I yawn and stretch, oh, I fell asleep. Time to wake up Nero. As I head up the stairs I swear I hear soft crying. Oh no, I was probably asleep for too long. I run up the rest of the stairs and bolt into Nero's room. He's sitting on his bed crying, his clock reads 5:23, I put him down for a nap at 3:40. I run over and pick him up, holding him close and saying "I'm sorry, I accidentally fell asleep, I didn't mean to." Nero didn't say anything but he almost immediately stopped crying when I picked him up and held him. I don't how this calms him down so quickly but if it works then I'm not complaining. I rub his back and carry him downstairs, time to order dinner.

I set him down on the couch and present my laptop to him, telling him to pick where he wants to order from. He saw one and smiled, saying "Marty's Pizza!" I look at it and say "Ah, good choice, fresh ingredients make the best food. I should have ordered from there before. What do you want?" Nero looked at it all and said: "I don't know."
"Well how about simple pizza? But they have more than just pizza, they have sandwiches, subs, salads, even burgers."
"Can I have a burger?"
"Sure, what kind?"
Nero looked over all of them before saying "There is so much to choose from." I look at the menu before seeing something and immediately clicking on it. I presented the laptop to him again and said: "Ta-dah, build your own burger."

Nero smiled and was about to start typing what he wants on his burger but there was a knock at the door.
"Hold on a second," I tell him and go over to the door, opening it to find Missy. A short, thin woman with so many piercings, she works at the same bar as me.
"I brought some food for you and Nero, you did say you would be watching him for the week and the food at work is amazing," Missy said and handed me some bags. I smile and thank her before saying "Can I talk to you?" She nodded and stepped inside. I look at Nero and say "Missy brought us some food, we can eat after I talk to her." Nero said 'Okay' and started watching T.V.

I take Missy into the kitchen and say "So, Nero has been acting out a lot. He's rude, has a bad temper, breaks anything he can get his hands on, fights with all the kids at school, his dad, and bites his teachers. But Nero isn't like that at all, the only time I've seen him fight is earlier when I left him outside the park building for a second so I could get us something to drink. When I left him alone to make lunch, he was sleeping but when he woke up he started crying but immediately calmed down as soon as I picked him up. Earlier when I woke up after falling asleep, I went to get him from his nap but I slept for too long and when I went into his room he was crying but again he calmed down almost instantly when I pick him up. How do you explain that?" Missy just gave me this look. She has four kids all of different ages so I figured she would know how to explain all of this.
"How many kids do I have?" She asked me, I thought it was weird because she knows that I know how many she has.
"Four." I respond, what she says next surprises me.
"Yeah, and all of them are adopted. At the orphanages, they were all called problem children, said they were awful children. But I thought I could fix them, and I did. They were all like Nero except much worse. Do you know why they were acting so awfully?" I shook my head, not having the slightest clue.
"They were all neglected. No one bothered to pay any attention to them. When a child is neglected and no one pays attention to them, they become hostile and aggressive and they will do anything to get the attention they crave, even if it means breaking something or doing something bad. They just want attention. With my first two children, Amber and Amy, all I had to do was play with them, spend time with them, give them attention, love, and affection. Now they are the sweetest girls. Same thing with Johnny and Marcus." Missy explained.

My eyes went wide. So the reason Nero was acting out at home was because Vergil is neglecting him? But wait...
"Well, when I left him alone he just cried, he didn't break anything or do anything bad."
"Because you must have shown him more attention in one day than his dad has in an entire month. Now that he's being left alone it makes him sad, he was finally getting attention and he's upset that he lost it." Missy explained. She started heading for the door and said "I've got to go, just make sure he spends most of his time with you instead of his father. Or you could just adopt him, he'd be a lot happier and better off like that." She quickly headed into the living room and walked towards Nero. She picked him up and kissed his cheek, saying "Bye, sweetie. Enjoy the food. If you like it I can get you more, I'm a partial owner of the bar so I can get you and your uncle as much as you want." Nero giggled and said, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, sweetie, bye." With that Missy left.

I brought the bags of food into the living room and set them on the coffee table. I removed everything and was surprised. Two things of buffalo wings, two things of original crispy chicken wings, a big container of french fries and four burgers. She didn't need to bring that much food. Nero just looked at the food like he was unsure if he should eat it.
"I know a lot of people say bar food is bad but some of it is pretty damn good." I say, smiling when Nero giggled at my use of the word 'damn'. I handed him one of the burgers and I grabbed one. They were all the same but they were the best seller at the bar. Steakhouse burgers. The patty is made of ground steak instead of hamburg, it's got tomatoes, caramelized onions, cheddar cheese, and steak sauce.

Nero looked at the burger, he was shocked at how huge it was.
"Hurry up and eat before it gets cold," I say and take a bite of my burger. Nero smiled and took a bite of his. After 10 minutes he had finished his burger, he seemed to really enjoy it. I don't know how long Nero has been refusing to eat but he looked pretty thin when I gave him his bath so I bet it was for a long time. I grabbed one of the containers of buffalo chicken wings and handed them to Nero, saying "Try these, their spicy but really good." Nero took one and quickly took a bite, he loves chicken wings. I probably should have given him the chicken first. Nero finished the first wing and set the bone down on a napkin while saying "That isn't spicy." I smirk and say "Eat more, you'll see how spicy they are."

After Nero had eaten 5 chicken wings, he stopped and said "No more."
"Feeling the burn yet?"
"No, I'm full." I laugh lightly and said, "Okay, time for bed then." I pick him up and he clings to me. Before I could bring him to his room he said "I don't want to go to bed."
Translation, I don't want to be alone. I thought as I set him back down on the couch. "Well you need to go to bed early, we've got someplace we need to be tomorrow." I started to clean up the mess and took the rest of the food to the kitchen so I could refrigerate it. When I came back, Nero was still sitting on the couch and looking at me like I expected.

I walked over and picked him up, saying "What if I let you sleep with me, would you go to bed then?" Nero smiled lightly and nodded. I carry him to just outside my room where I set him down and say "Wait for a second so I can put on pajamas." Nero nods and I close the door. I quickly strip off my day clothes and put on a comfy pair of pajama pants before opening the door and picking Nero up again. I carry him over to my bed and laid him in it, but he just sat up right. Probably just waiting for me. I get in bed too but as soon as I do, Nero crawls over and clings to me. I remember two years ago Missy said Amy had just started sleeping in her own bed, she would always want to sleep with her and wouldn't sleep unless she was with her. Now I know about her neglect, and I now know of Nero's neglect. If sleeping with me makes him feel better after everything with his father then I'm not gonna judge nor am I going to stop it. 

I move a bit so I can get comfy before looking down at Nero nestled into my side. He looks calm, peaceful, but more importantly, happy. I bet he hasn't felt happy in a long time. I'm not exactly comfy but Nero is, but I do have a solution so both of us will be comfy. I move Nero a bit before turning on my side and pulling Nero close, curling my body so it was cradling his. He smiled and buried his face in my neck before falling sleep. I can't stop thinking about tomorrow, I'm going over to one of DCF's offices and gonna try and get Nero into my custody, it's not like Vergil will miss him, but he will probably hate me. Whatever, I'll deal with it, he's ruining Nero's childhood. That was the last thought on my mind before I fell asleep.