A/N: Hello, friends! I hope you all had a happy holiday! I wrote two chapters in the last couple days (this chapter being one of them) Both of these chapters take place in San Francisco. I hope you enjoy!

Despite what any past version of herself might have thought, Annabeth really loved walking into her father's home in San Francisco. It gave her a sense of normality that she hoped would prevent any flashbacks.

Her father had come to pick her up from the airport. The ride home was mostly uneventful. However, once she got inside the house, she was bombarded by her half-brothers.

"Annabeth!" Matthew exclaimed.

"We have your Christmas present!" Bobby exclaimed right after his brother.

"Oh, boy!" Annabeth replied, trying to match their enthusiasm.

The twins were around twelve or thirteen now, she couldn't really remember, and Annabeth was having a hard time picturing them as something other than her baby brothers.

After following the two into the living room, a sloppily wrapped present was shoved into her hands.

"Give her some time to at least take off her coat, boys," Annabeth's stepmother chided as she walked into the room. "Hello, dear. We're very glad that you came."

"Hello, Susan. I'm glad that I came, too," Annabeth replied, smiling.

Annabeth slipped off her jacket and set it down next to her on the couch. After laughing at the impatient looks that were being sent her way, Annabeth opened her gift.

It was a notebook.

"Dad said that the best thing to get you was something to write down your thoughts and ideas in," Bobby explained.

"Open it," Matthew instructed.

Annabeth did as she was told, and she saw pictures of her family taped in a collage on the inside cover.

Matthew kept talking, "Since you live all the way out in New York, we thought that you would want a touch of the family you have in San Francisco."

Both of the boys were now well aware of why Annabeth wasn't around for most of their lives. They clearly wanted to show her how loved and welcomed she really was.

"I love it. Thank you," Annabeth said, pulling the boys into a hug and kidding their heads.

Her father stepped into the room at that moment. "Told you that she would love it," he said in a sing-songy voice.

"We get it Dad; you know everything," Bobby said with an eye roll, causing Annabeth to giggle.

"Annabeth, you have to tell us cool stories about Camp Half-Blood," Matthew commanded.

"I don't think I have too much to tell you," Annabeth explained. "I've only been to camp twice since summer.

The bright look on Matthew's face dimmed slightly.

"Oh, wait!" Annabeth said, remembering. "I did have to lead a hellhounds away from a young demigod, unarmed."

"Tell us more," Bobby pleaded.

Annabeth launched into the story of the day she found Sophia. She may have exaggerated some parts and left out some others, but the twins' faces were what kept her going. They were so entranced by the story; they didn't care whether it was true or not. Annabeth was a very good storyteller.

"Sounds like you have an interesting life out in New York," Susan commented.

"Not everything is that intense. I've only had to battle one other monster while living out there. Only two monsters in the first semester of school is really good when you have two demigods in the same place," Annabeth explained.

"Have you made many friends at Goode?" Frederick asked.

"I've found a nice little nerdy group of friends, and Percy's friends on the swim team have been really nice," Annabeth answered.

"Percy's on the swim team?" questioned Matthew.

"Isn't that like cheating?" his brother asked.

"Not really," Annabeth replied. "He glides easily through the water, but it's not like he'll accidentally use super speed or something."

"I imagine school is going well," her stepmother said. "Any plans for college?"

"School is a breeze. Percy and I are, ironically, taking a class on Greek mythology. We are both planning on going to college in New Rome at Camp Jupiter. It was Percy's idea and a, surprisingly, good one considering that the idea pertains to furthering our education," she explained with a laugh.

"That means you guys will be out here next year!" Bobby exclaimed.

Annabeth laughed. "Good to know that you're using that big brain of yours."

They all talked for a little while longer, catching up. Annabeth asked the boys about school. Bobby loves it; Matthew said that it was "okay," though his mother assured Annabeth that he had straight A's.

"Okay, I've put this off long enough," Susan said, standing up. "I need to go to the grocery store. Who's coming?"

All three boys suddenly had many things that they had to do.

"I'll go," Annabeth offered.

"You sure?" Susan asked. "I'm okay with going by myself; I always do."

"I want to go. I'd hate to send you off by yourself when those guys already made up reasons not to go."

"Well, okay. There isn't too much on the list, so we won't be that long."

You know when parents see someone they know at the store, and they talk to said person for forever. That's exactly what happened with Annabeth and her stepmother.

When Susan saw her friend, Annabeth was only expecting greetings and possibly small talk. What she got was a front row seat to a discussion about the twins and whoever the woman's son was.

"So Susan, are Matthew and Bobby your only children?" the woman asked with a glance towards Annabeth.

"Not necessarily. Carol, this is my stepdaughter Annabeth," Susan replied.

"Hello, Annabeth. Sorry for ignoring you for a bit, there," the woman, Carol, apologized. Then she asked Susan, "Was Frederick married before you? I don't remember either of you ever mentioning a past wife or her."

Clearly, Carol had mastered the art of subtlety.

Susan plastered a fake smile on her face.

"No, Frederick was not married before he married me, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't have a child. Annabeth lives in New York City with her mother; we don't get to see her very often," she explained with the same fake smile and a slightly pained look.

"How old are you, dear?" Carol asked.

"Seventeen," Annabeth answered. She was just as annoyed as her stepmother at this point.

"Hm. Quite an age difference between her and the twins. I still find it odd that none of you have ever mentioned her-"

"You know what, Carol," Susan interrupted. "We should really be going. See you later."

It kind of deflated Annabeth, knowing that her family never mentions her as if she never existed at all.

"Annabeth, please don't think that you aren't important to us," Susan said.

"Why would I think that? People never talk about the people who are important to them," Annabeth snapped.

"You don't think that we would if we could? Almost all of the mothers are just like Carol: nosy. If we mentioned you, they would ask too many questions. Of course, we answered all that we could, but these mothers have nothing better to do than to know every detail of someone's life. We told the boys not to talk about you around adults, but they always talk about their awesome sister to their friends. It kills Frederick to not talk about talk about you when we talk about the boys to these women, but all of his work friends get earfuls about his beautiful, smart daughter," Susan explained.

Annabeth nodded and hugged her stepmother.

"I'm sorry, and thank you," she said quietly.

"No need to be sorry or thank me. I'm just trying to make up for the way I treated you when you were young; I never intended to be cruel."

"You were never that cruel. I just never felt like I belonged."

With this new understanding of each other, they finished up the shopping trip and went home.

Thoughts? I just really enjoyed writing Matthew and Bobby. Mostly because I'm a twin, and I tried my best to make them separate but at the same time two parts of the same whole because that's how twins are.

QOTD: Are any of you guys twins? Let's bask in all of our twinliness!

Until next time!