Chapter Four- Noah

Could she be any more embarrassing? Noah mentally rolled her eyes. She barely knew the guy and she had already cried in front of him.

She couldn't trust herself to be alone right now though. And while she knew Leo must have felt uncomfortable being there to witness her freak out, she was glad he stayed. He had this inexplicable calming effect on her and she was dying to find out why.

"So, you and Will been together long?" Leo asked, breaking the ice. Noah figured he was trying to make things less uncomfortable but he couldn't have picked a worse topic.

Noah smiled lightly. "Is that a judgy tone I hear?"

Leo looked at her in surprise. "What? No, of course not!" He shook his head furiously as if to emphasize his response.

"Relax," Noah assured him. "I was just teasing. I do that sometimes when I'm upset and don't want to show it."

"Oh. I won't ask about Will then."

They both looked away as they continued walking on to Leo's bunker. It sure was quiet. How far away was it again?

"Um…so, you're building the Argo II, huh? Piper told me all about your quest. Sounds crazy."

"We got this," Was Leo's cocky response. "Once you have a quest under your belt, the rest is easy."

Noah nodded. "Well, I'd be screwed then. I've never been on a quest."

"Really?" Leo asked.

Noah just gave him a look. "Do you really think children of Aphrodite go on tons of epic quests? Please, all they want to do is stand in front of a mirror and look pretty."

"Harsh," Leo winced. "Piper's not like that. She tries to hide her beauty."

"Piper is a special case," Noah replied, matter-of-factly. "She has the potential to be something more than just a beauty queen." She believed it too. Piper was definitely something special.

"Do you consider yourself as nothing but a beauty queen, then?" Leo asked quietly. Probably because he wanted to know but didn't want to offend her.

"Yes," she replied, looking straight ahead. "But I don't want to be."

Leo cleared his throat. "Awkward."

Noah scoffed. "Kinda."

More silence. Maybe following him like a lost puppy to Bunker Nine was a mistake.

"I'm not usually this pathetic," she assured him.

Leo shrugged. "It happens to the best of us."

Thankfully, by the grace of the gods, they made it to the bunker. Noah remembered this area when she first arrived at camp a couple days. It just seemed really peaceful and away from everything. She had no idea it held one of Leo's favorite places. You would never be able to tell from the outside.

"Fancy," she commented. "It's like you've got your own little lair or something."

"I spend hours in here. Always working. It's pretty much my home."

Noah nodded as she looked inside. For whatever reason, it was completely different from what she imagined it to look like. This whole time she was expecting something like a car garage with a little boat that he was working on. What the bunker actually was caught her by surprise. It was enormous! There were so many projects going on. All sorts of mechanical objects littered the place, like he just jumped from project to project but they were all incomplete. A giant digital banner hung up high with bold letters saying, "You got this Leo!" Motivational poster perhaps?

The entire contents of the Bunker weren't even the best part. Off to the side, taking up about half of the space was an enormous ship skeleton. 'Enormous' didn't even cover it. You could tell it was a trireme and it was just plain awesome.

"Holy Hera…" she mumbled.

Leo disagreed. "Not a big fan of her."

"This is the Argo II?! And you've been working on it by yourself?!"

"Well, yeah…" Leo said, scratching the back of his neck.

Noah blinked a few times, making sure she wasn't dreaming. This was definitely not the rowboat she had been imagining. "You. Are. Amazing. Seriously, you can do this and what cool skills do I have? I mean, how do you even do this?"

"It wasn't easy but it helps that I can manipulate fire on my own. Makes the metal easier to deal with."

"Wait…you can manipulate fire?" Noah asked.

As his reply, he held his palms up and a small flame appeared out of nowhere. It looked so natural for him to do it; Noah couldn't help but be a little jealous.

"So you can make anything and you have magical fire powers. Um, I'm really good at make-up. And I can make people fall in love with me by blinking. Looks like I have competition for toughest demigod."

"You can make people fall in love with you?" Leo asked incredulously. "That doesn't sound too bad. It's like you've got your own personal love potion or something."

Noah laughed humorlessly. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. I have no on or off switch. Then it sucks because I don't know if people actually like me for me or because I have this ridiculous "Aphrodite gift". It gets even worse when you get unwanted attention. I hate it."

"How do I know you're not bewitching me right now?" Leo joked, an eyebrow raised in question. "You could be trying to get me to fall in love with you and I wouldn't even know it, would I?"

Noah laughed again, but this time it was genuine. "Don't worry. You're too nice a guy to fall for something horrible like this. I like to call it the "Aphrodite curse". It only works on weak people." As if to change the subject, Noah turned back to the ship again. "I can't believe you do this by yourself. Does no one want to help you or something?"

Leo shook his head, no. "This is just kind of my space, you know? And my own project to take on. Help, once in a while isn't bad but everyone is doing their own thing so I just end up doing it on my own. It's no big deal."

"I'm not doing anything important. I can help you if you want. I don't know much about mechanic stuff but maybe you can teach me or something."

Leo crossed his arms over his chest. "Won't that boyfriend of yours be jealous?"

Noah furrowed her eyebrows. "Boy…? Oh, Will. He'll be okay."

"If that's how you want to spend your break…" Leo said.

The next day, bright and early, Noah was prepared to head over to Leo's safe haven and help him out a bit. She put her dark, curly hair up in a simple ponytail and applied some light make-up.

"Where'd you go off with Will to?" Drew's face appeared in the mirror from behind her. Her hair and makeup was done as well and she looked very pretty this morning. "I bet you guys went to make-out. He's so hot."

"Drew, that's not really any of your business," Piper said, next to Noah. She was braiding her hair again, this time putting a white feather at the end of it.

"I'm just curious. Gods." Instead of waiting for the reply she just left in a huff.

