes
and gives her a tight smile over Annabeth’s head.

Rosa returns the expression, and for the rest of the walk to the car, she listens to him prattle on
about the importance of freshwater springs.

Chapter End Notes

I actually had to do quite a bit of research on this one. First the discussion about
Hesiod, then something for Holt to quote, the toasts for Annabeth and Percy...
For those who forgot: Cocytus was the river Percy and Annabeth land in after their fall
to Tarterus, Percy managed to safe them from dying by impact but they almost
drowned because the river causes desperation and almost made him give up.
Holt mentions Cocytus as a lake in the episode where Amy goes with them (S03 E10)
and we know that he likes repeating himself...
The poem he recites in this chapter is "By The Sea" by Emily Dickinson.
I kind of have that headcanon that each of the Cabins have some lines to toast their
godly parents and I'm trying to come up with those of the other ones, so I can maybe
write a chapter later with all the toasts...
But english isn't my first language, writing "normal" texts is hard enough, making
them rhyme is annoying, because I keep going back to a translator to listen to words so
I know if they actually rhme, because in English, it's not enough that they are written
alike in the end... (in other languages, it's enough and it makes things MUCH easier)
Percy for me is a charecter who just doesn't drink. Tried it once, quickly decided to
never do it again, doesn't really bring it up but is fine with talking about it if brought
up.
Looong note, I'll stop now.
Leave a comment if you want to make me happy :)
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Incident At The Bank
Chapter Notes

Whooo - new chapter...

Get some more people from Camp in this one.
Good old hostage situation trope, just because it thought it might be fun :)
Have fun reading.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Robberies with hostages are never fun.

So, when Rosa sets her phone down and announces that reports are coming in of three gunmen in a
bank with about two dozen civilians, Jake isn’t happy to begin with.

“The Hostage negotiation team is already setting up, but they need more officers for crowd
control,” she relates.

“Which bank?”, Terry asks, glancing up from his paperwork.

“M&T,” Rosa simply answers. And at that point, Jake’s blood runs cold.

“Chase is there.” He immediately has the attention of the entire squad on him.

“What do you mean?”

Jake is already dialing. “She went to lunch early to meet a friend and help him set up an account.”
He puts the phone to his ear. “It’s going straight to voicemail.”

Rosa grabs her jacket, Jake hot on her heels. “Let’s go.”

----------

The hostage negotiation team is already on scene when they arrive. A secure area is being set up
by uniformed officers.

The Detectives from the 99th are let through to the hostage negotiator on site. Her name is Lisa
Wanger, and she makes very clear that Jake and Rosa are not to mess with her work and are not
allowed to interfere in any way except crowd control.

Having a young Detective inside doesn’t sit well with her, but she agrees to keep the pair updated
on the events.

As they leave the vehicle that is being used as mission command center, Jake spots a familiar face
among the spectators.

Percy Jackson looks worried when Jake approaches, nervously clicking a ballpoint pen he’s
holding in his hand.

“What are you doing here?”, Jake asks the younger man while signaling the uniformed officers to
let him through the barricades.

“Annabeth wanted to meet some friends to set up an account, we were going to meet for lunch, and
now she isn’t picking up her phone.” He jerks his head in the direction of the building. “She’s in
there, isn’t she?”

Jake tries his best to put on a calming facade. “We think so, yes.”

“Do you know if she is alone?” His eyes scan the crowd.

The question takes Jake by surprise. “There are 19 hostages, plus three armed gunmen, so…”

“She was supposed to meet someone. Do you know if anyone was with her when this started? Do
you have some kind of surveillance from the inside?”

Jake shakes his head. “I don’t know. Mission control is still going through the footage from before
they shut off the cameras.”

“Think I can take a look at this footage? See if our friend is with her?”

Rosa, who had just appeared at Jake’s side after having dealt with the uniformed officers, vanishes
again, and returns shortly after with a stack of pictures. She hesitates before addressing Percy, not
giving him the stack.

“Who did Annabeth want to meet with?”

“A friend who intends to open an account and asked Annabeth to help with the paperwork.” He
holds out a hand for the papers, but Rosa holds them tight.

“What does he look like?”

Percy shrugs. “Dark hair, brown eyes, rather short - maybe about Amy’s height - probably wearing
black, rather pale… Why? Is he in there?”

He tries to get a look at the picture but Rosa shifts so he can’t see it. Jake takes the opportunity to
take a glance himself.

It’s a picture from a surveillance camera. It shows Annabeth and the guy Percy had just described.
And they are holding hands while standing in line.

Jake would never have taken his partner for someone who’d cheat on her boyfriend, had never
expected her to cheat on Percy of all people, they seemed to be such a great couple…

He takes the stack of pictures from Rosa and flips through them. The first one shows the Detective
and her friend waiting in line next to each other, talking. On the second picture, 30 seconds later,
they are holding hands, the guy carefully smiling up at Annabeth. The pictures show the two of
them advancing in line in 30 second increments, holding each other by the hand until the feed cuts
out.

“What?” Percy must have recognized the look on Jake’s face as something bad, for he makes
another attempt at getting the pictures. “Is something wrong with them?”

Jake hands the papers back to Rosa.

“What is the relationship between Annabeth and this guy?”, Jake asks.
Jackson is agitated, bursting with nervous energy and Jake can’t really blame him.

“Would you just show me the pictures?!”

Rosa flinches at Percy’s outburst and hands over the most recent picture.

He shoots her an apologetic glance and calms instantly when he sees what it shows. “She’s okay.”
He shoots them a quick smile, then goes back to studying the paper in his hands.

“It seems so.”

“And so is Nico. That’s a relief.”

Percy peeks up at Rosa and Jake who are still watching him carefully. He looks back at the picture.
“What?”

“They seem rather… close,” Jake states.

“Yeah, been friends for quite a while, I guess.” His attention has already shifted from Annabeth
and the guy next to her as he scans the paper for something or someone else.

“Sure that that’s all there is between them?” Rosa indicates to the intertwined hands.

Jackson huffs out a laugh. “You were worried because they are holding hands?”

Jake slowly nods.

“That’s not romantic hand-holding,” Percy insists. “That’s Annabeth making sure Nico doesn’t run
away. There’s nothing going on between the two of them.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself, man.”

For a moment, Percy looks like he is going to argue with Rosa, but then he just lets it go. He points
at another figure in the picture. It’s a Latino male with the back to the camera. Despite the cold
January weather, he only wears a shirt. “Is there an angle where we can see his face?”

Rosa skims through the stack and produces a picture from the same camera, where the guy turned
his head.

“That’s Leo.”

Jake remembers seeing the name Leo Valdez on the list of hostages the negotiator had shown
them.

“You seem happy,” Jake observes. Not quite the reaction one would expect to see in someone just
discovering that another acquaintance of them is held hostage.

“Don’t get me wrong. Knowing my girlfriend is in a hostage situation is not fun. But if she is in
there anyways, I’m happy she’s got backup with her. She could have done way worse.”

Just as Jake wants to ask what Percy means by that, his phone chimes. It announces an incoming
message via Bluetooth, the sender is shown as gastro-cool.

He taps the message to open it.

“Supreme leader of the hostage-resistance movement offering counter intelligence intel.

Anyone read me?”

He shows the message to Rosa who just looks confused. Jake stares at the blinking cursor in the
open answer box.

“Who are you?”, he types back.

“Percy with you?” appears on his screen instead of an answer.

The man in question is still looking through the pictures Rosa had acquired and doesn’t notice the
strange exchange of messages Jake is involved in.

“Yes.”

“Prove it.”

Jake groans and shows the texts to Percy who tries to take the device from him.

“Who is that?”, Jake asks and pulls the phone out of his reach.

“That’s Leo.” Percy taps the Latino man on the picture he is still holding. He grabs Jake’s hand,
still holding the phone and mouths the words ”counter intelligence intel” with an eye roll.

“How do you know?”

“He is the only person I know to refer to himself as the supreme leader of anything. Plus, the
originator is listed as gastro-cool, which probably means they are locked inside a break room and
he somehow hacked the freezer or something.”

“Gastro-cool is the name of a line of high-tech fridges equipped with Bluetooth,” Rosa confirms
after a quick web-search.

“What do you want me to answer?”

Percy holds out his hand and Jake reluctantly hands the phone over. He watches over the other
man’s shoulder as he types out his answer.

“Aquaman to Iron-Boy, you in intelligence? I highly doubt that.” Everybody all right?

He sends the text and hands the phone back to Jake. “Aquaman to Iron-Boy?”

Percy shrugs. “We watched a Marvel vs. DC marathon for our last movie night,” he says like it
explains anything.

“You think it’s a good idea to antagonize our only connection to the hostages?” Rosa doesn’t look
too impressed by the answer, but before Percy can say anything in defense, the phone chimes with
another message.

“We’re fine. Any plans of storming the building?”

Jake shoots Rosa a look, and she just shakes her head. They are in the beginning stages of
negotiation; storming would be their last resort.

“Not until there is no other way”, Jake types back and seriously questions how the guy got a
fridge to send text messages back and forth.
“How is he doing this?”, he asks.

Percy just shrugs. “He has a way with technology.”

“Annabeth wants you to hold them off for 20 minutes. Nico’s going to Lockjaw around and
pull a Leo so she can pull a Spock.”

Jake stares at the message. It doesn’t make any sense. He shows it to Percy who smiles.

“Nico will help Annabeth into position, then distract the robbers so she can get in close and knock
them out with minimal force,” Percy translates. “We’ve been having a lot of movie nights lately.
Although the comparison to Spock doesn’t quite work, since…”

“Isn’t Lockjaw the teleporting dog from the Inhumans?” It was never Jake’s favorite comic, but
he’s read enough issues to recognize the name.

Jackson laughs. “Yes. Nico will be delighted to know that Leo compared him to a dog.”

“Can we go for Chinese when this is over? I’m hungry.”

Percy is still holding the phone when the new message comes in, and he has sent his reply before
Jake can take the phone from him.

“Hi hungry, I’m worried. Concentrate for me? Please?”

Rosa frowns. “He’s literally texting via a fridge. Why doesn’t he just open it and eats whatever is
inside?”

Percy looks at her like that idea hadn’t occurred to him either. “Probably slipped his mind,” he
admits.

“Sure, sure. I’ll try.”

Jake wrangles the phone out of Percy’s hand. “We need to tell the negotiator that we have contact
to the inside and that Annabeth is running interference.”

Rosa nods and they walk together to the vehicle in which the lead hostage negotiator is. She looks
up when they enter, skeptically eying Percy where he stands behind the Detectives.

“Why is there a civilian in my truck?”

Jake comes forwards and raises the phone. “We have contact with one of the hostages,” he answers
and hands over the device.

She reads the texts and levels a stare at them. “Is this a joke?”

Rosa rushes to explain the situation, introduces Percy and tells her their theory about Valdez
texting via a fridge.

“Is he a reliable source? Good under pressure?”

“Well… he’s completely useless without the pressure, so…” Percy stops at the glare leveled at
him. “Yes, he’s reliable. If you get him to concentrate long enough to answer a question.”

The phone chimes in the negotiator’s hand.

“Quick question, really need help with that one.”

There is a pause in which Jake and Rosa exchange worried glances.

“Centaurs have 6 limbs, does that make them insects?”

Percy barks a laugh when he sees the message. The other three are not quite as amused. “What?
It’s a valid question,” he claims.

“Where are you?”, the negotiator texts back.

“Break room, east side of the building. Do you think I should ask Chiron?”

The negotiator ignores the question. “How many people are with you?”

“You’re not Percy.”

“No, my name is Lisa Wagner. I’m in charge out here.”

“Nice to meet you. Can I talk to Percy, now?”

Wagner throws Percy an annoyed look. “Just get him to cooperate.” She hands over the phone.

“Definitely ask Chiron. But wait for me to be there. Need to see his face.” He sends the
message and is faced with three slightly annoyed police officers. He taps in another message.
”How many people?”

“16 in here + me + A&N somewhere in the building + 3 robbers”

“That means that they put all the hostages together,” Wagner observes. “Ask him if everyone in
there is all right and if there is a guard.”

Percy relays the question and soon gets the answer that everyone is fine but nervous and they’ve
been relieved of all electronic devices but are not being watched.

“You need to keep him calm,” the negotiator instructs.

“There is no keeping that guy calm. Leo has two settings: off and overdrive.”

“But if he’s scared…”

“Unlikely.”

Wagner huffs an annoyed breath. Percy shrugs and picks up the phone again.

“Are you scared?”, he types.

“No. Already lived longer than expected, anyways.”

“Not exactly the vibe I’d like him to have,” Wagner admits. “Will he do something rash?”

“Annabeth probably told him to stay put. We just have to hope that she finishes what she’s doing
before Leo gets bored.”

“If they are locked in the break room, how did Chase and di Angelo get out of there in the first
place?”, Wagner wonders. She turns to Jake and Rosa, but the two detectives just shrug.

“Nico has a way of… getting into places he is not supposed to be,” Jackson says in a sort-of
explanation. “It’s quite exhausting for him, though, and his doctor told him to stop doing it so
much.”

Before anyone can ask any more questions about the probably-most-definitely-a-former-burglar
who’s running around with their friend, Rosa wisely decides to change the subject. “Have the
robbers made any demands?”

The negotiator nods. “Money, safe transfer to the airport, a flight out of the city, the usual. We’ll
wait for either your colleague to give us a signal or take them out when they leave the bank.”

“So, you won’t interfere with whatever Annabeth is doing?” Percy is still anxious for his
girlfriend’s well-being. How couldn’t he be?

Wagner shrugs. “As long as a trained police officer is inside, working our side, I don’t want to risk
storming.”

“Annabeth is good. You don’t need to worry,” Jake soothes the civilian.

“Is that why the two of you are down here? Because you don’t worry about her?” Percy’s voice is
on a very thin line between understanding and snappy.

Jake and Rosa exchange a glance. He is right, they don’t really have any business being here
except worrying about their colleague.

“Well,” Jake amends. “No matter how good she is, one of our own is locked up in a bank with a
bunch of criminals, so of course, we worry.”

“You’ve got it wrong, though.” Jackson’s expression has gone hard around the edges. “She’s not
locked up with them, they’re locked up with her. And they’ll soon find out what that means.”

Jake meets Rosa’s gaze, both a little bit uncertain, a little bit worried. But there are many mysteries
around their co-worker and if her boyfriend is this sure she’ll make it out in one piece…

“I know my girlfriend is one of the best at what she does. And she has great backup in there.”
Jackson runs a hand through his messy hair and lets out a sigh. “Doesn’t mean I can’t worry.”

They stand together in silence for a while.

Suddenly, a single gunshot penetrates the calm that had engulfed the scene.

Jake’s phone chimes with another message.

“All units go.”

As soon as he read the message, Percy bursts out of the vehicle, Jake and Rosa running after him.
They quickly catch up with the attack team of the NYPD, which, startled into action by the
gunshot, has also taken off running to the front doors.

A second shot rings out.

The officers don’t try to stop Percy, Jake, and Rosa as they join their storm of the bank building.

They find one unconscious mugger close to the entrance, a nasty bruise forming on his temple.
The second perp lies unmoving at the counter, next to a bag full of bills.

They keep going, following the shortest way to the safe, where they find Chase and her friend,
along with the third robber, who has a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Annabeth looks fine.

Relief floods Jake at the sight of her. A gun is lying next to the Detective and she shoots Percy,
Rosa and Jake a quick smile as they storm in.

Percy immediately drops to his knees next to his girlfriend and presses a kiss in her hair. She pats
his leg in reassurance, smiles up at Jake and the officers around them.

Jackson turns to the other civilian in the room, who is ghostly pale and sunken to a heap on the
floor. He does not look well.

Percy moves to grab his shoulders but stops himself before touching. “May I touch you?”, he asks,
genuine concern written on his features.

Nico weakly shakes his head. “Not yet.”

Percy nods and sits down on the floor cross-legged. He is positioned with his back to the center of
the room, facing his friend who is boxed in between the wall and the tall man in front of him.

It takes Jake a moment to realize that Jackson is not trying to restrict his friend, but shield him from
the flurry of policemen and women in the room, who, so they don’t run over Percy, suddenly keep
a respectable distance to the heap that is Nico di Angelo.

Nico shoots Percy a small smile and allows his eyes to flutter shut for a moment.

Two of the officers go over to the injured robber who doesn’t put up any fight as they put cuffs on
him. “They just showed up out of nowhere,” he stammers, his eyes not leaving Annabeth and Nico
for a second. Rosa pulls him to his feet and escorts him out of the building to hand him over to a
medic.

Annabeth addresses Jake. “Have they found the other hostages yet? Is everyone all right?”

Jake offers his hand to help his partner up. “Let’s find out.”

“I’ll go find Leo”, Annabeth informs the two men on the floor. She pats Percy’s hair, who uses the
opportunity to run his hand over her forearm before she follows her partner out of the safe. “And
while I’m at it, I should probably call Will,” she mumbles to herself.

“Who’s Will?”, Jake asks as they walk the corridors to the break room where the hostages were
holed up.

“Nico’s boyfriend. He’s the only thing that works when he has one of his…” she gestures back the
way they came. “…episodes.”

He hears the word boyfriend and something clicks in his head. Jake thinks back to Percy’s absolute
conviction about the fact that there was nothing going on between the two and apparently, he was
right. It’s a relief.

“So, it’s not the first time he’s been like that?” It simultaneously scares and calms Jake.

Annabeth shakes her head. “No. He usually can prevent it from getting this bad, that state is caused
by exhaustion. But the third robber had a gun in his hand when we showed up and Nico… he
reacted on instinct to evade him and it was too much too quickly.”

“So, he’ll get over it?”

Chase nods. “Give him a day or three. But his boyfriend will be furious with him.”

Jake chuckles and falls silent while his partner dials a number and makes a call.

-------

Things happen in a blur after that.

They find the hostages alive and well.

Jake glances at the fridge, but he doesn’t see a keyboard, just a number pad and the screen is tiny
and it makes absolutely no sense that Valdez was able to communicate as well as he did.

Leo turns out to be a happy young man with excruciating excess energy who pats Jake’s shoulder
and answers “Annabeth mentioned your name and while it’s absolutely boring, your Bluetooth
name is rather straightforward,” when asked how he managed to send those texts.

And that might explain why Jake of all people got those massages, but it still doesn’t explain the
how. Before he can make further inquiries, however, the Latino is gone, almost skipping as he
follows the other hostages outside.

--------

When Jake makes it outside, Nico, Leo and Percy are sitting outside the bank building in the sun,
quietly talking to each other.

Nico still looks pale and sickish, but he is sitting up and is awake and talking and that is more than
could have been said twenty minutes ago.

“Are you feeling better?”, Jake asks.

The other man twiddles with his phone. “My doctor says I don’t have long to live,” he answers
with a grave expression.

Jake is so busy looking for a paramedic and checking the guy for injuries that he completely
misses Percy’s chuckle and Leo’s snort. “Are you hurt? Did one of the muggers shoot you?”, he
asks concerned.

“No, but I will kill him for overextending himself again!” A blond man in scrubs rushes over to
them, a paramedic bag slung over his shoulder.

He plonks his bag down on the curb, checking Nico over who softly smiles at the new arrival.

Between fussing over Nico (but only touching him after getting explicit permission) and
rummaging around in his bag, he greets Leo and Percy, asks after Annabeth, and smiles upon
hearing that she is well.

The medic significantly calms down after that, his expression settling into worried fondness before
he finally offers Nico a brownish square that he plops in his mouth and dutifully munches down.

“Don’t scare me like that,” he admonishes softly.

Di Angelo looks up at him and smiles carefully. “Didn’t mean to.”

Then the man turns to Jake, offering his hand in introduction. “Will Solace.”

“Jake Peralta.” He nods towards Nico. “So, he’s going to be fine?”

Solace nods. “Yes. He’s had worse.”

Jake glances at di Angelo who grabs his boyfriend’s offered hand and pulls him down to sit on the
curb with the others. He leans his head on the taller guy’s shoulder.

“Last time, you put me on lockdown,” he grumbles.

Solace runs his hand through the dark curls on his boyfriend’s head. “And I will do it again, if
necessary.”

Nico sighs. “Did I make a mistake by overextending myself? Yes. Do I regret that I’m currently in
this state? Yes.”

“Stop asking yourself easy questions so you can look smart and responsible,” Will laughs.

Nico joins in on the quiet laughter.

Not wanting to impose on the couple, Jake sits down at the other end of the line, next to Percy.

Officers are still busying around, but he doesn’t really have anything to do now. He sees Rosa
where she is instructed to fill out paperwork for the perp she had taken out of the building. He’d
have to wait for her before returning to the precinct.

After a while, Annabeth appears, a stack of papers in hand. “Wagner asked me to fill out some
paperwork on the goings-on in the bank.” Jake shuffles over on the curb so his partner can sit
between him and her boyfriend. “Any suggestions what I should put in my report?”, she asks and
silently holds out her hand. Percy doesn’t need any more prompting and hands over a ballpoint pen.

“Put spaghetti in it,” Leo suggests.

Annabeth levels a half-hearted glare at the man. “I’m taking suggestions from literally anyone but
you.”

Jake grins at their antics. Although he wants to ask why she doesn’t simply write the truth, he says:
“Put spaghetti in it.”

Annabeth raises a very pointed eyebrow at him but doesn’t really seem to be mad. “I’m taking
suggestions from anyone but you two.”

There is a gleam in Jackson’s eyes as he bumps their shoulders together and speaks. “Put spaghetti
in it.”

“I’m no longer taking suggestions,” Annabeth announces and slaps his shoulder with a laugh.

She fills out her forms quickly and vanishes to hand them in. When she comes back, she offers
Percy a hand to help him up. “We’re good to go.”

Leo jumps to his feet, arms widely swinging around like a little kid’s. “Can we get something to
eat? I vote Chinese!”
Chapter End Notes

I'm currently working on another chapter and have a question:

Are there a lot of evacuations because of bomb discoveries in the US? Because in
Europe, there are plenty of blind shells lying around and people find them during
building projects and stuff like that, then the area gets evacuated for a few hours,
bomb gets difused and everyone gets on with their days. It's just that historically, I
don't see where the bombs would come from in the US...
So, any good reasons for evacuations over there? (and I'm not talking about active
shooters, terrorist warnings or something like that)
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment.
Have a great day, stay safe :-)
 The Costume Convention
Chapter Notes

This chapter had just over 2.000 words on friday, but it somehow... grew to almost
5.500 words over the weekend.
Oooops - I somehow think you won't mind, though ^^
So, have fun reading.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

A thin layer of snow has descended over the entire city by the time the 99th gets tipped off to a
string of pickpocketing cases.

An event organizer had gotten reports from the visitors of the convention he is running of stolen
purses and since he’s friends with the major, Holt makes a point to send some of his detectives to
investigate.

“What kind of a convention?”, Jake asks after Holt had given him, Rosa and Chase their
assignment.

“A costume convention, centering around ancient warrior societies.” Holt seems very unimpressed
by the idea of dressing up in old-fashioned armor.

Jake on the other hand, is delighted. So is Annabeth, as it seems.

“We’d totally stick out if we went in normal clothes,” Jake begins. “And since we don’t want to
scare off the perps, we should really try to blend in.”

“Well, too bad I don’t have a costume. Seems like you’re on your own.”

The Captain levels a very unimpressed glare at Rosa. “I expect all three of you to investigate this.”
With that, he walks back to his office, leaving the Detectives to find a way of securing costumes.

“You can have my back-up armor,” Annabeth offers the older woman. “Should fit you just fine.”

Jake looks at his partner. “Are you telling me that you don’t just have one, but two armors fit to use
at this convention?”

Annabeth nods.

“Why?” Rosa seems annoyed by the idea of having to dress up, but simultaneously curious.

“In case the normal one gets damaged, and I need to gear up.” It sounds like the most obvious
thing in the world.

“You don’t happen to have a third one for me?”

Annabeth regards Jake with a long look. “I think we have an old one of Percy’s armors lying
around somewhere that could fit you.”
“So, trip to your place to get changed and then off to the convention?”

-------

Annabeth lives in an apartment building with a red front door and a broken elevator.

She doesn’t seem to mind the walk up the stairs to the seventh floor apartment she lives in. Jake
and Rosa are a little bit winded when they get to her apartment door, Annabeth isn’t even out of
breath a little.

“What are those?”, Rosa asks, trailing some carvings along the doorframe with her finger.

Annabeth waves her off. “Protection runes.” She fishes her keys out of her pocket and unlocks the
door. “A friend of ours used them to ward Percy’s community center. So many kids in one place,
you take every protection you can get, right?” She opens the door and invites the other two in with
a short gesture. “And when she finished and Percy invited her over for pizza, Lou Ellen offered to
ward our flat as well.” She throws her keys in a small bowl next to the door. “Who are we to refuse
such an offer?”

It's such a flat statement, so calm and casual that Jake just accepts it. In the back of his head, he
questions whether Annabeth believes the runes actually work, but he doesn’t ask about it. Instead,
he takes in the flat.

They are standing in an open living room with an integrated kitchen and three closed doors to other
adjourning rooms.

“Ok, short version of the tour,” Annabeth announces. “Living room, kitchen,” she gestures to the
according areas of the room. “Bathroom,” she points to the door to their left. “Bedroom, armory,”
she gestures towards two doors to their right. “Aaand that’s it.”

“Armory?”, Rosa echoes.

Annabeth grins a little sheepishly. “Well, sounds better than walk-in closet, doesn’t it? It was
supposed to be a second bedroom, but we use it mainly for storage,” she explains.

Rosa nods approvingly while their colleague is already bustling towards the armory. “Give me a
minute, I’ll be right back,” she says and vanishes through the door.

Jake takes in the room. A lot of the décor, the sofa, the chairs, even the ceiling lamp, is blue and
was obviously chosen by Percy. There is a small fireplace in one corner of the room and Jake goes
over to look at the pictures standing atop it.

It’s mostly pictures of Annabeth and Percy, either at beaches or in front of old buildings, with
several friends. He recognizes Hazel from the Halloween Heist, and Nico, Leo and Will from the
incident at the bank a few weeks back.

In one of the pictures, they all wear armor, lying in each other’s arms and laughing. Except for
Annabeth and Percy, everyone is drenched in water, and in Annabeth’s hand dangles an orange
flag.

“That was a fun day,” Annabeth’s voice suddenly sounds from behind. “A group of us went to
Europe the year before and someone challenged us to go against the remaining Camp in Capture-
the-Flag.”

Jake looks at the flag in the picture. “You won?”, he asks. “Against everybody else?”
“Well, there was a reason we were chosen to go to Europe,” the blonde states and lets a bundle of
leather and cloth drop onto the couch. “We are the best at what we do.”

She gestures to the heap on the sofa. “That’s my back-up,” she tells Rosa.

Annabeth turns to Jake. “It seems like Percy has taken all of his leather to the community center or
to Camp, I can’t find it.” She runs a hand through her hair in thought as she studies her partner. “I
can give you his ceremonial plate armor, coupled with my cloak, that could work.”

“Percy has ceremonial plate armor?”

“Yeah, he prefers his leathers for fighting, but he was high enough in rank once that sometimes, he
needs something to parade around in.”

She bustles off again and Rosa and Jake are left staring at her retreating form and the bundle on the
couch.

By the time Annabeth returns, Rosa has gotten completely tangled in the leather Harnish she tried
to put on.

“What are you doing?” Annabeth drops her load on the couch and goes over to the other Detective.
“Put your arms up.”

Annabeth quickly untangles her colleague, pulls on straps and adjusts pieces and a few minutes
later, Rosa is fully dressed in leather armor. Annabeth hands her a scabbard. “For your knife,” she
says.

Rosa nods in thanks and fetches her knife from the pile of discarded clothing. There isn’t much
space to hide weapons in this outfit, so why not wear them openly?

To his relief, Annabeth allows Jake to keep on his pants, but instructs him to strip down to the
waist. She hands him a plain orange shirt that had some kind of horse on it at some point of its life.
“You really don’t want your shirt buttons pressing into your skin under that armor,” she explains.

She then instructs him to raise and lower his arms in particular manners while she floats around
him, fastening plate of a shimmering golden material to his torso. She then puts an orange cloak
with grey owls over his shoulders. The color clashes horribly with the shimmering gold of the
plate, but Annabeth shrugs it off.

“Can’t give you Percy’s violet one, sorry.”

Jake has to admit that violet probably would look rather good with the armor. “Why not?”

“Because he ranks too highly. Can’t have you impersonating a former praetor.”

Jake exchanges a glance with Rosa, but she doesn’t know what to do about it, either.

Annabeth shows him how to hide his gun with the cloak and goes to change herself.

When she comes back, she is clad in a leather armor like the one Rosa is wearing. Strapped to her
hip are a sword of a strange white-ish material and her knife with a shimmering bronze blade.

In a strange way, it suits her. She stands a little bit taller, dressed in this armor, like she is more
used to this get-up than she is to the outfits she normally wears to work.

“Don’t I get a sword?”, Jake asks. “Warrior clans and all that?”
Annabeth quirks an eyebrow. “Can you handle a sword?”

“Well, I…”

“Those aren’t just props.” Annabeth gestures to the blades strapped to her person. “Those are real
weapons, they are sharp, and you will not get one just because you think it looks cool.”

“You gave Rosa a blade,” Jake argues.

“No, I gave her a scabbard so she can bring her own knife she actually knows how to use.”

Jake concedes to her point and together they leave for the convention.

--------------------------------------------

The convention is in full swing when they arrive. Hundreds of people are milling around in a huge
array of costumes. Leather armor seems to be the most popular, but only few are as detailed and
real-looking as the ones Annabeth provided.

The convention is separated in multiple smaller exhibits, showcasing different eras and points of
origin for the inspiration of the most popular warrior clans. There are other areas for shopping,
snacks, fights, workshops and an array of activities as the small map at the entrance tells them.

The woman checking their tickets smiles approvingly at their costumes and Jake stands a little bit
taller at the respectful nod she gives him.

“I’ll check over at the Mediterranean exhibit, maybe I even know someone,” Annabeth says and
vanishes in the crowd.

Jake and Rosa watch her walk away and look at each other.

“One walk through, meet back here in an hour?”, Rosa suggests.

Jake nods his assent, and they take off in different directions.

-----------------------

Rosa feels herself gravitating towards the sales area. Stands line the floor, displaying different
kinds of armors and weapons.

With people getting out their wallets and paying for the merchandise, she figures this would be a
good spot for the pickpockets to work, or at least scout their potential targets.

But what the Detective finds is mostly the legal kind of theft. Totally overprized items are offered
for sale and Rosa lets her gaze wander over them.

The armor Chase had loaned her fits well and causes many people to look at her with a certain kind
of respect. People get out of their way as she walks, and while that on its own isn’t unusual, due to
her permanent scowl, she feels their gazes linger appreciatively on her armor and the knife strapped
to her form.

She passes a stand with cheap plastic weapons with blunt edges before turning a corner and
meandering down another corridor.

A stand with bright colors catches her eye and she involuntarily feels herself being drawn in.
Most of the merchandise she had seen was flashy at best and crafty at worst, but this is… different.

She gently trails her finger over a shield with rainbow colors, propped up on a rack between one
displaying a trans flag and another in the green and monochrome colors of the aromantic pride
flag.

She lets her gaze wander over the rest of the merchandise in the store and finds that everything is
painted in pride colors. On some of the goods, the pride colors are flashy and loud, others just
display them casually in a way so that no one who doesn’t know what they mean would question
the choice.

