EPILOGUE

5 years later. . .

"Di Angelo! You have to park at least a block away from the scene or you won't be able to get in there." A police officer informed him as Nico di Angelo rolled down the window of his car to poke his head out of the window and check the traffic that seemed not to move like forever.

Nico looked at the police officer on the sidewalk. "Good Morning, Officer Hedge, and thanks!"

"Yeah, no problem. Also, you're late. Detective Spielberg is there and is going to kill you."

Nico winced. He didn't have to be reminded of his impending doom. He rolled up the window and maneuvered out of the road and went in the alley instead.

When he successfully parked, he started to walk, cutting through the crowded street of Manhattan. He wore a navy blue long sleeve shirt with a white collared button-down shirt underneath. It was partnered with a gray coat, that seemed to have a stain of mustard sauce on the sleeves, black jeans, and black converse. Slung on his shoulder was a strap holding a gray metal case.

He finally reached a corner and went around it. He cursed as he saw a mob of people gathered ahead. Detective Spielberg was definitely going to kill him.

"Excuse me, CSI. Coming through." Nico squeezed in through the crowd until he was able to cross the yellow cordon set up by the police that cornered the jewelry shop. The glass windows and door were smashed to pieces. Police officers were patrolling around the area. Not far away from where he stood, a police car was parked. A man with his hands handcuffed was standing before the door of the car, three police officers guarding him. Nico cursed some more if the robber had been arrested already, he was really freaking late. He went inside the shop.

He saw Jason, and the blond detective immediately went to him.

"I'm so sorry," Nico said to him. "Riley's school bus left her so I had to drop her off at school first."

Jason looked at him with sympathy. "Man, hard to be a single dad right now, isn't it? Just don't let Detective Spielberg see you just yet, he was barking up for a CSI earlier. When no one showed up, he was ready to spit fire at anyone in his line of sight. But don't worry, I got you covered."

"Shit." Nico knelt at the corner, put the case down, and opened it. "Thanks, man. I owe you again."

"Don't sweat it." Jason crouched down beside him. Nico put on a set of latex gloves. "Hey, listen. You know, you can always count on us, right? I know it's hard for you right now with Riley, raising a kid all alone, so you can always count on us being there for Riley, too, okay? If not Piper and me, Annabeth and Percy are there. They are quite worried about you and Riley."

"Jason." Nico looked at him as he finished putting on his gloves. "Thanks, I really appreciate it, but I can manage. I'll definitely call all of you when desperate times come. Hopefully, it never happens." Nico exhaled as he stood up. "So what's the play here?"

Jason stood up too. "Oh the usual, before the shop could open for business a robber came in, broke the place and the police apprehended him."

"Why are you here, by the way? Are there any drugs or syndicates involved here?" Nico frowned as he noticed the muddy footprints on the carpet floor. He walked back to his case to get a pair of tweezers and a sealable plastic bag.

"Well, I thought the robber was part of the syndicate I'm currently investigating but it turns out he's just a small-time robber." Jason shrugged.

Nico went back to where the footprints were and knelt. He moved his face closer to the floor to inspect the muddy footprints. He picked up the excess mud on the floor with his tweezers and sniffed the mud. "So I take it that the robber came from a farmhouse because I can smell cow manure here. The shop hadn't opened yet so it's impossible that this was from a customer unless one of the employees came from a farm before coming here. . ." He put the tweezers in the sealable plastic bag.

Jason answered. "Nah, the only person present when the crime happened is the store owner and he just lives upstairs."

"So it's definitely from the robber." Nico stood up but still looked down at the footprints. "And another strange thing is, I am seeing two sets of different footprints here and only one robber is present. Where is the other one?"

"But the footage showed only one robber-" Jason was cut off by a commotion outside.

"Shit," Jason cursed as he ran outside. Nico followed suit as he discarded his latex gloves. Outside the shop, the apprehended robber hit the police officers guarding him with a gun he had probably stolen. He was still handcuffed but he didn't seem to have any problems hitting the cops guarding him. There was a black pickup truck out front too. Jason tried to shoot the robber but the driver on the pickup truck was open firing at them so they had to duck for cover. Bystanders scrambled out of the way. Nico and Jason went their separate ways for cover. Nico was the unlucky one because he was the closest to the apprehended robber who was currently getting away from the police.

