Far away in Olympus, Hestia breathed a sigh of relief. Thank the gods he was OK. She had never felt so strongly about a mortal before. Worrying about their potential future, she had learned from her relatives' mistakes, all of the death and sadness that comes with having feelings for a mortal. Feeling like an airhead, she wondered if he felt the same way. Before they were rudely interrupted with Nico's near-death experience, she thought she saw his arm twitch, as if he was going to put his arm around her. Hestia sighed with wistfulness. That would have been great if he manned up enough to do it. Yeah, she really was turning into an airhead. For a several thousand year old goddess, these feelings were foreign to her.

After a recovering night's sleep, Nico lay on his bed in the lonely cabin of Hades, which sat in the darkest corner of Camp Half-Blood. He had an inner conflict about his newfound feelings for Hestia, and his old crush on Percy. She was a goddess, she had no time for a pathetic, outcast half blood like him, neither did a hero like Percy. Plus, he was all happy with Annabeth. Nico was convinced he could move on. But Hestia did travel all of the way from Olympus just to keep him company. Did she really mean that he was all 'doom and gloom'? Argh, he had no idea about relationships. If only Chiron taught the confusing subject of 'How to Show Interest in a Person Without Half Dying or Looking Like an Idiot.' Then again, if he did, Nico would instantly fail that lesson.

'How am I supposed to contact her to at least try to talk with her? It's not like we can exchange cellphone numbers.' Nico vented his thoughts aloud.

'Contact who?' Said a satyr from the gap in his now-ajar door.

Nico jumped a foot off his bed. 'How in Hades did you get in, Grover?' He asked with a tinge of frustration. The son of Hades certainly didn't appreciate random people barging in unannounced.

'Dude, chill. I knocked on your door, like, 5 times! I was getting a bit worried, sooo, I kinda opened the door cos it was unlocked.' Grover the satyr made himself at home in Nico's cabin quickly. 'So... Who's this "her" you were talking about, eh?' He nudged Nico in the ribs, wanting the details like a gossiping teenage girl. 'You gotta spill all of the deets, man'

Nico sighed, half with mock exasperation, half with real sadness that he couldn't get in touch with Hestia. 'OK, fine, I'll tell you who it is.' Nico submitted after seeing Grover's hopeful eyes. 'You know that awesome goddess who was carrying me?'

Grover's eyes went wide. 'Nooooo way man, that's totally awesome! Need some real advice?' He said that with another nudge to Nico's ribs.

'Actually, I'd like that. So far the whole flirting thing hasn't been going too well. I suppose half dying in front of her didn't earn me any brownie points.' Nico ignored the suggestive nudges Grover was giving him.

'Don't worry, man. You're in good hands here!' Grover was getting too excited about this.

Nico gave another exasperated sigh, hoping that Grover's help would work with Hestia.

After hours of confidence boosters and tips on how to be a gentleman, Nico left his cabin for dinner. Grover was tagging along, telling him all about how guys should make the first move.

A lightbulb appeared. 'Why don't I offer some food to her through the nightly sacrificial fire? I'm sure father dearest wouldn't mind getting less than usual.' It was brilliant, genius, and it had to work. Holding a soft piece of cake above the flames, he wondered what on Olympus to say to her.

'Hestia, if you're listening, I think you're great to hang out with, and I'd love to catch up sometime, if you decide to come down from Olympus.' He muttered half to himself, half to her, praying that she would get his godly equivalent of a text. Dropping the cake into the fire, he was surprised that the flames seemed to flare larger than usual, and he hoped that was a sign that she had heard.

Way up in Olympus, Hestia sat in her cute cabin deliberating when she could next see Nico, and if he'd want her to visit. Trying not to be too creepy, she looked into her hearth/oracle to see what he was doing. She gasped when she saw him sacrifice food to her, and heard his message loud and clear. He did want to see her! That piece of cake appeared on her dusty, unused shrine. For the first time in hundreds of years, she felt like real goddess. It had been many years since people last acknowledged her as an important goddess. At the same time, she felt like a mortal teenage girl, gushing over a cute present a boy gave to her.

Later that night, after everyone had left the campfire, Nico sat alone, staring at the flickering lights. An impatient tapping of a hoof and a rustling in the nearby bushes alerted Nico to Grover's nosey presence. He glared at the bush, and the rustling stopped, all that could be heard was the occasional crackle from the bonfire, and the sound of hooves walking away.

Hestia saw her chance, and took it. She entered the mortal world, and tried to sneak up on Nico. Her arms trembled as she considered the daunting possibility of surprising him with a hug.

Nico heard a light footstep on the ground. Half smiling to himself, he hoped it was Hestia, but he didn't want to turn around until she got closer to him.

Cursing herself for chickening out, she forced out an awkward 'hey.'

At this stage, Nico was equally nervous, so he looked behind at her, replied with an identically awkward 'hey,' then shuffled to make room on his log in front of the deserted bonfire. Internally face-palming, he asked himself why he didn't stand for her, she was a goddess! And forgetting all of the goddess stuff, he should have done the same for any regular mortal girl! Why didn't he, Nico asked himself while Hestia timidly sat on the log. Because he was scared and nervous, an inner voice answered for him.