The Story Of a Curse and Cure

by Free Silence

My first story, Trust me give it a read. A new Demigod shows up to camp, befriending Willow, a Daughter of Demeter with a problem no one can fix. I suck at Summaries just read the first 3 chapters and see if you like it. I would love some feed back.

Disclaimer I do not own the Percy Jackson series, or any of the songs mentioned

The Story of a Curse and Cure

Chapter 1 New Face

Willow Wundrow, daughter of Demeter, woke with a start, her mind a little fuzzy as she rolled over on her soft green bed and stared at her clock.

"5:26... Great" she thought with a sigh, knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep.

Reluctantly she sat up and looked around, not at all surprised no one else is up this early in the morning. Her feet quickly leaning off the bed and found her pair of flip flops and snuggled into them. Quiet as to not wake the others she slipped of her bed and quietly slipped out the door. Once outside she looked around to see the suns first light coming up in the east, not surprising as it was the middle of summer and Apollo always is more active in the summer.

The morning air was crisp, but Willow failed to notice as she quietly strode over to the only place she can get a few moments of clear though this early in the morning, the strawberry fields. Being a daughter of Demeter she loved anything to do with plants, and would often spend hours on end just tending the fields.

As she walked on the grassy path towards the fields she thought of life and how awesome it had become in the last 2 years, She had friends, and family. A place to call home. As she is thinking of her new home and her new family she passes the forges and the arena, both places sitting dormant and silent this early in the morning. As her mind begins to wander she unconsciously started picking up the pace as she saw the fields, easily her most favorite place in the whole world. Then she silently laughed at herself.

"A patch of soil, with some strawberry bushes, is worth more then any fancy building or city block." she thought as a small smirk spread on her face.

She finally reached the fields and walked in. She found her favorite plant, a small one that she had planted herself on her very first day in camp. Sighing she sits down and absentmindedly strokes a leaf, thankful for the silence.

"Good morning"

Willow yelped before jumping up and spinning around, her fists already clenched and her hands up. There sitting 6 feet away was a kid! His back leaning up against a post and his legs out in front of him, one knee up with his arm resting on it.

" What are you doing here?" Willow asked her eyes wide as she wondered how she hadn't noticed him.

"Sitting 'N you?" the boy asked. " Any sane person would be asleep" he added with a mischievous grin.

"Um then why are you up?" Willow asked still shook but beginning to compose herself.

The boy chuckled before eyeing her up and down, not unfriendly like with more curiosity and then answered "I said any sane person would be asleep" putting more emphases on the sane.

"Ok, I guess. Wait who are you?" Willow asked she searched her memory and couldn't remember ever seeing this boy.

The boy smiled at her again, he seemed amused and unconcerned, like he was happy just to be alive. Willow somehow found herself smiling too, then she realized what she was doing and scowled.

The boy slowly began to stand, sliding his feet under him and stood up. He was big but not huge, about 6' Willow though before examining him further. He had dark dirty blonde hair and grey-blue eyes, more grey then blue except his left eye had a patch of brown in it, just a small little quarter of it. His eyes caught her by surprise, he seemed amused and playful. When she looked into them she could almost feel his happiness, and that made her wanna smile. His chin was marked with stubble and his mouth seemed fixated in a permanent grin like they were old palls sharing am inside joke. He had 2 small scars on his face, the first one on his right eyebrow almost right above his nose, the second was on his top lip on the left side of that infectious grin. He wore a olive green jacket over a black T-shirt. He had on a pair of blue jeans and black running shoes. He stood relaxed and yet she could tell he could handle himself in a fight.

"You can put your hands down, I really don't wanna get beat up this morning" The boy said smoothly.

Willow unaware her hands where up dropped them to her sides, lettings them swing slightly.

"Ok lets start over," the boy began " Hi I'm Steven, and you are?"

"Willow." she said firmly "What were you doing here?" she asked curtly not trying to beat around the bush.

"Well I was sleeping," Steven said as if it were obvious. "before that I was looking for The Big house I think, I don't know where that is and I didn't wanna wake anyone up for an answer so I figured I'd catch maybe 2 hours of sleep then it'll be morning,"

The look on Willows face showed confusion, alarm and comprehension all at the same time.

"Ummmmm The Big House is that one" she said pointing to a brightly painted blue building. She still looked confused but seemed less alarmed.

"Ok and I'm also supposed to speak to some dude Kevin or Karen or something" Steven said his eyes sparking with amusement again.

"Chiron?"

"Bingo that's the one."

"Why do you need him?"

"I was told to talk to him about my... family problem" Again his eyes sparkled like an inside joke that never got old.

"Oh... well that's all you had to say C'mon" Willow brushed past him and started walking at a brisk pace towards the Big House.

"Hold up," Steven said as he reached down and picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows slinging them over his shoulder as he walked easily catching up with Willow with his large paces.

"So where's your protector"

"My what?"

"Who brought you to camp?" Willow rephrased it in a way so he could better understand.

"Me, yeah it was quite the walk from..."

"Wait, wait, you don't have a satyr?" the shock on her face clearly visible.

"Don't know what it is so I cant have it." Steven replied easily, before shrugging his shoulders.

The two began climbing the steps of the Big House, Willow caught Steven glancing at her but was to polite to say anything.

Steven knocked 3 times on the door before stepping back. He heard shuffling in the house but just waited.

"You got this?" Willow asked taking a few steps down the stairs and looking back questionably.

"Wait what?" Steven looked dumbfounded before realizing what she meant.

"Do you need me to go in with you?" This time it was Willow with the grin.

Before Steven could answer the door swung open revealing Chiron, his eyes half open, His flannel night shirt ruffled. Some how Steven notices his attire before looking down and realizing instead of normal legs the man had a hoarse body from the waist down.

"a- dadd-" Steven stood gawking at the horse man thing, before turning and looking the Daughter of Demeter dead in the eyes "Please don't go" he squeaked out.

Chapter 2 A Strange Tale

Chiron looked down at the new individual with a particularly confused look, most satyrs contact him in some way when they find a new demigod. He hadn't heard of any new sightings for almost a month. Non the less Chiron looked down and smiled at the new individual, he could tell he was strong simply by the way he stood, completely relaxed even though not 2 seconds ago he had made it very clear he didn't wanna be alone with him. He then sighed inwardly before thinking "no one new ever wants to be alone with me." He studied the individual, about 17, brown hair, grey-blue eyes, and a sly smile that reminded him of the Hermes children, but he had a bow and arrows, not something Hermes kids use.

"Hello" Chiron began. It wasn't the best start, but it was early he was still waking up.

"Morning" Steven began, his voice a perfect mask to hide his confusion. He made it a point to try to sound chipper and happy whenever possible, people tended to like him better that way.

Chiron looked past the individual and spotted Willow at the bottom of the stairs, "Willow do you know what time it is in the morning? You should still be asleep."

Steven piped up looking back at Willow with a silly grin "See, even this guy thought it was to early for any sane person to be awake."

Willow looked shocked and a little angry before answering, " I'm sorry I wasn't the one sleeping in the strawberry fields instead of just waking someone up to find the Big House."

Chiron interrupted, "Willow be nice, now back to the matter at hand we need to welcome Mr..." Chiron stopped not knowing the individuals name.

"Hello sir, My names Steven but folks call me Spook."

"Spook?" Chiron asked questionably.

The boy sighed before looking back at Willow. "Well I tend to walk quietly and well... spook people, happened not to long ago to Willow here." he said before giving a small smile and continuing, "Sorry bout that"

Line break

They sat in the Big House as Chiron told him everything. Steven didn't really react. He sat listening intently, with a small smile on his face. He looked like this was a story he had heard a thousand times but he loved hearing it again.

"..and tonight sometime you will find out who your Godly parent is."

Steven sighed deeply before looking Chiron in the eyes, "I know who he is."

"Beg pardon?" Chiron asked, not sure if he had heard him correctly.

"My mom was mortal and I know my dad."

"So who is it?" Willow began before a sharp look was shot at her by Steven.

"I suppose you'll figure it out tonight." Steven said evenly, his signature grin now replaced by a small sad smile.

"Well why not say it..." Chiron began before being cut off by Steven.

"Being immortal I hope you understand the need for patience." Steven said looking Chiron in the eyes giving a silent message of 'Later'

"Besides I haven't told you my story, and why some Goddess just sent me here"

Both individuals eyes widened considerably, Willow thought how that was not the type of information you wait to say. Chiron on the other hand looked at the individual with new regard, if a Goddess had sent him here he would need to know why. They both sat in stunned silence at the information.

"If I may ask who is this Goddess that sent you here?" Chiron began his interest spiked as he leaned forward a little in anticipation.

"Lady Aphrodite..." Steven began before Willow erupted in anger. She stood up screaming curses and flailing her arms screaming about how 'it just had to be her' Her screaming tangent startling everyone in the room, suddenly Steven shot up, positioning himself with his back to a wall as somehow a large shield appeared in his left hand and a rather large axe appeared in his right. At the sight of them Willow recoiled, and quieted down, her hands reaching for anything to defend herself as her eyes stared at the axe, it was strange. The axe looked about 3 feet long and had 2 blades, 1 being bronze and the other being a solid black hunk of stygian Iron. The bronze blade seemed to glow softly, while the stygian iron blade seemed to suck up the light. On each blade it was engraved with 2 angels, the one on the bronze side the angels stood over the body of... a dragon? It was almost as if they had killed it. The other side was much more calm. The 2 Angels stood holding each other in an embrace 1 shielding the others eyes. His shield was also a point of interest It was a large solid black piece of Stygian Iron, on it was simply engraved the word 'Oath' and again an engraving of an angel, this time he stood wings spread in a classic angel pose.

"Enough!" Chiron shouted, eyeing the Axe warily.

"Willow you cannot hate the child because Aphrodite sent him"

"I NEVER SAID I HATED HIM I'M SAYING I HATE HER." Willow shouted over him.

"I know child but.."

"But what, What Chiron, I cant Love. I am Cursed to Die Alone you know the Rules 'Till Deaths Embrace' " Willow was almost crying as she sat back on the couch, Her face was the shattered, someone who never could heal.

Chiron sunk down to comfort the girl, now sobbing uncontrollably. As Steven looked at them his face changed, It went from a resilient calm, like he had expected to fight, to a sadness and concerned expression. Dropping his shield he walked over to the sobbing girl and her mentor. Sinking down he took her hand in his free hand. Chiron looked up at the boy nodding and stepped back, giving them room. Steven leaned the axe against the couch, then took his free hand and gently tilted the girls face up so she was looking into his eyes, The tears streaming from her eyes broke Stevens heart, as he gently moved forward wrapping her in a hug. Before whispering quiet comforts in her ear.

Chiron was stunned, Willow was a very independent girl, she hated being told what to do. She also hated being touched or comforted but here, an almost total stranger hugged her and she didn't protest. His eyes drifted to the boys axe, causing his breath to hitch. The 2 individuals in front of him, where exactly like the angels on the axe, the ones who were hugging. That also raised some concerns, the boy had a bow, but didn't use it. So many questions ran through his head he had no idea where to start.

Steven opened his eyes seeing nothing outside of the the silky brown hair his face was berried in. His shoulder was soaked from tears and he really didn't care. His mind seemed to shut off nothing else in the world mattered, he was there for this girl, she was broken and he would fix her. So he sat there holding her for what seemed like forever.

Eventually she pushed lightly on Stevens chest signaling the hug was over. Willow still shook but was no longer crying. Chiron cleared his throat causing both people to look at him, he was surprised to find Stevens eyes which were once full of joy and happiness, looked broken. His usual calm and cheery demeaner gone, replaced with a broken soul.

Steven lifted himself off the couch, picking up his axe, and walked over to his shield. Kneeling down he picked it up, and murmured something under his breath. immediately the shield and axe began shrinking, slowly changing into a solid black stygian iron lighter. He placed it into his pocket, and returned to the couch. Glancing at Willow sadly, he took her hand carefully trying to keep her from shaking, it wasn't a loving gesture it was clearly meant to be a calming gesture.

"Steven I think it would be best if you continue your story."

"I'll Just give the run down version..." Steven looked at Willow again.

"I suppose that will work for now." Chiron simply said.

"Well about 3 months ago I was told to come here by... her" he began choosing his words carefully.

"I didn't have anyone left at home so I just left and began walking, I didn't wanna drive and its nice to sometimes take time to clear my head. So I started walking from Wisconsin to here, I kept away from cities and just made my way though the woods and such. If I saw a monster I avoided it, they seemed able to smell me but I kept on the move so they avoided me and I avoided them." he said calmly, before sighing and continuing.

"Until the Dragon, that's when..." Steven was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Chiron glanced at the clock, '6:34' before moving to the door.

He swung the door open carefully, reveling 30 or so girls in silvery camo, all of them armed with bows.

Behind him Steven gasped before getting up from the couch and moving to the door. He paused before bowing deeply.

"Lady Artemis" Steven began. Before straightening and looking at the Goddess.

Artemis looked at him, puzzled for a moment, then recognition crossed her face and her expression softened. "Hello Steven, it would seem the Fates have crossed our paths once again." She said smoothly not at all hostel which was strange as the Goddess usually regarded all men with some degree of hostility.

"It would seem that way ma'am." he said smoothly.

"I see you still have my gift."

"Yes ma'am" Steven said before turning to Chiron who was listening to the conversation warily. Rarely does the Goddess act this polite and reserved towards campers much less males. But it would seem this individual had won her favor in the past and was even blessed with gifts from the Goddess.

"Chiron I wish to speak to you" Artemis began.

"Yes M'lady" He answered before turning to Steven and saying. " I wish to hear more of your story Steven, but I have other matters to attend to it would seem" He paused before looking at Willow, "Give Steven a tour of the Camp and get him settled in, also alert the camp that the Huntresses have arrived so be prepared for Capture the Flag tonight."

Chapter 3 Strange Skills

Steven accompanied by Willow made there way out of the Big House. Passing the Hunters Steven nodded greetings to the group as a whole, although most of the group didn't acknowledge him or sent him a hostel glare, several hunters nodded back, one even gave a small wave.

"So where to first?" Steven asked in his usual chipper demeaner.

"That's how you wanna start?" Willow asked annoyed.

"What do you mean?"

"You... Just meet a Goddess, pulled an axe out of thin air, hugged a girl who cant fall in love, and you wanna start with 'where to first?"

Steven looked at her, and not for the first time began looking her over. She was about 16 maybe 17, had long silky brown hair that hung to the small of her back, and deep brown eyes, she was smaller about 5'3'' maybe 5'4''. She was on the thinner side, but had some muscle. She had a deep tan, giving her an almost Native American look. Steven remembered from there hug that she smelt like Irises, Stevens favorite flower. She was dressed in pajama bottoms and a simple white t-shirt.

"Well, I re-met the Goddess, I pulled the axe out of my pocket," he said as he reached into his pocket pulling out the lighter and showing her. "and a curse cant stop everything" Stevens eyes twinkled with mischievous light.

Willows eyes narrowed. He seemed to calm, too relaxed about everything, like nothing could shake him, but yet she had seen his eyes. His eyes reminded her of the one and only time she had talked to Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades. He had seen enough in his life and was deeply unhappy, she would have never guessed that if she hadn't broken down, if he hadn't comforted her.

"Well could you at least tell me who your father is?"

Steven chuckled, a deep resonating sound that sent a wave of warmth through Willow.

"Patience, you'll find out so why be to hasty?"

"If I can be told now why shouldn't I be?"

"It's starting to sound like your really interested in me." There he goes again with that stupid smile.

Willow glared at him, 'Gods he's annoying' she thought but said nothing.

"Who's your parent, If you don't mind me asking?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me" Willow said edging on eagerly.

"I'll find out if you tell me or not so its no big deal."

"Gods your annoying,"

"Gods your observant" Steven responded easily.

"Ok fine we start with the cabins" Willow said clearly annoyed at this point. Marching towards the cabins she looked back to see him grinning stupidly again.

"Will you stop grinning like an idiot?"

"Of course Willow... Daughter of Demeter."

Willows head snapped around staring him dead in the eyes, her face a mask of confusion and anger.

"What makes you think that?"

"Your pajamas have tractors on them," he said before his right eye slipped down in a wink as he brushed past the furious girl. "You coming? We'll stop at your cabin so you can get ready for the day" he tossed the comment over his shoulder.

Line Break

Willow Stepped out of the bathroom and sighed, why did she have to give the tours, she thought as she looked around, her siblings all going about getting ready for there day or chatting with each other.

"Bout time" came a voice from her left, and for the second time today she turned around fists up to find Steven leaned against the wall. Several other people in the cabin jumped as well, taking note of the stranger for the first time.

Steven turned towards everyone that stupid grin on his face again, and addressed the whole group. "Hi I'm Steven."

"How'd you get in here?" Willow asked. Before turning to the group and saying "Sorry he's new"

Steven chuckled, "You see there's this thing called a door, it turns a solid wall into a... not solid wall if you open it." He said mater of fact.

"Get out!" Willow all but yelled.

"Ok, so where to next? I stopped in all the cabins and only had my wallet stolen once." Steven asked ignoring her orders to leave.

Willows eyes narrowed unsure if he was joking. "Did you get it back?"

"No but I found this." He said holding up a camp necklace with lots of beads.

"Where did you find that?"

"On the guy who stole my wallet." his face a perfect mask of emotion.

"oh Gods"

"I also told them that were playing Capture the flag tonight, that got them fired up"

"Did you piss anyone off"

"Well I did wake a kid up in the Poseidon cabin and he swung a sword at me." He said gleaming with his infectious grin.

"Shut up"

Line break

The two made there way around camp and Willow was treated with one surprise after another, he played harmonicas with the Apollo kids, Wrestled with the Ares Kids, ran against Hermes kids, He even played Chess against an Athena kid. He never seemed to win but he also never seemed to loose. At one point an Ares kid challenged him to a duel and he responded by saying "I yield, you win." before walking away.

As they walked he pulled out a pocket knife and found a small hunk of wood, carefully carving it into a little wooden strawberry.

"Here" he said as he tossed her the little wooden fruit.

"ummmm Why?"

"Why not?" he said

The breakfast horn sounded and they made there way towards the dinning paving. Willow informed him he will be sitting with the Hermes table and how to burn offerings and such before separating.

Line Break

Steven sat with the Hermes cabin, laughing joking and patting his pocket every few seconds to make sure his lighter is still there. He looked around at the other tables, taking in everything, The Apollo table peaked his interest. In a sea of blonde there sat the son of Hades, holding hands with an Apollo kid. Steven shrugged not caring one way or the other just curious as to why he was sitting there. The Poseidon kid that had swung at him sat alone eating a strange blue stack of waffles. Artemis stat in the front with Chiron talking quietly. The hunters ate at there own table, no surprise there.

Suddenly Chiron Stomped his front Hoof 3 times signaling for silence.

"Good morning everyone, as you can see the hunters are hear so we should welcome them." he began nodding his head towards the huntress table.

"And of course that means there will be a game of Capture the Flag tonight." As Chiron said that a loud cheer went through the dining hall, from hunters and campers a like.

"Yes, yes, quiet down, we should also welcome our newest camper Steven, and would also recommend not stealing his wallet like the last few campers, Children of Hermes."

"To late" this was a new voice. Steven searched his memories 'Stoll' one of the Stoll brothers said as he held up a small black wallet.

"Travis I recommend you give it back" Chiron began before Steven cut in.

"Na he can keep it I found something better anyway." Steven began holding up the necklace.

" How- You stole that!" Travis began, as the entire camp laughed at the sight of a Child of Hermes had been stolen from.

"Both of you return what you have stolen." Chiron said straining to keep from smiling.

As the two traded back what they had stolen, Chiron continued. He rambled on about something and Steven lost interest and began fidgeting with his jacket and slowly picking away at his own breakfast, an omelet.

"...And with that I have nothing else to say so yeah" Chiron ended and the dining hall again erupted with conversation.

Line Break

Steven made his way around, not really looking for anything or anyone. He stopped at the edge of the lake and found a tree, leaning against it he though for a moment, before he smiled making a plan and thinking of who would be the best person to do it with. His mind wandered to Willow and he thought 'Perfect' He got up and began looking for the Daughter of Demeter, he was in no hurry. He first looked at the cabins area and wasn't surprised when he didn't find her. He then walked towards the strawberry field, nodding greetings at a few people he walked past. He looked until he saw her familiar face.

"I need your help." He began

Willow with her hands on a small bush looked up, jumping slightly at the sight of him.

"Will you stop that."

"What?"

"Sneaking up on me"

"Oh. Yeah sure I'll try, so you wanna make $20?"

Her eyes narrowed, "You cant buy my services" she said as she looked away from him, a small mischievous smile spreading across her lips.

"I'll owe you..." he began before being cut off.

"How big do you want it?" she began.

"What?"

"You want something to do with plants, otherwise you would have found someone else."

Steven stood there shocked, then smiled before reaching down and graving her hand and pulling her to her feet against the stream of protests. He then took off, dragging Willow behind him as she continued to protest. He drug her to the lake, ignoring the small stream of cat calls from the numerus campers they passed. He pulled her to the edge of the lake between 2 trees and stopped.

"This'll do"

"Wow vague, annoying, and not helpful." she said both confused and intrigued.

"I need 2 hammocks."

"You drug me halfway through the camp, disturbed my work, all for a place for you to nap."

"No I asked and your gonna do it because were friends." he stated this so genuinely that she actually recoiled.

Willow was smiling internally, no one ever asked her to do anything ever. She didn't want him to know but she felt super happy and then she sighed, she cant be happy, she couldn't find love. Maybe he could just become a friend.

"Why 2?"

There he goes again with that stupid smile "Trust me its better with 2."

"I don't know how to..." she began to protest, before being cut off by the look of sadness on his face, it wasn't as sad as before, but it wasn't his usual chipper attitude.

"...fine you owe me."

"Thank you"

Willow placed her hand on one of the trees, concentrating as vines began to grow forming a net. A bead of sweat streaked down her forehead, and her vision swayed as the vines connected to the other tree. She stopped after about a minute surveying her work, before her was a rather large and sturdy hammock.

"You ok, you look tired?" Steven asked.

"Fine just.." she began before feeling herself falling, only to be stopped from hitting the ground by a pair of rough hands gently holding her up.

Steven didn't hesitate, he scooped her up before laying her on the hammock. He took of his jacket before folding it up and placing it under her head as a pillow. Willow noticed under the jacket Steven was a lean buff, like a middle weight boxer. Stevens soft chuckle caused Willow to look up at him.

"What's so funny?"

"I was hoping you would be tired after the 2nd hammock so you'd stay, now your the only one with a hammock." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"You knew this would happen?"

"Yup" Steven said popping the P.

"Then why make me do it?"

"Well to start with, you seem stressed and need to relax."

"I'm not stressed."

Steven ignored her obvious lie, "I also love your power, you know making things grow, its making life and life is good." he said with a grin.

"You.. Like my power." Her ears became red with embarrassment, no one likes her power, its boring.

"Yeah, also hammocks are great, would have been nice to get one too." he sounded wistful.

"We can share" the words escaped her lips before she could do anything about them.

"I mean, I'd love to but, you know your curse and all..." He began before being cut off.

"As friends."

"I can deal with that if you can deal with me." Steven said as he began getting into the hammock placing himself in the opposite direction of her.

"Oh I cant deal with you, I can tolerate you."

"Same thing."

"So what is with your axe?" Willow blurted out not thinking again.

"What do you mean? Its an axe, great for splitting wood and such."

"Not what I meant..."

"Then what did you mean?"

"Ugh Steven your the most annoying person I know." She spat playfully.

"Fine gift from one of the times I've meet my dad, no I wont tell you who he is."

"How many times have you seen your dad?" She asked.

Steven looked out to the lake his grin gone and replaced by a small sad smile. "Too many times, never for long though."

Willow looked at him, and immediately knew to drop the subject. He just stared off into the lake, his right hand reached into his pocket and produced his lighter. His fingers began absent mindedly twirling it. Then he looked at Willow and saw the concern in her eyes.

"So, lets talk about something else." Steven said firmly.

Line break

There 4 hour conversation was one of the best things Willow had done in a while, constantly laughing and swapping jokes. She soon found herself smiling broadly as they just wasted the day away.

"No way, I can guarantee you are not a dancer!" Willow laughed at the thought of this giant man child swinging a girl around to slow music.

"Can to" Steven responded with mock anger.

"Nope"

"Ugh your the 2nd most annoying person I know"

Willow looked shocked, "Who's the first?" she asked almost furiously

A slow grin spread from ear to ear as he proclaimed "Myself, you cant take that from me."

She laughed, soon the hammock was shaking by how hard she was laughing.

"C'mon but for real, sword fighting directly translates to dancing, you should know that." He laughed.

"I don't dance and I don't fight." She responded.

"Well lets change that." he said standing up.

Willow was shocked, she had no idea he was talking about.

"You're telling me you go to a camp to fight literal monsters, and you've never fought?" Steven asked obviously amused at the idea.

"Well yeah, I mean I was in the 2 major battles the camp had recently, but I just kind of was more in the back lines. Demeter isn't really a warrior so..." she stopped.

"Well we can either go to the arena and I'll show you the ropes, or I could show you how to dance." Steven said it so casually she felt a strong urge to agree. Sure dancing with him wouldn't have been bad, but she couldn't love and she didn't know if dancing was a sign of love but she didn't wanna test it.

"Is there a 3rd option?" She asked hopeful for anything else.

Stevens grin spread till it was ear to ear, he glanced over his shoulder at the lake and then back at the girl, and slowly winked. The message was very clear.

"OH no you don't, What are you doing?" The last part was shouted as Steven picked her up off the hammock and slowly began walking towards the lake.

"I swear If you do this I'll stab you."

"Well isn't that the point." He said smoothly before putting her down.

Willow was stunned, she had no rebuttal. There was nothing she could say to that.

"Fine 10 minutes, and if I suck I'm leaving, and if you kill me I swear I'll haunt you." As she said that his grin slid from his face, again replaced by the small smile.

"If only you knew." He said before taking her wrist, and dragging her towards the arena.

Line Break

"So what weapon you thinking?" Willow looked over towards Steven who was staring intently at the weapon rack.

The arena was bustling with activity, a class of about 10 kids ages 10 to 14 were hacking away at straw dummies while 6 older students where instructing them on form and technique. They all had swords but Steven knew Willow wasn't a sword person, She needed something different he thought as he reached forward and graved a small dagger, 12 inches of whisked sharp bronze. He turned and presented it handle forward to Willow.

"A knife?" she asked.

"Yup, small enough to handle, large enough to be quick and humane."

"I guess..."

"C'mon it'll be fun, you can take all your frustrations out on the most annoying person you know." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

Line Break

Willow hacked at a straw dummy as Steven corrected the flaws in her stance and grip. He could tell she was frustrated, a straw dummy wasn't exactly a perfect partner. An idea had been bouncing around his head for some time now and he figured he'd better do it before she got frustrated and quit.

"Stop for a second Willow."

Willow stopped mid thrust. "Why, I'm getting good."

"I want you to spar with an actual person."

"Ok so I'll just work in with one of the younger kids or some..." She stopped when he held up his hand.

"You'll spar with me."

"Nope, not gonna happen, you'll kill me." She said. She had no idea why she knew Steven was a good fighter she just did.

"c'mon I'll go easy, also it would be a pain to find someone to make me hammocks."

Willow looked at the clock before scowling and muttering "5 Minutes"

"That's the spirit, now cut my head off."

"What?" Willow asked clearly confused.

"Swing at me, all you've got."

"You don't have a weapon..." She began only to be cut off again.

"I'm not worried, now swing."

"I don't …"

"Just swing"

Willow took a half hearted swing, aimed for his chest, and Steven didn't even step to avoid it. Swaying slightly back he let the knife pass before taking a half stride forward and stepping lightly on her left foot.

"C'mon I've seen better swings at t-ball games, c'mon you cant hurt me."

She took another half hearted swing at him and again he stepped in and stepped on her foot, this time putting more pressure on it.

"Next time I'm stomping, final warning." hit tone conveying sadness and disappointment, but also encouragement.

The next swing came fast, not as fast as he new she could, but faster. He smiled again letting the knife pass, before stomping his left foot hard, making it seem as if he was aiming for her foot. With the threat of a damaged foot, Willow scowled and swung hard, 2 times once at his head and the next one aimed at his stomach. Steven reacted calmly, first leaning back with his head, then taking a half step back to avoid the second slash. Sighing he placed his hands in his pockets and shook his head sadly. Willow felt hurt, for some reason she wanted to impress him.

She stepped forward slashing first towards his head, then going for a quick stab, then a slash. Slash, stab, stab, slash, slash, slash, stab... they fell into a deadly rhythm, Steven hands still in his pockets swayed, ducked, or sidestepped any attacks that came his way. In the back of Willows mind she noticed how graceful Steven was on his feet, always moving just enough to get out of danger, but not to much to get out of position. Always seeming to be able to step through Willows guard, and get behind her, on Willows follow through. Compared to him Willow felt more savage, like she was loosing a little more control.

On one slash Steven slipped his hand out of his pocket before letting it pass, then reaching behind the swing he graved her knife wrist. Seeing an opportunity to do something, she sent her free hand towards his face in a wild haymaker. He ducked under her punch, then stepped lightly on her foot, before stepping back releasing her entirely.

"Not bad for only 30 minutes" he said with a sly smile on his face.

Willow whipped around looking at the clock, had it really been 30 minutes? She then looked around at the small group that had gathered and was watching, suddenly she felt very aware of the fact she hadn't hit him once, her face burned red with embarrassment. Steven saw her face get red and knew what she was feeling and smiled encouragingly.

"Don't worry about not hitting me, maybe 2 people in this room could even touch me, even without a weapon." He smiled encouragingly at her.

Suddenly his smile faded slightly when he hear 2 people snicker behind him. He turned to the culprits, 2 boys who looked like brothers, and smiled.

"Something funny?" Steven asked the 2 boys.

"Of course she couldn't touch you, she's not a warrior, she's a farmer." one answered back causing the other to burst out laughing.

Steven smiled deeply, giving a sidelong glance towards Willow, he winked and she smiled slightly, no longer embarrassed. Steven sighed and turned towards the 2 boys, they where about 13 or 14, and looked fairly well built, little shorter then him, about 5'9''.

"Warrior you say, and I suppose you 2 could do better."

"You wouldn't be able to dance around me like a dam fool." the first one said.

"I'd kill him before he could take a single swing" The second said to the first.

"I'm sure you would," he said eyes drifting around the group before settling on an older boy, with black hair and sea green eyes.

"Would you mind if I borrow these boys for a..." he paused searching for the right word. "demonstration."

Confusion, then understanding dawned on the boys face, "Yeah for sure."

"Thank you." Steven said before turning towards the boys. "Now because your warriors, I assume your sons of Ares, or some of the such. Never had much use for cocky individuals but, I'm in a generous mood, so lets say you apologize to Miss Willow here I suppose I could let it slide just this once."

