Will had dinner ready when Nico finally got home. He had stayed with Cassie for as long as he could, worried about her. If a monster were to attack her, she would be a goner.

So Nico was pretty grateful that Will must have had a really good day to be cooking.

"Hey, thanks for cooking, sunshine."

Will turned and grinned at him, "Well, I figured Cassie would exhaust you." He was joking.

Nico smirked, "She sends her love and some cookies." He set the container of cookies on the counter. "She's going a bit stir crazy, which doesn't work well with her bed rest. I got her to focus on writing instead of baking, though, so that should help."

"It should," Will agreed, giving Nico a peck on the cheek. "And in the surrogate news?"

"We're meeting with her in about an hour and a half. So, I'm gonna go clean the place up. Call me when dinner's ready?" He was used to having an early dinner. Will generally went to work at some ungodly early hour in the morning, which meant all of his meals were earlier. Nico compensated by having a late breakfast/early lunch and then having a snack if he got hungry before dinner, and a snack later in the evening if he got hungry again. Dinner was a meal that was best when eaten together. Nico had learned that at Camp.

"Alright, I'm keeping it simple tonight."

"Spaghetti?"

"Minus the garlic bread since we have company coming."

"Works for me." Nico grabbed a real kiss, then started straightening up the living room. "Meg seems to know what she's doing. She wasn't at all what I expected her to look like, though."

"Oh?"

"She's short, like at least half a foot shorter than me. I thought she couldn't be more than seventeen."

"She is more than seventeen, right?"

"Yeah, she's my age. I asked Cassie."

"Alright, just double checking. Go on."

Nico folded their favorite throw blanket nicely and put it over the back of his chair, "She kind of looks like she would belong in your cabin."

"Ah, blonde hair, blue eyes?"

"Yeah, her hair is a paler blonde than yours, but still. She's seems sweet, and she's definitely dedicated." Nico arranged the throw pillows on their worn-looking couch. "I think the couch is dying."

"Yeah, don't let her sit on the far left side when she's here."

"What? Why?"

"I sat down, and it was like that part of the couch dropped out. We'll have to get a new one."

Nico grumbled. He liked this couch. He had good memories on this couch.

"Come on, Nico, we're going to have a kid in this house. We'll need some furniture that isn't already dying."

"Yeah, I know."

"Dinner's done."

Nico went in and set the table for them, then found himself smiling at the empty seat. Son? Or daughter? Would they have more than one?

"Ran into Percy on my way home." Will said, setting that last of the food on the table.

"Where?"

"The park. Their daughter is getting so big." Will gave Nico a grin.

Nico smiled, "She's gotta be close to three."

Will nodded, "She turns four in about three months."

"How's Percy?"

"He seemed really happy. He said that Annabeth had taken their son to work with her, so he was taking advantage of a daddy-daughter day. They visited Jason and Piper, and Frank and Hazel—" Nico made a mental note to call his sister "—said that they're doing good. Their kids are all healthy and such."

Nico realized that they really didn't have any friends left that weren't parents, or on the path of becoming parents. Cassie and Malcolm had been the last. Even Reyna and her husband had kids. No wonder Will had been thinking about his old dream of having kids.

"And Percy said to tell you Hi. I also agreed that we would go over for a dinner party tomorrow. All of the seven will be there, and Calypso, Reyna, and Eric."

"Sounds good, it's been a while since we've hung out with them." Nico smirked, "You didn't remember to make meatballs."

Will made a clucking sound, "Stink…"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Nico waved it off, "They aren't that good of meatballs anyway."

"Yeah, especially after Cassie sent over those homemade meatballs?"

"Dang, those were good." Nico shook his head. "Ever notice how much food she sends us?"

"She's one of those people that likes to feed people. Who are we to argue with our limited cooking skills?" Will chuckled.

Nico grinned, "Yeah, there should be a cooking class at camp. Nothing prepared us for this."

"You're still the better cook."

"It's called following a recipe and hoping the things I messed up won't ruin it." Nico glanced at the clock, "Shoot." He shoveled the rest of his food in.

