"Its my fault the monster came after us...Its my responsibility."

"That'll be $24.89." Bianca smiled kindly at the woman. She could see a tiny kid hiding behind her legs she struggled to juggle a sobbing toddler in one arm and her purse.

Bianca smiled at the baby. Almost immediately the toddler stopped crying. The grateful mother handed Bianca her credit card and Bianca swiped it.

"Thank you!" The woman said as Bianca handed it back with the receipt and her tray of fast food.

Bianca couldn't help but smile wider. So cute. The little kid waved at her shyly. But then Bianca sighed. He looked a lot like Nico, with his black hair and warm brown eyes.

She glanced at her watch, which read only an hour left on her shift. Nearing midnight. Outside the parking lot was mostly empty. And inside the only noises were from the one family she just helped.

She loved working the night shift. Barely anyone came in after ten and she could work on her volunteer applicants until someone did. She stretched her legs and leaned against the counter. She glanced briefly at the other two working the shift with her-- a guy working the drive thru who was jamming out to music and dancing really, really badly and a girl who probably couldn't have found another job ever, who was flipping through a magazine like an Aphrodite girl.

Bianca tapped her pen on the counter, and then looked down at her papers. She had sixteen people signed up for this weekend's build. She hoped they could finish the project by Monday and move on to collecting donations for the food shelters.

"Hey, excuse me?"

Bianca jumped. She accidentally dropped her pen over the side of the counter, in her shock.

In front of her was an extremely tan guy. Bianca's eyes widened. Holy Hera, he was hot! Beach blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and a surfer build. Bianca felt her face flush unexpectedly. He was like a big ray of sunshine.

He grabbed her pen and handed it back with a kind smile.

"Oh uh sorry about that!" Bianca squeaked, why was she feeling so warm? He was just a guy. A really good looking guy. "Hi! Welcome to McDonald's!"

"Thanks!" He replied, oblivious to her randomly pounding heart, "Can I get two happy meals? To go please. Oh and with Diet Cokes!"

Bianca stifled a giggle. Why was she giggling?! "Would you like toys to go with that?"

He grinned, "Most Definitely."

He paid her in cash, and waited up front while her co worker started putting together his order.

"You look familiar." He stated as she gave him the cups.

"I do?" Bianca asked, dumbly.

"Yeah, you kinda look like my bo- friend! I mean friend!" He suddenly seemed disappointed, "We're just friends."

Bianca made a small o with her mouth in understanding. He was...oh. Well Darn. But she got over herself fast. He reminded her of Nico again. Coming to McDonald's, late at night, and well...being interested in boys too. Of course everything at this restaurant reminded her of her little brother. But it just hurt. Why was she doing this to herself?!

She couldn't ever see him again. It would drive him insane. He'd hate her even more after all this time. She know how she could explain something like this. Second chances? That's not suppose to exist. Dying is final, for demigods or mortals.

And yet here she was alive. Living the life of a mortal, but alive.

"So you do volunteering?" The guy asked, nonchalantly.

Bianca looked at her papers nervously, "Yeah, I actually-" she tried to swept them into a pile and they all fell to the ground. Bianca sighed and knelt to pick them up, "-I'm actually the coordinator. I'm trying to plan this month's activities."

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah well," Bianca filed the last paper into her stack, "It's like trying to save the world with sixteen people. If I could just get a few more volunteers-"

"WILL!" Someone else entered the shop, "Hurry up! We don't have all night-"

Bianca's eyes widened, as he stopped abruptly.

He was were all black, with his aviator jacket. He grown since she'd last seen him, so it no longer looked huge on him. His black hair was windswept, and his eyes darker, like he was recovering from a deathly sickness.

"If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him...tell him I'm sorry."

"Nico?" The Will guy asked, "I thought you said you'd sit in the car?"

Nico didn't even look at him. "Bianca?"

All the papers fell out of her hands again.

Bianca was gone before most of them hit the ground. She bounded towards the back knocking over the drive thru guy, who landed in the soda dispenser and got drenched in Orange Fanta. He yelled at her, but Bianca really couldn't hear over her thundering heart.

She slammed against the back exit door, and sprinting into the darkness beyond. She could hear Nico following ignoring the shouts of confusion from everywhere.

Bianca crossed the parking lot jumping the row of bushes that separated the McDonald's from the shops nearby. At the last second her foot caught on the branch and she tripped into the middle of the road.

She winced holding back a whimper and scrambled to her feet again.

"Bianca!" Nico yelled from across the street. She made the fatal mistake of looking at him, the iron glow of the lamp post, catching her face completely.

At the same moment a pickup truck rattled between them. Obscuring Nico's view. By the time it had passed, Bianca was gone.

Nico looked around twisting in a circle. "No." He whispered, "No! I saw you!" His voice rose with every word, "BIANCA! I KNOW YOU WERE THERE!"

Tears slid down his face, he was breathing heavily. Even with his son of Hades darkness prone night vision, he didn't see a trace of her.

