Hello! First of all, Merry Christmas to all! However, the holidays can be a bit of a rollercoaster depending on where you are and how you are and who you're with. Thus the inspiration for this story (that and the fact that you guys simply adore Percy-as-a-Dad stories from what I can tell). I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the universe and original characters of the Percy Jackson universe.

Dedication: F, L and Mx, my Christmas miracles (who happen to follow me around on the 364 other days of the year, much love)

Maggie Jackson's Absolutely Awesome and Completely Happy Advent Calender

Percy hadn't ventured into parenthood thinking I'm gonna name my child Magdalen. Personally, he hadn't. But when a half-blood single-handedly took down a drakon outside the hospital where your child was being born, and that they withered away from their injuries in that same hospital's ICU after telling you during a visit that they would have named their daughter Magdalen after the great-grandmother that had raised them, had they lived longer… You went with it.

So yeah. Magdalen Leia Ekaterina Jackson was their child's mouthful, nightmare of a name.

Maggie was, in short, Percy's life. She was a dream that had come true against all odds and she was a little ray of sunshine and a set splash of freckles and fluffy dark hair and a sliver of silver irises and a knack for puzzles and multicolored shoelaces and a thousand other things that he had memorised about her. Maggie liked kayaking with him, she loved popcorn, she liked when he made funny voices while reading stories, she liked olives (ironically), and her favourite colour was green. And above all, she loved Christmas. She started talking about it as soon as November 27th came around, while they sat around a heaping pot of spaghetti for supper.

"Daddy?" Maggie asked as he cut her noodles for her.

"Yup?" Percy asked.

"What are we doing for Christmas this year?" Maggie asked.

"Umm, I don't know Freckles," Percy said. "We're probably going to have dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's, we'll go to Chiron's Christmas party…"

"But we're going to make it cool, right?" Maggie said.

"Of course," Percy said. "We are cool, Freckles. What makes you ask that?"

"It's just that last year we were so busy being sad for mom… this year has to be a happy Christmas."

Percy's blood chilled.

Ah.

Yes.

Of course this was going to come up. Maggie was her mother's daughter. She was too smart to let things go, to miss patterns and not anticipate them… This didn't mean that Percy was ever ready for her bursts of honesty or her deep, deep questions or her too-old observations. Mom always said that Maggie was an old soul in a young body. It broke Percy a bit, being able to go through Maggie's life and pinpoint the exact moments when she'd aged a hundred years or become so perceptive.

"I think that last Christmas needed to be a little sad," Percy said. "There's no use keeping the yuck in when you're not feeling right and that you lost someone you love, right?"

"Right," Maggie said. "But we don't have to be sad this year, right?"

"I don't think so," Percy said. He kissed Maggie's hair. "Look, I... I know that last year was sad, but don't worry about this year. It'll be an awesome Christmas, Maggie. I promise."

Monday, December 1st

Percy woke Maggie up slowly and left her to pull on the striped leggings and the green shirt she'd picked out the night before. The morning was under control and going smoothly with breakfast underway, when Maggie stumbled into the kitchen and saw the new decoration.

"What's that?" she asked, rubbing her palm to her eyes.

"It's an advent calendar," Percy said. "You know, when you eat one chocolate a day until Christmas?"

"Uh huh," Maggie said. "But this one's different."

It was. Percy had strung red yarn across the living room wall, and had used clothing pins to hang an army of envelopes above Maggie's head.

"That's because you get more than chocolate this year, Freckles," he said as he set down breakfast at her spot at the table. Toast with strawberry jam, cut into rectangles and not triangles because his daughter was a heathen. The orange juice had no pulp, which was Maggie's redeaming quality when it came to breakfast. "Every envelope is something that we'll do to make Christmas awesome."

"We'll do... twenty-four things?" Maggie asked, taking a second to count. Her eyes were bright and her mouth was hanging open.

"You bet," Percy said. "It'll be awesome." And it'll make up for all the things that have happened to you, and all the things you missed. "Trust me."

"So what's today's thing?" Maggie asked.

"Open the envelope with the number '1' and then you'll see," Percy said. Maggie sprung to the task and was even happier to find a little chocolate with her note- which Percy had written on a square of green cardboard.

"Write a letter to Santa Clause," Maggie read out. "Good idea! That way we'll be first!"

"We have to wait until after school and work," Percy said. "That's good, though. You have all day to think about what you want to write, and you can bring your colouring pencils back from school to colour. Now come sit down so I can do your hair, breakfast is ready…"

Percy sent a picture of Maggie's letter to Piper and Jason and Reyna and Frank and Hazel and Grover and Malcolm and Magnus and pretty much everybody on his contact list.

Dear M. Santa Claus,

My name is Maggie but maybe my name is Magdalen Leia Ekaterina Jackson on your official list. I hope you have had a nice year. Thank you for the train last year I had lots of fun. Even my cousins liked to play with it. The glitter ball in my stocking was also lots of fun even if I broke a vase on accident. Daddy said it was an ugly wedding present, so it doesn't not matter if I breaked it.

This year I would like a Lego Death Star. If possible I would like the one with 3803 pieces and not the one with 125 pieces because it will take me longer to make and me and my dad can have more fun with it. I promise tat I will take care of it even if I am not 14 like it saiz on the box and even if sometimes I am silly. I will be careful with my glitter ball so I do not break it. If that is too big, I really liked the smelly markers from last year and used them so much that they don't smell anymore.

I think my dad would like a new bag for his scool things because his bag now has a lots of duct tape on it. I think that is unprofessional but he says it is ok but could you still see what you can do? Maybe he also needs something fun. Grandma's oven mitts have a hole in them so she needs new ones before she gets hurt. Grandpa is nearly finished his book so could you write a new one for him?

Thank you very much. Say hello to all the elves and I hope they have a nice vacation after they mak all the toys. I promise to leave cookies for you and carrots for the raindear.

Yours sincerelly,

Maggie Jackson

PS- In case you did not know my mom does not need Christmas presents this year either. I know for sure that she is not coming back now that you could not do it last year. She really liked her present the year before. It was a really good last one. you always know what is best.

Percy cropped that last part out of his picture.

Tuesday, December 2nd

Maggie gasped when she found the tiny scarves and tiny mittens and pebbles and buttons in her second envelope.

"We're going to start today?" Maggie asked excitedly.

"After school," Percy said with a matching grin.

"Oh but Daddy, I can't wait that long!" Maggie said clutching the miniature scarf.

Since Percy was a sucker, he resolved himself to leaving Maggie's hair down and messy for today and figured that he'd drop off Maggie and her breakfast at his parents' house for today and look so cute that they wouldn't mind feeding her before dropping her off at school.

The two of them stepped on their teeny tiny porch and scraped the snow off the railing to start the snowman family. Every year they made an army of snowmen to decorate their porch. Sometimes they even had to ask their neighbor, Madam Zusak, to keep some of the snowmen on her porch when they ran out of room. Sally thought they were adorable and had made tiny, doll-sized winter gear for the snowpeople. A green hat like Maggie's, a blue scarf like Percy's… A few years back, she'd made a Darth Vader cape, and Annabeth had crafted a helmet with an egg carton, some black paint and her probably-magical glue gun. Maggie had stolen a red napkin from a restaurant and after discussing how unethical that was, Percy had transformed it into a cape for Little Red Snow-Hood.

