Okay. I've had several people ask me to do a one-shot based on chapter 14 of my story Amethyst where Nakita remembers when Argus was teaching her how to drive and what not.

One person in particular, the first to ask me, is Daughter-of-Eirene. This story is dedicated to her because she is the one who gave me the idea. ^_^

Hope everyone enjoys. :D

Today is the day. The day when I try to earn a certain rite of passage. I have been sixteen for a week and I am ready. Yes. Today I shall drive! Travis, the little show off, has already gotten his driver's license, of course.

Now, a demigod managing to get a driver's license is no mean feat at all. Dyslexia taken into account, reading the driver's manual is torturous and then there's reading the actual signs on the road. Now that is ridiculous…

Thankfully though, Travis has been walking me through the basics and I think, dare I say it? I am ready to learn.

But I have to get Chiron's approval first…I take a deep breath before I knock on his office door.

"Come in," he says with a calm voice. Wonder how long that will last.

I take one more deep breath and then open the door. He's standing up by the window in centaur form reading the Iliad for, what I'd guess, is the 60 millionth time. He looks up to see that it's me and smiles, "Well, hello, m'dear. You're up early."

"Um… Yes sir," I say nervously. I don't know why I'm so worked up. What do I think Chiron's going to do? Yell at me for asking?

"Is something wrong?" he asks, smile dimming a little and that line he gets between his eyebrows when he's worried shows up.

"No. No. Nothing's wrong," I say quickly, and he relaxes. "It's just… Well… I wanted to ask you something…"

His smile returns, "Well, I shall do my best to give you an answer. Once I hear the question, of course."

I shift nervously from my right foot to my left. "Well… If it's not too much trouble… Do you think that I could possibly… Maybe… You know, if nothing else is going on today..."

"Yes?" he prompts, politely asking me to get to the point.

"Do you think that Argus could… Um… Teach me how to drive?"

Chiron's face doesn't change in the slightest, but his tail flickers nervously. I can tell that the idea of the camp security guard teaching me to drive alarms him to say the least. Not because it would leave the camp un-guarded— there's always several guards at one time— but because of how Argus drives.

"Argus?" he asks as an eyebrow rose.

"Yes, sir."

"Why Argus?"

"Well, there isn't really… anyone else here at the camp that can drive."

He seems perplexed for a moment as if trying with all his might to find a better solution.

"Maybe you could ask Mr. D," he suggests. I raise an eyebrow and he nods. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Mr. D is not the best candidate." He starts to think again and then says, "Maybe one of the older campers who has already learned to drive? Who would that entail?"

"Well… Travis got his driver's license last year."

"Yes… Maybe that is not the wisest course of action. I suppose that Argus is the only person who would be able to teach you to drive… Have you studied the driver's manual?"

"Yes, sir. It's a lot easier for me to read English than a lot of the other demigods so I read it and Travis has been helping me review and memorize it."

His eyebrows rise slightly upon me stating that Travis had been tutoring me, but he closes his eyes and he pinches the bridge of his nose in the same way that he always does when he's worried about something. Finally, after a moment of what was probably full of internal debate, he nods, "Very well. Go find Argus and ask if he would be willing to teach you."

Instantly, a smile lights up my face, "Thank you, Chiron."

I run out of Chiron's office and the Big House, almost running into Mr. D as I do, and start my search for Argus. Half way through, I realize that it's really hot outside and that I need some water. And if I do, Argus probably does, too.

After almost thirty minutes of searching, I find him practicing in the sword arena. Obviously, he had just had a run in with one of the other campers, because he is attacking the practice dummy pretty viciously. He always does this when he's gotten really upset at one of the campers. Chances are it was probably an Hermes camper. Who knew there could be so much bad blood over something that happened so many centuries ago? Of course, being killed does tend to do that I suppose.

For a minute, I contemplate leaving and asking him later when he might be in a better mood. In fact, I actually turn and start to walk off.

"What do you need, Nakita?" his voice calls.

I curse in Ancient Greek and slowly turn back around and walk onto the arena floor. As I walk over, he turns and roughly throws his sword into the ground and leans on the hilt, wiping sweat from his forehead with his other arm. He smiles broadly when he sees what's in my hand. Glad I opted for getting him a water, too.

"Um… Hey Argus…" I begin, handing him the water bottle. "Can I ask you something?"

He nods before he takes a swig of water.

"Well… I already asked Chiron and he said it was okay, so… I was wondering if you might possibly, that is if you don't have anything better to do, maybe… teach me how to drive?"

Argus almost chokes on the water he'd been in the process of swallowing. Then he starts coughing so hard that he doubles over. I would have patted him on the back, but I was afraid I would hit one of his eyes.

The coughing continues for what seems like a minute and his face is turning a weird shade of purple-ish red. Just when I start to think that I'm going to be unintentionally responsible for Argus' second death, he manages to clear his throat and looks up at me entirely in shock.

"Chiron… said that I could teach you to drive?"

It does sound pretty ridiculous now that I think about it. Argus isn't exactly known for being a safe driver, and Chiron is all about safety.

