Disclaimer: I am not Uncle Rick and I do not own the rights to these characters. I just ship them immensely.

A/N: WHAAAATT?! Early updates are a nice surprise, no? So this is the "different" chapter. It's a bit of a short interlude from Luke's POV. Sorry (read: not sorry) if this is super sappy and not really "masculine" thoughts; I'm a woman, and a hopeless romantic. Deal with it ;)

She was special.

Luke Castellan knew that the first time that he looked at her. Of course, she didn't notice him right away. He was just the staff. She was gazing out the window, and she appeared to be worried about something. He was about to say something to comfort her when an elderly woman arrived and he instead helped her with storing her carry on luggage. When he had a moment to go speak with her (the excuse disguised as an employee's courtesy), another man had already seated himself one seat over. Luke almost laughed at this, for he could see immediately that they were polar opposites. An opportunity had presented itself, then, and he found a way to convince the man to change seats, and inevitably exchanged the seat beside this curious girl for his own first class seat at the front of the plane.

She was charming.

In a completely clueless fashion. Thalia Grace. It was a charming name to fit a charming personality. Luke thanked whoever was watching out for him upstairs that this girl had crossed paths with him. The way she nervously wound and unwound her headphones cord around her fingers was a habit that Luke admired with a soft smirk on his lips. They didn't talk much on that plane ride, but Luke did enjoy the short moments of conversation that they did have.

She was a puzzle.

It was taking him forever to find the pieces, let alone put them where they went. But he had the feeling that the result would be something wonderful. It only made him more eager to find the pieces. When they met again for the second occasion, when she went out to eat dinner with her father and it coincidentally was the same restaurant he was dining in, Luke wasted no time giving her a signal. At least something to remember him by that wasn't of the mindset that he was only a flight attendant. He was determined to finish this puzzle, and he would need to get to know her to do that. And once this puzzle was complete, he couldn't wait to revel in the image that it would reveal to them both.

She was a soft-glowing star.

Not wanting to draw attention to herself, not directly. She did the behind-the-scenes things. Literally. But somehow Luke felt as if he could follow Thalia and never be lost. There was just something about her that intrigued him and gave him the courage to confront her again.

She was human.

She had fears (namely flying and ghosts), and she had dreams. The things that she wasn't even aware she did, her unique mannerisms, were also what draw Luke's attention to the girl. Somehow he just felt that she would change his life, whether good or bad (and he couldn't say he'd really be disappointed with the latter if it came to that).

She was beautiful.

Outwardly and inwardly. Her raven black hair had an almost unreal shimmer in the spring sun, and her eyes were as blue as the sky on the brightest day. Her skin glowed when they were together, it seemed, and he had the hopefulness that he was the reason. Beneath the surface, he could see a bold, fiery personality that didn't fear rejection. She would do what it took to chase her dreams, and he didn't think anyone would be able to tell her no.

He was falling hard, like he never had before. To him, it had been love at first sight, although he would never admit it. He didn't believe in that stuff, not really, and here he was about to blame it for his affections. There was something about this that shouted fate and he wasn't going to jinx himself by ignoring the signs. Of course, he was about to take a creepy tour of a haunted ship and come out squealing like a child.Embarrassing. But if there's one thing that Luke had become suddenly aware of in his reminiscing, it was that:

She was worth it, worth it all. And he figured it was time for her to know.

[To be continued. I have several chapters in mind for this story, so we'll see where it goes!]

Please rate and review! This is my first published fic, so I'd love some feedback! Critiques are welcome, rudeness is not.

A/N 2: What did you guys think about this chapter? I liked it. Might do one for Thalia later...but for now we'll get back to the main story next chapter!