Nico huddled closer to the fire he managed to start, pulling his ratty jacket closer around him. He shivered.

He could've been at the camp, Nico supposed. But between the distrust of a son of Hades from just about everyone except Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, and the fact that he was still so young that the Aphrodite cabin constantly cooed over him, he'd tried to stay away from the Camp.

The fire grew redder slightly, and Nico hurriedly shoved more wood onto the flames. It took a good hour to start this fire, he wasn't going to let it go out now that he was sort-of warm, shoving away his usual coldness that progressed as his powers grew. Nico curled back up into a ball to preserve the warmth, scooting ever closer to the blazing fire.

Heat suddenly slapped Nico across the face, and he scrambled backwards, afraid of getting burnt. Unlike his cousin, he couldn't get out of a firefight with only a couple scars, much less a lava fight. He watched with a little bit of fear as the fire formed the silhouette of a petite woman, and then solidified. The woman—a girl, actually—stepped from the blazing fire, her brown robes flowing around her. Nico inhaled sharply when he saw her face, it was so much like his mother's, though the girl had softer cheekbones and flames for her eyes. Nico crab-walked a few more feet backward, unsure if this was a friend or a foe. He could summon his sword in an instant, now that he was away from the light-giving fire...

The girl swiveled her fiery eyes towards him, and Nico could suddenly feel her power, and it nearly flattened him into a cowering whelp (Where did he keep coming up with these words?!). He shakily summoned his sword, if nothing else to comfort him a bit with the familiar handle and weight. She was definitely at the very least a goddess, if Nico's luck was really bad, then she was a Titan. Her eyes both creeped Nico out and comforted him at the same time, confusing the heck out of him.

She stepped forward, as if to reassure him, and Nico scrambled to his feet, his hands gripping his sword uneasily in front of him, ready to swing. "I'm afraid I can't tell if you're a Titan or a goddess," Nico said, hoping his voice didn't shake. "Then again, half the time I can't tell if monsters are humans or if humans are monsters, either, so pardon me." Great, now he was just rambling. "And then again, I can't match half the Olympian's names to their faces, so if I'm supposed to know you, I'm sorry, I can hardly tell my father and a mirror apart. I think I'm half-blind or something."

Now would be an excellent time to facepalm, Nico thought sarcastically. Then again, now would be an excellent time to freaking shut up.

The girl now looked amused, but not in the sick way that he now associated with immortals. "I am a goddess," she said softly, her eyes crinkling at the edges with amusement. "I am the Forgotten Goddess."

The title clicked in Nico's mind. He was on the verge of blurting out the goddess's name, and then hastily added 'Lady' in front of it. "Lady Hestia?"

She smiled a little, sitting down gracefully next to the fire that Nico had gotten going, prodding it with her bare finger. Nico huffed. "Oh, come on, does everyone have fire resistence besides me?" Instantly, Nico wished he could sew up his mouth. Instead of being incinerated, like Nico expected, Hestia merely laughed.

"Sleep, Nico," she ordered softly, prodding the flames again, a chuckle escaping her lips. "There will be time later, no? Sleep."

Well accustomed to the sleep spell that he often used on his father's skeletal guards, Nico's eyes grew wide as he realized his own power was being used against him. He fought against the sleepiness, but his sword drooped to the ground, catching the shadows and vanishing from Nico's hand. Nico was forced to his knees, trying to stay awake. Hestia's glowing eyes suddenly appeared next to his own. "I will not harm you, Nico," she said sternly. "Not even unintentionally. I swear it on the River Styx. And by the gods, you need a bath."

The last thing that Nico saw before he finally succumbed to Hestia's spell was the goddess's nose wrinkled delicately.

Nico woke up in a house, in a room with a roaring fire, in a soft bed. He was wearing a dark purple t-shirt and grey sweats. The bed was huge, king-size, at least. It had a smoky grey comforter and dark red sheets. Oddly enough, they suited each other, reminding Nico of fire. The room was a soft cream color, with a fireplace made of dark granite on one side, and a door on the other. On the opposite side of wall the bed was up against, there was what looked like a closet. The room had popcorn ceilings and hardwood floors.

He scooted to the edge of the bed warily, just now noticing the socks on his feet, and padded across the cold floor silently, cracking open the door. When nothing nasty showed up after a full minute, Nico ventured out.

"Nico?"

Said demigod whipped around, shifting into a battle stance. Hestia held up her arms in defense. "I won't hurt you, I told you that last night. I'm glad to see you're up finally."

Nico relaxed a little, slipping out of his battle mode. "How long did I sleep?"

Hestia's smile turned wry. "Twenty-five hours."

Nico laughed a little at the goddess's face. "Don't worry, that's pretty normal for me. The first time I tried to shadow-travel, I passed out for a week. This time, I've been up for three days straight."

Now Hestia was frowning. "For a goddess, that would be nothing, but mortals need daily sleep for at least six hours." She held up her hand when Nico opened his mouth to protest. "And I understand that Hades's children do not need as much regular sleep, but three days is pushing it severely, especially if you were using your powers."

