A Very Demigod Christmas

A/N: Let's just pretend that this is post-Blood of Olympus, where everyone lives and Leo got Calypso out of Oogygia and Sally and Paul had a baby while Percy was gone and named her Isabelle
***
"So…" Leo examined the map of the underground with a critical eye. "I have to take the west for two stops then the red one for three, then take the green line to fifteenth street, then grab a taxi to Broadway and the yellow train for one stop."

"That sound about right to you?" Leo turned to the dusty man sleeping on the stairwell next to him, and waited for his response.

"Of course it is. I'm always right."

Leo spun on his heel determinedly, and headed straight for the westbound entrance.

Then, stopping, the mechanic scowled.

"Didn't Annabeth say that I had to take the north?"

Leo spun around again and went back to the map, muttering about stupid subways and New York in winter, ignoring the bustling street around him.

***

"Do you think they'll all get here in time?" Sally was watching Percy re-string the garland around the tree, worriedly rocking little Isabelle and glancing periodically out of the window to the snowy street.

"It'll be fine Mom, don't worry. Leo will be here once the food is ready—he wouldn't miss that for the world—and Hazel and Frank got held up at the airport, something about their baggage? Piper and Jason will be here soon." Percy didn't even look over at his mother and sister, instead focusing on the sparkly golden garland that was contaminating his fingers and clothing with glitter.

"Oh, I guess you're right. I just want you seven to have a fun time and not destroy anything. You and Annabeth have worked so hard to get this together, and I know how much you wanted to spend Christmas evening with your friends." Sally glanced out of the window again, straining in vain to see anything on the dark streets below.

Percy was spared having to reply as Annabeth and Paul re-entered the living room, laden with plates of cookies for each of the expected guests. They were arguing good-naturedly over some literature book which had a name that Percy couldn't pronounce but was apparently a famous French romance.

After depositing the cookies on the coffee table, Paul joined Sally at the window and Annabeth went over to rescue Percy before he strangled himself with the garland.

Outside, the wind shouted cheer and snow accumulated into white piles everywhere, while the Christmas lights competed to see who could shine the brightest.

***

"Jason, I told you not to bring your gladius."

"C'mon Pipes, you never know when a hellhound might pop up, and anyway I promised Percy I'd let him try it out. He's under the delusion that Riptide is lighter and easier to use."

"I don't care what he thinks about your weapon, it is not proper to strap a sword to your back on Christmas Day, and Mrs. Blofis will not be happy if you destroy another one of her lamps with your stupid sword."

Piper ignored both Jason's pout and his weak excuse that it was only five lamps, glaring determinedly away at the lit store windows. Piper was not in a good mood after five hours in a bus seat, and her shoulders were aching from the weight of her three bags, since somebody couldn't carry the presents because of somebody's stupid gladius.

***

Frank had learned recently that Christmas crowds were not fun.

Frank was now realizing that Christmas crowds in airports were even more not fun.

Which is why he found himself between a shouting German who seemed confused as to why he couldn't bring five different cases of beer and a rapidly jabbering blind Japanese woman who was befuddling the translator.

Frank really hoped that Hazel found their baggage and got back to him soon so he could get out of there and get to Percy's apartment where there would be food and he would hopefully not feel so out-of-place. He didn't know if he could stand much more of whatever German curses the man beside him was spouting off.

***

"Wait, if that was Second back there, then where am I now?"

***

Sally was getting tenser and tenser with every new carol that spewed from the radio, and eventually got so tense that Paul had to take Isabelle from her mom's lap so that the four-month old would not fall every time Sally spun around to anxiously scan the streets below.

Percy and Annabeth were comparing the amount of monsters they had killed (to see who was the toughest, obviously), and Paul was listening with interest.

It wasn't until the doorbell rang that Sally snapped. She jumped up as though someone had electrified her chair, and dashed to the front door before Percy had even risen from the lazy chair.

It was the grinning, snow-covered Jason and Piper who stood behind the door, and Sally drew them both into hugs, regarding the sword strapped to Jason's back with resignation but still taking both of their coats and cheerfully directing them towards the living room.

Annabeth hugged Piper and Percy ogled Jason's golden gladius after slapping him awkwardly on the back.

Sally shoved a plate of cookies into Piper's arms and graciously accepted the small jewelry box that Piper offered, hugging the daughter of Aphrodite once again and letting Annabeth begin quizzing her friend about who had taken who to the fireworks and how Chiron was getting along. Her mission partially completed, she collapsed back on the window seat and took the now-awake Isabelle from her husband.

