A/N: Hey all! Sorry I haven't posted in a little bit, I've been crazy busy these past few weeks! Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed, I really appreciate any and all feedback you guys give me! I apologize that this chapter is a little shorter than the usual, but it was the only way to break up the story in a way that makes sense. I'll write a little note on what's coming up in the next chapters at the end, so for now, enjoy!

Leo woke up to the smell of cinnamon.

He kept his eyes shut, almost wishing to drift back into sleep. It was the first night in two weeks that he hadn't had a nightmare, he was sure this was the best sleep he'd gotten in his life. He inhaled the sweet scent of cinnamon and snuggled in closer to Calypso in an attempt to get back to sleep.

'Wait. Calypso?!' He opened his eyes quickly. 'Oh.'

There she was, still asleep and looking as gorgeous as ever—did this girl ever have a bad hair day? At some point in the night, he guessed, him and Calypso had drifted off to sleep and they'd somehow ended up with Calypso rolled into his chest and his arm draped over her. Once more, he wished he could remember loving her.

'She's been through so much because of me….' He gazed gently at her and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She smiled lightly in her sleep. 'I wish there was some way to pay her back...'

Then, he got an idea: every morning, Calypso would wake up before him and prepare breakfast for the both of them. So, since he'd woken up first this time, he could make some for her!

Excited at the prospect of surprising her, Leo gently removed his arm from around her and stood up slowly so as to not wake her. She shivered, it was still before sunrise and there was still a chill in the air, so he grabbed his discarded army jacket a few yards away and gently draped it over her. After she snuggled into it and Leo was sure she wouldn't be waking up, he stole away towards her garden.

He picked a decent variety of his and Calypso's favorite fruits, and made especially sure to get plenty of green grapes since she'd told him those were her favorites. Then, feeling that it wasn't quite enough, he looked about for something else to serve. At the edge of the garden he noticed a small basket and when he looked into it he saw a six eggs sitting neatly inside it. He wasn't quite sure where the eggs had come from, but figured he had Calypso's mysterious air spirits to thank for them. He hadn't yet figured out who or what those were, but after Calypso dismissed them and advised that he not worry about them, he had cast them out of his mind.

Regardless, he figured it was safe to use the eggs, so he picked up the basket and called out a "Thank you" to the mysterious beings and went about his way. He quickly rummaged around Calypso's wall of supplies inside the cave and found some salt and pepper and took those out to the garden with him.

Now to cook the eggs. He looked around, hoping to find a standard kitchen or a kitchenette or even an electric griddle or something, but no such luck. All he saw was some kind of fire pit located at the edge of the garden. It looked recently used and Leo had a vague recollection of there being a fire coming from there a few nights ago when Calypso made stew.

"Alright fire pit, fire powers, no problemo!" he smiled eagerly and lit a fire.

He saw a heavy, cast iron skillet near the fire and smiled, "There you are, you beautiful thing! Two sunny side eggs coming right up!" He picked it up eagerly and threw it right into the fire, feeling confident since the fire would never harm him.

He then quickly cracked two eggs straight into the skillet and threw some salt and pepper over them, once the eggs were done, he picked the skillet up and tried to gently slide the eggs into a plate, but in the process cracked the yolk.

"Aww man! They're ruined!" He wailed, what was the point of eggs when the yolk was already cracked?

So he tossed them aside and put the skillet back in the fire, adding two new eggs into it. As it was, he was a bit too eager when cracking the second egg, and it exploded in his hand, and of course, bits of shell landed on the other egg, cracking the yolk. He sighed and tossed those too.

He glanced back at the basket, "Okay, two eggs left. I can do this!"

Carefully, he cracked the eggs onto the skillet, seasoning them just right. After they looked done, he picked the skillet up from the fire once more and oh so slowly eased them out onto the plates.

"Awww yeah! Call me Chef McShizzle! Sunshine's about to taste the best breakfast she's ever had in her life!"

He put out the fire and carefully maneuvered his plates of eggs over to Calypso's breakfast table, gently placing them down. In an attempt to get just a little fancy, he began to slice up strawberries, grapes and kiwis, placing them in colorful arrangements next to his beautiful, perfect eggs. He even picked a few flowers and placed them in a vase.

Once he was done setting everything up, he took a couple of steps back to look over his work. Pleased, he turned around to go wake up Calypso, but noticed her approaching from just a ways off.

"Well good morning, Sunshine!" he called eagerly—he was maybe a little excited about surprising her.

As she got closer, Leo realized she'd slipped on his army jacket. On her petite frame, the jacket looked huge on her: the sleeves were dragging past her arms and the bottom of the jacket hung low on her body. He had never realized just how tiny she was; with her beauty and her personality, Calypso had always seemed larger than life to him. But there, with her sundress wrinkly from being slept on, her hair escaping from its braid and with that giant jacket draped over her she just looked so…fragile.

