Edge of All We've Ever Known (p)

Lauren Cardona had been up until two in the morning celebrating the new year and her birthday with people in her cohort. Corinne and Lennie had left before the ball drop, but Lauren and Christian had different conversations that eventually turned into less and less words. Today her duties were going to be covered according to Christian because it was her birthday, although with recent news of how Corinne was doing, Lauren was more than willing to help Lennie out in the morning.

It had taken everything within the demigod to get up and be productive. She managed to get fluids into her body and honestly all she was craving at this point in time was a sausage mcmuffin with no egg. The grease sounded amazing right now and would really help her stomach out, but Camp Jupiter didn't really seem to provide in terms of the fast food chains which was quite a shame. Although, Lauren was fairly sure she'd end up gaining a bunch of weight that wouldn't be beneficial. Of course she was told that part of her present had to do with hiking and that made her cringe at the thought itself. After helping Lennie out in the morning while Christian was out at the centurion meeting with Corinne, she then decided to nap for a little bit until it had been time to meet up with Christian.

Lauren had met up with Christian outside of camp in her hiking boots and the appropriate attire for hiking. "You better hope this is worth it." the daughter of Apollo grumbled as she looked over to him. As she did a wave of emotions had washed over her as memories from the night prior came into her mind and a smile couldn't help but form on her face. She realized that she was probably looking stupid now, but she couldn't help it. "So, if it gets really steep, I hope you know you're either leaving me behind or carrying me." The brunette stated in a matter of fact tone.

Christian had been running on a aftermath high for the duration of the morning, into the afternoon. The Centurion meeting was a hit or miss, and afterwards Christian had shown Corinne the wonders of pediatric medicine for dehydration; Pedialyte, the end-all to hangovers. The hours had flown, however, and Christian was beginning to lose his euphoric drive. It was only a few minutes before Lauren had shown up that Christian had dug into his pocket for his painkillers. To be truthful, he'd gone all the night before up until now without them. Forgetting to take them was unusual, but not unheard of.

When the girl showed up, Christian's expression immediately changed to a smile. His complicated impression of the girl kicked back into his head, and then vanished, as only warm thoughts and feelings entered his head about her. The smile on her face wasn't necessarily characteristic about her, and for some reason seeing it felt natural all of a sudden.

"It'll be worth it." Christian assured. "I'll carry you the whole way if that's what it takes. You'll be glad you came, trust me." He told her, a grin appeared on his face while he looked her up and down. It was embarrassing enough that he looked away, up the path, before finally gathering his composure back. "Besides, what're you gonna do if it isn't?" He teased. "Make me go hiking on my birthday?" He asked, before he gestured for them to set off.

The instant reaction to his comment about hiking on his birthday was an eye roll from the daughter of Apollo. She felt like shoving him, but she was going to be nicer, that was part of her resolution for this coming year anyways. "If it's not worth it, I'm going to make you make it worth it." Lauren said with a playful wink of course referring to they could do other things while they were on the hike, but she knew her statement was fairly vague.

"We'll see how it goes, but if the time comes then I will get you to carry me." The girl said with a matter of fact tone. She gestured for him to lead the way, because as one could guess this wasn't the sort of thing that Lauren Cardona did. Maybe her mother Camilla did a bunch of hiking around in the woods, but it really wasn't something that got passed down to Lauren. The girl was a little impatient it'd seem and instead of taking in the moments leading up to where they were going and cherishing the journey, she just wanted to get to the end results right away.

"Today's a fairly long day for you isn't it? With the centurion meeting this morning and then paperwork in the evening? Can't believe they don't give you guys a holiday."

"I bet you'll apologize for questioning it once it's done." Christian said with confidence. He started forward, their trail was close, even within eye-shot. The legacy stayed on a brisk pace, but he was confident that by the end of the hike, Lauren would be happy. "You do know that you being my optio means I'm supposed to train you, right? At the very least you can consider it endurance training." He was pleased with himself, but he knew Lauren wasn't the type to take that joke without firing back.

