A/N: Help~ Drowning in work.

[Brother-in-Law]

I had been through many crazy situations before, but there was nothing quite as crazy as going to visit my gynaecologist with my brother-in-law. Normally it didn't sound like a bad thing for pregnant ladies –I mean it was just an escort to the doctor's, right –but what made the situation completely out of hand was two very important reasons.

One, I was pretty sure that my brother-in-law hated my guts.

Two, my brother-in-law was Vergil Sparda.

Let me backtrack and make things clear first.

My name is Liv Sparda, a twenty-five year old woman who used to be Liv Marshall, and who used to work as an odd-job, jack-of-all-trade woman. Don't look down on me; I have had very diverse tastes since young, and have tried my hand at almost everything that is humanely possible. While I have never really specialised in anything, I made up with the general breadth of knowledge of everything. Understandably, I could not graduate from college or university by only taking electives, and thus could only work in the next-best-alternative: being an odd-job lady.

Back to the story: I met Dante Sparda when I was hired to do some light demon-hunting. My company took in all sorts of jobs, so it wasn't surprising that a semi-experienced non-licensed demon-hunter like me set off to do the job. Dante had the demon killed by the time I arrived and we bickered and fought about the pay for the job. After we calmed down, the both of us devised a plan to trick our respective employers about the kill –and both of us got our rightful pay for the same dead demon.

Normally it would end there, but I met Dante again in the cafe I often visited downtown named Freddi's. It turned out that he was also a regular there, and I guess from then on we talked about many things. It was really a very storybook process that doesn't require much explanation about what happened between Dante and me from that point onwards. He courted me, I was thoroughly courted through his unconventional ways –I mean, you can never expect a half-demon to take dating the same way humans did –and we were a lovey dovey couple.

One month after we started dating, Dante brought me home to meet his twin brother Vergil. Vergil was clearly not impressed at me, and he didn't bother to be friendly. In fact, Vergil did not even address me after I was introduced to him by his twin brother. All he did was to look back at Dante straight in the eye –looking like a much scarier version of my then-boyfriend –and told Dante to do whatever Dante wanted, but not disturb him.

Clearly, the two brothers lived very different lives within the walls of Devil May Cry, and I learnt to ignore the presence of my then-boyfriend's brother. Besides, Dante himself didn't seem to be bothered about Vergil's opinions on me, so I didn't really ask. In a way, the fact that Vergil could not be bothered to know more about me was god-sent, because it also meant that he neither approved or disapproved of my dating his twin.

With no obstacles in front of us, Dante and I steadily went through the stages of a relationship like a bullet train. Within one month and one week, we were like horny dogs.

It did not help that both Dante and I were adventurous and creative people, and in the remaining weeks of the second month of our relationship, we found many places and timing to go at it. More importantly, we found many interesting positions as well. Thinking back, I think we might have been completely naked and doing it in Devil May Cry in Vergil's full view a few times.

Regardless, our active sexual life aside, Dante and I were very close and blissful. It was not ruined at all when I realised I had missed my date for menstruation, and that I tested positive on the pregnancy test kit. Dante literally carried me all the way to the nearest clinic –which wasn't a hard feat for a half-demon at all -to double-confirm my results.

My then-boyfriend had grinned for at least a week afterwards when the doctor congratulated us for starting on the journey to become first-time parents.

Of course, before giving birth to anyone, I demanded that I be treated like a rightful woman of the family. I needed a name, and Dante didn't hesitate to share his with mine. The wedding ceremony was hastily put together, but what mattered was that the important people of my life were there to watch me French-kiss Dante until my eyes were crossed on the altar in my wedding dress.

Vergil didn't say a single thing throughout the entire journey, and to both Dante and I, silence meant that there was nothing that he disagreed with. So, when Vergil didn't protest, I moved in to live with my new husband in Devil May Cry. Thanks to me being well into my fourth month of pregnancy by the time I moved in, Dante had forced me out of my job to stay around at home doing nothing.

