Dante was starting to worry about Kat. It had been 4 weeks since they defeated Mundus and settled into an apartment together. In that time he had noticed that every night, like clockwork, she would wake up at 5am to be violently sick in the bathroom. She would never admit to there being anything wrong and come straight back to bed like it was nothing, sleeping off the rest of her obvious discomfort.

One particularly bad morning started with Dante being woken up by the horrid sound of heaving at 4:54am. He kicked off the duvet and approached the bathroom in just his boxers. He winced as he saw her frail body hunched over the sink, one arm cradling her stomach to sooth the crippling pain.

"Kat...? You okay..?" The young nephilim approached her quietly from behind and began to softly rub her back to comfort her, feeling her tremble weakly under his palm. She panted shakily with her head ducked in the sink. She wiped her mouth, being embarrassed by Dante's presence in the situation.

"I-I'm fine, go back to sleep..." She struggled to get the words out without heaving. The dark haired man frowned and stroked her hair before returning to the cluttered, cramped bedroom. He kept his ears focussed on the bathroom in case she got any worse, but the worst seemed to be over for now. He had to be careful with her because she was very good at hiding her pain, something Vergil got her into the habit of doing.

He settled himself into bed again when he heard her cleaning up after herself and brushing her teeth. He pulled the duvet over his shoulders and rolled onto his side to await her return into his arms. They didn't consider themselves as an official couple, but they were pretty comfortable around each other. She wandered back into the bedroom slowly, laying on the opposite side of Dante and keeping her distance as she coiled into a little ball in discomfort to try and get back to sleep. The hybrid looked over his shoulder to make sure she was alright before drifting back into sleep for a couple more hours. Kat however lied awake, staring at the wall with a fog of panic and doubt in her mind. She had a gut feeling she knew what this was, but it couldn't be...

Later on that morning, Dante slumped down at the kitchen table with a bottle of milk to start cleaning his guns. In the corner of his eye he caught sight of Kat at the counter which was cluttered with countless bizarre ingredients and one of her many Wiccan recipe books. He rose from his seat and pressed his chest against her back, holding her hips loosely as he peered over her shoulder. He was easily a foot taller than her.

"Whatcha cookin' there?" His ethereal blue eyes scanned the counter, covered in animal body parts, herbs, spices and natural oils. Not his idea of a great breakfast.

"A cure for the sickness I've been having... I've never prepared it before..." She sounded tired and groggy as she focussed on the recipe, dropping lavender oil and lemongrass into the concoction in front of her in a pint glass. She wasn't honestly going to drink this crap was she?

A look of concern furrowed Dante's brow as he read the title at the top of the page she was reading from, 'Morning sickness remedy'. "Hey, isn't that what pregnant ladies get?" He chuckled lightly, regurgitating one of the many random facts he'd picked up from watching way too much day time TV.

"...Yes." The contrast between his light comment and her answer was startling for Dante, even more so with the silence that followed.

"W-wait." Dante's eyes widened and searched for her face which she kept hidden under her hood. "You don't think you're...? Do you...?" A pit opened up in his stomach. How could she have been? He hadn't touched her, and she killed her abusive foster father years ago.

"I don't know." She snapped sharply with a half-worried tone. "I'm going to do a test this morning, but I don't see how I could possibly be..." She shook her head as she welled up, she was so worried at what the cause could possibly be.

She raised the now ready mixture to her lips, cringing slightly at the potent smell. She parted her pink lips and forced herself to down the contents of the glass, making Dante's stomach knot a little as he held his nose. She clamped her eyes shut as she grimaced, placing the glass back down on the table as she reluctantly swallowed, coughing and spluttering a little. "Yuck." She doubted she'd ever be able to get the bitter, earthy taste out of her mouth. She let the mixture settle in her stomach before grabbing a plastic bag with a pregnancy test in it. After letting out a nervous huff, she made her way over to the bathroom in the small apartment to test herself.

By then Dante went pale, it was one of the biggest shocks he'd had in a while. He didn't like the possibility of dealing with a little brat one bit, especially as he was just earning enough from demon hunting to keep them both going as it was. Despite his inner objections he waited behind the closed door to the bathroom.

After a couple of minutes she unlocked the door to let him in, being a sickly, tell-tale shade of white as Dante looked up at her. She avoided eye contact the entire time as she sat herself back on the toilet to think it over. Dante sat on the edge of the bath and huffed shakily, "...Kat?" He already knew what the answer was, and it didn't look like either of them were thrilled to become parents.

"D-Dante I feel sick..." She whimpered. "I feel sick..." She repeated herself as distressed tears began to fall from her eyes over her pale cheeks, her heart beat echoing through Dante's sensitive ear drums. He placed a hand softly on her knee and stroked her soft skin with his thumb to try and comfort her. "We'll figure this out, don't worry..." He had to tell her something, anything to keep her calm.