She picks up a quiver with intricate stitching in the colors of the asexuality spectrum of violet,
white, grey, and black on the soft brown leather.

She puts her hand in the box with pins and lets it trail over the vambraces laid out on a table.

“Can I help you find something?”

Rosa turns around at the sound of a voice. A few feet away from her stands a woman, seemingly
the owner of the store.

She is tall, her dark hair is braided to one side and the cloak she’s wearing over full chain mail is in
the soft pinks and reds of the lesbian pride flag.

“This is amazing,” Rosa says instead of an answer, making an all-encompassing gesture towards
the goods.

The owner grins at her. “Thanks. It’s a lot of work, but I found it to be worth the effort. Anything
you need help with?”

Rosa averts her eyes. She’s not here to shop, there are criminals she has to catch, but this place, this
casual acceptance draws her in, and she feels so at home in a space that celebrates both queerness
and weapons.

“Preference in color scheme?”, the woman ventures when she doesn’t get an answer.

Rosa places her hand on a pair of vambraces in the colors of the bisexual flag. “I found the fitting
color pallet,” she admits. “But it’s too…”

“…flashy?” The owner smiles in understanding. She has a nice smile.

Rosa nods. She is out and proud, but that doesn’t mean she’ll run around fully clothed in those
colors. Something less ostentatious, though…

“Give me your knife.”

The request surprises Rosa, but when the woman just holds out her hand and waits, she hands over
the weapon.

“I’m usually not in a habit of handing my weapons to strangers,” she informs the other woman.

“Since I already have your knife, we’ll have to change the strangers part, then.” She holds out her
hand in greeting. “I’m Nia.”

The other woman has a firm grip when the Detective shakes her proffered hand. “Rosa.”
“Well, Rosa, it is very nice to meet you. Let’s find you something you like.”

Nia wanders off deeper into her sales area, regarding the knife with a trained eye. She pulls a
cardboard box out from under one of the display tables and produces a sheath that fits the size of
the knife perfectly.

The leather is black and obviously of high quality and studded with small, stitched stars in pink,
violet and blue. The colors are just bright enough to stand out on the black ground but are discreet
enough that people who aren’t looking for the color combination probably won’t notice the
meaning behind them.

Rosa trails a finger over the material, the leather is firm under her touch, the stitching well-done.

“That’s perfect,” she admits and looks up to meet Nia’s gaze. “I’ll take it. How much?”

After she paid for the scabbard and replaced the one Chase had given her, Nia accompanies Rosa
to the front of the store.

“It was very nice meeting you,” Nia says. She takes a business card out of her pocket and scribbles
a string of numbers on them. “If there is any problem with your purchase, or if you… just want to
spent time with me some day… you have my number. So, you can just… call.” She hands Rosa the
card with a tentative smile.

“Thanks. I think I might.” Rosa pockets the card and scans the crowd around her. She still has a job
to do, after all. She throws Nia one last look and is met with a shy smile. “Bye.”

-------------------------------

Jake is drawn to what appears to be the center of attention. He hears shouts and cheers from an
adjourning room and enters to see the cause of the commotion.

The sign at the entrance announces the room to be the “training grounds” and true to form, the
inside is full of people engaged in little fights.

There is a center stage, a little bit raised above the rest where currently two women with spears are
fighting each other. Spectators watch and cheer them on, oohing and aahing with each clever
move.

There are other, smaller fights, some in separated areas and others just in the middle of the floor,
surrounded by spectators and people who just walk by.

Jake lets his gaze wander, tries to spot someone who is watching the spectators instead of the
spectacle and meets the intense stare from grey eyes on the other side of the room.

A boy in his late teens is staring at him from under brown bangs with a strangely familiar look on
his face. He inquisitively looks Jake up and down before saying something to his companions and
coming over to the Detective, trailed by two girls the same age.

Jake takes a moment to take in their outfits. All three of them are wearing simple leather armor.
While the boy is wearing a sword at his hip, one of the girls has a bow and quiver slung over her
shoulder, both girls wear daggers at their hips.

“Where did you get that outfit?”, the boy asks without preamble.

The question surprises Jake. “What?”

The guy taps his plate, eliciting a small ping.

“No one who knows what they are doing would willingly combine that cloak with this armor. So,
where did you get it?”

“A friend loaned it to me,” Jake answers carefully. He gets the sinking feeling that their weapons
are as real as Annabeth’s.

“Must be a very generous friend,” the taller of the girls remarks.

The boy nods in agreement but doesn’t take his eyes off Jake. “Which friend?”

Jake is just about to discreetly pull out his badge to make the kids back off when a new voice
causes all four of them to look around.

“It’s fine, Liam.” Annabeth approaches and the teens immediately stand attention. “He’s with me.”

The guy – Liam, apparently – gives the woman a respectful nod.

“Does Percy know you are renting out his ceremonial armor?”, the shorter girl asks with a cheeky
grin.

Annabeth just quirks an eyebrow and the teens immediately back off like students from a well-
respected teacher.

“Jake, those are Liam, Fine and Petra,” Annabeth introduces them. “Fellows, this is Detective Jake
Peralta, my coworker.”

Three pairs of eyes snap to him, studying Jake for a moment before turning back to Annabeth.

She says something to them in a language foreign to Jake’s ears, but the teens seem to understand
her just fine.

They nod to whatever Annabeth told them before huddling closer together and talking in hushed
tones.

Annabeth turns back to Jake.

“What was that about?”, he asks.

It takes a moment for Annabeth to answer. “They are members of Percy’s youth program. He
teaches ancient Greek, amongst other things. They recognized his armor and wanted to make sure
you didn’t steal it. Liam is part of my cabin, back at Camp, so I know him quite well.”

Her voice is too flat, her pose too calm. She meets his eyes and he recognizes the expression as the
same one she used the other times she talked about her Camp. It’s not the whole truth, but it
doesn’t feel like an outright lie, either.

“They are good kids.” She relaxes, is back to normal, slightly bouncing on her toes, letting her eyes
roam over the crowd and regarding the teens with a fond smile on her face.

And wherever Annabeth really knows those teenagers from, Jake trusts her judgement. He steers
the conversation to the thought that has been in his head since he saw the fighters in the ring.

“Any intention of showing them how it is done?”, he asks with a smile. He remembers the fight
she had with Arian Pimento a few months back and wouldn’t mind seeing a repeat performance.
His partner is pretty impressive with a knife.

But she just shrugs. “Not really fun if there is no one close to my level,” she states.

It seems to be exactly what Liam was waiting for, as his attention snaps to the Detectives. “Are you
saying that you’re looking for a challenge?”

Annabeth smiles. “You really think this is the time and place for that?”, she asks.

“Last summer at Camp, you promised me a rematch,” he claims. The teen gestures to the two girls.
“Fine and Petra are willing to back me.”

The girls don’t look too thrilled by the prospect of fighting against the Detective, but they nod.

Annabeth doesn’t seem convinced. “I’m here for work,” she argues.

“You give us one match and we’ll help you find your thieves,” he offers.

Jake is surprised his partner told the teens about their reason to be at the convention, but he
recognizes the thoughtful look on her face. She’s considering the proposal.

“Which Cabins are you in again?”, the Detective asks the girls.

The teens cast a quick glance to Jake.

“Seven,” Fine answers and pats her bow. The strap over her shoulder shows a little sun which she
traces absentmindedly.

“Eleven,” Petra offers, her elvish features settling in a sarcastic smile.

Annabeth huffs. “The three of you might actually be rather helpful,” she states. “Fine. But when I
beat you, you’ll find the pickpockets before going off to do anything else.” She offers her hand to
Liam.

“You mean if you beat us,” the boy remarks as he shakes her hand.

Chase barks out a laugh. “No, I don’t.”

It doesn’t take long for the three of them to face off on the main stage. Jake had offered his help,
but his partner shot him down with a simple “No offence, Jake, but you’d just be in the way.”

So, he takes a place in the front row where he’ll be able to watch the whole fight from an
unobstructed viewpoint.

Fine grumbles a little as she takes her bow and quiver off, carefully placing them at the edge of the
ring.

Annabeth draws her knife and drops in a crouch, nods to signal her readiness.

The three teens fan out opposite from of her, Liam with his sword, Petra and Fine with their
daggers.

Fine is in the middle, flanked by Petra on her left and Liam on her right, giving the swordsman
ample space to swing his weapon.
They nod as well, and the match begins with a minute of staring. Annabeth takes a step to the left,
the teens mirror her. She takes a slow step forwards, the teens raise their weapons a bit higher and
take a step back. The Detective takes a step back, the teens follow.

Suddenly, Annabeth lunges at the teens in front of her. They take a hasty step backwards, yank up
their weapons, but the Detective rolls between the two girls, jumps to her feet behind them, causing
all three to whirl around to face her again.

Liam immediately fills the gap between the girls, integrating himself into the front row again after
the change of positions had put quite some distance between him and Annabeth.

When the Detective jumps forwards a second time, they don’t flinch away but step closer together.

The girls raise their daggers, but the close proximity to Petra hinders Liam in bringing up his
sword.

Annabeth is face-to-face with Fine in an instant, grabbing the hand with the dagger and bringing
her own knife up.

She swings her weapon in a wide arch, skimming the skin at the girl’s neck with the hilt of her
knife in a quick but decisive movement.

Had she held the knife the proper way, she’d have slit the girl’s throat.

“Dead,” she says in a tone that is more an order then a statement as she takes a step back.

Fine drops her knife to the floor and quickly steps aside so her team members can step in to face
their opponent once again.

Liam and Petra sort themselves out before advancing. The boy is once again standing to the left,
his sword arm unhindered by his partner.

Annabeth changes the knife to her left hand and pulls her sword. It causes a new level of caution in
her opponent’s advance.

Liam and Petra split. They move in on Annabeth from opposing sides, causing her to stretch out
her arms to either side, pointing a blade at each opponent.

“Back to thinking about it, I see,” she observes and grins at Liam who looks a bit disgruntled.

“You surprised me before,” the boy admits. “But strategy is kind of our thing.”

“True. But you’re so much better in single combat than you are with troop coordination.”

“It’s not single combat, though,” the other teen remarks.

Annabeth doesn’t even glance at Petra, who has stopped a respectable distance out of reach of the
bone-white sword pointed at her throat. Her main focus is on Liam, his long sword allowing him to
come into range opposite the Detective’s knife.

“Not yet.”

Liam and Petra step in as one, attacking Annabeth simultaneously from both sides.

The gleam in his partner’s eyes tells Jake that she was prepared for that exact strategy.
And from one moment to the next, Chase moves.

All three fighters are insanely fast, to a point where their blades seem to blur, and their bodies seem
to merge.

It’s like a dance, deadly and fierce and one of the most impressive displays of martial arts Jake has
ever seen.

He notices the rest of the spectators fall silent in awe of the display in front of them and he can’t
blame them.

Annabeth spins and turns, dodging attacks and doing her best to get both opponents on one side,
but Liam seems to anticipate her movements and Petra is even faster than the other two, rapidly
getting herself back into position time and time again.

Annabeth slashes in Petra’s direction with her sword, pulls back her weight and stabs the dagger
towards Liam.

The girl takes a step back to evade the longer blade and stumbles on the dagger Fine had
abandoned earlier.

It’s just a split second where her attention wavers and Annabeth takes her shot. She knocks the
dagger away with her sword as she steps in, whirls Petra around and brings the teen between
herself and Liam, holding the girl around her torso with the hand still clutching her sword.

The Detective brings her knife down on her opponent’s neck with the butt of the weapon,
mimicking a stabbing.

“Dead,” she announces while Petra throws her dagger atop Fine’s.

Liam twirls his blade in his hand, carefully sizing up the woman in front of him as Petra steps out
of the way.

They circle each other, each of the fighters watching the other for the tiniest of slip-ups.

Liam stabs at his opponent, but Annabeth effortlessly deflects the blade.

She tries an attack of her own, but her sword is redirected in one swift movement. They try a
number of attacks on each other, each one being repelled, none of which triggers a real
counterstrike.

Their audience holds their breath, eager to see the end of this fight.

Jake watches his partner closely. She is trying, he realizes. It’s not like when she was fighting
Pimento where it almost seemed to be a game to her, she is putting in a real effort and has real
trouble beating the guy in front of her.

Jake spots the shift in her expression when she goes from single-minded concentration to an oh-
fuck-it expression Jake has become pretty familiar with over the months. It usually proceeds an
idea that for all matters and purposes shouldn’t work, but somehow always does.

He has a split second to theorize about what his partner is planning to do.

Then, Chase throws her sword at Liam, hilt-first.

The move startles the teen, he steps aside to evade the blade, stepping right into the hilt of
Annabeth’s dagger, positioned to puncture his kidney had she held it the other way around.

“Dead,” she says, but it is drowned out by the deafening cheer around them.

“That was a stupid move,” Liam complains when the crowd has calmed down and points to the
sword on the floor.

Annabeth laughs as she picks up her weapon and sheathes it. “Yes, it was,” she admits. “That’s
why I knew it would work. No way for you to anticipate it. You want to know how I call that
strategy?”

Liam nods.

“WWPJD.”

Liam raises his eyebrows in question.

“What would Percy Jackson do,” Annabeth elaborates. “And the answer to that is usually
something stupid.”

“Mom would be thrilled to know that I got beaten by a Percy Jackson move,” Liam mumbles as
they exit the ring and join Jake, Fine and Petra.

Annabeth pats his shoulder. “Don’t fret it,” she tells him. “You put up a good fight.” She turs to
address the girls. “So did you.”

Fine raises a skeptical eyebrow.

“Had you been able to shoot your arrows in here, I’m sure you would have fared better,” the
Detective acquiesces. She opens her arms. “Group hug and then back to work?”

Jake gets pulled into the hug by Fine and Petra. It’s a strange feeling to hug a group of strangers in
full armor, but he feels happy about being included.

When they separate, he catches a look on Annabeth’s face, half amused and half annoyed, and for a
change, the fond exasperation is not directed at her boyfriend.

She extends her hand towards Petra, palm up.

The girl just looks at her, elvish features calm and the picture of innocence. As far as such a thing
is possible with eyes that continuously sparkle with mischief.

Liam and Fine look from the outstretched hand to Petra and affectionate grins start spreading on
their faces.

“You do realize that we are police officers at work, don’t you?” Annabeth’s voice contains a
barely hidden smile. “Don’t make me ask for it.”

The carefully crafted mask of innocence falls away to reveal an expression full of mischief.

Petra pulls a wallet out of her pocket and hands it to Annabeth.

Annabeth passes it on to Jake.

“That’s mine,” he exclaims when he recognizes it. “When did you…?”

He looks from the other teen’s fond smiles to his partner’s utterly unsurprised expression and
addresses Petra. “You do realize that you are supposed to help us find the pickpockets, not become
them yourselves?”

“Takes one to know one,” Petra says in way of an answer. She takes Fine by the hand, throws her
arm around Liam’s shoulder and guides them away. “We’ll find you when we get something,” she
throws over her shoulder. Then, all three of them vanish in the crowd.

-----------------------

“You found anything?”, Rosa asks when she finds Jake later near the snack stands.

“Not really. Some kids from Jackson’s youth thing are here and keeping an eye out, though, so we
have some backup.”

“Chase’s doing?”

Jake nods. “Yeah. They were insisting on a fight in the arena and Annabeth agreed on the condition
that they help us afterwards.”

“That was her? Talk about that fight was all over the convention for the last half hour. Almost sad I
missed it.”

“I’m sure she’ll have a go with you if you ask.”

“Nah, there are some questions I don’t need answers to.” She runs her hand over the scabbard that
holds her knife.

“That new?”, Jake asks. “Annabeth gave you a brown one, didn’t she?”

There is a faint blush on Rosa’s cheeks as she answers. “Yep.”

Jake takes a closer look and takes note of the intricate stitching in Rosa’s pride colors. “Very
noice,” he states and receives a rare and genuine smile in return.

A moment later, Liam appears in front of them, his grey eyes happily sparkling.

The kid eyes Rosa, taking in her stance, her armor, the blade strapped to her thigh, her hard look.
His gaze flitters from her to Jake and back, lands on her knife in the end. He seems to make a
decision then, and addresses Jake.

“Pickpockets are a group of three; two men, one woman. In their early twenties, Arabian armor,
currently relieving people of their valuables at the Byzantian exhibit.”

“You sure?”

“Sure, I’m sure. Fine and Petra are keeping an eye on them while I fetch Annabeth. Or you, as it
happens.” He waves roughly in the direction of the themed exhibits.

Rosa and Jake exchange a glance, then they follow the boy to the Byzantian exhibit.

His intel proves to be good and soon after they arrest the perps.

Annabeth joins them just as Jake puts handcuffs on the third guy. “How did you find them?”

“We didn’t,” Jake admits. “Liam and his friends did.”

 Annabeth turns to the boy who stands a few paces from them. “You did good,” she praises him.
“Thank you.”

Were Jake able to speak ancient Greek, he’d have known her next word to be “Mother would be
proud.”

But except for Annabeth, none of the Detectives speaks the language, so her colleagues are left to
wonder why she switched to the foreign tongue.

Chapter End Notes

for anyone who hasn't caught it:

------------------------
Lou Ellen is a daughter of Hecate and warded Percy's community center and their flat
so the high concentration of half-bloods wouldn't attract the attention of mosters.
------------------------
Jake wears a roman armor with a cloak with Athena's emblem, which is an admittedly
strange combination, that's why Liam caught it pretty quickly.
------------------------
OCs:
Liam – son of Athene
Petra – daughter of Hermes
Fine – daughter of Apollo
------------------------
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Parade
Chapter Notes

This... ended up being longer than I thought.

Not my favorite chapter, I have to admit, but it contains a couple of ideas I really like
and wanted to include, so...
I hope you enjoy reading.

One fair warning: this chapter includes police presence at a march. I'm not american,
and most of the coverage we get of protest in the US is about police tear gassing
crowds and really scary stuff like that and I... kind of wrote the interactions more in a
way that would fit an event in my contry and I hope no one thinks I try to play
something down or anything... I just... come from a very different place and wouldn't
feel right to write some constructed true approach, since I honestly can't quite fathom
the way police reacts in some cases. I seem to remember pretty peaceful coverage
from the fridays-for-future-marchs (remember when they were still around? pre-
Corona? good times...), so I hope I'm not too far off.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“We have unfortunate news,” Holt announces during the morning briefing one Friday in early
March. He looks at his squad of Detectives, Sargent Santiago and Lieutenant Jeffords stand beside
him at the front of the room. “The Senator has decided to do an impromptu outing tomorrow
morning and due to the upcoming elections and stirring unrest, the commissioner decided to
significantly up his security detail, pulling a great number of uniformed officers to his detail
tomorrow.”

“Good thing we’re not uniformed officers, then,” Jake remarks and receives a look from his wife.

“Unfortunately,” Amy takes over from Holt, “they pulled people out of my unit who were
supposed to be on duty tomorrow on crowd control. Now we’re severely understaffed and since the
event takes place in our area of the city, I’m responsible for finding enough people to secure the
event. I already consulted with the mountain division, they are going to send in their riding
squad…”

“Not Peanut Butter,” Boyle groans and receives a sympathetic pat to the leg from Jake.

“What event are we talking about?”, Rosa asks, getting the conversation away from the horse and
back on track.

“Some environmental thing,” Amy answers.

Annabeth immediately perks up. “The Save the Oceans parade?”

Terry shoots her an interested look. “You’ve heard of it?”

“Heard of it?” Annabeth scoffs. “Percy helped organize it.” She shrugs. “And by that, I mean, he
repeatedly told his best friend what a good job he was doing and prepared posters with his kids
from the Community Center.”
“You are familiar with…” Holt checks his notes. “Grover Underwood?”

Chase nods. “Yeah, we… go way back.” She smiles wistfully.

“We tried to do an assessment on him, but we barely have any information on this person,” Holt
observes. “Is he trustworthy?”

“I absolutely trust him,” Annabeth answers without pause.

“So, he’s not some environmental extremist?”

Annabeth takes a deep breath. “I absolutely trust him,” she doubles down, not really answering the
second question.

When the entire room turns and waits for her to elaborate, she deflates a bit. “He has no desire to
start civil unrest,” she says on a breath. “He has a very strong wish to better our care of the
environment. He sees it as his god given quest.” A small smile plays on her lips.

“Religious extremist?” That could become a problem.

Annabeth shakes her head. “Not more than I am.”

That calms her colleagues.

“I planned on going to the parade anyway, I can do crowd control,” she offers.

Jake meets his wife’s gaze. “Yeah, sure. Apparently, my wife is busy that day, anyways.” He
receives a thankful nod in return.

“Where you go, I go,” Boyle exclaims.

Jake groans. “Bit over the top, don’t you think?” His best friend just grins at him.

“I have plans,” Rosa simply states.

Scully and Hitchcock share a look. “Standing the whole day wouldn’t be good for our joints…”

Amy interrupts the excuse. “Believe it or not, Hitchcock, but I didn’t expect the two of you to
volunteer.”

Matching satisfied grins spreads over their faces as the two oldest Detectives on the squad high-
five each other.

----------------

The next morning greets them with sunshine and the promise of the first nice day of the year.

Jake and Amy drive Mac over to Jake’s mother for the day. Amy is imitating voices for his stuffed
animals as they make their way over and Jake watches her in the rear mirror whenever he has to
stop at a red light.

Karen coos over the child when they drop him off and assures the couple that she will take good
care of him – as she does every time they drop her grandchild off.

They make it to the location of the parade with time to spare.

Some officers are already on sight, setting up areas for the protesters to meet and the police to
assemble.

The march is set to start at the outskirts of a park in Brooklyn, making the set-up and preparation
primarily Amy’s responsibility.

The Sargent soon bustles off to deal with her officers while Jake goes to meet up with Annabeth
and Boyle, who stand next to some the police cars.

There is a single blue ribbon in Annabeth’s hair, standing out in the blonde ponytail.

Jake greets the two of them and takes a look around. He expected to see Percy, who usually sticks
around his girlfriend when given the opportunity.

“You alone?”, he asks his partner.

Annabeth gestures towards the group of protesters assembling further down the street. By now,
there aren’t more than three dozen, but they expect that to change very soon.

“He’s with Grover,” she explains. “It’s the first big parade he organized, so he is nervous and that
makes Percy jittery, and that feeds back into Grover’s nerves and so on… they keep riling each
other up and it’s easier to let them to it than to try and calm either of them down.”

Jake follows her gaze to the clutter of people. He spots Percy, holding the hand of a young girl with
dark hair.

“Who’s the kid?”, he asks. “Community Center?”

Annabeth shakes her head. “His sister, Estelle.” She has a soft smile on her face as she regards the
two of them. “He adores her.”

“So do you.” It’s more a statement than a question from Charles.

Annabeth chuckles lightly. “I won’t dispute that.”

More police vehicles arrive, and these have horse trailers attached to them.

Boyle groans. “Great. Lieutenant Peanut Butter is here.”

“Who?”, Annabeth asks as they watch the horses being lead from their trailers.

“Boyle has an unhealthy rivalry with a horse,” Jake answers.

“It’s not unhealthy, it’s…”

“Annie, there’s horses!” A blur races past Jake, and in the next moment, Percy’s sister is jumping
into the blonde’s arms. Annabeth catches her and laughs.

“I know, Stella.”

The girl is probably around ten years old, has a little backpack with colorful fish on them and blue
and green ribbons in her hair like the one Annabeth is wearing in her hair. “Can I pet them?”

Annabeth pokes her on the nose. “I’m afraid not, darling. They have to work.”

Percy appears next to them, carefully taking his sister from his girlfriend. “And so does Annabeth
and her colleagues,” he says, a lightly reprimanding tone in his voice, shooting a smile in greeting
at the two men standing with Annabeth.

Estelle pouts a bit, but willingly lets herself be handed over to her brother, who puts her down on
her own two feet.

Jake regards the man with some amusement. His normally shaggy hair is braided in uneven braids,
with colorful ribbons in green and blue in them.

“Nice hair,” he comments.

“Thank you,” Estelle chirps up with the confidence of a child who doesn’t yet understand the finer
aspects of sarcastic teasing. “I made his braids myself. And Percy did mine.”

Jake scrutinizes her perfectly even braids, all neatly tied up in what must have been hours of work.
He didn’t expect them to be the result of Percy’s efforts. He… kind of expected Annabeth or the
girl’s mother to have done them.

“Do you like it?”, Estelle asks.

Jake is met with the stares of Annabeth and Percy, telling him something along the lines of You
make fun of her, we’ll kill you.

For once in his life, Jake has absolutely no intention of making fun of a strange getup. He smiles at
the girl. “I love them,” he exclaims. “Can you make them for me as well?”

Estelle giggles in Percy’s arms. “No, your hair is way too short.”

“And…,” Percy prompts.

“And you have to work, and we should stop bothering you?”, she tries, talking more to Percy than
to Jake.

“You’re not a bother, Stella, but we do have to work,” Annabeth agrees.

Estelle gestures to the other end of the line of cars, where the riders are mounting their horses.
“Like the horseys.”

Percy nods. “Like the horses, yes.”

Jake isn’t sure whether or not to be offended to be compared to a horse. He isn’t sure why he finds
it so cute, either.

Estelle pouts. “Are the horses happy that they get to work?”, she asks her brother.

Percy crouches down next to her and follows his sister’s gaze to the animals. “Well, those two
are.” He points to two black horses, already on their way down the street. “That one didn’t sleep
well and would have preferred to stay at home…”

Jake grins at the other man’s antics. It kind of reminds him of Amy earlier in their car, making up
voices and stories for Mac’s stuffed animals.

Jackson is really good with his sister and it is obvious that they adore each other. As Percy talks to
his sister, spinning stories about the horse’s lives and inner thoughts, one of his braids comes
loose.
The man absentmindedly grabs the loose blue ribbon, straightens it over his knee, and braids it
back in his hair, producing a perfectly straight braid in a sea of crooked and untidy ones.

“…and that one was excited to come, but his saddle is itchy and that puts him in a bad mood.”
Percy’s face has turned thoughtful as he watches the animals.

Jake follows their gazes to Peanut Butter, who is restlessly dancing beneath his rider. All the other
riders have already taken off, leaving the gelding and his rider alone next to the line of cars.

“Poor horsey,” Estelle states.

“That horse doesn’t need a reason to be in a bad mood,” Charles snipes. “He just has an unpleasant
character.”

Percy turns his gaze on the Detective, but Estelle leans in and whispers something in her brother’s
ear, making him relax immediately.

“You’re right, Stella. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he says in an exaggerated
whisper, one the Detective is sure to hear.

Jake smiles and continues watching the horse Boyle regards as his arch nemesis. Whether it is due
to an itchy saddle or something else, the horse seems agitated.

His rider is leaning low over his neck, talking to the horse in hushed tones, but despite his rider’s
best efforts, Peanut Butter doesn’t seem inclined to leave. Doesn’t seem inclined to do anything his
rider wants, really.

The officer gets out of the saddle, walks around to the horse’s head to face the animal. She strokes
a hand down the horse’s forehead, creases her brow in contemplation.

A car horn blares, the horse rears, causing his rider to stumble back in surprise and to let go of the
reins.

Seizing the opportunity, the animal turns around and gallops away, into the park.

“Horsey!”, Estelle shouts, bringing all eyes to the fleeing horse.

“We need to get him back,” Annabeth states. “The other riders have gone off already.”

“I’m not going after him,” Boyle immediately states.

“I’ll go,” Jackson volunteers.

Estelle claps in delight.

Percy shoots his girlfriend a look. “Can you keep an eye on Grover? You know how he can get
when he is nervous…”

Annabeth grins. “Scared he’ll destroy your banners before you’re back?”

“Scared he’ll to something with them until I’m back,” he mutters. “I brought him a whole sack of
apples, that should keep him from doing something drastic to the banners for a while.”

Annabeth smiles at her boyfriend and turns to Jake with an imploring look on her face.

“All right, I’ll go with you,” Jake tells Percy. What about…” He gestures to Estelle.
“She can come with us,” Percy says. “Hunting a horse is not really dangerous, is it?”

--------------

They enter the park, walking in the direction where Peanut Butter had taken off to.

There already are some people in the park, mostly joggers or dog walkers. The hoof prints are
easily distinguishable in the soft ground of the paths and they follow along, making idle chitchat
on the way.

“Did you know the statue of liberty was brownish when it was first erected?”, Estelle asks Jake as
she walks between the two men.

“Really?”

“Well, there are no photos, but it is made of copper, and that usually is reddish-brown, the green
color is due to the oxidation in its surface, creating pan… pat…” She glances up at Percy, looking
for help.

“Patina,” her brother supplies while braiding a dark green ribbon back in his hair that had become
loose.

“…patina, right. That’s similar to rust, but rust usually refers to steel or iron, and copper gets patina
and not rust,” she happily prattles on. “And, in contrast to rust, patina is actually good and creates a
protective layer. Congress planned to paint over it when the statue became green, but then they
asked some engineers if that’s even a good idea and they said no, so they didn’t.”

Jake does his best to look equally impressed and interested in this information. “You learned that at
school?”

Estelle shakes her head, causing the braids to swing around wildly. None of them comes loose,
though. “No, Annie told me.”

“My girlfriend is a well of information on every landmark in the United States and beyond.” Percy
grabs his sister’s hand with his and starts swinging them between them. “And currently, Estelle
soaks everything up.”

They get to a meadow, and the hoof prints vanish in the lush grass. There are a couple of bushes in
the middle of the green, obscuring their view to the other side.

“You go left, I go right?”, Jake suggests.

Percy nods and they split up, circling the greenery in search of the missing horse.

Jake spots Peanut Butter first. The horse seemingly tried to go through the shrubbery, instead of
around and has been caught in some vines.

He is agitated, trying to get out, but the vines only close tighter around his hooves. Jake doesn’t
know much about horses, but even he can see the panic in his eyes, pupils blown wide, and nostrils
blown.

He tries approaching the horse, but that only makes it worse, the horse tries to back away from
him, his rear backing into some thorn bushes, causing a painful whine.

Jake backs away from the horse and the bushes and the horse seems to calm down again, now that
there is no imminent threat.

Jake spots a movement in his periphery and a moment later, Percy and Estelle appear at his side.

His hands automatically go out to stop the girl from running at the horse, but she already stops at a
small “Stella” from her brother.

She looks up at Jackson.

“I’ll get him out of there, then you can pet him,” Percy promises.

Estelle nods, seemingly satisfied with the plan.

“How do you think you’ll manage that?”, Jake asks the younger man. “The beast is panicked.”

Percy shoots him a quick smile. “I’m good with horses,” he simply states and approaches the
animal.

There is nothing… special about the way Percy approaches the horse. He doesn’t act like one
would normally with a hurt animal or a small child, crouched down and careful. He just strolls
over, even raises a hand in greeting.

“Hi there, I’m Percy,” he introduces himself. He actually introduces himself to the horse. “I’m
here to get you out of those thorns.”

Something in his voice seems to calm Peanut Butter down. The horse stops backing away from the
approaching man, his ears perk up like he’s listening.

Percy walks up to the horse, places one gentle hand on his forehead and quickly untangles the reins
from a branch they had been caught on.

The horse whinnies.

“Yes, I’ll get you out of the thorns in a minute. Just stand still, please.”

Jackson walks around the horse, with no apparent fear of being kicked and starts removing the
vines around the horse’s legs.

Jake looks down at Estelle, standing at his side and watching Percy with a smile on her face.

