"C'mon, Alice, you can do it!" Boris coaxed the girl, who was sweating and panting. Alice grit her teeth before letting loose another ear-splitting scream, Boris' fur shrug that her head was resting on not doing much to muffle it. The cat grimaced as the girl tightened her grip on his hands: she probably had broken them by now.

Boris hated it that he could do nothing to help Alice. He hated seeing her in pain, and wanted to stop it so badly. But he knew nothing about childbirth, and Julius had practically ordered him to be by Alice and to encourage her. So right now, his eardrums had burst and his hands were probably broken.

Even though the biggest moment ever in both his life and Alice's was happening right now, doubt still swam in the Chesire Cat's head. When the girl had told him she was pregnant and that he was the father, Boris had wondered if the child was really his. A lot of the men in the Country of Hearts loved the girl, himself included. Even though Alice had revealed her feelings for him, rejecting the advances of Peter White and Blood Dupre, he had wondered if perhaps she had slept with someone else besides him.

Boris was snapped out of his reviere by another scream and bone crushing grip. But as soon as Alice finished, the room was filled with another cry: that of a newborn baby. Alice slumped backwards, releasing Boris' hands from hers, panting and sweating, tired as all hell. Boris kissed her temple.

"Good job," he murmured. Julius came over, a small bundle in his hands, which were covered in blood.

"I think that you should see your new kid," he said, handing the bundle over to the cat. As soon as Boris laid eyes on the newborn, all doubt that the baby wasn't his vanished.

The small thing whimpered, blue eyes shining, looking just like their mother's. Pink hair covered the baby's head, and two small cat ears twitched. Boris could feel a tail twitching through the cloth.

Alice turned to her lover, eyes bloodshot. Boris knew the girl would want to see her child, so he passed the baby over, reeling from the revelation that he was now a father.

"She looks just like you," Alice giggled. Boris looked at her quizzicaly.

"How do you know it's a girl?"

"I checked."

"Aha."

Alice tried to sit up, which was not an easy task, considering she was lying on the table and was incredibly tired. Boris picked up the girl, still cradling her child, and took her up to her room. He put her under the covers and propped her up on pillows, sitting next to her, gazing at his daughter.

"What do you think we should call her?" Alice asked as Boris extended one hand. The baby girl grabbed his finger, causing him to chuckle.

"I don't know, Alice. I can't think of any good names."

Alice began to think, screwing up her face in concentration. "I had an older sister named Lorina, so how about Laura?"

Boris smiled and kissed Alice. "I'll agree with whatever you think is a good name."

The girl smiled. "Laura it is then." Alice then started to feed her child. Boris turned away: he had seen her naked once, but right now...ew.

Once she was done, Alice's eyelids began to flutter. Boris took Laura. "Rest Alice. It's been rough for you." He didn't need to tell her twice: the girl was dead to the world as soon as Boris stopped. The cat turned to his new daughter. He held her up to his face, and nuzzled her, earning him a giggle and squeal. He opened up the cloth, taking her out (the thing was really dirty) and wrapped her up in his fur shrug instead. Laura seemed to like it better.

"It really nice to meet you. I am your dad, you know. I don't know if your mom will ever let me teach you how to shoot a gun, but I can't wait to let you. You know, your mom gets upset whenever I get hurt, but from now, the only way I'm gonna get hurt is from protecting you." Boris fondled his daughter's ears, and the girl began to purr, much like he did when Alice fondled his ears.

"Oh, you like that just as much as I do. Well, Laura, I'll let you in on a secret. I was scared, when your mom told me about you, that you weren't my kid. I was afraid that your father was someone else. But now that I see you, I'm glad your my daughter. I can't see you as anything else now." Boris cradled Laura to his chest, rocking back and forth slowly. The girl's eyelids began to close, and she fell asleep.

Julius was working on a clock. It was the only thing that could get the images out of his head, and even now it wasn't helping much. He shook his head as they began to crowd again.

"Thank god I hopefully won't have to do that again." He muttered. He heard the door open, and looked up to see Ace standing there in his disguise.

"Hey Julius. Sorry I'm late again."

The clockmaker shook his head. "It's fine." He was actually glad Ace hadn't shown up earlier. Said knight of hearts looked confused, then his gaze drifted to the table, still cracked from the time he had swung his sword at the Hatter. The cloth on it looked rumpled, and was a little red.

"Uh, Julius, did something happen?"

The clockmaker sighed, and pushed back his chair, standing up. "I guess I should show you."

Ace followed Julius up to the room Alice used. He pushed open the door to see Boris sitting on the bed, Alice asleep next to him, and he was holding something wrapped in his fur. The cat looked up, the biggest and most stupid grin ever on his face, which wavered when he spotted Ace.

"What's he doing here?"

"Show him."

Boris obliged. Ace's eyes grew wide when he realized what exactly he was looking at. He then grinned and carefully threw an arm around the cat's shoulders.

"Congrats, man! Does anyone else know?"

Boris and Julius shook their heads. Ace realized that he hadn't even known Alice was expecting, so no one else could know about the birth.

"When are you gonna tell everyone? Boris, what are you gonna do about living conditions- your kid and her mom live in a different territory!"

The cat scowled. "I'm gonna be staying here of course! And when Laura gets strong enough, we'll tell everyone: she's only an hour old, for crying out loud!"

"OK, ease up, I didn't mean to make you mad."

Boris sighed. "Sorry. I'm just becoming a little protective. It's actually just nuts that I'm a dad know, ya know?"

Ace nodded. "I'll leave you alone, then." He began to head out, but Alice's voice carried over.

"Ace? Don't tell anyone, alright?"

He smiled. "As you wish, milady."