To Riordanlover16- I can do happy chapters sometimes, you know XD I would spend HOURS building homes on The Sims and stuff like that; I spent way more time on the houses than I did actually playing the game :P And yes, keep reminding me!

It is really bloody weird writing Christmas chapters in May.

Christmas Eve was here. Everyone had made it. Annabeth had lost her bet by ten minutes, accidentally teaching her son a new swear on seeing Festus parked outside. If anyone asked, Harvey had said, Festus was a very large Christmas tree. The flames were just special effects.

Leo cashed in his bet winnings as an I.O.U. Annabeth fumed at him, Percy and Grover concealing their humour behind her. They sympathised when she turned around, but the dragon had beaten Christmas traffic despite all her planning.

Storm had been draped with a large Christmas blanket covered in gingerbread men to hide her wings. She refused to be left outside and was often seen nudging people at the buffet table to be feed sweet treats, ignoring her rider's admonishments that she was going to be sick.

Leo met Barry first. A giant of a man that swallowed Leo's field of vision in a gaudy Christmas jumper that lit up and played music. He picked Leo up easily, suffocating him in a bone-crunching hug to the tune of Jingle Bells. His booming laugh made Leo's brain shake.

So quick he had appeared, Leo didn't know what he actually looked like until he was put down again. Dark brown skin and curly afro hair going grey at the temples, a radiant broad grin behind his dark beard. His brown eyes sparkled almost as much as his jumper.

"A true champion!" he declared, trapping a wheezing Leo under his arm. Leo took this moment to write Barry on a sticker and sneakily apply it to the Christmas jumper. "Liam! Look who I found!"

"Ah. The fabled boyfriend." Liam was just as tall as Barry, but slim. He was pale with sandy blond hair and grey eyes. He did not wear a Christmas jumper, smarter in a dark green shirt and black trousers. Someone, probably Barry, had stuck a paper crown on his head.

"Fabled?" Leo spluttered. "I'm official, thank you!"

"Yes, we heard." Connor appeared from behind his father, giving Leo a once over. "You wait 'til Mikey catches up with you. What are you doing?" Leo stuck a name tag on Liam.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Being introduced to the extended family, of course!" Barry thundered heartily. "Come, come!" He whisked Leo away.

He stickered everyone he met— Rebecca, Dylan's mother, with dark auburn hair and steely green eyes. Dylan was with her, dutifully holding her plate while she raided the buffet. He crushed Leo's hand in greeting, addressing him solely as, "Tinkerbell."

Mikey's mother, June. They had the same hair and eyes, though her lopsided smile was much kindlier and calmer than Mikey's. Her whole presence was quiet, as if she had absorbed the serenity of a library. How she had produced such a boisterous spirit as Mikey, Leo could not compute.

"Lovely to meet you, Leo," she said, offering him a mince pie. "Barry, you don't need to hold him hostage."

"Yes, I do. I'll lose him the second Mikey finds him." June nodded sagely, an expert on the erratic behaviour heading Leo's way, a stormfront of impending chaos and cracked ribs.

Barry found Lizzie. They had apparently teamed up to plan The Wedding, gushing ideas at Leo, not giving him a chance to input. As they went on, he decided not to comment at all, face warm. They had been very in-depth with their planning, everything from the menu and the seating arrangements to the music and the decorations and even to throwing sunflower seeds as the happy couple left the venue.

Leo liked that last idea. Sunflowers, he knew, were Louisa's favourite flowers.

However, he was keeping his mouth shut.

"THERE HE IS!"

"Oop!" Barry laughed. "Nice knowing you, Leo!" He ruffled Leo's hair and let go. He had half a second of freedom and then Mikey tackled him.

"YOU!" Mikey exclaimed, dragging him away. "I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"Lou!" Leo called, making a grab at her as he was hauled past. Mikey smacked his hand down only for Louisa to do the same to him.

"Where are you goin'?" she demanded. "Stop kidnappin' Leo!"

"It's not a kidnapping!"

"Yes, it is," Leo rasped, Mikey's arm around his neck. "I'm being taken against my will."

"Pfft, whatever. Come on, this way. Lou, go away. Stop following us!"

"Make me," Louisa countered. Mikey pouted. He could ambush Leo, but he could not ambush Louisa.

