Disclaimer: Have I told you I don't own PJO? No? I don't own PJO.

LEO

VII

The way he figured it, it was pretty much the awkwardest scenario in the world. Okay, back up. Let's see what Leo though when Calypso came running out of the jungle…

Something orange burst out of the jungle. Leo stopped and stared as he saw Calypso for the first time in a month.

She'd gotten more beautiful, if that was possible. She was wearing white jeans and a white-and-orange T-shirt, which suited her even better than red did - She could have been wearing rags and she would still have been pretty. Oh, gods, Leo thought, and pinched himself. Snap OUT of it, will you?

He watched her expression as she gaped at the Argo II and followed the rope ladder down, down, down, until her eyes landed on him. Help. Calypso's eyes widened and Leo really wished he'd had a moment to clean up after breakfast. His T-shirt was all crinkly and he probably had fat stains on his shirt from the scrambled eggs…

Calypso bounded towards him, an expression of disbelief on her face. Here it comes, Leo thought. The big one: Is she gonna kiss me or slap me…

Calypso did neither. Instead, she threw himself into his arms, tears flowing from her eyes. Leo stumbled briefly, but held up. Calypso shuddered, laughing and crying at the same time. He grinned and whispered: "Hey, sunshine. You really did warm up to me, huh?"

"I hate you," she whispered back. Leo held her, hugging the goddess tighter as she cried into his hair, so warm in his hands. Like the warm fire he could summon. Leo felt a little awkward at first, but soon he relaxed, getting accustomed to the situation.

"You came back," she whispered, releasing her death hold on him to could look him in the eye.

Leo grinned. "I did promise on the River Styx, didn't I?"

Calypso gasped, stumbling back. "You promised you would come back on the River Styx?!"

He nodded.

She slapped him. "You vlacas!"

The son of Hephaestus stumbled back, holding his burning cheek. "Annabeth slaps Percy, and Katie slaps Connor, so.." Leo grinned impishly as an extremely amusing thought occurred to him.

Calypso opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he leaned in and kissed her.

She just stood there for a moment, surprise on her face. Leo though, Uh oh. This was when girls usually slapped people. But instead, Calypso kissed him back. Leo's heart went into into overdrive. Trying to connect to internet. Connection failed. After some time, she pulled back.

"I still hate you, she muttered.

He grinned crazily. "Okay."

"So, how did you get here?" the girl asked. Leo ahem-ed. "Long story, involving several immortal arguments and almost getting turned into a barnyard animal.. Why don't you come with me first? You're free to go now and you can meet my friends up there."

Calypso looked up the rope ladder. Man, she looked good in those clothes. Leo pinched himself in the arm, trying to stay alert.

"Am I free to go? Are you sure I am?"

He nodded. I'm sure. Don't worry so much, sunshine."

Calypso glared at him. "One, don't call me sunshine." He gulped. "Two, can I take my friends with me?"

Leo frowned. "What friends?" She laughed and turned around, gesturing at the jungle. "Come on out, I know you are listening anyway! We are free at last!"

The leaves rustled and suddenly, a cloud of sand billowed up from the dunes, a cloud of sand that was coming rapidly towards them. It was like… It was like a crowd of invisible servants was running towards them at top speed. Leo's eyes widened. Calypso laughed, and he blushed. She probably thinks I'm scared. You are an IDIOT, Leo!

"Do not worry, they are friendly." He nodded shakily. "Good, good. I approve of weird, friendly, invisible people." The rope ladder swung around madly for a minute or two, then it hung limp again.

Leo gestured to Calypso. "Looks like it's your turn. Ladies first. By the way," he added as she set her foot on the first rung of the ladder. The goddess looked back at him. Leo bit his lip. Don't chicken out... "You look... beautiful."

Calypso blushed and raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

He turned red. "Nothing."

She coughed and hurriedly climbed up the unstable ladder...

Leo gulped. Calypso looked back at him quizzically. He shuffled his feet, trying not to look too embarrassed. "And, well, you probably know seaweed brain over there."

She frowned and looked, and gasped.

Leo had dreaded this moment from the minute he knew he would come back for her - the moment where Calypso would fall for the dashingly handsome, green-eyed, raven-haired Percy Jackson. This CD is encrypted. Please try another application. The son of Hephaestus sighed. What could he say. He had tried, he really had. Now, all that was left to do was to try and stop this situation from getting too awkward…

Nobody was more surprised than the him when Calypso said in an even voice. "Hello, Percy Jackson. It is… nice to see you again."

Percy glanced at Annabeth. "Hey.." he mumbled. Leo's brow furrowed. The son of Poseidon couldn't even say hello to her face! That guy didn't deserve Calypso. Then again, Leo didn't, either.

