Hermes POV

As I was making my daily rounds, I passed one of my kids houses: Kate Matthew's. She was from North Carolina, and, like all Hermes kids, she was a bit on the wild side, but secretly, she was my favorite. I flew to the doorstep and knocked. Her mom, Lisa, opened the door.

"Hermes!" she said, giving me a hug. "Come on in! I was just cooking some mashed potatoes, green beans, pork chops, and mac-and-cheese. You want to stay and eat?"

I smiled, but shook my head. "I can't; I'm supposed to be on my way to London to deliver some things, but I decided to stop by. Where's Kate?"

Lisa laughed. "Oh, she's off with that boyfriend of hers. Nice guy; cute, too."

It never hit me that she would have a boyfriend, but, at the same time, I thought "WHAT?"

"She literally just left a few minutes ago," Lisa said. "Are you sure you don't want any?"

I grinned. "Ok."

After I finished eating with Lisa, I said goodbye and left. She was still beautiful and she was still a great cook. I flew over this cornfield where I spotted a red truck with the tailgate down and two teenagers making out on it. I kept flying, not even thinking about it. Once I finished all of my deliveries, I got a call from Chiron, which is only if I need to bail any of my kids out of jail because they did something stupid.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hermes, have you seen Apollo?" Chiron asked. "Zeus is in a tizzy because the Summer Solstice is tonight and he can't find Apollo."

"No…" I said. "I'm not his babysitter!"

Chiron sighed. "Ok, but if you see him, call Zeus so he'll stop bugging me."

I laughed. "Alright. Bye."

I flew off towards Olympus, where I found Apollo in the air driving his red Lamborghini in the sky. I flew in the passenger seat.

"Dad's pissed at you!" I said, causing him to jump.

"Wha- huh?" he said like he was nervous around me.

"Chiron called and said Dad was looking all over for you," I said. "You're going to get it!"

He laughed nervously. "Yea," he said, refusing to look me in the eyes.

"What are you hiding?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said way too quickly.

"I'm the god of lying," I said. "What is it?"

He made a quick left hand turn, throwing me out of the car. Ugh, I hate my brother!

Apollo's POV

That was too close. "SORRY!" I yelled, gunning off towards Olympus, where Dad was waiting. He slapped me in the back of the head, completely disappointed, and walked away. I sat on my throne as Hermes came in. He shot me a look for throwing him out of my car and sat down.

Once all of the other gods and goddesses got in, Dad began.

"Ares," he said first, "you can't terrorize mortals because they looked at you the wrong way."

Ares folded his arms. "But Dad! He flipped me the bird!"

"No he didn't, Ares. We've been over this plenty of times! Next, Aphrodite, don't threaten Jason because he's going out with Piper."

"I just don't want him to break her heart," she scoffed.

"Yes, well, threatening to sew him in a bag full of deadly weasels and give him to Poseidon to drown is not motherly." He looked at me. "Apollo… you cannot just… never mind. I'll speak to you in private about that…" He went on down the list, scolding different people for different things. Everyone began arguing when Artemis spoke up.

"So, who is it this week?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're being quiet. You're either with someone that you don't want anyone else to know about, or you're madly in love with them. Who is it?"

"N-no one," I stuttered as Ares threw a javelin past my head.

"Ok, so it must be the second choice," she said in shock. "Who?"

"No one," I said again. "I'm just bored."

"Oh, really? Well, Hermes noticed."

She nodded towards Hermes who was arguing with Demeter about whether Travis should be able to date Katie or not. Demeter slapped him and he shoved her, which about ended in a fist fight if Zeus wouldn't have calmed everyone down.

Really, I lied to Artemis, and for once, she bought it. I was in… love with someone I shouldn't be. She was so sweet, gentle, kind, mischievous, smart, talented – I could go all day about her. And she was just so… beautiful. She wasn't like the other girls I'd been with, the ones who were all making the first move or anything like that. She was… perfect.

Her name: Kate Matthews.

Hermes POV

After the Summer Solstice, Apollo was the first one to leave, not even waiting for Dad to talk to him. I knew he was hiding something. So the first thing I did was talk to Artemis.

"Hey, what's up with him?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I think he likes someone."

"Apollo?" I said. "Actually like someone?" I laughed. "That would be a sight!"

Aphrodite walked up. "I couldn't help but over here, but rumor has it that Apollo's dating a demigod." Her eyes were like a kaleidoscope, it was hard to look away. She grinned, and twirled her hair.

"What?" Artemis said. "Come on; he might be an idiot, but he's not that stupid!"

"Well, I've heard that it's a southern girl," Aphrodite continued. "I think she's… seventeen?"

That hit my like Demeter's slap on the face. "No…" I muttered.

Kate was a demigod. Kate was one of the few southern demigods. Kate was seventeen. Apollo was nervous around me. And worse?

Kate and Apollo were the ones on the truck.

"Oh hell no!" I said loudly. The whole throne room turned to look at me funny.

