Last installment for this three-shot a day too late-blame my Econ. teacher for dumping an essay on me. :(

Again, don't expect any updates or stories from me for a little while; I'm on a semi-hiatus so I can do better in school this year. Whenever I have a lot of free time, then I'll write something, but don't get your hopes up. This will be the last thing for a while. Sorry!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything...GUYS, MARK OF ATHENA COMES OUT TOMORROW! LET'S PRAY TO VENUS FOR JAYNA!

When I'm Me Again

"Leo, who is Reyna?" Piper presses the Latino, her expression a mix of curiosity and worry.

"She's-" Leo's trying to stop in his tracks, but he can't resist the touch of charmspeak in her voice. Nevertheless, he stops getting lost in her ever-changing eyes and stares at his feet as he mutters, "she's the praetor of Camp Jupiter."

"With Jason," Piper replies softly, not looking him in the eyes.

Siwallowing the lump in his throat, he nods.

"Tell me about her," Piper says, trying to breathe normally.

"He didn't tell me much about her," Leo responds. "But she meant a great deal to him, I think, judging from the way he keeps tuning me out."

"Were they going out?" The brunette continues to question him.

The Latino elf raises his hands in the air. "I don't know everything, Pipes. It'll be better coming from him," he says softly, patting her on the back. "But...maybe," Leo answers awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, Leo, but..." Piper sighs, twirling a braid around her finger. "If she was his girlfriend, then this would all be completely wrong, and I would stop doing it at once, but I really like him," she finishes, looking at him hopelessly.

The Latino runs his fingers through his hair, sighing. "Pipes, if it's fate, then it'll happen, whether or not this Reyna chick's in the picture. And I know that sounds crappy and cheesy, but that's the truth, Beauty Queen, so just follow your gut feeling and ask him yourself."

"You're amazing, Repair Boy, you know that?" Piper says, giving him one of her rarer smiles, the ones that make his heart flutter slightly, and has him questioning their friendship.

"I've been told once or twice," he replies, grinning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find some food in the fridge."

The brunette rolls her eyes. "You go do that."

Sticking his tongue out at her, he skips away, his smile still as wide as ever.

"Jason?" Said boy whips around, spoonful of chocolate pudding still in his mouth.

"Mhm?" Leo jumps back when Jason's attempt at talking ends up with the blonde speaking baby and Leo almost getting chocolate pudding on his favourite shirt.

"Mhmmm to you too!" Leo says, his hand doing the 'cuckoo' sign.

Jason rolls his eyes as he swallows. "What, uh, happened?" His blue eyes are filled with fear and uncertainty as he watches the Latino's expression slowly turns guilty.

"Uh..." Is Leo's only response as Jason stares him down.

"Leo, what did you do?" Jason demands, his pudding long forgotten. "More importantly, what did you say?"

The Latino elf decides that this is a good time to let a childish giggle escape and hope Jason isn't too mad. "I accidentally told Piper about Reyna?" Leo squeaks out, ready to dodge any sudden attacks from his best friend.

"What?"

"But bro, just listen me out!" Leo protests, backing away. "She charmspoke me. I don't think she knew she did, but she did! How do you resist that?"

The blonde groans. "Leo, that was between you and me!" he exclaims, shoving pudding in his mouth to distract him from his misery. "I haven't even figured everything out yet!"

"I'm sorry!" The Latino apologizes again. "Stop liking powerful girls!"

The son of Jupiter snickers, but his brow furrows when a long braid flashes through his mind again. Why did he find that funny?

Leo looks at him funny. "You okay, bro?"

Jason shakes his head. "I..." He blinks, and the braid's gone, only to be replaced by choppy braids, which confuses him even more.

Leo waves his hands in Jason's face. "Earth to Jason, earth to Jason..."

The Roman snaps out of his trance, smiling weakly at Leo. "What should I do?" The son of Jupiter moans, tossing his finished pudding cup in the trash.

"Just talk to her," he suggests, cheering for himself mentally. Hit two stones with one bird...or something.