“Your brother is pretty cool,” Jake tells her. “Dealing with the horse like that.”

“Yes,” she agrees. “He can actually talk to them.” The girl gasps and slaps a hand over her mouth.
“I’m not supposed to tell that to anybody.”

“It’s fine,” Jake reassures her with a wink. “I won’t tell him you told me.”

Estelle smiles happily and they turn back to watching her brother.

“Could you…” Jackson slightly leans against the horse’s leg. “Please move your hoof? Thank
you.”

Jake watches in astonishment. Percy really seems to know what he is doing. Of course, Peanut
Butter is a well trained police horse, but he didn’t expect Percy to know how to command him that
well.
But whenever Percy pushes or nudges the horse in certain places, absentmindedly mumbling
orders, the horse reacts, years of training evidently kicking in.

It doesn’t take long for Percy to successfully untangle the horse.

“All done,” he proclaims, pats the horse’s rear and Peanut Butter dutifully steps out of the bushes.

Jake immediately grabs the reins to stop the horse from running away again.

“What’s his name?”, Estelle asks.

“Peanut Butter,” Jake answers.

“No, it’s not,” Percy disputes while following the animal out of the shrubbery. “He’s called Susan,
and he wants you to respect his life choices.”

Jake is left staring at Percy for a moment, at a loss about what to say. The younger man just grins
at him, seemingly challenging the Detective to contest his claim.

But, since Estelle thinks her brother can talk to horses, anyways, there probably would be no
winning this argument.

Percy pats the horse’s neck with one hand while he loosens the saddle girth with the other.

“What are you doing?”, Jake decides to drop the name subject.

“Something caused him to act this way in the first place,” Jackson explains. “I think there is
something wrong with the saddle.”

He grabs the saddle with both hands, pulls it off the horse and carefully places it on the ground.
Under the saddlecloth, standing out both on the dark fabric and the brown fur on the horse’s back,
is a white powder.

Percy drags one finger through it, before wiping it on his trousers. “Itching powder,” he simply
states. “No wonder the poor guy was so agitated.”

And indeed, now that the saddle has been removed, Peanut Butter – Susan? whichever – is
completely calm.

“Can I pet him now?”, Estelle asks and Jackson grins at her.

He takes the reins from Jake and crouches down in front of his sister. “Sure thing. Could you give
me you backpack?”

Estelle hands over her little backpack and Jackson immediately drops the reins and starts
rummaging around in it. He pulls out a dark red sweater and a bottle of water.

“Mom was afraid it would get cold,” he explains as he washes the itching powder off the horse’s
back, wiping at the last residue with the sweater.

“And you aren’t?”

“If she gets cold, she can have my jacket,” Jackson just says as he puts the wet sweater back.

He holds his hand out to Estelle. “Back to the parade?”

“Do we have to? I want to keep petting the horse.” Susan whinnies in what could almost be
constructed as an agreement.

“Yes, we have to. But that doesn’t mean you can’t keep petting the horse.”

With one swift motion, Percy places his sister on the horse’s bare back. Estelle giggles happily and
the animal stands very still as Percy arranges her hands in a tight grip on the horse’s mane.

“You always hold on tight with at least one hand, all right?”

Estelle nods. She pats the horse’s neck, mane, back and sides, wherever she can reach with one
hand while still gripping the mane with the other.

Percy loops an arm though the reins, picks up the saddle from the ground and slowly follows Jake
out of the park and back to the march.

-------------

By the time they arrive at the parked police cars with the horse trailers, the march has already
started, so the area is largely abandoned. Peanut Butter’s rider comes up to meet them when she
spots her horse and smiles in relief.

“You found him.” She holds out a hand for the reins, but Percy simply disposes the saddle he had
carried in the woman’s hands.

She sags a little under the weight and for the first time, Jake questions the weight of the thing.
Percy didn’t seem to mind carrying it and the thought didn’t really occur to Jake that it might be
heavy.

Percy points to the underside of the saddle. “Itching powder,” he blankly states.

The officer’s eyes go wide. She hoists the saddle on her hip so she can stroke one hand down the
horse’s forehead. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbles to her mount. “I’m new in the division,” she
addresses the humans again. “Seems they see this as some kind of inauguration prank.”

“Not funny, if you ask me,” Percy snarls, receiving a nod of agreement from the woman in front of
them. He lets go of the horse’s reins, but Susan doesn’t make a move to run away.

Percy goes over to the horse’s side and hold his arms up to his sister.

There is a moment where Estelle seems to contemplate resisting, but she finally shifts, letting her
weight fall sideways off the horse, trusting her brother to catch her.

When she is back on her feet on solid ground, Estelle walks over to the horse’s head and pats his
nostrils. “Thank you for letting me ride you.”

Jake snorts a laugh, and the girl immediately rounds on him. “I am being polite,” she informs him
sternly. “Being polite is not something to laugh at and should always be appreciated.”

Jake shoots a glance at Percy.

The younger man raises his hands in defense. “Believe me, she didn’t learn that from me.” He
cards a hand through the girl’s neat braids. “But mom banned me from telling her otherwise.”

Jake grins.
 “Hey, Stella. Want to see if we can catch up with Grover?”

She nods eagerly. “Bye, Susan,” she tells the horse. Then, she turns to the rider. “Bye, officer.”

The officer smiles at the girl as she grabs the horse’s reins. “Goodbye.” She gives Jake a respectful
nod as they turn to walk away.

Chapter End Notes

Who spotted the Doctor Who reference? ^^

The chapter came a little bit later than I planned, but I had an economics exam during
the week, and school kind of takes priority over writing fanfiction. Unfortunately ;)
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Brooklyn Book Fair
Chapter Notes

this comes both sooner and later than I planned it to.

Later because I don't think I'll manage to post two chapters this week and sooner
because I had two examens this week and didn't really think I'd get anything done after
taking Math earlier today.
But it's a rather long chapter with a lot of characters we haven't seen before, so I hope
you enjoy reading ;)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Why are we here? This isn’t even our district.”

Terry bumps Chase’s shoulder playfully. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to be at the Brooklyn Book
Fair.”

“Please,” Annabeth scoffs. “I have an all-access pass for the entire week. I love being here.” She
eyes the large building in front of her. “But being called in here for work means that something
happened, and I don’t like it if bad things happen around places I value.”

“Nothing happened,” Terry assures the younger Detective. He makes a face. “At least, not yet.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know about the bomber case Jake and Charles have been working these last few weeks?”

Annabeth nods, her high spirit starting to dwindle.

“They think he might have placed a bomb at the fair. Security footage shows a man matching the
description of their prime suspect entering the building last night with a bag. He left about fifty
minutes later, still with the bag, but it’s entirely possible that he left something behind. Organizers
thought it to be a failed robbery at first, they only called an hour ago and the colleagues from this
district realized it could be the guy from our sketch, so they called us.”

Annabeth eyes the people filling the corridors. The fair isn’t open to the public yet, but exhibitors
and presenters are already preparing for the day. “Shouldn’t we clear the building of people if we
suspect there to be a bomb?”

“We don’t have any evidence of a bomb, yet. We’ll talk to security, try to find out where the
burglar could have gone last night, see if he shows up on any of the interior cameras. If we find
anything to suspect he left a bomb, we’ll work from there and evacuate.”

They are on their way to the offices when the Officers are stopped by a woman in her fifties.

Terry doesn’t recognize her but by the way Annabeth hugs her, the Detective does.

“Sally, this is Lieutenant Terry Jeffords, my superior officer,” Chase introduces. “Terry, this is
Sally Jackson, Percy’s mother.”
Terry offers his hand to the woman but is suddenly pulled into a quick hug. “I’m so happy to meet
you. It’s so great that Annabeth finally has colleagues who value her talents.” She beams up at the
man.

“Sally.” The woman backs off at Chase’s voice.

She grins sheepishly. “Right, sorry. What are you doing here, anyways? Are you here on duty?”

“It’s probably nothing,” Annabeth tries to placate her.

“I know how you look when it’s nothing. This” – she gestures to Annabeth – “is not nothing.”

The Detective’s shoulders slump under the observation. “There was a break-in last night and we
have to investigate.”

“But this isn’t even your district,” Mrs. Jackson says with a furrowed brow.

“No, but it might be related to a case my precinct is working on.”

A man with a notebook in his hand shows up next to them and hands Sally a piece of paper. “You
can go in to prepare whenever you like,” he tells her. “First presentation starts at noon, you’re up at
half past two.” With that, he vanishes again.

“What was that about?”, Annabeth asks.

“You know how I’ve been writing that column for the newspaper alongside my blog?” Annabeth
nods. “One of their other speakers had to cancel last minute and they asked me to do a presentation
on creating an interesting reading experience in 300 words or less.” She beams.

“That’s great, Sally.”

“Chase.” The tone is just admonishing enough that Annabeth turns to her colleague.

“Right. We have to go. Talk to you later?” She gives the other woman one last hug, then she
hurries after Terry.

“You two seem to be pretty close,” the Lieutenant remarks.

“Sally is great. I never had the best relationship with my mum or my stepmother, but Sally… she’s
just amazing,” Annabeth confirms.

They walk up a flight of stairs and along a corridor before finally arriving at the door to the
manager’s office.

Terry knocks and enters the room upon hearing the answering “Come in”.

The manager is a man in his late sixties, who absentmindedly gives them access to the security
footage from the night before, instructs them to tell him if they need any help and buries his nose in
another brochure.

What they see on the tapes doesn’t do anything to lessen the Detectives’ worries. The burglar
entered the building through a window he broke, then made his way to the auditorium. There is no
camera inside, but when the man leaves the room almost an hour after entering, his bag is notably
lighter.

“What is happening in the auditorium right now?” Annabeth has to repeat the question twice until
the manager looks up from his work.

“Nothing. Cleaning crew was in after the last lecture yesterday, presentations today don’t start until
noon.”

“Well, that’s at least something. Gives us time to figure out what he did.” Terry looks at the time.
“It’s just after nine. If he put a bomb in there, he’d have put it on a timer, like he did with the
others. It probably won’t go off before lectures are supposed to start.”

Just then, there is a knock at the door and a security guard sticks his head through the door. He’s
gasping for air, like he just ran the way to the office.

“There is a problem,” he announces between pants.

“What kind of problem?”

“One of the lecturers was on stage in the auditorium to prepare for the presentation. Someone put a
rug up there over night, and as she stepped on it, there was a metallic klick. And with police being
here…” He gestures to the two Officers. “She thinks she’s standing on a bomb.”

“Who is she?”, Annabeth asks, dread crawling within her.

The guard checks a paper in his hand.

“Sally Jackson.”

----------------------------------------------

“Maybe she just imagined it and everything’s fine,” Terry tries as they hurry to the auditorium.

“Sally Jackson is not a woman who is prone to hysterics,” Annabeth immediately disagrees. “And
we didn’t even tell her about the possible bomb threat. How would she have known?”

Terry doesn’t even try to argue her point. He simply takes out his phone to call in the bomb squad.

“They’ll be here in twenty minutes,” he announces after hanging up.

“Let’s see that this place is empty when they get here,” Chase instructs the manager, who has been
hurrying alongside them. “We have to evacuate the building.”

For a moment, it looks like he wants to object, but he ultimately just nods and scurries off to relay
the orders.

Sally Jackson stands in the middle of the stage, facing the doors as Chase and Terry enter. She
smiles when she spots the woman approaching her.

“Annabeth,” she says on a breath. “Go on, tell me I’m paranoid. Please.”

Her whole posture sags when Annabeth doesn’t answer.

“We called the bomb squad, they’ll be here soon, then we’ll know more,” Terry tells the woman.
“Until then, it is important that you stay very calm. If you really stepped on a pressure plate, any
sudden movement could set it off.”

Mrs. Jackson nods in understanding. “That’s so not how I imagined this day going.”
Terry places a hand on Annabeth’s shoulder. “I’m going to call the precinct, tell them what’s
happening. You try to keep her calm.”

His colleague nods. Chase climbs the stairs to the stage but keeps safely off the rug as she starts a
conversation.

“How is Paul?”

Terry doesn’t hear the answer, he concentrates on his conversation with the precinct.

----------------------------------------------

The bomb squad arrives and quickly takes charge. Under the command of Teddy Ramos, né Wells,
they secure the area, talk to Sally and set up equipment to search the underside of the stage for the
bomb from the floor below.

X-ray footage soon proves their fears. Sally Jackson is standing on a pressure plate, connected to a
bomb with five pounds of blasting agent.

“Everyone except for essential personnel has to leave,” Teddy announces to the room.

“I’m essential,” Chase insists, moving to reenter the auditorium.

“Chase…” Terry tries to argue.

“No way, Jeffords. I’m staying.” She takes a deep breath. “But first, I have to call Percy.”

“You really shouldn’t do that,” Terry argues. “If he shows up here, it will just upset his mother
and…”

“I can’t keep this from him.” She pulls out her phone to call her boyfriend.

It only takes Percy fifteen minutes to show up at the building’s entrance. Terry recognizes the man
and tells the officers to let him in but prevents him from entering the building just yet.

“It’s important that she stays very calm,” he emphasizes. “Any sudden movement can set off the
bomb.”

Jackson nods. “Do we have any idea how to get her off the bomb?”

“Not yet. We know where it is, but we currently don’t know how to disarm it.”

“If I can do anything to help…” Jackson lets the offer trail off.

“We have our best people on it, including your girlfriend,” Terry assures the younger man. “You
just need to keep your mother calm.”

Jackson nods and squares his shoulders. “I’ll do my best.”

The auditorium is empty when the two men enter – except for Sally Jackson, of course.

Percy opens his arms wide as he strolls down the aisle. “Good morning, mother.”

Her face turns soft “Good morning, problem child. What are you doing here?”
“First of all: Hey! Second of all: Fair point, Estelle is an angel.” He waves his hands around as he is
talking. “What do you think I’m doing?” He takes a chair from the audience and carries it up the
stairs, places it on the stage in safe distance to the rug.

“It’s dangerous,” she tries.

Percy scoffs. “Yeah, right,” he says. “Like that ever stopped you from being there for me.” He sits
down in the chair but gets up only a moment later, pacing the stage.

Sally watches her son. “Has anyone told Paul yet?”

Percy shakes his head. “I tried to reach him, but he didn’t answer his phone.”

“There is a spelling bee at the school today, he probably didn’t notice.”

They are silent for a moment.

“You want to hold your presentation for me?”, Percy asks after a moment.

Sally is about to refuse but changes her mind. “Might as well,” she says. “It’s not like I have
anything better to do.”

Terry leaves the two of them to it and goes to see how the investigation and the bomb disposal are
going.

He finds Annabeth in the manager’s office, viewing street camera footage on three screens
separately while pacing up and down.

The Lieutenant steps up to the keyboard and stops the feeds. “What are you doing?”

Chase runs a hand through her hair. “I’m trying to figure out where he went.”

“Chase.”

“If I can retrace his steps, maybe we can find out where he is.”

“Chase.”

“Maybe we even find his workshop, then we…”

“Chase!”

“Yes?”

“Take a breath.”

“I don’t need to breathe; I need to find…”

Terry steps in front of her, effectively stopping the pacing. “You need to breathe.” He looks down
at her. “Percy just arrived. You want to go see him?”

At that, Annabeth takes a deep breath and nods.

Back in the auditorium, Sally is in the middle of her presentation, but she stops when she spots the
two officers coming in. Percy turns around and shoots them a small smile. “Anything new?”, he
asks while jumping off the stage and going over to his girlfriend to press a kiss in her hair.

They shake their heads.

“Chase just needs a moment to calm down,” Terry explains.

Percy engulfs her in a hug. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

Annabeth relaxes marginally.

“The best detectives are on the job, the bomb squad is trying their best, we’ll have her out of here
in no time,” he mumbles into her shoulder.

“You seem very certain about that.” Annabeth pulls out of the hug far enough to meet his eyes.

“I’m confident in your abilities.” Jackson’s voice is soft.

“Well, no pressure, then,” Annabeth quips. “I just need to save my mother-in-law’s life.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but since when are we married?” A grin spreads over Percy’s features.

“Since I got roped into participating in chaperone duties at your sister’s pre-school.” Annabeth rolls
her eyes and sticks her tongue out. “Don’t tell me you want to get rid of me.”

Percy doesn’t take up the teasing tone. He smiles softly as her puts an errand strand of hair behind
his girlfriend’s ear. “You’re not getting away from me. Never again.”

To someone who has worked too many domestic abuse cases to not take note of such a statement,
the claim sounds almost threatening, but Annabeth smiles.

“As long as we’re together,” she answers in a way that makes it seem like an exchange the pair has
had a lot of times before.

Terry has never seen the Detective so serene, and for a moment, they just stay there and look at
each other, drawing strength from each other’s presence.

Annabeth leans her forehead against her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Thank you.” She straightens up,
takes a deep breath, and turns to Terry. “Let’s go.”

---------------

Annabeth is spiraling.

Rosa has to admit that she is doing an admirable job of pulling herself together, but as the day goes
on, the younger woman keeps trailing off, loosing trains of thought and snapping at her co-workers.

She had returned to the precinct when there was nothing left to do at the convention center. They
have a handful of leads, Jake and Boyle have left half an hour ago to check up on a lead about their
bomber.

Holt is managing calls, organizing possible evacuation scenarios, and trying to keep a panic from
spreading due to the active bomb in the city.

Terry had called, relaying that the bomb squad found a receiver and think that there might be a
remote control to turn off the bomb.
The last time Rosa has seen Annabeth, she had snapped at Scully for breathing too loud. Hitchcock
had come to his friend’s defense, and in the ensuing shouting match, the younger woman had
become downright scary.

The fight had to be broken up by the Captain, who ordered Annabeth out of the bullpen to calm
down. “Call a friend or something,” he ordered her. “You are no use to anybody like this.”

Annabeth had grabbed her phone and stormed off to one of the interrogation rooms, locking herself
in to calm down in private.

When Jake got the lead about the potential location of their bomber, they considered telling Chase,
but ultimately decided against it.

She had stormed through the bullpen only minutes after Peralta and Boyle left, grabbing a file from
her desk, and announcing that she would be in the evidence lockup if anyone needed her.

No one dared to question it and the bullpen settles down for a while.

Hitchcock gasps and pulls Rosa’s attention from her screen to her colleague. The man is staring at
the stairs and as Rosa follows his gaze, she can’t really blame him.

On the top of the stairs is one of the most beautiful woman Rosa has ever seen. She is rather tall,
probably in her mid-twenties, of Native American descent, with chocolate brown hair and one of
the most stunning faces out there. She’s wearing ripped jeans and a wide jacket over a hoodie; her
hair is braided to the side with multiple colorful beads worked into it. A courier bag is hanging off
one shoulder and she scans the room with bright eyes.

She enters the bullpen with careful steps, her eyes wandering over the present people.

“Hello, beautiful,” Hitchcock leers at her.

The woman barely even glances at him. “Can we not do this now?”

Rosa knows that she will not get rid of Hitchcock that easily and prepares to step in.

Hitchcock, meanwhile, tries to double down on his advance. “Well, Hottie, it seems you came to
my place, so I think I have a right to…”

Rosa is just about to step in when the visitor lunges. She snatches a pen from Hitchcock’s desk and
presses it to the soft flesh on the underside of his yaw in a clear and open threat.

“Me being here doesn’t give you any rights, do you understand me? If someone, anyone, asks you
to back off, you back off.”

Rosa feels herself taking a step back. Hitchcock is trying to back away as well, but he is pressed to
his desk and has nowhere to go.

Rosa has half a mind to pull her gun and defend her colleague, but the visitor isn’t done with her
tirade.

“I didn’t come here to be attacked, I didn’t come here to start a fight,” she snarls.

Rosa takes her hand from the hilt of her gun. There is no need to get involved, is there?
“So, I’m asking you for a second time to back off. Think you can do that?”

Rosa takes another step back.

Hitchcock just nods.

The visitor seems to morph into another person. She puts the pen back in its cup, takes a step away
from Hitchcock and relaxes.

“Great.” She turns her back on Hitchcock and Rosa isn’t sure if that is a sign of bravery or of
carelessness.

The visitor’s eyes fall on Rosa a few paces away. She looks the older woman up and down, then
breaks out into a grin. “That’s an awesome sheath,” she compliments. “Where did you get that?
Love the color pattern!”

The complete change in attitude takes Rosa aback, but as she runs her fingers over the sheath with
the stitching in her pride colors, she manages a smile. “Bought it at a convention,” she answers
almost automatically. She swallows and tries her best to regain some composure. “Attacking a
Detective in a police precinct is not a smart move,” she finally comments, not unkindly for her
standards.

“Neither is throwing sexist comments at women who know how to handle a weapon.” She takes a
long look at Rosa, a calculating, almost challenging look forming on her face. “Are you going to
file charges now?”

Rosa shakes her head. “Nah, he had it coming.” She extends a hand in greeting. “Detective Rosa
Diaz, how can I help you?”

The visitor takes her hand. “Piper McLean. I came by to see Annabeth. She called me earlier and
seemed pretty distressed.”

Her hand is warm and pleasant in Rosa’s and the Detective has to remind herself to let go of her
after an appropriate amount of time.

“She’s in evidence lockup,” Rosa says. “I’ll bring you to her.”

If this woman is capable of calming Annabeth down, they would all profit from it. Rosa leads the
way to the lockup, loudly knocking on the doorframe as she enters so they wouldn’t startle Chase.

The younger Detective is sitting on the floor amidst several files about previous bombings and
looks up at them with wide eyes when they enter.

“Piper,” she exclaims when she spots the visitor. “What are you doing here? I thought you were…”
She glances at Rosa. “…at home,” she finishes her sentence that certainly was meant to say
something else.

Piper hugs the blonde in greeting. “I talked to Hazel after you called, she sent Mrs. O’Leary to drop
me off here. She’s taking a nap somewhere.”

Annabeth buries her face in her friend’s shoulder. “Thank you for coming.”

“Always.” Piper takes a step back, takes in her friend’s appearance, her wild hair, the unfocussed
gaze, the mess of papers on the floor. “Annabeth, you need to calm down.”
Rosa feels a wave of calm roll over her at the words and relaxes instantly. Even Annabeth’s
shoulders sag under the kind command. All fight seems to drain out of her.

She waves her hand over the papers strewn all over the place. “I have to solve this. It’s… it’s Sally,
Piper. I… I can’t…”

Piper runs a hand up and down the Detective’s back. “I know. But if you keep spiraling, you won’t
get anything done.”

“You’re right.” Annabeth casts a careful glance at the woman. “Can you stay? I don’t think I’m
getting anywhere with those files, anyways.”

Piper nods and Rosa takes that as her opportunity to step in. “Jake and Charles are currently
running down a lead,” she informs them. “They should be back soon.”

“I’ll clean this up and then we’ll come to the bullpen,” Annabeth promises, and Rosa takes that as
her cue to leave, casting one last look at the two women.

---------------

When the two friends reenter the bullpen ten minutes later, Annabeth is remarkably calmer. She
sits down at her desk while Piper gracefully sinks down in the visitor’s chair. She pulls a law book
out of her bag and starts reading while Annabeth turns to her screen.

“How is university treating you?”, the Detective asks.

“I like the practical arguments more than all of the learning by heart, but I’m doing pretty well.”

Annabeth smiles. “Of course, you do. Arguing for a living is the perfect job for you.”

“Drew still thinks I should have gone into acting,” Piper says with a roll of her eyes.

“Yeah, but since when do you listen to anything your sister tells you?”

A shrug. “True.”

They work in silence for a while. Then the elevator doors open, revealing Jake and Charles.

The two men don’t look very happy.

“You didn’t find him?”, Rosa asks.

“Oh, we found him,” Jake grumbles. “But he put a bullet through his head before we could do
anything.”

It’s like the entire bullpen exhales a groan at the same time.

“So, he can’t tell us how to disarm the bomb,” Rosa observes. “Anything useful?”

Jake holds up a small device. “We found this,” he says. “Probably the remote control to disarm the
bomb. We just need the right code.”

He cards a hand through his hair. “We’re going to drop it off with the bomb squad in a minute, but
we wanted to drop in to give Holt an update.”

Jake eyes Piper up as the two men pass her on their way to Holt’s office but doesn’t say anything.
Boyle almost stumbles over his own feet when she smiles at him in passing and is only saved from
falling on the floor face-first by Jake grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

Talking to Holt doesn’t take long and soon, his office door opens again.

“We’ll be off to the fair, then,” Jake announces to the room.

Chase grabs her jacket as she gets up. “Mind if I come with? There isn’t really a point in
investigation who planted the bomb anymore, is there?”

“Sure,” Jake shrugs. His eyes dart back to the beautiful woman at his partner’s desk, still immersed
in a rather large book. “What about her?”

“Piper, want to come, see Sally?”, Annabeth asks, and her friend immediately closes the book and
gets up.

“Definitely.” She extends a hand to the two men. “I’m Piper.”

Charles lets out an undignified squeak, but Jake does his best to pull himself together. “Jake
Peralta, this is Charles Boyle,” he says while shaking the proffered hand.

“Pleasure,” she says in a tone that makes Jake think that she might actually mean it.

He bites his tongue before he can say something like “the pleasure is all mine” and make an
absolute fool of himself. Unfortunately, Charles has no such qualms and blurts out those exact
words.

“Why don’t you go back to our perp’s apartment and I’ll catch up with you later?”, Jake suggests
and his friend nods gratefully.

There was really no need to have him go full-Boyle on one of Annabeth’s friends.

As they leave the precinct, Jake spots a black poodle lying in the sun and taking a nap. He noticed
the animal when he entered with Boyle some minutes prior, and there was still no one to claim it
and people kept giving it a wide berth.

“Maybe I should call Boyle and see if he can look after the dog until we find out to whom it
belongs,” he says absentmindedly.

“That won’t be necessary,” Piper interjects. “I brought her.”

Jake shrugs. If she says so, there probably really is no reason to bother anyone with looking after
the dog. “Should we bring her?”, he suggests before immediately questioning how or why he
would bring a dog to a bombing scene.

“Nah, she’ll catch up with us,” Piper says.

And really, a dog finding a group of people in a city like New York sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

Jake drops the topic.

--------------------------

Terry greets them upon their arrival at the book fair with a grave look on his face. “I was just about
to call you,” he says. “BDU has eyes on the bomb.”
“I feel like that should be a good thing,” Piper remarks. “Why isn’t that a good thing?”

Terry turns to the newcomer. “And who are you?”

“Terry, this is Piper, a close friend of mine. Piper, Lieutenant Terry Jeffords, my CO,” Annabeth
quickly introduces them.

Terry nods in greeting and turns his attention back to the Detectives. “As suspected, there is a timer
on the bomb. It’ll go off at five past twelve.”

Annabeth curses under her breath and even Piper lets out a few choice words.

Jake stays silent. He is determined to get the woman out alive, but there is not much he can do right
now, and he doesn’t really have high personal stakes in the situation.

“Does she know? Has anyone told Percy?”

Terry shakes his head. “I wanted to tell you first, thought you delivering the news might soften the
blow.”

Annabeth nods in agreement and starts walking towards the auditorium. “Anything else happened
in the meantime?”

The officers at the entrance eye Piper as they pass, but don’t try to stop her from entering.

“Not really. Some people came by, though.”

That surprises Jake. “People? Another bomb squad?”

“No,” Terry pauses for a moment. “Percy’s friends. He insisted we let them in, and it got Mrs.
Jackson riled up when we didn’t at first, so we gave in.”

“Who?” A smile ghosts over Annabeth’s face.

Terry shrugs. “Couple of kids from his Community Center, but they left shortly after. Short emo
guy with a tall blond boyfriend, two gingers.”

“Gingers?”, Annabeth asks as they walk up the stairs.

Terry flips through his notebook. “Kayla Knowles and Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I don’t even know
what they’re doing here.”

“I told Piper because I needed someone to vent to…,” Annabeth starts.

“I told Hazel, she helped me get here, she probably told Nico, Nico told Will… Isn’t Kayla Will’s
sister? He probably told her. And Rachel…” Piper lets the sentence trail off.

“Rachel just knows things,” Annabeth finishes as they round a corner.

“Okay, but why are they here?”

Annabeth smiles up at him. “Before Percy opened his Community Center, Sally provided a save
space for anyone from Camp travelling through the city. Even if one just dropped in for tea or
cookies, she was there. Everyone loves her.” Her voice is tender and almost a little bit proud.

“Gotten quite protective of her, as well,” Piper adds.

They reach the auditorium and enter. The occupants are standing around in a loose circle, the look
on Sally’s face is pained.

Percy jumps off the stage when he spots them and hurries over to his girlfriend, pressing a kiss to
her forehead. “Any news?” He gives Piper a quick sideways hug in greeting.

Annabeth nods. “Bomb Disposal has managed to get eyes on the bomb,” she reports. “There is a
timer.”

It’s like all the air is pressed out of the room and for a moment, no one breathes.

“How long?” Sally’s voice is little more than a whisper, but Jake admires her for having the
strength to ask at all.

“About fifty-three minutes,” Terry answers.

“Any good news?”, Percy tries again.

“Jake and Charles found the guy who built the bomb, they recovered a device that will likely shut
it off, but we need the code.”

Percy’s eyes flicker between Annabeth and Piper. “So, make him tell you,” he demands, like it is
the obvious solution and an easy feat.

Annabeth shakes her head. “He shot himself.”

“Officers are currently going through all the files in his apartment to see if he wrote the code down
somewhere,” Jake supplies. “There is hope they’ll make it on time.”

Everybody in the room hears the unspoken “We don’t have much hope if they don’t.”

“In fact, I was just about to go over there and help them look.” He turns to Annabeth. “Do you
want to come?”

Annabeth looks from Jake, to Sally, to Terry and then to Percy. She’s been stressed the whole day,
barely coping with her ADHD and Jake already regrets asking the question if it stresses her out
even more.

“I think, Detective Chase should stay here,” Terry states.

Jake quickly agrees and exits the building, trying to find the magical number that would save a
woman’s life.

-----------------------

Terry hates this situation. He has been in many stressful situations, but having a woman stand on a
bomb for over two hours, waiting for it to go off and having no way to prevent it, is torture.

It’s made even worse by the way one of his best Detectives unravels in front of him. He feels with
the youngest member of his squad, but the way Chase is behaving isn’t of any use to them.

Her friend helps, he notices. Piper does a great job of keeping the group calm, parroting soothing
mantras that somehow never fail to work.

It doesn’t really help with their bigger problem, though.

The bomb squad technician confirmed that the device found by Jake and Boyle can be used to
diffuse the bomb, but in the same sentence warned him that it is temper-proof and will detonate the
bomb should they enter the wrong code.

There are only a little more than ten minutes on the timer when a hears a commotion at the
entrance and goes over to check.

A Latino man is rapidly talking to the officers securing the scene, imploring them to let him in.
“You don’t understand. Those are my friends…”

“What’s your name?”, Terry asks him, because something about the guy seems familiar.

“Leo Valdez.”

The information clicks in Terry’s head. He’s the guy from the bank who had texted Jake. Terry
presses a button on his radio.

“Chase?”

There is a short pause until her voice answers back. “Tell me something good, Jeffords.”

“There is a Leo Valdez, claiming to know you.”

“I know him, can you bring him up?”

Terry gestures for the officers to let the guy through and leads Valdez into the building. They meet
Teddy at the foot of the stairs.

“We have to start evacuating now,” the leader of the bomb squad says. “Only essential personnel,
everyone else has to go. We’ve only got ten minutes left.”