Come to think of it, this problem probably hadn't presented itself in a while, if at all. Not many demigods even attempt to get a driver's license because of the whole dyslexia issue. And it's not like Travis had actually asked for lessons. He had struggled through reading the driver's manual, then stolen the van keys, and he just drove. Not a single problem. Chiron wouldn't have even known that he had driven if it hadn't been for Marrick Allens, a child of Nemesis that resided in the Hermes cabin, due to the minor gods and goddesses not having cabins of their own, ratting him out and then saying some craziness about balance. Travis had been given kitchen duty for three months, and the camp van keys now stay on Argus' person at all times.

The busted son of Hermes had said that if the kid ever ratted him out again, he'd be doing a balancing act from the flag pole. Of course, I know that Travis would never do that. Marrick's boxer shorts might take a ride up the flagpole—but Travis would never seriously run the kid up the flagpole.

Anyway, being a child of Hermes, Travis can do almost anything. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that all of them are done well, but he is able to do most things even if it takes a little effort. That's the Hermes' kids gift. Travis, like his dad, is a jack of all trades, master of few.

In any case, I suddenly realize that Argus is waiting for my answer.

"Yes. He did say that you could teach me to drive."

He just stares at me for a minute, trying to decide if I'm lying or not, before nodding his head. He's probably wondering if I'd drugged Chiron.

But he didn't ask. He didn't even say anything else. He just shakes his head, pulls the sword out of the ground, and looks at me.

"Well… Let's go talk to Chiron. I want to make sure that he understood the question."

"Okay," I say, following him as he starts to walk toward the Big House.

Despite a few minor incidents where Argus had to step in and break up a fight or something, we make it to the Big House in decent time. We walk past Mr. D who scowls at me, probably because I almost bowled him over on my way out to find Argus.

"Hello, Mr. D," I smile nervously.

"Yes, yes. Hello to you, too, Maria," he says grouchily, walking by and then stopping to look at me. "Will you be joining Chiron and me in a game of pinochle today?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. That's what I like to hear," he replies smugly as he walks off.

Frankly, I hate pinochle, but… It keeps him happy, I suppose. Well, as happy as Mr. D ever is… Hey, maybe if I'm lucky, I'll somehow manage to obtain a wrist injury while trying to drive for the first time so that it prevents me from playing cards…. Yeah… I'll probably be playing pinochle today…

I walk quickly, trying to catch up with Argus after he'd left me during my conversation with Mr. D. I get to the door of Chiron's office, but it's closed, and so I revive an old habit of mine from my days in the orphanage.

I eavesdrop.

"Then, you did understand. You really said that you wanted me to teach her to drive?"

"Yes, Argus… Upon comparing you and the other options, you were my choice. Yes," Chiron says with a well-placed Clinton-ism.

"So, what you're not saying is that it was either me or Mr. D."

I can hear Chiron chuckle. "She had suggested Travis."

"Well. I can see why you chose me then," Argus laughs.

"I shall be overseeing from the porch. Please be careful, Argus."

"I will. I will."

Upon hearing movement, with a practiced certainty, I quickly walk back to the other end of the hall and then start my walk back to the door right as Argus steps out, followed by Chiron.

"Come on, kiddo. Time for your first driving lesson," Argus says, ruffling my hair as he knows I hate for him to do. I glare at him, but he just winks at me. Despite trying to look menacing, I have to smile. Very few campers ever see this side of Argus. Probably because most of them are scared of him. Well, that's their own fault. Argus has always been nice to me so unless he's in a bad mood— like he was earlier when he was slicing the daylights out of the dummy— I'm really not that intimidated by him.

I follow Argus out, Chiron right behind us. For some reason, I feel as though I'm being led to a firing squad. I wonder strangely if this is what most kids feel like when they ask their parents to teach them how to drive. Not like I'll ever know.

I force myself out of these bitter thoughts as we reach the van. I will not allow for today to be ruined by thinking about that. Who cares if my mortal parent isn't around to teach me how to drive? I'm still learning aren't I?

It isn't long before Argus and I are both sitting in the camp van with the engine running. He's in the driver's seat because Chiron had decided that Argus would review me on the basics. This was probably decided due to him not trusting Travis' tutoring skills. Can't say that I can blame him for being wary. Travis is part one of the two most mischievous children of Hermes. There have been so many pranks pulled by those two that the council has actually made a list of things that they cannot do, mostly prior offenses. Of course, this only challenges them to come up with new material.

Yes. It is quite understandable if Chiron doesn't trust the roguish imp any further than he can throw him. In fact, he probably still doesn't understand how, or why, Travis and I became friends. He's probably even more curious as to how our relationship went from him picking on me and pranking me every day to, in a single day, us becoming best friends. Quite frankly, I'm not entirely sure how that happened either. I guess it would have had to have been that day when he and—

"Put your seatbelt on," prompts Argus, breaking me from my reverie. I do so immediately and then look to him expectantly, ready to watch and learn. "Alright. You always adjust your mirrors so that you can see. Then, you make sure that no one's behind you, or too close." He makes a show of doing so even though I had never seen him doing that before driving. He usually just throws it in drive and screeches out of the camp. "Then, you put it in reverse and back out of your parking space or garage." Again, he does so. I glance out the window to see Chiron looking more nervous than I had ever seen him in the six years I'd been here. "From here, you put it in drive and just steer."

