Disclaimer: I don't own Planet Dolan or any affiliated characters.
A Little Wish
After the third attempt at drowning out the screams by blaring his music into his ears, Hellbent finally gave up and shoved the phone into his pocket irritably. He and Emoji were sitting in the waiting room of a hospital and had been since four in the morning. Hellbent and Pandora had been married for seven years now, and he could hear her screaming profanities at him from her room that he'd never heard from her mouth before.
Hellbent looked down at Emoji, who was staring down at his lap and strangely wistful. He'd been this way for about a week, and Hellbent and Pandora just thought he was having mixed feelings about the new baby. As awful as it made Hellbent feel, he was glade for this; maybe this would detract him.
"Hey, Champ." Hellbent said, and clamped a hand on and an unresponsive Emoji's shoulder. "You excited about being a big brother?"
Emoji was quite, but after a moment looked up at his father. "Dad?" he asked. "If you and Mom are both demons, and the baby's going to be a demon too, than why am I a genie?"
Hellbent was shocked. He and Pandora had discussed this subject countless times late at night after Emoji was asleep, but neither ever thought that it would be when he was still so young. Hellbent remembered that time eight years ago.
The light rain had just stopped as Hellbent and Pandora exited the PD headquarters, just happy to finally have some time alone; they had announced their engagement to the crew today, and Pandora was instantly swamped by the girls. He didn't think Melissa or even Doopie could be that stereotypical but the girls had literally squealed and jumped up an down like giddy teenagers, asking about dresses and wedding proportions. He'd basically not seen her all day. Hellbent's good mood was dashed when some guy, a large, white genie, bumped into him.
"Hey, watch it buddy!" Hellbent snapped, and the genie rounded on him. He was a fat, poorly-groomed genie who was plainly drunk and who's clothes looked like they hadn't been washed in years.
"You watch it, ya red freak!" the genie snarled back. "Cantcha see some of us got things was godda take care of?" He gestured to what he was holding; it looked like a basket – the kind you put kittens in, and on it was a note. The genie swerved around and stalked over to the dumpster, dropping the basket in without a second thought.
"What are you, mantle?" Pandora asked as the genie came back towards them. "That's a really nice basket. If nothing else, you could sell it."
"You want it than take it." said the genie without missing a step as he passed them. "I don't have time for that kind of thing."
Hellbent huffed as the stranger left and Pandora went to the dumpster to retrieve the basket, not only because it truly was a nice basket, but her long, sensitive years could hear muffled whimpers. She called Hellbent over as she sat the basket down gently on the ground and lifted the cloth that covered the opening. Their eyes widened at what they found.
Inside was a baby, looking absolutely miserable. It was wearing only a plainly full diaper, there were tears going down it's face, and it's stomach grumbled. It was a tiny, white genie. Upon closer inspection, the note read 'This is your child. Next time use a condom, you jerk.' Hellbent's blood boiled at the sheer nerve of that no-good genie. At a particularly loud whimper, Pandora could no longer contain herself. She leaned over the basket and began stoking the baby, gently shushing it. While this didn't cheer the infant up, per say, it did calm it down quite a bit.
"Hey, Dolan." Hellbent said, having called the boss up on his phone. "We've got a bit of an...unusual situation down here. Wanna come help us out?"
Within the hour, Hellbent, Dolan and Pringle were walking up to his and Pandora's front door, each of their arms laden with bags full of diapers, formula, bottles and the like.
"So neither of the parents wanted the little guy?" Pringle asked.
"Guess not." Hellbent said, opening the door and was immediately greeted by Melissa and Doopie, who were quick to relieve them of the bags and start looking for the bottles and formula. As they came into the living room where Pandora was with the baby, the boys saw that the little one had been bathed and wore a makeshift diaper made from dishrags.
"How's it doing?" Hellbent asked, seeing that though the baby was looking a bit better, it was still whimpering a bit.
"He's still hungry and a little cold." Pandora said.
