The first time Jason makes the trip across the country to New Rome, he pulls her close and kisses her fiercely. They stay tangled in each other as long as they can, until Nyssa calls for Jason because the ship is leaving and he needs to go. Still, he pulls away and kisses her forehead before sliding out of her grasp.

"See you in two weeks," he says. He's smiling as he boards the ship behind the others.

Annabeth is at her side as they watch the Argo III lift into the air. She can see Jason on the upper deck and she waves. He waves back and she smiles. He's only going to be gone two weeks anyways, and then he'll be back.

He calls her when he lands in New Rome and they talk for hours about the littlest things and Piper feels good. They're good.

It's only two weeks.

The second time is more difficult. There is some real construction starting on temples both in New Rome and in Camp Half-Blood, but the larger ones are being built in California, due to space constraints in the Greek Camp. This means that Jason, the Pontifex Maximus, will be gone for longer. He'd been working mostly out of Camp Half-Blood, but Camp Jupiter needs him for a while.

She kisses his cheek and he kisses her forehead and squeezes her hand. "See you in a month," she says and he nods.

Annabeth's in school again now, so Piper sees him off on her own, but he still waves down at her from the deck and she smiles. Piper watches the ship disappear into the clouds and pushes away the creeping sense of loneliness. A month isn't even that long if she really thinks about it.

Jason calls her when he lands, again, and they talk for about an hour before duty calls to steal him away. Piper bites her lip and lets him go.

It's only a month.

He stays in New Rome for almost two months. He keeps her updated, as he should, and they still talk almost every night. She still misses him and sometimes they IM so she can see his face. He looks good and when they disconnect she almost wishes she didn't see him. The ache becomes almost physical, but he comes back.

He steps off the ship and she leaps at him. He catches her and they kiss. Everything still feels right and she uncoils in his arms. She missed him. His hand holds hers tightly and his arms tuck around her whenever he can.

He missed her.

They're good, and they stay good for three months. Everything is still quiet and natural between them, but Piper is scared he'll leave again.

She knows she can't be like Annabeth. Annabeth and Percy don't go anywhere without each other anymore. They're each other's support system and rightfully so. Piper knows she can't cling to Jason because duty calls. She wasn't the one who went through hell, and he's not the one who followed her down.

Piper comforts Annabeth when she has nightmares and sings her to sleep using just enough Charmspeak to keep away the bad dreams. Then she goes back to her own cabin and lies awake at night because she's gotten really good at making other people's nightmares go away, but hers are here to stay.

At least this way, she thinks, her makeup skills are improving. Jason can't even pick up on the bags under her eyes as he kisses her good morning every day.

It's a win, she thinks.

Three months is nothing new, she tries to convince herself.

Jason and her hands are linked and swinging between them as they walk to the launch point. Piper's feet drag to a stop as she reaches the place where she stops. Jason looks down at her and his blue eyes are twinkling affectionately.

"I love you," she says. It's the truth and the words feel as natural as breathing.

"You too," he says softly. He kisses her and then pulls away, brushing some of her hair back as he does.

He flies straight to the top of the ship this time and salutes her. Piper laughs and blows him a kiss. It still feels good. He waves again as they take off and she shuffles her weight between her feet.

She knows exactly how long the flight should take, and she gives him thirty minutes after his supposed arrival, but he doesn't call her. She dials him first and he picks up on the second ring.

"Hey," he greets. He sounds tired, but content. "I was about to call you."

She chasing away her sinking doubt and cradles the phone to her ear. "Slow landing today?" she asks patiently.

They're okay.

It's just three months.

Piper leaves the ceramics class she was taking early and walks back to her cabin alone. There's something pressing on her chest and she doesn't know what it is. Her first instinct is to ask Annabeth, but this doesn't seem appropriate for a phone call, and with the distance between her and her best friend, it's not plausible for a face-to-face chat.

Annabeth and, subsequently, Percy aren't at Camp Half-Blood anymore. They're full timing it in Manhattan now because Annabeth's in her dream school and Percy's following her and he's figuring it out. Piper misses them both.