The girl studies Annabeth, then turned back to Percy. "I am assuming you two became boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked. "And that you are living happily ever after?"

Annabeth's eyes widened. Leo felt his own widen, too. He wouldn't have expected Calypso to be so cool about the whole affair. Percy glanced at his girlfriend. "Yeah," he smiled. "I guess you could say that. After Tartarus, nothing can scare us!"

Calypso raised her eyebrows. "Tartarus?"

"Yeah, that freaking spider Arachne dragged me down and seaweed brain here with me. We made it out alive, as you can see." Annabeth still seemed reserved, but her voice was already less hostile.

The goddess's mouth formed an 'O'. "Well, I am glad Percy finally came to his senses," she finally said. "He is a noble hero."

Percy glanced around, looking awkward. Calypso clapped her hands. "Anyway! Leo, would you mind showing me the ship? It looks wonderful."

Leo took a second to register that the beautiful girl had been talking to him. "Huh? Oh, yeah. So," he glanced at the others. "I'll see you guys later, I guess." Piper grinned at him and winked. Hazel looked at Frank, twirling a diamond between her fingers in a sleight of hand.

Calypso was already a few metres ahead of him. Leo had to run to catch up. "Um," he stammered. "I'll show you the controls first, okay? I have to plot the route on the charts so Festus can steer us home." Now that he was alone with her, it was kind of awkward. Especially since he kept thinking about kissing her...

She smiled coyly. "Sure. From what I've seen of your work, I am guessing that these controls will include a lot of screens with moving pictures."

Leo grinned, totally inside his element. "Oh, we've got much better stuff than that. Come on!"

The dusty, blue-grey night sky was large and dark above the Argo II. The stars twinkled coldly, seeming so close that Leo felt he could reach out a grab them. The full moon lit the world from above and reflected in the choppy waves below.

Leo adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. Though the Argo II could sail automatically, he liked to do it manually, just to have the satisfaction of doing something. He gazed into the sky, then glanced at the railing, where Calypso was standing, not five metres away.

The girl gazed into the stars, her face turned away from his, so he couldn't read her expression. She was still wearing the orange and white clothes from this morning, and Leo couldn't help but think that she had a cool style. He cleared his throat and shifted his hands around to feel a little less like a creepy stalker watching her.

Calypso looked around. "Do you ever think about the past?"

Leo shrugged, not sure what she meant. "Uh, I try not to think. It interferes with being nuts."

She studied him, an expression in her eyes he couldn't read. "Jokes aside, Leo Valdez. Do you ever think, What if I had done something different? Would I be different? Would the world be different?"

Leo punched the autopilot button and walked over to her, feeling the sea breeze on his face, listening to the creaking rigging. "I don't, really. Do you?"

She looked down, her hair falling over her face. "I think about what would have happened if I had supported the gods in the first war. I think about what would have happened if somebody had actually stayed on Ogygia. I think about… what would have happened if you had not come."

Leo shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. Other heroes would have washed up on your shores, and you would have forgotten me."

Calypso shook her head. "I would not have." Leo's heart missed a beat.

"Before today, I thought my curse was to harbor heroes I could not help but fall in love with." Leo didn't interrupt. "I was wrong. My curse was to think I was falling in love with the heroes. I have told you the fates would send somebody just handsome enough to break through my barriers, have I not?"

Leo nodded. He did not like where this was going. "Uh, yeah."

Calypso looked at him. "You were not handsome." Leo's heart plummeted into the waves below and drowned. File corrupted. Virus loading… "Still… I may have finally found a hero worth falling for." Leo's heart was resurrected from the dead. You have re-spawned.

In the moonlight, it was hard to read Calypso's expression. He cleared his throat. "So, are you gonna go back to Mount Olympus when we get back to the human world?"

She looked at him for a moment, an expression of disbelief on her face. Then, she shook her head and laughed. "I see what your friends mean, Leo Valdez. You really are a total vlacas sometimes."

Leo's heart went clunk.

Then, Calypso leaned in and kissed him.

Well, that was disgustingly mushy. There will probably be an equally mushy epilogue, though I'm not sure at this point. It'll only be the normal And-they-lived-happily-ever-after-disregarding-any-further-continuation-series nonsense. Oh, well.

Somebody reviewed and said that the first chapter sucked. I didn't get it until I went on PREVIEW and the formatting went all wacky. Sorry for that, and I'm trying to resolve it now. I sent an email to the site. So, hopefully you'll be able to read the REAL first chapter soon. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!

READ & REVIEW!