The former gargess paced/limped back and forth outside Mufasa and Sarabi's den. For it was at last the day their cub was to be born. She could hear Sarabi crying out inside there, making her fur stand up on end.

The other lionesses in the past couple days have somewhat grown used to Demona's presence, and she even had the courage to talk to one named Serafina, who was also pregnant with her own cub. She ended up finally meeting the advisor for the king, a hornbill named Zazu. Demona wondered now how a bird like him got accepted into this Pride. He wasn't too bad, a little stuck up, but he accepted Demona with a smile.

Scar on the other hand... Demona took care to avoid eye contact with him, for occasionally he threw her flirtatious looks that unnerved her.

What if the birth didn't go well? Perhaps the baby could've possibly come stillborn, and why are you so concerned about this?! Demona thought sharply to herself, sitting down, flattening her lion ears to try and quiet out the birthing sounds. Rafiki was in there helping her right now.

An hour later, she could hear high pitched mewling. The cub was here. Demona's heart thumped, as Mufasa came to the entrance, now a father.

"Would you like to see him?" He asked in a proud voice. So they had a boy.

She wasn't so sure. Demona herself hadn't been around kids for a while, and didn't know if the cub would like her.

It's just a cub, you can do this! Her thoughts encouraged her. Demona ended up nodding, taking a shuddering breath and stepping inside the den.

Sarabi lay there exhausted, curled around a small furry bundle who was mewling softly, Rafiki watching fondly and holding his staff after cleaning him. Demona took timid steps forward, gazing down at the small little cub before her.

It was so small, and helpless, his eyes were closed, stumbling around near its mother, mewling pitifully. Small tears threatened to come into Demona's eyes, this cub made her think of the hatchlings in the rookery at Wyvern. This cub didn't know right from wrong yet, and it didn't even know it's royalty status.

Demona sat down carefully, Sarabi allowing her to watch her cub.

"Er, do you have a name?" She questioned.

"I'm calling him Simba," Sarabi replied, licking the top of her cub's head.

Then the cub turned it's face to Demona. She held her breath as the little thing feebly crawled toward her, though it couldn't see, he placed his teeny paws on her own, mewling gently.

Demona still couldn't breathe for a time, this was just too unreal, a gargoyle like her not scaring this cub, it was impossible to believe.

Mufasa chuckled. "He can't see yet and he already likes you," he purred. Demona gently placed Simba back with his mother and stood, clearing her throat awkwardly yet again.

Sarabi gazed up at Demona with an unreadable expression.

"Simba really seems to like you, dear. I know I might be asking a lot, but, maybe, could you possibly become his caretaker whenever I can't look out for him? Who knows what kind of trouble he can get into when he's older, and I'd feel safe if somebody I can trust watches him," she said.

Demona's mouth fell open. Why did she even ask that favor in the first place?!

"But, I'm just a stranger here! An outcast! I had only been here for two days! I don't think I'm good enough to care for him!" She exclaimed, stepping back.

"If Sarabi and Simba trusts you, Demona, then I do too," Mufasa said gently. But Demona still felt scared and angry about all this.

"I-I still don't know," she said, feeling herself loosing another battle.

"It is your choice, Demona. It will be a while until he is old enough to be shown to the Pridelands, so it will give you plenty of time to think it over," Sarabi assured her. This somewhat lifted tension from Demona as she agreed to it, finding herself gazing down at the little cub Simba once more, her heart aching a little. Already she could almost feel attached to him.

Sighing, she nodded her head to the two lions and made her way out to think and take a lie in the sun, for Demona was beginning to enjoy the sun rays, they were warm and soothed her, feeling peace calming her anxious heart about being a babysitter to a lion prince.

Simba grew pretty fast in the past few weeks, and Demona was finally able to take off her splint, her paw feeling a lot better. One day Sarabi invited her back inside to see the cub, who smelled and mewled in recognition of Demona instantly, crawling over to her, putting his paws on hers.

Demona this time couldn't help but chuckle softly at the little one's likeness of her, remembering the first time he did this. But then, Simba opened his eyes. Amber eyes stared up into her own yellow ones, and she gasped softly. The eyes were so full of life, ready to see the world for the first time.

"Hello, young one," Demona greeted, a purr arising in her throat. Simba tilted his head at the sight of Demona before him, then he nuzzled against her. Sarabi called in Mufasa.

"He opened his eyes! He opened his eyes!" She called out, and Mufasa came in running. Simba looked around at the sight of his father, mewling again. Demona nudged him gently forward.

"Go see him," she encouraged, and Simba toddled to his father, who had tears of happiness in his eyes at the sight of his son's eyes.

Mufasa cuddled with his son for a time, and Demona still had her smile on her face. Maybe, maybe it wouldn't be too bad taking care of Simba after all.

"Tomorrow Rafiki will present him to the Pridelands," Mufasa said. "For he is old enough now to be there. I would love it if you could watch his presentation with us, Demona," he said.

Demona was amazed at this invitation. "Really?" She exclaimed. Mufasa nodded.

"Yes, the Pride seems to accept you, and it would be a great honor for us," He said.

This could be an opportunity to see how they do rituals in this world, Demona suddenly thought to herself. Yeah, it probably couldn't hurt.

She nodded right away, and Mufasa chuckled. "We'll see you tomorrow for the ceremony," he said, curling around his mate and cub, who was still watching Demona with curious eyes.

Demona then left, having a feeling in her gut that this was going to be an experience she'll never forget, and having more positive thoughts about being the caretaker of that little cub.