Early in the morning at Devil May Cry, Patty fixed breakfast in the kitchen with Morrison while Trish and Lady are busy dressing up Angel in her room. They woke her up, helped her bathe and Lady dressed her with a black tank-top and black and white striped skirt, along with black shoes and white stockings. The two ladies themselves weren't bad either – Lady wore her usual blazer, but this time with a black tank-top inside and long pants with the same color and pattern as her blazer, and black high heels. Trish herself wore a casual red dress with a matching colored pair of high heels.
After Lady was sure that Angel's appearance is neat and tidy enough to impress the social worker, Trish brushed her long silver hair gently and tied a black bow that contrasted beautifully with her hair color and somehow matches her clothes. After they're done, Angel signed 'Thank you' and the two ladies replied 'You're welcome' with sign language – they decided that if they're going to help their fellow demon hunter raising a mute daughter, they will have to learn sign language too.
"Now that you're a pretty princess, why don't you show it to daddy?" Lady suggested. Angel nodded, and dashed outside and ran down the stairs for her daddy
"Careful! You don't want to ruin your pretty dress!" Trish cried. But Angel seemed to ignore it and she kept running. She scanned towards the first floor of the shop, but she can't find Dante anywhere. She then tugged Morrison's pants and asked where Dante is.
"He's taking a shower, Angel-"
Before he managed to finish his sentence, Dante came out of his room dressed with a three-layered suit. He wore a black suit and pants, cream-colored vest with black stripes and red shirt with black tie, not forgetting his well-polished black formal shoes and his white hair combed.
The shop become silent, only the sizzling sound of sausage and eggs from the frying pan can be heard. Patty blushed, Morrison's eyes went wide, and the ladies on the top floor felt their heart skipped a beat. Everyone in the shop was speechless until Dante snickered…
"ACHOO!"
...And everyone burst out laughing.
"Nice suit, Dante! You never look this charming!" Trish complemented
"Thanks, Trish. Morrison gave this to me"
"You lend your suit to him?" Patty asked Morrison. But he shook his head
"No, it was my old suit back when I was young and I never use it again. So I reckon that it won't hurt if I give it to him"
"You should dress like this more often, Dante. It looks better than your usual style"
"Nah, I love my old usual style better- Oh hello there, baby Angel! You look so pretty this morning!"
She smiled, but before she can sign a 'Thank you' to her daddy, he already lifted her up in his arms and gave a kiss on her cheeks. Then the devil hunter brought her to the bar kitchen tabletop and sat her next to him so they can have breakfast together with the others.
A few hours after the breakfast, a white Honda SUV arrived in front of Devil May Cry. Angel was playing her dolls with Dante, Patty, Trish and Lady in front of the TV lounge when Morrison opened the door and the people assigned by the social services came in. The doctor from Santo Cielo – whose name is Claire, a stout middle-aged man wearing glasses with a professionally – combed hairstyle and dressed like a businessman – the social worker who is going to assess whether Dante is eligible to adopt Angel or not, and another blonde – haired woman who wear a pair of jeans, sneakers and a shirt with the American Sign Language Association logo – assumed to be the sign language interpreter. Dante then stood up from the sofa and greeted them.
"Hello Dr. Claire, long time no see." he shook the doctor's hands
"Long time no see too, Dante. Here, I'd like to introduce Mr. Jason Lee, the social worker who would assess you today, and Ellen, the sign language interpreter. I am here to check for her health condition, since I was the one who take care of her health for a long time"
After Dante greeted Ellen, he turned to greet the social worker "Nice to meet you, Mr. Lee" he offered his hand, but Mr. Lee just gave a glum face towards him and briefly replied "Nice to meet you too. Mr. Sparda".
Dante finally dropped his hands, and turned his head towards Trish and Lady, who were now walking towards them and greeted them. When Trish passed by him, she whispered "Remember, self-control, demon boy. You're doing good so far" and gave a tap on his back
He sighed and gave a slight smile, then turned his attention towards Angel – who is now sitting on the sofa with Patty. "Angel, come here!" he gestured with his hand telling his daughter to come closer to them. The little girl slid down the sofa and walked towards her father reluctantly, still hugging a teddy bear tightly in her arms. When she reached close enough, Dante pulled her softly towards the social workers and put his hands on top of her small shoulders "Alright baby, introduce yourself now to these guys, will you?"
She raised her right hand and signed 'Hello, my name is Angel Sparda. Nice to meet you' and of course he can see her doing it reluctantly. She's doing it surprisingly slow and she keep looking down to the floor – something that Angel never did, even when they met for the first time in Santo Cielo. Ellen told Mr. Lee what she said, and he gave a sly smile towards the little girl. But suddenly she ran and hid behind Dante's back and whimpered. Mr. Lee twitched his eyebrows, and Dante turned his head towards Angel. He can see that she's being nervous.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he stroked her daughter's head trying to calm her down, and picked her up into his arms to give him a warm hug and rocked her back and forth. He knew that it's the best way to calm his four-year-old daughter when she's being unhappy like now.
Ellen just chuckled "She seemed to be really attached to you, Mr. Sparda"
"It's only been a short while, but you both are really close" Dr. Claire added "I know you two would do great ever since I saw you carrying her home at Santo Cielo"
"I think not, Mr. Sparda"
Everyone turned their heads to the person who just spoken – Mr. Lee.
"What is it, Mr. Lee?" Dante asked as polite as possible. Somehow, this guy was being a jackass and trying to piss him off since he entered Devil May Cry.
