Beginning Anew

What lurks beneath he bed

Barbara slowly came to. Her muscles ached, like she'd been sleeping on a rock. What had she been thinking, sleeping on something so hard?

"Barbara?" A gruff voice infused with that elegant British accent asked. It was a strange mix for sure... such a rough voice speaking in such academic tones.

Barbara cracked opened her eyes and started piecing things together. She had fallen asleep laying up against Walter. She looked up to see his green, stony face looking down at her with those shiny, yellow eyes.

Troll eyes were so strange. Barbara couldn't even compare them to a cat's. While feline eyes merely reflected light, troll eyes shone all on their own.

"Barbara?" Walter said again. "Are you alright?"

Barbara groaned again, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"No, that's fine. You clearly needed it," Walter assured.

Barbara frowned, confused. They were still in the same position as when she'd fallen asleep. She couldn't have been out for more than a minute... right?

"You've been sleeping for four hours," Walter supplied.

"What?" Barbara blinked. "But... wait? Are you saying that... You haven't moved... for four hours?" she asked.

"You said I had better not be gone when you woke up," Walter pointed out.

"That's... not really what I meant," Barbara commented as she sat up, rubbing her eyes and adjusting her glasses.

"Well, I am glad you finally woke up. The sun has been down for some time and, well... I need to go out and do a few things," Walter admitted.

"Like what?" Barbara asked.

"Well, first I thought I would try to find some information on the cradle stone," Walter said. "Find out how safe the children are in there, if they are aging, and how we can free them – hopefully just one at a time. Both the Janus Order and Trollmarket have many books on magical artifacts like the cradle stone, so I hope to find something there.

"Next, I need to find out what to do with the Janus Order headquarters. It's finally safe to go back, and... there are... remains down there. Dead changelings..." Walter's face fell. "At the very least they need a proper burial," he said. "As for all the artifacts stored in that place, I am considering moving them elsewhere. Trollmarket is probably safer now, and it's empty.

"Then I need to dismantle all the technology still residing in the Order ruins. I must shut it down permanently, so no one can stumble onto it and make use of it." Walter let out a deep sigh.

"You're not going to try to do all of that in one night are you?" Barbara asked.

Walter snorted. "Don't be ridiculous." He shifted out from under Barbara and stood up. "But I really should go as quickly as possible."

"I'll come with you," Barbara got up too.

Walter glanced back at her. "I think you're needed more elsewhere."

"Oh yeah, and where is that?" Barbara challenged.

With two clawed fingers Walter carefully picked up Barbara's cellphone from the table and showed it to her. The screen glowed with multiple unanswered call notifications from the hospital.

"Oh," Barbara mumbled, guilt tugging at her.

"There are still many injured from today's events," Walter pointed out. "Of course, all the seriously wounded have already been taken care of, but I am sure there are a number of broken bones and other injuries still waiting for treatment."

Barbara frowned. "Then why didn't you wake me earlier?! You saw the phone ringing!"

"Because you needed the sleep," Walter replied evenly. "How would you be able to treat patients when you could barely stand up?" he asked, then laid Barbara's phone in her outstretched hand. He closed her fingers around it. "You have some texts too; one of them might be from Jim."

"Oh!" Barbara's eyes lit up.

"If anything happens while I'm gone tonight I still have a phone as well," Walter reminded Barbara, pulling his own phone out from his single pocket.

It was a strange sight – seeing the green, bare-chested troll waving around a modern piece of equipment.

Barbara smiled, amused. "Alright. Well, I'd better get to the hospital then," she said. "And I'm assuming you'll come back here when you're finished doing what you need to do."

"I'm leaving the cradle stone here." Walter pointed at the table where the stone still rested. "So, yes, I will indeed be coming back."

Barbara walked over to the stone and stared down into it. Her gaze was met by the thousands of children trapped inside. "Oh, they are so cute!" she gushed.

Walter blinked, bewildered at Barbara's fascination with the former familiars, then he frowned at the stone, not at all pleased with the prospect of so many screeching infants all in one place.

"I just want to pinch all their cute little cheeks! Poor things," Barbara said, her heart melting as she longingly looked at all of them. "Hello," she waved at the babies. "Hello there." All the little ones giggled and laughed and some waved chubby hands back at her. "Aww!" Barbara exclaimed just as Walter stepped into view beside her, triggering mass hysteria among the children.

Walter jumped back, startled by the sudden noise. The move only made the crying intensify.

"Hey! Hey, it's okay," Barbara soothed as she picked up the stone and rocked it as though she held in her arms a flesh and blood child instead of a cold, hard stone. "He looks strange at first, I know, but he's not going to hurt you."

Walter groaned and rubbed his offended ears.

"Shh... That's right. Calm down." Barbara rocked the stone a bit more and the crying subsided, replaced by laughter once again.

Walter grumbled, annoyed. He muttered something about underdeveloped brains and overdeveloped lungs.

Barbara glanced over at him. "Don't blame them too much. To their eyes, you do look like the kind of monster that would be hiding under the bed waiting to eat them," Barbara pointed out.

Walter stared at her, his eyes glowing a tinge brighter. "I am exactly the kind of monster waiting under the bed to devour them," he snarled, holding a hand over his chest.

"Well, when you put it like that, can you really blame them for being afraid?" Barbara asked, letting the stone bounce up and down, keeping the babies' eyes on her.

"No, that is, in fact, quite sensible behavior." Walter relaxed and let out another sigh. "Healthy fear is what keeps humans alive. Far too often it is all they have."

Barbara smirked and shook her head. "Well, I had better get to work," she said as she gently set the stone back down on the table. "I hope you've found the information we need by the time I come back. We really need to know what to do with all these little darlings." She gave the cradle stone one last, fond smile then walked over to Walter. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you later, Walt. Bye." Without another word she grabbed what she needed for work and hurried out the door.

Wide-eyed, Walter stared after her. He slowly raised a disbelieving hand to the place where Barbara just kissed him.

He didn't quite have the capacity to register what the gesture meant. It was so quick and looked like something Barbara had done without thinking. But... what did it mean?

Walter shook his head. "Keep it together!" he chided himself. "It obviously didn't mean a thing."

He was a troll now; she was a human. The mere notion that such a thing could be was absolutely ridiculous. All he could do now was what he said he would – protect her. That would have to be enough.