'Yeah right,' he snorted internally, 'as if Calypso could ever be fragile. She'd break me just for thinking that.'

"Good morning, Hot Head," she said with a yawn, "what's all this?"

He grinned proudly, "I made breakfast! Surprise!"

She raised a delicate eyebrow as she approached her seat, "Is it edible?"

"Aww come on, Sunshine, have you no faith?" he pouted at her.

She laughed softly, "Thank you, Leo. It looks lovely."

"Well dig in then!" he said excitedly.

She picked up her fork and broke off a small piece of the egg, and began chewing it slowly, her face breaking into the slightest of grimaces.

"Well? Is it any good?" he stared at her, waiting to gauge her reaction.

"Leo," she asked after she swallowed heavily, "how long did you leave the eggs in the skillet to cook?"

"Not too long, just about a minute or two…." He trailed off, now unsure of himself.

She cleared her throat delicately, "Right, and how long had the skillet been in the fire?"

He thought back, "I dunno, maybe like ten minutes?"

She nodded, "Yes, well that would explain it."

"Explain what?" he was starting to get a little annoyed, his eggs were totally cooked to perfection, what was there to complain about?

"Well, Leo, what happens when the skillet gets too hot is that" she turned her plate closer to him and lifted up the edge of her egg, "your food gets burnt."

He glanced down and realized that the entire bottom of the egg was entirely black, "Oh."

She giggled, "Aww it's okay Hot Head, it's the thought that counts, right?"

He sighed and crossed his arms in frustration, " I guess."

"How about," she said, "from now on, I'll handle the cooking and you can handle the building?"

"Fine, but the second we're out of here and find a decent kitchen, I'm cooking you my world famous enchiladas!"

Soon after that day he woke up in the beach, Leo lost track of the days. He and Calypso resumed working on Festus, if only at a slightly slower pace than before. He had realized the day they'd resumed work that Calypso seemed overly pensive, and would often drift off into her thoughts and stop working altogether.

He tried asking her what was on her mind a number of times, but every time he asked she would stare intently at him, nod her head, smile lightly at him, and say "Nothing you need to worry about."

It bugged Leo to no end when she would do this, but he soon gave up trying to figure out what was on her mind, she seemed determined to keep it private. And either way, Leo found that he was entirely too preoccupied with his own demons half the time.

Little by little, memories of his childhood were leaking in though his dreams. The nightmares had returned with a vengeance since that night under the stars, and he was beginning to piece together large chunks of his past. It frustrated Leo to no end that the memories that came back to him were no less than 5 or 6 years old, so he still lacked memories of anything that had happened to him in the more recent years. Add to that the fact that most of these memories were downright terrible and that he would often wake up two or three times a night and Leo felt like he could scream at any moment.

Leo's rapidly increasing exhaustion significantly slowed down his progress, and he was almost glad that Calypso was too preoccupied to call him out on it, he didn't want to snap at her like he had the last time. The more he worked with her though, the more his respect and admiration for Calypso increased. She was never more beautiful than when she would smile up at him at the end of the day with grease stains on her face, he was sure that without that sight he would have lost his drive completely.

Sometimes, Leo couldn't help but dwell on his and Calypso's relationship. Whenever she looked frustrated he wanted to do nothing more than to pull her into his arms, and when she laughed he had to hold himself back from kissing her outright. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her, it seemed like that day on the beach was suspended in time, like it wasn't a part of the real fabric of reality. They had fallen back into their usual banter, and while he immensely enjoyed speaking with her, he wished he could just be with her.

And yet, he always pulled back. That guilt that sat heavy in his gut would always emerge whenever he thought to show any affection towards her. How he wished he could remember something else!

Later that night, Leo woke up from yet another nightmare. He sat up in his bed, panting for breath, his throat felt raw and he was sure he'd been screaming. He only hoped that—

"Leo?" Calypso's voice, muted and timid came from the entrance of his room, "Are you okay?

He allowed a small flame to emerge from his fingertip, just enough to make out Calypso's small figure in the darkness, "Hey Sunshine, sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep, I'm fine."

She ignored his words and stepped further into the room, "I'm not blind, Leo Valdez. I know you haven't been sleeping lately."

He gave her a reluctant half smile, "I was kind of hoping you didn't notice."

"Do you want to talk about it?" her voice was still quiet, more gentle than he'd ever heard it.

"It was just a dream, nothing you need to worry about. I promise."

"You know," she sat at the edge of his bed and he scooted over to make room for her, "you don't have to act so strong all the time. You're a special kind of hero, Leo, and unfortunately that can come with a heavy burden."

He sighed, "I guess. Maybe. I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, "I've been remembering some things from my past. It was…I didn't think it would be so hard, remembering things."

She moved further into the bed and nestled herself at his side, her head resting lightly on his chest, "Start from the beginning."

