"You can't be serious! You can't leave them with me!!" Tellix muttered
as she ran her fingers through her blood red hair. Sparda had insisted
that she stay with the twins while he and Eva went out for their last
minute Christmas Shopping on Christmas Eve.

"Oh, come now Tellix. They're seven years old! Demons will give you more
trouble then twin seven year-olds!" Sparda replied with an amused look
on his face.

Sighing heavily, Tellix sat on the couch and crossed her arms, then
stared up the stairs. Sparda placed his hand on her shoulder and
smiled, seeming to offer an unspoken 'Thank you'.

"Ugh..Okay, I'll watch them, but don't expect this house to be in
tip-top condition when you get back." Tellix muttered as she rose to her
feet and stumbled towards the stairs.

Sparda was right, demons have given Tellix more trouble, plus the twins
were only part demon...Which... somehow didn't sound very comforting
to Tellix as she trodded up the stairs.

Tellix pushed the door to the twin's playroom, stuffed animals, toy
cars, and tiny green army men were scattered across the rug decorated
to look like a small town with streets and buildings. The room looked
fine, messy as always...But something was missing.

Where were the twins!?

Turning to leave the playroom, Tellix barely stopped herself in time
before she tripped over the small white-haird boy standing before her.
Looking down at the boy, she thought long and hard, trying to
decipher the boy's face and remember the correct name. She remembered
very clearly how angry the boy's became if you called them by their
brother's name. Finally giving up, Tellix called out a name. It was a fifty-fifty shot,
one of the two names was bound to be right.

"Dante! Where's your brother?" She called to the boy, who looked up at
her as a wide grin spread across his small face.

"You got my name right!" He shouted happily, then pranced into the
playroom and sat down next to a rather large stuffed bear.

Smiling triumphantly, Tellix closed the door to the playroom and started
down the stairs.

Now if I were the oldest of twin sons, where would I be? She asked
herself as she barely made it down the stairs without tripping.
Thinking of the many places Vergil would hide, Tellix remembered
Sparda's Study. Vergil was sometimes found reading, or at least trying
to read the books Sparda had cluttered on the bookshelves. Pushing
open the door to the Study, Tellix stood before a large bookshelf. She
quickly noticed that Sparda had all his books in alphabetical order.
Looking at the order of the books, she noticed how they started making
little sense.

Since when was P between E and F? Tellix thought to herself as she saw
the repeating mistake in the books' order. Turning to face Sparda's
desk, she found the white-haired child asleep at the desk, his face
planted in a book far to eleborately written for a seven year-old to
read on his own. Smiling at Vergil, Tellix patted him on the back
softly. Slowly opening his eyes, Vergil looked up at her and yawned.
Closing the book and holding it up to Tellix , Vergil rose from the brown
leather chair which seemed quite large compared to his small body.

"Father said something about you staying with us, Miss Tellix ." Vergil
said in his low childish voice, before starting towards the door.
Before Tellix could respond, a loud crashing noise could be heard from
upstairs.
Dante.

"Ohh boy, what's he doing up there?!" Tellix absentmindedly asked as she
rushed out of the Study and up the stairs. As she made her way up the
stairs, tripping every-other-step, more crashing and banging could be
heard, followed by Dante's childish laughter. Busting into the
playroom, Tellix found Dante sitting atop the large bookshelf filled
with children's books, smaller and less complex then Sparda's books.
Dante laughed as he took a book from the small pile stacked next to
him and threw it across the room, aiming for his stuffed animals
sitting helplessly on the couch.

Throwing the book carelessly, the book flew towards the couch but
unfortunately for Tellix, she was caught in the crossfire. The rather
large book of children's nursery rhymes slammed into her head,
knocking her off balance Tellix landed on the couch, her fall softened
by the unfortunate stuffed animals. Dante burst into laughter as Tellix
fell on the couch, then raised his arm, ready to throw another book,
as Vergil stood in the doorway watching the event unfold as Dante
threw countless more books at Tellix, hitting her dead-on everytime. Fed
up with being bombarded repeatedly with Mother Goose, Jack and Jill
and countless Dr. Seuss books, Tellix shot up and stormed over to the
bookshelf with a grim expression on her face. Fearing the worst, Dante
attempted to excape Tellix 's grasp as she came closer. Seizing him by
the arm, Tellix pulled Dante off the bookshelf and slung him over her
shoulder like a sack of flour.

