I've never exactly been one that was very good explaining things as I talked - only in my writing. So please, just stick with me and read on but I do not own PJO.

"Good evening," Reyna responded when she finally came up to them. "It's surely been a while."

"Yeah," Jason said with utter surprise still in his voice. "It has."

"Well, it sure is nice to see you again," Piper said sweetly.

Reyna's eyes landed on her and a chill ran up Piper's spine. Her eyes were so piercing and dark with a small bright reflection in it. It showed the possibility that Reyna was still a praetor in Camp Jupiter.

"It is nice to see you and all," Jason said, "but what are you doing here?"

"It's quite an explanation to tell. Shall we sit down and discuss it?" she asked as if she'd rehearsed it.

Piper and Jason exchanged a look that read, "Well she's still the same…" But nevertheless, they agreed to it and the three walked together to an empty table preferably near the back so that nobody could hear them talk about things related to Greek Mythology.

They became settled and Reyna hesitated before she began talking again. "Well…where shall I begin?"

"The beginning," Jason answered.

Reyna's sharp eyes cut into him. She felt like ants were crawling up her arms and making her skin itchy. She thinks that it's the fact that he had been spending too much time with the Greeks and the mortal world. She didn't like that because he was a demigod and once you find out you're one, you're always a demigod. Obviously, he didn't exactly understand that concept as well as she did.

Contain yourself, Reyna told herself. She had come here for specific reasons and that was besides regretting coming here. Reyna had to talk to him whether he had changed or not. She had to be straight to the point and thus, continue explaining:

"That would put the time to after the war. It had shaken me, watching demigods turn on each other and then…the horror in Percy and Annabeth's eyes when they came back. And Gaea; just seeing her…" She shook her head, her dark hair lazily falling in front of her shoulder and swinging a little with her. "So while you stayed in Camp Half-Blood, I turned down being praetor. After losing people from our camp, it would be difficult to not see them there anymore."

Piper began to stare at the other girl with pity. She hadn't experienced any horror through it, not really. Yeah, she was scared, but fought through it nonetheless. And the difference between her and Reyna was that she got to be with Jason. Reyna never had anybody. She couldn't even imagine thinking about going through that war alone with everybody's lives depending on you and only you.

In Camp Half-Blood, they depended on her and six other people. It wasn't the same.

Jason felt a guilty pang in his heart and stomach. He could've been there, he knew. But he wasn't and that meant he had failed his job as praetor.

The couple couldn't meet her gaze as they stared off to the side. But before she could make them feel any guiltier, which wasn't what she intended to do either, she continued.

"So I decided to just stay in New Rome. Settle down a little and retire at a very early age. I still stayed in Camp Jupiter as a normal camper but after a while, going to college and getting an apartment, I moved out. I got a job as a reporter and I work for the New Rome newspaper." She smiled up at them gratefully, which was a surprise since Piper hadn't ever seen her smile.

"Word got around about you, Jason," Reyna said as her voice grew lighter and not as dark and strict and the ghost of that smile still stayed on her lips. "Everywhere I went where there was a television, you would be on it, shooting baskets at a basketball game. You're famous." She raised her shoulders and ended with another smile, her teeth white and perfect.

"Well…" Jason said sheepishly and he rubbed the back of his neck. He shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do…I mean…" The rest was mumbled indistinctively.

Piper couldn't help but smile a little.

Reyna gave a light and airy chuckle. "So, anyways, they all asked if we could ever do a story on you. We knew it would be possible since we already know you so what do you say about one interview?"

Jason glanced sideways at Piper. She blinked at him with a small smile and Jason turned back to Reyna. "I say one interview couldn't hurt,"

Reyna pulled her lips into a tight smile again. "Well that's great."

"Yeah, we could do it at my apartment on Thursday." Jason said. He then added on hurriedly, "Would it be okay it Piper came?" He rested his arm on the back of his chair, his fingers touching her elbow.

Goosebumps traveled up her arm but she took a small sigh and said, "I can't. I've got work; but that's okay. You were just interviewing Jason,"

Reyna didn't say anything but give a short nod of her head. "Does five o'clock sound reasonable?"

"Sure," Jason replied. His heart was thumping because he was still shocked that she was sitting right across from him. He hadn't seen his friend in years and would want to catch up with her and talk about things other than how his career was going, but he knew that the two wouldn't really have much to talk about. This was why he didn't exactly see her any more than a friend. Jason felt bad, yes, but there wasn't much of anything he could do.

There was a silence except for the clatter that echoed around the room. The light conversations around them weaving themselves in and out of different voices and words and formed complicated and mismatched sentences to their ears. There were dinner plates and silverware that clashed in the distance but it didn't make much of a difference. And the music was still playing softly in the background, adding to the formal occasion.

