Introduction

"Driving home for christmas
With a thousand memories"

-Chris Rea (Driving Home for Christmas)

"Hylla, I told you," Reyna exclaimed, her phone pressed to her ear as she ran around her bedroom, gathering items that belonged in her purse but had somehow gotten scattered all over her room. "We're not having you over for Christmas because we're not here for Christmas!"

"Well change your plans," Hylla said on the other end of the line. "I'm your sister, Rey! You need to have me over for Christmas. It's a time for family and these people aren't your family!"

"Hylla," Reyna scolded. "I'm kind of busy. Look, you came over for Thanksgiving and you'll be over for Easter. But for just this once, we're having a small Christmas at somebody else's home."

She could almost hear Hylla rolling her eyes over the phone. "Fine. Merry Christmas then."

"You too," Reyna said, straightening up for a minute. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she heard Hylla say before hanging up.

Reyna looked around the bedroom and sighed. The double bed was messy and clothes hung off furniture and lay crumpled on the floor. Reyna finished packing her handbag, one of life's necessities – however much she hated them, when she realised she was still in pyjama's. Flannel pants, tank top, and dark brown hair in a messy bun, the usual.

The door opened and her better half walked in. "Black, two sugars," he said, handing her a large mug of coffee. "Bitter but still satisfying your secret sweet tooth."

"Thank you," she said, taking the coffee.

The couple had been married for eight years at that point, so they knew what each other liked. At the end of the war, the battle against Gaia won, Jason had kissed goodbye to Piper. He had been in love with her, but he simply wasn't ready to leave his home in New Rome. And Piper, having settled at Camp Half-Blood was not ready to move across the USA to be with him.

Jason and Reyna had saved their friendship when they went of to the college of New Rome for a couple of four year courses. It took the first year for Jason to get over Piper. The second year for them both to develop feelings for each other all over again. And it wasn't to replace Piper or anything, it was something entirely new. In the third year, they fell in love. And after the fourth year, when they left college, they were engaged a year later.

Now, eight years later, they were a perfectly happy couple. They had moved out of New Rome, but weren't too far. When Reyna fell pregnant, in their third year of marriage, the couple sat down and discussed options for their future. Their favourite was leaving camp so their daughter could get a normal education with other children. She would be sent off to camp to train when she was older. And it would most likely be Camp Half-Blood. They wanted to see their little girl all year round, and they couldn't if she was permanently at Camp Jupiter. Of course, they could move back there, but she would miss out on a teenage education. So instead, they would probably move closer to New York.

"What time is it?" Reyna asked.

Jason checked his watch. Their alarm clock had long since broken, so they kind of relied on Jason's watch. Or their phones, which weren't on yet. "Literally, one minute until 7am," he said. "Lydia's going to be a night mare to wake up."

Reyna nodded. "If you do it, I'll make breakfast," she said, finishing the boiling hot coffee before putting it on the night stand and heading into the bathroom.

Jason stayed outside and looked at himself in the mirror. "Okay, but can you pick her up from Pre-Kindergarten?"

"If you drop her off," Reyna said.

Jason wore a light blue shirt tucked into grey work pants. He neatened his blonde hair as he called to Reyna: "Deal." He went into the bedroom opposite theirs and woke their daughter, Lydia, up.

"Is it a school day?" she complained as she sat up. She was only four and she already hated school. She rubbed her tired eyes and looked around her bedroom, which of course, was bright pink.

"It is, sweetie," Jason said, lifting her out of bed and looking to find some clothes for her. Over the few years he had kind of figured out what he should dress his child in, although at first, Reyna changed every outfit he tried because it looked stupid. "But guess what?" he asked, changing her into a tiny pair of jeans and a purple jacket. "It is your last day before the Christmas holidays! Isn't that exciting?"

"Is Santa going to get me everything I asked for?" she asked with a slight lisp.

Jason paused. "He's sure going to try!" He left Lydia to her own devices for a while as he went back into his own room.

