A/N: Hey! this is just a silly little Christmas one-shot that's been bouncing around in my head the last couple of years, I finally managed to get it down. Hope you enjoy!
It was 5 years after the Giant War and everyone had gone to Percy and Annabeth's relatively new apartment for Christmas dinner.
It was going to be a disaster.
In Annabeth's defence, she hadn't intended in inviting over all of the extended family, mortal and godly alike, it just sort of… happened.
It was first going to just be a dinner between her and Percy but, you see, she had just believed that to be too romantic for Christmas, so she had invited over Grover, Juniper and their little baby. They were simply ecstatic to be invited to such an occasion but, sadly Juniper didn't think she could go that far away from her tree.
At this Grover declared that he couldn't leave Juniper on Christmas, so he wouldn't be coming either, much to junipers meek protests that she shouldn't hold him back.
Juniper was so forlorn over the fact that she couldn't go and the fact that Grover wasn't going because of her that the other spirit nymphs became sympathetic for her. They pleaded with Demeter for her to grant juniper freedom to travel far just for one day.
Demeter, thankfully being in a good mood after getting a rule set for her cabin to eat cereal in the mornings, agreed, and Juniper was over the moon!
The news spread like wild fire that Demeter had let a nymph free for the day, along with the special occasion as to why.
Now most people understood that Percy and Annabeth probably wanted a small get together for Christmas, but coach Hedge was never most people, he was almost immediately arguing with Annabeth over a rainbow for a place at her house for Christmas for him, Melli and their 'ickle babe, thinking it would be nice for the tyke to have a friend and Melli would love another new mum to talk to on Christmas day.
Annabeth had finally caved in, reluctantly, and planned for another three at the dinner table on the upcoming celebration.
But it didn't end there…
Percy had the 'clever' idea of offering his mum, stepdad and baby sister - a seat each at the table - when he found out they were too money stretched to have anything fancy that year. Annabeth had completely understood and agreed at first, he only wanted to look out for them!
…
Then Poseidon found out…
It would have been fine if he hadn't notified Athena about it.
Together (surprisingly) they had the courage to guilt trip the kids that if one parent was their then they had the right to go too.
Then Zeus declared he was attending, yes, declared, he didn't ask; why… the nerve!
On top of that he demanded the presence of his children as well.
So then Annabeth felt obligated to invite the others of the 7, seeing as Jason and Thalia were there.
Another big mistake…
Soon their parents were demanding invitations, gods don't tend to take rejection well, you know.
Hades threw a strop that he wasn't there, which earned him and Nico an invite…
Long story short: practically everyone won their way there.
None of them, NOT ONE, thinking about ever so helpless and poor Annabeth, who had to find a way to fit them all in her living room, let alone feed them or stop any massive fights!
Okay; so maybe helpless and poor were slight over exaggerations…
But she still had to do the impossible!
So she did what Annabeth does best, she planned and planned and planned.
And planned…
And planned…
She got Athena to enlarge the living room, Demeter to lend a lot of cooking produce and had Hestia help cook the feast in the kitchen.
This was going to be one hell of a Christmas.
And Annabeth had to organise it all... All of it.
Surprisingly, things were going really well!
Actually- Annabeth had suspected this much, but she hadn't wanted to get her hopes up, no matter how much care and thought she had put in to make the day perfect.
She knew it would only take one unpredictable Godly outburst to ruin the entire day.
She looked around the table; Sally and Paul were to her right; the baby between them and Percy sitting just beyond, Poseidon to his right.
Then there was Melli and Juniper with their little ones and both their satyr counterparts; proceeded by a proud Demeter, Hestia, Artemis( who wanted to be there for her favourite hunter, apparently) and Thalia, who was seated next to her father with Jason on his other side.
There was then of course Leo and Hephaestus, Apollo (claimed if his sister was there then they were a package deal), Piper, Aphrodite, Ares (in substitute of Mars, much to Franks protests that, no, it really wasn't necessary, but thanks for offering), Frank, Hazel, Hades, Nico, Dionysus (he offered to supply free drinks for everyone, he actually worked for his place there like Demeter and Hestia),Hera( a last minute surprise turnout and nearly the start of a terrible day) and finally, Athena who was to her left.
Phew a lot of thought had gone into that seating plan.