"Counter offer, you apologize to us and we don't gut you."

"Final offer, step onto the floor and lets get going I got a point to prove."

With that the 2 boys advanced swords ready. The first swung while the second tried a jab, and yet again Steven placed his hands in his pockets and swayed avoiding the blows. They were good, more efficient with there swings and faster. Steven new not to get cocky, so he took his hands out of his pocket his lighter griped loosely. As the 2 began to spread out to surround him, he stood ready and waiting.

Then he saw it, a faint flicker of light in the eyes of the man in front of him. Suddenly he held no lighter and his axe and shield were in his hands, charging the first man he swung a horizontal blow that would have cleaved him in half, had his sword not gotten in the way, either way it sent him flying several feet, knocking him to the ground. Turning rapidly he lifted his shield just as he was about to be cut in half. The sword clanged against the shield, with his axe Steven snapped out catching the boys foot behind the ankle in between the blade and the shaft of the axe and dragging his foot from under him. The boy fell to the ground, his sword sliding from his grasp. Steven then knelt, graved the boys shirt with his shield hand and pulled him within inches of his face, his axe pressed softly against the boys throat. The boys eyes widened, but Stevens remained calm.

"Apologize to Willow." Steven said softly.

The boys cocky demeanor was gone. No one had ever beaten him like this. He knew this wasn't someone he could afford to not listen to. The axe to his throat also made a very compelling argument.

"I'm sorry Wi..." The boy began.

Suddenly, Steven yelled, a loud, wordless, yell. The type of yell only a broken person could yell. The room shook, and every spectator took a step back terrified. It was like a wave of sadness passed through the arena. Like a football field of people all were crying and wailing. His voice was broken and the wordless message was clear, I have seen more then you ever will, I have been broken and I could break you just as easily. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

The boy wasn't able to respond. His eyes welled with tears and he cried. His body rocking with sobs.

Stevens eyes which once held so much warmth and happiness, where filled with bitterness and loss. His calm demeaner broke away revealing nothing but a hollow shell who lost everything.

A hand reached down and gently gripped Stevens shoulder. He turned around to see a pair of sea green eyes pulling him towards reality. Steven released the boy, who continued to rock on the floor. Steven looked down at the weapons his hands, murmuring something under his breath they both shrunk down to a lighter. His hands usually so calm and steady where shaking. His lighter slipped into his pocket and he stood up his calm relaxed demeanor returning as he looked around the room. Everyone looked terrified and Steven knew what was about to happen.

"Demonstration over." Steven said firmly and began to walk towards the door, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to find the boy that had pulled him back towards reality.

"You alright man?" He began and before he could continue, Steven pulled away gently.

"Yeah just lost myself there for a second."

"That wasn't just loosing yourself, that was..."

Steven looked the boy dead in the eyes, his face a emotionless board. He noticed the boys hand loosely gripping a pen, a simple ball point pen. The boy stood ready, but not so ready as to invite a fight. Steven knew he wouldn't be able to just walk away, and he had no desire to fight this stranger.

"That is my curse..." Steven said in a quiet whisper that only the stranger could hear. "... There is nothing you can do, and nothing more I can say. I'm asking you please don't try to stop me from leaving, and if possible can you make sure no one else fallows."

The boys face was a mask of concern, his eyes seemed to calculate the strange request before making a decision.

"Yeah, just be careful... and if you need someone to talk to I'll be there."

"Thanks." Steven said before turning away from the boy and scanning the room. Everyone in the room was staring at him like he was a monsters. Steven looked towards Willow, his only friend. She seemed to have been hit hard by his yell, her shoulders slumped, and her eyes welled with tears. He wanted to apologize but knew now wasn't the time. As he walked towards the door, his eyes landed on the boy who he had hit. He saw a burning anger in his eyes, but deep under that Steven could make out fear. He sighed as he opened the door to the arena and slipped out.

Willow stood there sobbing, un sure of what to do. That yell... Gods it had scared her. It was as if all the sadness and lose she had ever felt had been captured into a pot and thrown onto her. Her hands were shaking and her knees weak. She wanted to go crawl into a hole and die. She looked over at Percy the boy who had pulled Steven out of his rage. His sea green eyes looked broken and his shoulders had slumped.

Percy then spoke up, barely above a mutter. "Class dismissed, someone go get Chiron."

Line Break

Willow knelt next to a strawberry bush, her mind kept drifting back to the episode in the arena. She wanted to think about anything else, anything except that awful yell. Her hands worked quickly flicking soil up and on her jeans, and her eyes drifted up toward the spot she had been earlier this morning. Gods that had seemed like an eternity ago. Her gaze landed on the post where she had first seen Steven.

She was pulled from her day dream by a the steady clamp of galloping feet making there way towards her. She turned to see Chiron approaching. Sighing she hauled herself up to her feet and watched as Chiron stop about 10 feet from her.

"Hello Willow..." Chiron began before being cut off by Willow.

"I don't know where he his."

Chiron looked absolutely flustered before glancing over her shoulder.

"Hey Willow..." A now familiar voice said behind her.

Turning in a moments she saw the familiar face of the most annoying person in the world. Willow didn't even think as she drew her fist back and hurled it at his face with all her might, halfway through the swing she thought of how it was pointless as he would just dodge it. To her surprise her fist made firm contact with his left cheek, causing the boy to stagger.

"Willow..." Chiron began.

"No, No, I deserved that." Steven protested.

"Whether you deserved it or not she shouldn't have done it."

"If I didn't wanna be hit I wouldn't have been hit." Steven said clearly dismissing the topic.

"What do you want Steven?" The distaste in her voice causing Steven to recoil a little. He looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry." Steven began. His voice held nothing but sincerity and sadness. He sounded like he was close to crying. Willow eyed him carefully, unsure of what to do. Part of her wanted to scream at him, throw more punches, run him through with a knife.

Then there was the other part, she wanted to pull him into her arms and hold him until he didn't feel sad or angry. She wanted to take all his sadness and replace it with happiness.

Willow didn't know what to do, she was caught between a fight she would loose and a choice that was impossible. She looked to Chiron meeting his gaze she shot him a silent question.

'what do I do?'

Chiron smiled deeply, his eyes twinkling as he opened his mouth "Steven and I had a nice little chat, I think it would be wise of you to give him a chance."

"A chance to do what exactly." Willow asked curtly, crossing her arms and glancing furiously at Steven.

Chiron paused thinking. "Your mother has the ability to see the potential for greatness in any seed. What may seem insignificant may sprout into something much more impactful then you realize." He said as if it answered all the internal problems she was struggling with.

"Wow vague, annoying and not helpful." She grumbled.

Steven piped up. "You said the exact same thing to me when I asked you to make me the hammock."

"Yeah and you tricked me to sitting around for half the day and doing nothing." She all but shouted.

"And then I taught you something you never had interest in learning before." As Steven whispered this his left hand reached into his jacket and produced the knife from the arena.

Willows follow up retort died in her lips as she stared at the knife. Her eyes then slowly drifted upward meeting Stevens gaze. His eyes at first glance seemed like they where back to there own playful self, then she saw it, a flash of sadness swam through his eyes. Then it clicked, he wasn't trying to hurt people. He wasn't truly happy, if anything he was probably more broken then her.

Willow stepped forward looking up into the boys eyes, her arms wrapped the bigger boy in a hug. Steven was caught by surprise and then he clumsily returned the gesture hugging deeply and warmly slightly picking the smaller girl off the ground. As they embraced a small fire burned within Willow something she thought she would never feel again she felt happy, she felt love for the big boy in her arms. Sure it sounded strange only knowing him for half a day but she felt like life was better with his easy going attitude and smile. Curse or no curse she wanted to be with him, but logically she knew she wouldn't do anything.

Chiron cleared his throat after a solid minute of hugging, the 2 kids looked up and slightly broke away from each other. The old centaur looked pleased, his eyes twinkled much like Stevens, almost like he was sharing an inside joke.

"I have to go teach an archery course." Chiron began before looking up towards the sun, it looked like it was maybe 4:00. "It would appear that you have some time before dinner I trust you will find something to do, perhaps prepare for capture the flag."

"I don't think I'm going..." Began Willow before being cut off by Steven.

"Yes you will."

"Yeah that's a no from me."

"2 options, Capture the Flag or." He paused glancing over his shoulder, again at the lake. His mischievous smile had returned and he eyed Willow calculatingly.

"I swear to all the Gods if you try that I'll stab you."

Chiron cleared his throat obviously amused at the exchange. His eyes twinkled at the sight of the 2 individuals bickering.

"I shall take my leave then..." He said turning. "oh and Steven I recommend you don't … spook any more individuals." He said before galloping off.

Steven paused before looking into Willows deep brown eyes, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Its been a long, long time since anyone has hugged me."

"We hugged this morning." She pointed out, grinning as if she had just won the argument.

"You mean I hugged you as you cried on my shoulder."

"Gods I wanna stab you." She said, somehow mixing teasingly and annoyed perfectly.

"Sounds good lets head to the Arena then, get you ready before Capture the Flag." He said as he graved her hand and for the second time today dragged her towards the arena.

Line break

Steven paused at the doors, listening intently. There was definitely people in the arena but it didn't sound like there where too many. He shrugged, people would judge him anyway, No they already have judged him. By now the story of the yell had probably been heard from every soul in camp. Everyone probably already hated him and he didn't really care because only him and Chiron knew the truth.

"You coming or just gonna stare at the door?" Willow snapped him from his thoughts.

"Its just such a pretty door." Steven responded mater of fact.

"Well you know doors turn walls into... not walls." A smile spread from her lips as she thought back to the earlier conversation in the Demeter cabin.

Steven just rolled his eyes and opened the door. Holding it open wide and mock bowing towards Willow. "Ladies first"

Willow didn't even bother responding just rolling her eyes deeply and stepping inside. Quickly scanning the room she saw 6 people, there was Annabeth Chase head councilor of the Athena cabin working over in the corner with Nico di Angelo. They were sparring, Annabeths white bone sword a stark contrast from Nicos solid black sword. Beside them watching with amusement were there constant companions, Percy Jackson, who never seemed to be more then an arms reach away from Annabeth, and Will Solace who was dating the son of Hades. Her eyes drifted around the room towards the other 2, an Apollo girl and a Hermes boy where arguing looking at the weapon.

"So straw dummy or human dummy?" Stevens question snapped her attention back towards him.

"What?"

"Do you wanna work with a straw dummy or me?"

"Depends will you go easy?"

Steven laughed, a good deep hearty laugh that sent butterflies through Willows stomach. "Well I think it would be a good idea to grab a shield." He said gesturing towards the weapons wall.

"Great I'm gonna die then." Willow said her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Not if your quick now pick a shield."

Willow strutted over towards the wall, glancing at all the different shields. There were lots of shields and Willow didn't know anything about shields, so she graved the biggest one, strapping it onto her arm before walking back towards where Steven was standing. At the sight of the small girl wielding the large shield his eyes lit up and a grin split his face.

"I said a shield not a wagon wheel."

"What do you mean?"

"Well your shield is way to big."

"Its big to block more."

Without warning Steven raised his arm, fist cocked back and his arm shot forward, no longer in a fist but with 2 fingers extended in almost a finger gun pose. Startled Willow attempted to raise the shield but the heavy slab of bronze made her movements sluggish. Stevens 2 finger attack broke through her guard and he pulled back slightly at the last moment causing his fingers to only lightly tap her forehead.

"Its to big for you." Steven said finally.

"Well I just wasn't re..." Willow began before Steven cut her off.

"No trust me on this you'll want a smaller one."

"Well why don't you just pick one out for me then."

"Because you never asked me to." Steven stated with a small shrug.

Willow sighed, there really was no winning with this guy. "Will you please help me pick out a shield."

Steven didn't even answer he just smiled and walked over towards the weapon wall and put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. Willow noticed the 2 kids arguing had fallen silent, staring fearfully at Steven.

"You know if you talk to me I'm really not that spooky." Steven said his eyes still scanning the shields on the wall.

Both kids looked absolutely terrified, there faces pail and there hands visibly shaking. Steven turned away from the wall, a huge warm smile plastered on his face.

"Hi I'm Steven." Steven said cheerfully.

The 2 just stood there before the girl mumbled something about 'gotta go' and they both shuffled of heading towards the door to the arena. Willow started after them, about to yell at them for ignoring Steven. She took 2 steps forward before a firm hand gripped her shoulder, she turned to look Steven in the eyes. His smile had yet to fall from his lips.

"Don't bother, they need time and we have work to do."

He turned her back towards the wall and lifted up a small bronze shield, barely 2 and a half feet in diameter. He inspected it from every angle and knocked gently on it. Turning towards Willow he looked at her calculatingly.

"This is the size you want..." He paused before adding "though I think it needs to be engraved with something. We can do that later after I'm claimed."

"Why would it need to be engraved?" Willow asked questionably.

"Well I've always found it brings good fate." Steven answered back quickly, a little to quickly.

At this point Willow knew to just not question Steven, she trusted he would tell her eventually. Steven handed the shield to Willow, and she slipped it on to her arm. It certainly felt lighter and she moved her arm a few times making sure she had a full range of movement and Steven looked at her approvingly before nodding and putting his hands in his pockets.

"You know the drill, take my head off."

Willow hesitated for a brief moment before drawing her dagger and swiftly slashing in an upward diagonal slash. Her hand suddenly stopped as a solid black shield appeared in Stevens hand and stopped her blow. His axe was already in a deadly arch as she drew her knife back and raised her shield. When the axe connected to the shield, she staggered.

"Ok it looks like we need to just start with stance." Steven said.

Line Break

The next hour and a half consisted of Steven showing her the ropes, and teaching her how to trap weapons and disarm people. During the last 10 minutes Stevens bow made an appearance as he tried to teach her how to block arrows, knowing most of the hunters would use a bow during the game. By the end of it both of them where sweating and exhausted.

"Well I think we should head over to the showers, its almost time for dinner." Willow said breathlessly.

"Yeah, your showing lots of improvement." Steven said sounding satisfied.

Willows cheeks burned red "Thanks" she said as she shuffled off towards her cabin.

Chapter 4 A Fathers Love

Willow sat at the Demeter table absolutely buzzing. She was actively exited for the game tonight, the whole camp was. They all talked amongst themselves, laughing and joking. Her eyes drifted towards the Hermes table expecting to see a certain boy grinning and laughing, but he had not showed up yet. Strange he must still be in the shower.

"Where were you today Willow I barely saw you at the fields." Her half sister Maddy pulled her from her thoughts with the question.

"Oh.. I was mostly at the arena." Willow answered nonchalantly.

Maddys eyes bulged and she started coughing. Dragging in a shaky breath she looked at Willow. "You training, I thought you hated the ideas of going to one of the classes."

"Well I wasn't in a class so your right I guess."

"Well if you weren't in a class why were you in the arena?"

Willow paused looking for the right words. "I had a... private lesson I guess you could say."

Maddy nodded as if understanding. "So who was your instructor, Travis?" She asked.

"No the new guy Steven." As soon as the words left her lips Maddys expression turned fearful.

Glancing around fearfully Maddy leaned forward. "I don't think that is a good idea, he's dangerous" She said in a low voice.

"What makes you say tha..." She said before being cut off.

"Didn't you hear what happened to Mat? The new guy was sparring with him and he scared him... like he was crying for 2 hours after it happened."

Willows expression was distant, she had heard the scream first hand and didn't want to think about it. "Yeah I had been there."

"Then you should know he's dangerous"

Willow thought back to the time he had first comforted her, after she broke down thinking about never finding love. He had looked so sad, so broken. Like a campfire that burnt out, you know at one point it was so full of life and love, but now it was cold and empty. Even he was clearly broken he had chosen to help her first, he held her in his strong but soft arms until she was better.

"He's dangerous" Willow began. "but he... I don't even know, he's kind and gentle and he's so full of life." Willow said wistful almost dreamily.

"Willow I don't want you to get hurt. I don't like him, he scares people." Maddy said carefully.

"Maddy... have you met him?"

"No but I talked to lots of people who were in the arena..."

"So you don't know he can play the harmonica, or play chess, or carve wood, or that he gives great hugs." Willows voice rising as she listed off things that Maddy hadn't taken the time to notice. She didn't even know why she was getting mad, she just was.

"He's full of life, so what if he sometimes scares people. He's a great Guy!" The last part was almost shouted, causing people around her to glance over and hushed there conversations.

A hand fell on Willows shoulder, causing her to turn. Her eyes widened when they fell on the owner. A girl about 13 wearing silver hunting cloths, her hair braided, and a bow slung over her shoulder. Her silvery eyes narrowed slightly, like she wasn't sure how to approach the subject, but she knew she needed to.

Maddy yelped before sinking her head down in a clumsy sitting bow. "Lady Artemis..." She stopped at the sight of the Goddess raising her hand.

"You speak of Steven as if you know him?" Artemis began stating it like a question.

"I..." Willow began before falling silent. 'Did she know him?' the thought sounded ridiculous of course she didn't know him she knew him for 1 day, but for some reason she hesitated.

Artemis took the moment of hesitation to continue. "Steven is an... interesting individual. He does his duty no matter the cost, He rejects his parentage, but still understands the necessities of his parentage. He has received a gift from me, and has won my favor for his deeds." At these words the Goddesses eyes fell and she suddenly looked very sad.

"What did he do?" Maddy asked suddenly burning with curiosity as she looked up at the Goddesses sad face.

"That is not my tale to tell."

"Bu- Bu..." Maddy stuttered out hoping to get some information at all.

The Goddess simply held up her hand, once again signaling for silence. "All will be clear once he is claimed, I assume he hasn't told anyone other then Chiron of his parentage?" She asked knowingly.

This time Willow spoke up, "No he hasn't"

Now Artemis addresses the whole camp, who had been listening in on the conversation intently. "So he is not to be judged for his parentage. Is that clear?"

There were many low grumbled yeses and lots of ashamed looking head nods.

Suddenly a chipper voice piped up from near the door. "Thanks for that, not necessary but thank you." There stood Steven hair wet from the shower, grinning like a mad man.

Line break

Steven adjusted the final strap of Willows armor, before taking the time to look over himself, all of his jacket pockets were zipped, his shoes tied. His bow was slung over his shoulder with his quiver padded with sheep skin so the arrows made no noise in it. He had been offered armor but had calmly rejected stating 'Harder to slip around unnoticed if I look like a piece of tinfoil.'

Everyone was standing around on the edge of the woods, some where talking quietly, others where laughing and joking. Everyone already knew the plan, The Hermes Cabin would flank to the left side, then the Poseidon and Athena would charge up the middle, the rest were scattered as sentries as the Ares cabin had the main duty of guarding the flag.

Steven looked down at Willow who was busy checking her shield strap, she looked nervous constantly fidgeting and shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Don't worry you got me posted right next to you. They are more likely to gang up on me." His eyes shined with amusement and he lifted his hand to adjust her helmet.

"I know." She snapped back with just a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Steven studied her, she looked pale, and scared. Not a look that complimented her face.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear "Relax only fools aren't scared, whatever happens I'll be there." At these words you could see her visibly relax. Her shoulders hitched up a little and she held her head a little higher.

"How do you hide it?" She asked.

"Hide what?" he said allowing a grin to cross his face.

"You know hide the fact that your scared, like you could die."

At this Steven laughed, his deep hearty laugh reaching the ears of every camper at the edge of the woods. Several looked over at him puzzled but then quickly lost interest and went back to there own conversations..

"I'm not scared of my own death, I am scared of loosing someone close to me. Death is a path we all must walk so why fear it?" With these words he brushed a piece of hair out of her eye.

"I just don't wanna..." She began before a horn sounded signaling that they can enter the woods now.

"Trust me you'll be fine." Steven said with a reassuring smile and small wink.

Line Break

Willow stood alone in a small clearing just on this side of the creek, her eyes darting towards every little shadow and every little flicker. Steven was not visible but she knew he was somewhere off to his left. The game had started about 3 minutes ago and she figured they would try something very soon. She knew what to do if she saw people, yell and call out how many there are, and maybe try to stop them from slipping by if there was any way she could. It seemed simple enough for her first capture the flag game but her mind was working overtime.

Her head snapped around, looking closely at where she thought she had heard a sound, her eyes landed on a bird. Gods every single little noise spooked her, being in the woods at night was unnerving.

Then she heard it, the unmistakable rasp of wood on wood. The sound of a bow being drawn. Her head whipped around towards the sound just as she heard a sharp whack, the sound of a bow firing. Unthinking she raised her shield and felt a thump as the arrow rattled off her shield landing somewhere towards her left. That's when she saw the 3 girls moving into her clearing. She tried to yell but fear gripped her and all she could get out was a small squeak. One girl looked at her and then looked at the girl to her left.

"Shut her up before she raises the alarm Kenzie." The first girl commanded. Kenzie didn't hesitate, she started forward slinging her bow over her shoulder and drawing a large hunting knife.

Then a voice to the right of Willow spoke, "That's quite far enough Kenzie."

All 3 hunters plus Willow whipped around towards the sound. At first Willow saw nothing, but then Steven stepped out of the shadows and into the meadow, his hands in his pockets. He leaned against a tree completely relaxed. At the sight of him Willow found her voice.

"You're suppose to be on my left." Willow hissed.

"Yes you thought that, so you never looked to your left. When your a guard always look both ways, that way the people your guarding against," he paused gesturing towards the hunters. "don't know that a guard is on that side of you." He smiled reassuringly. Then turned back towards the hunters.

"Kenzie, Megan, its good to see you, I don't know your knew member sorry."

Kenzie piped up, "Her name's, Jen she's new."

The girl Jen raised her bow, and in an instant a silver streak of moon light was speeding towards Steven. Steven responded by simply leaning away, allowing the arrow to transfix itself into the tree he was leaning against. He walked out into the meadow standing next to Willow, his lighter griped loosely in his hand. The girls just sighed, slinging there bows, 2 drew knives, while the third drew a sword. The girl with the sword advanced on Willow while the 2 with knives advanced slowly on Steven. One of the girls 'Kenzie' Stepped forward suddenly trying to draw out some movement. Steven just stood there stock still as he raised an eye brow.

Stevens lighter opened and in an instant he was holding his axe, his shield already on his arm. Suddenly he raised the weapons' above his head.

"Whoa whoa whoa, idea I have an idea." He smiled at the 3 huntresses who had jumped at the sound of his voice. "Which one of you 3 are the worst fighter?"

The 3 girls look completely shocked, they quickly turn and had a silent conversation.

"That would be Jen... I guess." answered Megan questionably.

"Great, Willow is kind of knew so I'll take you 3 and Willow can have Jen." Steven stated.

"3?" Willow asked.

"Well these 2 and the one that is trying to sneak around us." He said as he turned to his right. "I can see you."'

Just as Steven had said another hunter stepped into the clearing, 2 knives in her hands.

Steven tapped his axe head softly to his shield "Great no hard feelings ladies." He said before his axe slipped forward lightning quick and caught one of the hunters by the foot, dragging her forward he slammed his shield outward catching her in the face. The huntress crumpled.

Willow soon found herself facing Jen. Jen stood lightly balanced on her feet. Willow thought back to her lessons with Steven, her shield lowered a fraction of an inch and her stance relaxed slightly. Jen took a quick jab forward, only to be meet with Willows shield. She jabbed forward again, and once again Willows shield intercepted it, this time Willow took a calculated slash aimed at her head. Jens blade rung against hers as she parried it.

They fell into a deadly rhythm, neither one of them able to get past the others defense. Both people where dimly aware of the noise around them as Steven continued to engage the other huntresses, but the sound was beginning to die down, as one side of the engagement began to get the upper hand. Willow was slowly forming a plan, she started to make her way towards the tree line, slowly. She wanted to slip next to a tree and use it to block her knife arm, and just keep holding out until the game is over.

Willow took a small step, and then disaster struck. Her foot slipped as she put it on a patch of wet grass, the action sent her sprawling out on her back, her shield under her, she was trapped in place. Jen took this opportunity to pounce, Jens knees on her chest and her Hunter knife was pressed against her throat. Willow stared up at the eyes of her attacker, noting the slight hesitance.

A slow clapping brought both of them from there stare down, they turned to see Steven, his black t-shirt had a long slice in it and he was bleeding but he was standing over 3 girls, 2 of them laying on there side, and the third one was tending to there minor injurious, her nose looked broken but she was just sighing and grumbling. Steven paid them no attention and was just clapping slowly. He flashed a encouraging grin and a double thumbs up.

"Not bad, not bad at all." He began, "Willow you need to work on footwork, Jen I think it would be better if worked on your technique a little."

"I don't need advice from you man." Jen spat angerly.

Steven just raised his eyebrow, "Just some friendly advise."

Jen stayed where she was, her knife pressing against Willows throat. She eyed the boy strangely. He had dispatched of 3 hunters but didn't seem to even care, he was totally relaxed. His eyes looked warm and inviting but she caught a small dangerous light deep down.

A noise caught there attention, a blonde boy was running full tilt through the creak, in his hands he held a large red banner. The moment he crossed the creak a horn sounded, signaling the end of the game. A raged cheer came from the campers and a collective groan came from the hunters.

"You know it would be better if you took the knife out of my friends throat." Steven said still grinning at the huntress.

Jens eyes hardened slightly, he was still looking at her. "Just remember male," she spat the last word again. "I could have killed her."

"I would not recommend threatening me like that." Jen looked into his eyes and recoiled a little. His eyes no longer looked friendly. They were cold and haunting.

"Jen drop it, let her go... trust me." This was Megan who had apparently regained consciousness and had seen what was happening.

Just then Chiron trotted up to the group, taking note of the injuries and immediately began tending to the wounded. He glanced around the clearing and raised an eyebrow to the hunter who was still perched on the camper even after the game had ended. It wasn't uncommon for hunters to try to take a few cheep shots on males after games were done, but this was Willow on her back, knife to throat.

"The game is over. Please let Willow up." Chiron stated.

Jens face turned red and she reluctantly stood and shuffled over towards the other hunters who where now all conscious thanks to the work of Chiron. The campers had gathered near the creak and were celebrating, and slowly making there way towards camp again. Steven sauntered over towards Willow, his hands placed in his pockets. Stopping next to her he flashed her a knowing grin and stuck his hand down to help her up.

Willow took his hand and as she was hauled to her feet she asked. "How did you do that, there was 3 people." Her eyes were wide with asperation.

"More like 2, Kenzie didn't get up after I knocked her out."

"Still how did you do that?"

Steven just shrugged and gave her a lopsided grin, "I'm pretty fast, and I've had a lot of practice."

"Ok that's fair but how did you see the hunter in the woods?" She asked still completely puzzled.

At this Stevens laughed. "A wise man once taught me never to let myself be snuck up on."

"Who taught you?" Willow blurted out. Instantly Stevens knowing grin was replaced with a small sad smile.

"My older brother..." Steven said those words carefully. Willow looked up at the boy, his eyes where filled with sadness, his posture slumped a little.

"I'm sorry..." Willow began. Her eyes meet Stevens and he raised his hand to her face, brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face.

"Don't be, he made his choice." He said clearly dismissing the topic.

"But I..."

"Drop it." His eyes hardened slightly as he turned and marched away heading towards the edge of the woods. He stopped after about 10 yards, turning back towards Willow he smiled, the sad light gone from his eyes.

"Well, you coming?"

At these words Willow smiled, happy that Steven was back to his old self. She jogged up to where he was standing, and the pair started to make there way towards camp in comfortable silence.

As the pair reached the edge of the woods Willow finally spoke up. "You know I half expected you to be claimed by now."

As she said these words a column of ghostly black flames erupted, 10 feet from the pair. Willow raised her shield, her dagger slipping free of its sheath. All the campers and hunters who were near the woods, jumped back from the flames, there weapons' all pointed at the towering pillar of flames. Steven paled slightly, before taking a step forward.

Then just as suddenly as the fire had started it ended, reveling a large man in a black suite. His face was strikingly beautiful, stern and ageless, and his long black hair tumbled down to his shoulders almost angelically. He was staring down at a black tablet, cursing and mumbling. What caught almost everyone's attention was the mans eyes, honey gold and somehow looked cold and warm at the same time. Steven took another step towards the man.

"Hello, my old friend." Stevens voice was calm and sad, almost as if he didn't wanna see this man.

The man looked up from his tablet, regarding the boy in front of him. A small sad smile, much like Stevens crossed his face. "Hello, my son."

"I hope this is a social visit, not business related." Steven said carefully.

"A little of both." At these words Steven paled considerably.

"But Lord Thanatos..." Steven began only to be stopped by the Gods raised hand.

"No need for formalities." Thanatos began before adding quickly. "and not the business you fear, there are no dead."

Stevens face lit up in a smile, not his usual grin but an actual smile.

"Besides my champion needs a proper introduction." The God continued before raising his voice, addressing the crowd as a whole.

"Behold my champion and son, Steven Exspiravit. Wielder of the voice and wings of Death. Oath keeper, and holder of the Curse of Loss." He said each title with pride and certainty.

Several campers knelt, not letting there weapons fall from there hands.

The God smiled, his son blushed deep red at the titles.

"How have you been my son, have you found peace?" The God asked in a conversational voice.

"I have." Steven said, no hesitation in his voice.

"I did not expect camp to bring you peace." The Gods eyes twinkled like he was sharing an inside joke.

"Father..." Steven began, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Just show me who it it." The Gods eyes twinkled.

Not saying a word he ran over toward Willow, dragging her to her feet from her kneeling position. He then began hauling her towards the God, her face was pale but she didn't run or do anything.

"Father, this is Willow, Willow this is my dad, Thanatos, God of Death."

Thanatos eyed the girl carefully, looking her up and down. Then suddenly he threw his head back and laughed, a deep hearty laugh that warmed everyone in the clearing to there bones. A look of confusion crossed everyone's faces at the same time, except Willow, her face paled and she tried to sink down.

" Father..." Steven started only to be cut of by another fit of laughter from the God.

The Gods laughter lasted a solid minute, before he finally settled down enough to choke out a few words. At that time tears where streaming down his face.

"I see Aphrodite still loves her word play." He choked out.

"Father... could you explain?" Steven asked a worried look on his face.

"I could but, I think it would be better if I let her, I'm sure she'll tell you eventually." Amusement danced in the Gods eyes.

"Father..." Steven began once again, this time being cut off by the tablet in the Gods hand making a loud beep.

The God looked down at the tablet in annoyance and cursed slightly. Looking back towards the boy he smiled.

"I must be going soon I am sorry my son."

"Wait I just need 1 small favor dad." He walked over and whispered something in the Gods ear.

The Gods eyes drifted once again towards the girl. "I see, yes my boy that I can do."

The God snapped his fingers and Steven and Willow disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Chapter 5 Home

Willow woke from her deep dreamless slumber and shifted deeper into her blankets, trying to get back to sleep. She felt weird, she wasn't sleeping in a bed, she was on a couch.