Reyna was leaning against the door frame to the bathroom, fully dressed in dark jeans and a reddish pink blouse. She had grown to wearing heels which Jason loved. Her hair was in a neater, more mature bun than the messy morning one. She looked like she had very mixed emotions. "We need to talk," she said.

"Okay, shoot," he said as he scrambled around for one of his folders.

There was a pause. "Jason," she said, sternly. He turned to face her, wondering what the hell was up. She was looking very serious which made Jason very afraid. "We need to talk."

Finally he recognised that facial expression, the one she had only had once before and it took all of his willpower not to burst into laughter, to beam from ear to ear and dance around the room.

"Wait," he said. "Is that... a yes."

Reyna paused before breaking into a smile. "Yes!" she said, instantly knowing what he was talking about. "Yeah! It worked!"

The couple ran into each others arms and Jason picked her up and spun her around before kissing her in rejoice.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Percy's hand stretched out from the warm comfort of his bed and slammed against the top of his alarm clock. He yawned, rolling over to face the ceiling and sighed. How many times had he pressed snooze on his alarm clock? It felt like a lot of times but it also felt like no time had passed. His hand stretched out, looking for Annabeth but she was nowhere to be found. Ugh. She would have left for work already.

He didn't even open his eyes until he heard his bedroom door creek open and something pouncing onto his bed. "Daddy, Daddy," he son said, beginning to jump on the mattress. "Daddy do I have to go to school today?"

Percy turned over and looked at his five-year-old son who seemed to have nothing better to do than bother him. "I don't know. What day is it?"

"It's Thursday," he said.

Percy paused. "Damn it!" He leapt out of bed and checked the clock. 08:11am. Great, his son had to leave for school in ten minutes. "Luke, go and get dressed," Percy ordered. He ran with his son into the other bedroom in their apartment in Manhattan. They were looking for somewhere bigger, but that was home at the moment. He rushed Luke into a tiny pair of jeans and a t-shirt before helping him into a tiny pair of shoes. He hurried him into the kitchen and poured him a bowl of chocolate cereal.

"Daddy why do you get to stay in pyjama's?" Luke asked.

Percy shrugged, looking down at his blue pyjama pants and grey t-shirt. "Because I'm a grown-up and we have certain privileges." He reached into the cupboard for his ADHD medication and washed it down with coffee, a combination that was probably dangerous under certain circumstances.

"What's a privilege?" Luke asked.

Percy was spared from answering by a sudden wail in the other room. "I'll tell you when you're older," he said before running into the third and last bedroom of the apartment that had been done up into a nursery for his baby daughter, Emma.

He picked up his baby girl and carried her over to the kitchen before opening up some baby food and dumping her in the high chair. He fed her as quickly as she would eat before moving back to his son. He took the bowl of cereal from him and flung him under his arm, taking him to the door, where his coat and lunch box were hanging, already fixed out thanks to his wife. "Put your coat on," he ordered.

"Daddy I don't want-"

"Now," Percy said. Luke sighed before shrugging his padded blue coat on over his clothes. He held onto Emma as he hurried Luke downstairs to the car. He still wore pyjama's and no shoes as he strapped his kids in. His outfit was a mistake. Turns out, it had snowed over night, so Percy found himself hopping out to the car, his feet turning blue.

Almost as soon as the engine started, his phone rang. He hooked it up the the car's speakers and answered it. "Hey, Honey," he cooed.

"Did you just wake up?" Annabeth asked from the other end of the line. She sounded busy already. She ran an architectural company in New York, which was pretty amazing. She was the youngest person ever to run the place, and nobody there expected so much skill from a young, pretty blonde girl.

"No," Percy snorted. "I've been up for hours. Taking Luke to Pre-Kindergarten now. Isn't that right, Lukey?"

"We're in the car, Mommy," Luke yelled into the phone from the back seat.