Terry nods. “I’ll tell them,” he promises, not wanting the other man to come with them to the
auditorium.

Wells eyes Valdez but doesn’t comment on his presence. “Thank you.”

The auditorium is brimming with energy when the two men enter.

“We could just flood the whole building,” Percy suggests.

“And what good will that bring?”

“Stuff under water is better than stuff exploding!”

“How would you even manage flooding the second floor without collapsing the first?”

Everybody is talking over each other, but the conversation breaks off when they spot Terry and
Leo coming down the aisle.

“You all have to leave soon,” he announces as Leo runs ahead to greet his friends. “There’s only
ten minutes left.”

All the faces in the room settle on a firm “Like hell we’ll leave” and Terry prepares himself for an
argument.

“You should go,” Sally comes to his aid. “There is no use in putting all of you in danger.”
“What if we replace Sally with something of equal weight?”, Piper suggests.

Annabeth shakes her head. “The tiniest shift on the pressure plate could set it off.”

Terry has the feeling that they had already gone through a lot of ideas like that.

“I could tackle her off the plate,” Leo offers. “Wouldn’t be the first explosion I survived.”

“If the bomb goes off, it will take down the entire building.”

They bounce some more ideas around, one more outlandish than the other.

“I could teleport her away,” Nico says at some point.

“Too much light,” Will counters and gestures to the high windows through which the midday sun
shines. Terry has no idea how one is connected to the other, but Nico nods and drops the idea.

When there are only five minutes on the clock, Terry starts pressing for the group to leave. “Our
only hope would be to find the code,” he reasons. “As long as we don’t…”

“What code?”, Leo interrupts him.

All eyes snap to him.

“There is a remote control that can shut off the bomb,” Annabeth rattles. “But we don’t know the
code.”

“Why didn’t you just say so?”, Leo shouts. “You know I’m good with…” He glances at Terry. “…
codes.”

Annabeth nods and strides over to her commanding officer. “Terry, you need to get us the remote,”
she implores him. “Please.”

“Why?”

“Leo can…” She breaks up and looks at him with pleading eyes. “Please? At this point, what’s the
worst that could happen?”

Terry has to admit that he doesn’t really have an answer to that. And Chase is good, he trusts her
judgement. “If I get the remote, you promise to leave before he does anything stupid with it? All of
you?”

Every single person in the room nods eagerly and Terry takes off to get the device. It doesn’t take
long to locate it and the officer in charge of it hands it over with a morose “Seems like it’s too late,
anyways.”

He returns to the auditorium where Leo is anxiously pacing up and down while Sally Jackson tries
to get the young adults to leave, but doesn’t succeed in the slightest.

He passes the remote control over to Annabeth. “You promised to leave before he does anything
stupid,” he reminds her. “We’ve got three minutes left.”

Annabeth simply passes the device on to Leo, who, without missing a beat, punches in a number
sequence.

Terry wants to leap to stop him, to make him wait until the rest of them are out of the building, at
least, but he is too late.

With absolute horror, Terry watches as the man presses seemingly random buttons and hits the
little green knob on the bottom of the device.

The remote control beeps twice.

Terry expects the next – and last – thing he will hear to be the explosion taking down the building
they are standing in at the moment, all because he allowed Chase to give the dammed remote to
some guy.

Then, a metallic click sounds from the stage where Mrs. Jackson stands.

Leo tosses the device back at Annabeth, runs over to the stage, leaps up on it and falls to the floor
next to the rug. He presses his ear to the floor for a moment, then slacks and looks up at the rest of
them.

“It’s all right,” he declares. He turns his head to the woman standing only a few feet next to him.
“You can step off the rug, now.”

Sally looks around, meets her son’s eyes, who just nods. She takes a careful step towards him, then
another and stumbles into Percy’s embrace with the third.

Terry releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding and presses the button on his radio. “Bomb
disarmed, Jackson is off the pressure plate.”

There is a bluster of questions, but Terry turns his radio off at points at Chase.

“You. With me.”

The Detective’s face falls from pure relief and elation to a more reserved, cautious expression. She
follows the Lieutenant out of the auditorium, down the corridor and into an empty room.

“What was that?”, Terry asks her after closing the door behind them.

“Leo disarmed the bomb,” Annabeth says with a shrug.

“That’s not what I mean. You promised to get everyone out before letting him do something
stupid.”

“He didn’t do anything stupid. He disarmed the bomb.”

“Whether he knew the code or not – and don’t even get me started on the discussion of how he
knew – you should have gotten the others out, first.”

“I didn’t think-“

“Exactly. Next time, try thinking first and acting second.”

-----------------

Jake finds her twenty minutes later, still alone in the abandoned room while the rest of the building
is once again brimming with people.

“Terry told me what happened.”

Annabeth looks up at her partner. “I have never seen him this angry. I don’t understand why,
though. Nothing bad happened.”

“But it could have.” Jake takes a long look at her. “Listen. Terry is… You weren’t with us when
Terry got the twins. He was an emotional mess for a while, wasn’t stable, got jumpy, all of that. He
was reduced to desk duty for months, because in his emotional state, he made mistakes out there.
He got better with time and got back in the field, but he always fears that he might die in the line of
duty and leave his daughters without a father. Today, you were… a mess as well.”

Annabeth starts to defend herself, but Jake holds up a hand to silence her.

“You had every right to be, and we decided to let you stay on the investigation because you
wouldn’t have been of any use elsewhere, either.”

Annabeth just nods.

“When Valdez started pressing buttons, Terry thought that this was the moment he might die.
Because some guy he didn’t know pressed a button.”

“It was perfectly safe. I trust Leo with my life.”

Jake nods in understanding. “But Terry doesn’t.”

There is a long pause between them.

“Terry is a good and confident guy. But today, with your actions, you scared the shit out of him.”

Annabeth takes a deep breath. “I only thought of Sally in that moment, it didn’t even occur to me
what Terry…” She lets the sentence trail off and runs a hand through her hair. “Any way I can
make it up to him?”

Jake shrugs. “Go out there and do your job, that would be a good start.”

Annabeth gives him a small smile and follows her partner out of the room.

They pass Teddy Ramos on their way outside and the tension between the two men is almost
palpable.

“What happened between you two?”, Annabeth asks.

“He’s Amy’s ex.”

“Jealous?”

“Of that guy? Nah.”

“What then?”

“He has an annoying habit of proposing to Amy.”

“Huh.”

“Unfortunately for him, this habit started only after they broke up and Amy and I got together.”

“Seriously?”
 “Jup.”

“That’s messed up.”

“Jup.”

They get outside the building, where Percy’s mother and his friends stand together in a wide circle
around Percy himself who is cuddling the black poodle from the precinct.

“How did the dog get here?”, Jake asks as he joins the group.

Percy grins at him. “That’s Mrs. O’Leary. Piper was looking after her today.” He presses his face
into her fur. “She always finds me.”

Something about the way these people behave around the dog is strange, Jake notes. The large
distance they keep to her, the fact that they seem to look over the animal, more than at her, the way
Will stumbles out of the way when the dog takes two steps backwards despite standing a couple of
yards away…

But before he can think any more about it, Terry is there, and he gets pulled back into work.

The next time he looks over, the dog is gone, and so is Piper.

Chapter End Notes

Piper studies law and becomes a lawyer and you can fight me on this! (Or don't, you
won't change my mind anyways... ;-) )
I didn't really want to specify where she studies, but it's not like it would make too
much of a difference to Mrs. O'Leary.
I have this headcanon that everybody is super protective of Sally and would just drop
everything when they hear that she's in danger.
Plot is once again inspired by another Castle-episode. (I actually have a crossover with
Percy Jackson & Castle steadily growing in the back of my head, might be my next
project after finishing this...)
I doubt I'll manage to post a new chapter over the weekend, but I have the next
chapters planned out, so I might get back to two chapters a week after the WE.
After rereading, editing and posting this chapter for the last two hours, I really should
use my last waking brain cells to finish my homework for tomorrow... >:-(
You know how it is, every single comment cheers me up ;)
Have a great day, stay safe.
 Evacuation Emma
Chapter Notes

I know I'm completely off my schedule, and I'm sorry for that, but life happens and the
creative part of my brain started wandering off and I currently have 7 stories that I
started writing and while one part of my brain thinks "I should work on the one I've
started uploading and try to keep to some sort of schedule", the other part keeps saying
"But I already wrote almost 60.000 words on that one, and I have ideas for other
stories, now I have a new itch to scratch..."
Guess which part is winning...........
My plan is that this story gets another five chapters that are already planned and at
least partly written and then I'll start a new story for the reveals with the squad.
This wasn't really supposed to be a chapter on its own, I wanted to include it in
something longer, but I didn't really find a good place for it and I wanted to post
something, so you get this very short chapter and hopefully, I'll find some motivation
to work on the rest.
I'M NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Stay save, I love you.” Boyle hangs up his phone as he joins his coworkers in the break room.

Jake looks up from his lunch. “Everything okay with Genevieve and Nikolaj?”

“It’s pronounced Nikolaj.”

Jake rolls his eyes and gestures to the phone. “That sounded serious, is everything all right with
Genevieve?”, he tries again.

“Oh, yes, that wasn’t her. It was my Cousin Emma.”

The name sparks something in the back of Jake’s mind. “Evacuation Emma?”

Boyle smiles at him. “Exactly. She’s getting evacuated again because of a gas leak in her
building.”

Jake just hums, not really surprised by the news. “That makes how many evacuations now?”

“Fourteen. She’s thinking about throwing a party if she hits fifteen.”

“What is happening?”, Annabeth asks. The two men turn to her.

“My cousin keeps getting evacuated for various reasons. Started about fifteen years ago, I think.
She’s gotten rather good at it.”

“How can you be good at getting evacuated?” Rosa’s question goes largely ignored by Boyle.

Annabeth grins at her and continues eating her sandwich.

“One year,” Boyle continues. “She planned everything so that she wouldn’t get evacuated the
whole year. Forest fires, tsunamis, she did the research when they were most likely to happen and
planned her whole year around staying away from these areas. Evaded big events, only stayed in
new or recently renovated hotels.”

Jake puts his coffee down. “Did it work out?”

“No, a dormant volcano erupted while she was on holiday.”

“Isn’t the point of dormant volcanoes that they don’t erupt?” Rosa raises a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s what convinced Emma that she is cursed.“

“There’s no such thing as curses,” Rosa declares.

Boyle gasps, his eyes big as he rounds on his colleague. “Yes, there is. And her curse caused the
volcano to erupt.”

“That eruption was not caused by your cousin’s curse, Boyle,” Rosa snipes. “I’m sure they found a
more logical explanation by now.”

Annabeth nods in agreement as she drinks her tea.

Boyle takes a deep breath to prepare himself for his lecture mode. “They have not, as a matter of
fact. Complete marvel to the geologists, even after a good ten years. They call it the Mystery of
Mount Saint Helens.”

Annabeth chokes on her tea. She starts coughing violently, causing Jake to slap her on the back.

“Just went down the wrong pipe,” she croaks when she regains control over her vocal cords. She
turns to Boyle. “Did you say Mount Saint Helens?”

Boyle smiles. “Yes. You’ve ever been?”

Annabeth nods. “Yes, I’ve been there with Percy years ago,” she responds slowly.

“Was that before or after the eruption?”, Jake asks his partner once he’s sure she won’t choke on
her tea.

“During, actually,” Annabeth answers. Her eyes are glued to the table and there is a strange tension
in her shoulders. “Ended up being quite a mess.”

“Wasn’t my fault,” comes a voice from the room’s entrance.

The detectives turn to see Percy Jackson stroll in, a casual smile on his face. He lets his gaze
wander over the group, and it catches on Annabeth, who is rooted to the spot, still staring at the
table.

“What?”, Jake asks. “Why would you even…?”

“Sorry, old habit.” He places a box with blue cookies on the table, presses a kiss on his girlfriend’s
head and tries to catch her eyes. A smile is tugging at her lips, but she is doing her best to suppress
it. “What were you talking about?”

“The mysterious eruption of Mount Saint Helens,” Rosa answers while grabbing one of the
cookies.
 Jackson sputters. “Well, I might have to rescind my statement, then.”

Annabeth’s shoulders start shaking with suppressed laughter.

The other detectives exchange a confused glance, both at Jackson’s implied statement to be the
reason of the eruption and their colleague’s behavior.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Percy exclaims, sitting down next to his girlfriend. The statement causes
Annabeth’s laughter to break out.

“Good memories?”, Boyle asks while regarding Annabeth carefully.

“Mixed,” Jackson replies. “It was the first time that one kissed me,” he bumps his shoulder with
Annabeth’s. “But we didn’t see each other for a while afterwards, that was less fun.”

Annabeth sobers up at the memory. She grabs her boyfriend’s hand and plants a kiss on it. “Slight
understatement,” she mutters. “And while I was worrying about you, thinking anything could have
happened, you spent your time on a sunny island, with…”

“You know I had no means to contact you and I lost track of time.”

“Of course, you lost track of time. After all, you were with…”

“You know exactly that there isn’t anything going on between Calypso and I, and when I had the
chance, I came back to you, didn’t I?”

There is no real heat behind the argument, only fond exasperation.

They stare at each other for some long seconds, a teasing challenge in Annabeth’s expression while
Jackson just smiles.

“I came back, didn’t I?”

Annabeth reciprocates the smile and takes his hand. “You did. You always come and find me.”

“And I always will.”

Another silence stretches between them.

“I know.”

Chapter End Notes

I feel like we really don't talk enough about the fact that Percy Jackson, at what? 14
years of age? caused the eruption of a vulcano!
Please excuse the title, that's what it was called from the beginning and I couldn't think
of anything better on thy fly, didn't want to leave it blank, either, so...
Hope you had fun reading.
Have a great day, stay safe.
 Tactical Village Day
Chapter Notes

Did I ever say that I'm surprised about the amount of love this fic recieves? Because
this is my first mulit-chapter fic here and I really didn't expect it to go this well! I'm
honestly flattered by the attention, the love, the kind words and the growing number of
kudos, bookmarks and hits it gets.
THANK YOU!
(It actually really helps me stay focussed and keeps me from jumping onto the other
projects waiting for attention...)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Listen up, people, this year’s character is Liam Wilson, an Australian cop, also known as the
wonder from down under…”

“One: terrible accent. Two: laying it on a bit thick there, buddy.” Rosa just shrugs when Jake glares
at her for interrupting him “But please, go on.”

Jake drops the accent as he continues. “Well, Liam’s older brother was a spy for the Russians…”

Boyle perks up. “Interesting. I thought they are Australian?”

Jake nods, pleased that his friend was paying attention. “Double agent. He was killed on a mission
and it’s up to Liam to avenge him.”

“Really? Assassination of a spy is the best you could come up with?”, Terry asks as he drops his
bag on the empty seat next to him.

“Don’t listen to them, Jake. It sounds great,” Boyle encourages his best friend.

“What is this about?”, Annabeth asks as she drops down in the bus seat next to Rosa.

“My character for this year’s tactical village day,” Jake explains with a grin.

Chase looks skeptical. “We need characters?”

“We don’t need them, but it makes the day more fun.”

Annabeth glances at the others. “Is he the only one doing a character?”

“How did you know?”, Charles gasps.

Annabeth exchanges a glance with Rosa. “Lucky guess,” she answers with a barely hidden grin.

----------------
With the four detectives and their Lieutenant on board, the bus takes off.

Captain Holt had decided that Scully and Hitchcock wouldn’t be joining them this year since they
barely went into the field, anyways. Amy would visit another training day with the squad of
uniformed officers under her command, so that left the younger four detectives and Terry to
represent the 99th in this year’s competition for coolest kill and best time.

They barely cleared the parking lot when Terry pulls ear buds out of his bag and connects them to
his phone.

“The older my girls get, the smaller the house seems to become,” he comments. “I love them, but I
miss having a room for myself.”

“Can’t you add onto your house?”, Rosa asks, ever the pragmatist.

“Thought about it,” Terry replies. “But our car probably won’t last much longer and we can’t really
afford a new car and the addendum to the house.” His eyes narrow as he sees Annabeth opening
her mouth. “And I really don’t want to talk about it right now.” He puts the ear buds in. “I have a
new episode of my favorite podcast to listen to.”

He pointedly turns away from the others, looking out of the window while the intro of his podcast
begins to play.

The Detectives exchange glances, but not really seeing how they could help their friend, they turn
back to the imminent event.

They start talking about previous years, about how it was a shame that CopCon was cancelled this
year and the exceedingly ridiculous scenarios they had to face during the training simulations.

“The bank heist last year was fun, though,” Boyle remarks.

Rosa and Jake nod in agreement.

“They had these horrible wallpapers in the safe room, though,” Jake remembers, causing a snort
from the other Detectives.

Annabeth just smiles pleasantly. Her colleagues turn to her.

“What about you?”, Jake prompts. “Most ridiculous scenario at tactical village day you had to
face.”

“Never done it, sounds like fun, though,” Annabeth answers and Jake dutifully bites back the title-
of-your-sex-tape-joke.

“How have you never been to tactical village day? Isn’t it mandatory?” Rosa furrows her brow.

Annabeth shrugs. “Mandatory for squads, yes, but not every member has to be in attendance.
That’s why Scully and Hitchcock aren’t here. We’re enough people to meet the requirements.”

“And you just happened to never attend?”

“Yeah, complete coincidence,” Annabeth answers, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Her colleagues exchange small glances at the reminder of her less than perfect previous squad.

It doesn’t matter.

She’s with the 99 now, and they treat each other as family.

----------------
They arrive on location to drizzling rain and deserted outdoor set-ups. Few cars and busses are
parked in the parking lot, confirming their suspicions of being amongst the first to arrive.

Those who are already on-site cram inside the building to evade the crisp April air of the outside
shooting range. They greet the squad with small waves and quiet words, not yet quite awake or
willing to participate in inter-precinct mingling.

The squad from the 99th decides to take the opportunity and test some of the new weapons on
display.

They file outside, braving the cold and the steadily increasing rain to look at the guns they would
be using in their scenario and get some test shots in.

There are multiple targets in the field, some in the form of people, others in the classic round
shape. It being early in the day, few people have taken the opportunity to shoot at them, so they get
the chance to turn the drab, colorless targets bright with paint.

After having emptied his magazine, dotting his target with colorful splots, Boyle ejects the
magazine out of his gun, tries to kick it, but it connects with his shin before falling to the ground,
causing the Detective to curse and whimper.

Jake and Rosa roll their eyes at him, the former patting his friend on the back consolingly. “Maybe
next year,” he tries.

“What was that?”, Annabeth, unused to the traditions of tactical village day, asks.

“Boyle has this idea of ejecting an empty magazine from his gun and kicking it into a target. He’s
been trying it for years, but it simply doesn’t work,” Rosa explains with a not-too-friendly smile on
her face.

Annabeth shoots her last paint ball at the targets in front of them, hitting it smack in the face.

She takes a step back from the line-up, giving herself more space to maneuver. Then, she ejects the
magazine, swings her leg and kicks the small container into the box of empty magazines. “Like
that?”

Boyle stares at her. “That was simply amazing.”

“That was dumb luck,” Jake claims “No way you can repeat that.”

Annabeth holds out her hand and Jake hands her his gun which he already emptied of any
ammunition.

She repeats the move flawlessly. “You were saying?”

“All right, I’m impressed,” Jake admits. He runs a hand through his hair, wet from the steadily
increasing rain. “We should get back inside.”

The new gear on display inside the building is fun, but there is little that would be included in their
work during the next few years.

Jake gushes over surveillance drones with automated flight systems that follow a target, Terry tries
out a weapon that looks like a missile launcher and is heavy enough that none of the others even
tries to pick it up. Annabeth and Rosa immediately fall in love with a line of high-tech knifes and
Boyle happily rambles about new communication systems.
Some of the civilians come by to say hello to the older detectives and Annabeth stands happily by
and gets introduced to every Perp and Innocent Bystander that wants to talk to Jake.

--------------------------

“This year’s scenario is a mob who took hostages in a restaurant.”

“Very generic,” Rosa comments.

“We’re not here for creativity, Diaz.” Terry shoots her a look. “There is a front and a back door.
Diaz, Boyle, you enter through the front, into the service area. Peralta, Chase, you take the back
entrance, leading to the kitchen. The hostages are in the front area, but there is one undercover cop
with the other perps in the back.”

“How can we recognize them?”, Annabeth asks.

“Their shirt says undercover cop,” Terry answers with a blank face.

“Like in real live,” Annabeth remarks, causing the other detectives to snicker.

Terry rolls his eyes, and they fall silent again, listening to his instructions.

“You’re cleared for maximum engagement, the undercover cop should not be revealed as a cop,…”

“He might invest in a new shirt, then,” Jake grins.

Terry groans. “Just go,” he tells them and starts his clock.

Jake and Annabeth sneak around the building set-up, entering the scene through the unlocked back
door.

They find themselves in a corridor, leading straight to the kitchen but with two doors to offices on
either side.

Jake places his hand on the handle of one of the doors. His partner gets in position and nods. Jake
opens the door.

They clear the rooms behind the four doors in the corridor in quick succession, dotting their perp’s
shirts with paint.

The door to the kitchen has a small porthole through which Annabeth and Jake peep before
entering.

The kitchen is large, with a total of eight people inside.

They all stand with their back to the Detectives, facing the front door where Rosa and Boyle are
currently taking out the men guarding the hostages.

They glance at each other, nod, and quietly push the door open.

Annabeth sneaks up to the man standing closest to them, puts a hand over his mouth and turns him
around. His shirt proclaims him to be an innocent bystander and Annabeth puts her finger on her
lips to silence him and gestures for the guy to get down.
Jake approaches a woman handling a frying pan in a similar manner, but when she turns, her shirt
says perp.

Jake puts a single green dot on her shirt, taking the woman out. She dutifully collapses on the
ground, but the sound has alerted the other people in the room.

Jake ducks behind the workstation and glances at his partner, who is similarly crouched down.

They don’t have much time and are seriously outnumbered, plus one of these people is the
undercover cop they aren’t supposed to reveal or kill.

Jake risks a quick glance around the counter and sees two of the men approaching, two more are
lingering by the door while the last two have left the kitchen to deal with Rosa and Charles.

The two men approaching are both wearing perp-shirts, Jake can’t identify the undercover cop yet.

He ducks back behind the counter just in time for a red paintball to zip past him, hitting a pot
instead and eliciting a harsh ping.

He holds up two fingers, catches Annabeth’s eye. She nods.

They get into position, jump up in unison, take out both men and drop back down.

The two groans are enough of an indication that both shots hit their marks.

“By the door,” Annabeth mouths and Jake nods.

The shot to the men at the door isn’t quite free, there are workstations with hanging pans and
spatulas in the way, but he’s confident that he’ll be able to make the shot anyways.

The two men are turned towards them when the Detectives jump up from behind their counters.

Jake fires and hears the matching sound from Annabeth’s weapon, just as he spots the shirt
declaring Annabeth’s mark as the undercover cop.

But Annabeth’s shot doesn’t quite hit its mark. Despite being one of the best shooters Jake knows,
his partner’s shot hasn’t gone for anything critical, head, chest, or even the wide belly. Her
projectile simply grazed the man’s right shoulder, painting his shirt sleeve in a bright blue before
hitting the port eye in the door to the service area and shattering the fragile glass.

The undercover cop willingly drops his weapon from his “injured” arm and gets down. Annabeth
darts forwards, kicks the weapon out of reach, pushes him down to his knees and fastens his arms
behind his back with a pair of zip ties.

Jake clears the walk-in storage room, making sure they won’t be ambushed when they approach
the service area.

He joins Annabeth, pats the undercover cop on the head and looks over to the door leading to the
service area.

“That was goin’ great as, eh, mate?”

Annabeth glances at him over her shoulder. “I have to agree with Rosa. Your accent is terrible.”
She looks past him and suddenly jerks up her gun, firing a single shot that whizzes closely past
Jake’s ear and through the damaged porthole.
 He whirls around and sees a woman in the service area with a gun in her hand. She seems to have
been sneaking up to Charles from behind, but now turns to look at Annabeth, her hand going up to
the back of her head and coming away with the light blue of Annabeth’s paint balls.

“I almost had her,” the other woman lightheartedly complains, but drops her weapon.

Jake brings a hand to his earpiece. “Time.”

They miss the course record by all of fifty-three seconds, beaten by a group of six.

Terry compliments them for good work, even acknowledges Annabeth temporarily incapacitating
the undercover cop as a good idea.

She beams at the praise, but Terry turns away before she can even say thank you.

“He still mad at you?”

Annabeth looks at Rosa. “Yeah. Never pegged him for someone to hold a grudge.”

“He usually doesn’t.”

“I know, I really scared him with the bomb thing.”

“Ah, he’ll be right, mate.”

Three sets of eyes settle on Jake.

“Could you please stop with that accent of yours?”, Rosa groans.

Boyle slings a friendly arm over Annabeth’s shoulders and Jake notes with a smile that she doesn’t
shy away from the touch like she did at the beginning of her time with the squad.

It’s obvious in many ways that she slowly comes to see the team as family.

“I’m just glad you took out the perp I overlooked,” Boyle praises. “I was convinced she was one of
the hostages.”

Annabeth smiles down at him. “It was a tight fit, glad I didn’t miss,” she admits.

She looks over at Jake at a barely contained gasp. Her partner has a wide grin on his face and is
obviously fighting with himself to keep in a comment.

Chase fondly shakes her head. “Just say it, Peralta.”

“It was a tight fit, glad I didn’t miss, title of you sex tape,” he says in one breath and holds up his
hand in in invitation.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and gives her partner a high-five.

Chapter End Notes

Do I have any idea of american mandatory police training excersises? No.
Did I need a reason not to bring Hitchcock and Scully along because I find them really
hard to write? Yes.
(Did I use this reason to put in a little bit of angst for Annabeth? Well, wouldn't you?)
Please leave a comment if you enjoyed reading.
I love all of you.
Have a great day, stay safe.
 The Easter Exchange
Chapter Notes

I'm officially giving up every pretence of being able to keep to a schedule. Sorry...?
But you're getting the longest chapter yet, I think, about 10.000 words.
(And why did I think it would be a good idea to start my last read-through and editing
process half an hour before I planned to go to bed? Right, because I didn't think it'd
take 2 hours!)
I'm tired. I'm going to bed now. Good night.
Have fun reading.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sprits are high on Holy Thursday as the Detective squad is gathering in the briefing room for the
morning briefing.

Terry is conspicuously absent, but that doesn’t stop the rest of the team from discussing their plans
for the weekend.

“We’re going easter egg hunting in Central Park,” Boyle announces. “Except, they aren’t normal
eggs. Guinevere had the idea to take the eggs and…”

“Is this going to be another hour of cooking stories?”, Rosa interrupts him.

“Yes, but the results are really stunning.”

Rosa rolls her eyes. “Yeah, sure. I have to work, so no plans here. What about you, Chase?”

“I’ve got the whole weekend off. My Camp has this partnership with a Camp at the west coast and
we’ve been doing an Easter Exchange these past few years. This year, they’re coming to us, so I’ll
be at Camp.”

“Sounds fun. Bet you’re happy you don’t have to drive all the way over there.”

Annabeth grins. “I think everyone prefers the Exchange being at our place. The other Camp is
much more… orderly than ours and when we show up there with a couple dozen teens intent on
chaos, they tend to get testy after a while.”

Jake grins at the thought. “But they are happy to just submit to your chaos when they’re here?”

“Nah, not really. But they bring their building crew and erect their own encampment, so they get to
keep most of their orderly ways.”

“What do you do, then? Easter egg hunt?”, Boyle asks.

The blonde shakes her head. “We tried that once, but people went a little overboard with hiding the
prizes.”

“Overboard, how?”
Annabeth shrugs, plays with her necklace. “One group booby trapped their eggs so that whoever
found them would be shot at with paint or blunted arrows. Others thought it would be fun to throw
them in a fire or the lake, so people barely could reach them. And one group dumped their share
with Peleus, our guard… dog. He doesn’t take kindly to strangers or people trying to take what he
tries to protect, and we still can’t get the eggs back from him.”

Rosa raises an eyebrow. “Sounds exiting.”

“It’s a Camp full of ADHD teens. If there is one thing you can count on, it’s that it never gets
boring,” Annabeth laughs.

The conversation is cut short at this point by Captain Holt entering the room and starting the
meeting. “As you have noticed, Lieutenant Jeffords is not yet here. There has been an incident at
his home, and he will be in later today.”

“What happened?”

“You may ask the Lieutenant once he comes in, but for now, I ask you to focus on your work.”

----------------------

When Terry comes in shortly before lunch, he looks tired. He goes straight for Holt’s office, closes
the door behind him and pulls down the blinds.

When he emerges twenty minutes later, he looks a little bit better, but there is still some
desperation clinging to his form.

“What happened?”, Boyle asks as soon as the other man sits down.

“There was a fire.”

“What?” He immediately has the attention of the entire squad.

“There was a fire. At my house.” Terry leans back in his chair, looking wholly defeated. “There
was some faulty wiring and it caused sparks. Fire Department thinks it jumped over to some straw
we had lying around as part of the easter decoration, and it set the whole roof on fire from there.”

There is a beat of silence as everyone exchanges horrified looks. “Is everyone all right?”, Jake
finally asks.

Terry nods, obviously still shaken by the events. “Yes. We all got out in time. Sharon is probably
handling it better than I am.”

Boyle nods in sympathy. “What are you going to do?”

“Honestly? I don’t know.” Terry runs a hand through his non-existing hair. “I was on the phone
with our insurance company for over two hours earlier, but they don’t seem inclined to pay. The
weather is supposed to be good this weekend, but we’ll get rain next week and without a roof,
there only will be more damage. Fire Department said there is no structural damage, though, so
that’s at least something.”

“I could ask around, see if I can find someone to patch up your roof over the weekend,” Annabeth
offers. “I still have contacts in the industry.”

Terry shakes his head. “I really need to wait for the insurance company to come around, first. They
definitely won’t pay if I just go ahead without their approval. Insurance companies are dumb.”

“But if it really starts raining next week, everything just gets worse,” Annabeth argues. “I could…”

“Can we please change the topic?”, Terry snaps. “I’ve had enough of this today.”

It’s a rare thing that Terry snaps at anyone and the room falls silent as everybody busies
themselves with work.

-----------------

Terry is testy all day, avoiding conversations unrelated to work and looking worse for wear the
longer the day drags on.

Annabeth makes a few attempts to talk to the Lieutenant, but is shut down every time.

Jake watches his partner sit at her desk, her eyes darting to Terry every few minutes, but she stays
put, not wanting to risk Terry’s temper to get even worse.

“I could help,” she says over lunch while Terry is still sitting at his desk and everyone else is in the
break room. “I know some people who’d be willing to drop by on short notice.”

“Can’t really go to someone’s home and start working on it without their consent, though,” Rosa
puts in.

Annabeth mumbles something into her lunch and looks miffed when Boyle changes the subject,
but lets the topic rest for the remainder of the day.

-----------------
-----------------

The sun has barely risen over the buildings of New York the next day when Jake is startled out of
sleep by loud knocking on their apartment door.

Amy is still asleep and so is Mac and Jake hurries to the door before one of them wakes up.

“You know Terry’s wife, right?” Annabeth stands in front of him, wide awake and with a stack of
papers tucked under her arm.

Jake opens the door wider in wordless invitation and turns to go to the kitchen. Annabeth follows,
carefully closing the door behind her and shutting the kitchen door to not disturb Amy and Mac.

