When Leo finally came to, Aphrodite had started to get up. "Well, I really must be going, but try to remember what I told you." She put on one last dazzling smile and faded away. Argo was smiling too, and looked far better than she had been when Leo had last left her.
"What was that about?"
She noticed Leo, eyes sparkling. "We gotta get going too, people are going to start wondering where we went."

The trek through the forest was long, leaving them almost too much time to talk. "So, what did Aphrodite want?" Argo didn't miss a beat. "Just some women's business. Nothing important."
Leo opened his mouth, probably to make a smart comment, but he tripped on a root. "The ground tastes delicious, in case you were wondering." He spat out a leaf. "But it would really do better if it had a hint of pizza." She offered Leo her hand, which he took. Argo pulled him to his feet, then reached over his head.
"Hold still."
Leo shifted underneath her hand. "I don't have any lice if that's what you're searching for, however, I happen to know some people from the Ares cabin who's heads you could pick through."
She rolled her eyes and untangled her hand from his messy hair. "I just guessed you didn't want this little guy sticking around." "What?" Peeking over from the side of Argos hand was a small, snuffling creature. A mouse. Great. "I knew I needed to shower, but I wasn't expecting an actual rats nest." The rodent looked up at Argo and let out a small squeak. "Oh, you want to get down? Okay." She let it crawl out of her hand onto the ground. It stopped and glared at Leo then scurried away. He turned to Argo.
"You speak mouse?"
She shook her head. "Not a word. How did it get into your hair anyway?" He shrugged, "must of gotten caught when I fell."
"Oh."
They walked without talking for a while, each lost in their thoughts. Then a memory from that night sparked Leo's interest.

"What do the numbers on your necklace mean?" Argo had to blink a few times. "Huh?"
Leo gestured to the small circle dangling on a chain that hung around her neck. The number now read 7.5.

"This? I'm not really sure. It was blank a while ago. I think it's counting down to something." Her face betrayed her, there was something Argo wasn't telling him.
"Is that what Aphrodite came to talk to you about?" She avoided Leo's gaze.

"I- I dont really remember. It's all sort of a blur."
He decided not to push the subject, he knew what it was like to have someone in his face about something personal. Not just annoying, it was none of their business. He changed the subject. "Why did she have to stick me on pause anyway? I could of just hung out in the kitchen for a while instead of being stuck in a very unflattering position for half an hour." She looked relieved.

"You would of eavesdropped."

Leo feigned innocence. "Who? Me? Leo Valdez? Listening in to conversations? You, ma'am, deeply offend me!" She leaned against him for a moment, playfully shoving him to the side. "You know you would!" Leo laughed, barely keeping the nervousness out. He was very aware of how close she was.

Gods, she was pretty.

That certainly didn't help his awkwardness around her. He held on to his other arm, which was hanging loosely to his side.

"Okay, maybe, but look, what would you do?" Argo had just made a sarcastic face.

"What?"

Before She could answer, a conch blew in the distance, signalling breakfast. Argo was going to be late, and Leo knew he was going to get questions. "It's okay, I'm usually in trouble anyway."

But Argo wasn't having it. She grabbed his hand and took off at top speed, making Leo feel like he was going to need to design a new arm to replace the limb he was about to lose.

"So where were you last night?"

The question took Leo off guard. No one had bothered them when they arrived. They had gotten some strange looks at the mess hall that morning when Argo had come careening in with Leo in tow.

Other than that, the day had been going pretty well. Argo was gone for a while with the Aphrodite cabin and, for some reason, Clarisse.

Earlier, Leo had hung out with Piper and Percy in the stables for a while, discussing when the next visiting week would be. None of them had really gotten used to the schedule yet, so they had no clue which camp would be staying at which next week.

"Octavian will probably convince everyone that we'll murder while they sleep if they come here, so I figure Camp Jupiter will want us to visit there first." Percy had pointed out, feeding a black Pegasus sugar cubes.

Leo was sitting on a stable door, making a sort of vibrating, blinking object, that twisted into different shapes. He snorted. "He will probably murder us first, after a couple stuffed owls that point to our deaths."

Piper had agreed, and wrinkled her nose. "I'm glad I'll be with Jason for a week, but Roman routines? We won't last a day."

"I could do it, so could Max and Carrie, and probably the rest of my siblings." Annabeth had entered. She had immediately walked over to Percy, who offered her a sugar cube. She popped it into her mouth and he had put an arm around her waist.

"Yeah, we know about you, wise girl, but the rest of us are going to be totally lost. I even spent time as praetor, and they still got me confused."

Annabeth had raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't take much to confuse you, Seaweed brain."
Piper broke in, "And weren't you Praetor for, like, three hours?"

"So?"

Annabeth continued, "Chiron told me that we won't actually have to participate in their traditions and ceremonies anyway. We are going to set up tents and a single cooking site, essentially another Camp Half-Blood within their camp. We will have to engage in different competitions and activities though."

Leo had finished his small device, which had began to vibrate its way around the floor, it occasionally manipulated its body into a different shape, giving it a different way to move.