Her eyes suddenly flew open and she sat bolt upright as she recalled what had happened. She was laying on a small love seat in a living room. Her eyes drifted around taking in her surroundings. Directly in front of her was a glass door leading outside, good an exit. To the left of that is a large box tv sitting in the corner of the room, continuing left her eyes landed on 3 large windows, the closest window was right near her feet just on the other side of the couch. Outside it was dark, probably late at night. Her eyes then drifted to the right of the glass door, there was another couch. Laying on that couch was her dagger and shield. Moving to untangle herself from the blankets she moved quickly, graving her dagger but leaving her shield there for now. To the right of the couch was a small coffee table. To the right of that was a hall, a big hall with a soaring ceiling about 20 feet above her head. About 30 feet from the couch she woke up on she could see a small step and a dinning table. In the hall on the left side was a closed door and a set of stairs that led up towards a loft right above her head. To the right was another glass door.

Outside the door she could see a small fire burning and a familiar figure in a green jacket sitting on a bench. In Stevens hands was a guitar, and Willow now heard as he strummed it lightly singing a quiet song. She moved quickly, moving to the door she slipped it open silently. She slipped outside, her feet registering the damp grass. Steven still sat about 50 feet away, next to him was a small pole shed with no walls. In between Willow and the building was a strip of gravel, about 10 feet across. 'Driveway' Willow thought.

Steven strummed up the guitar into a slow sad sounding tune as Willow began making her way over towards him.

"I was born with a heart made of copper and gold..." Steven began singing. He wasn't a great singer, but his voice was filled with so much sadness that it seemed to draw Willow closer. It sounded like life had beat him down for years and he was finally letting out all the pain and frustrations. Despite all that, there was no bitterness in his voice, it was like he accepted all the sadness he had been given. It was horrifyingly fascinating.

Willow slowed down, walking carefully on the gravel so she didn't hurt her feet. She didn't wanna stop him from singing.

"I polished it down so I would not grow old, but the rains they come under rot blackened skies..."

Willow was now across the drive way and less then 10 feet away from him but Steven didn't seem to notice.

"And they wither my heart despite all my tries..."

Willow suddenly felt like she shouldn't be here, and debated in creeping back into the house. Another part of her wanted more then anything to listen to the song.

" Shadow of death it is trailing me, It haunts me on land and it haunts me on sea..." As these words left his lips Willow could see small tears forming in his eyes.

"Try as I might I just cant get away. It'll haunt me until it kills me one day." At these words Steven broke down, still playing the tune but no longer singing. Tears began freely falling from his eyes.

Willow couldn't take it any more, she stepped into the fire light, walking over to Steven. At the sight of her Steven stopped strumming the guitar, and quickly tried to wipe away the tears from his face.

"Morning." Steven said with the most reassuring smile he could muster with tears in his eyes.

"Good morning." Willow began cautiously.

"Welcome to Wisconsin."

"Why are we in Wisconsin?"

"Well remember when I said Id take you some place to get your shield engraved. I thought Id take you to my home, to clear up any questions or anything you have about me."

Willow didn't understand, why couldn't she just engrave the shield in the forges or something? Why come here, Steven obviously didn't like his past. So many questions flooded her head she didn't know where to start. Then a question surfaced and she knew that had to have it answered first.

"Why did you show me off to your dad? He asked if you found peace and you said yes and..." She didn't know where to go with the question.

"I..." Steven paused then his face lit up as he graved his guitar and strummed a few upbeat happy chords. He looked at Willow, who was standing there slightly puzzled, before beginning.

"There's no way to say this song's about someone else, every time your not in my arms I start to loose myself."

The words flooded over Willow, she knew this song. La Da Dee was one of her favorite songs to listen to when she before she had been told she couldn't love, now the happy go lucky love song felt like an insult every time she heard it. But for some reason this time hearing it, she felt like she was before her curse and the words seemed to resonate and make her happy. Without thinking she started whispering the words along with Steven and swaying slightly. Then she scowled as she realized what she was doing. At that time he was a few lines into the song.

"Cause all the girls are looking fine but your the only one on my mind." With this Steven winked, his infectious grin across his face.

"Shut up, you cant love me, I cant love you. We're just friends." At this Steven stopped playing. His face lit up in an infectious grin.

"Look Steven, I like you but I cant love you, I'm cursed..." Her voice sounded hollow.

Steven threw his head back and laughed, and Willow was surprised at how similar he looked to his father.

"I'm cursed too. I was given the Curse of Loss, I feel a small part of every single person who has lost someone. I feel there pain, there sadness, or there happiness, I shouldn't be happy, but I am. Sure I cant sleep most nights, but why should something you can't change make you sad. Your curse doesn't define you as a person."

Willow looked at the boy with her mouth hanging freely open. She had no idea what to say to that, the thought of Steven, happy go lucky, Steven being cursed almost was to much to deal with. She looked at the boy in a new light, he spent every day feeling other peoples sadness, and still was happy. 'My problems are nothing compared to his' she thought bitterly as she berried her face in her hands and tears started to flow freely down her face. She didn't even know why she was crying she just felt hollow, and sad, and selfish, and lonely.

She felt a pair of strong arms quickly wrap around her, and she was soon lifted slightly off the ground.

"Shhhhhh, shhhhhhh Its ok shhhhhhh, I'm hear nothing can hurt you." Stevens voice found its way to her ear.

Willow just burrier her head deeper into his chest and cried. Deep reaching sobs racked her body threatening to tip her over, but Steven was there keeping her upright and safe. She felt selfish as she cried out all her troubles. His stream of constant comforting remarks never stopped.

She didn't know how long she was there, but eventually her body shaking sobs began to subside. When she finally pulled her face out of his chest, still hugging him, she could see the sun peaking over the trees to the east.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Steven asked softly.

Willow nodded her head softly. Still not breaking away from the warm embrace. Steven seeing she wasn't gonna break away, sunk down and scooped her up into a bridal type carry. Steven looked at the fire, what had once been a large cheerful campfire had burned down to nothing more then a bed of red hot coals and a few chard logs.

Willows face remained burrier in Stevens jacket. She hardly registered the fact that Steven carried her to a different door that she had entered.

"Hey could you please open the door." Steven whispered.

Willow arm reached out and tugged on the door handle, then it slipped back around his neck. Steven quickly stuck his foot out catching the door with it and hauling it open before stepping into what looked to be a porch.

Steven opened a second door using Willows foot to push the handle down and then pushed the door open with it. Stepping through the door they entered a small kitchen, to the left of the kitchen was the dinning room Willow had seen earlier. Steven calmly set her on one of the counters, before taking a hand and tilting her chin up to look him in his eyes.

"I just need to put you down to look in the fridge ok?"

Willow nodded softly, tears still threatening to fall from her eyes.

Steven gave a reassuring smile, as he pulled away quickly turning and opening the fridge. He squatted down, sitting on his hunches as he rustled through the fridge.

Willows exhausted mind worked over time rethinking the earlier conversation.

"Can you really not sleep?"

Steven looked up at her from his lowered position.

"Not really I wake up a lot and even before getting the curse I would only sleep about 2 hours a night." He said before turning his attention back towards the fridge.

"How do you deal with that?"

"I accept it." Steven said before sighing and shutting the door on the fridge. "I don't have anything that isn't spoiled. Would it be ok if I take you out for breakfast?"

"Steven you don't need..."

"No but I want to. Besides" He reaches over onto the counter behind her and pulled a pair of car keys from a small bowl. "I haven't driven in a while."

Line Break

The drive lasted barely 10 minutes before Steven pulled into a large gas station/ restaurant. Steven killed the engine and slumped back into his seat, giving Willow a reassuring smile.

"I'll tell you anything you wanna know later, but for now lets just have a nice breakfast."

Willow nodded slowly, her tears had long since stopped and now she looked semi normal other then the slight red puff around her eyes. She looked lost in thought as she reached for the door handle.

"Hold up there." Steven said, quickly unbuckling and jumped out the door running around to the passenger door. He paused before opening the door, extending his hand out and slightly bowing. Willow on the other end just rolled her eyes and slightly smiled. Ignoring his hand she stepped out and Steven slammed the door. Steven placed a protective arm around her shoulder but Willow shrugged it off.

Steven looked down at the smaller girl, she looked shaken up and quiet. He'd have to change that. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. "I only opened the door because the inside handle is broken." With this he was rewarded with a little bigger smile as she glanced back towards the rusty blue truck.

They walked through the door and stood by the sign that said 'Please allow us to seat you' In the dinner there were already a few people, a group of 4 were sitting around one of the central tables, while a couple was sitting in one of the booths near the back. A waitress that looked about the same age as them rounded the corner.

"Hi table for... Spook!" the waitress rushed forward tackling Steven in a hug. "Oh my god I haven't seen you in like 3 months, where have you been?"

"Oh high Cas, I took a walk and took some time away from everything." Steven said sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"You took a walk that lasted 3 months?" She said her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah I'll think of a better excuse later, Oh Cas this is Willow, Willow; Cas." Steven said, gesturing to each of them.

Willow held her hand out pleasantly, and Cas shook it eyeing the girl curiously.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend." Cas stated.

"Oh I'm not his girlfriend." Willow responded.

"Yeah not my girlfriend." Steven confirmed before winking at Willow.

This caused Willow to elbow Steven painfully in the ribs. Causing Cas to burst out in a short giggle.

"That's a shame, you to look cute together. Usual spot?" She directed the question towards Steven.

Steven rubbed his ribs carefully. "Yes please."

The girl lead them to a booth in the corner, placed 2 menus down in front of them. Steven immediately pulled a sugar packet out of the cup on the table, before pulling a pen out of his jacket and writing something on it.

"Can I bring you anything to drink?" Cas asked sweetly.

"I'll just have a water." Willow said.

"Water." Steven said before handing Cas the sugar packet, pausing to read it a small smile danced across her face.

"Ok Ill be right back out with this." She said to Steven before glancing quickly at Willow and taking off toward the kitchen.

When Cas was gone Willow turned toward Steven, a questioning look on her face.

"What was that?"

"A note on a sugar packet." Steven said dead serious.

"I know but what was on the note?"

Steven just waved his hand dismissingly. "Patience."

Willow sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, not angerly but more exhaustedly.

"So any idea what you wanna engrave?"

"No, I had an idea but it just seems stupid now."

"Was it a plant of some kind." Steven said teasingly.

"No." Willows voice had slight amounts of venom in it.

"Oh I was kidding. What did you have in mind?"

Willow opened her mouth to say something, then she snapped it shut. A small grin flashed across her face and a mischievous light danced in her eyes.

"Patience."

Stevens eyes screwed shut and he placed his hand on his temple smiling broadly.

"Should have seen that coming."

"Yes you should have."

"Well its ok you probably didn't see this coming."

Just then Cas returned from the kitchen a glass of water in one hand and a large pink shake with whipped cream and sprinkles in the other. She set the shake down in front of Willow and the glass of water in front of Steven.

Willow looked down at the shake puzzled, "I didn't order this."

"No Steven ordered it for you." Pulling the sugar packet out of her pocket and placing it on the table, the words 'Get her a shake' clearly written in neat handwriting.

Willow turned her gaze too Steven, "Why?"

Steven just shrugged lightly. "You seemed down so I got you a little pick me up."

Willows gaze fell onto the shake then it snapped back to Steven. Secretly she was touched, the shake did look very good, but she didn't wanna let Steven know she was touched by the gesture. The boy could take that as she liked him, which she did, but she didn't want him to hurt if somehow her curse affected him.

"Its like 7 in the morning." Willow said.

"Great it can be considered a breakfast shake then." Steven said a small smile creeping onto his lips.

Willows eyes rolled as she regarded the boy in front of her again. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, thank her." Steven said gesturing to Cas. "She made it."

Cas's smile broadened as she produced a small pad of paper and a pen.

"Are you ready to order or do you need more time?" She asked sweetly.

Willow looked down at the menus that laid unopened on the table.

"I think we need more time." Willow said firmly, causing Steven to nod in agreement.

"Ok sounds good." Cas said before turning and taking a step back towards the kitchen only to be stopped by Steven.

"You know I haven't seen you in 3 months and the place looks pretty dead. If your boss says its ok I wouldn't mind if you joined us." he said before pausing and giving a sidelong glance towards Willow. "That is if you'd be ok with that."

"I don't see a problem with that." Willow said as casually as she could.

Cas flashed a broad smile at the 2. "I'll go talk to Mark, who knows maybe he's in a good mood." She said before swiftly walking back to the kitchen.

Willow turned her attention towards the menu, flipping it open she began to thumb through it looking for anything that looked good.

"I'd recommend an omelet." Steven said, his menu laying unopened on the table.

"Why?"

"They make a dam fine omelet at this joint."

Willow said nothing as she flipped to the page with the omelets, they did look good. She was so lost in thought that she failed to notice 2 people approach the table.

"Well, well, look who the cat dragged in." Said a big man who was standing behind Cas. He was huge, almost 7 feet tall and built like a sumo wrestler. He looked like he could bench a tractor, then eat it. He was bald and had a full beard of black scraggly hair. He had on a clean white apron over a white t-shirt and jeans. His face was set in a ridged scowl but his eyes danced with amusement as he eyed Steven.

"Well look who finally got out here to talk to me." Steven responded easily. Glancing from Cas to the big man.

"Not by choice, I was practically drug out here." He said turning the fake scowl towards Cas.

"Mark..." Cas began, "I couldn't drag you anywhere."

Marks scowl deepened looking at the girl furiously. He opened his mouth to respond only to be cut off by Steven who had been grinning at the exchange.

"Cas that wasn't very nice. You could totally drag him." He paused for dramatic effect. "You can drive a tractor right?"

The big man turned his furious gaze toward Steven, his face beat red and the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. Steven just met his gaze with a broad grin. A small noise made its way from Marks lungs to his lips, a short little growling sound.

The mans hand flashed forward and back in the blink of an eye, so fast Willow missed it, snatching the menu off the table in front of Steven. Stevens grin broadened and he began to chuckle, a small sound that soon began to pick up frequency and volume. Soon Stevens shoulders were shaking as he tried to smother the sound of laughter. Marks shoulders began to shake at the sight of the young man in front of him, and soon both of the men were laughing loudly at the seemingly inside joke.

"Its good to see you Mark." Steven said sticking his hand out to shake Marks hand.

Marks hand extended and enveloped Stevens hand in a firm hand shake.

"Its good to see you! Where have you been? 3 months, no show, no letter, hell not even a messenger pigeon." Mark began, his face attempting to arrange itself into a scowl but failing miserably.

"I took a long walk." Steven began only to be cut off by Cas.

"I thought you'd think of a better excuse?"

Steven just smiled sheepishly, and shrugged slightly.

"So back to the topic at hand, I hear you wanna take my waitress here from her shift." Mark began raising his eyebrow.

"Well... yeah."

"You know 3's a crowd." He said glancing at Willow and smiling broadly.

"We..." Steven paused gesturing to himself then Willow. "... are not dating, she cant."

Marks gaze fell on Willow his smile faltering slightly then returning to normal.

"Cant date you say?"

Willow looked up at the man, shrinking down a little. Even with a smile on his face he was a scary dude.

"N-No sir." She stammered out.

"Shame Steven's a good kid." His voice conveying slight amounts of disappointment.

The conversation halted a little as Willow didn't have anything to say in response, and Mark didn't have anything to add. It probably would have stayed in the awkward silence for a long time if Steven didn't clear his throat, drawing everyone's attention.

"So could Cas..."

"Yes yes yes of course she can have a break, she needs to take a breakfast break anyway." Mark said waiving his hand absently.

With this Cas smiled broadly, slipping into the booth next to Willow. Mark then produced a pad of paper and pen.

"So what can I get you?" Mark began.

"I'll take the 3 pancakes, white bread toast, and some hash browns." Cas started.

"I'll take the farmers omelet, white toast, and hash browns." Steven said.

"I'll have the same as Steven." Willow said.

Mark nodded and scribbled the orders down before flashing a smile and walking away toward the kitchen.

Cas turned her attention to Steven. "Still thinking of a better excuse?" She teased.

Steven just smiled placing his finger on his chin in a exaggerated thinking pose. "Yes, I fell asleep in a strawberry field."

At these words Willows foot flashed forward under the table and kicked Steven playfully in the shin, not hard. Cases eyebrow shot up and she just sighed, turning to Willow.

"Have you ever gotten a strait answer out of him?"

"Not a single one, its always 'you'll find out eventually' or ' patience'" her voice straining to sound like Stevens.

"Hey, you did find out didn't you?" Steven protested.

"Yeah... I guess but I still don't understand..." Willow began before being interrupted by Stevens raised hand, Gods he loved that gesture.

"Lets just have a nice breakfast before I somehow ruin your day with my excuses."

As the 3 of them talked, the conversation shifted from Stevens life to Willows to Cases and then back to Willow.

"So..." Cas began " how did you 2 meet?"

"He scared me while I was in a strawberry field, apparently I..." She held her hands up making air quotes "Woke him up."

"Why am I not surprised he scared you? Dude can sneak up on a fox." Cas said gesturing to Steven.

Steven smiled proudly at this comment as there food arrived.

Line Break

"What's the damage?" Steven asked flipping open his wallet.

Cas tapped feverously on the screen of the cash register.

"$36.56." She said firmly.

Steven slipped out a $50 and handed it to her. "Split with Mark, he needs a new apron." Steven said deadpan.

Cas just rolled her eyes and smiled as she typed on the screen.

"It was nice to meet you Willow, try to keep Steven out of trouble."

"I will." Willow replied cheerfully.

The 2 nodded there goodbyes before stepping out the door.

Steven glanced over at Willow, she looked a lot better than this morning, her posture was a lot better, she was smiling, and her eyes looked filled with life. He sighed to himself I'd gladly handle another curse for someone like you he thought as he climbed into the truck.

"Stop." Willows words shook him from his thoughts.

"Stop what?"

"Your staring at me." She said as she fidgeted with the radio, the ride into town had been silent and it was a nice change to hear some soft country music slip through the radio static.

Stevens ears burned red, but he wasn't going to say he wasn't.

"So lets get back to your place, I really wanna get to work." Her face lit up in a in a wistful grin.

Steven didn't answer he just punched the gas and they shot off, homeward bound.

Line break

Willow looked around as Steven pulled into the driveway, taking in the her surroundings for the first time. Stevens house was a large 2 story farm house, with white siding and a tin roof. A long driveway placed the house about 100 yards off the road. The front lawn was long and shaggy from not being cut in almost 3 months. On both sides of the yard were large fields of long grass surrounded by 5 foot wire fences. 'Pasture' Willow thought, but she couldn't see any animals in it. Next to the house the driveway widened into a large turn around. Behind the house was a large grey pole shed, next to that a small concrete building with a tin roof. To the opposite side of the driveway was a log cabin looking building, maybe 10' by 15'. At the top of the turn around was another small building about the size of the log cabin. Behind that was a fence that led out to a bunch of broken down cars and a silo, a few more buildings were back there but she couldn't tell what they were for. The whole spread looked nice, not over the top or fancy.

"So strait to work or do you want the tour?" Stevens question pulled her from her thoughts.

"Work sounds nice." She said reaching toward the door handle. She was actually exited to do this, she liked learning things with Steven, knife fighting had been fun so this might also be cool.

Steven was already opening the door and slipping out. Walking around to Willows door he once again opened it for her. He then began to walk towards the grey pole shed that was behind, Willow eagerly following him. Steven opened the door and flipped on the lights, inside was a cluttered with tables of tools all over the place, 3 large red tool chests where scattered around. In one corner of the shed near a large garage door was a partially disassembled 4-wheeler. Steven paused at a relatively clean table and pulled up 2 stools, before finding a sketch book and pen.

"So, what do you see on that shield?" He began placing the pad of paper on the table.

"Well I was thinking..." Willow began only to be cut off by Steven.

"I didn't ask what you were thinking I asked what you saw. What will make you strong in battle, but humble in retreat? What do you feel will calm you, but strike fear into your enemies? What is something you feel belongs close to you?" Steven asked each question as if he'd asked them a million times before.

"What? I-I don't understand."

At these words Steven smiled lightly, and produced his lighter, setting it gently on the table between them. He graved the pad of paper and flipping to a page before setting it down in front of Willow to inspect. There were 3 sketches on the page, the first and largest sketch depicted a skull biting onto a wrench, above it was the word redemption written in neat letters. The 2 other sketches, depicted a skeleton working in a shop hunched over an engine of some sort. The second showed the skeleton holding hands with another skeleton who was laying on his back, both skeletons looked sad and there was even a tear in the eyes of the skeleton who was upright.

"This is-was my little brother Coles, each carving has a meaning, This one..." He paused pointing at the skull with the wrench in his mouth. "Is a representation what is close to you. For Cole it was redemption, he saw everything as fixable, everyone can be redeemed, or fixed. The wrench is because Cole was a mechanic by heart, he loved working with his hands." Steven paused, a small sad smile crossed his face as he described his little brother.

"I'm sorry..." Willow whispered, she didn't know why she was being told this.

Steven glanced up at Willows eyes, so deep, so full of worry, filled with an unspoken question she was to scared to ask.

"You need to learn the past to embrace the future." Steven said, looking Willow in the eyes as he flipped the page.

This page was totally different from Coles. The largest sketch in the center depicted a man holding a shovel standing in... something, it looked almost like mud based on the tracks. The man was shirtless and well muscled, at his waist a hammer hung from a tool belt. Below that was the word Diligence written neatly. The 2 other pictures showed the man working, building something on a table, similarly to Coles. The other one was a man, peppered with arrows, kneeling next to a woman who was also peppered with arrows. They both held there heads high and were holding hands.

"This was James's, my older brothers. He valued above all else diligence. If you worked hard enough you can achieve anything. He was too stubborn for his own good even." Steven paused smiling slightly before continuing. "He held his head high and always fought through pain. The engraving is him pouring concrete, he loved to do that." Steven paused taking a shaky breath before continuing. "The 2 other engravings are an event that made us stronger, and what we enjoy. We get these from visions when we are younger"

Tears threatened to spill from his eyes as he reached forward and flicked his lighter open, his shield and axe sprang to life and he calmly set them on the table.

"I was given the angel because I always helped people to reach there true potential. I was given the word 'Oath' because I..." Stevens voice cracked a little as he chocked out the next words. "... Was able to uphold an oath my father couldn't. My father couldn't carry his lovers or children's souls to the underworld so I did. It is something I must always remember."

Steven slumped down as a single tear slid down his face. Willow didn't know what to say, she felt so little compared to his troubles. She reached across the table and slipped her hands around one of Stevens. Giving a reassuring squeeze, she tried to think of anything to say, anything at all, but her voice could not reach her lips.

Steven took a few shaky breaths and looked up, wiping away the tears with his free hand, he squeeze Willows reassuringly.

"So..." Steven began his voice still shaking. "Do you know what you want?"

Tears threatened to slide down Willows face as she thought for a second, she knew what she felt, but the words to describe it evaded her.

"I-I want you." Willow said softly.

A look of pure confusion crossed his tear stained face. "What?" He wasn't sure he heard her right.

"I want your angel. I feel like..." She didn't know how to describe it.

"You cant have my angel, It must be something unique to you." Steven said, trying for a reassuring smile but failing.

"No, I want you as an angel." She said her voice small, it sounded silly but she was more certain about this than she had ever been.

Stevens lips curled slightly and a tear slid down his eye, shoulders shook slightly as he took a breath. His gaze meet Willows and he could tell she was dead serious. He was flattered and all but... "Why?"

"You will keep me strong in battle. You- you will keep me humble. I don't know how to describe it, I just know its right."

Stevens mood shifted from mostly sad to more curious. "Why an angel?"

At this Willow smiled and squeezed Stevens hand again. "Because you've lifted me to my best." These words tumbled out of her mouth.

Stevens smile returned in an instant at those words. His eyes lit up in, Relief? Happiness? she couldn't exactly tell but she knew it was good.

"I think its perfect."

Line Break

"And done." Willow said setting the sketchbook down, along with her pencil.

Steven walked forward from where he had been posing, He had taken the classic angel pose with his shield and axe in his hands and had stood there for almost 20 minutes as Willow worked furiously sketching and erasing trying to get all the details onto the paper. She had only drawn Steven, leaving the wings till after he was completely done.

A smile touched his lips. "Its perfect." Steven stated.

At these words Willow blushed happy that he had liked it. "So are you ready to do the wings?" Willow asked eager to continue.

Stevens smile widened. "Promise not to freak out first."

A look of confusion crossed Willows face. She knew better then to question it so she just went along with it, eager to continue with the design. "Yeah sure whatever."

Steven smiled before walking back to his spot. He stood there, eyes closed, for a moment concentrating. Then Willow began to see it, or more accurately them. A pair of ghostly black wings began to form around the boy, almost translucent but just able to be seen if you focused hard enough. Stevens shoulders flexed and suddenly they became brighter, still translucent but visible enough to see details. A beautiful set of interwoven feathers made of a ghostly black flame. Willows breath caught in her throat and she stared in awe at the wings.

"Wha..."

"Please just draw." Stevens face was already beaded with sweat and his voice was straining

"What are those?" Willow looked at the wings, they looked intimidating, but for some reason she also felt like they would be... comforting? No that's not the word.

Stevens face grew red as he strained to keep his wings up. "Draw now." His breathing was slightly shaky and he stood tense almost like it hurt to have the wings out. His voice made it clear that he wasn't going to talk anymore.

Furiously Willow began sketching, first the outline, then the many feathers, It was slow going. The translucent wings kept shifting and shimmering and Steven was struggling to keep them still.

2 minutes. That's all it took for Willow to sketch the wings. It seemed like an almost impossibly long time but she had rushed threw it and the moment she drew the last feather she looked up just in time to see Steven fall to the ground.

"Steven!" Willow dropped the pad of paper and pencil, rushing forward to the fallen boy.

"s ok..." Steven paused taking several deep breaths as he laid on his back. "jus..." Steven didn't finish before his eyes rolled into his head and he passed out. Still breathing but terribly pale and sweating.

"Steven. Steven! STEVEN!" Willows voice rose in desperation as she placed her ear on his chest trying to listen to find a heartbeat. His heart beat was there, less steady, but still there. His body felt cold and was soaked with sweat. She took his hand in her own and immediately flinched. His hand was freezing.

"Oh Gods, Oh Gods." Willows voice came out shaky. 'What do I do? I'm no Apollo kid.' Willows mind began working overtime, as she attempted to take a shaky breath to calm her nerves.

"He's breathing. He's alive." Willow didn't even realize she was speaking out loud. Her rapid heart beat began to slow down as she heard herself say he was alive.

'Ok he was alive, he doesn't look hurt just tired.' Willow thought, her eyes still fixed on the boy. 'What now?' She couldn't just leave him on the floor, but she didn't think she was strong enough to move him. He was still shaking and soaked in sweat.

"Ok first warm him up, then..." Willow scowled as she realized she had spoken aloud. Scanning the room she couldn't see any place to prop him to make him more comfortable, The only place she could even think would be comfortable was the couch but that was a ways away. Cursing she realized, she was going to do it one way or another so might as well get it over with. Sighing deeply she graved one of his arms and slung it over her shoulder. Cursing softly under her breath she hauled him upward with all of her might. Stumbling slightly she made it to her feet, Stevens hung limply off her shoulder, He wasn't as heavy as she thought, but he still was completely limp and that made him seem a lot heavier. Cursing once again she began trudging toward the door.

Line Break

Willow laid Steven on the couch, gently propping his feet up, before slumping down to her knees next to it. Her hands tugged at Stevens jacket, carefully stripping it off of him. She graved the blanket she had woken up with, which had laid on the ground exactly where she had discarded it this morning. Taking the blanket she tucked it over the boys legs, pausing only a moment to pull off his shoes, before turning her attention to the soaked shirt. It still had a long slice in it from one of the hunters. She carefully tugged at the bottom of the shirt pulling it up to his chest before it caught somewhere under Steven. Sliding her hand under him, she slid around trying to find where the shirt was caught. Her hand made contact with... something, It felt like normal skin but rough and uneven. Curious, she rolled him onto his stomach before finally slipping the shirt off.

Willows breath caught as her gaze fell on the uneven skin. 2 scars, each about 6 inches long sat just between his shoulder blades and spine, one on each side. They were dark red, and the skin around them was burned till it was black.

"Quite painful." A voice Willow had heard before and could never forget spoke up from somewhere behind her. Willow, on her feet in an instant turning to see a breathtakingly beautiful woman in a white sleeveless dress lounging on the love seat applying eyeliner.

"YOU!" Willow bellowed as she lunged forward, furiously graving for the knife at her waist. The knife slid free of the scabbard, and Willow stepped forward intent on separating the Goddesses head from her shoulders. Aphrodite simply waved her hand, freezing Willow in place.

"Hello dear, its been awhile." Aphrodite began, putting her eyeliner away.

"YOU..." Willow began, her voice silenced by a wave of the Goddesses hand, as a now mute Willow released a stream of silent insults.

"Shhhh dear, Steven needs his rest, the wings of Death can be very tiring." Aphrodite looked toward the unconscious boy sympathetically.

Willow, unable to speak or move, just stared at the Goddess with furry in her eyes.

"Now we have much to discuss, and It would be better if he..." Aphrodite paused gesturing to Steven "Was not awake for it."

"I understand you hate me because I had to place that little curse on you." Aphrodite began.

At the mention of the curse Willows face turned deep red and her mouth began once again formed a stream of silent insults which Aphrodite politely ignored.

"And I also can tell you have grown quit attached to this boy," Aphrodite paused gesturing to the boy. "which is perfect, you 2 make such a cute couple."

Willows stream of silent insults stopped as a look of angry confusion crossed her face. Aphrodite looked at the girl with a new look, smugness?

"Oh, yes dear you were destined to fall for this boy. I mean who wouldn't fall for him? He's so nice and always seems to bend over backwards for the people he loves. He reminds me of..." Aphrodite went on a long tangent about some guy from the 1800s and how he was so dreamy and full of life, but Willows mind had stopped on the 8 letter phrase she just heard. 'You were destined to fall for this boy'

Willows face must have been priceless, It was a complete jumble of confusion, anger, hopefulness, and just a slight bit of happiness. Aphrodite must have noticed it too because she let out a shrill giggle, causing Steven to stir slightly in his sleep.

"Oh yes dear I knew you would fall for him, and honestly I had to be careful how to go about this, a girl that can create life, but has no life in herself, and a boy who brings nothing but death, and is full of life." Aphrodite sighed dreamily. "You're perfect together." Aphrodite waved her hand in the air and Willow, stumbled, unfrozen now.

"Now do you remember what I told you, what was it 2 years ago?" Aphrodite asked, placing a finger on her chin in a thinking fashion.

"What? You told me Id never find love till I die." Willows voice rose just enough to cause Steven to stir in his sleep.

