Hello and Good morning

*SPOILER* This story is based on a ship from Tower of Nero so if you haven't read that book yet, I advise not reading past this.

...

Okay! Welcome to spoiler land! This story is going to be about Piper and Shel. I personally think that Jasper will always be superior but I also love Shelper. I wanted to try my hand at writing them, so here it is!

Written by Fae.

Disclaimer: We do not own these characters.

Christmas Countdown: December 10th, meaning 15 days until Christmas!

Enjoy and please review!

"Oh god no." I mutter as I see a certain someone walk through the door.

"What is it?" Shel asks, leaning in close to try and see what I'm looking at.

"Jason just walked in. I didn't know he'd be here!" I whisper, leaning towards her.

"Uh oh. You guys never really made up, huh."

"Yeah, it was a messy break up." I look back over at him. He's talking with Percy and Annabeth. "I don't think we ever made it out of that awkward yet emotional stage. I don't even know where we stand."

"Well I know where. He's standing across the room from you and you're standing next to me." She flashes a smirk.

I shove her playfully. "Oh come on." She laughs and lets herself be pushed. The playful feeling doesn't last long. "What at I going to do, Shel?"

"Uh, apparently talk to him." She puts a hand on my shoulder and points him out. He's walking towards us.

"Crap."

Shel tries to back away but I catch her arm. "Nuh uh. You're staying here." She groans but comes back to my side.

"Piper," I hear Jason's unmistakable voice.

I turn to come face to face with him. I clear my throat. "Hi Jason."

"Hi yourself."

"Didn't expect you to be at Percy and Annabeth's Christmas party." I say, looking up at his electric blue eyes.

"Well I am friends with them, Piper." He gives me a look and I return it with one of my own. "Speaking of friends, are you going to introduce me to..." he gestures at Shel.

"This is Shel, my uh," I look over at the dark haired girl. We've been friends, and occasionally a little bit more. We haven't really put a label on ourselves. I look back at Jason. Old feelings of regret, anger, and slight jealousy arise.

"Piper?" Shel whispers, shaking me a little bit.

I shake my head. "Sorry. This is Shel." I look back and forth from Shel and Jason. My head starts to spin. "Excuse me."

"Woah, you okay?" Shel holds me up as we walk away. She leads me to the balcony of Percy's and Annabeth's apartment.

I sit down on one of the deck chairs. "No, I'm not okay."

Shel squats in front of me. "Want to talk about it? Is it about Jason?"

I groan, throwing my head back. I stare at the nighttime sky. "It's complicated. Yeah, I broke up with him, but I still get jealous of him and his perfect life."

"Hey, what's up with this? You're life is amazing. You're happy... aren't you?" Shel takes my hands, squeezing them gently.

"Ugh, that's the thing. I feel too happy. He's not a bad person, it's just weird because we both moved on so quick. It doesn't feel right." I close my eyes, letting the cold winter air brush my face. I look back at Shel. I can barely make out her face in the dark. "My emotions are so messed up right now. I don't even know how I feel."

Shel looks me in the eye. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm always here for you. But I know how I feel. And I like you Piper. An insanely intense liking. You could probably call it love. And I won't let Jason being here interfere with us having a good time."

I wipe my eyes, tearing up. "Thank you Shel. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Of course," she smiles, but then mischief crosses her face, "How good is your acting?"

"Are we seriously doing this?" I ask Shel as she slips her ring onto her ring finger.

"Yes. This will be fun." She smiles. "We're gonna pretend to be fiancée's. I mean, I hate labels, but this is for yours and Jason's sake. Plus, you can be really convincing."

"I hate you." I cross my arms. Shel gives me a look. "Fine. I'm in."

"Perfect." She kisses me, grabs my hand and leads me back into the apartment.

"Hey, are you okay? We saw you two leave." Percy rushes over to us.

"Yeah, I just needed some air." I smile. "Thank you."

Percy smiles back. "Uh..." he eyes Shel's ring. He stares at us.

"Just go along with it." I tell him.

He shrugs. "You guys are weird. Whatever." He goes back to Annabeth.

Shel and I walk around until we find Jason in the kitchen. "Hey, Jason, sorry about earlier." I tap his shoulder.

He turns around to face us. He smiles with relief. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just needed a minute."

"I hope it wasn't about us," Jason furrows his brow. "Want a drink?" He offers a wine glass.

"No thanks." I turn down the wine. Jason shrugs and puts the glass down. "And no, it wasn't about us," I lie. "I wanted to introduce you to Shel, my S.O. Fiancée, actually." I try to keep from being embarrassed.