At least my loving husband took a little more jobs to bring in more dough in preparation of the baby, but the fact remained that I was left at home with nothing to do except stare at Vergil whenever he was at home reading his books. It would have been completely fine if not for the fact that Vergil began to avoid me even more than he usually did. Whenever I came downstairs from Dante and my room to read my magazines, Vergil would immediately run to his own room upstairs with his books and whatnot. And since neither Dante nor I were great cooks at all, Vergil -who was also our resident cook who used to generally give Dante all of his leftovers whenever he cooked -provided the food.

Normally, I wouldn't be so ungrateful for having someone to cook for me, but it seemed like Vergil was taking out his silent unhappiness out on me through the food he made. While he and Dante enjoyed their fried meat and general unhealthy food, all I got served were vegetable, beans and lean meat. There weren't a single ounce of fats on my meat at all.

Then, as if that was not enough, Vergil announced on the day that I moved in that the coffee machine was spoilt. It had been cause of disaster for me who was a coffee addict, and I had specially gone out to buy another one. Within a week of recovering from suffering withdrawal symptoms, someone broke into the house. And of everything to steal, that damned theft made off with my coffee machine and nothing else. Someone had obviously been desperate for coffee.

Normally I would just let things slide, but I swear that there were a few times that I heard the ding of a coffee machine downstairs, and Vergil always seemed to produce his coffee from somewhere -without showing signs that he had ever gone out to buy any.

As a result -I don't want to point fingers -but someone in the family had obviously been forcing me to stop taking my favourite drink that I couldn't live without. That, on top of the fact that Vergil didn't bother himself to talk to me whenever he was at home, led me to the rather safe conclusion that he probably hated me for stealing his twin brother or something. While I had never pegged him down to be the overly-attached, brother-complex type of guy, we could never be sure of what Vergil thought about me or his brother since he never talked to us at all.

So, with the background of how I was introduced to the Sparda family set, let us proceed on to the most awkward but enriching ride of my life...

________________________________________________________________________________

"What do you mean you can't come back in time? You promised, you son of a bitch." I demanded like the hormonal pregnant woman that I was. The good thing about pregnancy hormones was that I could be a little princess at home, and Dante couldn't lift a finger against me despite all of his half-demon abilities.

"I'm real sorry, babe." Dante -for his own good -begged through the phone. "Shit got real on this side and I've been chasing the damned demon all across town."

"You haven't even killed that lousy bastard?" I screeched, earning scared looks from the people passing by on the street. I blamed my pregnancy hormones for making me overreact, but at least I am honest enough to admit that my mouth was already this dirty and crude even before pregnancy started.

"He's a portal-jumper, Liv." Dante tried his hand at sounding evened in explanation, but it simply remained a fact that he was trying to reason with a pregnant woman who was sore from standing and annoyed at puking her guts out thanks to the five month old thing growing inside her abdomen.

"I don't care. You'd better be here in five minutes, or you can say bye bye to Baby Sparda." We hadn't yet named our child yet since I hadn't gone for a check-up since I started my second trimester and still didn't know the gender of our baby. Calling it Baby Sparda seemed to work well for Dante since he made a sound of exasperation through the phone.

Someone had obviously not met a person more exasperating than himself before, because Dante -who used to be the person getting exasperated sighs -was the one on the giving end this time.

"Look, I'm not leaving you to go to the doctors alone, babe. Vergil should be coming to get you right about now. I called him yesterday night and told him to bring you over if I didn't come home by today morning."

"VERGIL?" Again, overreaction thanks to pregnancy hormones. "Do you seriously want me to die? He hates my guts!"

"I'm sure he doesn't, babe. If Vergil hates your guts, you would already be dead. If he didn't like you, you would already be kidnapped halfway across the globe by now. He is totally fine with you, babe." Dante's reassurance was completely not reassuring at all.

My shouting at him like a mad woman in the middle of a crowded street would have continued if not for the fact that I spied the same man of topic suddenly; walking through the crowd to meet me at the waiting spot where I had been expecting Dante.

"Oh my Hell, he's already here." I muttered softly, not remembering that I still had my phone pressed to my face.

"That's great. I was worried that I might have told him a little too late or something. You're in safe hands, babe!" Dante -that stupid creep -actually sounded relieved that he was subjecting his pregnant wife through an emotional hell of going for a check-up with probably one of the scariest and dangerous half-demon on the Earth ever lived. Let us not even bother to mention the fact that he probably wished I would just walk in front of a car and just die now.