"Three more to go." Paul told her, rubbing the sore spot on her back. "They'll all be here on time.

***

Having finally escaped the crowd at the airport and fixed whatever problem security had found with their luggage (how was Frank supposed to know that you weren't allowed to bring gigantic spearheads from your godly parent in your carry-on? Thank the gods for Hazel and her Mist-manipulation), Hazel and Frank were attempting to hail a taxi from among the multitudes clogging the street, when something growled, low and threatening, in the shadows to their left.

Frank spun so abruptly that he almost knocked Hazel over, and grabbed the retractable spear from his pocket (a gift from Tyson), snapping it out and immediately confronting a big, black four-legged thing that charged at him.

The civilians around him gasped (he had no idea what they saw, but he guessed it was scary) and backed up frantically. Maybe a rabid dog attacking a big Asian kid who was brandishing a golf club? Sometimes Frank wondered what it was like to be a mortal and not be able to see the freaky monsters, but he only ever wondered that during times like these, when he really should be focusing on something else, like maybe the giant monster attacking? Yeah, that would be good.

Frank caught the monster under its snout and forced it backward, spinning the spear immediately and slamming the butt end onto the dog—the thing's head. It was forced onto the cold concrete with an audible crack but stood back up almost immediately, now with an angry red mark that looked like a crack on its head. It howled, and Frank was immediately reminded of a hound dog. Ignoring the immediate remorse, he stabbed out again and this time the monster disappeared, black dust exploding in all directions.

"Good one." Hazel smiled and patted his arm. She hadn't even gotten her spatha out of its sheath, but she had turned to face the threat. Frank was both pleased and embarrassed by her trust in him, but turned back to try and find a taxi with the daughter of Pluto.

Things had gotten weirder since defeating Gaia, but Frank wasn't sure that it was a bad weird. He got to spend more time with Hazel, for one.

But he definitely attracted more monsters than before, and if tonight was going to continue like it started, he and Hazel might not make it in time to get any of Mrs. Blofis' famous cookies…

***

"I'm pretty sure I've seen this post office before. Twice. So does that mean I've gone around in circles, or is this post office just really prevalent? Maybe I should make a cell phone and just take my chances with monsters…"

***

Piper and Jason's arrival had eased Sally's anxieties somewhat, and the four teenagers were currently engaged in a very intense game of Twister, with Paul on the spinner and much shouting. Jason was trying his utmost not to touch Piper whilst attempting to shove Percy off balance, and Annabeth was making use of the yoga lessons she had recently been taking by completely owning everybody else while upside-down. Sally was laughing, and Isabelle was watching with wide eyes.

It all culminated when Jason succeeded in knocking Percy off-balance, only to find his face inches from Piper's own. Jason yelped and jumped so badly that he lost balance as well, and both boys were exiled to the sidelines while the girls battled it out. Annabeth was in the middle of a backbend, balancing on one hand with the other resting on a green dot and Piper was red-faced and forced into a pose she had once seen in a breakdancing video before Piper conceded defeat, and Jason consoled his girlfriend while Percy grabbed Annabeth in a hug and spun her around in celebration.

Sally suggested a cup of hot chocolate to ease the loss, and she handed Isabelle over to Annabeth while she and Piper went to prepare the drink, and Percy challenged Jason to an arm-wrestling match.

Annabeth watched, interested despite herself, as they cleared the coffee table and got into relative positions. Percy had to loosen his shoulder up first, while Jason merely put his hand into position, and before Annabeth knew what was happening, they were hissing threats to each other under their breath and straining against the other's strength.

They were pretty evenly matched, to Annabeth's estimation, and she felt a grin spreading across her face as she watched Percy's eyes grow fiercer and fiercer with every passing second.

"—I'm gonna feed you to a half-starved gorgon, Grace, just you wait and see."

"I'd like to see you try, Jackson. I'll beat you with one hand—oh, wait, I am."

"Shut up Sparky."

"Kelp-brains."

"Blonde Superman."

Their arms were visibly trembling then, but they still looked to be evenly matched. Their name-calling faded away to half-mumbled insults, then just grunts.

Isabelle had begun to grasp and pull at Annabeth's loose curls, and the daughter of Athena was forced to look away from the unfolding drama to disentangle the little fingers before they yanked all of her hair out, while Paul watched, fascinated, at the even match of strength.

