Man Child

Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to konami not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Setting: Pre-animated series.

Authoress note: Lisa realises that she has two children.

Lisa was well aware that being around children tended to bring out the child in most adults. She'd witnessed this before with many new mothers and fathers. She'd watched mother's, who had previously been very sensible young ladies, suddenly digress into baby-talk and infantile games. She'd seen grown men reduced to playing 'horse' for their children while wives looked on adoringly and she had listened at length to young mother's talking about how having a baby only made them love their husbands more, as seeing a grown man, who had previously been viewed as 'rough, tough and strong' gush over an infant had touched them deeper than they had expected.

She had seen many things over her years serving the local community as a midwife and aspiring doctor. She had however not understood some of the comments made to her. She had been amused when she saw grown men playing with children, it was funny after all, but she had failed to understand how this juvenile behaviour from husbands would inspire such feelings of affection from their wives.

She understood now.

Her husband was openly feared and loathed by most people, the world viewed him as a monster. She didn't, obviously, or she would not have married and had a child with him. But despite her love for him, she understood why people feared him. Her husband was intimidating, even when he wasn't trying to be, he towered over men and had an aura of pure power. Except that right now all of that was gone, all of it and her love for him was swelling inside her more than she had dreamed she was possible.

He was playing with their son.

At two years old, Adrian was big for his age, taller than any two-year-old had a right to be. He was also energetic, curious and completely besotted with his father. Lisa had walked into the west win library her husband favoured, intending to speak with him about the difficulties she'd been having wrapping her head around blockages in the circulatory system and how to treat them effectively. But instead of finding him lurking in one of his favoured corners she had found him cowering behind one of the oversized wingback chairs.

"I'm hiding," he explained when he noticed her confused expression.

"So, I see," she said, only to be shushed, grabbed and pulled behind the chair with her husband.

"He'll hear you," Dracula hissed.

"I'm assuming he is Adrian," her husband nodded. "and you are hiding because?"

"Because he's a dragon, I'm a villager, I'm supposed to hide."

"A villager," Lisa raised an eyebrow, "not a knight, or a solider, you're a villager."

"I didn't pick it," her husband defended. "I was dubbed a villager by your son, I must fulfil my role."

"Of course, but …" Lisa stopped talking when she heard the unmistakable cries of a two-year-old who thought he was a dragon.

"Shit," Vlad hissed and pulling her the two fled through the stacks.

"I'll eat all the villagers!" the cry followed them through the book stacks.

"I'd have been safe there for ages," Vlad muttered desperately looking for a new spot in which to hide. Lisa noted he wasn't taking any of the numerous spots that their son couldn't reach and smirked at him. "But you had to come in making a racket."

"I beg your pardon," she laughed.

"Rawr!" a small blonde missile hit her husband from the side and he toppled dramatically to the floor. "The last villager is dead!" Lisa stood watching her son parade himself around the defeated corpse of his villager. Vlad did a remarkably good job at playing dead, to the point where the 'dragon' stopped parading and started nudging him. "Wakey, wakey villager!"

"Dead people tend not to wake up, sweetheart," Lisa knelt by her son and smiled.

"But he's not really dead," Adrian said clambering over his father's chest to literally pull back an eyelid. "Not dead!" Vlad didn't move even though Adrian had not let go of his eyelid, Lisa was impressed. "Not really dead?" a note of panic entered Adrian's voice.

"No!" Lisa yelped as her husband roared to his feet, scooping their son up in his arms as he did so. Adrian squealed throughout the ordeal, giggling excessively as if being hoisted seven feet into the air was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Well, now that you're not dead," Lisa said when the spinning and giggling stopped. She reached forward to fix Adrian's hair. "I have a need of you."

"Nope," Adrian clung to his father. "We're still playing."

"Oh, you are?" Lisa said.

"Yup, until bath time," Adrian nodded, his expression very serious.

"That's a very long time," Lisa said. "wouldn't you consider sharing, for just a moment?" Adrian shook his head sending blonde curls everywhere.

"No," he said firmly.

"You heard the boss," Vlad said softly. "It's just a moment." Adrian pulled in a lot of air and Lisa could see the tantrum brewing in his eyes.

"It can wait," Lisa said, trying to advert the tantrum.

"You'll spoil him," Vlad said.

"You're one to talk Mr Villager," she couldn't help but laugh, watching as her son did his best impression of a spider and clambered up from his father's arms to his shoulders. "I'll talk to you after bath time." She leaned up to kiss him. He leaned down and Adrian buried tiny hands in her hair, but fortunately didn't tug. Her son released her and instead gripped his father's hair.

"Mush," Lisa winced as he tugged at the cry. "You're the dragon now, I'm the rider."

"Where to?" Vlad said. Adrian tugged his hair again and pulled him to the left.

"Window, outside," Lisa had to stop herself arguing as she watched her husband throw himself and their infant son out of the window from the fourth floor.

"They'll be fine," she whispered walking slowly over to the window. "They will be fine, they will be fine." She reached the window and looked out and down. Her husband and son were on one of the lower balconies, their game continuing without her. But she didn't feel left out, instead, she felt pride and love, her little family were so happy. She hadn't realised she was capable of feeling love like this before, it was a remarkable and delightful discovery.

End

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