When Nero woke up, he could feel cold air licking at his skin. He shivered and snuggled close to Dante, enjoying the warmth he was providing. Suddenly the young tot felt like he was gonna throw up again. He squirmed and pushed against Dante, trying to free himself but he was too weak to really get free and Dante had a strong hold. Nero thought he would throw up on his uncle's bed but Dante had woken up and saw Nero squirming and pushing against him. He sat up pulled his nephew up with him, saying "What's wrong?" Nero put his hands over his stomach and whimpered. Dante immediately knew what was wrong and scooped up his nephew, rushing him to the bathroom.

Dante set Nero in front of the toilet and said: "Okay, you're here now, go ahead." After a few seconds, Nero shook his head and whimpered.
"What's wrong? Won't come up?" Dante asked, Nero nodded and whimpered louder as a light trail of tears streamed down his cheeks. Dante stood up and said, "I'll get more egg whites, stay here." Nero tugged on his pant leg and shook his head frantically. Dante knelt down so he was his nephew's height and said "You need to throw up, it's your bodies way of getting rid of the toxins in your body when you're sick. I know you don't like the egg whites but it'll help you get the nasty germs out of you." When Nero shook his head again, Dante palmed his cheek and said "You know I wouldn't hurt you or do anything that could harm you, right? After all, I'm the one who helped you through recovery and I was the one who took care of your awful mother."

Nero's eyes went wide at hearing that. He looked up at his uncle with shock written all over his face. Dante wasn't sure if he should continue, scared of the kid's reaction. Vergil said Nero would love to hear the story so he trusted his brother and said "After everything she did to you, I thought she should get a taste of her own medicine. So I stranded her deep in the woods. She hasn't been heard from since. I did it because she was hurting my nephew, who is very important to me." Dante inwardly sighed in relief when he saw Nero smile as if he had just found something great like a dragon. The tyke hugged his uncle and buried his face in his chest. Dante smiled and hugged back, but immediately let go when he felt how cold Nero was.

He took off his shirt and put it on Nero, who smiled and hid inside it.
"It's a bit too big for you, but I'm sure it'll still keep you warm." Nero popped his head out from the hole and smiled a toothy grin. Dante picked him up and said, "I'm glad to see you smile like that." Nero rested his head on his uncle's shoulder and suddenly went still and quiet.
"Still feeling sick?" When Nero nodded, Dante frowned and said: "Well we need to make you throw up."
"Or he could have some chicken stock to help sooth his stomach," Vergil said, suddenly appearing behind Dante. Nero held his arms out to his father and made grabby hands. Vergil smiled and took his son into his arms.

The three boys headed downstairs and went into the kitchen. Vergil got his brother and son a cup of chicken stock and then got one for himself. Dante and Vergil were slipping it slowly but Nero just looked at his cup, it doesn't look like something he wants to drink. He looked inside his cup and tapped the side, watch the tiny waves form. He noticed that his father and uncle were watching, he felt like they were silently pressuring him to drink. Nero slowly brought the cup to his mouth and was about to drink, but Vergil took the cup from him and said: "You look like your about to be sick just by looking at it." Nero felt bad so he put his head down, Vergil worked hard to make it but he wouldn't drink it and now he's upset. Though that is what he thought, making chicken stock is pretty easy and Vergil isn't upset that Nero didn't drink it, he didn't really expect him to drink it.

Dante set his cup of stock down and walked over to the fridge, opening it and pulling something out, quickly hiding it behind his back. He turned to his nephew and said: "I've got something behind my back, if you drink some of the broth then you can have it." Nero didn't know what it was but he knew it was something good, whenever Dante did this, he would always give him something good. The young tot reached for his cup back and immediately started drinking as soon as he had it. Vergil saw the Uncrustable behind his brother's back and didn't know if Nero should actually have it. Bread and peanut butter are good for when you're sick, but jelly is not. He didn't want his son throwing up again, but... ah, what the hell. It's mostly peanut butter anyway, he can have it.