"You'd better remember this for the rest of your life, Dante Sparda. If I die today, I will haunt you for the rest of my undead life. Baby Sparda isn't going to be happy either. You'll be hearing her cries every night in your sleep as a nightmare." I threatened, but what good did it do anyway? It couldn't change the fact that Vergil had already spied me waiting in front of the salon in which I had spent the last few hours of my life choosing what colour to dye my hair. I had decided on silvery white (to suit my husband) with streaks of bright red (because I was rebellious just like that).

"You mean 'his cries'." Dante corrected through the phone, bringing us back to another round of argument. While Dante and I loved each other to the death and could practically not resist getting out of each other's pants, the long-standing argument Dante and I were having now was the gender of the kid. I wanted a girl –considering I have already seen for my own 2 eyes how Sparda boys turned out to become –and Dante obviously wanted a boy to teach his heir all of his dirty, philandering ways.

"I mean exactly what I said." I balked, glaring at Vergil because he was a damned good proxy for his twin who was making my blood pressure burst the charts. "If Baby Sparda comes out to be a boy, I'm going to cut off his little thing so he can't put it in any hole he likes it. I refuse to have a horny bastard for a child. We're horny enough for his sake."

"But babe," Dante's voice went a little lower now –probably getting all excited with the memories of our happy times, "didn't you love it when I could put it in any hole I liked?"

"We are not talking about that, Dante Sparda. I haven't forgiven you for going in the backdoor without telling me." Talking about it not only made my face red with embarrassment but also annoyance and anger.

"But you loved it. You were moaning in pleasure." Dante's protest made him sound like a child.

"Enough, you horn dog." Glaring at Vergil who was already close enough to be in hearing range now wasn't even helping me relieve my anger. I know it was probably a little unfair to be glaring at the older twin when it wasn't even him doing the crime, but he just had to blame his stupid little brother because a pregnant woman like me wasn't going to discriminate. "You'd better get your sorry ass back home tonight, or I'll show you exactly how much it hurts when something comes in the backdoor without warning."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Dante ended the conversation with another flirty line, blowing disgusting air kisses through the phone that made me shiver before hanging up.

By then, Vergil had already reached my side with his usual famous expressionless face. Still, I swore that there was a glint of amusement somewhere on his face that said he was completely satisfied that I had been raging at Dante through the phone. Did he think that our marriage were on the rocks and we were heading towards and explosive divorce?

If so, Vergil had better think otherwise because he wasn't even close. Dante and I bickered like two rivals fighting over the same lover, but the truth was that we couldn't stand the idea of not having each other to fight with. Empty threats were my specialty while Dante liked to promise things that he eventually ended up doing to me (upon my permission, of course).

"Don't give me that face." I snapped at Vergil before he could open his mouth to give me some sarcastic remark or another. "I'm still pissed off at Dante, so unless you want everyone on this street to think you're a rapist, you should zip your mouth and let the pregnant woman do what she wants."

It was satisfying to see surprise write on Vergil's face –considering it was hard work for anyone to force any sort of expression on his face. Still, I didn't allow him the luxury of the last say as I stomped off towards the taxi stand around the corner, not really bothering if he followed at all. In all honesty, I didn't really need someone to escort me to see the gynaecologist, but I had been hoping for Dante to come for the important moment where we tried to find a little penis growing on the foetus inside my stomach –or the lack of something like that. Replacing Dante with Vergil completely changed the meaning of today's check-up, so I remain by my point that I was justified in being annoyed at Dante –and Vergil in general.

Thankfully enough, Vergil followed me in silence as we waited at the taxi stand, me slowly letting go of my little temper tantrum. At least Dante's twin had a better brain in his head because Vergil didn't attempt to speak again until I finally sighed to let go of the last of my annoyance and declared that it was safe for him to talk.

Surprise wasn't even the most appropriate word when the first words that came out of Vergil's mouth were, "I appreciate the change in your hair."

Very understandably, I spluttered shortly, staring at him as if he had grown any extra horns. Had Vergil's screws gotten loose all of a sudden? Vergil talking to me was already surprising enough. Having my brother-in-law compliment me?

