So I've been wanting to write this for a while- pretty much since my fall rant about how badass and talented and avant-garde Maria di Angelo actually is when you think about it. I guess that the long weekend just gave me the okay-go for it. Happy Victoria's Day to all Canadians getting the day off. Hope it's not raining in your little slice of heaven.

Disclaimer: I don't own the following characters.

The Incredible Ability

The chancery was very nicely decorated with antiquities and portraits by Italian artists. He walked up to the front desk under the watchful eyes of two security guards. A woman was sitting at the counter, holding the title of the ambassador's secretary. Peculiar for the era.

"Excuse me, Miss," he said. She looked up.

"Hello sir, welcome to the Italian Embassy," she said. Her accent was a touch-and-go to her voice, as if she'd lived in America for a while but among Italians.

"Thank you. I'm here to see the ambassador."

"Do you have an appointment?" She asked opening a book full of neatly written precise notes.

"Yes, under the name Hades."

"Hades who?"

"Harley," he said.

"Yes," she said shutting the book and getting to her feet. Her hair was done in neat finger curls, falling to her shoulders. She wore a white blouse with a bow collar and a black skirt with buttons down the side. "Follow me, sir. But I will have to ask you to leave your friends behind."

"I came alone," he said.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what game you are trying to play," she said looking at his right. He turned around and spotted a silver soul of a battered ma breathing deeply. Of course, this wasn't new to him. He lived in hell, surrounded by them, and some of them did cling to his clothes when he left.

He snapped his fingers. They disappeared, sent back.

"Better?" Hades asked her.

Her eyes stayed sprawled just as wide. "What did you just do?"

The woman had the incredible ability to see the dead, she wasn't just duped by the mist. How rare.

"That's a long story," Hades said.

"I'm the one in charge of leading you to your appointment," she said. "I daresay that I get to decide what takes too much time."

Hades grinned. "What's your name?"

"Bianca Addario."

"I won't report you to anyone," he grinned. "You can tell me your real name."

"Maria di Angelo," she said simply.

"Maria… that's a nice name. You're feisty for a secretary."

"I am much more than a secretary."

"Oh I know. I see that you have a very particular gift."

"Do I?" Maria said. "If you turn this into a pick-up line while I am working, I swear to God almighty…"

"No, no, no. I was just going to say that it's quite remarkable for a mortal to see the dead."

She shot him a crooked look.

"I've changed my mind. This is clearly a long story, one that you will tell me in a coffee shop or other civil location once I finish work at five," Maria said.

"At five, eh?" Hades said with a smile.

"In a coffee shop," she said strictly.

"Germany is in a very sad state," Hades said shaking his head, drumming his fingers against the restaurant table. "Things aren't going to get better like I thought."

"Non te la prendere!," Maria chided. Don't get so upset. "It's not your fault, you know. Hitler has a head on his shoulders, a very frightening and ambitious one at that. I don't think anyone could have talked him in or out of anything," Maria said. "He does not strike me as that kind of man. Besides, it is not from you that he gets whatever it is that fuels his… his disillusionment about politics and the Jewish or gays or any of it."

"Ambition? Holding grudges? I'm afraid that's all me," Hades said with a sad smile.

"You know what, ambition is what drove Amelia Earhart to fly around the world and she's a hero. Ambition is why this country is colonised. Ambition has fuelled more good than bad when you think about it," Maria said. "I find it a very admirable trait when worn well, which you do. It is not your fault, and if you keep insisting that it is I will beat you with this spoon."

Hades smiled and looked up at her. Her eyes were wide with focus and passion, focused right on him. They were a beautiful shade of brown, lined with kohl. To top it off, she was holding a spoon in his direction like a wand.

"You really think so?"

"I do," Maria said. "Shall I repeat? Ambition is what drove…"

Hades laughed and took her hand across the table. "You have an amazing knack for seeing good in other people."

"I am good at pointing out the obvious to the blind," she said poking his arm.

"Every few months my mother's travels bring her to America," Maria said. "Every few months I get like this."

She had very recently cried. Cried a lot- her eyes were still pinkish and her cheeks were still wet. She'd actually called him for help, because that clever woman had made the connection between gods and praying.

"What did you fight about this time?" Hades asked taking hold of her hand.

