Hello people. The first thing I want to say is this: to anyone commenting 'I hope it's Jason' it's not. Annabeth knows what Jason looks like - he's engaged to her best friend, she's known him for years. Sorry to disappoint. Also I realised (and corrected) a slight error in the Hot Chocolate chapter, Piper and Jason have known each other for 7 years, since college.

Annabeth woke up to a little angel in her calendar, like one you would hang on a Christmas tree, but without the string. "Breakfast!" Helen yelled up the stairs - every Sunday she would make breakfast, and it was always good, one of the things Annabeth missed the most when she was away.

She wondered down the stairs, Matthew and Bobby darting past her, and relished in the smell of pancakes wafting from the kitchen. She went and sat down at the table next to her Dad, taking a pancake from the stack in the middle. Annabeth slathered it in Nutella, then put a couple pieces of chopped banana on top, before biting into it. "It tastes really good, thank you Helen."

"No problem honey." Helen smiled, sitting down. "So what's everyone up to today?"

"I'm meeting up with up a friend." Matthew said, drowning his pancakes in syrup.

"Which friend is this?"

"Ruby."

"Ruby?" Annabeth asked, curious, "Who is this Ruby?"

"She's just a friend."

"Okay, if a guy ever says a girl is 'just a friend', she is never 'just a friend'."

"Well Ruby really is just my friend." He defended himself, slightly blushing, and obviously lying, but Annabeth let it pass.

"What about you Bobby? Any girls?"

"Uh no." He said suspiciously, looking down at his food.

"Who is she?"

"A girl in my calculus." He sighed, defeated, "I give her gum and she helps me understand the stuff the teacher's talking about."

"What's her name?" Frederick asked, surprised that his son was actually opening up.

"Katrina."

"Cute." Annabeth commented, taking another pancake from the stack.

"So have you got any plans today Annabeth?" Helen asked, moving on from her son's crush.

"Not that I know of." As she said that, her phone pinged, so she turned it over where it was sitting on the table in front of her, and read the message.

Percy
Hey you busy today?

Annabeth
No why?

Percy
Well my mum's running this charity thing in the square

Annabeth
What's it for?

"Annabeth no phones at the table." Frederick scolded her, so she put it down.

It pinged three more times, and Annabeth looked at her dad apologetically, "Can I check it?"

He rolled his eyes, "Fine."

Percy
Christmas donations for under-privileged people
Like gifts and decorations and stuff for people who can't afford them
And everyone who donates something gets a free cup of her hot chocolate

Annabeth
Well I can never turn down a cup of Sally's hot chocolate
What time is it?

Percy
Noon onwards
You can just show up whenever, I'll be there all day

Annabeth
Cool, I'll see you there later

Percy
See you there

She put her phone down, for real this time. "So Sally's running a charity thing in the town square this afternoon, anyone wanna come with me?"

"I will." Bobby volunteered, "I'm not doing anything today."

"Awesome."

"Let's go Bobby!" Annabeth yelled to her brother, she had planned to leave at one, and it was already one thirty, so now she was in a rush.

He came stomping down the stairs, "You know, I don't even have to come with you, I chose to do this."

"Do you have your donation?"

He groaned and went back up he stairs, a moment later, he was standing by the door with Annabeth. "Alright, I'm here, let's go."

They walked the ten minute journey to the square, and spotted Percy and his mum set up in front of the gazebo, groups of people standing around them, some with cups, some with donations, all talking and having a good time, even though it was cold as balls. Sally had always seemed to have a knack for bringing people together, no matter the time of year.

"Hiya." Annabeth smiled, walking up to the table Percy was sitting at.

"You came!" He grinned up at her, and took the small ornamental reindeer she gave him.

"I did say I would. Sorry the reindeer's not much."

"Every little thing helps." He assured her, putting the reindeer in a big bucket with all the other donations.

"You're the guy who used to bring blue cookies to our house all the time." Bobby blurted out, realising who Percy was.

"Why yes I am." The sea-green eyed boy confirmed, laughing, "Sadly I don't have any with me today."

"Shame, they were good." He said, handing over the donation that he brought. "Annabeth some guys I know are over there, do you mind if I go talk to them?"

"Go ahead Bobby." She told him, as he dashed off towards his friends.

"You want some hot chocolate?" Percy offered, handing her a cup.

"Yes please." She gratefully accepted it from him, letting the sweet warm liquid warm her up. "Can I sit?" She asked, gesturing to the empty seat next to her friend.

"Of course."

As Annabeth sat down, Estelle came running over to them from the direction of Sally's Groceries, "Here's your hat." She said, handing a blue wooly hat to her brother.

"You're an angel Estelle, thanks for getting this for me." Percy put the hat on, "I think Mum wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ugh fine." She said, trudging over to the other table where her mother was sitting.

"I can't believe how old Estelle is now." Annabeth said, watching the kid walk away.

"Neither can I, she seems to get bigger every time I see her." Percy chuckled, taking a donation from someone and placing it in the bucket.

"It's the same with my brothers." She replied, sipping her hot chocolate, "Makes me feel old."

He laughed, "Annabeth we're 26, not 40, we don't need to think about getting old just yet."

"I know, but it's still weird. I mean think about it, we used to think that adult life was an eternity way, and we couldn't wait for it, we couldn't wait to get out of this town. Now it's ten years later, and I love coming back here, it's kinda scary how much things have changed."

"When you look at it that way I guess it kind of is." Percy agreed, staring off into the distance.

"Percy!" Sally called over from the other table, can you go get more hot chocolate?"

"Sure Mum! Annabeth do you mind manning the table while I'm gone?"

"Not at all." She smiled as he ran off to the store to get more drinks.

"It's you." A semi-familiar voice said, and Annabeth looked up.

She was met with the face of the guy she had walked into yesterday, and found her cheeks warming, although that might have just been the cold. "It's me." She agreed, mildly embarrassed. "Hi. Sorry about yesterday."

"Don't worry about it." He smiled, sending an electric pulse through Annabeth's body, "Are you running this thing?"

"Nah I'm just helping out a friend." She explained, taking the donation from him. It was an angel, the kind that would go on top of a tree. Annabeth stared at it for a moment, thinking of the advent calendar, before his voice drew her out of her trance.

"Oh cool. I'm Luke by the way."

"Annabeth." She introduced herself, handing him his complementary cup of hot chocolate. "Thanks for the donation."

"No problem." He walked away, and Annabeth found her eyes following him as he did so.

Thanks for reading! Please favourite, follow, and review!

~ athenagirl05 xx

Replies to Reviews:

readingboksforlife: You were right!

EmmaBloomFan22: No aborting here.

Yoshi133: Haha yes he is. I doubt there's really many spoilers that you couldn't have really guessed yourself, pretty much the only similarity between it and this fic is the calendar, but hey ho. You should watch it was this is finished though, it's really good.

dodoking666: Haha yeah I'm not the best at updating early - it's currently 11pm and I'm finishing this off, but oh well.

nothing could go wrong: Yeah it is on Netflix.

joshannis12345: Fair warning, there will be a lot more ruining coming up. ;-)

Poseidon1702: Haha yeah, as you can see, it's Luke.

Guest: Thank you!

jodanfritz10: :)

Kaden Flores: You are very right.

Anna Robbins: Nah I don't know when I will restart College Roomates, this will end on Christmas (I think), then I'm going to be very busy over my Christmas holidays, because I barely get any and stuff will be going on, so you can probably expect it some time in January.