Christmas morning at the tower was relatively quiet. At least, until 5:00, when both Kat and Percy had simultaneously and individually come to the conclusion that they absolutely could not wait any longer. Which meant that when they both dashed out into the hall, they ran into each other.

Grumbling from spots on the floor, they sat up and gave each other a surprised look before bursting into laughter. Annabeth poked her head out into the hall and glared at the two, making them silent instantly. Satisfied, she went back to bed and passed out.

The twins slipped down to the pool to mess around for a bit until people woke up. Oddly enough, they realized that their control over water was different. Percy was brute force, and Kat was more intricate. 

They sunk down to the bottom to talk. 

"So," Percy raised an eyebrow mischievously. "You and Loki, huh?"

Kat blinked. And blinked again. "What?" Then, "Oh! No. Nope. Nothing like that."

"Really? You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes! I'm not even lying! There is nothing between us." Kat said, and felt an odd sense. Between. She had said 'between'. Damn, she couldn't even lie to herself apparently.

"Are you sure about that?" Percy asked playfully.

"Okay, no, I'm not, but there isn't anything right now." Kat huffed.

Percy hummed in response. His thoughts drifted. "Hey Kat?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'd be good parents?" Percy wondered.

"I dunno." Kat replied, leaning back in the water to float, hands behind her head and ankles crossed. "Depends on if we're too busy saving the world or not, I guess."

Percy mimicked her posture. "I sure hope we're done with all this world saving business. After this new prophecy, that is."

"Yeah. What a pain in the ass." Kat sighed.

"Amen to that." Percy said.

"You'd probably be a really cool dad that protects his kids, but like, cheers them on when they get into fights." Kat said suddenly. "Or like, cookies in the middle of the night after a bad dream."

Percy chuckled. "You know, I can totally see Clarisse cheering on a mini-Clarisse."

"Oh my Fates." Kat gasped. "You're completely right."

Percy grew silent after their laughter faded. "I had a vision." Kat turned to him and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "It was a while ago. But in it, you were talking to this little boy, and eventually, I showed up. An older looking version of me. That was my kid. I was a dad."

Kat was quiet for a moment. "Were you happy?"

"I was." Percy said softly.

"Then I think you'll be a great father." Kat replied.

They both had soft smiles on their faces, until Kat suddenly blurted. "Wait! What prompted this?"

"My cabin at camp has a nursery room." Percy said.

"Oh." Kat said. 

{Katha?} Kat heard a voice in her head.

{Yeah, wassup Lokes?} Kat replied.

{Stark is requesting you and Perseus. Apparently it's time for the festivities to begin.} Loki said.

"Kat?" Percy frowned.

"Just a sec." Kat frowned. {Okay, we'll be up in a minute.} 

{You are getting quite good at this.} Loki applauded.

{I'm in the pool,} Kat scowled.

{Ah. Cheater.} 

{You're the one who called.} Kat replied.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked.

"Oh, nothing's wrong. Dad wants us upstairs." Kat grinned, and pushed off the floor. Percy was quick to follow.

~~~~~~

Christmas at the tower was small compared to what Tony often did. Although this year, he had a family to celebrate with. 

The morning started with Steve arriving, as Tony wasn't going to leave the man to spend Christmas alone. Then the crepes were cooking, and people were eating, and laughing, and talking. All while wearing fuzzy warm pajamas. 

Then mugs of hot cocoa were taken out to the living room, and people curled up in blankets to watch a movie while the food settled. Also, so Tony could sneak away for a second to bring in some mistletoe. Pepper rolled her eyes when he held it over the two of them, but obliged.

Loki leaned over to Kat. "That is tradition here?" He whispered.

"Yep." Kat replied. "Careful where you walk, people're bound to have laid traps."

Loki nodded. "I know the tradition."

"You do?"

"Of course. We have it on Asgard. Though it's not set to one specific holiday."

"Huh. Cool." Kat said.

The gift exchange began. Percy gave Tony a sack of golden drachmas, just in case. Tony was thrilled to look at the ancient magical currency. Tony and Pepper got Annabeth set up for her architecture career, and a pretty silver hair clip that had once belonged to Tony's mother.

Addressed to 'Dad & Pepper' in neat and elegant writing that wasn't Kat's, was the pair of glasses. For a second, Tony was confused about glasses, until he read the little note tied to them. "I figured you could have fun running some scans or something, and then Pepper could wear them." Kat said. After that, Annabeth passed a second parcel to Pepper. It was a small celestial bronze dagger. Pepper Potts would be able to defend herself just fine.

Kat passed a gift over to Percy and Annabeth. It was one of her first spell assignments from Loki. A pen that didn't run out of ink. And could erase. Magic was awesome.

Steve received a set of records from his time that he hadn't gotten a hold of. It had been a group effort to find and obtain them. 

A few other gag gifts were passed around, and then Tony gained a grin. He retrieved two small boxes and gave one to each of the twins. He made sure JARVIS was recording. They slowly opened their gifts, and the twins' jaws simultaneously dropped.

"A motorcycle?" They both gaped.

