"Hey Mom," Sophia said, sauntering up to me. She only walked that way when she wanted something from me, and we all knew it.

"What do you need, darling daughter?" I smiled and sat down next to me on the couch. Her eyes were bright, and I could tell that she was on the verge of ectasy. 

"Do you remember Logan? Logan Abbott?" She didn't even have to ask; of course I remembered him. I couldn't forget how obsessed Sophia had been when she'd returned from that quest when it wasn't finished. She'd practically tortured herself staying away from him. 

Logan had come to our Halloween and introduced himself to me. He'd told me his story, and I couldn't do anything but pity him. He'd been born into a family where his mother just wanted to get rid of him. She'd left him in the snow to die for Zeus's sake. What mother could do that?

What he didn't tell me was that Sophia didn't know all that. As far as she knew, he was perfectly happy, and his family situation was as alright as it could be.

"Of course. What about him?" Sophia's cheeks went pink. She bit her lip, and I could just see her smiling inside at the thought of him. 

"He asked me to spend Christmas Eve with him. The whole day. It will be our first real date. But I said that I had to ask you first."  I smiled at her, knowing how much that would mean to her. A first date was something huge, especially for a girl who had nothing else normal in her life. 

"Ask Mom about what?" Percy walked in, his keys still in hand. He unwrapped his scarf and I rose to kiss him. 

"How was your day?" I asked, trying to steer Percy out of the conversation. After what had happened with the Winter Formal a few years ago, I knew better than to let him in on our little secret.

"It was great. What were you asking Mom about?" Sophia smiled at him.

"Homework. I have a report due in a few days." Sophia was an expert liar. I was smart enough to catch her, but Percy... not so much. 

"Oh... That's great, honey. What's it about?" 

"Holiday Traditions in Italy." Percy nodded, clearly impressed with her fake-project.

"Do you want me to order dinner?" I asked, taking the phone. 

"Already done," Percy said, kissing my nose. "I'll go pick it up now. Rion just wanted to come." At the call of his name, Rion came barrelling down the stairs. 

"Can I please get one of those bouncy balls from the pizza place, Dad?" I watched as Rion and Percy departed through the front door. 

"Thanks for that save, Mom." 

"You're welcome." We were silent for a minute, the only noise being snow falling from the sky like frozen smiles.

"So... can I go?" I didn't see why not. It was Logan Abbott. He couldn't hurt Sophia if he tried. He loved her too much.

"Sure." Christmas was only three days away. Christmas Eve was two. 

I knew Percy would flip out if he found out Sophia wasn't going to be home for Christmas Eve. It was our family time. But she deserved the opportunity to make her own decisions after everything we put her through. I mean, we literally made her a demigod, and that wasn't an easy thing for an any kid. Hopefully I could give Percy the pity party talk. 

The day dragged on slowly. Taylor, Lena, and Sophia helped me make our traditions blue chocolate crinkles. It was so strange to see Taylor and Lena and Sophia as old as they were. They were 9, 11, and 14. I just wanted them to slow down.

While our cookies baked, we ate pizza as a family and that was were Sophia slipped.

"Who's excited for Santa to come?" Taylor and Luke looked at each other smugly.

"Dad, we know Santa's not real." Percy's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"What- what are you talking about? Of course Santa is real!!!"

Luke just shook his head. "Dad, we're not completely oblivious. Santa wouldn't have the exact same handwriting as Mom. And please, the same wrapping paper last year? Bad move." 

"Did you all know that Santa wasn't real?" Rion and Lena just looked down at the table. Sophia looked down at something else. Her phone.

"Sophia, can you put your phone away? We're having a serious conversation here!" Percy looked shell-shocked. I thought he'd assumed that the kids knew, but clearly I'd been wrong. 

"One minute, Dad," Percy's face turned a tad red, and the vain pulsed in his neck.

"Sophia-"

"Just gimme a second!" Then Percy stood up, snatching the phone out of her hands. 

"Dad!" She screamed. But Percy had already seen everything. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped slowly, as if he were still comprehending the fact that he had just read what he had just read. 

"Sophia, how could you do that?" Tears were already streaming down her face, and I could see the tears welling up in Percy's eyes.

"Dad, I just wanted to-"

"I don't want to hear it. Just- just-" And he took off. Quickly, I set down my napkin and ran off after him.

"Percy! Percy!!!" The bitter cold nipped at my face and hands, but I screamed until i saw him. There he was, crouched by the Evergreens in the front of our house. In his hand was a box, and in the box was a necklace. 

"I was going to give this to her on Christmas Eve." The necklace was silver, with a little S on the front. On the back was the message: you'll always be my baby girl. 

"And you can still give it to her. She's not even going to leave the area, Percy! She just wants to spend time with-"

"Logan. You know, I hear a lot about his kid, but I've never in my life met him... Yet I'm supposed to let my 14-year-old daughter go out with him? Should he ask me first or something?" I just laughed.

