CHAPTER 3! #FullofFluff
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My awesome reviewers: Jupanuma, bluelove22, Ava-Pottergirl, Must-Think-of-Username, FaiKazahaya, Vampiresswolf, The Messenger of Olympus, GloomandDoom180, wolvesarethebest, WiseGirlWriter, Sabrina, all the "Guests" THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT 3
GreenAngel01: "Defence" is the correct British way/Canadian way of spelling! Thanks though :)
There was a sharp rap on the door, and Will hurried to open it. Nico looked up to see a mischievous looking man with light brown hair step into the room. Boyfriend? Nico thought, then chastised himself for the confusing cocktail of hopefulness and jealousy that arose in him. Just business, he told himself.
"Nico, this is Travis, my uh…" Will looked at Travis, at a loss for words.
"Prison guard," Travis said, holding up a Taser. "I'm to make sure Will doesn't kill any other poor sick children at the hospital."
Will groaned. "Don't even joke about that. Nico is my attorney."
"Oh he's not your boy-" Nico had forgotten that Will was only twenty five years old, he had seemed so mature, but seeing him flush a lovely shade of scarlet, and stomp on Travis's foot to shut him up, reminded Nico that he was just as young as Nico was.
"Shut up, Travis or so help me, I will tell Katie about the incident with mall cop and…"
"Alright," Travis interrupted breezily, but with mild panic flashing in eyes. "I'm here to escort Will to the hospital."
Nico looked at Will in confusion, and Will grinned apologetically. "They still let me work at the hospital, on the condition that I have a guard with me all the time. The kids would miss me otherwise."
"Oh," Nico murmured, glancing at his wristwatch. 7:45 am. He had an entire morning of nothing to do now. "I guess I'll just…"
"Come to the hospital," Will chirped, then he glanced at his feet, shuffling awkwardly. "I mean, if you haven't anything to do, and you wanted to interview some of the other staff, you could always come to the hospital and watch me – er see how everything works."
Nico paused and bit is lip anxiously. He supposed it would be a good idea to see Will in action at the hospital – to analyze his integrity of course, but he suddenly felt like his throat was full of cotton. "Ahem, sure," Nico said dismissively, ignoring how Will's face lit up. Just business he told himself.
"Dr. Will!" A dark curly haired boy launched himself at Will, dressed in pyjamas decorated with little grapes. Will laughed and swept the boy into a flying hug.
"Castor! Did you miss me?" The little boy giggled and rested his chin on Will's shoulder, smiling. Nico felt oddly out of place seeing Will in his element. Every staff member and patient had been excited to welcome Will back – despite the fact that Will was the number one suspect for a murder. Apparently Travis worked at the hospital as a security guard too, a shoddy one, thought Nico, as the man had casually told Will to get to work and stayed in the front lobby to chat with his girlfriend, Katie, the receptionist, but that left Nico as the only stranger to the hospital.
"Yeah! Nurse Dakota was terrible at playing charades. He kept guessing wrong," Castor complained, like it was the most grievous sin.
"Hey! I resent that," a man dressed in scrubs and a glass of – was that wine – in hand poked his head into the room. "I was very good at charades." Castor stifled a laugh as Will mouthed "Liar" and placed Castor on the examination bench.
Dakota passed Will a clipboard and clapped him on the back. "Good to have you back. All the kids miss you, apparently I'm just not good enough for them."
Will snorted, gesturing at the glass in Dakota's hand. "That's because you drink Koolaid all day and refuse to give them any."
Laughing, Dakota waved at Will and Castor as he exited the room. "Doctor's orders! It's your fault that I can't give Castor this sugary goodness."
"He's diabetic!"
As if suddenly realizing Nico was there, Will turned to him. "Nico, this is Castor. Castor, this is Nico, he's my friend."
Castor nodded and gave Nico a toothy grin. Nico waved shyly and stepped back as Will began his examination. As Will joked around and gently checked Castor over, Nico couldn't help but notice how attractive Will looked. With his stethoscope slung around his neck and sporting a crisp lab coat, Will looked like a model for Times magazine: smart and sexy. Expecting Will to work as if Nico wasn't there, Nico was surprised when Will offhandedly gave him little tasks to do. "Nico can you please pass me the bottle of disinfectant?" "No, that's the bleach. It's the smaller bottle with a blue cap." "Nico can you toss this needle in the bio-hazardous bin, it's the yellow one." With anyone else, Nico would have been annoyed to be given menial tasks, but for some reason, it almost felt like a privilege to be helping Will out.
"Well Castor," Will grinned. "That was your last examination. You'll be going home today!" The little boy's face lit up and he gasped in excitement.
"Really?" Will nodded as he scribbled something on a clipboard.
"Castor, show Nico to your room and he'll help you pack everything up. I'm going to give your family a call to tell them they can come over now, meet me in the front lobby, okay?"
Castor nodded as Will helped him down from the table and he timidly stepped over to Nico, extending his hand. A slight lump in his throat, Nico took it gently, his hand encompassing Castor's tiny one completely. Nico glanced questioningly at Will, but the doctor just gave him an absent nod as he typed something on the computer. As Castor led Nico out the door, Nico swore he saw Will glance up, blue eyes dancing and mouth curved up in a satisfied smile.
"That's Luke's room. And that's Silena's room. And that's Beckendorf's room. And that's the playroom." Castor rambled off as he and Nico walked down the children's wing.
"And that's Bianca's room."
Nico froze, the name sending him to another time.