She sits down on her bunk and tucks her feet underneath her. The weight on her chest lifts and she feels grief hit her like a truck.

She's lonely.

It feels like someone is suffocating her and she gasps feebly as tears well in her eyes. Annabeth and Percy aren't at camp anymore. Reyna, Frank and Hazel are permanently at Camp Jupiter. Jason is currently across the country and almost too busy to talk to her. And Leo is dead.

And then she's crying because she misses him and because it hasn't even been a year and how does everyone else seem so okay with the fact that her partner in crime is dead and the fact nobody else is struggling this hard with getting their lives back together.

She breaks down almost completely, but as soon as she hears someone coming, she dries her eyes and swallows roughly.

She's fine.

Jason will be home in a month.

He's home almost two months late, as seems to be expected, but he tells her he's staying for a while.

Things get better when he's here. He works a lot, but at the end of the day, he's there for her so she doesn't feel as much of the cripplingly loneliness and grief she has been feeling. He holds her hand as they stroll along the edge of the lake and watch the new campers have canoe races. They make an alliance that actually lets Cabin 10 capture the flag for almost the first time ever.

Piper feels better. Her nightmares aren't as bad when Jason's at camp, but she still feels like there's something he's not telling her. She tries to convince herself it's nothing, but when Jason disappears to talk to Chiron for an hour and says nothing about it to her, she doubts herself. It certainly doesn't make her feel better about anything.

Two weeks before Jason's scheduled to go back to New Rome, Piper has another nightmare. She wakes up hopelessly tangled in her bedsheets and hears the gentle rattle of the window screens. Her chest is covered in a thin sheen of sweat and she can't forget the absolute terror she had been feeling.

First was Leo, disappearing in a ball of fire, and then Annabeth and Percy dropping over a dark, horrible cliff. Frank and Hazel are swallowed by the earth. Piper's drowning. She's had this nightmare many times. It's the memories of being the in the Nymphaeum. Except in her dreams, she's alone.

This is the worst one she's had. The water is sucking her downwards and she can see Jason standing on a ledge above her. He is looking down at her and he looks regal and impartial. She reaches for him, but he steps back and the water swallows Piper whole.

She knows it wasn't real, but the chilling thought of Jason leaving her to drown sends shivers down her spine. He would never. Even if he didn't know her, he would have tried to save her. That's who he is, and she knows that her dream is just a nightmare that will never come true.

Their farewell is short. Jason's lips barely brush against hers before he's dashing towards the ship. Piper rubs her hands together and watches him go. Her chest aches. It was going to be okay. In six hours, Jason will have landed in Camp Jupiter and he'll call her. They'll talk on the phone for a bit and then he'll get some work done and she'll go to bed.

Only, an unsettling feeling nestles in her stomach, he didn't say he'd call her. In fact, his only goodbye had been a simple 'bye' before he darted away. Piper exhales slowly and watches the ship lift off. She scans the upper deck for him, but she doesn't see him. She's upset. He always waves goodbye.

She waits the six hours the journey is supposed to take in some sort of a trance. She's staring at a map for the next week's Capture the Flag strategy, but she can't focus. She keeps glancing at the Monster-Proof phone that the Hephaestus cabin developed and she sighs. She leaves her siblings with the plan and steps out of the cabin, looking for privacy.

She's dialling Jason's number before she really knows what she's doing. It rings once. Then again. And again. Piper feels sick. It rings again. And then finally:

"Hey, it's Jason," his voice cuts in.

Piper lets out a shuddering sigh of relief. "Hey," she starts, but is cut off.

"Sorry I couldn't take your call," he continues. "Leave a message." The voice disappears and Piper feels pain wrench through her heart. He's never let her go to his voicemail before.

The tone chimes and she pauses. "Hey Jase," she says slowly. "Just wanted to make sure everything went okay on the trip over. Call me." She ends the call and sinks to the ground, sitting on the steps of her cabin.

It's highly likely that her siblings are spying on her from inside, but she can't bring herself to care. She's still so lost. Jason has never not answered the phone when she called him, even if it's way too early in the morning because the time change screwed her up. Something is wrong.