“Coffee?”, Jake asks as he starts a pot.

Annabeth nods. She waits more or less patiently for Jake to brew the coffee, pour each of them a
cup and take the first sip before she speaks again.

“Terry’s wife?”, she prompts.

Jake nods. “Yeah, I know her.”

“Does she trust you?”

He takes another sip of his coffee. “A reasonable amount, I guess. Why?”

“I can help them with the house, but Terry won’t talk to me about it.”
“And you want to go behind his back?”

“I just… I can help him. And since he is blocking any attempt of conversation on the topic, I
thought I’d talk to Sharon instead.”

The door opens and Amy shuffles through, throwing a curious glance at Annabeth. “Everything all
right?”, she asks and accepts the cup of coffee Jake hands her. “Oh, binders.”

She flips open the closest binder Annabeth had placed on the kitchen table and browses through it.
“I can’t read any of this,” she observes and takes a sip of her coffee.

“Ancient Greek,” Annabeth just says and turns back to Jake. “You going to help me or not?”

Jake is still slightly weary. “What would that help entail?”

“We drive to Terry’s place together after he has gone to work, talk to Sharon, you tell her that I’m
not totally crazy and then you can keep her company while I call my team and we repair the
house.”

Jake isn’t awake enough to phrase a dig on “not totally crazy”. He tries to focus on the topic at
hand instead. “They’d be willing to work on the Easter Weekend?”

Annabeth nods. “They don’t really care for Christian holidays.”

Jake looks at his wife who just shrugs. “Don’t look at me. I have to work today; you have to look
after Mac. If you can bring him…”

Annabeth nods eagerly. “I don’t see a reason why not.”

There is a wail from the bedroom as Mac wakes up and Jake puts down his empty cup.

“Let me get him dressed and fed, then we can go,” he offers. “Amy can keep you and your binders
company in the meantime.”

The two women grin at each other as he leaves to get his son ready.

----------------

The Jeffords’ house is in a bad state. Most of the roof has been burned in the fire, the NYFD
extinguished it before it could take over most of the building, but caused significant water damage
in the process.

Sharon looks confused when she opens the door to the two Detectives. “Jake… Terry left for work
twenty minutes ago,” she tells them.

“We’re here to talk to you,” Jake informs her. “Sharon, this is my new partner, Detective Annabeth
Chase. Annabeth, this is Sharon Jeffords.”

Sharon holds out her hand and shakes Annabeth’s on autopilot. “How can I help you?”

“Actually, I wanted to offer my help to you.”

“Mom, who’s at the door?” The twins come running past their mother when they spot Jake in the
door. “Jake!”, they exclaim in unison.

He crouches down to greet the girls, carefully balancing Mac on his knee. “Hi, girls!”
“Do you want to come in?”, Sharon offers, opening the door wider.

Sharon and Annabeth end up in the kitchen while Jake entertains the kids in the living room.

“So, what is this about?”, Sharon asks.

“Terry told us what happened with the roof and that your insurance doesn’t want to help.”

Sharon looks tired as she pours herself another cup of coffee. “Yeah, so?”

“I don’t know what Terry has told you about me, but I studied architecture before becoming a cop.”

Sharon makes a non-committal gesture. “He might have mentioned that, yes.”

“I have some friends that can be here in about three hours and would be willing to fix up you roof
and do whatever else you want.”

Sharon’s eyes grow big. “I’m not sure we can afford…”

“Free of charge,” Annabeth quickly adds.

That gives Sharon pause. “What? Why?”

“Because Terry is a great guy and I’m responsible for entertaining a group of very dedicated
builders this weekend and it would be great to do something useful with them.”

“Why do you have to entertain…” Sharon trails off.

“Summer Camp Exchange,” Annabeth offers.

Her host shakes her head in confusion. “It’s not even summer!”

“No, it’s not, it’s the Easter Exchange.” Annabeth looks at the older woman expectantly.

Sharon turns her head towards the living room while still keeping her eyes on Annabeth. “Jake?”

The man stands in the doorway a moment later, successfully leaving the children behind in the
other room.

“Yes?”

“Is this…” She makes a vague gesture towards Annabeth and lets her sentence hang in the air.

“She might be a bit strange, but she is good at what she does and overall trustworthy,” he assures
her.

Sharon takes a deep breath and turns to Annabeth. “What would I have to do?”

“You mean besides keeping your husband from firing me for going behind his back?” Sharon
nods. A grin spreads over Annabeth’s face. “Give me five minutes to make a few calls and we’ll
talk.”

Ten minutes later find the two women at the kitchen table again.

Annabeth puts her first binder on the table. “Those are the building regulations for this area,” she
announces. “Those are notes and sketches” – the second binder – “and these are pictures of things
we could do.” A third binder finds its way onto the desk. “Do you have the blueprints for this
house?”

Sharon nods and goes off to find the documents.

When she spreads them out over the desk, Annabeth takes out an empty pad and a pen. “What do
you want?”, she asks, clicking the pen expectantly.

“A roof without holes,” Sharon deadpans.

Annabeth clicks her pen. “Obviously. Anything else?”

Sharon shoots her a blank look.

“Terry mentioned space is getting tight around here lately,” Annabeth prompts.

“Well, yes, but…”

“No but. We have a dozen builders coming over, and three days to work. Say what you want, I’ll
tell you if we can make it possible.”

“Well… if we could raise the roof a bit so that we can properly fit the attic out with rooms…”

Annabeth makes a note on her paper. “No problem at all.”

“Really?”

“Building regulations don’t say anything against it. Your house is still low enough to be standard.
Anything else?”

“I… it’s probably stupid.”

“No such thing,” Annabeth assures her.

“We always talked about getting a small balcony,” Sharon offers with a small voice.

Annabeth makes a short note on her list. “For which room?”

“What?”

“Which room should be fitted with the balcony?”, the Detective asks slowly.

And like this, it goes. Sharon carefully voices wishes and ideas, and Annabeth writes them down,
does little sketches and pencils in her alteration to the blueprints.

When she presents her finished plan almost two hours later, Sharon is delighted. “That looks
amazing,” she admits. “But there is no way you’ll finish this before your Easter Exchange is over,
is there?”

Annabeth laughs. “Just watch us,” she replies.

----------------

The cars that bring the builders, as Annabeth keeps calling them, have emblems of Delphi
Strawberry Service on them and large trailers with building materials coupled to them.

As soon as the cars stop, the doors are thrown open and a good dozen people stream outside,
varying in age from some who are barely teenagers to the eldest who seem to be about Annabeth’s
age.

Percy jumps out of the first van and throws an arm around the shoulders of the guy who drove the
second van while they make their way to the waiting Detectives. The second man is even taller
than Percy, with blond hair, striking blue eyes and a broad build. He’s wearing glasses with golden
frames and Jake’s mind is stuck somewhere between a blonde Superman and a bespectacled
Captain America.

He smiles at Annabeth as Percy kisses her on the cheek in greeting and happily returns her hug
when she throws her arms around him.

“Long time no see,” he comments and Annabeth grins at him.

“We’ve both been busy.” He turns to Jake, who is still standing next to Annabeth. “I’m Jason.” His
voice is calm, and his hand is firm when Jake shakes it.

“Jake Peralta,” he offers. “I work with Annabeth.”

Jason regards him for a long moment, his cold gaze boring into Jake while the Detective tries not
to squirm under the scrutiny.

“Good,” he finally says. “She needs reliable people to watch her back.” With that, he turns back to
Annabeth, Jake all but forgotten. “I brought eight builders from our Camp, three volunteers for
interior design from Cabins ten and twenty. Leo is on his way, should be here any moment. Hazel
and Frank are setting up a perimeter. And then there’s the three of us.” He gestures vaguely to
himself, Percy and Annabeth.

Percy scoffs. “You mean there’s you two.“ he gestures to the two blondes in front of him “Because
we all know I probably won’t be of much help to you.”

Jason and Annabeth look at each other, at Percy, back at each other, nod with a shrug and wander
off so Annabeth can show Jason the altered blueprints.

Percy watches them leave with a smile on his face before turning to Jake. “Annabeth said you
brought Mac?”

Jake nods, gesturing over to where Sharon was watching over the children while he regards the
other people who had arrived along with Percy and Jason.

They don’t waste any time, immediately beginning to unload the vans and the trailers, piling
materials into neat stacks along the sideway and the front lawn.

There is a wide array of metal, wood, tiles, bags with unknown contents (labelled in a language
Jake doesn’t speak and why didn’t they just label their resources in plain English?), and boxes of
varying sizes.

Two folding tables are set up next to the sidewalk and loads upon loads of tools are thrown onto it,
quickly sorted and laid out in an orderly fashion by a young man in a purple shirt.

Annabeth and Jason stand huddled close together over the blueprints, talking animatedly with each
other.

“He’s handsome,” Jake states carefully.

Percy follows his gaze. “And single,” he supplies. “Isn’t he a little bit young for you, though?
Didn’t know you swing that way, either. Don’t you think Amy would mind?”

Jake rolls his eyes. “I just mean… He and Annabeth seem close.”

Percy nods. “They are.”

“You’re not jealous.” It’s more a statement than a question. Percy answers anyways.

“Never,” he says in a way that clearly means she’d never give me a reason to.

“How is he single?”, Sharon joins the conversation.

Percy shrugs. “He keeps comparing romantic partners to his first girlfriend and they tend to fall
short. Not that I can blame him. Piper’s amazing. It must be hard to find someone who can hold a
candle to her.”

Jake remembers the gorgeous young woman who showed up at the precinct a few weeks back.

“He and Piper were…”

Percy nods.

“What happened?”

“Piper felt they got pressured into the relationship by his mother and that they didn’t have enough
in common to warrant a relationship. Jason… disagreed.”

“Bad breakup?”

“Not really. It was strange at first. We are a pretty close-knit group of friends and for a while, it
was stilted when both of them were around. Evened out over time, though.”

The conversation is interrupted by Leo arriving on a motorcycle which he parks between the vans
before jogging up to them. “Did I miss something?”, he asks, offering his hand for a fist bump.

Percy grabs the fist and shakes it up and down, earning a laugh from Leo. “Nah. The blondes are
going over the plans, I think they’ll call for a meeting soon.”

Jake looks over and true enough, Annabeth and Jason are already starting to gather the group into a
small semi-circle.

“Everybody, pay attention,” Annabeth says in a loud voice, causing the conversations to quiet all
around. “I need to make an announcement and I only have one minute.”

“What?”, Leo, fidgeting where he is standing between Percy and Jake, asks.

“Why?”, a girl in her late teens adds. Her open jacket reveals an orange shirt with faded writing.

“Dou you need to be somewhere else?”, Percy asks.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “No, I was referring to your incredibly short attention spans.”

Percy and Leo grin at each other. “Fair point,” the former admits.

Annabeth’s instructions are clear and to the point, sketching out what needs to be done, handing
over responsibility for smaller projects and giving a rough time plan that – to Jake’s ears – sounds
incredibly ambitious.

“Seems reasonable,” one of the builders calmy says as Annabeth finishes and for the life of him,
Jake isn’t even sure if the guy was being sarcastic or not.

----------------------

Annabeth is living.

She loves her job with the NYPD, she really does, but there are days where she misses architecture.
After heading the efforts of rebuilding Olympus, nothing can quite compare, but once in a while,
she yearns for the bustling chaos of a construction site.

The builders from Camp Jupiter – best working crew she could ever ask for – have taken one
glance at her altered blueprints, broken off into smaller teams and started assigning tasks amongst
themselves.

She goes over to the group of girls from Camp Half-Blood. “Aphrodite and Hecate cabins, right?”,
she asks them. The girls nod in unison.

“I want you to sit down with Sharon and discuss the color scheme for the rooms in the attic.” She
turns to the daughter of Hecate. “Lia, right? Try to incorporate some of the easier runes for
protection, luck and harmony in the designs.”

Lia nods.

Annabeth goes over to the three men talking quietly amongst themselves. She gives Leo a quick
hug and leans into Percy’s side when he puts an arm around her shoulders. “I need you guys to
speed up the drying processes when we get to that point. Jason, you’re on paint; Percy, you take
the concrete; Leo, you help out wherever it is needed, but please don’t cause another fire.”

“Would never dream of it.”

And damn her, but believing Leo when he says something like this somehow gets harder every
time.

The son of Hephaestus walks off to inspect the damage the fire caused inside the house.

“Everything all right at Camp?”, she asks the remaining two. “No major diplomatic incidents so
far?”

Jason rolls his eyes and Percy laughs. “Some kids from the Hermes Cabin dared the new members
of the first Legion to fetch the eggs from Peleus’ nest, almost got burned to a crisp,” Percy reports.

Jason runs a hand through his hair. “You remember Ned? Son of Iris, was completely thrilled
when he realized that he can change an object’s color by touching it?”

Annabeth nods. “Didn’t he keep trying to change Nico’s black shirts to rainbow colors?” She
smiles at the memory.

Percy barks out a laugh. “Yes! Unfortunately, he stopped after Nico shadow-travelled him to the
underworld and only got him back at the end of the day.”

“That guy, exactly,” Jason agrees. “He keeps changing the violet SPQR-shirts to orange.”

“Any retribution?”
“The second Legion spent last night tearing down the lava wall and rebuilding it in the same spot,
turned on its axis by 90°.”

“That doesn’t seem too bad,” Annabeth observes.

“The whole morning, everyone from our side kept staring at it because we all knew something was
wrong, but no one could quite put their finger on what,” Percy admits begrudgingly.

Annabeth laughs. “So, business as usual?”

“Pretty much,” a new voice says from behind her.

Annabeth turns to face Frank and Hazel, who have just appeared next to their small group.

Hazel jumps off Arion and hugs her friend.

“Everything all right?”, Annabeth asks.

Hazel nods. “I erected a barrier with the mist that should keep the monsters out. But we’ll keep
patrolling, just in case.”

“Good idea,” Annabeth says.

“Hey, Jackson!” They turn at the shout. Leo is standing in the gaping hole in the roof of the
building, looking down at them. “Fire damage is substantial but not too bad. A lot of water where
none should be, though. Care to come up and take a look?”

Percy nods, and immediately makes his way into the house to assess the damage.

Annabeth follows him and finds herself agreeing with Leo. The water from the extinguishing
efforts caused significant damage.

Percy stomps the floor lightly, causing a wet, squelching sound. “There is a lot of water in the floor
and walls,” he says. “I think I can get it out, though.”

Annabeth walks over to a place from where she can watch the mortals on the ground. “Do it,” she
instructs her boyfriend.

Percy takes a deep breath, hold out his had and closes his eyes. Water starts rising from the floor
and floating out of the walls, hovering in the air between them. More and more water emerges, the
air filling with the smell of dampness, moist wallpapers, wet stone and soggy wood.

The blob of water grows, wider and wider until one could fill a swimming pool with it. Percy
carefully shapes it around Annabeth and Leo, lets himself get immerged in the dirty mass.

“Where is the closest bathroom?”, he asks after a while when Annabeth has nowhere left to go,
surrounded on all sides by water.

“First floor, second door to the right,” she supplies.

The water starts wafting down the stairs to the first floor. Percy frowns. “Could someone please
open the door?”

There is a shuffle out of sight as someone does, and then, the water vanishes down the stairs as
Percy discards it into the bathtub and down the drain.
They are left with the smell of lightly damp walls in a recently dried house.

“It stinks in here,” Jason complains as he joins them.

He raises a hand of his own, calling a strong bust of wind which carries away the stench.

He grins, raises a hand for Percy to high-five and moves out of the way to let the building crew in
their purple Camp Jupiter sweaters get to work.

--------------

Jake was already skeptical when a group of people walked past him with large sledgehammers.
When they start destroying what is left of the roof, he goes to find Annabeth.

She is rummaging around in one of the trailers, throwing wood planks on a heap on the ground.

“Are you aware that your builders are currently demolishing what is left of the roof?”

Annabeth nods. “Part of the plan. We want to raise the roof by some feet.” She looks over to where
Sharon is talking to one of the girls that arrived with the group, discussing color schemes as far as
Jake knew. “Is Sharon all right?”

Jake follows her gaze. “Yeah, I guess. She just mourns her rose bushes, I think.”

They both flinch a little when someone throws roof tiles on the plants.

“Percy?”, Annabeth shouts.

An answering “Yes?” comes from the inside of one of the other trailers.

“Remind me to ask Katie to drop by.”

Percy’s head pops around the back of the trailer. “What makes you think I’ll remember if you
forget?”

“Nothing, but it’d share the blame.”

A girl pops up next to them. “We got the colors sorted out. I need someone to drive me to the
store.”

“Ask Jason, take the second van,” Annabeth orders and turns to face the next person coming up to
her.

Jake slowly backs away. Watching his partner like this is something else. In the ever-changing
bustle of activity, she seems to be the one constant, like a boulder in a rapid river, directing the
efforts, answering questions and never missing a beat.

-----------------

Jake sits on the garden bench with Sharon, watching the kids and doing their best not to be in the
way of anyone.

The twins sit on the grass, encouraging Mac to take careful steps between them before falling into
their arms.

Ava is visiting with friends.

When Jason and Lia return, they don’t just have buckets of paint in the trunk of the car. Boxes full
of water bottles, juices and soft drinks are unceremoniously unloaded and stacked next to the van.
They stack crates of fruit next to it.

Jake goes over to offer his help, but Jason just grins at him and tells him that they’ve got it
handled.

As soon as the teenagers spot them, everyone congregates on the front lawn, eager for a drink.
Someone runs inside and comes out with a dangerously high stack of glasses, but by some miracle,
none fall or shatter. Glasses get passed around and filled in quick succession, downed in one gulp
and filled again.

The lull in activity is used to compare progress, talk strategy, adjust plans. They talk quickly,
rapidly jumping from topic to topic, giving Jake no chance whatsoever to follow the conversation.

It’s made worse by the fact that while Annabeth, Leo and Jason are permanently immersed in
conversations about the construction project; Percy, Hazel, and Frank talk about anything but the
construction while everyone else alternates between topics, creating a complete mess of
conversations.

Then and now, people drift off, throwing in Latin words or phrases in Ancient Greek, and while
not everybody seems fluent in both languages, everybody seems capable of speaking at least one.

It takes them all of ten minutes to empty their second round of beverages before the glasses are
placed on the cars, the lawn, the boxes and everywhere in between and everyone gets back to
work, grabbing some piece of fruit on their way back to the house.

Annabeth, Leo and another girl stay behind, immersed in some discussion or other while Percy
grabs a basket of fruit and carries it over to Sharon and the kids.

“What is that about?”, Jake asks him, walking besides the man and nodding over to where the
discussion is getting heated.

Percy shrugs. “The balcony.”

Sharon’s eyes go wide. “If it’s a problem, there really is no use to…”

“You’re not getting out of the balcony,” Percy says, grinning down at Mac who had waddled over
to him to hug his leg. “They are just stressing about the design.”

“The design?”, Sharon echoes.

“Annabeth thinks it would be best to keep it simple, and with that she means putting in a bunch of
geometrical features, while Gwen is arguing for something more delicate with a flower pattern.”

“What does Leo want?”, Jake asks.

Percy picks Mac up, throwing the toddler in the air and catching him before answering. “He has a
very elaborate plan to turn it into a dragon.”

Sharon splutters. “What?”

“Not a real dragon,” Percy is quick to say. “Just the design…”

“I don’t want a balcony designed like a dragon,” Sharon exclaims.

“I do!”, the twins shout in unison.

Percy smiles at Sharon. “Don’t worry. Annabeth will turn him around. But if you actually have a
preference on how it should look… Now would be the time to get in on the discussion.” He tries
putting Mac down on the grass again but turns up setting him on his shoulders when the toddler
starts squirming.

“I just assumed it would be…rectangular, you know? Something simple?”, Sharon says with a
desperate undertone in her voice.

Percy smiles indulgently. “They’d get bored before they even finished, and believe me, you do not
want to see what this lot comes up with when bored.”

There is a shout from inside the building and Percy looks up, throws them a quick smile in
goodbye and trots off, Mac still firmly placed on his shoulders.

-----------------

When lunchtime comes around, Sharon orders pizza after a quick consultation with Annabeth and
has them delivered to the house.

The delivery guy shows up half an hour later, looks skeptically at the scene, drops off the food,
grabs his money and drives off.

Jason and Percy grab two large folding tables out of one of the vans, and everyone gathers around,
eager for the greasy food.

Sharon stands at the head of the table and when she raises a hand before anyone can grab a slice,
they actually pause, waiting for what she has to say.

“We should say grace,” she announces, and Jake immediately folds his hands in front of his body.

“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,” Sharon starts, tapping her hand to her
forehead, chest, and shoulders at the appropriate times.

Her kids follow the example, the others do not.

Before Sharon can say anything else, she gets interrupted by Leo’s enthusiastic singing of “Head,
shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,” his hands eagerly patting over his body as he does so.

“Put your hands on your hips,” Percy takes over, doing just that. “And then your knees insi-i-
ide…”

Jake doesn’t have enough time to appreciate the Rocky Horror song before Leo interrupts with a
loud and unmelodic “Ayyy – Macarena!”

And with a loud “Ahoy”, everybody jumps, turning on the spot.

Annabeth, despite having jumped and turned with the rest of them just a moment prior, buries her
face in her hands.

Her gaze meets Sharon’s and she slightly shakes her head. “Tuck in, everybody,” Annabeth says
and everybody does, eagerly devouring the food in front of them.

The blonde grabs two slices of pizza for herself before walking around the table to talk to Sharon
and Jake.
“You have to excuse them,” she says. “None of us are Christians, and one day, when we were way
too tired and way too drunk to make good decisions, someone pointed out that the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost thing is basically just a choreographed dance for church-goers and… I honestly have
no idea how we got from that discussion to this point, but it is absolutely impossible to start a
Christian prayer with this lot around without everyone ending up doing the Macarena.”

“You guys are seriously strange,” Jake observes, and Annabeth simply nods, taking a bite of her
pizza.

“Never denied it.”

----------------

“Remember calling your mom,” Annabeth instructs her boyfriend some time in the afternoon
between sorting through old roof tiles and whatever calculation Annabeth was running on her
laptop.

Percy leans in close to hear, peeks over his girlfriend’s shoulder to look at the timer on the laptop
and nods. “Will do, thanks.”

He bustles into the house, returns five minutes later, and gets back to work. “Mom says hi.”

Annabeth just nods, like she didn’t expect anything else.

“What was that about?”, Jake asks with a teasing voice. “Do you still have to report to you mom?”

Percy looks up at him. “I call her every day to tell her that I’m fine,” he says flatly.

Jake laughs, but he is the only one. “Seriously?”

“Yes. She worries otherwise.” There is no room for an argument in his voice, so Jake drops the
topic.

--------------

By the time Terry returns from work, the roof truss is completely gone.

The Lieutenant stares in horror at what he sees, frozen in place for a minute before Ava spots her
father and runs over to greet him.

He bows down to pick her up, still staring at the chaos everywhere, stacks of wood, tiles and other
materials strewn all over the lawn, a bunch of strangers running around.

“Where is your mom?”, he finally asks his daughter, who points to a place at the edge of the
garden, where, untouched by the chaos, Sharon is sitting on their garden bench with Jake. They
seem absorbed in conversation, absentmindedly watching the twins as they lead Mac around,
helping him take careful steps on his own before falling in one of the girl’s arms, giggling.

He walks over, puts Ava down next to his other daughters and presses a kiss to Sharon’s cheek in
greeting. Jake eyes him with a certain level of apprehension in his eyes. Good.

“What is this?”, he asks.

“Surprise?”, Jake tries, but shrinks into himself upon meeting Terry’s gaze.

“Who…”
Just then, there is a shout from where once a roof had been. Now, it is just open brickwork, partly
scorched and open to the elements. He quickly finds the source of the commotion.

Many feet off the ground, balancing precariously on the narrow brickwork where a roof is
supposed to be, are two men. Terry groans when he recognizes them, but his heart leaps to his
throat when he realizes just what they are doing up there.

Because for some reason, Percy Jackson and Leo Valdez have decided that the brickwork atop his
house is the right place to hold a mock sword fight with a pair of mechanic’s levels.

“Is this really necessary?”, a familiar voice filters down and Terry spots Chase, half-hidden by the
wall, standing next to a blond guy about her age and looking at her boyfriend with a scowl.

“I’m not catching you if you fall,” the guy comments in a dry tone.

“Of course, you will,” Jackson answers.

“Pah, I’ve survived worse,” Valdez replies at the same time.

For some swings, Jackson manages to drive the smaller guy back, but then Valdez pulls out an
array of screwdrivers from his toolbelt and throws them at his opponent, causing Jackson to take a
few quick steps back.

They manage to stay on the wall by some miracle or really good balance, exchanging blows and
goading each other in loud voices.

Chase and her blond friend exchange some quiet words before going up to the fighters on the wall
who are too engrossed in their fight to see the attack from below coming.

And with simultaneous, perfectly executed kicks to the kneecaps of Percy and Leo, the men go
down, stumbling off the wall and into the house, out of sight.

“She offered to get the house fixed,” Sharon’s voice drifts to his ear. “Free of charge, practically
insisted on it. Don’t know why, but damn, if I’m not grateful for her.”

Terry turns and faces his beloved wife, looks at his playing girls and around to the bustling group
of strangers currently fixing his house.

Maybe he’d been too quick in shutting Annabeth down.

------------------

Annabeth and Percy emerge from the building not long after, the Detective visibly wincing and
stopping in her tracks when she spots the Lieutenant waiting for them.

“Terry…,” she starts with some trepidation.

He makes a vague gesture towards the house. “What is this, Chase?”

“Your house?”

“Chase…”

“Sharon said it would be all right! I didn’t just start without getting any permission.”

“You could have asked me.”

“I tried. Not very hard, I admit, but you would have said no, so…”

“Chase.”

“I had the manpower anyways, having a new project is fun, and the materials were just lying
around at Camp, besides…”

“Chase!”

Annabeth stops, looks at Terry. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Annabeth stops fidgeting, a grin breaking out over her face. “Any time, Lieut.”

She whirls around when a shout echoes over the premises. “Gotta go!” And she is off once again.

------------------
------------------

Holy Saturday starts early. Jake had promised Sharon to show up to provide moral support against
the chaos and he arrives with breakfast at eight in the morning, Mac happily gurgling on in his
booster seat.

Terry is already off for work and Annabeth and her builders arrive not ten minutes after Jake does.

They pick up where they left off the day before, carrying hundreds of bricks up the stairs and
masoning the upper walls higher.

It seems to be something everyone gets involved with, a constant stream of people in and out of the
building.

“We want to help,” Cagney and Lacey exclaim at one point and Percy simply waves them over.

“Sure. We’re grateful for any help. Just take a brick,” he hands each girl a brick, then takes half a
dozen for himself. “And follow me.” He walks back to the house, vanishes through the doors, the
girls walking after him like little ducklings.

“Why do you get to carry six bricks and I only get one?”, Cagney asks.

“Because I’ve been doing this longer than you have. Next time round, you may take two, if you
want,” Percy’s answer filters out of the house before they vanish out of earshot.

“Can I help?”, Jake asks Annabeth as his partner walks by.

She leaves the bustle of people to come over to Jake. “Nah, it’s fine. We don’t have too much
space up there and you’d probably just be in the way.”

“But the girls aren’t?”, Sharon asks with a raised eyebrow.

Annabeth winks at her. “They are small enough so they don’t really count.”

Midmorning goes by fast. Carrying bricks is hard work and there are only few conversations, often
accompanied by pearls of laughter or indignant shouts. Mostly both.

Cagney and Lacey last the better part of an hour before they take a break, sinking to heaps next to
Sharon, grinning up at their mother and telling the adults how much they helped.

Jake and Sharon make suitably impressed faces, but Jake is truly baffled by the endurance the
actual builders show. The younger teens are staying inside the house, probably laying the
brickwork while the older volunteers do the heavy lifting.

Leo shows up over an hour in, with a pickup truck full of metal.

“Harley,” he hollers, causing one of the older teens to extract himself from the group and join the
Latino in a discussion full of overly large hand gestures while both rifle through the metal parts.

“What are they doing?”, Jake asks Percy as he walks by on his way to grab new bricks.

The other man detours, grabs a bottle of water and takes a large sip before answering. “The
balcony. Annabeth agreed to give Leo mostly free reign – as long as he keeps in line with Sharon’s
wish of a rectangular structure – and Leo decided that he needs Harley to bring his vision to life.”

“I’m a little bit scared.”

Percy laughs and puts the water bottle back. “That’s good. Shows healthy instincts.”

---------------

“You must be Sharon.”

Jake and Sharon look up at the voice, facing a newcomer looking down at them.

She’s wearing a flowery apron over a green overall, soil under her fingernails and a single grass
blade stuck in her brown hair.

“Must I?”, Sharon asks, a tired tone in her voice.

“I can find someone else to talk about greenery arrangements if you’re not,” the younger woman
states and offers her hand with a calming smile. “I’m Katie. Annabeth asked me to drop by and see
what I can do to save some of your plants before these hooligans can destroy everything green and
alive!” She raises her voice at the last part, earning protesting shouts from the builders and even a
flying water bottle which she catches without any problems.

Sharon stares at her.

“So…,” Katie prompts. “Flowers? Bushes? Greenery?”

Sharon’s eyes fly from Katie to her rose bushes before landing on Ava.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Jake offers and Sharon smiles at him, gets up to talk about plants with
Katie.

Jake tracks their progress through the garden over the next thirty minutes while they look at the
existing plants.

Katie sometimes takes notes on a crumpled piece of paper she pulled out of her pocket and
otherwise talks animatedly, sketching out ideas to Sharon.

When they finish, Sharon returns to Jake while Katie joins the effort of carrying bricks for two runs
up, but she seems to be more interested in talking to Annabeth than she is in carrying bricks.
Nonetheless, she grabs six bricks on every run, keeping up with the rest of them without problem.
She waves at Jake and Sharon as she leaves. “See you tomorrow,” she announces, swings her leg
over her bike and is off.

--------------

Half an hour before lunch is set to arrive, the bustling group suddenly stops carrying bricks.

“Everything all right?”, Jake asks.

Annabeth nods. “Yeah. We are ready. More or less. Don’t need any more bricks up there, at least.”
She turns to a pile of long wooden slates. “We should get started on the roof truss,” she states and
immediately, five people come over and start discussing the best way to go about the new
assignment.

Percy and Jason don’t come down for lunch and when Jake asks if they should bring them
something to eat, Annabeth shakes her head. “They’ll eat later.”

Nobody else seems to be surprised by that, so Jake lets it go as well.

The two men show up when everyone is finishing the meal. “You’re good to go with the truss,”
Percy says while he grabs a container with unknown contents and starts wolfing them down.

Immediately, the eight builders in violet hoodies take off, grabbing the wooden slates and carrying
them over to the house.

“Shouldn’t they wait until everything is dry?”, Sharon asks.

Annabeth, Percy and Jason exchange quick glances. The men shrug.

“Quick-drying cement,” Annabeth says and it’s her I’m-bullshitting-but-you’ll-never-prove-it face

if Jake has ever seen it.

“You’re not serious,” he says flatly.

“You’re welcome to go upstairs and check,” Percy offers with a genuine smile. “Everything is dry
and well, so the next group is good to go.”

Jake doesn’t take him up on the offer.

They stand together for a few more minutes while the discussion of the builders grows louder.

Finally, one of them comes over. She whispers something into Annabeth’s ear. Annabeth looks
pensive for a moment, then nods. The gal takes off jogging down the street and Annabeth turns to
Sharon and Jake.

