A/N: Thank you so much for everyone who followed this story and added it to their favorites list! Without further ado, here is the second chapter!

It was Christmas Eve, and yet presents, candy canes, and hot chocolate were the last things on Percy's mind. He was tired…no, exhausted. His head was pounding and his limbs felt like molten lead. Not to mention, the seemingly eternal itch in his nose, like he was a time-bomb awaiting his atomic-sized sneeze. The bottom-line, all Percy really wanted for Christmas was to climb into his soft, warm bed in his mom's apartment.

Just a few more hours, he thought to himself. He didn't even know why he felt so unusually worn-out. He hadn't actually done much today, besides teach sword-fighting. He had a nasty feeling (emphasis on nasty) that he was actually on the verge of coming down with a bug, but he pushed the idea away. Christmastime was so not the time to get sick.

Well, whatever. Just a few more hours. He had survived the earlier part of the afternoon, teaching the sword-fighting class. Now all he had to do was survive ice skating with Annabeth.

Not that it'd be hard to survive a date with Annabeth, of course. Being with Annabeth was never difficult, even if she had once promised that she would "never, ever make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain."

Yeah, he'd probably survive this ice skating date.

Probably.

Possibly.

Plausibly.

Or he could just collapse on the ice and die of exhaustion. That was another option.

They arrived at the rink a few minutes later. It was an Olympic-sized, outdoor rink surrounded by cotton candy stalls and noisy, little kids who couldn't seem to calm their Christmas excitement. Percy hardly remembered ever visiting this place, despite it being in the vicinity of his mom's apartment. Perhaps it was because even his own mom preferred the liquid form of water to the frozen, solid one?

Annabeth led him towards the rental booth, which was a wooden shack on the edge of the rink. "Two pairs of skates, please," Annabeth told the lady behind the counter. The lady had her back turned to them, but spun around as soon as Annabeth called.

"Ah yes, of course. Another couple going skating on Christmas Eve. I've counted so many, you know," the lady mused. She had the voice of an old lady, which Percy didn't exactly find fitting for her wrinkle-free face and big, green eyes. Her fiery red hair was tied in a messy bun, a few wisps sticking out. She looked pretty much like the average store clerk, save for her sharp teeth and forked tongue.

Wait, forked tongue?

"Here you go," the lady said, handing two pairs of worn-out, blue skates to Annabeth. "Enjoy your date!"

"Our date," Annabeth murmured from beside Percy. But when Percy glanced over at her, he saw that her cheeks had gone bright pink.

Percy's head had began to pound with pain again, but he remembered Annabeth's excitement over spending Christmas Eve together, and he decided to try and keep a smile on his face too.

I'm gonna survive this date for Annabeth. I'm gonna survive this date for Annabeth.

"Here are your skates, and here are mine," Annabeth announced, settling onto a bench. She started kicking off her navy blue Converse sneakers. "Have you ever skated before, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy's vision suddenly began to swim. Annabeth's voice seemed to be coming from underwater, echoing and thick. He shut his eyes tight, trying to regain his sense of balance.

"Percy? Hey, earth to Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth's gloved hand on his arm brought him back to reality. Percy blinked and found Annabeth staring worriedly at him. She gave a nervous chuckle, but it wasn't enough to mask the concern in her voice when she asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he lied. He most definitely was not fine, in fact. He could feel a storm brewing in his stomach, churning his lunch into a tornado. But he couldn't explain that to Annabeth. She would rush him straight home, which Percy would actually like, but Annabeth probably wouldn't be happy with. I'm gonna survive this date for Annabeth. I'm gonna survive this date for Annabeth.

Annabeth pursed her lips, still looking skeptical. "Well, if you say so – "

Percy grabbed her and pulled her on to the ice before she could even finish her sentence.

It was way more slippery than Percy expected. The second his skates touched the ice, he slid backwards and landed gracefully on his butt. Annabeth, who had been holding onto him, screamed and landed on top of him.

"We could definitely use some practice," Annabeth said, attempting to get up but failing miserably. She fell back on him, her hair on his face.

Percy set his hands on the ice, feeling the cold seep in through his cotton gloves. "And to think that this is technically water," he mused, getting up. "Wonder if I could control frozen water, eh?" He pulled Annabeth up, trying his best to steady both of them.

Annabeth laughed and gripped his hands. "I don't actually want to know, Seaweed Brain," she said, and began skating backwards, pulling Percy along. Her hair blonde hair flew loose in-front of her face; gods, sometimes Percy wondered how he even managed to snag such a beautiful girl as his girlfriend.

He tried to enjoy everything as they made a full-circle around the rink: the kids still playing by the rink, another couple attempting to skate, the sound of Christmas Carols in the air, the evil rental lady flicking her forked tongue at Percy.

Wait. What in Hades?

Percy stopped abruptly, falling over on his toe pick and letting go of Annabeth. He stumbled and fell face-first on the ice rather ungracefully. "Ow," he groaned, starting to sit up. His nose stung from the cold and the impact.

"Percy!" Annabeth called, skating over to him. "Why did you let go all of a sudden?"

"I thought I saw that lady at the rental booth with a forked tongue," Percy said.

Annabeth made a face somewhere between amused and confused. She drew her gloves off her right hand and touched his forehead. "I think you fell pretty hard, Percy. I'm sure there are no forked-tongued ladies out to get us here. Did you get a bump when you fell down or," she paused and frowned. "Percy…you're burning up."

"I know. I'm your super-hot boyfriend," Percy muttered, trying to keep things casual. Burning up? Did he really have a fever? Because if he did, then that explained a lot as to why he was feeling so weak and off today.

"Are you feeling sick or something?" Annabeth asked, as if reading his thoughts. Percy caught the tightness in her voice, as if she was trying her best to sound like a trained doctor. "Because you seem to be running a fever."

Then, as if on cue – "AAAA-aaa-CHOOOO!" Percy sniffled. There was his big atomic explosion sneeze.

Annabeth blinked. "I knew it," she muttered, standing up and huffing.

"Knew what?" Percy groaned.

"You've been acting weird this entire afternoon," Annabeth explained. "You were sick the whole time and you didn't even tell me!"

Annabeth helped him up. "Hey, I didn't even know that I had a fever," Percy protested. "I was just… feeling kinda nauseous, but I didn't think it was important to tell you."

Percy thought he saw Annabeth roll her eyes. "Come on, I'm bringing you to your mom's. She'll know what to do."

A/N: Oh no! Percy's sick on Christmas Eve awww Do you think Annabeth's pissed at Percy for getting sick on their date night? And what about the mysterious lady at the rental booth? Was she just a product of Percy's fevered hallucinations or….

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