Disclaimer: *Sings horribly off key* *Attempts to write half-decent fanfics* Yeah, no, I'm not, Rick, Lin, a publishing company, a producer/director, or a Broadway actor.

A/N: Hello, everyone. I hope you all had a great week, and, if you didn't, I hope you have a better one next week. It's been nice because it's finally May, so the weather's been really nice and warm. Anyway, that last chapter was just a nice, fluffy (ish, there wasn't much Percabeth), laid back chapter for you. I'm planning that this one will be similar.

Quote: "I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal, tryin' to reach my goal. My power of speech: unimpeachable," - Lin , My Shot

Annabeth POV:

It was a week until Christmas, and Annabeth was stressing about what to get Percy. Okay, she probably shouldn't have left it to the last minute, but it was their first Christmas as a couple, and she wanted it to be perfect. Percy deserved the best, and Annabeth was ready to move mountains to make that happen. She looked through literally hundreds of gifts, but none felt quite right.

So, now, here she was, on December 18th, with no present for her boyfriend.

A couple days passed.

There she still was, on December 20th, with no present for her boyfriend.

Another day passed.

Finally, on December 21st, which was, coincidentally, the winter solstice, Annabeth found the perfect present for Percy. (Try saying that five times fast)

This momentous occasion occurred when she was with Piper, and Hazel at the mall, frantically trying to find a Christmas gift for Percy. (So I'm writing this outside right now, and there's this little bumblebee about a foot away from me (about 30 cm), so I put a flower next to him, and he's pollinating. I think. Anyway, it's super cool to watch that up close and in that much detail, which is I think way more than you can achieve with a camera. But I digress).

She had searched and searched with no luck, until she was exiting the mall, dejected, when she spied a small shop that had all kinds of things that had possible gift-for-Percy possibilities.

"Hey, I'll just check out that shop quickly. You guys can head back," Annabeth said.

Annabeth hurried over to the shop.

The words, "Philo's Nook," were written across the front of the store. "Owned by Philophrosyne*," were written underneath in a smaller, gold font. That's a mouthful, Annabeth thought.

Annabeth wandered inside. A bell tinkled somewhere as she entered the shop. While small, it was full of various kinds of ornaments and decorations. Annabeth found herself wandering around an aisle filled with all kinds of custom picture frames. Annabeth spotted one made of wood, that had a driftwood-like look to it.

The second her eyes landed on it, she knew exactly what picture to put in it.

Annabeth grabbed it, and went up to one of the workers, a beautiful young woman who's name tag read, "Philo." So this was Philophrosyne, who's name was on the front of the building.

"Hi. Is it possible for you to imprint words onto this picture frame?" Annabeth asked.

Philo smiled warmly, "Of course! Just let me know the details when you're ready to check out."

Annabeth thanked her, and continued to browse the shelves for another present. Soon, she spied a coral dolphin. It was practically made for Percy. She grabbed it and headed to the checkout counter. (The dolphin was blue, of course)

Annabeth paid for all her gifts, informed the lady the details for what she wanted on the picture frame, and went on her way. She'd pick up the picture frame the next day.

The next week, Annabeth's present for Percy was all wrapped up and ready to go.

As she finished her final performance before Christmas, Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief. Percy would love her present. Plus, she had all of her plans for Christmas/Christmas Eve/New Years worked out. (New Years and Christmas dinner/morning (but not in between) would be with Percy and the rest of her close friends. Everything else was either with Helen and her dad, or Athena) That was nice, because she felt like she had a lot of places to be over those few days, and it had definitely not been the easiest of choices and planning.

Now, though, she could finally relax, and actually enjoy the holidays. Annabeth smiled on the drive home as she took a moment to appreciate the (extremely obvious) fact that it was Christmastime, which was one of Annabeth's favorite times of the year.

Out of all Percy's and Annabeth's harmless bickering and disagreements, there were a couple things that they could always agree on: 1) While they both had different opinions on the best seasons, Christmas was the best holiday, and 2) Starbucks was way better than Dunkin Donuts and there was nothing anybody could do to change that.

The next day was Christmas Eve, which meant Annabeth would be having dinner at Athena's house. They had already had some casual lunches, and those had been all good and well, but this was different. Christmas was a time for family. Athena… well, despite everything, it still felt a bit odd to think of her estranged mother as family.