“Do you fancy a walk?”

The question surprises Jake. “What?”

“We’re planning something your very impressionable kids shouldn’t see. Just for… an hour or so?”
She smiles hesitantly and Jake appreciates that she at least tries to tell the truth.

Sharon grumbles a bit, but finally grabs the girls, Jake grabs Mac and they’re off, leaving the house
and the crazy people renovating it.

When they return a good hour later, all the wooden planks are atop the building, however they
managed that in the short time.

Jason is sitting reclined against some bags of what might me cement, lightly panting and evidently
exhausted by whatever happened in their absence, a bulldog lying at his side, fast asleep.

“Doggy!”, Ava exclaims and starts towards them.

Jason startles, holds one hand over the dog in a protective gesture and raises the other to keep the
girl away. “He’s sleeping, please don’t wake him,” he says in a calm voice and Ava stops a few
paces from them, kneels down to get a better look.

“What’s his name?”, she whispers.

“Frank,” Jason answers and winces, like he didn’t intend to tell her that.

“Isn’t that the name of Hazel’s boyfriend?”, Jake wonders.

“It’s a running gag,” Leo inserts himself in the conversation with a wide grin. “Every animal we
don’t know the name of is a Frank. He hates it.”

Jason’s silent laughter is enough for the dog to wake up. It looks around, cocking its head like in
question.

“Right, Frank?”, Leo asks. The dog growls at him but curls back into himself and goes back to
sleep.

“I’ve never seen him around before,” Lacey observes.

“He came with us,” Jason supplies. “He, uh… snuck in with the supplies. Got out of the car while
you were away.”

“He’s our mascot,” Leo says in a teasing voice, but Jake can’t quite make out who it’s directed at.

Jason half-heartedly swats at him. “Let us have our well-deserved nap,” he pleads and Leo cackles
but trots off, back to Harley and the balcony they were constructing.

----------------

Frank the dog vanishes without explanation shortly after Jason finished his nap, but when Lacey
asks where he went, the blond just says that he probably went to find Hazel.

Nobody seems to think it strange that the dog is off on his own and neither Jake nor Sharon have
enough experiences with animals to really contest them.

The balcony ends up being a surprisingly normal, rectangular basic framework with engraved
patterns, dragons and flowers interweaved in the railing.

It must be lighter than it looks, because in the end, it only takes six of them to carry it to where it is
supposed to be with the rest of the group helping out in stemming it up and affixing it to the stilts
designed to hold it up.

Leo laughs manically as he swings a hammer through the wall of Sharon and Terry’s bedroom and
the woman winces, but Annabeth puts an arm around her shoulders and squeezes.

“We’ll put in the door tomorrow,” she promises. “You might want to sleep in the living room
tonight, though.”
Sharon levels her with an unimpressed glare. “You think?”

Annabeth shrugs. “Yes, because as soon as Leo is done demolishing your wall, he’ll notice that
he’ll miss the rerun of Doctor Who if he doesn’t leave soon and he really can’t have that.”

“If it’s just a rerun, does he really have to watch it tonight?”, Sharon puts in.

Annabeth smiles fondly. “Cabin tradition. They watch an episode every Saturday.” She pauses,
considering the statement for a moment “Correction: They plan on watching one episode every
Saturday, end up watching at least three before someone suggests watching a movie and it usually
only goes downhill from there.”

“You’re not in his Cabin, then, I take it?”, Jake asks.

Annabeth shakes her head. “No, but they put up an amazing cinema set up a few years back, so we
join them sometimes.”

True to word, it takes ten minutes for Leo to come running outside, shouting for everyone to start
cleanup so they could head back to Camp.

Annabeth smiles and starts packing up.

Twenty minutes later, the small fleet of cars rolls away, leaving Jake, Sharon and the kids with a
half-finished roof, piles of construction supplies and two fold-up tables with leftover lunch.

“Same time tomorrow?”, Jake asks.

Sharon huffs a laugh. “I don’t really think I have a choice.”

------------------
------------------

“Shouldn’t you set up some kind of scaffolding?”, Sharon asks on Sunday.

Annabeth just announced that they’ll just have to deck the roof, paint the attic, put the balcony
door in and do some wiring and they’d be finished.

So, basically just odds and ends…

The blonde shrugs. “Putting it up and taking it down would take another day. They can work
without.”

“How?”, Jake asks, eying the roof.

There is a tarp already stretched over the framework, filled with some kind of isolating material,
closing the roof to the sky, even if there is no single roof tile in place. It eliminates the easiest
access to the roof.

But Annabeth doesn’t have to answer, for this is the moment where four of the builders climb out
of the skylight.

Two of them climb over the roof and vanish on the other side while the other two crawl over to the
edge of the roof, waiting for something.

“You can’t expect them to carry all the tiles through the house and the window to get them to the
roof,” Sharon exclaims.
“I don’t,” Annabeth states, obviously finding the mere suggestion ridiculous.

Two builders are standing at the pile of tiles, two more underneath their colleagues on the roof on
either side. They look to each other, adjusting their position slightly, before one-by-one, they all
raise their left arm in some kind of ready-gesture.

“Ready?”, Annabeth shouts. They drop their arms.

“Position one, ready,” the two builders at the tile pile answer.

“Position two, ready,” the two on ground level at the edge of the house answer.

“Position three, ready,” one person on either side of the roof echoes.

“Position four, ready,” the last two, also on the roof, reply.

And then, to Jake’s complete and utter surprise, Annabeth starts singing.

Jake has never heard the song, doesn’t even understand the lyrics, although he vaguely recognizes
the language as Latin.

Annabeth’s friends, though, obviously know the song, for they all start singing along. They stand
relaxed through what seems to be the first verse. When they get to the chorus, however, they start
moving.

The two builders at the tile pile each pick up a tile and toss it to the builders on position two. They
catch the tiles and throw them up with a decisive movement. Jake watches in astonishment as the
girl who had responded as position three catches it without problem. She hands it off to the guy
next to her who puts it in place.

The next tile comes flying up a moment later and Jake realizes that the song isn’t for entertainment,
but for rhythm.

The tiles come flying in a consistent speed, each one thrown with precision, caught with ease and
placed in an instant.

Annabeth stops singing when the second chorus comes around, turning to face Jake and Sharon,
who are watching with shell-shocked expressions on their faces.

“That… doesn’t seem safe,” Sharon finally manages.

“Nah, they’re fine. Plus, it’s faster,” Annabeth replies, like her friends’ safety doesn’t mean
anything to her. “Just don’t get in their way.”

She goes to check with Leo and Harley, who are busy installing the balcony door and vanishes
inside for a time while she checks on the rest of the crew, painting the attic and installing new
wiring.

That leaves Percy with Jake, Sharon and the kids, lying on the ground and allowing the kids to
climb over him.

------------------

Katie arrives in a pick-up truck full of greenery half an hour later and starts giving orders as soon as
her boots hit the pavement.
Percy hurries to obey, weaving around the builders and ducking out of the way of flying tiles as he
carefully unearths plants under Katie’s instruction and Sharon’s watchful eye.

There is system to the chaos, Jake once again observes.

The two groups decking the roof take priority over everyone else, the others easily stepping out of
their way and keeping conversations low to not overpower their singing.

The team fitting out the attic comes second, often running around with heavy objects.

Leo and Harley, once they finish with the balcony door, grab the cable spools and electrical
equipment, and everyone inside the house willingly steps aside to let them work.

Katie and Percy are last, elbows deep in soil as they are, they masterfully evade everyone else, not
hindering the other projects.

The twins get restless after a while, no longer content with playing in their sandbox, and Percy calls
them over, puts small shovels in their hands and sends them on to Katie, who instructs them which
weeds to pull up.

The girls get to work, once again eager to help, eager to fit in with the group of people brimming
around them.

An hour before lunch, the team in the attic seems to finish up with their work, one after the other
coming out of the house, reporting first to Annabeth, then to Katie who puts them to work on
preparing the garden. They carefully leave the flowerbeds closest to the house for last, not wanting
to risk disturbing the roof tilers.

Lunch arrives in the form of Terry, his car laden with Chinese take-out boxes, fruits, snacks and
beverages.

----------------

After they finished lunch, everybody gets back to work. The roof tilers get back into position and
start singing again, tiles once again flying through the air.

There is a slight hitch in their routine, when, only minutes after they got back to work, a girl sticks
her head out of the skylight to yell at them.

“We just cleaned everything up,” she scolds them. “And you idiots track all your dirt through the
rooms.” With that, she closes the window, latching it and effectively locking the four teenagers out
on the roof.

They seem largely unconcerned by the development.

As soon as the last roof tile is in place, the garden crew darts in, attacking the flower beds closest
to the house, replanting Sharon’s roses and adding new greenery in between.

There is some shouting when the tilers demand someone open the skylight and someone
vigorously shouts back that they are too dirty to walk though the freshly mopped house.

The four teens atop the crest talk among themselves for a few minutes until one of them turns to
face the tall oak tree a few yards from the edge of the roof.

She carefully maneuvers herself around her friends, takes a breath and starts running along the roof
ridge, jumping at the last possible moment and hurling through the air.

For a moment, Jake fears she might not make it and he can hear Terry’s alarmed shout, as well as
Sharon’s horrified gasp next to him.

But then, her hand clasps around one of the sturdier branches of the tree and her fall comes to an
abrupt halt. She shouts in what appears to be surprised delight and quickly climbs down the rest of
the trunk, triumphantly bowing when she reaches the ground.

There is some huffed laughter, one or two mock claps, and by the time she has grabbed a spade for
herself to help with the planting, the other three teens have already followed her example and
gotten safely to ground.

After that, things happen exceedingly quickly. The last of the plants are put into soil, Jason exits
the house with a court “paint is all dry” – although Jake can’t, for the life of him, explain how it
dried so quickly – and everybody starts packing up.

The piles of unused materials vanish in the vans, the trailers or Katie’s truck, the tools are cleared
off the tables, the tables folded up and stowed away with the rest of the stuff.

Someone sweeps the driveway and the sidewalk.

The vehicles vanish one by one, each full of people and materials, with a small honk and a short
wave before they are off.

As the second van rolls down the street, Hazel and Frank, who’d done who-knows-what in the
neighborhood these past three days, show up.

“Looks amazing,” Hazel comments after a quick glance at the premises. She taps the watch at her
wrist. “But you really have to go if you don’t want to be late.”

Annabeth grabs Percy’s arm, gently twists it so she can see the time on his watch and nods. “We’re
all done here, anyways.” She takes one last look to take in what they’d done in the past three days
and smiles.

“Why the hurry?”, Jake asks.

A grin breaks out over her face. “There’s a bonfire at Camp tonight,” she answers while Percy gets
into the last car. “If we get there late, there won’t be any Marshmallows left.”

She hops in the back of the vehicle, with Percy behind the wheel and waves at her colleagues. “See
you on Tuesday,” she says.

Then, her car door slams shut, and, with one last honk, the van rolls down the street and out of
view.

The twins have already taken off into the house and it is blessedly silent.

“That was… interesting,” Jake states.

“She ran off before we could say thank you,” Terry says faintly.

“That’s not why she did it,” Hazel says.

The three adults turn to her where she sits on her horse, the animal dancing underneath her.
 Jake wonders why she and Frank had been left behind by their friends but they seem unconcerned,
Frank even takes another stroll through the garden while his girlfriend talks to them.

“You had a problem; Annabeth had the means to solve it.” Hazel looks down at them. “She saw a
way to solve a problem and she took it, went all-in, no questions asked. That’s just how she is.”

Terry looks over at Jake and they both think back to the incident at the book fair where Annabeth
handed the remote control to the bomb off to Leo.

She saw a way, she went all in, no questions asked.

Frank comes back, pats the horse’s shoulder, looks up at his girlfriend. “You ready?”, he asks.

“Don’t read too much into it,” Hazel tells them as she turns her horse around. “Annabeth likes you.
She just isn’t very good at talking about emotions most of the time, more used to showing it. Have
a great day,” she says. Then, she softly nudges the horse and trots down the road.

Frank jogs next to her for a while, until his girlfriend says something. He laughs out loud, puts one
hand on the back of the saddle, the other on Hazel’s waist. He takes another few measured steps
and jumps on the horse’s back, hugging the woman in front of him around the waist.

The horse dances a little under the added weight, then breaks into a canter and vanishes from view.

-------------

The Jeffords Family is left standing in front of their house, complete with an intact roof, a beautiful
attic, a new balcony and a pristine garden.

“If that’s what she does in three days without preparation, I’d love to see what Annabeth could do
if given the time and resources to stretch her skills,” Terry remarks.

“Probably something fit for the gods,” Sharon answers with a smile.

Chapter End Notes

Yay, Characters! Cameos? Guest stars? Whatever...

It's too late for words. I''m tired.
Did someone say something about the Trials of Apollo? I can't hear you over how
alive and well Jason is!!! (Although I agree with him and Piper not really working as a
couple, so... it's Fanfiction, I get to cherry-pick whatever I want! ^^)
I imagine that something like this must be utter chaos for any outsider but I really
wanted Annabeth to have some kind of architecture project and I thought this might be
fun.
Maybe leave a comment, they make me very happy.
Have a great day, Stay safe.
 Percy’s amACEing with kids
Chapter Notes

Happy Monday.
I know, Mondays usually suck, but it's the first day back to school for me this year
after being homeschooled since December, and either way, maybe this update makes
your day a little less sucky. ;-)
Did I ever tell you how much I hate the word passersby? Who the hell decided it
would be a good idea to form a plural by throwing an "s" in the middle of the word?!
However... New chapter, not really a long one, but I'm fairly happy with it.
Have fun reading.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

At least once a month, when Jake and Annabeth don’t have any pressing cases, Amy’s squad
doesn’t need immediate supervision, Percy’s kids from the Community Center don’t have some
kind of crisis and Mac doesn’t spend most of the day fussing, the five of them go out together.

This Saturday finds them in a park in Manhattan, because the playground had recently gotten a new
sand box with monkey bars in the form of a pirate ship and Jake insisted that Mac wanted to go
there.

Of course Mac, with all the wisdom a barely one-year-old toddler usually possesses, nodded
vigorously when his father asked him if he wanted to go to this specific playground in the voice
that was usually reserved for “Mommy says ice cream doesn’t count as dinner, but this isn’t dinner,
this is dessert”.

Amy, unable to tell her boys no when they teamed up against her and rather unwilling to try in this
case one way or the other, had called Annabeth to get some company and was pleasantly surprised
when the younger woman told her she and Percy were already on the island, having had some kind
of family business in the Empire State Building to attend to.

(Amy didn’t think Annabeth had family in the city, and the Empire State Building isn’t what she
considers an ideal meeting spot for family affairs, but Annabeth agreed to meet them at the park,
Mac had started fussing and the conversation ended before Amy got a chance to prod.

By the time they arrive at the park, she has all but forgotten this tidbit of information, swallowed
by a bunch of other strange facts about the Detective and made unsignificant by the bright May
sun.)

Amy and Annabeth are sitting on a bench, the latter happily talking about the American Copper
Buildings only a block away and their strangely tilted architecture while the former gladly listens.
Their men are meanwhile playing with Mac at the other side of the playground.

(Not on the cool pirate ship, but on the slide with yellow lion heads because that was what Mac
immediately ran towards after Jake had lifted him from his stroller.)

The toddler warbles happily, grinning while he walks from one man to the other, squealing in
delight when Percy picks him up, throws him in the air, catches him again and deposits him on the
top of the slide.

Mac slides down, into Jake’s arms, who picks him up, whirls his son around before setting him on
the ground, prompting the circle to begin anew.

A woman approaches the three of them, lead over there by her own toddler, equally intent on using
the slide.

Amy can guess at the following conversation between the adults; introductions and Jake claiming
Mac as his kid, Percy saying that he’s a family friend, the children’s ages. What most parents talk
about on playgrounds.

The woman’s attention soon focusses on Percy, who willingly starts throwing the second toddler in
the air after she witnessed him doing it to Mac. The woman is tall, her blonde hair cascading over
her shoulders until she flips it onto her back in an obvious attempt of flirtation.

She throws her head back in an affected laugh, places a gentle hand on Percy’s biceps.

And Percy… flirts back?

He smiles brightly, laughs at whatever she’s saying and doesn’t even object to the lingering hand
on his sleeve.

Amy frowns.

She looks over at Annabeth, who doesn’t look quite as thunderous as Amy had anticipated. Her jaw
is clenched in obvious annoyance, and she lets her sentence trail off, but she’s not storming over to
demand that Percy stops flirting with some woman.

“You all right?”, Amy asks her friend.

Annabeth pulls her gaze away from the scene with some difficulties and looks at her friend. “Yeah,
sure,” she answers with a tight smile.

“He surely doesn’t mean anything by it,” Amy tries, and Annabeth huffs out half a laugh.

“Of course, he doesn’t,” she says, a bitter taste in her voice. “He doesn’t even notice there is
something to be meant.”

Amy makes a curious sound.

Annabeth waves her hand around, her expression softening some. “He is… totally oblivious to
people trying to flirt with him or being attracted to him. Just goes over his head.”

“But…” Amy looks at the woman flirting with Percy again. She’s anything but subtle. “How can
he miss that?”

“That’s just not how his mind works,” Annabeth ventures.

That’s when Percy looks past the woman and at Annabeth and his face takes on a softness that has
been missing before. The woman follows his gaze, eyes landing on Annabeth and Amy. She says
something to Percy, who happily indicates to Annabeth. The Detective answers with a small smile
and a raised hand.

The woman immediately backs off Percy and makes a gesture towards Annabeth that seems to
mean something between “I didn’t know, my bad” and “good catch, kudos to you”. She takes her
toddler’s hand and together, they walk over to the swings.

Percy, Jake and Mac make their way over to the bench the women are sitting on.

Jake is laughing when they arrive.

“You can’t be serious,” he exclaims as he hoists Mac on the bench between Annabeth and Amy
and sits on the ground in front of them. “Tell him that lady was flirting with him,” he prompts his
wife.

Amy nods.

“Can’t be,” Percy insists and looks at his girlfriend for confirmation.

She rolls her eyes at him. “She was. Very clearly.”

Percy’s face goes sheepish. “Sorry?”

Annabeth shrugs. “Not your fault.”

“You’re still got grumpy about it,” Percy observes.

“Not grumpy,” Annabeth mumbles.

Percy squeezes onto the bench next to her. “Didn’t mean to make you jealous,” he tells her quietly.

“I know, Seaweed Brain.”

“She’s not even my type.”

A small laugh. “I know that, too.”

“I really don’t want to interrupt your conversation,” Jake states, interrupting their conversation.
“But how is she not your type? Like… blonde, tall, athletic?” He waves his hand in the direction
where the woman and her kid are playing at the swings. “If she’s not your type, how is Annabeth?
No offence.”

Percy shrugs. “None taken. I just don’t swing that way.”

Jake’s frown deepens. “How is that about which way you swing? It’s not about if you’re straight,
or bi, or…”

“Demi,” Percy butts in.

Jake immediately stops his ramblings. “What?”

“I’m demi,” Percy repeats. “…sexual. Demisexual. Not Demi… human or something. Although,
funnily enough, I’m also…” He stops mid-sentence to look at his girlfriend. “Where was I going
with this?” Annabeth is regarding him with the fondest of smiles. Percy smiles back. “Right… I
swing one way and one way only.” He throws an arm over Annabeth’s shoulders and jerks his chin
in her direction. “Hers.”

Amy shifts through what little information she knows about the topic. “That’s… on the asexual
spectrum, right?” She hands Mac a cucumber slice. “Only being sexually attracted to someone
you’ve already formed an emotional connection with?”
Percy grins. “Yeah, you aced that definition.”

“You have no idea how many bad puns I had to suffer from him over the years,” Annabeth states
evenly, but her eyes are soft, and she nuzzles her cheek into Percy’s hand resting on her shoulder.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m so good at improvising. I always have an ace up my sleeve,” Percy
grins.

Annabeth groans, and punches him lightly in the chest.

--------------------------

“We could take the ferry home,” Percy suggests after they packed their stuff and put Mac in the
stroller. There isn’t really any discussion about it since they’re close to the East River already and
Mac is fast asleep by the time they reach the docks.

There are few passengers onboard the ferry and most of them crowd onto the upper deck to take
advantage of the situation.

Jake, Amy, Annabeth, and Percy take seats towards the stern of the ship, giving them a good view
over the other passengers. Mac’s stroller stands between the seats, breaks engaged and sunscreen
puled shut.

A handful of teenagers is laughing towards the bow, an older couple regarding them with disdain.

A young woman tries to calm her children. She has a toddler strapped to her front, and a girl of
maybe five years running around her, excitedly jumping up and down. She is just a little bit too
small to see over the railing and is pestering her mother to pick her up so she can better watch the
seagulls flying around the ship.

“Julie, I can’t carry both you and your brother,” the woman huffs, but the girl doesn’t stop.

Finally, the mother heaves a sigh, grabs her daughter by the hips and hoists her up on the railing.

Julie gives a delighted squeal and turns around so her feet dangle over the edge of the ship. Her
mother firmly grabs her by the hand. “You have to be careful up here,” she warns.

Julie happily nods and cranes her head to watch the birds.

When they dock in Hunter’s Point, the group of teenagers disembarks the ship, leaving the top
deck mostly in silence, with Julie pointing out random things and her mother quietly responding.

The way over to Greenpoint is accompanied by the happy exclamations and the soft cooing of the
family at the edge of the ship.

The boat is just preparing to land when everything goes downhill.

Startled by the honking of another ferry, the toddler strapped to Julie’s mother wakes up and starts
screaming.

In the breath that it takes for the woman to look from the girl on the railing to the boy in the sling,
Julie, trying to follow a seagull’s movement with her eyes, loses her balance and topples over the
edge of the ship.

Jake is on his feet in an instant, rushing towards the edge of the ship with the other three at his
side. He reaches the edge just in time to see the screaming girl hit the water.
He’s just about to jump after her, when a firm hand grabs his jacket and stops the movement.

Amy and Annabeth have stopped on either side of him. Amy has a hand on the mother’s shoulder,
stopping her from doing something rash, like jumping after her daughter with her son still strapped
to her body.

Annabeth is doing the same to Jake.

Nobody is holding Jackson back, though.

Percy just rushes past them, doesn’t stop, doesn’t even slow down. He clears the ship’s railing in
one clear leap, hurling himself after the girl.

There is a moment where the water almost seems to raise to meet him, then the man is swallowed
by the rushing water with a splash.

Jake turns to his partner. “Why did you stop me and not him?”, he asks, gesturing to the point
where her boyfriend just vanished.

Annabeth takes a deep breath, lets go of her partner’s jacket, pats his back. “Because Percy is a
superb swimmer, and you are not.”

They all turn back to the water, but neither the girl nor the man is anywhere to be seen. Annabeth
leans over the railing, searching for the two.

It’s Julie’s mother who spots the girl fist. The pink bows in her hair and the yellow jacket are a
bright contrast to the dark water of the rushing river, making her easy to spot.

The current has carried her away from the ship already, and she is rapidly being pulled down-
stream, fighting to even stay afloat.

Amy spots Percy a moment later, barely discernible from the water with his black hair and blue
hoodie. His head pops up, halfway between the ship and the girl, his arms quickly paddling to close
the distance.

The girl is losing her fight to stay at the water’s surface and with a small cry, she goes under.

Her mother cries in anguish, her son in the sling matching her wails.

Percy doesn’t hesitate even a moment and dives after her.

When their heads pop up again, they are already more than half-way to the next pier. It’s hard to
see at the distance, and the current is carrying them even further away, but Julie is grabbing onto
Percy for dear life.

Annabeth steps around Jake and puts a calming hand on the mother’s shoulder. “He’s got her,” she
tells the woman. “Percy is an amazing swimmer; he’ll get her to safety.”

The woman, not willing to avert her eyes from her daughter, pats the blonde’s hand. “You sure?”

The Detective squeezes her shoulder, careful not to upset the toddler in her care even more. “She’s
in the best hands imaginable.”

The woman heaves a sob, sinking into the contact.

Percy has both arms slung around Julie, lazily kicking his feet to stay afloat. He looks around, takes
in the ferry upstream and the people on the upper deck. He looks downstream, to the next pier the
current is already carrying him towards and makes his decision.

Cradling the girl safely in his arms, he turns away from the ship and towards the nearest safety.

“He’s going to come on land over there”, Annabeth observes and gestures towards the pier a good
150 yards downstream. “We should get off this ship.”

That spurs them all into action. Annabeth stays with Julie’s mother, who introduces herself as
Marge while Amy and Jake get Mac and his stroller.

They hurry down the stairs to leave the ship before it puts out, clearing the gangway just before it’s
disengaged again.

When they step on land, Julie is already climbing the ladder up to the next pier, helped by some
passersby. Percy is close behind her, making sure the girl won’t fall back into the water.

Marge stops in her tracks at the sight of her daughter safely on land. They watch her clear the
ladder, but then the girl sinks down on the floor in a heap.

“Is she hurt?”, the mother asks frantically.

Annabeth puts two fingers in her mouth and lets out an ear-piercing whistle.

On the next pier, Percy turns towards them.

He straightens up and spreads his arms out diagonally, one up, the other down, so they form a line
through his body.

He holds the pose for a moment, then drops it and turns back to the girl next to him.

“They’re all right,” Annabeth says.

Julie’s mother looks uncertainly at her.

“That pose,” Annabeth quickly imitates Percy’s previous stance. “means ‘No, I don’t need help’.
They’re fine.”

“You sure?”

Annabeth smiles and puts a calming hand on Petra’s shoulder. “Yeah, I’m sure. Percy works with
children a lot and he is an amazing swimmer. If he says your daughter is fine, then there is very
little to worry about. She is probably just exhausted and cold.”

She is met with a cautious smile.

“Why don’t we go over there?”, Amy suggests, and they start moving down the pier.

When they reach the other pier, Julie’s mother breaks out into a run and scoops the girl up into her
arms.

The girl is grinning at her mother, her frame completely drowned in Percy’s overly large hoodie.

Percy is still sitting on the ground, calmly looking up at the approaching group, his short-sleeved
 shirt displaying his muscled arms. Annabeth offers him a hand and helps him up, but when he
moves to hug her, she holds out a blocking hand. “You’re dripping wet,” she complains with a
laugh.

“Of course, I’m dripping wet. I just climbed out of the East River. I’d have to possess some kind of
magic to be dry.” He gives an overly dramatic gasp. “Are you accusing me of being a witch? Is it
because you’re magically attracted to me?” A huge grin is plastered across his face.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “That doesn’t mean that I have to be all wet, as well,” the Detective
declares with a laugh.

“Yes, it does.” Jackson pushes past her deflecting hand and gathers his girlfriend in a tight hug.

She squeals when the wet shirt instantly drenches her clothes. But then, she lets out a laugh, hugs
him back and kisses him on the cheek.

“You really are a Seaweed Brain.”

“And you still love me.”

“I know.”

Chapter End Notes

I'm kind of trying to write Mac and stuff with him inspired by my niece and stuff my
sister does with her. I have no idea how much the activities can be copied onto
american families, though...
If anyone tries to tell me that Percy is anything other than demi or pan, I will fight you
on it. Plus, having a demisexual demigod is just funny to me :)
I wasted wayyy to much time of today afternoon on finishing this chapter considering I
have a test tomorrow and really shoud be studying (converting decimal numbers into
binary numbers and other oh-so-interesting topics...)
With me back to school and examens piling up, updates won't get more regularily,
sorry.

You might have noticed I actually put in a final number of chapters. There will be 2
more chapters in this fic (already planned but only partially written) and then I will
start a new one with all the reveals and stuff that ensues (need to figure out how to
start a series, but it can't be too hard).

Maybe leave a comment.

Have a great day, stay safe.
 Case at the Aquarium
Chapter Notes

Happy Monday!
While I started with biweekly as in "twice a week", I now try to keep to posting
biweekly as in "once every two weeks".
Let's see how long that works...
I had some difficulties with this one, hope it doesn't read too disjointed.
Short POV Annabeth at one point, but still mainly on Jake.
Have fun reading. :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“I’m sleeping with the fishes tonight.”

An eerie silence settles over the bullpen.

“Percy.”

“What?”

“This is a police precinct. Be careful with the idioms.” Annabeth pats her boyfriend’s legs
absentmindedly.

Jackson looks around the room, meets the gazes trained on him. “Oh, no, no, no. I’m not… well, I
am,” he sputters. “My little sister’s school has a sleepover at the aquarium and I’m chaperoning.”
He grins excitedly.

“You, chaperoning? Sure that is a good idea?” Rosa teases.

“No, but the school doesn’t know that yet.” Percy grins. “Plus, I know a lot about fish, so I might
even be helpful.”

“You’re supposed to be chaperoning the kids, not the fish,” Rosa deadpans.

The two of them have struck up a friendship over the past few months, mainly consisting of snarky
comments and quick comebacks.

Annabeth checks her watch and interrupts the exchange. “And if you don’t leave now, you’re
going to be late.”

“Right.” Percy jumps up, presses a kiss to Annabeth’s hair, waves at the squad and skips down the
stairs.

-------

“There’s been a break-in,” Holt announces the next morning.

“No!”, Jake exclaims. “A break in? In New York? How could that happen? That never…”
“A woman has been stabbed three times and almost died,” the Captain continues.

“Ok, now I feel a little bit bad,” Jake admits. “Couldn’t you have led with that?”

Hold sends him a tired glance. “Just take Boyle with you and go.”

Charles is already putting on his jacket and coming over. “Sure. Go where?”

“Prospect Park Zoo.”

------

For a Wednesday morning, there are a lot of people at the zoo. Children are running around the
petting zoo, watched by a hand full of adults.

“Isn’t that Percy?” Jake jerks his head to a gaggle of children, supervised by a handful of adults.

Percy Jackson in standing in a small paddock, surrounded by children and horses alike. He’s
laughing, scratching one horse behind its ears while encouraging a boy to feed it the fodder the kid
is holding.

Boyle follows Jake’s look and nods. “Yes. Wasn’t he supposed to… chaperone. Estelle must be
around somewhere.”

“Yeah, probably.” Jake nods. “Let’s take a look at the crime scene. We can talk to him later, if the
need arises.”

----------

The crime scene is a storage room that mostly holds fish fodder. It’s not much more than an alcove
in a glass tunnel running through a tank containing a multitude of colorful fish and other sea
creatures.

“Strange that they made the effort to put a glass ceiling in a storage room,” Boyle remarks.

“This wasn’t always a storage room,” the director of the park, a man by the name of Kyle Edwards
supplies. “The area was repurposed over ten years ago and there was no sense in covering it up
when we started storing food in here.”

“Isn’t it strange for the visitors to look into the storage from upstairs?” Jake cranes his neck to gaze
at the clouds through the clear water.

Edwards shakes his head. “The visitors can’t see into this part of the structure. Only possible point
on land to look into this room from above is over there” – he gestures towards a rock formation on
the surface – “but that’s a restricted area, used by the handlers to train the animals and such.”

Jake is only half listening, regarding the room.

The victim of the stabbing was one of the security guards, who probably came across something
she wasn’t supposed to see. Paramedics already took her to the nearest hospital, allowing CSU to
swarm in and take samples of the area.

Boxes are neatly stacked along the wall, taking up most of the room. Blood splatter indicates
where the security guard was stabbed and fell down, a dark red puddle of blood marring the blue
tiled floor.
With two colleagues from CSU and the two Detectives in the room, the director lingers in the open
doorway, the space already crammed.