"Did you ask my dad when we first started dating?" Percy thought about it for a moment, seeing if he could  switch it back.

"Well, no, but-"

"Just give her a chance. And if you can't deal with that, maybe you and Sophia should gave a little talk," 

Looking back on it, I never should've given him the option to talk to Sophia, because there I was in bed at 10:00, reading a magazine when Sophia and Percy both run in, their faces identical. 

"Logan will come here for Christmas Eve!" They shouted in unison.

"Oh gods...." 

______________________________________________________________________________

**Christmas Eve**

"Hey!" Sophia smiled, wrapping Logan in a bear hug. Percy was standing awkwardly off to the side, a plate of cookies in his hand. 

"Logan, you remember my mom," Sophia gestured to me, and I waved.

"Hello, Logan."

"And this is my dad!" Percy just stood there for a moment, and then stuck his hand out.

"It's- it's nice to meet you, Logan."

"You too, Mr. Jackson. Thank you so much for having me; I know how much Christmas means to your family... I just wish I could understand that  with my family...." Logan trailed off, but the silence didn't last long. 

"Hey, I'm Rion. NIce to meet you. Now here's the thing- I don't mind if you date my sister, but you have to pass the test." Logan looked a little stunned, but smiled at Rion, whose eyes looked like they were ready for the glueing to the TV screen.

"Okay, I'm game. What's this quiz thing?" Rion laughed.

"You have to beat me in three different video games."

"Rion, I don't think Logan wants to go play video games right now-" Sophia's shoulders tensed up, and I could see her getting upset. 

"Sophia, it's fine. I'd love to hangout out with your little brother." Logan smiled, then turned around and almost fell over. 

Luke cracked up, still standing just inches away from Logan. "Brothers. I'm Luke." The two of them led Luke into the basement, where the video games were literally calling them back. 

Sophia looked at me, then followed Percy as he headed downstairs. "It wasn't supposed to go like that!" 

"Sophia, they're boys. You know your brothers- did you really think they could meet a new person and not show them their video game collection?"

"But Mom-"

"No buts, Sophia. But Merry Christmas."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys! I'm so sorry this chapter has taken so long to get out! I have to leave soon, and I've been super busy all week with our new puppy Piper. I have been squeezing in a little writing all week, so sorry if the chapter seems kinda choppy! I've just had a lot on my plate with school and puppy and stuff.

Anyway, I have mentioned in other chapters, I have a contest to announce! So let's get straight to it.

Since this is a writing site, I wanted to have the contest be writing, but it's not too much, and I'm not judging based on content exactly. Anyway, there are going to be two contests. You can enter in both, or just one, but the prizes vary depending on which you enter .

The first contest is a Character Contest. Basically, you will create a character that will be in multiple or all following chapters in one of my stories. I will give you a basic template, but you can either fill it out or write a paragraph; either is fine. 

The Template:

Name: 

Date and Place of Birth:

Family:

Background:

Physical Appearance: 

Conflicts:

Relation to Story:

You are welcome to do more than that, but that is the basics. The prizes will be listed later.

The second contest is the Diary Contest. Basically, in this contest, you will write a diary entry based off of one of my characters in any of my stories (it has to be one of MY character, not anything from PJO or HoO). It can be funny, recount an event, or anything else you can think of to be in a diary. 

You can submit your entry to my email, [email protected] , or PM me. You can also comment, but I will not be as likely to recieve it if you do it closer to the due date. 

ALL ENTRIES ARE DUE ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2014. THE WINNER WILL BE REVEALED THAT WEEKEND. IF YOU DO NOT TURN IT IN ON TIME, YOUR ENTRY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. I'M NOT TRYING TO BE MEAN, I JUST NEED A DEADLINE.

Now, as for the prizes.

CHARACTER CONTEST PRIZES:

First Place: I will follow you, spam you with votes, give you feedback/comment on your stories, dedicate a chapter to you, and your character will be inserted into multiple chapters of your desired story of mine.

Second Place:I will follow you, spam you with votes, give you feedback/comment on your stories, dedicate a chapter to you, and your character will be inserted into  chapter of your desired story of mine.

Third Place: I will follow you, spam you with votes, give you feedback/comment on your stories, and dedicate a chapter to you.

DIARY CONTEST PRIZES:

First Place: I will follow you, spam you with votes, give you feedback/comment on your stories, dedicate a chapter to you, your diary entry will be featured in one of my stories, and you can create a character to be inserted into my stories.

Second Place:  I will follow you, spam you with votes, give you feedback/comment on your stories, dedicate a chapter to you,  and your diary entry will be featured in one of my stories.

Third Place:  I will follow you, spam you with votes, give you feedback/comment on your stories, and dedicate a chapter to you.

I'm really excited for my first contest on Wattpad, so please please enter! It will mean the world to me, I'm not kidding. Thank you so much guys :)

XOXO

~PercyAnnabeth20owl