What Would You Give

Runaway

"What are you two doing here?" Dante looked down at the two kids in front of him who happened to just show up at Devil May Cry together. He sighed as Cade gave him a big grin and Patty had her arms crossed over her chest after seeing the mess from the day before had not been cleaned up yet. 

"Mom dropped us off." The Devil hunter looked at his son and ran a hand through his hair before walking away. 

"Do I look like a babysitter, Morrison?" Cade heard his father say as he went to sit in the chair at the desk. The little boy looked around at everything seeing the Jukebox in the corner and the drum set that sat there unused. There was so much stuff that he couldn't believe this was his father's place. "Geeze." 

"Lighten up, Dante. It'll do you some good." The black man sitting on the couch smoking a cigar said keeping an eye on the half breed's son as he moved around looking at everything. "He looks just like you, now that I see you two in the same room together." 

"Yeah, that's the problem." Cade heard his father say, but didn't really think anything of it. So, what if it was a problem, at least his father liked him. "At least he isn't like me." 

"No, there can't be two Dante's running around. I think this world has enough with just one." Cade turned to look at where he father sat with his feet up on the desk and his attention turned to a magazine. He wondered if his father would teach him how to play the drums one day. 

"Cade, want to play?" He turned to the sound of Patty's voice as she picked up a cue stick for the pool table and he walked over to join her. "Do you know how to play?" 

"No, what is it?" He asked as she handed him the other cue stick laying on the inside of the table. 

"It's called billiards." Dante's voice came from where he was sitting and then the sound of the chair legs hitting the floor  "Or pool. Whichever you want to call it." Cade looked over to where he saw his father standing up to walk over to them, putting a pendant on his desk. He came to stand next to Cade and he held his hand out for the boy to give him the cue stick. "The object of the game is to pocket the eight-ball before your opponent does and to do that, you have to pocket all the other ones first." Cade watched as his father aimed the tip of the stick at the white ball and hit it. The white ball hit a blue striped one sending it to the corner pocket. 

"Can I try?" Cade was more or less a couple inches taller than the table, so Dante picked him up after handing him the cue stick so he could hit the white ball. The smile on Cade's face was so bright, Morrison could be heard chuckling at the scene before him. 

"Go for the red stripped one in and try to get it in the side pocket." Dante held his son so he could hit the cue ball, and Cade did his best to hit it hard enough, but the ball fell short of hitting the stripped one he was going for. "Nice try, kid. It's Patty's turn now." 

"Maybe you should get the kid a box to stand on." Morrison said with a chuckle as he took a drag of his cigar. He must have found it amusing to see Dante handle his son like he did, but at least he was trying. 

"There's an empty milk crate in the corner over there, kid." Cade heard and looked up at his father with a grin and in response Dante put a hand on his had and ruffled his hair. 

"See, wasn't so bad now was it?" Morrison couldn't help but to tease Dante for the way he acted around his son. He watched as the kid went over to the corner under the stairs and grabbed the empty milk crate before running back to the pool table and setting it on the floor. 

"It's on now Patty!" He pointed to the little girl who just seemed so melancholy, like she didn't want to be there, but at the same time she wanted to see her mother. "Patty?" Cade cocked his head in concern for her but she just shook it off as she readied herself to hit the white ball in the corner.