Going to Christmas Eve and everything would make it all more real. Permanent. And, as much as Annabeth wouldn't like to admit it, Annabeth already cared about Athena. They, like or not, had some weird form of a mother-daughter relationship.

Annabeth had gotten into architecture because it was something permanent. Something that would still be there, even after she wasn't.

She'd been left far too many times by people she cared about. She'd had walls up for so long, she'd almost forgotten what it was like to have them back down. She'd hide everything with a snarky remark or cold indifference. Then came Percy. Percy, the sweet, amazing person he was, broke down those walls. And, even though her pride didn't like her to admit it, Annabeth's life had been far better because of it. Since then, she'd been able to trust. She hadn't had to worry about the people she cared about leaving her.

This, however, was a bit different. Athena had already left her once. Who was to say it wouldn't happen again? Annabeth hoped not.

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Percy POV:

On December 24th, a certain person with jet black hair that was persistently messy and sea green eyes smiled as he woke up.

It was Christmas Eve, and Percy Jackson was going to spend it with his family. As much as Percy loved his family, the time had been moving so quickly, and it had been over a month since he'd seen them: Estelle, his mom (Sally), and Paul.

Estelle had been growing up so fast. She was seven now, and nearly a second grader. Percy wanted to be a person in her life. He wanted to be the awesome big sibling he'd never had. Hopefully, he'd be able to accomplish that.

While he knew Estelle's childhood was going to be vastly different than his own had been, in many ways (hopefully), he also knew that having an older sibling, even one that wasn't around 24/7, could still be something great to have in your life.

So, later that day, Percy happily drove to his parent's apartment, excited to see his sister, mom, and step-dad.

Percy knocked on the familiar wooden door of the apartment he had used to live in with his family. After a moment, the door was opened by his mother, with her traditional warm smile.

"Percy!" Sally exclaimed, "It's so nice see you!"

Percy beamed, and gave his mother a hug. "You too, Mom," He responded.

Percy walked into the apartment. A blur of messy brown hair and an, "I'm a STARfish," shirt from the New York Aquarium came flying at him, giving him a tight hug.

"Hi, Estelle!" Percy said with a grin.

"Hi, Percy!" Estelle responded with an equally big smile.

"Gueth what? I lotht my thecond tooth!" Estelle exclaimed with a lisp, as she now had two missing teeth.

"That's great, Estelle!" Percy congratulated. Percy smiled as he looked around the apartment.

There were so many memories here.

Those misshapen stitches on the middle of Sally's favorite pillow on the couch - they were from when Percy picked up the most adorable Newfoundland (named Mrs.O'Leary) off of a guy named Daedalus on the street. Newfoundlands, however, were huge dogs. Mrs.O'Leary was about twice the size of Percy then. She had torn up Sally's favorite couch pillows, so Percy had tried his best to fix the damage before Sally came home. (The Newfoundland was soon dropped off at an animal sanctuary. As far as he knew, Mrs.O'Leary was still living happily with her new owner, Tyson.)

The jar of blue candy on the kitchen table - those were from Sally's days working at Sweet on America. She and Percy had the same passion for blue food, and Sally still occasionally dropped by the candy store for a refill.

"Paul! Hi!" Percy greeted as Paul rounded the corner.

"Hi, Percy. How are you? And Annabeth?"

"We're great, actually. The musical's been going really well, everything's been going well. It's great. How are you guys?"

"We're good as well. I swear Estelle's becoming more like you by the minute," Paul replied.

After half an hour of talking, laughing, and just generally catching up with each other, they sat down at the table to eat. The table was laden with all kinds of delicious foods, cooked by Sally.

"Mom! This looks amazing!" Percy complimented.

"Thank you!" Sally said.

They took their places at the table, and ate delicious food and talked and laughed for the rest of the evening.

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A/N: Hello, thank you guys so much for reading! If you'd like to read more, leave a follow or favorite, and leave a comment to tell me what you think! I really appreciate it! By the way, this was early because I'm going camping for the next two days, and won't be able to post Saturday, so here I am, typing as fast as I can to try and post this before I go.

Recommendation:

(This is a book)

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is (was, she's dead now) a really famous, really good mystery writer. The Big Four is my favorite book of hers. I also liked Crooked House and Murder On the Orient Express. (By the way, Crooked House and Murder on the Orient Express are both really good movies, made in the last three or so years, although there's probably an older version too)