"We do, I gave it to you and Corinne." Christian teased her once more. "It's your birthday, I want you to be able to spend it doing things you want." He told her, before pausing. "I mean, after this, anyway." The pair had made their steps onto the track. "This is it," he told her. "Civilization ends here, and we're stuck with one another until we're done." He pretended like he wasn't beginning to like that idea more and more as time went forward.

Christian turned his head back, looking straight from her expression to her boots. "Don't know why you hate hiking so much." Christian said, grinning, before he continued to look where he was going. "You fill out those boots nicely." He commented.

"Maybe I will and maybe I wont." The girl spoke in her usual teasing tone back to her centurion and best friend in response to how she'll apologize later. Lauren was fairly confident that Christian wouldn't just take her out here to make her upset on her birthday, there was obvious though into her birthday present and she could really appreciate that from him. Christian was one of the better gift givers she had known, most people in her life were fairly bad at it and that wasn't just what she had people give her, it was what other people gave each other too.

"Well, in regards to how I want to spend my birthday, I'm more than happy to spend it with you like I do every year. Be that way until the day one of us dies." She said flashing Christian a grin as they walked up to the trail they were going to be on. "Christian, Civilization or not you're stuck with, I hope you know that."

As he looked back at her and made a comment about filling out the boots nicely and the grin on her face only grew wider. "Well I can't say I disagree with you on that. What if I got them just to flaunt around in and model with. I bet you'd like that, huh?" She asked.

"You will." He repeated again, like a broken record. "And when you do, I'll hold in my 'told ya so' until tomorrow. After that though, your special treatment is gone until next year." He teased her. "Unless you want me to treat you like this again on the 4th of July." He teased. The pair ventured slowly onto the trail. Planting the surprise had been time consuming, but Christian couldn't wait until it all unraveled. He knew it was going to be perfect.

He listened to her speak, the way that only Lauren could. "I don't know about that." He replied to her. "I think the second I enter the Senate House, you'll be repelled like ants from bug spray." He teased.

"You here to hike or to flirt?" Christian asked, he did so with a smile, even stopping in his steps to turn to face her for an answer. Just in case the answer required him to be standing and facing her. He kicked himself for agreeing to work later in the night, he hated that they had to be back by a certain time. But he was going to enjoy what time they had regardless.

"So you're only going to be nice to me on holidays now?" Lauren mused with a goofy grin still plastered on her face as they continued to hike up the trail slowly. Even though hiking wasn't her first choice for her birthday, she was doing something with Christian which made her fairly happy on any given day whether it be her birthday or not; it had been this way since they were kids and it was so rare to go through life and always have someone there no matter what.

"I mean, it does have a certain quality about it that makes me never want to go by there and hope I never have to be centurion, but I'd go in there if I had to." There was exaggeration in the daughter of Apollo's words and a lot of tone involved.

"Maybe I'm here for both." She poke before she walked up to him and she kissed him softly before pulling away a little bit. "I hope you don't mind."

Christian found that time had began to move slow when Lauren approached him, and then in the midst of it, she layed her lips on his. She left only a small gap between them before she spoke to him. "I don't mind at all." Christian replied, matter-of-fact laced in his tone. He leaned his head forward and gave her a peck in return.

"If you're looking for Centurion glamour, you're only going to find it in Cohort One and Two." He told her. "You ever seen The Davenports or Virgos head over to the Senate House for something that wasn't a meeting? Same goes for the other two, Zimmerman and..." Christian paused, trying to think of Cohort Two's new Centurion always threw him for a curveball. Rowan had been the one in his spot for far too long. "Davis." He gave up on searching his head for the surname.

Christian left the tiny gap that was between them. "There's a time for fun and games. Right now it's time for your present." Christian gestured with his head. "You can lead if you want. I'm supposed to be teaching you to do that more often." It was rare for him to ever turn down anything Lauren wanted. Let alone when it was something he wanted just as bad.

