"Papa, can I go for a ride on your back?" Silverkit asks. It's midday, the hot sun is beating down on the RiverClan camp, and Crookedjaw has Oakheart, Piketooth, and Graypool waiting behind him. She's all by herself, and she's so small, and Crookedjaw feels more frightened of her than of Piketooth's ugly face in that moment.

He nervously flicks his ears. "Honey, Papa has to go on-"

But the disappointed look on Silverkit's face stops him right in his tracks. She looks so sad, and like she was expecting it at the same time. "Okay," she mewls, looking down dejectedly. She turns around and starts to walk back to Sunfish.

Crookedjaw's teeth clench and pain shoots through his face, like it always does when something hurts his heart. He looks over his shoulder at his Clanmates. "Can you guys go on ahead of me? I'll catch up in a minute."

Piketooth looks cross and Graypool ambivalent, but Oakheart steps forward and nudges his brother with his nose. "Of course," he says, his voice soft like a low rumble of fire. "I'll let Hailstar know that you're otherwise occupied."

Crookedjaw's eyes widen. "N-no, I'll meet up with you!"

Oakheart shakes his head and smiles knowingly. "He'll understand," he replies. "Spend some time with Silverkit. You both need it."

Crookedjaw looks down at the reed-covered ground. "What can I do? I'm a tom. I can't suckle her or sleep by her."

"No, but you can be there for her. She knows Sunfish isn't her mother, Crookedjaw, and she knows she has no sisters anymore. You're all she has left, too. Make the most of it."

Crookedjaw smiled, and Oakheart's warm look reminded him of Willowbreeze. Aside from her, he was the only one not put off by his ugly smile. "Thank you, Oakheart, You are a wise cat."

"And don't you forget it," the ginger tom grins, brushing their faces together. "Now, go. You don't want to get outrun by a kitten!"

Crookedjaw nods and turns towards the nursery. "Silverkit, wait up!"

The tiny kit turns, her big, blue eyes wide with surprise, and it's the best feeling in the world. "Papa?"

Crookedjaw leaps at her, catching her in his paws and squishing her against his chest. "Small mossball!" he chirps, and Silverkit giggles with glee. Crookedjaw nuzzles her belly with his nose and she flails her tiny feet in the air, batting at him with her itty-bitty claws.

"Get off me, you're too heavy!" Silverkit mewls, but Crookedjaw doesn't let go. He hauls himself on his haunches and keeps her close against him with his forelegs, feeling her kick her back legs right into his chest.

"Aha, I caught the mighty Silverkit-fish!" he purrs, swiveling his upper body back and forth. "Wow, it's huuuuuge!"

"Papa, I'm not a fish!" Silverkit says. "I'm a cat! You're being silly!"

Crokedjaw simply laughs. "Uh-oh, I can't hold it up! It's too big! Aaah, I'm falling, I'm falling!" And he leans back until he's close enough to the ground that he can let himself fall, keeping Silverkit on top of him. "Oh no, it's so heavy! I'm being crushed! Blah." And he lets his tongue loll out of his crooked mouth and whispers in a strained voice, "It looks like this is the end of the mighty Crookedjaw - crushed to death by the elusive and powerful Silverkit-fish."

"Daddy, don't be silly!" Silverkit mews, her tiny tail fluffed up. But Crookedjaw closes his eyes and stays very still, until Silverkit finally asks, "Daddy?" in a worried voice, poking his face with a paw.

He opens one eye, then pounces on her, roaring playfully. "Aaaah, gotcha!" He snatches her up again and holds her tight, and Silverkit's tiny purrs of laughter are enough to keep him warm throughout every leaf-bare, he thinks.

"Daddy, Daddy, Sunfish found a really pretty shell for me!" Silverkit says, bopping his nose with a forepaw. "Wanna come see?"

He purrs and hears Sunfish chuckling from outside the nursery. As he looks up, he sees the pleased look on her face, and notices the rest of RiverClan looking at the two. At one time, Crookedjaw might have been embarrassed, but not anymore. He didn't care what any cat but Silverkit thought of him now.

"Sure thing, my little minnow," he purrs, rubbing his cheek on her head. It's his bad cheek, and he feels her flinch a little.

"Papa, your teeth feel funny." She looks up at him and scrunches her nose confusedly, as if only just realizing now that his face was different. "How come your mouth looks different from every other cat's?"

"I had an accident when I was only a little bit older than you are now," he said. "I was called Stormkit then, but after I got hurt, they called me Crookedkit for my jaw."

"Are you okay, Daddy?" she asks, and it's just so cute how concerned she looks that Crookedjaw could melt. "Here, I'll kiss it better." And she touches her small, soft nose right where his jaw starts to protrude from his face.

"Oh!" he says, touching his paw to his face. "StarClan bless, I've been healed!"

She looks so proud, and Crookedjaw finally realizes how much he loves her. He'd swim across ten rivers for her, twenty, even more, if only to make her smile like that again. If he was a forest, she was his sky and his sun. He was nothing without her, and he would never ever leave her again.

"I love you, Silverkit," he says, pulling her in close, but gently, as if she might shatter.

Silverkit purrs, her black striped fur curling up against his sandy brown. "I love you too, Daddy."