For this morning, they made a Percy and a Maggie, and part of him was relieved that Maggie had called it a day instead of making a snow Annabeth too. It was a good sign, right? It showed that to Maggie, reality was fixed for her…

At any rate, it meant that Percy wasn't too late for work, though he would have been more than happy to explain his lateness to his students with a picture of Maggie holding her snow-Maggie in her cupped, mittened hands. He was such a sucker for her, it didn't make any sense. Percy was thrilled.

Wednesday, December 3rd

They sat at the kitchen table with bowls of popcorn and cranberries to string together. Percy was just popping more corn since they always ate half of it during the process, when Maggie squealed: "Daddy look!"

Knowing Maggie, this could mean a number of things, so Percy was rather quick on the ball when he spun around.

Maggie was pursing her lips to balance one of the garlands under her nose.

"I have a moustache!" she squealed with delight.

Percy burst out laughing, and when the microwave beeped and Maggie jumped so hard that the garland fell to the floor and sent all the cranberries and popcorn rolling- he just laughed more.

"How about we cut snowflakes, Freckles?" Percy said. "Sounds much less complicated."

Thursday, December 4th

"Alright Freckles," Percy said. "Do you remember the rules?"

Maggie nodded solemnly.

"Alright, so our time starts…" Percy said as he portioned out the rest of the hot chocolate into cups. "Now." He punched the timer on his phone.

Maggie immediately made a grab for the rainbow sprinkles, like she did every year in her quest to make banana split hot chocolate. Percy worked more diligently.

Every year they emptied the pantry and tried to invent the absolute best hot chocolate possible by elevating regular powder. It would become the National Hot Chocolate of the month, and that's what they would drink on Christmas-related special occasions. Last year's winner had been a hodgepodge of hot chocolate made with chocolate milk, sea salt and whipped cream. It was going to be hard to outdo- but Percy and Maggie had to try.

Annabeth always thought that this Christmas tradition had been disgusting, especially when they'd nearly poisoned themselves with chili-pepper and hot-sauce cocoa when Maggie was four, but she drank funky stuff with lavender and white chocolate chips in it, so what did she know?

Percy's favourite had always been hot chocolate with Bailey's in it, but he was not in the business of drugging young children so he was improvising this year with peanut butter and strawberry sundae sauce to see what he could do to impress Tyson.

When the timer rang, they had each tried their three cups. Percy had immediately regretted his PB&J concept, but he thought that his gingerbread hot chocolate had some promise unless the cookie bits turned to mush. The candy-cane white chocolate chip hot chocolate smelled really good too- overall, not a bad year. Maggie looked pretty proud of herself, though that was probably because she'd gotten more whipped cream in her mouth than in her mugs (thank the gods that she'd be shipped off to girlscouts by the time the sugar kicked in). She'd actually done pretty well this year- banana-split hot cocoa aside. One of her cups had bits of coconut and three kinds of chocolate chips. Her last creations was a concept beyond Percy's comprehension until she explained that it was "snowman soup". The marshmallows were body parts… the chocolate chips were the buttons… the sticks of cinnamon were arms… the crushed oreos were top hats and eyes and smiles… the whipped cream was blood and organs… And grim concept aside, when they got around to sampling Percy was stunned by how good it was. However he nearly spat out his gingerbread hot chocolate when they got around to it.

"Maggie, did you sabotage this?"

Maggie's eyes darted quickly to the lemon juice and the chili powder and the significantly emptier jar of nutmeg before she met Percy's eyes, shook her head no, and then burst into laughter.

Snowman Soup was their National Hot Chocolate.

Friday, December 5th

It had been a bit cruel to make Maggie wait this long for her Christmas tree, but the logistics of doing it on Friday were just too easy to skip. First off, he didn't have any classes on the last bloc of the day so when he swung by to Mom and Paul's apartment to pick up their tree, he could stop and chat instead of rubbing his storage freeloading into their faces. They'd seen the letter to Santa and they thought it was adorable and Percy didn't tell them about Maggie's PS. Also Mom sent him home with a big jar of sweet potato soup that she'd made the day before, so that was a plus.

After that, when Maggie came home from school, the tree was already standing strong and proud in a corner and Percy was already wearing a Santa Hat, holding Maggie' s in his hands for her. Maggie absolutely pounced on the boxes of decorations and the strands of lights.

"No, no, no," Percy said. "You've got it all wrong," he said pulling the hat over her ears. Her look was simultaneously shock and horror. Percy clarified: "We're not decorating a Christmas tree this year; we're going for a Christmas Maggie."

Maggie squealed and held out her arms and sang 'O Christmas Tree' at the top of her lungs as Percy wrapped her in lights and hung ornaments to the collar of her shirt and the belt loops of her little jeans and she danced around the apartment for a while too. Percy took pictures and made it the background on his phone and next time one of his students asked him about his kid, this picture was for sure showing up.

"Daddy, how are you going to put the star on top?" Maggie asked. "I have a hat on."

"Oh, that's right," Percy said. "Hmm. Never mind, then. I guess we really should go for the tree."

And so they did and the Christmas music was blasting. Maggie was easily distracted and Percy was no better. Add to that that Maggie wanted to hear about where each ornament had come from (some of them Percy skipped over like 'well honey your mother thought that it'd be funny to tie this minotaur horn to a red string and call it festive'), and she wanted to show him pictures from school and read stories, and eventually they stopped to order pizza... Bottom line, it took them a few hours to get the tree up and going as well as to decorate the apartment- but it was pretty and Maggie loved it. They brought back the Pickle too- every year they hid a pickle among the branches and whoever hadn't hidden it needed to find it before it went bad and started stinking up the place, and then hide it again for the other person to find. Percy liked propping up the pickle behind a stuffed toy of Snoopy wearing a Christmas hat that Maggie loved to put on the tree, and so that was where the Pickle spent its first night.

They pulled up their sleeping bags and pillows and made a nest of spare blankets and couch cushions to spend the night under the tree like they did every year; Maggie curled up against Percy.

"Daddy?" Maggie asked.

"Yes Maggie?"

"I'm glad you didn't throw out Mommy's Christmas hat," she said.

It was hanging with their two stockings, above the TV.

"I wouldn't throw out anything of Mommy's without asking you first," Percy promised.

"Our tree's the prettiest tree ever this year," Maggie said.

"I think so too," Percy said.

"Can you read me the story about the Christmas tree that nobody cuts down, but then Santa Claus' elves hear him cry at night so they go out and decorate him?"

"Sure," Percy said, twisting awkwardly to reach for the book.

Maggie would forever deny it, but she was fast asleep by page 10.

Saturday, December 6th

Maggie was sitting tight on the couch, holding the remote in one hand and a book in the other, waiting for her popcorn and her impossible slow father so that they could start the movie. Her bare feet stuck out of her fuzzy pyjamas, and Percy made a mental note of it so that he'd tickle her later. Her cheeks were still rosy from the time she'd spent on the porch, adding superhero snowmen to the porch by tying dish rags around the snowmen's heads.

"Here we go," Percy said when he finally sat down with her. "Let's see… it's a supper for champions, Maggie. We have juice boxes, corn dogs, carrot sticks, applesauce…"

Of course Maggie didn't care about supper, and she instead exclaimed: "And popcorn!"

"Yes, and popcorn," Percy said. "With green MnMs only, I double-checked. But you have to eat your veggies first."

"You have to read the story first," Maggie challenged.

"Not true," Percy said. "Because I have to read the story before we watch the movie to have a Polar Express Marathon- but you might just decide not to eat your vegetables at all..."

