Chapter Text
Will knows nightmares, they are an unfortunate consistent in demigod life. And he knew theoretically that they would change after becoming a dad, he just wasn’t ready for how bad they could get
Tonight it started with a classic, the bridge collapse during the Battle of Manhattan. But the difference this time is Katie is on the bridge.
She is not far enough in to be over the water, but it doesn't matter. Will is running in slow motion the way you only can in dreams, he's never going to reach her in time. She's there in the little embroidered overalls she's currently fond of, turning to him as the road crumbles away under her. Her big round eyes meet his just as she starts to fall, long dark curls flying up as gravity takes her.
Then he's digging and digging with his bare hands in bridge rubble looking for his daughter. He can feel her down there, her life aura fading, and he knows he's not going to make it to her in time. Will shoots awake as soon as he reaches her in his dream; her face dirty and covered in blood, not breathing not moving, eyes open with no light behind them. A cold little corpse under his hands.
Too late, once again too late.
Will is drenched in sweat and panting as he comes too, the adrenaline from his dream making him sit bolt upright in bed. Nico stirs beside him.
“ Cosa succede, stai bene ?” Will’s husband slurs out, still basically asleep.
“ Va bene, torna a dormire Neeks,” he says back, peeling off the sweat-soaked sheets and heading for the door.
He just needs to see his kid, just needs to make sure it was all a dream.
Katie is right where he left her when he tucked her in a few hours ago. She has already ripped her shirt off in her sleep and changed positions multiple times, head against the wall short ways on the bed and her feet sticking over the side, curled like a question mark under tangled blankets. She has George the Real Human Skull tucked against her chest with one arm and a Cocoa Puff cuddled like a kitten against her face with the other. There are two other Puffs over for a sleepover, one making a home on the abandoned pillows and the other curled into the small of Katies back.
She's fine, he can see her breathing, but it's not enough to calm him. Will lousy slides his hand over her exposed ankle, fingers pressing into her Posterior Tibial Pulse Point, and lets her vitals wash over him. Oxygen 95, heart rate 50, respiratory 20, blood pressure 80. He goes deeper than he’s really supposed to, letting himself take in her iron levels and electrolytes.
He's not sure how long he’s there just watching his daughter sleep and basking in her vitals, long enough to settle down kneeling next to her bed with his head pillowed on his arm. He can feel different chemicals ebb and flow through her as she dreams, her eyes twitching behind her closed lids.
Nico finds him there all the same.
“Com'on,” his husband prompts softly, gently untangling Will’s fingers from their girl's ankle “You know this isn't good for either of you”
Will goes with Nico's insistence, letting his love lead them back to their bedroom. He can still feel his kid, stretching his senses thinly across the apartment. He knows that's not good for him either, but he can't help it.
His husband clocks it pretty fast.
“With me Sunshine” Nico prompts, turning Will’s face towards him with his hand as they sit on the edge of their bed “You gotta let her go”
“I can't ” he protests through his teeth, clinging to the steady heartbeat of his little girl across the apartment.
“You gotta” his husband insists “It's bad for both of you, you know this”
Nico is right, the constant strain is taxing for Will and dysregulating for who he does it to in the long run. Especially with young children like their daughter, like the worst full moon no recess crazies any kid could go through. It's fine in short bursts, but the longer the hold draws out the worse it is.
And Katie doesn't like it, she checks that he's doing it with one of those searching stares and then gets all huffy and mad at him if she finds him doing it unnecessarily. She makes it look like it is uncomfortable when it goes too long, pinched brow and squirming until Will lets go.
So Will lets himself be led through a grounding exercise, diaphragm breathing where he relinquishes the connection a little bit with each exhale. It doesn't make him feel better.
“I had a dream” he confesses when he feels he can speak again.
“About Katie?”
“‘Bout Manhattan” he chokes out “‘Bout-’bout Williamsburg Bridge, and Katie was-“ Will cuts himself off with a hand over his mouth as a sob rips through him. Nico pulls him immediately and fully into his arms, pressing Will's face into his shoulder.
“It’s okay,” his husband soothes “It’s okay she's okay, it was just a dream”
And he knows, but the fear is still real. Will white knuckles at the back of Nico's sleep shirt with his free hand as the tears flow. Nico just shushes him softly and rocks him in his arms, whispering sweet things in other languages into Will’s hair as he cries.
“I couldn't stand - I can't stand the idea of her” Will finally finds the air to get out “Of her in-in a fucking war !”
“She won't be in a war” Nico promises.
“How can you know!? ”
“Because as I breathe no kid of ours is fighting in a goddamn war, much less alone for that matter”
That feels impossible, it feels like no human oath has ever stopped anything like that, not when the gods are involved.
“ Neeks -”
“She has us Will, I would never let that happen.” his husband swears, pulling back to look at him “ We would never let that happen, not while we’re alive”
And it's true, it's true in his husband's eyes and it's true in Will’s heart. By his own dying breath Will would never let what happened to them happen to their daughter, he would be tearing Olympus down with his bare hands before the idea crossed the god's minds. The fates fucked up by giving them a kid if they want another tragedy, because as long as Katie has family looking out for her she will never be a pawn or a plaything.
Katie is first and foremost a little girl. One day she might be a hero, but not right now. Right now she gets to be a child, and Will and his are going to make sure she gets to live that part of her life to the fullest.
“Okay,” he relents to his husband’s dark eyes “You're right. She has us”
“She does,” Nico says as he pulls Will back into him “And she always will”
“When did you get so good at this” Will sniffles, resting his head on his husband's shoulder
“I married a smart and kind man” Nico chuckles at the half-hearted ribbing “And then we found a clever and sweet little girl, I sucked it up by osmosis”
“You have a lucky family” Will complements wetly.
“Yeah” his husband agrees, pressing a kiss into Will’s hair “But I'm pretty sure I'm the lucky one”