Nico got out of his hiding spot behind a dumpster and took off after the robber. Nico got close enough to grab him when the robber just hit him in the face with the barrel of the gun. He stumbled backward and cursed some more. The robber jumped towards the opened back of the truck.

"Hey, you idiot!" Jason shouted at Nico. "Are you hurt?"

The pickup truck went zooming out the way, almost hitting a delivery man on a motorcycle. The motorcycle went off balance and the delivery man was thrown to the pavement.

"Nah, I'm fine." Nico touched the corner of his mouth with his thumb and it came back with blood on it. He sighed.

"Stop chasing the bad guys, you idiot, it's not in your job description." Jason scolded as he put down his gun. He cursed at the retreating figure of the truck.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOT COPS DOING?" Another detective barked at them. "ARE YOU ALL AMATEURS FOR LETTING A ROBBER GET AWAY?"

Jason winced at the sound of his voice. "Yep, Detective Spielberg is going to transform into a Minotaur at any moment. I should probably go see him."

"Yeah, sure, go ahead and calm the Minotaur down. I'm going to the lab to test the cow manure. We might get some clues from the compounds in it as to where their hideout is." Nico raised the sealed bag he was still holding.

"AND WHERE'S THE GODDAMN CSI? WHAT'S THE USE OF PRESERVING A CRIME SCENE WITHOUT A CSI?"

"Or you can make a short detour to the Minotaur first before going to the lab," Jason said.

"Great, being toasted is exactly what I need early in the morning," Nico sighed.

Another typical day for Nico.

The emergency room of Jupiter Half-Blood was busy as usual but not the kind of busy where it was mayhem and packed with patients. Lou Ellen stood at the counter of the station looking at an intern doctor who was talking to a patient lying to the bed not far from her.

"What are you looking at?" Dr. Kayla Knowles put down the medical chart on the counter.

"Look at Dr. Eaton." Lou pointed at the intern doctor. "Every time I see him, he reminds me of Will, you know. The same mop of blond hair and tanned skin."

"Oh great, you just successfully dampened my mood," Kayla said as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat as she looked at Dr. Eaton too. She leaned back at the counter. "But yeah, if not for the gray eyes, when his back is turned you could mistake him for Will. They have the same body structure too."

Lou Ellen looked down at the floor. "I miss him."

"Who doesn't?" Kayla sighed.

"You miss who?" Cecil Markowitz appeared on Lou Ellen's side.

Lou looked sadly at Cecil. "Will."

Cecil winced. "Oh man, his name is like a puncture wound in my heart. Why do you have to mention that?"

"Well, you asked for it," Lou retorted.

"I'm going ahead. I have a scheduled surgery, and now I feel like I have huge dark clouds hanging over my head as I perform the surgery," She said before walking away.

"You're not the only one who has dark clouds hanging over your head now," Lou said as she started to arrange the medical charts and stack them together.

"I miss him too you know," Cecil said. "It's been five-"

A paramedic shouted for attention. They wheeled in a stretcher with a man on it. Lou immediately ran to them. The man seemed to be a delivery man wearing a white shirt over a yellow vest with a pizza parlor name on it. He already had a neck brace around his neck. He also seemed to be in his late forties. He was conscious but seemed to be weak.

"Motorcycle accident," The paramedic reported as the patient was being transferred to a bed. "Suspected rib fracture and ankle sprain. Low blood pressure, 80 over 60, so possible anemia."

Lou Ellen nodded and the paramedics left. The nurse looked around for a doctor who could be in charge.

"Hey, Dr. Eaton!" Lou called. "Can you cover this patient?"

"Wait a sec," Dr. Eaton shouted back as he assisted the patient in vomiting in a plastic bag.

"No need. I'll handle it," A voice said from behind Lou.

Lou whipped around as her eyes widened.

Will Solace strode towards them in his glorious light blue surgeon scrub and white lab coat.

"Patient's status?" Will asked as he bent over to check the patient's eyes with a small flashlight.

Lou was speechless for a moment. Will looked back at her, waiting. She finally regained her senses as she shook her head.

"Motorcycle accident. Suspected rib fracture, ankle sprain, and low blood pressure 80 over 90," Lou informed. "When did you get back from Peru?"

"Just now," Will said as he stood straighter and gently patted the patient's ribs, making the patient wince. "Yep, rib fracture." Then he also patted the ankle that had an improvised brace on it. The patient jerked again at the touch. "And yep, ankle sprain. Call someone from the orthopedic department."