Kicking and screaming, Dante shouted at her demanding she put him
down. Smiling triumphantly, Tellix looked down at Vergil, who was
grinning mischieviously. Seeming somewhat distracted by Vergil's
michievious countenance, Dante kicked free from Tellix's grasp and ran
out of the playroom, headed for the stairs. Finally processing the
past few seconds, Tellix started after Dante, but tripped and fell flat
on her face. Vergil stood near the doorway with his foot out in the
middle of the walkway, grinning devilishly before running off after
Dante. Denying that she had been defeated, Tellix jumped to her feet and
stumbled down the stairs. No way were two seven year-old's going to
make quick work of Tellix!

Finally reaching the livingroom, Tellix looked around the room
cautiously, feeling somewhat amused at the twin's behavior, but at the
same time terribly annoyed. Trodding past the kitchen, headed towards
the back door, Tellix stopped and looked into the dining room. A shocked
expression spread across her face as she surveyed the dining room. The
beautiful Christmas cake that Eva had worked so hard on was totalled.
The cake's chocolate icing was smeared across the table, and the
remaining parts of it that were still intact had landed upside-down on
the white carpet, creating a massive brown stain.

Overcome with fears of Eva's wrath, Tellix scrambled to the kitchen and
seized hold of a blue rag and ran it under the water faucet. Turning
towards the dining room, the twins stood before her with devilish
grins on their faces. Finding no humor in the situation, Tellix grabbed
each of them by an ear and dragged them into the dining room.

"See that? See that mess you made?!" Tellix said scornfully as she
pointed to the mess on the floor and table. "You're mother worked very
hard on that cake, and you two went ahead and destroyed it! She'll be
heartbroken, and you don't want that do you?"

The boy's hung their heads in shame, then Dante reached for the blue
rag while Vergil knelt down besides the mess on the floor. Vergil
picked up the chocolatey mess and put it on the silver plate, then
took it to the kitchen and set it on the counter, while Dante scrubbed
away at the floor, fighting to get every last bit of chocolate off the
floor.

Finally after what seemed like hours, the fresh chocolate stain on the
floor was gone, and the sticky icing smeared across the table was no
more. The cake, though, had suffered a great deal, and had to be
thrown away. Still hanging his head in shame, Dante walked up to Tellix
and reached for her hand.

"I think maybe we should make another cake for mommy..Since we messed
up her old one." Dante said quietly as he looked up at Tellix.
His small face was contorted in sadness, which tugged at Tellix's
heartstrings. Finally allowing herself to smile, Tellix nodded and took
Dante's hand, then looked over at Vergil who sat silently on the
floor.

"Help us make the cake, Vergil!" Dante shouted as he let go of Tellix's
hand and bounced up and down happily before Vergil. Looking up at him,
Vergil smiled and hopped down from the chair then looked up at Tellix.
Smiling, Tellix reached out and took the twins' hands and escorted them
to the kitchen.

Tellix picked them up one by one and set them on the counter next to the
sink, then opened the cabinets, searching for a baking pan. Finally
setting two round pans on the counter, one smaller then the other,
Tellix started towards the pantry. Returning to the twins with a box of
cake mix, flour, peanut butter, oil and a bar of chocolate, Tellix set
it on the counter and stared intently at the cake mix.

Looking at one another with a confused countenance, then looked back
towards Tellix, who seemed stumped by the directions on the box.

"Hey! You don't need all of that for a cake!" Dante spoke up, pointing
to the peanut butter and oil. "All you need is what it says on the
box.

Picking up the box, Dante strained his eyes trying to figure out what
ingredients the cake required. Holding to box out to Tellix, Dante
pointed at a line of words and handed the box to Tellix. Seeming
confused, Tellix read the box to herself.

"Pour the cake mix in the mixing bowl, with a cup and a half of water
and mix it together til the cake mix is smooth and thick..." Tellix
looked up at the boys, completely lost. Baking cakes wasn't what Tellix
was used to, she was more proficient at slaying demons then baking a
cake!

