Incompatibility

Sequel to the Green Eyed Delinquent. If you haven't read that story, this story could stand on its own, but I will be referencing that one often, so I suggest you go give it a quick read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or any of the characters in it. Cover Art is not mine; it was found on Google Images. Full credit to the artist.

xxCalypsoxx

"Oh, no, no, no!"

I bent down to examine the plant in the window, frowning deeply. The delicate purple flower, which I had been trying to coax into growing bigger for months, had drooped nearly to the ground. Its petals hung limp, as though the life had been drained out of them.

"Oh, what's wrong?"I asked, gently lifting it to peek at the soil, which was still moist from when I had last watered it. "You can't possibly be thirsty. Are you getting too much sun?"

Moving slowly so as not to further hurt it, I lifted the small pot and transferred it to the table next to my armchair, out of the direct sunlight. I stood up, hands on her hips, and sighed. There was really nothing I could do except wait to see if it perked up a bit.

As I left my small library I brushed the dirt off my hands, glad to have completed my gardening for the moment. Don't get me wrong; I loved the plants all around my house. They livened things up, made everything a bit more beautiful- but at times they could be a pain to take care of. Especially when they started to die for no reason at all.

Glancing at the clock, which read 7:34, I started gathering my things together, humming under my breath. My work was only fifteen minutes away, but I liked getting there early just in case. There was no place I loved better than the hospital- which sounded slightly morbid, really- and my new job as a nurse was perfect. After my long struggle to save money and get through school, it was actually quite relaxing to go into work every day and earn some money. And quitting my old job as a waitress had been absolutely wonderful.

Grabbing my keys and glancing at my reflection one last time in the microwave, I pulled open the door and stepped outside into the early morning air. Pausing only to lock the door behind me, I hurried to my car, which was parked in the driveway, and hopped in.

The drive to work passed smoothly and without a lot of traffic, which was a relief. As I drove, I allowed my mind to wander to my birthday- my 26th. I felt a sour expression cross my face at the thought.

Growing up in a home with no mother and a father that was barely around, I had never been a big fan of my birthdays. I had never had a lot of friends to celebrate with, and if my father did happen to remember, he would toss me a twenty dollar bill and tell me to go out and buy myself something nice before disappearing again with his poker buddies. Now that he was gone, I was in no danger of that, but there would be no one to celebrate with- no one I really wanted to celebrate with.

Not true, a small voice in my mind said. There was a certain green-eyed boy who I would enjoy seeing on my birthday, and who I was sure would love to celebrate with me.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind I gave my head a hard shake, my cheeks burning. When I had first met Percy Jackson seven years ago- wow, was it really that long ago?- I admit that I had developed a teensy crush on him. To be fair, though, it was kind of hard not to; after hitting a dude with your car, taking him back to your place, and caring for him until he woke up, it was sort of hard not to be attracted to him. Plus, he had been so sweet and funny-

Off track. Anyways, when he left I was devastated, but we hadn't known each other too long, and I had things to do. He had promised to keep in touch, but, well, I hadn't exactly believed him at the time. He obviously had other more important problems.

Which was why I was surprised to get a call from him a month later, inviting me to lunch with him.

This might seem romantic to some people, but the kicker was that he had a girlfriend. A really good one. I had actually met her several times, and although I tried, I could never bring myself to dislike her. She was smart and beautiful, and it was obvious from looking at them that she made Percy very happy. There was nothing I could do, and I would never try and get between them. So I backed off.

Percy continued to call me up every month or so and invite me out, and although I knew we could never be anything more than friends, I couldn't say no. Call me pathetic, or lonely, or whatever; the truth was, though, I valued my friendship with him even with the one-sided feelings, and I wasn't about to give it up because of a bit of a little heartbreak.

So here I was, all these years later, still going on annual coffee 'dates' with Percy. There were periods when I got over him, and periods when I went through great pain over the thought of not being with him, but he was always there, that nagging crush, that massive 'what-if' in the back of my mind.

And it absolutely sucked.

I tugged myself out of my musings when I pulled into my parking space at work. Grabbing my bag and opening the door, I slid out and shut it behind me. Locking the car, I set off at a brisk walk towards the front doors of the hospital, which slid open to greet me when I got close enough.

It was too early for any action to be happening, so the waiting room was deserted when I passed. Opening the door to the staff room, I turned on the lights and tossed my bag onto the counter.

The staff room had become a safe haven for all of the workers at Dahlberg Hospital, somewhere to get away on breaks. It was a tiny room, with enough space for a large, round table with seats, two vending machines shoved in the corner, and a counter running along the right side by the door that everyone dumped their stuff on for the day. The room got a small amount of natural light from a window on the opposite wall, but other than that was lit by a series of bulbs that cast fluorescent light on the room and flickered intermittently.