Jason cleared his throat. "Well, it certainly was a surprise to see you,"

Reyna nodded. "I suspected that."

Piper and Jason blinked down because they weren't sure what to say. The three were awkward as of memories of what happened last time, when nobody actually said anything but it was implied that everything wrong happened and had Jason just simply lose the both of them.

Jason said suddenly, "You know, I'm going to go get us some drinks." And he stood from his chair, his hand resting on Piper's waist as he kissed her temple, and made his way to the drink table again.

"Jas—" Piper gasped because she didn't want him to leave her here. But he had already left and the noise was just too loud.

It was silent again at that table. And Piper was starting to feel uncomfortable; the air feeling stuffy and her dress itchy. The noises around her were almost unbearable to hear as they seemed to clash against her ear drum with a deafening pitch.

But then Reyna suddenly snapped her out of that as she asked, "So how did you two find each other?" She stopped hesitantly as if she were about to add on something else, but had decided against it.

Piper took in a breath and the series of events ran through her head. She exhaled slowly with pressed lips. "It's a long story."

Reyna pursed her lips and nodded her head. Piper couldn't understand how the other girl was so able to keep her back straight like that. It made her spine hurt as she thought of it and leaned back in her chair. The two didn't talk but tried to avoid looking each other in the eye because that would make things even more awkward.

Piper had the urge to say, "So how's life?" but decided against it for multiple reasons.

But she knew that she needed to stir up something because it was almost painful sitting there.

"So…how many stories for your newspaper have you written?" she asked warily.

Reyna's eyes brightened and she somehow straightened even more, making Piper wince a little. "Oh, 20 at the least,"

"Wow. So what could you really write about? It's just a small little town…It's not like a catastrophe happens there practically every week." Piper said, not meaning to add a little sarcasm or maybe just hinting at a small joke.

But Reyna hadn't seemed to realize it. "It's actually kind of surprising how many interesting stories we find about the town. And it's not like any mortal newspaper so we can talk about the gods in there; they sometimes demand for the mention of them in it as an offering."

Piper smirked a little. "Ah. That sounds like something they would want." She began to twirl her fork around with the tongs digging into the table cloth and then the handle smacking against its surface. She was getting bored and apathetic.

"So you design clothes, right, Piper?" Reyna asked, making the other girl shocked. "I've seen some of your work." She added on when she saw Piper's reaction.

"Oh. Yeah; yeah, I do."

"They're really nice clothing. It fits well into your personality, being one of Aphrodite's children."

Piper smiled a tight smile. "Thank you. I would probably say the same about you if I'd ever read any of your stories."

"That's very nice of you to say that." Reyna said with a smooth and almost kind tone. "But, unfortunately, the only way you could ever read it is if you were ever in New Rome."

Piper could hear the small bite of bitterness in that remark. Her expression faltered as she stared at her lap and wondered if that had anything to do with the three's incident years ago. Or maybe if it was why she came back; Piper wasn't very sure but she decided not to say anything about that.

It turned out she didn't have to. Right at that moment, Jason had returned with the three wine glasses in hand.

"Here you go," He muttered as he passes one out to each lady and then kept his own.

"We should make a toast," Reyna said.

Jason blinked as he paused before putting his glass to his lips. "Okay; to what?"

"To you," she responded. "After all, this is part of your celebration." Reyna gestured to the room with a slight wave of her hand holding the glass.

Jason frowned a little and Piper knew kind of why. He didn't always like to have the only attention. That's why he and Percy were the main leaders because they both liked to work with someone.

"How about…to love, because our hearts lead us," Piper said.

Reyna seemed a little taken aback by that. But then she smiled again, not a tight one but a grateful one. "That sounds wonderful," She said and raised her drink to her lips.

"Wow where did that come from?" Jason turned his head to her and muttered to where only she could hear.

Piper turned her head toward him a little too as she kept her eyes on Reyna, who was still sipping from her glass. "I just made it up," she said in a low voice.

"I can't believe you just made that up; it was…beautiful." He said and then began to drink from his glass.

"I know I am,"

Jason almost choked, he laughed. Piper couldn't help but grin and Reyna gave them a curious look from across the table, but she didn't question it and Piper was kind of relieved from that.

The next Thursday, Piper walked into her work office wearing a spring dress made of lace with a flower pattern and white flats. Over her shoulders, she had a light cardigan and her hair tied to the side in a braid.

Her office looked the same, though, and in her large handbag, she carried a pair of sweatpants and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt to change into in her office because she planned an over-nighter as she knew Jason wouldn't be with her tonight. It wasn't that she was purposely burying herself with work; it's just that she really did have things that she needed to catch up on.