Nico shifted uncomfortably, unused to the care that the goddess was showing him. The only other one who showed care was Percy. Before that, Bianca for a little bit. In the Casino, both of them were too sucked into the games to really care about the other, and before that, Nico thought that it would've been Maria that took care of them.

Hesita wrinkled her nose. "You still desperately need a bath. I'm fairly sure that your dirty scent doesn't come from your Underworld and geokinetic powers."

Nico let out a little laugh at Hestia's dry sense of humor. He followed her down the hallway when she had turned and marched down the long corridor, seemingly opened up a random door and then walked through the doorway.

Nico found her at the edge of an old-fashioned bathtub, the kind with the lion's paw stands. The bath was full of warm water, steaming in the already warm room. Hestia was looking at him expectantly. Nico's eyebrows raised when he got her look. "Uh, no thanks, I can take a bath by myself."

Hestia looked halfway between exasperated and amused. "Masculine dignity," she huffed. "It's because you think it would be awkward, no? Who do you think took care of your father and Poseidon when we were in our father's stomach? You cannot have anything that I haven't already seen."

Nico wished his face wasn't so pale, because he was very sure he was blushing from head to toe. "I'm not a little kid anymore," Nico protested weakly through his blush.

Hestia made a face that he couldn't quite decipher. "Nico, I am the goddess of the home—"

Nico interrupted, speaking softly. "I'm sorry, Lady Hestia. I don't remember the time when I had a home with my mother and sister in the 1940s. I wouldn't even remember my mother's face if it weren't for Melinoe."

She pursed her lips, hesitating. "I am a teacher, if nothing else," Hestia said finally. "I know I will play an important part in Percy's descision. But my time to teach him has not approached yet. And as such, I will teach you what home is."

Though her eyes were made of flames, Nico caught the edge of a mischievious glint in her eyes, making him regret for not keeping his ADHD tendency to blurt things out in check. Nico's feeling of regret doubled when Hestia snapped her fingers.

He felt like he was a Coke bottle being shaken up, lightheaded, and that feeling of pins and needles when a body part falls asleep, all at the same time. Nico grabbed the edge of the counter in an effort to keep himself steady, feeling dizzy as everything inside of him changed and prickled.

And then all of a sudden he started shrinking. His gaunt cheeks filled out steadily, his arms and legs weren't so skinny, and he lost the deathly pale look. His arms and legs and fingers grew shorter drastically, and everything suddenly lurched to a halt. Nico was left leaning against the cabniets, on his knees, dwarfed his his purple shirt, feeling like he was going to freaking throw up.

Hestia's eight-year-old form smiled at Nico, and picked him up, stripped off his shirt, and plopped him into the bathtub, which was now more like a swimming pool to Nico. "The heck?!" Nico sputtered in shock, futilely trying to push the water away from his face. Hestia swiftly dumped a small cupful of water over his hair, repeatedly, wetting his hair. He trying stepping away from the determined goddess, but slipped in the bathtub and clutched the rim to avoid falling over. "What did you do?!" he squeaked embarrassingly.

The mischievious glint was back in Hestia's warm eyes. "You aren't not a little kid anymore."

Nico was so sure that he was redder than a tomato.

Nico wrapped a blanket over his shoulders, already dressed in light blue jeans and a navy t-shirt with a wolf staring out of it. He was freezing, his hair was still really wet, thanks to the thickness of his hair, and overall he was pretty miserable, considering he got turned into a four-year-old and was forcefully given a bath by a goddess.

"Nico?"

The demigod turned around from the fire to see Hestia. "Hi," he said softly. "I was cold."

Hestia smiled at him, and hugged him gently. Nico stiffened, not used to physical contact (he didn't count the bath). But Hestia was warm, very warm. Duh, Nico thought, smacking himself mentally. She's a fire goddess! Unconsciously, his body crept closer to the source of warmth, until he found himself sitting on her lap, on the hearth of the fire, Hestia hugging him gently, providing him with warmth. She started singing softly in Ancient Greek, but Nico only caught snatches of words he understood, but even without understanding it, the music was beautiful. It was haunting, clear, and slow as Hestia's high voice lulled him to sleep in the gentle grasp of the goddess of the home.

It could be worse, Nico thought sleepily, his body overriding his general dislike of physical contact.

"Lady Hestia?" Nico asked, watching from a safe distance as Hestia cooked.

"Mmm?"

"Why aren't you and my father allowed on the Council?"

Hestia paused, everything flying suddenly froze in mid-air. Nico cracked a smile as a half-cracked egg with a little yolk creeping out of the shell was seemingly frozen in time. Bad pun, considering they still most likely had a war with the embodiment of time and his host that very well could freeze that egg in time. "My youngest brother," she said slowly. She seemingly shook herself and started over. "When Zeus first got us, his siblings, out of our father's stomach, we nominated him our leader, as he had more experience with the world outside of his stomach. We were originally a council of six, not twelve like right now."

Nico nodded, curious.