"Pampering and spoiling your daughter too much is not good for her. She might grow up as a spoiled child. And she doesn't need to be carried too much – she has a good pair of legs for her to walk by herself. Anyways, we should better get started with the house tour, shall we?"
Dante turned away from Mr. Lee and clenched his teeth slightly. "Come on, Angel. You need to get down now" he put his daughter down and she frowned. Dante never did that, once he carried Angel he will never put her down until she asked him to. He then lead Mr. Lee upstairs to Angel's room, and then to the other parts of the house (except the weapon's room, of course) while Angel is left downstairs for health check with Dr. Claire and short interview by Ellen. The house tour went smoothly – even though Dante had to clench his teeth many times and his veins almost exploded because Mr. Lee always criticized everything and it seemed impossible to impress him – but just him. Meanwhile, Angel is doing great with Dr. Claire and Ellen. They asked simple basic questions about how is she doing, is she happy living in this house and how does everyone treat her. Ellen was made impressed by her usage of sign language. Even though it's only been less than a month, she already learned so many words and could use American Sign Language almost grammatically correct – which is impressive for a newbie, especially a little girl no more than four years old. After the tour, Angel was told to go play in her room while Dante, Lady, Trish, Morrison and Patty were all interviewed by Ellen and Mr. Lee. They were asked so many questions from personal life to their everyday life with Angel so far. Things went smoothly until Mr. Lee asked one question.
"Mr. Sparda, what is this room for?" Mr. Lee asked, pointing to the room with the electric security lock. Dante quickly turned towards Morrison, and he was also confused. He turned towards Lady, Patty and Trish, and they were also confused.
"It's uh… weapon's room, sir" he answered.
The three people's eyes went wide and the atmosphere in Devil May Cry suddenly turned quiet. Morrison just sighed, along with Trish, Patty and Lady.
Mr. Lee shifted his glasses position with his right hand forefinger.
"Come again? Weapon's room, you said?" he asked again for confirmation.
"It's a weapon's room. That's why it was locked with electric security lock. Only I and the adults know the combination… Patty didn't know. Even if the right combination is pressed, it still has to be confirmed with your fingerprint. That's why I'm sure it's safe from the reach of underage children and–"
"Allow me to ask one question, Mr. Sparda" Mr. Lee cut in "What is your profession? To be precise, what did you do for living?" he asked.
"I, uh… I'm a private detective. This place is also… my office. Morrison usually brought me jobs, and these two ladies are my assistants in my job, and Patty here is the one who keeps the office in order while we're gone… She also often came here to babysit Angel and she's supposed to be the one taking care of Angel when I have some jobs to do but since I took her in, I haven't taken any jobs at all and…"
"You are a private detective and you have your own room for weapons? How many weapons does a detective need?"
"It's my… uh, part of my hobby, sir. And all of the weapons are government – authorized with complete permit letters" – at least, part of them were. Except for his devil arms, most of his guns were legal, and for those that aren't, Morrison had faked the letters.
"Still, I find it hard to approve someone like you to take care of a four-year-old with a disability" he gave a pressured tone when he said the word disability. Dante hated how Angel's inability to talk is being mentioned as disability – it's as if it is a big burden of her in life, and she was mute for her own good sake. He felt really guilty for making her not being able to talk, but he had to. He didn't want to see his daughter in a state that she had been through back in the orphanage, and he wanted to protect his daughter's innocence.
Mr. Lee continued again "Men with weapons are proven to be violent, Mr. Sparda. Now I am sure, that the government wouldn't approve me leaving a disabled little girl with a person like you, hmm? And there's another issue I'd like to bring…" he opened his suitcase and threw a huge stack of papers – which are bills and debt letters, all addressed to Mr. Dante Sparda.
"I believe these are all yours, Mr. Sparda"
The inhabitants of Devil May Cry sighed in defeat. Finally, Dante, finally… the day where your debts are bringing you trouble had come – they all thought.
"I'll pay all of them"
All the stares turned towards Lady. They couldn't believe what she just said.
"Excuse me, miss?" Mr. Lee shifted his glasses again
"I said, I'll pay all of them" she walked forward and produced a small book with a local bank's logo on the front. She showed the final page where it was half-filled and showing that the money stored in her account was a hell lot – reaching to a few hundred thousand dollars "I think this is more than enough to pay for everything" she said.
This makes everyone shocked. Lady, that Lady who always took Dante's money whenever she came to Devil May Cry, now saying that she's going to pay all of his debts? Surely pigs would start to fly any minute now.
Mr. Lee craned his neck cheekily "What's this, paying a best friend's debt? How nice of a friend you are, Miss Lady"
"No… actually, I uh, kept his money in the bank. All of the money in my account… are all his. It's for uh, emergencies."
This time, everyone was more than shocked. Dante is THAT rich? Even Dante himself couldn't believe it – he actually got a lot of money! Now he thinks he's either just a lucky bastard or the bloodline of Sparda makes him lucky – he always managed to run away from his debts, even in this some kind of life and death situation.
"Ho! So you need a friend to keep your money for you. Doesn't this indicate that you're not a responsible man, Mr. Sparda? How can you raise a child when-"Mr. Lee was about to spoke again when suddenly there was a huge explosion heard from outside. They can feel the shop shaking, and the hanging glass lamps they just installed yesterday on top of the kitchen bar area were swinging and hitting each other.
"An earthquake?" Dr. Claire asked.
"...No…." Trish said in a faded voice
Dante sighed. "Demons… they're coming closer."
