SORRY. SORRY. Sorry. Hi. See, this is exactly why I don't normally let myself do multichapter fics. Updating is like, my bane of fanfiction-ing.

This chapter's a bit shorter, but I'll make it up to you in the next one.

Please don't hate me. Read on with a loving heart, or out of boredom. Whatever floats your trireme. ;)

Chapter 2

"N-Nico! It's going to fall on me! I can't—" she gave a small squeal as Nico dove underneath the hellhound, grabbed her, and rolled out the other side. They watched, gasping for breath, as the monster crumbled to gold dust. Neither of them had realized that Nico had his arms around Thalia as they were on the ground, propped up on their elbows. Thalia dropped her head onto his shoulder and sighed, relieved. "Gods," she breathed. "I thought that thing would fall flat on me. It's a good thing you pulled me out."

Nico raised an eyebrow at her. "A good thing, huh? Jeez, no gratitude." He smirked when she rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips curving up ever so slightly.

"All right, fine. Thank you," she enunciated, smiling up at him. It made Nico feel good, but also kind of tickled from the inside, because the smile he just got wasn't the usual biting, sarcastic Thalia smile. It was a genuinely grateful one. It gave Nico butterflies in his stomach. Lots of them. But he tried to play it cool.

"That's all I get? Come on, I just saved your life," he said, pouting.

Thalia laughed softly. "Well, I guess I could show a little more gratitude, if you'd like."

Nico tried hard to keep a straight face as he somehow brought his face closer to Thalia's, leaving them inches apart. "Yeah, I would." Really? Really?! He made a mental note to slap himself later.

Thalia looked into his eyes for a second longer before closing her own and pressing her lips to his with a gentleness that thoroughly shocked Nico—no pun intended. As he let his lips melt into the kiss, he felt tiny sparks each time he or Thalia even moved a muscle. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and held her closer to him, deepening the kiss. She sighed into his lips and rested one hand delicately on his chest, the other at the back of his neck, stroking his hair every now and then. Although Nico had flirted with multiple girls over the past few months (being fifteen favored him, so why not), Thalia was the first one he'd actually ever kissed, and he got the feeling she was enjoying it just as much as he was.

Suddenly, she froze. She pulled back and sat up, a bit too fast for Nico's liking. He looked at her, puzzled as to why she broke off the kiss all of a sudden, until he saw the bewilderment, guilt, and fear in her eyes. Oh, Styx, he cursed to himself, pulling back. That couldn't have happened. No way. He did not just kiss Artemis' lieutenant, not to mention his very close friend.

"Thalia…" he trailed off. What was he supposed to say? He'd never seen her this upset before, much less been the reason for it. "Um, I didn't mean—uh—if—"

"You know what, just don't. Don't even," she interrupted. Her breathing was heavy, almost like she was trying hard not to cry. She slapped a hand to her forehead as she stared at the ground, thoroughly petrified by what had just happened. Then she must have remembered that Nico was still there, because she turned to him with a broken, almost accusatory expression that made him wince. Oh gods,he thought. I broke Thalia. Something he had deemed practically impossible up until then, and he'd done it himself. The gravity of the situation started to sink in a bit better once he saw her stunningly flawless face. It made him feel absolutely terrible.

Thalia searched his face nervously, not meeting his eyes. She said carefully, "I gotta go," and got up, hurriedly walking back towards Camp grounds. Nico was left sitting on the freshly yellowed grass, horrified at what he'd just done. He watched Thalia's figure brusquely retreating into the woods. Maybe if she wasn't a hunter, if she was just some other girl, he would have been checking her out or something, but now he just felt bad. Really, really bad.

He shot to his feet with the sudden realization that people on the green would have heard the hellhound, and they definitely would have wondered what happened. So he ran to the nearest shadow and brought himself by the side of the Big House, casually walking out of the shadows like nothing happened. He feigned walking aimlessly for the next hundred yards or so until Percy came jogging up to him.

"Nico!" he called. "Dude, are you all right? We heard a hellhound and we checked the forests, but we couldn't find anything, and you two were missing, and Thalia said—"

"Yeah," Nico cut off his rambling, distracted. "Yeah, we killed it. Everybody's okay. Um, Percy, I need to talk to you about that. It's kind of, um…complicated."

Percy, being his usual oblivious self, blinked. "Okay. So what's up?"

Nico tried hard to resist slapping his cousin. "Not here, doofus! Come to my cabin or something. We'll talk."

The review button is waiting. And frankly, so am I. You'll get virtual double chocolate chip cookies! :D Stay tuned for more, and if I don't update within, like, ten days, feel free to spam me with reminders :P

-Sizzle