Piper feels her sadness slide to the back of her mind as frustration and anger spring forth. She knows he's been keeping something from her, but this is something else entirely. He's supposed to be the charming, romantic one, and that usually means answering his phone with a silly romantic joke.

Piper feels sick again.

She wakes up in the morning and checks her phone. She has a missed call. She tiredly fumbles with her phone and pulls up the call log. It's from Jason.

The time of the call is 2:03 AM. Or 11:03 PM in California.

He knew she wouldn't be up. She doesn't even know why he bothered to call her if he knew she would be asleep. Angry, Piper realises it's because he didn't want her to be awake. He didn't want to actually talk to her. She deletes his voicemail without listening to it and drops her phone onto her bed.

She'll deal with it later. She has a Capture the Flag game to strategize.

Annabeth comes by to visit later that week. She glances curiously at Piper's phone as it buzzes with a text from Jason. Piper ignores it and focuses on the slim gold band on Annabeth's finger. It isn't an engagement ring, but it's a promise and from Percy Jackson, it's the same thing.

"Okay, Piper, enough of this," Annabeth finally says. "Something is wrong. You're not talking to Jason, so he's taken to texting me," she holds up her phone as proof and Piper looks away, "and you're actually doing work for your GED, so something is wrong."

"It's probably stupid," she mumbles. "He didn't really say goodbye before he left and he's not even trying to talk to me about it. All of his texts are updates about Camp Jupiter, or about Hazel, Frank, and Reyna, but none of them are actually about us. And yeah, it's Jason, so he's a little oblivious, but he's always been romantic and caring even when he is oblivious."

"Piper," Annabeth sooths. "That's not stupid at all. Just call him. Tell him how you're feeling."

Piper shakes her head. "That's the first thing I tried."

He brings her flowers. Piper blinks at the beautiful boy holding the beautiful lilies on her cabin doorstep. He looks sorry and Piper pushes the flowers away and hugs him.

"I'm so sorry," he murmurs.

"Me too."

They're okay.

Something is wrong.

They're out of sync. They can't tell what the other is trying to say or do, and it's frustrating. They argue, for real, and Piper doesn't talk to him for two days. He apologises, but the argument had been her fault and she's frustrated he's always trying to coddle her and make himself the bad guy.

The Thursday before he leaves again ends in a screaming match. Piper throws her hands up and turns to walk away, but Jason catches her.

"Piper," he starts. His voice is much gentler than it had been. She turns. "What are we doing?" he asks.

Piper feels panic swell around her. "I thought we were having an argument, as couples do."

Jason shakes his head. "Pipes, we've been fighting a lot more than we used to. We never used to yell at each other and lately, that's all we can do."

A cold stone lodges itself in her throat. "You want to take a break, don't you?"

"I just," he starts, stepping towards her, "I feel like we need some time apart to figure this whole thing out. And we're both off to university soon and this just doesn't feel like it's supposed to, right now."

Her voice is small and she feels defeated. "Okay." She wants to scream at him that she loves him and that she doesn't want to be apart and that they just need to work this thing out, but he looks relieved she has agreed and she bites away her protests. Her heart breaks feebly in her chest. She loves him, but she'll give him space.

"Okay," he replies, calmly.

It's just a break, she tells herself as her heart cries out in opposition.

Everyone walks on eggshells around her and Piper hates it. It's a break, she repeats to herself. He just wants a break, and they'll be back together soon. She's tired of the sympathetic glances thrown her way because they don't know the whole truth and she does. She loves Jason and he loves her.

It's a break.

After two weeks, she misses him. She wakes up lonely in the middle of the night and misses the smell of rain that lingers when she's around him. She wants to kiss him and be wrapped up in his arms. She's in her car on the way back from the college she's been attending part-time when her resolve breaks.

She pulls over and dials his number.

"Hey, it's Jason. Sorry I couldn't take your call. Leave a message."

She exhales. "It's me. Call me when you get this."

She hangs up.