"Dante told me to drop a compliment or two in his sake." Vergil seemed to understand the cause of my shock as well, because the same expressionless face –that didn't even change when he had been complimenting me –remained as it were, dull blue eyes bearing right into me like I was transparent.

"Thank goodness." I sighed in relief. "Don't bother with the compliments, because taking them from you is scary as hell. Good things don't come out from your mouth just like that."

"I prefer to choose my words wisely and give compliment where it is the truth and deserving." Vergil replied informatively in a tone that I had heard many times in address to his twin. It had at first struck me how tone-less Vergil was in his words even when he was talking to his only sibling, but now I understood that the sentiment was shared with every single person that Vergil met. Vergil simply did not have different tones for different people –always the high-handed, arrogant and informative tone of voice.

"Good, don't let Dante cramp your style. Forcing yourself to compliment me is useless, because I know you don't mean it, and I can't have you causing me a mini-heart-attack every time you do." I answered quickly, glad that we had at least some form of weird conversation going on. I wasn't sure if Vergil was still deciding to hate me or not, but it didn't really matter because I was stuck being his sister-in-law one way or another, so it wasn't going to make a difference in my addressing him.

Silently charting how gentlemanly Vergil actually was when he opened the door of the cab for me, it was rather soon that we were piled up into the cab and on the way towards the clinic. It was understandably awkward in the car as I looked out through the window to escape a conversation, and he didn't try to change the fact as well.

At least, for a person who didn't seem to like me in the first place, it was a good improvement from him trying to torture me silently through restraining my intake of the sinful fried foods and coffee. I took my good luck where I got them, keeping peacefully silent in the cab and being as calm as I could possibly be. With me being forced out of a job, I would honestly say that being at home doing nothing was boring as well. I had already tried my hands at a variety of things to keep me occupied –ranging from domesticated hobbies like sewing and knitting all the way to less domesticated things like playing bloody, horror/thriller games that involved lots of hacking and slashing. None of them had kept me occupied for very long, and thus being able to come out of Devil May Cry –even if it was just for a check-up was doing very well on my mood.

That said; with my mood swings topping the charts on a daily basis, I could never say for sure how long my 'good mood' would last anyway.

"Dante said he was chasing a portal-jumper?" The suddenly question in the relative silence of the cab made me spin around quickly to look at my brother-in-law, whose eyes were pegged onto something outside of the window high above ground.

"Yeah. Why?"

Upon my confirmation, Vergil tapped the cabbie's shoulder and told the man we were getting off immediately. The cabbie had probably met a bunch of people like us before, because he didn't even complain before stopping by a relatively deserted roadside, and collected the wad of cash the Vergil threw his way. Telling the guy to keep the change, Vergil stepped out of the cab without a second instruction given –though I assumed that I was supposed to get off here as well.

My brother-in-law didn't seem interested in explaining himself as he simply stood still on the sidewalk as the cab turned away, his eyes scanning along the rooftops of the old buildings. We were in the area that used to be the old business district. But since the government had developed another area to be the upcoming high-tech business hub, this place had been left to rot with many companies having already moved out, and those that remained being the small ones still struggling to survive.

"What's going on?" I demanded when nothing happened in the ensuing minute as Vergil simply remained still as stone, only his eyes moving left and right along the skyline. There was –as usual –nothing written on his face, but the look in his eyes that I had learnt to read was murderous.

Instead of replying me, my brother-in-law spared no niceties as a hard iron grip landed on my arm and began dragging me off the road. He didn't seem to care which building he was making for, but only seemed to care about getting the both of us indoors. Ignoring my loud protests and insistence that I could walk properly with my 2 legs, stupid Vergil didn't listen at all as he quite literally dragged me towards the nearest building.

The fact that the glass doors were locked didn't even bother him as he grabbed the chain hanging around the handles, and tugged it with a force so strong that it just broke.

"Stay inside and don't come out until I say so." Vergil bossed as he opened one side of the door, threw me in roughly, and then closed the door again behind me. While I turned around to protest, Vergil already had found a piece of weird metal on the floor (I don't even know what it was doing there) and threaded it through the holes of the handle. My puny human strength was completely useless against his half-demon strength, and I watched in horror as he bent the ends of the metal bar to make a loop.

