Author's Note: I'm so excited that this story has its first follow and favorite! Thank you so much. It's awesome to know that someone is reading and enjoying this. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Eva's Wish

Chapter 3

Lady blinked. The sun was shining directly in her eyes. She slowly sat up, feeling slightly confused. As she sat up, she felt sore between her legs. Looking around the room, memories of the night previous washed over her. The chair by the window that they had ended up on, the wall by the dresser that he'd slammed her against. 'No wonder I'm sore,' she thought. They had brought the other to ectasy at least six times before they'd collapsed in the bed from exhaustion. Looking over, she saw the spot where Dante had been was empty. Movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to turn to the door. She could see Dante approaching the doorway, a cup in hand. Self-conciously she pulled the sheets a little tighter around her naked form.

Dante entered the room. His eyes raked over her taking in the details-her body bathed in sunlight, with her still red and swollen lips from their intense kissing the night before. A couple red marks were still obvious on her neck where he'd bit and suckled at her sweet skin. He felt his resolve weaken. He'd woken early and spent time laying next to Lady, daydreaming about what could be. But reality wasn't kind. His world wasn't kind. If he were to allow himself the slice of heaven that being with her promised, he would be condemning her to hell on earth. And as much as he wanted her, he wanted her safety more. He braced himself for what he knew he had to do. He would protect her at any cost, even at the cost of his own happiness.

"I brought you some coffee," he said. "Still take it black?" Lady smiled and nodded. "I'll put it on the nightstand, the cup is still hot," Dante said, walking over and setting the cup down. He turned and looked at Lady. She looked up at him with a small smile. Dante ran his hand through his hair. "About last night," he started.

Lady felt something welling up in her when she thought about what they had shared the night before. Dante watched as her eyes lit up. Internally, he cringed. "Look it was fun but that shouldn't have happened and it shouldn't ever happen again. Last night was a mistake," he said, his tone harsher than he'd intended.

Dante watched as the light in Lady's eyes extinguished itself. He steeled himself, resisting the urge to do anything to bring it back.

Lady slowly nodded. "Oh yeah, totally," she said, trying desperately to hold her voice steady. "You know, I should go," she said. "I had a job scheduled for today and I don't even know what time it is. Hopefully I'm not late for it."

Dante nodded and walked to the doorway, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. He paused for a moment, as if he was going to say something but instead he walked out and closed the door, giving Lady some privacy. Lady felt tears welling up and furiously wiped them away. She gathered her clothes and quickly dressed. She ignored the coffee Dante had brought her and walked out of the room. Walking downstairs, she kept her eyes on her keys. Dante was sitting back at the desk. Putting a smile on her face, she grabbed the keys and gave Dante a quick look. "It's been fun. See you around," she called over her shoulder as she walked out.

Tears threatened again as she got on her bike and she again fought them off. Before she knew it, Lady reached the safety of her apartment. She went inside and immediately got a shower going. She scrubbed at her skin until it was pink, desperately trying to wipe away the memories. Getting out of the shower, she wiped the steam from the mirror and stared at her reflection. She couldn't understand what happened. She couldn't figure out why she'd allow herself to sleep with him. Her emotions were roiling and she felt confused at her feelings. Why did this hurt so much? Dante was Dante. He wasn't her boyfriend, he wasn't someone she was in love with. He was a friend. An unreliable lout who couldn't manage his money or his life well. Why was she feeling this upset?

Getting dressed, she sat on her couch and tried to make sense of what happened. She couldn't. Eventually she couldn't hold the tears back and she was wracked with gut wrenching sobs. None of this made sense to her. The thought of being around Dante made her even more upset. She came to the conclusion that she'd just have to avoid him and Devil May Cry for awhile.

Lady dove into her work like never before. When Trish would call about meeting up at the shop, Lady would beg off. "I've got so many jobs right now, not much time for a personal life," she'd tell Trish. She continued to take every job that came her way that she could do by herself. Even a few she probably would've been better off with some help on. She'd managed to avoid the shop and Dante for well over a month. Until one fateful day Trish called, more insistent than ever.

