Important A/N at the bottom if you want this story to continue!

(Story was rewritten)

Leo

The evening star of the warm summer night had just made its appearance, Leo Valdez was on the deck of the Argo II, the guilt and sadness in his heart weighing him down. He knew it was his fault Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, if he hadn't opened the blasted cookie, he could have saved them!

"Creak, creaaak, squeak?"

The dragon masthead asked him

"No, Festus, I did not check the dining hall and yes, I did check your oil, now stop worrying and keep us on course." Leo said he was on his nerves and didn't need to be riled up.

He'd forgotten where he'd put some new attachments for Festus which was strange for him, he normally never forgot things, especially mechanical things, since he was sort of a machine freak.

Festus was also worried about Leo, he had in deed been acting very strange since the Tartarus accident and he'd been having dreams, not the usual nightmares, oh no. If it only were, it was memories, memories from the Wilderness school, of him and a certain brunette. Like for instance last night's dream bothered him the most-

He was sitting on the roof of the dorm his arm wrapped around Piper they were looking at the meteor shower, "Make a wish!" She told him, turning around so she could look at him and the sky.

"Lets both?"

"Ok, on three." She held up three fingers, setting one down each time a ribbon of light crossed the night sky, then when finally her last finger went down and she closed her eyes, he silently wished that his plan would work, he leaned forward and kissed her full on the lips, at first she didn't move, but soon, she kissed him back and when they pulled apart she was smiling. So when the next day came and they were on the bus, to the grand canyon, he and Piper were sitting next to each other, holding hands and he felt proud of himself because he had finally asked her to be his girlfriend then the perfect-once-in-a-lifetime-moment was ruined, by a bright light and the dream ended.

"Hmph, rotten luck seems to run in the family."

"Creak creakcreak."

"Oh joy." Talk of medusa.

"What, no hello?" Piper asked.

"Oh, sorry for not curtsying, bad back you know."Leo said sarcastically.

"You definitely need some sleep." She pressed on.

"Not in the mood Beauty Queen." He replied turning his mind back to the steering of the ship.

"Aw, come on Leo, you've been out here for two days straight, you're going to collapse!"

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will. Now stop arguing and go to bed. That is an order!"

He turned around surprising her -and himself a little- they were face to face now.

"And what if I refuse to obey your orders M'lady?" He teased

"Then I'll have Jason drag you there."Hmph always Jason.

"No." He said turning his back to her.

He really had trouble looking her in the eye ever since last night's dream, besides, he didn't need any more distractions or people he could possibly hurt.

She grabbed his arm and he turned facing her again,a slight blush crept up her face,but she regained her fearless stance,"Or I'll do it myself."She said glaring at him, not even backing down, their faces were only a few inches apart now.

"Pipes, I'm just the Repair Boy, Commander Tool-Belt, Flaming Valdez the Side-Kick, I don't need rest. I need to get you guys to Greece, since I caused this 's not like you guys care." He said, he'd already walked away and was now leaning on the rails of the Argo II looking at the ocean, anything was better than having to look her in the eyes.

"You're wrong Leo." Piper said softly.

"Oh yeah?"Here it comes, a long boring speech, meant to make his heart melt and choose to fall down into the service of Beauty Queen and Captain Spark Plug, he was going to stay head strong and not let anything she says go to his head and that was a promise, because she was sure to use any amount of charmspeak.

"Do you think, I would have come visit you every night in Bunker nine, throw a blanket on you when you fell asleep working, if I didn't care. Would I have jumped into the ocean and swam out to you, without a life vest, without any reassurance that I wouldn't get eaten by some sort of sea monster, and kiss you on your cheek, if I didn't care. Would I have-"She needed to stop before she convinced him of anyhting now, so why not just let his feelings out for once.

"I'm sorry Piper, but I'm never going to be Percy or Jason or even Frank. I can't fight like Percy or Jason, I can't charmspeak like you, I can't find tunnels or attract precious metals like Hazel or turn into some useful animal like Frank, the only useful things I can do is build and go "Flame on" and since the only ones who aren't fire proof are you guys and Annabeth is nearly ten times smarter than me, so I'm actually pretty useless." He said, feeling considerably lighter, but he saw something change in Piper's ever changing beautiful eyes.

"No, Valdez. Both you and I know you aren't worthless, you built the Argo II, you fixed Festus, ok so he broke along the way, but you gave him another shot again! You defeated the eidolons, something which I couldn't do with my charmspeak. You're always making us laugh, making us feel as if life isn't as suckish as it is and I know your story. I know when you ran away, I know about every foster home you ever lived at, Hera sent some of my memories back. You are my best friend Valdez, we trusted eachother. You told me we could do anything, you gave me hope. Where's that boy now? Where's the boy who could face anything this world threw at him? Where's the boy who single handedly took out, Little Miss Snow Queen?Who drove a helicopter out of instinct, who stood up to countless evil?Where is my best friend? Where is he Leo?" She said and he could almost see her kaleidoscope eyes break and it made his heart shatter, because he too knew what both of them went through and he too was actually asking exactly the same thing she leaned with his back against the railings and put his hands in his hair and decided to answer truthfully, "I don't know Pipes." And the next thing he knew he was being hugged, Piper's arms were around his neck,her mouth by his ear whispering,"Come back Leo, please. We can't do this without you, I can't do this without you, we need you Valdez." He put his arms around her and said,"I'll try." She gave him a good squeeze and kissed his cheek and quickly brushed the tears out of her eyes.

"You'd better, now go get some sleep, I'll make sure we stay on course."

"And What if I don't want to?"

She gave him the evil eye and he quickly turned around saying silly stuff like,"Yes Mistress, whatever you want M'lady." and he could swear he heard her say "I love you." and suddenly he was very aware of the tingling feeling on his cheek when he walked towards his cabin

Hey, so if you want this to be a multi-chapter story tell me in the reviews, though until you tell me it'll remain a one shot ;) thanks for reading and remember the reviews :D

I might even put up a poll

~Daizels