"Good. Means I know I can definitely do it again." The daughter of Apollo said with a more authorization tone to her voice. Being close to him in this instant only reminded her more and more of the night prior that they had spent together, a closeness that she really enjoyed and definitely was not uncomfortable with. There was just something about him that she couldn't turn away from and Lauren could feel her stomach turn in the best ways from the nerves she was feeling around him. Part of her knew that she should heed the warnings in her head, the same ones she had when she first discovered her crush on him, but the closer and closer she got to him physically and emotionally all those warnings silenced.

"I'm never near the senate house that much to know." Lauren retorted with a bit of a laugh, but she could only imagine that the Davenports and Virgos hardly ever stepped a foot into the senate building unless they absolutely had to. When you came from status and wealth, why even lift a pretty little finger when you could pay someone else to do the hard work for you? "It must be nice to pull so much rank that you can get out of duties you don't want to do."

As soon as Christian left the gap Lauren put on a pouting face. "Buuut Christian!" She said in a mock whining tone to go with the light stomp of her foot. It wasn't long before she broke out into a smile again, "Yeah, yeah, I'll lead." Lauren said with a small laugh and began to trek up the path again, before turning her head to look back at him, "I know it's just a ploy for you to look at my ass, though."

The flirting that Lauren committed towards him was strange. It was blissful, and yet it didn't feel familiar. They'd known each other for a lifetime; just the fact that they both ended up in Camp Jupiter was nothing short of a miracle, even if both their moms happened to be former members of the legion. His moment of deep thoughts came to a halt when she called him out when she insisted that he was having her lead so that he could simply check her out.

Christian grinned, he loved Lauren's challenging nature. Despite her common sarcasm, Christian somehow couldn't help but feel like he was home when she said things like that. He picked up his pace, taking a brisk pace to catch up to her. He took her words in mind, and decided to follow her advice. "You're hilarious." He told her, following just behind her.

"Pretty sure I don't have to ploy you for that. There's no way you're always walking around with the spunk you're pushing right now." Christian challenged her in a playful tease. "And here I thought I was the one giving you the special treatment." He told her. He could feel his heart beating extra fast.

It was safe to say that between the two of them there had always been a competitive side brought out in the two, it was never really anything that'd ever break up their friendship, but almost always in the smallest things possible. Of course when it came to flirting there was no exception. It was almost like a foreign concept to be flirting with Christian, but in one aspect it felt natural to be saying it, especially given their night spent together. Lauren did know that just because they had been intimate it didn't mean anything were to come of it.

"I don't need to be told I'm hilarious, I already know that." Lauren said beaming with a smile on her face continuing to walk on the trail, but she could hear his footsteps behind her getting quicker, part of her was tempted to pull a mean joke, but she figured she'd be nice, especially since if he had really wanted to he could leave her and force her to come back by herself, and she wasn't sure if that was something she wanted to do.

"I mean, I think you gave me the special treatment last night, if you know what I mean." The daughter of Apollo said with a smug look on her face, on the inside there was so much excitement as the two made their flirts back and forth. "Maybe I like to reciprocate special treatment."

"Seriously? Who's told you that?" Christian continued his coy tone. His expression reeked of glee and happiness while he teased, challenged, and flirted with Lauren. The pair was somewhat deep into their trail, but not enough that the nature was beautiful yet. Christian was almost thankful for that. He didn't want his eyes to draw away from Lauren yet. It was almost like he was looking at her in a whole different way than he had when they were kids. His crush was getting deeper.

"Guess they must be better at lying than you." Christian said, a sly sense of smugness overcame it. It was so strange to wish so much safety on someone, but show it by trying to outplay them at every turn. He continued to walk behind her, before his fingertips reached for her shoulder and slid downwards.

"I think I might have some fun if that was the case." Christian said, in a tone where he pretended he wasn't sure. "But it's your birthday, Cardona." He teased. "My job to make your birthday wishes come true."

The words that came out of his mouth next were ones that were shocking to the daughter of Apollo. Never had she been so thrown off by something someone had said, and never had she been rendered speechless like she was no. Her mind was grasping at straws at this point for any sort of come back to give him and to save herself from losing at the come backs, but nothing. Nothing would come to mind and her time was running out. It wasn't often Lauren Cardona was at a loss for words, especially in a 'game' she played so well.

