A/N: Hello again, everyone. Thanks very much for the reviews you sent so far, even three is more than I expected. I hope to get more soon!
A small rabbit was eating a carrot right by a clump of berry bushes. Suddenly, the tree branches nearby began to rustle. The naturally timid bunny looked behind him and started to shiver. Something was going to make breakfast out of him! But in this sort of clump, there was nowhere to run. As the bushes in front of him parted, he dropped the carrot and flinched. When nothing happened, he looked up. And laughed.
Well, no one could blame him. It was not often that you saw a saber-tooth tiger with messy fur that had a branch with a small nest carrying around forty-some berries tucked behind one ear, and berry juice smeared over her mouth. Adrian narrowed her eyes at him.
"What, you never saw a saber looking for food before? Scram, buster, before you ruin my good mood." She swiped at him, and the rabbit, still laughing, hopped past her into the woods.
"Little furballs, never liked them." she grumbled to herself, looking through the bushes. "Hmm, blueberries?...no I've got seven of those...cranberries?...not this early in the morning." she mumbled to herself. "Ah! Oh, ho, ho...jackpot! The strawberry motherlode, come to momma-huh?" She reached out her claws to grab as many strawberries as she could, but as she lifted her arm, the branch from her ear toppled to the ground, scattering the nest and sending the other berries rolling away into the woods.
"Wait, no! Come back, darn you!" she yelled, trying to grab what she could. And missed.
Picking up the branch, and placing the nest angrily in it, she muttered "Well, back to square one." She stuck her head back out of the bushes, where she saw Hazel's face an inch away from hers.
"Aah!" she yelled, jumping back. The nest fell off her head again, and the branch snapped. "Oh, it's you." she noticed. "Don't do that, okay?"
"Sorry, but this is important." Hazel begged. "Please, you've gotta come see!"
"Well, what is it?"
"You know that pregnant bird that lives two trees away from the dam?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah. Hilary the emu. But-"
"She just gave birth yesterday night."
Adrian's eyes widened. "In the middle of that rainstorm? Jeez, what a time to pick. Is the baby okay?"
"Yeah, it's just starting to walk. Let's go watch it!" Hazel grabbed Adrian's paw and started to pull her off.
"I-I don't know. Wouldn't the parents be scared of me being near their kid?"
"Oh, they know you're a vegetarian. Everyone does. Now, come on." Hazel insisted, even though they were on the trail already. A few minutes later, they were slowly walking towards a crowd gathered in front of a cozy nest.
"Hey, make way, people." Hazel ordered, ushering Adrian through the crowd.
"Hazel, stop, you don't need-" Adrian objected, but stopped mid-sentence as she heard a small cawing noise. She turned to look at the nest. Hilary was sitting comfortably inside, her black feathers hardly ruffling. Her orange eyes smiled at everyone. Outside, trying to hide behind the nest, was a little chick with stripy yellow-and-black down.
"It's okay, Abigail." she said to the baby. "She won't hurt you. Come out."
The baby peered nervously at her mother, before swinging her legs forward and waddling up to the crowd.
"Aww." Hazel cooed. "Isn't she precious? Already trying to walk."
Adrian didn't really respond, lost in thought. Hazel had told her; ever since Hilary and her husband Donny's old nest back in the eastern regions got flooded, and Hilary's younger sister had died, she had been one of the saddest animals anywhere, even when had moved to the Glade. Yet now, watching baby Abigail try to stay balanced while everyone was watching, she looked like the happiest of people.
Having a baby really changes people, I guess she concluded, as little Abigail started waddling towards her. Almost when she was ready to walk back, she sneezed and fell down at Adrian's feet. With a laugh, she noticed the baby was hardly bigger than her paw.
"Good job." she told her. "Get up and go back to momma, okay? I can't be staying long." She used a finger to lift Abigail back on her feet and with a gurgle, she started walking again. Smiling, Adrian turned to leave.
"Hey, where you going?" Hazel questioned, following her.
"Nowhere." Adrian answered calmly. "I just think I found an answer to my problem."
