Chapter Text
The lovely scent of pancakes woke Bella up, and she smiled when she saw the tray on her bedside table.
The tray held a plate of her Grandpa Luci's pancakes, a little bowl of melted butter and a tiny syrup dispenser. This was a special treat for Bella, who was only allowed to eat her grandpa's pancakes four, maybe five times a year. There was a little vase on the tray, too, with a purple daisy in it. Grandpa remembered what Bella liked, unlike her papi.
Papi used to send Bella flowers on her birthday, such as roses and camellias, and they would always be red flowers. Red was okay, but Bella's favourite colour was purple, as she was around enough red stuff already.
The roses Papi sent always had the thorns still on them, and Mama got really mad at the camellias for some reason; Bella remembered that from her last birthday. When Bella asked why, Mama said camellias were from a movie Bella was too young to watch, a black-and-white movie from Mama's time on Earth. Mama said he and Papi once watched it, back when Papi was new to Hell and still pretended to love Mama.
Parts of that old movie had been shown in the movie Annie. Bella was allowed to watch Annie even though Mama didn't like it (he said it wasn't a realistic depiction of the New York City he knew). Bella would watch the movie tonight as her birthday treat, when she got to watch TV for three hours, to accommodate longer movies and her favourite shows. She'd save The Sound of Music for Christmas.
Grandpa Luci also remembered that Bella liked her pancakes to be shaped like rubber ducks. There was one exception on this plate, though...
Fat Nuggets slipped into Bella's room through his special door, having smelled the pancakes.
“Morning, Nuggsie!” Bella said, kissing his snout. “I've got your special pancake!”
Fat Nuggets oinked in excitement as Bella got his treat. This was a pancake shaped like a pig. Bella placed the pancake in front of him, and he devoured it. Then, once the pancake was all gone, he looked up at Bella and oinked again. He nuzzled Bella's hand, too.
“Don't thank me,” Bella said as the pig licked her fingers. “Thank Grandpa.”
Then, Bella carefully placed the tray in her lap and ate her own pancakes, as ladylike as she could. As an honorary Morningstar, she had to have good manners, even when it was just her and Nuggsie.
Once finished, Bella put on her braces, folded her silver wings over her royal purple nightie like a robe, and went to see Mama. She knocked on his door.
“Mama?” No answer. “M-Mama?”
Oh no, what if Mama was sick again? Bella thought of checking, but Mama never let her in his room when he got sick. He'd managed to go about three hundred days of not getting sick, his record so far. It may have been selfish, but Bella didn't want to spend her birthday worrying about Mama. She wanted Mama to be with her on her birthday.
Fat Nuggets nudged Bella, and she heard Mama's voice:
“Bellina!”
“Mama!” Bella ran to her mama and he hugged her with all four of his arms.
“Mi hai spavento,” Bella whispered. She had opened her wings in order to wrap them around Mama.
“Scusa, Bellina,” Angel whispered back. “Buon ottavo compleanno, mia grande e bellisima bambina!”
“Grazie, mia bellisima Mama!” Then Bella gently pulled away and switched back to English. “Where were you?”
Angel's expression switched from maternal tenderness to an attempt at nonchalance.
“Just had to take care of a little emergency, sweetie.”
Bella sighed. “Did Papi send me a birthday present?”
Papi had not sent any presents to Bella for months, not since October. Grandpa Luci and Auntie Cherri had made certain of that. Bella had sent cookies to her papi for every month that he did not send her presents. Papi had broken his record for that, actually, but Bella supposed it couldn't last.
“He tried to,” Angel admitted. He felt silently guilty at how resigned and world weary his precious daughter sounded, and at only eight. Valentino corrupted and destroyed so many beautiful things, and Angel didn't want that to happen to Bella. “Don't worry, you don't have to worry about it.”
“No cookies for Papi this month,” Bella said in a stern little voice.
Angel laughed. Fat Nuggets also oinked in a way that might have been the pig's attempt at laughter.
“Right, sweetie. He doesn't deserve cookies, not after what he pulled this time.”
“What happened?” Bella asked.
“I can explain while I run your bath,” Angel offered. “If...if you still want me to run your bath, that is.”
Bella nodded. She might be getting bigger, but she still liked how Mama prepared her baths. And though Bella aspired to be a good lady-in-waiting to Auntie Charlie, she didn't mind getting royal treatment on her birthday.