Nero took 3 sips and immediately stopped drinking, making a face of disgust. Vergil sighed and said, "Guess I screwed up with one of the ingredients." Dante looked at him and said "What are you talking about? What ingredients could you have put in there? The only thing I taste is chicken and a bit of.... oh." Vergil had put garlic in the stock because garlic is good for when you're sick. He and Dante like it, but Nero doesn't like garlic.
"Maybe if you would make a food with garlic that tastes good, maybe he'd like it better and next time you make the stock he'd drink more. Vergil thought about a food with garlic that tastes good that he knows how to make.

When Dante saw his brother was drawing a blank, he could tell that he doesn't cook with garlic often or at all otherwise he would have been able to come up with a food by now.
"Well, you could make scampi," Dante suggested, Vergil thought about it and said, "Yeah, I'll make it with chicken, I highly doubt that Nero would eat shrimp." Dante faked a gag and said, "It's sweet and salty with a horrible texture." Vergil swatted the back of Dante's head when Nero actually gagged. He then took the cup of stock from his son and poured it down the sink, turning to him and saying "Sorry, I added too much garlic." Dante didn't make a comment, there was a little bit of garlic flavor in the stock, it's just to Nero it was a lot because he doesn't like it, he didn't say anything cause he didn't want to make Nero feel bad, he's already miserably sick.

"Okay, you tried to drink the stock, so you can have what's behind my back now," Dante said and presented the Uncrustable to Nero. The young tyke's face lit up and he immediately took it, opening the package and biting the sandwich. Nero happily chewed, the sandwich tasting different from the ones he gets at school. That's because the kind Vergil bought wasn't grape, it's strawberry, he also got some peanut butter and honey. Nero ate the sandwich slowly, remembering that Vergil and Dante always tell him to eat slowly otherwise he could choke or get sick, and he's already sick.

Once Nero finished, Vergil wiped his face with a wet piece of paper towel and said: "Now go watch T.V. or read, just don't do something that could get you worked up or you'll feel sick all over again." Nero nodded and Dante took him into the living room, where he set him down and said "Okay, what do you want to do?" waiting for his nephew to gesture on what to do. Nero looked around and saw in the corner that his finger painting set was still there and there was more paper to paint on. Nero pointed at it and quickly walked over there, Dante following. Nero grabbed his small jar of blue paint and tried to get the cover off. He was trying to do it quickly and because he was rushing, the cap flew off and paint got all over the floor.

"Fuck," Nero said, causing Dante's eyes to go wide.
"Did I hear what I thought I heard?" Vergil called out, Dante sighed and said: "Yeah, but it didn't come from me." The first time he ever hear's his nephew speak and it's one of the worst swear words. Vergil rushed in and saw Nero staring at the paint on the floor with an angry expression. He picked up his son and said gently but sternly "You do not say that that is a very bad word." The angry expression on Nero's face was replaced with a sad one, he could tell Vergil was upset with him, and he's never been upset with him. Vergil wasn't gonna like what he has to do next. He grabbed the tiny chair in front of the easel and set in the corner, sitting Nero on it and saying "Stay here, Dante and I need to figure out how to handle this." Nero started silently crying and he grabbed his dad's hand, not wanting him to leave.

Vergil felt bad, this is the first thing Nero's has done that's bad and now he's feeling bad, he also knows he has to punish him, which is something he doesn't want and Vergil doesn't want to do. Vergil knew he should just free his hand and walk away, but he couldn't do that. Instead of doing that, Vergil held his son's hand and knelt down, saying "What you did was very bad, you can't get away with it so Dante and I need to figure out how to handle this and you need to stay in timeout." Vergil let go of Nero's hand and walked into the kitchen with his brother. When he heard Nero start crying harder, he felt even worse.

Vergil sighed and said, "Let's hurry up and figure out what to do so we can get back in there." Dante crossed his arms and said, "I say we should spank him." Vergil's eyes went wide, he actually said that. Vergil glared and said, "No, that's barbaric." Dante glared in return and said "It worked for me, but my guess is that your gonna say we should wash his mouth out with soap because it worked for you. Well, a little soreness in the behind is better than making him sick by putting soap in his mouth." Now Vergil was angry.
"After everything his mother put him through, I refuse to hit him!" Vergil snapped,
"There's a difference between hitting and spanking, and spanking is a lot better than your idea! He'll probably throw up again! And did you even think of what would happen if he swallowed the soap!?" Dante snapped back in retaliation.

