The demoness yawned as she tiredly reached for one of the glass cups in the hotel's kitchen cupboard, trying to think of what she wanted to reheat for a late lunch.
As she reached up she made sure to keep one hand on Rosalie, still a little unsure if she tied the baby sling right; however, the fawn seemed quite comfortable as she snoozed against Charlie's chest, feeling satisfied.
It had been almost two weeks since Rosalie's birth and Charlie couldn't have felt prouder of herself for figuring out most of the infant's cues to what she needed. Her favorite cues currently a tie between when Rosalie showed she was happy and when she suddenly got hungry while someone else was holding her. As much as she loved her daughter's content deer tail wags; a trait she had yet to see Alastor display, she found it absolutely hilarious every time Rosalie began to show signs that she was ready to eat whenever the infant's father, grandparents, surrogate aunts or uncles held her; especially Angel. Charlie couldn't help but let out a soft snort as she poured herself some apple juice, remembering handing Rosalie to Angel so she could take a shower in peace. And when she returned thirty minutes later she found Angel cracking up on her living room couch as he laughed, "What are ya doin' there, Miss Rosie-posie? That's not food ya goof!", his chest floof completely slobbered on and a frustrated Rosalie close to tears with her mouth full of fur.
Charlie let out another yawn as she absentmindedly stroked one of the fawn's pinned back ears before opening one of the refrigerators.
She couldn't be more grateful for the spider demon's help and how good he was caring for the newborn- how good everyone has been caring for us, she noted as she looked down with a smile at her daughter. Whenever Charlie needed a break there was always another adult nearby who was more than happy to take over. She needed a quick shower or time for herself- Angel was there to step in, during the first week when she was still dealing with postpartum contractions- Lilith couldn't be happier to snuggle with her granddaughter and dress her in a new outfit, and when she desperately needed a nap after not getting much sleep from late night feedings- Alastor took over the parental care, despite not getting much sleep himself.
That man is ridiculous, she thought while trying to decide if she wanted last night's stew or the jambalaya her boyfriend made yesterday.
While they tried to split the childcare equally between each other and the other demons wanting to pitch in, it was no secret that Charlie was currently Rose's primary caregiver. It just couldn't be helped; she was the newborn's main food source at the moment and didn't plan to bottle feed until her milk supply was more established and Rose was a little bigger. But besides the feeding duties Alastor cared for his daughter's other important needs, especially at night since during the day he wasn't technically on paternity leave and was helping Lily run the hotel while Charlie recovered from the birth and was still adjusting caring for an infant.
It was nice that he was making sure the hotel was still up and running while she was taking a temporary leave. However, she made sure it was Lily; and occasionally Vaggie when the moth demoness was helping out, who were mainly in contact with the hotel residents and were in charge of rehabilitation.
As much as she loved that ridiculous deer man and couldn't be more grateful for how much he's done for her, she would rather not have him completely in charge of her dream; especially since they knew what the other thought about the possibility of redeeming a sinner. So he remained busy with his usual hotel duties of maintaining and tracking the finances, paperwork, and contracts; in addition to now assisting Lily here and there and helping Charlie care for their two-week-old daughter.
With how much he was doing, and then some, she certainly believed that he urgently needed a break.
And that's what he was currently doing that afternoon; taking some time for himself after she had reassured him that she had a handle on everything.
She was kind of hoping that he would use that time to go get some extra hours of sleep, but instead he was out of the hotel, and Charlie would rather not think what he considered an appropriate way to "unwind".
The demoness blankly stared at her food with glazed over eyes as she gradually brought the bowl of jambalaya sitting on the counter to a low simmer just by simply having her fingertips lightly in contact with the side of the bowl, letting her hellfire do the rest. Her other hand she kept on the sleeping fawn, even though Tammy had reassured her that the baby sling she made for her was extremely sturdy and safe.
What am 'I going to do about Tammy? Should I do anything?
