"-This Paperwork isn't going to finish itself."

Reyna was doing her best to recover and rebuild Camp Jupiter, which was going better than expected, but the camp and the legion still had much to do before they were back to their full strength.

No thanks to Octavian, Reyna thought bitterly

The augur had the gall to die and leave her with the ruins of his short and temporary ‘rein’ which consisted of overspending about half of the legion’s funds, wasting their resources and more. What a pain.

But a Roman doesn’t complain.

So, Reyna got to work, at least now it was much less labor work, but what stood in place was a mountain of files stacked on one side of her desk.

It had been a month since the war had ended, and Reyna had managed to only get through half of the damn stack, worst of all, it seemed that her mind was betraying her and decided to not corporate with anything she was trying to do.

Her grammar and writing were sloppy, the words off each document had started to swim off the pages and Reyna had been staring at the same sentence for the past 10 minutes.

Reyna sighed and set aside the sheet; setting her elbows on her desk as she rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands.

Just thinking of working and more paperwork started to make her head pound.

She needed a break. Better yet, a raise. She didn’t even need nor want the extra funding, but it felt necessary to be compensated for all this bull— Reyna cleared her thoughts.

Or well, tried too.

it felt like forever since she got out of this stuffy office room or took a quick jog to the local café shop for her go-to cup or even just sat down and admired the view of the Garden of Bacchus, or simply working out the restless energy that she's been piling up.

The idea of a break was so tempting.

But Reyna managed to will those thoughts away too, just as she pulled her hands away from her weary eyes and glanced over at the stack of papers— maybe it was the exhaustion talking but Reyna swore it was mocking her— but, she was a leader, a praetor no less, and there was time for breaks after she finished her work.

Deep down, she knew that there was always more work for her to do.

Reyna had once muttered that she hated her job.

She still couldn’t find herself ever trying to retract that statement. It was days like these that made her wonder why she even bothered to continue her work as Praetor, sure she was far from retiring just yet. But she could live out the rest of her service as centurion, or a become apart of the senate.

Of course, she knew the answer, work gave her purpose. She had this burning drive, this itch to continue working, that sense of duty that led her to where she was now—

A gentle rap at her door pulled her away from her thoughts,

Frank, Reyna guessed, her door blinds were closed but she could see the outline of his shadow faintly.

Not to mention the series of knocks weren’t hesitant or nervous like the rest of the centurions or legionnaires messengers that came by her door.

Reyna pulled herself together, pushing away her exhaustion, as she sat up straight in her chair.

“Come in.” Reyna called out

“Praetor—I mean, Reyna.” Frank started before quickly correcting himself with a bit of a sheepish smile

“I thought we were passed formalities?” Reyna mused as Frank came inside and shut the door behind him, his arms were hiding something behind his back. Odd.

“Sorry, force of habit.” Frank sighed, He was still getting used to his new role, but Reyna could tell that he would make a good leader, an honest and genuine one.

“No worries. But I’m guessing you aren’t here to make small talk?” Reyna said as she glazed over the sheet she had pushed away previously. Unfortunately, she didn't managed to process any of it and quietly pushed it aside, hold back the urge to groan with frustration.

Frank’s lip had thinned nervously and he seemed to squirm in place, he was hesitant to say what he had in mind, it reminded Reyna of his time as a probatio.

And this nervousness had Reyna quirking a brow at her fellow colleague.

He didn’t seem frantic. Which was good sign. It meant that the camp was still in good shape, but Reyna knew Frank could handle breaking fights and maintaining the peace—even with the Greek campers and their new implemented exchange program— Frank didn’t need her help with that, or at least not anymore.

“You can tell me, I value what my fellow praetor has to say” Reyna encouraged, it was true, maybe there were some slight doubts initially, but those thoughts were put down as soon as they came.

“You’re taking a break—" Frank managed to blurt out. Before his mouth clamped shut as if he said something he wasn't supposed too.

“Frank, I assure you, I’m fine. I appreciate your concern but seriously, this paperwork isn’t going to finish itself.” Reyna’s replied

“Ah…No, you’re, um, going to take a break.” Frank insisted, Reyna had a feeling there was something he wasn’t telling her, and it was more than just a concerned colleague insisting on resting a bit more.

“Spit it out, Zhang.” Reyna frowned

“The senate and I…” Frank started, Reyna said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

He took a deep breath

“…Have decided to implement that you take a mandatory vacation break, don’t be mad, please.” Frank squeaked the last part out just as Reyna answered.

