Ever since it had started snowing in December, it hadn't stopped. Okay, not literally, but it was pretty darn close. The kids loved it at first. They played outside every day, sledding, snowballs, shovelling.... But now it was late March. And we had three feet of snow on the ground. Now all anyone wanted was to go outside without thirteen layers and snowboots on. But no such luck for the Jacksons. 

It had been snowing for three days straight. Monday, and no school for anyone. No work. Just staying home. That was all good, normally. As long as everyone had their space, that is. We had our gas fireplace on, and I sat as close as I could, hot coffee in my hands. Percy came to sit next to me. It was 7:00 PM. Sophia was in her room reading Greek Myths, which I thought was great. Rion and Luke were in the playroom/Lena's art room building who knows what with Legos. All I knew was that every time they did, they left a huge mess and ended up crying because they stepped on Legos. Selena was drawing in her room quietly, and Taylor was scribbling along. The house was pretty quiet. All the lights were dimmed, the dark night quiet with the occasional gust of wind.

Eventually, the kids started trickling into the kitchen, appartently extremely hungry. So Percy whipped out the eggs, cinnammon, vanilla, milk, and bread and started cranking out French Toast. Taylor squealed with delight, dipping the buttered bread in some syrup. Rion had completely changed the vibe by turning all the lights on as high as possible. I squinted as my eyes readjusted. 

Everyone finished quickly, and we decided to turn on a movie and enjoy the upcoming week of no school. Just as Percy put the movie in, everything went dark. Selena screamed. Taylor started crying. Luke came up behind Rion and scared the daylights out of him. Oh great.

"Daddy, w-w-what's g-g-going on?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Lena screamed, her eyes adjusting to the dark. She clung to my side. 

"It's no big deal. The power's just down, that's all. Lemme go check the circut breaker." Percy came back fifteen mintues later with no power, just a whole lot of flashlights and batteries.

"Will these last us all night, ya think?" I asked, handing them out among the kids.

"They should." Percy nodded, then flicked his flashlight on. 

"I have an idea!!" Sophia jumped up and ran off, dragging Rion and Luke with her. Selena was still trembling. Taylor had crawled into my lap. Another 10 mintues later, Sophia and the boys emerged from the darkness with their arms full of sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows.

"We can have a ginormous sleepover!" So that we did.

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"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow! That's my arm! DON'T STEP ON MY ARM!" Rion yelled. Selena apologized, giggling, then slithered under the covers next to Sophia. We had rearranged the living room so that the sofa was where our feet were, and our heads by the fire. Percy was on the far right, then Taylor, me, Selena, Sophia, Luke, Rion. About a million pillows and blankets had been laid out in the room, and little flashlights flickered on and off as people disobeyed Daddy and played with them. 

"Rion, I told you, no playing with the flashlights! If you do it again, I'm going to take it away!" Rion immediately turned it off. He and Luke whispered to each other, Sophia and Lena chatted, and Taylor fell sound asleep. Then one by one, everyone drifted off, leaving Percy and I alone in the dark. 

"This is fun!" Percy whispered as enthusiastically as possible. I propped myself up on an elbow and laughed at him. 

"Hey, it is! No laughing," I giggled and agreed sliently. Then Percy leaned over Taylor and kissed me. I saw fireworks, just like the very first time. I felt my eyes close, everything melting away. It was just us, five sleeping kids, and a flickering fire in our hearts.

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The next morning, we had gained another foot, at least, and it was still snowing. Percy and I had stayed up almost all night, talking, flirting, and taking pictures of our adorable kids, who sleep so angelically that you'd never knew they ever argued in their lives. 

The power was still out, but we didn't need the flashlights anymore. The sun had come out enough to see. The only annoying thing was that Percy couldn't toast our morning bagels in the toaster. He literally had every kid line up next to him on their knees praying to get the power back. He likes his morning bagel, don't judge. 

The day went on slowly, and as it did, we realized how much we wanted our power back. For example, when Rion and Luke got hungry around noon, and wanted popsicles. Well, the freezer's as warm as the house! That didn't work out. And when Taylor wanted to watch TV, we couldn't because all our computers were dead and we couldn't charge them. But worst of all: I couldn't have coffee. When I don't have my morning coffee. It. Is. So. So.SO. SOOOOO. B-A-D.

We waited and waited and waited and waited. Eventually we all fell asleep again as it got dark, but Rion was the one who got up to go to the bathroom and CLICK. The lights are on. So of course, Rion screamed that the power was back on, and got everyone riled up, and the kids were literally jumping to Olympus. They had the TV on, I got my nighttime coffee, and they even got popsicles. So I guess it wasan't that bad, but when i heard that the power was back on, I too wanted to jump for joy. Well, now we know that when the power goes out, you really need to pre-make coffee so you can at least have some cold in the morning. I guess you learn a lesson from everything :)

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey Guys! Can I say, it's great to be back on Wattpad? Chapter One of HD (Hero's Daughter) is coming soon. I want to get this story up more often than that, simply because it will be easier to write them if they're both happening around the same time. But I'll get to that later. This is a very important chapter because........ IT'S THE 50TH CHAPTER OF PERCY AND ANNABETH-THEIR FUTURE!!!!!!!!! I have so many thanks to hand out, but they all lead back to you, my amazing readers who stick with me even when I'm a pain and decide not to come on for 5 months (still soooo sorry!!). Love you all!! XOXOXOXOXOXO :)

anywayyyy: QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:

Who do you think each kid should be claimed by?

XOXO

~PercyAnnabeth20owl