It had really paid off though, as the main course was nearly finished and not one argument had successfully kicked off (Annabeth decided to tactfully ignore the times were the discussions got a little heated- if someone didn't end up hurt or altered in some way- it obviously wasn't a concern, so it didn't count).
Her spirits were rising more and more by the second as her dreams of an event free family Christmas became that bit much closer to a reality. The conversation was plentiful and jolly, everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves, the food had been cooked to perfection and everyone had eaten their full. There was just the desert to go and then she could finally wrap this stressful dinner up as a success!
She politely excused herself from the table to go and get the humongous Christmas pudding that would finalise their festive feast. Humming softly, a small smile on her face, she gave herself a congratulations for achieving the damn near impossible and started rifling through the draws for the match sticks.
"Dammit!" she exclaimed, holding the empty box.
Percy came in from the front room to see what the holdup was and quickly assured her that he could fix this (so don't worry) whilst picking up the desert for her and heading back to the (now empty, thank you Hestia) dining table.
He carefully placed it in the centre, everyone's eager eyes watching the movement.
"Hey Leo, do you mind lighting this for us please? I may have forgotten to buy matches." He said sheepishly.
"Sure!" Leo replied enthusiastically, standing up and igniting his fists at the same time, with his usual hyperactive tendencies.
Normally; this wouldn't have been a problem.
Normally; Leo didn't drink 3 glasses of wine before 'firing up'.
Normally; one wouldn't stand up before pushing back ones chair.
But this was not normally; this was now:
Annabeth trailed slowly back into the room…
Leo's knees hit violently into his chair and he squealed in a very unmanly fashion as his currently flaming hands flailed around in an attempt to keep balance. In this process he managed to light not only the pudding, but also the table cloth, his father, the chair, Jason's hair and ( no one was really sure how) Percy's little sisters high chair.
Pandemonium ensued;
Percy in a crazed panic swept all the liquid he could at the high chair, quickly putting a stop to that problem, whist Artemis, after a shout to her brother, rushed over with Apollo to check that the child was okay. Jason ran around in circles, frantically patting his head whilst Zeus just sat there and chuckled at him, accidently setting alight many other various objects and the occasional person ( Zeus included, which Annabeth felt was slightly less of an accident than Jason later made it out to be).
Poseidon, stuck for ideas, decided on the brilliant plan of taking inspiration from Percy of all people, and thus exposed the room to a small tidal wave to extinguish the flames.
Annabeth froze, stock still, and now soaking wet.
Aphrodite stood there, drenched from head to toe and screamed, "THAT WAS MY FAVOURITE PURSE!" before promptly dressing Poseidon in a flirtatious bikini as revenge. This set Ares off in a fit of giggles and he snogged her right there and then for such a marvellous stint.
One understandably doesn't take to well to being laughed at in a humiliating situation, nor does one enjoy seeing another man making out with their wife…
In a flash both Poseidon and Hephaestus lunged at Ares, knocking over the fresh flowers as they went. It was safe to say that Demeter was not best impressed with this, going by her death glare…
Annabeth blinked.
Demeter screeched in annoyance and rage, "SO THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT MY WONDERFUL CREATIONS! And after I practically supplied everything you've eaten to quench your disgusting greed here today!"
With a swirl of her wrist the knocked over vase was swiftly overgrown with thistles and thorns as the flowers mutated into dangerous barbs, rolling out in waves to cover the table and start pooling in the laps of the remaining guests seated.
Thankfully Demeter wasn't a monster and the brambles did well to avoid the three firmly strapped in and seated babbling infants, one of which was clapping their hands excitedly, obviously highly impressed with the display- ironically, it was Percy's sister.
Well, suffice to say, all powerful Gods and protective mothers (whether or not their children were in any danger or not) do not take well to being attacked by spikey bushes, especially not when they had done nothing wrong.
Demeter was suddenly assaulted with lightning bolts and peacocks and arrows galore hauled in her direction, as well as a few choice (and not to be repeated) words from Sally Jackson, Melli and even Juniper.
At this point Poseidon, Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite were all thoroughly entangled in overgrown plant life and still clawing at each other's throats. The other halfbloods all just looked on in shock, unable to move due to Demeter's stunt with the flowers and happy for the excuse not to get involved.
