Mistakes

Choices and Memories

Leo was halfway home when he started freaking out. He had no clue how long he had been gone. He had been flying around for a while when he lost track of time. It just wasn't important anymore. He had been friends with Jason and Piper long enough to know that they if he hadn't shown up the next morning they would start to worry. He missed them, he really did, but he couldn't.  Leo realized that by coming back to camp there was always the slight problem of the mysterious baby he would be bringing back.

Leo was anything but ashamed of Sammy. True, he wished Sammy had come later in Leo's life, but he was always captivated by how beautiful and pure Sammy was. Leo could never get his eyes off the small child. Every small sound that was emitted from the tiny mouth of the baby, every movement so gentle and small, the way Sammy laughed when his dad made funny faces at him- every single thing attracted Leo’s attention with great enthusiasm. For the dad who never expected himself to have a family, he found himself slowly falling in love again, but this time his love would never break his heart. They were flesh and blood, a bond that cannot be broken. 

It had crossed Leo’s mind multiple times as he traveled to Calypso’s island what would happen when he got there, but every one of his outcomes had ended up with him and Calypso growing old together and having a family. It didn’t matter to Leo if it was in Ogygia or in the world he grew up around as long as he had Calypso. But, like always, the Fates laughed in their faces and threw in a baby, a very unwanted child (by both sides of the equation) and messed everything up.

Leo didn’t want the child, and Calypso made herself very clear on that aspect, but Leo knew that he had to take the child. It was no longer a matter of if he wanted to or not. Leo stared at Sammy, trying to ignore the happy children playing the streets below him, but he realized as they traveled past towns and above large cities that every family had some sort of  drama and nonsense very much like what Leo was currently experiencing.

Leo came to the realization that his mother would scold him for doing something like this with a girl before he was married, but then she would tell him to follow his heart and remember that the baby was a human who will eventually find out whatever choice you make and emotions will erupt. She would stare at Leo, her hands on his shoulders and mutter quietly, mijo, when this child is older and realizing what his family is like, do you want him to have good emotions or bad emotions?

That’s when Leo knew he had no choice; he was going to make sure that his child’s life was perfect, or as perfect as a sixteen year old demigod with no job or work experience could do.

Festus was a very smart, yet annoying, mechanical dragon; it was as if he could sense Leo’s puzzled and struggling emotions, and so the dragon acted on it. The change of route instantly puzzled Leo. The dragon was smart. Leo had basically programed him to understand such directions. Festus was basically a walking, (or was it "hulling"?), GPS. 

“Festus? New York is northeast not west!” Leo told the dragon as he tried desperately to change the direction back. Sammy watched his father in awe and amazement. Leo’s hands moved across the keys at a great speed. This was his natural habit, in a way, making machines work and fixing things when they didn’t. It seemed to amaze Sammy; his dad finally doing what he did best. Maybe that's what Sammy would end up doing best. 

Leo grew extremely frustrated very quickly. Sweat began to form on his hairline as he frantically tried anything to get them back on course until it occured to him- did he really want to go back and see his friends again? He loved them to death, but Sammy was the most important thing in his life. He didn't want to have to explain Sammy to his friends and watch them grew old with their significant others, something Leo will never have. 

“Thank you,” He muttered under his breath to the dragon who simply replied with a heartfelt click.  The dragon knew just where Leo needed to go. Leo needed guidance and only one person could give him that- his mother. Festus was taking Leo back to his mother's grave, a place he hadn't visited since his mother's funeral eight years ago.

Leo turned his attention back to the child looking up at him with wide almond eyes; Calypso’s eyes. He pushed the thought away quickly. He would not think about Calypso. Calypso brought pain and sadness, and Sammy was everything but. 

 “You are going to meet your grandmother Sammy, and then we’ll find a small place where we can live together. Okay?” Leo whispered to his drowsy son. As Sammy fell asleep, Leo placed a gentle kiss on the child’s tiny forehead.

Leo stared out of his ship and smiled sadly. He could feel the humid air of Houston slowly creeping up on him. The heat got to him almost instantly, the heat that was too moist, of course, nothing like the air in Arizona where everything began to take place; where Piper, Jason, and he met  Annabeth who was frantically searching for Percy. The moist air reminded him of New Orleans where he had visisted once or twice with his foster families, it reminded him of Hazel, who was currently living in San Francisco with Frank in Camp Jupiter. But then Leo turned and looked at his son sleeping so peacefully and he had made up his mind. 

He would not return to his friends back at Camp Half-Blood. Leo Valdez was going to stay in Texas near his mother, live his life raising Sammy like he should be, and try very hard to forget about his friends in their designated camps in the two ends of America. Maybe then they would forget him.

 Leo didn’t want to forget the memories spent saving the world with his friends, but he cared about them and for some reason and didn’t want them to know about his son- his demigod son. He didn’t want them telling his son about the times they traveled the world fighting monsters and saving the world from Gaea. He wanted to keep his son as far away from the messed up demigod world as possible, even if that meant staying as far away from his friends as possible. Maybe if Sammy didn't know about it then it wouldn't capture him and take him away. 

Sammy moved slowly on his side, gurgling as he slept. Leo smiled and knelt down beside the child, running his hands over Sammy’s nearly bald head sprinkled with a few black hairs like his own. He never realized until now how much Sammy truly did look like him, like the original Sammy from so long ago. He couldn’t help but think of how amazed Hazel would be to see Sammy II- the third person to look just like Sammy the first, Hazel’s Sammy- he had to force himself to think about something else, he already decided she would never know about Sammy. None of the Seven would know about him. Leo would live his life and they would live theirs without Leo.

~~

Piper was absolutely frantic. The Argo 2 was gone and Leo was nowhere to be found. It had been over three weeks since Leo disappeared, and no one could find him. Percy and Annabeth were searching as much as they could, but they were both heavily involved in school.  Piper had yet to tell Frank and Hazel over in Camp Jupiter; she didn't want to worry Frank with his praetor duties and all. She and Jason were planning a mass search, but even they were completely clueless on where to start looking for their best friend. 

Piper leaned against Jason’s hard chest, crying softly. “I just wish he told us where he went,” she sobbed.

She was not an emotional person, but Leo was gone and something told Piper that this time was different. Leo may not come back. 

Jason, trying not to ruin her day, ran his fingers over the braids in her brown hair. “I know you don’t want to hear this Piper, but what if Leo doesn’t want to be found?”

 Piper pushed away from Jason so her bloodshot crying eyes could look at Jason’s electric blue eyes directly.

“I don’t care if he doesn’t want to be found. I’m his friend and I refuse to just stop looking.”