A/N: MERRY CHRISMAHANAKWANZADON! I am currently in the lunch room eating my no-relations-to-any-holiday pizza :D But besides all that, ITS TIME FOR AN UPDATE! This is the Christmas special to WGTC and Shellobeth is back to being a baby (for this chapter at least)
SHELLOBETH IS ONE YEAR OLD: Just so you know, because I thought it would be cute.
Side Note: remember how Grell was able to change his hair color? That's basically why Shellobeth's hair has silver in it. Shes changing her appearance a bit.
Its called a bauble, but to the one year old child, it was a funny looking thing that was shiny and had a little baby in it (just her reflection).
'The baby is red! Just like mommy Red's hair!' The child thought but quickly lost this thought and found a new 'Its red! And red is yummy just like pink!'
"Shes been staring at that bauble for over an hour." Will muttered to the red-head next to him, watching the child from his spot at the tree. "You'd think she'd get tired of staring at her reflection for so long."
"Aww! She takes after me." Grell explained, going to the child. "She loves beautiful things."
"Lets hope that's the only thing she gets from you." Ronald joked as he slid into the room with another string of lights. "Or we might have a real psychopath on our hands."
"You remember who her father is, correct?" Will questioned as he turned to look at the baby again and inspected her closely. "She'll be as mad as him one day. A quick look at her hair should make this an obvious thing."
"Oh yeah! She started sprouting silver hair!" Ronald said with a laugh. "Wonder if it has to do with her species. If so she sure is developing her abilities fast."
"Well, shes probably gaining them as she grows in her human time. Sort of like puberty really" Will explained, ignoring the face the red-head made at the comment.
"Will! She just turned one last month!" Grell complained suddenly. "Shes to young to have the word puberty tossed around any where near her!"
"I'm not saying she is going through it, I'm saying the process is sort of like it!" He shot back, placing a gentle hand on the baby's head. "Which I've noticed is quite a fas- Shellobeth. The bauble is for the tree. Not for eating!"
"Well it seems like Scrooge is killing the spirit again this year." Grell muttered as he watched the child's pink eyes roll upwards to the three men.
The little girl was now chewing at the red surface of the ball, but one glance at Will's disproving looking as she took it out of her mouth, and promptly threw it at him, missing her target, and watched as it landed on the tree and stuck to one of the branches. The child, having no idea that that was what was supposed to happen, clapped her hands in amusement and giggled like mad.
"Hey, someone's exited." Ronald laughed as he picked the baby up and tickled her tummy, to which she responded by grabbing his hand in her two small ones and pushing them away with a grunt and a giggle. "Come on Shelly. Ronny is going to tell you a story."
He took her to the nearby chair, which had been bought souly for the child's story time, and sat down at it while he cradled the child carefully. He then put on a pair of fake reading glasses over his usual ones and dimmed the lights so a shadow was cast on his face.
"Its called the 'Evil Butcher'." He began, raising one finger in the air.
"Love that story!" A voice, belonging to the retired reaper, called from the other room.
"Lets hope Shelly loves it too...! If not then I'll probably get the holly jolly beat out of me, but anyway." Ronald replied and then turned back to the child. "SO, its called 'The Evil Butcher'."
"Once upon a time, there was an evil butcher, who hated any children he saw misbehave. He would often follow along behind them, dressed in a dark clock and carrying a large whip, which he would use to beat the misbehaving children. It got to be too much though. So one day, three innocent children came into his shop. They were hungry and asked him for meat, and when he turned to get his knife- HE killed them all! chopped them up, cooked them, and turned them into beef jerky."
"Oh for God's sake Ronald!" Will yelled, about to take the child away from him, "You'll scar her for life!"
"But then!" Ronald cut in suddenly, propping the child up on his knee and holding her tiny face in both hands."Saint Nick arrived seven years later. And asked the butcher for the jerky he made seven years ago. The butcher was overcome with fear, because he was a big baby, and ran off, and Saint Nick brought the jerky children back to life. And all was well again. The end."
