AN: Well I have a lot of free time now and I think a lot of you do too...so hopefully more common updates?


Will first came to at the smell of bacon...well, who wouldn't? He opened his blurry eyes to see the medical book he had fallen asleep on, and then he was aware of his sore neck from falling asleep at the kitchen table.

"'morning, sleeping beauty." Nico looked over from the stove, his uniform on and his hair pulled back. "Bi's getting dressed, we're leaving in thirty minutes. You need to be gone in an hour if you're going to make your test."

Will sat up with a groan and began to pack all his things away. The blanket Nico had covered him with sometime during the night fell away, laying at his feet. "Is coffee made?"

"You ask me that every morning, and the answer's always the same. Even when you don't try to learn stuff by hypnopedia." Nico flipped the bacon, glancing up momentarily when he heard Bianca start to trample down the stairs. "Caution, seven-year-old incoming."

Before Will could get to the cupboard and grab a mug, Bianca's little arms were wrapped around his torso. "Daddy! Daddy! Today's Friday. That means I get to visit momma!"

Will gave her a soft hug before grabbing his mug. "Do you have your bag packed?"

She nodded. Dark hair falling into her deformed face, black eyes a little too far apart, little lips that trembled at any inconvenience. "You have a test today?"

"Yeah, how do you know that?" he asked.

Bianca hugged him again before crawling into her seat at the table. "Daddy told me to wish you luck."

Will poured his coffee before sitting next to her. "Well, thank you for that luck..." He ran his fingers through her hair. "Go get the brush so daddy can do your hair when he's done cooking?"

She nodded once before running off, leaving Will alone to rub at his neck in pain. "Is Drew picking her up from school?"

"Yeah, and it's Friday. No therapist today." Nico put a plate in front of Will before starting to make one for Bianca. "She doesn't seem worried about school today."

"Troy Brady won't be there, his mom's having her baby," Will explained. "He made sure to let them all know yesterday."

Bianca ran back into the room with a brush in hand, jumping into her chair again and starting to eat the food Nico presented her with.

"No Ms. Karen today," Nico reminded her. He sat next to her and picked at his own food. "And look for your mom when you get out of school."

Bianca set her fork aside and started to eat with her hands. "I know."

Nico pushed the fork back into her hand before handing over a napkin. It was insane how dirty Bianca could get in so little time. But then you considered the hyperactivity, and it started to make sense.

Nico grabbed the hairbrush when they were done eating and started to do her hair as Will cleared the table. They were a well-oiled machine, they made things work. But some things were impossible to get through so easily. If you got through some things easily, it meant you didn't care.

"Guess what?" Bianca asked once they were in the car, her feet kicking away at her car seat. "Troy isn't at school today."

"Oh, really?" Nico glanced at her in the mirror before looking back to the road. He never risked anything when Bianca was in the car. "So you're going to try and have a good day for me?"

She nodded, her eyes meeting a police car that stopped next to them at the red light. "Daddy! Daddy! It's your work car! Someone's using your work car!"

Nico ran a hand through his hair. "We all have the same car, Bi."

"Why?"

"So people know who we are."

"Why?"

"So they know they're safe."

"Why?"

"Because God said so, and we don't question God, and we don't question why we don't question him, okay?" Nico knew the 'why' game could go on for hours. It had before, and that made him want to pull his hair out.

"Oh..." Bianca looked around again before finding something else to direct her attention to. Her feet never stopped kicking.


Will stepped out of the building with an aching head and sleepy eyes. He hated tests. He hated school. But he was going to finish med school, he was going to be a doctor. He had promised his little girl that long ago.

"Wait up!"

A girl grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "You're Will Solace, right?"

Will looked up to see a woman about five or six years older them him, her blonde hair wrapped up in a tight bun. Blue eyes so similar to his own, a skinny face and high cheekbones.

"Um...yeah? And you are?" he asked.

She let him go. "Mary Davis. Your father abandoned my pregnant mother after beating the shit out of her."

Everything in Will stopped, maybe even his heart for a few seconds. Suddenly the world around him zeroed in on this girl before him.

Mary looked him over. "You're the one he actually raised, aren't you? He married your mother?"

Will nodded. "Yeah..."

Her worn face turned to anger. "You're just like him. Not a thought of all the lives he destroyed."

Will blinked. "I...I'm not..."

She shouldered her bag, her collarbone sticking out where her dress was misplaced. "Just stay away from me and my brother. We don't owe anything to you. But you were sure to know of us sooner or later. We all go here. We're in the same class."

"The same class...shouldn't you be older? Graduating?"

"It took more for us to get here. It took a hell of a lot more that you would never imagine." Her small fingers flipped the bird before she turned around and walked off, leaving him alone to stare after her, wondering what the hell the universe had against him.