Chapter Text
“Welcome home!”
Jason grins as Leo and three-year-old Esperanza whisper-shout as he opens the door. Esperanza has a party hat on her head and a grin that Jason sees is all Leo.
“Thank you, Anza.” He says quietly. In the baby carrier he’s holding, newborn Aurelia is awake and kicking her legs, clearly unhappy to be in the carrier for so long. He’s trying to be quiet, a little worried that the baby is going to get startled and start to wail.
“Daddy! Daddy, look. Auntie Piper sent me a new toy. She said I can share it with,” Her little brow furrows in concentration. “A– uh, Are–”
“Aurelia.” Leo says slowly.
“With Lia!” She declares, giving up on her sister's name after one more try. She runs to grab the small stuffed animal bird from where it sits on the couch. It’s a dove, of course.
“Whoa, she must really love you. Doves are her mom’s symbol.”
“I know. She sent a card, papa, read it!”
Leo sighs and Jason knows (from personal experience and because he knows his daughter) that Leo has probably already read this card at least twice. Jason sits on the couch, carefully taking Aurelia out of the carrier and holding her to his chest. Unlike Esperanza, who screamed at any inconvenience, Aurelia is a quiet baby. Of course, she’s only been alive for four days and that could change as she gets older. (Jason hopes it doesn’t, someone needs to balance out Esperanza’s chaos).
Leo grabs the card, sitting on the couch on the other side of Jason. He clears his throat dramatically, which sends Esperanza into fits of giggles and makes Jason smile.
Dear, Miss Esperanza, the newest and best big sister ever,
I’m so excited that you get to be a big sister! That’s a big responsibility but you’re going to do great. Your little sister is going to be so lucky to have you to show her the ropes. I think your little sister is going to be your best friend after she stops crying and pooping all the time.
It wouldn’t be a letter from Auntie Piper if I didn’t send a gift and I’m so excited to give you this one. It’s a dove, which symbolizes love. I love you, your dads love you, and your sister loves you! Make sure to share it with her when she’s sad, so she knows you love her too.
Hugs and kisses from Oklahoma,
Auntie Piper.
“Papa, you didn’t read the last part.” Esperanza says seriously.
Jason snorts and Leo rolls his eyes, picking the letter back up. “P.S. send me a million pictures.” Esperanza nods, satisfied. “Now, I get baby cuddles.” Leo declares, carefully taking Aurelia from Jason and Esperanza takes the opportunity to climb onto Jason. She rests her head on his, her dark curls falling in his face.
“Can we play princesses and dragons?” She begs. “Please daddy, please, please, please. Lia has never seen it before.” She says, like it’s a movie rather than play pretending.
“Can I be the dragon?” Jason asks. She shakes her head.
“Nope! The dragon costume is mine!” She takes his question as a yes and runs to her room. Jason stands, grumbling now that Esperanza is out of earshot.
“For my birthday, I want a dragon costume.” He says to Leo, who just laughs at him. Despite Leo's best attempts at challenging the "evil dragon stereotypes" that he insists they are perpetuating by letting Esperanza play this game, he always caves when she pouts.
“Mmkay, babe.”
“Also, Pipes needs to stop sending her toys. We’re going to be able to open a toy store with just the things she sends our daughters.” It’s true. Piper loves to dote on her nieces and nephews. Her fancy lawyer job defending sacred land keeps her from living in New Rome, but she IMs and sends letters all the time. From what Jason has gathered, Frank and Hazel get a ton of gifts for their twins from her too. Percy and Annabeth live in New York but Jason’s positive they get gifts too.
Leo laughs harder. “Hey, we can probably make good money off of it too, some of these toys aren’t cheap. Pay for their college funds.”
Jason runs a hand over his face. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Valdez.”
“That’s Grace-Valdez, to you.”
It’s Jason’s turn to smile. “It is, isn’t it.” He leans down and Leo tilts his head up to give him a quick kiss.
Esperanza runs back in with a princess crown and wig, she has a dragon costume on. “Here you go.” She wraps her sheets around his shoulders like a cape. “Very pretty, daddy.” She pats his cheek.
“Yes, very pretty, daddy.” Leo says from the couch. When Esperanza turns her head to pick up her sword, Jason flips him off. Leo gasps dramatically and covers Aurelia’s eyes.
From the safety of the couch, Leo watches as Jason is bossed around by a very particular toddler. Jason takes it with grace (ha!) and allows himself to be captured.
“Please let me go, Miss Dragon. I need to get back to my family.”
“Never! You’re stuck here until you do the funniest dance.”
“No! You know I don’t like to dance.”
“Then prepare to die here.”
Jason pretends to cry, Esperanza grins evilly and crosses her arms.
Leo watches them for a little while. A fond smile on his face, Aurelia is captivated by the noise and the bright greens and pinks of their own little show. She starts to get fussy and Leo heads to the kitchen to make a bottle. He settles back on the couch, cooing to Aurelia as she tentatively begins to suckle the bottle.