Vergil turned around and opened the cabinet behind him and pulled down
a large green bowl, while Dante found the measuring cups and filled
held them up to Tellix.

Tellix took the measuring cups and looked over the measurements, then
handed Dante the full cup, then the half a cup, then said, "Fill these
with water and pour them in the bowl for me, okay?"

With a big smile, Dante nodded and ran over to the table in the dining
room, and dragged a chair to the sink then eagerly filled the cups and
poured them in the bowl. Opening the bag of the cake mixture, Tellix
poured it in the green bowl and handed each of the twins a spoon. The
twins chatted amongst themselves as they stirred the cake mix happily,
until the mix was rich and smooth.

Vergil smiled as he held out the bowl of cake mix to Tellix, who then
took the bowl and poured the mix into the round pans. Dante eyed the
chocolate cake mix as Tellix poured it into the pans, resisting the urge
to reach in and dip his finger in the mix. Tellix slid the full cake
pans to the side and licked the cake mix off her fingers, then nodded
in satisfaction, then pushed the green bowl, which still had a good
bit of cake mix in it, towards the boys.

Wasting no time, Dante dipped his finger in the cake mix and licked
his finger. Giggling happily, Vergil did the same but used a spoon
instead. While the boys devoured the remains of the cake mix, Tellix
read the box once more then set the oven to preheat, then turned
towards the twins and smiled.

Satisfied with his fill of the cake mix, Dante stretched and yawned,
then dipped his finger in the cake mix once more. Looking up at Dante,
Tellix smiled and said, "Sleepy Dante?" But Dante shook his head
vigorously and played with the remaining cake mix and replied, saying,
"No way! Sleep is for babies!"

Throwing her head back in laughter, Tellix smiled and said, "Babies? I
sleep, though." Dante giggled as he licked the mix off his fingers,
and replied, with his finger still in his mouth, "You're one big
baby!" Vergil and Dante burst into laughter as they made quick work of the cake mix.

Finally the oven beeped, telling Tellix it had finished preheating. Tellix
donned two oven mitts, one with variously colored kittens, and the
being a puppy itself, with floppy ears and a long pink tounge, and
slid the round pans into the oven. Closing the oven and taking off one
of the mitts, Tellix set the time on the oven for fifteen minutes, then
looked back at the twins, still wearing the puppy mitt.

Hiding the mitt behind her back, Tellix made quiet barking noises, then
looked to the twins with a surprised look on her face. "Did you hear
that?" She asked them as they looked at her, just as surprised as her.
Tellix made the barking noise once more, then held out the puppy mitt
and stuck it in Vergil's face, giving him a 'Puppy Kiss' with the
mitt. Vergil giggled happily then patted the puppy on the head softly.

Smiling, Tellix took the mitt off and handed it to Dante, then reached
for a glass and poured herself some water. Dante slipped the puppy
mitt over his hand and made barking noises and stuck it in Vergil's
face, giggling uncontrolably. Vergil laughed and poked the puppy, then
reached for it. Seeming unwilling to hand over the puppy, Dante stared
at the mitt's button eyes intently, then handed the mitt to Vergil
with a big smile on his face.

Laughing playfully, Vergil hopped down from the counter and ran into
the living room, with Dante running after him. The twins climbed onto
the couch and played happily with the puppy mitt, while Tellix stood in
the kitchen watching the boys from her post, and waiting patiently for
the cake. Surprisingly, Tellix was having more fun then she thought she
would, maybe human children aren't all that bad. Then she thought of
her parents, and how they were similar to Sparda and Eva. Thinking of
her human mother made her smile, but at the same time brought tears to
her eyes.

Awakened from her thoughts by the oven, Tellix donned the kitten mitt
and opened the oven. Dante ran in the kitchen, but stopped as Tellix
held up her hand, preventing him from coming any closer. Smiling,
Dante held out the puppy mitt to Tellix. She took the mitt and nodded to
Dante, who quickly turned and ran back into the living room. Taking
the two cakes from the oven, Tellix sat them on the counter by the sink
to cool.

Tellix walked out into the living room and sat on the floor in front of
the couch and stared up at the twins, who sat patiently. "The cake's
are out of the oven, when they cool off we can put the icing on them."
Tellix said with a smile as the boys clapped their hands together
happily. Tellix yawned and stretched, then looked up at the boys, who
seemed quite sleepy.