"All right. Dr. Langley is available right now. I can page her here." Lou produced a phone and started tapping on it. She held the phone against her ear. "Does your husband know you're already here? You're a week earlier than your intended to return."

Will looked at her. "Nope, I'm being dramatic and wanted to surprise him. The medical mission got wrapped up earlier because of some sort of political conflict that I don't want to know about, so here I am." Will gazed back down at the patient as Lou talked to her phone. "Something's odd with you, Mister. . ." The blond doctor bent down again to look closely at the patient, Will's held the headboard for support while his other hand was on his hip. The patient was sweating in buckets and awfully pale. He also seemed to be having a hard time breathing. "Lou put him on an oxygen mask."

"Yeah, sure." Lou pocketed the phone and started to work on it.

"Hey, sir, can you hear me?" Will asked. The man nodded weakly, so the doctor continued and applied pressure on the man's stomach with his hand. "Does your stomach hurt right now?"

The man nodded briefly.

"How about your back or shoulder, does it hurt?"

The man shook his head as Lou put the mask on him.

"How about before, did you experience frequent back and shoulder pain? Trouble breathing?"

The patient nodded again.

Will immediately picked up his stethoscope in his pocket and checked for the heartbeat, and his eyes narrowed. He pulled out the earbuds of stethoscope from his ear as he stood straighter once more, stethoscope now hanging around his neck.

"I want a chest x-ray and blood work on him stat because there's a high–damn, he's on it!" the patient gasped for breath. His body arched back then he went unconscious. "Myocardial Infarction. Prepare the OR. STAT! Lou, give me the defibrillator!"

After two hours of successful operation on the delivery man, Will headed straight to the on-call room. He was regretting coming to work instead of resting at home when he was still suffering from jet lag. Technically he was still on leave from a medical mission in Peru and he didn't necessarily need to report to work at the moment. When he had reached the room, he opened the door.

"Oh look who's back from the middle of nowhere," Kayla Knowles greeted him. Lou and Cecil were also there in the room.

"I missed you too guys." Will smiled as he closed the door behind him.

"Five months without communication. Do you know how miserable we were?" Kayla exclaimed, tackling Will into a hug.

"Well, that's what happens when you got sent into a remote area where there's basically no reception," Will answered, returning Kayla's hug.

Kayla pulled away and looked up at Will. "Nico doesn't really know that you're back, does he?"

Will shook his head.

"Oh, man. I wish we could see his reaction when he sees you," Cecil said. "He wouldn't say it out loud but he's probably more miserable than we were. I think Riley's the one who's expressing it vocally for the both of them since she's always crying and searching for you. She misses you a lot too."

Will smiled fondly at the mention of their seven-year-old adopted daughter, who had come into their lives four years ago. He briefly remembered the abused and traumatic little girl, who had been barely 3 years old and who he had met in the emergency room of JHH. However, a lot of things had changed now. Riley was not the abused child he had met before. She was more than that now. "I miss my family too. Now that you mention it, I have to pick up Riley from school later, so I should probably take a nap. Jetlag." he dove into the nearest cot. "Anyways, there's something for you there. It's fresh from Peru, in the silver paper bag."

"Really?" Kayla said and the three of them started to dig in the paper bag.

"Why did you even go to work?" Kayla asked. "You should have stayed home."

"I know, but I missed the smell of the hospital. I missed you guys. . ." Will muttered, drifting off to sleep.

The three paused and looked at the blond doctor. They all smiled fondly at him.

Nico parked next to Will's Chevrolet that hadn't been used in five months. So much for being toasted by Detective Spielberg and the never-ending pile of lab works at NYPD. He tiredly climbed out of his car and trudged towards the front porch of their house. He fished out his keys in his jeans' pocket and jammed it into the keyhole of the doorknob. The only thing he was looking forward to right now, was to be with his daughter who was probably already inside with her Aunt Hazel. She agreed on picking up her niece from school since he couldn't get out of work.

Nico pushed the door open. He could already hear his daughter's laughter ringing from the kitchen. That mere sound already gave Nico additional energy.

"Sweetie, where are you? Papa's home!" Nico called out as he put down his bag on the couch.

"Papa!" The ever-energetic voice echoed as a small girl appeared in the kitchen. She had shoulder-length raven hair with bright blue eyes that were awfully similar to the eyes of his husband. Riley Solace-di Angelo ran towards Nico. "Papa, I have a sur-" Riley frowned and paused mid-step, looking up at her father. "What happened to your face, Papa?"