"Lukey, baby," Annabeth said from the phone. "How much time did you have to get ready this morning?"

"Daddy was very fast," Luke said. "He got us ready in this many minutes."

"How many fingers are you holding up?"

"Five."

Percy's face fell into his hands. "Yeah, okay, I woke up late," Percy said. "But I'm ADHD and have a lot of caffeine in me, so we're on top of everything."

"Percy I gave you one job," Annabeth exclaimed, exasperated as Percy started driving. "Get the kids up, feed them, dress them, and get Luke to Pre-Kindergarten on time. Is that so hard?"

"Well technically that's like, four jobs," he shrugged.

"Seriously?" she asked. "You're going to question my maths? It is one job, Percy. It's called parenting! You know I have to be at work early in the morning-"

"I know," Percy said, driving through the streets of New York. "Trust me, I'm on top of it. Have you packed for the vacation yet?"

"You haven't?!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Percy silently cursed himself. "I've started, I just need to finish," he lied, thinking about his empty suitcase at home. "Um... Have you packed for Luke and Emma or was I supposed to do that?"

Annabeth just sighed. "Luckily I did that already. You really need to get it together, Percy. You're 31 and have two children."

He rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. My phone's almost out of charge, so have a good day at work, and I'll see you later."

Just as he said that his phone died. He pulled up outside Luke's Pre-Kindergarten and sent him inside. No way was he leaving that car without shoes unless it was to run inside and put them in hot water. "Looks like it's just you and me for the entire day," he said to his daughter, Emma. "What do you want to do?"

She made a strange mushy sound.

"Hm, I want to do that too," he nodded as he began driving home. She was almost a year old and he was still bloody carrying her everywhere. Little girl needed to learn how to walk. When they pulled up outside of the apartment building, he unbuckled her from her baby booster seat and held her tight. "You ready for this baby girl?" he asked. He opened the door and jumped out, slamming it shut again. He ran inside, his feet turning into ice cubes in the snow. He locked the car via the button on the keys and jumped into the elevator to get upstairs.

"You really underestimate how brave your Daddy is," he sighed, looking down at his daughter. She reached up and tried to grab his nose. He let her, shaking his head. It was super hard making conversation with a child who only knew how to say a few words, one of which was a strange gooey sound that was vaguely similar to the word 'bubble'. She definitely got her Daddy's intelligence.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Annabeth rushed around her office, ordering people about and drinking more cups of coffee than she could count. That didn't exactly help with her ADHD, but she was about ready to curl up and take a nap on the office floor in front of all her employees. She had one of those miniature phones clipped to her ear as she talked to Percy. "They ready to go?" she asked.

Percy sounded rushed and busy on the other end of the line. "Yup."

Annabeth paused, suspicious. "Are they actually ready to go or are you getting them ready to go?"

Percy huffed. "They're ready to go, Annabeth! I mean, I'm almost ready to go, but we won't be leaving for another hour or so."

"Actually, we'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes," Annabeth corrected. "I'm leaving work now. I'll be back in about ten minutes and then I'm just going to get changed before we go. Pack the car, Percy."

"On it," he said. "We're meeting Jason and Reyna there right?"

Annabeth nodded, packing some folders into her bag before realising Percy couldn't see her nod. "Yes we are," she said, taking the folder back out. She had changed her mind, she didn't want to work on their Christmas Vacation. "Oh, and we need to check in with your mother before we leave New York."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Because," Annabeth said, wondering is some days she liked Sally more than Percy did. "We need to exchange gifts, give holiday greetings and let her play with Luke and Emma for a bit."

"Fine," Percy huffed. "As long as we get there before Reyna and Jason."

"Why?" Annabeth asked, leaving her private office and walking through corridors of employees, a lot of whom hated her. Percy didn't reply. "Percy, why?"

"It's a race," he said.

"No it's-" she cut herself off, having neither the time not patience to argue with her husband about this. "You and Jason and your competitiveness will be the death of me."