"So basically we move in, make a lot of noise, kick their butts and leave?" Leo smiled mischievously, "Maybe should get in touch with some people on the Hermes cabin, because I have a feeling Octavian has a few things coming."

"Reyna will kill you."

Leo grinned. "Nah, Reyna's cool, I'll be fine." He had hopped off the door by then, and picked up the jittering machine.
"Speaking of which, I've gotta go figure out what Argos doing."

Piper had shaken her head. "You need to keep her with you more, Leo. She could get lost or
something." Leo had just bowed deeply and wandered out to find Argo.

Leo's face burned. The red light of the furnace thankfully hidden the redness in his cheeks.

"That's a very interesting question." He didn't meet Nyssa's eyes. She had until the room had been empty before asking him. Even though she was his older sibling, Leo still didn't really feel like he was related to these people. He could barely remember their names, much less know them personally.

Nyssa's gaze was boring a hole in the back of Leo's head. He kept working on.. whatever he was working on. He couldn't remember anymore, but he continued to focus. Nyssa did not waver. She simply waited.

"Okay, so I suffered from unexpected insomnia and hung out at the Bunker." He plucked at wire. "Nothing happened, unfortunately." He grinned at her. "Disappointed, sis?"

She studied Leo's face, and slowly shook her head.

"Just worried. You looked ready to drop this morning, is all."

"No sleep would do that."
He frowned at his project, then switched some wires around.

"How's your new girlfriend?" Leo hesitated. Then let his hands work by themselves. What did he think about Argo?

"You know, doing what most girls do when they see me." He put the back of his hand to his forehead, the other over his heart, swooning. He fell to the floor in a faint.

Nyssa's normally hard features cracked into a smile. "I'm sure, Valdez." She headed towards the doorway, stopping, and turning at the last second.

"Enjoy it while you can.. It's not always dad gives out gifts like that." Her voice broke a little towards the end.

Leo blinked. Was she, jealous? Of what? Almost getting killed on dangerous quests? Watching friends volunteer their deaths?

Then he noticed, as he was rising off the floor, dusting off his already stained pants. His tool belt. The tool belt. His present from Daddy. His first present. Oh.

I guess people would be jealous. This baby has everything a Hephaestus kid would want. Leo pulled on a few parts within the sphere that he was working on.

I gotta admit, Dad may not be good with people, but he sure can pick a present. Leo's mind flashed back to the day before, when he had called Hephaestus out on that exact topic, but with an opposite opinion. It felt like weeks ago, rather than just yesterday morning. He wondered if he was being watched now. Hephaestus had said he was proud, but had he meant it?

Leo shaped a metal piece to form the right cover for a switch. Had Hephaestus said that to all of his kids? Told them he was proud?

He obviously hadn't given them anything.

What had made Leo so special? He has been supposedly watching Leo grow up. Had his Dad felt pride the whole time?

Leo doubted it, he had done some pretty stupid stuff as a kid. Reprogrammed the keyboards in the labs to play Happy Birthday no matter what key you pressed. The one time he made all the lightbulbs in the girls washroom flash different colors. The noodle incident.

He shuddered, not wanting to recall the feeling. That experiment had gone so bad that it had caused him, and everyone who was around him, some of sort of unreasonable worry around chow mien for the rest of their lives.

He sat back, both admiring and criticizing his work heavily. Not enough pressure here. Too much stiffness here. Leo added some more air to the gauge weight, causing the PSI to rise in the side chamber. Lord Hephaestus really had understood how-

Leo stopped. What his godly parent had given him was not happiness.

His tool belt had not brought him gleeful giddiness and love of all plants and weird Chinese-Canadian guys who could turn into bears.
No, not happiness.
Not even Argo could do that yet.

No one could.

Leo stopped thinking, it mixed him up too much. He let his fingers move on their own, getting into the rhythm of working, pulling what he couldn't find in the tool box from his belt.

A repair boy at heart.

All the way to the core.

He drove in loose material, tightening, custom-creating tools, and working under a microscope at some particularly hard spots.

It was late when She came in, a distraction from himself.

"Whatcha doing?" Her fuzzy red head poked through the door. "Hey! Is that an Archimedes sphere?"

He nodded, quiet at first, then enthusiastic as she grabbed the plans and a pencil and started asking questions, patching on every bit of information she received.

Leo pulled a Sphere over, showing her what he had been doing when she came in. Her finger twirled a small piece of hair into a springy curl.

As he explained what the machinery could do, he took in all the other details, the ones she never picked up on.

With her leaning in too close for comfort,

the smeared eyeliner that the Aphrodite kids had stuck to her face,

the hoodie she had kept and Leo had never ask for back,

the way she found the wonder in everything,

Leo finally understood.

His father knew how to give him what he needed.

And as Argo ran her small hands over the pages, occasionally circling things, and making notes in messy writing on a separate piece of paper ; As she didn't notice that their hips were touching. As she retold all the corny jokes she had heard that day, Leo knew his Father was right.

He needed Argo.

Alright, that was cheesy. I felt like I should put something in there that was complete cheese. It's been so long since my last update! S-C-H-O-O-L SUCKS at this point. :) Please Review! Criticism accepted and appreciated! I really do want to Improve!