She didn't expect to wake up to the sound of a constant beeping. Or in a sterile hospital room with baby blue walls.

At least not again.

Thalia's eyes shot open. She was alone. Of course. Always alone. What happened? The party. The music. The beer. Castor. Castor happened that shitty son of a bitch. He spiked her drink.

How did she get here?

Why was she here?

"Watch the road! Luke! Watch the road!"

Her breathing sped up. The heart monitor next to her picked up. Not the flashback. Not the flashback.

"Thalia." She looked up, hearing her name like a flood of cold water. The flashback tore away, this was reality. This was now.

Standing in the door way, was a volunteer doctor. He had beach blond hair and a nice tan. He wore a volunteer clip, and had a clip board in his hand.

"Hey, your brother's here."

Thalia felt her heart freeze. That's not possible. She didn't have a brother. Well not anymore. Not after their last argument.

The volunteer moved away and showed someone else to enter. He was definitely not her brother. He had a dark out look, black jeans, black shirt, dark hair, a brown worn aviator jacket. Still they looked more alike than Thalia did to her real brother.

The boy posing to be her brother nodded to her as if saying go with it.

"Thalia!" The boy said, "You okay?"

There couldn't be one question that hurt more. That question. Thalia gripped the white metal railing in the hospital bed.

"Yeah." Thalia lied, monotone, "yeah, little bro."

The volunteer smiled brightly. Thalia force herself to remain calm. Smiling. That's all they ever do. Seven at the worst news. Even when the world's falling apart. The keep smiling.

"Great!" The blond boy cheered, "I leave you two alone then, and get the paper work ready."

If the boy noticed her scowl he didn't acknowledge it as he turned and left.

The other boy, looked nervous and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Who the Hell are you?" Thalia asked with a wolf glare. The boy huffed.

"Nico Di Angelo. And right now your gonna play Thalia Di Angelo." He sounded so confident, it set Thalia's teeth on edge.

"Why the Hell would I do that?"

"Because I'm the one paying your bills, right this second. And when a guy comes in carrying an unconscious girl I look extremely guilty unless the girls my sister."

"I didn't ask for you to pay my bills!" Thalia snapped, "and how do I know you aren't guilty? Aren't you one of Castor's little jackass friends?"

"Anyone ever tell you you've got a potty mouth?"

"That's not answering my question."

"No I'm not one of his friends, despite his drunken hallucinations." Nico rolled his eyes. "I actually pushed him over a staircase railing last night."

"What?"

"He was going to rape you, so I pushed him over the staircase railing. He landed on the DJ table. You should've seen the looks on everyone's faces."

Nico smiled faintly. Thalia looked straight ahead at the blue cracking wallpaper. She sucked in a breath.

"I need to get out of here." She said.

"Your clothes are in the bathroom," Nico said boredly, "I'm going to go get some junk food from the vending machine down the hall. It's the only edible stuff here."

Almost as if he vanished into the shadows, Nico disappeared into the hall, leaving her alone. The room seemed colder without another person in there.

Her life seemed colder without him in it.

It had been an entire year. And some days it felt longer. Other days it felt like the entire crash had happen hours ago. Thalia changed into her clothes, the same ones she'd worn to the party. Except they had been cleaned and the alcoholic smell abandoned them.

She looked in the mirror. Her own expression scowled back. What happened to the happy-go-lucky days? The days when they would lie under the trees in central park watching the leaves fall? The hours of pathetic pick up lines and puns on just about everything? The warm hand holding in the cold as they snuggled side by side on Christmas? What happened to all of that?

Oh right.

He died.

Thalia glared at herself one last time and turned to walk out. Thalia sat on the hospital bed tightening the laces on her combat boots.

"Hey." Nico appeared in the doorway holding an armful of candy bars. A Butterfinger was sticking out of his mouth the yellow wrapper standing out in his assorted black clothes.

Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"I ate something from the cafeteria last night. It was disgusting." He said, "Want one?"

He dumped all the chocolate onto the bed, and pulled the Butterfinger out of his mouth, and flashed her a tired smile.

"You stayed over night?"

Nico stiffened slightly standing next to her. "Yeah, I hope that's okay. I mean...." He quickly averted his gaze from her and picked up a Milky Way bar, "Here's a candy bar."

