On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Annabeth had agreed to simply enjoy Percy's antics until he fully explained himself. She was committed to the idea in fact and was proud to admit, she hadn't been worrying about the why any longer.

However when Percy came crashing –literally crashing—through her door at nine AM on a Friday; she could admit she was wondering why.

Well maybe it was more of a "what the hell?" but "why?" was somewhere in there too.

Annabeth simply stopped typing for a moment before slowly closing her laptop and watching Percy stumble towards her. She raised an eyebrow in question as he leaned over her desk to be right in her face. Using her pointer finger, Annabeth pressed her finger on his forehead and gently pushed him away to a more acceptable distance.

"I need your address."

"Excuse me?"

"You were right." He agreed breathlessly. "I don't know where you live and I need your address for today's gift."

"Um, are you sending something to my house?"

"No, I plan to go there."

Annabeth just stared at him for a few seconds, blinked a couple of times. Percy sighed loudly and came around her desk to crouch down in front of her. She thought he was going to take her hand and found herself disappointed when he didn't.

"Babe, c'mon." He pleaded. Annabeth blushed at the endearment and glanced towards the door. A few people were peaking in from the hall, no doubt witnessing Percy crashing through her door, but they couldn't see Percy crouched behind her desk.

"Why do you need it?"

"For your gift!" Percy told her happily. "Number nine today."

"Number nine." Annabeth agreed quietly. She sighed and bit her lip. "I don't know Percy. You want to come over? I don't know how clean my house is and I have two dogs-"

"Odie and Griffin right?" Percy interrupted. At her surprise, he chuckled. "Piper and your friend Nico filled me a few weeks after I came back here. What I couldn't hear from you directly, they told me. Everyone was really excited when I told them I would be doing this."

"They all knew?" Annabeth questioned. "I mean before you started this whole thing?"

"Well Nico and Piper knew first but Jason and Thalia found out right afterwards. A few other people knew because I had to clear some things but you'll find out who in a few days."

Annabeth placed a hand over her pulsing heart to try and calm herself down. He clearly had been planning this for a while and he knew more about her life then she expected. Even during those two years she had felt too awkward and shy to really talk to him again, he was finding out more about her through their friends. He cared….

Oh Gods…

Overcome with how sweet the man beside her could be, Annabeth cupped his face in her hands. He was surprised but easily grinned at the embrace.

"You make it very hard not to ask questions." She mumbled lowly. She let her thumbs run across his cheeks before forcing herself to pull away. She wrote down her address and slipped the paper into his hands.

"What time should I expect you?"

Later on that night, Annabeth nervously paced in her living room. Odie was lying on the couch and would occasionally poke his head up to watch her before growing bored and lying back down. Griffin was following her happily, his favorite stuffed bear in between his teeth. When the clock showed her it was eight, Annabeth sucked in a breath.

He would be here any second.

When 8:05 blinked back at her; Annabeth instantly began to think she was stood up. She alternated between disappointment and anger. She really hoped she wouldn't have to punch him in the throat before this whole thing was over.

When the doorbell rang at 8:10, Annabeth mentally apologized repeatedly as she let Percy in. He wasn't carrying anything. She shut the door behind him slowly and found he was already crouching to let Griffin and Odie smell his hand. When he offered them both small bones from his pocket, Annabeth smiled.

She couldn't be more in love with him.

Annabeth slowly sat on the couch and patted the spot next to her in invitation. Percy sat down easily and threw his arm over the back of the couch; his fingertips lightly touching her shoulder.

"Okay so I feel a little bad about asking but I need you to pull up your Netflix."

Annabeth was confused but quickly turned on her TV and handed him the remote. Netflix was the only kind of TV she watched so it was all ready for them when he had the remote. He began to search for a specific show and grinned in triumph when he found it. He scrolled through the episodes until he found the one he was looking for.

It was a Christmas special.

"So this is going to sound weird and I swear it isn't an excuse to try and put moves on you –though I might try so fair warning—but your ninth gift is nine Christmas specials. Nico and Piper told me the shows you liked and I watch most of them so I thought we could…y'know watch the Christmas ones together."

Annabeth had watched him stumble through his explanation, his hands waving around with each word, with a straight face. Percy smiled awkwardly.

"If you're uncomfortable, I swear I'll leave and we can skip this one."

"….I'll only agree if we do it right."

Annabeth smiled at him softly and stood up to take his hand. Percy let her lead him into the kitchen so they could grab drinks and make popcorn. Once he caught on, Percy laughed and bashfully intertwined their fingers.

Once they had their refreshments on the coffee table in front of them –Percy had blushed when he noticed his roses were there—they both settled back on the couch. Percy had started the show but Annabeth was too busy watching him.

He looked so adorably nervous and she wanted to cut him a break. Slowly she grabbed his hand once more and put it around her shoulders so she could lean into him. He let out a small squeak when she settled against his side but relaxed quickly and pulled her closer.

Annabeth barely paid attention to the shows playing on the TV. She was so unbelievably warm and comfortable and they both easily fell asleep wrapped up against one another. Odie and Griffin cuddled at their feet as they enjoyed her ninth gift together.

….nine Christmas specials.

Here's today's update! Number nine!

Okay so you guys can imagine Odie and Griffin as whatever dogs you want as their breed don't matter too much to the story. I will admit that I imagine Griffin as a German Shepard and Odie as a smaller dog. Maybe a Beagle or Corgi or something. But you guys imagine them how you want.

We're quickly counting down the days and the fluff is at an all time high. Seeing as Annabeth and Percy have known each other for ten years, I don't find it too far fetched that she would invite him over and that they would fall asleep together, the doggies at their feet. Its just such a pretty picture in my mind.

I will admit it was nice having something light hearted and fluffy to work on while I updated Saudade. That story is all tense and dramatic right now but its a good read. Be sure to check out the new update if you haven't already!

I'll see you guys tomorrow!

Thanks to stormrunner74, theimmortalpercy, evilnerd98, BlazingSkittles15, LostHeroGuide and rhig122 for reviewing! And all those who followed and favorite this story!

~Nine days until Christmas~