Shellobeth began to whimper and her eyes brimmed with tears as she listened to the tale, and her guardians prepared for her sobs (Which wouldn't be quiet and her overprotective father was in hearing range), but then she suddenly burst into a fit of laughter.
"OhthankGodIthoughtshewasgonnacry." Ronald breathed out in one breath as he leaned deeper back into the chair while Shellobeth curled up on his chest.
"What kind of a story was that!?" Grell complained as he snagged the baby from Ronald's lap. "Here, I've got one. Its call the Little Match Girl. Kind of like you Shellobeth."
The baby's ears perked up as she looked up and waited to hear her story.
"Once upon a time, there was a little girl, whose only relative was her grandmother. Even with what little they had, the girl was happy as long as she had her health and her relative. One Christmas however, the woman were in need of money, so the little girl took a box of matches and went to sell them around town. But since she went out without a coat, she had to use her matches to keep herself warm, and she soon ran out. That night, she had a dream that her grandmother died, which she did, but when the little child woke up, she found that her grandmother was right next to her, and that there were several people gathered around her body, and as she got up, she found that her body did not come with her. Because she died of the frost. The end."
"What is with you two and stories about people dying!?" Will demanded, "That is not the type of story you should be telling a child!"
"But she is a reaper." Ronald pointed out but Will ignored him as he took the baby into his own arms.
"Heres a story for you Shelly. There once were two incompetent reapers who one Christmas decided to scar the daughter of a legendary reaper by telling her violent stories that have no plot development what so ever and are more violent than good and this resulted in both of them getting visited by the 'Boss of Shut the hell up' and having their holly jolly asses kicked by me!" He said sternly as he poked the girl's nose. "The end."
"Geez boss, calm down." Ronald muttered stiffly as he took Shellobeth back and cradled her. "And I think she liked the stories."
"Compared to her normal bedtime stories. Those are pretty tamed." Undertaker said as he entered the room and took back his child.
"You see Will? Shellobeth can handle it." The blonde said with a wide smile as he walked to the baby and patted her little head.
Her tiny arms shot up and grabbed his hand and held it against her head as her smile widened to its creepy size. Her little eyes scanned the group of men to see which one would tell her another story.
"I think she wants another story." Will muttered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Does anyone have a Christmas related one?"
"No, but we can make one up. Like popcorn reading" Ronald piped up again before anyone else could speak. "Maybe one about a Christmas reaper, here, I'll start off. Once upon a time.- Popcorn Will!"
"There was a house that contained the remains of a dead child.- Popcorn, Sutcliff."
"A very lovely red-headed reaper found these remains and brought them back to life, which resulted in the birth of the little reaper.- Popcorn, Ronald."
"The baby was taken to the morgue, which was home to a legendary reaper, who was known for reaping small children. This was kind of stupid on the red-head's end because a baby is a small child plus its a morgue which is a freaking scary place. Popcorn Adrian."
"Shut the fuck up Ronald. Said reaper didn't kill this child because she was a beautiful and special little girl who loves that 'freaking scary place' as you put it. Seriously, I set her in her coffin and gave her a skull to play with it and she instantly fell in love with it! Popcorn Will."
"To be honest, I thought it was a horrible idea also, Ronald. And I don't think any of us can explain what happened that night but there was something about the child we felt we had to protect. Popcorn, Grell."
"Well we couldn't get rid of her because she imprinted and believed the reaper was her father, which he is now but that's besides the point. But we actually made a bet that she wouldn't last a week in the morgue but apparently she did. Popcorn, Will."
"So she stayed with her father and celebrated her first birthday a month ago. She is now celebrating her first Christmas and is- Eating another bauble now..."
"So our story, or at least this chapter ends with some Christmas cookies and then Shelly here is going to bed." Ronald wrapped it up with a bright smile. "Merry freakin Christmas Shellobeth Merry Crevan."
'What the heck are they all talking about?'