"Me lie? Please. I couldn't lie even if I tried." She scoffed at his accusation of people being better liars than her. Anyone was a better liar than her by default because she really did have the incapability to lie. If only she could that'd make life so much easier.

It wasn't much longer after he teased her when she stopped dead in her tracks again and turned her body to face his again, but making sure his arm didn't lose contact with her. "I like the sound of that. Of making my birthday wishes come true." Lauren started before she continued, "I know you said there was a time and place for them, but what if one of my wishes involved fun and games?"

Christian's contact with Lauren clearly didn't go unnoticed, which was clear by her actions and posture. Looking at her expression in that moment made all of the prior conversation seem irrelevant. Christian wasn't sure what mix of euphoric emotions he was feeling. The two had set out to hike, but hardly even made it passed the first leg, and yet Christian was entirely happy with the moment.

"Well..." Christian trailed off. His arm that was free rose to cup the side of Lauren's face. From there it began to to gently caress the side of her face, until it lifted up some of her hair up. Feeling the closeness was almost scary, it was like having a line drawn in the sand that you weren't meant to cross being lifted, and now there was a whole different world to explore. "If one of your wishes involves it, I suppose that would make this the time for it, wouldn't it?" Christian coyly suggested. "But, you know, I won't know for sure until I know what your birthday wishes are."

As the the pair had stopped on the trail and they were involve din the moment, Lauren could feel her heart beat in her chest faster and harder, she was afraid that it might come out at some point, but she knew basic anatomy and knew it wouldn't happen. The daughter of Apollo would have never thought this moment was going to happen in her life, it just didn't seem like it were possible before, but now it just seemed like it fell into place like the last piece of the puzzle.

He began to cup her face, and it was the sweetest thing Lauren had ever witnessed. She had a lot of bad luck when it came to being set up with people or going on dates, sometimes she even got stood up, but Christian was there every time. It was a tender moment that softened the optio up in a lot of different ways. Instead of talking about what she wanted, she was just going to do. Lauren leaned in and kissed him pressing her lips to his once again.

The moment was soft, exciting, sweet, and electrifying. Like the sweetest peck and the most starving kiss would equal the same thing so long as it was in this moment. When Lauren closed the gap, Christian felt excited. He welcomed her kiss, keeping his left hand cupped on her cheek and his right hand where it originally rested.

"Do you remember that dance our old Centurion made us go to?" Christian asked her. "The one in the middle school in New Rome." Christian reminisced. So few people ever went there; you had to have parents in New Rome who were willing to fight for you to not enter the legion, which was a rarity to want anyway. "I remember my date standing me up, that was the first time I ever asked somebody on any sort of date." Christian confessed to her.

"Then, you show up out of nowhere telling me that your date bounced. So we danced together, and my lame pre-teen world that had been devastated got put back together because of you." Christian explained. He found himself looking her deep in her eyes. "Imagine my surprise when six months later, the same guy who wanted to go to that dance with you in Cohort Four talks smack about you to me, that you stood him up to go dance with someone else." Christian had never told her he'd found out. It didn't feel like something Lauren would want to be confronted about. But it was time.

"You gave up what was probably your dumb pre-teen dream to come and save me. I've never forgotten about it." He told her, before he leaned in to kiss her once more.

Instead of the fire and desire from the previous night, this had more of a slow and tender take to it. It was gentle, serene and purely just bright. It was something that Lauren hadn't really had much in her life before and in a way it felt like a missing part of her that she looked for so many times and never found. It was something to help her get in tune with her soft side even just for a moment, and it was something she hadn't felt since she was a lot younger, before she became the little shit she was today.

Once Christian began to bring up the whole middle school dance fiasco, she listened to every single word that he had to say that only brought up nostalgic memories for the demigod. In her mind it was almost as if it were yesterday. It was one of the few times you could have caught preteen Lauren wearing a dress for that matter.

