Hello my readers! I felt like I need to warn you of possible mature content in this chapter. So there, you were warned.

Chapter Eleven: Playing Checkers is Serious Business

Usually when I'm pulled out of my meditation it's by Pollux making too much noise or him actually shaking me awake. Then there was one time he was trying to be all spy like and ended up tripping over me. Yeah, he wasn't so good at the "stealth" thing. The point being it was usually Pollux to be the one to disturb me, but when I came to this time it wasn't the sight that threw me off. It was the feeling of lips against my own, a very cold pair of very familiar lips. I snapped my eyes open and saw Nico's eyes closed as he worked his lips against mine without a care in the world. In any other situation I would have busted a guy's jaw for kissing me without my permission and while I wasn't all there. But the woozy, light headed feeling I was getting from the kiss took any and all arguments away. I reached up and grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull him in closer, giving me more access to those addicting lips.

I felt a smirk against my mouth. "Well now I know what it takes to get your attention."

"Don't talk, you'll ruin this." I said in between our mashing mouths. Not very elegant, but I never noticed just how much I missed this boy until he kissed me. Now I don't want him to stop.

"As you wish my lady." he stopped talking after that and we just kissed. Well it didn't feel like just kissing, it felt like so much more. It felt like my every nerve was on fire, like my head was in the clouds, and my heart was pounding loudly. Without realizing it I was leaning further and further back until I felt the wood floor against my back. And Nico was on top of me in a familiar way. My mind shot back to when we were in his cabin and wrestling, when he pinned me down the very first time. When it was truly innocent.

But this time it wasn't and I didn't know how to feel about that.

"Nico." I tried to turn my head away even though I really wanted to keep kissing him.

"Sarah." He whispered, but didn't stop. In fact he slipped his tongue into my mouth and my head once again tried to escape to Cloud Nine. But my common sense was getting louder. If we kept this up I knew what would happen and I wasn't sure I was ready for that.

"Nico, stop." I broke the kiss, his eyes opened slightly with a glassy expression still lingering.

"Why?" his glassy eyes become clear and confusion shown through. "Don't you want to?"

I pushed him off and sat up, he reluctantly did the same. "Maybe in time, but Nico don't you think it's a little soon? I mean, we just met not even two months ago."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It may not mean everything, but it means something! We only started dating a few weeks ago and I've hardly seen you in that time. Now you just show up and you want me to-you want us to-to"

"Play checkers?" he asked sarcastically. "Really Sarah, you can't say sex?"

I felt my face turn red. "I can say it just fine! My point is I feel like it's too much to soon."

"Well sorry if I don't. I love you Violet Eyes and I want to take that step with you. As for time you have to understand some things. I've been alive far longer than others. And when you're a demigod you don't have the luxury of time. We could be here one day and gone the next by monsters or Zeus knows what else. We have to make time count Sarah!"

"Yeah and I could be hit by a bus tomorrow or get squished by a comet falling from space! That doesn't mean I have to 'play checkers' with every guy I date." I stood up and turn away from him with my arms folded across my chest.

"Don't you feel the same way about me?" I heard so many things in that question. Anger, confusion, sadness, and a trickle of fear. Taking a deep breath I turned back to him and looked him in the eye.

"I love you too Goth Boy. Since that first night we met by the lake I knew I loved you. But you can't rush into something if you're not sure. I can't be one of those girls who 'plays checkers' just because the guy wants to. I can't be that way, I can't end up like my mom did-" I couldn't even finish that sentence because I was just too surprised it had come out of my mouth. By his face, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead, Nico couldn't believe it either.

"Is that what this is about?" he asked incredulously. "Are you afraid I'm going to leave you once we 'play checkers' like you're dad did your mom?"

I tried to back track quickly, this was so not what I meant...I think. "Of course not! You're nothing like Mr. D, but you can't say it's not possible. My mom was eighteen when she got pregnant with me and I'm going to be seventeen soon."

Nico got a determined look in his eyes and walked over to me. I should have backed away but I didn't and I felt his hands grab my arms in a vice grip.

"It's not possible Sarah for two reasons. One being I would never be so careless as to get you pregnant so young, when neither you or I are ready for that. And two, even if I did I would never leave you. I love you and it would take more than all the powers of Olympus to stop me." Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance.

My eyes felt prickly. "How can you be so sure you love me that much when we haven't even known each other for a summer?"

A small smile graced his face as he lifted one hand to rest against my cheek. "How did you?"

Then yes there was a tear followed by two and then ten. My whole face was wet before I realized it. "Because I just knew."

"Exactly." he leaned in and kissed me again, but this time it was chaste and sweet. It was more intimate than passionate, but made me feel perfect all the same. He broke the kiss this time and pressed his forehead against mine. "I'll wait as long as you need me to Sarah, I'm not going anywhere."

The tears were flowing freely now, but I smiled anyway. "Thank you." I was pulled into a hug and just let myself be held for a while. It felt nice.

"Nico?" I asked after what felt like an eternity.

"Hm?" he purred against my ear, causing shivers down my spine.

"What would you do if that happened? Hypothetically, if I got pregnant?"

He rubbed a hand up and down my back, pulling me closer to him. I couldn't move if I wanted to.

"I'd whisk you away to the Underworld where no one could ever hurt you or our kid. We'd be together for always." He looked as young as me and did some childish things sometimes. But Nico Di Angelo was an old soul and could act more mature than his physical appearance. It comforted me knowing he was mature enough to think about the reality of these things. But it terrified me as to what his solution was.

Seeing as the light outside had already faded away I guess people, Pollux, would be coming around soon. "We should get cleaned up." I pulled back and gestured to our matching messy hair and ruffled clothes.

He smirked. "You look tired. Long day?"

I just nodded, not wanting to explain the whole meditation thing right now. I blinked and was in his arms once again. Without warning darkness over took us and I felt cold. It only lasted a second and when it faded I found myself standing in the Hades cabin, next to Nico's huge bed.

"I'm tired, you're tired, and I don't want to be away from you right now. I'll even sleep over the covers if you want, but please don't say no." he pleaded.

"Just sleeping? No checkers?"

"No checkers." He sat down on one side of the bed.

After another moment I slid onto the bed and underneath the covers. Everything smelled like him and it felt right. I felt him crawl up beside me, on top of the covers like he promised, and put his arms around me. My eyes were already closing by the time we settled in. The last thing I was aware of was him whispering in my ear.

"I'm more of a Chutes and Ladders guy anyway."

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