Piper and Sally re-entered at that moment, and Piper rolled her eyes, moving to hand Annabeth a steaming red cup of hot chocolate and settling herself next to the blonde, tickling little Isabelle's stomach with her free hand.

Sally, handing another cup to Paul and not even glancing in the boy's direction, said, "Percy, sweetie, don't forget that you need to get the ham out of the oven when the timer goes off, all right?"

Percy did not look away from his intense stare-off with Jason.

"Percy Jackson, did you hear me?"

Percy gave a non-committal grunt that could have been of exertion, and Sally sighed. She sat on the chair nearest the two girls, and engaged them in a conversation about their relative studies, ignoring the continuing match behind her.

***

They had managed to find a taxi and squeeze into a backseat after a while, and everything was going fine until they realized that their driver was a gorgon and they ended up almost blowing the taxi up.

Realizing that they were only a few blocks from the Blofis' house, Hazel and Frank decided to walk the rest of the way, which Hazel found to be a mistake soon enough.

The wind was howling and Hazel was shivering, huddling unconsciously closer to the heater that was Frank as they passed the storefront windows and brightly-lit corners of New York, and then a harpy swooped out of the sky, shrieking, and all pandemonium broke out.

They had only just disposed of the harpy—which looked too much like Ella for Hazel's liking—when loud breathing met their ears and Hazel felt herself yanked backwards by her scarf, falling into a pile of snow in the alley behind her.

Hazel heard Frank shout her name, but was too busy disentangling herself from her scarf and fending off attacks from the monster in front of her to reply. She felt his heat as he rushed to her aid, and slashed the gorgon attempting to strangle her to dust. "Thanks," she said, returning the favor by stabbing the hellhound that popped up behind him.

Frank nodded, both accepting the thanks and giving his own, but then he realized that they were surrounded. Another harpy hovered at the entrance to the sidestreet, and two more hellhounds advanced on them from the shadows at the end.

Hazel found herself back-to-back with the son of Mars, and she faced the hellhounds, frowning.

It might take them longer than she expected to get to the Blofis' house after all.

***

Leo was unhappy.

It could have been a result of the freezing weather—there was no snowstorms in Houston, how was he supposed to know to bring a bigger jacket?—or of the fact that he understood nothing of New York subways, or maybe that none of the taxis would pull over, not that he had any money for them anyway.

But he thought that the main reason might be the gigantic, slavering lion-eagle-thing that was currently attacking him.

What was up with monsters and attacking him when he least wanted it? Sometimes he liked destroying monsters, when he was bored and it was hot, or when he wanted to test out a new weapon, but when he was lost and late for the only meeting he would have with his friends in months? Not. Fun.

He slammed his Celestial Bronze hammer that he kept tucked in his toolbelt for just such occasions into the lion thingy's clawed paws as they sought to disembowel him, and scowled. Not only was he lost, and late, and Piper and/or Annabeth was going to kill him when he got there (If he got there, piped in Leo's positive side), and freezing, the first monster he had seen in three days had to decide to try to take revenge on its buddies, right then.

You should have gone to get steaks in that cool Baltimore restaurant, his positive side remarked.

***

The stalemate of the boy's arm-wrestling match was ended with the doorbell, and Sally ended her conversation with Annabeth abruptly as she ran to the door.

Jason and Percy separated, rubbing their arms and conceding that the other was pretty strong (but not as strong as the other, they both secretly thought), as Hazel and Frank entered.

Hazel was beaming, curly hair frizzy but otherwise fine, and she dumped the presents and bags in her arms onto the couch so she could hug Piper and Annabeth and grab Isabelle from Annabeth's lap (Isabelle loved Hazel just as much as Hazel loved babies, so good luck to anyone trying to wrestle the little brown-haired angel out of the daughter of Pluto's hands).

Frank pulled Percy and Jason into a simultaneous hug, squishing them together between his long arms. They endured it with smiles, and began quizzing Frank on football, which confused Frank to no end since he barely understood the first thing about the sport in question.

Percy began singing off-key to the carol playing from the radio, and Jason started asking questions about Camp Jupiter and how Octavian was behaving and how Frank was getting along with Reyna, eagerly quizzing his friend for every detail on his erstwhile home.

Hazel and Piper were regaling each other with the newest gossip from their camps, and Annabeth listened with interest, having been away from Camp for the past months on account of school.

