AN: Guys I got my first negative review! Because this is such a big milestone, and also because I thought the review was kind of hilarious, I'm going to address it point by point.

Review from Guest (because duh): Seriously dude go take some writing lessons and understand that you can make more of every situation. You suck at writing so much the plot is good but do NOT underestimate Artemis. She is still a maiden goddess so she can't just start thinking that somebody is hot. She is restraining herself for so many millennia and now you just put that fact away as if it doesn't matter. Seriously you SUCK

Okay, we'll start with the first line. The irony of telling someone to take writing lessons in a statement that is so lacking in grammar is apparently lost on our Guest friend. I do accept that the only useful piece of advice is 'you can make more of every situation' and I appreciate the constructive criticism, especially the way you tell me what I'm actually doing wrong, instead of just saying I'm wrong.

It seems that the only thing Guest has a problem with is Artemis falling in love with Percy, since he/she/it actually complimented the plot. I'm actually kind of thankful that this review came at this time because it does give me an opportunity to explain why the Pertemis is moving so fast.

First, since when does virgin = asexual? Just because she's been a virgin for many millennia does not mean she can't aesthetically appreciate the other sex.

Second, I kind of hinted at the beginning that there was some supernatural/divine reason they were attracted to each other, which I won't go into detail about, but gives me an excuse to speed along the process.

Thirdly, the people want Pertemis. If it was to be realistic and follow the myths and the PJO books, Percy would be a demigod and Artemis would still kill any male who tried to flirt with her. I think bending the rules for the sake of fanfiction is excusable.

Lastly, since I SUCK and this review was on the most recent chapter, I can only reason that you're waiting for my permission to stop reading. So you have it. Toodles!

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

"Does it usually take this long to bathe?"

Artemis looked up to where Thalia was staring off into the woods. Now that she thought about it, Percy had been gone far longer than he should've been. Sudden dread began to creep into her stomach. What if something had happened to him? What if he was hurt? Or worse?

Had she been able to think rationally about problems that pertained to Percy, she would've realized that he was more than capable of handling any threat that he could have encountered in the wilderness of Yellowstone, but alas, her nerves were still rather frayed regarding the subject of her male questmate.

She jumped up from her seat on a felled log. "I will go check to make sure he has not encountered any danger."

As Artemis ran off into the woods in the same direction Percy had earlier, Thalia, who was significantly less partial when it came to Percy, narrowed her eyes. Then raised an eyebrow. Then squinted her eyes. Then frowned. Then finally settled on a rather constipated look.

Artemis going to spy on a bathing male? Usually it was the other way around… Hmm…

/

As it turned out, Percy wasn't bathing. Or rather, he wasn't bathing anymore.

When Artemis followed the babbling brook to where it flowed into a pristine pond, she caught sight of the black haired god lying down by the side of the water with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. His legs were submerged up to his calves, where his black cargo pants– the only clothes he was wearing– were rolled up.

Her eyes roamed over his shirtless form, admiring the numerous scars littering his toned body. He was lined with lithe muscle that made him appear strong and sturdy, yet not bulky. A swimmer's build, she noted to herself silently.

Artemis started when her gaze lifted to his face and saw his piercing green and gold eyes staring back at her amusedly.

"Like what you see?" Percy quirked an eyebrow.

Artemis blushed and stammered, stumbling over her words while she attempted to change the subject as she sat down next to him. Or at the very least, divert the attention away from herself.

"Why do you keep the scars? You must know as well as I do that you can return your skin to an unblemished state using your godly powers."

Percy raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, studying her. "I fix some of them. Like if I burn myself cooking, or get a cut while sparring. But the ones that I keep are important. Every single one has a memory that comes with it. A lesson, an achievement, or a reminder.

"Like the streak in my hair," Percy pointed to the gray patch that was adorned in his messy, black mop in all of his forms, including his current 20 year old one. "From when I took the sky from you in my first life. It came from an important event in my life, like all of the scars I keep. They tell the story of who I am, and keeping them ensures that I never forget that."

Artemis nodded in understanding. She kept several of her own for similar reasons.

"Plus," Percy smirked mischievously, locking eyes with her, "My wife always thought they were hot."

Artemis didn't know why she blushed; maybe it was because of the way Percy's eyes dilated as he stared into her own, maybe it was because of the fact that she thought his scars were hot, or maybe it was because there was slowly becoming less and less doubt in her mind that she was indeed the one who held a special place in Percy's heart.

