*The Final Chapter of Percy and Annabeth-Their Future*

~Christmas Eve 2044~

"Wise Girl," Percy's familiar voice cooed in my ear. I opened my eyes briefly, the morning sun practically blinding me. But I couldn't keep them closed for too long, because kneeling by my bedside was Percy, decked out in some tacky Christmas sweater with a wild-eyed grin on his face. "Merry Christmas Eve!" 

To Percy, Christmas was as exciting as it was to a five-year-old. With him, the magic was always there. Always. 

"Merry Christmas, Seaweed Brain," I mumbled, curling up in the covers. As much as I loved his face, I also loved my sleep. Very much. 

"No! Annabeth, it's Christmas Eve! You have to get up!" He threw the covers back, leaving me shivering, but once I was wrapped in his arms, the cold went away. Outside, snow was falling the way in did in movies- slowly, steadily, elegantly. Percy had forced me to go to sleep last night so he could decorate the whole house and have it be a surprise, and although I knew he was capable of achieving the impossible, even I was stunned. 

Little glistening lights and garland adorned the stair railings, shimmering in red, gold, and green.  Under every doorway, a sprig of mistletoe taunted me.

"It's a tradition, Wise Girl... you have to kiss me,"Percy grinned, pulling me towards him. 

"You make it sound like such  a chore," I laughed pressing my lips against his. His fingers ran gently through my "lemon-scented" hair, and a faint ocean smell came off of his hair. Yup, the fireworks were still there, all these years later. 

We spent the morning eating Percy's perfected blue waffles, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch as my favorite old Christmas movie played in the background. 

"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" The movie flickered in the background, my head gently resting on Percy's shoulder. I could feel his eyes moving toward me, as though he was taking in the lines of the movie. But he couldn't possibly be listening to a movie from 1946...

"Annabeth?" He asked quietly, knowing I didn't like my movies interrupted. 

"Uh huh?" I replied, looking up at his deep green eyes. 

"I love you so much," He smiled, kissing my forehead. I couldn't help reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. 

"Gods, Percy, everyone knows I love you more,"

~

"Hello? Anybody home?" A familiar voice echoed through the house. One that it hadn't heard in a while. I almost tripped down the stairs I was running so fast. 

"Luke!" I smiled, running to hug my baby boy, his fatigues reminding me of everything I got to be proud of. Percy wasn't too far behind me, and even though he didn't really hug the boys the way I did, he REALLY hugged Luke. 

"Gods, I've missed you guys so much," Luke smiled, an air of nostalgia and sadness washing over him. It was like he was suddenly realizing how long he'd been away. "Those care packages have been amazing, all the other guys in my unit have been jealous."

"Well, buddy, you definitely earned it. What's it been like over there?" Percy asked, leading Luke over to the counter and almost shoving a cookie into his mouth. As they continued talking, Taylor burst in, arms and eyes wide. 

"Mom!" She smiled, hugging me tightly. The second she saw her twin brother, her grip lessened. 

"OH MY GODS, LUKEY!" She couldn't hide her excitement. Their hug seemed to last forever. Tears were flowing down her face as she stepped back, as if she had to make sure everything about him was okay. 

"You have to tell me EVERYTHING." She said, stealing Percy's seat- and his cookie. Looking rather dejected, Percy came over and wrapped his arm around me. 

"Some kids we got, huh Wise Girl?" He grinned, stealing the cookie right out of my hand as he sauntered over to open the door to Lena's knock. 

"Lena! Gods, I've missed you so much, how have you-" Percy cut himself off as he looked behind her at the brown haired, kind of lanky guy standing behind her in a white t-shirt, jeans, and a flannel.

"Mom, Dad," Lena said gingerly, as though it hurt to say what she was saying. "This is Cameron Dawson, my boyfriend. He's a son of Apollo." I watched the glances exchanged between Lena and Percy for the split second they had. Then, Percy surprised everyone. 

"Cameron! It's nice to meet you," Percy said, extending his hand. Cameron glanced at Lena with a look of sheer surprise, and I knew she'd told him how Percy usually acted when meeting his daughters' boyfriends. 

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Jackson. But you can call me Cam, everybody does- except for Lena, that is," He grinned at her and she laced her fingers through his. 

Percy laughed, patting Cam on the shoulder. "And call me Percy- really, we're pretty informal around here," 

I was only glad Logan wasn't there to see Percy's reaction- he may have died. 

"And you must be Mrs. Jackson?"

"Annabeth," I corrected, shaking his hand. "It's so nice to finally meet you! And you've probably heard about Lena's younger siblings, Luke and Taylor-" I gestured toward the twins, who were completely unaware that Lena had brought a boyfriend to Christmas. "They're just catching up. It's been a while,"

"Yeah, Lena told me... That's really honorable of him though," Percy was practically beaming at Cam. Lena lead her boyfriend over to meet Taylor and Luke, giving me a chance to confront Percy about his reaction.

"You totally think he's a mini you, don't you?" 

Percy blushed, shaking his head. "No! No, he just seems like a- a nice, honorable guy." 

Just like you! I wanted to scream. I didn't.

Percy interrupted me before I could, opening the door to welcome Rion, Sophia, and Logan. 

"Hey Mom and Dad!" Sophia smiled, hugging Percy and I tightly. Logan shook Percy's hand with a smile while I hugged Rion, spreading the news of Lena's boyfriend. 

"I brought some pumpkin pie," Sophia smiled, placing the pie on the decked out table. "These are beautiful settings, Mom!"

"Tell your dad, he did the whole thing!" I tried hard not to brag about Percy too often, but it was so easy- there was so much to brag about!