"Vergil, what the hell are you doing?!?" I yelled, hammering the glass door when he turned away to walk back towards the sidewalk. What the hell was he doing? Did he finally lose it? Was he finally decided that keeping me around his brother was not going to do him good any longer? Was he planning to leave me here until Baby Sparda and I were both dead from dehydration or hunger? "Let me out, you bastard!"

Screaming clearly had no use for Vergil who had reassumed his position at the sidewalk, looking upwards again. What the heck was he expecting the come from the sky? Money?

Or, was he expecting his friends to come... to do something horrible to me? By gods, had I gotten on his nerves so much that he was finally taking action against me by making me go away in the most horrible, bloody fashion possible for a pregnant woman like me?

Pregnancy hormones really didn't help at a time like this as my mind began to get too imaginative: coming up with pictures of Vergil lying about the culprits behind my murder to my beloved, then Dante going crazy with grief to hunt down my murderer while Vergil grinned at him from the shadows. It also did not help that I had recently just finished binge-watching a television drama that had featured a sibling who had been betraying his sister behind the scenes, thus providing me with even more cross-reference for a tragedy scene like that to play out in real life.

Let's just simply say that I was a crying, sobbing mess by the time I realised that we had company. While I rubbed the salty tears out of my eyes, I watched as Vergil jump from his spot, then a millisecond later a portal opened up below him. A clawed hand reached out of the portal on the floor, trying to grab at him, but Vergil had jumped away far enough to evade capture. Shortly after, Vergil dodged another strike that came –once more –out of nowhere. The portals constantly opened and closed, showing only brief signs of a clawed hand or feet that was ruthlessly slashing out at Vergil.

And because Vergil had come out today without his trust sword Yamato, I watched with a small pit of worry and fear as he earned himself a cut on his forearm. My brother-in-law was as suave as his twin brother was whenever it came to facing down demons, and I watched as Vergil clicked his fingers once, and a circle of summoned swords glowed to life around him.

"Watch out!" I could not help myself but gasp as I pressed myself against the tightly-secured glass door, not really sure what I was trying to do myself. I was a human and couldn't even get out of a pair of glass doors when I liked it. What was I thinking of doing trying to go to Vergil's side to help him out?

Still, I breathed an unconscious sigh of relief when Vergil dodged the strike from behind that I thought he had not spied. My skilled brother-in-law showed no effort on his face as he grabbed the handle of one of his summoned swords and swung it to his right just as another portal was opening up. This time, I could not stop my small squeal of delight when instead of a clawed hand, I saw blood spurting through the portal.

Still, the portal closed as quickly as it opened, and Vergil was now armed as he continued his strange dance against a demon who was too chicken to show himself fully. This portal-jumper was one hell of a coward given the way it was attacking Vergil in such a deplorable manner, but nothing was fair in the game of demon-hunting, and thus I could only watch with a wretched and angry heart as my brother-in-law continued to fight for his life.

Maybe if I hadn't been so caught-up with the fight outside, I would have realised that Vergil was not only my husband's twin, but also a son of Sparda. For a son of Sparda to be killed so easily by a portal-jumper was something practically impossible.

Still, I had forgotten it all in the moment as I ignored the soft stirring inside my stomach. Little Baby Sparda must have been affected by my sudden fear and concern and was moving around, giving me pain. Really, it wasn't a very good time at all, as Baby Sparda kicked and brought a small shock of pain that took me off-guard and to my knees. If I were honest, it didn't really hurt that much, but it was just the shock of the sudden kick inside me that had brought me to my knees.

That was when I realised that Baby Sparda actually hadn't been throwing a tantrum. Like its Papa, Baby Sparda definitely had the instincts of a Sparda because it had timed its kick perfectly. When I fell to my knees, the glass door in front of me shattered as a claw swiped through thin air where my head should have been just moments ago. I turned back to see a portal closing.

"LIV!" The yell of my name was the first thing I have ever heard from Vergil that rose beyond a conversational volume.