Will glanced then did the same, then started clearing the table and such. "Go do a once over. Check the bathroom!"

Nico's eyes widened and he hurried to go clean the bathroom. He had forgotten about their toothpaste war last night, and told himself this morning that he would clean it when he got back from Cassie's. Now he hurried just to make the bathroom look decent. He only had fifteen minutes. Hopefully she wouldn't be early.

"She's here!" Will called.

Nico glanced around once more, then sprayed the air freshener and retreated to the living room.

Will was bouncing on his toes like he did in sword practice, obviously trying to keep calm.

Nico went towards the door, waiting for the doorbell to ring, waiting for a couple heartbeats, then opening the door, "Hey, Meg, come on in."

She smiled and did so, "Hello."

"I'm Will," Will introduced himself, offering his hand.

"Megara Payne. You have a very nice house." She said in an easy manner.

Will seemed to relax a little more, "Thank you."

She pulled a noodle off of his shirt, "Saving it for later?" She teased, tossing the noodle in the trash.

Will turned bright red, and mumbled something.

She gave him an easy smile, "Relax, I'm not going to judge you just because you had food on your shirt. It's more likely that I judge you based on your movie collection."

Nico smiled and took Will's hand, "It's a good thing the movies are put away, then." He gestured toward the seating, "Come on in and sit."

She nodded and followed them.

Will made sure she got his arm-chair, and took a seat on the couch.

Nico sat next to him, if for nothing else than to help calm Will's nerves. He knew that Meg was easy-going, and that Will was excited and maybe a little desperate for this to work.

She pulled out some papers from her bag, "To business?"

"Sure," Nico responded.

Will nodded quickly.

She handed them two documents, "The first is my usual agreement with the parents, like I told Nico earlier. The second is a brief explanation of how we'll go about it."

Will nodded, looking over them.

Nico read the second one, realizing that Meg adopted such an easy manner because it was an awkward topic. The more comfortable she was with it, the more comfortable the parents would be.

"This is a list of options for during the pregnancy. Things like, eating organic or home birth versus hospital. Everything is explained fairly well." She set that document on the coffee table, still going through her files for what she wanted.

Nico took it and glanced over it. Some of the things were kind of strange, but he figured they must be some sort of fad that's going on.

"On the back of that is things I will not do and reasons why." She added, then she found what she was looking for and leaned back in the seat with it, glancing it over.

Nico flipped to the back, and smiled, "You actually had to put that you won't switch to artificial sweeteners?"

She nodded, "People don't realize how awful they are for your body, and for the baby. I usually stick to pure cane sugar. It's a little more expensive, but so much better for you."

Will nodded, "Agreed. The body can process just about everything. Besides, I would not want to get between a pregnant woman and her chocolate craving."

Nico shuddered at the thought. He still remembered the time Eric, Reyna's husband, had gotten between her and the pickles when she was craving them. Eric wasn't even aware of his being in the way until Reyna turned into some sort of monster. It was terrifying.

Meg seemed to remember something, "Oh, I brought the parenting book that I require the parents to read." She pulled that out of her purse and set it on the table.

Nico nodded at it, suddenly realizing how excited he was getting.

Meanwhile, Will had calmed down and was carefully looking over everything, "So, how does this work on your end of things?" He finally asked, looking curious but also like he dreaded the answer.

She crinkled her nose slightly, "The gifts I got from my mother are…somewhat unique. I can…gosh, this sounds awkward, I can sort of mentally sort the traits so that they favor one of you." She made another face. "Or both. It's easier with one."

"Which begs the question…" Will let that thought trail off, looking uncomfortable as well.

Nico felt like he had missed something, "Begs the question…?"

She blushed a bit, "Which one of you will be…donating?"

Nico felt like he had face-planted in a frying pan, he let out a nervous cough, "Um, we hadn't…discussed…"

"We're still working that one out." Will summarized, "We're still not even sure what last name the baby would have."

"Oh gods, I forgot about last names." Nico ran a hand through his hair.