“Anything unusual in this room over the last few days?” Jake asks as he regards the boxes closer.

The director scratches his neck. He seems nervous, agitated. But having a knife-wielding maniac
running around your zoo can do that to you. “Not really, no. Got a new delivery yesterday
afternoon, right on time, oversaw the delivery guys put it away myself.”

Jake makes a shooing motion with his hand, causing the man to step out of the doorway and into
the hall. The Detective grabs the door and closes it. “Boyle. Look at this.”

Charles halts his conversation with the CSU clerk and regards the blood splatter on the inside of
the door. “The door was closed when the stabbing happened,” he observes.

Jake nods and turns to the closest CSU-worker. “Were there fingerprints on the door handle?”

She shakes her head. “None at all. Must have been wiped clean after the stabbing.”

“What are you thinking, Jake?”

“The last one through that door wiped it clean, presumably our perp.” Boyle nods. “The door was
closed during the stabbing and when emergency personnel arrived.” Another nod. “When the door
is closed, you can only see what is happening in here if you are in here as well,” he observes. “Or
from a very specific point on land.”

Boyle catches his friend’s train of thought. “Who called this in?”

The call, it turns out, originated from a pay phone on the premises, the caller was male, New York
accent, probably between twenty and sixty years old. If he didn’t alter his voice so the call couldn’t
be connected to him. The cameras in the area show a shadowy figure, but due to the darkness, it’s
impossible to make out details.

The stabbing apparently was called in only minutes after it happened.

It promises to be a long and exhausting case and Jake and Charles start questioning the witnesses.

---------

The director was in his office the whole night and offers the video footage from the hallway
outside his office as proof.

The other security guards didn’t notice anything strange up to the point when an ambulance arrived
with flashing lights. They were assigned to other parts of the park, so that isn’t particularly
surprising.

The Detectives turn to the attendants of the school trip, starting with the one they actually know.

“Did you notice anything strange last night?”, Jake asks.

Percy shrugs. “You mean besides the stabbing?”

Boyle opens his mouth to respond something, but a small shake of the head from Jake stops him.
“Yes, besides that.”

Percy shoots a quick look around and gets closer to the Detectives. “Listen, I can tell you who
stabbed the security guard, but I can’t tell you how I know.”

Jake exchanges a glance with Boyle. “Who?” he asks.

“It was the caretaker. He was smuggling something in the fodder and when he tried to get it out of
the boxes, the guard surprised him and got stabbed.”

Jake opens his mouth, closes it again, looks at Charles, then back at Jackson. “Yeah, you really
need to tell us how you know that. And how you knew it was a stabbing in the first place.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Coolcoolcoolcoolcool.” Jake sighs. “You want to know what happens now?”

Jackson nods.

“We will investigate that lead, because overall, we think that you’re a trustworthy guy.”

Percy smiles, content with the statement.

“And if it turns out that you’re right, we’ll have to find out how you got that information,” Jake
continues.

Percy starts shaking his head.

The Detective barrels on. “Because if you don’t tell us, we have to assume that you were in that
room, doing something illegal and in that case, our best guess is smuggling and accessory to
attempted murder.”

Percy’s eyes grow big. He raises his hands and starts backing away from the detectives. “That’s not
what happened,” he implores them.

Boyle smiles at him hopefully. “Then tell us the truth. Can’t really be worse than attempted
murder, can it?”

Jackson opens his mouth, closes it again and shakes his head. “Can I call Annabeth?”

Jake ignores the question. “Well, as long as you’re not talking, I’m afraid this conversation just
made you a flight risk. We’ll have to take you to the precinct.”

He relaxes minuscule. “Okay,” Percy says. “Just let me get my stuff, tell the other chaperones that
I have to leave early and say goodbye to Estelle?”

He seems sincere in his surrender and Jake nods. They walk over to the gaggle of children and their
chaperones. Percy speaks a few words with the teacher in charge before hunching down in front of
his grinning sister.

“Stella, I have to go now,” he tells her.

“But you promised me ice cream when we got home,” she objects.

“I know. And I’m sorry. Do you remember Annabeth’s colleagues?” He indicates towards Jake
and Charles. The girl nods. “They say that I have to go with them to see her.”

“You’re going to see Annie? Can I come with?”

Percy shakes his head. “No, you have to go back to school. But we’ll take you out for ice cream on
the weekend?”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Ok. Say hi to Annie from me.” With that, she hugs her big brother and runs back to her friends.

Percy straightens and faces the detectives. “Let’s go, then.”

When they get to the car, Jake sends a quick text to Rosa. “Bringing Jackson in for questioning.
Can you make sure Chase isn’t in the bullpen when we come in? ETA 10 minutes.”

“Why?”, comes the instant reply. Then: “Sure, we’ll be in evidence lockup. Tell me when you’re in
interrogation.”

Jake sends her a quick thanks.

He has absolutely no doubt that as soon as his partner gets into the same room as her boyfriend,
they lose any hope of getting the truth out of him. She wouldn’t see any chance of him being part
of this and they couldn’t afford to not get this info.

When they get to the precinct, Rosa and Chase are missing from the bullpen, as promised.

Jackson plops down in his girlfriend’s visitor chair and starts fiddling with a pen.

Jake grabs his arm. “Come on, we’ve got interrogation room two.”

Percy puts the pen in Annabeth’s pen cup and willingly follows the Detective.

“Peralta,” Holt addresses him as they pass the Captain’s office. “Please come see me after you
dealt with him.” Jake nods his assent.

Percy sits down in the interrogation room and smiles at Jake. “Where’s Annabeth? I’d like to talk
to her.”

“She’s out investigating,” Jake lies. “We’ll tell her you’re here as soon as she comes back. I’d like
to speak to you alone, first.” He gestures towards the door. “I’ll go talk to the Captain real quick
and then we’ll have a conversation about how you knew about the stabbing.”

Jackson just shrugs and reclines in his seat.

Jake quickly sends a text to Rosa while he walks out of the interrogation room, telling her it’s all
right to come back.

Holt is finishing a call when Jake and Charles enter his office. He indicates for Jake to close the
door and the two detectives take their seats opposite the Captain.

“Why did you take Chase’s boyfriend into custody?” he asks right away.

“He seems to have first-hand knowledge about the stabbing, but that can’t be unless he was in on
it,” Jake explains.

“You know that Detective Chase won’t take kindly to this? She tends to be very… protective of her
man. How sure are you that he is involved?”

Jake shrugs. He doesn’t want this to be true any more than the Captain. “The security guard was
stabbed in a supply closet where they store fodder for the animals. Blood splatter indicates that the
door was closed when the stabbing happened, upon arrival of the paramedics, the door was closed,
handles wiped clean. Jackson must have been in the room.”

“Does the room have any windows?”

“Well… yes, it has a glass ceiling so you can watch the octopi-“

“Octopuses,” Boyle jumps in.

Jake looks at his best friend. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s…”

“Detective Boyle is right, Peralta. But that is not currently the point.”

“Well, you can see the fish swimming overhead. But we checked. There is only one point on land
from where you could possibly see what happens in that room. It’s kind of a restricted area, though,
only meant for the animal’s handlers.”

“That does not bide well for Mr. Jackson,” Holt observes. “We should keep that from Detective
Chase for now.” He watches the blonde entering the bullpen with Rosa and going over to her desk.
“She will do her best to throw you off his scent as soon as she finds out.”

Annabeth plonks down in her chair, grabs one of the pens out of her cup holder and frowns at it.
She looks around the bullpen, but when she finds it mostly empty, she gets up and approaches the
Captain’s office.

“Did Percy come by?”

The three men shake their heads in unison.

Chase enters the room fully. “Are you sure?”

“I would have seen him,” Holt states. “Why do you think he dropped by?”

Annabeth holds up the pen. “I found this at my desk.”

“That’s just a disposable pen,” Jake observes. “We have hundreds of them in the precinct.”

Annabeth shakes her head. “This one belongs to Percy. And it’s not as disposable as it looks like.”

“He must have left it yesterday, when he visited you,” Charles tries.

“He didn’t.” She regards the men in front of her. “What do you think he did?”

“Why do you assume we suspect him of something?”

“Because you won’t tell me where he is, and he made an effort to let me know that he’s here.”
When no one answers her, she goes on. “He’s not in the holding cell, probably so I won’t see him,
Terry is in interrogation room one, so I assume Percy is in two?”

There is a beat of silence. Then, Holt nods. “We are currently holding him on suspicion of
smuggling and accessory to attempted murder.”

Annabeth looks… resigned. “Why?” Her tone is more annoyed than shocked.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“Percy is good at getting himself caught up in stuff he has nothing to do with.”

They explain the circumstances of the attack and Annabeth listens carefully, asks questions about
some details and the security footage.

“Can I talk to him?” she finally asks.

Holt considers her for a moment, then he nods. “I will allow it. But you are not working the case
and if further evidence presents itself that proves Jackson’s guilt, you have to let us do our jobs.”

Annabeth nods. “Yeah, sure.”

-----------

Percy looks up from the desk when Annabeth enters the interrogation room and a sheepish smile
spreads over his face.

“Hi, Wise Girl.”

“Seaweed Brain.” She chucks Anaklusmos at him and her boyfriend calmly plucks it out of the air
before it can hit him in the forehead. “Can’t even leave you alone for one night, can I?”

Percy grins at her. “Sorry?”

“You’re lucky I love you.”

“I know.”

Annabeth sits in the chair opposite of Percy, keeping the distance between them for now. Someone
might be watching, after all. Someone probably is.

She casts a quick glance over her shoulder to the mirror separating them from the observation
room and whoever is watching from there. She switches to Ancient Greek, just in case.

“So… the caretaker uses the fodder to smuggle?”

Percy nods. “Yeah. I was talking to the octopodes about how they liked it there…”

“Of course you were.”

“They are fairly happy, all things considered,” Percy tells her. “Sure, they’d prefer being free, but
the tanks are rather big, the water is clean, they got this amazing food until recently…”

“Percy.”
“Yes?”

“Your point?”

“I won’t be mounting an escape for the octopodes.”

A laugh escapes Annabeth. “I’m happy to hear that. But I was talking about the stabbing.”

“Right. Yes. Uh… Bruno…”

“One of the octopodes, I presume?”

Percy nods. “Bruno came up to me after a while and told me that their fodder guy stabbed
someone. He was afraid the blood might spoil their food after the good stuff just came in again.
Apparently, they’ve been on substandard food for the last few days.”

“And then?”

“I went to the closest phone and called 911,” Percy says like it’s obvious.

“You didn’t give your name,” Annabeth states.

Percy shrugs. “I didn’t want to get involved in case it reflected badly on you.”

“That worked out well,” Annabeth comments dryly. “All right, here’s what you’ll tell Jake…”

------------------

“So, you were lying flat on the ground of a restricted area of the zoo, staring in the water, in the
dead of night, because you wanted to pet an octopus?” Jake repeats, a disbelieving note in his
voice.

Percy nods. “Have you ever touched one?” he asks.

“Not outside of a sushi restaurant,” Jake admits and Percy’s nose wrinkles in disgust.

“They have super smooth skin,” he claims.

Jake tries to stay on track. “And what exactly did you see?”

“There was light coming from one of the tunnel rooms and someone was inside. Then, someone
else went inside, there seemed to be a struggle and one of them stopped moving, the other left.”

“And what did you do then?”

“I found the closest phone to call 911.”

“Why didn’t you use your mobile?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Why didn’t you give the operator your name?”

“Slipped my mind.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that when we questioned you and brought you in?”
The least innocent smile Jake has ever seen appears on the other man’s face. “I was embarrassed
that I tried to pet the octopodes.”

“It’s octopuses,” Jake finds himself starting the discussion he’d had half an hour earlier.

“Actually, while octopuses is the universally accepted plural of octopus in the English language,
most dictionaries accept octopodes or octopi as well, as they follow Greek and Latin rules of
pluralization respectively.”

Jake gapes at him. “Annabeth taught you that?”

“Of course she did.”

They exchange a small smile as Jake regards the man in front of him. He seems rather relaxed in
face of the charges presented to him, like he really didn’t have anything to do with it.

Or maybe he just knows that his girlfriend will break him out if it comes to that.

“Why weren’t you with your group? Shouldn’t you have been chaperoning?”

The smile slips off Jackson’s face. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Why not? Not enough cots?”

Percy mumbles something, but Jake can’t quite make it out. “What?”

“I get nightmares sometimes and I didn’t want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night
surrounded by a bunch of elementary school kids,” Jackson admits to the desk.

“How do you manage not to wake up screaming at home?” Jake asks, although he knows that this
is more personal curiosity and less professional interrogation.

“I don’t,” Percy whispers, his eyes stubbornly trained on the table.

“But Annabeth…”

Percy raises his eyes and meets Jake’s gaze straight on. There is pain in his expression and Jake
swallows the rest of the question.

It’s not really any of his concern, anyways.

He heaves a great sigh. “You are free to go for now, please stay available in case we have further
questions.”

A small smile spreads over Jackson’s features. “Sure thing.”

--------------

Jake goes back to the evidence they have. The director was indeed in his office from closing time
until the ambulance arrived.

The security guards were on their usual routes, no sign of breaking their routine.

There is footage of the dark hooded figure – apparently Percy – entering the caretaker’s section of
the zoo, but there are no cameras inside.
There is no one in the footage that shouldn’t be there at the time of day.

Jake pulls all the information they have for the caretaker responsible for the specific area of the
zoo. He’s a man by the name of John Adams, who didn’t have the easiest life the past few years
and ended up working multiple jobs to pay off his debt.

He has no criminal record, no history of violence or anything else that points to him as a suspect –
aside from Percy’s statement, that is.

He isn’t in any of the security footage, either. Since he’s worked at the zoo for many years, he’d
probably be able to avoid them if he wanted to, though.

Jake isn’t willing to accuse him based on what little he has, but something in his gut stops him from
dismissing the possibility just yet.

-----

Terry is still dealing with his own case, and Hitchcock and Scully have taken the afternoon off to
visit some food fair.

Holt sent Chase out to investigate a robbery – they all know it is so she wouldn’t interfere with the
stabbing case.

That leaves Jake with Amy and Rosa for their lunch break, since Boyle has taken off to get some
more files pertaining to people of interest in their case.

“Guess what,” Boyle says as he enters the break room.

“What,” Rosa says.

“You’re supposed to guess,” Charles complains, waving a folder through the air.

He put down the majority of the folders he brought down on his desk, but for some reason, he
wanted to share the contents of this folder right away.

Rosa gives him a look and the Detective immediately caves, offering her the folder.

“Since he is a part of an ongoing investigation, I managed to grab a hold of Jackson’s juvie file.”

He is rewarded with a rare, open smile from Rosa and astonished looks from Jake and Amy. “What
does it say?”

Boyle shrugs, a wide and exited grin on his face. “Didn’t look inside yet.”

They eye the folder, thicker than either of them had expected.

Jake quickly puts a hand on top, stopping Rosa from opening it just yet. “Any guesses?” he asks
the group.

“Different question,” Rosa says, gauging the amount of trouble Percy must have been in as a kid to
have this kind of record. “Do you think Annabeth knows about this?”

They look at each other.

“They seem like the kind of couple to tell each other everything,” Boyle offers.
Jake nods in agreement. “Plus, Annabeth isn’t really someone you could keep a lot of secrets from,
is she?”

There are nods all around.

“So, we have to assume that Annabeth has at least an idea of what is inside this,” Rosa concludes.
“She’s with him anyways, has been since they were sixteen, so it probably isn’t too bad.”

Since Rosa is the only one who has already finished her lunch, she takes it upon herself to open the
binder.

On top is a picture of a much younger Percy. His troublemaker smile has smoothed out
considerably over the last ten years, his features have settled well into adulthood, but neither the
striking green eyes nor the unruly black hair leave any doubt that it is the same person who
regularly comes by the precinct to drop off blue cookies.

Rosa sets the picture aside and grabs the uppermost case file. “It’s a missing person report on
Percy and his mother from 2006,” she tells the others as she scans the page. “Says here they both
vanished, and his stepfather offered to pay handsomely for any information leading to his arrest.
He seemed pretty sure it was somehow Percy’s fault.”

There are sounds of surprise and confusion. Who in their right mind would accuse a boy of twelve
years of something like this?

“The money combined with the missing person report apparently incited quite the manhunt for
him.” Rosa shuffles though some newspaper articles. “Apparently, he exploded a bus in New
Jersey – how does a twelve-year-old boy manage to blow up a bus?”

Nobody answers her, but everyone waits expectantly for Rosa to tell them what else is in those
files.

“Huh,” she finally says, after staring at an article for some time.

“What?”

“Do you remember when there was an explosion, blowing a hole in the Gateway arch a while
back?”

Jake shakes his head.

“St. Louis; Missouri, right?” Amy asks, nodding along with her own statement. “They ruled out a
terror attack, and after that, I never really heard about it again.”

Rosa nods. “Percy was reported being up there right before it exploded. Apparently, he went
sightseeing while there was a nation-wide manhunt going on for him.”

“Finding time to appreciate architecture in a time like that sounds more like Annabeth than Percy,
doesn’t it?” Jake asks.

It is meant as a joke, but no one laughs. It raises too many questions, rings too true.

Rosa finds the final report and scans the contents. “Apparently, things didn’t happen quite the way
newspapers reported them at the time. Percy was abducted by some maniac, dragged across the
country until he… attacked his kidnapper? Huh. Says here Percy managed to get the guy’s gun at a
pier in Santa Monica, had a shoot-off with him before the police arrived and the kidnapper fled. He
was never found; they couldn’t even identify him.” She frowns at a low-quality photo of Percy and
a blurry, broad-shouldered man facing off against each other. In the background, a crowd has
gathered, and a wall of flame holds back the police officers.

Jake, having finished his sandwich, pulls the rest of the case file over. “There were two other kids
kidnapped along with him,” he reads. The others turn to him when he stills abruptly.

“What is it?”, Amy asks.

Jake wordlessly puts the picture he was holding in the middle of the table. It’s timestamped just
after Percy’s fight with his kidnapper, taken by someone in what appears to be a group of reporters.
Percy’s shirt is ripped and while he is smiling, there is a mean glint in his eyes.

More surprising, however, are the two children at either side of him. Grover Underwood has
changed very little in the past fifteen years, looking harried, one hand on Percy’s shoulder in
support. Who is supporting whom in this case though is anyone’s guess.

The Annabeth in the picture isn’t even looking at the camera. Her eyes are fixed on something in
the crowd, and it is the attention in her eyes and her necklace – with fewer beads than it holds these
days – that allows her colleagues to recognize her as much as anything else. An angry red gash runs
over her temple, her hair looks like she hasn’t brushed it in days, her whole frame brims with
energy.

“Annabeth was one of the kidnapped kids?” Amy says, her voice hollow.

“Evidently.”

“Isn’t that the guy from the save the oceans parade?” Boyle asks, tracing a finger over
Underwood’s face.

Jake hums in agreement.

“What the fuck?” Rosa finally puts voice to what they are all thinking.

“Are we sure we want to read the rest of his file?” Amy asks after a stretch of silence.

They all snap back to the rest of the stack of papers.

Boyle is the one who grabs the next report. “Another missing person report,” he states. “Gabe
Ugliano, Percy’s former stepfather. Vanished shortly after Percy returned from…” He waves his
hand in the direction of the first file, still firmly grasped in Jake’s hand. “…that. He didn’t show up
again. Presumed dead.” His eyes flick over the file, picking out the important information with a
practiced eye. His face darkens. “There seemed to have been evidence of him abusing Percy and
his mother.”

“Any leads on what happened to him?”

Boyle shakes his head. “There’s a handwritten note, though. “The victim’s widow, Sally Jackson,
appears neither shocked nor distraught by the news of her husband’s assumed death. When asked
if she has any idea what happened to him, her first answer was: “Nothing you will ever prove.”
She claims it to be a tasteless joke born out of stress later, but largely refuses to aid in the
investigation. There are no leads that point to her as the killer. While she might have had motive
(presumed abusive relationship), she had neither means, nor opportunity to commit the murder.”
Well, that sounds kind of ominous.”
“Apparently Percy was thrown off a bunch of schools until his mom married her current husband,
who is a teacher and Percy managed to stay at his school until he graduated,” Amy summarizes
another paper.

“Yeah, but he vanished for six months when he was sixteen,” Rosa mutters.

Jake looks up at the information. “What do you mean, he vanished?”

Boyle flicks through the papers. “I don’t see another missing person’s report.”

Rosa shrugs. “Well, there isn’t, but school records show that he vanished for half a year before
showing up again out of nowhere, no explanation to anyone, and neither his mother nor his new
stepdad filed a report, so whatever happened, they were probably in on it.”

“Didn’t… didn’t Annabeth say they got together when they were sixteen and were ever since?”

“Yeah… She must know what happened to him during that time,” Amy states.

As much mysteries as there are around his partner, there are some things about her, Jake is fairly
sure about. “Call me crazy, but I really doubt she’ll tell us.”

“She definitely won’t,” Rosa agrees.

Boyle shakes his head. “No chance in hell.”

“I really didn’t think that this file would make Percy more of a mystery,” Amy remarks.

“What do you think they actually do at that Camp of theirs?”

There is a brief silence as everyone turs to Charles.

“What do you mean?”

Boyle shifts in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable with all the attention on him. “Percy, Annabeth
and Underwood met at that Camp, didn’t they? And the file on the kidnapping says Percy vanished
from Long Island, where the Camp is. But there is no mention of it in the file. Do you really think
it’s just a coincidence?”

They are silent for a moment.

“And as much as I like Hazel, and Will, and Nico, and even Leo, they are a little bit… strange,
aren’t they?” Amy ventures.

“They all have ADHD,” Jake supplies.

“Not really what I meant.”

Jake nods. He didn’t think it was.

Before they get any time to speculate further, Holt appears in the doorway. “Peralta, Boyle, the
hospital called, the security guards is awake.”

They nod, put the papers back together and get back to investigating the stabbing.

The mystery of their coworker and her boyfriend stays in their mind, though.
-------------

The security guard is conscious if heavily drugged when Jake and Charles arrive in the hospital to
question her.

“I saw light where none should’ve been an’ I went over to look,” she slurs. “Open’d the door,
didn’t see anyone a’ first, but one of the boxes was open, so I went inside to close’t. Then the door
slammed shut and that guy was standing in fron’ of me, and he came at me before I could really do
anything… came to in the ambulance,” she mutters.

Jake nods along with the explanation. Not really any new information, but it largely fits with what
they gathered so far.

“Can you describe your attacker?” Charles asks.

“He was not very friendly,” the guard answers. “And he had a knife.”

Jake suppresses a laugh. “Very helpful. Anything else?”

The guard places a sluggish hand at the side of her neck. “Tattoo.”

“What?”

The guards taps her throat. “Tattoo. At the side of his neck. Vines or som’thing like that.”

After they finish taking her statement, Jake and Charles leave the hospital and share a long look.

“Not Percy, then,” Charles observes.

Jake nods in agreement. “Not Percy.”

“Do you know who has a vine tattoo on his neck, though?”

“I have a suspicion.”

-----------

John Adams is nowhere to be found.

He didn’t show up for his shift at the zoo, his flat is empty, and neither his boyfriend nor his family
have seen him since the day before.

CSU sends their preliminary report stating that they found traces of heroin at the crime scene.

Jake is staring moodily at their report when Annabeth comes in the next morning.

“What do you have there?” she asks.

Jake offers her the sheet of paper. Since they realized that Percy most likely isn’t in on whatever is
going on, he decided to try to make peace with her again. “Preliminary report from CSU,” he
states.

Annabeth takes the paper with a grateful nod and scans the contents. “Heroin? So, the caretaker
really was smuggling something in the fodder boxes.” She hands the report back to Jake. “That’s
probably why the delivery was late as well.”
Jake shoots her a puzzled glance. “It wasn’t.”

Annabeth looks confused as well. “No?”

Jake shakes his head. “The director told us that the delivery was right on time.” He shuffles some
papers around o his desk before finding the one he was looking for. He hands Annabeth a delivery
note. “Delivered on the sixth of the month, as ordered.”

Annabeth looks at the sheet with a slight frown, goes through some more of Jake’s papers, already
spreading over on her desk. She finally finds a list of invoices.

She grabs a blue highlighter as she sits down at her desk and starts marking certain positions.

She returns to Jake not five minutes later. “Food delivery is on every first and fifteenth of the
month, has been like this for at least two years,” she reports, pointing out the deliveries to him.

Jake stares at the piece of paper. “But the director said…”

“Who handles the purchase orders?” Annabeth asks. “Because I highly doubt that this is a job for a
college drop-out who works three jobs.” She points at the picture of Adams, sitting atop the few
things they gathered on him.

Jake shakes his head. “No, but someone who works three jobs could probably be convinced to
make some extra money on the side by getting some stuff out of the fodder and to whoever ordered
it.”

----

Kyle Edwards is sitting at his desk in his office when Jake and Charles arrive and smiles sweetly at
him.

“Have you found whoever attacked that guard, then?”

Jake nods. “We have.”

Edwards smiles at them. “That’s great.” He doesn’t even ask who it was.

“You wanna know what else we’ve got?” Jake asks.

Edwards raises from his desk and slowly walks towards the door. “I wouldn’t want to keep you,”
he replies.

Jake pulls a paper out of his pocket. “We have a search warrant for the entire zoo, for your house
and for the storage facility at the harbor you rented two weeks ago. You want to know what else?”
he asks conversationally.

The Director’s gaze shifts from the Detectives to the door like he determines whether or not he’d
manage to get away from them in time.

“We have a warrant for your arrest,” Jake tells him as Boyle grabs his handcuffs.

"Kyle Edwards, you are arrested on the accounts of smuggling, hindering a police investigation
and abetting in attempted murder.”

----
 They find John Adams in the storage facility Edwards had rented, along with five kilos of heroin, a
knife that fits the one responsible for the guard’s injuries and clothes that still have lingering traces
of blood on it, despite having been washed half a dozen times in the last twenty-four hours.

He admits to everything as soon as they find him, asks after the guard’s well-being, and is visibly
relieved when they tell him that she’ll make a full recovery.

“I didn’t mean to harm her,” he says. “She was suddenly there, and Edwards threatened to fire me
if I didn’t get the packages out of the fodder for him and I couldn’t afford to lose this job. I
panicked when she came in.”

-----

As it has been the case most evenings, Jackson comes by at the end of their Friday shift to pick up
Annabeth.

His file has gone back to the storage where Boyle got it from, unopened since that one lunch.

Annabeth grins when she sees him come in. She kisses him on the cheek in greeting. “I have to run
down to file a report real quick, then we can leave,” she promises him and bounds down the stairs.

Percy sinks down in her chair and starts slowly spinning on it. He stops when he catches Jake’s
eye.

“I’m sorry for…” Jake makes a wide gesture. “I really feel bad for taking you into custody earlier,
but evidence being as it was…”

Percy shrugs it off. “It’s fine. Police has given me more trouble for doing less.”

A week ago, Jake would have taken that as a weird throwaway statement, but today he knows it to
be true.

He looks after Percy and Annabeth as they leave the bullpen a few minutes later and ponders just
how many secrets those two have.

Chapter End Notes

This was actually a quite research-heavy chapter (including 20 minutes of looking for
my copy of TLT, because I don't own enough bookcases and didn't get it out of my
boxes since my last move.
The plural of octopus thoroughly annoyed me and I decided to let you have part in it.
Not too happy with the title either, but that's what it was called since I wrote the first
few sentences of it months ago and I couldn't think of anything else right now, so...
Please tell me if the smuggling thing is laid out in an understandable way, because I
seriously don't know if this chapter is written in a way that can actually be read or if I
just understand what I mean because I have all the missing information in my head.
I have no idea what the american justice system deems sufficient cause to open juvie
files, but... fanfiction, right? I wanted it opened, so they opened it...
Feedback in any form appreciated as always. (Me tired as always when I post, going to
bed soon)
Have a grat day, stay safe.
 of Endings and New Beginnings
Chapter Notes

Happy Monday!
Me again! Finishing this story, starting a new one and being excited about it!
WHOOOOO!

Do I know how med school in the US works? No.

Do I care? Also, No.
Did I need a reason to have them have a BBQ in the Park? Apparently...

Have fun reading ;)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

When Annabeth joined the squad of the 99 and the team met Percy, everyone pretty quickly
accepted him as her plus one.

What no one quite expected at first was the fact that Annabeth doesn’t just come with a plus one.

She comes with an entire second family of choice who sometimes turns up unexpectedly. And just
like no one bats an eye when Sharon, Guinevere or Kevin come by the precinct, he doesn’t really
draw any particular attention when Nico di Angelo steps out of the elevator at the beginning of
summer.

“Do me a favor,” he says in lieu of a greeting as soon as he catches Annabeth’s eye.

Annabeth raises a questioning eyebrow at him and watches her friend as he opens the low gate to
the bullpen, stands to the side, and holds it open.

“Ignore the fact that he’s being a dork and just be happy for him,” Nico tells the group at large.

Jake is just about to ask the guy to clarify when Will appears at the top of the stairs, taking two
steps at a time. He pretty much flies past Nico, throwing him a grateful grin for holding the gate as
he engulfs Annabeth in a hug.

“I did it!”

Annabeth calmly grabs his hands and disentangles herself from the embrace, meeting his eyes.
“You did what?”

Will is practically brimming with energy. “I passed my examens!”

Annabeth opens her mouth but stops herself as she glances at Nico who watches the scene with
undeniable fondness in his eyes.

“That’s amazing!” she exclaims and throws her arms around the man in front of her.
“Congratulations!”

Will beams as he returns the hug.

The scene has drawn the attention of the rest of the squad who come over to offer their
congratulations as well.

“What examen?” Amy asks.

“I finished med school, I’m going to be a doctor!”

Annabeth leans over to Nico, who has closed the gate and come closer. “Was he seriously worried
about not passing?” She raises her fist in a calm greeting and Nico bumps it with his own.

“You have no idea what I have to put up with,” he answers with a mock scowl.

Annabeth gently bumps their shoulders together. “You do realize that I put up with Percy on a daily
basis, right?”

Nico snickers. “Dodged a bullet there, didn’t I?”

“I think, we both got what’s best for us,” Annabeth says with a laugh.

“Yeah, we did.” Nico watches as Will disentangles himself from Amy’s hug and comes over.

“We’re having have a BBQ in Central Park later. You guys will come, right?” he asks the room at
large.

“Definitely,” Annabeth says without hesitation.

Will looks at the rest of the squad. “You guys too, right?”

Jake flusters a bit, looks around the team, at Annabeth and Nico, more than a little bit surprised at
being invited.

“Please come,” Nico says. “Otherwise, I’ll have to spend the evening with a bunch of medics.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Amy asks.

“They don’t appreciate my humor,” he mutters.

“That’s because you purposefully choose the worst times for you strange one-liners!” Will
exclaims.

“It’s not bad timing when it’s relevant to the situation,” Nico argues, and it seems to be an old
discussion.

“Telling Ben that surgery is basically just stabbing people back to life after he just spend a night
saving people in the ER is not relevant to the situation,” Will groans.

Jake snorts. “It kind of is, though.”

Nico throws him a grateful look. Will rolls his eyes.

“We’ll be there,” Terry cuts the bickering short, earning a relived smile from Nico.