Despite Tammy coming forward the day after Rosalie was born and apologizing for overstepping her boundaries again, acting surprisingly very chill, Charlie still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling the she-wolf gave her. The demoness's apology was certainly sincere, Charlie even felt like it was and even apologized herself for horribly snapping at her the day before. She should have been happy that Tammy was sorry for her behavior and was wanting to be another helping hand to care for the infant, right?
But she wasn't.
Charlie could confidently leave her daughter with anyone of her family members or friends, walking out of the room knowing Rosalie was safe and being cared for; however, that was not the same feelings she had about Tammy.
Was she going crazy again? Just like the missing ultrasound photos fiasco, was sleep deprivation making her lose her mind? How could this woman, who had no violence or murder in her background and was always so sweet to everyone, make the demoness feel like she swallowed bricks of lead for breakfast, unable to leave the room whenever she allowed the she-wolf to hold her child.
Maybe she was going crazy.
Nobody else seemed the least bit concerned; hell, even Rosalie's body language remained relaxed, but then again, it seemed like she didn't care who held her as long as she was fed and dry.
Charlie found her unjustified feelings kind of ironic in a way. She had no real validation that Tammy would do anything intentionally harmful towards her daughter, or toward anyone else for that matter, all while she felt assured leaving her newborn in the care of demons with well known, long running reputations for violence and murder.
As she placed her bowl of hot food next to her drink on the dining table she thought to herself, is this level of concern healthy? Is it even reasonable?
She was broken out of her train of thought when a familiar gruff voice sitting beside her asked, "I don't think the little lady would appreciate havin' hot food dripped on her. Ya want me ta hold her while ya eat?"
She thanked him as she handed the fawn to the fluffy cat demon, taking her daughter out of the sling due to him refusing to wear the "fucking ridiculous contraption" as he took the now awake infant into his arms while Charlie took a seat in the chair next to him.
Husk tried to redirect his focus on his game of Solitaire, but he found it quite difficult as a pair of doe eyes curiously stared up at him, little hands gently tugging on his fur as she occasionally broke her stare to follow his flicking tail. It also didn't fucking help that another pair of doe eyes were staring at him as well.
"Awe! Look at you playing nice with the kitty-cat, uncle Husk is so soft and fluffy isn't he?"
"Shut up and just eat your damn slop." He grumbled. "And stop trying to fuck'n pet me! Am' I some sort of clown to you too?" He questioned as he swatted Charlie's hand away.
"Sorry, I was just kidding, and you know I don't think you're a clown." She apologized as she turned back to her food. "But I do think you're soft." She teased before blowing on a steaming spoonful of spiced rice and vegetables.
His only response to that was an undecipherable grumble accompanied by a few agitated flicks from his tail.
The only sounds for the next couple of minutes were the scrapping noises between Charlie's spoon and bowl, the movement of cards against the wooden table, and the occasional squeak from Rosalie as she continued observing the fascinating creature holding her. And Charlie wouldn't have minded continuing to share this mutual silence but was surprised when he broke the quiet.
"I'm actually surprised yer alone, where did everyone else up and go to?"
"Well, Al's currently out of the hotel-"
"Gave him the day off? Why, aren't you a nice boss." He joked.
"Hardy-har-har. You know better than anyone else that no one's the boss of that man."
Ya sure about that Charlie? Husk thought, deciding to keep it to himself as he moved his queen of hearts.
"And Angel- well, he's currently out job hunting." She continued.
"He lookin' to shoot another porn video or crawl back to his mafia family or somethin'?"
The demoness took a sip of her juice before answering him. "Actually, no. He said he wanted to find, and I quote "honest work"."
The sound of moving cards stopped.
"You shittn' me or something?"
"Nope."
"Huh, well I'll be damned." He said as he readjusted the fawn in his arm, taking a few moments for his brain to try to process that unexpected tidbit of information before remembering another demon.
"So where's Tammy today?"
"There's an arts and crafts class going on right now that I have her in charge of; she seems pretty happy about teaching, so I might have her permanently run a few baking and craft activities a week."