Maggie smiled. She knew that it was true, and Percy knew because he'd been exactly that kind of troublemaker with his mother. She gingerly reached for her carrots and her celery, and so Percy cracked open the spine of the book and started reading.

Sunday, December 7th

Maggie. Had. Zero. Patience.

Percy sincerely hoped that he had never been this bad when Mom drove him to camp every year- asking are we there yet every five seconds and kicking the back of his seat and singing as loudly as she could to check if the other cars could hear her… Percy couldn't get mad though. This was exciting- for both of them. They were going to Chiron's Christmas at Camp.

Maggie was also particularly excited because she knew that she'd be running into Sasha and Willa Grace and also little baby Elsa that she hadn't seen much of. She was always excited to see Chiron and Grover, and she'd been told about how Juniper was pregnant and though the concept of a person being in a person still destabilised her a bit, Maggie was a big fan of babies. Overall, Christmas at Camp was one of Maggie's favourite holiday landmarks and it was a good thing that it had come early this year, or else Percy would have spent all of December hearing about it.

Besides, Percy was pretty damn excited about it himself. He and Jason barely got to see each other because of how strong their scents were and how vulnerable their kids were, and Grover was always working for the Council within camp borders, and Nico and Will were always in their own little corner of medical school hell, and Clarisse was barely in the country anymore, and Travis and Katie only came down from Baltimore periodically... Sometimes the Hunters would swing by thanks to Thalia's thick skull and pure willpower, and Magnus would manage to sneak his way to Camp too.

Usually they'd let their kids roam wild and free and go tobogganing down Half-Blood Hill and make snow angels. The nymphs loved to weave holly and mistletoe into the girls' hair, and when the kids weren't looking Percy would always rearrange the ice particles to make their snow angels beat their wings and fly across camp's central green. It was touchy, bringing little kids to camp. There was a bunch of magic and dueling and flaming climbing walls and things that Percy didn't want Maggie knowing about just yet. But at the same time, since the Mist was spotty with legacies, he figured that he may as well show her the 'good' magic at camp, right?

Besides, Percy was kind of a big deal at Camp. Annabeth had always teased him about it, but it could get embarrassing. Kids he didn't know would look at him and drop their weapons and then others would play rock-paper-scissors to go double-check with him if he really only had been twelve when he'd defeated the Minotaur for the first time. (Then they'd walk away to tell their friends the news and Percy would have to explain to Maggie what a minotaur was in a light, carefree way that made it sound as if Daddy was just telling stories again). Despite the mediatic attention that had come with the competitive swimming he'd used to put himself through college, Percy was still insecure with the attention- the fact that he always had another of the Seven nearby helped out. Chiron was pretty good at telling the half-bloods to calm themselves when there were little kids at camp. Most half-bloods had enough sympathy and empathy and horrible childhood memories to calm themselves on their own. If not, the camp counsellors who were so close to adulthood and university and mortages and kids that they could taste it did it for them.

Like they did every year, Maggie and Sasha made a beeline for Aunt Tia (it took them a while, but Jason and Percy soon realised that this was Hestia when the goddess told them how pleasant their daughters were when they went to see her themselves). Maggie absolutely raved about "Grandpa's Sister Tia" since she always had stories to tell about their parents when they were young, and candies in her pockets. And then, like they somehow managed to do every year, the girls tracked down Mr D, much in the way of cats always hanging around people who didn't like them. They'd taken to calling Sasha and Maggie the fake-twins, since they so often trailed behind one another and ganged up on the same issues.

While the kids were sliding down Half-Blood hill, Jason and Percy and Thalia and Nico lsnuck away to roughhouse in the arena. It was good training (since they didn't get much of that unless they were actually attacked at home), and good fun. Sure they were missing Hazel, but they were enough Big Three Kids around for training to get real interesting, real fast. It made Percy feel better, in a way. To fight and use his powers when it wasn't to try to save his skin or protect a lost half-blood in New York… Telling Jason that he fought like an old man, or taunting Thalia about upping her game or else he'd have to take her diadem away- good times, good times. Anything that made Percy feel less like… like an adult that needed to have his things together and be serious and know what he was doing and be stable and mature on a twenty-four seven basis was welcome. When their younger siblings or random campers would show up, they would wink at each other twice and get particularly flashy. Childish, but funny. Usually they had to knock it off because the lightning that Jason and Thalia called on would scare the little kids, but this year their showing off was cut short because Jason didn't want to ditch Piper with the baby. What a guy.

The year-round campers built forts and staged winter-long snowball fights that could scale to terrifying heights, so by a certain hour Chiron insisted that the little ones be gathered and brought inside. Chiron always asked the nymphs to prepare an early Christmas dinner for his old pupils and Percy ate ham and turkey and stuffing and potatoes five ways and carrots and corn and gods, he just ate so well. During his college years, Christmas at Camp were some of the best meals Percy ever got and he was forever thankful that Chiron had kept the tradition alive. Chiron loved the kids, mostly. But he still loved his seniors- because of the harsh way in which the doors to Tartarus were shut to monsters, they were some of the first generation of demigods to grow up and have kids and really, really live. Maggie always loaded up her plate and then whispered in Percy's ear that she wasn't hungry, so he finished up her plate. Her appetite always seemed to perk up again by dessert, when the nymphs would bring out plum pudding and platters of dainties that defied both gravity and the American nutrition guide.

After dinner the little ones played board games in the rec room and sometimes their parents would sneak out to a campfire, or they'd sit inside and drink coffee and they even got wine once (though this was mostly Piper's effort to piss off Mr D after he said something snarky about the name she and Jason had picked for Sasha). Thankfully the adult chitter-chatter caved sooner than later in favour of regular conversations.

Piper put a hand on Percy's arm. "Maggie told me about her advent calendar. That's adorable."

"It's a lot of fun," Percy said.

"It's sweet," Piper said. "And it's good for both of you."

It was funny, to see them all now. Piper the congresswoman, Jason the pilot, Nico and Will the future doctors, Clarisse the general, Chris the art collector, Drew the designer, Jake the CEO of Apple, Malcolm as NASA's head engineer… Because when they went back to Camp, they were all a bunch of scruffy teenagers with little to nothing to lose and smiles on their faces and twinkles in their eyes.

Usually by the time that they decided to pack up and leave, those of them with kids had to hunt the little ones down as they'd be tucked away in a corner or crashed on the couch. Percy found Maggie and Sasha in a tangle of limbs at the bottom of the staircase, and picked her up to carry her back to the car and drive home in silence…

More than he loved the fun and the reconnections of Christmas at Camp, Percy was glad that Maggie had a home there too.

Monday, December 8th

Percy was a Pinterest dad and he wasn't even going to lie about it. How else was he supposed to come up with cute shit like using fingerprints to make Christmas lights on cards? Or glue buttons on Christmas trees that his little girl drew? There was just no way to do it without the internet and hundreds of parents to back his sorry ass up. And Maggie's Christmas cards were, as they always were, adorable. The table was a mess of glitter glue and scraps of paper, but that was all minor. Right now, since the cards were all done, they were busy making Grandpa Fred's Christmas Box.

