AN: I've seen many stories where Artemis is clueless about love, and I've always disliked that. While she's never experienced it herself and tends to believe that it's a bad thing, she's still thousands of years old and definitely understands it. It might be a little difficult to accept that she's falling in love, but it won't be a 'what the fuck is happening to me I need to go to Aphrodite for advice' type deal.

The burn has been and will be relatively slow, because on Percy's side, he doesn't want to scare her off and is treading very carefully. On Artemis' side, not only is she inexperienced with falling in love, she also believes that Percy is already taken and has been holding herself back for the sake of preventing adultery. But things are starting to pick up…

/

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

By the time Thalia had woken up, the Hunters' camp was already bustling with activity. This was going to take some getting used to. At least this time she wasn't awoken on the morning of her quest by firecrackers at sunrise.

She made her way out of her tent and to the dining tent, where the rest of the Hunt was eating breakfast. After a healthy breakfast of oats and various fruits, Thalia returned to pack her things for the quest.

When she was done, she began heading towards Percy and Artemis, who were waiting at the outskirts of the camp, seemingly ready to depart for the quest. They were talking in hushed tones and were standing with their heads rather close to each other.

"So," Thalia smirked as she approached. "When's the wedding?"

Artemis blushed bright golden but Percy just smiled… fondly?

"Next April," Percy replied without missing a beat. "We were thinking a spring wedding might be nice. Would you be my maid of honor?"

Thalia gaped at him for a moment before the two cousins burst into a fit of giggles.

Artemis looked amusedly as her newest hunter broke down in hysterics with her best friend until her eyes trailed over to Percy. What would it be like to fall in love? To get married? No, she told herself, Perc– Perseus already had someone in his heart. It would not do to entertain idle fantasies. But why did the thought sadden her so?

Artemis brushed off her inner musings, cleared her throat, and spoke when she had the attention of the others.

"How do we plan to get to Alaska?"

Percy shrugged. "Running cross-country shouldn't be too hard with the two of us."

"How do you mean, Perseus?"

"Percy."

His correction for some reason now made butterflies flutter in her stomach. Could she…? No, impossible.

"Percy," Artemis repeated, smiling gently.

He nodded, satisfied. "You know that thing where you run with the Hunt and the distance in the forest bends to your will?"

Artemis nodded. It was how the Hunt was able to stay so mobile without expending immense amounts of godly energy.

"I can do a similar thing with time. There was this thing we did in the future where we combined our powers and we could travel long distances at about 400 times the rate of a running mortal."

Artemis looked intrigued. "What about Thalia? Would it have any adverse effects on her body?"

Percy thought for a moment. "We never did it with anyone else, much less a mortal, but I'm sure we can figure it out. We might have to go a bit slower, but she should be fine."

"Well, we are currently roughly at the border of New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York."

"Hmm…" Percy mused. "Now that she has your blessing, Thalia shouldn't need as many breaks. We can probably make it to Seattle by sundown and take a boat from there."

"Seattle?" Thalia asked. "Why Seattle?"

Artemis' eyes widened. "No. We are not going to Seattle."

"Come on, Arty," Percy complained. "It's strategically a good move."

"No, it's not, Perseus. Both they and I will cause problems if we go there."

Thalia chose this moment to interject. "Am I missing something here? What's in Seattle?"

"The headquarters of the Amazons," Percy replied. "They are powerful allies that will be helpful in the war."

Artemis' eyes narrowed and stayed trained on Percy even as she addressed her sister. "Thalia, I'm going to have a word with Perseus. Alone."

Percy blanched slightly as he was dragged off by the arm into the treeline.

/

"Percy," Artemis breathed.

Percy looked down into his love's beautiful, glowing silver eyes. She was close. So close that he could feel her hot breath brushing his cheek. So close that the temptation to close the distance and kiss her was killing him.

"Percy," Artemis repeated, placing her hand gently on her cheek, "Please don't make me go there."

She batted her eyelashes and bit her lip, pouting adorably up at him. He stood absolutely no chance. He never did. She had always had that effect on him.

"Okay." He nodded dumbly, leaning into her touch. "We don't have to go. I can talk to Hera about recruiting the Amazon's to the war effort."

Artemis beamed at him. "Thanks, Percy!"

She quickly pecked him on the cheek before sauntering back off to where Thalia was waiting for them, blushing madly and with a barely noticeable skip in her step.

Despite the excitement rushing through her, she couldn't help but frown slightly. Even though she was glad that Percy had agreed to her request, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in how easily he had succumbed to her feminine wiles, regardless of the fact that he was supposed to be loyal to his wife. Maybe he wasn't the man she thought he was, after all.

But no, she refused to believe that. Perhaps they were very good friends in the future. Percy had always gone above and beyond for those he cared about. Yes, she deduced, that must be it.

Meanwhile, Percy was still frozen in the same spot as where his wife had kissed him. The interaction had reminded him so fondly of the early days of their courting, causing hope to bloom in his chest. He had always been exceedingly agreeable with Artemis. Some called him a pushover, others called him whipped, but he loved her too much to care.

He made his way over to Artemis and Thalia, who was looking back and forth between him and his wife suspiciously.

"What happened?"

Percy snapped out of his stupor to face his spiky, black haired cousin. "Just hammering out some wedding details. Nothing to worry your pretty little face over, Sparky."

Thalia harrumphed but otherwise ignored his comment. "So? I assume Lady Artemis beat you into submission and we're not going to Seattle."

