Chapter Two Angel's Demon

The first time Walker had held Damien John Walker he had been crying like he was angry at the world. He hadn't stopped since. At least that was how Alex and Walker felt six months later. Neither of them knew how to calm down their son and both of them were suffering from the lack of sleep. Walker was working on only two hours asleep a night, and Alex had had to hire a person to come and stay with Damien while they worked because he disturbed all the other children at the HOPE Center with his crying. She had also cut way back on her work hours to spend more time at home with her son. Angela usually went to the Gage house to escape the noise. Both of her parents were at their breaking points. Things had to change and soon.

Angel, now 5 and a half, had just gotten home from school. Stepping off the bus she sighed, as she heard her brother crying before even walking into the house. Quickly deciding the house was no place to be, she changed directions to go to the barn hoping her mother wouldn't notice her missing for awhile. She had gotten a pony on her last birthday and she wanted to groom her. However, she couldn't stay in the quiet barn forever and was soon headed back up to the house where Damien was still crying.

"Mama!" called Angela entering the house. Not receiving a reply she went to her room to change clothes before she was caught with the scent of horse on her good school clothes. Besides, she wasn't really allowed to be around the horses without an adult with her.

After she changed, she stopped in Damien's room. That was usually where she found one or both of her parents. However, Alex was nowhere to be seen. Worried a little, Angela went to her parents' room and quietly opened the door. There on the bed laid Alex sleeping through all the noise.

Smiling, Angela closed the door and then walked back to her brother's room with a determined mind. Not caring that she wasn't suppose to hold the baby without her parents to watch her, she picked up the red faced, squalling baby and took him to her room.

Sitting herself on the bed she looked down at the baby in her arms, "You and me have to have a talk. You haven't been here for long so I'll forgive you for acting like a little demon." She paused and grinned, "You know, I kinda like that. So, Demon, here are the rules. No more crying all day long. You're driving us nuts. You should only cry when you need something, and that's only because you can't talk yet. Once you learn to talk, you won't cry unless you're hurt, okay?" She looked down into the baby's eyes which were no longer shut, but open as if he were listening to her, and his cries were slowly beginning to subside. "Also, I think that you should start taking these naps that Mama tries to put you down for and sleep all night through. That way we can all get a good night's sleep. I have school and I can't learn anything if I'm so tired all the time. Mama and Daddy also need their sleep. They have very important jobs that keep the bad people off the streets so that we can be safe. Plus, why should they have to pay someone to come watch you if you could go to HOPE house for free. There's lots of nice kids there to play with." Damien had stopped crying altogether now and was intently watching his big sister. "I'm not saying you have to do everything perfectly. It takes lots of time to become that way, but Mama, Daddy, and I will help you if you let us. Now, no more of that crying. Okay?"

Damien blinked his eyes. Angela decided that that was a good enough yes for her. She reached for her baby doll cradle and placed him in it causing the cradle to rock and Damien to giggle. Angela giggled too and pushed him back and forth for awhile. Then she stood.

"Okay, I'm tired and you're tired so we're both going to take a nap." She pulled the cradle close to the bed and laid down with one hand holding Damien's hand. Softly, she sang a lullaby and soon both of them were fast asleep.

About 5:00 that night, Walker wearily walked into the house. However, the silence that greeted him caused him to run up the stairs and into the baby's room. Seeing only an empty crib he headed towards his room. Alex still lay sleeping on the bed so Walker bent over to gently shake her awake.

"Alex, Damien's not in his room and he's not crying." Alex shot up into a sitting position and glanced worriedly at her husband. "Did you check Angela's room?"

"Not yet."

"Well, why not!" cried Alex leaping from the bed and running towards Angela's

room with Walker not far behind her. Both stopped short at the door not believing what they were seeing.

Angela was still sleeping with one arm around her peacefully sleeping brother. Alex quickly went to get a camera and started taking pictures. Soon the flashes woke both children up.

"Hi, Mama. Did you get a good nap?" asked the groggy little girl. "Daddy, you're home!!" She jumped up to hug him. She then looked down at Damien who was kicking his legs and laughing at himself and then looked guiltily at her parents.

"I'm sorry. I know that I'm not supposed to pick him up without…"

"Angel," interrupted Walker, "how did you get him to stop crying."

"Oh, well Demon and I had a little talk and I just told him he had to stop." She said it so matter of factly that both her that both her tired parents burst into laughter. One would think that that was all that was keeping Damien from sleeping.

When Alex finally got herself under control, she asked, "Demon? How did you come up with that?"

"It just suites him, Mama."

"Well, from now on, we'll just leave "Demon" up to you," said Walker grinning as he picked up his son.

"No way. I did my job," stated Angel. "Now I want to play with my pony. You promised I could ride her today, Daddy."

"So I did." He handed the baby over to Alex kissing them both on the cheek before scooping Angela up and tossing her in the air. She squealed for him to put her down as they headed for the barn.

"So, Angel, do you suppose you could give me some tips as to how to keep Demon happy?" question Walker.

"It's easy. Just tell him what you want him to do. I don't know why you didn't try it a long time ago," came the exasperated reply.

Walker just smiled. Life was never boring at his house, but at least it would be relatively peaceful once more.

AUTHOR'S NOTE Okay, I know short it's kinda short, but I promise the next one will be longer. Maybe I'll even update it today, but we'll see. Anyways, thanks for the reviews guys. The more you the review the more inspired I will be to update it. This chapter was just to show the bond Angela has with her brother. It might come in handy someday. Who knows?