Hello! This week was show week so I'm running a little behind on chapters and whatnot, but here you go! I'm a total emotional wreck!
Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.
iii : Paperwork
Will had patched together demigods in the middle of the battlefield. He was currently paid to cut open sick people, poke around inside their bodies, make a few snips and tucks, and hopefully sew them back together to send them on their merry way. But he had to admit that he felt sick to the stomach right now.
The paperwork just kept coming and coming and he had to sign and then Nico signed but then sometimes he had to sign first and it was the absolute worst. Will was pretty sure he was going to drown in the legal blab, that had always been his least favourite part of medical school. Who cares about charts and stuff when the important part was that a patient was safe and healthy? Similarly, who cares how many papers are being signed when Catalina was, to be honest, basically already theirs? They'd been on Half-Blood Hill when her mortal father had stumbled across the barriers, wounded. They'd been the ones in charge of her ever since he had passed away. If Will had to imagine Catalina anywhere else in the world than with them, he would have to re-evaluate his entire life.
Alas, Will knew that a lot of people cared, and those people were mostly the government. So he scribbled his initials here and there across the pages that the lawyer presented to them, trying to sound like the A+ Caring Parental Candidate, invested and interesting in what all the lawyers and social workers were going on about while eyeing Catalina discreetly. They'd fed her applesauce before coming, but unless she'd gotten her daily dose of fishy crackers she got crabby and cranky and hungry again. Will made little faces at her to snap her into a better mood. He thought he was being nice and quiet until he noticed that the conversation had stopped and that everyone was looking at him.
"Sorry," Will said. "I promise I'm paying attention, I... I'm listening."
Nico held his dirty look until all the Official People watched Will settle back down and started chattering again.
"I have the crackers in my back pocket," Nico whispered to him. That's how Will knew that he couldn't be in that much shit.
He still kept an eye on Cata to make sure she wasn't acting up. And also because Cata was hard to look away from. She was a beautiful kid, with curly black hair that Nico had taken to decorating with glittery pins and colourful bows, and these brilliant green eyes... Will bragged about it despite having no genetic responsability for it. He was excited to be able to brag about her being his daughter, at least.
"That should be all of it," the lawyer said happily. "Congratulations, gentlemen. Catalina is officially your daughter."
The social worker supervising smiled as she held the car seat. Nico was the first to move, kneeling in front of Catalina and gently unfastening the belts keeping her still.
Lord of Darkness, my ass, Will thought. Lord of Marshmallows and Puppies, maybe.
"We already knew that," Nico said. "Didn't we Cata?"
He picked up the baby and held her to his chest, kissing the wispy black hair on her head. She was beautiful and he was handsome and for a second, Will thought that the best thing in the world would be to watch them forever. How had he spent his entire life not knowing that he was waiting for the very second that Cata would be his daughter and that Nico would pick her up and hold her before Will wrapped his arm around both of them? How had he survived his entire life without knowing how amazing this moment would feel?
He wrapped his arms around the pair of them and burried his face in Nico's hair. Thank God the paperwork was over. Now they could just be together.