"No, no, no what was the wording?" Aphrodite paused thinking deeply. "Was it the one about being 'lost too find love' ?"

Willow remembered the words, she had spent many nights angerly reciting them in her head. "You told me, You will fail to find love until deaths embrace, You will feel the greatest loss anyone will ever feel."

Aphrodite squealed, "Oh yes dear, that is the one. Quit clever of me, If I do say so myself. Now you have done the first one, you've hugged death, or moreover the champion of death, what 2-3 times? Well what can you expect from him, always comforting people..."

"What?"

"Oh dear surely you must have seen how he always comforts people..."

"No, I've seen that, just... what do you mean?" Willow strained to keep from throttling the Goddess.

"Dear that wasn't just a curse, those were conditions. I want to make sure you can fix Steven before you are allowed to love him." Aphrodites words hit Willow hard.

"You mean... I can love him?" Willows voice was, for the first time in 2 years, was filled with hope.

Aphrodite smiled deeply, a soft playful smile. "It would seem like you already do."

Willows face lit up into a smile, she could love, she could be more then friends with Steven. Her smile fell slightly at the Goddesses next words.

"Although you will not receive my blessing until you do one more thing for him."

Willow thought back to the curse. "I must feel a loss."

"No my dear, you must feel the greatest loss known." Aphrodite smiled deeply again. "You must hold the curse of Loss, if even for a moment."

Willows smile fell completely from her face, replaced by a puzzled look. "You cant hold another persons curse. It..."

The Goddess simply raised her hand. "The curse of Loss is unique, It has been passed down the Exspiravit family for generations, It is a special curse, If it has a willing recipient and a willing host the curse can be given to another. It must always have a host and if it doesn't the curse will choose someone." The Goddess eyed the sleeping boy, "I am sure Steven has told you what the curse does."

"Yes he has." Willow began "So if I hold the curse I will be able to love again."

"Yes my dear, you will receive my blessing..."

"I'll do it." Willows voice escaped her lips in an eager frenzy. If there was anyway she could love again she would do it, holding a curse was a small price to pay for love.

"Excellent." Aphrodite snapped her fingers and Stevens eyes fluttered open. He blinked once before turning and regarding the 2 lady's in the room. At the sight of them his eyes snapped shut and his hand came up and rubbed his temple.

"Willow, why are there 2 of you, and why is one of you in a dress?" Stevens voice was thick and his eyes were still screwed shut.

Willows face flushed, If the Goddess of beauty looked like you then... her face got even redder at the though. She didn't have time to think about it right now, she had a task to do.

"Steven give me your curse." Willow began.

Stevens face paled, his eyes snapped open, sitting up, his usually smiling face was replaced by a look of pure terror. "Wha- what?" His voice caught Willow by surprise, he spoke in barely above a whisper and began to shake slightly.

"I need to hold your curse..." Willow began only to be cut off.

"NO, NO YOU DON'T." Steven shouted, he looked Willow dead in the eyes. His eyes were full of fear, his lips were quivering slightly.

Willows confidence faltered, she had never heard Steven yell, save the time in the arena, but she pressed forward.

"Steven just gi..." Willow began.

"NO, I CAN'T DO THAT TO YOU, I CAN'T HURT YOU LIKE THAT." Steven sounded desperate and broken. Willow could see tears welling in his eyes.

Willows confidence was gone in an instant, the look on his face, It was the worst she had ever seen him. He looked worse then when he cried about his family by a long shot. His body, usually so strong and steady, was shaking. Tears began streaming down his face and he berried his face in his hands. Willow turned to Aphrodite, only to see her vanish into a flash of pink smoke. Realizing that there was no way to get it like this, she stepped forward, kneeling down in front of the sobbing man. She took one of his hands in one of hers, and with her free hand she tilted his chin up so he was looking in her eyes. His eyes were broken.

"Shhhhhhh, shhhhhh, you wont hurt me, shhh." Willows voice was soft and supportive.

Stevens arms snaked around Willow, his usual strong and steady arms were gone, replaced by a pair of weak, shaking arms. Stevens sobs broke Willows heart as he berried his face in Willows shoulder.

"Steven..." Willow began only to be interrupted by another set of broken sobs.

"I-I cant d-do it you'll kill yourself. The curse..." Steven stopped unable to think of words bad enough to describe it.

"Shhhh, Shhhhh Its ok I wont, I just need it for a moment..."

"You cant handle it." Steven spoke with such certainty Willow actually believed him for a half a second. She paused for a moment thinking of anyway to convince him to give it to her.

"Steven, do you like me?" Willows words flowed over Steven, his sobs softened slightly, and his arms shook just a little less. He pulled away slightly just enough to look Willow into the eyes.

"W- What?" Stevens voice sounded raged and broken. He looked uncertain, a look Willow had never seen on Steven. No matter what, Steven had always seemed to look certain about everything he said. This new look was foreign to Willow.

"Do you like me?" Willow took her time saying this, trying to convey a message that, moments ago, had seemed so hopeless.

Steven took a couple deep shaky breaths, despite his efforts he couldn't seem to steady his breathing. "Yeah... I do." Steven whispered, the uncertainty in his voice gone.

"Then give me..."

Another look of panic came across his face again. "No, I cant hurt you like that..."

"Steven..." Willow began, there faces were inches apart. "The only way you can break my curse is to give me yours."

A tear slid down his face. "Its not worth it, the cold, the voices, the nightmares... I'm not worth that." Stevens voice rang out clear and the most certain she had ever heard him. It scared her how much this curse seemed to scare him.

"Steven please. I need 1 moment and then I promise to..."

Steven cut her off, "You never have 1 moment with it. This curse..." He shuddered "It stays with you forever." His eyes were absolutely haunting as he said that.

Seeing she was getting nowhere she switched tactics again.

"Steven, do you want to fix me?"

Stevens eyes narrowed slightly, almost as if he didn't understand what she had asked, but she knew he did. He remained silent though.

"Steven... do you want to lift me to be my best?" Willow kept pressing. The words sounded strange coming from her mouth.

Stevens eyes fell.

"Steven..." She began only to be cut off by a raised hand.

"I'm not worth it." He said, barely a whisper.

Willow moved closer, close enough for there foreheads to touch.

"Yes you are." This time Willow was surprised at how sincere she sounded.

Stevens greyish eyes rose to meet her own, they looked hollow and incredibly sad, almost like they were trying to say goodbye. His shoulders somehow managed to slump lower and make him look even more defeated. Tears began to fall from his eyes once more, but he didn't shake. A small noise escaped his lips.

"What?"

Again Steven mumbled out an answer that was to quiet to be heard. Willow was inches away from his mouth but she couldn't hear him.

"Steven?"

This time Steven didn't mumble. He took 1 single deep breath before drawing his shoulders up, in a fashion that made it seem like he had fully made his decision.

"Ok."

Willow didn't know whether to smile or cower in fear, she had been so focus on fixing her curse she didn't know what was going to happen when she was given Stevens.

"We should prepare." Steven said sad and bitterly.

Line Break

When Willow heard Steven say "We should prepare.." She expected some preparations for a ritual of some sort, but instead she was looking over a wide arrange of assorted items. A large fuzzy blanket, A bowl of soup that Steven had found in the covert and warmed up in the microwave, Stevens guitar, an iPod and headphones, several bottles of water, a cup of hot chocolate. All them seem strongly comforting, in stark contrast to Steven, who was quiet and solon as he explained what she needed to do.

"Ok almost ready, just one more thing to do." As Steven said this he plucked the dagger from her sheath.

"What's that?" Willow asked cautiously, unsure as to why her dagger was being stolen.

"Close your eyes." Steven commanded.

"Why?"

"Please trust me." Steven said quietly.

Willow did as instructed, with her eyes screwed shut she heard Steven shuffle out of the room. He returned about 15 seconds later.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" Willow asked cautiously.

"Yes."

Willow opened them, only to see Steven holding out his jacket and a pair of fuzzy socks.

"What's this?" Willow asked confused.

"Put them on."

"Why?"

Stevens eyes met hers, they still looked broken and hollow. "They might help." He didn't sound convinced, but Willow wasn't going to argue with him. She pealed her socks off, replaced them with the soft fuzzy ones, then put on Stevens jacket. The jacket was much to big and hung to her thighs, but it was warm and soft, and it smelled like Old Spice and smoke, a surprisingly pleasant scent.

Steven eyed Willow, "Are you sure about this?" Hoping against all hopes she would change her mind.

"Yes." There was no hesitation, not even for a moment.

"Ok. Lets begin." Steven said, attempting at a reassuring smile but failing. He picked up the blanket and wrapped it around them both and guided her to the love seat. Steven positioned himself so the 2 of them were snuggled deep in each others arms. Stevens arms wrapped around her and pulled her into his chest. He drew in 1 final breath before beginning.

"I, Steven Exspiravit, rightful holder of The Curse of Loss, offer you this curse. Will you, Willow Wundrow, Accept?"

"Yes." As soon as these words escaped her lips a wave of cold washed over Willow. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and goosebumps erupted everywhere. Her eyes screwed shut and that's when she heard it, whispers. A million voices all began speaking in her head at once. The words were to quiet to hear but they were there.

"Give it back now!" Stevens voice made its way into her ear, he sounded frantic.

"I, Willow Wundrow..." Then it hit her, the million voices erupted into yelling, screaming, crying and wallowing. The world around Willow slipped away as the voices enveloped her whole being. Hopelessness gripped her, and her hands franticly reached around, searching for anything to end her own life with. She became dimly aware that her arms where being pinned to her side, but that didn't matter. Nothing outside of her little hell mattered, screaming did nothing to silence the voices. Her skin felt like all the heat had been leached out of it and she was shivering, but that didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was ending her life.

A loud wordless yell broke though her thoughts, a yell that she had heard before, in the arena. A flood of memories enveloped her mind, Planting her first strawberry bush at camp, gardening with her dad, the breakfast earlier today with Steven. It was the complete opposite of what she had heard in the arena, but she latched onto the thoughts, happy for the brief moment of peace from the voices. A voice made its way into her ear.

"Give It back!" Stevens voice franticly commanded. His voice pulled her back toward reality.

"...rightful holder of the Curse of Loss, offer you this curse. Will you, Steven Exspiravit, Accept?" Willows words escaped her mouth in a frantic frenzy, she was dimly aware of the tears in her eyes, but nothing seemed to matter, life was pointless.

"Yes, Yes, Yes." Stevens words somehow escaped in an even more frantic fashion then hers had. Almost immediately, the voices that had once enveloped her whole being were gone, but the sense of fear and hopelessness lingered.

"Shhhhhhhhh, Shhhhhhhhhh, Its ok I'm here, Nothing can hurt you." Stevens words made its way to her ear, but for once it did nothing to stop the overwhelming sense of dread she felt. She was incredibly cold, the only sense of heat was the 2 arms wrapped protectively around her. Her body was shaking, from the cold or fear, she didn't know.

Her head found her way into Stevens chest somehow and she screamed. She wanted to kill herself, but her arms were still wrapped in an inescapable embrace. Stevens calming stream of remarks never stopped, but they didn't help. Willow was caught up in an inescapable world of pain, sadness and hopelessness. There was no reason to be alive, and nothing she could do.

She cried, nothing mattered, nothing ever will matter. Steven kept whispering, but it didn't matter.

She didn't know what to do, so her head somehow pushed deeper in Stevens chest and she sobbed. She wanted to die but those stupid arms wrapped around her stopped her. Realizing there was no way to kill herself, her own arms snaked around Steven, searching for any warmth.

Steven looked at the girl in his arms. He knew what she felt, he had to deal with it every day. He shouldn't have given her the curse, but he couldn't think about that right now, right now she needed help. Pulling her closer he continued whispering in her ear, keeping his arms wrapped around her so she couldn't do anything she would regret. He snuggled her deeper into his arms and was prepared to comfort her for however long she needed.

Line Break

8 hours. It took about 8 hours for Willow to stop sobbing. Steven was astonished, when he had been given the curse the first time it had taken him 14, and here Willow was, still wrapped in his arms, beginning to stop after 8. Although better was a relative term. Tears still freely flowed down her face, Steven had made sure Willow had drank a bottle of water around hour 2 and then another around hour 5. He still had no idea how he was able to get her to drink but he wasn't complaining.

Willow wasn't shaking as she cried now. Stevens shirt, which he had put on as he was getting everything ready, was soaked in tears. Willows hair was a mess and her voice was raged as she cried, she had only stopped screaming about an hour ago. Stevens own voice was beginning to hurt from the constant stream of comforts he whispered into her ear.

He knew what would happen next, soon she would fall asleep for about an hour and wake up with nightmare after nightmare. Then she wouldn't be able to sleep, after that she would be hungry.

"Shhhhh, Shhhhh, It's ok I'm here, they're gone." Stevens voice once again made its way into her ear.

Willow said nothing, instead she took a half second to unwrap an arm from around Steven and wiped her nose. Then her arm snaked back around Steven.

Steven began humming a soft tune, he knew she would soon fall asleep, crying for 8 hours is exhausting.

Willows breathing soon steadied out into a deep rhythm as she slipped from consciousness. Stevens humming didn't stop though, he kept at it as he slowly shifted the sleeping girl in an attempt to get out and make her some comfort food. The soup he had found sat where he had left it, untouched. He slowly shifted the girls weight, only to be stopped as her arms tensed and she squeezed Steven tighter, snuggling deeper into his chest.

A small smile made its way to his lips as he sighed. He didn't need to make her anything right now, nor did he want to stop snuggling with the girl. His hand made its way upward and he ran his fingers through her hair in an attempt to untangle a few of the knots that had been a result of crying for 8 hours. Steven himself was incredibly tired, but he knew better than to fall asleep, that's when the voices were loudest. He'd usually spend his sleepless nights trying to learn something knew, how to play guitar, or whittle, maybe a knew language, things like that. He needed to do something to keep the voices out of his head.

His fingerers once again slipped through Willows hair.

"Screw it." Steven didn't mean to say it out loud, but he did. Willow in response to his voice smiled softly, a look that was strange on her tear stained face, but she didn't wake up. Sighing in content, Steven began braiding her hair. A simple braid down her back. Steven smiled at the thought of braiding a few flowers into her hair, a thought that had never crossed his mind before. He reached into his jacket pocket, which was still on Willow, and produced a hair tie. He always kept one just incase someone needed one. He used that to fasten her braid in place.

A yawn escaped his lips, and once again he thought about how tired he was. More than anything he wanted to fall asleep right now, snuggled up against Willow. He knew the voices wouldn't stay silent, but right at that moment he didn't care. He'd be up in an hour or so anyway so what's the harm. He didn't even fight it as his eyelids slid down, the voices and screams his own personal lullaby.

Line Break

Steven had expected to be woken up by screaming, instead the first thing that woke him from his sleep was shaking. Willow was shivering uncontrollably in his arms. His arms were still around her, trying to keep her warm, but with limited success. He debated on waking her up before she got too cold, but decided against it, she would be awake any moment. Its best to let the curse run its course.

A soft whimper snapped Steven from his thoughts as he refocused on Willow. Steven saw a single tear roll down her cheek, and before he could wake her up she screamed. Her voice was hoarse, but that didn't stop the scream from breaking Stevens heart, yet another reminder that he had done this to her. Steven gently began to shaker her, and once again began whispering comforts into her ear.

Willows eyes opened and for a moment she looked like she didn't know where she was, then Stevens voice made its way into her ear.

"Shhhhhhhh, It's ok, you're ok, It's just a nightmare."

Willows head came off Stevens chest, and her eyes met his. At the sight of them, a pang of guilt hit him. They were broken and lifeless, tears still threatened to spill from them at any moment. Steven knew those eyes all to well, they looked at him every time he saw a mirror.

He pushed the thought from his head as he once again pulled Willow against his chest. She wasn't crying, but that could change at any moment.

"You hungry?" Steven asked quietly, he already knew the answer but figured he'd better ask.

Willow remained silent, not even hearing the question. Her mind was not working the way it should, it was still trying in vain to process the sadness she had been through.

"Hey." Steven once again shook her gently, in an attempt to pull her from her own thoughts.

Willows head shifted against his chest, and she looked up at the boy. His face was full of concern.

"You hungry?" Steven asked. Willow didn't even realize how hungry she was until he asked her that.

Instead of responding she just nodded, then snuggled back down into his chest looking for any heat. Not making an attempt to move for Steven to go to the kitchen.

"C'mon." Steven shifted the girls weight so he was able to slide his feet off the couch, making no attempt to remove her arms from himself.

" I don't wanna move." Willow mumbled into his chest. Steven could see tears once again welling in her eyes. He'd have to be careful about how he goes about this.

"Please, you need food and I'm not letting you out of my sight for awhile." Stevens voice was full of concern and encouragement.

The words hardly registered with Willow. Her grip didn't loosen and she didn't say anything. Suddenly tears began to fall from her eyes and she began to shiver. Steven tilted her head upward so he could look her in the eyes.

"You're cold aren't you?" Steven asked, already knowing the answer.

Willow remained silent, not even nodding her head.

"C'mon food will help." As Steven said this he began to sit up slightly, shifting Willows weight slightly off of him.

Willow again remained silent, only tightening her grip on him. Seeing what he had to do, Steven shifted Willows weight back onto him before sitting fully upright. He then gently squeezed Willow, attempting to draw her attention. Willows eyes were glazed over and unfocused, tears still occasionally falling from them.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

Willow didn't respond so he gave her a little squeeze, trying to keep her from getting lost in her own thoughts. He knew what was happening, and if he didn't stop her soon she would get so lost in her thoughts she wouldn't recover. He then began to stand up, keeping Willows arms around him, but attempting to shift her to stand on her own to feet.

Steven slowly began to guide her toward the kitchen.

"Sooooo" Steven said drawing out the O. "What microwave delicacy would you like tonight?

Willow didn't hear him, her mind had once again wandered back to the voices.

Steven snapped his fingers under her nose to draw her attention.

"What do you want to eat?."

"I..." Willow slipped from the conversation again.

Steven snapped under her nose again. His voice gentle and reassuring. "Don't think about them, they're gone. I'm here nothing can hurt you with me here."

Willow didn't look convinced. Her eyes would not meet Stevens.

They finally made it to the kitchen, Steven gently opened the freezer and rustled around, pulling out a box of microwave eggrolls and a small tube of beef. They then shuffled over toward the pantry. Steven pulled out some pasta, and a jar of fettuccini sauce. Shuffling to another covert he pulled out a pot and began filling it with water. He then placed the pot on the stove adding a little salt to make the water boil faster. He accomplished all of this while keeping one arm around Willow.

"Willow could you please look at me?" Stevens voice was soft and encouraging. Willow complied, slowly raising her eyes to Stevens. His eyes were warm and inviting, almost commanding her to relax and tell him all of her troubles. She relaxed slightly, but not a lot. Her mind still was a jumble of sadness and distress.

"Tell me something happy." Steven softly commanded. Before Willow could ask what he meant he continued. "Anything happy, your favorite memory, a funny joke, a happy moment, just make it happy and tell me." Stevens voice was soft and encouraging.

"I-I like the strawberry fields..." Willow said, completely unsure of what to say. Steven smiled encouragingly and nodded.

"I like them too... they're calm." Steven agreed, before continuing. "What do you like about them?"

Willow paused thinking. "I like the first strawberry plant I planted here..." Then she silently cursed herself at how stupid that sounded.

Steven simply smiled broadly. "Which plant is that?" Steven asked softly, as he put a handful of pasta in the water.

"Its kind of in the middle of the field, kind of..." Willows voice trailed off as she tried unsuccessfully to describe it.

Internally Steven was crying tears of joy, externally he smiled and nodded. She was responding, it wasn't a lot, but it was a start. "Was it the plant you were at yesterday morning?" He asked encouragingly.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips, gone in an instant, but it had been there. "Yeah."

Steven nodded encouragingly as he slowly stirred the pasta, his eyes had yet to leave hers. "What else do you like?" Steven once again asked encouragingly.

Willow suddenly became aware of the arm that was laced around her, keeping her warm. Her ears burned red as she snuggled into it. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and snuggle into him, but she didn't know how he would respond. She knew he wouldn't pull away, but questioned whether he would like it.

"I... I like dogs." Again that sounded stupid but Steven just smiled.

"I like dogs too." Steven somehow managed to pull a pan out and began to sear the meat in it without taking his eyes off her.

For a split second he slipped his eyes away to grab a spatula from a nearby rack.

"Steven..." Willow began carefully.

"Yeah." Stevens eyes snapped back toward Willow.

"... What's something you like?" She said before covering her face with her hands.

'Gods what a stupid question. Why would you ask that, stupid, stupid, stupid.' Willow thought to herself.

The arm around Willow tightened slightly, Steven smiled as he searched for the right thing to say.

"I liked braiding your hair, that was fun." At this Stevens own ears began to burn. His cheeks filled with color as he blushed a deep shade of scarlet.

Willows face unburied itself from her hands, and for the first time, she registered that her hair was in a braid.

" You braided my hair?" Willow questioned, looking the boy in the eyes.

"Um yeah, I kinda, um..." Steven trailed off, looking back towards the pasta. His face was still deep red.

Willow flipped the braid over her shoulder and looked it up and down. It was a neat, simple braid, fastened at the end with a simple black hair tie. Willow never really braided her hair, she almost always wore it down.

"Does it look good?"

Steven smiled and began nodding furiously. "Yeah it looks great." Willow noticed Stevens face was still a deep shade of red. Looking at his red face, her own face grew red.

"Here, help me out." Steven said handing her the spatula, and gesturing toward the pan of searing beef. His face was still red.

Willow couldn't help but smile at him, sure he was scary, but he was also selfless, caring, loving, and just full of life. She just felt comfortable being around him. She kept thinking about Steven as she worked on cooking the meat. The chill she was feeling wouldn't go away, but she hardly felt it. Stevens arm was still wrapped protectively around her and for now that was enough to keep her happy.

Chapter 6 Healing

Steven was internally crying tears of joy. Willow was responding, she was answering questions, she wasn't getting caught up in the sadness. Hell she was even cooking with him. He knew it wouldn't last and eventually she would have to go to sleep, and with sleep comes nightmares, and with nightmares comes the inescapable dread and pain, but that would be dealt with later.

The pair worked in silence for a few minutes as they cooked the food. Stevens arm was still snuggly wrapped around Willow in an attempt to keep her warm. The blanket also was still wrapped around her making her look like a very large caterpillar.

"Willow can you throw those egg rolls in the microwave?" Steven said, cautiously loosening his hand from around her shoulders. He want sure how she would react, but he knew she shouldn't grow reliant on him.

Willow said nothing. She just slipped away from his grasp and shuffled over to the covert pulling out a plate.

The moment Willow slipped away from Steven she shivered. The little bit of warmth she got from Steven was gone in an instant and the world was a lot colder. She quickly pulled her blanket around her tighter and began quickly putting the eggrolls on the plate. She then hastily shoved the plate in the microwave before setting the timer.

The instant the microwave began to hum Willow shot back toward Steven, curling up next to him. Gods she was cold. It wasn't just a normal cold either, it was a bone chilling, saps your strength, witless away your will to live type of cold. She was grateful when Stevens arm snaked around her, once again providing her just a little bit of heat. Steven was working furiously on the pasta and sauce with his one free hand.

"I'm sorry I can't make you more comfortable, I'm super tired." Steven said, sounding slightly frustrated.

"Its fine..." Willow answered quickly in an attempt to reassure him, but his comment confused her. Why would being tired affect how comfortable he was to her.

Steven glanced down at Willow and noticed the puzzled look on her face. He figured this was as good of a time as any.

"You know how my father is literally Death?" Steven paused allowing Willow to respond.

"Yeah..." Willow was confused at the question but wondered where it would go.

"And you know how you get some of your parents traits?"

"Yeah."

"Well when people think of death, they tend to think more along the lines of not being ready to go, or dying too young ..." He paused allowing the words to register " Kinda like my brothers. They could scare anyone and were intimidating. People often forget about the other side of death, the side where your old and have fulfilled all you could in your life. Maybe all your friends are gone, and your lover is dead. Then death is calm and peaceful, dying in your sleep, painless. That is the sphere of death that I have been blessed with."

A slightly puzzled look crossed Willows face, so Steven summed it up even more.

"Dad made me into the biggest, scariest, human antidepressant in the world. An antidepressant that can make anyone calm and relaxed."

Willow looked even more confused at this.

"What?"

Steven paused reaching into a covert and pulling out a strainer, before setting it in the sink and straining the pasta.

"Do you remember when..." Steven paused knowing this was dangerous territory. He glanced to Willow who was looking at him intently, and knew not to risk what he was about to say so he switched courses.

"... I was singing to you and you had the overwhelming urge to sing along and smile?"

Willow nodded.

"Well what did you feel as I did that?"

A flash of understanding crossed Willows face. "I felt comfortable, and relaxed."

Steven smiled and nodded encouragingly. "Exactly, I kinda helped you feel happy. Granted I can't take away your sadness, but I can make you feel more happy."

A flash of anger crossed Willows face. "So I only like you because you made me like you?" Her words cut like a whip, and were full of venom.

Steven just sighed. "I can't make you feel any certain emotion, I can only amplify the ones you already have if they are similar to the ones you could have in death. Don't ask me why I got that part of my dads job but you know I deal with the emotions." He paused to roll his neck. "Besides I only did it when I was singing to make you feel more comfortable about being in Wisconsin, Then again when..." Steven stopped. He he had said to much.

A flash of understanding went across Willows face, she knew exactly what he had meant. "When you yelled. When I had your curse." As these words left her lips she immediately felt terrible. She shivered, suddenly chilled to the bone. She felt like she had stepped away from Steven, but his arm was still around her.

"Hey," Steven snapped his fingers under her nose, effectively drawing her attention before she could slip away from the conversation again.

"Don't think about it, think about something else. You can't let those thoughts catch you. You've got to let them wash over you and not focus on them." He gave her a small squeeze and a reassuring smile.

Willow didn't say anything. She just looked up at Steven solemnly.

The microwave began to beep signaling the eggrolls were done.

"Lets eat then we'll decide what to do." Steven said firmly.

Line break

Throughout diner Steven attempted to keep the conversation going despite Willow remaining distant. After dinner he had given Willow a homemade remedy for her soar throat and washed the dishes as Willow sat on a stool right beside him. As Steven dried the last plate he turned to Willow.

"Well its about 8:00 and the sun will be going down soon. What do you want to do? Start working on your shield or try to fall asleep?"

Willow just sat there on the stool. She wasn't shivering, but she was still cold. She pulled the blanket around her tighter in an attempt to warm herself a little. As she began to slip away from reality again a pair of strong arms wrapped around her.

"Hey, don't think about them. I'm here nothing will hurt you." Steven spoke with absolute certainty.

Willow graved the arms and pulled them tighter around her. She tried to think about something nice, but the only thing she could think of were those voices. She felt like a part of her soul was plucked out and smashed. She didn't know how she was still sane and able to do anything. How could anyone hold that curse...

"How do you stand it?"

Steven turned toward her. "Stand what?"

"The voices, the noise, the..." She was cut off by a small chuckle from Steven.

"Possibility and patience." he said. "Given time anything could be great."

Willow stared at him dumbfounded, she had heard what he said but couldn't seem to wrap her head around it. Her face mirrored her uncertainty.

"You don't understand to you?" Steven asked gently.

"No, like what do you mean by patience and possibility?"

Steven paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It's super hard to explain without an example."

"Well give me an example."

Steven smiled broadly, there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Ok deal, just promise you wont make fun of it."

Willow hesitated a moment before nodding her head thoughtfully. Steven wasn't the type of person to intentionally hurt someone, he cred to much about everyone.

Steven grabbed her wrist and lead her out of the kitchen to the glass door that Willow first used this morning. He opened the door and stepped outside before suddenly stopping. His mouth dropped open a little as he stared at a large oak tree.

"Well that's new." Steven said slightly awestruck.

"What's new?"

"Well there wasn't a tree hear this morning."

Willow paused thinking back to this morning. Was the tree really knew? She certainly couldn't recall a tree of this size here.

"What? How would a full grown tree just appear?" Willow asked in slight disbelief.

"Oh neverminded I understand now." Steven said while smacking his head. His face turned a little red. "That's your fault."

"Wha- how is that my fault?" She said pointing at the newly formed tree.

Steven just smiled and walked up to it. It was as broad as his shoulders near the base and looked like it had stood there for 40 years. He placed his hand on the trunk as if he expected it to disappear.

"Well you're a daughter of Demeter right? Doesn't it make sense that you grew this?" He said still looking at the tree.

"There is no way I could make this grow, I'm not strong enough. I couldn't even grow 2 hammocks without almost passing out." Willow responded, but there was a small sliver of uncertainty in her voice.

Steven turned his attention back toward Willow. "You know your a lot stronger then you think, strength isn't always physical. You can be strong emotionally too. Like when I first said Aphrodite had sent me to camp, you got pissed because you felt strongly about not being able to love..." He trailed off looking back at the tree.

Willow looked back at the tree. "I guess, but how though? I couldn't have."

Steven sat down on the ground and leaned against the tree with one arm resting on his knee. He gazed over towards the now sinking sun and patted the ground next to him.

"Come here, Imma tell you something someone once told me."

Willow shuffled over to the tree and sat down next to Steven. He absentmindedly rubbed his thumb and pointer finger together as his gaze was now fixed on the now sinking sun. It was beautiful, streaks of orange and yellow pierced the sky.

"Strength isn't standing up to everything, and it isn't bending around for everything. Strength is both." He stopped, glancing at Willow before continuing. "The strongest people aren't the people who are fighting just to fight, the strongest people feel emotional about what they are doing. They draw strength from there emotions and beliefs. Doing anything without emotion is like doing nothing at all."

"That's why you were so tired after only making one hammock yesterday, you simply grew vines and didn't feel an emotional connection with them. That's also the reason I passed out today. I felt no strong emotion about using my wings, I used them because they needed to be used. Now if I was doing a favor for my dad or something like that I can go anywhere and It wont tire me out but that's another story." His gaze was still fixed on the sunset but his eyes were unfocused and distant, like he was reliving an old memory.

Willow remained silent, her gaze fixed on the boy. Steven turned away from the sunset and looked at Willow.

"So... you let your emotions get away from you for 8 hours and now you know a little bit about your strength." He said with a smile.

"I still don't think I did this."

Steven just chuckled deeply. "Whether you believe you did this or not it happened."

Willow shrugged and turned back toward the sunset not thinking about anything in particular, just enjoying being in the compony of Steven.

"Beautiful sunset isn't it?" Steven asked giving a sidelong glance at Willow.

Willow softly smiled. "Yeah."

"Worth waiting all day for?" Steven asked giving another sidelong glance.

"I guess." Willow didn't sound convinced.

"Well there you go, it's worth going through the bad to feel the good. Its worth being patient for the possibility of happiness."