"Behind you, Vergil!" I called quickly as I picked myself up to show him that I was fine and that nothing had happened to me –yet.

"Stay there and out of sight!" Vergil shouted back at me, and now that I knew that he was on my side, I had no problems with obeying him at all when I backtracked more from the glass door. While I wasn't sure why he wanted me to stay indoors, it was safe to assume that I was supposed to be safer at this side while Vergil stood outside.

I waited with bated breaths for something to happen, but Vergil seemed to be catching air the same way the portal-jumper was doing. Coward as it was, the portal-jumper seemed to have real good skills at evading Vergil's quick strikes, and though I had charted a few connected strikes from our side, Vergil himself was also sporting a few sets of fresh wounds.

Never once had I wished for my brother-in-law to stay alive and strong so much before, and I guessed I made it all up in those few minutes as I watched with anxiousness. The thought that Vergil might hate me was completely gone now as I watched him protect me with his life, taking hits for me the exact same way I knew Dante would if my husband were in Vergil's position.

I deny that I fell in romantic love with Vergil in that moment, but I will admit that another type of love bloomed for him –familial love. The 'hate' that I thought he harboured for me changed completely to something else as I watched the demon claw grab his ankle and tugged, making him lose his footing.

"Vergil!" I gasped in shock, and before I knew it, the instructions for me to stay inside was gone when I grabbed the nearest weapon beside me –which happened to be a letter opener from the other side of the reception table of what-used-to-be-a-big-company-building –and went charging out like a mad idiot. Dante had tried his best to teach me a few demon-hunting skills himself during our dating days, and I knew that a knife anywhere that looked soft would definitely hurt, and thus I didn't slow down my acceleration all the way until I met the small dog-demon that had been trying to sneak up on Vergil while my brother-in-law had been preoccupied with the portal-jumper.

The dog-demon's whimper was loud as it fell to the floor and burnt away into demonic flames as soon as I was done with it –leaving me with a bloodied letter-opener, and Vergil sitting stunned on the floor. Clearly, a certain son of Sparda had never expected to be saved by a human woman before.

"Look out!" Vergil's exclamation came a second too late because by the time I tried to 'look out', the trash can had hit into me like a wrecking ball. Hands supported my fall and rested me quickly and lightly on the floor while I curled up, too shocked and too in pain to even make a sound. Do not be deceived in thinking that a trash can could not hurt. It definitely could; especially when it was thrown against a pregnant woman's stomach at the speed of almost a car crash.

"That's it!" I distantly heard someone declare beside me, and a warm searing heat came from close by. I was too in pain -my eyes were already smarting with tears -to care what had happened afterwards, but there was strange silence for a long moment as I hugged my poor belly, praying that Baby Sparda would be alright. I had been hit with blunt force and thus hadn't gotten any surface wounds –but I could never be sure.

"Baby, please be alright. Mama's sorry... please be okay..." I whispered to myself, to Baby Sparda in hopes that he/she could hear me and forgive me for putting myself at such a risk. Whichever god that was watching over me was thankfully on duty this time as the pain slowly ebbed away with time. I couldn't ascertain whether Baby Sparda would be okay, but at least I wasn't hurting too much.

"Liv! Liv, talk to me. Are you okay?" The panicked, rushed voice sounded after long silence, and I found myself being picked up from the floor, in a pair of strong arms.

"Vergil?"

"Yes. Tell me; are you and the baby okay?"

"I... I don't hurt as much now, but I don't know about Baby Sparda..." The fear was making the tears run. I didn't want anything bad to happen to Baby Sparda... I might have complained like hell about carrying Baby Sparda around in my stomach for 9 months, but it didn't mean I wanted to lose Dante and my child.

"The clinic; is it close by?" Vergil's instructional tone was strangely absent, and what replaced it was a tone that spoke for his worry and concern, but my brain was too busy worrying about Baby Sparda to care about Vergil's sudden change-of-heart.

"It's another three streets down." I sniffled the snot back up, sure that I looked like a complete mess now. At least I had stopped tearing from pain, though my stomach still throbbed heavily. To be honest, I doubted that I could do any walking in my state. I had heard about how pregnant women didn't realize that their foetus were in a dangerous position and continued moving about, only to experience sudden extreme pain and pass out to find out that their babies were gone.