Noah turned to Piper. "It was an interesting night, for sure. Got into a fight with my step-brother for trying to start a fight with Will and ended up hanging out with Leo all night. He's pretty cool."

Piper blinked before smiling. "You were hanging with Leo? Do you like him?"

Noah laughed. "You're getting a little ahead of yourself. I've known the guy for a few days."

"Sorry," Piper said. "I just feel kind of bad that Jason and I have gotten together and Leo's always by himself. I want him to find someone too."

Noah nodded in understanding. She put on the last touches of her make-up and gazed at her reflection in a hand mirror that was lying on her trunk. It was gold with diamonds around the mirror. On the back, a dove was engraved into the mirror.

"That's really pretty," Piper commented. "It looks like a family heirloom or something. Where'd you get it?"

Noah put the mirror down to look at Piper. "Gift from mommy dearest. It's part of a pair." Noah walked over to her pink trunk and pulled out another mirror similar to the one she was holding but was silver instead of gold. "It's supposed to go to my other half or something. I don't know."

Piper pouted. "Mom hasn't gotten me anything."

"Just wait. You'll get something very vain or pointless." She put the two mirrors away in her trunk and made to leave. "See ya later, Pipes!"

This was how she spent her winter break. She would get dressed in the morning and head over to Bunker Nine to spend the day with Leo. He was really funny. He had his awkward moments but he was really easy to talk to.

She couldn't believe some of the things he had been through; like losing his mother at such a young age, and so violently too, constantly living on the streets and running from foster homes. You would never know this by all the jokes he cracks and the smile he always keeps on his face. It was actually kind of heartbreaking.

It took a while but she actually found it in herself to confide in him as well. She told him of her father marrying her step-monster and how she used to beat her when she was younger. When her father found what she was doing, he left her immediately and eventually met Jake's mom. They married and were expecting their first kid together, a girl named Emily. She also told him that she suspected that Will was under her "curse". The guy barely knew her and acted like he was in love with her. She had no interest in him.

Leo wasn't very surprised. In fact, when he thought she wasn't looking, he fist-bumped the air and smiled. Noah had to contain a laugh. She couldn't believe it herself but she was actually starting to like him. It had been a month and a half since they started hanging out and she loved every minute of it.

They brainstormed together what would be awesome add-ons to the Argo II, almost as if they were designing a cruise ship and not a war trireme. They came up with cool ideas like having video feed of Camp Half-Blood to feel at home or designing personal touches to the bedrooms. It was a lot of fun.

She didn't see much of Will. She tried to let him down easily, saying they were just too different. He didn't seem to get the hint but because she was always hanging out with Leo, so it didn't really matter to her.

As much fun as she was having, she knew it would have to come to an end. Leo had a few more months to go before he left for his journey but Noah had to leave for school again to start her new semester. She really didn't want to leave but she had no choice.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Leo," Piper commented at dinner, a couple of days before she had to leave.

"I like spending time with him," Noah said. "I…I think I like him."

A huge smile broke out on Piper's face. "Are you serious?! That's awesome! I can't believe it! Does he know? Are you guys going to date?"

Noah laughed. "I'm going back to school in Virginia and he's leaving on a scary quest that decides what happens to demigods all over the country with you. I don't think telling him, "I've had fun with you this break and I think I like you," is very appropriate right now." She turned to look at the Hephaestus table and caught Leo's eye. He winked and she smiled back with a small wave.

"Cute," Piper grinned.

"Oh whatever."

That night, Aphrodite chose to invade her dreams. She hadn't heard from her in a long time, and even then, it wasn't like Noah was her favorite daughter or anything. The last time she had seen her was when she gave her the mirrors a few years ago.

Her mother was beautiful. She had olive-toned skin and dark brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. Her striking green eyes pierced through her. She knew Aphrodite took the form of the perceiver's idea of beauty. This was how Noah wished she look.

"What are you doing here?" Noah asked, rudely. She gave her mother a blank look and turned away, ready to head anywhere else but here.

"I came to see you of course!" Her mother replied happily. "I've been peeking in on your love life! Such an interesting story! Getting kicked out of school for making a move on your teacher-"

"He touched me!" Noah interrupted angrily. "He was under that stupid curse you gave me!"

Aphrodite huffed. "I gave you no such curse! Being loved is a gift! More people should love!" She flattened her stylish pink dress as if getting offended had ruffled it. "Speaking of which, I see you have your sights set out on Leo Valdez. Not a bad choice. It's a shame he doesn't look more like that Will Solace- or even Jason Grace! Piper has good taste."

Noah glared. "Leo's great. Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean. Anyway, I've come to talk to you about him anyway."

Noah clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I don't want to talk about him with you. You'll just ruin it."

It was Aphrodite's turn to be annoyed. "You are so rash. I wish you were more like me. Do you know that feeling you get when you're near the boy? That feeling that just calms you whenever he's by your side? That's my gift to you."

"Why? What are you trying to pull?"

"Love is my gift and you don't even believe in it! Leo is the one for you and I needed to give you a little push. Do you remember the exquisite mirrors I gave you? They were made by Hephaestus himself. He knew what they were for and had no problem making them for me."

"Okay, so I gather I'm supposed to give the silver mirror to Leo. What does it matter? What does it even do?"

Aphrodite smiled cryptically. "I can't tell you."

"You can't tell me." Something clicked in Noah's mind. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me Leo only likes me because you're making him like me?"

"No, dear." She waved her off like she was a small child.

"Do I only like Leo because you're making me?" Noah asked.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Aphrodite scolded. "I can't change people's emotions. I can push others in the right direction however, and that's what I'm doing right now." The love goddess groaned. "Piper wasn't this difficult in understanding love."

Noah ignored her comment. "Why me?"

A/N: How was it? Good, bad? Please review!