"Lady, I am not taking no on this," the blonde demon had advised. "This is way too lucrative to pass up, but it is definitely a three-person job. I am going to need you on this," she'd begged. Lady had relented and agreed to help. Now she found herself in front of the familiar double doors of Devil May Cry.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the doors. The shop looked the same as always. Dante sat behind the desk, flipping through a magazine. The smell of the shop-a mix of stale beer, greasy pizza and dust was the same but Lady's stomach turned at the pungent odor and she felt bile fast rising. Clapping her hand over her mouth, she flew past the desk and slammed the bathroom door behind her. Dropping to her knees, she retched into the toilet. Wave after wave kept hitting her until her stomach was empty.

Sitting back on her heels she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. 'Why on earth," she started to think. An icy fear took hold as she realized something important. She hadn't had a period since well before the night with Dante. 'No, no, no,' she thought. Shaking she stood and flushed the toilet. She washed her hands and rinsed her mouth with handfuls of water.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she met Dante's concerned look. "You okay?" he asked.

Lady shook her head. "I think I got some bad sushi. Look can you tell Trish that I'm really sorry but I can't do this. I'll see you guys later," Lady said, walking out the door. She was gone before Dante could say anything else. He sat for a moment before groaning. Picking up the phone he dialed a familiar number. The line picked up on the other end. "Hey kid, need a favor," he said into the receiver.

Lady walked into her apartment clutching the test she'd bought from the pharmacy on the way home. Her hands shook as she opened the package and read the instructions. Going into the bathroom she followed the steps and waited, pacing back and forth. The timer binged and she picked up the plastic tester, her hand shaking. Her eyes widened. 'It's wrong, these things have a high failure rate,' she told herself.

A quick trip out to procure another two tests, she returned and again followed the instructions. Now staring at three testers that all told her the same thing-whether it was two lines, a plus symbol or simply the word-pregnant. She was pregnant, with Dante's baby.

Lady's legs gave out from her as she sank to the bathroom floor. She felt like all the strength she'd amassed in her years of fighting demons was gone. One night and she felt like her world had come undone. A mistake, she reminded herself. That was what he called it, a mistake. Now she not only had all the confusing feelings about Dante to deal with but his child on top of it. A child she'd never expected and one she wasn't sure what to do with. Unbidden, tears streamed down her face as Lady felt truly powerless for only the second time in her life.

Trish blew in the doors of the shop. "You're late," Dante said, not bothering to look up from his magazine.

"Yeah my previous job took a little longer than I expected," she said, looking around. "Where's Lady? I would've expected her to be here by now."

Dante didn't look up. "She was here earlier, got sick and left," he said.

"What?" Trish asked. "What do you mean got sick and left?"

Dante raised an eyebrow and looked at Trish. "She came in, emptied her stomach, said something about bad sushi and left," Dante said.

"Damnit," Trish said. "We needed her for this job. You can't do this with less than three people! What the hell is going on with her? She's been avoiding us. What happened between you two?" Trish asked leaning over the desk.

"Why do you assume something happened between the two of us?" Dante asked.

Trish narrowed her eyes. "Because ever since Lady's been avoiding us, you've been in a right shit mood and now we're short a body we need for this," she said.

Dante frowned. "I haven't been in a shit mood," he protested. Trish raised an eyebrow. "Look the kid should be here in about ten minutes," Dante said, returning to looking at his magazine.

"You called Nero?" Trish asked, her mood brightening.

"Yep," Dante said. "You've been going on and on about how this job is a big one, haven't you?" he said, turning the page.

Trish nodded. "Thanks Dante," she said.

"Yep," he said, continuing to look at the magazine.

Trish looked off. "I'll check on Lady tomorrow," she said. "I hope she's okay."

"She's a tough girl," Dante said. "I'm sure it'll take more than bad sushi to put her down for long." The sound of screeching tires could be heard out front. "I believe the kid has arrived," Dante said. Trish trotted excitedly over to the door. Tossing the magazine down, Dante grabbed Ebony and Ivory. "Time to go kick some demon ass," he said, following Trish.