"Oh, everything. The clothes I wear, the makeup I wear with, my job, the fact that I'm not married with 2.5 children... The regular. Oh wait, no, today we argued about religion because she asked me where I hung my crucifix."

"I've never seen one around here. Where do you hang it?" Hades asked.

"Italy," she said. Hades chuckled a bit.

"Oh, she mustn't have liked that."

"No," Maria said. "She thinks that the Americans are polluting my mind. She thinks I'm going to hell. Then I told her that hell was nice in the summer and I don't think that she's going to come back and visit soon."

Hades tried not to smile at that, just because he knew her well enough to appreciate how nasty fights with her mom were and how much they meant. Hell, any fight with an Italian scared him.

"I think that it's good that you had this fight," he said. "Don't look at me that way, I meant... Well, if you consider yourself atheist, it's better that she knows. She'll get over it eventually. She didn't have a daughter to create another religious person, she had a daughter to have a daughter right? You have this really special way of standing out in a crowd and still belonging to it, Maria. And you've got this spectacular mind frame in which you believe that you have the right to be your own person- it's incredible, and I wouldn't dare to think who or where you'd be if you didn't have it."

Maria shrugged and he put an arm around her. "It'll be okay. As long as you stop crying because that- that is not okay."

She dropped her head on his shoulder. "You know what, for the Lord of the Dead you're pretty fantastic at keeping yourself happy."

"Hello you," Maria smiled when he came in.

"Hello my dear," he smiled back. There was that kind of contagion to her charm.

She put the books and records under key and got up, draping her trench coat over her chair and picking up the flowery Spanish scarf Hades had offered her as a gift when he'd found out it was her birthday. She wrapped the scarf around her neck, asking him about his day.

One of the ambassador's assistants came out, speaking in quick fire Italian.

"Miss di Angelo," he said. "I was looking through some files and I saw a slight error in them, I was wondering if you could perhaps look it over and apply some corrections."

"Sir, I believe that Mr Borgignio is the one who drafted that particular piece," Maria replied in the same language.

"I know, but he leaves for home at around this time and I wouldn't want to…"

"Sir, I am leaving as we speak," Maria said. "As per usual, as well. In fact, everyone in the embassy is usually retiring by now."

"Oh, I know, but he can't do it- see, his wife…"

"Sir, I have personal business to attend to as well," she said. "I fail to understand where in my duties it is said that I have to drop all of my plans in the case of a non-emergency to repair someone else's errors."

Borgignio gave it a second and bowed his head.

"You bring a good point, Ms. di Angelo, I apologise. Have a wonderful evening."

"To you too, sir," Maria said slipping on her coat. She grabbed her bag before taking his offered arm and walking out of the embassy.

"Imbecile," she muttered under her breath as they climbed down the front stairs.

"I admire your ability to get respected like that in there," Hades said. "Really, it's quite impressive."

Maria raised her hand in a shrug. "If you do not get yourself respect, it is not going to come at your whistle."

"I think that for you it would," Hades said. She smiled.

"I whistle very well."

"How did you end up working for the ambassador?" Hades asked stirring his cup of coffee.

"I earned the job, of course." Maria said wrapping her hands around the mug.

"I'm sure you did," he said. "I was just wondering how you got taken seriously. International affairs, politics… very male-dominated fields, hard to get in for anyone at that."

"My father was the ambassador when I was a little girl," Maria said. "I grew up in the embassy for most of my life. I got a degree in international affairs and European history. I applied for a job and ended up as a secretary in Washington again. It was not exactly what I wanted, but I am handling some very classified material and revising important documents. I will keep moving up the totem pole, so to speak."

"I'm sure you will," Hades said. "Some people are just very good at getting what they want."

"What could you possibly know about what I want?" Maria said raising an eyebrow.

"Well I assumed that you wanted to work in the same domain as your father…"

"Oh, don't make me sound shallow. There are other things in this world that I enjoy or want," said. "Or even need."

"Such as?" Hades asked.

"Good friends, nice weather, coffee, good music, health…" Maria said. She leaned in and kissed him. "That too, maybe."

Hades grinned, shook his head and took his turn to lean across the coffee table and kiss her, his hand in her hair. He pulled back and their noses were touching.

"Hmm," she said. "I guess you are right. I do get what I want."