Halfway through feeding, Aurelia gets bored. Their game ends with Jason doing a silly dance (Leo wolf whistles and Jason glares at him) and Dragon Esperanza being defeated by dance power.
“Can we build legos?” Esperanza asks Leo, poking her head up from where she’s laying on the floor with her tongue sticking out pretending to be dead.
“Sure, clean up from the princess game first.”
Excited, she obeys, gathering everything in her arms and trying to make it down the hallway without dropping anything. Leo transfers Aurelia to Jason, who smiles fondly.
Leo tries not to wince when Esperanza dumps out the whole box of extra-large legos. He talks the whole time, giving her a mini-engineering lecture. They aren’t playing for long before she starts yawning.
“Do you think the principles of infrastructure are boring?” He gasps. She rubs her eyes, shaking her head. He laughs as she yawns again. “I think it’s bedtime.”
It must be because she doesn’t argue when he scoops her up and carries her to her room to change into pajamas. She’s practically falling asleep as she brushes her teeth. Leo tries not to laugh.
“Will Lia be here when I wake up?” She asks sleepily as he tucks her in.
“Yup. And everyday after. She’s ours, kiddo.”
“I think I like being a big sister.”
“Yeah?” Leo tries not to get emotional.
“Yeah.”
She’s asleep not even thirty seconds later. He creeps out of her room, turning on the white noise machine. Hopefully when Aurelia wakes up in the middle of the night, she doesn't wake up her sister.
Jason has burped and changed Aurelia and has just set her in the crib in the nursery.
“Not the bassinet tonight?” Leo asks, trying to cover his own yawn. They have a crib in the nursery but also bought a bassinet for their room.
Jason shrugs. “We can try this tonight and see how it goes.”
It makes sense, Leo goes to their room. He sprawls face-down on their bed and only moves because Jason tugs into his arms. Leo rests his face on Jason’s collarbone and everything settles and feels right.
He’s not sure how long he’s been asleep when crying wakes him up. He and Jason both shoot up, Jason’s hand straying to a sword that isn’t there, Leo feels his hands starting to heat up instinctually. He shakes them out when he realizes it’s just the baby. He checks the nursery but it’s silent. The crying isn’t Aurelia. It’s Esperanza.
Leo and Jason exchange a confused look and Leo rushes into his older daughter’s room. He steps into Esperanza’s room. “Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Esperanza wails and throws herself into his arms. He places a comforting hand on her back. “It’s okay, Anza.” He doesn’t know what is wrong, she’s never woken up like this.
“You promised she would be here.” Esperanza is inconsolable, she clings to Leo’s shirt, covering it in tears and snot.
Leo is confused. Jason is in the doorway, looking a little concerned. “What do you mean, mi amor?”
“You said she would be here when I wake up.”
“Who? Aurelia?”
She nods.
“She is here, look.” Leo picks her and they poke their heads into the nursery. Aurelia is still asleep.
Esperanza’s crying dies down to sniffles, she buries her face into Leo’s shoulder.
“I think you just had a bad dream, puellula.” Jason says softly. She nods, lifting her face and reaching for him. As much as Leo hates to let her go, he does. Jason cradles her so softly. She’s too big to be held like a baby but he does it anyway. Eager to not wake up the baby on top of dealing with the nightmares, the three of them head back to Leo and Jason’s room. Jason settles Esperanza in the middle of the bed, stroking her hair as he soothes her.
“A mean lady yelled at me.” She whimpers. Jason frowns. “She yelled at me a lot.”
“That must have been scary.”
She nods, bottom lip wobbling. “In my dream, I went to check on Lia and she was gone.” She starts to cry again. Leo hums and holds her hand in his.
“She’s okay, you just saw her. She’s fast asleep.”
She nods, sniffling.
Leo sits up and grabs a tissue so she can blow her nose before she gets snot everywhere. “There we go, do you want some water?”
She shakes her head. “Will you keep the bad dreams away?”
Leo feels his face fall before he can control it. “I can’t keep them away, but you can stay here with us tonight. If something happens we’ll be right here.
“I’ll move Aurelia in here too, so we can check on her if you get nervous again.” Jason offers quickly. He doesn't leave a moment for Leo to counter. He’s already up and puts Aurelia in the bassinet on his side of the bedroom.
Esperanza relaxes and falls asleep.
Leo watches her for a long time. “That was weird, right?”
Jason nods, reaching over and gripping Leo’s hand in his. “Yeah.”
One year later…
“Dada!”
“There’s the birthday girl.” Jason scoops up Aurelia in one fluid movement and tosses her into the air. She squeals and claps her hands.
Hazel grins at the interaction. She’s helping Leo set the picnic table while Frank chases their twins around, making sure they don’t jump in the mud puddles. Esperanza has already gotten muddy and they’re trying to avoid all of the kids being dirty before they eat. (They all know this is probably going to fail, but it can’t hurt to try).
“Your kids are wild.” Leo notes, watching Frank finally catch three-year-old Sammy while Emmy jumps into a puddle. Hazel laughs.
“Your kid started this.”