Percy and Annabeth are waiting for her on the crest of the hill. Their hands are joined, but as she gets out of her car, worry knots in her stomach. They should both be in school, but they're here. She strides towards them and Annabeth pulls away from Percy, stepping closer to her.

"Piper," her friend starts.

Dread sets in.

Piper looks at Percy because he's a terrible liar. "He's gone again, isn't he?" Percy evades her gaze. Everything hurts. He left her without even saying goodbye. It was supposed to be a break. He was supposed to return her call and they were supposed to agree they wanted to get back together and Jason would say that he wasn't going back to Camp Jupiter.

She feels alone.

"He's going to school in New Rome. He said he's been trying to tell you, but the time was never right," Annabeth says gently, but the words cut like knives. She and Jason have barely talked since they separated. Everything they said to each other just seemed to grate and they couldn't get along.

As if the fates are shining a cruel spotlight on her, her phone buzzes with a text. It's from Jason. He's apologising for leaving without saying goodbye, but that he needs to do this and that maybe space will be good for them and that they should probably try seeing other people too. Some cruel part of Piper says it's because of Reyna, but she knows the praetor would never dream of it, so this is all Jason.

She tries to tell herself that she would have told him, if she had been in his position. But, as hard as she wishes she could believe that, with how far apart they'd grown and how many secrets there were between them, Piper can't blame him for leaving.

She hates herself for it.

Percy and Annabeth are looking at her like she's made of glass. She passes them and heads straight to her cabin, keeping her head up and her eyes dry. She closes the door behind her and takes two steps forward before everything hits her and she just melts into a puddle on the floor.

She's alone now. Just her and the nightmares that won't leave her alone.

Annabeth leaves her the name of a demigod psychiatrist that she and Percy are going to. Apparently, she's very good with almost everything quest-related, but they're still not talking about Tartarus. Annabeth says that Piper should see her. She says it will help with the nightmares.

Piper shakes her head. She bears her nightmares like a badge of honour.

Hero of Olympus. One of the Seven. Daughter of Aphrodite.

Haunted by death.

The next month sucks. It sucks more than anything in her life has ever sucked. Everything hurts all the time and she finds she has no energy to do anything. She wallows in self-pity and loathes others when they try to pity her.

Mitchell sits down on her bunk next to her one day and looks at her. "You're going to die like this," he says simply. "You're letting this consume you and ruin your life. You beat a Primordial and this is how you're going to spend the rest of your life. This isn't living, Piper, this is existing. There's a difference."

She looks at him. She thinks she might understand, at least a little.

Piper goes to her ceramics class. She hates ceramics, she really does, but she goes. She sits with Lacey and Mitchell and they talk about frivolous things and it feels almost normal. Piper is awful at the actual creating part, but she likes to watch the others do it. Their hands are delicate as they mold the clay and Piper imagines Zeus and the other gods molding mortals in their image.

She smiles again.

Pottery is useless to her because hers always cracks and breaks, but she's talking to people again. It's not Jason, but it's better than no one.

She's working on her Bachelor's now too. Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology, because it's the study of people and human behaviour and Piper, as a daughter of Aphrodite, gets people. It makes sense and it's something that feels good in this world of hers that is so darkened by nightmares.

She writes down her dreams and, slowly, they don't petrify her as much as they used to. She offers advice to her siblings and to younger campers. She even leads a campfire one night. The best nights are the ones where she sits on her bunk with her youngest half-siblings and hums calming melodies that let the whole cabin sleep without dreams of the battle with Gaea.

She has a purpose now. She's a mother hen, and she's looking after people. In three years she'll have her psychology degree and as she treats the nightmares of her peers, she realises that Annabeth was onto something when she recommended Piper see a demigod psychiatrist. She wants to do medical school and she knows that she'll have to work her ass off, but maybe it will be worth it.

Almost a year after their break started and Jason drifted across the country, Piper still misses him. It hurts.

Piper studies. She practically disappears into her books, but she passes. With A's across the board in first year, the future seems limitless.

Except, she still wants to hold Jason's hand.

In second year, Piper decides to stay on campus. She goes back to Camp on weekends, but she's mostly on campus. She feels almost normal amongst the mortals because they haven't yet figured out who her dad is. Returning to Camp is a constant reminder of why she's doing this, and each week she buries herself in her studies.