"So Travis finally asked Miranda out, and Michael got together with Mirajane—"

"Whoa, no way! I thought she was way too shy for that!"

"Me too! I could barely believe it, and Connor will not stop gloating about how much he got out of the betting pool for Travis and Miranda."

"Hey, did I tell you that the Second got a new legionnaire? Jasmine moved up and Kyle stepped down, and they keep winning war games now, and someone told Jim about the secret tunnels under the Principia, he will not stop using them and popping out of nowhere to scare kids."

"I can see why that'd be a bad idea. But I'm surprised about Kyle and Jaz, I thought Hannah was a sure, but whatever floats Reyna's boat—how is she by the way?"

"She couldn't make it, said she had too much work to do, and she wanted to visit Hylla anyway. But she said Merry Christmas, and hoped that Percy hadn't destroyed the Christmas presents yet."

Percy stopped his singing to retort, "That was one time!"

"I knew I shouldn't have told her about that…" He mumbled to himself when neither of the girls acknowledged his protestation.

"Hey, what about Nico?" Annabeth joined the conversation, locking eyes with Hazel.

Hazel smiled, and nodded reassuringly. "He's fine, and he wanted to apologize for not being able to make it. Said something about meeting up with Rachel in Italy…"

Annabeth smiled knowingly. Nico had been traveling since Gaia's defeat, and she had barely seen him in weeks. Nico hadn't said what he was looking for, but Hazel had confessed that he was investigating his mother's family, and looking into finding demigods from other continents.

Jason and Piper were attempting to help Sally set the table without getting caught under the mistletoe at the same time, Jason blushing and Piper grinning like an idiot. Percy and Annabeth began an intense debate about the contents of Annabeth's present, which was about four feet tall and had the most ridiculous bow on top and Annabeth could not figure out what was inside no matter what she did. Jason and Piper found themselves under the mistletoe accidentally, and Jason, gulping, began to stutter out an apology and back away before Piper pulled him back and press her lips to his.

Hazel grinned at the two, then turned to watch Frank play with Isabelle.

Jason got around to showing his gladius to Percy eventually, and they managed not to decapitate anybody swinging it around and comparing riptide to the gold sword. Frank joined this conversation gratefully—finally, something he knew a thing or two about—and the girls discussed Annabeth's plans for Olympus.

The evening continued on, cheer filling up the room like a balloon, and the six demigods began a heated game of Monopoly, waiting for Leo to show up.

He finally did, two and a half hours after Hazel and Frank, smelling of smoke and grinning like a maniac. "Finally found this place! You guys should put up signs or something!"

Piper was the first to greet him, flinging her arms around his neck and squeezing, looking up at her friend. "You got taller!"

Leo looked affronted, then grinned and flexed his arms. "You say that like it's surprising! With muscles like these, what do you expect?"

Hazel rolled her eyes but hugged the son of Hephaestus tightly, her curly head barely reaching his chin. Leo had grown in the three months since everyone had last seen him, and his hair was shorter.

"Does it smell weird in here to you?" Leo asked, bemusedly, allowing himself to be lead into the living room by Mrs. Blofis and taking the plate of cookies she handed him with a grin and a word of thanks.

No one acknowledged his comment, and Annabeth, after giving him a quick hug as well, asked, "But where's Calypso? I thought she was coming."

Leo grinned sheepishly. "She was going to, but said something about not wanting to fly in the 'big metal birds', and wanting to spend some time at the beach, so I took her to Cali and we spent most of today and yesterday enjoying the warm weather, until I headed here."

Hazel nodded, understanding, and Piper accepted the explanation.

Percy took charge here, sitting everyone down and announcing "Presents!"

Leo perked up immediately. "Hope you all got good ones, but I bet none of yours are as good as mine!"

Leo began by tossing a big package to Piper and hitting Jason in the side of the head with a little box. Ignoring Jason's protest, Leo accepted Hazel's small package and watched as Annabeth grabbed her gigantic present from under the tree.

Exchanging took quite a while, but they finally had all of their presents and began ripping off wrapping with relish.

Piper, taking Leo's first, looked in horror at the fluffy, disgustingly pink pillow that greeted her under the wrapping, and once she realized that it was a One Direction pillow, growled and punched Leo in the arm. "C'mon, Beauty Queen! It's perfect for you." Leo received another punch for his comment.