Leo huffs. She’s not wrong. “Yeah, yeah. She gets the crazy from me.”
“Don’t undersell yourself, Grace-Valdez. She also gets her love for fire from you.”
Leo winces, Esperanza had begged to be allowed to light the candles on the cake. She had been devastated when Leo informed her that he had to because they didn’t bring a lighter. “That she did.”
“She also gets her caring and funny spirit from you.” Hazel squeezes his hand. “You’re a good dad.”
Leo nods, holding the words close to his heart. They mean a lot coming from Hazel, who he thinks is what every parent dreams to be.
Aurelia crawls to her sister, not quite having mastered walking yet. Leo isn't too concerned, sometimes he wonders if she's just refusing to walk so they continue to carry her everywhere. Regardless, he's mostly appreciative of that fact now, he doesn’t have to worry that Aurelia will play in the mud. He's not sure how much he would have to orry anyways, he’s Jason’s cautious daughter through and through. She looks mostly like Jason too, with wispy blonde curls and light freckles. Both of their girls have Leo’s eyes, dominant traits and all that.
Frank comes over, setting a filthy Emmy down. He huffs.
“You failed.” Leo deadpans. Frank sends him a playful glare.
“I noticed.” Frank groans as Emmy takes off the second he lets go of her. She joins her brother on the swingset, which is far enough from the puddle that Frank doesn’t chase her down. “Sorry, Haze.”
“It’s okay.” Hazel shrugs, unbothered. “We have wipes and a little dirt won’t hurt.”
“We’ve eaten worse in Camp Jupiter’s mess hall.” Jason admits. Frank and Hazel nod. Leo doesn’t really get the reference but he’s eaten many bad meals in the name of sustenance over enjoyment.
“Where are your girls?” Hazel asks after a moment. Leo's head shoots up and he looks around. Emmy and Sammy are playing on the swings. The rest of the playground is eerily silent.
“Anza?! Lia?!” Leo calls. The Zhang twins stop playing and look around. There’s not a response.
“Esperanza? Aurelia?” He stands, Jason does too and starts looking around.
Frank is at his kids’ side in an instance. They come back to the table.
“Did you two see where the girls went?” Hazel asks. Her voice is dead calm but her eyes are scanning in a way that Leo has only seen on the battlefield.
“No, mama.” They chorus.
Leo is trying not to panic. That’s not going to help anyone. What is it like to breathe normally?
They fan out. They check every inch of the playground. There’s nothing. Not a trace.
“Call the Vigiles.” Hazel says to Frank. Her voice is soft as she rubs a soothing hand onto Leo’s back. “Take the twins home for now. It’ll be better for everyone’s sanity if we know that they’re safe.”
Frank does so and soon there’s a group of Vigiles, New Rome’s police force, scavenging the playground.
“One of y’all legacies of Sol?” An officer asks. Leo and Jason exchange a confused look and shake their heads.
“No, kids of Hephestus and Jupiter.”
“Champion of Juno.” Jason adds.
“Hmm. Like the real Jason.”
Leo usually argues with people that refer to the mythological Jason as the “real” Jason but he’s too frightened to even come up with a retort. "Why Sol?"
The officer shrugs. "We found some evidence that magic was used that could have been made by a legacy of Sol." The officer doesn't trail off but his demeanor seems to.
At the same time, Hazel’s hand stills on his back. Leo cranes his neck to look at her. She’s having a silent conversation with the officer. “What?”
“It’s only your kids that are missing. If they wanted power, they would have taken ours too, they’re legacies of Pluto.”
Leo feels like he’s missing something. “Yeah, so?”
Hazel looks like she’s choosing her words extremely carefully. “This may have been revenge specifically against you two.”
“But who would want to do that? Jason is literally the Pontifex Maximus. Our girls are pretty well known around New Rome.”
Hazel twists the ring on her left hand. “It may have been someone more mythological. Medea, perhaps?”
Jason collapses onto the bench. “The scary woman, the scary woman that Anza used to see in her dreams.” He mutters, more to himself.
Leo’s stomach drops and Hazel looks confused.
Leo recounts the incident. It happened so long ago that Leo struggles to recall exactly what had opened. “It freaked us out but she was fine after that. She hasn’t had a nightmare like that since. I thought it was just a demigod thing.”
The officer nods. “If it’s Medea, we’re going to contact the Hunters of Dia– Artemis.” He says. “We’ll need more help than we can provide alone.”
“Tell them that it was our girls.” Leo barely remembers to say. “Their aunts are hunters.” The officer notes this and leaves. Leo grabs Jason’s hand tightly in his. “Thalia and Reyna will find them.” His voice sounds scratchy. Hazel leaves them for a moment to talk to the officers.
“If it’s Medea…” Jason trails off. “It’s my fault.”
“Jas, it’s not.”
“If it’s her, it was selfish of me to even have kids.” Jason stares at the ground. Leo shakes his head.
“We’re going to find them.” Leo repeats the words like a mantra. He thinks if he stops to consider all the facts, to break down the story of Medea and what she did to her children, he will never stop spiraling.