Hey, this isn't a very dramatic chapter, but it's sweet and necessary for the story :) Started this within half an hour of posting Chap 10, believe it or not, so hoping you guys like this! You can probably guess what happens from the title, but I'm very glad this chapter has finally come because holy fudge it's been hard remembering to call the cubs by their nicknames! There was actually a typo in an earlier chapter where it said the cub's actual name and I freaked when my friend (who I based Tori Charmlink on) told me. She helps a lot with my stories, so thank you so much to her!

Taz: I belong to scoobs5601 and I'm from IARN.

Me: Getting sick of saying that?

Taz: Kinda.

Me: Lol, welcome to our world. We have to put disclaimers on every chapter!

Anyway, enjoy!

Diego and Shira were walking through the trees, Tiny on Shira's back, just talking. Manny had agreed that Diego could go back with Shira and meet the rest of his children, which he was incredibly glad about. He would've gone anyway, but it was nice to have permission for once.

"So, this little girl's Tiny? And what're the names of the others?" asked Diego, reaching over to Tiny with one paw. She licked his paw, giggling slightly. Diego tickled her under the chin, and she burst into a full-scale laughing fit.

"Oh great, she inherited that from me too," muttered Shira. Diego's ears pricked up.

"Are you ticklish?" he tried to meet Shira's eyes, but she kept looking away from him "Shira? I never knew you were ticklish!" he sounded evil all of a sudden. Shira looked at his eyes, and saw a gleam mixed in with the emerald colour. She started to back away from him, but he advanced on her, until she started running. He chased her through the trees to the pirates, stopping only when Raz threw a fish-bone sword at him, thinking Shira was running from him because he was trying to hurt her.

"Woah!" he gasped, jumping to the side. As if reading Shira's mind, Taz quickly ran up and grabbed Tiny, pulling her off Shira's back. This allowed Shira to run over to Diego and pin him to the ground.

"Shira, what're you-" began Diego, but Shira very effectively shut him up by kissing him on the lips.

"Ew, now I gotta go puke again!" complained Squint. Raz rolled her eyes and hit him on the back of the head.

"Shuddup Eastah Bunny, they're havin' a momen'!"

Shira grinned and pulled away. Diego grinned back, unexplainably happy that he finally had his Kitty back. She nuzzled him kindly, which he quickly returned, but stopped when Squint started dry-heaving, another thing Raz hit him in the head for.

"Alright, do you wanna meet the other kids now?" she asked. Diego nodded eagerly, licking her on the cheek when Squint turned away. She smiled and licked him back, getting up and heading over to Raz, who had the other cubs at her feet. She picked up the oldest, the boy who looked like Diego, by the scruff and carried him to his father.

Diego closed his eyes and gently licked the cub's face, amazed at how lucky they were to have at least one child that looked like each of them. Just as he was wondering what colour this boy's eyes were, he heard Shira squeal.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked frantically, his eyes snapping open. He was surprised to see that the cub had opened it's emerald eyes and was looking right at him. It reminded Diego of a time when another young cub opened it's eyes and looked right at him.

"What should his name be?" asked Shira. Diego didn't even need to think.

"Kendall," he said firmly. Shira tilted her head to one side for a second, watching the cub, before nodding.

"It suits him," she commented. Diego nodded.

"I know, I used to have a younger brother called Kendall who looked just like him. He was killed by hunters."

Shira, not quite sure how to answer that, retrieved the second oldest cub, who was nicknamed Razzy. Suddenly, little Razzy's eyes snapped open, revealing her pale brown orbs. Diego looked up from licking Kendall's head to see his oldest daughter staring at him. She blinked a few times, and Tiny started squealing happily that one of her sisters had opened their eyes.

There was a rustling in the bushes, and Tiny burst into tears. So did Kendall and the others, except Razzy and Ranger. Ranger squared his little shoulders and tried to growl, but it came out as a purr. Razzy cuddled her siblings, comforting them.

"Aww, look at that," cooed Gupta "She's comforting them!"

"It's like she's givng them hope," muttered Boris absentmindedly.

"Yes, ze little one is very focused for a child her age," commented Silas, but Shira had stopped listening after 'she's giving them hope'.

"Hey, it is like she's giving them hope..." she agreed, smiling "How about we call her Hope?"

Diego thought for a minute, then nodded.