So he told her. He told her of his childhood, of the brief memories he had of his mother and how she taught him Morse Code and let him help her around the shop. Of how she was always happy, even though she was constantly struggling to make ends meet. He told her of his crazy Tia Callida, and how she'd thrown him into the fire and made him fight rattlesnakes. And then…

"The day my mother died," he spoke slowly, "there was a fire. I think that…I caused it." He swallowed, "Calypso, I think that I killed my mother."

There, the thought that had been haunting him for days was finally out in the open. Every night he would dream of the fire that killed his mother, and every night he would wake up in a cold sweat, knowing to a certainty that he had killed his own mother.

Calypso sat up slowly, and he stiffened, unsure of how she would react. "Leo," she locked gazes with him and there was something in her eyes that he'd never seen before, "you may have done many things in your life that you may not be proud of. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that you did not kill your mother."

He shut his eyes, wanting to believe her, "How can you know that though? How can you know for sure? I keep seeing that fire over and over every single night. The fire that I started. Why would I start a fire for no reason? It was all my fault!" He wiped furiously at his face, embarrassed that some tears had leaked out.

After a short pause, she spoke, "I'd like to try something."

He looked up at her, confused at her sudden calmness, "Try what?"

"I want you to understand that I cannot bring all your memories back," she said evenly, "The magic of the River Lethe is much stronger than my own. But, I do still have the ability of seeing into the past. I can only see brief windows, and often what I see may not make much sense. I cannot use this gift often for fear that it will offend the gods. But I think that this situation calls for it."

"What…what exactly are you saying?"

"Leo," she spoke, "I noticed there was something eating away at you since your first week back on this island. I figured that you just wanted your memories back, but I see now that it's the memories you do have that are haunting you. I have absolutely no doubt that what happened to your mother was not your fault. The River Lethe is sinister, and often the memories that come back to you are not complete. If you'd let me, I would like to delve deeper into that memory, so that you can see what I know to be true."

"You would do that for me? Risk angering the gods?"

"Of course."

He hesitated, "Will it hurt?"

"No Leo, you will feel nothing. Are you ready?"

He nodded, "Okay, do your worst."

She smiled grimly at him and placed her hands on his temples, "Close your eyes," she whispered.

He obliged her and shut his eyes. Immediately, the content of his nightmare sprang back into his mind and once more he saw himself at eight years old. But then, he noticed another presence in the memory, a sinister presence that frightened his younger self immensely. She spoke of the future and told him of how she would "break" him. Frightened, Leo had reacted by using his fire against her, but she seemed to swoop towards him and manipulate the fire to her own means. Then, the ceiling came crashing down and he was blacked out.

He opened his eyes quickly, "What—who was that?!"

"That," Calypso spoke stiffly, "was my dearest grandmother, Gaea. She meant to rise and bring about the second Age of Giants. She sought to tear down Olympus and mankind, and she knew that you were destined to defeat her."

She sat forward and gripped his hands tightly, "Leo, it won't make up for what she took away from you, but know that you stopped her. What she did to you is unforgivable, but take comfort in the fact that it was not your fault. Your mother dying, you defeating Gaea, it was all Fate. You can't control the Fates, no one can."

He breathed out, feeling as if an enormous weight had been lifted off his chest, "I know. I think…I think I understand what you mean. I feel like I had made peace with this before, like I knew it was out of my control." He squeezed her hands that were still gripping his, "Thank you for this Calypso, you have no idea how relieved I feel."

"Anything for you, Hot Head," She smiled dizzily at him and suddenly collapsed forward.

"Calypso!" he caught her quickly, "Are you okay? What happened?'

"It's nothing," she murmured softly, "that took more out of me than I thought. Really strong magic, that Lethe."

"You told me it wouldn't hurt to look through my past!"

She closed her eyes tiredly, "No, I told you it wouldn't hurt you."

He sighed, frustrated, "Is there something I can do to make it better? Do you need anything? What can I do?"

"I'll be fine," she said slowly, "I just need some rest."

He settled her more comfortably into the bed and made to stand up, but Calypso's surprisingly strong grip on his wrist stopped him, "What is it, do you need something?"

"Stay."

"Okay."

Leo settled back down into the bed and felt Calypso snuggle up to him once more, and he slung his arms around her and breathed in that sweet scent of cinnamon.

"Hey, Sunshine?" he whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you." He closed his eyes and fell into his first peaceful sleep in weeks.

A/N: Yay for cuddling! I'm just about ready to get these two out of that godforsaken island, so in the next chapter they'll be finishing up their preparations—get excited for Camp! The next chapter after that will be from the point of view of one of my favorite characters who will be at Camp Half-Blood. 10 points to Slytherin for whoever can guess who that is!

As always, thanks for reading and please leave me a note with your thoughts!