I'm sorry that this took so long guys and it's a bit shorter but I hope you like it none the less, lot's of cuteness ahead.

Ch. 3

"I guess sitting close to the Demeter kids would be a good way to get Emily more comfortable to be around her siblings." Nico said to Will as they sat in the infirmary organizing supplies before the campfire. Emily sat next to Nico while he helped Will cut bandages and do other odd jobs as he had grown accustomed to doing since the beginning of the month when he was made to stay for three days of bedrest after the war. As before Emily was coloring in her notepad happily. "That sounds like a good idea. And the others will be sitting with us which will help her get used to more people here at camp."

Nico nodded, it helped to have people you knew around when in a new place. He thought back on the bittersweet memories of when he himself had first arrived at camp half-blood, though he had known a thing or two about what was happening thanks to his obsession with Mytho-magic, a card game based on Greek mythology. It had all been exciting for him to see that it was all real and he was living it, but poor Emily probably wouldn't see it that way. Where he had been ten (plus several decades) she was only six and likely knew nothing of this hidden world.

"It'll take time, but I'm sure Emily is going to have a great time here at camp. What do you think Emily?" Will asked giving her a big smile. She looked up when he spoke to her and smiled back. At least they were making some progress Nico thought. She still hadn't said anything but she loved to draw pictures and they had seen things like a dog that may have been hers, a park she might have played at, but they hadn't been able to figure out why she was a runaway. Nico wanted to help her but he wasn't sure how he could help, for now it was probably best to get her used to being with her siblings in the Demeter cabin here at camp so that she felt more at home here. He didn't want her to feel like she was alone like he had been, she had family here but until she was able to feel comfortable around them he was happy with being her stand in big brother.

Emily held up a new drawing for him to see, Nico set down the roll of tape he had been holding and took the paper to get a better look at it. The drawing was of three people, one was outlined in yellow, one was in black, and one was in pink and they were surrounded by green grass and red dots that he guessed must be strawberries, he smiled as he looked at the drawing and looked down at Emily to see her looking up at him waiting for him to say something about it. Nico passed the picture to Will for him to see "You drew us in the strawberry fields right?" he asked and she nodded enthusiastically with a big happy smile on her face.

Will looked at the drawing and smiled too, he looked up at Nico "You know what? This kind of looks like a family portrait, don't you think?" he laughed a bit when Nico's cheeks flushed red but Emily smiled at Will, apparently happy with his assessment. And Will laughed again "We go to the city to do some shopping and came back a family, maybe we should do this more often."

Nico felt like his face was on fire but he didn't hate the idea… not that he'd actually admit that out loud though.

…

Finally the time had come to head out to the campfire and Nico and Will packed things up before the three of them began walking together. Emily walked between them and at one point she reached up and held both of their hands, when they looked down at her she smiled back and started swinging their arms. Will laughed "You want us to swing you as we walk?" she nodded gleefully and swung their arms again "Okay sure." So then Will looked at Nico "Ready?" and he nodded.

"On the count of three, one… two… Three!" Nico counted and together they swung Emily up and gently placed her back on the ground, she looked so happy and seemed to be laughing though no sound came out, this worried Nico a bit but he was just glad that she was having fun. They did this three more times before reaching the campfire; there they sat close to the rest of the Demeter kids though Emily still sat in Nico's lap but no one felt any need to separate the two of them.

As they sat there waiting for the sing along to begin Katie turned to them and tried to talk with Emily, they ended up doodling together in the notebook. At one point Katie looked over at Nico and Will and smiled what seemed to be a knowing smile and they both blushed knowing which picture she was looking at right then "What a happy family you have there." There was a trace of teasing in her voice but nothing negative and when she sent a wink there way both boys could have rivaled the glow of the fire, and if the color of the flames happened to change just slightly no one said anything about it.

Please let me know what you think.