"You are correct," Percy nodded. "Though she didn't beat me into submission. Not that I would've minded, you know. Would've given her an excuse to touch me."

Percy winked at Artemis, who stared at him open-mouthed in shock. Thalia mirrored her Lady's expression to an almost hilarious degree.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Thalia demanded. "Lady Artemis has turned men into jackalopes and hunted them for lesser offenses!"

Percy shrugged nonchalantly. "There are worse ways to die. I wouldn't mind being hunted by the most beautiful woman on the planet."

Thalia continued to gape at him.

Artemis, though, was silent through the entire exchange, and Percy was suddenly very concerned that perhaps he had gone overboard in his enthusiasm from her earlier display of affection.

The truth was, though, that Artemis had stopped paying close attention early on in the conversation, having withdrawn into her own mind to ponder her thoughts. He was flirting with her. Did friends flirt with each other? She was beginning to reconsider the conclusion that she had drawn earlier. No, she decided, friends did not flirt with each other. Except maybe Aphrodite. But that was different; she flirted with everything that could hear her.

But Percy… a sudden thought struck her, and she didn't know whether to be horrified or delighted. Could she have been…? No, it was impossible. She was a sworn maiden, for Zeus' sake. It was far more likely that he had just turned out to be a promiscuous man like all males were. He had seemed awfully friendly with Apollo, after all.

Only when she dismissed the possibility did she notice the small tinge of disappointment that came with her resolution. She couldn't help but glance at Percy's handsome face and, with a start, realized that he was in his 18 year old form. Even more shocking was the fact that she suddenly realized that her own form had aged to perhaps 17 or 18 years old.

She blushed brightly at the implication. Maybe…? Why else would she feel so special around him? She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. They had a mission to focus on. Her existential crisis could come later.

Artemis cleared her throat. "Perhaps it is time for us to go?"

Percy's posture relaxed and he let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding. She wasn't angry– he could tell. No matter how good she was at hiding her emotions, he knew her too well.

"If we're not going to Seattle, where are we going?" Thalia asked.

"I still think it would be a good idea to get to the coast and take a boat to Alaska," Percy reasoned, "So maybe to Portland, Oregon?"

Artemis nodded in acceptance. "Better than going to the cesspool."

Percy snorted.

Thalia clapped her hands. "Alright, let's go!"

The trio took off into the forest, headed west. As they started running, a swirl of energy began to surround them and they quickly accelerated to speeds so fast that they became difficult to track with the human eye. They had completely disappeared from the sight range of the camp within a minute, even if there hadn't been a dense forest now separating them from the Hunters.

/

"I'm hungry," Thalia moaned as the group of three pulled to a stop.

"Thals," Percy scolded, "We just ate lunch like half an hour ago."

Thalia sniffed in response. "Us mere mortals can't run 2,000 miles on one meal, Percy."

"She has a point," Artemis interjected. "Plus, she cannot eat ambrosia for a meal as we can."

"Fine," Percy grumbled. "But at least I'm going to get some fun out of this. I'm going to go hunt some deer or rabbits, I'll be back soon."

Artemis started. "You can hunt?"

"Yup," Percy stated proudly. "My wife taught me."

He then left the clearing that they were resting in and took off into the forest, with Artemis' eyes staring blankly at his receding figure.

He had learned archery and hunting from his wife? Artemis still didn't know what his motivation for bringing her on this quest was, and on top of that, he was flirting with her earlier. Things were beginning to add up in a way that was simply too much to be mere coincidence.

Did she dare to ask him about it? No, she decided, things were best left unsaid for now. At this point in time, she would be unhappy with either answer as to whether or not she was the woman that Percy often spoke so lovingly about.

If he said no, she couldn't help but feel like she would be a little heartbroken. But if he said yes… could she offer him what he was looking for in her? And what about her hunters? What of her vow? But, it would mean that she was right about his character all along. And if it had happened before in Percy's past, surely he would be able to find a way to make it work again, right? There were too many questions and not enough time to think. This was not a situation to be dealt with right now, she finally decided.

/

Percy returned an hour later with a buck slung over his shoulder and two rabbits dangling from his left hand.

"Dinner time! We might as well camp here for the night. I think we're somewhere in Wyoming or Idaho and we should be able to make it to the coast easily tomorrow."

The others nodded in agreement as Artemis took the deer from Percy to begin skinning it and Thalia began to prepare spits for the animals to roast above the campfire that they had built.

/

Percy stood after he finished the last of his roasted venison, wiping his hands clean on a towel that he had conjured.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a bath. See you ladies later."

Thalia scrunched up her face at him. "Aren't you a god? Can't you do that thing where you clean yourself with a snap of your fingers?"

"Sure," Percy shrugged, "But I like the water. It's calm and soothing to me in a way that few things in this world are."

Artemis nodded in agreement as she stood to leave the campfire. "I am not a child of the sea and even I enjoy the feeling of bathing in a fresh lake."

Percy's eyes glossed over as he fought a losing battle in his attempt to expel from his mind the images and memories of Artemis' wet, naked body as she splashed around in a pond on a sunny summer day. Man, he was glad it was January and the water around here was cold.

Thalia snapped her fingers in front of Percy's face with an evil smirk on her own.

"Hey! Loverboy! You still gonna take a bath or are you gonna sit there daydreaming for the rest of the night?"

Percy jumped and blushed heavily, the golden tint spreading all the way down his neck.

"Right–uh… yeah. Bye!" And with that, he dashed off into the woods in search of a body of water far enough away that he could safely take care of his problem that he had somehow managed to conceal thus far.