"F-fiancée?" Jason stutters, looking from me, to Shel, to the ring. I'm not sure, but I thought I saw a glint of hurt in his eyes. He clears his throat and stands up straight, "Well congratulations. I'm happy for you." His eyes say otherwise.

"Woah woah woah!" A familiar voice calls from behind me. "Who's getting hitched?"

We all turn and look for the speaker. Leo Valdez walks through the crowd to us. "Pipes, I'm offended, really. You didn't think to tell your best friend that you're engaged?" His voice sounds hurt, but he has a smirk on his face. "Come on now!"

"Sorry Leo," I roll my eyes at him, pulling him in for a hug.

"Eh." He shrugs. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm happy for you two."

"Thank you," Shel ruffles his hair. "Now if you don't mind, I would like some time with my fiancée."

"Of course." Leo smirks one last time before disappearing into the crowd.

Shel grabs me by the waist and we leave the kitchen. She leads me to a secluded hallway.

"This isn't so bad, is it?" Shel asks, leaning against a wall.

"Other than the fact that we're lying about being engaged, putting a fake label on ourselves, and will have to explain to everyone later how we're not getting married, yeah it's not so bad." I cross my arms and look at Shel.

"Oh c'mon. It'll be fine, relax. It's Christmas!" Shel grabs my hand and pulls me in for a kiss.

I kiss back, but only for a moment. I pull away and give her a look.

"What?" She asks, exasperated. "It's fine, trust me."

I take a deep breath, then look back at my not-really-fiancée. "Okay. Fine."

"Guys! Everyone is burning with questions!" Leo calls to us. "Come on out."

I look over to Shel. We shrug. We follow Leo back to the group.

"Congratulations!" Everyone shouts. Shel and I smile at people's genuine enthusiasm. One voice rings out to me though. Jason's. His voice isn't so genuine.

"Thank you, all!" I call back.

"When did this happen? You two weren't even officially dating." Frank asks, standing next to his own fiancée, Hazel.

"Well you all know how we hate labels." Shel starts. "And technically, if we had to put a label on it, we've been dating for a few years."

A murmur of agreement disperses through the crowd.

"Well," Annabeth says, "how did this happen?"

I glance at Shel, and she nods encouragingly. I take a deep breath and prepare a-hopefully-believable story.

"As you know, Shel and I have been "dating" for many years now." I make air quotations when I say "dating." "We never wanted to put any labels on ourselves, but in the end it's inevitable. We knew that if we were going to get engaged or married we'd have to have some sort of label."

The crowd, Percy and Annabeth, Frank and Hazel, Leo and Calypso, Nico and Will, Jason, Reyna, Gwen, Dakota, Grover, Rachel. They all listen intently. All eyes are on me. Shel's holding my hand, being moral support.

"We were on a vacation, staying in a cabin in the wooded mountains. We had found a nice spot in the woods near a lake and were having a picnic. Shel was looking out at the water... when I proposed."

Shel smiles, looking over to kiss me. We kiss as the group smiles and cheers. This may be a fake engagement, but it doesn't feel completely fake. There's something that makes it very real, very heartfelt. Maybe it's the fact that we're already romantically involved.

"That's so sweet!" Hazel comes over and gives us a hug. "Congratulations you guys."

I smile. "Thanks."

I look at the faces of all my friends. I catch Jason's eye. He's smiling and clapping along with everyone else, but his eyes are harsh. He's looking over at Shel and I, with an emotion I never thought I'd see on him. Jealousy. I try sending a personal smile in his direction. He smiles back, but the look in his eye doesn't waver.

The crowd slowly disperses, going back to whatever they were doing before. Jason doesn't move. He just stands there, looking at us as we look at him.

"Jason," I start, hoping to fix things with him when he interrupts.

"No Piper. Don't "Jason" me. I know we didn't end on the best of terms, and I'm glad you moved on. I did too." His blue eyes are steely, his figure rigid. "At least I thought I did."

"Wha-what do you mean?" I try not to let my voice tremble. I grip Shel's hand a little tighter.

"Piper, I don't know about you, but I'll always love you." He takes a few steps closer.

"Jason, explain yourself." I demand, getting worried.

