A/N: Happy Holidays, guys! I thought I would post something special through the first twelve days of Christmas, so here you go! But since I'm lazy...it's only going to be eight in our world. Sorry about that. And by the way, do I really sound like the person who would own Percy Jackson?

On the First Day of Christmas…(It's a Little too Early)

Percy locked the aquarium doors before dragging himself to his car. As usual, it had been a long day of note-taking, observing barnacles, more note-taking, and cleaning grimy tanks. The only thing that made it enjoyable at first was all the voices of the dolphins in his head calling him lord, and sir. Though, that too eventually drove him a little crazy, and he didn't have much more to do except go back to watching his petri dish of barnacles. He slid into his car, tucking his notebook into his work bag.

He shivered a little. The sudden transition from November to December never worked out with him. It was pretty cold in November, and then right after that last day, it was suddenly freezing cold. And another thing that he couldn't process very easily was how Christmas was less than a month away. He needed to start thinking about what he was going to get Annabeth, his family, and yes, Marco. Annabeth and his mom were both too modest to ever say what they wanted. And, additionally, Marco couldn't talk, and he had a feeling animals didn't have many preferences when it came to gifts. He was sure a huge squeaky toy would suffice. Percy started up the car and blasted the heat up. He quickly sent Annabeth a message, saying that he was going to swing by his mother's house. Annabeth didn't take long to reply back, and said that she was going to have a long night at work, anyway.

"Aw, now that means I'm going to have to make dinner," He pouted. Percy drove out of the parking lot of the aquarium, scowling at the fact that he would be back here tomorrow.

"Mom?" Percy called out as he unlocked the door to his mother and step dad's apartment. They had insisted on giving him a key, so he finally broke down and accepted it. He would've happily taken it without any questions if he were younger. But now that he was older, he was afraid he might walk in on something he didn't want to see.

"Paul? Mom? Anyone home?" He called out, setting his keys on the ring by the door. He took a quick sip of his coffee that he had bought earlier, and then glanced down the hallway. Percy cringed a little at the taste. It had been from a shady-looking convenience store, after all. He walked into the kitchen so he could throw out his coffee. When he looked over the counter and into the living room, he frowned in disbelief that his mom had already unpacked the boxes full of tinsel, ornaments, and other Christmas things. He didn't believe that his parents weren't here, as he had seen one of their cars in front of the apartment, after all,

"Already have the Christmas stuff out mom? It's a little too early!"

"Percy!" He jumped at the sound of his name, and turned around in the direction he heard it from. His mom had suddenly appeared in the kitchen with him, but looked strangely disheveled. He frowned even deeper as he thought of all the possible ideas about what happened, "I was just going to bake some cookies to put out, and then make some dinner."

"What were you doing?" He asked, feeling slightly sick to his stomach.

She turned to look at him, "I was just taking a nap, why?"

"Oh, oh…never mind, then." He mumbled, leaning against the counter. He quietly thanked the gods in his head that she hadn't been doing what he thought she had been doing.

"Aren't you going to come help me with dinner?" She asked in an expectant, but playful voice. He sighed tiredly, but walked over to a cutting board she had put out for him.

"Where's Paul at?" He asked while he crushed a clove of garlic.

"Still at work, unfortunately." She mumbled, glancing over at him, "You're welcome to stay for dinner, if you'd like."

He let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, thanks. I didn't want to make dinner for myself, Annabeth's still at work, too."

"Well, feel free to take some spaghetti home for her, too." She said, smiling. Percy fumbled around with the tissue-like shell around the garlic, and then pushed it aside to free up a little cutting space. As he chopped the garlic, he looked back into the living room,

"Don't you think it's a little early to already be setting up the tree?"

"Oh, I'm going to decorate the tree tomorrow, dear."

Percy cracked a smile, "That's still kind of early in the month, mom."

"Percy," She lightly swatted him on the arm, "You're lucky I didn't set it up any earlier then, if you're so picky. And besides…" She handed him a small, green carton-full of tomatoes, "I remember a certain someone who always begged me to arrange the tree the second we finished Thanksgiving dinner." Percy blushed a little, and he was sure he was probably a similar color to the tomatoes he was dicing up.

"Really, Percy, you should eat more. You're as skinny as a broom!" Sally insisted as he tried to leave. He slid the plastic container and foil-wrapped garlic bread under his arm.

"No, I'm really full. If I eat anymore, I think I might burst." He politely declined.

"If you say so," She mumbled. She handed him one more container, which was filled to the brim with blue sugar cookies of different shapes.

"Thanks, mom!" He grinned. His reaction brought a crinkled smile to her face, and she pulled him into a hug.

"Say hi to Annabeth for me." She said as he walked out onto the stoop. Percy waddled over to his car, setting the food down in the passenger seat. Percy turned the car on, followed by the radio.

"Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too…Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…"

Percy sighed as he watched the snow blowing around outside his car, "A little early for Christmas music, don't you think?"

A/N: I thought some Percy/Sally time would be nice. Don't worry, there will be Percy/Annabeth to follow. It was hard to wake up this morning in the month of December. Every store I went today was playing Christmas music. It was all a little too much to process. The year went by fast.

See you tomorrow, guys!