Dante woke up to loud coughing, so loud it was like listening to thunder. He opened his eyes and saw Vergil was awake, sitting up in bed with a red face and coughing every few seconds. The elder cambion sat up and pulled his little brother onto his lap, saying "Looks like you got sick." Vergil groaned and coughed again.
"Just because your sick doesn't mean we can't go out for breakfast," Dante said in an attempt to cheer up his little brother.
"I'm gonna check your temperature," Dante said got out of bed, laying Vergil down and tucking him in in the process. Vergil coughed again and whimpered, Dante frowning. It sounded like his ribcage would break from how hard he was coughing.

The elder cambion went through his medicine cabinet, finding two kinds of thermometers, a regular one and the one feared by babies everywhere. Dante bought it to torture Vergil but decided to use the regular one. He grabbed it and headed back to his room to see Vergil sitting up in bed and holding his breath. The elder nephalem rushed over and swatted Vergil's back, causing the baby nephalem to gasp and start coughing again.
"Don't do that again," Dante warned lightly and held the thermometer in front of Vergil's mouth.
"Uhm, I'm not complaining or anything, but that's not the right thermometer you use for babies," Vergil said, Dante nodded and said, "I know, but I'm not in the mood to torture you."  That pissed Vergil off like Dante has been in the mood to torture him.

Vergil glared and turned his head away, Dante sighed, knowing what he said had pissed him off.
"I'm sorry, now let me take your temperature." Vergil shook his head and said "No." right before having another coughing fit. Dante put on a serious face and said: "If you don't comply, I will get the rectal thermometer."
"You wouldn't dare," Vergil said, glaring daggers at his brother when he used that dreaded word.
"Try me," Dante said and stood up, leaving the room. Vergil wasn't sure if Dante was bluffing or not but he didn't want to get his temperature taken.

Vergil had another coughing fit, because of this he didn't hear Dante get the other thermometer from the medicine cabinet and come back in the room. Vergil looked up to see his big brother stand in front of him with the dreaded thermometer.
"Okay! Okay! You can take my temperature!" Vergil shrieked, backing away. Dante smirked and set the thermometer down, picking up the normal one. Vergil allowed Dante to put it in his mouth. The elder cambion pushed the button to turn it on and waited.

The thermometer couldn't read Vergil's temperature because he kept coughing and it kept falling out. Dante put the thermometer in again and said: "Okay, try and keep it in." Vergil nodded and clamped his mouth shut. While the thermometer was reading the baby hybrid's temperature, Vergil kept coughing but he managed to keep his mouth shut, that was until a powerful coughed caused him to spit the thermometer out. The baby nephalem started crying, his chest hurting from coughing so much.

Dante sighed and said "I'm sorry." as soon as Vergil saw what Dante was reaching for, he immediately screamed "No" and jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, down the steps leading to the shop and out the shop. Dante quickly got up and ran after him, sprinting down the stairs after him. Vergil ran halfway into the street before collapsing, having a hard time breathing. He tensed up when he heard a car horn blare. He looked and saw a car coming right at him. Vergil tried to get up but it was too hard to move when he couldn't breathe. He just closed his eyes and prayed it would be quick. Then the sound of crunching metal could be heard.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you prick!? You see a baby on the road and you don't stop? All you did was blast your fucking horn and keep driving! You could have killed my baby brother!" The baby nephalem opened his eyes when he heard Dante shouting. Dante had put himself in between Vergil and the car, and when it was close enough, he punched the front of the car, completely totaling it. Dante stormed over to the driver's side and yanked the door off. Vergil watched Dante force the driver out of the car and get ready to slug him, but Vergil passed out before Dante could land a single blow.

When the baby cambion woke up, he was in his crib with his stuffed animals surrounding him. He heard talking and sat up, coughing loudly as he did so. He looked up and saw a doctor and Dante standing right by his crib.
"Give him 3 tablespoons a day, and he needs to drink plenty of fluids." the doctor said, Dante nodded and said "Thanks." Vergil just now felt a pain in his arm, he looked and saw he had an IV in. He was about to rip it out but the doctor quickly grabbed his hand and said: "If you rip it out, you'll lose a lot of blood and most likely bleed to death because of your size." Vergil whimpered and Dante punched the doctor in the back of the head, saying "Is that really what you say to a baby?" The doctor sighed and gently removed the IV, pressing and holding down gauze where the needle had been.