After he had finished and he mentioned what she had did for him and right there in that moment the brunette looked into Christian's eyes before she spoke to him, "I remember." with the calmness still in her voice she continued to speak, "I remember you talking about how you were going to ask Kara to the dance and you were nervous about it. I remember trying to help you work up the courage because that's just what friends did." She said and before she could say the part she never thought she'd tell him until this moment came up, her eyes shifted to look away as some pink came to her cheeks.

"I didn't really want you to ask Kara out, but I could tell it meant something to you. I had always wanted to go to that dance with you, so when I noticed she stood you up and you needed me of course I came to dance with you. It was what I wanted all along, but even if it weren't I still would have ditched that guy." As she finished saying her bit she took a deep breath in before exhaling.

Christian blew some breath out, but downwards and not at Lauren. "Crazy times." He remarked. "Weird that I became Centurion and she's now just a legionnaire." Christian couldn't help the grin, sure, most of it was because Lauren, but he also loved the karma. Still, it melted his heart to hear that she'd wanted to go to the dance with him. It made him feel so many warm things, but also some regret, that he hadn't had the courage back then to ask her instead.

"I was going to kiss you that night." Christian admitted to her. He'd felt all sorts of things that night about Lauren. "But, I wasn't exactly amped up on confidence after getting stood up." Christian shrugged his shoulders lightly. He leaned his head forward to give her a short peck on the lips, before his hands moved from her body. His right hand reached for her left one, and held it in his own. "Come on." He teased. "We have all of 2018 to stand still." Even if it's your fault, he thought to himself.

He gently tugged on her to continue going. The sounds of waterfalls could be heard not far, which was exactly where they were going.

Lauren couldn't help but smile while they reminisced about the past. They had some good times between the two of them and honestly there wasn't very bad memories, sure they had a few arguments as the years went by but it was never anything overly significant. The daughter of Apollo never forgot about the dance where she got to dance with him instead of with the guy she had originally went with. He had been a son of Mars from the fourth cohort and since that night the two didn't really get along, she hadn't even really seen him for awhile if she were being honest.

"You should have." She replied to him admitting he was going to kiss her that night. "Young Lauren would have happy danced inside." With a small laugh she watched him shrug his shoulders before giving her a peck on the lips. When he began to grab her hand, she knew she wasn't getting what she had wished for per say, but she knew if she had wanted it, she should have said something instead of trying to lead with actions.

"Fiine." Lauren grumbled as she let him lead her on the trail again. She could hear waterfalls not too far away in the distance, and honestly the thought of being near waterfalls excited her. "You know the worst part about finally getting there? Is that we still have to walk all the way back, I might require your services in carrying me."

"Didn't know either Lauren had a happy dance." Christian teased. "You stopped wearing dresses at that age." Christian said, before pausing to amend his statement. "Not that you wore them commonly at all, but you did every now and then. That was one of the things that made my heart beat faster when I was younger." Christian admitted. The pair continued to walk, hand in hand, his head tilted over to look at her before he continued. "You're a daughter of Apollo." He grinned. "Aren't you supposed to be all sunshine?" He teased her, something he was loving more and more with each occurrence.

The pair finally stumbled upon a small cliff, and on the other side was a waterfall. "Alright, hot shot." He told her. Christian pointed towards the waterfall with his index finger. "Your present is right about there. Halfway up the waterfall." He told her. He was fully ready to go with her, but couldn't help but give her a tease. "Want me to come with you, or are you a big girl now?"

The brunette wasn't amused to say the least when he had thrown multiple teases her way and she shot him a facial expression to show it. "All sunshine?" She asked him, "Really?" She shook her head disapprovingly before she rolled her eyes at him. "If you wanted sunshine, you should have became best friends with Lisa Dumont." The girl had been part of the fifth cohort and was also a daughter of Apollo. She was about the age of fifteen and was always chirpy and optimistic about everything and to this day Lauren was convinced that she had never seen a frown on her face once.

"If you want sunshine, go hang out with Lisa." After she said that her arms crossed over themselves as she looked to where he pointed to her present. "Christian." She started but was at a loss for words. "Are you out of your mind? I'll do it, but who does this for someone's birthday? You'll probably come anyways, so you might as well."

