Our Very Own Campfire Songs

"Thalia?" A petite, blonde girl asked, withering under the single wool blanket that covered her body. A girl, no older than twelve or thirteen, turned around to see the blonde in question, looking up at her with curious, gray eyes, and Thalia couldn't stop the smile that immediately lit up her face.

"Yeah, Annabeth?" The dark-haired teen replied, sitting next to the seven-year-old daughter of Athena. Thalia loved Annabeth, although she may be reluctant to admit it, the girl was like her own child. Thalia did her best to provide whatever mother-needs the little girl had, because she knew from experience that not everyone had the best mom. Some were negligent. Others cared for their children. But, Thalia, seeming to have the worst luck of all, ended up with the abusive, passive aggressive, alcoholic, and possessive type of mother. Thalia could never do right in her mother's eyes, even though Thalia was by no means, a disgrace. She had many talents, but they were hardly appreciated. Thalia made sure Annabeth knew them, though. She'd sometimes sing softly to Annabeth to get her to sleep, as she used to do with her younger brother Jason, and she even started playing the guitar along with the words.

"Do you…I mean…what are…who…" Annabeth struggled to ask her question, but couldn't quite find the words. Thalia sighed, sarcastically rolling her eyes and muttering playfully, "Oh, get on with it, will you?"

"Have you ever met your Dad?" She spat out, and instantly felt like she should take it back. Thalia's usually bright electric blue eyes, faded into a steely cobalt color, and her slim, yet strong jaw was clenched tightly. Annabeth was afraid she had offended her friend.

But in a way of reassurance, Thalia sighed and started to relax, "A couple of times." It wasn't a lie. Her father had come to visit her, and to check up on her. Oh, and don't forget how he specifically came to bone your mother again, and ended up knocking her up with another mistake, Thalia reminded herself bitterly. "Why'd you want to know, Annie?" She continued to ask, trying hard to keep the anger and annoyance, which had arisen at the mention of her dead-beat Olympian father, out of her voice.

Thalia was the only one Annabeth ever let call her any abbreviations of her name, but only because she had gotten so used to Thalia calling her them, despite any previous begging on the seven year old's part. Thalia was a stubborn girl, as Annabeth figured Zeus would be. The girl shrugged from beneath her blanket, curled up close to the campfire to stay warm, "I was just wondering. I've never seen my mother." She stated in that cute and innocent little girl's tone that Thalia had begun to favor over the last two months they had been on the run with her.

"Trust me, sometimes you're better off that way, kiddo." Thalia remarked dryly, plucking a few strings of her acoustic guitar. The disgust in her tone went unidentified by the brilliant child, but it spiked another wave of curiosity throughout her small being.

"Why, Thalia? Is your father…bad?" Annabeth's eyes narrowed in contemplation, and her golden eyebrows scrunched together in a way that Thalia thought looked plain out adorable. She liked to call it the girl's 'cluttered face', because inside Annabeth's mind, Thalia realized, about a million thoughts were colliding together by the second.

"Depends on the terms, love. As a leader and Lord of the Skies, he's great. He's the best there's ever been. As far as being a sympathetic and loving father, he's kind of lacking." Thalia explained, tuning the guitar by memory, in order to play one of Annabeth's favorite bedtime songs.

It took Annabeth by surprise sometimes when Thalia spoke of her parents, and home life, and feelings. She said it with very little emotion, the most prominent emotion being either anger or resentment, and her eyes lost their occasional cheerful sparkle. Sometimes, the older girl got to where she would shut the world out for hours, just wanting to be on her own for a while. At first, when Annabeth had begun running away with Thalia and Luke, she thought that the older girl's need for alone time had something to do with her. But, Annabeth realized, Thalia had been like that before Annabeth had joined the teens. She was broken. By who, Annabeth didn't know. She just knew that Thalia hardly ever showed any emotions other than anger or the occasional amusement. "Sometimes, I wonder what my mom is like." The blonde sighed, almost wistfully.