Willow remained silent, she had always been told stuff like that, but it was different when she saw an example. Sure the day had been hard, but now she could just be happy with a special someone that made her happy. Her thoughts drifted back to the sunset, so similar to every sunset she had ever seen, but so different.

"Reminds me of home." Willow muttered softly, mostly to herself but Steven caught it.

He smiled broadly and nudged her shoulder playfully. "And where would home be for you?"

"Colorado."

"Beautiful country out there." Steven said.

"You've been there?" Willow asked surprised.

Steven smiled, thinking about the past. "My mom took the 3 of us on a hunting trip to a place called Pine Point Falls."

"No way, Pine Point Falls is like 30 minutes away from my home, I live in a little town called Meadow Creek." Willow exclaimed excitedly.

"Meadow Creek? I've been there!" He exclaimed and reached up as if he was reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, but he stopped when he realized Willow had it.

"I have a picture from when I was there. Its in your pocket if you wanna see it."

Willow reached into the inside pockets of his jacket, feeling around, before finally pulling out 2 things. The first was a small bundle of pictures, about 6 in total. The second was a small blue tooth ear piece. Willows gaze fell on the first picture in the little packet.

The picture showed a younger Steven and 2 other people who looked a lot like him, Each grinning and brandishing there weapons. Steven had his axe and shield although he looked younger then he was now. The boy to his left had a massive 2 handed sword. It was made of 2 metals like Stevens axe, Bronze and Stygian Iron. The boy looked like Steven except about 2 years younger. Willow could see small engravings on the sword.

The other boy was shirtless and covered in scars. He was extremely fit, looking like a body builder and was brandishing 2 knifes one bronze, one Stygian Iron. No, not knives, looking closer Willow noticed they where more like brass knuckles with a blade on the front of them. They also had engravings on them.

"They're a type of trench knife, these ones are often called sarutobi blades. James was a straight beast with anything he used, but he liked to get close." Steven smiled fondly at the thought of his older brother.

Willow nodded softly, glancing sideways at Steven. He was smiling softly, thinking about the past. She looked back at the picture and her eyes fell on Stevens shield. It didn't have an angel or 'Oath' engraved on it yet.

"What about him?" Willow asked pointing at the younger one with the sword.

Steven smiled broadly. "That's Cole, super aggressive fighter, almost as good as James. He really didn't like being on the defensive so he chose this sword because you don't need as much defense with this reach."

Willow nodded politely to that. "So why do you have your axe and shield?"

Steven chuckled softly. "I wasn't as skilled as them so I focused on defense, and the axe is great for snatching peoples legs from under them."

Willow nodded slowly, then a thought crossed her mind.

"What about your bow?"

Stevens broad smile fell, replaced with a small sad smile. His eyes drifted up to the moon.

"That was a gift from Lady Artemis..." He paused slightly before continuing. "I was being hunted by something that swore to wipe out my bloodline. I couldn't kill it alone so I kept running. It just kept following me and eventually tracked me down and cornered me. So I took a stand and fought it, and just before It killed me the Hunters arrived. Together we killed it, but I let my guard down for a spit second and he killed a hunter named Mary. I..." Steven paused again taking a shaky breath before continuing. "I carried her spirit to the underworld and personally held the funeral. So I was gifted the bow and arrows as a token of appreciation. After that I spent 2 days at a camp near them. I took it pretty hard because If it wasn't for me she would still be alive." Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes as he told this.

Willow sat there unsure of what to do. Then her arms untangled themselves from the blanket and wrapped themselves around Steven. She didn't know why, she just knew he needed a hug. His own arms snaked around her once again and he pulled her on top of him. His head berried itself into the crook of her neck. A single tear slid down his face as he gently pulled Willow in closer, just close enough to help push aside the sadness.

They sat there, silently embracing each other as the sun fully slid below the horizon.

"You should get to bed, we have work to do in the morning." Steven mumbled into Willows ear, not moving to push her away.

Willow nodded softly, not disengaging herself from him.

"Willow you need sleep." Stevens voice was firm but soft.

Willow slowly disengaged herself from Steven. Discarding the blanket she stood up and offered a hand down to Steven. Steven smiled and took it, allowing Willow to haul him to his feet. They stood there face to face for a moment before Willow wrapped her arms around Steven once again. Stevens face turned a little red as he returned her hug. Willow head berried itself in his chest, listening to his heartbeat and breathing.

After a few seconds Willow pulled back signaling the hug was over. Steven smiled before taking Willows hand, lacing his fingerers into hers. He slowly began to guide her to the door before opening it and leading her inside. He flipped on the lights before guiding her upstairs, down a hallway and into a large room with 3 beds and 3 dressers. 2 of the beds were neatly made, the 3rd was cluttered with random things, a guitar case, a snowboard, a few boxes, a backpack, and a few piles of neatly folded clothes. Steven walked over to one of the dressers and pulled out a pair of grey sweat pants, a black t-shirt, and a black sweatshirt.

"Here." Steven said tossing the cloths toward Willow.

Willow inspected the cloths, they looked way to big for her. She turned the sweatshirt over in her hand and looked at the front. On the front there was a depiction of a guy suplexing another guy, the words 'Send it' written below it. The pants had the letters WIAA on them.

Willow smiled softly as she turned the sweatshirt over and saw 'Spook' stitched on the back in red. She playfully held up the sweatshirt showing the front to Steven.

"I'm not really a 'send it' girl."

Steven smiled softly "I'm sure I could teach you. Now go change, you need some sleep." His voice was soft but commanding.

"Where's the bathroom?"

Steven dug through the dresser for another moment, pulling out a set of cloths for himself before leading her back down the stairs. He lead her to the door below the stairs, next to the living room. He paused setting his cloths on the steps before taking the cloths from Willows hands and setting them on the steps next to his. After he set them on the steps he graved Willows hand and gently pulled her into a hug.

Willow melted into his hug, allowing the bigger boy to burry his face in her hair.

"Any particular reason we are hugging?"

"Promise you wont do anything stupid in there while you're alone." Stevens said gently, but his tone left no room for argument.

Willow smiled softly, she liked over protective Steven. She normally hated being fussed over, but with Steven it felt different. Usually when someone fussed over her she felt they were doing it for a reason, like they wanted something from her. With Steven she felt he didn't expect anything back.

"I won't, I promise." She said as she slowly untangled herself from his arms. She picked up her stack of clothes before she stepped into the bathroom.

She quickly stripped of her cloths, replacing them with the oversized set she had received from Steven. She then bundled up her old cloths, including the pair of fuzzy socks, and Stevens jacket and opened the door.

Stepping out of the bathroom she turned to see Steven sitting on the steps, his old cloths folded neatly by his side. He smiled as he saw her, quickly getting up and taking her the cloths from her. He set the jacket on the table before walking toward the kitchen, stopping briefly to turn and look at Willow.

"You coming?"

Willow just smiled and followed him through the kitchen to a small laundry room, he opened the washer and threw the cloths in. As he was putting detergent in he glanced at Willow, his face turning red.

"That sweatshirt looks good on you."

Willows own face burned a deep crimson. "It does?"

"Yeah." He said as he shut the door of the washing machine and turning it on. "C'mon It's getting late." He said as he laced his fingerers in Willows, before quickly withdrawing them.

A look of confused concern crossed Willows face, had she done something wrong, did he not like her like that.

"Um- I never really asked you if you like me constantly graving your hand and..." He trailed of, embarrassed.

Willows mouth fell open slightly. Steven, a guy who can face down 2 Ares kids and 3 hunters, is scared to hold her hand. Granted if anyone else tried to hold her hand she would have most likely tried to punch them, but this was Steven, she liked it when he held her hand. She simply reached out and laced her fingers in his.

"I wont kill you if you hold my hand. Deal?"

A massive grin crossed Stevens face and his head shook so fast Willow was sure it would fall off. He looked like a child who was asked if he wanted candy.

"Deal. Now come on you need some sleep." Steven said guiding her toward the living room.

Once they entered the living room Steven graved the bowl of soup and ran it to the sink before returning. He went to work placing a pillow on the love seat. He then raced out side and graved the blanket before racing in.

Willow was laying on the love seat idly picking at the corner of her sweatshirt. When she looked up at Steven she smiled. Steven in response smiled and draped the blanket over her before moving to sit on the couch.

"Steven."

"Yeah?"

"Can I have a glass of water?"

"Sure." He said before racing off, only to return with a bottle of water. He moved and set it down on the windowsill by the love seat. His infectious grin split his face.

"Anything else? Need to be tucked in? A bedtime story?" He said teasingly.

Willow shifted in her blanket. "You know If you wanna tuck me in that would be great."

Steven rolled his eyes. Grinning, he bent down and began tucking her in.

Willow quickly sat up and planted a soft kiss on his cheek while he was still bent down. She didn't know why she did it, she just did. Her heart was hammering in her chest as Steven froze and turned away from tucking her in and staring into her eyes. His eyes shown with disbelief, and his mouth hung open slightly. A bright pink could be seen on his cheeks.

Willow herself was getting redder. A silly grin plastered her face as she snuggled deeper into the blanket. She watched in amusement as Stevens mouth opened and closed slightly.

"What was that for?" Stevens face was slowly getting redder and redder.

"Thank you"

Stevens face split into a grin. "For what?"

"Just thank you for being there."

"I'll always be there, so long as you want me to be there." Stevens voice was soft and sincere. His eyes stayed fixed on Willows as he said that. They where filled to the brim with sincerity.

"Now c'mon you need some sleep." Steven said as he lightly tapped Willows forehead with 2 fingerers. A feeling of warmth spread from the fingers throughout Willows body as she slowly closed her eyes and slipped from consciousness, too comfortable to fight to stay conscious.

Steven looked down at the now sleeping girl, smiling softly. She looked so peaceful sleeping, but he knew it wouldn't last. She would wake up tonight, probably crying, and he would need to comfort her. Pushing that thought from his mind he thought back to when Willow had kissed him. Her lips were soft and he couldn't help but think of all his happiest moments he had with her. Sparring, capture the flag, breakfast, working on the shield. He really wanted to make some more memories with her, and get to know her a lot better.

A small smile crossed his face as he raced to the dining room, finding a pen and a pad of paper, before racing back. He sat down on the floor leaning his back to the couch. Glancing at Willow he started to write.

Mark, I have a favor to pull...

Line Break

Stevens head snapped toward Willow as she shifted in her blanket. He studied her face carefully, looking for any sign of distress or pain. Seeing none he sighed and went back to looking out the window. He hadn't slept in the past 5 hours since Willow fell asleep, but he wasn't too tired. In the past 5 years he had never really slept when he had the curse. Usually he would swap it with his brothers every few days and get a few hours of sleep each night he didn't have it. Now whenever he fell asleep he would hear constant sobbing and screaming. Granted he almost always heard voices, but he generally could focus on anything else.

A soft whimper snapped his attention back toward Willow. A single tear slid down her cheek and her face was set in a frown. Suddenly a scream pierced the night air, and Steven was instantly by her side as she began to shake uncontrollably. Her arms and legs thrashed uncontrollably and a clenched fist made its way to his face. Ignoring the pain he wrapped her in a hug, effectively pinning her arms to her side. Gently he began to rock her back and forth in an attempt to wake her up.

"Shhhhhh, Shhhhhh It's ok Shhhhhhh" Steven spoke softly and carefully.

At the sound of Stevens voice Willows eyes snapped open. Tears were flowing freely down her face and for a brief moment she didn't know where she was and she struggled against Stevens embrace.

"Shhhhhhh" Stevens voice made its way to her ear, causing her to relax slightly. She stopped struggling but continued to sob. Steven gently rocked her back and forth.

"It's ok, Shhhhh, I'm here, Shhhhh." Stevens voice was gentle and soothing.

After several minutes Willows sobs subsided, replaced instead with an overwhelming sense of sadness. Her arms snaked around Stevens neck in a very awkward hug. It was hard to effectively hug because Willow was still laying on the love seat and Steven was kneeling beside it, but she tried her best.

"Shhhhhhhhh, I'm here, you're safe, they cant hurt you. Shhhhhhh" Steven pulled her off the love seat, gently shifting her weight so it was on him as he pulled her in closer.

Willows face lifted from the crock of his neck, just enough to look him in the eyes.

"Hold me." Willow sounded like a child, lost, scared, trying desperately to find someone to care for her. It broke Steven to hear her say these words, knowing it was his fault.

He gently raised his hand and guided Willows face back to the crock of his neck. He didn't want Willow to see the single tear that was sliding down his cheek.

They laid on the ground for several more minutes, until Willows breathing began to steady out. It was still a couple hours until dawn.

"You should get back to bed." Steven said softly.

Willow snuggled deeper into him, making it clear that she refused to move.

"Willow..." Steven began only to be cut off.

"Please just hold me." She still sounded broken.

A sigh of defeat escaped Stevens lips as he shifted her slightly. "Can you at least share the blanket?"

Willow slightly disengaged herself, allowing Steven to drape the blanket over the both of them in a somewhat comfortable fashion. Willows face once again made its way to his chest as he pulled her in closer.

Willows breathing soon steadied out, and she seemed to melt into Stevens cuddle, completely relaxed.

Stevens own eyelids began to feel heavy as he snuggled with Willow. Taking one last look at Willow he slipped from consciousness.

Line Break

Stevens eyes snapped open and he shivered. His eyes snapped around, finally settling on Willow, still laying on his chest. It had been a very restless nights sleep, no matter what he did he couldn't escape the screams when he slept. He shivered again, the only source of heat seamed to be coming from a small area on his stomach. Shifting the blanket slowly, so not to wake Willow up, he peaked at the source of heat. Sometime throughout the night Willows hand had slipped under his shirt and was resting on his stomach.

He looked back at Willow, she seemed to be sleeping comfortably. Her braid was a little loose and a few strands hung out, but other then that she seemed like everything was normal.

Glancing out the window he noticed it was still pitch black outside. In truth he had probably only slept about an hour, but he felt well rested and ready to do something. He just decided it was better for him to lay there as a human mattress for a while.

Line Break

Steven watched as the sun slipped over the horizon. He had been debating on waking Willow up for the past 15 minutes, but decided against it because she looked cute sleeping. They did have stuff to do today, and he also wanted to get Willow back to camp before tomorrow morning.

Just as Steven was about to gently shake Willow awake her eyes fluttered open. A small smile crossed her lips as she looked up at Steven.

"Morning." said Steven.

"Morning" she said as she snuggled up against him.

"You know we should get up, we need to work on that shield of yours, and I'm taking you out for breakfast."

"Ugh 5 more minutes." Willow said playfully.

"C'mon you need a shower."

"Wow, you've said 3 sentences this morning and you already insulted me."

Stevens face turned a deep red as he stuttered out a response. "No No No I didn't mean..." He stopped at the sight of Willows playful smile.

Willow disengaged herself from him. Quickly standing she extended a hand to help haul Steven to his feet.

"I need cloths."

"They're in the drier, I switched them last night so they should be dry."

At the mention of last night Willows face darkened a little and her expression turns slightly fearful. In an instant Steven had wrapped her in a hug.

"Hey, stay with me, you're fine, you're strong." Steven said softly in her ear.

Willow relaxed slightly, sinking into the hug.

To soon Steven pulled away. "C'mon you need a shower."

Steven began guiding her toward the laundry room. He opened the drier and shifted a few items around until he pulled out Willows t-shirt and jeans. Leading her back towards the bathroom he stopped. Once again he set her cloths down and wrapped her in a hug.

"Promise you wont do anything stupid while your in there."

"Steven I already told you, I promise."

This caused Steven to relax before pulling away from the hug and gesturing for Willow to go.

Line Break

Steven saw the door open and Willow step out. His eyebrow rose slightly as he notice she was still wearing his sweatshirt. She stood in front of him, drying her hair with a towel, smiling softly.

"I've been meaning to ask, do you think Chiron knows where we are?"

Steven shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't tell you, all I did was ask dad to bring us here. It doesn't matter I plan on getting you back by midnight tonight. But first I need to shower."

Steven stooped down and picked up his pile of cloths from the stairs and walking into the bathroom.

"Wait"

Steven stopped and turned around. Willow stepped forward and grabbed the clothes out of his hands, before setting them on the sink in the bathroom. Her arms wrapped around Steven in a hug.

"Do you promise not to do anything stupid while you're alone?"

Steven was smiling like a fool, but he didn't care. It had been quite a long time since someone had asked him that.

"Promise."

They stood there in comfortable silence before Willow spoke again.

"You know we seem to hug a lot."

"Well you're just so huggable."

Willow smiled as she pulled away from the hug.

"Go shower, you stink."

Steven just rolled his eyes and shut the door.

Chapter 7 A Favor

15 minutes later they were rolling into the restaurant parking lot. Steven slumped back into his seat as he killed the truck, Willow on the other hand was already unbuckling and reaching for the door handle.

Seeing Willow reach for the door handle Steven quickly unbuckled and exited the truck. Running around to the passenger door he opened it, and extended a hand toward Willow, helping her out of the truck.

"You know a broken door is the best wingman." Steven said nonchalantly as he helped her out of the truck like a gentlemen.

"What makes you say that?" Willow asked playfully.

A broad grin crossed Stevens face. "Well somehow your hand ended up in mine."

Willow rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. "How many girls has that worked on?"

"Somewhere between 0 and 1, I'm still waiting on the verdict."

Willow shook her head, but didn't pull her hand away.

Steven opened the door for Willow and they stood by the 'Please allow us to seat you' sign. Cas soon rounded the corner, smiling broadly.

"Back so soon?"

"Yeah, I'm to lazy to cook." Steven responded.

"Same spot?"

"Of course."

Cass eyes drifted downward and landed there hands, fingerers interlaced. She smiled knowingly but didn't say anything as she lead them to the table. Setting 2 menus down she stepped back and pulled out a pad of paper as the 2 sat down.

"Drinks?"

"Water for me." Steven responded, reaching into his jacket.

"Water." Willow said as she watched Steven pull a folded piece of paper from his jacket.

Cas scribbled something down on her pad of paper. "Ok. Do you need a minute with the menu or are you ready to order?"

Steven looked at Willow and shrugged his shoulders.

"A few minutes please." Willow said opening the menu.

"Hey Cas can you send Mark out, I got a favor to pull." Steven said, fiddling with the paper.

"Sure." Cas responded as she began to walk to the kitchen.

Willow eyed the paper curiously. Shrugging slightly she ignored it. She was sure Steven would tell her when she was ready, but a small part of her was still curious. Turning her attention back to the menu in her hand she began looking it over. A few minutes later she heard Mark approaching the table and looked up.

"I hear you have a favor to pull." Mark began his eyebrow raised slightly.

Steven smiled and handed him the paper. "This'll be worth your time promise."

Mark just rolled his eyes and took the paper. "I got a solid 50 says this isn't." He said as he began unfolding the paper.

"You're on."

Mark finished unfolding the paper and quickly began skimming it, his eyes lighting up. A playful look of disbelief crossed his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Not taking his eyes off the paper he flipped, what Willow now recognized as a coin, at Steven. Smiling he caught and examined it. Seemingly satisfied he placed it on the table and Willow could now recognize it as a 50 cent piece.

Mark finished reading and neatly folded the paper back up before placing it in his pocket.

"Wow, and you want this all done by tonight?"

"Its not to much is it because if it is I'll..." Steven began only to be cut off.

"No its not to much, this'll take maybe 20 minutes so it's no big deal."

"So you'll do it?" Steven asked hopeful.

Mark just smiled and glanced at Willow, who had gone back to looking at the menu. "Of course, I owe you at least this much."

A look of relief crossed Stevens face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He fished out a $50 and handed it to Mark. Smiling Mark pocketed the money before giving a knowing grin and walking back to the kitchen.

Willow finally looked up from the menu, her eyebrows raised slightly in a questioning look. Steven met her gaze and shrugged, clearly dismissing it.

"So what are you getting?" Steven asked as he picked up the 50 cent piece and began rolling it over his knuckles like a poker player. His menu lay unopened on the table.

"I'm thinking pancakes, but how are you doing that?" She asked eyeing the coin as it tumbled gracefully back and forth across his knuckles.

Steven just shrugged, "I spent along time practicing this, just to keep me occupied."

Willow understood what he meant. He spent many sleepless nights just rolling a coin across his fingers. Her eyes drifted upward, meeting his. They were impossibly full of life, just like always. She really couldn't understand how they could look like that, he had lost almost everything. She couldn't help but try to imagine Steven without the curse, how happy he would be.

Her thoughts where interrupted by a squeal coming from the kitchen. There standing by the door was Cas, a familiar piece of paper in her hands. Mark was standing next to her, trying in vain to silence her. Cas was actively bouncing as she read the paper, her face was fixed into a smile so broad it had to be uncomfortable.

Looking up from the paper she stared right at Steven, her smile broadening somehow. Steven placed his finger over his lips in a poor attempt to silence her, but apparently Cas was having none of it. She skipped over to the table.

"Steven did you come up..." She began only to be cut off by Steven.

"Cas, not here. I'll tell you later, maybe at school next year or something." He sounded surprisingly frantic.

"Oh no, you are telling me right now." She said as she literally grabbed his wrist and began hauling him to his feet.

Steven looked over at Willow. "I'll be right back." He said before being pulled away towards the kitchen.

Willow watched as Cas and Steven began to furiously whisper back and forth. A small sliver of curiosity began to burrow its way into her head. What was written on that paper? Was it about her? It probably was, but what's the harm in waiting to learn what it said. Steven certainly wouldn't tell her before he was ready. Her thoughts were interrupted as Steven came walking back to the table, with a skipping Cas behind him.

Steven slid into the seat across from Willow and rolled his eyes, an amused look on his face. Cas on the other hand looked ready to burst as she pulled out her pad of paper and pen.

"Are you ready to order?" She almost squealed.

Steven just smiled lazily and nodded.

"The usual."

"And you?" She directed the question towards Willow. Her face was lit up in a magnificent grin.

"I'll have the 3 pancake combo." She responded. Closing her menu, and handing it to Cas.

Cas scribbled down the orders before skipping off towards the kitchen.

Willow watched her enter the kitchen before turning to Steven.

"She's acting like an Aphrodite kid."

Steven just shrugged. "Speaking of Aphrodite, I assume that was the girl in the dress I saw."

Willow blushed slightly, still a little embarrassed that Aphrodite looked like her in Stevens eyes. "Yeah, we talked and she told me what I had wasn't really a curse. It was more conditions to break the curse."

Steven nodded softly. "And?"

"And what?"

"Did you talk about anything else?" Steven asked.

An 8 word phrase bounced around her head. 'You were destined to fall for this boy' This little phrase caused her so much confusion it was almost funny. Should she tell him that she was meant to fall for him? No that's not the question she should ask, what she should ask is, does he know she already fell him? What if he didn't like her back like that? He had said he did like her, but like is super vague. Would it ruin the amazing friendship that was forming if she was wrong?

"Not much other then how to break my curse." She lied.

Steven just smiled and nodded. He seemed perfectly fine with that answer, and went back to rolling the coin across his knuckles.

Line Break

"Home sweet home." Steven said as he pulled into the driveway and parked the truck. Like usual he ran out and opened the door for Willow.

"Strait to work?" Steven asked curiously.

Willow smiled before responding. "Only if your don't faint again."

This caused Steven to crack a smile. "That only happens if I use my wings and I'm not working."

"Working?"

"I work for dad, you know transporting souls, also freeing him if he is chained, or if I can't free him I just try to pick up the slack. Also a little bounty hunting if dad has trouble tracking down souls."

"So like when he was chained in Alaska you went to free him?"

Steven nodded. "I went, but I couldn't do anything. There were to many for me to deal with alone. I couldn't risk being killed and letting this curse loose on the world."

"If you didn't have the curse..." Willow began before being cut off by Stevens playful smile.

"Why think about all the 'what if's' in life? I have this, so why wonder what it would be like if I didn't?" His voice was soft and playful, but slightly sad. Almost as if he was forcing himself not to feel bad for himself, but some leaked through.

Steven opened the door to the shed and walked in, frowning slightly he turned to Willow. "Why didn't you turn off the lights?"

Willow frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "I was a little preoccupied with worrying for your life."

This caused Steven to smile even broader. "Wow worrying about me, sounds like I'm growing on you." He said teasingly.

Willow rolled her eyes dramatically, but could not help a small smile spreading across her lips.

Steven picked up the sketchpad from the table and looked it over. He seemed to find it satisfying because he set it back down and began walking deeper into the shop. A few moments later he came back with a small cart with... was that a projector? A small old school projector like the ones a teacher would use in class.

"Willow can you please hang the shield perfectly upright on that nail over there." He said pointing at a small nail in the wall.

Willow walked over and picked up her shield before hanging it on the wall as instructed. As that was happening Steven was plugging in the projector and turning it on, tilting it so the light was shining on the shield on the wall. Once that was done Steven grabbed the sketch pad and set it on the projector, allowing the sketch Willow drew to show on the shield. A few small adjustments later and it was perfectly centered and ready to draw.

Steven smiled as he tossed Willow a small sharpie. "And now we just trace."

Willow caught the sharpie and began the slow, agonizing process of tracing. It barely took 5 minutes before she was done. taking a step back she looked looked at the tracing with a new sense of pride. This shield was going to be special.

Steven smiled as he turned of the projector, "And now begins the fun part." Shifting through a few tool chests he pulled out a small assortment of hammers and a few chisels. He set them on a table before taking the shield off the wall and setting it on the table.

Steven graved a small hammer and an even smaller chisel, they looked like tools used for dental work. He handed the hammer to Willow and set the tip of the chisel gently on the shield.

"Alright small short taps. Gentle but forceful, and be patient, this will take all day." He smiled reassuringly.

Hesitantly Willow positioned herself across the table from Steven and gently tapped the end of the chisel. The chisel dug into the face of the shield slightly but nothing came off. Steven repositioned the chisel slightly before giving a small nod. On the second tap a small bit of bronze flaked up a little, and once again Steven repositioned the chisel. On the third tap the piece flaked off, It wasn't much more then a speck of dirt but it was a start.

Line Break

20 minutes later Steven called for a break. They had made a lot of progress and so far it was looking good. The jeans and jacket where done, but the things that would take the most time where the wings, with each individual feather it would take tons of time.

As the pair walked toward the house to get something to drink Willow spoke up.

"Hey Steven, why did you scare the kid in the arena?"

Stevens smile dropped a little, replaced with a look of guilt. "Oh, umm, I kind of cant always control myself." He said it as if it was the most embarrassing thing in the world.

Willow opened the door to the house and shuffled in. "What do you mean, 'can't control yourself'?" She tried to make it sound gentle, but it came out kind of like an accusation. She immediately regretted her word choice.

Steven looked down, suddenly very interested in the floor. "It means I can't just hold it in always, I have to let it out. I can build all the walls I want, but those walls will always have gates. I'm just one person I can't always deal with this." He tapped his temple. "This Curse is my burden, my duty, but I cant even hold it alone." He sounded absolutely ashamed, as if not doing your duty was the worst thing in the world.

"It sometimes just leaks out, I cant hold it and it forces its way out."

Willow felt terrible, she had held the curse for only a moment, and it felt like it killed her. The only reason she hadn't killed herself was because she had someone there. Steven held it alone for years.

Steven reached the fridge and pulled out 2 bottles of water, and handed one to Willow. They stood in slightly awkward silence for a few minutes until Steven broke the silence.

"What do you want for lunch?" It was barely 9:00 but he might as well start planning on cooking something.

"What do you have?"

Steven walked over to the freezer and pulled the door open. After a few minutes he shrugged. "I can thaw and cook you a steak, pasta, I have some fish that I caught last year. What ya thinking?"

"Lets have the fish." Willow said uncertainly.

Steven nodded and pulled out a clear plastic bag filled with fish fillets, the word Walley written in neat handwriting on the bag. He then walked over to a cabinet, pulled out a plate, and put the bag on the plate on the counter.

"How do you want it? Baked, boiled, fried, grilled?"

"I don't know, we can cross that bridge when we get there." Willow said firmly. She still looked guilty about what she said earlier.

"Hey, don't worry about it?" Steven said, his voice soft and comforting.

"Worry about what?" Willow asked.

Steven smiled softly, looking her deep in the eye. "Whatever your worrying about. Just don't worry, I'm fine."

Willow nodded and went back to looking guilty.

Stevens smile faltered slightly, replaced with a look of concern. Reaching across the counter he took Willows hand. When Willow looked up and meet his eyes, they had a mask of concern, but deep underneath that was a slightly fractured look. Her eyes dropped away from his. A small fire of shame burning in her chest thinking about all the things she had complained about before learning what Steven went through every day. A single flame fueled by shame and guilt, all the small things she had complained about seemed so trivial and pointless. She felt tears pool into the corners of her eyes.

"I'm so sorry." The words barely escaped her lips before tears slipped from her eyes.

Steven rushed around the counter and engulfed the girl in a hug. A single tear sliding from his own eyes as he pulled her into the crook of his neck. He had done this to her, he had stolen away her happiness, he had broken her by giving her the curse. He was to blame.

Her arms slipped around him. He was so alone, so broken, dealing with other peoples sorrow and pain. Constantly working to lift other people to they're best, but never stopping to help himself.

The 2 of them stood embracing each other. Both in an attempt to comfort the other, but for different reasons. Once again Steven began to whisper sweet comforts into her ear.

"Shhhhh, Its fine, I'm here." The words only seemed to make Willow more guilty as her knees turned to jello and she stumbled, only to be held up by Steven.

"I'm so sorry." Willow sobbed, causing Stevens quiet comforts to falter. What did she need to apologize for?

"Shhhh, you don't need to be sorry, Shhhhhh."

Willows knees buckled, and her entire weight was held up by Steven. "I'm so sorry." The words once again escaping Willow in a broken sob.

"Shhhhh, Shhhhhh, tell me what your sorry about." Steven asked softly.

"You're alone, No one should deal with what you deal with." Willows sobs' seemed to redouble at the words.

"Willow, I'm not alone." This caused some thing in Willow to snap. She pulled away from Steven, forcing herself out of his grasp and stumbling back a few feet on shaky legs. Her eyes burned with something between sympathy and rage. Tears still streamed down her face.

"YES YOU ARE, YOU DONT JUST GIVE THIS CURSE UP. YOU DEAL WITH IT EVERY GOD DAMN DAY OF YOUR LIFE." Willow shouted.

Steven took a step forward, "Willow..."

"STOP TRYING TO HELP ME." Willows rational thoughts where completely erased and replaced with angry sympathy. Why should he help her when he had so much to focus on himself?

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Willow wasn't angary at him per say, she was angry for him. To Willow it felt unfair, and unjust. A part of Steven felt happy she was so concerned for him, but he was more concerned then happy at the moment.

"Willow..." Taking a half step forward, only for Willow to take a half step backward.

"JUST..." She never got to finish what she was going to say before Steven raised his voice.

