Yo. I had heck of a good time in Asia and also tons of fun in Winnipeg! If you want to hear the complete story of where the heck I've been at, go read the Author's Note on the Parenthood Drabbles, it's a boring story not worth repeating. Now I'm back for good, and I've got a hundred new drabble and story ideas, so let's start with this.

Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will. Also I apologise to anybody who speaks or reads Italian; the 'o' in 'do' is missing an accent that I don't have on my French keyboard.


x: lullaby

Out of all the hurtful, unnecessary and pathetic things that people had told Nico over the years, questioning how he would handle a baby was definitely the worst.

He was the son of Hades. Not some kind of hellish brute himself. He'd managed to shed that expectation everyone had of him over the years- on the level of him being a psychopath or a coldblooded killer. Seeing the expectations people had of him creep back was the worst.

Will was working the night shift in the emergency room that night, medical internship hours being so great, and had to leave home by 5:00. Nico high-tailed it out of the antique shop (job #3 after the bar and the book-writing) to make it home in time and tag off, and there he was with baby Catalina.

It was the first time Nico had been alone with her for the long twelve-hours that Will's shift promised. Will himself hadn't even been alone with her that long. They'd always managed to tag-team with the baby, or stop by various workplaces to say hello, or swing by friends and families, or Hazel would shadow-travel to visit her niece, or something.

Cata was being very indulgent as Nico made himself supper (which was also lunch since he'd forgone his break to make it home on time, and also breakfast since he'd been late that morning- he would need better eating habits if he wanted to teach this kid anything at all). She cooed and aahed and giggled as he bounced her around the kitchen and made nonsense sounds and danced to the radio's music. Will had drilled him hard about how a baby needed to hear noise and words to start talking, so Nico couldn't just brood around the baby. Even without the speech he'd have been fine; hearing Cata's laugh would be motivation enough. Nico understood the thrill a comedian might get throwing jokes around in exchange for laughter, or what an actor got out of nailing his delivery to make millions of movie-goers cry.

He ate his eggs in her bedroom, watching her kick and punch up a storm as she lay under her baby gym- a dangly contraption they'd inherited from Percy and Annabeth where children were encouraged to punch happy butterflies and stuffed bees minding their own business (not that Nico was allowed to point out the savagery of all this). Her nursery was a bit of a mess- in one corner they'd piled up cans of yellow paint and bumblebee wall decals and a flowery mobile that they'd picked up with the full intention of putting up- but then Will had gotten all logical and organised, and pointed out that they would probably want to move out of the apartment now since the baby was living in the apartment's one spare bedroom and that they'd discovered shit this one's great, we do want kids. So the stuff was waiting to be put up and splotched onto a second home, and Cata's nursery was instead decorated with tons of toys and baby stuff and a collage of congratulatory cards that had been sent by literally everyone Nico and Will knew.

He gave Cata a bath before bedtime and tickled her tummy while he put her pyjamas on and blew raspberries on her cheeks because baby loved that shit. He gave her another bottle before bed and she was fast asleep pretty quickly. Awesome.

Nico was working on the latest movie script he'd been commissioned for and it was way past midnight when Cata started screaming bloody murder.

And that was the part where being alone with a baby was not fun. Nico ran through the drills as if he were in battle. Did she need to be changed? Yes, do that. Gross. And also ineffective, which just felt like an insult. Okay, was she hungry? Nope, the bottle would not do. Okay. Did she just want to be held? Apparently not. Burped? Yes, but that was apparently the tip of the iceberg. Nico started getting nervous that the neighbours would start thinking he was sacrificing the baby to Satan or something -they all loved Will, struggled to comprehend Nico's very existence and looked at him as if he brought on a bitter taste in their mouths.

He blew raspberries on her cheeks and tickled her- usually that worked. He changed her pyjamas -twice- in case she was hot or cold. For a while he just swung her from left to right and shushed her and held her stomach-down, supposedly miracle-positions that all the pediatricians raved about. Cata spat out her pacifier so hard, it could've dented the floor. When he swaddled her, she roared. Nico didn't know how she'd burned her last ounce of energy, he was starting to tire.

He sat down in the rocking chair -Sally Jackson had told them that a rocking chair or a comfortable chair could be the difference between heaven and hell, and who were they to fight Sally Jackson about parenthood? He hadn't used it much in the last two months Catalina had been theirs, but he was tired.

He rocked forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards… Something about the motion brought back a memory. Yes! A lullaby. He'd never thought about it, but he supposed it must have been Maria's song, though he only remembered Bianca singing it.

« Stella, stellina

La notte si avvicina :

La fiamma traballa,

La mucca é nella stalla.

La pecora e l'agnello,

La vacca col vitello,

La chiccia coi pulcini,

La gatta coi gattini;

E tutti fan la nanna

Nel cuore della mamma… »

It was about baby animals going to sleep with all their mothers- cute shit and all, but most importantly boom, the baby wasn't howling anymore. Nico scrambled for another.

"Ninna nanna, ninna oh

Questo bimbo a chico lo do?

Ninna nanna, ninna oh

Questo bimbo a chi lo do?

Se lo do alla befana

Se lo tiene una settimana

Se lo do all'uomo nero

Se lo tiene un anno tero

Se lo do al lupo bianco

Se lo tiene tanto tanto

Ninna nanna, nanna fate

Il mio bimbo addormentate…"

Cata was now just looking up at him with her big dark eyes. Nico saw flashes of green ringing her pupil.

He kissed her forehead.

"You're so much cuter when you're not screaming," he told her. "It's unbecoming. Though I guess you're always, always pretty priceless."

Her little fingers wound around the strings dangling from the Harvard hoody he liked to steal from Will. Her lip started trembling.

"Okay, okay," Nico said. "Let's sing some more. I guess those didn't work out because they're my lullabies, we need one for you."

Just the sound of his voice calmed down Cata. That was a pretty good feeling- that something so tiny could love you so much that the sound of your voice could make them happy.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You never know, dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away…"

And just like that, the baby was asleep.