Lacey bounded up to her wearing a blue dress also made of lace. But the slip underneath only came to up her collar bones and the lace stretched out behind her calves, flowing behind her almost like a cape. Her hair looked really pretty as it was curled in large curls, looking like noodles.

"Oh my gods, Piper!" She squealed. "The catalog from the show looks incredible! Everyone from camp look fantastic, they did really good with the poses and their outfits,"

"Really? That's awesome, it finally came in." Piper said with a smile as she took the magazine catalog that Lacey had offered to her.

A phone rang in the distance which made Lacey say a quick farewell and then hurry to her desk to answer it.

Piper gave a soft smile to her behind her and then continued to her office to where she could look at her friends by herself where it was quiet. She closed the doors behind her and they immediately closed off any and all noise and disruption. It remained as her sanctuary; she knew it was crazy thinking this, but she actually really liked her office while most people hated coming to work. It was like it was her room or like it was a person. Because if it was a person, it would understand everything about her.

She immediately slipped off her flats and padded into the room as she slammed her handbag on one couch and then plopped down on the other. Piper stared at the ceiling for a while, her eyes tracing over the different creases that lined it and that one strange green dot that she didn't know why it was there, but she liked it anyway.

Piper rolled over onto her belly and spread out the magazine catalog in front of her. The cover was almost yellow and had Drew on the front, wearing her pink wig and makeup and bubblegum-like appearance, blowing a kiss at the viewers.

Piper scoffed and rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at it. She carefully opened it and stared at the next page, which had Grover and Juniper on it. She smiled sweetly at them as the critics said that they liked the new eco-friendly look. She knew the couple's friends would love that.

The other side shared Annabeth and Percy in their sailor and wisdom outfits. Percy was holding her hand and walking in a slanted figure, smiling down at her, as she was walking with her back straight and eyes slid up at him, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"The perfect clothes for a perfect match!" was what the critics said for them.

Piper muttered, "Oh, how right you are,"

She flipped the page and there was Nico. He had a dark look to him, a black trench coat and black gloves. He was crouching on his knees and pointing out into the crowd, staring into the camera as if he were daring them to do something. He had dark circles under his eyes and shadows just under his cheek bones and his hair was sticking up in every which way. Nico was a few years younger than her, Piper knew, but this picture made him seem older. They said, in the catalog, that he made a delightful chill go up their spines.

The next one was of Thalia with her zebra-like, black and white outfit that seemed a little out of place on other people, except for her. To Piper's thoughts, even the way she walked with it on made it look as if she wore those kind of things every day—which she knew she hadn't or else Artemis would be a little angry. Thalia walked smoothly and gave the camera an intrigued look. She looked mysterious, like a shadow, almost. The critics loved it.

Clarisse was next and she had her arms crossed. Her dress made the floor glow with red, like blood was spilling onto it. Her face blank, but deathly at the same time.

"A new red that speaks out to the world: badass and feisty!" was one of the comments.

Piper enjoyed the many other pictures as the last was of Leo just as he was tugging at the collars of his blinding white suit as if he were a "boss". It made Piper laugh as this was the perfect capture of that moment. In the picture, the light dazzled off of him and split like a spectrum. He had a grin on his face and everything glowed.

"A greatly wonderful surprise ending of the show! Nicely done, McLean." Was written at the bottom.

She grinned and reminded herself to send copies to Camp Half-Blood. And then thinking of that, she got up and went ahead to change clothes. The sweatpants were comfortable and she seeped into the warmth that filled her veins. She sighed and spread along the couch, slipping her laptop from her bag, and began to set to work.

Kind of short, I know, but I'm filling in the spaces as I go. I hope you liked it so please tell me your thoughts:)

Oh and who liked the House of Hades cover cuz I know I did! It's so beautiful and just portrays the intensity so nicely and we finally get a cover with Percy and Annabeth on it. I'm so psyched for the book now:) I'm not exactly going to miss about the couples, it's more just about how Rick's going to play this one out. I'm preparing myself because knowing him, something big is most definitely going to happen. But I don't think you can really prepare for it because, well, even though I did that for Mark of Athena, I still cried and started freaking out as everyone in my class gave me weird looks...But I'm still excited!

I'd like to hear some of your thoughts on that, too.

Oh, and this isn't exactly relevant to anything (except Percy Jackson) but I was listening to "Ass Back Home" by Gym Class Heroes and it always - all the time - makes me think of Percy and Annabeth. Just putting that out there.

Anyways, so heads up on next update will probably not until a little after next week because I'm going out of town to a place where there's no Internet connection and although I'll be able to type up Jason and Reyna's interview, I won't be able to post it up (maybe. Depends where I'm at.) So, until then, have a great summer and week!:)