"What do you think would have happened?" she asked. Her hand twisted into mine and squeezed.

"If?"

"If we had never talked to each other the first day. If we had never gotten together." Her voice caught. "If we weren't demigods."

"If we had never talked to each other...me and Leo would probably have been sitting in the corner, trying to make a pipe-cleaner helicopter army."

Piper laughed, and shifted position beside me. The view of the constellations from the roof of the Aphrodite cabin was amazing, apart from the veritable cloud of perfume that surrounded the place (but had considerably lessened since Piper became counselor). And due to its flat roof, it was the only logical place to reprise our jaunt at the Wilderness School.

I continued. "If we had never gotten together, I would probably have been pining after you every single day this term alone." She buried her head into my shoulder, and I felt her smile. "And if we weren't demigods, you would be just as beautiful."

Piper's voice was muffled. "Right answer, Jason."

"Thank you, Pipes."

She stood, pulling him to his feet along with her. "Wanna dance?"

"What?"

"Do. You. Want. To. Dance?" She said slowly, enunciating every word.

I stood too. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"I'm a dangerous girl."

"That, I can believe." I put my hands on her hips and unfelt hers around my neck. "Pipes, there's one other thing."

"Hmm?"

"I don't know how to dance."

She smiled. "Neither do I, so let's just wing it."

We rocked back and forth for a while, before I spoke again. "We're one of the bridges, aren't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Percy and Annabeth. Nico and Hazel-even though they aren't romantically involved, they're related- we all made bridges from Greek to Roman."

"Well, let's pray to the gods that this bridge doesn't burn." She smiled, and the starlight made her kaleidoscope eyes look silver and bronze.

After a while, we sat back down and just talked-it must have been about two hours before I saw Piper yawn. "You're tired."

"I'm human. How are you still awake?"

I shrugged. "Three cups of coffee?"

"Seriously?"

"Nah, the nymphs would never let me." I laid on my back and Piper joined me once more, hands locking and eyes staring into the zenith.

"Do you know what I like about the sky?"I whispered. "The zenith is always above you, no matter who or where you are. It's always right above you, like there's someone looking out for you."

"Jason?"

"Yes, Beauty Queen?"

"When this is all over, do you think we could have a normal relationship?"

I laughed. "Piper, I'm not sure this will ever all be over, but if it is, we've got to try."

"You never told me why you didn't date other girls at the Roman Camp, or even at the Wilderness School." Her voice was barely a mutter now.

"Because I wanted you to be my everything." I whispered.

And then we drifted into sleep, and I prayed to all the gods I could think of that the evening was not lost. But somehow, here and there, amongst all the preparations for battle and the time between, it slipped away, and I can only hope that it even happened in the first place.