"What?" Aphrodite said. "Is it Apollo?" She giggled. "What'd he do?"

It slapped Artemis in the face, too. "Is it… oh… oh no…"

I nodded at her. "Yep," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to kill your brother."

Apollo's POV

"Hey Babe," I said, kissing Kate on the lips the next morning after my usual rounds.

"Hey," she said with a smile.

"You ready?" I asked, offering her my arm.

She giggled and slipped her hand through. "Yes," she said.

We walked down to my Lamborghini, where I opened the door for her. She got in, all smiles, while I walked over to mine and jumped over the door. She laughed and kissed me one my cheek. I suddenly felt warm and I grinned.

I revved the engine and pulled out, burning out as I did. She was wearing a sundress, boots, and her hair was down on her shoulders. She barely had any makeup on, and she looked gorgeous. I promised I'd take her to Italy today, and I always keep my promises.

I pressed the button and we shot towards the sky. Kate giggled and slipped her hand in mine. Gods, her laugh was even beautiful. I leaned over and kissed her, barely missing an airliner. I put my arm around her and she snuggled as close as she could with the stuff in between. I kissed her head and brought the thing down onto the part of Venice where you could park you're cars.

"Wow," she breathed. "This place is amazing!"

Luckily nobody noticed a red Lamborghini coming out of the sky into a parking lot. I ran over and opened her door. She laughed and stepped out, holding my hand.

"Wow," she said again. She got on her tip-toes and kissed me. "Thanks."

I grinned. "Anytime."

We walked the streets, got some of that Italian ice-cream, and other stuff. We even got one of those Gondola's. I had my arm around her leaned back, but her eyes were looking all around, twinkling with excitement. I kissed Kate's head right when I heard wings – Converse like wings. Right as I did, we went under this tunnel. A rock, thank Zeus, accidentally blocked us in. I heard the wings from above and I tensed.

Kate kissed my cheek. I heard the wings fly away and I let out an easy breath. Then, I felt a hand on the shoulder that was away from Kate and we disappeared.

We appeared… not in Venice. We were in some kind of woods and Kate was next to me, gripping my hand. Hermes stood in front of us, propped up against the tree, and he didn't look very happy.

He was glaring at me and I think I was more scared than Kate. When Hermes gets mad… not a pretty sight.

"Hello, Apollo," he said, his voice shaky from anger.

"You know all that anger built –"

He cut me off. "Don't tell me about anger," he snapped.

Kate inched backwards. I wouldn't blame her. If I wasn't a god, I'd be running for my life. Hermes had that look that made her freeze.

"Nope, you stay right there," he said. "You aren't going any where."

"Look, Hermes –" I tried again.

"No, you look, Apollo." He grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me into the woods. Kate let go of my hand and I gave her a nervous look.

He pulled me a good ways before he slammed me into a tree. He let go, walked back, shooting me a look, and ran his hands through his salt-and-pepper hair.

"Seriously?" he said. "My daughter? I mean, come on! I'm your brother! I know technically the godly side doesn't count, but… why?"

He looked more betrayed than mad. I actually felt kind of bad for him. "Look, Hermes, it's just… she's great."

"So you were planning on using her as one of her little toys and getting her pregnant, huh?"

"No!" I snapped. "I wouldn't! Not to her! She's great… she's beautiful, smart, funny, beautiful… just… beautiful."

"Yea, you've said that three times," Hermes said.

I realized I had a goofy grin on my face thinking about her. He was staring at me while I was grinning like an idiot. I was picturing the first time I saw her, how she was so cute, and how she laughs, smiles, talks, kisses, hugs, holds my hand – everything. It's just what I wanted.

"You really love her, don't you?" Hermes asked, propped up against the tree.

I nodded. "Yeah… she's just so… what I want, you know? And I mean, I wouldn't get her pregnant – gods no. That would hurt her and that's the last thing I want to do. Then I would have to leave, and that's exactly what I don't want to do! I mean, I want to be there for her always, and… I'm rattling on and on, aren't I?"

Hermes smiled. "Yea, just a little."

I looked at him confused. "You're not mad?"

"Not really anymore," he said.

I looked at him even more confused. What the heck? He was pissed a minute ago! Why is he all of the sudden smiling?

"You showed me you cared about her," he said. He sighed. "Fine; you can go out with her. But if you break her heart, I'll break your face. Clear?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Now, go to your girlfriend before I change my mind," he said.

I ran out towards her. I found her in a tree, sitting there, dangling her legs like a little kid. I smiled at her. I held my arms out to her and she slid down. I wrapped her in a hug, spun her around, and kissed her.

Kate giggled and I set her down.

"What'd he say?" she asked.

"Oh, that if I break your heart he'll break my face," I said, grinning ear to ear.

"So is that a yes?" she said, grinning.

"Of course!"

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me, wrapping her hands around my neck. I slipped my arms around her waist as I heard a wings fly away. We looked up and saw Hermes shooting away.

"Thanks," I whispered.