Within a few minutes, we were all sitting down to dinner, the wine being passed around the table quickly like it was the last bottle in Olympus. When it got to Sophia, she just kept passing. 

"When did you stop drinking, Soph?" Rion asked, oblivious to the implications that went along with that loaded question. 

"Oh well... there's something that Logan and I have been waiting to tell you guys..."

I saw Logan almost glowing with excitement. 

"I'm pregnant!" Sophia exclaimed. Even though I suspected it, my jaw still dropped. Percy's face lit up instantaneously, and he ran over to hug his oldest daughter.

"How far along are you?" Lena asked, her eyes wide with wonder. I could've sworn she glanced at Cameron with a faint smile. 

"16 weeks... we just found out, what, two months ago, sweetie?" Sophia said, looking up at Logan, whose arms were wrapped protectively around his wife.

"Yeah, it was the best day of my life." Logan said, kissing Sophia passionately. 

"AW!" Taylor squealed, running over to hug Sophia. Poor Cam sat there awkwardly, not really knowing what to do, but he still smiled and congratulated Sophia and Logan. 

"When are you due, honey?!"I asked, my smile wider than possible. I couldn't wait to be a grandma!!

"May 22nd. It seems so far away, but it's actually so soon!" Sophia seemed like the excitement she'd felt on the very first day she knew hadn't begun to dim yet. 

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?" Rion asked, glancing at Taylor with his fingers crossed like they'd bet on it. 

"No, we decided we didn't want to find out with this one. The surprise is part of the suspense, right?"

"Ha! Told you, Taylor," Rion chuckled as Taylor slid five dollars across the table. It wasn't until a few moments later that Rion realized Sophia had actually been expecting a response from him. "Oh, the surprise totally adds to the suspense," He added nonchalantly.

"I'm just so happy for you, Soph," Percy said, hugging Sophia and clapping Logan on the back. He raised his glass up, and I could almost feel the gods smiling down on us. 

"To the Jacksons!"

~

That night after everyone else went to sleep, I tossed and turned, excitement bubbling inside me. Everything that had happened in the past decades tumbled through my brain and I realized that I could never, ever forget a moment of them. Ever. 

So, fumbling with my slippers and bathrobe, I opened my computer. I opened a document, the blank pages of white so empty that they almost screamed for a story. And I started to write. And I wrote this. 

It's been almost two months since Christmas now, and I still have so much more to write. But I realized, while spending every waking moment writing this, that after you're assured you remember everything in the amazing life you share with your perfectly imperfect family, you have to go back out and make more memories, or else you'll never have anything else to remember. 

So I have, and I will. To whoever is reading this, these phrases won't mean anything. But if you, Seaweed Brain, are reading this (and I can't believe you found it already!), then you'll understand it all. Tennis shoes or sneakers. Chocolate muffin bottoms. Midnight in the woods. Sharpening your shoelaces. Percabeth. 

I love you past Olympus, past immortality, past Elysium and around and around and around because the love I have for you is never ending. And I'm not afraid of the future because I know it will always be the future of you and me. And that's something I'll never forget.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm literally crying as I'm writing this one last PATF author's note. I guess it never really sank in until now that this is it. I'm never going to be able to say that anything I've ever written was more fun, more rewarding, more everlasting than this. Percy and Annabeth- Their Future was and always will be my life. Even when I didn't update. Even when I was so sad I couldn't type. Even when I was sick. Even when everything went wrong.

I could never forget this amazing experience you guys have given me. EVER. I love you the way Annabeth loves Percy, and nothing could ever break that. You guys are perfect. No seriously, go right now, find a mirror, and scream it from the top of your lungs. If this fanfiction has taught me anything, it's that the most imperfect people are perfect. I'm not perfect at all. Like I'm seriously a train wreck if I'm silently sobbing writing this. But that makes us all the best people because we aren't hiding behind some silly facade of 'perfect'. We are perfectly imperfect. 

I'm going to miss writing this so much. January 28th is already a holiday in my calendar because it's the birthday of this story, which has the best readers ever. Direct Message me all the time, guys, because I'm going to miss writing these author's notes and I can't wait to talk to you guys until the sequel! I can't!

I don't really know what I'm doing in this note. Other than potentially ruining my keyboard because of how hard I'm crying. I don't want this to end. I won't let the memories end. But this story came to its close.

I don't want to end this amazing adventure on a sad note so I thought that maybe I'd actually introduce myself, the girl behind the screen for the past five years. 

Many of you know me as PercyAnnabeth20owl, and to be honest, it really feels like part of my name. It's a part of who I am, that's for sure. But my real name is Sophia. So when you guys picked Sophia as the name for Percy and Annabeth's oldest daughter, I was flattered. So it's really nice to meet all of you guys. I'm Sophia. I live in the United States. I've moved across the country twice. I love music and reading and writing and the colors gray and blue. I speak French. I live for Percy Jackson. And I am YOUR biggest fan. 

Oh gods, I'm tearing up. AGAIN. 

I hope you guys have amazing lives with adventures that never end. No matter where you are in life right now, it'll get better. It'll stay amazing. Have hope. Have courage. Have love. Have heart. Never EVER give up. Don't let anyone put you down. You are amazing. And I love you. Comment a little <3 if you know you're loved :) 

Today is the greatest day. I finished. And I was able to share this story with the best people on earth. 

∞ Thank you ∞ forever ∞

Question of the Chapter:

What was your favorite part of this story? Your favorite character or moment or anything :) And what are you looking forward to in the sequel?

XOXO 

PercyAnnabeth20owl