The cat demon merely responded with a confirmed grunt as he went back to his one-man card game.
When she had first allowed Tammy to hold her daughter, the brewing anxiety within in her lead to her suddenly blurting out to the she-wolf if she wanted to be in charge of a cooking or craft lesson at the hotel since she seemed to have an interest and talent in those areas. Happily, the canine demoness accepted the offer- much to Charlie's relief. And apparently Tammy was doing a pretty good job, all of the feedback from the other hotel residence being positive, everyone seeming to like her quite a bit.
"You work with and hang out with Tammy occasionally, what do you think of her?" Charlie asked him as she stirred the last remains of her meal in her bowl.
"I like her okay. Not much of a card player, but she can whip up a decent pecan pie and her knitted crafts are pretty nice. Overall, seems like a pretty sweet gal."
Maybe it is just me…, she thought as she glanced down at Rosalie, who was still staring in awe at the cat demon as she continued to tug on his fur.
"-however," he continued, "I don't know how to fuckin' put it into words, but I guess the best way to put it is that she's just a little overbearing sometimes. Like she's trying to be everyone's mom. It's nice feeling so cared for…until a certain point, then it's just too damn annoying. So, there's my answer. Nice, but fuckin' annoying."
Now Charlie really didn't know to feel better or worse about her feelings. The others weren't picking up on anything insidious, so she should feel better, right? Maybe a couple of hours of some much-needed sleep would help. It was probably a stupid idea to suggest to Alastor to go take a break today, especially since her mom left a few days ago to get ready for her upcoming tour, Angel was currently out in Pentagram City looking for a job, Nifty was busy tackling a mess on the thirteenth floor, and her goat demons were currently assisting Lily since it was only her managing the hotel this afternoon.
"Why ya askin'?"
"No reason really, just curious." She stated before another yawn escaped from her. "Hey, Husk?"
"Ya?" He grumbled.
"Have you drank today?"
"Nothin' since last night."
"Since she's probably not going to sleep anytime soon, can you play with Rose for a while?" Charlie asked him as she picked up her dirty dishes from the table while getting up from her chair, deciding that maybe some sleep would clear her mind and help her think clearly. "I think I'm going to go lay down for a little bit."
"Yeah, go ahead and go take a nap. I can watch the kiddo, but there better be some fine Everclear tonight. None of that cheap booze Al supplies." He bargained, actually quite surprised but happy when she accepted his deal.
It wouldn't be his first time watching his surrogate niece. He was actually quite fond of kids and couldn't wait until Rosalie was older so he could show her some card tricks and a few magic acts someday. Even though she was little right now he did enjoy looking after her, the only drawback being that he wasn't allowed to drink before or while he watched her. He didn't want to drink around the kiddo anyway but had even more of an incentive not to since he didn't want to face Al's wrath. He would rather not be turned into a skinned cat rug for the smiling bastard's office.
Feeling like her daughter was in good hands she left the dining room to go place her dirty dishes in the sink before heading to her room.
###############
They loomed over her like heavy thunderclouds; big, bulky, and ready to downpour upon her at any moment. Always there as their ominous thundering cracked across her conscious, ready to burst open, usually during the worst possible times. And when they finally did downpour, flooding her mind, she would nearly drown in the storm.
'You are nothin' more than a useless, tweakn' meth head.'
'A junkie and a bitch.'
Hush, I'm clean now, she threw back at the sloshing, angry thoughts.
'But for how long this time?'
She was having such a good day so far, so why was she still having these thoughts? Maybe it was because it was about time to re-dye her fur again, she thought, acknowledging the black roots beginning to make their appearance already. Like ugly weeds poking their heads through her soul, reminding her of her death.
Adding further fuel to the fire was that she currently found herself alone, her craft class just ending as she walked down the hallway by herself, carrying a box of craft supplies to her room, a stitched winged horse on top of the box.