Every year, they filled a box with pictures and colouring pages and drawings and crossword puzzles and little poems and seashells and postcards and pressed flowers and bead crafts, all separated by tissue paper to send to Grandpa Fred in San Francisco. It was a year-long collecting process, but since Annabeth had died, Percy found that this was the best way to keep Maggie in touch with her maternal grandparents. Last year, they'd even made a little box for Athena and one for Poseidon. He wasn't sure how well those had gone over, but Maggie knew that Daddy had a dad and Mommy had a mom, so she was still insisting on making those boxes.

"Do you think that Grandpa will like this one?" Maggie asked lifting a picture of a plane up. "Grandpa Fred?"

The poor girl had Grandpa Fred, Grandpa Paul and Grandpa P to think about. Poor kid. At least they weren't making her learn how to pronounce "Poseidon" at a young age.

"I think he'll love it," Percy said. "Grandpa Fred flies planes, you know."

"Really?" Maggie asked. "Will he take me up one day?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "Hey, this A+ spelling bee- should we give it to your Grandmother?"

There was one Grandma, a Grannie in San Francisco, and one Grandmother.

"Uh-huh," Maggie said. Percy put the test in Athena's box before remembering to dish out Maggie's school picture too. Maggie was all immaculately brushed curls and beaming smile and awkward posture and neatly folded hands in this year's picture. Last year, her two front teeth had been missing as of August 27th, and they'd taken forever to grow back. Those were probably the last Tooth Fairy runs Annabeth had been on. Oh, and Maggie had been wearing a striped dress that Sally had made- which had made his mother infinitely proud. Mom had even made a matching hairband for the occasion, and Maggie had refused to wear the two items as anything other than a pair.

"I wish I could go in a box and send myself to Grandpa Fred," Maggie said.

"Well then I wouldn't have you here," Percy said. Maggie pondered.

"I guess I'll put this picture in the box instead," she decided, reaching for a page of her colouring book she'd ripped out.

"Smart choice kiddo," Percy said. "This map of the history museum is up for grabs though, I'm sure Grandpa Fred would love to hear about that..."

Tuesday, December 9th

Maybe it was morbid, but it was tradition. On the ninth of every month, they went to visit Annabeth's grave.

At first it had been a rule, to help Maggie plan out her visits to avoid every single day being a teary fight about going to visit Mommy. Then it had been a coping strategy, to help Percy maintain his self-control. Now it was a routine to remember. It helped, when you had to move on, to know that you were always going to have time to stop and freeze and look back and feel.

Usually they got flowers or something to bring with them, but this time they came bearing Christmas roses and snowflakes cut out of paper and strands of battery-operated lights that Maggie carefully wrapped around the tombstone. The light illuminated the carvings of the words: "Annabeth Chase, 1993-2022, Brilliant mind, loving mother, beloved wife, brave soul; Permanently on our minds and in our hearts".

Maggie sat in the snow and admired her handiwork and Percy's heart broke a bit because he liked it a lot better when Maggie could sit on Annabeth's knee for a bedtime story, or at the kitchen table to do homework with her mom, or on the floor while Annabeth tied her shoelaces.

"I hope she knows we decorate," Maggie said.

"I'm sure she does," Percy said kissing Maggie's hair. This was a lie. He'd been to the Underworld, and he didn't know where in its nooks and crannies Annabeth was at the moment. Still, she had to know that she was unforgettable. "I'm sure she'd love your snowflakes."

"I think she loves the lights," Maggie said.

"I think she loves the flowers," Percy said.

"I think she loves us," Maggie said.

"You don't have to think that, Freckles," Percy said kissing her head. "That's something you can be sure of."

Wednesday, December 10th

Maggie was carrying her stack of letters and Percy was trying to balance the Christmas boxes in his arm as they made their way through the crowd. Maggie stopped and starred at everything, and Percy was constantly touching her back and pushing against her shoulders to prompt her to keep going.

"Remember what your note said," Percy said. "What's our Christmas thing for today?"

Maggie could recite it: "Go to the post office and mail our letters and boxes and then look at the lights and shop window displays in Times Square".

"Exactly," Percy said. "So let's just get to the post office right now, and we can stop and check everything out later, okay?"

"Okay," Maggie said slipping her hand in Percy's.

Thursday, December 11th

Once she'd added a horizontal Sleeping Beauty snowman to their growing collection on the porch, Percy managed to weave red and green ribbons in Maggie's French braids to get her all dressed up for girl scouts. He was pretty proud of it as he straightened out her uniform.

"Don't pull on your braid Freckles, I don't know how solid it is," Percy said. "Do you have your dollar bill to give?"

"Yup," Maggie said.

"What about your bag- is your bag ready to go?"

"Yup."

"Did you put the permission slip for winter camp in there?"

"Yup."

"And your present for the gift exchange?"

"Yup, yup, yup," Maggie said. "I want to go to girlscouts! They said we were going to have a surprise for Christmas." She lowered her voice. "I think that Daisy is going to make cupcakes again. Christmas cupcakes for our Christmas meeting."

"That would be cool," Percy agreed. "We better not be late for that. Let's go!"

Friday, December 12th

Maggie's legs were kicking about and her toes couldn't even graze the ground as she munched on her tacos. There were plastic bags leaning against their sticky cafeteria table and Percy was sort of exhausted, but Maggie looked pretty pleased with herself.

It was an exciting day. Percy had picked her up directly from school and brought her to a craft show where she'd found some cool earrings for her teacher, before taking her to the mall. Now they got to pick out whatever they wanted and have supper at the cafeteria, and maybe they'd even go to the candy store where Grandma had once worked on their way home. Maybe. Percy wasn't sure that Maggie would last that long before crashing.

"Did we find presents for everyone, daddy?" Maggie asked.

"I don't know," Percy said. "Did you want any presents for Christmas?"

"Yeah!" Maggie squealed.

"Alright, so I'm not done my shopping," Percy said. "But I think we did lots for today."

Maggie took a sip of apple juice, the straw sucking up nothing in the cup.

"I had fun daddy," Maggie said.

"I'm glad you did," Percy said. Percy hated the mall- too many people, too many weirdos, too many new things and constant changes… it was hard to tell who was human and who was monster in here. As a rule, Percy kept his daughter out of anyplace he wasn't 110% sure about.

"So do we go home now?" Maggie asked.

"Well that depends," Percy asked. "Did you want to see Santa Claus this year?"

Her jaw dropped.

Saturday, December 13th

Maggie was about a thousand times more excited than Percy when she'd opened today's envelope and found out that the Annual Blofis Christmas Party was today. Maggie was excited to see Grandma and Grandpa and the elusive other distantly-related children she so rarely saw. Percy was looking forwards to drinking lots of punch and chewing the inside of his cheek when the First Drunk Uncle of the night brought up politics. Somehow that always happened when he was around.

But Maggie was ecstatic. She'd picked out her own office and had spent twenty minutes looking for her nice shoes. Now she sat nice and still as Percy made her hair particularly nice for the party, with the pretty sparkly flower that Aunt Hazel had given her as an early birthday present when the Zhang family had been in New York that summer.