"Yeah, it suits her."

Shira licked the child's head, before setting her down beside her brother Kendall. Diego lay down in the grass and cuddled the christened children to his chest, while Shira retrieved Ranger and licked him to calm him down. He sighed and rolled his hazel eyes, opening them as he did so. Shira gasped, and nuzzled the independent cub lovingly.

"Alright, so we nicknamed this little guy Ranger because, well... it's a long story," sighed Shira, not knowing how to explain it "What do you think we should call him?"

"Hmm... Ranger..." Diego thought for a minute "Sounds kinda like danger, which I definitely think this guy is gonna be when he's older. Why don't we just keep his name as Ranger?"

Shira thought it over for a bit, then shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Diego pulled Ranger close and licked him, but the cub had a hilarious reaction. He rolled his eyes again, and swatted his father's tongue with one paw. Trying not to laugh, Shira quickly grabbed Lightning by the scruff and set him down in front of his father.

"Take it this one was nicknamed Lightning?" asked Diego, licking the cub's ears. Shira nodded. "Well, I really don't think there's any other name that would suit him better!"

Shira smiled and nodded again. She went to pick up Shi-Shi, but was surprised to find the cub had a leaf tied around her eyes (Like Buck's eyepatch but over both eyes). She turned to her pirate brothers and sister and gave them 'the look'.

"Why?" she said, raising one eyebrow. All of the pirates looked sheepish all of a sudden, and a few turned slightly red under their fur.

"Vell, uhm... she opened her eyes, and I, I mean, we thought the first thing she should see should be one of her parents," explained Gupta nervously. Shira smiled.

"What colour are her eyes?" she asked, her voice soft and sweet. Gupta smiled.

"Vhy don't you take a look yourself?"

Shira moved the child closer to Diego, so that he could see too, and gently removed the blindfold. Two stunning, jade green orbs shone back at her, just a few shades different than Diego's emerald. Neither parent needed to ask what the girl's name would be, as it was obvious.

"Jade," they said in unison, smiles on their faces. While Diego pulled his daughter to his chest, Shira collected Ghost, and brought him back to where Tiny was waiting patiently.

"So, what about this little fella?" she asked, nudging him closer to Diego, who shrugged and turned to the pirates.

"Any ideas?"

No-one spoke for a while as they tried to think of something to name the youngest boy, until Gupta raised one paw.

"How about Casper?"

"Why?" asked Shira curiously, but she found the name rather suited the white cub.

Gupta shrugged. "He looks like a Casper."

Shira looked at Diego, who also shrugged. "It suits him. I think we should go with that," he said. Shira nodded, and turned to Tiny, who blinked innocently before giving a cute little grin, knowing all eyes were on her. Taz rolled her eyes.

"She's such a little show-off!" she laughed, stroking Tiny's head.

"Okay, any names in mind?" Diego asked Shira, who tilted her head to one side as she watched the child.

"Well, she's so little and adorable, so her name has to be something sweet too," commented Shira "Hmm... how about Tina? Ya know, coz she's so tiny."

Diego smiled and nodded. "Tina... I love it."

Squint grinned. "K, so we got Kendall, Hope, Ranger-the-Dangerous, Lightning, Jade, Casper and Tina."

Nods from both parents confirmed his statement, and all was silent as they just watched the children until Tina started giggling. This made everyone else laugh, and seeing the pirates actually crying with laughter over nothing in particular made Diego realise they really weren't all that bad. And after seeing how well Shira fitted in with them, like a family, he felt the full guilt of allowing Precious to blast them away. He began to realise the herd wasn't the only unusual family in the world...

Two hours later

Shira smiled at Diego's sleeping form, and gently licked him awake. It was only coming up to midday, but as they had all woken up very early they'd all taken a little sleep. He batted at her with one paw, before he remembered who it was. His eyes shot open and he hurriedly licked her back.

"Have a nice nap?" she asked, somewhat teasingly. He rolled his eyes and pulled her to his chest.

"Yeah I did. Best I've had since you left, actually." When Shira raised one eyebrow, he explained "I had you here."

She blushed slightly, and licked his neck. "Love you Softie."

"Love you too, Kitty."

Their sweet moment was interrupted by Shira's most annoying brother dry-heaving again. "Yuck, get a cave you two!" complained Squint "You're making me feel like I'm gonna barf!"