The little pink plushie was part of her demonstration, working on it here and there while she had lead the lesson. And she was proud how cute it turned out; another present she intended to gift to Rose.
The she-wolf was kind of sad she didn't see the infant that much. Sure, she was overjoyed when Charlie gave her the opportunity to teach and help nurture skills within some of the other residence, but she was finding herself missing the little pumpkin. She reminded her so much of when…of when Marcus was born.
'Oh sweet-thing, don't you know? Don't cha' remember? Everything will always be taken from you.'
Now that really made it really hard to ignore the crackling storm.
I'm gitten pretty darn tired of this! Just leave me alone…please…just please leave me alone…I don't want to think about what happened anymore, she pleaded, the murky waters close to spilling over onto the fur of her face as she entered the lobby.
But then, she saw a little island of refuge.
###############
Charlie groggily stirred from her nap as her alarm on her phone rang out, slowly getting her slippers on while wishing she could go back to bed but knew that she needed to go retrieve Rosalie from Husk. While heading downstairs she was kind of surprised that he didn't already come and wake her from her nap. It was just around the two-hour mark since Rose's last feeding, so she was expecting the fawn to be giving the cat demon some trouble by now.
As soon as she reached the lobby floor she began to head towards the dining room but stopped upon seeing the winged demon chatting with a couple other residence, a bottle of beer in his claws.
She was immediately overcome with the feeling of outrage as she was prepared to verbally tear into him for drinking when he said he could watch the infant; however, the heat of her rage instantly froze over when the all too familiar sensation of lead in her stomach returned as she approached Husk, expecting him to be holding her daughter in his other arm when he turned around.
But Rosalie wasn't there.
She continued to gently sing as she rocked the whimpering newborn cradled in her embrace. The warmth and weight in her arms keeping the metaphorical storm in her mind at bay, the action soothing herself rather than the fawn, who was wiggling quite a bit against Tammy, just minutes away from wailing due to overstimulation and hunger.
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
It was almost like she wasn't sitting on her bed at the Hazbin Hotel, but rather, back at the NICU in Alabama, barely twenty-one years old as she hummed the same song to her son, one of her hands stroking his sweet little face through one of the holes in the NICU incubator.
He was so tiny. The doctors telling her that he was considered a preemie and needed to stay in the hospital a little longer due to his low birth weight and having some "respiratory distress", which was evident with the ventilator he was hooked up to, helping his small chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm.
You'll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
She continued to sing the tune, pushing away the dark, rumbling thoughts encroaching into her mind, whispering to her that that God was going to take him away too, just like he did with Nana and Pawpaw, punishing her for all of her wicked deeds.
'Think you can just keep running away? Keep hiding? Continue sweeping things under the rug and think everything is going to be just fine and dandy? Don't cha' know, sweet-thing? The Lord has already deemed you as an unredeemable bitch, and no matter how hard you try He's just going to keep punishing you.'
She watched as her newborn lightly grasped her finger, his blue eyes staring back into her green ones through the glass of the incubator keeping him warm, she barely noticed the two figures walking into the room.
'And even if He doesn't take him away, those bitches from CPS will.'
The other night, dear
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
When I awoke, dear
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried
Hush, no they won't. They're just coming in right now to check on us, she threw back at her own paranoid anxiety; however, she feared that her own worries might be right as one of the figures reached for her son, threatening to take him away.
Out of fear and anger, she snapped at the figure.
###############
Husk was not expecting for the usually kind and sweet she-wolf to nearly take Charlie's hand clean off, finding Charlie to be extremely lucky that she had pulled her hand away before Tammy's snapping jaws could take a bite out of her. To say that he was speechless was an understatement as he stared at the feral canine snarling at them, her sharp fangs bared and her stance crouched with intent to maul them if they took one step closer.
He may have been initially surprised and found her to be quite frightening at the moment, but he had been in enough bar fights that he felt quite confident to take her on; hell, even Charlie on her own could easily outmatch the bitch. But there was one complication with fighting with the feral creature head on.
