A/N: yes I'm alive. Just be glad my computer survived Hurricane Harvey XD

Nearly an hour after she'd stepped back into the Hypnos cabin, Calypso finally saw the first stirrings of Leo's waking. She'd been holding his hand tightly, waiting for any sign of life, when a sudden squeeze nearly jolted her out of her senses. Immediately, a combination of excitement, fear, and something she couldn't quite place rushed through her. He was waking. Leo was waking. The real Leo. What would this mean?

Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately for the sake of her sanity), Calypso didn't have very long to ponder on what may happen between her and Leo when his consciousness fully awoke, because in that instance there was a rush of footsteps clambering up the stairs to the Hypnos cabin. Calypso turned and tried to hide the signs of her mild irritation when she realized that ALL of Leo's friends had taken it upon themselves to see him awaken.

Really, they couldn't wait for him to get his bearings before they bombarded him…? She very nearly rolled her eyes, but immediately caught herself. It truly wasn't her place to be angry, she figured, after all, they'd missed their friend and thought him dead…but still, they could have waited a bit more…

"Is he awake yet?" Jason asked eagerly as he approached Leo.

Piper sighed and sat up from the chair she'd occupied for most of the previous night, the one right across from Calypso on Leo's right side, "No, and you'd all better keep it down and don't overwhelm him! I mean really, I told you all to wait outside!"

Frank winced, but it was Hazel who spoke up, "Well we just couldn't wait any longer, we really just wanted to see if he was okay…I mean it's not like you'd want to wait outside!"

Piper smiled at the girl with a slight grimace, clearly realizing the hypocrisy in her own statements, Calypso wasn't sure what else was said, because the second she felt another squeeze in her hand, the rest of the world disappeared.

"Leo" she breathed it quietly, reverently, as though she was in prayer and asking a hidden desire from the gods, "come back to me."

There was a slight buzzing around her ears, and she felt her newly beating heart quicken as a third squeeze gripped her hand tightly. Calypso could very nearly see her hands shaking, and she was sure her palms were sweating, but she refused to move until she could see those big brown eyes open once more. The anticipation of Leo's awakening was very nearly killing her when the slightest of whispers, pierced through the buzzing in Calypso's ears.

"Calypso…"

She smiled, her entire being focused on the movement behind his lids. He seemed to be struggling to open them, but hearing her name come from his lips had at the very least unwound some of the tension built up around her. He'd spoken her name…that was important. He would not be lost to her once more, not like before…

His eyes opened slowly, just barely, but it seemed like even before they opened, they'd been zeroed in on her already. His smile was slow, lazy, the kind of smiles she loved to see on him (though she'd never tell him that, his ego didn't need that). "Hey Sunshine," his voice was quiet, slow, as if he was still half asleep.

"Hello, hero," she spoke just as quietly, as if they were the only two people in the room. "I've missed you."

"I hated you," he said slowly, his eyes laughing.

"You what?" her brows furrowed, he hated her?

He chuckled breathlessly, "When I first met you, I thought you were like every other pretty mean girl I'd met. I hated you."

She smiled broadly, "You remember."

"Yes," he chuckled, "I remember—"

But whatever he remembered was cut short by the untimely screech of "LEO!" That emanated from behind Calypso, as all of Leo's friends finally stopped their bickering long enough to realize their long-lost friend had awakened while they weren't paying attention. Almost immediately, Calypso felt herself surrounded on all sides as Leo's friends crowded around him.

There was plenty of screaming going on, and Leo's friends immediately bombarded him with questions "What were you thinking?!" "How do you feel?" "Remember that one time…?"

Calypso stepped back from it all and let out a breath she felt she'd been holding since the moment Leo returned to her island. He remembers now…everything will be okay. She smiled as she watched Leo animatedly describe his heroics during the Giants war, and how he'd so gallantly swooped into her island to rescue her (Yeah, right!). However, she did not interrupt—she figured after all he'd been through, Leo was entitled to some *ahem* embellishments.

Shaking her head at his antics, Calypso merely turned around and exited the Hypnos cabin. Once outside, she couldn't help but notice what a beautiful day it was: the skies were clear, the sun was shining…it was a perfect day for new beginnings.

"You can't possibly be that stupid."

Clarisse's voice was as sharp as the knives she wore around her waist, nonetheless one of the Stoll brothers persisted, "No, I'm telling you, if you'd just give us access to some of the Ares Cabin's land mines, we could totally rig them so that they—"

"I am NOT handing over dangerous explosives to you kleptomaniacs! Not after last time!" she yelled back.

Everybody around the room seemed to give off a collective shudder, "What happened last time?" Calypso murmured to Leo.

"Beats me," whispered Leo, "Hey, Superman, what happened last time?'

Jason rolled his eyes, "Pay attention, Flame boy."

Leo leaned back towards Calypso, "He hates when I call him Superman."

