The sun had long been set. Sarabi yawned as she now entered Pride Rock in the dark. Careful not to trip over any of her fellow Pridelanders, she made the way to the spot where she and Mufasa slept during the night. Mufasa wasn't there yet, so Sarabi simply settled down into her spot. She closed her eyes, but only to open them again just a couple of seconds later, as she realized that something was slightly different than usual.

"Sarafina," she addressed. The other lioness already had her eyes open. She'd been waiting for Sarabi to come in, and as a matter of fact, was only about a yard or two away from her.

"Sarabi…do you really think this is a good idea?" Sarafina asked.

Sarabi smiled and shrugged. "I don't know," she replied. "I guess we'll have to wait and see. It's only for one day Sarafina," she added before chuckling.

"I know…I'm just worried…"

"Well I can see that. Don't you usually sleep at the front of the cave?"

"Well…yeah…but…"

"Go back to your usual spot, Saffy. And don't worry, I'll only want my son back tomorrow night, in squeaky clean condition I might add."

Sarafina smirked. She got up and took a step back. "Then my daughter better not be a mess, either."

"It's a deal."

Now quite content with the arrangements, Sarafina made her way back to the front of the cave. As much as she hated to admit it, she thought Simba was probably right. Nala was just as much of a troublemaker as the future king was. Sarafina, however, had an advantage. She knew that Simba was going to be a handful. Sarabi, however, in Sarafina's opinion, might have underestimated Nala's capabilities. If Sarafina stepped up her game, she knew that she'd have a much higher chance of returning Simba cleanly than Sarabi had of returning Nala cleanly.

Sarafina settled down in her usual spot, and then caught Sarabi's eye one more time. Sarabi smiled. Sarafina did too. Subconsciously, they both knew that they had set up their own bet. Only next night would they know who had triumphed.

From behind her, Sarafina heard the two cubs slowly pad their way into the cave.

Simba elbowed Nala. Nala looked at him, annoyed and confused.

"Go on," said Simba quietly, "ask."

"Oh…yeah…right. Mom, I'm still sleeping with you tonight, right?"

Sarafina shrugged. "I don't know. That's Sarabi's decision."

"The answer's 'no,' Sarafina."

"Oh…then that's a 'no' I guess," said Sarafina.

The two cubs' ears fell.

Sarabi patted hard on the floor next to her. "Come here, Nala," she called. "You'll both be back in your normal sleeping spots next night."

With her tail tucked between her hind legs, Nala made her way over to where Sarabi lay, and hesitantly lied down about a foot away from her. Sarabi reached out her paw and pulled the young lioness to her side. Nala looked up at the queen, with her eyes slightly wide.

"What on earth is there to be frightened of?" asked Sarabi, trying her best to look and sound as friendly as possible. "I've known you your whole life. I've never hurt you before, have I?"

"No Ma'am," replied Nala, resting her head down on the floor and closing her eyes, trying her best to fall asleep as quickly as possible. Yes, she had known Sarabi her whole life, and she was good fun to be around sometimes. But this…this just didn't feel quite right.

Meanwhile, back at the front of the cave, Simba had watched as his mother had pulled Nala, not himself, in close to her, and had spoken to her in her friendly tone.

"Come on Simba," called Sarafina, distracting the young lion's attention away from his mother. "Lie down next to me."

Simba walked up to her hesitantly, but then lied down about a foot away from her.

"You want a story?" asked Sarafina, seeing that Simba seemed a little bit out of his comfort zone.

"I think I'll be okay," replied Simba.

"You sure?" she asked again.

"Yeah. I'm just…I'm just gonna go to sleep."

Sarafina shrugged. "Suit yourself," she replied, before resting her head down between her front paws, but meanwhile keeping her eye slightly open to make sure Simba was still okay. She watched him for about a minute, but the whole time Simba's eyes remained closed. Figuring it would be okay for now, Sarafina let her eyelid drop, and attempted to go to dreamland herself.

Back where Sarabi and Nala lied, Sarafina had caught her daughter's attention. When she had asked Simba 'You want a story?' Nala's ear had perked up. She wanted a story! She lifted her head back up off the ground and tilted it up. Sarabi continued to look down at her. She hadn't even tried falling asleep yet.

"Aunt Sar—"

"Where's this 'Aunt' coming from?" asked Sarabi. "I thought I was your mother."

"I—I'm sorry. Mom, could you please tell me a story?"

Sarabi's eyes grew a little. "A story?" she asked.

"Yes. A bedtime story?"

"Uh, s—sure. Geez, it's been so long though. Um…"

"You can make one up if you want. Mo—uh…I mean…Aunt Sarafina always does."

"Okay, okay, yeah, I'll…uh…make one up."

"Thanks," replied Nala smiling. She lied her head down on the ground, but even with her eyes beginning to drift close, Sarabi could still tell that she was eager.

"Well…uh…once upon a time, there was a gazelle. In fact, there was a family of gazelles. Mr. Gazelle was called Justin…and Mrs. Gazelle was called Julie. Now, these two gazelles had a problem, in that the crocodiles…" but then she stopped. She looked back down at Nala. Judging by the shut eyes, noiselessness, relaxed breathing, and quite content smile on the young lioness's face, she had already fallen asleep. "Huh," Sarabi said to herself, surprised. She smiled and finally lied her head down so she could sleep too. As far as she could tell, getting Nala back to Sarafina without a speck of dust on her, was going to be a cinch.

(A/N: Eh, so the joke is that both mothers believe their own cub is wrong. Sarafina thinks she's just too easy on Nala, and Sarabi thinks that Simba's just too much of a troublemaker. Half the reason I called this story "Sarafina's Parenting Test 2" and not "Sarabi and Sarafina's Parenting Tests" was that this title assumes that Nala is correct, and that Sarafina will have a harder time tomorrow because Simba is more of a troublemaker than Nala. Is Nala correct? I could even make that a poll. But for now, just please continue to read on and please review!)