This took me so long to write because I knew my characters, but I had no plot line whatsoever. But here we are, 2K words later... Finished!

Disclaimer - I do not own anything pertaining to the Warriors fandom.

Onwards.

Oakfoot was known as a gentle giant of a warrior. His size alone terrified even the most average of sized cats, not to mention the ones that were even smaller. His paws were double the size, practically matching the great size of a skogkatt, but with shorter fur. Despite all of this, he was quite gentle and eager to please others. He often went on extra patrols and aided the medicine cat, Graynose, whenever he had the time. He was a good cat, but somehow had never found himself in love with another cat.

Which was strange. He wasn't a bad cat, nor was it like there were no she-cats that were even interested. In fact, a young apprentice, Nettlepaw, had quite the crush on him. However, Oakfoot was entirely oblivious to this, even though the apprentice had dropped more than a couple hints. Pretty much every cat in ShadowClan knew about Nettlepaw's little crush. Except Oakfoot, of course, who really didn't seem to have much interest in taking a mate to begin with...

He had... once, but that had been many moons ago, and it was a very sad story, beginning when he was just an apprentice.

.

It was Oakpaw's third gathering, and the whole walking to the island under the light of a full moon was kind of a pain, though Oakpaw knew better than to complain about it, or even to consider complaining about it. Oakpaw just quietly padded alongside his fellow apprentice, Hawkpaw. Hawkpaw and Oakpaw didn't really get along though, mostly because Hawkpaw was a very abrasive cat. Though Oakpaw was pretty sure Hawkpaw had the idea in his head that they were actually friends, the mousebrain.

"How many gatherings have you been to, Oakpaw?" Hawkpaw asked.

"This is the second time you've asked. If you're not going to listen to me the first time, why should I repeat myself?" was what Oakpaw wanted to say, but instead, he said, "This is the third time." Hawkpaw nodded slightly, the information obviously lost to him. He roughly knocked his shoulder with Oakpaw's before hopping up closer to the front of their group. Oakpaw refused to let out a hiss of pain. He was supposed to be tougher because of his size... at least, that was the common belief it seemed.

When they finally arrived at the island, Oakpaw was all to ready to just sit down, even if it wasn't quite their designated spot. This action, of course, ended up with Oakpaw meeting the smallest cat he had ever seen. He was at least three times the size of the scrappy she-cat. She stared at him with the widest eyed expression before meowing, entirely uncouth, "You're huge!"

"You're tiny," Oakpaw responded before he could stop himself. It suddenly felt like his pelt had been set aflame. He almost never revealed his surface thoughts. To his surprise, the she-cat purred in amusement.

"What's your name, huh?" she asked.

"Oakpaw," Oakpaw answered easily. His guard had already dropped entirely around this she-cat. He was starting to know that her fur was a mess. There were burrs caught in it, and it wasn't even smoothed down in the slightest, like she didn't even care.

"I'm Sparrowpaw, nice to meet you," she meowed in response. Oakpaw nodded his agreement. The two chatted for a while before the beginning of the gathering.

To Oakpaw, even then, there was something that just lingered in him that reminded him of Sparrowpaw. He often would stop for a moment, often with her interrupting his train of thought in a way that just sort of disrupted his day. He would want to tell her about things like Hawkpaw falling into a sinkhole, which was hilarious. He'd gather these little things in his mind and at the end of the day, he could barely remember any of them.

.

Sparrowpaw was an excellent apprentice. She prided herself on being as good as she possibly could, and being the best had only one perk, respect. It didn't matter how much the other apprentices loathed her for knowing more or being better at other things, she had to make up for her size by being exceptional. They couldn't tear her down if she was too strong. This was what Sparrowpaw constantly told herself like they were guarantees.

Sparrowpaw was an abandoned cat. She had no parents in ThunderClan, but she had been raised by the queens in the nursery after being found crying near their border. Sparrowpaw barely remembered it herself, but apparently, Honeyfur, the clan deputy, had been the one to find her. Honeyfur did her best to be a mother to Sparrowpaw, and to be honest, on a purely emotional level, Honeyfur was Sparrowpaw's mother.

This fact made the other apprentices look down on her. Sparrowpaw was small and abandoned. She was supposed to be different from them as a non-clanborne cat, and Sparrowpaw couldn't help that stereotype. She could do her best every day until she proved them wrong however, honoring Honeyfur's sacrifice to help raise her.

Sparrowpaw had a great mentor too. Elmclaw guided her and was very good at teaching her, although he was unnecessarily strict at times, but that didn't bother Sparrowpaw all that much. She liked that he was a strict teacher... if that made any sense.

"Hey, Sparrowpaw. Are you planning to take over ThunderClan?" Foxpaw hissed. Sparrowpaw looked over at the other apprentice, her fur bristling.

"No," she snapped angrily.

"Stop that, Foxpaw," Goosefeather meowed, giving her apprentice a disapproving look. Foxpaw withered slightly, but gave Sparrowpaw a look that said he was not yet done with her. Sparrowpaw sighed, curling her tail around her paws. She had never really known what to do in the face of those ridiculous accusations. She wasn't like the cats in the Dark Forest. She wasn't evil just because she wasn't born in ThunderClan. That just didn't make any sense.

Sparrowpaw thought idly about the apprentice she had met, Oakpaw. He was a cool cat. At least, as far as she could tell. Maybe if he knew about her not being clan born and all... Sparrowpaw shook her head, reminding herself that not every cat is like Foxpaw and his sister Larkpaw.

.

The next gathering that Sparrowpaw met Oakpaw at was when Oakpaw had become Oakfoot. He seemed even bigger than he was before, but perhaps that was because she felt smaller.