"I'M NOT ALONE, I HAVE YOU." Somehow even though he was yelling his words were soft and comforting. The effect was instantaneous. Willow hesitated and looked confused. If the situation wasn't so serious he would have almost laughed at the look on her face.

Steven paused taking a deep breath. He really hated yelling, and rarely ever did it.

"Willow..." Steven took a step forward, this time Willow didn't step back. "... do you honestly think I don't know how alone I was? I spent just under 2 years without anyone who understood what I went through every day. 2 years surrounded by people who didn't understand anything about me."

He took another hesitant step forward and took one of Willows hands. "Then you came in, A beautiful, smart, stubborn, girl. A girl who demanded to understand what I felt everyday. A girl who was so lifeless and fragile I couldn't help but try to fix."

Stevens free hand went up and gently cupped Willows cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear. "A girl I put through more misery then anyone ever should deal with." At this a single tear streamed down his own face. He paused taking another deep breath.

"I have done plenty of things in my life that I didn't want to do, giving you the curse was one of the harder ones. Please try to understand Willow, It hurts me a lot more seeing someone else experience this then to experience it myself."

Willow stood there stunned, unable to say or do anything. She couldn't even begin to say anything. Her head slumped forward and rested on Stevens chest, ashamed. Her arms didn't raise up and wrap around Steven like they should have, they sat limply hanging there. Stevens arms once again wrapped around her, but this time Willow wasn't going to pull away.

A solid minute passed before Steven spoke again.

"You know... I've never had someone care for me so much they felt the need to scream at me, I must really be growing on you."

Despite everything Willow laughed, any tension in the room vanishing in an instant. Steven himself giggled along with Willow, and soon they where both doubled over in laughter. Neither of them knew why they where laughing, but they where happy to just be laughing.

After a few minutes of laughing, they composed themselves. It was Willow who broke the silence.

"You're a selfless ass, you know that?" Her tone was soft and playful, in contrast to the few tears that lingered on her cheeks.

"Yeah, I know." Steven said smiling. This caused Willow to softly smack him in the chest.

"Ouch" Steven said, faking a deep frown. "You could have killed me."

Willow rolled her eyes but smiled, "I really don't think so."

Steven tugged at his shirt and looked down it, "Yeah look, right hear you left a bruise."

Willow stepped forward and leaned in, playfully kissing his shirt where she had smacked him. "All better?" She asked playfully as if talking to a child.

Stevens face turned a lovely shade of red as he nodded, his lips tightly sealed as if he wanted to say something but didn't trust himself.

Willow looked up at the smiling boy in front of her and for some reason her heart did a little flutter, sure she dated people before but this felt different. Before she was young and it was almost puppy love, then she had been given that curse and she was to bitter and angry to look for anyone. Then Steven came into her life and somehow made Willow fall. She knew it was strange, knowing someone for 2 days and saying you fell for them, but she did.

Willow was so lost in thought she didn't realize Steven had began talking again.

"... but we should get back to work." Steven finished with a smile. Willow smiled back and just nodded, pretending to have understood.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" Steven asked playfully.

It was Willows turn to blush. "No. What did you say?"

Steven smiled softly, "I'll tell you later some time."

Willow scowled , before she lightly punching him in the shoulder. Or she would have if Stevens hand hasn't flashed up and caught her fist before it made contact. He raised his eyebrow and smiled, not cockily more like he was amused.

"Ok fine, I asked If you'd be down to hang out some time?"

Willows eyebrows rose, "What do you think this is?"

Steven rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Technically I think this is kidnapping, I mean I took you away from camp without consent..." He trailed off unsure of what else to add.

Willow rolled her eyes, "Well this is a pretty enjoyable kidnapping then?"

"I'm glad your comfortable, please remember to rate my kidnapping 5 stars, or maybe I could just kidnap you some other time?" He asked. His eyes glinted with amusement.

Willow couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her lips. "Yes I'm sure you can kidnap me all you want, WITHIN REASON." She had to add the last part because Steven got a very mischievous look in his eyes.

"Deal." He said smiling.

They stood in comfortable silence for a few moments.

"We should get back to work." Willow said.

"Yeah." Steven said as he opened the door, gesturing her to lead the way back to the shed.

Line break

As they walked in to the house for lunch Willow promised her self to never ever play 'Name that song' with Steven ever again. About 20 minutes into working, Willow had made the comment about it being to quiet, so Steven turned on the radio. And sang every song word for word, for the next 2 and a half hours.

"You know If I didn't know any better I would assume your an Apollo kid." She said playfully.

Steven smiled brightly, "You know, given a choice I would be an Apollo kid, I like the idea of healing people. I am absolutely terrible at basketball so It would never work, but hey you never know."

A puzzled look slid onto Willows face, "How do you know the Apollo kids are good at basketball?"

Steven stopped to open the door and gesture for Willow to go first. "I saw some kids playing basketball when I was dragging you to make me a hammock, I didn't see a blonde kid miss a single shot." He said with a shrug.

"Oh, I didn't know you where paying attention to the game."

Steven smiled and picked out a few pans. "Yeah I kind of focus on a lot of little things all the time. Now, open that drawer." He said gesturing to a drawer.

Willow walked over and pulled the drawer open, and couldn't help but giggle a little at the large assortment of aprons in the drawer.

"You need an apron." Steven said his face a perfect deadpan.

Willow looked at the colorful assortment of aprons. All of them had either a funny picture or saying on them. She ended up reaching for one that said 'One day I'm going to make the onions cry' With a cartoon of 2 police officers interrogating an onion. Yes It was cheesy and dumb but Willow happily tied it on. Steven on the other hand picked one that had a slender female body in a bikini.

Steven began talking about something that Willow wasn't paying attention to, as he got the fish out and skillfully began cutting them, not even looking where his knife went. It was supper mesmerizing, just how quickly he was cutting with the large kitchen knife. That was until he flicked a small piece of fish directly at Willows face.

"What was that for?" Willow asked rubbing her forehead where the fish had landed.

Steven smiled before gesturing to a covert "I have some seeds in that covert I was going to make a garden, but didn't get around to it. If you could, can we get some fresh vegetables."

Willow looked a little skeptical before nodding. She shuffled over and opened the covert, only for a large bundle of plants fell out and land on her. In an instant Steven was at her side shoving the plants aside and untangling her. His face contorted in a wide grin and his shoulders were shaking in barely contained laughter.

"Are you ok?" Steven asked, carefully making sure he didn't laugh.

Willow herself smiled and picked a perfectly ripe tomato out of the tangle of leaves. She then began to giggle at just how unexpected this was. Steven himself lost it, throwing his head back and laughing.

After a few minutes of sorting threw vegetables, Willow asked the question that was on her mind.

"This was me too, wasn't it?" She asked as she began to dice a potato that she had found in the tangle of plants.

Steven just smiled nodding his head as he seasoned the fish and began putting it in the oven. He then began to get out a pan and heat some oil up in it to fry the potatoes Willow was dicing.

"Yeah, you're full of surprises aren't you?"

Willow shrugged smiling. "Out of the 2 of us, you are defiantly the more surprising one. In all honesty I'm surprised you haven't busted out a radio and started break dancing, or did a backflip or something stupid."

Steven smiled before rushing to the laundry room and coming back with a small radio. A giggle escaped Willows lips as he plugged the radio in and pushed in a small C.D. and an upbeat track began playing. A track filled with trumpets, bongos, and maracas.

'THEY CALL ME CUBAN PETE...'

Willow burst out laughing as Steven began to shake his hips and shuffle, salsa dancing. Her heart did a little flutter in her chest as he danced into her personal space, before he danced out.

Steven realized his oil was warm enough for the potatoes and began cooking, still dancing. He looked over at Willow who had a massive smile on her face, Gods her smile was beautiful. Defiantly worth waiting for. She went back to slicing tomatoes for the salad they would have with the meal, just as Cuban Pete ended.

A soft tune began playing on the radio and Willow noticed Steven froze in place. A small, sad smile played on his face. Willow had never heard this song before, but it somehow felt important.

'I take a look in the mirror... and I don't like what I see.'

Steven absent mindedly began to stir the potatoes but, his eyes where glazed over. Lost in though.

'A broken reflection of a shell of a man... a ghostly looking figure looking back at me'

Stevens smile grew slightly, and for a split second Willow saw... pride maybe?

'Someone send an angel down... Cause mines stopped watching over me.'

In an instant Willow understood, Steven, Angel, a broken shell of a man. This was how Steven got his angel, or the angel on his shield. He fixed someone, or tried too.

Willow stopped cutting, placing the knife down she walked behind Steven, wrapping him in a hug. She turned her head to the side and pressed her ear gently on Stevens back, just taking in the steady thump of his heart beat. She felt something softly grip one of her wrists, and realized It was Stevens hand.

Willow wasn't sure if she should break the silence or if just being there for him was what he needed. Willow heard the click of Steven turning the stove off, and his other hand moved to her free hand, gently resting on it. They stood for the entire song, not saying anything. Steven drawing comfort from Willow, and Willow trying to offer as much comfort as she could.

"I wont stop watching over you, If you need me, and you want me there, I'll be there." Steven paused, his thumb making small circles on the back of Willows hand.

"And if fate drives us apart, and you don't want me. I will understand." He let that sentence hang in the air, he wanted to make it clear that just because he cured her curse she had no obligation to stay with him. He wanted her to stay with him, but it was her choice and her choice alone.

Willow responded by moving one hand up and resting it on his heart.

"I don't know if we will be driven apart... but for now, I'm happy and you make me happy." Her words, spoken with such care and softness, seemed to melt the world away from Steven, even the wailing in his head seemed to understand this was a special moment and seemed to quiet slightly. Willow could not even imagine loosing Steven, a strange feeling she had never felt to this extent.

Steven honestly felt like Willow should have her own set of wings, because she was more of an angel then he ever was.

Willows hand on his waist pulled a little in an attempt to turn him to look at her. He turned and Willows hand slipped around and once again rested on his heart, here eyes fixed on Stevens. Stevens hands dropped and he almost set them on her waist, but decided against it. Willow leaned forward, pushing a little of her weight onto Steven. Stevens arm moved back behind him to help support him. A big mistake.

The stove was still hot.

Stevens hand landed right near the burner. Effectively searing his hand.

Steven jumped, completely shattering the moment. Willow in response jumped back, a confused look on her face as she wondered why he was jumping around shaking his hand. Then the pieces clicked.

"Water, run it under cold water." Willow shouted as Steven rushed over to the sink, running his hand under the water. Willow rushed over, her face a mask of concern. The burn didn't look too bad, actually it was barely over a bad sunburn.

"That... was embarrassing." Stevens face was red, but a smile graced it. Willow saw barely contained laughter in his eyes, and couldn't help but smile. It wasn't that big a deal, it had just ruined a special moment.

"I have a first aid kit in my backpack, the one on my bed, could you run and get that for me?" Steven asked, still smiling.

Willow didn't respond, instead sprinted up stairs. When she got to the room she seized the bag before sprinting back.

"Here." She said ripping open the bag and giving him the small red box inside.

Taking the box in his free hand Steven opened it. Shifting through the content he pulls out a small tube of cream.

"How are the vegies coming?" Steven asked as he uncapped the tube and put a little on his hand, pausing to rub it in.

"Fine, how's your hand?" She said as she moved back over to the counter and resuming chopping vegies.

"It actually really hurts." Willow stopped cutting vegies, looking at Steven in concern.

Stevens looked sad, as he thrust his hand forward. "Would you kiss it, to make the boo boo go away?"

Willow couldn't help it. She giggled, he was just so spontaneous and fun.

Instead of kissing it she placed the knife in his hand. "You cut the vegies, I don't want you to burn anything else."

Line break

Willow looked at the plate Steven set in front of her. A handful of well seasoned fish, a bunch of fried potato's, and a fresh veggie salad. Willow wasn't at all surprised that it looked amazingly. Steven had to have lived alone for almost 2 years, of course he would have learned to cook.

"Dinner is served." Steven said as he sat down opposite of Willow.

"It looks great."

"Thanks, I wanted to impress someone."

Willows face contorted into a large smile. She knew her face was turning red, but she didn't care, it was just the cheesy, sweet, kind of thing she had come to expect from Steven. He just had this, calm, care free attitude that seemed to compliment how humble, and modest he was. At this point in time she had no doubt in her mind that she was going to ask him on a date once they got back to camp.

"Anyone I would know?" Willow asked teasingly.

Steven rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "No, I don't think you'd know them."

Willow rolled her eyes, her smile still fixated on her face. "Well I think they would be very impressed with this."

Steven grinned as he began to dig in. Willow fallowed suit, a small noise escaping her at just how delicious it was.

"Oh my Gods" Willow said, her mouth still full. "This is amazing. " And it was, the fish was perfectly baked and melted in your mouth, and the seasoning was out of this world. Slightly spicy, but not to hot, and with just a pinch of salty taste.

Steven swallowed before answering. "Thanks, but I cant take all the credit, you did help."

Willows smile deepened, she knew better then to argue with him, he wouldn't take the praise.

Steven looked across the table, and Willow noticed his eyes shifted down to her lips then back to her eyes.

"You should do that more often." Steven said, a smile still dancing across his face.

"Do what?" Willow said, fully expecting Steven to say something cheesy and heart warming.

"Smile, It looks good on you."

Willows smile grew, even though she expected this, it still sent a swarm of butterflies through her stomach and melted her heart. Still a small part of her felt like defending her pride.

"I smile all the time, you just haven't been around me enough to see it." It wasn't a full lie, they had only meet a few days ago, but it had not gone unnoticed to Willow that she hadn't been smiling as much the last 2 years. Most likely it was the fact she had been tricked into feeling like she would never feel love.

"You know Willow, you are a terrible liar." Stevens eyes still twinkled like they where sharing an inside joke. If anyone else said that Willow would have got defensive and denied lying, but something deep in Stevens eyes told her it was best not to lie.

"How'd you know I was lying?" Willow asked, curious as to how he knew.

Stevens eyes twinkled playfully. "I know a thing or 2."

Willow face dropped. "So you're telling me..."

"Yup." Stevens smile was as wide as ever. "That bit at breakfast this morning did puzzle me, but it's none of my business."

Willow covered her mouth with her hand. She wasn't angry, just surprised. It wasn't every day someone told you 'I know every time you've ever lied to me' and acted so chill about it.

Uncovering her mouth she asked a single question. "How?"

Steven just waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry how I do it, just know I do it."

"Steven..." Willow tone had shifted from shocked to annoyed.

"Fine, fine." Steven began taking a deep breath and looking Willow deeply in her eyes. "You touch your thumb to your ring finger on your left hand when you lie."

Willows head tilted to the side in confusion. "What? I do not. Do I?"

"Well not any more now that I pointed it out, but everyone will have a little tell that indicates when they are lying." Steven said with a shrug.

Willows mouth hung open. "So your telling me you can just tell when people lie?"

Steven raised his pointer finger up. "No, I'm just really good at finding and seeing tells, its not rocket science." He said before turning back to his fish.

Willow raised her eyebrow, a trick she had learned from her father. It really did sound like rocket science, but she decided that they had talked enough about the subject.

Line break

Lunch was finished and Willow was helping Steven with the dishes before she decided to breach the subject again.

"How would you even see my hand if your looking me in the eyes?"

Steven paused from cleaning the plate, "Peripheral vision"

"But how would you even know what to look for? Or how could you notice something that small?"

Steven chuckled a little, "I notice a lot of things," He paused to inspect the plate he was washing. "Maybe I'll teach you how to read someone's tell back at camp. It isn't too hard, but it takes time and patience." At the word patience Steven gave Willow a sidelong glance and a sly wink.

Willow smiled. Patience was never her strong suit, but so far everything she had to deal with patience involved spending time with Steven, the boy she has a crush on.

"Sounds like a plan I guess."

As Willow finished drying the last plate and putting it back in the cabinet she once again turned to Steven. "Thanks for lunch, It was amazing."

"Any time."

Line break.

Forget anything Willow said about patience, by 7:30 Willow was sick of working on the shield. The moment Willow finished putting the final touches on the shield she dropped the tools in her hand.

"Done." Willow exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

Steven smiled, amused at Willows antics. She reminded him a little of his older brother, little patience for small or tedious tasks. Taking a look at the shield, he was mildly impressed, the winged figure on the shield looked so much like him it was a little spooky. Especially for Willows first time. Picking up the shield he strapped it to his own arm before turning to Willow.

"I can see the resemblance." Steven said cheerfully.

Willow looked at him and scoffed a little, "I hope so because I am never doing that again."

Steven rolled his eyes playfully at this, "Translation, I don't wanna do it again because it took all day and now I'm tired." This earned him a playfully smack.

"Shut up." But that was exactly what she had meant.

Steven unstrapped the shield from his arm and handed it to Willow, who slung it over her back Captain America style. Opening the door Steven let Willow go out first before turning off the lights and leaving the shop.

As they began to walk back to the house in comfortable silence Steven spoke up, "We have about 20 minutes before we have to leave, would you mind if I shaved?"

"I guess, we'll show up in time for the campfire at least." She sounded hopeful, if not a little disappointed. She knew sometime when she got back to camp she would ask him out on a date, and she was a little nervous about that.

Steven smiled, his eyes glinting in that 'I know something you don't' type of way. "I don't think we'll make it for the campfire."

"Why not? Can't you fly us there or something? Or like shadow travel?" And for the first time Willow began to wonder how they will get back.

"I can't shadow travel, but It'll take maybe 2 seconds to get there."

"So if we leave in 20 minutes why wouldn't we be able to make it for the camp fire?"

"Well for one thing they're an hour ahead of us, and for another we aren't leaving for camp."

Willows face must have reflected her confusion because before she could open her mouth Steven spoke again.

"No I wont tell you where we are going, just be patient." Steven said with a reassuring smile.

Willow pursed her lips in annoyance, but said nothing. "Ok but can you tell me if this is related to that piece of paper you gave Mark?"

Steven nodded softly, before opening the door for Willow.

When they where inside Steven began walking to the bathroom as Willow opened the fridge.

"Don't eat to much, there will be food where we are going." Steven tossed over his shoulder as he disappeared behind the corner.

Chapter 8 "I told you I'd teach you"

Willow walked into the bathroom to find Steven shaving, with his jack knife.

"Sup?" Steven asked as he carefully guided the knife over his throat. Then without taking his eyes off the mirror he continued. "You have a small piece of... is that cucumber? on your shirt."

Willow looked down and sure enough, she did have a small piece of her snack on her shirt, quickly brushing it away she spoke. "Why are you shaving with a knife? You know razors are like 5 bucks?"

Stevens eyes remained fixated on the mirror as he made another pass with the knife. "I know, but I didn't have a razor in the past few months, so I just winged it. Besides this gives me a nicer shave."

Rolling her eyes Willow sat down on the stairs outside of the bathroom. For a few minutes she passed the time by picking her nails, before she got bored and got up and began pacing. 'Where were they going?' that question rattled around in her head for a few more minutes before Steven finally finished and came out.

She had to admit, he did look nice clean shaven. Not necessarily hot, not someone girls would drool over, but he was easy on the eyes.

"How do I look?"

"Secretive, annoying, and clean shaven." Willow responded without hesitation. Putting little venom in her words so he knew she was joking.

Stevens bottom lip poked out as he fake pouted. His eyes portraying his amusement. Glancing at a clock on the wall Steven silently cursed, he had needed to stall her for a couple more minutes because he wanted everything to be perfect.

"Alright lets go." Willow said clearly anxious to get going and satisfy that little burning curiosity.

Smiling on the outside but panicking on the inside Steven gestured for Willow to lead the way. His mind raced as he tried to think of reasonable ways to stall her, he could drive around a little or maybe stop and say there was car troubles. Following Willow to the truck Steven noticed her hair was down, and the perfect stall began to manifest in his head.

"Want me to braid your hair again?" He carefully measured his voice to show just a little excitement, but masked most of it in a hopeful undertone. He eyed her carefully as he waited for her response.

Willow looked mildly puzzled, before responding "Nah, maybe later but right now lets get going." Before climbing in the passenger side of the truck.

Sighing in disappointment she didn't take the bait, he followed suit climbing in. Only to see Willow smiling triumphantly from the passenger seat.

"What were you planning?" She asked smugly.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Steven said, his voice a very convincing mask of innocence.

"Steven." Her single word was enough to crumble Stevens resilience. Besides he really didn't like lying to her.

Sighing in defeat he began. "I need to stall you for 5 more minutes, to arrive perfectly on time." He looked at Willow whos smug smile widened.

"5 minutes... fine, just for you I'll be patient." Her eyes twinkled as she turned her back to Steven and crossed her arms across her chest.

After several seconds Willow spoke up again. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"We have 5 minutes, you said you were going to braid my hair..." She let the sentence hang and Steven took the hint.

Reaching forward he gently grabbed a handful of hair. "How do you want it, single, Dutch, or French?"

"Single."

"Anything in it?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know, flowers or something."

Willow turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Flowers? Really playing into the daughter of Demeter aren't you?"

"What? No, shoot I didn't mean. No I just..." He trailed off as Willow turned to face him completely. Her eyebrow was raised questioningly.

"You just what?" She asked teasingly.

"I watched this movie, Tangled, and I liked the one scene..." He trailed off when he saw Willows amused smirk. "What?"

"You watched Tangled?" She asked clearly amused with something.

"Yes, have you?"

"I have a 6 year old step sister who loves it, but she's not 17 and a boy."

"16, but close enough. Anyway that's not important flowers or not?"

Willow thought for a moment, before shrugging. Its not like flowers would ruin her hair. It was kind of one of those 'Screw it lets see where this goes moments'

"Whatever you think will look nice."

In an instant Steven was out of the truck, Running around looking for some flowers.

Line break

Willow looked in the mirror as Stevens hands worked furiously, she couldn't help but notice how he seemed so focused on making it perfect. His tongue poked out of his mouth just a bit, and his eyebrows knit in concentration. It was honestly adorable how hard he was working to get it just right. He had even gone all out on the flowers, finding a mix of daisies and something Steven called a Lenten rose that she had never seen before. He worked furiously, and Willow wondered how he got so good at braiding.

"And... done." He said as he flipped the finished braid over her shoulder so she could see.

For a moment Willow was stunned, It was perfect. Not just perfectly braided, but a perfect pattern as well. It looked like a braid you'd see in a Disney movie.

"Well what do you think?" Steven asked slightly nervous.

She could see her face growing red in the mirror as she finally said what was on her mind. "I feel like a princess."

Steven began to turn the truck on. A cheeky smile crossed his face as he said "You should." before gunning it, spinning tires and spitting gravel. Completely cutting of what Willow was going to say.

Graving her seat belt and clicking it into place she settled back into the seat, before deciding to click on the radio.

"Ok so are you gonna tell me where we are going yet?" Willow asked, flashing Steven a dazzling smile hoping she would finally figure it out.

Steven didn't respond, instead tossed her a quick glance and shrugged his shoulders. Willow couldn't help but notice how Steven wasn't as chill as he usually was, he seemed tense and looked nervous.

"Hey, you ok?" Her voice was laced with the concern she was feeling.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, clearly worried about something. For a split second Willow debated on letting it go, but only for a second. She then thought about all the times he was there to comfort her when she needed it, or the fact she was going to ask him to go on a date with her when they get back to camp.

"Steven," She began, reaching over and giving his thigh a reassuring squeeze. "It's not fine, tell me what's wrong." She used the same tone of voice she used when they where talking about lying expecting him to crack and tell her what's wrong.

A deep sigh escaped his lips and he began to lightly tab his pointer finger on the wheel. He glanced at Willow one last time before beginning. "You know how I always talk about patience?"

Willow removed her hand from his thigh. "Yes you do say that a lot."

"Well I wasn't always this patient..." He let the sentence hang for a little. "I was hot headed, cocky, arrogant, and kind of a dick. No patience, not caring enough to look and see the big details."

Willow let his words sink in, but she just couldn't see Steven as anything but the fun, laid back, humble guy he was. The guy who though a great way to stall for time would be to braid her hair. The guy who wanted to take all the sadness in the world and keep it for himself so no-one had to feel it. The guy who had made a girl who was cursed not to love, fall head over heals with him. It just made no sense.

"Ok..." Willow said gently pushing him to continue.

"I... I don't know, I just thought you should know that."

Willow didn't know what to say to that so she decided to remain silent for a few moments.

"Thank you."

Steven glanced at Willow again. "For what?"

"Its just nice to know you trust me enough to tell me that stuff."

Stevens lips twitched up into a small smile. He still looked nervous and tense but something was different then a few moments ago. Almost like he was at peace, but was nervous about something else.

"Since we're talking about serious stuff... What do you mean when you say I looked broken and lifeless? Both you and Aphrodite said that I was 'broken and lifeless' and I don't know what that means."

Stevens face split into a grin, "What did you do last Tuesday?"

Willow was surprised at the question and thought for a moment before answering. "I have no idea, I most likely was in the strawberry fields."

Steven nodded his head like that was the answer he expected. "Ok and what about last Friday?"

Recognition dawned on her face "I was in the fields."

"And 2 Sundays ago."

"Ok, Ok, I spend every day in the fields I get that, but how does that make me broken?"

"Its not that you spend every day in the fields, Its the fact you didn't have any desire to even look for something new to try. Its ok to stick with what you know, but Its not okay to just cut yourself off from the rest of the world because of a curse." He paused and glanced over again.

Willows face dropped a little, It was true she had wanted to shut out the world.

"Hey, It's ok, lots of people make that mistake." Steven like always was quick to reassure her.

"Well how come no one has talked to me about this before?"

Stevens smile faltered slightly. "Not everyone knows what to look for."

Steven turned onto a gravel road and the sun shone right through into there eyes. Steven flipped the sun visor down and was able to shield his eyes, but Willow was just a little to short for that to work.

"There are sun glasses in the glove box."

Willow opened up the glove box and shifted around, pulling a pair of plastic sunglasses out and sliding them on. Looking up she noticed the sun was just barely half above the horizon.

"How long will this take?" Willow asked, concerned about how much time they had before sundown.

"We'll be there in about 10, but how long we stay is up to you." Steven replied smoothly.

Willow nodded, turning her attention back to the sun and watching as it just slipped below the horizon.

Line break

The 10 minute drive seemed to take an hour for Willow, They kept quiet conversation, but Stevens slight nervousness and Willows lack of insight kept it from being anything more then small talk.

Finally after a small eternity a truck came into sight, and standing beside the truck was a very familiar restaurant owner. As Steven pulled over Mark reached into the back seat of his truck and pulled out a picnic basket.

Like always Steven got out before and ran around to let Willow out before the pair walked over to Mark who was standing there smirking.

"You picked a good night." Mark said looking up at the clear cloudless sky.

"Only night I could do this, We're leaving tomorrow morning for a summer camp." Steven responded easily.

"Ok so what are we doing? I mean you drug me out into the middle of nowhere without so much as an explanation" Willow trailed off as they both looked at her amused. "What?"

Steven smiled, he still looked a little nervous but now he looked more exited. Mark was trying to smother a laugh unsuccessfully.

"Well, ummm, I kind of..." Steven trailed off. Only for Mark to pick up where he left off.

"Don't tell her, show her."

"Show me what?"

"Ummmm." Steven trailed off. His hand went into his pocket and he pulled out his wallet. Opening it up he pulled out a $50 and handed it to Mark.

"Oh no, This is me paying you back for the wood." Mark said as he pushed the $50 away. He handed Steven the basket and began climbing into his truck. Before he could close the door, Steven stuck his hand out.

"Thanks for this Mark."

Mark reached out and shook Stevens hand, glancing at Willow. "Any time," then he lowered his voice so only Steven could hear. "and relax I'm sure she'll love it."

Steven shrugged and in the same soft voice he responded. "I sure hope so."

With one final wave he closed the door, turned the truck on and drove off, quickly fading in the dying light.

Steven looked over to Willow, who at this point was sick of all the secrets and was fed up.

"You have exactly 2 seconds to tell me what is going on." Willow demanded.

Steven put his hands up in a defensive manner. He shouldered the picnic basket and began to make his way towards the edge of the woods to a small trail.

"Walk with me."

Against her better judgement she walked over to where Steven was. "You're not using your 2 seconds wisely."

Steven just shrugged and began walking down the trail. Willow hesitated for a split second before following him. The moment Willow stepped into the tree line she realized how dark it was, the moon was completely blocked off and she couldn't see more then a few feet in front of her. Without thinking she reached out and gripped Stevens arm.

"Steven tell me where we are going right now." Willows voice was dripping with the nervousness she felt.

"Well in about 15 more feet we'll be in a clearing. When we get there I promise you'll understand"

"Steven if you don't tell me in the next 5 seconds I swear."

"Fine, Fine. Um I'm not great at this stuff but..." He trailed off as they reached a clearing. Willow could see a little better, just enough to make out something white in the center of the clearing. Steven bent down near something and began fidgeting with it.

"Well I figured since you haven't been on a date in 2 years..." He flipped a switch and the clearing lit up. White Christmas lights had been strung carefully on the trees around the clearing, providing a soft glow to reveal a picnic table with a white table cloth on it. A few strands of lights hung over head illuminating the center of the clearing. Somewhere a radio switched on, playing soft romantic music. A slow moving river cut around the edge of the clearing.

Willows mouth hung freely. Then the significands of Stevens words hit her. This was a date. A perfect hallmark movie date. Her hands moved up to cover her mouth and a tear prickled at her eye. She didn't notice Steven had moved to her side until he spoke.

"So I thought I'd make your first one in a while special and..." He stopped as he noticed the tear that was now sliding down her cheek. "Crap I'm sorry. I mean I didn't even ask you out. I'm such an..." He was cut off by Willow jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. Tears were freely falling down her face as she whispered.

"It's perfect."

The effect was instantaneous. Any nervousness Steven had been feeling disappeared in a flash. His arms wrapped around Willow and they both snuggled into each other comfortably.

After a few moments they both pulled out at the same time and looked each other in the eyes. Stevens hand came up and cupped Willows cheek, and using his thumb he wiped away her tear. Willows smile sent a million butterflies fluttering through his stomach.

"Its perfect." Tears threatened to spill from Willows eyes again, but she refused to let them.

Steven smiled broadly, before taking a step back and giving an exaggerated bow. Extending his hand toward Willow. "Madam would you do me the honor of accompanying me to diner on this fine evening."

Taking his hand with a giggle Willow replied. "Well my good sir, I would be delighted too."

Willow allowed herself to be guided to the table, which had been set up for a romantic diner for 2. Taking a moment to set the picnic basket down, Steven reached into it and produced a box of matches. Quickly striking a match he went about lighting the 3 candles that had been set out on the table before blowing out the match. Willow on the other hand was still staring around like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Steven noticed her pinch herself and smiled.

"You can stop pinching yourself, It's real."

Willows smile was one of the most beautiful things Steven had ever seen, and this one was directed at him. "I know, It's just to perfect."

