Annabeth had never been that fond of Thanksgiving. As a kid, she would spend the day with her father who barely paid attention to her and a stepmother that did not care about her. They would always go out to eat and have some lame meal while giving thanks to things that they weren't really thankful for.
It only became worse when her father had two more kids with her stepmother. Annabeth was treated like a second rate citizen. Her father never had enough time for her as he would work days and come home to take care of the babies while Annabeth's stepmother went to work.
When Annabeth was older, she became the unpaid babysitter. It was expected that she would take care of the boys, the house, and her school work. She took to joining more clubs and activities than she could handle just to get away from the responsibilities that were dumped upon her.
That was why she went to Chiron's summer camp. It allowed her to get away and just relax. There was the building frustration from her home situation. Chiron noticed and offered her a chance to take a few shots at his punching bag to relieve anger. It was all uphill from there.
Now, Annabeth didn't talk to her parents much. There were the calls she made every holiday or for birthdays, and she would go once a year to family reunions that she had to go to even if she was an adult who could make her own choices. If she didn't go, her father would guilt her. And it gave her a chance to see her cousin.
As for Annabeth's mother, she had never met the woman. She didn't know anything about her. Not even a name. All she knew was that one day her father heard a knock on the door, and when he opened it, he found a baby in a carriage with a small note.
Annabeth had been given the note when she turned 18. It was a flimsy excuse on why this woman couldn't raise her daughter, and it angered Annabeth to her core. She spent most of her childhood wondering about her mother, but after reading the note, the curiosity turned to hatred.
Today was different though. Annabeth didn't have to sit at a table and awkwardly play catch up with her stepmother who only pretended to care and her father who didn't have time to care. A small regret was that she wouldn't see her step brother. They were different and had actually taken an interest in her career. She usually texted them a few times a week.
Annabeth took a moment to look around the table. Grandma Zhang was in the middle of telling Lupa how she had to survive on her own after her husband died and she was left to raise Frank's mother while working two jobs as a woman who could barely speak English. Everyone else had slowly dropped their conversations to listen as well.
"That's badass," Thalia commented as Grandma Zhang finished her story. Jason gave his sister another reprimanding look, but he should know by now that Thalia couldn't keep her mouth in check. It was like she had been raised by sailors.
Annabeth looked at Thalia and smiled. She missed having her best friend around, and they had so much to talk about. Thalia had been there for Annabeth throughout most of her life. Whenever Thalia wasn't there, Percy was to help fill the void.
"It is very inspiring," Lupa added. She wiped one of her eyes. "My mother immigrated from Rome when I was a baby. She hitchhiked all across Europe to be able to make it to America and earn her citizenship with me."
"You guys have such cool mothers. All we got was a miserable drunk," Thalia commented. There was a sharpness to her tone that went against how much she tried to pass it off as something insignificant. Annabeth reached out to pat her friend's arm.
"That's why my mom basically adopted you too," Percy added with a shrug. "Now, Piper still has to pay her tribute."
"I'm not giving you anything," Piper playfully waved off. "On the other hand, I would give your mother the world. You're just not allowed to touch it."
"Gonna send me to space?" Percy teased.
"I wish I could," Piper replied. Annabeth rolled her eyes at her friends.
"I'll chip in to pay for that," Nico offered as he leaned forward.
"You two are just jealous of me," Percy boasted. He looked to the side. "At least Grandma Zhang likes me."
"Does she?" Hazel teased. All of them looked at Grandma Zhang who remained impassive. "I think she likes me the best."
A nod from Grandma Zhang caused Percy to sigh dramatically. Annabeth smiled and looked around the rest of the table. She noticed that Reyna was hunched forward slightly and staring down at her food. Thalia was in the middle of teasing Jason, but whenever the conversation drifted away from her, she kept looking back at Reyna.
With two people that used to date sitting across from each other, Annabeth expected it to be awkward between them. There didn't seem to be any tension, but there was something. Annabeth just couldn't put her finger on it.
Her eyes moved over to Will. He had been quiet for most of the meal. It seemed like he either was worried about fitting in or didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation. Next to him, Nico was staring down at his food, same as Reyna. Annabeth didn't miss the way that Nico's right hand shook how it did when he was nervous, and he shoved his hand underneath the table.
Annabeth heard a ringtone sound around the room. It caught the attention of everyone and caused them to look up. Then, Annabeth's eyes moved down to her purse. Oh no.
"I'm sorry," Annabeth said quickly. She grabbed her phone and went to silence it. Her eyes widened as she saw who was calling her. "I'm really sorry. I have to take this."
Annabeth stood and moved her eyes to the left and right. Outside would give her more privacy, but it was further away and made her a distraction for longer. The kitchen was closer and would get her out of sight. Annabeth turned and hurried towards the closer option. She answered the call along the way.
"Father," Annabeth greeted as she stepped into the kitchen. She gripped the counter and tried to calm down.
"Annabeth," her father greeted back. He let out a tired sigh a moment later. "I assume you're not coming to Thanksgiving."
"I already told you I wasn't," Annabeth said stiffly.
"Dinner with Sally again?" Frederick asked. There was no judgment in his voice, especially since he already made the mistake of trying to badmouth Sally. Annabeth had snapped that Sally had been more of a parent than he would ever be, and he never forgot that.
"No," Annabeth answered after a few moments. "I'm having Thanksgiving with my team."
"Team," Frederick repeated, disappointment seeping through his tone. "Not your family."
"They are like a family," Annabeth said coldly. "We have this discussion every year. I will be there for Christmas. I will bring Percy as a date, so you can pretend that I am not a disappointment."
"Annabeth, I don't think you're-"
"Save it," Annabeth snapped. "I'm not in the mood to hear it. Have a good Thanksgiving. Tell the same to your wife and the boys. And ask Bobby and Matthew if they want autographs."