Percy still wasn't 100% clear on why he was still invited to these things. Of course, even if Mrs. Blofis (Paul's mother) had always hated Sally, she was a fixture because Paul was. Over the years, Mom had managed to soften up a few of her inlaws' hearts because, well, she was Mom. But they'd never quite latched onto Percy, funny enough. Maybe it was the secrecy surrounding him or the disappearances or the troublemaker look on him or the mysterious Greek father or even simply the fact that he and his mom busted the image of the perfect American family that the Blofis tended to worship like rude, loud and total bastards (no pun intended). Percy wasn't sure what the problem was. But even after he'd moved out, Mrs. Blofis had continued to extend the invitation because of Annabeth- what a promising young architect she was, running commissions with the biggest business tycoons in New York and even the White House. For a while, Percy's appearance and clean sweep at the Olympics also made him an interesting asset to the Blofis family- but that year Percy had given Paul's dad shit about something rude implicitly aimed at his mom about her life choices, so there went that. Now, Percy was certain that Maggie was the reason he kept being invited to these things. Not only was she cute, but she was the closest thing to a grandchild that Mrs. Blofis had gotten from Paul, and nothing ruined the image of her polished, perfect little family like acknowledging that there was something maybe a little bit off. Mrs Blofis and Hera would get along splendidly.

Maggie was the only reason Percy kept making himself go to these parties. Her excitement about going out as she bounced around the house in her fluffy red dress cooled the crippling doubt he'd felt about this party, for the first time all week. He was impulsive and outspoken and his cast of cousins and closest friends included a gay Italian immigrant, a black activist, an outspoken pro-choice Cherokee politician, a Chinese-Canadian pacifist, a feminist leader currently leading an all-female pagan cult, and a guy who was half goat. That the Blofis would never know about, but after you befriended a satyr you really didn't have much room for bigotry left. There were maybe two of Paul's nieces that Percy got along with a-okay and that he'd actually go out of his way to address, but everyone else was everywhere.

"The trick," Paul had told him long ago, "is to pretend that you're an undercover agent gathering intelligence about the aristocracy of a foreign nation. And to have awesome plans after the parties because holy shit are these things ever painful."

Percy did, but he was too ADHD to hold onto make-believe like that for too long without skipping over to something else to focus on. Unfortunately nothing interested rose to the occasion as Percy stood in a semi-circle of boring grown-ups, half of them in semi-formal dress and the other half in ugly Christmas sweaters. He got such an unhappy look from Mrs. Blofis as he came in, that he was glad that he'd opted out of the ugly Christmas sweater Jason had given him a few years back.

The conversation was boring. Not politics yet, but they were talking about plumbers and who had the best rates in the area- which was maybe worst. Percy wanted to hire one to gouge his eyes out. Or would an electrician take better care of that? He politely stood and sipped his drink and shot glances at Maggie every now and then, though she was always nice and happy in the kids' corner where she could draw with her (step-cousins-twice-removed was it..? Whatever, Maggie could make friends anywhere with her silly games and bright smile and cleverness.)

Then they started talking about what to get the kids for Christmas and how nobody had a clue. Percy found this astonishing. He'd had the Lego Death Star hidden under his bed for weeks now (yes the one with a gazillion pieces even if Maggie wasn't fourteen- the other one just wouldn't keep her busy long enough to be worth it). Kids were so easy to buy for if you only talked to them.

"I let Tracy do all the shopping back in the day," one of Paul's brothers who wasn't the first drunk uncle but who wasn't far behind said. "Christmas was a two-person job back at our place."

"I'm so nervous," one of the step-cousin-things about Percy's age said. "Roger is travelling, it's like I'm a single mom for Christmas. He'll get back just in time of course, but it's so much work, I don't know if I'll get everything done on time."

Percy's eye probably twitched.

"I'm glad he's not traveling for long," Tracy said. "The boys must miss him so much… boys want their daddies and girls want their mommies, that's how kids are, you know?"

Percy's eye definitely twitched.

"It's a lot more than that," another young mother in the group commented. This was Barbara, and Barbara was not one of the cousins that Percy looked forwards to seeing at annual parties, but she was one that he could tolerate when the seating plan brought them together and since it often did, Percy loved her. "I was reading an article, I don't remember where, and there are studies that show that children need the influence of both genders to balance out their personalities and such when the cortex is developing."

Oh, Barbara why did you have to ruin it? Why did you have to say something ignorant and inconsiderate and use the word 'cortex' to make yourself sound smart while doing it?

"Excuse me," Percy muttered.

"Oh," Barbara said. "Percy, I…"

"This isn't about Maggie of course," her sister Linda said. "Maggie is well-mannered and bright and so sweet…"

"I didn't mean anything by it, I promise…" Lisa said.

"That's kind of a lie," Percy said. "You did. Excuse me."

He went to join the conversation huddle where Mom and Paul were pretending to be superspies gathering intelligence (they were going out for ice cream after this, Percy knew), and Mom touched his arm and asked if he was okay within ten seconds of his arrival. He said yes, but the truth was that he wasn't and if Maggie hadn't been having a good time, he'd have left right then.

He'd gone back home with Maggie, but Mom dropped by some ice-cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with blue sprinkles and blueberries on top, to be exact. Mom knew.

"You look even more... bothered than you usually do during these things. Paul and I tag-teamed to try to keep Mrs. Blofis away from you this year, what happened?" Mom asked. The ice cream turned to mud in Percy's mouth.

"Remember how last year someone asked me where Annabeth was?" Percy asked. "And they didn't mean anything but they just didn't know what to say and what not to say?"

"Yes," Mom said.

"I don't know what I'm doing at all," Percy said. "With Maggie or with Christmas or with anything. It'd help if they actually knew what they were saying, you know?"

"You're preaching to the choir sweetheart," Sally said. "Come here, baby."

She pulled him into a hug, but eventually Mom hugs stopped making everything better when things just disintegrated.

Sunday, December 14th

Dance recitals were a weird experience.

On one hand, Percy's kid was there. On the other, she'd be there for about two minutes out of again, she was so cute in the little dance costumes as her class stumbled through a choreography they'd spent days and days practising. And Maggie was always so happy to see the flowers waiting in her bedroom after the shows... Unfortunately today, he was still bummed and mopey and just generally nasty-feeling- particularly since Maggie had been in rehearsals so he didn't even have her to put up a façade for while he graded essays and did other nasty work. He didn't usually come out of Blofis family events feeling on top of the world, but somehow yesterday had pushed all the wrong buttons and perked up the cruel voice in the back of his head that kept whispering: your daughter already lost one of her heroes: you have to be extraordinary.

He fanned himself with a program during the intermission and was rewarded for his patience when Maggie's jazz class came up. Of course, the routine was a cheesy Jingle Bell Rock version, but Maggie was bouncing around and energetic and so alive and happy while she danced that Percy had to be happy. She was his Maggie, his little ball of smiles and energy, who loved to point her toes and burn all that spare energy and dance around and Percy was 99% sure that Maggie was singing along to the music as she danced. She was such a trooper, such a happy kid... Her months of practicing the dance in secret and freezing every time Percy tried to sneak a peak were worth it. He clapped as loudly as he could, short of yelling out Maggie's name and hoping that she'd hear and giggle backstage.

Maggie was exhausted and so they went straight home and skipped on Snowman Soup for the evening and got right to work with brushing the hairspray out of her hair. She was already asleep by the time Percy tucked her in and shut her lamp off. Still, he kissed her forehead.

"You are the most precious little girl, and don't forget that you always keep me going and smiling," Percy whispered.

Monday, December 15th

Percy would say that today's Christmas activity was a quieter one- he knew that the dancing would wear out Maggie and that she'd have a sluggish, if not grumpy, Monday.

However nothing was quiet with Maggie, and even wrapping presents proved to be one big adventure in which Percy ended up with a foot of tape and five To and From stickers on his back, and two bows in his hair.

It made him smile.