Vergil wanted to hit his brother, just the thought that he would actually think of spanking Nero, after everything that his mother has done.
"Don't you remember what happened to Jackie?" Dante asked, suddenly calm.
"What the hell are you going on abo..." Vergil cut himself off, realizing that he was in the wrong. Jackie was Dante and Vergil's childhood friend, and only through childhood.

When Jackie was 9, he got so mad when he broke his Gameboy that he copied a string of swears that his father said. He got his mouth washed out with soap but while the punishment was in progress, he swallowed the soap and couldn't stop throwing up, even after his stomach was empty, he was still retching and would start throwing up thick green bile that always remained in the stomach. His parents called 911 but when they got there Jackie was dead. The bile was so acidic it started burning the inside of his throat and it went on until the inside was burned away and blood was dripping into his stomach. But the cause of death wasn't just the inside of his throat being burned away, he also died of dehydration because he was throwing up so much.

Vergil sighed and said, "You're right, but I can't spank him, not after what happened 2 years ago." Dante placed his hand on his brother's shoulder and said: "I'll do it, and don't worry, I'm not going to hurt him." Vergil sighed and waved his brother off with his hand, wanting this to be over with quickly. Dante turned and left the kitchen, going straight over to his nephew. He knelt down so he was his level and said: "You know what you did was wrong, right?" Nero nodded,
"And you know you can't do that, right?" Nero nodded again. Finally, Dante said: "And you know you can't get away with it and have to be punished, right?" Nero nodded again and more tears fell. Dante frowned and said, "Okay, let's get this over with, I promise it'll be quick." He sat on the floor and pulled Nero over his knee.

Vergil could feel his heart beating, what if Nero reacts horribly to it? What if Nero remembers everything his mother did to him from it and relapses back into his scared and timid state he was 2 years ago? That can't happen! It took forever for him to recover! As Vergil was worrying, he noticed that he didn't hear any crying, he didn't even hear Dante swat Nero, not once. Oh god, what if something went wrong." Vergil rushed into the living room and saw Nero sitting on Dante's lap, he looked okay, calm really, like he was sleeping though his face was still tear-stained. Vergil walked over and when he did, Nero opened his eyes and looked at him, reaching out and making grabby hands. Vergil smiled and picked up his son, who rested his head on his shoulder.

Vergil rubbed his son's back and looked towards his brother, saying "How did you do it without making him cry?" Dante stood up and swatted his twin's arm, saying "He's five, so he got 4 like that." the swat was gentle, not enough force to hurt but enough to let you know that you've been swat. Then Dante swatted his twin's arm again and said: "And the fifth one like that. I told him if he swore again then he would be spanked again. He still cried, but not nearly as much as he was a little big ago" The swat had caused a little stinging but not much. Vergil sighed in relief, glad that Dante hadn't actually hurt him. He walked over to the couch and sat down, settling Nero in his lap. Dante sat down next to his brother and patted his nephew's head.

Vergil looked down at his son and said "Where would he learn to swear? I haven't sworn in front of him."
"And neither have I." Dante said, "But if I had to guess, I say it would be Jonesie." Vergil quirked an eyebrow and said "Nero's friend? Why would he learn it from him?"
"He always threatens to bloody some kids nose if he messes with him or Nero. If he's violent like that then I'm sure he'll be swearing too."
"Well, we'll need to find out if he does."
"And I got a perfect idea to figure out if he does. We'll have him over to play with Nero, we'll be in the other room but keeping an ear out. If we hear him swear, we'll know." Dante said. Vergil nodded and said "That's a good idea. If Nero is feeling better tomorrow, we'll call Jonesie and invite him over." Dante nodded and turned on the T.V., turning to Nickelodeon for Nero. Plan set, they decide to wait out the day until tomorrow.