Christian watched her demeanor change from amused and competitive to flat-out disappointed when he brought her over. He felt some insecurities pull in his heart strings, as fear gripped him that maybe he'd gotten her a gift she wouldn't like. Part of him wanted to revert, but it was too late now, and Christian had a reputation as a great gift giver. He hadn't backed down on so many things, so he wasn't going to back down on something this silly, he decided.

Christian sighed, tugging on Lauren's hand to pull her in, before using his other hand to lift by her legs, while he used his body to angle her into his arms. "I said I would carry you." He reminded her. "All you had to do was ask." He began to trek down with her, he was at a difficult moment. Part of him wanted to open up to her and tell her to give him a chance, and suddenly he felt that it was the stupidest thought. He pressed that part of himself down.

"You're going to like it. I promise." Christian wasn't sure who he was trying to convince at this point, her or himself. The pair took a pathway down, it wouldn't be long until they reached the base of the waterfall.

There was some silence for a little bit from Christian, and meanwhile drunk Lauren would have caught on to him seeming off, sober Lauren didn't really think much of it, but he did take her by surprised when he tugged on her hand to pull her in and from there he had continued to make the motion to picking her up. She was speechless at this point and didn't have anything to say in reply. It was yet another moment when Lauren was made to be speechless, which wasn't a frequent trait.

Part of Lauren began to feel a bunch of different things when he was carrying her. It was like all the bratty comments and the jokes had just flat lined and there was no life coming from them at all. "I know." Lauren said in a more gentle tone. "I didn't want to burden you with it though, and besides that I don't really need to be carried, you and I both know I'm more than capable." The daughter of Apollo admitted before her hand reached up and touched his face gently.

"I forgot to mention it, but it really is beautiful over here, and the sound of the waterfall is calming." She said looking out at the whole area, it was absolutely stunning and Lauren was amazed how nature just had this natural beauty that couldn't ever be beaten by any type of architecture ever.

"I won't be able to carry you up the climb." Christian shrugged his shoulders while they continued to walk. Lauren was pretty light, so he wasn't that concerned about it. "Figure I'll make it up to you now. I know maybe it doesn't seem like it always, but I want you to be happy. I want you to have a good birthday. Just give me the chance to reach the end with you, and I promise you'll be happy you came." Christian confided in her.

Feeling her hand touch his face made Christian feel a forgotten sense of safety. A closeness had hadn't felt with anyone for a long time. Her hand gave his face warmth, and it provided him with confidence that he needed. He was also thrilled to hear her talk about their surroundings. He'd been vague so far, but the truth was that they were somewhere close to Lauren's mother's heart. He wasn't sure when she'd put it together, likely not until they reached their destination, but he knew she would.

They were getting close to their place, where Christian had gone a few days prior. He could see the clouds forming in the sky, they were probably going to get some showers, but Christian was comfortable knowing they'd be in their alcove by then. They were less than a minute left from their climb when Christian spoke. "Ladies first?" He asked in reference to the climb.

"I wouldn't expect you to carry me up the climb." Lauren said with a small laugh. The daughter of Apollo had noticed instead of a sun in the sky there were clouds and she knew that meant it was likely going to rain soon, but Lauren was indifferent when it came to the weather. Hearing that Christian wanted her to be happy and to have a good birthday continued to create this softness to her, almost as if she were hard clay and he was the water turning her soft with hie words. "I hope you know, that I think the world of you. I admire everything that you are, and I wish I could be more like you."

The words hadn't been something she had planned to say and it hadn't been something to make him feel better, they just came out of her mouth like most of them had. The fact that this was even part of her present was proof that he had put thought into it and he had meant well by it, something that Lauren would always admire and envy about Christian.

When he suggested ladies first for climbing, she looked up at the climb. It didn't seem too bad, but only time would tell if it would be, Lauren had definitely climbed up similar heights before. "Alright, you better be behind me." She said looking over her shoulder with a smile, before she began to grab onto the rocks to attempt to climb up. After a few minutes of climbing she had pulled herself up onto the ledge and made sure to leave room for Christian.