Maggie made a snowman with no nose and called him Tom, that night. Percy offered plenty of possible materials she could use since they were out of carrots, but Maggie insisted that Tom was a good name for someone without a nose. Percy wasn't sure what to make of that.

Tuesday, December 16th

Maggie's love of puzzles and Christmas merged beautifully in a 300 piece image of Santa's workshop that Grandpa Fred had gotten Maggie two Christmases ago, the last time he'd been over for the holidays. Every year, after doing her homework, Maggie sat down and finished it in one night, and that night they had spaghetti with little hotdog slices and carrots and celery and Cheez-Wiz in it like Grandpa Fred made (Mom had been horrified the first time that Maggie had asked for such a thing at her house). Annabeth had laughed and explained that if her father was the epitome of the absentminded professor, his mind wandered even more when he was cooking and so that concoction had been an accidental creation.

"Daddy, can we take a picture and send it to Grandpa?" Maggie asked once her puzzle was assembled. It was past her bedtime, but Maggie would not stop until that puzzle was made- so Percy hadn't even tried, and had instead opted for more helpful favours like laying out Maggie's pyjamas for her.

"Sure thing," Percy said taking out his phone. "Smile bright, Freckles."

She did.

Wednesday, December 17th

Maggie had always thought that Mommy's job of building houses was cool, and she always admired the way that Uncle Tyson could make anything for them. Annabeth had always gotten her to help out with the Christmas village. Together, the two had fashioned a city hall, a collection of cute little cottages, a rink on which Tyson-made clay figurines twirled around, a church, a post office, a candy shop, a book store, a grocery store, lamp posts that actually glowed... This year, with a painted milk carton, tin foil to make icicles, and a roll of toilet paper to cut up into little chimneys, they were making a toy factory.

Percy wasn't nearly as much help as Annabeth had once been once a crazy idea was hatched for what to make, so it was a good thing that Maggie had become ingenious and bright. Well, not quite. Percy hadn't been able to find The Pickle hidden in the tree branches for a while now. He'd set it down on a low branch, using a flux of green ornaments there as camouflage, and it had been moved. Percy just couldn't figure out where his kid had put it.

Thursday, December 18th

Percy woke up Maggie and kissed her curls.

"Do I need to get you the envelope to remind you what we're going to do to celebrate today?" Percy asked.

Maggie blinked once- and only once. Then her tiny brain either slapped itself, or she spotted the sea of colourful balloons on her bedroom floor before squealing: "It's my birthday!"

"That's right!" Percy said. "Happy birthday, Maggie."

"Thank you daddy," she said crawling onto his lap. Percy remembered holding her for the very first time. She could fit in his arms much better then. She hadn't started growing then- and now his Maggie was nowhere near stopping.

"Alright," he said getting to his feet with her in his arms. "Let's get you to the bathroom, all squeaky clean and ready to go before you put your birthday shirt on…"

"Are we going to watch movies tonight?" Maggie asked as Percy deposited her on the little stepstool in front of the bathroom mirror.

"When don't we?" Percy asked. Maggie's birthday happily coincided with the anniversary of the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was why they'd decided that it would be historically accurate and not plain nerdy to give Leia as a middle name. Kid had gotten off lucky, if it weren't for the afforementioned Magdalen story, it may have been her first. Thank goodness Maggie had grown to love Star Wars interdependently. Once she'd been born, Annabeth and Percy had curled up with her and watched the movie since the drakon episode made sleep impossible. So every year they marathoned the last trilogy in the evening (well, some of it- they skipped parts of Episode VIII that Maggie didn't like and others that Percy didn't want her watching so young). Mom and Paul came by every year, sometimes Tyson or Malcolm or Magnus did too, and they had corn dogs and Caesar salad and green birthday cake and opened presents while the movie ran. Maggie usually went to bed cradling her light saber (which was green of course, since Percy's was blue).

Maggie beamed.

"Did you make my birthday cake yet daddy?" Maggie asked.

"I sure did," Percy said. "And it's hidden away at Grandma and Grandpa's because I just knew you were going to eat it before we sang happy birthday."

Maggie smiled in a way that said that's right and but aren't I so dang cute that that's okay?

Not to brag or anything, but Percy had pulled off a Yoda cake this year and he was pretty proud of himself. Hey, he was Sally Jackson's son. He did not fuck around with birthday cake.

The lines between "birthday gift" and "Christmas present" were blurred for Maggie, but she always opened a few on her birthday to practise for Christmas morning. Percy had been holding on to this little pop-up tent that he figured she could use as a reading nook, and Tyson had blurted a long time ago about how he'd built a new room with new furniture that Maggie could add to her doll house. Grandma and Grandpa had either an R2D2 doll filled with MnMs or a little silver scooter with shiny red wheels coming (the other gift would be for Christmas), and Grandpa Fred had given Percy some colouring and puzzle books and deluxe marker sets last summer when he'd visited. He'd found an introduction book on Greek mythology, wrapped in silver and green tissue paper, on their front steps one day- but regardless of which immortal this had come from, Percy thought that he'd keep that for Christmas, just like the pale green tea set that Hestia had packed for Maggie. The kid was spoiled, what could Percy do? She was too cute for her own good.

"I'm excited," Maggie said with a smile.

Percy also knew that Maggie knew that she'd get a gift from Mom for her birthday. One of the last trips Annabeth had been able to make out of the house on her own was taking Maggie to Build-a-Bear, where they had made a rabbit with long floppy ears and soft, fluffy fur. Annabeth had left a specific sum in her will that was only to be used to buy clothes for Emily Rabbit as birthday presents. This year Percy had found Jedi robes that seemed too cute to pass, and a red dress that looked an awful lot like a dress Maggie loved.

"I know you are," Percy said kissing her hair.

Friday, December 19th

Maggie hugged Percy as she waddled out of school and then looked up at him expectantly.

"Do I get to open my envelope now?" Maggie asked.

"It's at home," Percy said with a smile. She must have been chewing this over all day. She'd reached for her Christmas envelope that morning and Percy had told her to wait until after school. She'd asked why, and Percy had simply replied that she'd be too excited to go to school if she read it- which of course made her natural impatience worst.

"You could tell me," Maggie said.

"I'd miss out on seeing your face if I did," Percy pointed out.

His daughter lost no time when they got home. When she opened the envelope, Maggie gasped so much that Percy thought she might pass out.

"We're going to see Nutcracker?" Maggie asked in awe, clutching the two tickets.

"It's a bit part of your birthday present," Percy said when he kissed her hair. "After supper you can put your Christmas shirt and that plad skirt and I'll put on a suit and we can take the subway to the theater, how about it? If you're quick enough, maybe you can even put on lipgloss, and we can do your nails with that sparkly stuff that Aunt Hazel got you, how about that?"

He was glad he'd made sure not to miss out on her face.

Saturday, December 20th

If there was one thing Percy was glad he'd inherited from his mother, it was the baking skills. If it wasn't for Sally Jackson's supernatural gift, how else could one manage to make eight different kinds of pastries with a six-year old as an accomplice, all in one day?

Well, here they were, standing in front of a batch of rice crispy squares, gingerbread men and animals, sugar cookies with pretzel antlers and red smartie noses to make them look like Rudolph, confetti cake mix cookies, chocolate bark, candy cane shortbread, strawberries and marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and colourful sprinkles, and peanut butter truffles lovingly nicknamed "snowman poop". Whatsmore, the kitchen was clean and they were already packaging their cookies in tin boxes. Maggie had even found the time to add a snowman version of Clara and the Nutcracker and the Rat King for their porch collection.