"What problem? Hey, wait!" Hazel shouted, as Adrian ran off.
By midnight, the herd had all fallen asleep, except Adrian and Diego. Diego was eating his dinner, which he preferred to do away from the rest of the herd. But he couldn't help wondering why Adrian, who didn't like to see him eating either, didn't seem fazed. She wasn't even looking at him.
"Hon, you okay?" he asked. "You haven't talked all night."
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, don't worry." she dismissed. "Just been wondering about somethin'."
"What?"
Adrian inwardly flinched. She'd thought the idea so carefully, and loved it. But she didn't know if Diego would really like it so soon.
"It's nothing important." she mumbled.
Looking up at the starry sky, she saw the Great Saber constellation. The stars that made up its eyes were twinkling. She looked away, determined. If she didn't try, she'd never know.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" she stated, making up her mind at last.
"You just did." he joked, swallowing the last of his dinner.
"I'm serious, Diego. It's important." she cut off. Once she cut the casuality, it was easy for her to get her point across.
"All right, sure." He stopped scratching his claws against the den wall and looked at her. "What's the matter?"
"Well," she hesitated, not knowing exactly how to phrase it. "We've been married a while, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"And you love me, right?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course." He smiled, and kissed her forehead. "So, go on, what is it?" he queried, stretching his arms and yawning.
"Well, I know this isn't the best time to ask, but...I really would like a cub or two sometime in the future. As in the near future." she finished.
"What?" He tried to stand up in shock, but his head bumped against the roof. "Ow! What do you mean, 'the near future'?"
"I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, I'm just saying. You're not mad, are you?" she hissed, looking around and hoping the rest of the herd hadn't woken up.
He sighed, still rubbing his head. "No. But that's a big thing to ask, we've only been together three months."
"Ellie got pregnant with Peaches the same month she married Manny." she debated. This was what she had feared would happen.
He laughed. "Yeah, but honey, news flash, we're not mammoths" She wasn't taking this as lightly as he was.
"Don't you want a family?" she questioned, her voice dropping with sadness. She'd thought he'd love the idea of having kids.
"We've got the herd. That's all we need for right now."
"But, Diego, just think about it...you and me, walking along the path to the river, with a little fuzzy tyke named Diego Jr. riding on your back and pulling at your ears. Or an Adrian Jr., either way. Why wouldn't anyone want children?" she mused.
"It's not like I don't want them, it's just-not right now." He yawned again, and held her paw. "Right now, you're all the family I need. Now go to sleep, please."
He closed his eyes, and she snuggled up against him, feeling lost. Why wouldn't anyone want to have kids? she repeated in her mind. I know I do.
The next morning was nothing nice to wake up to. Adrian felt nauseous, groggy, and her muscles were stiff.
"Ugh." she moaned, managing to push herself upward. "That's the last time I sleep on my side."
It took her a while to notice the camp was deserted. "Where'd they go?" she wondered, then shrugged. Which, she reminded her tired mind painfully, was a bad move. "Oh, well, at least they let me sleep in." she yawned.
She stared at the sun, which seemed unusually bright today. "I wonder how long I was out?" she asked herself, then started to walk forward carefully.
"Ouch!"
She put a paw to her stomach, which had strangely had a brief pain spasm. She looked around, but already knew that it was internal. Maybe...something I ate? she suggested. Speaking of eating, there were a few blueberries left from dinner last night. Maybe a morning snack would help.
But another weird thing happened; after she'd popped a few in her mouth, they started to taste like tree sap. Adrian remembered that she hadn't tasted tree sap since she was a young cub, and the beavers had been eating it, so she tried some, too. She also remembered spitting it out, and resolving never to have any ever again.
But yet, for some reason, she wanted some. The taste didn't seem too bad now. Her stomach growled, then had another spasm.
"Ow! What the-something's wrong." she figured out, shaking her head. "Maybe I'm sick or something. I gotta find Hazel, she knows about stuff like this." She tried to run, but pain wracked her body again. So with an impatient growl, she started walking.
A/N: I hope more people read this!
