Devil May Cry © Capcom

Bind Them Always on Your Heart

Jason M. Lee

It was the silence that got to Nero.

When her water broke that morning, the panic was rather contained between Lady and Dante. Or as contained as it could be for Dante's paternal devil instincts, namely the ones that didn't want anyone else in the shop because /nestling is coming/, /must protect older nestling and mate/, and /no intruders allowed/. Nero had to get Nevan to shock Dante senseless long enough for Sláine to be able to enter and tag team with Lady on calming down his uncle that Sláine was /nest friend/, and not an /intruder/ in his /territory/. (Trish was obviously staying back at his clinic.) The first several hours was mostly normal, Lady keeping up a hysterical running commentary on some of her and Dante's more ridiculous jobs. Like how she and Dante once got called out to "deal with" several rampaging demons that turned out to be just a bunch of rather large but very young devils fighting over an abandoned bucket of Halloween candy.

Who knew devils had a sweet tooth for Human World candy.

Then again, Dante was a strawberry sundae fiend and Nero himself liked black currant.

As the hours ticked by, Lady's contractions got to the point where she could barely walk without help from Dante, thus Sláine gently ushered Nero out from the master bedroom. Not that Nero minded - he had started to get a really good idea that it was going to be extremely messy and he wasn't sure his own reactions was going to help Dante. So he and Nevan spent much of the rest of the afternoon practicing some of the easier recipes from Eva's recipe book in the kitchen - neither of the adults had come down for lunch at all, and he had an idea that it was going to be a long while until they emerged.

"Not quite my preferred sustenance," Nevan commented as she nibbled away on an egg in the basket, "but I will give due credit on the novelty of the toppings used." Especially since hers had some very good bacon bits mixed in the egg.

Nero couldn't help but blush a little, rubbing the side of his nose. "Well, Uncle Dante likes pizza, so I thought some tomato sauce and mozzarella plus pepperoni would be more to his taste instead of plain old salt and pepper. Grandma did write how he also liked tomato sauce."

The leanan sídhe smiled kindly, gently patting her ward's hair before helping him cook several more egg in the baskets to save for later. If any of her kind or other devils had told her two thousand years ago that she'd be watching over her former jailer/master's grandson on cooking, she would've laughed, electrocuted them, and then drained their lifeforce for their audacity. Time spent sleeping in Temen-ni-gru and as Dante's Devil Arm/business assistant had truly mellowed her out - he even let her head over to Love Planet and some of the more seedier places to sate her "needs" so as long she didn't outright kill anyone. Perhaps it was listening in how Dante would occasionally quietly share his childhood with Lady and Nero, the melancholy and nostalgia threading his words of happier times. Or Lady sharing some of her own few happy memories of her mother with them. Or maybe it was also meeting other human-devil couples on the jobs as well, seeing how truly happy they were.

Or maybe it was because she wanted to continuing seeing what Sparda saw in humanity that lead to his defection.

By the time Sláine softly called Nero up, it was past dinner. Nevan had returned back to her guitar form, and so the young quarter-devil cautiously slipped into the room, catching leftover hints of blood and other stuff he didn't want to know yet.

For the last few hours, he had been hearing muffled cursing from Lady. Some that seemed pretty funny from how either Sláine and/or Dante would laugh, others that had both men choking while Nevan was downright cackling. When asked what had her laughing, she simply grinned and told him he'd "understand when he was older," much to his pouting displeasure.

Now, it was a peaceful silence, of Lady breathing tiredly but sitting against the headboard propped up by pillows with a small bundle against her chest, and Dante occasionally popping his knuckles repeatedly with a slight grimace. The windows had been closed, so any noise from the outside was muffled, other than the soft hum of the air conditioner going.

After a gentle push from Sláine and hearing the door close behind him, Nero slowly stepped forward, only truly getting closer when Lady beckoned him over. With an exhausted but very satisfied smile, she tilted the bundle towards him. "Meet your new baby brother, Nero," she whispered.

"Red" and "squished" was Nero's first thoughts upon seeing his cousin, but there was no denying that sense of awe that grew within him at the soft mewling that escaped from his new relative. A glimpse of bleary blue eyes and there was that silver-white hair that seemed to be a trademark from his grandfather. Nero could feel a few tears leak down his own face, but he ignored them as he carefully climbed on to the bed.

"Was I... Was I ever that small?" His own baby pictures didn't had him looking this tiny.

Warmth on his back as Dante shifted from behind, wrapping an arm around him. "A little bigger, but you probably definitely looked like him."

"...wow," Nero spoke softly. Slowly reaching out, he barely brushed his fingers near the blanket before the baby tightly grasped one of his fingers in a tiny hand out of reflex. A surge of protectiveness suffused him, and he knew that alongside his promise to be the best big brother he could ever be, his own young devil instincts would fight to defend /nestmate/ no matter what. "What's his name?"

"Cato," Dante answered, just as quietly. Pride and happiness sounded from his voice, alongside relief while he nuzzled into Lady's hair, his devil glad that both /mate/ and /nestling/ were safe and whole. The faint memories of small and fragile hands playing with hard yet gentle claws was still there, soft rumbling that would soothe fears away or to simply reassure.

He wondered if this was how Sparda felt when he and Vergil had been born.

"Oh, Uncle Dante?"

"Yeah?" Calloused fingers carefully brushed wispy hair before pulling both /mate/ and /older nestling/ closer.

"I made fried egg in the baskets for you and Aunt Lady, just in case we'd miss dinner." Nero rubbed the side of his nose, ducking his head with a slight blush. "Was practicing one of Grandma's recipes and since you love pizza so much, I added tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on some of them. Aunt Lady, yours got Parmesan and a bit of garlic seasoning. Nevan helped me make them. Because of also today, y'know?"

At that, Dante realized that both he and Lady hadn't really eaten anything since morning, other than juice and some snacks.

"Quite the coincidence, hm?" Lady mused, laughter dancing in her eyes as she readjusted Cato's blankets, catching on to what her nephew was inferring.

A quick glance over at the calendar prompted a quiet laugh from Dante, noticing the current date. Even if on paper he was Nero's uncle, it was still one heck of a day that Dante couldn't have ask for more in regards to both Nero and his newborn son. Smiling, he didn't stop the happy purring that was soon joined by Nero as he got his wings to encompass around his family.

"More like perfect timing."

A/N: Follows "Nibble, Nibble" from "Bouquet of Calundela".

Yeah, late for Father's Day, but working through my timeline on this series made me realized on the sheer coincidence of timing on how I wrote them out. XD Not something I intended.

Title is from Proverbs 6:21, NIV.