Don't get me wrong, I love real Christmas trees as much as the next guy, but apparently Clarisse will only stand for one that we cut down ourselves. She doesn't go for any of this tree-lot business. Also, according to Clarisse, going out into the wilderness "builds character and backbone." Her mother always told her that, I guess.

"Maybe if a certain someone didn't walk so slow, that someone wouldn't have to be out here as long!" Clarisse was yelling due to the fact that she was several yards ahead of me.

"C'mon 'Risse, there is like two feet of snow on the ground! You didn't actually think that I wouldn't get tired, did you?" I was exhausted. And, I know what you're thinking. Demigods plus random forest near the place we're staying at in Maine equals potential monster run-in. Actually, it's more that potentially going to happen, since we are both rather old, for a demigod, at least. It's as if we are a giant present with a beacon on it saying, "Happy holidays to all you monsters out there! You get a tasty treat this year!"

I'm not worried, of course. I can more than handle myself if a situation arises, and well, Clarisse is, well… Clarisse. I really don't think an explanation is needed for that.

What I don't understand is the fact that we passed about twenty different trees that would go great in the living room if we just threw some lights and ornaments on it. Clarisse has very high standards for her trees.

In my wallowing and self pity I failed to notice that my girlfriend was no longer in sight. You'd have thought that I should have been frightened for her safety when I heard screeches in the distance, but I wasn't. Drawing my sword (yeah, that's right, we had our weapons), I ran towards the noise to see if I could get any of the action, but to my dismay, Clarisse was standing over a pile of ash, covered in golden ichor.

"Wow, you couldn't have saved some for me?"

"Sorry, Rodriguez. You snooze, you lose." Her smirk persisted as she continued, "And I found us a tree, by the way." She pointed to a dark green pine with a thin layer of snow covering it. Plucking my sword straight from my hand, she made her way over to it. "It's celestial bronze, it'll be fine," she said after seeing my sceptical expression.

Shortly following the process of chopping down the tree with my sword, Clarisse picked up the front of the tree and began the trek back, and I knew damn well that she would not be needing my assistance here, or ever, for that matter. She turned after walking a few feet and said, "Hey, Rodriguez, pick up the top of the tree. We don't want all the needles falling out before we get back." The subtlest of smiles flashed on her face at the end of that statement.

Clarisse must have seen the small look of uselessness that I wore on my face as she hauled the tree by herself. I guess that's her idea of giving when it comes to the holidays. It's sometimes good to know that she "needs" me for something, but I guess feeling a bit useless at times is the price to pay when you fall in love with a person that's so capable and perfect.

A/N

It's a little later than originally planned, but now that all my holiday festivities are over for a bit I thought I could finally write this. I don't know how great this'll be in with grammar and stuff because I wrote it at 2:30am so we'll see.

I have planned this to be 8 chapters and the next one should be out in at most 24 hours.

I hope you enjoyed and please review.

-Cat