“You can’t do that. The senate doesn’t have the power to make me take a break.” Reyna replied firmly,

She had things to do, and taking a break, a vacation break, would just further stunt all the work that she’s been doing, and stunt the progress Camp Jupiter had been making.

She couldn't allow that to happen.

Frank hesitated again before inhaling deeply, and puffing his chest out a bit.

Like a pufferfish, a small thought that managed to make her smile a bit, Frank had his... Frank moments, even if is more intimidating now then he was before. But he was still the same person underneath the blessing.

Reyna controlled herself before Frank noticed, she wouldn’t want to make it seem like she was laughing at him.

“You’re right, we can’t force you to take a break, so the senate and I have decided that you, Praetor Ramirez-Arellano, will take a temporary withdrawal from your duties till you use at the very least 2 weeks of your vacation days. It’s been a month and you’ve been skipping meals and sleep; everyone has barely seen you out of your office these days, it’s not healthy, Reyna. You have refused anyone who has tried to get you out and rest a bit, even Nico, we’re worried and you are going to take this break.” Frank said seriously, his confidence rising as he continued.

Reyna wondered if Frank had taken time to rehearsed this word vomit of his.

But as he continued with his own monologue, Reyna couldn’t tell if she was annoyed, impressed, or dreaming, there was no way she was being forced to take a break, but had she been working so much that the senate and Frank decided that it was necessary to implement this?

Most-likely. Reyna will admit she had her stubborn moments, maybe more than just a few moments— Reyna was getting off track, she had been doing that lately, she's been very off lately.

For now however, Reyna settled with rising from her seat and scowling at him.

“What.” Reyna interrupted.

Frank shut his eyes and turned his head slightly away from her gaze. A small bead of sweat dripped from the side of his face.

“Your bags have been packed and some funds and your ride is arriving soon—so you have a few moments to pack some extra clothes— and we even have a few volunteers who wanted to come with you.” Frank continued rambling off. As he pulled out whatever he was hiding, it turns out it was a large backpack.

Reyna gripped the end of her desk, so everything was already in place, and the only thing left to do was to tell her, a well thought out plan, but she could refuse and protest and try to argue against these orders.

But she knew it would be futile. It just meant that they would try again and again and again until she accepted.

Did she mention before that she hates this job sometimes?

“Since I have no choice, I accept your offer, I will also be taking this with me—” Reyna said, picking up a handful of the stack, doing her best to keep from the annoyed tone from her voice, Roman’s don’t complain. She reminded herself.

Frank seemed satisfied with it, mostly.

“If you want,” Frank smiled as he turned to leave.

“Frank.” Reyna said just as his hand wrapped around the door knob

“Yes…?” Frank answered slowly without turning around.

“Who were the volunteers, accompanying me?” Reyna muttered dryly, it sounded more like she was going to be babysat this entire vacation than anything, but she wanted to at least know what to expect.

Frank sighed in relief and smiled once more

“Percy and Annabeth wanted to show you around, they beat Nico to it.” Frank chuckled a bit

“I doubt Nico was happy about that. But why Percy and Annabeth?” Reyna smiled a bit at the thought of Nico, she missed him and she still hasn’t managed to wrangle much information from Nico about this Will Solace that he’s been talking too.

But regardless, she was much more confused, why of all people, had Percy and Annabeth offered to accompany her, sure they were good allies and friends, but it still seemed strange to her.

“Beats me, but they have a whole list planned, so have fun and rest up!” Frank beamed brightly before promptly running out the principa.

“Woo.” Reyna muttered sourly,

Surely, it couldn’t be that bad, it's not like could be mad at Frank, he wasn't the type of person to have bad intentions.

But she hoped that he and the senate had already figured out the gaps before implementing this idea—like who would be in charge in her place, or if temporary praetor would be try and be in her space, which she hoped was not the case— Reyna had faith in Frank’s judgement, she hoped that she could continue that trust in him.

With not much time left to spare, Reyna quickly grabbed the large bag that Frank had left behind and walked over to her room, folding a few pairs of clothing and some extra things she may need for the trip.

As she finished zipping her bag. She pulled up her window blinds, the sun was shining brightly outside, a clear sky, a beautiful day.

Maybe, just maybe, she did need this break more then she originally thought.

She might even enjoy this.