"Piccolo! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Bianca scolded, sweeping Nico into her arms. The six year old boy giggled and wrapped his chubby arms tightly around her neck. "I thought I'd lost you! No more running after kittens."
"We'll be okay," Bianca murmured as she grasped Nico's hand. The plane took off and Nico watched his beloved Italy grow smaller and smaller in the distance. He turned his head back to his sister who gave him a brave smile and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I promise"
Nico guardedly took in the small girl with wildly curly hair and frightened golden eyes. "I'm Bianca and this is Nico," Bianca whispered, reaching for the girl, other hand still gripping Nico's. "We're your family, Hazel."
Bianca leaned over Hazel's shoulder. "You have to factor first," Hazel groaned and looked at all the other questions she had to redo. Nico was perched up on Bianca's bed as he struggled through his freshman English course. His sister came and sat beside him, flipping through her chemistry textbook. "You're doing really well, Piccolo. I'm proud of you." He smiled at her and gently bumped their shoulders together.
The rain pounded the streets outside, slamming into the cement and ricocheting off in an erratic dance. Nico watched with concern as Bianca pulled on her raincoat. "I'll be home before dinner," Bianca said. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Hello? Yeah Percy I'll be there in twenty. Yes, I did remember the flashcards. No, I won't write the test for you. Are Zoe and Grover there yet?" She waved at Nico as she stepped outside, opening her earthy green umbrella.
Hazel sobbed into her handkerchief while Nico stood numbly, staring at the massive arrangement of flowers on the freshly turned soil. You said you'd be home before dinner, Nico thought, feeling the burn of a million unshed tears behind his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry," Percy said, gorgeous green eyes filled with grief. "I shouldn't have let her drive home in that weather." Nico turned his head away.
A sharp tug on his hand brought him back to reality. Nico glanced down to see Castor looking at him in concern. "Are you okay?" Giving Castor a half-smile, Nico nodded. The boy didn't seem convinced but he continued to lead Nico down the hall to his room.
Nico hovered awkwardly as Castor began packing up his few belongings. As Nico ran over possible things to say – he had never really dealt with kids before – Castor began chatting about how he was so excited to go home, although it sucked because Dr. Will said he had to go easy on the sweets now.
"And candy is awesome," Castor grouched, putting his last stuffed animal into a small duffle bag. Nico laughed, loosening up.
"I know, I think half my pantry at home is junk food," Nico said, picking up Castor's bag for him, as they trotted to the lobby.
Nico stiffened as he rounded the corner and saw Will leaning against the counter of the reception desk, laughing with a curly haired man and a beautiful woman. Almost like a scene from a hit TV show, Will seemed to have such an easy time interacting with people. He played the part of a handsome, confident doctor so well, and Nico felt the faint stirrings of inferiority. He'd always relied on his smarts and abilities to get him through, failing miserably in the human interaction category, but here was Will, gliding through life, even on a murder charge.
Suddenly, Castor was enveloped by an identical version of himself. Nico stepped back and watched with a little smile as the two little boys hugged. The initiator pulled away for a moment, and demanded, "You're really coming home, Castor?"
At Castor's nod, the boy began sniffling, although he tried to cover it up by burying his head into Castor's shoulder. Nico glanced over at Will and was nearly taken aback by the ferocity of the glow in his eyes. This is what he lives for. Nico realized, understanding exactly why Will was so good at his job.
The woman bend down and squeezed both of boys gently. "Come on Pollux and Castor," she whispered. "Pollux, don't you want to go home and show Castor the surprise?"
Pollux's eyes lit up and he grabbed his twin's hand, but Castor held him back for a moment and looked up at Will. "Is this the last time I'll see you Dr. Will?"
Mouth quirking up in a light smile, Will bent down and ruffled Castor's hair. "Nope, you're not getting rid of me that easily. You'll have to come in for monthly check-ups for the next year and then two times a year after that. Gosh, I think you'll have to see me for the rest of your life!" Will embraced both the boys and stood up. "Now you can get going home; I'm sure you've missed your own bed."
Castor looked over at Nico and smiled sweetly. "I'll see you too, right Nico?"
Nico, caught in surprise, could only stammer, "Uh, I guess."
Will grinned down at the boys. "Oh yeah, Nico will be wherever I am."
Satisfied, the boys left the hospital, parents walking arm-in-arm behind them.
"We redecorated our bedroom! It's so cool!"
"Doofus, it's not a surprise anymore!"
"Yeah it is! Because you don't know what it looks like!"
Spinning around, Will thanked the pretty green-eyed, girl –Katie – Nico remembered, behind the counter and gestured for Nico to follow him. As they walked down the hallway, Nico couldn't help but ask, "Why did you tell Castor that he'd see me again?"
Will smiled as he opened the door to his office. "Because you'll be around for the next five months, and you'll want to come by the hospital to help out and gather information that you can use to help portray me in a better light to the jury, right?"
Nico nodded uncertainly, as Will rummaged around in a filing cabinet for his next file. "But what about after the trial?"
Stopping for a moment, Will bit his lip, looking incredibly vulnerable. "After…I hope you'll want to drop by once in while," he murmured.
I hope you enjoyed it :) I'd appreciate reviews!
Preview for next chapter (Because for once I'm almost done writing the next one :P)
Standing in the doorframe was a tall, handsome man with tousled black hair and glimmering sea green eyes. He was dressed in a white shirt with a turquoise tie and casual black slacks. "Hey," he grinned.
"Percy," Annabeth and Nico said simultaneously. Nico's voice tinged with bitterness and Annabeth's with flat out disdain.