"How many boxes did you make, Freckles?" Percy asked.

"Six," Maggie said cheerfully. "And the big, big one."

"Perfect," Percy said. "Shall we get going?"

Maggie slipped on her coat and pulled the zipper up all on her own. They dropped a tin off at their neighbours, Madam Zusak's, right off the bat. Maggie even managed to carry three tins down to the car this year. Percy was thankful for her help and he smiled brightly as he felt the muscles she flexed for him, but man was this kid ever growing too fast.

They started their delivery rounds by dropping off a tin at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The next people on the list were Charlie and Zelda- family friends who'd babysat Maggie a lot when Percy needed to know that the mist wouldn't be a problem, but they couldn't forget Jason and Piper, or her best friend Ashley's mom, and especially not Uncle Will and Uncle Nico. Percy would call in Fleecy and have her send pastries out to Hazel and Frank and Reyna and Chiron later, but that still left their big, big box.

Percy pulled up by the hospital and he and Maggie headed for a wing they both knew all too well. It frightened Percy a bit, how he could still navigate the halls and his feet seemed to find the wing in question on their own. The nurse at the station recognised Percy anyways, and she smiled warmly.

"Is it time for us to get our treats again?" Vicky beamed. Percy had no idea how old she was- her energy contrasted too sharply with the lines in her face and the curve of her shoulders- but she'd been a nurse for a long, long time. It stunned Percy how she still remembered Annabeth, one patient out of so many sick people, so vividly, but she did.

"You know it," Percy said. Vicky steered him to a place where he could set down their baking as Maggie excused herself (or darted off) to check out the fish tank.

"Do we get truffles again?" Vicky asked, peeling back the top of the big, big box of dainties.

"Of course you do," Percy asked. He produced a little baggie of them. "And these are for you, too."

Vicky beamed and pulled Percy into a hug. She studied his face.

"You seem to be doing well," Vicky said. Percy nodded. "Maggie is adorable. She looks so much like her mother."

"It's crazy," Percy said. "Scary."

"It is," Vicky said. "It means she's going to be a knockout."

"I wasn't thinking that far yet," Percy said with a smile. "But she will be. She's bright too- look at this puzzle, she built it on her own…"

Vicky was content with fretting over pictures. Other nurses strolled by and helped themselves to dainties. When Annabeth had been in the hospital, Percy had seen staff work straight through Easter, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, the Fourth of July, and any other holiday without their family nearby. He and Maggie tried to remember them every Christmas when they were baking. Sometimes they stopped by the fire station or the women's shelter that had once helped out Mom too, but they never, ever missed the hospital.

This had been Annabeth's last home, and it would have been where she'd spent her last Christmas had she lived long enough.

She'd only been diagnosed on December 27th after months of random symptoms that nobody had managed to gather into one diagnosis. She'd passed away on September 9th the following year. Nobody had given Annabeth much of a fighting chance when she'd been diagnosed, but fight she had. All the pills and inhalers she'd been given were experimental, but Annabeth had always insisted that she needed to try every route and learn as much as she could about her illness' particularities before agreeing with anyone about how certainly she'd die or how miraculously she'd live. Percy remembered July 8th when she'd told him that she'd come to a conclusion before telling the doctors to redo their bloodwork and imaging, that something was wrong. When the doctors had wheeled her off for a scan of some sort to follow-up on their hyper-intelligent patient's claims, Percy broke down and had never cried harder.

If Percy and Maggie visited Annabeth's grave together on the 9th of every month, there were plenty more of those dates and a thousand little anniversaries in Percy's head all the time. He didn't share them, grief didn't have to be shared, but the numbers kept crowding his mind.

January 3rd, when Annabeth had been admitted for treatment. January 11th, the first night that he'd spent at the hospital with her because the pills and the inhalers and the injections and the IV drips made her so sick as they tried to make her better. 16th of February, when the doctors said that the tumours were shrinking and that this was promising. The 8th of March, when Annabeth had come home for a bit and that they had all slept in one bed, happy and warm against one another and things looked like maybe they'd be okay. 12th of April, when they'd gotten engaged years before. 14th of April, when Annabeth had told Percy that she was pregnant with Maggie. May 12th, Percy had spent the night at the hospital because they were so scared that she wouldn't make it through that one night. 25th of May, the day Annabeth had finally gotten her architect's license and they'd eaten homemade chicken parm to celebrate. June 19th, their wedding anniversary. June 4th, one of the drugs that Annabeth was taking was pulled from her treatment plan. The first of many to fail because of how aggressive her case was. July 7th, when Maggie had said her first words and taken her first steps all within the same week and Annabeth had said 'screw permanent, I'm glad we made that Seaweed Brain'. July 12th, they'd celebrated Annabeth's birthday at the hospital and Maggie had made Percy bring a cake and all the nurses had sang happy birthday. July 13th, when they declared her terminal and moved on to palliative care only. July 22nd, they'd picnicked in the Shakespeare Gardens in Central Park and had explained to Maggie that sometimes mommies got sick, but sometimes they also got too sick. August 13th, when they'd gone out to supper for his birthday on their last "real" date. August 29th, when Annabeth had been admitted to the hospital for the last time…

With all these dates, no square on the calendar was safe. None.

Vicky squeezed his arm.

"Any happier Christmas plans, my dear?" Vicky asked.

"Tons," Percy said. "Maggie and I have this thing going on, where we do one awesome thing a day."

"That's adorable," Vicky said. "And I'm glad. You deserve a happy Christmas."

"Yeah," Percy said. "I think Maggie was kind of cheated out of last year's festivities…"

"I meant you too," Vicky said.

Percy grinned. "If my daughter's happy, I'm happy."

"Brave thing to say, Percy," Vicky said. "Just make sure it's true, okay? For both of your sakes, and for my old heart."

Sunday, December 21st

Today was the best day for Maggie because she got to go make gingerbread houses at Grandma's house (that was beyond whatever baking abilities Mom had passed on to Percy), and also awesome for Percy because he got to join the Winter Solstice festivities on Olympus. They were a novelty, supposedly designed to enforce a sense of unity and peace between the camps and also make the gods sound like lesser assholes to their kids.

Whatever the motives, it meant that there would be this kickass party with food everywhere and that tons of half-bloods with some illegal alcohol would be running around Olympus at the same time as some gods, nature spirits, immortals and Percy's best friends ever (who would also have their fair share of alcohol, though this stuff was legal and they'd dilute it with nectar, to stay sober). Once Percy debriefed Athena on how her granddaughter was doing and said hello to his dad, he'd be free to unwind and decompress.

Even he needed a break sometimes.

Though he also needed to see what kind of crazy gingerbread house Maggie would talk Mom into baking since last year they'd managed to build a castle with (Percy wasn't even kidding) a moat and a bridge that lowered above it for the gingerbread men to cross.

He'd also taken the time during which his daughter wasn't home to examine the Christmas tree from top to bottom. Where the heck was the Pickle?

Monday, December 22nd

Maggie shrieked as she fell, but since she landed right in Percy's arms it wasn't the end of the world. He plopped her back on her skates and held Maggie's hand this time to try and give her some momentum as they skated.

"This is so hard," Maggie said.

"Puzzles were hard too before you practised a lot," Percy pointed out. "Now they're your favourite. Look, try to focus more on where your feet are instead of being scared of falling. It'll help you balance, I promise."