Annabeth inhaled deeply.
Jason and Leo, who were both standing, decided to try and stealthily back out of the room, but just as they were inches from the door Paul managed to untangle himself from his forest of thorns and threw the stray vines to the side in victory before turning to help sally. These vines just so happened to land in front of the two boys, tripping them spectacularly, which ended up tugging the entire table cloth, which was unceremoniously yanked on top of them.
With the Christmas pudding still on the table.
Well…
No longer on the table.
Instead of simply sliding off, it seemed to have gained wings.
It flew.
It flew straight towards Annabeth, who was still rooted to her spot outside the kitchen door.
Splat.
Nothing stopped- Everyone carried on arguing and throwing attacks left, right and centre.
Annabeth had had ENOUGH!
Covered head to toe in black, sticky pudding, shivering and still soaking wet, Annabeth finally expelled that breath she had took; "EVERYBODY OUT!"
The sound was in no way natural- its effect was nothing a mere mortal could have accomplished.
The vibrations seemed to shake the ground itself and all the guests felt the air heavy with energy and the consequences it promised if the voice not heeded correctly.
Apparently even the Gods don't need to be told twice, and can even show compassion to the others present enough to start flashing them out and not just leaving to save their own skins when faced with an enraged Annabeth.
Within seconds almost everyone was gone, with the exception of Artemis, Athena, Poseidon, Sally, Paul, the baby and Percy.
Annabeth's eye twitched.
"Just restoring the room dear." Athena quickly rushed out, clicking her fingers before flashing away, restoring the house to how it was yesterday.
Poseidon awkwardly looked at his son, about to open his mouth, before gesturing to Sally and her new small family.
"Please." Percy responded and, with a nod, Poseidon flashed them out of the house also, back to theirs, a bittersweet glint in his eye as he gazed at Sally, holding another child.
After the somewhat shocking, but not that surprising, words about a check-up needing to be arranged soon from Artemis, who sent a mischievous wink to Percy before flashing away, Annabeth's deadly glare honed in on Percy.
He gulped.
"Da-" he started before her gaze swiftly shifted to Poseidon, him bursting into a cloud of sea mist in his haste to then leave.
Coward. Percy thought bitterly as his one means of escape abandoned him.
He turned his attention back to Annabeth immediately, better to say something to try and get himself out of sleeping on the couch now than wait around for her to blow he thought to himself.
"For the record… I blame Leo."
Understandably… Annabeth blew.
"I needed you to do one thing! ONE THING PERCY! Make sure the kitchen was stocked! MAKE SURE WE WEREN'T LOW ON ANYTHING!"
She screamed, throwing the nearest items at him as fast as she could, Percy decided it wasn't worth enraging her more by dodging them and thanked the Gods she was grabbing the spoons and not the knives (maybe she did still love him).
"No matches, NO matches." She repeats, before hysteric laughter bubbles from her.
Percy was terrified.
She stops suddenly, with a frustrated huff, "And now look what I'm doing..." she spoke despondently, looking at the mess around him.
She looks up and meets his gaze and Percy can see a storm going on in her eyes. She's still angry, incredibly so, but she's also exhausted, upset, frustrated, scared, worried, nervous and indecisive..? Her brain seems to be going a million miles a second.
"I need to know you can take responsibility for your own actions Percy." she spoke slowly and clearly, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes for the last few minutes finally trailing down her cheeks, and Percy felt a dead weight in his stomach from shifting the blame to Leo before.
"Because, in case you didn't catch on in my little outburst of power earlier…" Annabeth trailed off… she decided to just say it, she might as well end this disaster of a day with a bang. Her voice was barely a whisper, sounding squeaky and weighted simultaneously;
"…I'm pregnant."
Annabeth saw the look of confusion, clarity and finally elation come over Percy's features and she knew no matter what, as he ran to her laughing and swung her around in his arms, kissing her neck and face and arms and stomach and promising her everything he felt he could give, that everything was going to be alright.
Her relief shining though at this discovery was evident it her next remark, her voice still shaky but the joking nature taking centre stage;
"Merry Christmas?"
And as he snogged her senseless in response she thought to herself happily, maybe today hadn't been such a disaster after all.
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed and I love hearing feedback, positive or not! :D