What happened next, I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that, suddenly, I'm dazedly throwing the door open and having to slide myself out of the wrecked van. I hit the ground with a thud and someone's coughing. It takes me a minute to realize that it's me. The air bag deploying had knocked the wind out of my lungs. I register Argus cursing in Ancient Greek, someone yelling my name, and then hearing a new voice.

"I am SO sorry. That was totally my bad. I was having to text Eris to tell her that she had misplaced someone's order and I wasn't paying attention so when I appeared—"

Yeah, you're sorry for them. They're not the ones that got hit by a van, says a grouchy male voice.

Shush! Don't bother him. He's trying to apologize to poor Argus, replies a calmer female voice.

Well, he's already killed him once. I don't see the big deal. Besides, he looks fine to me.

George! That's not nice! You know that wasn't his fault. Zeus said he had to.

Well, I still don't see the big deal. He'd regenerate after a few decades or so.

"Would both of you hush! I'm trying to fix this mess," the first speaker says, his voice commanding.

The other two voices fall silent and the man sighs frustratedly.

By this time, Chiron had rushed over and helped me to my feet, but he still has to hold my arm to keep me steady as I turn my gaze toward the speaker who suddenly has this 'oh-man-I-really-did-it-this-time' expression on his face as he sees me. He quickly walks over to me and places a hand on the arm that Chiron isn't holding me steady with. "Are you okay?" I don't respond for a moment seeing as I'm still somewhat overwhelmed by having been in my second accident. At least this time, I wasn't the one getting hit. I finally manage to nod and the man looks to Chiron apologetically. "Chiron, I am so sorry," he says, clearly meaning it.

As my mind starts to come out of its dazed state, I begin to take in details about the man. He's kind of tall and athletic looking with a postal outfit on and in his hand is a cell phone with two snakes coiled around the antenna. Wait… That would mean…

"It is alright, Lord Hermes. No one was badly injured," Chiron says, trying to keep his voice calm as he glances at Argus, who's arm is at an awkward angle, and then me.

His expression is one that I can't quite place. It looks kind of like concern but I don't see why. It's not like I'm hurt or anything. Am I? I look down at myself and see that I look like I'm fine. No broken bones or anything. I look back up and Lord Hermes stares at me worriedly before he pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket.

"That gash is bleeding pretty bad. Here," he says, placing the cloth to my forehead. I almost recoil due to a flash of pain shooting from the spot that he put pressure on, but somehow I manage not to. Instead, I reach up and take his place holding the piece of cloth to my forehead. He moves his hand back and looks to Chiron once more. "I really am sorry. I should have been paying attention."

"Really. I am quite sure that nothing is beyond repair," he replies, trying to make him feel less upset. "Now, what is it that you have come here for?"

"Well," he begins, fishing a box and envelope out of the satchel at his side, "I have a letter and a package for Dionysus, and I was just going to—"

"Ah! You're here!" comes a very familiar voice. I glance over toward the Big House and see Mr. D walking over toward us. He reaches us in no time and takes the package and the envelope from Hermes' hand. "I'm glad you finally came. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up at all. Now, where do I need to sign?"

Hermes' cell phone shimmers and then becomes an electronic signature pad. Mr. D signs and then walks off with his deliveries as if nothing were wrong. In his mind, it probably wasn't, just regretting that there wasn't one less brat at camp.

We all stare after him a moment before Hermes looks back to us again, the signature pad already reverted back to a cell phone. "I really am sorry for all of this trouble. I guess that's why we shouldn't text and travel at the same time." He laughs nervously and then glances once more between Argus and I. "I think I may have just the thing for you two," he proclaims, shuffling around in his delivery satchel before pulling out a bottle with some kind of capsules in them. He tosses them to Chiron, who catches them easily. "Just have them each take one of them and they'll be all fixed up. Now as for your van…" He snaps his fingers and suddenly, the van looks as if hadn't just hit an Olympian head on.

Show off, the raspy male voice says.

Hermes looks at one of the snakes on his phone. "Do you want to be put on vibrate?" The voice grumbles incoherently a moment before falling silent. "No. I thought not," he nods triumphantly. Once more, he looks at Chiron. "Well, I think I've done enough damage here for one day, and I really must get going so, I'll just be leaving."

He starts to glow and Chiron looks away, shielding my eyes with his hand in the process seeing as I am still a little stunned. There's a bright flash of light and then it's gone. Chiron moves his hand from my eyes and turns his attention to me.

"I believe that we should continue this on another day."

All I manage to do is nod dumbly as Chiron leads me to the infirmary, Argus following as he holds his broken arm.

Why didn't I just steal the keys?

Didn't expect any of that did you? She didn't even drvie and there was a wreck. haha. Yay for plot twists!

Well, I hope that everyone liked this little one-shot. I may or may not write a few more. Just depends on if there are other incidents/backstories that people want me to further elaborate on.

Reviews are very welcome and help me to become a better writer.

~Kanae~