"You two about ready for bed?" Tellix asked, quickly recieving a
response as the boys shook their heads vigorously. Smiling, Tellix rose
to her feet and walked into the kitchen.

"Come on you two! Let's decorate the cake!" Tellix called from the
kitchen as she placed the round cakes on seperate plates, then placed
them on the dining room table. Chattering happily, the boys ran into
the room and climbed up to the table, and waited patiently. Tellix slid
a cake to Dante, and one to Vergil, then gave them each a spoon and a
can of chocolate icing.

"Now you be careful with this, and don't make another mess!" Tellix said
sternly as the boys dug into the chocolatey paste, and smeared it
across the cakes. Dante's cake was chaotic and messy, while Vergil's
cake was more smooth and elegant. Covering every inch of the cake in
the icing, Dante dug out a huge spoonfull of icing and giggled
mischieviously, then shoved the whole spoonfull in his mouth before
Tellix could object.

"Dante! You'll get a stomach ache from that!" Tellix said, trying not to
laugh as chocolate ran down the sides of Dante's mouth. Giggling,
Vergil spooned out a large heap of icing and shoved it in his mouth,
then grinned at Tellix with chocolate lining his teeth.

"Ahh Vergil, not you too! Heh..Looks like both of you will be having a
stomach ache tonite." Tellix said as she pulled the cakes closer to her.
Tellix slid a spatula under the smaller cake and set it on top of the
bigger cake, then put the plate in the center of the table and placed
the glass cover over the cake. The clock on the wall showed it was
nine-fortyeight, almost time for the boy's bedtime.

"Come on kiddo's, it's almost time for bed." Tellix said as she rose
from the table. Simutaneously the twins groaned, but willingly
followed Tellix out of the dining room. The boy's brushed their teeth
and washed their faces, then put on the pajama's and rushed into the
playroom and hid from Tellix under a blanket on the couch. Tellix walked
into the playroom and noticed the unnaturally large lump in the
blanket and smirked.

"Oh, I wonder where the twins could be..Hmm.." Tellix said as she picked
up a stuffed bear. "Do you know where they are, Mister Bear? What's
that?" Tellix lowered her voice to a whisper, but kept it loud enough
for the twins to hear and said, "Ooohh, then we have to be very quiet,
right Mister Bear?" Tellix plopped down on the couch and pulled back the
blanket and pulled Vergil onto her lap and tickled him. Laughing
uncontrollably, Vergil kicked and screamed as Tellix tickled him
ruthlessly.

Finally stopping and letting Vergil catch his breath, Tellix looked to
her left and poked the other lump in the blanket and pulled the
blanket back to find Dante grinning widely as he squeezed his stuffed
rabbit tightly.

"Go find a story for me to read to you." Tellix said as she pointed to
the bookshelf. Eagerly, the boys shot up and ran to the bookshelf,
muttering to each other, trying to decide on a book. Dante insisted
they read Rumplestilzken, while Vergil implied they read Peter Pan,
but they soon found a book they both agreed on, Goldy Locks and the
Three Bears.

"Read this one, Tell!!" Dante shouted as he handed her the book. Tell.
Sure two syllables was short enough for Tellix's name, but Tell sounded
alright. Nodding in satisfaction to her new nickname, Tellix took the
book from Dante. Tellix opened it up to the first page as Dante settled
down to the right of her and snuggled up with his stuffed rabbit,
while Vergil sat to the left of her with his arms wrapped around a
stuffed frog.

"Ready!" The boys sounded off simultaneously, once they were comfortable.

"Goldy Locks and the Three Bears. Once upon a time, there lived three
bears. The Pappa Bear, The Mamma Bear and the Baby Bear.." As Tellix
read on, the twins laid their heads on her shoulders and slowly closed
their eyes. Before Tellix even finished the story, the boys had already
fallen asleep. Seeming trapped by the twins, she pulled a blanket
over the twins and herself then used a round fat stuffed lion as her
pillow. Within moments the three of them were sound asleep on the
couch.