"Well, I was going for perfect, but really this was all Mark." He said as he pulled out 2 plates and a bowl of spaghetti. A few moments later he pulled out a container and popped the lid off to reveal a loaf of garlic bread. Taking one last glance into the picnic basket he smiled and pulled out a single red rose.

"A flower for a flower." He said as he presented it to Willow.

Smiling Willow took the rose and smelt it once, then placed it on the table. Then she began to serve up the spaghetti as Steven pulled out napkins, forks, water bottles, and a small container of marinara sauce. He glanced into the basket one last time before sliding it to the other end of the table. He tilted his head a little as if listening for something, but then shook it his head as if to dismiss it, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed to Willow.

"Something wrong?" Willow asked not wanting anything to ruin their perfect night.

"Just listening for a car, and about maybe 3 teenage girls." He said as he scanned the tree line one last time before looking at Willow and smirking. "It's nothing to worry about."

"3 teenage girls? What am I not enough?" Willow asked teasingly. She had a sneaking suspicion on who he was talking about. Only 1 other person read the note Steven wrote.

This caused Steven to laugh deeply. "No, you're more then enough. In fact I hope they don't show up."

"Well whether they show up or not, I don't think they can ruin this."

This earned the largest smile Willow had ever seen. "Yeah, but I hope they don't, then that's a whole lot of drama."

Sitting down Willow was about to dig in, but something stopped her. Steven wasn't digging in, he picked up a piece of garlic bread and held it to one of the candles allowing the flames to engulf the bread. He then quickly set the bread down and began to mumble a prayer to the gods. Following his example Willow set her own garlic bread on fire.

"For Demeter."

Willow quickly dug in, but stopped as she noticed Steven kept mumbling names. Name after name he sent prayers to dozens of gods. After what seemed like a small eternity, he stopped and began to eat. The food was good, not amazing, but to Willow the date wasn't about the food. It was about the company.

"So... tell me about yourself." Steven said between bites of spaghetti.

"Well what do you wanna know?" Willow asked playfully.

"Well what do you want me to know?" Steven asked just as playfully.

Willow stuck her hand out and in a thick British accent she said. "Hello my names Willow and who would you be?"

"The names Steven, though some folks have taken to calling me Spook love." This earned a fit of giggles from the pair as they settled into a comfortable conversation full of laughter.

Line break

As the pair finished up, Steven pulled another surprise out of the picnic basket. Steven laid out a blanket for the pair to lay on. Leaving the dishes to pick up later, Willow skipped over to where Steven and the blanket where laying. Smiling broadly she collapsed on the blanket and patted the spot right next to her.

Taking the hint, Steven flopped himself down next to her. Much to Willows annoyance he laid himself down about a foot from her. Willow was about to say something about it, but then just decided to take action.

Wiggling over to Steven she positioned her head on his shoulder and grabbed his arm, wrapping it around herself so his hand rested on his shoulder. Taking the hint Steven pulled her closer and they settled into a comfortable silence. Just laying there looking at the night sky, Willow was the happiest she had ever been. That didn't mean she wasn't going to tease him just a bit though.

"You better not steal my necklace."

Although Willow couldn't see, she felt Steven smile. "No, that's only if you steal from me." He shifted and turned to Willow, a puzzled look on his face. "You did only steal that 1 thing from me though right?"

Willows face scrunched in confusion. "I didn't steal anything..."

Stevens face scrunched in confusion as well and he began patting his pockets with his free hand. "Really I could have sworn you stole my heart."

Willows laugh resonated throughout the clearing. Between giggles she managed to choke out a few words. "Shut up."

After a while she settled down and they both went back to silently enjoying each others company.

Willow kept glancing at Steven, only to see him glancing back at her. Each time there eyes met Willow felt butterflies erupt in her stomach. Each time she looked away Steven somehow pulled her closer, until finally Willow had enough.

Turning onto her side she laid one arm on his chest and curled right up next to him, effectively removing any space between them. One of her legs draped over Stevens legs and Willow, for once, pulled Steven closer not the other way around.

"You're a great pillow you know that?" Willows words, although light hearted and teasing, struck Steven like a warm summer breeze. He turned his head sideways and looked into her eyes, so brown and deep.

"You make a better blanket." Although Steven was smiling, inside he was having a total brain shut down. How stupid could one guy be to tell a girl she was an amazing blanket? She was incredibly warm and cuddly or the fact everything seemed to be in high definition when she snuggled up to him, but that's besides the point.

Laying her head back down on his shoulder she closed her eyes just snuggling.

"You know my last first date, he took me to the movies."

Steven turned his head a bit, just enough to look at her in the corner of his eye. Her eyes were still sealed, but her lips still curled into a smile.

"Well I think you deserve a little more then a cheesy movie and some Olive Garden." He paused and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Besides who needs Olive Garden when I have you."

Willows eyes cracked open, just enough for Steven to see her roll them. "And who needs a cheesy movie when I have the king of cheese right here." She said.

Steven turned fully and looked Willow directly in the eyes, a look of disbelief gracing his face. "Was that a Wisconsin slur... Are you making fun of me because I'm from the cheese state."

Willows laughter once again filled the clearing, and she softly smacked his chest. After a moment Steven couldn't keep his face neutral and broke down chuckling.

"Yes that is exactly what I was referring to."

"Well I thought..." He trailed of and gestured with his free hand.

Somehow Willows smile broadened and she leaned in a little. "You thought what?"

Stevens brain seemed to short circuit as she leaned in. She was so close he could smell the faint scent of irises and the only thing he could see was her beautiful brown eyes. He felt a small buzzing in his finger tips. His heart had somehow found a 5th gear and was pounding on his ribcage.

Willow wanted so badly to kiss him, right here under the stars. Hell she wanted to jump on top of him and kiss him until the sun came up. She was just waiting for him to pull in and make the final move. It was absolutely excruciating being that close to those joy filled greyish eyes and not doing anything. It was the strangest feeling she had ever felt, but she was enjoying every moment.

"Uhhhhh." Steven had said some stupid stuff in his life, but that may have taken the cake.

Willow seemed to find that amusing, because her smile somehow brightened. She move close enough to feel his breath on her lips.

"So what did you think?"

Steven saw nothing but those eyes. The entire world could have been struck by a meteor and he wouldn't have noticed. He fell silent and just seemed to take Willow in.

Willow on the other hand was having a break down on the inside. How much more obvious can she make it. It was actually beginning to get on her nerves how he didn't make a move. He could take her out into the middle of the woods on the most magical date ever, but couldn't just kiss her.

With a sigh she moved away and rested her head on his shoulder again. She was trying to be angry, but she just couldn't. A perfect night wasn't gonna be ruined by Steven not kissing her.

As she pulled away Stevens eyes never left hers. His mouth still hung open, moving slightly as if trying to make words but making no sound. He watched as Willow went back to staring at the night sky.

He realized he should have kissed her. For gods sake she was practically setting him up for a perfect first kiss, but Steven was so clueless he didn't just kiss her. Sometimes he thought too much, other times he was an idiot.

"Hey Willow..."

Willow turned and the moment her eyes landed on his, Steven lost his nerve. It wasn't that he didn't wanna kiss her, in fact he wanted to kiss her more then anything in the world. He was just to nervous to.

"Yes?" He could see the hope in her eyes.

"Do... Do you wanna dance?" Steven almost face palmed at how stupid his cover up was.

Willows face contorted into a wide smile, kind of like she couldn't believe he had just asked that.

"What?"

"Ummm... I told you I'd teach you." His excuses were getting flimsier and more pathetic by the moment.

Willow began chuckling softly, but soon it escalated to full blown uncontrollable laughter. She was literally shaking by the time she managed to force out a few words.

"You..." She stopped as another fit of laughter hit her. "Are hopelessly perfect."

Steven opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Willows giggling and untangling herself from him. Climbing to her feet she was still smiling like an idiot as she extended a hand to help him up.

Lone behold Steven was pulled to his feet the very moment the next song began, and Steven could not have imagined a more perfect song.

As Love is Waiting by Brooke Fraser began playing Willows arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him close. Stevens hands dropped and rested just above Willows waist. One of Willows arms removed itself from his neck and dropped to his hands, gently pushing them to there correct position on her waist before wrapping itself around his neck again. The pair began to sway as the song began.

In the autumn on the ground... Between the traffic and the ordinary sounds.

Willows eyes rose to meet his, the guy she had fallen hopelessly in love with in less then 3 days. Steven lead the dance, and although his feet where stepped on a few times he was in absolute bliss.

I am thinking signs and seasons while a north wind blows through... I watch as lovers pass me by.

Steven got a little strand of courage and decided to pull her just a bit closer.

Walking stories- whos and hows and whys... Musing lazily on love, pondering you

Willow hoped she was dancing alright. She had never slow danced, or danced in general. Compared to Steven she felt clumsy and every time she stepped on his toes seemed to reinforce the fact.

I'll give it time, give it space and be still for a spell.

The pairs eyes never left each other as they moved in almost perfect rhythm.

When it's time to walk that way, we wanna walk it well.

Willows head tilted to the side slightly as she closed her eyes just for a second.

I'll be waiting for you baby... I'll be holding back the darkest night.

Love is waiting till we're ready... til it's right.

Love is waiting

When Willow heard that, she knew that this was worth waiting for, because right now it felt right. All those years of anger and loneliness was worth struggling through, just for this.

It's my caution not the cold... there's no other hand that I would rather hold.

The climate changes, I'm singing for the strangers about you

Don't keep time, slow the pace, honey hold on if you can

The bets are getting surer now that you're my man.

Steven was struggling to focus on dancing, she was a perfect distraction. Amazingly beautiful, sweet, a little rough around the edges in some places, but perfect all the same.

I'll be waiting for you baby... I'll be holding back the darkest night

Love is waiting til we're ready... til its right

Steven looked down at Willow, the girl that to him made everything worth dealing with. Even with her eyes closed, he could still see the love overflowing from them.

I could write a million songs about the way you say my name

I could live a lifetime with you and then do it all again

And like I can't force the sun to rise or hasten summer's start

Neither should I rush my way into your heart

Willows eyes opened and at that moment Steven knew he would do anything for her. He'd scale a mountain, punch a dragon. Anything.

I'll be waiting for you baby

I'll be holding back the darkest night

Love is waiting til we're ready... til it's right

Willow couldn't even begin to explain how she felt. She felt weightless, like she was a cloud.

I'll be waiting for you baby

I'll be holding back the darkest night

Love is waiting til we're ready... til it's right

Love is waiting.

Steven didn't think as his head dipped down and he captured Willows lips in his own. When his mind caught up to his body, he realized Willows own lips where moving against his.

When Willow felt his lips press gently against hers, without hesitation she pressed back. He was incredibly gentle, not asking for anything with the kiss, just showing her how much he loved her. To Willow it was a perfect kiss with a perfect guy.

Too soon they pulled apart, and when Steven realized what he did, Willow saw him panic and knew what was coming next, He was to much of a gentleman for his own good.

"I'm so sorry..." He began only to be silenced by Willow pressing her lips against his.

This kiss was rougher, still incredibly sweet, but rough and more passionate.

When Willow pulled away, she spoke before Steven could get a word in.

"If you say one more apology I swear I'll kick you. Get it through your thick head that I want you to kiss me, I want to be with you." She reinforced her words with another kiss. Steven looked like he had just stuck his fingers in an outlet. It was like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders and he had made a decision.

Dipping down he kissed her again, this time with a little more passion, but still just as gentle and sweet as he was before. They stood there kissing in there own little fairy tail until they both pulled away gasping for air. Stevens forehead touched Willows and they both looked into each others eyes.

"You look beautiful." Steven said at barely above a whisper.

Willow didn't think Steven could make the night better, until he said that. She knew without a doubt that her face was beat red, but she didn't care he somehow could say exactly what she needed to hear.

"Thank you. This has been a perfect night."

Steven through his head back laughing, "Willow, we've been hear only about 30 minutes, the night is still young."

Willows face lit up as she realized how much time they actually had. "So what do you wanna do for the next couple hours?" She asked in a pleasantly surprised tone.

Taking a step back, out of Willows embrace, Steven gave a bow and extended his hand to Willow once again. "Would you do me the delight of dancing the night away?"

Without hesitating Willow took his hand and pulled him close, delighted when he put his hands on her waste without any encouragement. As they began to sway again, they fell silent. Just enjoying a night, but more importantly, enjoying each others company.

Line Break

Dancing was amazing, but after an hour or so they grew tired so after they flipped off the radio, they once again snuggled up onto the blanket, this time Willow wasted no time to curl right up onto his shoulder. Steven himself, wasted not time pulling Willow in close.

"Willow."

"Yeah?"

"My arms starting to fall asleep."

Willow smiled and turned toward him. "Deal with it, I'm comfortable." She said as she snuggled deeper into his shoulder.

Steven turned his head fully. Looking more amused then annoyed. "Please, can we readjust ?"

Willow made a big show of crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. "But I'm comfy."

"Well, what's stopping you from being comfy in a different position, one that's more comfy for me?" He asked sweetly.

Willow couldn't argue with that logic, but that didn't mean she wasn't gonna try. So thrusting her lip out as far as she could she responded with a simple "No."

Steven smiled sweetly. "Well then there's nothing I can do." He said as he went back to just looking at the sky.

Despite herself, Willow found herself shifting her weight off of his arm and moving her head to his chest. This twisted Willows neck into an uncomfortable position, and in general wasn't a great cuddle position.

Seeing Willows neck twisted, Steven decided to change up the position. Pulling all of her onto him, Steven helped position her so she was all the way on top of him. Her head laid back on his chest and she flipped her braid to the side so she didn't crush her flowers. Stevens arms wrapped around her waist and together they resumed watching the stars.

"You really do make a great mattress." Willows tone, although teasing, held a margin of respect.

"And you have a boney butt."

Willow reached down and hit the side of his thigh. "No one asked you to feel." Despite being on his chest, Willow could tell Stevens face was red as he began to sputter.

"No, No I didn't mean that... I mean your laying on me and..." He trailed off as Willow hit him again.

"Just shut up."

As Steven fell quiet Willows hand reached down and gently began rubbing a circle on his wrist. They lay in silence for a few minutes before Willow broke the silence again.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't wanna ruin tonight, so if you don't wanna answer me then don't..."

Steven shifted a little before squeezing Willow lightly. "Ask away."

"Why don't you like people knowing who your dad is? We all have trouble with our parents, but we don't try to hide them." She let the question hang and let him decide if he wanted to answer.

The silence stretched until it was almost unbearable before Steven spoke. "I shouldn't be alive..."

"What do you mean?" Willow gently pushed.

"Dad doesn't have... normal kids. He is a virgin god so he doesn't have kids. As far as anyone knows my brothers and I were his only kids. So we are considered kinda... either bad luck or cursed, take your pick. Plus who wants to be friends with someone whos father is literally Death?"

"How does he..." She paused trying to find the right words. Only for Steven to pick it up.

"Have kids?"

"Yeah."

Steven sighed deeply. "I knew this was coming. We crawled out of a grave, and was gifted to my mom." He tensed as if waiting for her to be revolted, but she merely shrugged.

"Ok. Thank you." She said before turning her attention back to the night sky.

Stevens brow knitted in confusion. "Aren't you grossed out?"

Willow turned her head so she could just barely see him out of the corner of his eye.

"Steven, it's weird, but it doesn't really matter that much." She said in a dismissive manner.

Several emotions crossed Stevens face all at once. Concern, thankfulness, regret, guilt. Willow decided to press on and see if she could cheer him up.

"You didn't choose to be born that way, so why should I change my opinion about you because you were?" Willow, although she was never good with words or comforting people, said exactly what he needed to hear.

Steven smiled softly before gently kissing Willow on the top of her head. "Thank you." And with that they both dropped the subject.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"You missed."

"I missed what?"

Willow shifted until she was completely turned around. Looking him in the eyes she continued. "You missed my lips with the thank you."

Stevens eyes glanced down at her lips before looking back into her eyes. "Your thank you kiss was on the cheek." He pointed out before she softy pulled down for a gentle kiss.

As they pulled apart, Willow snuggled into the crook of his neck. She knew she shouldn't trust someone she barely knew for 3 days like this, but she never was a rational thinker, she tended to go with her gut, and her gut said she needed cuddles.

"Steven."

"Yo?"

"How much time do we have in paradise?"

Steven shifted his head to get a better look at the moon, but he couldn't find it.

"I have no clue."

Willow smiled at this. If he didn't know when it would be time to leave, maybe they could stay longer then expected.

Stevens hand made small circles on Willows back, and despite it being the best night of her life a yawn escaped her.

"Tired?"

"A little, but I don't want this to end."

"Uh, well..." Steven began, picking his words carefully. "If you're tired we could go back to camp and then maybe some other time we maybe do something like this again."

Willow pulled her head out of his neck, a wide smile danced on her lips. "Are you asking me on another date?"

Steven gave a strained smile and shifted nervously. "Yeah, I mean only if you want too. Its absolutely your choice..." She silenced him with another kiss.

"Steven, I've kissed you like 6 times now and you still don't understand that I like you. I would love another date, and then another, and another."

Relief flooded his face. "Ok... Sounds great!"

"One question though."

A flicker of fear passed through his eyes. "What?"

"How are you gonna top this?" She asked, looking around the clearing.

A short laughter escaped his lips. His face lit up as he smiled a mischievous smile. His eyes glinted with excitement. "I have some ideas."

Willow smiled pleasantly "I bet you do." She had no doubt in her mind that he would find a way to make each date special. Heck, he made her feel special just by being near him.

"So do you want me to take you back to camp?" Steven asked gently.

Despite herself Willow yawned again. "Not yet." She said as she turned back over to look at the stars.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes before Steven broke the silence.

"He took you to the movies you say?" He asked.

"What?"

"Your last first date took you to the movies."

"Yeah?" She wondered where this was going.

"What movie did you see?" He asked teasingly

Willows face was now beat red. She did remember the movie, but come to think of it she could barely remember the boy she went with, but she did remember the movie. He had taken her to see a really bad horror film hoping she would curl up next to him. He even later tried the yawn trick when after 40 minutes in Willow was bored out of her mind. Needless to say she shrugged his arm off.

"I don't remember." Willow said firmly trying to keep her voice neutral.

"Don't lie to me." He teased.

"I don't remember."

"Yes you do." Steven said singingly.

Willow sighed deeply. "Annabelle comes home." She mumbled.

"What was that?" Steven teased.

"Annabelle comes home." She said a little louder.

A hearty laugh cut through the clearing. "A horror film? He did the arm trick didn't he?"

"I hate you."

"I know." Steven teased.

"Well what was your first date?" Willow said accusingly. A guy as free spirited and likable as him defiantly had a few girlfriends before.

Steven paused as if he was thinking. "Well, I took her to the middle of the woods, we ate dinner, danced and cuddled."

"So this is a recycled date." Willow said smugly. It was perfect even if he had done it before, but that didn't mean he couldn't tease him.

"I never said that." He said as he gently squeezed her.

"You've never been on a date before?" Willow asked in disbelief.

"Never met a girl who I wanted to take on one." She felt him shrug as he said this.

Willow softly scoffed, but on the inside she felt like a candle was burning in her chest. It felt like a soft heat was pushing past her chest into every fiber of her body and just felt her to the brim with warm fuzees. "Your hopeless, you know that right?"

Steven nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. "Yeah, but being hopeless is fun if you make me hopeless."

"That makes no sense." Willow said with a chuckle.

"You make no sense." Steven retorted.

"Shut up."

Steven opened his mouth to speak, only for Willow to elbow his ribs softly. "I said shut up."

Taking the hint Steven fell silent. A small bit of courage ran through him, and acting before he thought it through he gently rolled her over so she was looking him in the eyes. Hesitating slightly he pulled her down and gently stole a kiss. She didn't hesitate to kiss him back.

When she pulled away she was smiling broadly. "What was that for?"

"Just because." Steven said nervously. There really was no reason to kiss her, he just felt like doing it.

Steven didn't think Willow could smile any bigger, but she did. "You should do that more often."

Steven smiled broadly, "Wow, I really am growing on you."

Willow rolled her eyes trying to be annoyed but leaned in and kissed him again anyway. This time she could swear she felt a buzzing in her chest. "Shut u..." Ste stopped as she realized how white Stevens face was.

"You ok?"

Steven sighed deeply, "I'm so sorry." He began as he gently pushed her off of him. Standing up, he ran his hands through his hair.

While laying on the ground Willow noticed how absolutely broken Steven looked, and it crushed her a little. Standing up she reached over and gripped Stevens hand.

"What are you doing?" She asked hesitantly.

Stevens eyes were cast downward as he spoke. "I have work, I have a soul to transport. Just stay here, I swear I'll be back."

Willow took one look at him and made a decision. "I'll come with you." Her tone left no room for argument, but Steven was not having it.

"No, please just stay here." He said as he reached into his inner pocket. So there really was something buzzing when they kissed.

Willow was done arguing with him, but more importantly she was done letting him deal with his sadness alone.

When he pulled his little Bluetooth earpiece out of his pocket Willow made a quick snatch to grab it. Steven simply moved it out of the way and sighed.

He looked at Willow with those eyes, now devoid of any joy. "Willow please this is my job and my responsibility."

Willow pursed her lips. "Steven when you date someone, you share responsibility. So if you don't take me with you I swear I'll kick the shit out of you."

Steven opened his mouth to say something, but taking one look at Willows face made him realize no matter what he said he would loose this argument.

"Fine, I'll see if I can work it out so you can come." Steven mumbled defeated, before he put the ear piece in his ear and pressed a small button.

Willow couldn't hear much of the 30 second conversation, but she did hear it when he asked for a "Plus one" which Willow assumed was her.

"Ok great... yup bye." and with that he hung up. He pulled Willow close to him, and as if on instinct she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Steven closed his eyes and with a shaky breath, he opened them. Then Stevens wings flickered to life in an instant and wrapped around both of them, blocking out the lights. The last thing Willow Willow thought before he whisked them away, was "Why are his eyes gold?"

Chapter 9 Work

Traveling with Steven was one of the strangest things Willow had ever done. She felt like she was suspended in air, but gravity still affected her. Looking around it was like they were in there own little cocoon of semi-translucent, black feathers, the world outside seemed to be moving past in the blink of an eye. An overwhelming sense of calm enveloped her and she felt like taking a nap, but that was before she looked back up at Steven and bit back a scream.

Steven had completely changed. Instead of his usual olive green jacket and blue jeans, he whore a long black tattered cloak. The hood of the clock was pulled up over his head casting a dark shadow over his face. Even in Willows close proximity she couldn't see anything outside of the the very tip of his chin. The cloak shimmered like smoke, but even that was incredibly warm and soft.

Just as soon as Willow got her bearings her feet touched solid ground. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. They appeared to be in a brightly painted hallway with doors on both sides of the corridor. Only about half the lights were on so it was well lit, but not bright.

"Where are we?" Willow said, her voice seemed to come out a little higher then usual.

"We're in a hospital, I can't tell you where."

Willow nodded softly. If they where going to pick up a soul to bring to the underworld a hospital is where she would start. She was confused as to what hospital this was, most hospitals she was at had white walls and were no were near as colorful.

"Who are we here for?" Willow asked. She wanted to get this over with, and maybe go back to the date.

Steven pulled his earpiece out of his ear, and Willow watched in amazement as it began to morph and change. In a moment Steven was holding a sleek black phone, glancing down at it he answered her question.

"Room 413, Thomas F." He glanced through what Willow assumed was a chart. The more he looked at it, the more his shoulders slumped.

Glancing around Willow noticed they where near room 426, and as the pair disentangled themselves from each other they began walking shoulder to shoulder toward room 413.

"Alright, rules for being a tag along. 1 I take the lead, you wait for me to tell you if its clear, and do exactly what I say. 2 if you can smile, it helps. The people I get have accepted death. 3 try not to wake him up, and if he does wake up please let me do the talking." He sounded devastated as he said this.

Willow draped her arm around him and pulled him into a side hug. "Hey, we got this."

"I know, its just this doesn't get easier." He said.

"Well this time you have me." She said hopeful.

A sigh of defeat escaped him before he continued. "I know, that's why I'm worried."

Willow opened her mouth to ask what that was suppose to mean, but they had arrived. She watched as Steven glanced around before opening the door, and seemed to float into the room. Willow followed, and Steven closed the door behind her.

Willow glanced around the room. It was a standard hospital room, and from her position by the door she couldn't see anything other then the foot of the bed and 2 chairs against the wall. The soft beeps of a heart monitor drifted to her ears. Willow took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she would see when she rounded the corner.

Steven rounded the corner first and glanced around, before turning around and giving a small nod to Willow. It was still unnerving to see Steven like this, a faceless individual that seemed to float instead of walk, but Willow was slowly accepting it.

What Willow will never accept is the sight she saw as she rounded the corner. A sickly looking, bald boy was laying on the bed. He couldn't have been more then 10. His veins spider webbed up his incredibly thin arms. His breathing was smooth and steady, but seemed weak.

Willow stared in disbelief at the young boy in front of him, a tear prickled at her eye. How could someone so young already accept death? Why would the Fates be so cruel as to put the kid in the position to need to accept death? Why was nothing fare?

Steven ghosted over to Willow and gently pulled her into a hug, but his cloak didn't feel as warm as it had when she first felt it. His wings once again wrapped around them and he began to whisper.

"I'm sorry, but this has to happen..." He sounded as sad as she felt. He gently rubbed a circle in her back as she nuzzled into the crook of her neck.

"Why?" Willow sobbed the single word as if when he answered it all the questions in the world would be answered.

Steven decided to leave the question unanswered. How could he answer a question he didn't know the answer too? Steven pulled away and gently wiped a tear away from Willow.

"It's time." With those words his wings grew larger until it surrounded all 3 of them. He gently pressed his finger to his lips indicating for silence, but a soft sob escaped Willow none the less.

At the sound of the quiet sob the boy shifted. The 2 onlookers held there breath as they watched the young boys eyes flutter open, before they settled on Steven.

Willow expected a scream, maybe the boy to try fighting, but what he did was a lot sadder. The thing that hurt Willow the most was the look of quiet acceptance that played on his face. He looked like he was greeting an old friend that he didn't want to see. That was before he spoke.

"Am I dead?" His voice was soft and weak. His tiny hands clasped together, and he looked like he already knew the answer.

Steven shook his head softly. "Not yet, but soon. I am sorry." His voice was soft and tender, what you'd expect to hear from someone comforting a dying man.

The boy looked even sadder, before shifting his gaze to Willow. "Are you dead?"

Taking a shaky breath Willow tried to say something, but the words caught in her throat. Shaking her head softly, her hands rose and cupped in front of her mouth. Tears still flowed down her face. Unable to speak she simply shook her head. The boy nodded before turning his attention back to Steven.

"Does it hurt?" His voice was growing weaker by the second.

Steven gently extended his hand towards the young boy.

"Take my hand, It's just like falling asleep."

The boys feeble arms struggled to raise as he lifted them too Stevens hand. Weakly grasping his hand, a ghost of a smile crossed the boys face, and as the boy lay his head back and closes his eyes his breathing stops.

His death was not swift, it had taken months of fighting, months of being scared, months of pain. But as he died he felt nothing, he was no longer scared.

Steven gently pulled his spirit from his body, his spirits eyes where still closed as if he was asleep. Steven gently picked the boys spirit up in his arms and turned to Willow.

Willow had broken down, she was sobbing so hard it didn't make a sound. She felt like someone had lit her insides on fire, and was actively beating her. She sobbed, thinking of all the possibilities the young child will never get. Gently Steven shifted the boys spirit so he was cradling it with one arm. With his newly freed arm he pulled Willow close, letting her sob into his shoulder.

"Shhhhhh, It's ok." He didn't know who he was speaking too. The boy, Willow or himself.

Unconsciously, Steven began to take them to the entrance of the underworld. This trip would take about 10 seconds, but like always it felt like a small eternity. A single tear was welling in his eye and he tried to blink it away. He had a job to do, and couldn't afford to cry just yet.

Willow pulled her head off of Stevens shoulder, and his heart cracked as she looked him in the eyes. Her tears where another reminder that he did nothing good for her.

No words were said as Willow began to wipe her nose and attempted to look unbroken. It hurt Steven to see her trying to be strong for her, but he really did appreciate it. She was strong, he knew that, but she didn't need to be strong, not now anyway.

The boy was still "Sleeping" if you could call it that, so Steven took advantage of his eyes being closed to gently nuzzle Willow with his chin and gave her a little squeeze. He wanted her to know it was ok and he was there.

When they arrived at DOA Recording Studios Steven calmly set Willow down and Stevens wings slowly disappeared to nothing. With there ghostly black cocoon gone the pair began walking toward the front desk, the boys spirit was still in Stevens arms. Willow took a moment to wipe her eyes, not wanting to look scared or sad.

A darker skinned man looked up from behind his desk, eying the trio in with an emotionless expression. His bleach blonde hair was complimented well with the cream color 3 piece Italian suit he wore. The trio stopped in front of the desk and Steven was the first to break the silence.

"Evening Charon. How's it going?"

Charon cracked a smile before shrugging his shoulders and replying. "Nothing much, People still dying to see me."

A small smile ghosted across Stevens lips, but he wasn't feeling like joking. "I need 1 ferry fee."

Charon's eyes shifted first to the boy in Stevens arms, then to Willow. He glanced back at Steven and raised an eyebrow in question.

Steven tilted his head to Willow. "She is alive."

"But why is she here?" Charon sounded annoyed and before Willow could get defensive Steven spoke.

"She's my..." He paused not knowing what they were yet. They weren't dating after just that one date, were they? They were clearly more then friends, but Steven didn't want to push Willow in a direction she didn't want to go.

"Special friend? Lover? Tailor?" Charon began supplying answers to a question Steven couldn't answer.

"Anyway, she's alive, and she will stay that way." Steven responded quickly.

Charon scoffed, before turning to the boy in Stevens arms. "I suppose he doesn't have the money for the fair."

Steven shook his head and one hand reached into the folds of his cloak, pulling out a small pouch that clicked pleasantly. Spilling the contents of the pouch Willow counted about a dozen gold drachma and maybe $300 in mortal money.

Steven didn't hesitate to slide all of the money across the desk. "Here's his fare, a little extra for your trouble and some for a new suit."

At these words Charon smiled, clearly pleased with the extra. "I assume you want to know where he will end up?"

"It'll be Elysium, but please keep me posted." Steven sounded incredibly certain as he said that.

Charon nodded before opening a drawer in his desk and sweeping all the money into it. Steven nodded before walking towards the elevator and gently waking up the boy. Willow was about to follow but Charon stopped her.

"Don't."

Willow turned to Charon, she knew she shouldn't question him but she did anyway. "Why not."

"He needs time with the kid, wants to explain some stuff." He said as he flipped open a magazine full of luxury suits.

Willow looked back over towards the elevator and saw Steven pull his hood down, kneel down, and talk to the kid face to face.

