You Know Me Through The Years

Fragile

It was a rare sight to see Roe with a leaking nose and puffy eyes. The woman literally took vitamins every day to prevent her human immune system from having to fight infections. This was something Dante never had to worry about due to his demonic blood, but he did remember his mother becoming sick from time to time in his childhood.

When Roe came home from work with the typical symptoms of the common cold, he figured she would down a bunch of vitamin C and call it a night. She was definitely more tired than usual when she slowly climbed her way up the stairs still in her work clothes. He followed her closely as she sniffed and then sneezed, which only added to her frustration.

"Babe, you feeling okay?" Dante knew the obvious answer was without a doubt a no, but he needed to know so he could formulate a plan.

"It's just a cold." Roe was tough. He knew that, but she was not like him... or their children. "I just need a long hot bath, medicine, and some sleep."

"And you'll be right as rain, right?" He knew better. When she turned around to look at him with a glare.

"I will be fine by tomorrow." Roe continued up the stairs. "All I need is to sleep it off."

"Babe, when was the last time you got sick?" He was pretty sure it had been a while; at least a year.

"I'll be fine, Dante." She was trying to convince him, but he could tell she was putting on a brave face. "Just take care of the girls." She threw her irritation at him, hoping he would leave her alone.

"Alright, fine." Not fine, but what was he to do? It was rough loving someone completely human, especially when when she was not one hundred percent. "I'll be up there to check on you in a bit."

"Fine, whatever." She waved him away as she made it up to the landing, leaving him to handle things with Mara and Evie.

It was a good thing he ordered pizza from Freddy's because he was no cook. Mara had complained at first, but when Dante told his daughters that their mother was not feeling well, they both settled on pizza. As soon as he was able to get the two girls situated with dinner, he ran up to his brother's apartment above the garage.

Vergil had been going out at night pretty much every other night, so when he answered the door, Dante was slightly surprised. However, it did look like Vergil was planning to leave at some point because he had just come out of the shower. He had a towel around his neck and was very much shirtless with a pair of pants on.

"What is it?" Vergil was not very happy to have been interrupted when taking care of his hygiene, but this was pretty much an emergency.

"Roe is sick." The moment the words left Dante's mouth, Vergil's irritation melted away... if only slightly. "Do you think you can put off your nightly walks with your girlfriend for a couple hours?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Oh, he knew exactly what Dante was talking about. "And, maybe I can postpone my 'nightly walk' to spend time with my nieces while you take care of your wife." Dante smirked at the thought of Vergil relenting to play uncle for a little while. It was just until the girls had to go to bed, and then Vergil was free to do as he pleased.

"Alright then." The younger twin turned away to go back down the steps. "The girls are eating, so it shouldn't be too bad."

"It never is." Dante heard the door shut behind him. Vergil was getting pretty good at the uncle thing, and he was trying with Nero too. It just took him a couple years. Better late than never, Dante supposed.

When the retired hunter made his way into the bedroom he shared with his wife, he almost stepped on the high-heeled shoes she always wore to work. He was lucky the stilettos did not go through his foot, not that it would hurt very much as he tended to shrug off minor wounds like it was nothing. Still, for Roe to throw them on the floor like that meant she was definitely not feeling well. Matter of fact, every article of clothing she wore to work had been haphazardly thrown everywhere like a breadcrumb trail to the bathroom. He could also smell the eucalyptus and lavender soaking salts she used after particularly long days.