Calypso frowned and whispered back, "Why? Is that a bad thing to be called?" What's so bad about being called super?

"It has to do with a superhero comic book" Leo whispered back, "I'll show it to you sometime."

"There's a lot you need to show me, it seems" Calypso murmured back.

"Oh yeah, there's quite a LOT I can show you," he chuckled with an exaggerated wink.

Calypso smirked and leaned in closer to his ear, "Yeah? How about tonight?"

It had the desired effect, Leo coughed as if he'd been choked and his ears started smoking—literally.

"Ahem, if you two are done over there?" Piper's voice suddenly cut in from across the room.

"Yea—" Leo's voice cracked, he cleared his throat, "Um, yes, yeah, war stuff. What were we talking about?"

She had to fight back the urge to laugh. After all the fanfare following Leo's "back from the dead/amnesiac" reunion, Annabeth had quickly reminded them all that there was a war going on and that they'd better get back to strategizing before those 'damn Romans' beat them again. Since most of Leo's friends seemed to also be cabin leaders, Leo and Calypso had decided to tag along. (Especially after Annabeth insisted that Calypso put her war knowledge to good use).

Calypso turned to the rest of the room with the most innocent smile she could muster, "I agree with Annabeth, I think placing several groups of lookouts ahead and waiting until they give the signal is a great plan."

Annabeth gave her a knowing smile, "Right, thanks Calypso."

"I would, however suggest that perhaps we should also have some groups set up as a diversion—what I mean is, allow some groups to be caught relatively easily. Once the Romans begin to take a few groups out, they'll become lulled into a false sense of security. They'll think they've successfully taken out our watchmen, when in fact they've just been following the path we've laid out for them," she continued.

Annabeth nodded, "Right, and once they get to where we want them, we'll have them surrounded on all sides."

Clarisse hit her palm against her fist and grinned, "By that point, it'll be easy pickings for us. Our 'sacrifices' will have tired some of them out by the time they get to us."

"So how do we separate the groups out?" Will Solace chimed in, "I understand we're letting some people get beat on purpose, but we need to make sure there's no lasting injuries. Apollo knows we've been busy enough at the clinic with only one battle down."

"It should be a good mix of different skills," suggested Nico, "We can't have all archers in one group and all swordsmen in another…"

"And there should be some mixed levels of experience as well," said Percy, "if we just send the newbies out to get beat, it'll give away our strategy."

"Just out of curiosity," interrupted Leo, "is there a rule against giant metal dragons on the battlefield?"

Piper laughed, "They did say all is fair in love and war…"

"Well in that case, have I got some tricks up my sleeve!" Leo grinned impishly as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Calypso could practically see the gears turning in his brain.

"Wait," Travis Stoll piped in, "so if Leo can bring in a giant dragon, does that mean we can—"

"NO!"

"Well, that was an eventful dinner," Calypso said lightly as she threaded her arm around Leo's.

He rolled his eyes, "I'll say. I don't remember those Stoll brothers as being quite so murder-worthy."

Calypso giggled, "And here I thought they were being so nice!"

It had indeed been an eventful dinner. The war games council had taken up more time than they'd anticipated, as the Greeks (*ahem* Annabeth and Clarisse) wanted to plan out every movement of the coming battle down to the very second to ensure their victory. They'd been forced to take lunch in their meeting room, and thus hadn't had time for much else during the day.

That being said, Calypso and Leo did get to enjoy some time with Leo's friends after the meeting where they informed him of some of their personal triumphs and losses during the years he'd been missing. Slowly but surely, Piper had succeeded in even getting Calypso to join in on the conversation and become more friendly with Leo's friends. It was a small thing, but Calypso was immensely grateful to the daughter of Aphrodite for the effort.

Then, things had taken a turn during dinner. It was only during dinner that some of Leo's younger brothers and sisters were able to come catch up with him, at which point they mentioned that no one had dared touch his super-secret-ninja-something bunk at the Hephaestus cabin. This, in turn, led to the one question that hadn't occurred to Calypso this entire time:

"Hey, speaking of, Calypso, where are you going to be staying?" Percy asked.

Well, to be honest, Calypso was a little taken aback by the sudden question. Foolishly, she'd just assumed she'd be allowed to stay with Leo—after all, it's not like they'd had chaperones during their time in Ogygia or their time travelling…and they weren't exactly children, for that matter. Nonetheless, Calypso was wise enough to keep her mouth shut, seeing as there was no need to enlighten the entirety of the camp about the full extent of hers and Leo's…relationship.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Percy's question was spoken just a bit too loudly because all of a sudden, everyone started piping in with suggestions. Some were well intentioned, like Piper's offer that she stay in the Aphrodite cabin, but some…

"Well, seeing as unclaimed campers used to stay in the Hermes cabin, she can bunk with us!" Connor Stoll piped in.

"Your cabin's full!" Will Solace countered.

