[C] Emerging

Demetri had been working tirelessly on translating the book. He rarely left the confines of the study he had hidden in, even trips to the kitchen to gather enough food to hold him over for a few days were minimal and usually involved him taking boxes of snack bars or whatever could be eaten out of the packet.

His sleeping schedule was all over the place, he'd curl up on a nearby mattress or the floor when it got to the point that he couldn't keep his eyes open, no sooner.

He had come to the realization that the sooner he got the book translated the sooner he was free. If he did this for Lucifer the man would have no further use for him and maybe, just maybe he would be allowed to live the remainder of his life as he wanted.

The isolation meant the voices had made a return, they had been helpful for once, making the words in front of him far easier to decipher.

The progress he had made was far greater than his previous attempts and he had an entire bundle of papers ready to hand over to the Fallen. He hid away an extra copy of his translations, just in case.

For the first time in days he emerged from the room, instead of taking his usual route to the kitchen for more supplies he padded up the stairs. Heading toward Lucifer's room, his notes bundled in against his chest.

Deme didn't quite make it to the stairs that would lead him up towards the higher levels of the mansion. A little figure came darting around the corner excitedly and bumped into the back of Deme's knees, knocking himself, and Deme in the process, to the floor.

Immediately the child began bawling.

Aodh swung around the corner a moment after the bawling started. It took him a split second to realise what had happened as he skidded to a stop in front of the two of them. He scooped Darragh up in one arm and held out his hand to help Deme up.

"Sorry about that," Aodh apologised, bouncing his son a little to calm his rocodile tears a little. "He was excited to get to the library. He didn't do any damage, did he?"

Deme fell forward but caught himself on his hands and knees, spiling his papers over the floor.

He looked up in a frazzle as the young child cried, he hadn't expected this and the surprise left him stunned for a moment.

Slowly he snapped out of it as the Irishman spoke.

"Oh! No no, its fine!"

He replied, hastily scooping up the scattered sheets.

"Is he alright?"

Deme looked up at the little boy with worry, he felt guilty for making the small child cry, even if it wasn't his fault.

"He's fine. Just crying for some attention, aren't ya, bud?"

True enough, while Darragh was crying, there were no tears. He was just being loud.

After a couple more bounces and a little shushing, Darragh settled down in his father's arms and clung to Aodh's shirt, cuddling into the crook of his neck.

"See? No harm. You sure everything's all right? He didn't mess up those papers of yours, did he?"

Demetri got to his feet and checked his notes, quickly flicking through them all.

"No, they're fine, looks like they're all here."

Thankfully, he didn't want to risk losing any of them.

The boy gave a warm smile up at the two of them.

"I'm glad he's okay, he's cute when he's not crying."

Deme gave a soft laugh, crying children were intimidating but seeing the child curled in against his father was adorable.

"Thats good." He was glad Darragh hadn't done anything irreversible. The boy could get himself into quite a bit of trouble if he did do damage. Especially here.

"Hear that, boy? He thinks you're cute."

Aodh removed the boy's hands from his shirt and dipped him so he was hanging almost horizontal, with Aodh supporting his back so he wouldn't fall. Darragh's head fell back and he looked at Deme upside down.

"Aren't you going to say hi? I know you're not shy, little man."

Darragh just blushed and squirmed a little in his father's hold.

Demetri gave a little chuckle as the boy just blushed at him and stayed silent.

"He looks embarrassed."

Deme noted, poor child looked like he just wanted to curl back up with his father.

"I haven't seen many children around here, I'm surprised honestly, thought it was all adults."

Aodh smirked and bounced Darragh before returning him upright. "Mabe you got lucky. If he wasn't embarrassed he'd already be talking our ear off."

He let Darragh down to the floor and his son clung to his jeans.

"There are only a handful of children here. All from my clan. I think my clan just loves children."