Thalia smirked and took the chocolate. Was it her imagination or was he turning pink?

"My favorite." She said, "How'd you know?"

"You look out of this world." He said, cheekily. Thalia smiled and they locked eyes for a second.

"Can I asked you a question?" He said, after a moment of silence, "You don't have to answer."

Thalia bit down on the chocolate outside.

"Why do you drink?" Nico asked, his voice hard, guarded. The smile slipped of her face.

"I'm doing it for you! For us, Thals..."

"Maybe there shouldn't be an us, then!"

"That's none of your business." Thalia snapped. She shoved the candy back at him and jumped off the bed. Nico stumbled backwards with the force of her push. Thalia stomped over to the door, swung it inward, and slammed it shut after her. The hall extended in both directions and was quiet over the hum of the air condition unit.

A sting burned behind her eyes. Thalia felt her throat close up. She was running before she could stop herself. The floor blurred white and tears dropped off her chin.

Someone called her name. Someone got in front of her. She pushed through them and the glass double doors.

Fresh air hit her like a wrecking ball. The tears stained on her face cold froze through to her bones. And she kept running.

The sidewalk pounded. Memories swamped her thoughts like quicksand threading to pull her under. Pain spiked her entire body, growing worse with every step.

Thunder boomed overhead the sun clouded out by dark clouds. Her heart screamed, She sobbed. Alcohol kept the pain at bay. Alcohol kept the memories from hurting.

The tree was up ahead. Her tree. Thalia's tree. Just beside the sidewalk. Proud and tall.

Proud and tall.

The last place she ever saw his face. The last time they ever talked.

And this tree, they use to hang under in the summers, and talk the hours away, where they carved their names side by side, where he first asked her out, where they said their last goodbyes, was his final resting place.

"Goddamnit Luke." She whispered slamming a fist into the tree. She turned around and slid up against the rough bark.

"I love you."

"Love you too, Thals." He smiled at her the sunlight hitting his hair and reflecting off. "Together Forever and Always, promise?" He held his pinkie finger over to her.

"Promise." She clasped her finger around his and he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips.

"You broke your promise, Luke." She said, to the tree.

"Do you have to go?" He whined.

"I promised I'd work tonight. Can't hurt to have a couple extra bucks, especial for Jason." She rolled her eyes.

"I'll drive you." He offered

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope!"

Thalia hugged her knees to her chest. Rain started to come down on the street. Big blotches of water that mixed with her tears.

"Listen Thalia..." He drew out, her name, with a twinkling at the end, "I've got another assignment."

"I thought you said you were giving up that! You know the Monsters are a bad group!"

"Yeah but-"

"No there are no buts!"

"They were going to come after you! I had to do something! I can't let you get hurt!"

The rain tore through the sky bathing the world in grays and black. Lightning flashed, thunder rocked the ground.

"I'm doing this for you! For us Thals!"

"Maybe there shouldn't be an us, then!"

Someone sat down next to her. He was soaked to the core. And breathing heavily. Nico huddled under the tree with her. She started at him her hair flung in random directions, wet, and cold.

"We were driving, down this road." She yelled over the thunder of raindrops and crash of lightning, "and we got into an argument. He took his eyes off the road. Just for a second. To look at me. To see if I meant something I'd said. A girl stepped into the road, neither of them were looking. I screamed. We hit the girl and Luke jerked the wheel. We spun into the other lane. Hit another car.

"He died instantly. His neck snapped in the crash. The worse I got was seven stitches in my arm."

Thalia didn't know why she was telling him all this. The story that tie her life apart like it was made of paper. Two other people had died in the crash, the girl who had walked in front of the car, and the woman driving the other car, a war veteran, home for the holidays.

Nico looked paler than usual, his own eyes red with salty tears. "I'm sorry!" He cried, "I'm so so sorry." He grabbed her in a hug which she didn't object.

Her heart felt like jagged blades carving away at her. He was gone. Luke was gone. She was broken.

"It's all my fault." Nico cried to her, "I never should've said anything."

Thalia hugged herself tighter, the arms around her loosened like Nico was giving up.

"My sister was the girl that stepped in front of your car." He set his head on her shoulder. "Bianca was the girl that got hit."