The song that inspired me to write part of this actually has very little to do with this chapter. Christmas in June? In Texas? As if! Anyway, if any of you care, the song is "Light of Christmas" by Owl City and TobyMac.

Disclaimer

If I owned PJO, Percy would have had a bigger role in the finale of HOO instead of having a nose bleed and watching Piper steal his thunder by duel-wielding.

Percy walked out into the forest, stripping his gloves off his hands and tapping them against his thigh in thought. He waited patiently, shivering slightly in the chill air, as he waited for his contact to appear. A sleek shape low to the ground prowled slowly out of the surrounding greenery and made its way toward him. The wolf blended in well with its white coat matching against the snow. Percy crouched down to its level. "Could you send some of your pack to watch over the mortals and the monster army? Let them see you, they need to know that we are watching." The wolf barked once in acknowledgement before whimpering and asking a question. "If they attack you or a mortal respond how you see fit. I trust in your judgement." The wolf nodded before turning and sprinting away among the trees. Percy straightened, satisfied that he would have eyes in the enemy before trudging out of the snow bank he had been in and heading back to the valley. He had barely made it inside before being tackled by a blur of blonde hair as Chloe launched herself at him. "Daddy daddy! It's Christmas Eve!"

"So it is sweetie. Have you and Zoe decided what we are going to do yet?"

Zoe came into sight, smiling. "Yes. Ready to go?"

"Whenever you are. Shall we?"

He asked, offering her his arm. She took it and managed to keep a straight face as she answered gravely, "We shall." The couple swept out the door with the little girl trailing in her footsteps. She broke out from behind them and darted forward, throwing herself face up into the snow and giggling as she formed a snow angel, legs and arms waving wildly. Percy and Zoe smiled, seeing their "daughter" having fun. They might not be her biological parents, but they loved the little girl and enjoyed seeing her happy. Chloe sprang up and grabbed Percy's wrist with an iron grip, dragging him over.

"Help me build a snowman!"

He groaned. "Why are you ladies always so violent?" He muttered. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to stand still and model for me."

"Stand still, that I can do." He took a pose and maintained it as Zoe and Chloe leaned down and started rolling balls of snow. He watched as they carefully sculpted the bottom sphere before giving the snowman a extremely large potbelly, before topped by it off with a squat oblong head. Percy watched in horror.

"I don't really look like that do I?"

Zoe chuckled. "Actually I will have you know that this is an extremely accurate reproduction of the real thing." Percy pouted.

"That's mean." Zoe walked up and gave him a hug before kissing him.

"There. Happy now?" He smiled in satisfaction and was about to answer when he got a mouthful of snow. He spat it out before noticing that Zoe and Chloe had positioned him facing into the wind so he got a face full of snow every time the wind blew.

"You girls are so sneaky." Chloe joined in the group hug, snuggling into Percy.

"But you know you love us for it." He smiled, wrapping an arm around her and drawing her further into the hug.

"That's true, I do. Ready to wrap presents for Aunt Selene Chloe? I'm sure that I can find someone else to do it if you want..."

"No, no, I've got it." She quickly responded. Wrapping presents for Aunt Selene was quite the lucrative business. She had a habit of taking those who participated for a spin in her chariot. The trio went back inside to began the rather laborious process. Percy had just started to wrap one for Zoe when he heard a series of thumps coming from the steppes. He hurried over and saw an amusing sight. Chloe had tried to take too many decorations down the stairs and had tripped on a ribbon. She had then fallen down the steps one at a time before landing in a gift bag so that only her head poked out the top. "Trick or treat?"

"Good try cutie, but wrong celebration. Unless you want it be put under the tree I think you should get out of there. Wouldn't want to be stuck in a box for a while eh?"

"Nope! Come on, we have a lot of stuff to do!" The next few hours featured frantic wrapping and hiding of presents between the three of them. Percy finally placed the last present under the tree and straightened up, groaning as his stiff muscles protested.

"Now that the job is done, would you to go on a sleigh ride? The sleigh should be here momentarily."

"How much does it cost?"

"Don't worry about it, doesn't cost a cent. It's free. Come on!" The three strolled outside, just in time to see a sleigh sweep down from the sky and land in front of them, pulled by eight reindeer and being driven by a portly man in a red suit with a booming laugh.

Chloe gasped and looked back at Percy. "It can't be..."