She sees the young frightened demigods arriving on Half-Blood Hill with their satyr guides and remembers how confused and messed up she was when she was fifteen. This is worth it, she tells herself as she drives back to school.

Still, she knows she's growing up and she won't be able to keep going back to Camp forever. Some people talk about moving to New Rome, but Piper won't think of it. It took her most of her life to finally put down roots somewhere, but now she has a home in New York and she doesn't plan on leaving it so soon.

Annabeth announces plans to build New Athens when she graduates. Piper cries in relief because it's everything she's ever wanted. She wishes Jason could see it, but he's still across the country, studying hard, as always.

It's a Saturday in November when Piper's world is once again completely thrown for a loop because of a boy. Most of the Aphrodite campers are off training, so Piper has the cabin almost exclusively to herself, except for a napping Mitchell. She's writing about one of her dreams when someone knocks on the cabin door.

Piper opens the door and her brain dies.

Leo is standing there, looking older and the same all at once. His clothes are smudged with dirt and there's a streak of oil across her cheek. But he's here and he's very much alive. A tiny, mischievous smile starts to curl up his lips, but Piper's brain restarts and she slams the door in his face.

Neither of them really expects her to react as she does, so a few seconds later, Leo raps on the door again lightly. Piper bites her tongue. This is real. He's alive.

She opens the door again and this time, Leo's not alone. There's a girl standing just behind him. She has cinnamon hair and freckles and golden eyes. She's the living version of the sketches Hazel had drawn and as the image of Leo and Calypso sinks into her brain, she sees Jason too. He's standing next to Leo, hand planted on his shoulder like an older brother, and he's smiling like he used to.

She blinks and Jason is gone. Leo and Calypso are alone on the porch of Cabin Ten. Piper slams the door again.

Leo's hair catches fire during dinner and Piper watches as the flames jump between curly strands of hair. Calypso isn't even bothered and she punches Leo in the arm. The flames extinguish and he grins.

The three of them are sitting alone at a table and Piper can't remember saying a word since they sat down. Calypso has done most of the talking. She's still a bit confused by everything, but Piper likes her. She's warm and genuine and Leo's obviously in love with her.

Piper just doesn't understand how he's here.

She is so happy he's back. He is her best friend and every day he was gone hurt. She had just gotten so good at accepting the pain that the raw anger that had filled her when she realized he was alive had startled her. She had yelled at him until she ran out of breath and she was crying and he was hugging her.

Percy and Annabeth are on their way over to see Leo. They're as disbelieving as Piper was. Hazel and Frank IMed him earlier in the day and Piper had gotten to enjoy some tears on everyone's behalf.

Jason was flying back to see Leo.

Calypso touches Piper hand tentatively and Piper glances at the titaness. "I'm sorry we took so long to get home. I told him you all would miss him," she says.

Piper blinks.

Leo's lips twitch and he takes another bite of his food. "I knew you'd all be fine." He swallows nothing and looks Piper square in the eye. "But," he starts, "what the hell happened between you and Jason? You two are soulmates."

"We grew apart and agreed to take a break," Piper answers honestly. The words hurt and she realises that she has resented herself for agreeing to the break since it happened. "He moved over there to do school. I stayed here."

She takes a bite of her food and swallows it. It burns dryly down her throat. Piper says nothing for the rest of the meal.

She watches from the Big House as Jason flies down from the deck of the Argo III, unable to wait for it to land, and pulls Leo into a bearhug. Her lips twitch as she watches her best friend and whatever Jason was to her break down.

Piper turns away and goes inside. Jason leaves three days later without a word exchanged between them.

Leo fits back into her life neatly, but Piper hates the fact that Leo keeps looking at her and asking where Jason went wrong. She always changes the subject.

One night, she finishes studying much later than she intends to and doesn't have the energy to drive back to her school. She sits on the couch in the living room of the Big House and looks around at the cheap Christmas decorations that Chiron has put up.

She's dialling a number she has memorized before she really knows what she's doing.