The clock struck eleven o'clock when Sparda and Eva finally returned,
their arms full with bags of Christmas presents for Dante and Vergil.
Looking towards the dining room, Sparda pointed to the new chocolate
cake and smiled at Eva, then made his way up the stairs. Opening the
door to the playroom quietly, Sparda found Vergil, Dante and Tellix
sound asleep on the couch. Dante had his small arms wrapped around
Tellix's right arm, and Vergil had his wrapped around her left arm.
Smiling happily, Sparda looked back towards Eva, who was taking the
bags of Christmas gifts to her room, and gestured towards the
playroom. Eva smiled as she saw the three of them asleep, and hugged
Sparda.

"Best get these presents wrapped up for tomorrow, Eva." Sparda said
quietly as he helped Eva take the rest of the presents to their room.

The morning light shone through the window in the playroom, shining on
the toys scattered on the floor. Though still somewhat asleep, Tellix
heard the laughter of two mischievious little boys as they chattered
happily as they sat on the couch next to Tellix, all cuddled up in a
blanket. Tellix opened her eyes slowly and looked over at Dante and
Vergil and smiled. Dante glanced up at Tellix, then shot up off the
couch and shouted, "She's awake! Come on, Verge! Let's go wake up
mommy and daddy!!" Happily, Vergil and Dante ran out of the room and
burst into their parents room and bounced up and down on their bed
laughing.

"Come on! Wake up! It's Christmas Morning!!" The twins shouted
simultaneously as they hopped around the bed, then finally tripped
over their parents and fell on them, the four of them laughing. Sparda
sat up and hugged his boys, then pushed back the covers and followed
Dante out of the room sleepily. Eva stretched and yawned, the looked
down at Vergil who was waiting patiently for her. Smiling, Eva reached
down and picked up her son and set him on her lap.

"Merry Christmas, Vergil." She said as she kissed him on the cheek and
smiled. Vergil smiled and wrapped his small arms around his mother,
then jumped down and ran out of the room towards the stairs. Eva rose
to her feet and stepped into the hall, finding Tellix wavering sleepily
in the hall. Eva patted Tellix on the back and smiled, saying, "Thank
you so much for taking care of them for us, Tellix. It means alot to
me."

Tellix smiled and nodded to Eva, then replied, "No need to thank me,
Eva. I promised Sparda I would always watch over them." Smiling, Eva
nodded and started towards the stairs, then stopped and called to
Tellix, "You're welcome to join us, the boy's picked out a special
present for you, and were hoping you would be here to recieve it."

Downstairs, the boys were sitting side-by-side, staring at the
ornately wrapped gifts, whispering to each other, guessing what could
be under the wrapping paper. Tellix sat down across from them and gazed
up at the Christmas tree. Tellix had never celebrated Christmas before,
she was always to busy. This was her first time ever sitting down on
Christmas Morning to open gifts.

Vergil pointed to Tellix and whispered something to Dante, who promptly
stood up and ran up the stairs to his room. Dante returned with a box
wrapped chaotically with red wrapping paper, then handed it to Tellix
with a big smile on his face. Smiling, Tellix took the gift and nodded
her head, then eyed the gift, unsure of what to do next. Dante leaned
in and whispered in her ear, "You're supposed to open it!!" Chuckling,
Tellix nodded once more and began to peel the wrapping paper back. Under
the paper was a small brown box, and inside the box was a small red
card with the words, "To Miss Tellix, From Dante and Vergil" scribbled
in blue crayon. Under the card were two small clay turtles, one red
and one blue. Holding the turtles in her hands, Dante and Vergil stood
on either side of her and pointed to the turtles.

"That red one is me! And the blue one is Vergil!" Dante said with a
smile on his face.

"We made these in school for you, we hope you like them Miss Tellix."
Vergil said as Tellix wrapped her arms around the boys and smiled.

"Thank you! Thank you so much kids, this is the greatest Christmas
Gift anyone could ever wish for!" Tellix said with a big smile as she
hugged the twins tightly. The turtles were poorly made, and barely
resembled turtles at all, but Tellix didn't care about that. All that
mattered was that Dante and Vergil thought so highly of her that they
even bothered to make these small trinkets for her.

Even though this was the first time Tellix ever celebrated Christmas,
she could already tell that this was the best Christmas she would ever
celebrate with anyone.

The End.