In comparison to my co-workers, who spent every second they could chatting in here, I preferred to keep my distance. As soon as more than a few people jammed in it got far too crowded for me.

"Morning, Calypso!"

I turned to see a woman entering, and immediately smiled. I didn't have a lot of friends, but I did have Cathy, who worked side by side with me as a nurse. With her curly red hair and splash of freckles across her nose she was the epitome of a ball of fire, with a vibrant personality to match. She was always interesting, that was for sure.

"Good morning, Cathy," I said, watching as she set her bag down next to mine. "What's up?"

She shook back her curly hair and started tying it back in a ponytail. "Ah, same old, same old. I was just crying over the fact that it's only Tuesday."

"Well, just think; tomorrow it will be only Wednesday!" I said cheerfully.

Cathy rewarded me with a sarcastic eye-roll. "I hope something interesting happens today," she commented. "It's been so slow for the past week."

"You just wished for something interesting to happen at a hospital," I pointed out. "Do you even know what interesting means here?"

"Well, obviously I don't want anything bad to happen," Cathy said, walking over to the vending machine and peering inside. "I just miss the holidays. So many wonderful, strange things happen during those months. Remember that guy who got a toilet seat glued to his forehead?"

I laughed. "He wasn't very pleased about that."

"Yes, but we were," Cathy said with a grin. She frowned at the machine. "Hey, can I borrow a dollar? I want a candy bar."

I sighed but fished around in my pocket for a moment. Pulling out a crumpled bill, I walked over to her and held it out. "Did you forget to have breakfast again?" I asked as she snatched it out of my hand.

"Of course not," Cathy said. "I'm just hungry again. It's time for my post-breakfast snack. I promise I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"That's what you said last week," I pointed out, unsurprised when Cathy pretended not to hear me.

"Alright, I'm going to head out and get to work," I said, crossing back over to the door. "Try not to break anything."

I heard the vending machine deposit a candy bar into the slot at the bottom. "No promises," Cathy called back.

I stepped out of the room, but before I could close the door behind me, Cathy called after me.

"Hey, Calypso! Keep your eye on the front desk," she told me. "We're getting someone new on reception."

Intrigued, I turned back. "What happened to Janet?" I asked, referring to the ancient old lady who had run the front desk for as long as I had been here.

Cathy was already halfway through her candy bar. She swallowed before continuing. "Apparently her health took a turn for the worse," she said. "She's fine, but she decided to retire. I think she moved out to the countryside or something."

I frowned, sympathetic for the old lady. I had never spoken to her much, but she had always been nice. "That's too bad."

"Yeah," Cathy said, popping the last of the candy bar into her mouth. A chocolate-coated smile slid onto her face. "But I hear we're getting a guy. A young one. Perhaps an eligible one."

I rolled my eyes. "You're going to love that."

"We're going to love that," Cathy insisted, walking over to the door. "Come on, Calypso, none of the blind dates I've set you up on have worked out. It's like you don't even care about your love life."

"I do," I said, turning away and setting off down the hall. Cathy quickened her pace to walk beside me, a doubtful look on her face. "I'm just… holding out for the right guy."

"Like Percy Jackson?" Cathy asked, eyebrows raised.

I felt a deep flush spread across my cheeks and averted my eyes. Cathy sighed and put her hand on my shoulder to slow me down.

"Look, Calypso, you know I've got your best interests in mind," she said quietly. "I'm trying to help you. You have got to get over this guy; it's doing you no good being all hung up on him."

"I know," I said, impatiently brushing her hand off. "And I will. Promise." I turned and set off down the hall again. "Come on, Cathy, we need to get to work."

Behind me, I heard Cathy sigh. "What am I going to do with her?" she muttered.

"So there I was, two shots into the night and already pretty wasted, and this guy walks up to the bar," the blond receptionist was saying to the group of avid listeners in the staff room. She was perched on the table, and the seats around her were all occupied by her bored co-workers looking for some entertainment on their break.

I sighed and fought through the tiny space to my purse, digging through it to get to my wallet. The last thing I wanted to do was listen in on Margaret's newest 'bar story', or so she called them. All that girl did in her free time was hang out in bars with her friends and get up to no good. I only ever saw her at breaks; she was a receptionist, and our jobs didn't mix all that often. What I did know of her, though, was that she was young, only 21 or 22, and had dropped out of college to pursue her 'real dreams'- whatever those happened to be. I doubted a receptionist at a tiny hospital was one of her life goals.

"And I was just like, 'Back off, dude; there's this thing called personal space,'" she was saying, rolling her chocolate brown eyes at the group. "And he just totally lost it."

Grabbing my wallet, I pulled a few bills out and stuffed them into my pocket. Turning around and fighting my way back through the crowd to the door, I slipped outside, missing the last of Margaret's story (much to my relief).

A flash of red down the hall caught my attention. "Cathy!" I called to my friend, who was wheeling a cart away from me.