"BIANCA!" He screamed in the night sky. His voice cracked, and he collapsed to the ground like all the energy had been drained out of him. Whimpering with the hiccup of more tears.

Crouched around the corner of an alley Bianca took deep breaths trying to show her breathing. But each breath just brought more of an urge to sob. Her entire body shaking. She brought her hands to her face as wetness starting taking her features.

Pain rippled through her soul. Every part of her wanted to run back towards him. To scoop Nico up in a hug and never let him go. She wanted to apologize in person, for joining the hunters, for getting herself killed.

It felt worse than anything she'd ever felt.

"Nico...." She choked over her weeping, so quietly even she barely heard it, "I'm sorry....I'm sorry..."

She didn't belong in the living world. If Nico had caught her, his duty as a son of Hades, ruler of the dead, would be to bring her back to the Underworld. They could never be together again. No matter what happened.

Her second chance was screwed.

"I'm sorry...Nico..."

"Bianca, wake up."

Bianca woke with a start. Her head colliding with Ethan's. They both yelped Ethan stumbled back falling on the coffee table, cursing in ancient Greek.

"Gods woman!" Ethan yelled, "You've got a thick skull!"

Bianca didn't rise to the insult. She tenderly rubbed her forehead, wishing her dream had only been just a dream. But instead it was just a tortured replay of last night. Last night when she left her brother crying in the road until his friend, Will, came and picked him up.

She gloomy frowned pulling her knees to her chest. Not caring that she was somehow on the sofa, when she had fallen asleep next to the door.

Part of her mind somewhat less morose-ly pointed out Wilco now.
But even that wasn't enough to brighten her mood. Dried tears called her face like a second skin.

"You okay?"

Bianca looked up to see Ethan as serious as she'd even seen him. His black hair was unruly, both his eyes settled on her. All she really wanted to do was cry. But she swallowed hard and nodded.
"Yeah," She croaked a lie, "Peachy."

"Luke suggested we go out for lunch." Ethan said sitting next to her. He put both his hands in his lap, almost nervously. Was he turning pink?

"Lunch?"

"Yeah we all slept through breakfast. It's almost 2:00 now." He stared at the blank wall ahead of them. Bianca had planned to fill it with posters of the Greek Gods, but hasn't gotten around to it yet.

She hadn't realized how hungry she was. Her stomach growled in anticipation. Ethan cracked a slim smile.

"Hungry, Angel?"

Bianca blushed, "Just a little. As long as it's not McDonald's."

Ethan nodded, and he got up to leave. He looked back once like he was going to say something but then thought better of it. He disappeared in the hall and her door closed softly.

***

Luke drove them to a diner. The ride was quiet with a few moments when Luke and Ethan both tried to sing to a song on the radio and failed miserably. But after a couple of moments of laughter, the trio would remember the pain of a second life and the smiles would disappear.

Bianca waved to a Cyclops as they got out, and the monster eyed lazily like she wasn't with his time. Which was true. She was just a mortal now.

The diner was emptying the lunch time rush ending. They were seated in a side booth, a couple tables down from a family of five. The oldest kid was a teenager typing away at her phone while the mom tried to talk to her and the dad was trying to break up a fight between two seven year olds.

Luke flipped through his menu like he already knew what he wanted. Ethan mumbled something about wanting a burger. Bianca watched the family absent mindedly.

Is this was normal mortal families were like?

Then the waiter came around, carrying coffee in a copper pitcher. He was different than other waiters, but Bianca wasn't sure how. She just felt it, even from over here.

He had white blond hair and bleached skin. His eyes were a dull blue. He wore a baby blue T shirt, and a half apron with a couple mini beanie babies stuffed bears sitting in the pockets. Bianca thought she saw a tattoo on his shoulder but he turned away before she could see what it was.

He stopped by the family thoughtfully, one hand in his pocket.

"Coffee?" He asked.

The dad shook his head no abruptly, obviously annoyed with his children. The waiter smiled and he knelt next to the fighting kids.
"Hey," he said, pulling out two of his bears, a green one with white, purple, and pink pokka dots and a orange one with red and yellow stripes. Both kids immediately stopped fighting and looked at him mesmerized. He waved the bears arms like they were waving hello, "Look I've got these neat bears. They like making friends. Would you like to be their friends?"

Both the kids nodded eagerly, forgetting that they were even fighting.

"Well, my bears don't like it when people fight, okay? You got to promise not to fight again. Otherwise my bears will be really sad and I'll have to take them back."

"We promise!" The first one nodded, "Oh please, please, please let us have the bears, Mister!" The second one nodded too, giving him big pleading doe eyes.

The waiter smiled and handed the bears over. They both squealed with joy and sat down to play cooperatively. The dad nodded appreciative at him. The waiter nodded back and headed over to their table.

He stopped right next to them, grinning, "Hey! Welcome to Eddy's Diner. I'm Octavian and I'll be your server. Can I start you guys off with some drinks?"