After 10 minutes, the doctor taped the gauze down and said: "Make sure he gets plenty of rest." Dante nodded and said, "I will." Vergil sighed and laid back down, looks like Dante was wrong. him being sick does mean they can't go out for breakfast. The doctor packed up his stuff and left, leaving an annoyed Dante and agitated Vergil. The elder cambion walked over to his baby brother's crib and picked him up out of it, saying "Come on, I promised we'd go out for breakfast and I'm sticking to it." Vergil smiled lightly but immediately put his head down on Dante's shoulder, feeling too weak to keep his head up. The elder cambion rubbed his little brother's back and said: "Maybe you'll feel better if you eat something." Dante grabbed his red trench coat, which confused Vergil 'cause now it is repaired, and put it on. He then wrapped a soft, small blanket around Vergil, grabbed a diaper bag with everything he would need and left the apartment.

As soon as they walked outside and Vergil breathed in the cold morning air, he gasped and buried his face in the blanket, the cold air burning his chest and lungs. Dante rubbed his brother's back and said: "Don't worry, it's not that far away." He quickly strode down the sidewalk, passing by few apartments and houses but many shops. Vergil started coughing again, whimpering as it had gotten worse.  Dante could tell Vergil was in lots of pain, half from his coughing and half from the cold air. As he walked, he passed by a certain shop that made him smile.

Vergil had another coughing fit and rested his head on Dante's shoulder, having a difficulty recovering from that one. He closed his eyes and sighed slightly in relief as he felt warm air. He smelled cinnamon and coffee and felt even better. He opened his eyes and saw they were in a coffee shop, a lot of people were looking at them, most of them were looks people get when they see something adorable, like a puppy sleeping inside a teacup. The other looks were looks of anger. Vergil couldn't understand why but if he had to guess it was because Dante had taken an obviously sick 2-year-old out in the freezing fall air.

Dante ignored them and walked up to the counter, patting Vergil's back when he coughed again.
"Can I get a medium hot chocolate, please?" Dante asked, the lady at the counter nodded and said "What flavor? We have regular, oreo, salted caramel, mint, and we have a special limited edition white hot chocolate." Vergil picked his head up at the last one. Dante smiled and said, "I'll take that one." The lady nodded and said "Would you two like anything to eat? We have muffins, cookies, scones." Dante shook his head and said, "No, thanks." the lady nodded and disappeared to get the drink.

After 3 coughing fits, the lady came back and handed Dante the drink. The elder cambion paid for it and left the coffee shop and back out into the cold. Vergil tried not to breathe, not wanting the cold air to burn his chest and lungs again. The elder nephalem held the hot chocolate in front of the baby nephalem's face and said "Here you go, hopefully, this will make you feel a little better. And hopefully, you'll feel a lot better when you get something hot to eat." Vergil smiled and inhaled the steam, enjoying the warmth spreading through his being.

Vergil kept inhaling the steam until Dante stopped outside a diner that said 'Auvrey twins diner. Serves breakfast and lunch.'
"Here we are," Dante said and stepped inside, immediately grabbing a booster seat and going to an empty booth. Once Vergil was settled in his booster seat, a waitress came over and said to Vergil "I'm sorry, we don't allow outside food or drinks, so I'm gonna have to take it from you." Vergil whimpered slightly, not wanting to give it up. The steam was helping him so much. Before the waitress could take it, Dante said "He's sick and he has the chills, the doctor says he needs to drink warm or hot drinks and that hot chocolate was the only thing I could get him to drink. He won't accept anything else." The waitress thought about it and said "Okay, it can stay. Because he already has a drink, what can I get you?"
"Coffee."
"Okay, I'll be back with your drink and to take your order." With that said, the waitress turned and left, disappearing behind the bar.