~~~~~~

That night, everyone retreated to their rooms. Kat poked Loki. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You didn't think I forgot you, didya?" Kat asked, and held out a parcel to him.

Gingerly, he took it, and carefully peeled off the wrapping. His curiosity grew at the leather bound book.

"It's the Greek stories. The true versions of them." Kat said.

"Thank you." Loki said softly, tracing fingers over the leather. He walked over to a desk in the room that had been designated as his. It was the one place Kat avoided, because that was his magic station and she didn't want to die.

He retrieved another gift, and handed it to her. This box was larger than the book, and had a heft to it. Kat sat down to open it with the box across her lap. Her eyed widened as she saw what was inside. 

Two beautifully crafted haladies, enchanted with magic.

"It's just the basic magic, should give it enough of a bite until you can properly enchant them yourself." Loki said.

"They're amazing." Kat said, and picked one up. Holding it in front of her, she gained a sense of deja-vu. "I've seen these before..." She whispered.

Loki heard, and gave a slight frown. "What do you mean?"

For a minute, Kat was silent, and then she stiffened. Holding one empty hand in front of her, she conjured up her godly symbol. The haladies of her symbol matched the ones Loki had crafted perfectly.

"What does that mean?" Kat wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Loki replied, in awe himself.

~~~~~~

Percy and Annabeth spent the next two days with Sally and Paul. Then the pair went to San Francisco.

Annabeth knocked on a familiar door, and a few moments later an even more familiar face opened it. Frederick gaped for a second, before quickly wrapping his daughter in a hug. She returned it just as fiercely.

When they let go, Frederick noticed Percy. "I see you're still in one piece."

Percy looked down as if checking all his limbs were still there. "I mean, yeah." He said jokingly, before adding, "Though kinda not?"

Frederick frowned. 

"It's nothing to worry about. Complicated story." Percy said.

"Ah. Come on in, come on in! Annika, look who's here!" Frederick called out to his wife.

When all three were inside, they saw Mrs. Chase. Not much had changed since Percy last saw her. Her hair still had red highlights. "Annabeth!" She breathed, and rushed forward to bring her into a hug. When she pulled away, her hands slid down Annabeth's arms to hold her hands and drag her to the couch. However, the mother quickly noticed an engagement ring, and her jaw dropped.

Frederick frowned, as he was behind Annabeth and hadn't seen it yet. Annika simply held up Annabeth's hand so the father could see. Frederick's jaw dropped then as well. 

Before anything more on the subject could be said, two more people came into the living room, and upon seeing Annabeth, ran to her. They latched themselves to her with great hugs. "You're back!" Mathew and Bobby said.

"Yeah, hey guys." Annabeth grinned, and ruffled up their hair. "I missed you."

"Nuh uh!" Bobby said.

"We missed you more!" Mathew claimed.

"Oh, I don't know about that." Annabeth said.

"Oh, hey." Mathew said, seeing Percy.

"Who're you?" Bobby asked, eyes half-narrowed.

"That is my fiance." Annabeth replied, booping his nose.

"You're gonna marry him?" Mathew asked, eyes wide.

"Why would you do that?" Bobby questioned, sounding mildly disgusted and confused.

"You will understand that when you're older." Annabeth replied quickly.

She looked up to see both of her mortal parents staring at her with wide eyes. Annabeth looked back to the boys. "Hey, I need to talk to Mom and Dad. Can you wait upstairs until we're done?"

"Will you play Uno with us later?" Mathew asked.

"Yep. Percy will play too." Annabeth said.

Bobby looked at Percy, gave him a narrow eyed look, and turned to Annabeth. "Deal." The two boys then dashed up the stairs.

"Well," Annabeth said. "Let's sit down and talk."