She suddenly realized that their faces were mere inches apart. And that Percy still did not have a shirt on. Her hand somehow found its way to his muscular chest as she began to lean over him. Her other hand was planted on the ground next to his body. As her head slowly moved down, Percy's came up to meet her halfway. Her lips brushed his so briefly, so gently, but it was enough.

The kiss was jarring to her, but it just felt so right. Her own eyes were beginning to dilate, much like Percy's, the black of her pupils threatening to take over the silver of her irises. She was leaning forward again when–

"PERCY! LADY ARTEMIS! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Artemis started upright as her face took on a panicked expression. She instantly jumped off of Percy and slid away from him, attempting to leave no evidence of what had just occurred between the two of them. Percy calmly stood up and put on a shirt, turning to face the direction that the sound had come from.

"Over here, Thals!"

Several seconds later, a breathless Thalia burst into the clearing that contained the small pond.

"Are you guys okay? What happened?"

"We're fine, Pinecone Face."

Thalia couldn't help but notice Percy's slightly annoyed tone and looked back and forth between the two gods. Percy was staring blankly back at her with a nonchalant eyebrow raised, but Artemis looked more flustered than she had ever seen a divine being, and seemed to simultaneously want to be in Percy's arms and to be as far away from him as she could possibly get.

Thalia's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What were you two doing?"

"We kissed," Percy deadpanned.

"Ha!" Thalia barked out a laugh. "Good one, Perce."

The smile slowly slid off her face as she realized that not only had Artemis not denied Percy's claim nor punished him, she was blushing a brilliant golden color.

"No…"

Percy's eyes trailed to where Thalia was staring disbelievingly and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Arty! You gave us away!" Percy whined.

Artemis finally snapped out of her state of embarrassment. "Me?! You literally said 'we kissed'! How is this my fault?!"

"You heard Thalia! She would've thought I was joking if you just played along! I literally gave you carte blanche to turn me into a jackalope!"

"She would've figured it out eventually! What reason would you have to make up a lie like that?"

"What reason would I have to actually kiss you?" By the time Percy realized what he'd said, it was already too late.

Artemis' eyes flashed darkly as she stalked up to him and slapped his face, before spinning around and storming out of the clearing.

Thalia sucked in a breath between her teeth. "Yikes. Poor choice of words."

Defeatedly, Percy plopped down onto the ground and buried his face in his hands. "Fuck."

/

Artemis was just outside her tent sharpening her hunting knives, looking across the campsite at Percy, who was staring blankly into the dancing flames of the campfire. Thalia had already gone to sleep and was snoring lightly in the adjacent tent.

Suddenly, the sound of giggling could be heard over the quiet chirps of the woodland creatures and the gentle crackling of the fire. Artemis' and Percy's heads snapped up and spied a small group of wood nymphs staring at Percy and giggling.

One of the dryads broke off from the group and began to make her way towards him with a predatory look in her eyes.

"Hello Lord Perseus." She bit her lip coquettishly. "My friends and I were wondering if you might join us and have some fun."

Artemis' heart began pounding loudly in her chest. What was this feeling? Panic? She couldn't remember the last time she had felt panic. She averted her eyes to the ground. It was too painful to watch. This was all her fault. She was aware of the growing feelings she had for Percy, but now it was all going to waste and he was going to go off and sleep with someone else. She mentally berated herself. She should have accepted his apology earlier instead of brushing him off. Then maybe it would be her with Percy instead of that stupid nymph.

If she had been watching carefully, she would've seen Percy studying the nymph with an impassive face and a vacant look in his eyes.

"No thanks." Percy said shortly.

Artemis' head shot up and she stared as the rebuffed nymph pouted and turned, walking away with a seductive sway of her hips. She fixed her attention back on Percy who had returned his blank gaze back to the glowing embers that now remained of the campfire.

She worried at her bottom lip. After seeing him turn away a perfectly willing offer, she couldn't help but think back to how Percy had no such qualms with kissing her. His offhand comment seemed so insignificant now that she had seen how close she could've been to losing him.

Whoa. Losing him? He wasn't even hers in the first place. Well, maybe she was, in his future. Would it be so bad for it to be that way in her own future? It couldn't hurt to try, she decided, as she stood to go join Percy at his place by the fire.

