Jason had assumed that everything would work itself out once Reyna met up with them in Greece.

But on the long journey across the sea to the ancient lands, Piper had talked to him one night, and had re-explained the opposite.

Reyna had had feelings for him.

He hadn't noticed one bit, left New Rome (well, technically his patron kidnapped him), and finally came back with a new girl, whom he happened to be holding hands with.

And Jason had thought Leo was dense when it came to girls.

He hadn't completely missed Reyna's affections. He had noticed during the reunion, that Reyna looked extremely pained during the Percy and Annabeth scene, or Percabeth, as Piper was now referring to them (yes, Piper shipped them, whatever that meant). But Jason had assumed that the feelings were for Percy.

Was she wishing for that kind of interaction with him? That kind of special reunion?

Jason hadn't even realized Reyna's feelings for him until Piper had not-so-subtly pointed them out to him, and by then it was too late to do any possible damage control. Reyna was supremely pissed, and was leading a horde of angry Romans after them. The odds were not in Jason's favor if he had decided to try and talk to them.

And then, when Reyna had finally met up with them after the battle in the House of Pluto, she had been icy and distant to him. Her eyes were careful to never meet his, and when she said his name... gods, she sounded broken when she said his name. She sounded the same way as during the reunion.

Longing.

Did Reyna ever confide in anyone other than fellow praetors?

The thought made him guilty.

She had talked to him about everything except for how she had supposedly felt about him, and this was how he repayed her?

It's not my fault! I can't control my hormones!

Says who? He was Jason, slayer of Krios, destroyer of thrones, ex-praetor of the Twelfth Legion of Rome. He had done amazing, impossible, incredible things, but he couldn't control how he thought about girls?

Some leader he was turning out to be.

I can't control who I love and who I don't love.

But I can control who I spend time with.

He had assumed that they would always work together. It was implied most of the time that pairs of praetors were... together, but Jason had ignored that idea every time it had come up. He didn't think of Reyna that way, and never would. Reyna was like a sister to him.

Maybe if he hadn't met Piper, they could've been a "thing" like Percabeth, but that was the point.

Piper was in his life, and he was happy with her. He could see himself going through college with her, marrying her, having kids with her...

Jason shook his head. He shouldn't, he couldn't think too much about the future with so much at stake in Greece. And what if something was to go wrong? Who would the Fates pick to leave behind, Piper or Jason, if one was required to go to Hades?

Jason didn't want to die. And he didn't want to leave Piper alone in such a huge, crazy, nasty world. He just wanted to protect her.

But if she died, that wouldn't be protecting.

If Jason died, he couldn't protect her from the grief of his passing, but he wanted her to live. He needed her to live.

He felt the same way about Reyna, but in the big-brother protective sort of way, not the I-love-you-more-than-life way. And Jason was sure that he and Piper would evolve into that type of relationship.

But first they had to outlive the giants.

And he was pretty sure that if Piper didn't survive, then neither would he, because he would die trying to save her.

Then again, he couldn't be there to help Reyna restore peace over in the U S of A. He had been praetor, and she had been too. Would she even be considered a praetor anymore, now that they had broken old laws, and gone to the ancient lands? How would she even stop Octavian from obliterating Camp Half-Blood, a place almost as close to his heart as Piper?

And why did he have to choose between Reyna and Piper?

The right choice was always obvious; to him at least. Here's a hint: her name didn't have a "y" in it.

But he had just assumed that Reyna would still accept him, would still want to be around him if he was with Piper. He hadn't even questioned their friendship, and definitely not to see if Reyna had felt something more.

Should he have asked? Or would that have ruined their friendship, made him sound like a cocky jerk, and left Reyna utterly embarrassed?

It was better off the way it was, he decided. Besides, there was no point in dwelling on the past, because there was no way to change it.

All the same, one thing was absolutely clear to him:

He had taken her for granted.

And he might have just lost her forever.