"Fine," he said. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Within seconds, the other two members of the Entourage appeared. Leo stared at them, eyes widening more when Jessica and Harvey joined them.

Jessica had swooped on Bradley the moment she could, approving of his little elf onesie. He had the hat to match as well, fake elf ears stuck on the side. He was more than content to sit in her hold, chewing on her fingers. Harvey stood guard at her side.

"What's all this then?" she asked. "Mikey, why are you strangling Leo?"

"Seems sound to me," Dylan muttered.

"I just want to talk to him!"

"Let him go," Jessica ordered. "If you want to talk to him so bad, surely it's better if he's conscious for it?"

"Mm? Oh!" Mikey flung his arm away and Leo wheezed. "See, if you'd just come along quietly, we wouldn't have this problem now, would we?"

"You didn't exactly give me an option."

"You don't get options with Mikey," Connor supplied. He turned to Louisa, folding his arms. "You know full well Mikey needs to get this out of his system. He can do it discreetly or he can do it here." On cue, Mikey bared his teeth. He was producing some high-pitched noise, like an old tea kettle, and bouncing on the soles of his feet.

Louisa looked between them all, expression unreadable. Mikey was tugging on Leo's arm now, only ceasing his strange noise to draw breath. Connor waited patiently for her answer. Dylan cracked his knuckles, staring Leo down. Jessica, having saved Leo from strangulation, was watching events unfold. Harvey remained beside her, accustomed to these antics.

Louisa caught Leo's eye. She was worried, he saw. Worried what was to be said to him, worried what he would say back, worried.

Leo stopped resisting Mikey, the tea kettle noise dwindling away in surprise.

"You get five minutes," Leo told him. Mikey beamed at him and Leo let himself be pulled away. He glanced back over his shoulder, throwing Louisa a thumbs up. Her worry did not lessen, hands wringing.

She was still worried when he returned five minutes later, meeting him over by the buffet table.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Leo assured. "Mikey was just… curious."

"About?"

"Ah, don't." Leo shook his head, making a show of fidgeting uncomfortably. "He strip-searched me and everything. I'll never recover."

"He what?" She realised he was having her on, smacking his arm. Leo laughed and held up the plate of pigs in blankets. Past her, he saw Mikey had acquired a group— Dylan, Connor, Lizzie, Piper and Barry. He was whispering to them, gesturing madly with his hands.

Louisa started to turn, to see where Leo was looking. Leo threw an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple.

He didn't tell her what was said between him and Mikey, distracting her with food and terrible Christmas jokes. Bradley was returned to them at some point, shortly followed by Tobias in a moment of confusion on Liam's part. Neither Louisa nor Tobias minded, the boy sitting on her shoulders and munching happily on whatever snacks she passed up to him.

Percy appeared in search of his son. He didn't glower at Leo, smiling and reaching past him to get the last of the tiny quiches. Leo figured that was an improvement, though he kept the pigs in blankets back. They were too good to share with anyone but Louisa.

Leo wasn't sure what was going on with this party. Jessica and her team of Romans had outfitted the hall splendidly. A dozen seven-foot Christmas trees wrapped in red, gold and green. Christmas classics playing softly over speakers. Streamers draped across the ceiling. Garlands framed all the doors and windows. The buffet table stretched one entire wall; with this many demigods, nothing would be wasted. Not even the paper plates, courtesy of Grover, Coach Hedge and Chuck, though they had to be reminded quite a few times to eat away from the mortals.

There was a lot of mingling. Sometimes Louisa was with him, sometimes she wasn't. She was as in demand as he was.

He found himself talking to his friends only to be swept away by Mikey or Lizzie, and then Jessica was there, or the Entourage's parents (who had thankfully kept their name tags on), then Coach Hedge and Mellie, then Lizzie again with a tape measure and muttering to herself.

Leo's head was spinning, losing track of what he had told who. He definitely repeated himself in places about Valdez Industries or a funny Bradley story, but no-one seemed to mind. It was the spirit of Christmas to be bamboozled by people and he wasn't the only one caught in the loop of repetition. Barry told him five times about his light up jumper, as if it hadn't been the first thing Leo had seen.