"Pipes, I don't believe you. I don't think you actually love Shel. You two won't even admit you were dating. You've essentially been hooking up for years now, not making it official. I-"

"Jason, stop." I cut him off, worried about the fiery look in Shel's eye. I'm getting upset with Jason now. "You're not us, so you don't have the right to say how we feel. I do love Shel. And Shel loves me. Sure, we may not have "made it official" but we did. Labels don't make it official. It's the feelings that do. If the feelings aren't there, that label is meaningless, it won't keep the relationship together. And if you have a problem with us being together, then that's your problem. It's not my business to please everyone. And if Shel and I want to be together, then that's our business, not yours." I resist the urge to get up in his face. That would only make things worse. "We're leaving. Good-bye."

Jason just stands there, watching after us as we leave. Shel flips him a gesture that you probably shouldn't use on Christmas. We collect our things, apologize to Percy and Annabeth about leaving, then head out to the car.

"Oh my god! What is his problem?" I shout, slamming the car door. I buckle my seatbelt and grip the wheel.

Shel gets in the passenger side. "What you did in there was incredible." She says softly.

I huff, breathing out through my nose. "Thanks." I don't look over at Shel. I just stare ahead, strangling the wheel.

Shel puts her hand on mine. I stare at it. The anger and pent up tension releases. My grip loosens, and I actually turn to face Shel.

Tears brim her eyes. "Piper, what you said to him... it was beautiful. He didn't understand us, and if he still doesn't after that little speech, he never will." She looks down at her lap, then back at me. She hasn't moved her hand in the slightest. "I know you were hesitant about our little charade, but I think it did you some good. I still don't like labels, but I think maybe it helped you a bit."

I turn my hand over so I can hold hers. "Thank you, Shel. I'm so lucky and blessed to have you." I lean over and kiss her, my beloved not-so-fiancée. I pull away and face the front. "Let's go home."

6 months later

"Where are we going?" Shel asks, stumbling along. I'm standing behind her, my hands over her eyes. I'm leading her through the woods to a special spot.

"Just wait and see." I tell her for the thousandth time. "You'll see."

Shel laughs. "Okay, I'm trusting you here."

It's been 6 months since the Christmas party, and I haven't talked to Jason since. Shel and I have been living together, and it's been pure bliss. We've really grown together, not just as a couple, but as individuals as well.

I look around and smile. "Okay," I start to take my hands off Shel's eyes. "We're here." I pull my hands away, revealing a nice picnic spot near a lake in the middle of the wooded mountains.

Shel gasps, bringing her hands to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, it's beautiful." She walks towards a checkered blanket spread with lunch. "Oh, Piper," she sits down, admiring the lake, then the picnic set up, the looking back over at me. "Don't just stand there! Come sit!" She pats the spot next to her on the blanket.

I smile and sit down next to her. "It's lunchtime, want to eat something?" I ask, gesturing at the lunch before us.

"Yes please!" Shel grabs a sandwich and soda and starts eating. I smile and grab food for myself. "Why'd you do this?" She asks in between bites. "I mean, I love it, but what's the special occasion?"

I smile and shrug innocently. "Can't a girl treat her girlfriend to a fun picnic?" I take a bite of sandwich.

Shel smirks. "Of course." She goes back to eating. I hope and pray that she's not on to me.

We sit and eat, chatting lightly as we soak up the sun and the beautiful view. After we finish eating, I pack up all the leftovers and things in the picnic basket. I finish cleaning up, and turn to find Shel sitting peacefully, staring out into the lake. I smile, pull the ring out of the box, and get down on one knee.

"Shel, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me," I start.

Shel turns around, curious. When she sees me down on one knee, holding a ring in my hands, she bursts into tears.

"Six months ago, we pretended to be fiancées. At the time, I thought it was a stupid idea. But as the night went on, it felt more and more right. Sure, labels aren't for us, but having one-albeit a fake one-made our relationship seem so much more special. I couldn't deny it. I knew that being fiancées was the right thing for our future. You helped me get over that jerk of a Jason. I had denied myself of my feelings. I didn't need a man, I needed a fellow woman to complete my life. You, Shel, are that woman. Will you marry me?"

Shel kept crying, but she managed, "Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" She flung herself into my arms, and hugged me. I hugged her back, kissing her neck.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you recreated that silly scene from our fake proposal story." She wiped at her eyes, but more tears kept coming.

"Not so fake anymore," I said, taking her hand and putting the ring on her finger. "Shel, I love you, more than anything in the world." I held her hands, letting some tears fall down as well.

"I-I love you too." She says amid tears. "I can't believe you. You did all this, for me?"

"Of course, anything for you." I smiled and she smiled back.