Chapter 6

He was't awake when she got home. In fact, he had slept the next few days. His exhaustion just wouldn't go away and he didn't know why. Vergil had told him it was his bodies way of transitioning from hell to the human realm but he didn't buy it. Neither did Lady, not that she would ever say anything.

She tended to watch him when he wasn't looking. His movement were slow and his focus wasn't what it once was. Lady didn't expect him to be exactly the same as he was when he first left but she knew enough about him to know when something wasn't right. The symptoms pointed to depression. The man had lost his hope, his will to live. The man was following the same path she had taken after the man left her.

When she had gotten home she expected him to be up waiting for her, he would want to finish the conversation. What she didn't expect was for him to be passed out to the point that he was dead to the world. Not only that, but he remained sleeping three days after that and when he finally woke up he had no strength to continue the conversation. It had been nearly a week since their talk. He seemed to be avoiding the talk, he wasn't as confident about it as he was in the beginning. Doubt and realization must have snuck in.

"Dante, you hungry?"

A groan was her reply. He was currently snuggled in her bed, his head buried under the pillow. His appetite was also something Lady was concerned about. She had bought pizza for the family a few days ago, not because of Dante, and he hardly finished one slice. Dante was normally able to eat two full boxes by himself.

Walking closer to the man, Lady stopped by the foot of the bed. Slowly, she reached her hand out to grab hold of the quilt wrapped around the figure and yanked hard enough to pull the blanket, which in turn grabbed the pillow, completely off of the bed. The sight would have been surprising had she not seen it many times before.

Dante was in pain. It was obvious by how he was balled up in fetal position with his eyes squeezed shut and sweat rolling down his face. Lady could blame it on starvation, he hadn't eaten in a day, but she knew it was something more. Something she needed to take care of. His skin was growing paler by the day and his cheek bones where starting to poke out. It was unhealthy and unnerving to see the man in the state he was in.

"Get up, I have food for you downstairs."

She frowned as the man struggled to pull himself up in order to lean on his slim arms as he looked at her. His eyes refused to focus on her and Lady knew the man needed to see a doctor, he was too malnourished.

"I'm not hungry."

Lady narrowed her eyes and Dante looked away. He was to weak to fight with her. He just wanted sleep.

"Fine, then you can explain to your children why their father doesn't want to meet them." If Lady knew anything about the man it was how much he loved his children, even if he never formally met them. She watched carefully as his eyes lit up in confusion and his head tilt to the side.

"They want to meet me?"

He hesitated and Lady would have found that amusing if the man's health wasn't rapidly declining. "Yes, they ask to meet you everyday but they're not allowed in my room while you sleep the day away."

Lady shrugged her shoulders at the look of disbelief Dante was giving her. She didn't understand either why her kids wanted to meet the man but they did and this would be one of the only ways to get him out of the stuffy room that he had inhabited.

"I… I don't-" Stuttering, another sign that something was wrong.

"Well, if you don't want to meet your kids that you supposedly went to Hell for then I'll let them know." Turning to walk away she came to a stop at the call of her name. Shivers ran down her spine at the name and Lady felt a sense of panic. How was it possible that a simple call of her name brought back feelings that she shot and buried. It wasn't fair.

"I'll come down. I can't…"

Lady turned at the hesitation and her brow raised at the man. He was no longer occupying the bed but standing on his feet. His legs were shaking and his cloths hung off him like drapes. Lady would have panicked at the sight if it was the first time she had seen it. The man had grown progressively smaller as the days went on. Hopefully reconnecting with the children would give him back the will to live that he had lost.

"I need…"

There was that hesitation again and Lady finally understood. He needed help but he wasn't prepared to ask for it. In Dante's mind he probably thought Lady would let him fall on his face with their current situation and Lady didn't blame him for thinking that way. Had Dante not looked to be on the brink of death she probably would have let him suffer alone. The same way as he had done to her.

Silently nodding her head at the man she moved to place his arm over her shoulder and her arm around his waist to hold him up. Dante let out a sigh of relief and Lady held back a smirk. She was glad some mannerisms stayed the same.

—

It was awkward.

Lady wondered how often she had that thought in the past week. The kitchen table was crowded, with six people surrounding it, but that was the least awkward part. Raine and Devlin continued to stare at awe at the man they had only seen twice and neglected to eat their meal while Dante stared down at his plate.

Vergil neglected to eat his food in order to finish a novel that he had started before he went to get Dante and Trish ate her food as though it was her life line.

Lady, on the other hand, had to constantly remind her children not to stare and to eat their food.

Trish was the first to break the silence as the stood from her seat, her plate clean as if she had licked it. "Well, that was good. We should probably get going."

Lady stared at the blond as she grabbed the book from Vergil's hand. His gaze iced over at the removal of his book but he silently followed her as she left the kitchen. That bitch. Lady knew the only reason Trish inhaled her food was to get out of there quickly and get out of the awkwardness. The front door slammed shut.

"Are you our Daddy?"

Dante head snapped up from his plate and his eyes settled at the small voice. It was Raine who broke the silence.

Lady watched as his eyes flooded with conflicting emotions before settling on an emotion she knew all to well. Adoration

"Yes."

It was a simple answer and Lady held her breath at the response of her children. Would they accept the fact? Would they accept the man?

"Hmm." Raine crossed her tiny arms and Devlin mimicked the motion. "I thought you were off saving the world."

Lady glanced at Dante while Devlin finished Raines thought. She had never told Dante anything about their five years apart. He didn't know what she had told the kids about him.

Dante hesitated before answering. "I… was."

Raine moved across the empty chairs until the settled into the seat next to him. Dante gave the girl his full attention as his body tensed up. "Are you done saving the world now?"

The girl nearly whispered the question and Lady felt her heart break. Though the question was simple to message was clear. Would he be leaving them again? Looking at Dante's face she knew he caught what she had.

He thought about his question and Lady held her breath. Though she refused to forgive him she didn't want him leaving again.

"The world is safe now. I won't be going anywhere if you don't want me to."

The smile that lit up Raines face was brighter then the sun and Lady felt a sense of relief. Though their relationship needed some serious work the kids would have their father.

"Then can you be the one to tell up bed time stories? Mom's stories are great but we're not little kids anymore. We don't want to hear about the piggies." Raine was serious in her question and Devlin nodded in response.

"You brats, I thought you liked my stories."

Devlin looked to Lady before a sluggishly ruling his hand through his hair. "We do mommy, we just want something different."

Lady laughed at the reply before Raine launched into a load of questions about her dad. Lady filed at the sight. During the third or fourth question Raine placed herself on the man's lap and Devlin moved onto Lady's. He was just as interested in the answers as his sister, though he didn't show it as much.

Dante glanced at Lady as he answered the questions. He smiled at the motherly look on her face. Fixing his relationship with the kids would be the easiest part. The hardest, however, would be fixing his relationship with Lady. It would be hard but it would be worth it.

A/N: So, I'm back with this story. How mad would ya'll be if I ended this story with this story? Regardless, this is the end of the story. I thought about making a spin off with this story, where Dante and Lady do get back together, but I think I like the ambiguity of this. It leaves the doors open for your imagination to run wild. Regardless, if you want me to do a spin off write me why you want me to do that. If you can persuade me then I will, if not I'll lay this story to rest.

Thank you for supporting me through this story!