"Tristan McLean speaking," her father answers. It's his business voice and PIper knows that's because she's never called him on this phone before.

"Hey Dad," she says quietly.

"Piper?" he asks, shock heavy in his voice.

She smiles and looks around the living room of the Big House. Percy and Annabeth have a picture on the mantle, and there are a few others of demigods she doesn't know. She feels home, and for the first time in a while, she feels safe.

"Merry Christmas, Dad."

In February, Piper is making a weekend trip to Camp because Mitchell and Lacey apparently have someone new to the Aphrodite cabin to introduce to her. She drives along the twisting road to Half-Blood Hill and sees a terrible sight before her.

A group of monsters are trying to set fire to Thalia's tree. Peleus is restrained and there are several demigods fighting a losing battle. Reinforcements have to be on the way from the camp, but there's a chance they won't get there in time. She accelerates towards the fight, pulling to a stop just before it and jumping out of her car.

"Everybody stop!" she yells. Her words have the intended meaning and everyone, monsters and campers, freeze in place. "Lower your weapons," she commands. Her charmspeak is rusty, but it does the trick as weapons clatter to the dirt around here.

Piper looks down at the circle of cabins and the strawberry fields and the lake. Anger swells in her chest and she stares down the monsters. "You will leave here. You will never come back here. You will not harm another demigod in your life. This is my home. They are my family. I will destroy you if you ever forget my words."

The message is delivered so forcefully that the eyes of the monsters glaze over and they release Peleus immediately. The dragon proceeds to eat the few nearest to him, but most turn and simply walk away. The unarmed demigods clustered around the tree are staring at her in amazement.

Piper straightens. "This is my home. It should be yours too."

She gets her degree. Annabeth creates the initial plans for New Athens. Piper gets into medical school. Percy proposes. Leo and Calypso go travelling again.

Piper becomes a legend at camp. She's the most reachable of the Seven and people approach her with everything. She becomes known as 'Camp Mom' and she embraces it. These kids are everything that she loves. This place is her home, and if her destiny is to be a pillar of support for them, she's more than willing to be.

She tells stories at campfires and gives advice and teaches makeup tips. She teaches knife fighting and tells people not to stress too much about prophecies because life is worth living without wondering where the fates are pulling you. Life is worth deciding your own path in.

Aphrodite gives her a blessing again, in front of the entire camp, but physically changes nothing and Piper has never felt more love for her mother. It's a message from the goddess of love that Piper is perfect that way she is, and she feels it.

When she watches a young son of Hermes with blonde hair and blue eyes pick up a sword for the first time, she turns away.

She's living. She's home. She feels free.

But she still misses him.

She's borrowing Chiron's office again to study. A light knock on the doorframe echoes through the otherwise silent room. She keeps typing on her report. She just needs to finish this sentence and then she'll deal with whatever this camper needs.

"One second," she says.

"Take your time," the reply comes. Piper freezes. As much as she wishes she could forget it, she'll never forget that voice and she looks up.

Jason's just like she remembers him: well groomed and beautiful and looking adorably bashful. She gapes at him.

"Sorry to drop in on you," he begins.

Piper tugs at her ponytail and waits for him to continue.

"I've heard about the work you're doing around here. You're probably the coolest adult in these kids' lives."

"They need someone," Piper admits. "If the gods won't be parents to their kids, someone needs to be."

"Piper, you don't need to mother all of them," Jason points out. He's teasing her, the light tone of voice indicates, and she smiles against her will.

"What are you doing here, Jason?" she asks finally.

He steps into the office. "I'm here to work with Annabeth on New Athens." He's not here for her. Of course not. "At least," he continues and she narrows her eyes, "that's what I want to say." Jason rubs his brow. "I'm here because I handled everything so badly between us. We fought. Everyone does and I still blew it out of proportion and asked you for a break and then moved halfway across the country without hardly any warning. I thought it was what I wanted, but every day, all I could think about was how much happier I'd be if you were there with me."