Vergil continued to inhale the steam for a few more seconds before putting his head on the table and closing his eyes. Dante reached over and patted his head, saying "Hey, wake up. You can't sleep just yet. Drink some of your hot chocolate, maybe that will help." Vergil slowly picked his head up and grabbed his cup, slowly taking a sip. The baby half-breed yelped as soon as the scorching liquid touched his tongue. Dante took the cap off the drink and said: "There, that'll help it cool off." Vergil yawned and put his back down on the table, trying to get some sleep.

Before Dante could tell him to pick his head up, the waitress came back over and gave Dante his coffee, saying "Here is your coffee, do you two know what you want to order?" Dante grabbed two menus, handing one to his brother and looking over his. Vergil looked through his menu tiredly, not sure if he would actually order something. Dante put his menu down and said: "I'll have waffles and home fries." The waitress wrote it down and said: "Okay, and what about you, half pint?" The waitress said and positioned the pen over the paper. That annoyed Vergil so when he started coughing again, he made it look like he was reaching for his drink to help but really he was pushing the cup over, the burning liquid splashing all over the waitress, who screeched in pain.

Dante's eyes went wide as the waitress ran off, screeching in pain the entire time.
"That wasn't nice," Dante said, suddenly stern.
"What are you *cough* talking about? It was an *cough* accident"." Vergil said innocently. The elder cambion sighed and shook his head. A new waiter came over and said "After the little accident, I'll be your waiter. You ordered the waffles and home fries, what about you, itty bitty one?" That didn't irritate the baby nephalem nearly as much so he let it slide and said "Uhm, something with hashbrowns." The waiter nodded and said, "Got it, coming right up."

As soon as the waiter left, someone entered the diner, someone that Dante recognized instantly.
"Hey, Nero, over here." The teen nephalem heard his uncle's voice and spotted him, going over to see him.
"Hey, old man. How's it going?" The teen said, Dante smirked and said "Not bad, kid. Got to take care of my little brother, he's a pain but it's fun." Nero smirked and looked at Vergil, not knowing it was actually his father. He tussled his hair and said, "Hey there, shorty." Vergil didn't like this but he had to play the little kid act, not wanting his son to figure out what happened to him.
"I'm not short." Vergil said and glared, Nero smirked and said: "You're right, you aren't short, you're fun-sized."

Vergil was about to say something but Dante immediately said: "Vergil, don't say anything you'll regret."
"Wait a second, Vergil?" Nero said, sounding miffed. Dante was about to say something but Vergil immediately sighed and said: "Yes, it's me, I am your father, I was cursed and now I'm stuck like this." Nero was about to say something but Dante quickly said: "Let's talk about this somewhere else, my place."

After breakfast, the three boys met at Dante's shop.
"So, care to explain?" Nero said, still miffed. Dante sighed and said "Well, Vergil spent basically his entire life trying to gain more power and become stronger, but he was an evil bastard. I've spent a great deal of time trying to kill him. We were in battle, I was losing, I prayed for a miracle and the next thing I knew Vergil was turned into a little runt." Vergil bit Dante for calling him a little runt. Dante was about to swat him but the phone rang and Dante set Vergil in his playpen so he could answer the phone.

After a few minutes, Dante slammed the phone down and grabbed his weapons, saying "I got to deal with a pain in the ass mission. Can you watch Vergil?" the last part being directed at Nero, who sighed but nodded.
"Thanks, take him upstairs and give him some medicine, he's pretty sick," Dante said and rushed out of the shop. Vergil was about to call out to him, to beg him not to leave him with Nero, but instead, he had a coughing fit that stopped him. Nero started carrying Vergil upstairs as soon as the door closed. Vergil whimpered, he knows Nero is pissed for never being in his life so who knows what he'll do to him.

Nero entered the apartment and walked around until he found Vergil's room, where he set him down and immediately swatted his butt with his devil bringer. Vergil yelped and jumped, immediately turning around to face his son.
"You bastard! You're my dad! You're supposed to be there for me but I have never seen you not once while I was growing up! Instead of actually being a father, you decide to gain more power! Fuck you!" Nero snapped at him. Vergil could feel tears welling up in his eyes, he tried to fight them back and said: "I'm sorry, I know that won't make things right, so beat the hell out of me if it will make you better." Nero's eyes went wide, did he really say that?" Nero just dismissed him with a wave of the hand and sat down in the rocking chair, pulling out his phone and looked at different pairs of headphones on Ebay.