"Why are his eyes gold?" Willow asked Charon hoping for some kind of answer.

"His fathers blessing." He answered not even looking up from the magazine.

Willow nodded, she had nothing more she really wanted to ask, and expected the conversation to fall silent but Charon had other ideas.

"So you and Spook?" Charon asked not looking away from his magazine.

"What about us?" She asked still watching Steven talk to the boy.

Charon looked away from his magazine and gave her a 'you can't be serious' look.

"You like him." He stated.

Willow shifted uncomfortably. Yes she undoubtedly liked him, but she didn't wanna talk to him about this. "Yes."

"hmmm." He shrugged as he went back to reading his magazine.

Willow turned back to Steven, and just happened to catch the boy wrap his arms around Stevens neck in a hug. They disengaged and Steven stood before ruffling the kids hair softly and walking towards Willow. In his tattered robes with his hood down he looked almost like a monk, and a ghost of a smile touched Willows lips at the thought. Steven smiles softly before whispering in her ear.

"He's ready to go, he has made peace with whatever demons he has had in his life, now he can rest easy."

Despite herself Willow smile. It was a soft smile, but it was genuine.

In response to the smile, Steven wrapped an arm around Willow and gave her a gentle squeeze. A small moment of comfort for both of them, only ruined by Charon.

"Get a room."

Steven sighed deeply, he tried to look annoyed but it didn't look genuine. "If you didn't owe me so many favors I'd really hate you."

"Speaking of favors, next Tuesday..."

Steven interrupted "Suit fitting?"

Charon shrugged with a grin that said 'you know me to well'.

"I'll see if I can get off to pick up boat duty. I was supposed to be off for the next 2 days but that didn't go to plan." He shrugged like this was a regular occurrence.

"Well it'll be only for an hour or so, I'll compensate you of course."

Steven rolled his eyes like being compensated was a massive inconvenience. "I don't need money, I'll just give free boat rides."

Charon nodded like he expected that. "Money to the souls who need a fare?" He said as he gestured to the lobby.

"Yeah, the ones who deserve it."

"Sounds good, so I'll message you the details."

Steven nodded softly before turning to Willow. "I'll be out late on Tuesday."

Willow found herself nodding, she really did appreciate the heads up.

"What time is it in Wisconsin?" Steven asked Charon.

Charon brought out his own phone and clicked the power on. "About 11:15..." He paused as he looked through his notifications before he shrugged.

Steven paused to think, before turning to Willow. "Wanna head back, maybe not continue the date, but I'll pick up, and then I'll take you back to camp?"

Willow yawned she didn't realize how exhausted she was until he mentioned going back to camp. Her eyelids began to drop just a little. "Yeah sleep sounds nice."

Steven didn't hesitate, he wrapped her up, gave one last nod goodbye to Charon, and together they faded to smoke.

Chapter 10 Till Dawn

If Willow had felt like falling asleep on the way to pick up Thomas, on the way back was a whole different level of tired. Not only was it super late, and she would usually be asleep by now, but she was also emotionally drained, and Stevens hug was just as warm and comfortable as ever. Despite herself Willow can not deny that in the 4 second trip she fell asleep, and only woke up when they touched down.

Steven gently sat her down on the picnic table. He tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of the braid behind her ear, earning a half asleep smile. Willows watched Steven, now back in his normal olive green jacket and jeans, as he picked the blanket up and began to neatly fold it. He gave Willow a small smile and set the now folded blanket on the table.

"You look tired."

Willow yawned. "Yeah its late." She said with a sleepy smile.

Steven gave her a sympathetic look before looking around the clearing one last time. His eyes lingered for a moment on a tree near the river, and a large smile spread across his face.

"Clever, very clever." Steven said more to himself then Willow.

Willow turned and looked to where Steven was looking. "What?"

"Cas set up a camera." He said as he walked over to the tree. Willow could now make out the small outline of a camouflaged camera, barely visible strapped to the tree at waist level. Steven flipped open the camera and fiddled around before walking back to the table. Willow watched in amusement as Steven pulled a pad of paper out of the picnic basket and drew a smiley face with the words 'Nice try' on it. She then watched him slip a small SD card in his pocket, before walking back to the camera and setting the paper in the camera before closing it again.

Willow smiled at his antics, before she yawned once again. Steven was busy cleaning up the plates and stacking them neatly back in the basket. Before he shut the basket he flipped open his wallet and threw 2 $50 dollar bills in there. He graved the pad of paper again and wrote a quick note.

'Thanks for this Mark, I think she loved it. P.S. half of it's for Cas, I owe her 1 SD card.'

"I did love it." Willow said with a sleepy smile.

Steven smiled before gently nudging Willow with his elbow. "C'mon lets get back to the truck."

Willow gave a sleepy smile before raising her arms. "Give me a piggy-back."

Steven didn't argue, he just got down and allowed her to climb on his back. Her lips brush his cheek and his face heat up. He began to walk towards the trail that they had walked in on, stopping briefly to flip the power off, cutting off the lights. He felt Willows arms draped over him and his face got even redder when they wrapped around his neck.

The trip out of the woods seemed a lot shorter then going in, and in no time at all they where at the truck. Steven opened the passenger door, allowing Willow to slide off his back into her seat. Gently closing the door he moved to his side and got in the truck and with one final look at the trail he turned around and began to go home.

Line Break

Steven debated on waking Willow or just taking her back to camp. She had fallen asleep on the way back to his house, and hadn't woken even after he put the truck in park. He killed the truck and shrugged making a decision. He'd carry her in and lock up, then maybe pack a few clothes for camp. He dreaded the idea of going to camp, people would surely judge him, but he really wanted to get to know Willow.

Shrugging he opened the door and got our. Going to Willows side he quickly but gently got her out. Carrying her bridal style he got her into the house and quickly set her down on the couch, not waking her. He then went around locking all the windows and doors. Once that was done he went up stairs and started to pack, a few T-shirts, a few pairs of jeans, some cargo shorts. Once that was done he paused, before packing a pair of hunting boots, then a pair of flip flops. He checked his pocket for his pictures. Once he realized they were their he smiled softly before turning of the lights.

He made his way down stairs and picked up Willows shield. He didn't understand why she chose to put him on the shield, but for some reason it gave him a sense of calm knowing he will be there to keep her safe.

He saw Willow crack her eyes open as he set his bag down. "Bring your guitar." Willows voice heavy with sleep and Steven wasn't even fully sure she was conscious but he did as he was told. Silently he ran and graved his guitar.

Picking Willow up again was awkward, with the duffle bag over his shoulder, shield slung over his back and his guitar case in his hand. After several readjusts he had her in a comfortable position. And with one last look around the room to make sure all the lights were off, the world once again faded to black for the pair.

Steven felt a sense of familiarity with his wings wrapped around them without his fathers blessing. It was like he was halfway to falling asleep but he had just drank 4 energy drinks and ran a mile. He was exhausted and energized all at once. He looked down at Willows sleeping face and smiled. She looked peaceful when she slept. Stevens sense of calm only lasted for a moment before he focused on getting them to camp.

In no time at all they touched down right where Steven planned. On the steps to the Demeter cabin Steven stumbled, nearly dropping Willow as he sucked in a breath, waiting for it to hit. Suddenly his shoulder blades felt like they had been dipped in molten lava. He bit down the scream that almost escaped his lips, successfully muffling it to a quite yelp and a few tears slipped down his cheeks. Despite his best effort his arms tensed and he almost dropped Willow, who was shifting in her sleep. Her eyes cracked open, and seeing that she was awake Steven set her legs down and allowed her to stand up. The moment she was out of her arms Steven doubled over in pain. Willow quickly realizing Steven was in pain bent down to help him.

Before she could say anything Steven spoke "I'm fine... just backlash" He said as he straitened himself and gave her a forced smile. He was breathing heavily and was sweating slightly, but he looked like he had gotten the pain under control.

"Are you ok?" Willow asked.

Steven took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a split second before responding. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Ok," Willow was still concerned but she knew Steven would be honest if he wasn't fine.

They locked eyes for a moment before Steven spoke. "So... we're here."

Willow turned and looked at the cabin before turning back to Steven. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"I guess you'll be wanting this." Steven unslung the shield off of his back and presented it to Willow, who took it and leaned it against the door.

"Thanks."

"Yeah... well you should get to bed, you look tired." Steven pointed out.

"Where will you sleep?" Willow once again spoke without thinking.

"I'll head over to the big house and crash there somewhere."

Willow looked skeptical at this, but nodded. "Ok... be safe on the way there, watch out for harpies."

"Will do." Steven said with a smile.

"See you tomorrow?" Steven asked softly.

"Of course." Willow responded without hesitation.

The pair stood in silence for a few moments, having reached the part of the goodbye were they didn't have anything to say, but didn't want to leave just yet. It was Willow who broke the moment by extending her arms for a hug. Steven wasting no time pulled her in. She nuzzled her way into his chest before looking up at him.

"I hope you ha..." Willow cut Steven off with a kiss.

"It was perfect." Willow said before untangling and quickly getting in the cabin, taking her shield with her. She figured she had better leave before they spend the entire night out there talking. She felt like she was filled with helium again and she leaned back against the closed door. A deep sigh of happiness escaped her and she almost giggled. She glanced down and inspected the shield that had taken so long to finish.

She ran her fingers over the wings feeling the indents and groves, and her eyes closed in bliss thinking about the boy who 3 days ago was a stranger to her.

Sighing in content she moved over to her bed, set her shield down on the floor leaning it next to the bed. Unclipping her knife from where it had hung at her waist the whole night she set that on the nightstand before slipping under the covers not even bothering to change.

Line Break

Steven smiled softly as Willow retreated into her cabin. He glanced up at the moon and guessed it was about midnight. He wiped a single stray tear that was making its way down his cheek. The pain in his shoulders had faded to a dull ache but the sting of using his wings still stuck in his mind.

Shaking his head he set off towards the big house, moving as silent as the night itself. Part of his mind focused on searching for random harpies or anything else that would out at this time of night. The rest of his mind was thinking about Willow. She seemed so different now then when she had first met her, she seemed more willing to smile, at least to him. She even seemed to walk a little taller, like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Her change wasn't that noticeable, in fact he didn't think anyone would notice unless they were close friends with her.

Steven shook Willow out of his head as he reached the front steps of the big house. Silently climbing them, he pushed open the door and slipped through, making no noise as he closed the door behind him.

Glancing around the room he took special care to avoid the stuffed leopard on the wall, it wouldn't be good for it to wake up everyone in the house. Taking the long way around the room to he slowly made his way to the back, this late at night he knew he wouldn't be able to talk to Chiron. Instead he silently ghosted through the house until he found Chiron office, he had things he wanted to see.

Turning on the computer he slid the SD card he had stolen from Cas in. He felt guilty for stealing it, but he just shrugged it off because Cas shouldn't have been spying. Opening up the program he began to slide through the photos. The first dozen or so are of Mark, Cas, and another girl who works at the dinner Megan setting up lights and the picnic table. The next few are random photos not showing anything, most likely set off by the wind or a bird.

When the lights flipped on for the first time Willows face was contorted into a look of disbelief. Steven smiled softly before flipping through the pictures. He saw the entire night through the cameras perspective. The dinner, the laughter, the cuddling. He flipped to a new photo and saw him ask her to dance. He almost face palmed at how stupid he looked. He looked as nervous as he had felt at that time. He flipped through a few photos and his breath caught and he silently sent a prayer of thanks to the Fates.

He printed the picture twice and immediately put one of them in his packet of pictures he always kept. He'd give Willow the picture tomorrow.

The next 30 minutes or so were spent just looking through the pictures and reminiscing until he finally retreated to the living room, taking the SD card with him. He lay on the couch for a few hours before finally drifting off to a restless sleep.

Line Break

Willow was dreaming.

She knew she was dreaming because she wasn't in her body, she would look down and her hands were much to small. With a start she realized she was in the body of a child, a little boy if his clothes were anything to go off.

The boy began to run around what seemed like a large family gathering, 20-30 people were milling around talking and laughing. There were awnings set up over picnic tables stocked with food, kids ran around playing, a fire was burning with a couple chickens slowly roasting over it. All in all it looked like a very happy party.

Willows body ran up to an younger man in his early 20s, tugging at his shorts to get his attention. "Uncle Phil do you know where my mom is?" The boys voice struck a cord of familiarity but she couldn't place it.

The man, Phil, turned toward Willow and smiled. "Hey Spook, I think your moms in the house."

Spook? Spook! If Willow could gasp in a dream she most certainly would have.

The young Steven began to run to the house, the same house she had recently spent 2 days living in. Steven wasted no time entering the house, but just as he opened the door the dream changed.

Willow was in the same body just a few years later, don't ask how she knew that, she just did. Steven, now about 6, was bent over a man, the side of his face was covered in blood, almost to the point of non recognition. But the moment Steven spoke she knew who it was.

"Phil..." Stevens voice was soft and scared, the voice you'd expect to hear of a child talking to a dying man.

"Shhhh, It's Ok, I'm going to see my wife again." A smile ghosted across his lips, "It's been to long."

Willow watched in horror as the dream shifted again. Steven now about 10 stood in front of 7 freshly dug graves. He softly chanted a small prayer to the dead. A hand gently gripped Stevens shoulder, turning she saw a younger version of Stevens older brother, what was his name? James.

James gave a small nod, Steven responded by nodding as well, and together they turned and began walking.

"Bad year." James's voice was low and gravely, it was not the voice of a kid.

"Is there ever a good year?" Steven asked, he sounded angry, and Willow could practically feel the regret bubbling just under the surface.

James sighed deeply, before turning to Steven. "No, but we make do."

"Yeah, we make do." Steven practically spat the words. Willow was shocked at Stevens demeaner. He wasn't anything like he was now. She could practically feel Stevens bitterness and rage.

Together the pair down a winding path through a forest until they came to the edge of the woods. Exiting the woods the pair began walking towards Stevens house. Another party was in full swing much like the one Willow had seen earlier.

The dream shifted one more time.

A large battle was taking place, about 10 people where throwing themselves at... something. The thing was surrounded by smoke and Willow could only make out a tail, wings and legs. Willow watched in horror as 2 people charged the thing, only to be swatted aside like flies.

Steven himself was bent over someone, furiously working on trying to tie a tourniquet on a arm that was bleeding. Blood gushed onto the ground at an alarming rate.

He glanced back to the battle only to see an individual launch himself at the beast, only for the dream to shift once again.

Steven sat alone at the table, tears where streaming down his face. He glanced at the clock on the wall and counted the seconds until it hit midnight.

"5...4...3...2...1..." Steven softly counted under his breath. "Merry Christmas."

He sat in silence until a small knock drew his attention. Stevens older brother was standing at the bottom of the stairs, his face showed signs of sympathy and hurt.

Steven quickly wiped his tears, and offered a small smile. "You should be asleep."

James smiled softly. "So should you."

"Did I wake you up?" Steven asked concerned.

James nodded softly, "Cole and me."

Coles head popped around his older brother, and as he opened his mouth the dream shifted again.

Steven sat alone in the woods, his eyes fixed on the sky. His arm rested on his knee and Willow could feel a rough bandage on his hand.

"Come out." Stevens voice was low and scratchy like he had been crying. Willow didn't know who he was talking to but Stevens eyes never left the night sky.

"You in the tree, the one with the bow aimed at me." It wasn't an accusation, it was merely a statement.

The night remained eerily silent, and Steven didn't move.

"I assume she was a friend of yours. I'm sorry." Steven continued talking into the silent night and for a split second Willow assumed Steven was crazy and there wasn't anyone there, then a soft voice spoke.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you." The voice was soft, but shaking with furry.

Steven didn't hesitate in his response. "There is none. I should have died instead of her." Then in a much softer tone he continued, "I should have died instead of everyone."

Willow felt like sobbing. Seeing Steven sad was like jumping into a pool of glass shards. It felt hard to breath seeing Steven like this.

Steven continued in a soft voice devoid of any thing but grief. "That girl was 726 years old, and she's dead because of me. So no there is no reason I should be alive." He paused taking a shaky breath. "I'm sorry, and if killing me will help you heal I wont stop you."

A Hunter dropped from a nearby tree, her bow still trained on Steven. Tears were streaming down her face as she opened her mouth, but when she spoke she didn't sound like herself.

"She's back." The voice ripped through her dream, shredding it down and bringing Willow to the world of the living. Willows eyes fluttered open to see she was still in her bed, glancing around she saw her siblings gathered around her bed.

Willow quickly sat up, it felt strange with half of her cabin looking at her all at once. Willow quickly rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand in an attempt to rub the sleep from her eyes. Seeing that she was awake her cabin mates began to bombard her with questions.

"Where were you?"

"Are you ok?"

"When did you get back?"

"What the hell were you thinking disappearing like that?"

"Are those flowers in your hair?"

Willow was not ready for all of this. It was to early in the morning for this. "Shut up!" Willow raised her voice just enough to silence everyone, but didn't shout.

Pinching the brim of her nose she screwed her eyes shut and tried to wake herself up completely.

Maddy spoke up her voice was laced with concern. "Where have you been? You disappeared for 2 days. We were worried."

Willow ran her hand through her hair, only to find it still in its braid. Flipping it over her shoulder she inspected it. She was mildly impressed at how nice it still looked.

"I was in Wisconsin." Willow said as she inspected the braid. The room once again exploded into chaos as people began to ask even more questions.

"What's in Wisconsin?"

"How'd you get there?"

"Why were you in Wisconsin?"

"I though Wisconsin wasn't real."

Willow ignored the last comment. Instead she swung her legs off of the bed, knocking over her shield as she did so. Standing up she stretched and smiled. Her mind was replaying her time in Wisconsin.

"Well Steven and I..." At this almost the whole room erupted into yelling. The only one who wasn't yelling was Katie Gardner. Katie was simply looking mildly worried, but also incredibly happy.

Maddy was yelling the loudest. "What do you mean Steven and I? That guy is dangerous if you haven't noticed."

Willow pursed her lips at this. She took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm herself.

"Maddy have you ever met him?" Willow asked.

"I don't need to meet him to know he's dangerous. He scared Mat half to death, his dads literally death, so yeah I know he's dangerous."

Willow was just about at the end of her rope. The only thing keeping her from getting in her face and screaming her head off was a little voice in the back of her head saying 'Be patient'.

"You know what you're right he is dangerous. He's one of the most dangerous people I've ever meet..." She was cut off by Maddy again.

"So stay away from him. If he's dangerous stay away from him. Willow I don't want you to get hurt." Maddy was really worried about Willow and it showed in her tone.

"So you think because he is dangerous he can't be kind, he cant be sweet, he cant have a heart?" Willows voice was steadily rising as her anger slowly bubbled to the surface.

"I never said that I just said you shouldn't hang out with him because he could hurt you."

Willows hands clenched into a fist. The entire cabin was watching the argument like an intense tennis match.

"You're so wrong it's funny. I doubt Steven would hurt anyone. In fact he goes out of his way to help people."

"By what kidnapping you for 2 day?" Maddy's voice dripped with sarcasm.

At this point Willow almost snapped, "You know what I'm not taking this from you, you haven't even met him don't even pretend you know half of the shit he goes through." Willow turned away in anger, marching briskly to her dresser she picked out the first set of clothes she found, not caring what they were. Turning she quickly began marching to the bathroom, only pausing when she heard one of her siblings whisper something to someone.

"Something to say?" Willow asked clearly pissed at this point.

"No, no nothing to say here."

"No you said something I wanna hear it." Willows eyes burned in a way no one had ever seen.

The boy looked flustered for a moment before looking at the ground, not meeting Willows gaze. "I asked who was Spook, Its on your sweatshirt."

Willows expression softened and she took a deep calming breath to make sure she didn't come off as angry. "Spook is Stevens nickname, this is his sweatshirt." With that she retreated to the bathroom resisting the urge to slam the door.

Line Break

Willow stared in the mirror, trying to muster up the courage to go back out and face the music. She really just wished people would get to know him before they judged him. She understood why he had been so reluctant to talk about his dad.

Sighing she ran her fingers through her hair, now lacking a braid. She took it out before she showered.

No point delaying any longer. Opening the door she expected to be stormed by people, instead the cabin was half empty.

Looking around she couldn't find Maddy, but she saw Katie and walked over to her.

"Where is everyone?"

"Maddy went to find Steven and talk to him, everyone else decided to go about there day." Katie sounded apologetic. She lowered her voice so only Willow could hear. "Also there was a council meeting about Steven. Chiron told us about his curse, but he made it clear not to tell anyone until Steven decided."

Willow glanced around a few people were watching, buts most people were going about there day. "And what do you think, about Steven I mean."

Katie nodded her head a few times side to side like she was weighing her options. "I don't know him, but the way Chiron talked about his curse..." She trailed off.

"Thanks." Willow smiled in gratitude, it was nice knowing a few people were on her side.

Turning she began jogging to the door. Once outside she made a B-line to the big house. She began to run, her mind working overtime, thinking about all of the worst case scenarios.

Quickly mounting the front steps she pushed open the door, expecting a shouting match. Instead she walked in and 2 pairs of eyes turned to her. Quickly scanning the room she looked for Steven, only to see him not there.

"Great she's here, now where is he?" Maddy asked Chiron in an exasperated tone.

"Be patient, and keep an open mind. Now Willow, Steven and I had a talk this morning. He told me about what you borrowed from him. Is it true?" Chiron spoke softly and chose his phrasing so only Willow understood what he just asked.

"Yes, I had it... Not for long but I had it."

Chirons face was a mask of sorrow. "I'm sorry you had to deal with it."

Willow waved it off, she had been hurt, but now she accepted it as a necessary. "What's going on here?"

Chiron stroked his beard, taking his time to answer. Maddy cut him off, clearly impatient at this time. "We are waiting for you, Chiron thinks I should wait until you and Steven were both here so he can explain what the Hades happened." She turned to Chiron. "So where is he?" Maddys tone made it very clear talking was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I do not know, Steven told me before he left that Willow would know where to find him." Chiron turned to Willow with a raised eyebrow.

There were several places that crossed Willows mind, but the most obvious was the hammock that Willow had made on there first day.

"Ok, so where is he." Maddy took an exaggerated deep calming breath.

Willow looked to Chiron for guidance on what to do, but the old centaur made a face that clearly said 'she'll meet him eventually'.

With a deep sigh Willow accepted what must be done. She just hoped Steven would come off as likable to someone who clearly hates him.

Willow looked directly at Maddy, "Please, don't hurt him, listen to what he has to say before you decide to hate him. He's been through a lot."

Maddy seemed surprised at this request. "Willow we're demigods, we all have been through a lot."

"I know, he's just... He's been hurt in the past." Willow couldn't help but let the hurt she was feeling leak into her voice.

Maddy must have seen something in her eyes because she faltered. Some of her anger seemed to dissipate as she regarded her stepsister. "What did he do to make you like him?"

Willow didn't expect the question, and to say she hesitated would be an understatement. "He... He's, sweet, and kind, and he still is kind when everything is burning around him."

Maddy looked confused at that, but Chiron nodded slowly as if agreeing.

Willow sighed deeply, she wanted them to like him, but she was tired of explaining it. "Alright, just... I'll take you to him, but promise not to hurt him."

Maddys eyes hardened a bit at Willows request, a mumbled 'fine' escaped her lips.

"Ok, lets go meet him." Willow said, despite herself she was exited to see Steven again.

"Are you coming?" Willow asked looking at the old centaur.

"No, I have already met him." His eyes twinkled as if saying, I know she'll like him.

With that Willow left, closing the door behind her.

"This way, he's over by the lake." Willow began leading the way. After several feet Maddy broke the tense silence that lingered between them

"Soooo."

Willow turned to Maddy, her face almost emotionless. Only a little bit of disappointment showed through.

"So what?"

Maddy looked mildly disappointed at herself when she answered. "So, what did he do to you?"

Willow almost angerly spat a response before Maddy corrected herself. "Not like that! I mean like you came back to camp after disappearing with flowers braided into your hair. You are so quick to defend this guy, but you usually you don't even care enough to defend yourself. You had never even played a single game of capture the flag in your life, or if you were roped into it, you'd just kind of sit around, but the day he shows up you hop to it. I'd say you like him, but I know you can't..." She stopped at the look of absolute delight from Willow.

"What?"

"I do like him." Willows face was red as she said that, but she really meant it.

"Willow..." Maddy hissed the warning. Maddy was one of the few people who knew of her old predicament, the rest of her cabin mates had no clue about her curse.

"Maddy, its different." Willow tried to explain but was cut off.

"How is it different, you're not dead yet are you? Do you want to be struck with a bolt of lightning?" Maddy looked at Willow like she was going to spontaneously combust.

"Maddy, just listen. Aphrodite visited us, she said..." She hesitated, how could she say she could love again without saying that she was set up to love Steven.

Maddy looked terrified. "Willow, what exactly did she say?"

Willow took a deep breath, her nerves were running haywire. "She said I could love again if I did something for him..."

Maddy looked like she was trying to swallow a wasps nest so Willow continued. "I... I had to hold his curse, and hug him."

Maddys face softened in understanding. "Till deaths embrace..."

"Yeah."

"But he's not death, his dad is." Maddys voice had lost its warning hiss, and was now more puzzled.

"He's his dads champion. He sometimes transfers souls to the underworld."

Maddy nodded as the puzzle pieces now fit together. Only one thing didn't quite add up for her. "Willow, why would Aphrodite care about you 2 in particular?"

"I have no idea, she said we complimented each other perfectly."

"What does that mean?" Maddy no longer sounded angry, just confused.

"Just meet him, I think you'll understand." Willow said, dropping the subject.

"What does it mean Willow?" Maddy continued to poke at it until they got close to where the hammock was.

Close enough to hear the soft music Steven was playing.

They both stopped about 30 yards from where the hammock was. Willow peered through the trees in hopes to see Steven lounging in the hammock but the hammock was swinging in the slight breeze, empty. Maddy on the other hand tilted her head listening to the song. It was a quiet tune, sad and sweet all at the once.

"Who's playing that?" Maddy asked, expecting an Apollo kid to be hiding somewhere in the woods.

Willow walked forward. "I think it's Steven." She tossed the comment over her shoulder.

"What's he playing?"

"I don't know. You tell me." Willow said as she searched for Steven. For some reason it was hard to find where the music was coming from.

Willow slowly approached the hammock, running her fingers along the intertwined vines she searched around for Steven.

"I swear I've heard this song before." Maddy said absentmindedly.

A voice from above spoke. "Love is waiting. It's one of my new favorites."

Maddy and Willows heads both snapped up at the sound. There sitting just above there heads was Steven. He was perched on one of the lower branches of a large oak tree, his back was rested against the trunk. He smiled as he looked down at the 2 of them. His guitar was still in his hands and he was still playing the tune, not looking at the guitar.

"What are you doing up there?" Maddy asked.

"Why is this one of your favorites?" Willow asked, they had talked about his favorite songs and this one had never come up. She hesitated and pursed her lips together in annoyance to how stupid her question is.

Steven stopped strumming the guitar and set it so the neck of the guitar was leaned against his shoulder with the base between his knees. "Well, I don't know if you guys know, but right here there is a pretty good view of the sunrise."

Maddy seemed skeptical at that. "You climbed all the way up there to watch the sun rise..."

Steven shrugged, standing up on the branch he rolled his neck and shoulders. With his guitar in hand, he jumped.

Steven hit the ground completely silently, something that puzzled Willow and Maddy. Leaning his guitar against the tree he turned to Maddy.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Steven." He said as he stuck his hand out.

Hesitating slightly Maddy took his hand. "Maddy."

"It's nice to meet you. Willows told me a lot about you." He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Speaking of Willow I have something for you." He said reaching into his inside pocket. Maddy watched him like a hawk as he dug through his pocket before pulling out a single piece of paper.

"What's that?" Willow asked as she reached to grave it out of his hand, only for Steven to pull it just out of her reach.

Willow must not have liked that a lot, because her foot flashed out attempting to catch Steven in the shin. Sidestepping the kick he stepped in and playfully stepped on her foot, putting little pressure on it. With one final smile he slipped the picture into her hand and stepped away.

"I hate y..." She began saying but stopped as she looked at the picture.

The picture showed Willow and Steven kissing, she couldn't tell if it was the first kiss or one of the others from throughout last night, but it was defiantly last night. The clearing was just like it was last night, the lights still hanging just over head, Stevens hands still resting on her waist with hers draped around her neck. The memories flooded her, filling her with a sense of warmth and happiness.

"How did you get this?" Her face was lit up in look of disbelief and amazement.

"Get what?" Maddy asked as she reached for the photo. Snatching it from Willows hands she took her time looking at it.

"Well the camera Cas set up had the whole night, if you want there's also a picture of..."

"What is this?" Maddys voice was filled with shock. Her gaze snapped between Steven and Willow as if one of them was going to spontaneously combust and she didn't wanna miss it.

"... It's a picture."

"I know its a picture, what is going on in the picture?" Maddy almost yells at Steven for his stupid answer.

"Oh... That was our first kiss."

"WHAT?!" Maddys mouth hung open as she turned to Willow looking for an explanation.

Willow pinched the brim of her nose and shook her head. Tossing an annoyed look at Steven she said. "You could have sugar coated it a little."

"I don't see a point to sugar coat it." Steven said, shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'What can you do'.

"Well you could ha..."

"SHUT UP." Maddy said as she shoved the picture in Willows face. "What is this? Why did you kiss him? Why are there lights? What the Hades happened over the last few days? What is going on?" The questions left her mouth at an unbelievably rapid pace, and they didn't seem to stop.

Steven calmly raised his hand, stopping the stream of questions. "Have a seat, We'll tell you what happened. Its actually quite the tale."

Steven didn't wait to see if the others would take a seat before he sat down, leaning his back against the trunk of the tree.

"Willow you start it out, I think it would be better told by you." He said. Shutting his eyes he leaned his head against the tree.

"Why don't you tell it." Willow asked clearly annoyed as she sat down.

"I don't wanna mess up and have Maddy stab me with the knife tucked in her boot." Steven said opening one eye and regarding Maddy.

Maddys eyes narrowed "How did you see my knife?"

"You have a knife?" Willow asked as she turned and glared at her step sister.

"It doesn't matter, just tell the story in a way that doesn't make her want to use it." Steven said dismissably as if the concept of being stabbed wasn't worrying.

With an overly exaggerated sigh Willow began. "So I woke up on a couch..."

Line Break

Willow watched Maddy carefully as she told her what had happened over the past 3 days. Maddys expression went from stony to mildly impressed and back again. When Willow was talking about the conversation with Aphrodite she looked skeptical. When Willow explained how she slept on Stevens chest because she was scared Maddys hand crept towards her knife with murderess intent. Willow was quick to reassure her nothing happened. Oddly enough Steven took over at any mention of the curse, only for him to completely downplay how much it hurts.

"So you're telling me, you set up a date without asking her first." Maddys voice was scarily calm.