The birdie on the radio said...[Radiodust]

Sweeter Strawberries

"It's a girl!" Angel gasped.

Alastor was shaking. "A-a g-girl...?" He smiled the tiniest bit. A huge upgrade from the pain and labor infused face he had on for about an hour.

The spider had some sanitized scissors dipped in iodine. Drugs like these weren't too hard to find in hell. He snipped the umbilical cord.

Alastor watched as Angel rubbed and cleaned the baby until it cried. Alastors' ears dropped. Angel knew that Alastor would be protective of the tiny newborn, so he handed her over as soon as he could.

Alastor gasped as he softly cradled the baby. Her cries softened to a coo.

"She's so tiny..." Alastor whispered in awe. Angel nodded as his tears fell.

Alastor patted a spot for Angel to sit right next to him. Angel took it, no problem.

"Look, Al... She's got your ears..." The spider pointed out two folded pink tufts of fur. Alastor smiled and kissed the baby's head.

"Well... what do you want to name her?"  Angel softly asked. Alastor looked into space for a moment.

"I think... I think you should decide..." Alastor smiled.

"Oh no, Al... you don't want that..." Angel thought for a moment. "Let's think of one together. What name do you like?"

"I like Anna or Anne..." Alastor said.

"And I like Belle. So how about Annabelle?" Angel spouted.

"Awe... yes... Annabelle." Alastor cooed to the baby.

The baby tensed and whimpered. Breaking out into a sad cry.

"Oh... poor thing... I think she's hungry, Angel... can you make some formula...?"

Angel nodded and got up. "Anything for you, Al."

That made Alastor blush. It made him feel important.

But that distracted feeling didn't last long. Now, his maternal instincts took over as he rocked the baby, waiting for a bottle.

Angel wasn't long. He just had to warm up some water and mix in some formula.

When Angel returned, Alastor looked up with a bit of concern.
"Did you make sure it's warm?"

Angel smiled softly, almost in awe about how well Alastor wanted to take care of something that was causing his second death for the last 8 or so months.

Angel put a little bit of the contents on his wrist to feel the temperature.

"Yup, nice and warm for our darling sweet Annabelle."

Alastor took the bottle and began to feed the infant. She latched onto the bottles nib piece surprisingly well.

"Look... she's so clever... so clever already..." Alastor spewed admiration for his newborn.

"I'll put her down to sleep when she's done eating... I want to get you all cleaned up and resting."

Alastor seemed hesitant to give up his baby so soon.

"It's alright, Al... nothing is gonna happen to her. I promise..."

Angel's smile captivated Alastor. The way it perfectly shaped his face shook Alastor to his core, allowing him to give up the baby.

"Mind her head..." Alastor whispered.

"I got her..." Angel said back. Gently taking the baby and the bottle, he bounced the baby. "Can you walk, Al?"

No response.

Angel looked back to Alastor. He was out cold, snoring softly. Angel chuckled and looked at the baby.

She was gorgeous. 4 arms, like himself, the ears, the chubby baby cheeks. Angel was head over heels for this child. For his child.

_________________________________

The day had passed, and both Alastor and Angel were sleeping heavily.

Changing diapers and feeding a needy baby every hour was exhausting. But just because it was night didn't mean it stopped.

Annabelle wailed from her crib on the other side of the room.

Angel began to get up, but Alastor put his arm out to stop him.

"Come on, Al... I know you don't want to get up right now..." Angel groaned

Alastor shook his head and winced when he got up.

"Alastor!" Angel whispered.

That didn't stop Alastor from seeing to his crying baby.

By the smell of it, Annabelle needed a diaper change. So Alastor sat out of fix it. 

He lifted her out of her crib and brought her over to the changing table where he undid her diaper, cleaned her up, and put a new diaper on. After that, it was only the matter of putting the troubled infant back to sleep. 

Alastor cradled Annabelle and began to walk around the room to make her fall asleep. It was pretty effective as Annabelle yawned.

Once Alastor had seen Annabelle about to drift off into sleep, he walked her back to her crib where he gave her a kiss on the head before lowering her inside. Alastor sighed in satisfaction, once the job was done and he could see that his baby was comfortable and clean. 

He went back to bed where Angel had already fallen back to sleep. 

Alastor smiled and cuddled right up next to Angel and fell asleep as well. 

He knew that this parenting thing would not be easy, but he knew, with Angel by his side, helping him along the way, it would still be sweet.

Alastor loved his family.

(AH SORRY I've just been focusing on school, but now it's summer so I'll hopefully have more time to work on my stories.)