She dropped the plastic stick as her hands began to shake uncontrollably. She shook her head and gasped as the tears began to flood from her eyes, her beginning to sob. "I-I know what happened..." She cried hysterically, resembling a caged animal. The revelation hit her like a lead brick. Dante froze and pressed his digits harder into her soft flesh, "W-what..?" He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"He always talked about it..." Her voice quivered, "Who would take his place when he was gone..." Her trembling had now progressed into fierce tremors so Dante gripped her firmly, as if to keep her from falling apart. "I-I remember now... I couldn't sleep one night because of the nightmares and..." She swallowed hard and sniffed. "He gave me a pill to help me sleep and..." She tried her hardest not to scream. Dante had never seen her this scared. He felt his blood ignite inside him, "Vergil you bastard..." A growl escaped the hybrid's gritted teeth. His brother had been using Kat the entire time, he couldn't believe how cruel he was.

Dante shrugged off his anger as much as he could for now to focus on Kat. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed as she was paralyzed in fear. The small, brown haired woman wasn't far from total exhaustion as she was laid down on the mattress, periodically twitching as Dante settled her with kisses, softly planted over her shoulders, working down the length of her arms to her knuckles. He never acted this way with anyone else, Kat was special to him and he would do anything to protect her.

Once her breathing steadied and her body relaxed, Dante readjusted to lay beside her again. "We'll be okay... I promise..." His voice was softer than ever, barely audible. Her glassy eyes opened half way and stared sleepily at him, drawing in a few deep breaths. She almost hated herself, knowing she would have to live with it, she could never kill a child, and neither could she risk it going through the same past as she did...

The devil hunter pulled her body flush against his own, her tensing slightly as she had never been willingly this close to anyone before. However she did not protest any further, breathing out and relaxing in his careful grip. He processed every single movement strategically around her, he was still figuring out how to behave, he'd never been with a girl platonically, let alone a pregnant one. Especially Kat, his so called 'broken flower' as dubbed by Lilith.

As the frail human lay asleep in his arms, he kneeded her abdomen gently with his palm. There was a faint paternal curiosity within him that must have come from his angelic heritage. He caressed her stomach delicately to feel around for any sort of lump within her. Dante didn't know the first thing about pregnancy, it was always the last thing on his mind as a young, unfettered bachelor. All his searching was in vain, as she must have still been very early into the pregnancy. A pit opened up in his gut at the thought of Vergil smugly knowing of her pregnancy before either of them even had a clue.

He shook the haze of negative thoughts from his head as if they were a bad dream. He nestled his face into the subtle groove of her back, kissing it softly and resting his eyes. The rest of the night was surprisingly peaceful as the young 'couple' lay blissfully in their dreams, their limbs weaved together and making them inseparable.

Sunlight pierced the window blinds as morning came. Dante winced at the sting in his eyes, every morning he regretted the positioning of his bed, as that was the only reason he got up so early. A sleepy grunt escaped his throat as he forced his heavy eyes open.

The young stud gazed forward at the young woman asleep in his embrace, thinking long and hard about his feelings towards her. He was never good with naming what he felt. It was usually just anger, he wasn't used to this warm, welcoming feeling. A blush spread across the man's face as he thought about that abstract word, love.

He protected Kat like no one else. He constantly daydreamed in admiration of her loyalty and self sacrifice. She held out under relentless torture for so little in return, too used to settling for just tolerating the pain thrown at her. That would all change now, he would make sure she never had to deal with abuse and exploitation ever again. He planted a nervous kiss on her hairline, concentrating on the angelic way the sunlight illuminated her soft features.

Kat began to stir as his warm lips retracted from her forehead, shuffling slightly to get comfortable with her cheek pressed against Dante's bare chest. She loved how his strong, drum-like heart beat contrasted to the quiet flutter of her own. Dante blushed and ran a hand through her hair, not being able to stop a wide smile spreading across his face.

Her eyelashes tickled his skin as she opened her eyes. She angled her head upwards to see Dante's face, feeling the same contagious blush invade her cheeks as she noticed his sweet smile. She brought up her intricately patterned hand, lovingly stroking his cheek as she smiled back. She loved his face, those otherworldly eyes, his mouth, his smile.

Kat could tell how he changed just by the lines and imperfections on his face. The dominant frown lines on his forehead were now softened by the freshly creased laughter lines framing his mouth. It warmed her heart to know he could smile again.

They both stared into each others' eyes before surrendering to the gravity of each others' lips. Dante dragged her closer so her stomach touched his own, closing his eyes and locking their lips together in a kiss. He cupped her cheek as a fire erupted inside him, making his ears burn a dark shade of red that matched the blush on Kat's cheeks. Kat could now be certain that she had one secure thing in her life, and that was Dante.