Crap. Nico already forgot the small cut on the corner of his mouth, courtesy of the robber earlier in the morning, who by the way, had gotten arrested together with his other accomplice just a while ago in their hideout. He was so busy that he wasn't able to properly tend that said cut. It must've formed a bruise by now. "Ah, this. . ." He was racking his brain for a good explanation fit for a seven-year-old kid.

"What about his face?" Another voice demanded.

Nico gazed up and blinked. Then he blinked some more while at the same time, willing his brain to process the figure in the kitchen doorway.

Because he was sure as hell that that figure was his husband. He narrowed his ever beautiful bright blue eyes at him as he walked towards him. Nico would have admired his husband in just sweatpants and a t-shirt with holes in it, if not for the murderous look that Will was giving him.

Right. If there was one thing Nico had learned in their five years of marriage, it was to never show up at home where his husband could see the injuries, because the said husband had a doctor's instincts worse on his own family members.

"Babe, care to explain what happened to your handsome face?" Will held Nico's chin and lifted it sideways to inspect the cut closer.

"Ran into a pole," Nico said smoothly. Will would kill him if he learned that he sort of interfered again with the operation of the cops. This wasn't the first time it happened. Every time it would happen, Will would swear at him that he was going to go into cardiac arrest from worry.

"You've been running into a pole a lot lately, don't you think?" Will's eyes were turning into slits as he looked again at Nico.

Double crap. He forgot that it was his same lame excuse the last time it had happened. This was worse than the Detective Spielberg lecture earlier.

"Well, yeah. I wasn't looking-"

"Did you perhaps chase another bad guy and end up getting punched or hit in the process?"

Nico's reaction gave it all. Will glared at him. The blond turned to their daughter who was looking up curiously at them. Will smiled sweetly at her. "Sweetie, can you get the first aid kit in the bathroom under the sink cupboard? We're going to patch up Papa's cut."

"Sure, daddy." Riley bounced on her steps as she disappeared in the kitchen doorway.

Will turned around to face Nico.

"Nuh-uh." Nico raised his index finger to Will's mouth when he tried to speak, effectively stopping him from saying anything.

"Before you lecture me on it. . ." Nico reached up for Will's lips, a little bit eager for Nico's liking. But he couldn't care at that moment because it was a miracle that Nico hadn't gone insane over the past five months he was missing his husband. Nico pulled away. "Goddamn it, Solace. Five months. Five freaking solid months without any communication. Do you know how screwed up that is?"

"Hey, you were warned about it. Besides, why do I feel like I'm the one who's being lectured here? You are-" Will was cut off when Nico kissed him again. Will kissed him back as eagerly. There were no words anymore that could describe how much he wanted to be with Nico in those five months that had passed.

"Daddy, here's the box!" Riley's voice rang out.

The two separated immediately as their daughter reappeared again, holding a white box.

"Thank you, sweetie." Will picked up the box from Riley.

"Sit," Will commanded Nico. Nico immediately obliged, sitting on their long couch.

"Papa, what happened to your face?" Riley asked innocently looking up at Nico. She laid down on her stomach beside Nico, her elbows on Nico's thigh and her knees bent, legs swinging back and forth.

"Ran into a pole, sweetie," Will answered for him.

Will may not or may have been that gentle at dabbing Nico's cut.

"Papa's running into poles a lot lately." Riley noticed.

As a child's laughter rang out through the Solace-di Angelo household, the event that had happened five years ago just became a distant memory now, especially on what happened in the Underworld.

Will cradled both sides of Nico's face in his hands and turned it to look at him. "Hey, it's all right. Even if it's not, we have to be okay with it because that's how everything goes whether we like it or not."

Nico bowed his head, letting the painful truth sink in that he would be walking out alone from the Underworld.

"How about we make a bargain," Bianca di Angelo's voice reverberated throughout the throne room.

All three heads snapped in her direction as Bianca walked towards them.

"What bargain?" Hades spoke.

Bianca stopped in front of Lord Hades and bowed in respect. "Bargain for Will's life. You will let Will's soul go in exchange for something. You said that death has a high price to pay, right? Yes, interfering with the Fates doesn't always result in a good thing, but why can't we look on the brighter side? If Nico didn't interfere with the Fates and you didn't punish him into losing his memories, you wouldn't have been able to come up with a plan to retrieve the scepter. Nero had kept it in a spell-casted vault every time he hadn't been holding it. The death angels you sent couldn't even come close to the scepter and retrieve it. Nico became your bait to lure out Nero and in the end, he succeeded," Bianca argued giving a side glance to the couple who seemed to be frozen on their spot.