Annabeth hung up on him and left the building, running to the parking lot and jumping into her car. She kicked off her heeled shoes to drive safely and took to the roads, getting home as quickly as she could. She ran into the apartment and into the bedroom to change into jeans, a shirt and a cardigan, her feet sinking into sneakers. She shook her hair out of a very complex bun that it had been in for work. She ruffled her curly blonde hair and looked in the mirror.

Not much had changed about her appearance since she left Camp Half-Blood. She looked older of course, at the ripe old age of 31, not to mention the fact that bearing two children had aged her. She wore very little make up when she did at all, and that was pretty much just for work.

She grabbed her hand bag and ran out of the bedroom, kissing Percy as they hurried Luke outside, wrapping him up in a coat and hat first. "Hey baby girl," Annabeth cooed as she picked up the baby car seat with her daughter, Emma in. The family went outside and started packing themselves into the car. Percy strapped the kids in as Annabeth counted the suitcases in the trunk, making sure Percy had packed every one.

"Did I pass inspection, Wifey?" Percy asked sarcastically.

Annabeth sighed, slamming the trunk shut. "Should I drive or will you?"

"I'll drive," he said as she yawned. "You're way too tired.

The visit to Sally was quite short actually. She had just made cookies and she insisted on filling Luke with them. Percy's son was all too happy to oblige and ate almost every one, despite the fact that Percy tried to stop him.

Sally made a fuss over how Percy needed a new haircut and he asked her not to treat him like a child in front of his own children. She refused on the grounds that 'Mother knows best' and that he needed a new haircut.

Annabeth agreed with Sally and the two of them had a lovely time pointing out all of Percy's flaws and telling him everything he should edit about himself. Annabeth ended that argument by kissing him on the cheek and telling him he was perfect to her, which made him blush.

She fed Emma, who was teething, some left over cookie dough and Percy rolled his eyes as he had a brief discussion with Paul about taxes a bills and boring adult stuff. Percy missed being a kid sometimes.

They exchanged gifts and Sally made Percy promise not to open them until Christmas. Percy handed hers and Paul's over and told them which was was for who. They left when Percy saw Annabeth beginning to fall asleep on his Mom's couch. "Long day at work," he mouthed to his parents. He got his family back out to their car after saying goodbye to his parents and wishing them a Merry Christmas.

It took them another 2 and a half hours or so to reach Long Island. Percy knew his way to the beach, and that little beach house his mother had bought. It was almost hard to get there through all the snow, about three feet of it, that had surrounded the place. The top of the beach was covered in a flat blanket of snow, not a footprint to be seen. The lower beach however had little to no snow as the tide had washed a lot of it away.

The family rushed inside and Annabeth started a fire. Percy saw smoke coming out of the chimney as he shovelled snow outside. They had gotten there before Jason and Reyna, so Percy left their suitcases in his preferred bedroom. Luke insisted on going outside to the beach and ruining the clear patch of snow, but Annabeth told him that Lydia, Reyna and Jason's daughter, would want to do that with him and he agreed to wait.

The beach house had one story, and two of the three bedrooms were at one end of the single floor. The fire place was between the two doors and there were a couple of armchairs in front of that on a square rug. There was a door on the wall next to the right bedroom that lead into a small living room with two couches in. On the other side of the house was a tiny kitchen space next to the third bedroom. There were two very miniature bathrooms in the house, one of which had a shower.

Percy helped Luke unpack in the smallest of the bedrooms, one with only one single bed that he would have to share with Lydia. They were both still tiny, so it would work, and they had done it before when they were forced to share.

-0-0-0-0-0-

It was a short drive to the airport. Reyna drove and Jason spoke to Lydia in the back seat. "Aren't you excited to see Luke and Emma again?" he asked. His beautiful daughter nodded. She had gotten Reyna's dark hair and Jason's sky blue eyes. Reyna had plaited her hair that morning in two long plaits and her thick bangs fell to her eyes. She had adorable chubby cheeks and dimples when she smiled. She was perfect.

