The First Times

First Wedding

~Fast forward after Urgent! Inspiration: Needed Epilogue.~

"Hold still, di Angelo!" Will slapped Nico's hand away from his buttons, buttons he so desperately was playing with. Meanwhile, Will was straitening Nico's tie he had insisted in wearing. Will, on his part, was wearing a bowtie. "You are acting like a baby, not even little Lorelei is acting like this..."

"Can you blame me for being nervous?" Nico argued back, his pale skin showing actually how terrified he was. Will smiled and finished, dusting his shoulders off.

"I will be there with you, so you should relax... Plus, if Ana sees you this nervous, she will get nervous and will cancel the whole thing."

"She's still of the idea of doing it down in City Hall?" Nico raised his eyebrows in surprise, earning a nod from Will.

"She decided it as soon as she realized that making seating arrangements wasn't going to be easy." Will chuckled while remembering how frustrated Ana had gotten, to the point of having a meltdown and swearing that she would do it without the guests. Luckily, Piper and Rachel had offered to do it for her and Ana was more than thankful.

"Can you believe we're here?" Nico whispered, watching outside the window. Will kept his smile and hugged him from behind, making him blush.

"Not what you had in mind when you saw her coming back from crying for being bullied that first time, didn't you?" As usual, Will had being accurate in his statement. Nico di Angelo never imagined he would be in his only daughter's wedding. He really hoped this was Ana's only wedding and, while his resentment towards Benny had mellowed with time, he was still willing to break his neck if he broke his Principessa's heart.

"Honestly, no." Nico's biggest wish was to keep Ana a little girl and not let her grow up, but time can't be fought and locking her inside the Lotus Casino, like his father had done to him, was cruel- though the idea did crossed his mind a couple of times. "I still remember when she used to come to us for nightmares and scrapped knees..."

"If you start crying, I will start crying." Will announced, waving his hand in front of his eyes. Knowing that it would take time to Nico to process it, Will took the spot of 'mother of the bride'. The Sunshine demigod had been crying at random times and being extra sensitive about the whole thing, claiming that it was part of the job. "Oh, thanks Apollo that Mom is with her now, or I'd be crying non-stop!" A knock was heard and Piper's head appeared.

"We're ready. She's asking for you." She smiled and both parents braced themselves to meet their not-so-little-girl. Nico walked into the bride's room first. He was greeted by a smiling Rachel, Naomi and Annabeth, the first one fixing Ana's train before she turned around. Nico stood there, speechless while Will, half playing the part, began weeping and hugged Ana tight.

"Papà?" Nico had tuned out everything while admiring Ana's dress for the first time. It had one shoulder, a modern twist in what it could be considered a Greek style dress. Her waist started right under her bust and was delimited by a belt of gems, making it the only sparkly visual point. Ana's hair was loose and curly, but she had added- to the astonishment of many, especially Grandfather Hades -some peacock's feathers as 'something blue'.

"Girls, can we have some minutes with her?" Nico asked and all the women left the room, each giving Ana a little squeeze and a smile. Will was looking at Nico curiously, not knowing what was going to happen. "You look beautiful in that dress..." He finally said, reaching with his hands out. Ana took them and blushed a little. "You know, it's not too late yet..."

"Too late for what?" Ana repeated, not understanding the question. Will groaned gently and placed a hand over Nico's shoulder.

"Nico, don't you dare suggesting it..." Now, Ana was even more confused and scared.

"Wh- What are you guys talking about...?"

"Ana, just say the word and we can cancel the whole thing." He hadn't done it before but Will felt a strong urge to slap Nico right there and now. The surprise in Ana's face was evident but he never expected Nico to actually say those words. He had to fix it before they began arguing right now.

"Nico di Angelo, is not the time to make these kind of jokes!" Will scolded him, though Nico wasn't even fazed. Ana was staring at him, going from surprised to decided.

"Papà, I love Benny and I want to marry him- no, I'm going to marry him." She stated with all the courage her nuptial nerves could handle. Now, came the hard part. "If- If you don't accept it, maybe you shouldn't-"

"I'm gonna interrupt you right there, young lady." Will interrupted, frowning, before both did something to regret. Both Ana and Nico looked at him, one with tears in her eyes. "While what your Papà just asked you may be rude and cold-hearted-"

"Hey!"

"-he was just making sure you had no regrets." Will continued, without even paying attention to Nico. He held her hands gently. "Ana, we love you and we just want you to be happy. If your happiness, right now is with Benny, who are we to tell you what to do?" He glanced a little glare to Nico at the last comment, who had the decency of feel embarrassed.

"I have no regrets, Daddy..." Ana assured him, smiling softly before turning to Nico. "I love you too, Papà... You will always be one of the three most important men in my life..." Decided to fix his previous screw up, Nico snorted.

"Not number one?"

"Well, you'll have to share it with Dad..." Ana chuckled, making Will laugh along. Nico smiled and hugged her gently.

"Alright, young lady... Let's get you married."

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My grandmother always tell the story about how her father offered to cancel the wedding minutes before she got married. Up to this day, I don't know if she regrets it or not...

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Good morning/afternoon/evening!

How are you? I'm great, thanks for asking. The past week has been busy rejoining work after a two-week holiday with my family... I have to admit that the road-trip didn't go as planned but we had fun anyway. I know many of you are just walking into spring and Spring Break (if you didn't have it yet), so... have fun!

Today, the last Sunday of March, is a bittersweet day for me. Why? After a lot of thought, I decided to post the final 7 chapters of The First Times TOGETHER. That means that after today, there won't be more updates. I apologize to the readers of Saving Time - A Caleo Story as I couldn't finish the chapter yet, but since it will be my priority from now on till mid-May, I'll make it up to you all!

So, with a tear in our eyes, let's proceed...

The First Times: the final seven chapters... I appreciate and love every single one of the comments, the likes and follows this story had and will continue to have. It was an emotional rollercoaster at times, but I loved it as much you did, I hope.

We'll see each other next weekend!
xoxo, SilverHuntresses