Vergil put his head down, he just walked over to his crib, sat against it and immediately started crying, though silently. The baby nephalem tucked his knees to his chest and put his head down so his tear stained face wasn't visible. Though he had to pick his head up when he started another coughing fit. Nero didn't even bother to glance at him, he just looked at the price of black and blue headphones with the radioactive symbol on it. The baby nephalem stopped for only 3 seconds before coughing again except more violently, and after 5 minutes of horrible coughing, that is when Nero looked over. At first, he was annoyed, but when he saw the baby's red face with pain written all over it and watching him cough so violently actually made him want to comfort him, though he was still angry at him, so he just sat there, wondering what to do.

Vergil managed to stop coughing for a minute which allowed him to breathe. He realized he needed to pee but he didn't want to use his diaper, he was too small to use the toilet, and he didn't want to ask Nero, his son, for help. Instead, he tried to hold it in. But after another coughing fit, his body tensed up then relaxed afterward, his bladder relaxing as well.
'Damn.' Vergil thought. He wasn't sure if his rash had fully gone away. But even if it had he knew it was gonna come back quickly.

Nero watched his father continue with the horrible coughing fit for 7 minutes. He looked like he was in pain, and he definitely knew he was when he started to cry. Nero was mad at him but now he just feels pity for him. The teen hybrid jumped out of the rocker when Vergil started crying harder, the baby hybrid seeming to be in worse pain than he was a few minutes ago. Nero picked up Vergil and patted his back, hoping that would help with the coughing. Nero got stressed when it didn't help with the coughing or the crying. The teen then realized he never gave Vergil his medicine, maybe that will help with at least the coughing.

The teen half-breed rushed into the bathroom and searched the medicine cabinet, finding two bottles of liquid cold medicine.
"Damn it," Nero said, pissed at not knowing which one to use. One looks like the kind you'd see in a hospital, so Nero assumed that was the one and grabbed it, rushing into the kitchen to grab a spoon. He hurriedly set the baby nephalem on the counter and grabbed a tablespoon, immediately pouring a generous amount on it. Without waiting or even checking to see if Vergil was ready, Nero put the spoon in the baby's mouth.

Vergil swallowed most of it but because of his crying he coughed some of it out and started choking, causing Nero to be thrown into a state of panic. He started patting the baby cambion's back in an attempt to help with the choking. He decided he needed to drink something and grabbed a glass by the sink and filled it with water, bringing it to Vergil's lips and saying "Okay, dry and drink this, drink it slowly." Vergil grabbed the cup and started taking very small sips, the water helping a bit.

Once the glass was empty, Vergil had stopped choking and his crying had lessened a bit. Nero sighed, wishing he didn't agree to watch Vergil, he has no idea how to take care of a baby! Nero just stood in the kitchen, bouncing the baby hybrid in an attempt to calm him until he got an idea. The teen nephalem rushed into the nursery and set Vergil on the changing table, quickly removing the onesie and diaper.
"Oh shit," Nero said, looking at the pretty bad rash. He noticed a tiny cupboard underneath the mat and quickly opened it, finding rash cream. The teen thanked god above and started to apply the rash cream.

Nero cringed as he applied the cream, the rash was hot and bumpy. He kept applying and rubbing in the rash cream even for a few minutes after Vergil stopped crying, he wanted to make sure he applied enough. Nero wasn't sure if he should put Vergil in another diaper, knowing a rash has to breathe and if the baby was to wear a diaper then it would not breathe at all. After a bit of thinking, Nero grabbed the succubus shirt draped over the rocking chair and put it on Vergil so his privates would be covered. The baby nephalem looked exhausted, after all his crying and violent coughing, plus the effect of being sick must have been too much for him to handle.

The teen cambion picked up the baby cambion and carried him over to the rocking chair, sitting down and settling Vergil in his lap. He leaned back and gently started to rock while Vergil fisted his shirt and buried his face in his chest. Soon the baby was asleep and Nero, who didn't want to disturb him, fell asleep in the chair with him