Thalia glanced up from her guitar again, to arch jet-black eyebrow, silently inviting Annabeth to continue. "My Dad…he never wanted me. He begged mom to take me back when I was an infant, but she refused. Soon, my Dad married this real awful lady. She had red, big hair, and she was really mean to me. They had babies together, twins, and they didn't want me anymore. They never wanted me in the first place. And sometimes, I wonder, if I knew my mom, would she love me? Would she want me, like no one else seem to do?"

Thalia frowned sadly at the girl, "Look, angel cakes. Me and Luke—"

"Luke and I." Annabeth corrected, muttering quietly.

"Luke and I," Thalia sighed, "want you here with us. We want you Annabeth. I…we love you like you were…our own child or a sibling." Thalia was saddened at the beaten puppy look on the younger girl's face, but was relieved when the girl finally smiled in response.

"Like a family?" Annabeth's baby face lit up joyfully. Thalia smiled, and shook her head at Annabeth's joy.

"Yeah." Thalia replied, "Like a family. Who needs the Gods, anyway? We got all the support we need right here." She glanced around, to see that Luke, their handsome fourteen-year-old companion, had already drifted off to sleep. She smiled, and looked back at Annabeth, "Now it's the baby's bedtime. I'll take first watch."

Annabeth smiled happily, before snuggling down to get to sleep, and yawned softly as Thalia began to sing and strum the guitar.

Your little hand's wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up.

"Thalia lay with me, pwease." Annabeth pleaded, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow in the tent that Luke had stolen for them, along with just about everything else they had. Thalia sighed, before lying back, and setting the guitar down next to them. She got underneath the shared blanket, but allowed Annabeth to hog the pillow.

"Now, keep quiet, Luke is sleeping."She warned quietly, and began to sing again, not noticing the smile that appeared on the possum-playing Luke's face.

"I love you too, Thalia." Annabeth mumbled sleepily, referring to what Thalia had let slip out earlier. Luke and Thalia cared for her. Annabeth yawned once again, and drifted off to sleep, hearing Thalia's voice.

After the younger girl had closed her eyes, Thalia stopped abruptly, and pecked the girl's forehead with a light kiss, "Yeah, well don't expect a gift basket kid."

Luke stifled a laugh at Thalia's behavior, but Thalia rolled her eyes at him, and cuddled closer to Annabeth, hoping nightmares wouldn't haunt them in their sleep that night. Soon, they'd be at Camp Half-Blood, and safe from the monsters that were chasing them.

Ah, yet another sappy moment. I don't know why I insist upon them. My feet are vibrating right now because I just got finished mowing the lawn. You ever get that feeling in your feet. Maybe it's just me. I'm a weirdo. The Girl With the Vibrating Feet. It could be an act in a circus. –Sigh- Well, I realized I didn't do a one-shot involving Annabeth or Luke, really, so I decided to do it. There's no Percy, sadly, nor Nico. But for the next one-shot, I'm thinking about a Jason-Nico-Leo one. One is Thalia's brother, and the other two like her. It's a perfect picture, except not at all. Well, what do you think? Should I do that one, or do you have any suggestions for any other ones?

Oh, and by the way (sorry if this is way too long for your liking), I have some people wondering about my other story Of Wisdom and Water, and if I'm going to update. I am. Swear. I'm just sort of…stuck. I decided to do sort of a flashback from either Annabeth's or Percy's point of view, from when they were turned into Gods. Just to show a little background. But until it's finished, you're stuck with this crap. Sorry. ~_~.

Oh well, thanks for reading and all of your reviews. R&R? No? Oh okay, I guess you don't have to. But if you want to, you know what to do. Shut off your computer and never read this load of crap again! Wait, no. That's not what you do. You click the review button. Silly me.

P.S: I don't own Percy Jackson, or the song above. The song is "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift. –Sigh-I want the rights to Percy Jackson. I'll keep dreaming.