Shira smirked deviously. "Hey, it can't be worse than delivering the cubs, can it?"

Squint visibly shuddered at that remark, and shook his head firmly. "No, that will always be the grossest, most disturbing thing I will ever experience!"

Hope gave an annoyed little humph, as if to say "Gee, no offense taken Uncle Squint!" Diego gave Shira a questioning look. She sighed and explained. "When I gave birth to the cubs, Squint was the only one on board the ship, so he had to deliver the kids."

Unable to stop himself, Diego began to laugh. Shira laughed too, snuggling deeper into Diego's fur. She wrapped her forelegs around him, hugging him warmly, and he started to purr.

"This reminds me of when you rescued me from the lake," he murmured into her silver fur. She froze suddenly, pulling back, or at least, attempted to, but Diego was holding her too tight for her to move.

"Wait, you remember that?"

He grinned down at her. "Yep, I had a dream about that a month or so ago."

She smiled at him, before cuddling back into the warmth of his fur. "Well, yay. I'm glad you finally realised!"

He raised one eyebrow skeptically. "What do you mean 'finally'? How long have you known for?"

"I realised that night in the tree-prison," she explained with a smile. She waited for an answer, but instead she got an affectionate kiss on the head. Diego nuzzled her happily, pressing his lips against her head a few times before leaning away from her a little. She figured out where he was going and looked into his eyes, getting lost in the emerald orbs. Lovingly, Diego wrapped one foreleg around Shira's shoulders, then pulled her in for a kiss. Right as their lips were about to touch, they heard an adorable little sneeze.

Casper sniffed, squeezing his eyes shut. Shira laughed while Taz hugged the little cub. Purring contently, Casper finally opened his eyes slightly, revealing his very, very pale blue orbs.

"Aww!" cooed Taz "His eyes are so beautiful!"

Shira rolled her eyes, quickly kissed Diego when he wasn't expecting it, and leapt to her feet again. Diego hurriedly climbed to his feet too, giving her cheek a quick lick as he did so. She rolled her eyes and batted at him with her paw playfully. He was about to lick her again when Squint started dry-heaving once again, Taz and the cubs joining in this time.

"Aw, cut 'em some slack!" came an Australian voice from behind them "The lil Sheila hasn't seen her mate in months, an' Ah'll bet the lot of ya would wan' a bit of time to be lovey-dovey after tha' too!"

"Thanks Raz," replied Shira with a smile, nuzzling her sister. Raz stroked the silver sabre's back gently, before accidentally-on-purpose shoving her at Diego, who hurriedly steadied her. Raz grinned mischeviously at Shira, who jokingly glared back. Diego tried to kiss her again, but she wriggled out of his grasp before he could.

"Not right now," she sighed. She was lost in thought, trying to decide what she should do. She loved the herd so much; Peaches and Louis were great fun, Ellie was a fun, quirky person to be around, Crash and Eddie - as much as they annoyed her with their pranks - gave her a good laugh a lot of the time, as did Sid and Granny. Manny could be... a challenge at times, but she generally liked him and was fairly sure she could turn to him any time she needed. And Diego... no words were needed.

But the pirates had been with her, at her side, for as long as she could remember, she just couldn't picture life without them. She'd tried to adapt to it after the Continental Drift, but she just hadn't been able to. She missed them too much. And now she had them back by her side, where they belonged... she couldn't stand the idea of losing them again. The problem was, the herd wouldn't accept the pirates after what happened with Gutt. And Shira was pretty sure her siblings wouldn't be too thrilled at the idea of living with Manny and his family, anyway, because of the incident with Precious. She sighed again. Life was so unfair...

Oh man, I am so sorry this is so short! Again, short, non-dramatic chapter with a slightly sad ending, but it's necessary, and I think most of you will agree that the cubs' names and them opening their eyes deserves to stand as a chapter on it's own. If you disagree, I'm sorry for that too.

Hey, I have a lot of the plot worked out, but any ideas are welcome, because I could do with a few little fillers. Thanks for reading and please review! :D ME LOVE REVIEWS!

Taz: You're so strange...

Mikayla: Yeah, I know right?!

Me: Okay, I can tolerate Taz making fun of me, but Mikayla you'd better shut up or there's a water gun in your future!

Mikayla: *gulp*