Chapter 2

I don't know their mother's real name, so I'm calling her Jasmine. Also, their father's name is Irwin Hall. I did not make this awful name up, it is canonical.

"Hank, your father and I have to go to the library, can you watch Don till we get back?" Hank's mother, Jasmine Hall, queried. Hank nodded, eyes wide.

"All right, just make sure nothing hurts him, okay?" Hank nodded again, eyes still wide. Jasmine smiled at him reassuringly, and went to pick up Don from his father. She walked over to his cradle, which was by the bookshelf, and lay him down with a smile, Hank right behind her. His small hand tugged on her pant leg.

"Mommy we have to move him!"

"Why's that, sweetie?"

"The bookself could fall on him!"

"Honey, the bookshelf has never fallen down before, it's very stable…"

"Do you want him to DIE?"

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Hank's father stared curiously at the cradle in the middle of the room, then decided not to ask.

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The door creaked open as the Halls re entered their house. The lights were all off. The glanced at each other, then moved forward, when suddenly there was a banshee yell, and a small form lunged forward, holding something above it's head.

"Hank what?" Hank's father, Irwin Hall called out in surprise and anger. The figure stopped.

"Daddy? Mommy?"

"Yes, Hank what were you thinking?" Jasmine demanded.

"You might have been bad guys." Hank said solemnly as his father moved to turn on the lights. "I was protecting Don." The lights flickered on, and Irwin and Jasmine stared at the object in Hank's hand.

"Hank, why do you have a fork?"

"I couldn't reach the knives."

Jasmine suddenly had a very bad feeling about where Don might be. What if Hank had decided the safest place he could be was in the middle of a ring of knives in the basement under a pile of blankets?

"Please tell me he's still in his crib."

"Well, yeah, but…" Jasmine was gone. "Mommy look out for the…"

"HAROLD EUTYCHUS HALL,what is the meaning of this?" Hank winced.

"No yelling, Don is seeping!"

"Why are these on the floor? And why is my best jewelry also on the floor?" Hank slunk forward, glancing mournfully at his father, who just raised an eyebrow and shooed him on.

"Well those pokey things are there so the bad guys won't go that way." Hank gestured to the path to Don's cradle. "And your juwe is out so they'll follow the trail and go that way." Hank pointed down the corridor away from Don. "That way if a bad guy comes, if I don't get him with the fork, then he'll only get the stuff, and not Don." Hank looked down at his feet. "I just wanted him to be safe."

Jasmine shook her head despairingly. She knelt down beside Hank, and lightly put her hands on her shoulders.

"Look, I know you wanted to protect Don, and I really would rather someone took all our things than Don, but you can't just do things like this. It's too dangerous. You might have been hurt. There's some pretty dangerous things lying out. And I don't think someone would break into our house, and if they did, then I don't think they would want Don."

"I was making sure." Hank whispered weakly.

"I know, and I'm proud of you. But this is too much." Hank seemed to get a new fire in his eyes then.

"No, mommy. Nothing is too much for Don."