/

"I'm sorry."

Percy looked to the side as Artemis sat down next to him.

"What for?" he asked.

"For overreacting. I know that's not what you meant."

Percy nodded. "I'm sorry too. I should've been more careful with my wording."

There was silence for a minute as they stared into each other's eyes.

"It was me, wasn't it, Perseus?"

Percy bit his lip and nodded slowly. "Yes it was. And it always will be."

Artemis' heart swelled and she couldn't help but to lean forward and press her lips against Percy's once more. Percy sighed happily into the kiss as he embraced the familiar feeling of security and contentment.

When Artemis finally pulled away, Percy let out a weak whimper, which Artemis giggled at.

"Tell me about us, Percy."

Percy smiled, staring into her glowing silver eyes with the life dancing once again behind his own.

"Are you sure?"

Artemis nodded. "I need to know."

Percy sighed and gained a faraway look in his eyes, smiling fondly, before he began to tell her their story.

"It was a long time ago for me now; I guess the story technically starts a while before our story really began. For a while, I was dating Annabeth, who also received godhood as a boon after our war with the gigantes."

"Athena's daughter?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah," Percy nodded, "The one you took the sky from."

"What happened with her?"

Percy sighed sadly– not from heartbreak, no, but rather from the lament of losing something that he had invested so much into. "We were too different. She wanted to change the world, and I wanted a calm and peaceful life and to help the common people. While we remained friends, a romantic relationship just wasn't right for us."

"So how did we end up together?"

Percy smiled at her eagerness. "I didn't see much of you for a long while. We said a few words to each other before or after council meetings over the years, but not much other than that. As you can probably guess, I have less duties regarding my domains than some gods do, such as your duties with the moon and with your hunt."

Artemis nodded.

"There was very little to do for my time domain; I only had to check out any disturbances in the timestream, which were very infrequent. But, I realized that with my fate domain, that if I wanted to, I could rescue people in need."

By this point, Artemis had her head resting on Percy's shoulder, listening attentively to his every word.

"So that's what I did. I found people, mostly children, who were being beaten, starved, hurt, or worse, and I guided them to a better life. I couldn't give all of them everything they wanted since it would upset the balance of fate too much, but I did what I could for whoever I could."

Artemis smiled at him. "That is very sweet, Perseus."

"Percy." He corrected, smiling back at her and staring into her eyes. He was so tempted to kiss her, but alas, he had a story to tell. "Eventually, I had an epiphany. I could give young girls a great life without throwing the course of fate into disarray. An immortal life, in fact."

"The Hunt," Artemis realized.

"Indeed," Percy nodded. "I began to bring girls to the Hunt. I got a few arrows in my legs and shoulders the first few times, but eventually, I was welcomed with open arms due to the fact that I was bringing so many new additions to the family."

Artemis chuckled. "I think you should come spend some time around my girls. We only ever hunt the scum of the Earth and never actually cross paths with the decent men that are out there, so it leads to them having a rather twisted view on males. Not that they shouldn't, most males are still disgusting."

Percy laughed. "Now who's inviting me to the Hunt?'

"Shut up." Artemis slapped his shoulder playfully as she recalled their conversation with Chiron in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood when she had accused Percy of inviting himself to the Hunt.

"Anyways, in my efforts to save young maidens, we began to work together closely and I ended up travelling with the Hunt when I wasn't off rescuing children. We grew close, and the rest, they say, is history."

"We got married?" Artemis double checked.

Percy nodded and pulled his necklace out from under his shirt. Artemis realized that he had been wearing it when they were down by the pond, but she hadn't observed it closely. Now that she did, she saw that it had two rings, the sun charm she knew her brother Apollo also had around his neck, and a moon charm that matched the around on her own.

"Our wedding rings?" Artemis stared at the silver and gold bands that were glowing faintly with their own power.

Percy smiled wistfully. "Yeah. I hope to give yours back to you someday."

Artemis gasped dramatically and raised an eyebrow. "Proposing to me already, Perseus? Before the second date? What would people say?"

Percy snorted at her mock scandalized expression. "We haven't even had our first date, Arty."

She leaned forward until Percy could feel her hot breath on his face and smell her intoxicating scent that faintly resembled cinnamon and pine.

"Then we'll have to change that, won't we?" Artemis breathed.

Percy leaned closer to her, moving to close the distance between their lips. "I guess we will."