I didn't even want to think of something like that happening to Baby Sparda.

"Liv, I'm going to carefully carry you there, so work with me." Vergil apparently knew of my delicate situation somehow without my explaining, because sharp blue eyes held on to mine carefully and firmly. My husband's eyes had never looked so firm and commanding in the time I knew Dante, but for some reason, I knew to trust his brother as much as I trusted him –no matter how much I thought that he hated me. Vergil hating me could wait; I was willing to take anything as long as Baby Sparda was safe.

I was not surprised at Vergil's half-demon strength in carrying me up easily in his arms, but what silently surprised me was his genteelness. And though the rush and worry had been clear in his eyes when he had looked at me, I was equally surprised as well when he carried me bridal-style safely and took evened, stable steps so that he wouldn't be jostling me much at all.

"Put your arms around my neck and lean against me more. That'll hopefully keep the baby facing the correct direction." Vergil instructed, and for some reason I completely didn't doubt him at all as I did exactly as he obeyed. In fact, this moment was so touching that I could almost imagine my husband in his position as I leaned against a rock-solid chest that was exactly like Dante's.

Neither of us talked while Vergil made his slow but very sure and steady steps towards the clinic. The painful throbbing in my abdomen ebbed away slowly bit by bit as time passed, and I almost cried in relief when I felt stirrings again going on. By the time we reached the clinic, the pain was largely bearable as I was quickly transferred to a bed, and my gynaecologist had me checked immediately when Vergil explained what had happened.

Understandably, I remained guiltily silent when I was scolded thoroughly by my gynaecologist for being reckless, though I was given the extremely relieving verdict that Baby Sparda was alright. Apparently, the uterine lining in my womb had been thick enough to absorb the shock, and I had been commended for following a very desirable diet for pregnant women –despite the fact that I had been completely unconscious about it.

Vergil remained silently listening as stand-in for my husband, and offered no comments of his own until the rest of my check-up was done relatively easily and peacefully. Baby Sparda turned out to Princess Sparda, and I was declared in pink of health and in safe pregnancy despite the death scare just half an hour ago.

Vergil was also commended for his smart thinking of not moving me out of my position when he carried me to the clinic, because the gynaecologist had explained that the time period had been the most crucial. Had I been moved out of position, I might have lost Princess Sparda just like that.

The hormones worked again when I sat outside my gynaecologist's office, waiting for the pharmacist to put together my months' worth of vitamin supplements.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Vergil asked as he took a seat beside me, having just finished updating my beloved on what had happened. "Dante is coming down to get you immediately. It turns out that the portal-jumper that I killed was the exact same one that Dante was chasing. It was chasing you because it wanted to make Dante pay for killing its brothers."

"I'm fine." I replied in what I guessed was uncharacteristically quiet for me. For someone who usually yelled her head off at Dante, me being quiet was probably one of the weirder moments that Vergil caught me in. "T-Thank you, Vergil..."

"No need for thanks. Dante told me to take care of you. I'm just doing my job." Vergil answered, and I found that it was actually strange for me to hear his usual informative expressionless voice again –particularly when he had sounded so panicked and emotional when he had been worrying about my and Princess Sparda's well-being.

"I know Dante tasked you to take care of me, but really... thank you for saving me and Princess Sparda... I didn't expect you to care so much for us, especially since I thought you hated me..." I mumbled a little bit, looking down at my hands in embarrassment. I admit; I was a conclusion-jumping judgemental bitch prior to this.

"I hate you?" Vergil repeated, and I registered that there was a little surprise hiding behind the emotionless tone of his voice. "Why would you think that I hate you?"

"Because you never talked to me, and you always ran away when I came down to the office. You gave me food different from yourself and Dante, and you broke the coffee machine to spite me, didn't you?"

"Spite you?" Vergil repeated again, and I was shocked this time to hear a chuckle following shortly after. I had to blink a few times staring at the man to make sure that it wasn't Dante who had suddenly taken over his brother's place. Nope, it was definitely still Vergil, but the man was actually smiling beautifully at me now. "I wasn't trying to spite you, Liv. True, I was the one who broke the coffee machine. But that's because I know how much of a coffee addict you are, and coffee isn't good for pregnant ladies."