"Oh, no worries, she can share my bed!" Travis Stoll piped in cheekily.

"Hey, it was my idea she stay in the Hermes cabin! She gets to share my bed!" Connor shouted back.

"Well I offered first!"

"Yeah but I'm more handsome!"

"And I'm older!"

"Well I'm—"

Leo's hands suddenly slammed against the table as he shot up, "She will NOT be staying at the Hermes cabin." He glared at the brothers.

The Stoll brothers smiled unabashedly, "But it's tradition!"

"I'll show you tradition, you little—"

"That's enough, gentlemen" Chiron cut Leo off suddenly. "Clearly, it seems we have a special situation in our hands. Never before has a goddess willingly come to stay at Camp Half-Blood, and at the moment we don't have a cabin made out to her name."

"Oh you don't have to—" Calypso tried to speak up, but Chiron cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"This situation can be remedied quickly enough, but I think that for now, it's perhaps best that Calypso stay in the Big House until other arrangements can be made for her."

Calypso flushed at the sudden attention—she hadn't intended to get an entire cabin built in her name. However, she was not about to argue the finer points of whether or not her former godliness entitled her to a cabin, so she merely nodded and made a mental note to address the situation with Chiron at a later time…

"To be honest, I hadn't really thought about where you'd be staying either," Leo was staring at his shoes as a blush settled over his face, "I mean, I guess, I'd kind of thought, you know after all the time we've spent together…"

Calypso giggled at his sudden shyness, "Yes, you'd think after everything we'd be allowed to stay together, though I can see how it would seem…improper to your other bunkmates."

"Well…" Leo spoke as a grin slowly creeped onto his face, "to be fair, my actual bed is located underground, away from the rest of my siblings…"

"Is that right?" Calypso smiled knowingly, "You have a secret room all to yourself?"

"I mean sure, the only way to access this underground room is through my bed at the Hephaestus cabin, but you know…doors and tunnels are not exactly difficult to stumble into…" he grinned.

Calypso nodded in mock-seriousness, "Yes, and it wouldn't be unusual for a son of Hephaestus to go to sleep with a set of tools at his disposal…"

Leo laughed, "I'll see what I can figure out tonight. But we'll have to be careful, those harpies are pretty horrible about enforcing curfew."

"I'll have to work on my sneaking skills while you work on these secret passageways," Calypso chuckled.

"Well we'd best work quickly," he said, "the gods know I can't sleep without you near me."

Calypso smiled as she kissed his cheek, "Yes, I'm not sure I could sleep without your snoring in my ear. I think I'd miss it."

"I do NOT snore!"

Calypso laughed, "Come on, Hot Head, we've both got to rest up for that battle tomorrow. Who knows what they'll do to us if we mess up our roles?"

"Take that back, I don't snore!"

She laughed again and dragged him along.

Calypso smiled in satisfaction as she watched several members of the Roman army creep past her hiding spot. Her job had been relatively simple so far—hide near one of the 'sacrificial' groups and observe them while they got 'taken out' by the Romans. Whenever the Romans were distracted by the sacrificial group, she'd send a sneaky spell or two to injure the Roman soldiers. Because they'd been tousling with the small group of Greeks, they'd never think that there was someone outside the group causing them harm.

Up to this point, she'd helped take out a decent number of soldiers, and while there was a larger number of them that got past their 'sacrifices', several of the Roman soldiers bore injuries that would slow them down during the final phase of the Greeks' plan. Calypso nearly laughed as she imagined the ball of anticipation that Leo must be by now—he'd spent all morning tricking out Festus to make him battle ready. The plan was that after the Romans walked into the designated battlefield, not only would they be surrounded on all sides by the Greeks, but they'd also have Festus raining down attack after ruthless attack on them from above.

Although Leo was over the moon about being the designated "secret weapon," this did mean he had to remain hidden for almost the entirety of the battle. Calypso had half a mind to stay hidden with him, (and, indeed, he'd suggested as much during yesterday's strategy meeting), but in the end, they all agreed that Calypso's skills would be much more useful during this phase of the battle. Finally, in order to not attract attention to herself and her special set of skills, Calypso had agreed to be stationed alone and to rendezvous with Jason and Piper at a later point.

Calypso was just starting to consider heading to the rendezvous point when a sharp Crack! resonated somewhere behind her. Frowning, she checked to make sure all the Roman soldiers were still heading towards the remaining Greeks before she turned back to investigate the source of the noise.

She crept quietly through the trees and heard another distinct Crack! as she tried to pinpoint the location of the noise. As she followed the sound, she suddenly found herself at the bed of a small creek that ran through the forest. She looked around suspiciously, unsure of whether the noise came from a Roman soldier or from some animal that might be nearby.

She was just about to give up and turn back when a sudden voice behind her cut through her preoccupied thoughts, "Calypso?"

She froze, that voice…it couldn't be…?

"Antreas?"