The things around the kitchen resumed what they were doing before, albeit at a much slower pace. Hestia continued: "Hades mostly kept to himself in the Underworld, and sometime Zeus had gotten into his head that he should forbid his brother to come up to Olympus. Then Zeus had Artemis and Apollo with Leto. Hephaestus with Hera. Athena sprang out of his head next. Ares with Hera. Then Hermes with Maia. Dionysus was the latest immortal, and I could tell that no one wanted to give up their seats for Dionysus, so I gave up my seat on the Council. I was tired of seeing war, and all Dionysus would cause is a civil war, one which I didn't want to start."

"And here you are, thousands of years later, the Forgotten Goddess, seeing another war in the making," Nico said softly, watching the fire in the oven with no little fascination.

"War tears the home apart as people sacrifice themselves for their country. The home, in Ancient Greece, was the most important. Now..."

Nico was silent, but he understood. Now there are so many homeless, people with no family—blood-related or not.

"I think your magic is wearing off," Nico said, smiling as he hopped up onto a chair. Hestia smiled at him, an amused look on her face. "What, did you think I would keep you at four years old forever? You're adorable, but I can't take care of you forever."

Nico blushed scarlet at the 'you're adorable' part. "I personally think it's pretty cool that I actually get to grow up the normal way instead of feeling like I just appeared there at ten years old."

"This isn't exactly normal," Hestia said dryly. "Normal people don't go from looking four to seven overnight."

Nico shrugged. "Still better than appearing there."

Hestia made a noise of fond exasperation. "You didn't just appear into existence, Nico."

"I know! But it felt like it, especially after my memory short-circuited from the Casino."

"Your mother was a very strong woman, dealing with not one but two curious children of my brother," Hestia muttered. "I'm supposed to be portrayed as the most patient goddess on the Council, but sometimes I want to strangle you for some of the idiotic comments you make!"

Nico gulped and shut his mouth. Not two seconds later, he said, "Sorry. I have a sucky brain-to-mouth channel."

Hestia burst into laughter, banging her head on her cutting board.

It's like the bathtub effect, Nico thought to himself. That's ironic, considering that it was a bath that got me de-aged to a toddler.

He could literally watch himself age to the point that he was before, only healthier. He still didn't have that deathly pallor, his skin olive-toned, but he'd had to change his clothes to a bigger size increasingly until he finally gave up and threw on his old clothes—now mended and cleaned. It was strange, he'd been practically swamped by the clothes at first, and then he had to stare at himself when he passed a mirror. He could literally see himself losing his baby fat on his cheeks, his muscles coming back into his arms and chest from the swordfighting, his head practically skyrocketing up six inches as he went from ten to eleven and a half, his original age.

Nico's joints popped as he felt the last of Hestia's magic leave his body and stood up, standing at five-foot-six.

"I think I did pretty good with getting you back in shape," Hestia mused from the doorway in her eight-year-old form.

"Thank you," Nico said sincerely. "For teaching me about home."

Hestia nodded absently. "There will be a day that you will know that you have a home. You will be cared for, and loved. And it will be soon."

Nico smiled and bowed, lower than he had to his father. "Thank you, Lady."

Hestia smiled at him, knowing that was his way of being sincere and that a hug would be awkward on his side, and Nico looked up to see her soft smile as fire absorbed her clothing, until there was nothing there except a faint smoky scent. The walls wavered and disappeared, and Nico could see that it was nighttime, and that he was in the exact spot where Hestia had forced him to sleep. The ashes of his fire suddenly gusted to life, and Nico lunged to stoke the fire, smiling at Hestia, even though she wasn't physically there.

He pulled out a granola bar he had had stashed with him, broke it in half, and tossed half of it into the fire. "For Hestia, tender of the Hearth, the Not-So-Forgotten Goddess."

Nico saw Hestia tending a fire next to Mrs. O'Leary, and she flashed him a small smile. "Hello," she said, in her usual robes.

He bowed, as he had for the last few times. "Hello again, Lady."

A/N:

Am I the only one who wondered what happened to Nico between BotL and TLO?! It's pretty obvious that Nico's in bad shape after BotL, and TLO suggests that he wasn't there for the duration of the year between the two, so what happened to make it all better? Nico seems a lot more friendly in TLO, even though he betrayed Percy (even if he wasn't knowingly doing it). So what motivated him to make such a risky bargain? Hestia's words could be taken a couple different ways.

Also. I know Hestia seems really OOC in this. But the Greek gods (in the actual mythology, just so you know) are modeled after the mortals, only with powers and superiour looks. They aren't statues. And Hestia can't be mysteriously frustrating all the time. Seriously, even Rachel gets tired of in canon. Then again, Rachel is a mortal. So that actually backs up my theory. So just kind of take that in mind.

Just so you know, I'd REALLY appreciate some reviews with feedback on where I went wrong or right. Please?

-Winter

P.S.-Jeez, I'm being really Nico-centric right now. Power was Nico-centric, Birthdays was Nico-centric, and now this. I think I'm having a Nico-centric streak. Bear with me.