"Oh my gosh!" came Doopie's voice from the kitchen and she came charging in with a diaper and a blue onesie with bunny ears and a tail, which she held up. "This is adorable!" Melissa, more calmly, came in with a bottle of formula. The baby watched the bottle intently as the bird lady passed it to the woman holding him. He took the bottle hungrily and ate so swiftly he ended up with the hiccups. After the infant's burping, Pandora dressed him in the diaper and onsie Doopie had brought.
A day like the one he had just had would easily be exhausting to any baby, so he quickly fell asleep in Hellbent and Pandora's bed, Doopie still fawning over the napping infant. Down in the living room, Hellbent, Pandora, Dolan, Melissa and Pringle sat.
"Hellbent..." Pandora paused, nervous about what she was about to ask. In the end, though, she forced herself to – the baby wasn't going to be asleep forever. "I want to keep him. He's so little and all alone...and we both make good money and have an extra room."
Hellbent was quiet. He himself had never really liked kids. He didn't hate them, he just couldn't understand why people voluntarily worked with them. Pandora did seem taken with the little guy, and there was that one room across from theirs that wasn't doing anything. Most of all, though, Hellbent knew that if they didn't take the kid in themselves, he would always be wondering what happened to him.
Hellbent smiled. "Yeah, he can stay." Pandora practically jumped into his arms.
"Want us to help you shop for furniture and things like that?" Melissa asked.
"Sure, for now we'll just need a crib and a dresser, though." the demoness said. "Preferably by tonight."
"We'd better get going then." Pringle said, checking his phone to see that it was almost three. "You two can stay with Doopie and the kid, right?" Dolan and Hellbent nodded.
"Okay, let's go." Pringel told the girls and in less than three minutes they were pulling out of the driveway.
"Crazy day, huh?" Dolan asked.
"Real crazy." Hellbent said, taking out his phone to check for messages.
"So you picked out a name yet?" Dolan asked.
Hellbent was quiet, but saw an older message with a happy face pop up. Before his nap, the baby had seen the happy face and started giggling. Hellbent would never admit it, but the sound had made his heart feel odd. A single word left his mouth. "Emoji."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Hellbent's heart stopped. His and Emoji's gazes flew to the door of the waiting room as a nurse appeared.
"Mr. Bent?" the nurse asked. "We're ready for you."
Hellbent didn't wait for an escort, he ran on ahead to his wife's room, Emoji closely following him. They barged into the room and froze. Pandora was sitting up in her bed, gazing lovingly down at the bundle in her arms. She looked at them, her eyes shimmering. "Emoji, would like to meet your new baby sister?"
Emoji and Hellbent walked quietly up to the bed and just stared at the new infant. Aside from the tuft of black hair on her head, she resembled Pandora. She was a tiny little thing, now calming down enough to open her large, golden eyes which were somehow as sharp as her fathers and round and innocent at the same time.
"Fair's fair, right, babe?" Pandara asked. "It's my turn to name the baby."
"Whadda ya have in mind?" Hellbent asked.
"Eris." Pandora said. The infant blinked and looked at Emoji as she was passed to her father.
"Hi, little sis." Emoji said, "I'm your big brother, Emoji. I'll protect you forever."
Remembering the kid's question, Hellbent cleared his throat. "Honey, um...Emoji wants to know why he's a genie when we're all demons."
Pandora was a little surprised at this, but she wasn't shocked like Hellbent had been. The passed eight years flashed before her eyes in seconds. Emoji making a mess of his first ever piece of cake from his parents' wedding, on his first bike, Hellbent treating a scrapped knee, Pandora reading him to sleep at night. Pandora smiled at Emoji. Her and Hellbent's little boy.
"That's a story for another time. For now, all you need to know is that we're all demons to protect you. And you're a genie so everyone will know -" She smiled as she hugged him. "that life is magical when we have you."
I'm looking to get this to the crew themselves. Anyone have any ideas? Review.