TWENTY THREE

"It was incredibly sweet." Hazel gushed. "Frank knows I've never been one for big public things, so when he asked, it was just us two. We were out for a late night drive, not going anywhere in particular when he pulled over into this field, so we got out. Apparently there was a meteor shower, but it was so cloudy we couldn't even see the moon. There was music still playing from the car so we started dancing and that's when he asked. It was perfect." Hazel's eyes were dreamy and a content smile graced her face.

"Sounds lame." Nico smiled, finishing up his coffee.

"Whatever. You're just jealous that nobody has swept you off your feet yet. Just you wait, the right person will come around, and you will be so incredibly whipped."

He rolled his eyes. "Who says I won't be the one doing the sweeping?"

"Yeah, right." Hazel scoffed. "Remember that time we had that really attractive server, and you said you were mute because you panicked?"

"Shut up." Nico blushed, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out at his sister. "That was ages ago. It's not like you haven't done anything incredibly stupid."

"Like what?" She challenged, raising her brow.

"Like, umm..." Nico couldn't think of a single thing. "Shut up." He said once more, sulking. Hazel just laughed. "I need to head back, Naomi will be here in a couple hours and I need to make sure the flat isn't a mess."

"What time is grad?" They stood up and threw away their trash, walking to the door.

"Two. See you." Nico waved as Hazel got in her car and Nico walked through the park to get back home. When he opened the front door to the flat, it looked like they had been robbed, and a burning stench reached his nose. It was coming from the kitchen. "William whatever your middle name is Solace, if you are trying to cook or bake or frankly do anything in that kitchen I will not hesitate to ban you for life." Nico called, stepping around the mess of shoes and stuff laying on the floor in the entrance.

"Well I wasn't sure what time you had been home, and cookies are really easy to make, and seeing how we were out and we are having company I just thought that I would help out, but I sort of kind of left the cookies in too long, and I think I might have sort of forgotten an ingredient or two somewhere along the way, because besides the whole blackened to a crisp thing, they don't exactly look like they came out right." Will said in a single breath of air, and Nico just shook in head in disbelief. "But you can fix them, right?" He smiled hopefully.

"Go start tidying, I'll make a new batch. These," he gestured to the charred remains placed on the cooling racks on the counter "are nowhere near salvageable."

"Apollo."

"What?" Nico scrunched his face in confusion.

"My middle name. It's William Apollo Solace. My mom was going through a mythology phase, and taking course at the university and everything. I got stuck with the Greek god of the sun. Rory's is Artemis-Athena, she was feeling indecisive."

"Aurora Artemis Athena Solace. No wonder you guys just call her Rory." Nico laughed, and Will headed to the living room to open some windows to let out the smell of burnt cookies.

Within half an hour he had the new batch made, in the oven, and the kitchen cleaned. It looked like Will had made the rest of the apartment even worse, if that was at all possible. "What's going on?" Nico stepped over the pillows on the floor to reach him.

Will was sitting on the couch, arms braced beside him and he was breathing heavily. "Nothing, it's fine. I'll finish up, you can go do what you need to."

"Bull. What's wrong?" Nico lowered himself down beside him. "Is it your anxiety?" Will nodded so slightly that Nico almost missed it. "How would you like me to help? I can get you water, I can give you space, I can distract you, I can listen."

"Thanks, umm... maybe some water, if that's fine." Will's voice was a little hoarse, and Nico quickly grabbed a cup from the kitchen and returned. Will's hand was a little shaky, but other than that he had seemed like he had calmed down a bit. "Is it grad?" He finally asked, and Will nodded. Nico waited to let him say more.

"Its just-I know that this is supposed to be exciting and everything, and all I have to do is walk across the stage and shake a hand and smile, but then what? I have no medical jobs lined up. Who knows if the hospitals will even be hiring in the fall, or if they'll want me? One part of me feels like I should move back home to help out with everything going on with Rory, but I still remember how good it felt to finally get out of there when I graduated. I have the waiter job lined up, but it just feels like I've worked the hardest I have my entire life the past four years, only to end up back where I was in high school?"

"You don't have to worry about any of that today. Today all you have to do is walk across a stage and shake a hand. That's it. You don't have any other requirements. Real life can start tomorrow. You have a job for the summer already, and you can always work with Alice and I until you get another job. We always need someone to mop floors." Will smiled at this, and Nico continued. "You have employment covered, but any hospital would be lucky to have you."

"How would you know that? I might be a terrible nurse for all you know." Will finally calmed his breathing down a bit.

"Please, you've stitched me up so many times and I'm still alive. I've seen the way you interact with everyone, you'll make an excellent nurse."

"Thanks. I guess we'd better finish cleaning before my mom gets here." Will took a deep breath and wiped away the tear tracks drying on his face. Nico nodded and went and plugged Will's phone into the speaker, putting on music while they worked.

No sooner had Will turned off that vacuum cleaner and Nico folded the last blanket on the couch that they heard three quick knocks on the door. Will ran to answer. "Hey, mom! How was the drive? Was the traffic bad?"

"It was just fine, buttercup. What is that amazing smell?" Naomi released Will from a hug and smiled at Nico. "Hello, so nice to see you again, my dear." She pulled him into a hug as well, making Nico smile. It was definitely obvious where Will had gotten his welcoming personality.

"There are cookies in the kitchen if you want them. I would stay clear of the ones on the counter; Will tried baking while I was out. The edible ones are on the pan on the stove.

Naomi laughed and Will grabbed her suitcase, putting it by his door before joining the group sitting at the table in the kitchen. "-and that's how he destroyed the oven." Naomi finished, and Nico laughed.

"No need to tell stories, mom." Will frowned, knowing all to well which incident Nico now knew about.

"Nonsense, surely you've heard plenty embarrassing ones from his mother, it's only fair that I return the favour."

Nico stiffened for a moment before playing it off like nothing was wrong with that statement. "Exactly Will, it's only fair." Will tried to shoot him a look of concern, but Nico was deliberately not looking at him. "I made some chicken Caesar salad for lunch, if that sounds alright with you?" He asked Naomi.

"Of course. Can I do anything to help you?" Naomi stood to help, but Nico shot her down.

"We've got everything under control. Will can show you where you'll be staying and you can go get settled in." He instructed, and Will led her out of the kitchen, talking happily with his mom.

"How's Rory doing?" Will opened the door to his room, bringing the suitcase inside.

"She's near the top of the list now, so she just has to hold on a little bit longer, and she'll be just fine, dear. Now, we needn't talk about her, I'm here to celebrate you."

"I made it perfectly clear I don't want any big celebrations. We can go out for dinner or something after, but no party."

"Not even just a few friends? Your girlfriend?" Naomi casually added, but at the stern look on Will's face, she surrendered. "Just throwing it out there. You haven't dated in ages, and I do want grandchildren at some point, William. At the very least get a dog that I can spoil."

"I don't think Nyx would like it very much if I got a dog, nor would Nico, come to think of it."

"Nyx?"

"My kitten, she-"

"Food's ready!" Nico called from the kitchen, and Will and Naomi made their way back.

(A/N: Sorry it's just a short filler chapter, the next one will be more interesting, I promise. You guys should go check out the one shot book I posted. It will be updated whenever I feel like (Which is fairly often), and right  ow there are only two, but there will be more soon as it's a nice little break from this story to clear my head and refresh things a bit. Please vote and give feedback, as I love hearing from all of you)