He spent a bit of time with Hazel, Nico and Frank. Listened to Lester/Apollo play Christmas carols on the Valdezinator while Meg grew cauliflowers out of her ears. Had a dance off with Will and Estelle, (who was still convinced he was an elf, asking if she was on the Nice List at least ten times). Let Sally decorate his hair with tinsel. Found Tobias under one of the trees, curled up for a nap with one of the presents. Annabeth was relieved to have him back, thanking Leo with a mince pie. Harvey returned Bradley to him, grizzling with a wet diaper. On his return, he found Mikey flirting with Jason, who was either Louisa-levels of oblivious or just extremely polite.

Leo had to ask about that one, tracking Connor down.

"I don't think Jason swings that way," he said, nodding at the pair. "Does Mikey know?"

"Oh, we've told him a few times, but it's inevitable." He shook his head. "We got caught up in a monster fight once and Mikey got thrown off the roof. Don't panic, he's obviously fine. Jason caught him and flew him to safety, but ever since Mikey's been in love."

"That's weirdly endearing," Leo remarked. "Jason looks very confused."

"Most people are confused by Mikey. That's also inevitable."

"Games!" Jessica called, ringing an old school bell. "Time for games! Listen to your teams, it's already been decided, deal with it! Where's Lou?" She looked around, hands on hips. The bell clonked miserably at this new angle, sighing. "Hold on, we're missing someone else as well." She did a headcount, mumbling names to herself. Leo scanned the crowd as well.

"Piper's missing too," he announced.

"Ah, fantastic. Right, right, we'll start without them." She drew some paper from her pocket, unfolding it. "Here are your teams. No arguing or you'll only get coal!"

Leo was put on the team with Mikey, Reyna, Jason, Harvey and Paul. They were given red paper crowns to wear.

"What are the games?" Leo asked Harvey, the only one with inside knowledge.

"Well, there's a quiz. Uh, a couple of races. You'll see, just wait." He waved aside any further questions.

Louisa was outside, sitting on the steps up to the hall. It was dark out now, the stars dazzling over New Rome. The air stirred gently, refreshingly brisk on her face and arms.

"Is that better?" Piper asked. Louisa nodded. Too people-y inside. She loved everyone dearly and enjoyed their company, but this was the biggest gathering she had been to since she got back and… she needed some air.

Piper had provided a distraction for her, pointing out Jason alone at the buffet table. Mikey wasn't going to miss this chance to speak to his Superman, hurrying off. Piper tucked her hand in Louisa's elbow and lead her out.

Louisa rubbed at her face, exhaling slowly.

"How'd ya do it, Piper?"

"Do what?" In answer, Louisa jerked her head at the doors behind them. Piper gaped. "You'd better not be calling me a people person, Lou. I'll be really offended if you were."

"You're better than me. You've got some people magic or somethin'."

"Aaah, I'll let you in on a secret," Piper dropped her voice to a whisper behind her hand, "I'm a big fat liar." Louisa frowned and she laughed. "It's true! I worked hard for this personality, I'll have you know. I'm not naturally bubbly." She shuddered. "I'm hiding out here as much as you are."

"You are?"

"Yeah." Piper leaned back on the steps, crossing her feet at the ankles. She tipped her head back, eyes absorbing the colour of the night sky. She could sense Louisa studying her, combing on a smile. "You know how it is, Lou. Everyone's got these… expectations for you. You play by the rules, you do the quests, you move to Oklahoma, you move back to open your own fashion-slash-weapons shop for demigods, but you're still expected to be what everyone else wants you to be."

"Shop?"

"Oh, yeah. Leo gave me the funding so I'm not working from home anymore. I thought he was having me on at first. Then Annabeth said his money cleared to buy that land. He's my top investor. My only investor, really, but that's beside the point. In the New Year, I shall have my own shop in New Rome and possibly a sister branch in New Athens, if Annabeth lets me."

"Fashion-slash-weapons, yeah?"

"I kind of got into designing dresses. Women's fashion is a nightmare, Lou, a nightmare. I intend to fix that, make clothes accessible for the modern-day woman."

"How so?"

"Well, for a start, fucking pockets. Pockets you can actually put things in, pockets that you can put your hands in, pockets that aren't fake pockets for display only. Pockets, Lou!"

"Pockets are important," Louisa nodded. "What're you gonna call this shop?"

"I'm still workshopping it. I'm going to have shops that work for demigods and mortals, that's my goal."

