A/N: I decided, for completion's sake, to toss out the rest of the ideas I had for this series as a list of drabbles. Ideas I had but couldn't think of how to make it a chapter, but were cute or such.

I am so glad people liked this story, and hopefully if in the future someone comes up with the same weird idea of Lara Croft being Nero's mother, maybe they can do a better job of making a story out of it than I have. ;)

1.

Lara wondered when everything went so wrong. Nero just wanted to take a trip to the zoo, and she couldn't resist that adorable four-year-old anything. Vergil could deny he felt the same, but he still came with them.

It had seemed things were going well, right up until they came to the petting zoo and the Ilama decided to spit at just the wrong moment. Nero ended up getting a headful of spit, his eyes wide and stunned.

Nero wasn't the one who wound up causing a scene. Lara was sure Vergil only ever got that particular restrained-angry-cold tone with Dante, and didn't seem to realize the absurdity of swearing a vendetta against all Ilama kind.

They were asked to leave, and Lara doubted they would ever be allowed back.

Nero still thought it was nice his father swore 'vengeance' on a species of pack animals for him though.

2.

"Once upon a time, there was a Knight who traveled the land, exploring ruins and rescuing people from evil. The Knight was brave, and kind, and not short at all. This Knight was lonely on the adventures, but don't worry, because the Knight always came back to her son and her prince."

What?

Nero stopped reading, beaming at his assembled family. His hands shook a little as he held the paper. "What did you think? Our teacher thinks writing stories will help us learn, uh, grammar and stuff."

"It was...very surprising." Lara said.

"Yeah, thought for a minute Dad's been telling you stuff until you got to the end." Dante said.

Nero furrowed his brow. "Grandpa was an arche-olgist like Mommy?"

"Something like that." Eva said quickly, before smiling. "You have talent." Her praise made Nero beam.

Vergil frowned. "Her prince?"

3.

Halloween wasn't Lara's favorite time of the year, retaining some of her shut-in traits from her teenage and university days. Not even Sam dragging her out to clubs helped a lot, and one of those nights ended up with her getting a surprise a few weeks later. Still, Nero wanted to go trick-or-treating after Dante informed him of just what it entailed.

Nero was still young, five and the school having a party only made him want to go out during the evening. So Lara relented, and decided to matter-of-factly inform Vergil so he could spend his night hiding in the dark alone this year.

Or not. Lara stared at Vergil, blinking incredulously.

Nero stared too, but with awe as he began jumping up and down, dressed in fake armor which clanked together. "You look so cool, Father!" He tugged his father's hand, covered in scales but the only real distinguishing thing being that his blue coat was still on. "It looks so real!"

Vergil's expression was impossible to read in his Devil Trigger form, and the head tilt did nothing to determine what he was thinking. Lara wondered exactly what he was thinking. "Yes, it took me a while to get it."

"This is great, you're coming with us after all!" Nero said, and Lara swore there were stars in his eyes as he pulled Vergil to the door, candy bucket in hand.

Lara sighed and followed them more sedately. Yeah, this was going to end wonderfully.

4.

"You are aware you can leave at any time."

Nero nodded, kicking his feet under his chair. He glanced at the clock again. It was still hard to read, because Mrs. Appleton was still teaching them colors. "I know. You told me already. Three times."

Vergil sat across him at the dining table, arms folded on top. He narrowed his eyes. "I am only reminding you that you do not need to spend the night if you don't want to. Those children are only humans, you can easily leave."

Nero scrunched his nose. "Why do you keep saying 'human?' I know that's what we are. And it's just a sleepover. They're my friends, nothing's gonna happen."

"You only interact with them in your classroom. That hardly qualifies as 'friends'." Vergil replied seriously.

Nero huffed and crossed his arms, sleeping bag rolled up and on the table beside him. No wonder Lara was the one who agreed to let him go to his friends' birthday party. "Didn't you ever stay over at yours?"

"I had no need for human friends. I had Dante...when he wasn't wasting his time with his human friends."

5.

Nero was nine when his parents finally decided that taking an actual family photo was an important step in reinforcing that they were a family. He didn't know the details because the subject was always changed, but he was happy to be getting a picture to finally show off.

Unfortunately his parents were at odds about constituted an appropriate 'photo'.

"We will be having our portrait done. There should be an adept enough painter in this city."

"Are you serious? Just because there's that giant family portrait hanging above your parents' fire place doesn't mean we need one. I have a hard enough time believing you and Dante posed for that without complaint as it is."

"Well, Dante certainly set the time back on the length of time it took."

"Oh, I'm sure it was only Dante."

Nero sighed, shaking his head. They were probably going to be at it for a while. He wondered when he should the grandparents involved.

6.

"Dad," Nero said, and his father twitched at the 'downgrade' as he called it, "I know now you and Mom aren't a couple," which took a long time for him to realize, and he was ten by now, so that was a lot of years of being oblivious, "but are you okay with her dating?"

"As long as she doesn't bring them around here, and she offers me the same courtesy." His father replied, not glancing up from his book even though his eyes narrowed and mouth thinned into a hard line. "I have no objections otherwise."

Nero hummed, the side of his mouth twisting up. "Really? 'Cause we were at the mall and this guy started hitting on her."

Vergil's hands tightened on the book, finally glancing at him with keen eyes. "Is that so?" he asked slowly.

Nero nodded, unaware of what his father was thinking. "Yeah, she turned him down though."

"Perhaps she did not wish to make plans in front of you." Vergil said.

Nero still looked worried. "No, she didn't 'cause the reason she turned the guy down was because she said she was already married. What if Mom has a secret other family? What if she likes them more than me?"

Vergil was not surprised often, and he would never admit it if he were. Even as he stared at his son freaking out over an imaginary scenario. He was still too busy trying to comprehend it himself. Lara used the excuse she was married to turn down a date. Married to him.

Well, that only took almost a decade to finally get a 'yes' from her.