Lady had sat up all night. Her heart and her brain playing tug of war at how to handle the situation she found herself in. She finally settled on a rough plan of what she would do. She didn't think this would be an easy go of it but under the circumstances she felt her plan was the best course of action. She'd quickly dismissed terminating the pregnancy. While she certainly believed the option should exist, she couldn't bring herself to go through with it. So she'd settled on having the baby.

She'd thought about telling Dante, but she kept picturing his face the morning after. How cold his eyes had been and the harshness of his voice when he told her it had been a mistake. Logically she patterned out that if he felt their night together was a mistake, then he'd see this child as a mistake. It seemed cruel to involve him. The child deserved better. It deserved better than she felt she could offer it. So she planned to leave, have the child and place it up for adoption. She'd return after it was done. With all the plans she'd considered, this one made the most sense to her. Her child would grow up in a loving home, free from the nightmares of the demons that were a part of her reality. The best solution for everyone.

A knock at the door roused her from her thoughts. Rubbing the tears from her cheeks, she padded over to the door and looked through the peep hole. Trish stood outside the door. "Open up Lady. I know you're in there," she said, tapping her foot in impatience.

Lady cracked the door. "Trish, I am really not feeling well," she said.

Concern washed over Trish's face. "You look terrible," she said.

Lady snorted. "Yeah, well that will teach me to go for the manager's sushi special next time."

Trish's eyes softened. "Is there anything I can get you," she asked.

"No, I'm good. I am sorry about yesterday," Lady said, feeling genuinely bad about letting her friend down.

Trish waved her off. "Don't worry about it. Dante called the kid and we ended up with the third body that we needed," she explained.

"Nero helped?" Lady asked, surprised.

Trish nodded. "He did a good job," she said.

Lady smiled. "I'm glad you had help," she said. Her stomach started to turn and her hand instinctively came to her mouth.

Trish's eyes widened. "Go," she instructed. "Call me if you need anything."

Lady nodded once and slammed the door. Trish could hear faint running footsteps followed by the sounds of wretching. A shiver went down her back. Sometimes it was good to be a demon and not troubled by the same problems as humans.

A few days later, Lady stood outside the doors to Devil May Cry. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Walking in, she held her head high and kept her tone light. "Hi Dante," she said. "Is Trish here?"

Dante sat at his desk, flipping through another magazine. His eyes met hers. He could sense a faint demonic aura, just barely there. He suspected Lady had another arcane object on her. "Nope, just me here. Feeling better?" he asked, absently turning pages.

"Yes," Lady said, willing her stomach to calm down. "I was hoping Trish would be here so I could tell you both at the same time."

"Tell us what?" Dante asked, setting down the magazine.

Lady felt her stomach turn. She breathed through her mouth, feeling her stomach settle slightly. "I got a call from an old friend with a job. Not my usual gig that I'd go for, but the money is too good to pass up," she said.

Dante quirked an eyebrow. "Do tell," he said.

"My friend is a broker, got a call from this rich, eccentric guy who needs a body guard. His usual body guard is going on sabbatical. Apparently he's got a thing for female body guards, which is why my friend thought of me. The job is several months long so I'll be gone for a while," she said.

Dante whistled. "Man, sounds like a sweet gig. Who's the loaded bastard?" Dante asked.

Lady smiled. "Sorry no can disclose-NDA signed and all," she said.

Dante pouted. "Well that's no fun," he said. "Several months, hunh? Jeez, the place won't be the same without you dumping shit jobs on me all the time."

Lady shook her head. "I'll be lucky to come back and find this place still standing," she said. She felt her stomach turning again. She needed to wrap this up and quick. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a private jet waiting. See you Dante," she said, turning on her heel.

"Lady," Dante called, his tone changing. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Be careful out there," he said.

She gave him a nod. "You be careful out there too, Dante," she said, concern lacing her words. She walked out the door, tears threatening.

Dante watched her go, feeling like a part of himself was going out the door with her. Part of him wanted to destroy something and part of him wanted to get blistering drunk.

Lady got on her bike and roared it to life. Taking a long look at the shop, she took off down the street and headed out of the city. She hadn't decided on her destination.