Annabeth watched as the snow fell lightly onto Percy's dark hair. She really should have been paying attention to where she was going, seeing as it was late at night, dark, and she was no expert with ice skates coming from California, but Percy had her hand and was leading her as if he's been ice skating everyday of his life. The rink was crowded with couples, and families, and those few tourists that traveled all this way just to skate at Rockefeller Center.

"Let's go get our picture taken with Santa," Percy said, bringing Annabeth out of her thoughts. She looked over at the large man in red with an even larger line of kids in front of him. The thought of her and Percy sitting on Santa's lap brought a smile to her face, and she agreed quickly, dragging Percy off of the rink. It was also an excuse to get out of those horrid ice skates that were absolutely killing her feet.

After returning the skates and grabbing two hot chocolates, they stood in line together, waiting for their turn with Santa.

"You know, you're not a very good skater," Percy said with a playful smile.

"Hey!" Annabeth yelled and hit him in the shoulder. "I'm from California. We don't ice skate there. All there is is sun, sun, and more sun."

He laughed a bit. "Excuses, excuses."

She stuck her tongue out at him without a response. Sure, there pretty much was nothing but sun, but there was also skating rinks throughout San Francisco. She couldn't tell him that though. That would make him right.

"So what are you going to ask for?" he asked, changing the subject for Annabeth's sake.

"I don't know," she said.

"Come on. It's Christmas Eve. You have to know what you want."

She thought about it for a while. "I don't really want anything this year. I have it all right here." She poked him in the chest and gave him a small peck on the lips.

"Psh. How cheesy," he said, but Annabeth could see a small smile on his face and a blush on his cheeks.

"What are you asking for, then?" she questioned.

"Assassin's Creed 2."

"Nice choice. I've heard Ezio's sexy."

"What?"

"Nothing."

He smiled, and winked at her before saying, "I just hope Santa can get it in time. I forgot to send my letter this year."

Annabeth laughed, until she saw the seriousness on his face. "Wait, what?"

"I said, I hope Santa can get Assassin's Creed 2 in time. This year's been so busy; I forgot to send my letter to him." He wasn't smiling, or laughing, and he didn't even have that glint in his eye that he always had whenever he was kidding around. He was hard core serious.

Annabeth didn't know what to do. Sure, she could ignore it, but that's a bit rude, dontcha think? And quite strange to have a seventeen year old boyfriend who still thinks Santa's real. She could tell him, too, but gods, she's always found that cruel, breaking the news to a child that their role model is a complete lie.

"Percy," she started, "I don't know how to say this, but-"

"Santa Claus isn't real?"

She nodded her head.

"I knew you were gonna say that."

"Because it's true?" Annabeth really didn't know what to say to this.

"Oh, but you're wrong."

Oh no he didn'!

"What?"

"I said you're wrong."

She glared at him. He did not just say that she was wrong. Twice. She was never wrong.

"Santa Claus, he's real."

"How do you know?"

" 'Cause I've seen him."

She pointed over to the man with a fake beard and a small girl about five years old on his lap. "He doesn't count."

"I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about the real, hard core Santa. I've seen him."

"When?"

"On Christmas, of course, when I was about seven."

"You must have seen Smelly Gabe in a red bath robe."

He laughed a bit. "That's a good one, but no. Can Smelly Gabe ride in a flying sleigh with reindeer? No, I think not."

"But . . . but . . ."

"Think about it, Annabeth. The gods are real, so why not Santa?"

"It just doesn't make sense. I mean, no man can go around the world, in one night, to every house, give them presents, and have time for milk and cookies. It just doesn't make sense, Percy."

"Um, he doesn't go to every house. Some people don't celebrate Christmas."

"I know that, Percy, it's just that - Santa's not logical. For someone to be able to do that . . . it just doesn't make sense!"

"Santa doesn't have to make sense, that's the best part about it!"

Annabeth opened up her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a scruffy looking 'elf' yelling, "Next!" over the crowd of anxious kids.

Percy grabbed her hand and dragged her over to Santa's lap. They each sat on a knee, making him cringe in pain a little bit, but he hid it well.

"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" he shouted cheerily. He was so into his job that it made Annabeth smile. "What do you want for Christmas, little boy?" he asked Percy.

"Assassin's Creed 2."

"Oh, oh, oh," he said in a deep voice. "Isn't that a bit violent for you? Would your mother approve of that?"

"Yeah, I think so. She got me Grand Theft Auto last year, so I don't think she'll mind it too much."

"Ok, only as long as you promise to be a good boy for the rest of the year."

Percy nodded his head enthusiastically. "I promise."

"So what do you want for Christmas, little girl?"

It took a little while for Annabeth to answer. During the entire time Santa was talking to Percy, she was thinking about what Percy had said. All of it made sense. I mean, if the gods could be real, why not Santa? Why not the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, and Jack the Skeleton?

"I want . . . I wanna know if Santa's real or not," she finally answered.

"Well, of course he's real. Who else would leave all those presents, and eat the milk and cookies, and make everything better? As long as you believe, Annabeth, Santa Claus is real."

"But it just doesn't seem logica-" She stopped mid-sentence, and paused for a second. "Wait, how did you know my name?"

With a wink and that cheery smile, he said, "As long as you believe."

"Snowflake on three!" shouted Mr. Scruffy Elf, bringing them out of their conversation. "One, two, three!"

"Snowflake," Percy and Annabeth said in unison, while smiling for the camera.

"Next!"

They got off of Santa's lap and were about to leave, when they heard him call "Merry Christmas, Percy! You too, Annabeth." He gave her that cheery smile once more before greeting the small boy that was next in line.

The couple walked away, towards Percy's apartment, hand in hand, smiles on their faces. Well, on Percy's at least. Annabeth was too deep in thought to smile.

But, of course, Percy brought her out of that thought. "Told ya so."

"Shut up."

I know this isn't all that good, and the characters are a bit OOC (like usual with my fics), but everyone else was doing Christmas fics, and I wanted to too! I would really appreciate reviews, CC, or whatever! That would be nice!

I don't own anything mentioned above. Even if I wanna own Jack the Skeleton, I can't. :(

And for all you 'Evil' fans, the Twisty Tie fic is coming! I had it all typed and adoerable and fluffy, but then my computer died, and all of my info was erased, so I have to retype the whole thing. Yay.

So Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanza, or Happy Whatever-You-Celebrate! Or just plain Happy Winter, because even for the people who don't celebrate anything, you have to admit, Winter's pretty dang awesome! I mean, you get a week off in November (Is that fall, or winter? I'm not real good with the whole seasons thing. Ha ha!), 2, count em, 2 weeks off in December/January, and another week off in February. You have to admit, pretty hard core.

Love you all, and Happy Winter!

Jordan