~~~~~~

The pair explained the Giant War and what some of the journey was, but they left out a fair number(read: a lot) of the more gruesome and morbid details. They both glanced over the whole Tartarus experience, which was summed up as roughly 'We fell, it sucked, we got out'.

The story got to the part where Percy met up with Tony, and that was where they left it.

"I saw the news and was so confused, because your father is Poseidon, right?" Frederick said to Percy.

"Yeah. He's actually our uncle. Kat and I just came up with the cover story to protect my mom." Percy nodded.

"Why would she need protecting?" Annika asked.

"Well, trouble always finds me. And if trouble knows who my mom is, they'll go after her to get to me. She's a much easier target." Percy explained.

"Speaking of trouble, do we have to worry about any of that? I know you said that you attract monsters, Percy." Frederick asked.

"No. At this point, any monsters who sense him are going in the opposite direction." Annabeth said.

"Why is that?" Frederick inquired.

"Because they're allergic to my sass." Percy blurted before he could help himself.

Annabeth elbowed him. "He's gotten a lot more powerful." She said for her father and Annika.

Frederick gave Percy a long, quiet thoughtful look. "So you can protect my girl?"

"Not that she needs it, but yes." Percy answered.

"You're not going to leave her?" Frederick pressed.

"No. I'm in this for the long run." Percy replied. He leaned over towards Annabeth slightly. {"Which may be a very long time."}

{"We'll build something permanent."} Annabeth replied softly.

"I caught some of that." Frederick informed them. Upon receiving raised eyebrows, he explained. "Did you think Athena took a liking to me because I was a loon?"

Percy laughed and shook his head. Annabeth rolled her eyes. 

"And you love her?" Frederick asked his last piece.

"With all that I am." Percy replied, the most confidently he'd ever answered a question.

~~~~~~

He woke to a loud banging at his door. "I'm up!" He called back, and forced himself out of bed. The banging ceased. He quickly went through his morning routine, and prepared himself for the day. 

When he was done, he walked out of his room and toward the training area. There he waited for further instructions. It wasn't long after that when his superiors came to him with a man in between them that he didn't recognize.

The iris of the man's eyes was an onyx, a void. His skin was pale, and held an unearthly quality- almost of false health. His close cropped hair was a light brown or dark blonde. 

"Soldier, this is Tarus." They introduced him, "You will be training him from now on."

He nodded to his superiors, and they walked away, leaving 'Tarus' with him.

"What a pleasure to be taught by the Winter Soldier. I have friends who would sell their soul for this." Tarus grinned.

Winter scowled. "We don't have a soul to sell." 

"Fair point. But it's a necessary evil." Tarus replied.

"Do you have any weapons with you now?" Winter asked instead of letting a philosophy discussion occur.

"No-" Tarus began, but quickly received a punch to his gut from a flesh fist.

"Wrong." Winter said. "You are the weapon. Everything else is a tool. Even your body." Winter flexed his metal fingers to prove his point.

Tarus straightened and looked Winter in the eyes. Both pairs were unsettling to the other, and to others. "Well, I guess this won't be boring after all." Tarus smirked.

Winter threw a fist to Tarus' jaw, effectively wiping the smirk off of it. "No emotions. They leave room for doubt and falter. An unreadable opponent is more dangerous. Read them, but don't let them read you."

"Giving away all your tips and tricks, huh?" Tarus said, wiping blood from his lips. Winter must have been mistaken, he thought as he saw the blood. "Not scared that if you tell me everything I'll beat you?"

"I have nothing to fear." Winter replied, both stating his current perspective, and insulting Tarus.

"What makes you so special anyway?" Tarus raised an eyebrow. "I mean, the arm's cool, but anyone can get that upgrade if they're serious about it."

"I'm special because I haven't been beaten." Winter answered. "And I won't be."

A/N

Oh, my lovely readers. I'm sure you will all be disappointed to learn that there will probably be a third book. What have I gotten myself into?

Make sure to vote if you liked the chapter!