-------------

When Jake and Amy arrive at the park later in the afternoon, with Mac asleep in his stroller, the
party is already in full swing. About two dozen people mingle around the space, and the Detective
quickly takes note of the familiar faces. Will is talking to what appears to be more medical students
while Leo stands at the BBQ, watching the flames consume the coals. Annabeth stands a few feet
further, carefully watching the fire and talking to Nico, who stands at her side.

A squeal catches Jake’s attention and he turns to see a young man, crowding a woman against a
tree. He recognizes Katie from when she did the plants at Terry’s house, where she didn’t take shit
from anybody and made the impression of being capable of defending herself. But while she is
shoving at the man’s chest with both hands, he doesn’t budge. His light hair frames almost elvish
features and the grin spreading across his face spells trouble.

“Stop that, you idiot,” Katie demands, a slight tremble in her voice.

Jake feels Amy shift next to him and it doesn’t even take a glance to know that she is right beside
him, stalking over to the two.

“Excuse me, Miss,” Amy starts. “Is that man bothering you?”

Amy has changed into normal clothes, and while Jake still wears his badge, it’s hidden by his
clothes. They both appear civilian.

“Yes, he is,” Katie says, more to her adversary than to Amy and Jake.

The man throws his hands up, obviously gearing up for an argument, but completely ignoring the
officers next to him.

Jake not-so-subtly pulls the chain with his badge out of his collar, ready to make the other man
back off.

Katie’s eyes grow wide when she spots the badge, seemingly just now remembering who Jake is
and what he does for a living. Her attacker just raises an eyebrow, and his face takes on a
mischievous expression.

He opens his mouth to say something - no doubt to start a fight - but stops at a glare from Katie.

Huh.

“But I married him, so I kind of signed up for it,” Katie smiles sheepishly. She takes a long look at
them. “It’s nice to see you again, Jake. That’s Travis, my husband,” she introduces them.

“Amy,” his wife introduces herself while shaking their hands. She takes another look at them.
“You’re sure everything is all right?”

Katie lets out a small laugh. “I told him that I wouldn’t kiss him if he eats any garlic bread, but did
he listen?” She shakes her head. “Everything’s fine, I promise.”

Jake and Amy exchange another quick glance, but with the pair obviously not being at odds – at
least not enough to warrant their intervention – they take their leave and turn their attention
towards finding their friends.

Amy spots Boyle, sitting on a blanket with Terry and Rosa and waving at the newcomers. Amy
waves back as she points them out to her husband, and they make their way over.

“Have you talked Annabeth?” Jake asks as he sits on the blanket.

Boyle waves a hand in the direction of the fireplaces. “She said something about keeping Leo from
burning everything down.”

“Smart choice,” Jake comments.

Amy puts the break on the stroller, Mac inside is still fast asleep. “Anything interesting happened
so far?” she asks.

“Jackson has a horse,” Terry replies.

“What?”

The Lieutenant points over to some shrubbery next to which Percy is standing in front of a large
black horse, apparently talking to the animal. Jason Grace is standing next to him, clearly
exasperated by his friend’s antics.

“I didn’t know Percy had a horse,” Jake comments.

“Why is it here?” Amy asks.

Terry brushes some dirt from the blanket next to him. “Apparently, Katie’s husband brought him
from Camp.”

“Why? How?”

“I don’t know. Travis said something about bribing the horse with donuts and at that, Percy started
a very heated discussion about appropriate ways to feed a horse.”

From everyone else, Jake would expect this to be a joke, but Terry looks genuinely confused and
neither Charles nor Rosa seems to be holding back their laughter.

So, he latches on to the other information he’d gotten. “Travis is part of this elusive Camp of theirs,
then?”

Rosa nods. “Seems so, yes.”

“Is he…” Jake lets his sentence trail off, not quite sure how to voice his question.

“As weird as the rest of them?” Rosa offers. Jake nods.

Rosa’s face is impassive as ever, but there is something in her posture that tells Jake she isn’t quite
at ease with the guy. “I didn’t talk to him much, but I think so.”

Terry has fallen silent over the last stretch of conversation. He had been quite mad at them when
they told him about Jackson’s juvie file and doesn’t condone their theories about what happens at
their mysterious Camp.

“You have to admit that it’s strange,” Boyle insists. “Neither of them ever mentioned Percy having
a horse, and suddenly, his friend – who we haven’t heard about before, either - shows up with it
and claims it to be Percy’s?”

“Plus – and I realize that I don’t know too much about horses – but shouldn’t it be wearing some
sort of holster?” Jake adds.

They turn and watch the horse trotting after Percy and Jason as they start walking around the
meadow. Percy has one hand resting on the black mane but isn’t even really watching the animal as
he talks to his friend.
“It seems to follow them regardless,” Terry says calmly. “Maybe, it’s really his.”

The horse seems to be trained just a little bit too well to be just a normal horse. To let it run around
without a holster in a park full of people? Full of strangers, who might startle the beast at any
moment, cause it to run off? It would take a special sort of training to make sure that wouldn’t
happen, right?

An idea forms in the back of Jake’s head. “Or maybe, it’s part of whatever they’re doing at their
Camp.”

Terry heaves a sigh. “And what would that be?”

They all turn towards him when Jake starts listing points on his fingers. “They all visited some
secretive institution from a young age. They all are in exceptional shape. Annabeth is probably the
best fighter I have ever seen. I’ve never seen Percy fight, but if he held his own in a gunfight at age
twelve, he’s got to have some mad skills as well, right?” The others nod carefully. “Leo somehow
managed to hack a fickin’ fridge when they were held hostage in the bank in January, and Nico
helped Annabeth take out three armed gunmen.”

“And the last perp they took out was positively terrified of the guy when I took him outside,” Rosa
butts in.

“And while it was unquestionably kind and awesome what they did for you, Terry, the thing at
your house at Easter was pretty strange, as well.”

“Most of them weren’t even out of high school,” Boyle agrees.

Terry looks Jake in the eye, curious and a little bit annoyed at the other man’s antics. “So, what is it
you’re saying?”

Jake claps his hand as he reveals his theory. “They’re spies. Their Camp is a training facility for
spy kids.” He holds out his arms, waiting for their agreement.

Amy is the first to voice her doubts. “Don’t you think they’d be a little bit more inconspicuous if
they were trained spies?”

Jake turns to his wife. “What is you guess, then?”

Before she can answer, Boyle jumps in. “They are part of a secret society.”

This, on the other hand, intrigues Jake. “What, like the Illuminati?”

“Obviously not. Something else,” Boyle states.

Jake now fully concentrates on his best friend, eager to get his opinion on the matter. “Who?”

“I don’t know. That’s why it’s called a secret society.”

“And what is the goal of their alleged secret society?” Rosa wants to know.

Both men turn to her in confusion. “Goal?”

Rosa just gives them a look. “Doesn’t a secret society need a goal they’re working towards? A
common cause?”

“I don’t know. I never tried to found a secret society.” Jake looks at his colleagues. “How does one
start a secret society?” he asks.

“Let me be honest,” Percy comments, startling the group. “You’re off to a bad start.” He grins
easily as he sits down next to Jake, Jason taking the place between his friend and Terry.

The black horse, apparently unconcerned by the strangers, lies behind them, placing its head
between the two young men. Percy puts a hand on its head and begins to absentmindedly pat the
silky black fur.

They all stare at the two men and the horse for a moment.

When Percy notices their stares, he grins sheepishly. “Sorry, completely forgot to introduce you.
Guys and Gals, this is Blackjack. Blackjack, those are Jake, Amy, their son Mac, Charles, Rosa and
Terry.”

“Why is the horse here?” Boyle asks.

“He got bored by the countryside, wanted to see the sights,” Percy comments. And Charles,
because he is Charles, takes the answer with a shrug.

“Shouldn’t he at least be wearing a headcollar or something?” Amy asks, eying the beast curiously.

Percy still has one hand travelling up and down the silky black mane. He shrugs easily. “Nah, he’s
fine. He’s… very well trained.” There is a small snort from Jason. “He listens to me.”

The horse is following the movements of Percy’s friends across the meadow with his eyes,
apparently well aware of who belongs to their group and who doesn’t.

Katie and Travis approach, a second blanket tucked under the latter’s arm. “Mind if we sit with
you?”

“Any use in saying we do?” Percy asks while adjusting his seat, opening their circle in a way that
allows Travis to spread his blanket out next to theirs and form a new, larger circle.

Katie sits down near Blackjack’s rear, leaving a notable distance to Percy, who shifts to lean
against the horse’s shoulder.

Jake expects Travis to fill the space, but he doesn’t, instead sitting down at his wife’s other side,
leaving the horse’s flank free.

Katie opens the basket she brought, pulling out bowls of salad and fresh fruit.

That prompts Charles into action, grabbing the bag he’d brought and fishing out some culinary
contraption. This causes the rest of them to grab their contributions as well, spreading the food
across the blankets.

-----------

At some point, Mac wakes in his stroller, quietly fussing until Jake grabs him from the stroller,
placing his son on the blanket in front of them.

The toddler takes one look around, his gaze immediately zeroing in on Percy, to whom he carefully
waddles over.

Percy happily opens his arms, sits the kid in his lap and starts pulling faces and tickling the toddler,
throwing him in the air from time to time.
Mac even pats Blackjack for a while, which the horse endures with absolute calm, barely even
flinching as the toddler pokes his nostrils.

The horse has been perfectly calm this entire time, nudging Percy once in a while whenever the
man stops his petting, but otherwise just occupying space and being a strange presence in their
midst.

But then, Boyle tosses some of the self-made banana-bread over the blanket, so that Travis and
Katie could have some as well.

He aimed it at the empty space next to the horse’s flank. But before it even hits the blanket,
Blackjack jumps up, apparently startled by the sudden movement. The bread changes course
without ever making contact with either the horse or the blanket, and Katie quickly catches it
before it can land in the grass.

Percy jumps up as well, placing Mac on his shoulders in a quick move, jogging two steps to catch
up to the horse who is dancing in place, winding its neck to nibble at its side.

Percy grabs the horse at the neck, directly behind the ears and talks to the animal in an urgent
whisper. Blackjack calms down a bit and allows Percy to run his hands over the horse’s flank.

Percy’s body covers most of what he’s doing there but when they return to the blanket a minute
later, Jake could swear he sees Percy slip a black feather to Jason, who quickly hides it in his
backpack.

Jackson takes his old place next to Grace. Blackjack angles his body in a way that wouldn’t allow
anyone but the two men in front of him to reach his flanks.

“What was that about?” Rosa asks.

Percy shrugs, one hand once again in the horse’s mane. “He has sensitive flanks.”

Annabeth and Nico come over not long after that, bringing with them cutlery, plates, condiments,
sauces and the likes.

Annabeth sits next to Percy while Nico sits on her other side in the space that Blackjack’s flank
previously occupied.

When Leo comes over some minutes later with a platter full of grilled goods, Katie and Boyle are
immersed in a discussion on fermenting techniques, Terry is talking to Jason about workout
routines. Amy isn’t actively participating in any of the conversations, busy trying to get Mac to eat
some oatmeal.

Leo places the platter in the middle of their blanket and sits down.

They all tuck in, grabbing some of the assorted foods and the conversations shift after the universal
silence that settled over them during the first round of eating.

“We didn’t see you since the wedding, did we?” Annabeth asks Travis while she spreads butter on
a slice of bread.

He nods his head. “I wasn’t at Camp for Christmas, you didn’t come by for Easter,” he says and
almost sounds apologetic.
“Sheer luck that we’re here today,” Katie piques in. “We were supposed to be on our way to San
Francisco when Will called, and we decided to postpone the holiday one day.”

“It was a beautiful wedding,” Annabeth says, smiling at the memory.

The couple grins at each other. “Utter mayhem, but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Katie
says before turning back to Annabeth. “And when are you going to give it a shot?”

The atmosphere changes instantly.

Percy stiffens next to Annabeth who has a small, almost sad smile on her face.

Leo’s hand stills halfway to his mouth before he very carefully and slowly moves to plop the
strawberry he was holding into his mouth.

Nico slightly shakes his head in Katie’s direction, but it’s already too late.

Jake had wondered himself why Annabeth and Percy hadn’t married, weren’t even engaged yet,
but he had always put it down to them being rather young. Seems like he was wrong about that.

Katie’s gaze shifts between her friends and for the first time, Jake gets the impression she might not
be as close to his partner and her friends as he previously thought. “I said something I shouldn’t
have, didn’t I?”

“It’s fine. It’s just…” Annabeth trails off.

“What we have right now is great, why should we change anything?” Percy finishes for her.

“You aren’t really the person I expected to have commitment issues,” Travis states, a slight frown
on his features. “At least not where Annabeth is concerned.”

Percy shakes his head. “That’s not it.”

He glances at the squad, spread around the blanket and watching the scene unfold with curiosity.
Then, he turns back to address Travis.

“Annabeth and I have a history of misfortunes, don’t we? We meet on the back of my mother
being…” Percy runs a hand through his hair. “You know, the thing ending in Santa Monica my
first summer?” He states vaguely. Travis and Katie nod. They obviously know the story.

Percy grabs Annabeth’s hand as he continues. “The first time she kisses me, I get badly injured,
Annabeth thought I died. We finally get together at the end of the… conflict with my grandfather,
and shortly after… Things happened and we didn’t see each other for a while again. Then
Annabeth came to the west coast, on the back of another conflict, we had to split up in Rome and
then had to take the adventure route from there to Athens.”

He gives Annabeth’s hand a squeeze, waits for her to meet his gaze before going on. “It just feels
like every time our relationship advances, something stands in the way. And I’m afraid that if I
proposed now and we started running for the registry office, we’d be hit by a bus on the way
over.”

Annabeth turns from her boyfriend to Katie and Travis. “In the end, we just don’t want anything to
change. And attempting to get married might be tempting the fates, so we just… don’t,” she says
with a shrug.
And while Jake can find absolutely no reason in this line of thought and comes very close to tell
them exactly that, he holds himself back.

There is a heaviness in Annabeth’s and Percy’s expressions and an understanding in their friend’s
faces that he doesn’t quite understand.

Nico is staring at the blanket in front of him, Jason has shifted so his knee bumps against Percy’s
in a show of silent support.

Katie and Travis lean into each other even more than before, but the expression on their faces
speaks of empathy, rather than surprise or disagreement.

Even Leo is uncharacteristically silent.

It seems to be one of these universally accepted things that sometimes elude Jake’s notice, but
when he looks around, he notices Amy and their colleagues having the same confused expression
on their faces.

None of them dares to ask about it, though.

“Doesn’t mean we never thought about it,” Percy says, running his thumb over the back of
Annabeth’s hand.

She lets out a long breath. “We talked about it after we finished college. But we decided that – as
long as the more annoying side of our family might try to do something about it – we won’t risk
it.”

“That’s too bad,” Amy says quietly. “I bet your wedding would be beautiful.” She brightens up a
bit. “You could have borrowed my binders.”

A sad smile stretches over Percy’s features. “We have most of it planned out, anyways,” he reveals.

At the surprised sounds around the blanket, he huffs a small laugh. “Come on, guys, it’s Annabeth.
She always has a plan.”

“Let me guess: beach wedding?” Nico’s words are unexpectedly soft.

There are twin nods from Annabeth and Percy. “Obviously.”

“Either around New Year or at the end of summer, so that everyone from Camp will be there,”
Jason guesses and Percy nods.

“Most likely end of summer,” he states.

“Get dad and the boys over here, maybe even my stepmom.” Annabeth looks at Percy, like she just
had an idea. “Do you think Magnus and his friends would come?”

Percy smiles fondly. “Your cousin wouldn’t miss your wedding for the life of him.”

Annabeth snorts a small laugh. “Interesting choice of words.”

That causes snickers all around their group of friends, especially from Nico, from whom the
outburst is rather unexpected.

“Estelle as your flower girl, I suppose?” Amy jumps in on the speculations.

Another nod from Percy “Definitely. I mean, it will be hard to top Nico when he was being the
flower boy at Hazel’s wedding, but…”

“Nico as a flower boy?” Jake butts in. “Please tell me you’ve got pictures.”

“We don’t, actually,” Annabeth admits. “Hazel and Nico made us all swear not to take any.”

“And you listened?” Rosa asks with a furrowed brow.

Jason shrugs. “Nico can be rather scary if he wants to be.”

“And you never want to end up on Hazel’s bad side,” Percy adds.

“Seems like all that’s missing is a couple of rings and a proposal,” Boyle offers, still the same guy
that basically told Amy and Jake they should marry moments after they first met.

Granted, he’d been right that time around.

Percy and Annabeth share a long, sad look. “Only one of those is missing,” Percy says, no more
than a whisper.

“Maybe one day,” Annabeth answers, louder, something in her face hardening. “Until then, we’re
staying together. You’re not getting away from me. Never again.” She presses a kiss to the back of
Percy’s hand.

“As long as we’re together,” Percy replies and an old promise echoes in those words.

A heavy silence stretches over the group, no one quite sure how to move on from the conversation.

“Do you want to see a butterfly?” Leo suddenly blurts out.

Jason facepalms, Nico rolls his eyes, but that only registers peripherally to Jake, who simply nods
at the Mechanic.

Leo grabs a lump of butter from his plate and throws it across the lawn, just barely missing Nico’s
head.

Jake breaks out in laughter and just like that, the strange mood is gone.

----------

Will joins them later, his friends from college having left to take the party into the city and to the
bars to get drunk.

He settles next to Katie and starts a conversation with her, once in a while exchanging soft smiles
with Nico on the other side of the blanket.

Terry excuses himself as the evening draws on, needing to go home to be with his family. Rosa
goes with him, not bothering to give a reason for her early exit. Not that any of them expected her
to.

They all break off into small groups after that, and Mac – to no one’s surprise – extracts himself
from Boyles’ attention to waddle over to Percy and then tries to get past him to poke at Blackjack’s
eyes.

Percy explains him very calmy that he can pet the horse but isn’t allowed to poke him. Jake joins
them, since Amy is immersed in a discussion with Travis who has a surprising amount of
knowledge about American Diplomats around the world.

Leo lies stretched out on his stomach, obviously unconcerned by the massive animal barely two
feet from him and fiddles with the unused cutlery. He has aborted bits of conversations with Percy,
regularly interrupted by Percy talking to Mac or the horse and Leo getting distracted by something.

“I want to tell a joke, but I only remember the punchline,” the Hispanic says after a while.

“Shoot,” Percy tells him easily, his eyes still on Mac.

Leo rolls over onto his back and grins up at his friend. “Tooth-hurty.”

Jake immediately sits up straighter. “When is the best time to go to a dentist?” he supplies.

Percy huffs a breath of silent laughter, while Leo beams up at the Detective.

He suddenly chucks the spoon he was fiddling with across the blanket, aimed straight at Annabeth,
who interrupts her conversation with Nico to pluck it out of the air.

“What?”

Valdez jerks a thumb in Jake’s direction. “He’s all right,” Leo declares with a solemn face.

Annabeth regards Jake with a long look, apparently trying to gauge the reason for the sudden
endorsement. Then, a fond smile stretches over her features.

“Yeah, I know,” she agrees, before going back to her conversation with Nico and a pleasant
warmth spreads through Jake.

--------------

Katie and Travis take their leave as well, saying that they need to get up early the next morning to
start their holidays.

Mac finally falls asleep curled up between Blackjack’s front hooves and Jake and Amy don’t really
fancy waking him up to go home.

The sun has dipped beneath the tree line, the shadows from the trees around them long and drawn
on the meadow.

There aren’t many people left in this part of the park, a jogger passes once in a while, people
walking their dogs. They don’t pay much mind to their group, and don’t earn more than a glance in
return.

Will, Jason and Leo are playing frisbee with a clean plate, tossing it around to a set of rules Jake is
too tired to even try to understand. Once in a while, someone throws the plate to Nico, who is
sitting slightly aside on a large rock, watching the game. He catches the plate and throws it to Will
without fail who smiles and gets a smile in return before continuing the game.

The others are still on their blanket, conversations mostly forgotten or abandoned in favor of
having a quiet evening in the midst of trustworthy friends.

It feels oddly comforting, sitting with this group of people who should barely be more than
strangers and just enjoying each other’s companies as they wait for the evening to pass.
Annabeth seems more relaxed than Jake has ever seen her; half asleep on Percy’s shoulder, sleepily
playing with his fingers in her lap while her boyfriend has a quiet conversation with Boyle.

Amy is cuddled into Jake’s side, his arm around her shoulders, and fondly regards the scene
around them.

“It’s a lot like holidays with my family when we were younger,” Amy quietly tells Jake.

Jake takes a moment to try and imagine the Santiago family in all their glory, with all their children
at holidays, playing with each other, enjoying just being together.

He tries to compare it to his own childhood, evenings with his mother or alone in front of the TV.

He knows they’ve had very different upbringings, but moments like these are a stark reminder of
what he could have had.

“Feels like home, you mean?” Jake mutters, unwilling to disturb the peace.

After a moment, Amy hums her agreement. “Strangely enough, it does.”

-------------

Jake isn’t sure who spots the new arrival first. What he does know is that as soon as anyone lays
eyes on her, they don’t look away.

The woman is absolutely stunning, tall with a downright regal appearance, dressed in a flowing
white dress. Golden ribbons are braided into black hair that shines in the light of a close by lantern,
casting her in an almost ethereal glow.

Percy looks over his shoulder when Boyle stops his story in the middle of the sentence. And while
the squad of Detectives and the few passers-by stare at the woman with something like awe, a cold
fury suddenly clouds Jackson’s face.

The sudden change in her boyfriend’s demeanor doesn’t go unnoticed by Annabeth, who sits up
and turns to follow his gaze. Her face falls from relaxed contentment to something akin to furious
apprehension in the span of a second.

She pulls her knife out of the sheath while Percy fiddles with his pen.

Their friends take note of their sudden hostile behavior and turn around as well. The plate falls to
the ground and shatters when Leo fails to catch it in time. Nico slowly stands from the rock he’s
been sitting on, walking over to stand with his boyfriend while Jason and Will step out of the
woman’s way. They all incline their heads in recognition and greeting in what could almost be
considered a bow.

Annabeth and Percy remain sitting, with a stubborn set to their jaws.

Jake doesn’t move. Partly because he doesn’t know what to do, partly afraid he’d call attention to
himself. Amy and Charles are similarly frozen in place.

“Won’t you greet me?” the woman asks with a silken voice as she stops a few paces from
Annabeth and Percy.

Annabeth scoffs at her. “You lost all my respect years ago. You are not worth standing up for.” She
is tense, a stark contrast to the relaxed state she’s been in just a moment ago, aversion clear in her
posture.

Jake thinks he can hear thunder growl in the distance, but the sky is clear as far as he can see, stars
blinking where they manage to overpower the light pollution of the city that never sleeps.

Annabeth and Percy are tense, ready to jump up at every moment, to take on an enemy that isn’t
there, for this woman certainly isn’t who they mean to fight, is she?

“Who is that?” Boyle’s voice is breathless.

“Jason’s stepmother,” Chase responds with a mean glint in her eyes. Her voice is calm, steady, but
while she answers her colleague’s question, her eyes don’t leave the woman in front of them.

The older woman’s face twitches for a moment. She does not like being called that.

Jason just lifts his eyebrows at the wording, but doesn’t dispute the claim.

“You will not…”

Percy interrupts her. “What are you doing here, Mrs. H?”

She swallows, obviously fighting down an unpleasant comment. “I came to talk to the two of you.”

“Whatever you want us to do…” Percy grabs Annabeth’s hand and holds it tight.

Mrs. H holds out a placating hand. “That’s not why I came. My… brothers sent me.” Percy
exchanges a quick glance with Annabeth, before his eyes dart over to Jason and Nico, who just
shrug.

The woman in front of them regards the rest of the squad. “Do you think we could do this without
an unwilling audience?”

“No.” Annabeth sits up even straighter, if possible.

Mrs H takes a deep breath. “I’d prefer it if…”

“All of you promised that you wouldn’t give us any more orders, that you’d only approach us with
requests we’re allowed to decline. So, if you have something to tell us, just do it.” Annabeth’s
words hold none of the warmth they usually do.

Jake is a little bit lost, wondering who this woman really is, why she and whoever she is affiliated
with would give Annabeth and her friends this kind of promise.

Could it actually be a secret society?

“Well…” The woman takes a moment to search for the right words. “I have been made aware of
your previous conversation about marriage.”

Leo sheepishly runs a hand through his hair and Jake thinks he can hear Annabeth mutter
something about “inappropriately personally invasive TV programs,” but there aren’t any cameras
around and he can’t really place the comment.

Percy juts his chin out. “So?”

The woman doesn’t seem to enjoy his direct approach, but she manages a smile as she answers. It
holds no warmth whatsoever. “As far as we are concerned, you’ve been married for years.”
“WHAT?” The startled exclamation comes both from Annabeth and Percy.

“You live together, have proven your devotion to each other, your will to stay together through
hardships and have consummated your marriage.” Mrs. H shrugs. “In the eyes of myself, my side
of the family and everyone connected to us, whether or not you file papers for tax reduction with
the registry office will not change your status in any of our eyes. My husband and my brother
thought you should be made aware of that.”

Another grumble of thunder sounds in the distance, and this time, it almost sounds pleased. Can
thunder sound pleased?

The woman looks over towards the sound and nods to herself. She turns to leave, but stops in front
of Will, who takes a tiny step back as she levels her gaze at him. Nico, on the other hand, stands his
ground, a carefully neutral expression on his face.

“Congratulations to your degree. Your father sends his regards, he is proud of you.”

Will manages a slow bow. “Thank you, my Lady.”

She seems pleased by this answer, a genuine smile resting on her features. She nods at the blond
physician and takes her leave.

“That was… strange,” Amy states as they watch her stride off the meadow.

Percy and Annabeth are still frozen, gaping at each other in disbelief.

Their friends slowly turn towards them, grins spreading over their faces.

“We don’t really care about her opinion, do we?” Percy asks slowly.

Annabeth meets his gaze. “That woman doesn’t exactly have the best of marriages known to
mankind, I wouldn’t take any relationship advise from her.”

“Still my stepmother you’re talking about,” Jason chimes in.

“And what does that say about her marriage?” Nico deadpans. “You’re one in a very long line of
children your father has sired out of wedlock.”

Jason opens his mouth as if to argue but deflates. “Fair point,” he admits.

Percy shakes himself out of his stupor.

He puts his pen back into his pocket, takes Annabeth’s knife out of her hand and puts it back into
the sheath at her back. He jumps to his feet and pulls on the hand he’s still holding.

“Get up, Wise Girl,” he demands.

Annabeth clumsily gets to her feet. As soon as she stands before him, Percy drops down, falling to
one knee.

“Annabeth Chase,” he starts while patting himself down with the hand not holding Annabeth’s.
“You’re the absolute best thing in my life, you are the first person I want to talk to in the morning
and the last person I want to see before falling asleep at night.” A crease forms between his brows
while he sticks his hand in each of his pockets, frantically searching for something. “There is no
one I’d rather have my back in battle, in peace and in life. You are my home, you are my life, and
I’d willingly follow you anywhere.”
Annabeth’s expression has morphed from slight astonishment to complete fondness and she’s
barely containing a grin.

“I don’t know where I’d be without you, you give my life meaning, and I consider myself the
luckiest man alive that you continue putting up with me.” A slight apprehension sneaks in around
his eyes. “I love having you around; every day without you is grey and…” he trails off, his eyes
scanning the area.

Annabeth obviously catches it. “You put your hoodie in our basket,” she tells him with a laugh,
pointing at the basket sitting a bit off the blanket.

The apprehension vanishes from his face, replaced by relief. Percy jumps to his feet, makes a stay-
here-gesture and darts over to the basket. He procures a blue hoodie, pulls a small jewelry box out
of one of the pockets and jogs back, once again falling to his knees in front of a still grinning
Annabeth.

He opens the box, revealing a stunning ring with a glittering blue stone in the middle. “Annabeth
Chase, love of my life, even if it changes absolutely nothing between us… Will you marry me?”

Jake remembers the day when he proposed to Amy. He remembers being nervous despite being
almost certain that Amy would say yes.

He can see absolutely no nerves in Percy’s expression, only the permanent excitement that never
seems to leave him. He grins up at Annabeth like she personally hung the stars and lit the sun.

“Of course, I will, Seaweed Brain.” She pulls him to his feet and presses a long kiss to his lips.
Boyle whistles and Annabeth breaks the kiss to throw him a frustrated look.

Percy is quick to pull her attention back to him, though, as he carefully pushes the ring onto her
finger.

They look each other in the eyes for a moment. Then, Percy takes a small step back and holds out
his hand, palm up. He bends his fingers in a give-it-to-me-gesture.

Annabeth places her hand in his with a careful smile.

Percy rolls his eyes, drops her hand and repeats the motion.

Jake exchanges confused glances with his colleagues as do the other people in the group. Their
friends from Camp don’t seem to know what this is about, either.

Their stare down continues for almost a minute, Percy’s grin challenging and certain while
Annabeth’s goes from reluctant to sheepish.

“How did you know?” she finally huffs, pulling her wallet out of her pocket.

Percy throws his head back as he laughs out loud. “Because I know you, Wise Girl. You always
have a plan. For everything. Including proposing to me.”

Annabeth pulls a simple silver ring out of the coin pocket of her wallet.

Percy reaches to grab it, but Annabeth slaps his hand away and lowers herself to one knee. “If you
want the ring, you need to suffer through the rest of it,” she proclaims.

“I’ll gladly suffer through as many proposals from you as you want,” Percy laughs. He makes a
 valiant effort to put on a halfway serious face and nods at Annabeth.

She takes his hand. “Percy Jackson. You still drool when you sleep, but I love you and there is
absolutely no one else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. Will you marry me?”

“Can I think about that?” Percy asks with an amused expression.

“No, it’s a limited time offer.”

“Well, in this case…” He makes a pause to take an exaggerated breath. “It would be my absolute
joy and privilege.”

Chapter End Notes

has two ideas for the proposal, so you're getting the secons one as an outtake of sorts.
Takes off after Hera walking off.

---------------

They watch the woman walk away in stunned silence.

After she vanished from view, everyone slowly turns to look at Percy and Annabeth
who still sit side by side, staring blankly in the distance.

Without turning her head, still watching the empty path like she is afraid the woman
will return, Annabeth raises a hand to tap her boyfriend’s shoulder.

He catches her hand with his own and they each take a breath. Like in a trance, their
free hands wander into pockets, Annabeth reaching into her jacket while Percy shifts
slightly so he can retrieve something from the back of his trousers.

“Will you…” They start the question at the same time, both trailing off when they
realize the other has spoken as well.

They turn ever so slightly, barely meeting each other’s gaze, just glancing at each
other out of the corner of their eyes. There is no way missing the fond smiles slowly
replacing their stunned expressions as they turn to fully face each other.

For a long moment, they look at each other, a decade or more of conversations
between them before Annabeth huffs a small laugh.

“It doesn’t really need asking, does it?” She holds out her left hand, allowing Percy to
slip the ring with the small blue stone on her finger.

“I suppose it doesn’t.” Percy offers his own hand and Annabeth retrieves a simple
silver ring from the coin pocket of her wallet. She slips it on the offered finger.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Leo exclaims and Jason promptly cuffs him over the
back of his head.
End Notes

I FINISHED IT!!!
This got wayyyy longer than I anticipated in the beginning.
Thanks for everybody who stuck with me through all of this, for all of your kind comments
and support.
If everything works according to plan, the next work in the series should be up, so you can
already enjoy the first chapter of it :)
Have a great day, stay safe.

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