Victor the Otter hated waiting. He was pacing up and down the living room, hands behind his back, shoulders slumped. Part of him marvelled that he was able to pace at all, considering he hadn't fastened his leg braces properly. But most of him was terribly worried about his mate, Christina, who was giving birth in her room with Paris and Naomi to help her.

Melinda the Tortoiseshell Cat—Victor's closest friend apart from Christina—smiled sympathetically from her place on the couch. "Victor, sit down and rest," she urged. "I know you're worried, but pacing isn't going to help." She paused. "Especially since your leg braces aren't fastened properly. Come here."

Victor reluctantly edged closer to Melinda, allowing the cat to adjust his leg braces. These things had been a large burden ever since he got them, but at the same time, they allowed him to walk, something he thought he'd never be able to do again.

"There we go," Melinda said, retracting her paws. "Better?"

"Yeah," Victor replied truthfully. "Thanks."

Melinda smiled. "No problem. Have you thought about names for your kids yet?"

Victor nodded, sitting down next to Melinda on the couch. "We have lots of names. We don't know how many she's going to have."

"How many do bobcats normally have?" asked Melinda.

Victor thought for a minute. "One to six," he replied eventually. "I'm hoping we won't have six. That would be too many. But at the same time, one seems too few."

At that moment, Naomi burst through the door excitedly. "One's come! One's come!" she cried.

Victor shot to his feet, then immediately regretted it. "What is it?!" he demanded.

"A girl," Naomi beamed. "You have a girl!"

Victor's mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. Naomi disappeared back upstairs, and returned a few seconds later, shouting, "A BOY! A BOY!"

"Another one?!" Victor gasped. "A girl and a boy? Twins?"

"She's not done yet," grinned Naomi, rushing back upstairs.

Victor gaped at Melinda. "T-Twins!"

"There could still be more," Melinda smirked.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, they heard Naomi holler, "ANOTHER GIRL!" from upstairs.

Victor almost passed out. Melinda leapt up and grabbed the otter as he collapsed sideways. "Victor! Hey, stay with me, okay?"

Then Paris came down the stairs, smiling. "Victor, you can go up."

"Is Chris okay?" Victor croaked.

Paris nodded warmly. "Mother and kids are doing well."

Victor let go of Melinda and made his way up the stairs. Hesitating outside the door, he inhaled. Here we go.

He opened the door, and was immediately struck by an ache in his heart. On their bed lay Christina, awake and smiling down at three tiny babies who were suckling from her. Two of them were bobcats, and one an otter. Victor felt his breath catch in his throat as he moved closer. Christina looked up as he approached and beamed. She looked tired but triumphant. "I did it," she breathed. "I-I survived."

"I knew you were strong enough," Victor whispered. "Th-they're beautiful. Which one's the boy?"

Christina pointed to one of the bobcats; this one looking darker skinned than the other. "This one is going to have brown fur," she whispered. "The other will have silver. As will the otter." She glanced up at Victor. "I have already named the otter, if that is okay."

Victor nodded quickly. "Of course. What's her name?"

"Nellie," smiled Christina, gently stroking the baby otter. "Her name is Nellie."

"Then why don't we call the female bobcat Maya?" Victor suggested. "You said you liked the name."

"You wanted the name Jordan, didn't you?"

"Well, Jordan's a boy's name, right?" Victor smiled and gently stroked his only son. "So how about we call him Jordan?"

"Maya, Jordan, and Nellie." Christina's eyes welled with tears. "It's…they're beautiful."

"Which one's the oldest?" Victor asked, dangerously close to crying, himself.

"Maya," replied Christina. "Then Jordan, then Nellie."

Victor smiled wistfully. "I wish Perry was here to see this."

Christina bowed her head. "How long has it been since he left?"

Victor's shoulders hunched. "Five years."

"Wow…" Christina inhaled. "It's hard to believe that we've been trying to have kids for five years."

"Technically we've only been trying for three years," grinned Victor. "The first year was us spending time together as mates, and the second year was finding out if it was even possible for us to have kids."

"I'm so glad it was possible," Christina breathed. "I wouldn't have been able to bear it if we didn't have any kids at all."

Someone knocked on the door. "Come in," called Victor.

Naomi poked her head round the door. "The girls want to know if they can see the new babies."

"Soon," Christina called softly. "The triplets and I need to rest now. Why don't you take the girls home? We'll be fine here."

Naomi hesitated. "You sure?"

Christina nodded. "Thank you, Naomi."

Naomi smiled. "No problem." She retracted her head and was gone.

Victor looked back at his three gorgeous children, and his beautiful mate. He sat down on the bed and lay next to Christina, smiling. He rested his head on her shoulder, gazing down at their children.

Life had never been better.