Winter, 2001

They were crying. Again. And Annabeth couldn't sleep, again, because the stupid twins' wailing was so loud. She tossed and turned, dragged her covers over her head and covered her ears with her pillow. But it didn't work. Nothing, nothing could block out the very loud wails of the baby step brothers.

Frustrated, Annabeth got out of bed and padded to Annalise and her father's room. The door was open and Analise, with her bathrobe haphazardly thrown on over her nightgown, was trying to calm both brothers down at the same time.

"Analise, could you please make them be quiet?"

"Annabeth, go back to your room and go to sleep."

"I can't," Annabeth whined, "They're screaming too loud."

"Annabeth. Stop whining. You're always whining. Don't you think I have enough to deal with? I haven't had any peace and quiet in days because of your brothers' crying; I don't want to deal with you too."

"They're not my brothers."

"Of course they're your brothers! They're certainly not your sisters," Analise replied sourly.

"No, they're not my brothers because you're not my mom."

"Annabeth, what nonsense are you spewing now? Of course I'm your mom. What other mom would you have?"

"You're not my mom because I don't love you. I'm supposed to love my mom, but I don't love you."

"You… you. You ungrateful little bi—brat!" Analise screamed at Annabeth. "Do you think I want to care about you and your little problems with your Percy? That I like taking time out of my day to pick you up? No!" she yelled, jabbing her finger at the open door, "Get out. Get out of my face, get out of my house, get out of my life! Just—I don't even care—GET OUT!"

Annabeth bolted for her bedroom. I'm running away. I don't want to stay anymore. She grabbed her blanket and tied a few pieces of clothing in it—a t-shirt, a sweater, her stuffed owl, some pants. I'm going really far away, some place where they'll never find me. They'll have to search forever and ever, but they won't ever find me. Then they'll be sad for the rest of their lives. She took her bundle of clothes, jammed her feet in her sneakers, and walked out the front door.

It was freezing outside. Flurries were just starting to coat everything with snow. Annabeth wished that she remembered to grab her jacket. She didn't want to go back inside and get it; that would make her seem like she regretted running away. But as she heard her shoes crunch in the snow and shivered as the wind blew through her cotton pajamas, Annabeth realized how stupid her plan was. She had nowhere to go this late at night.

She did the only thing she could. Annabeth walked across the street and rang Sally and Percy's doorbell. She shivered and waited, but there was no response. She rang it again and again and again.

Finally, the door opened to reveal a rather frazzled-looking Sally. "Annabeth! What are you doing here so late? You must be freezing without a coat. Quick, come in and close the door. Is everything okay, sweetie?"

"I'm running away from home," Annabeth declared.

"Oh, darling," Sally hugged Annabeth. "Why don't we talk over a cup of hot chocolate? How does that sound?"

Annabeth had just finished telling Sally about her fight with Analise when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Mom? Why are the lights on?" Percy asked, rubbing his eyes, "Annabeth! Why are you here?"

"Percy, Annabeth is going to stay with us tonight. Is that okay?"

"Yeah! Can we sleep in the blue room then?"

"Okay, but it's late, so you're not going to have time to lay out the blankets like you usually do. And it's too cold to sleep on the floor."

"Okay, we'll sleep on the bed then."

Sally got up to put Annabeth's mug into the sink. Then, she herded both of them upstairs and to bed.

"Percy, my dad said that we're too old to have sleepovers now. He said that sleepovers between a boy and a girl can only happen if they were brother and sister," Annabeth's whisper drifted through the darkness.

"That's silly. Mom said that you can sleepover anytime you want, and you belong to us now because you ran away from home, so only Mom's rules apply."

"I wish you were my brother instead of Bobby and Matthew."

"I wish you were my sister, too. Then, you'd live with us all the time."

"G'night, Percy." Annabeth reached over to Percy's side to hold his hand.

"Night, Annabeth," Percy murmured. Even though he was too old to hold hands with a girl, Percy let Annabeth hold his because she seemed very sad. Percy figured Annabeth needed something to comfort her and holding Sally's hand had always made him feel better, so Percy thought that if Annabeth was holding his hand, it would make her feel better.

The next morning, while Annabeth was feasting on banana-chocolate chip pancakes, Analise came rushing into the dining room.

"Annabeth! Thank goodness you're okay! I was so worried about you."

Annabeth didn't look at her. "Why would you worry about me? You hate me."

"I'm so sorry about the hurtful words I said to you last night," Analise reached out to hold Annabeth's hand, "I didn't mean them. I was tired and frustrated." Annabeth jerked her hand out of Analise's reach.

"Please, Annabeth, forgive me." Annabeth kept eating her pancakes meticulously, looking everywhere except at Analise.

Sally cleared her throat, "Is it okay if Annabeth stays over for the weekend? Percy hasn't been able to see much of Annabeth lately with his swimming schedule, and we'd love to have Annabeth over."

Analise glanced at Annabeth pleadingly, "Please, Annabeth. Talk to me."

"No," Annabeth replied stubbornly.

"I'm sure you could need a break from taking care of these kids. You must be exhausted. Why don't you go back home, get some rest, and give Annabeth some time to cool down here?" Sally reasoned.

"Okay…," Analise agreed reluctantly, "Please come back home Annabeth. I know you're mad at me, and I have absolutely no excuse to say those awful words to you. I'm so, so sorry. Promise you'll come back."

Analise's word were met with a tense silence.

"Okay," Annabeth finally agreed. She wanted to get Analise out of here; Analise didn't belong.

"Alright, I'll see you Monday, after school?"

"Don't worry, I'll drop her right off," Sally reassured Analise.

"Are you really going to make me go back home?" Annabeth asked after Analise left.

"Annabeth," Sally chose her next words carefully, "you know that we love to have you here, right? And you can stay as long as you'd like, but I'm afraid that after this weekend is over, you're going to miss your family."

"I won't miss them. They don't want me."

"Sweetie, of course they want you! They love you. Analise was just having a bad night. Sometimes people say mean things when they're going through a bad time; you can't take that to heart."

"Okay, fine. I'll think about it. But I won't promise anything."

Monday after school, Annabeth agreed to go back home, but only because she forgot to bring her favorite book to Percy's house, and she wanted to reread it.

A/N: Sorry this is so late; today was a really busy day. I hoped you guys enjoyed it! (Writing all this angst and sadness was hard…) Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys always manage to make my day :)

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