"Good for you."

"Yes! Thank you!" Piper gestured at her— see! This one gets it! "That's the reaction I wanted, that's the reaction I wanted. Everyone else is over-the-top excited and giving me all their ideas or telling me business is a hard thing to get into, how am I going to cope, what will I do if it goes wrong? I don't want it to be a big deal, I just want it to be mine. I want to do my own thing now, you know?"

Louisa grunted, folding her arms on her knees. Piper smiled at her, head tilted. "That's what I always admired of you, you know."

"What?"

"How unapologetically yourself you were."

"Were?"

"You're hiding."

"I'm not hidin'."

"Why are you out here with me then?" Louisa side-eyed her. Piper shook her head. "You can't hide from me, Lou. I know you. You've been hiding since you got back." Piper raised her hands. "I get it. I do. I don't blame you. Shit hit the fan."

"Big time," Louisa muttered, picking at her sleeve. "Can we go back ta talkin' about ya shop?"

"Can I say something first? I'll go straight back afterwards, I promise." Louisa sighed.

"OK."

"You're slowly coming back out of your shell," Piper said. Louisa winced, fingers digging into her arms. "You're the happiest I've ever seen you, I think. Like, genuinely happy. Not causing trouble or blowing things up or fighting happy. I mean genuinely happy. But you're still hiding. Don't shake your head at me, I know you are and so do you."

"Mr. D's been sayin' the same thing," Louisa mumbled.

"You should listen to him. He knows his stuff."

"I know. It's just… hard. Like… like I feel bad for laughin', sometimes. Does that make sense?" Louisa looked at her imploringly, shoulders hunching. "Why do I feel bad for laughin'? Leo might say a joke or… whatever 'n' I laugh, but…" She faltered. Piper arched an eyebrow at her.

"What does Mr. D say?"

"I need to give myself permission to be happy." Louisa wobbled her head, momentarily going boss-eyed. Piper hummed in thought.

"When have you ever asked for permission?"

"Leo said I was happy the other day."

"Did he?"

"Yeah."

"And you are."

"Sometimes."

"You can't be happy all the time. You wouldn't be human." Louisa seemed unconvinced. Piper sat up, swivelling to face her. "You can't be any one emotion all the time, Lou. It wouldn't make sense. Sometimes you're not even feeling just one thing, are you? Sometimes you feel lots of things or none of the things. Sometimes you do just feel the one thing. That's human."

Louisa didn't reply, watching her fidgeting hands. Piper scooted closer. "Do you know why I say you're hiding?"

"No."

"You're not letting yourself feel the bad. No, hear me out. You have a nightmare, yeah? What happens? You freak out and then you shut down."

"I nearly killed Percy last time, but sure."

"But you shut down. You closed yourself off. You never let yourself feel the whole ordeal, did you?"

"I… I can't… I can't do it."

"Why not?"

"I… I don't… I don't want to hurt anyone else. Percy… Percy almost died 'n' he's forgiven me like, like… like it wasn't anythin'. He held a grudge longer for me stealin' his Oreos than he did me… me…" She blinked, surprised at her own tears. She touched her face, hand trembling.

Piper moved to sit next to her, shoulder to shoulder. She kept her hands to herself though, lightly resting on her knees so Louisa could see them.

"Better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission," she said. Louisa sniffed, brow creasing.

"What?"

"You've never needed permission. You do what you want, always have done." Piper smiled, bumping their knees together. "You don't need to give yourself permission to be happy. You need to forgive yourself to be happy."

"What do you mean?"

"Feel the bad," Piper advised. "Don't shut it away. Shutting it away only lets it fester. It grows out of sight and then claws at you when you're least expecting it."

"But I don't want to hurt anyone."

"If that's the case, why are you hurting yourself?"

Louisa stared at her. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Piper gave her a minute to think, sitting quietly. Eventually, she cobbled together a sentence, voice hoarse.

"Maybe you should do therapy with ya pockets."

"Maybe I will," Piper laughed. "Like the clothing version of a fortune cookie." Louisa leaned, gently butting her head against Piper's. "You're welcome," Piper assured, patting Louisa's leg. "Now, help me think of a name for my shop. Nothing Valdez related; I don't care if he's my top investor, he needs an ego check."