Will closed the door of the old guest room- now his mother's room- and let out a sigh of relief when he was alone in the hallway. He could hear Hazel and Bianca downstairs, his sister-in-law a saint when it came to helping out and babysitting. And she had been since teenage-hood.

As soon as he descended the steps, little Bianca was bounding to him with more energy than usual. "Daddy! Daddy!"

"Hey, sweetheart." Will picked her up. "Have you been good for aunt Hazel?"

Bianca nodded. "I helped her frost cupcakes."

Will whistled. "Good job."

Bianca giggled to herself before reaching to get down. "Is it true grandma's living with us now?"

Will nodded as he set her down. "Is that okay with you?"

"YES!" Bianca jumped up and down. "I love grandma so much!"

"Good, that's good." Will ruffled her hair. "Why don't you go tell grandma how excited you are? She's in the guest bedroom."

Bianca grabbed her little bookbag from Hazel before sprinting upstairs, leaving Will alone with his husband's sister.

"Thanks for watching her, I know she's a ball of energy." Will rubbed his face.

"No problem." Hazel looked passed him, up the stairs. "So you convinced your mom to leave him?"

Will nodded. "But it's just been...exhausting. Nico's still at work. I don't know why he's working overtime, he just texted me and said he would be late."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Nico's always doing more than he needs to when it comes to work. I wouldn't worry about it."

She grabbed her purse and keys. "Bianca had dinner with me, so she's good for the night. Call me if you don't hear from Nico by midnight."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Why? What do you think he's doing?"

Hazel shrugged. "It's Nico. He acts on his emotions equally as much as his brain. You saw that when you found out how Bianca was made." She gave him a smile. "Look, I'm sure he's fine. My thoughts just run wild."

"Mine, too," Will admitted. "Hazel...do...do you think he's...?"

"With another man?" she laughed. "I doubt it, Will. He loves you."

"That's what people said about Apollo and my mom."

Hazel's smile dropped. "Will..."

"I know, I know, it fucked up my brain." Will ran his hands through his hair. "It really fucked me up, but I can't help thinking about that stuff. What if he's with another guy? What if he's doing god knows what? Drugs? Alcohol? What if he doesn't love me as I thought-"

"Will!" Hazel grabbed his shoulders. "Will, listen to yourself. We're talking about Nico di Angelo. The man that'd do anything for you and anything for Bianca and anything for me, and the man who tries his damn hardest to help anyone he comes across. Snap out of this."

Will looked in her eyes before looking down at their feet. "My brain's just rambling."

"I know."

"I love Nico more than anything."

"I know."

"You really think he's okay?" Will asked. "What if he's in trouble?"

"What'd he say when he texted you?" Hazel asked.

Will got his phone out and read the text directly from his phone. "'I won't be home at regular time, have to work late'. That's it."

"He's working," Hazel concluded. "As I said, call me if you don't hear from him by midnight. But I have to get home to Frank."

Will glanced up at the ceiling when he heard Bianca's loud giggles. "Okay..."

Hazel kissed his cheek before leaving. When she was gone he locked the door behind her before sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table as he thought on what to do. Hazel was right, he knew she was. Nico just worked late sometimes.

But as he said, what Apollo had done had fucked up his brain.

By midnight, Will had put Bianca to bed, had gotten his mother comfortable and asleep, had checked all the locks five times, studied for his upcoming test, and drank two pots of coffee.

And Nico still wasn't home.

Will had texted him twice but hadn't gotten any reply. After midnight came and went, he called Hazel just as he had promised to do.

"Will?" Hazel must have been asleep, you could hear it in her voice. "What time is it?"

"Twelve-thirty," Will said. "I'm sorry I woke you up, but Nico's still not home."

"...Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty damn sure he's not in bed by me," Will snapped.

"Okay, okay." Hazel's voice drew further from the phone. "Frank, Frank, wake up!"

Will waited patiently for Hazel to wake her husband, his eyes on Nico's empty side of the bed. Oh god, he needed Nico to be okay. He just needed him to be okay.

"I'm on my way over," Hazel said. "Have you texted him?"

"Multiple times. No answer." Will stood up and began to pace. "I'm worried as fuck, Hazel."

"Just relax. I'm on my way over." There was a rustling in the background, what sounded like her car, Frank's voice and the low hum of a radio. "Driving there. Is Bianca asleep?"

Will made his way downstairs and started another pot of coffee. "Yeah, my mom is, too. I haven't let either of them know what's going on."

"I'm going to beat Nico's ass," Hazel mumbled to herself. "He's gotta stop getting involved in things."

Will knew exactly what Hazel was talking about. It had been the last time Nico had come home late, though nowhere near as late as this time. He had volunteered to stay late because he simply couldn't go home knowing a child was still out there lost.

He had eventually found the kid, had come home soaked from the pouring rain, had apologized over and over.

But this time was different. This time, it was almost one in the morning and Will was sitting in his dark living room, another cup of coffee in hand, and soon enough Hazel and Frank were with him.

"What could he possibly be doing?" Will asked for what felt like the hundredth time. "What's got him out so late?"

Hazel downed her cup of coffee and got up without a word to get more. It was rare to see her actually worried, but judging by Frank's face, she was anxious as hell.

"Should we call his work?" Will asked. "Maybe they could tell us-"

"I wouldn't, Will," Frank said. "They're busy with other stuff. If anything was wrong, they'd contact us."

Will got up and paced. "What if they don't know? What if-"

"He said he was working over, right?" Frank asked. "It's gotta be something with his work."

Hazel came back and sat beside her husband. "He needs to learn to keep in contact with us."

Will nodded. "Definitely. But he's stubborn."

They sat in silence when there were no more words to say. Will was about to break down like he saw his mother do earlier that day, but a knock eventually came around two in the morning.

Will was the first to his feet, followed by Hazel and then Frank. He threw open the front door to see his husband, and all that worry changed to anger.

"Nico, what the fuck-"

He stopped when he saw his husband's face, the misery in it, how drenched he was from the storm. Will pulled him in and slammed the door, hugging him as tight as he could and for as long as he could.

"Oh, thank god..." Hazel kissed her brother's head. "Nico, where have you been?"

Nico buried his face in Will's shoulder, rain dripping off him and wetting Will's shirt. "Talking down this kid that wanted to jump."

"For that long?" Will whispered.

Nico nodded. "From four in the afternoon. He just...he had so much going on. I tried to talk it through with him, over and over."

Hazel didn't disrupt the hug but pulled Nico's drenched coat off him. "Neeks...you do so much for people... I'm going to head home, okay? Will's gonna get you in the hot bath or something before you catch pneumonia. Call me tomorrow, okay?"

Nico nodded into Will's shoulder. "Okay..."

Hazel ruffled his hair and gave Will an encouraging look before leading Frank out. When she was gone, Will leaned over and locked the door before breaking the hug. "Let's get you to our bathroom. Hazel's right, you're freezing."

He led Nico upstairs, and once in the bathroom, started the hot water and began to strip his husband. But there wasn't anything flirty about it, and once Nico was in the tub, Will sat beside it and rubbed his shoulders.

"Feel better?" he asked.

Nico shrugged, his eyes dull and fixed on the water pouring from the faucet.

"I know it's hard to do that, I know," Will kissed his cheek. "But it's over, you did good, talking for that long. Relax now that it's over. You do so well at this stuff, I don't know why they don't promote you."

"Because he still jumped," Nico whispered.