Frank apprehensively opened his gift from Leo, expecting another gag gift. Instead, a bronze wristwatch fell into his lap, and he looked to the mechanic for an explanation. "It's a shield," Leo explained, tapping one of the buttons on the side and a circular bronze shield unfolded itself. "Tyson helped."

Annabeth tore at her wrapping with a furious intensity that surprised even Percy, who realized that she really had been puzzling over it for the past two weeks. She ripped open the box and lifted out a sphere that was separated into layers, with a silver ball tripping over the various surfaces inside the clear glass. There were ramps and spirals, and Annabeth saw the complicated contortions that would be necessary for the solution. She looked up at Percy, eyes wide and bright, and strangled him with a hug.

Percy had gotten Jason a short sword with the inscription "Superman", and Percy received a dog tag engraved with stylized waves from Piper, who challenged him to a surfboarding competition as soon as the weather was right.

Hazel squealed over a jade necklace in the shape of a gem from Frank, who accepted her kiss on the cheek with a deep blush.

Wrapping paper had hardly ceased flying when an interruption arrived, in the form of Percy's mom. "So," Sally began, seeing her opening and taking it, "Now that everyone's here, we can finally eat!"

The boys cheered, Leo looking extremely excited.

But then Percy dropped the fist he had pumped in the air, sucking in his breath sharply and guiltily locking eyes with his mother.

Sally's eyes narrowed and she pierced her son with a glare.

"Perseus Jackson."

Percy gulped, and stammered, running a hand through his hair, feeling the weight of everyone's gazes on him, "I-I may have forgotten to take the ham out of the oven…"

Sally gasped, dropping the book she held in her hand and dashing to the kitchen. She looked with dismay and saw that smoke was coming out of the slits in the door of the oven, grabbing hotpads and prying the door open.

Smoke filled the kitchen and the smoke alarm started shrilling, and Sally coughed, fanning the air in front of her face. Isabelle started wailing, in addition to the alarm, and Leo's slightly stressed chuckle was covered by shouted apologies from Percy, who rushed to try and help his mom and step-dad clear the room.

He ended up slamming Riptide into the smoke detector to stop the noise, and splashing Paul with water when he tried to move a couple glasses to make room for the blackened ham. Annabeth (after yelling "Seaweed Brain!" in exasperation) joined them in the kitchen, and organized (or absolute) chaos reigned for a minute.

Jason, Frank, Leo, Piper, and Hazel stayed behind in the living room, divining accurately that the Blofis' kitchen was too small for any more people, and stood awkwardly around as Hazel swayed and shushed Isabelle, who was unhappy with the sudden flurries of movement and sounds.

After several minutes, after Isabelle calmed down and the shouting and orders died down from the kitchen, Percy emerged; looking extremely sheepish and carefully avoiding his girlfriend's eyes as she followed him out, scowling.

Sally stuck her head out a moment later, frazzled but not angry, and apologized profusely to her guests. "I don't think it's good to eat anymore…"

Jason, Frank, and Leo tripped over each other to assure her that it was no problem, they still had the mashed potatoes and vegetables, ham was not a necessity, everything was A-Okay with them. Piper and Hazel agreed, smiling at Sally, who relaxed slightly.

"I guess we'll just have to order pizza," Percy announced, sensing the tension loosen, and smiling at the laughter that followed his suggestion.

It turned out that pizza was actually not a bad idea for everyone else, and Paul ended up ordering five large pizzas as the demigods demolished the mashed potatoes set before them and the radio kept playing obnoxiously in the background.

They passed the twenty-seven minutes before the pizza guy got there in humorous recounting of old adventures, Annabeth taking the lead with a few memories of time with Thalia and Luke, and Percy piping in time to time to give a very-butchered version of his adventures that everyone had heard seven times before.

Percy and Annabeth went to answer the door, laughing together and disputing about their first quest together.

They opened the door as one, facing the pizza guy still smiling.

The brown-haired, yellow-clad man took one look at the two, shrieked something about kids with swords trying to decapitate him, and dropped the boxes before sprinting back down the hall.

Annabeth burst out laughing, and Percy watched the stairwell doors close behind him, grinning.

"Percy, what was that?"

"It was the really lost pizza guy, Mom, didn't I ever tell you about him?"

Percy grabbed the pizzas, figuring that if he didn't want paying they wouldn't give him any, and turned to regale the others with the story, shutting the door softly behind him.

~fin~