In Time {Solangelo}

~ Nico ~

Nico's eyes fluttered open, his vision was blurry but a figure was sitting on a chair, his hair was blonde, it might have been Jason but he knew Jason would never just fall asleep on a chair, not like that... then he realized it was Will...

He tried to say something, but his mouth was so dry he couldn't make a sound. So he simply lay there watching Will and he eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Nico blinked, the bright lights of the infirmary ceiling shone in his face, he shielded his face with his hand. "Hey Nico!" Nico looked over and saw Will standing above him, "How are you?" Nico shrugged.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Will held out a glass full of pink rosy liquid with a straw , "Drink." He commanded, Nico drank, it was warm, but other than that it had no taste.

"So... I... why am I here?" Nico muttered.

Will grinned, "Don't you remember our three days in the infirmary deal?"

Nico scowled, "Sadly..."

"You've been out for a while." Will commented. Nico grimaced, "How long?"

"About Twenty-one hours, forty five minutes, and some odd seconds."

"You've been counting." Nico guessed, Will's face went a light pink in conformation. He shuffled his feet, "Maybe."

Nico looked into Will's blue eyes and he saw the truth. "You've been here this whole time, haven't you?" Will's face got ever brighter. Nico wanted to laugh and some small part of him wanted to tell Will he was glad he had been there, but he couldn't his mouth had gone dry.

Will swallowed, "Anyway... well I'm glad your okay." Nico nodded and took another sip of his pink liquid, he sat up and swung his legs out of bed. Nico used the edge of the bed for support and stood up. "Where in Hades do you think your going?" Will demanded.

Nico gulped, "Um... away from here..."

"No." Will said it simply, but there was a tightness in his voice and a hint of a challenge.

"I said I'm leaving." Nico had the same hint of a challenge in his voice.

Will took a step forward, "And I said no." His eyes had a sort of fire in them.

Nico stood straighter but before he could shoot back his reply, Will grabbed Nico's arm and forced him to sit back down, "Doctors orders." Will growled and Nico gave up.

Will straitened and Nico wanted to slap the stupid smile off his face, but sadly he did't have the energy, "Did you go see any other patients?"

Will's face still had that little smirk on his face, "You do realize that you just tried to leave with no clothes on right?" Nico looked down and saw Will was right, he was in his black boxers. "I hate you Solace."

Will's grin got wider, "You asked me a question,"

"Did you go see any other patients while I was asleep?" Nico said through gritted teeth.

"Nope."

"What? Why not?"

"Because your important."

"I'm important?"

"Yeah, you're important to the camp and to me."

Nico swallowed, "I'm important to you?" Will's face went red all over again, "Um... well... I just meant... that... um..."

"Hey Will." A urgent voice came from the hallway, "What?" Will called back. "It's Paolo, er... i'm guessing he would like to keep his legs." Will cursed under his breath, "Coming Kayla!" He looked down at Nico, "Don't worry di Angelo, I'll be back."

"Will come on!" Kayla called, on his way to the door Will stopped, "Nico just so you know... I-"

"WILLIAM!" Kayla screamed and all the worry and panic could be heard. But Will just stood staring at Nico, with this look in his eye's. "Go." Nico commanded, "You go right now. He could die!" and it would be all my fault, because you stayed here with me... Will took another step in the general direction of the door, "Right, ya I... I better go."

"Hey Will," Austin stood in the doorway, his tone was light but impatient, "Look Will, Paolo is losing a lot of blood and you know... your the only person... just come on." Will's face was as red as blood, then he unfroze completely, he nodded to Austin and ran out of the room.

Nico didn't know what to say, but he locked eyes with Austin and he knew Austin wanted to run, he wanted to get as far away from the half dead son of Hades as he could, but he stood his ground. "Will Paolo be okay?" Nico asked,

"Don't know..." Then he saw Nico's face, "Don't worry, he will be fine. Now try to get some rest or Will is gonna kill me."

*

"Bianca, come on," he pulled his sister's arm as they ran across the hotel, "Look at this!" The two of them stood in front of the arcade, Bianca looked down at her little brother, "It's amazing!" As Nico took a step forward a cold hand grasped his shoulder, he turned and screamed. A dark figure stood there "Let's go." He screamed again but no one seemed to care, or maybe... "They can't see us..." Bianca murmured. Nico nodded, the dark stranger dragged the two children out of the hotel, as they clung to each other.

"You alright?" The words came out of Bianca's mouth but it was not her voice...

*

Nico sat up straight, he was on a cot in the infirmary, it had just been a dream. There was a girl sitting next to his cot, her blonde hair fell across her face, she looked about fourteen. She had gold and blue glasses had thin frames, her blue-grey eyes were focused on a book in her lap and she was humming quietly to herself. Probably a child of Athena, he guessed.

She suddenly looked up, "Hey." It was the voice from his dream. She stood up, "I'd better go get Will, he'll want to know you're awake." As she turned to go Nico grabbed her arm, he opened his mouth to talk, but no sound came out, "Here have this," She held out a square of ambrosia. He took it with shaking hands, it didn't have much of a taste.

"Thanks." He muttered, she smiled, her smile was dazzling, "No problem, I'm always happy to help!"

"How long..." his voice died, and the girl sat back down.

"Look, it's alright, it's been about twenty two hours." Nico blinked, "What?" "Will was here but... well Paolo, he um... let's just say he wanted to keep his legs attached." Nico tried to smile, but that hurt... well actually every thing hurt, ever single molecule felt like it was burning and freezing all at the same time. In a nutshell he felt half dead.

The girl's blue-gray eyes glinted, like she had a plan, exactly like Annabeth... the thought made him shiver. Concentrate, He told himself. He decided to focus on the positive instead of thinking about how dead he felt.

"Will was here?"

She nodded, "He was up until," She paused, doing calculations in her mind, "Twenty one hours, sixteen minutes and about forty five seconds."

"Really?"

"Yup. He said you woke up and he talked to you a bit, then Paolo... and you fell asleep, don't you remember."

Nico frowned, "Not really.." She stood up again, "Okay. Well I better just let Will know."

"Alright."

"Try to get some sleep." Nico nodded, as she strode to the door he called out, "Wait." At the door the girl paused, "Yes." "You're a Athena kid aren't you?" She grinned, "Nope, that's what everyone thinks," She winked at him "Apollo."

He blinked, "Really? You are Will's sister?" She nodded her blonde curls bounced. "What's your name..." He asked. "Oh, Im Emmy, now get some rest." With a final little wave of her hand and a smile she skipped out of the room singing to herself. Then Nico rolled over and fell asleep.