She still had Rose in her claws; however, from what this crazed woman was screeching at them, it sounded like she was confusing the infant for someone else.
"Don't take my son! He's all that I have left! Don't take Marcus away from me, I beg of you please!" The she-wolf pleaded, tightening her already painful grasp on the wailing newborn.
After the initial shock of one of her own patients nearly sinking their teeth into her quickly wore off, she immediately tried to think of how to get her daughter out of the she-wolf's grasp in one piece. Should she try to fight Tammy head on? Could she snap Tammy out of her current state if she tried reasoning with her? Should she call for help? Who would be the best help in this kind of situation? She wanted to call Alastor, but of course that idiot didn't carry a cellphone on him. Would his presence even help the situation, or would he make it even worse? Should she send Husk to go get him or anyone else?
But her thoughts were halted when the sounds of her daughter's wails began sounding more strangled and compressed, worsening her panic as she realized that Tammy's tight grasp was crushing the infant.
The other quick-paced, jumbled thoughts were replaced with one terrifying thought. If the she-wolf crushed Rosalie to death, would the little fawn come back? Was her soul even well-established in this world to be able to come back?
"NO, TAMMY, PLEASE STOP! LET HER GO!" Charlie screamed in horror as she ignored Tammy's previous growls and snapping jaws as she rushed forward instead.
What followed was only the tiny wails of Rosalie, her cries sounding less strangled as the she-wolf loosened her hold as she stood there in disbelief with her head turned and pain radiating from her snout.
"Her name is Rosalie, not Marcus. She is not your son….and right now you're hurting her. Please give me back my daughter." The demoness spoke softly as she reached into the she-wolf's loosening arms, retrieving the wailing little girl.
Husk watched on as Tammy stood there stiff as a wooden plank for a second after the infant was taken away from her, seeming to be coming out of her trance. He was just about to tackle the bitch to the ground, planning to hold her in place until they decided what to do with her; however, he was instructed not to as Charlie told him to let her go as she pulled her phone out of her robe, trying to soothe her daughter as she got Dr. Vex on the line, paying no attention to the wolf demoness bolting out of the room and past the severely singed door that had been broken clean off its hinges.
###############
"Well isn't this just shit luck?" The spider demon grumbled to himself as he took another drag from his cigarette, tapping the softly glowing ash off the end with one of his right hands as he exhaled, holding Fat Nuggets in one of his left arms.
He had encouraged his little buddy to go run around outside of the side of the hotel, preferring his pet to not inhale his secondhand smoke; however, the small pig eagerly wanted to be held, sensing that his best friend had a really rough day today.
And boy did Angel have a rough day today.
Every establishment or business he walked into merely laughed him out or thought he was there to offer his "services". His street reputation, once free advertisement for his previous business, was now hindering his ability to find legal, non-sex related or mafia related work. In all honesty, he found how most of the denizens of Hell viewed him to be quite disheartening to say the least.
"I think I've officially won the crappiest day award." He sighed as he dropped his cigarette butt, stamping it out with his boot. Not even a second later, he jumped as the door to the side of the hotel swung open.
The spider demon panicked for a moment as he yelled a combination between "I swear I can explain!" and "Fuck off, Alastor!", worried that it was Charlie or Al. One wouldn't be too happy about him smoking on the hotel's premise, while the other one would be trying to turn Fat Nuggets into some horrid bacon cuisine. But when he saw that it wasn't either one of them, he relaxed as he saw it was just the annoying mutt."...Oh, it's just you." He sighed with relief, his words seeming to grab her attention as her head snapped towards him, not realizing there was someone there at first.
When he saw her face he was not expecting to see a mess of snot and tears running down her fluffy fur. He wasn't exactly friends with the demoness; however, the sorry state she looked to be in tugged at his heartstrings. He pushed aside the small pity party he had scheduled for himself as he asked her, "Ya need someone to talk to?"