Written for Andie, (fading colors) as a late Christmas present. Merry Christmas!

And here's to your Gabe/Thalia that you said couldn't be done.

I do not own PJO.

Statues

She doesn't know why she's doing it. In fact, she couldn't tell you what drove her to come here. But here she is, standing on the steps of the museum, fists deep in her jacket pockets, spiky hair ruffling in the frigid breeze, shoulders stiffened against the chill.

Then on impulse, she slips inside. Years of being a renegade makes sneaking past the security a piece of cake, and she finds inside the vast musty art museum with no clue of what made her come here.

She wanders aimlessly, searching for she doesn't know what. She examines the ornate paintings, carefully touches the sculptures, fingertips dancing over the faces, the abstract shapes, wood, metal, even plastic.

Her brow furrows, deep in thought.

Why is she here? She feels as if she's in a dream, like she's not in control of her own body, that it's moving of its own accord, taking her where she needs to go.

She meanders around the corner and is immediately captivated by the incredibly realistic sculpture of a full-size, if rather short, man. She can make out the sweat on his fat hairy face; see the rolls of fat underneath the concrete shirt, the bits of food caught in his irregular teeth. It's the ugliest man she's ever seen in her entire life, and that's saying something, seeing as she's lived in the streets for years.

She squints to make out the tag at the bottom of the sculpture. The Poker Player, it reads. By Sally Jackson.

She bursts out laughing. Percy's told her about the man his mother married to keep the monsters off him with his smell. She'd thought it was incredibly resourceful, but now, seeing Gabe, it makes her respect Mrs. Jackson even more, to marry someone like that.

Percy told her that he was an alcoholic and a gambler who made his mom work two jobs to keep the apartment, then come home and wait on him and his poker friends. Percy'd also said how whenever he was at boarding school, Gabe would put garbage and junk in his room, and how he'd hit him and his mother when they didn't do things exactly his way.

Thalia's suddenly glad Gabe's a statue now.

She takes one last look at the statue, then slips out the way she came. She stands for a moment in the freezing wind, then chooses a direction and sets off. She should get back to camp.

A.N. Timeframe is between SoM and tTC. I hope you enjoyed!