Dante sat at his desk with a scowl on his face, glaring daggers at Adrienne. Normally, their roles were reversed but today- well, today was an exception. It all started when he came back from a job that morning...

Morrison had dropped him off outside of the office around nine. They'd spent the last two days taking care of a job out of town and Dante was exhausted. He'd barely slept at all while he was gone. Ascending the steps to the office, he contemplated asking Adrienne to make him something to help him sleep... and maybe getting her to order him a pizza. He was hungry, now that he thought about it.

He pushed open the door to the office with a yawn.

"Addy, I'm-"

He froze in the doorway at the sound of something small and high-pitched. Looking down, he found himself face to face with a tabby kitten. The small animal stared up at him with large green eyes before meowing and rubbing up against his leg with a purr. Dante's eyebrow twitched.

"Addy?" he called again.

The Sorceress poked her head around the door to the kitchen, the wild mass of curls threatening to obscure her face. She looked equally exhausted, though she'd been sitting at home doing nothing for the past two days, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

Dante leaned down and picked up the kitten by the scruff, pointing to the purring ball of fur. Adrienne paled and swallowed before chuckling nervously.

"Oh. That."

"You want to explain this to me, babe?"

"Well, um..."

More high-pitched mewls came from the kitchen and two more kittens tumbled out into the office. Adrienne's eyes widened and she hastily scooped them both up in her arms. As soon as she did, one more hurtled out of the kitchen into the back of her leg. Swallowing again, the Sorceress avoided Dante's gaze.

"...Sorry?"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL THESE CATS DOING IN MY SHOP?!"

Adrienne scooped up the kitten behind her, her arms full of mewling furballs, and she looked down at her feet.

"There was this guy on the corner with this- this box full of kittens," she said quietly, "And they all looked up at me and I just couldn't leave them there, so..."

Dante's face hardened into a scowl worthy of Vergil.

"Adrienne, we can't keep all of these cats."

"But- but look at these cute little faces! How could you put something this cute back on the street?"

Dante glanced at the kitten he was still holding. The tabby mewed and swatted his nose (claws sheathed) with it's paw. He felt the corner of his mouth quirk in the makings of a smile, but he was not to be deterred.

"How can we take care of all of these guys?" he asked her. "Cute or not, we aren't around all the time."

"Oh Dante, please?" whined Adrienne. "I promise I'll take care of them."

"No."

"But-"

"No!"

"But-"

"Dammit, Addy, no!"

Her face fell and her lip started to quiver. Eyes widening in horror, Dante dropped the kitten he was holding and rushed over to Adrienne.

"Don't-"

Too late. The tears started to flow and she sank down onto the floor, a sniffling mess. The kittens in her arms began to mewl and rub themselves up against her and the tabby he'd dropped scampered over and scrambled up onto her lap, wailing. Heaving a sigh, Dante looked down at the pitiful group.

"Please stop crying," he groaned.

"But- but all these poor babies," sniffled Adrienne.

She looked up at him with watery green eyes, lips quivering and tears rolling down her face. Honestly, it was sort of cute.

Aw, fuck...

Dante sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, fine," he grumbled, "You win. You can keep them."

An almost inhuman squeal of joy erupted from the Sorceress and she leapt to her feet, bowling him over with the sheer force of her hug.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she cried, voice almost unintelligible in her rapture. "You are the best fucking partner in the world and I love you!"

As if to illustrate her point, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and really laid one on him. Seriously- it was maybe the best kiss he'd had in a while. After a moment, she let go of him and turned back to the small group of kittens.

"Come on babies- let's go find you a can of tuna!"

She pranced back into the kitchen with all four trotting behind her, seeming to understand everything she'd said. Dante just stood there, dumbstruck and in shock before taking a seat at his desk.

And that brings us back to the present. He sat at his desk, trying to look as mad as possible. It was harder than it looked, especially since his mind kept wandering back to the kiss she'd given him... and the fact that she tasted like vanilla ice cream. Adrienne, however, seemed blissfully ignorant of his inner turmoil and was playing with three of the kittens- two black ones and a calico- lying on her back, letting them climb all over her. The tabby, however, decided that it liked Dante and insisted on sitting on his lap.

Despite the fact that he wasn't too keen on having four cats in his shop, he sort of liked the little tabby... but he wasn't going to tell Addy that. Not in a million years.

A/N: Yeah, I liked the idea of kittens better than sleepwalking. Worry not- Vergil will end up in here at some point.