She giggled slightly, "Don't worry, it's not like we have to do it tonight. Tonight is the legal stuff. And then you'll have nine months to figure out the last name crisis."

Nico thought back to the thought he had had earlier, about the world needing more Wills. "If we ended up wanting another kid…"

Will looked at him, a little lost, but curious.

She followed his trail of thought, "Yeah, I'd be happy to help you then as well. And the other could donate."

Nico nodded, then looked at Will, "Then I think our first one should be from you." He blushed a bit, thinking about it.

Will's brow came together, "Are you sure? I mean, it's supposed to be our kid."

Nico smiled a bit, "Yeah, but if our first kid has me genes, we would never have another kid."

Will rolled his eyes, "Haha, you're hilarious."

"I'm serious, Will. I think it should be you." Nico took his boyfriend's hand, squeezing it.

They were both quiet for a moment, watching each other's faces for signs of what the other was really thinking. It was a habit they had formed, trying to prevent serious arguments, and trying to prevent themselves from hurting the other's feelings.

"If you're certain," Will said slowly.

Nico grinned, "I am. It was you who always dreamed of kids. It makes sense that our first be yours. I'll still love it, because I love you."

Will smiled and kissed him.

Nico looked at Meg after the kiss, "Sorry, we like to take on problems as they come up."

She shrugged, "Works for me. Here's the legal contract, it's basically saying my rights as the surrogate, your rights as the parents. We do need a witness to sign it, though."

"Abuse clause?" Nico had just barely caught the words, but he looked them over, understanding before she even explained.

"It's just stating that if I feel that after becoming pregnant that this would not be a good home, I have the right to keep the child from the parents for the child's own safety unless the parents can prove irrefutably that their home will not be abusive, and etc. There's also a clause about the parents changing their mind, they have to pay a fee of five thousand, and the custody of the baby falls to me again."

"What if they want you to abort it?" Nico asked, making a slight face.

She shook her head, "Never gonna happen. They pay the fine, I walk out of their lives. I make sure the baby has a good home, a good life."

"Ever had to do that?" Will asked, his arm around Nico's shoulders.

She shook her head again, "No. I just started doing this a couple years ago, though."

Someone rang the doorbell.

Will looked at Nico, and Nico looked back, both looking to see if the other was expecting someone.

Nico grabbed the knife from the end-table drawer while Will grabbed the sword from their display, just in case, and went to the door. He peeked out and set the knife on the entry table, "It's just Calypso." He opened the door.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, I was just baking and I needed a cup of sugar."

"Hey, Calypso, no problem. Come on in." Nico back up so she could enter.

"Hey, Calypso." Will gave her a half hug. "I'll get the sugar for you."

"How's Leo doing with the kid?" Nico asked, smirking.

Calypso laughed softly, "He's already taught Gareth Morse code, and Gar can't even say his own name correctly."

Nico grinned, "He's an adorable kid, though." He liked living down the street from Leo and Calypso. They had cookouts with awesome food, and Nico never had to worry about the car not starting.

"Who's this?" Calypso asked, holding out her hand to Meg.

Meg shook it, "Megara. You're Leo's wife, Calypso."

Calypso nodded, "You went to camp?"

Meg made a face, "More or less. Usually less."

"Meg's going to be a surrogate mom for us." Will explained, handing her a container of sugar.

Calypso's face lit up, "That's wonderful!"

"Hey, would you mind being a witness for the contract?" Nico asked, glancing at Meg to make sure she thought that was okay.

Calypso grinned, "Of course!"

They went back to the contract, all of them signing it. Then Calypso hugged them, agreed not to tell Leo since it was their news and they would tell everyone at the dinner party tomorrow, and left.

Will grinned at their copy of the contract, "So, when do we do the other part? And is it a once and done thing, or…?"

Meg thought about it for a moment, "This week or next would be best, and yeah. It's a once and done thing for me."

"Could we take care of it tonight?" Nico asked, hesitantly.

Meg shrugged, "If that's what you want to do, sure."

Will looked to Nico for approval, then nodded himself, "Alright, then."