"Is Santa going to be able to find us in New York?" she asked.

Jason nodded reassuringly. "He has special trackers for that. Have you already told Santa what you wanted for Christmas?"

Lydia nodded. "I want a new pink dress and there are two make up phones that I want. Plus, a Bratz make-over like Jasmine." Jason gawked at her for a minute in shock before sharing and concerned look with Reyna. "I'm just joking, Daddy," Lydia laughed. "I told Santa I wanted a new helmet and maybe a new knife that's actually pointy."

Jason sighed a little in relief. He and Reyna had taught their daughter from a young age, but of course they never let her handle real weapons. She was only four and they weren't idiots. Jason wouldn't let her get her hands on a real dagger, not even for Christmas. Not until she was much older. A new helmet would be easy, though.

They arrived at the airport and jumped out of the car. Reyna lead Lydia inside and Jason dragged the suitcases behind him. It didn't take them massively long to get through customs. They had to wait for quite a while before they could get on the plane. Reyna sat with Lydia on her lap until finally they got onto the plane. There was a slight problem where Jason couldn't find the boarding passes, but it didn't take them long to find them again.

They settled down on the plane and listened to the lady talk about safety precautions. "Like this plane's going to crash," Jason huffed. "Jupiter's not giving up his favourite son any day now."

"I thought Hercules was his favourite?" Reyna sneered, trying not to laugh.

"That was in 146 BC," he said. "It's now 2025. You need to get with the times, okay?"

Reyna actually laughed that time. Lydia looked up over the planes seat to the other passengers. "My Grandpa is the God of the sky, so we're all going to be okay." Reyna pulled her back into her seat and called one of the flight attendants over to help her strap Lydia back in.

"Something we tell her," Jason explained to the rest of the plane, "to help her feel better about flying." The passengers just thought she was cute so they didn't think anything of it.

The flight was exactly five hours and forty three minutes. Reyna counted. Their bags took longer to land so they waited around for hours as Reyna paced and ranted about dysfunctional airports. Finally their bags came through and They dragged them out of the airport, Lydia holding her Dad's hand as she bounced along. They called for a cab and piled their stuff in.

The driver complained a lot about the drive all the way up to Long Island, but Reyna tipped him pretty well. Annabeth came running out of the beach house as soon as the car pulled up, Luke by her side. Reyna and Annabeth wrapped their arms around each other and Luke ran at Jason, giving him a big hug before poking Lydia and saying 'you're it'. Lydia instantly ran off to chase him and Jason moved on to hug Annabeth as Percy came running out and getting their bags.

"Merry Christmas!" he exclaimed.

Inside they had already got a fire going, which Reyna was more that happy to curl up in front of. "I suppose you called dibs on the bedroom with the double bed already?" Jason asked Percy.

There were three bedrooms in the beach house, all pretty small. One had a double bed, one had two single beds, and one only had one single bed – that was the one they always gave to the kids, as they were smaller and required less space. "First come, first serve."

"We would have gotten here first if the bloody airport didn't lose our bags," Jason sighed. "Okay, well what do we do now?"

"Well," Annabeth said. "Christmas is in a week, so we have six days to deck the halls and fralalalala. We need to get this place Christmas-ready."

A/N: Hey everyone! This story is set in 2025 and all of the characters are about thirty. It's set in the future from my Percabeth/Jeyna college story, It's Called College. You may be readers of that story, or you may be someone new, but it's set in the same world. I consulted a lot of people via tumblr or IRL about the names of their kids but sorry if you don't like.

This story will be updated every day until Christmas, blah blah, I said all of this in It's Called College. I'm actually a little behind than where I would like to be with this story so it's all binge-writing for the next few days.

Reviews make my day so please leave one before you go! Merry Christmas! -Izzy