"What am I supposed to say?" Jason asks, throwing his hands in the air. "Do I just go up to her and say 'Sorry, I might be kind of cheating on you. There's this other girl back home that I might be kind of dating (actually, he's pretty sure that they're dating to some degree, but he really didn't need to complicate this any further), and so can you just act like we don't like each other?' Are you serious, Leo?" The blonde finishes, groaning.

"Well-"

"Guys! I think we're almost there!" Annabeth yells from the control room, a wide smile on her face. "It's not going to be a few days-relying on Jason's memories, I think it'll be about an hour!"

Jason forces a smile and acts like there's nothing bothering him. "I have to get ready," he says to Leo, glancing at the distant Camp Jupiter, his home.

The Latino elf just grunts as he rests his head on the table.

When the son of Jupiter steps out on the deck, and looks over the edge, he sees Piper approaching him from the corner of his eye, her expression nervous. He can't help but compare her to the dark-haired beauty from his dreams. Piper is like a fairy tale princess; sweet, kind, and beautiful-everything a guy could ask for. She's tough, understanding, and just so easy to be with. Jason hadn't had any disagreements with her yet. And then there's Reyna...

His fingers tighten on the bar when he thinks of her, and his face breaks out into a smile. If Piper is a princess, then Reyna is definitely a queen. Something in the back of his mind registers the fact that Reyna does mean queen in Spanish, and this only makes him chuckle. She was (well, according to the little amount of memories Juno had returned to him) strong, brave, smart, and emotionless-the ideal Roman. Sometimes, though, she could be protective, caring, and open-all her guards down. He could talk to her about anything, and she would just listen, and let him rant on and on.

"Hey, Jason," A soft voice snaps him out of his thoughts, and out of instinct, he puts on his 'Roman' smile; the one that betrays no real emotions, but the blonde relaxes when he finally realizes that it's only Piper, and she could be trusted. It seems like the closer he is to home, the more Roman he turns into.

A genuine smile replaces the formal one, and he greets her back. "Hey, Pipes."

The daughter of Aphrodite fidgets with the hem of her shirt as she stares at the ground. "Can I ask you something?"

Jason keeps the awkwardness from showing up on his face as he nods. "Shoot."

Piper looks up, and...chickens out. He just seems so happy to be home after eight months that she didn't want to ruin it with her question. His sky blue eyes are shining with the kind of happiness, and belonging that she hadn't seen since Aelous confirmed that he was a Roman. She didn't want to make him more confused, with him randomly getting his memories back whenever Hera felt like it. After all, saving the world comes before teenage crushes.

"Pipes?" She blinks when he calls her, and she shakes her head. "I was just wondering..." Now she needs some question..."why the Romans hated us," she makes up on the spot, trying to look and act normal.

Jason shrugs. "The same reason why you guys hated us." Piper notices the way he refers to himself as Roman, and her as a Greek, and couldn't help feeling like she didn't belong in his world, his life. Then she silently scolds herself for thinking like that. He is Roman and she is Greek, but that doesn't mean they can't be together.

But then there's Reyna, a voice says in her mind, but she dismisses it.

"But we'll be fine," he says, smiling her favourite smile. "I promise."

He walks away as she smiles foolishly after him, and she swears she sees something glittering from the sleeve of his shirt, but she ignores it, blaming the bright sunlight.

Even with Leo looking at her for the rest of the day with some emotion even she couldn't comprehend, and the thought of Reyna in the back of her mind, she silently prays to her mother that everything would be alright, and maybe, just maybe, Jason would be hers in the end.

Little did she know, less than a hundred miles away, a dark-haired girl with brown eyes is also praying that when a certain blonde returns home, he will remember her, and she could finally get the happy ending so many people told her she would never have.

Not the best ending, but it got my message across! There's more Jasper than I had intended, but that makes sense since it takes place before getting to Camp Jupiter, but there's enough Jayna to satisfy my Jayna fans, I hope.

I know a lot of people say it's going to be Jasper, but I don't care. I will go down with this ship if I have to, so I'll write Jayna no matter what happens tomorrow.

Please read and review!

-DOTE