The man leaned over the sleigh. "Oh, it certainly is me my dear. Percy called in a few favors for this. How about you come sit on my lap so that I can give you a gift?" Chloe ran over and sat on his lap before shyly leaning forward and whispering in his ear. "Are you sure?" She nodded. "Very well." He got up and walked forward before removing one of the bells from the harness of the reindeer and wrapping her hands around it. "The first gift of Christmas. Take good care of it. Now, I believe you asked for transportation to New York?"

Percy nodded. "Yes please. We are trying to attend the decoration of the tree in the Rockefeller center. We really appreciate this Nick."

"No problem." He pulled out an old fashioned pocket watch before looking at it and yelping. "Five minutes to midnight! I have never been late before, and I most certainly do not intend on being late, tonight! Get on, we need to get going." They got on and Santa pulled a lever as the craft started forward, with something coming off the back of the sleigh and making vivid colors in the air. Chloe rotated a spare container and look at it.

"Potash of carboniloroxy... ...amilocitrate." She looked up and gasped. "Magic dust."

Santa smiled. "Mined from the Aurora Borealis itself. Kick back and enjoy." The sled shot forward through the night, heading straight for New York. When they got there and Santa landed to let them out, he looked at his watch before smiling in satisfaction. "Five minutes to midnight. Perfect."

"But it was five minutes to midnight ten minutes ago?"

"Exactly! Glad you understand. Help hand out gloves while I go set something up. Be right back." Percy and Zoe helped distribute the gloves along with a man with a bucket and a bell from in front of a nearby department store. He sidled over to Percy and gave a wink from under his Elf hat.

"Good to see you back."

"Good to be back, if only for a little while. See anything out of place?" He got a nod to the negative and smiled. "Good. I would hate to spoil her Christmas with a fight. Thanks for the help Arthur. Where is Bryoney?"

"No problem man. If your in the area, always ask! Bryoney got promoted, she is now Vice-President of Packing, Pacific Division. Dad took my place for the night, he looks the part more than me right now. He should have arranged the permission for Chloe right about now..." Santa came back over, stifling a yawn.

"Done. She can put the crowning Star on the tree now. Arthur, anything else you need me for?"

"Nope, thanks Dad. You really made her night." Santa nodded and took a few steps back before stretching out a hand and grasping a cord attached to a Christmas tree shaped stirrup for his foot. He suddenly shot up into the air and was gone within seconds. Percy turned and looked at Chloe.

"Sweetie, would you like to put the Star on top of the tree?" She nodded eagerly as he helped her up the massive ladder to the top. As she was about to put the star on, Percy noticed Arthur in the sleigh racing in their direction. As the star touched the tree he lashed out with a whip and gently touched the top of the decoration, causing the whole tree to light up and erupt into a dazzling array of colors and causing the crowd to cheer and throw their hats in the air. As he flew away Percy gave a two fingered salute in gratitude before climbing down the ladder with Chloe. The two took in the sight, happy with their work. Zoe came over and joined the two.

"Feel like caroling tonight?" Chloe nodded eagerly but was betrayed when she yawned and her two parental figure smiled at her. "On second though, maybe another time. Right now, we need to get you home before Santa arrives." She winked at Percy as she said this before turning and leading them to the transport that would take them home.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, and at a much less happy place in Seattle...

Hylla got in the face of the monster emissary. "You will let us through."

The empousa yawned. "Why would we do that? You would just go to the aid of your sister, plus we were here first, you would have to attack us to get through us, and I am reasonably sure you would be wiped out." She said, waving her arm and gesturing to the vast monster host that outnumbered the Amazons by a stunning margin to emphasize her point. "Lord Kronos said not to attack, so we will not unless provoked, luckily for you. I would love you to make a mistake that would let us kill you all. Why he didn't just have us wipe you out I am not sure, but let me warn you, you are coming very close to ticking me off. Now go back to your minuscule horde of female warriors and warn them to watch their step. After all, we would hate for a mistake to happen right?" She asked with a grim smile.

Hylla growled, about to attack the insolent vampire. Kinze rushed forward and grabbed her arm. "My queen, don't do it. it would serve no purpose and would only get us killed. You need to stay calm. I know it is your sister, but you need to trust that she can handle herself now. There is nothing we can do." She grunted in acknowledgement, and took several deep breaths to calm herself down.

"You will pay for this, I swear it." She growled before turning and starting to trudge back to their headquarters, grinding her teeth and promising to get revenge on the monsters for this.

Just a bit of a glimpse into the home life of Percy. Christmas has provided some of my favorite memories, so that is how I tried to portray this holiday. Oh yeah, just because it it Christmas Eve doesn't mean there isn't a war going on. If the Amazons want to, pretty sure the monsters provide free death on a stick, a special deal only available for a limited time during Christmas.