TWENTY FIVE

The dim lights in the room in the basement of the hospital cast shadows on their faces. Will had been in a similar room at the hospital he did practicum at while at school. It's the room meant for family and friends to say goodbye to their loved ones, right beside the morgue. He never imagined that he would be one of those people saying goodbye.

Her body was mostly covered by a dark sheet, so that only her face and hands could be seen. If he didn't know better, he could think that she was simply napping. She would never wake up. She would never wake up and it would be all his fault. Will knew that something was wrong with her before she had started spasming. He knew what the flu like symptoms could have meant, and he just sat there, watched her life slip away before his eyes. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to forget that sight. He now had more empathy for what Nico went through every night.

Will left that room as soon as he could, taking a deep breath as soon as he was in the well-lit hallway. It was probably just his mind, but he swore he could smell death down here. His mom was still saying goodbye so he did what he did whenever he needed to distract his mind, to think of something else, he started going through and listing all the bones in his body. Thinking logically, medically, was his defense mechanism. Nico had called him out on it the first time Rory was in the hospital, but he couldn't help it. If people were just patients, if his baby sister laying on the cold metal table was just a patient, it didn't hurt so bad.

He wasn't sure how he ended up back at the hotel room. All details of the past twenty-four hours blurred together, but he could still clearly feel the emptiness in his chest. Nico was gone. He wasn't sure if he was there when Will got there, or if the room was empty. He didn't care. Will had gone through every bone and muscle and part of his body, inside and out so many times that now all he wanted to do was lay his head down on his pillow and forget the world.

Gravity seemed extra strong everywhere he went. While it's pull lessoned the farther from the hospital he was, his feet still fragged, his arms felt heavy at his sides, his face made it impossible to do anything than remain uniformly blank. Laying on the bed felt like his body was trying to pull him through and underground. Moving required so much effort that he just laid there. Even when his stomach was yelling, when his bladder was feeling like it was going to explode, when there was a blindingly painful throbbing in his head.

He heard the door open and close. He heard a voice talking to him, but he kept his eyes closed and remained still. He couldn't process what the voice was saying; it only made his headache searingly bad. He felt a cold hand press against his face, causing him to recoil. He let out a sharp cry at the sudden movement. He felt like he was going to throw up, like he had the world's worst hangover increased by a tenfold. He managed to dry heave, leaning over the side of the bed, but he hadn't consumed anything in the past twenty-four hours at least. There was nothing left inside of him, making the hollow emptiness ever more present.

Cold hands guided him upright, and a cool liquid was against his lips so he sipped slowly. Pills were placed in his hand that he swallowed. He sat there, sipping water and focusing on the hand that was rubbing circles up and down his back until the world came into focus and the stabbing pain behind his eyes had reduced to a more tolerable amount, as long as he moved slowly.

"Eat something." The voice and the cold hands were connected to Nico, who was seated cross-legged on the bed with some bread and cooked vegetables in a bowl. Exhaustion was clear in his face, but he just moved the bowl towards Will, who reached numbly to grab it.

Will felt some energy return to his body the more he ate, but he was still unable to eat more than half the bowl before feeling sick again. "Sorry, I know this isn't what you had planned for this weekend." His voice was rough and scratchy.

"Don't be an idiot, I want to be here for you."

Will placed the bowl on the table by the bed before laying down, pulling Nico close and trying to draw comfort from the arms that were wrapped around him.

When Will woke up the next morning, he could barely feel the throbbing against his skull, his stomach yelled at him, but he no longer felt like throwing up. He felt good enough to pull himself together enough on the outside. Someone was knocking on the door, so he sighed heavily before shaking it off and wiping the sadness from his face. Last night he was allowed to break completely, but now he needed to be strong.

"Hey, mom." Will pulled her into a hug before stepping out into the hallway with her so they wouldn't wake up Nico. "Do you need anything?"

"Victor went to The Chesire late last night and hasn't come back yet, could you go find him please? I need to get the funeral arranged for tomorrow morning." Despite her mask of normalcy, Will knew it was taking everything in her to not fall apart. Her eyes were bloodshot and it looked like she hadn't even slept at all last night. Her voice was quivering and wet.

"Yeah, sure." Will said out loud. Why was she even with that bastard? Who leaves their family behind when their kid dies to drink himself into a stupor, leaving his wife all alone? Was what was looping through his brain.

Once he saw his mom disappear back into her room down the hallway, he turned and loudly shut the door, forgetting about the boy sleeping on the bed and punched the wall. "Shit!" His knuckles were scraped, and there was a large hole where his fist had made contact with the plaster.

Hands wrapped around his arms, pulling him gently away from the wall. Will resisted for a minute before giving up and taking shallow breaths. His eyes were closed, taking a moment to calm himself down enough to form coherent thoughts. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"You don't have to apologize for anything. Feel better?"

"No, but I need to go to The Chesire." Will slipped on a jacket and shoes. "I'll be back later."

"Do you want company?"

"No." Yes.

Nico stared into his eyes for a moment before putting on his own coat and shoes. "Let's go."

They grabbed a cab that was waiting outside the hotel, and Nico was confused when they stopped outside a dingy building with flashing neon signs. "Alcohol isn't the way to fix this." Nico remained exactly where he was, locking eyes with Will, face serious.

"I know, I'm here to get Victor, he didn't come back last night." Neither were prepared for what they saw when they entered.

Victor was sitting on a man's lap, tongue shoved down his throat, hips grinding together. "You're despicable." Will spat, pulling him off of the stranger and sending a punch to his face, feeling Victor's nose crunch under his hand, and felt the warm blood smeared on his fingers. "You can find your own way back, bastard."

All Will saw on the way back was white anger flashing before his eyes. His hand hurt like hell, but he didn't care. How was he going to break the news to his mom? That was the worst part about this. He didn't care one bit for Victor, but his mom didn't deserve to be left by another man. She was too good for this to happen.

"Will?" Naomi was coming out of the elevator Nico and him were stepping into. "Where...?" She trailed off, not finishing her sentence, seeing the look on Will's face. Nico stepped back to give them some space, heading towards the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Mama." Will could feel his voice crack. "I'm so sorry."

"Will? What happened? You're scaring me, did something happen to him?"

"He was with another man." He couldn't look her in the eyes.

"There has to be a mistake, he would never do that to me." Stubbornness took over. "He loves me. He would never do that to me. You probably just read the situation wrong." She laughed sharply, tears welling in her eyes, but shaking her head. "He would never do that to me."

"There was no mistaking what I saw, I'm sorry." Will stepped forward to hold her in a hug, but she stepped back, shaking her head.

"Don't." There was so much anger in her voice. She was overwhelmed with emotion, face crumbling. The elevator doors closed.

(A/N: So I changed my update schedule now that I'm back in school because homework amounts are unpredictable. I'll still update once a week, but I won't have a specific day. Thanks for understanding! But that being said, the story is winding down, so keep that in mind. I do have another idea for a fic which can be found in my oneshot book. I wrote a oneshot about blind!Will that I want to expand on, so at least you guys will have that to look forward too :)