Maggie looked at him doubtfully, but eventually decided to trust him. And soon, Maggie was imitating the skaters around her and pushing herself across the outdoor rink in Central Park and giggling and trying to make Percy play tag with her and talking about how she wanted to play hockey but- oh, no, she should be a figure skater! And maybe they should do a Nutcracker on ice what do you think about that Daddy, do you think I'd be a good Clara? (Of course he did, he thought she'd be the perfect Clara.)

Tuesday, December 23rd

Because of Maggie's age, they were in the back doing dishes at the soup kitchen instead of serving meals out front with the other volunteers.

"Daddy how many dishes do you think I washed?" Maggie asked. "I think a thousand."

"A thousand, hmm?" Percy said. The truth was that she wasn't particularly fast, but he understood where his daughter was coming from. The dishes kept coming. "That's okay, though. Every plate we wash means that there's someone out there won't be hungry tonight."

"I want to wash a thousand more," Maggie said. Percy grinned.

Annabeth I'm trying so, so hard to make our daughter a good kid so that one day she'll make herself a decent person. I think it's working.

That night, Percy had to talk Maggie out of making a thousand snowmen for their porch. He succeeded only by luring her with a new puzzle app he'd put on his phone for her.

Wednesday, December 24th

The key to raising a demigod was complete and utter secrecy before a quick send-off to camp at age twelve. There was a lot less literature and guidelines for raising a legacy. They straddled the line between mortal reality and magic from a safer distance, but they straddled it nonetheless. The mist acted on them sometimes and not on others, and just because they didn't have a scent didn't mean that they wouldn't get mixed up in Olympian drama. So with Maggie, the key was showing her the right kind of magic. Magic that would make her know that she wasn't crazy or exaggerating or losing her mind, but magic that was safe and healthy and… well, the kind of magic that could make a kid's eyes glitter.

That's where Blackjack came in, and why Percy had him meet them in Central Park on Christmas Eve. Maggie had run to Blackjack first and now she circled him curiously. Percy put a hand against the pegasus' flank.

"Hey, thanks for coming out on Christmas Eve," Percy said.

Horses don't celebrate Christmas, boss, Blackjack said.

"Ah, right," Percy said.

He knelt by Maggie and made sure that she was bundled up as warmly as possible- tightening her scarf, double-checking that her coat's zipper had been pulled up all the way…

"Is that your horse, daddy?" Maggie asked bright-eyed.

"It's not quite a horse, it's a Pegasus," Percy said. "A horse with wings."

Maggie double checked. "I don't see the wings."

Typical. Good thing she's a cute kid, boss.

"You don't have to see them just yet for them to be real, Freckles," Percy said. "This here is Blackjack, and he's my friend."

"Do you go on adventures with him?" Maggie asked.

"Oh, tons," Percy said.

"Like the one to find Mommy under the sky?" Maggie asked. "Or the one where you went to fight giants with Uncle Jason and Aunt Piper and Aunt Hazel and Uncle Frank and all them? Was he there when you and Uncle Tyson saved Uncle Grover from getting married?"

"Yes, sort of, and not quite," Percy said. "Let's just say that Blackjack and I went on a lot of adventures. Do you want to go on one tonight?"

Maggie nodded fervently, and so Percy picked her up and sat her down against Blackjack. Though he usually preferred to ride bareback, it was safer with a saddle so he'd asked Blackjack to get Cabin Three's head counselor to put one on him before he came. He passed rope weaved with celestial bronze strands through the saddle's hoops and around Maggie's waist like a makeshift seat belt and sat behind her, holding her tight.

"Go ahead Blackjack," Percy said. And the Pegasus took off, Maggie ooh and aahing the entire time.

The sight of New York was impressive enough from the air as well. The snow made it romantic and pretty. The Christmas lights shining through all that? Priceless. Absolutely priceless. The view was stunning and Maggie loved it. Percy whispered in her ear, pointing out landmarks and places she knew and places she'd been. ("That's my school, Daddy? Yuck I don't want to see it! Christmas is tomorrow! Hi Grandma! Hi Grandpa! Do you think they can see me daddy?")

They landed in Central Park and Maggie absolutely hated the landing compared to the rest of their flight. She held onto Percy and shut her eyes, and Percy kissed her hair and told her when it was safe to open her eyes. Percy unraveled his makeshift safety belt from Maggie's waist, Blackjack trotted around Central Park for a while as Maggie chattered on about everything and nothing and asked Percy the most random questions like what the difference between a taco and a burrito was and how an enchilada fit into the picture.

She got quiet when they passed the Shakespeare gardens.

July 22nd, when they'd had to tell Maggie that she was going to lose her mom.

"Daddy?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah?" Percy said.

"I love my calendar, I really do," Maggie said. "But is it bad that I miss Mommy still?"

"I love you a lot," Percy said. "And I miss her too. Even when I try not to think about it. So I think it is, Maggie."

"I thought it stopped but it starts again all the time," Maggie said. "Is that normal?"

"I think we'll always miss the people who have to leave us," Percy said. "That's normal, right? If you love someone a lot when they're with you, you have to love them after too."

Maggie nodded.

"I'm sorry Daddy. I had lots of fun watching the Nutcracker and making cookies and watching The Polar Express."

"You don't have to be sorry, Freckles. This year, the point wasn't for Christmas to be not sad. I know I just wanted it to be happy too. Are you happy, Maggie? You can be honest."

"I think I am," Maggie said. "I was when we were touching the stars and the snowflakes in the sky."

Percy kissed her hair. "That's all we can do, Freckles."

"Daddy, are you happy?" Maggie asked.

"Usually," Percy said. "Always when I'm with you."

It was quiet for a moment, and Percy watched the snowflakes drift from their clouds to the crisp white landscape, pierced only by trees and Blackjack's hoof prints, the rest of the day's activities washed away by the most recent snowfall.

He wondered if every snowflake was unique, or if some of them looked alike. He wondered if anyone had ever thought to check or if everyone just liked to believe that snowflakes were all different. One thing was for sure; he knew that this moment with Maggie -this perfect, snowy, honest and genuine moment with his one and only daughter- was unique. And he wouldn't trade it in for the world. He'd seen how quickly and cruelly things could change, and also how fast Maggie grew. It helped him let go a bit; knowing that nothing was meant to last anyways.

"Daddy can you be honest with me too?" Maggie asked.

"Yes," he agreed.

"Is Santa Clause real?" Maggie asked. Percy froze.

"Don't you think that you're asking a lot of big questions for just one day?" Percy asked. He kissed her hair. "Hold onto that one. How about we go home and leave him cookies, to see if he eats them tonight. And maybe there'll be Christmas Eve pyjamas waiting for you…"

Maggie smiled.

On their way back home she decided to be honest with him too and she confessed: "Daddy, you know how I hid the Pickle really well and you haven't moved it?"

"Yes," Percy said.

"It's because I ate it."

He should have known, damn it.

"Daddy?" Maggie whispered after Percy clicked off her lamp, just as he tucked her in.

"Yes Freckles?" Percy said.

"Even if Santa Clause isn't real, you did such a good job that I don't think it matters," Maggie said. "This is the best Christmas ever."

Percy opened his mouth and then closed it again, not sure what to reply. Not sure if there was something you could reply to that…

"It's not even Christmas day yet," Percy said.

"I know," Maggie said. "But I can tell."