A/N: Hey everyone! I can't believe it's almost the Holidays!

Well, literally speaking, that's totally a lie, since every single day is a holiday! (If you've read some of my A/Ns in my other stories, you'd know that I'm not joking.) As a matter of fact, today I'd like to wish you all a HAPPY NATIONAL BOUILLABAISSE DAY (DEC 14)!

So, cute story: I was listening to some Christmas music while rereading the MoA, when suddenly "The Twelve Days of Christmas" came on. I'd been wanting to write a Christmas story for some time now but never came up with a good idea; so when that song came on (while I was coincidentally reading some PJO), I thought it might be a cute idea to somehow combine the two. The result: the Twelve Days of Percabeth, a series of one-shots about – well, you guessed it – Percabeth! Each one-shot corresponds with one of the Twelve Days of Christmas, so that means that... for the first time in, like, forever... I will be updating daily!

But first, before we can get to the story, there's one little thing missing... I'll give you a hint: it starts with a "D" and ends in "-isclaimer". And, if you know me well enough, you know I'd stick with tradition and phrase it in the form of a haiku:

I don't own Percy

Jackson; Annabeth does. And

(sadly) I'm not her.

Yeah, and I'm not Rick Riordan either, so there's no way I own Percy Jackson (alas, all dreams do not come true).

There, now that that's been established, let's get into the swing of things, shall we? This particular one-shot takes place right after TLO.

And now, my dear readers, the moment you've all been waiting for (that is, if you've actually read the entirety of this huge Author's Note).

Presenting Day 1 of the Twelve Days of Percabeth: A Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Peace out,

~silentwolf111

(P.S. I just realized that I have 7 pairs of parentheses in this A/N, including this one. Wow.)

.oOo.

~ A Partridge in a Pear Tree ~

.oOo.

-Percy's POV-

We all have our weaknesses.

Yeah, I know, it's about time I figured that out. But hey, in my defense, when you're a demigod you kinda tend to forget that sometimes.

See, when you live a life surrounded by people who display amazing feats of bravery every single day and are simply trained not to show fear, it's really easy to forget that deep down, they're capable of being broken too. I mean, it's totally normal to show some emotion, since we are only human after all (or, in our case, half human – that counts too, right?), but it doesn't make the fact at hand any less surprising.

Also, it's not often that you hear someone crying at Camp. If one of us ever breaks down, then that means something must be seriously wrong.

So when I heard the faint sobbing after the campfire one night, I couldn't help but just pause for a second.

I quickly looked around, but it didn't seem like anyone was there. It sounded like the sobbing was coming from directly above me, but when I glanced up at the trees I saw no one there.

It was then that I realized the sobbing had suddenly stopped.

At that point, I figured that either my imagination had been playing tricks again or some random wood nymph was trying to prank me; either way, I turned to walk away like nothing had happened. As I turned around, I suddenly heard the snap of a tree branch and a familiar voice uttered a Greek curse in frustration.

I looked toward the source of the sound, and my eyes were immediately drawn to one particular tree whose branches were slightly bouncing up and down as if they were carrying a heavy weight.

I stepped closer toward the tree and peered upward.

"Annabeth," I called in a hushed whisper. "I know it's you."

The branches abruptly stopped bouncing at my words, causing the leaves to rustle sharply.

I rolled my eyes.

"Wise Girl, you can take off your cap now. It's just me."

After a moment, she shimmered into existence, one arm firmly wrapped around a thick branch and the other grasping her Yankees cap.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth answered softly, her voice quavering as her lips formed into a slight smile. "You know, the reason I'm up here is because I wanted a little privacy –"

"But then I came along," I finished for her with a grin as I started climbing the tree. "You're lucky you have such a reliable boyfriend, finding a pretty damsel in distress in this, her time of need."

"Oh, shut up, Seaweed Brain."

She smiled back at me, but the smile faded as soon as it had come and her expression turned solemn once more.

I carefully made my way over to where she sat and gently wrapped an arm around her.

She let out a light sniffle and turned to look at me, and in the moonlight I noticed that her stormy gray eyes were puffy and blurry with tears. Her nose and cheeks were tinged with a light red hue from crying and her blonde curls were tied back in a messy ponytail, loose strands hanging down everywhere. She hadn't bothered to change out of her dirty camp t-shirt, and her ripped jeans had mud splattered all over them. It was as if she couldn't have cared less about her appearance, yet to me she'd never looked more beautiful.

That was my Wise Girl; beautiful as always.

I wiped off a tear that had made its way down the side of her face and cupped her cheek in my hand.

"Annabeth," I said with concern. "What's wrong?"

She blinked back tears and sighed.

"I miss them, Percy," she said in a small voice. "Silena, Beckendorf, Luke, all the others – I spent my entire life growing up with them. We'd been through so much together. Sometimes I just forget that they're gone, you know?"

Annabeth looked up at the stars as another tear glided down to her cheek.

"Gods, all of this just feels so… unreal."

She fiddled with the college ring on her necklace and let out a small laugh.

"Oh, who am I to kill the mood when we just won the war? I mean, if you think about it, death is only natural, especially in our case. It's all just part of the inevitable circle of life. With the exception of the gods, of course, nothing lasts forever; not you, not me, not anyone.

She sighed and allowed another tear to escape from her eyes.

"Nothing lasts forever," she repeated softly. "And for some reason, I'm having such a hard time accepting that."

"Hey," I said, trying to reassure her, "it's not your fault that you're upset; losing someone you care about really sucks. I lost a ton of friends in the war, too. And, what's more, knowing that a good number of these guys died for me? That sucks big time."

A brief moment of silence passed.

"But, you know, Annabeth," I said, "they're not gone forever. None of them are. You can count on Chiron and the rest of us to help their memory live on. And I'll bet you anything that Luke, Silena, and Beckendorf themselves are in Elysium right now, along with all the others who died in the war. I'll bet they're there right this second, happy as can be."

I slipped my hand in hers.

"And if it makes you feel any better," I said softly, "just remember that, someday, both you and I will be there to join them."

Annabeth let out a soft sniffle.

"Yeah," she said. "I guess so. But although that's comforting to know, that doesn't help the fact that they're not right here,right now. I miss them, Percy, and there's really nothing you can do about it."

With that, she turned to look at me again.

When my eyes met hers, I was able to see past those stormy gray walls and look into her true essence; instead of the brave, fearless daughter of Athena I had grown to love, what I saw at that moment was a mere girl whose heart had been shattered by loss. I saw a girl who had been through so much at such a young age, yet had still managed to stay strong for those she loved.

Most of all, I saw a girl who just needed a shoulder to cry on.

"No, you're wrong," I said to Annabeth, "I think there is something I can do."

And at that moment, the two of us perched on a tree branch under the glistening stars, I took her hand in mine, closed my eyes, and gently pressed my lips against hers.