"Congratulations, Oakfoot," Sparrowpaw meowed, amicably. He purred softly, accepting her as gently as the first time he had. It warmed Sparrowpaw's heart.

"Thank you," he replied, "How have you been?" His eyes brightened slightly as he directed the conversation toward Sparrowpaw. However, the kind warmth that Oakfoot seemed to emit allowed Sparrowpaw to remain confident that he wouldn't judge her.

"Not great, to be honest..." she answered slowly, pushing at a leaf with her paw, "I feel like an outsider sometimes, and I think that's mostly because I wasn't born a ThunderClan cat... but I was raised with the rest of the cats, so why am I treated so differently?" Oakfoot looked a little concerned, sympathetic even.

"Sadly, there isn't anything you can do about that," he responded gently, "But as long as you put your best paw forward, they can only accept you." Sparrowpaw stared at Oakfoot with an expression of wonder.

"You're really smart," she said dumbly. Sparrowpaw felt her pelt heat up at that. Oakfoot purred in amusement.

"I'm not really," he told Sparrowpaw humbly. Sparrowpaw beamed at him.

.

As Oakfoot grew older, his simple feelings for Sparrowpaw progressed into something much more complex, and a few moons later, Sparrowpaw became Sparrow-wing. Then she and Oakfoot began to meet at the border to talk more and more often. Sparrow-wing was something more than beautiful to Oakfoot. It was in her voice, the way she spoke about things, her demeanor that really captivated him. The way she handled diversity. Sparrow-wing was an incredible cat.

Sparrow-wing couldn't help the way she loved Oakfoot. He was so kind and accepting of her. She felt so connected to him in a way that she couldn't begin to describe in words. He just knew her, never judging her for the feelings that she had and talked to him about. He always told her that she was so strong, and more than anything, Sparrow-wing needed that emotional support.

However, in the lazy warmth of summer, Sparrow-wing's life was changed forever. Foxstripe became suddenly very interested in her, and she didn't quite understand why. He began being nice to her, and she suddenly felt very confused, even a little frightened. She was so used to Foxstripe being a mouse brained jerk that she had no idea how to react to this sudden flip-flop in his personality.

It was the next gathering when she realized exactly why there was this strange sinking feeling in her heart. Oakfoot wasn't at the gathering, so she went about as she usually did when he wasn't there. She searched out Stripedpelt, Oakfoot's old mentor, to ask him how Oakfoot was. He knew they had been friends for awhile and was always nice to her. Though Sparrow-wing had been feeling a little more tired than usual.

"Stripedpelt, hi," Sparrow-wing meowed in greeting cheerfully. The older cat turned to her, gray whiskers twitching slightly.

"Hello, Sparrow-wing," he replied, his voice a little sad.

"How's Oakfoot?" Sparrow-wing asked, suddenly very worried. Stripedpelt gave her a sympathetic look.

"A dog attacked Hawkflight while he and Oakfoot were on a patrol... Oakfoot, well, he isn't doing well," he answered softly.

"He's still hanging in there, right?" Sparrow-wing inquired desperately, her heart seizing up. She could barely breathe.

"Barely... Frogspots is back at camp with him," Stripedpelt began, "But she thinks it's unlikely that he'll pull through." Sparrow-wing shook slightly.

"No..." she meowed softly. Stripedpelt touched his tail to Sparrow-wing's shoulders. She sat with Stripedpelt throughout the entire gathering.

.

"Sparrow-wing, can I ask you something?" Goosefeather meowed suddenly. Sparrow-wing looked at her curiously.

"What is it?" Sparrow-wing asked. Goosefeather glanced around ThunderClan camp.

"Let's go somewhere more private," she replied. Sparrow-wing followed Goosefeather curiously, unsure of what the other she-cat was going to ask. Once they were in the forest a little ways away from ThunderClan camp, Goosefeather sat down and nodded for Sparrow-wing to do the same.

"I've noticed that you have put on a significant amount of weight, which is especially noticeable because you're so small... Therefore, I had to ask," Goosefeather began gently, "Are you pregnant?" Sparrow-wing blinked back her surprise.

"Wha-" she started and then remembered, almost sullenly, "Maybe..." She hung her head slightly. Goosefeather stared at Sparrow-wing sympathetically.

"Was it that ShadowClan tom?" she asked, still as gentle as before.

"Y-yes," Sparrow-wing meowed. Goosefeather moved forward, putting her tail on Sparrow-wing's shoulders.

"What happened between the two of you?" she inquired softly. Sparrow-wing trembled, pressing her flank against Goosefeather's.

"He was killed by a dog," Sparrow-wing responded softly.

"Oh," Goosefeather barely hid her shock because that was kind of awful. Then she pressed her flank to Sparrow-wing's in a comforting manner, "I can get Graynose to pretend to be the father, if you like. He'll even be a great father." Sparrow-wing looked at Goosefeather sadly.

"That... that would be really helpful, thank you," Sparrow-wing meowed. Goosefeather felt her pelt heat up in response. She had never really realized just how sweet of a cat Sparrow-wing was with all the nasty things Foxstripe used to say about Sparrow-wing.

"Of course," Goosefeather replied, kindly, almost happy to help the she-cat. She had never been in the situation herself, but knowing Graynose, her dumb brother, was not going to be looking for a mate for a long time... if ever. He didn't seem all that interested in it. Everything was going to be alright. Goosefeather felt a strong desire to protect Sparrow-wing at this point, and she never went back with her feelings.

Everything was going to be okay.

Thanks for reading! This was written for the FlowerClan challenge #5. Thoughts are treasured into infinity.

~Minatu-Corneille