She turned around as I walked over and smiled. "Oh, hey. You going on break?"

"Yeah, I'm heading out to get some coffee and a bite to eat," I said. "Want to come with?"

Her face fell. "Oh, shoot, I wish I could, but I'm kind of caught up at the moment. I think I'm going to just work through break; I really need to get all of this done. Sorry."

"It's fine," I said, waving off her apology. "No big deal. Do you want me to bring you something back?"

Cathy's face lit up. "Oh, Calypso, would you? I'm starving, and the only thing I have on me is a couple of mints."

"Sure, I'll grab something," I promised her. "See you in a bit."

"Thank you!" she called over her shoulder as she resumed wheeling the metallic cart down the hall.

As I headed over to the front doors, I glanced at the front desk, which was being looked after by a woman I recognized to be one of the nurses. She must have been stationed there temporarily; the new guy wasn't here yet. Shrugging, I continued walking, passing the waiting room. There were a few people in there, all of them either signing forms of flipping through the magazines that were strewn about the room to keep people busy. A few of them looked up eagerly as I passed, but when I didn't go over to them they lost interest and went back to their reading.

Right across the street from the hospital was a little coffee shop I always went to on my breaks. It was quick, easy, and their food actually wasn't that bad. It had a very urban feel to it, with plenty of organic choices, and it was almost always packed full of young college kids flirting and experimenting with new drinks. Not my sort of crowd, but I wasn't looking to make friends in there.

The bell jingled overhead as I stepped in, and everyone turned to glance at me briefly before going back to their conversations, unimpressed with my older age and unstylish uniform.

Huh. Twice in five minutes.

The line was short, and in only a few minutes I was at the register, ready to order.

"I'll have a tall black coffee and two turkey sandwiches," I said, looking up at the menu.

The worker behind the counter was a young man with a shock of bleached blond hair and a silver nose ring. He bobbed his head, but I couldn't tell whether he was affirming my order or dancing to the music playing overhead.

"That'll be $16.78," he said. I hoped that meant that he had been listening to me.

I handed over a twenty dollar bill and dropped the coins I received back into the tip jar. Scanning the room, I zeroed in on a plush red chair in the corner, which was the only seat in the whole shop that was empty.

Sitting down, I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through it, checking for messages. To my surprise, I had a voicemail. Frowning, I clicked on it and pressed it to my ear, turning away from the noise of the shop to listen.

"Hey, Calypso, it's Percy," a deep voice said on the line. I felt my heart skip a beat, and I pressed myself farther into the chair as if to get more privacy.

"You're probably at work right now, but I was just calling to check if we're still on for coffee on Thursday. Sorry we couldn't do it last month; work was pretty hectic, you know? Anyways, I can meet you-"

His voice cut off, and Calypso heard muffled talking on the other end. Percy laughed, and then returned to the phone. "Sorry, Annabeth just got home. I can meet you at 3 at our usual place on Thursday. Give me a call when you get this. Bye!"

I sighed as I lowered the phone, deleting the message. I would call him back after work.

I got up when they called my order and grabbed the white paper bags and coffee cup off the counter. As I walked back outside and set off across the street back to the hospital, I tried to shake off the sullen mood the voicemail had given me. Thinking back to what Cathy had said about me having to get over Percy, I laughed a little bit. I was pretty doubtful that that was going to happen anytime soon. I might just get together with that new worker just to get my mind off things.

As soon as I walked through the front doors I was practically tackled by a streak of red hair and dragged off to the corner. I stumbled, clutching onto my hot coffee and breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't spill.

"Cathy!" I hissed. "What the heck?"

"I saw the new receptionist guy," Cathy whispered, looking excited. "He just got here."

"That's great," I said, yanking my arm away. "Now can I go eat my sandwich?"

"Not yet, you have to see him," she whined. "Come on, Calypso- this is exciting! We haven't had a newbie around in ages."

"You act like this is high school or something."

"No, this is work- even better!" She craned her neck to look down the hallway. "He's kind of cute, I guess, in a scrawny sort of way. Latino, I think. Is that your type?" Before I could answer, she whacked my arm, and I came dangerously close to spilling my coffee again. "Oh, there he is!"

She dragged me forward towards the center of the room so we could see as he came around the corner, talking with none other than Margaret, who must be showing him around. He was looking at her with a cheeky grin, and when he turned to look at the room, towards Cathy and I, I nearly dropped my coffee. There was no mistaking that head of curly brown hair and glinting eyes.

"Leo?" I asked in disbelief.

A/N: Here we go! This is the sequel to 'The Green Eyed Delinquent'. Thank you very much if you read this and are willing to continue on to the sequel; and if you're a new reader, hello!

Please leave a review and tell me what you think so far. I know the first chapter was short, but they're going to get longer as I start establishing everything. Thanks for reading!

-Kayla