NECKLACE AND A PAIR OF GLOVES | Percabeth Mini-AU

December 24th

THE NEXT MORNING, ANNABETH WOKE UP scared.

Nightmares. The same face haunting her dreams, pulling her farther and farther away from the surface.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake it off, could she?

Sighing, she pulled herself up from the bed, which had smelled like cookies for some odd reason. Maybe Sally made them a lot. This time, she managed to actually walk without groaning in pain, hobbling to the mirror. Her hair was a tangled, curly mess, and her grey eyes were puffy from sleep. The scratches on her face had cleared a bit though, which was nice.

After smoothing down her hair and pulling it into a ponytail, she headed down to the kitchen, where Sally was getting some breakfast.

"Hi, sweetheart. Do you feel better? How's your ankle?" She asked anxiously.

"It's better. A lot better. I can walk on it now."

"That's good. Be careful, now. Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you. Percy, Grover, and I were planning to go to the Santa's fair today. Do you want to come with us?" Sally asked.

Where else could she go? There was no one. She wouldn't allow there to be anyone.

She couldn't just leave the new family she had found.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. I would love to come!"

'''''

After they had all eaten breakfast, they all piled into Sally's beaten up SUV. The entire time they were jamming to Christmas music, Annabeth and Grover singing off-key while Percy and Sally actually sang good. Dang.

When someone, namely Percy, joked or said something funny, he kept looking at Annabeth, like he was waiting for her reaction. Grover, who noticed the interaction, kept shooting her knowing looks, but she shrugged. She wouldn't let herself think it. Not now.

She would just live in the moment before it all ended.

Finally, after an hour or so, they arrived. It was still in the city, though not as crowded and busy. More like a smaller area, with a town square set up. People were there, but there were less of them, which helped put Annabeth at peace. Honestly, she was just not in a trusting mood at the moment.

"Okay, I'm going to look around. You three can have fun!" Sally said, waving them goodbye as she walked away.

Annabeth looked at the boys. "So? What do you wanna do?"

Finally at one point, the three of them had gone to every single stand. They had made custom Christmas snowflakes to display, drank every single combination of hot cocoa possible, and made homemade Christmas ornaments. It was like being a kid at school again.

Annabeth had never had this much fun in her life. Well, at least in a long time. The last time she had laughed so hard, her mother had still been alive, and that had been years ago.

Percy and Grover were nothing like Luke. She couldn't help comparing them to each other, but it was true. They were so kind, so friendly, so joyful and happy and radiant and it couldn't stop making Annabeth grin.

"Hey, Beth, come on! We're going to say hi to Santa!" Percy said, breaking her out of her thoughts. He was like a little kid, child-like wonder in his eyes as he looked around and took in the sights.

"Okay!" She said, allowing herself to be pulled towards the line.

There were a bunch of little kids there, the trio being the only ones above five feet in the line. It was fun though, and Annabeth reveled in the joy of experiencing all the things she missed out on. She didn't say anything, didn't want to disrupt the mood, didn't want to turn on the pity in their eyes.