"And what price would that be?" Hades asked, seemingly showing an interest in Bianca's case.

She nudged her head in Will's direction. "Will's soul in exchange for Will's light power. You've always mentioned something about his power being a constant annoyance and interference with the course of death so take it. Hypothetically speaking, if Will could go back to the land of the Living, your migraine would lessen and everyone would be happy. Oh. . ." She turned her head again to Will. "You don't mind that Will, right? Or do you just want to stay in Elysium...?"

Will nodded immediately. "Yeah, I don't mind-"

"Will," Nico cut him off. "Are you sure about this? But your light powers are important-"

"Nico, you might not remember this, but this isn't the first time I'm willing to sacrifice my powers for you," Will shrugged. "I can manage. I can still function normally as a doctor without it. Besides, it's not like I can use it in Elysium."

"So that settles then." Bianca clapped her hands as she gazed back at Lord Hades. "What do you think, father?

Hades stared at Bianca. "Give me one valid reason why I should agree to this and not incinerate all of you to dust?"

Bianca was unfazed. "Because you are our father. Dad, you protected Nico all this time so why not stop there? Just be our dad all the way to the end, you know? Nico didn't ask you for anything and this was the only thing he pleaded you for. You said it before, your children are rarely happy and this-" She pointed at Will and Nico's clasped hands. "This is the opportunity to make Nico happy."

Hades was silent.

"Oh come on, dad, don't be-"

"All right." Hades raised his index finger to silence his daughter. "But . . ."

The three froze in anticipation.

"Both of you will be stripped of your powers," Hades continued. "When you get back to the Living, both of you will be mortals. No powers, and you won't be able to see death angels anymore."

And so the deal had been made.

"I can give you anything, why does it have to be this?" Hades muttered. "I am going to regret this."

"No, dad." Bianca smiled at him. "Because you just became the world's greatest dad."

In the present time, Will huffed in annoyance as he settled in bed. Will leaned back against the headboard as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Nico paused in the middle of peeling off the duvet. He looked up at Will. "You're still mad at me, aren't you?" Nico slid into the bed beside Will.

"I mean you're not a first grader like our daughter so which part of the chasing-the-bad-guys-is-dangerous do you not understand?"

"Oh, I understand that part," Nico said, also leaning back against the headboard. "I guess it's just an innate response to me. I'm sorry though, for worrying you."

Will snorted. "If you were sorry you wouldn't do it again and again and again. You are not a freaking cop. Let the cops do their job instead, Nico. We aren't going to get a second chance from your dad down there once you screw up and I become a single dad-"

"Hold on a second," Nico faced Will. "You're moving too fast on that one. No one's going to be a single dad here."

"Then stop coming home all bruised up and injured because you're doing something you aren't entitled to do!"

"Yeah, yeah. . ." Nico started to lean forward to kiss Will's neck, but Will moved away.

"I'm serious, di Angelo!"

"Tell you what, let's do the talking later and do something that couples normally do." Nico trapped Will so he wouldn't be able to move away. "It's been five months, Will. Gimme a break." He started to pepper kisses on Will's jaw as he shifted on top of Will.

"You're the one who should be giving me a break! I came back home and found out that you're being reckless again-" Will's resolve started to crumble when Nico's hands started to work their magic on him.

"Papa! Daddy!" The door burst open.

Nico and Will sprang away from each other as Riley charged at them.

"I can't sleep again," Riley said, climbing on the bed with Will helping her. She settled herself in between Nico and Will. "Please tell me the story of the angel who helped souls cross to the afterlife." She looked back and forth between her two fathers.

Nico sighed, tucking in their daughter. "Amore, aren't you getting tired of it? You heard it hundreds of times."

"No." Riley shook her head. "It's fun, and I like it. The doctor and that angel story was the best story you've told me. I want to hear it again, please?"

The couple sighed in resignation. How could they win over a seven-year-old kid who was giving them the cutest puppy eyes that they didn't even remember teaching her?

"So once upon a time," Will started. "There was a doctor who could see angels. These angels helped souls cross into the afterlife, and there was this certain angel that the doctor became friends with. . ."

END