Annabeth hung up her phone before her father could answer. She let out an angry breath and placed her phone on the counter. Her shoulders visibly relaxed, and she tried to swallow back her anger. Someone rubbed her shoulder, and Annabeth turned to hug Percy.
"I can't believe you didn't silence your phone," Percy whispered jokingly.
"Don't remind me," Annabeth said as she blushed. She pulled away. "Are you still able to come to Christmas with me?"
"Fake dating? Always," Percy assured. "I can't wait to see Magnus and Alex again."
"Oh God. You and Alex are going to burn something down," Annabeth groaned.
"It's not fun until we do," Percy teased. He studied her. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Just dad being dad," Annabeth muttered. She grabbed her phone and silenced it.
"Want to talk about it or just go stuff our faces?" Percy asked.
"Stuff our faces," Annabeth decided. Percy nodded, and the two walked back into the dining room. They both took their seats.
"Everything okay?" Will asked as he leaned forward to look at her. Annabeth hated that almost everyone at the table turned to look as well.
"Yeah. Sorry. My father was calling," Annabeth began.
"When will he get the hint," Piper muttered, and she reached out to squeeze Annabeth's hand.
"Have you met the man? He's almost as stubborn as Annabeth, and she never gets the hint," Thalia teased.
"You are not going to tell anyone that they are stubborn," Reyna retorted. Thalia looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Wait. Are you telling me that I am stubborn?" Thalia questioned. She leaned forward and smirked at Reyna. Annabeth could have sworn that Reyna blushed before looking back down. "We need to take a poll right now. Who is more stubborn? Me or Reyna?"
"Reyna or I," Nico corrected.
"You're right, Nico. You are more stubborn than me," Thalia quipped. Nico rolled his eyes.
"I'm agreeing with Thalia on this one," Hazel chimed in. "You are pretty stubborn, Nico."
Nico glared at all of them before looking back at his food. Jason spoke, "It's three to one against Nico."
"Three to two," Reyna corrected. She glanced up at Thalia, and Thalia smirked.
"Three to three. I have seen how stubborn Thalia can be firsthand," Piper added. She poured herself more alcohol before settling back in her seat.
"I'm banning all of you," Thalia commented. She crossed her arms.
"From what?" Percy asked. He grabbed another plate of turkey and sat back down.
"None of your business," Thalia said. The table fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments before quiet conversations sprung up throughout the room. Annabeth looked over at Frank. He had been oddly silent for most of the day, and his eyes kept drifting off to the side.
Annabeth hated that Frank lost his fight, and she thought this was the worst time for it to happen. There wouldn't be any more fights until after the new year. The most important thing after a loss was to get back to training and get another fight as soon as possible. Otherwise, the self-doubt would start to creep in.
One of the hardest things about fighting was coming back from a loss, but one thing that was harder was coming back from being knocked out. With a loss, Frank would be questioning himself on how he lost and how he could have gone about the fight differently. Being knocked out would add another layer of questions and maybe fear about it happening again.
Frank wouldn't be the first fighter to have his career ended by a knockout, but Annabeth didn't want to see that happen to him. She didn't want him to lose his confidence. He had a raw talent that would be refined with hard work and time. She had to have faith in Frank, though. He had the best mentor in the world and support from his teammates. He would be fine.
Reyna suddenly jumped, drawing the attention of the entire room. A huge blush came to her face as everyone look ed at her. Lupa spoke, "Are you okay?"
"Y...Yeah," Reyna stuttered. She cleared her throat and stood. "I'll be back."
Reyna turned and quickly left the room. She headed towards the kitchen. There was a small smirk on Thalia's face, but it disappeared as Jason looked right at her. Hylla was watching Thalia closely and with a small frown on her face. Kinzie gave Hylla a questioning look.
"Should I grab the dessert from the kitchen?" Thalia offered, and the hint of a smile came to her lips.
"I'll get it," Annabeth said as she stood. She gave Thalia a knowing look before heading to the kitchen. Annabeth had been in her fair share of relationships, and she had also watched the entire love story that was Piper and Jason. The two had been so caught up in their feelings. Jason would always give Piper looks that caused her to blush. It seemed like it was a Grace habit.
Annabeth stepped into the kitchen and saw that Reyna was hunched over the sink. She was in the middle of loosening her tie. Annabeth squeaked her shoe on the floor, and Reyna quickly turned. It was easy enough for Annabeth to turn towards the counter and grab the tray of desserts, pretending like she hadn't noticed.
"Do you need help?" Reyna asked after a moment. Her face was still red, and she looked uncomfortable.
"Sure," Annabeth said. Reyna grabbed the other tray and cleared her throat awkwardly. Annabeth watched her for a moment before walking back to the dining room. She set the tray of desserts down and took her seat again.
Reyna set out two pies and sat back down. She reached for the pie spatula just as Thalia did. Everyone else seemed to be focused on the dessert, but it was not missed by Annabeth how Thalia ran her finger down Reyna's hand as she retracted her arm. Reyna blushed again and hung her head.
Annabeth looked in between the two of them. She finally moved her attention to Lupa. There was a small smile on Lupa's face, but it also looked like she was blinking back tears. Lupa met Annabeth's eyes, and they smiled at each other.
"Thank you for dinner, Lupa. It's been amazing," Annabeth complimented. Everyone else quickly chimed in their thanks.
"Thank you all for coming," Lupa said with a smile. She looked around at all of them. "And feel free to stay as long as you need to let any alcohol run its course. And one final thing: I would like to make a toast."
"To our friends who are all around us and can be just like our family when we have none at all," Lupa said as she raised her wine glass. "To family."
"To family!"