"Then the meals?"

"I gave you the vegetable, beans and lean meat because you needed them to ensure a healthy, safe pregnancy. Fatty meat and fried food wouldn't do very good. I knew Dante probably took you out to eat those unhealthy snacks at times, so I made sure at least you balanced it with the meals you took at home." Vergil's informative tone was back again, but what I couldn't ignore was the fact that there was amusement twinkling in his eyes. "You thought I was out to torture you?"

"What was I supposed to think?" I protested, my face heating up now. My gynaecologist had praised me for eating many vegetables and beans just moments before, so I couldn't complain against Vergil's logic at all. "You ran away from me every time I came downstairs!"

"About that..." I almost could not believe it when Vergil's face turned a little red. "I was always reading pregnancy magazines. I knew you were bored as hell at home and you moved on from one hobby to another quickly because you're just not the type to stay on something for long. I was trying to find things to entertain you while keeping you in a safe pregnancy, but... it's a little embarrassing for a grown man to be caught reading pregnancy magazines."

I stoned. Literally, I stared at Vergil and stoned in my shock, thinking that I must have been transported into another dimension where my brother-in-law had turned into a nice, concerned and embarrassed man. How was it possible that the guy that I always faced in Devil May Cry was... the same guy sitting here beside me? He was saying that he had actually been looking out for me more than my own husband did?

And all those times; I thought that he hated me?

"Liv? Are you okay?" Vergil's voice interrupted my stoning again, and though he was back to his emotionless tone again, I couldn't hear it the same way ever again. The guy whom I thought didn't give a single damn about what happened to me –whom I had been deluded enough to be believe that he might actually want me gone from his life –had actually been looking out for my and Princess Sparda's health more than I did?

"Vergil..." Pregnancy hormones was at work again as the tears turned on like tap water. This time, I offered my brother-in-law completely no escape as I threw my arms around him and squeezed him to me and Princess Sparda. "You're the best brother-in-law ever!"

"Liv, let go. It's not appropriate for us to be hugging in public." Vergil tried to pull back, but that god-damned softie was afraid to even use his half-demon strength to push me away. Dear God, how badly have I mistaken this kind soul?

"I'm going to let you name Princess Sparda, Vergil." I declared when I finally decided to let my favourite –and only –brother-in-law free from my embrace. "You will have the honours of naming our daughter, because we owe you our lives."

"That's for Dante to decide." Vergil answered quickly with a shake of head.

"Dante's going to give her some slutty name and you know it, Vergil. I want you to name her. I trust you now, Vergil. I trust that you will love your niece when she comes out, because you've already cared so much for her even before she was born."

"If you insist," Vergil agreed because both of us knew very well that his twin brother was completely hopeless with names, "then I suggest the name Thea. It means Goddess in Greek, and do let us hope that she remains as pure as a goddess while having Dante as a father."

This time, even I could not resist laughing at the jab made at my own husband and lover.

"Thea Sparda. I love it." I announced, enjoying how the name rolled off the tip of my tongue almost naturally.

"Little Thea," I spoke softly while patting my round stomach, suddenly feeling very lightened in burden emotionally now that I not only had a name and gender for the baby floating inside me, but also had a new pillar of support that I was never aware that I had before that came in the form of the elder son of Sparda. "You must grow up quickly and come out as a strong baby, because not only Papa and Mama are waiting for you, but also your Uncle Vergil as well. Come out quickly to see us because all of us can't wait to bring you into this world."

"For what's worth, Liv, I never hated you." Vergil's words brought me looking back up at him, who seemed a little embarrassed at the confession as well. "I am really glad that Dante found someone he loved and whom loved him back in her own crazy way. I just don't really know how to communicate well with you, since the last time I had a woman in the family was when our mother was still around..."

"Oh, Vergil." The tears were virtually unstoppable now, and the amount of snot I had on my face was probably enough to make me dehydrate on the inside (exaggeration alert).

"You're the sweetest brother-in-law ever."

And it was the complete truth.