Piper is sure she's dreaming. Just as her life is finally going in the direction she wants it to, and now Jason's here, saying the things she had wished he would have said four years ago. "No," she interrupts. "You don't get to do this." She closes her eyes. "Jason, I'm building my life here! You left me five years ago, so you don't get to apologise now and say you've been thinking about me since then because you never came back."

She stands up from the desk and stares him down. "Do you know how badly I was hurting? Every day for four months after you left, I had nightmares. I thought it was going to kill me. I hated everything and I just wanted to be alone all the time even though much more alone time and I probably would have killed myself."

Jason remains quiet, but he looks pained.

"I moved on with my life," she continues. "I went to classes and I talked to people and it sucked because all I wanted was to talk to you, but I couldn't. I helped people with their nightmares and I talked to a psychiatrist and I saw how much good she could do for me and I just wanted to be that for someone else. So I worked my ass off in school so that I could go to medical school. I'm still in school now, but I'm helping people. I'm helping these kids have the childhood and teenage years that I wanted and I'm teaching them to live."

She shakes her head at Jason. "This is my home now. You don't get to come here and tell me you love me and make everything all sunshine and rainbows. Leo got a door to the face, and you're lucky you haven't received the same treatment."

Jason dips his head. "I'm sorry, Piper," he says. "I know when I'm not welcome, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He gives her one last heartbreaking smiling before he walks out and leaves her alone.

Piper sinks back into her chair and it takes every fibre of her being not to break into tears because she still loves him and she doesn't want him to leave again if he's finally ready to try. But, she tells herself, he has to earn it. He needs to prove that he's being serious about all of this.

A tear slips down her cheek. She loves him so much it hurts.

Piper shows up to dinner late as she usually does and heads towards the table that she's been sharing with Annabeth and Percy while they're at Camp because of New Athens. The pair is missing and Piper shakes her head. She sits down and is prepared to summon some food when someone pulls the chair out across from her.

She stares at Jason. He holds his hands up.

"I know you don't want me here, but I just want to show something to you. Annabeth and I finally finished the final drafts of New Athens and the first part is under construction right now. I think you're going to love it."

She purses her lips. He looks as excited as a little kid and Piper glances down at her empty plate before she stands. "Alright, show me," she orders.

The temple has white columns and spotless, shiny greek architecture that makes it look like it was brought in from the past. Jason invites her inside with a jerk of his head. Piper follows him warily.

The inside is unfinished, as the scaffolding around the interior indicates, but in the centre of it is a finished marble carving of a giant tree. It's a beautiful centrepiece and there's a plaque next to it that Jason stops in front of.

"Read it," he urges.

Piper reads it aloud. "New Athens: a place to call home. A place of peace and creativity and ingenuity. A haven for those who need it, and a family for those who desire it. A place to live, to learn to truly live, and to feel safe and loved." She smiles despite herself. "Jason, it's perfect."

He nods gently. "Annabeth drew up the temple, obviously, but I made this part," he says, gesturing to the plaque and the tree.

"Why now?" she asks. She wonders if he'll understand the sudden change, and to her pleasure, he does.

"Because I was so tired of feeling like the biggest idiot in the world every time you did something amazing. Because I was a stupid kid who didn't realise he was giving up the best thing he ever had. Because I knew that I needed something to prove to you that I was actually serious about all of this. Because the last five years have been a mistake and I didn't know how to say it, so I wanted to show you."

"And what makes now any different? I could have fought for you back then."

"And you didn't, because I didn't want you to. I wanted to protect you and I wanted you to have better than some son of the Big Three who would bring trouble anywhere that I went. I never gave up on you, Piper. I only ever gave up on myself."

Her chest is singing because she loves him and he loves her and she can feel it. Leo is right, and he always has been. Jason is the only one she'll ever love and maybe it's not perfect, not even good, but it could be. And home is a safe place full of possibility.

Piper turns to him.

"Welcome home."

Jason kisses her like he's never kissed her before and this time Piper knows there's no goodbye coming after.

She feels alive.

Author's Note: Well I finally finished something again. I don't know if I'm really happy about how this turned out, but parts of it I really like and I think I need to post something to help break out of this slump I'm in.

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