Hello faithful readers! You all have a decision to make, would you like the next three chapters quickly or spread out? Because Echo's in Indiana doing family stuff so I don't know when she'll be able to write again. So let me know=)

Also this is a kit chapter! Yay!

WildCroconaw- Yeah they are sweet=) I love them. Snakekit is a determined little kid! I'm glad you like it!=)

Sunleaf13- yeah sorry about disappearing=( I got lazy;) But we're back! I'm so glad you enjoyed the fluff! As for Snakekit you will have to see….. Mystery…. Enigma… sorry I had frosting! XD hyper! Ahem, I actually did think up a chapter with him about what he's going to do, but it'll be a later chap! Hope you enjoy this!

Pennycat11- YOU KEEP MAKING PAIRING NAMES! I LOVE IT! Ahem sorry. I was with one of my friends when I saw that and I flipped out;) It was pretty funny=) I'm glad you enjoyed the sweetness, and look here are the kits! Yay! Hope you enjoy!

Tangleflame- I love the kits too! They're like little nieces and nephews if the cat world has that!=) And you get to see more of them here! I'm glad you enjoyed!


Chapter Eleven

I step carefully over my sleeping kits, careful not to step on any of them or the other queens sleeping here. I stop just outside the nursery and wait until I see the sleek black warrior slink out of the medicine den. She looks at me, her gray eyes sparkling, dips her head and swiftly enters the nursery. Raven nudges my kits awake and starts to push the out of the nursery before they can wake anyone up. I quickly grab Snakekit by the scruff and hurry out of the den. I lead the way out of camp before I sit Snakekit down so that I can tell them what's going on.

"Shh," I coo and lick each of their heads. "We're going to see your father."

"We're going to ShadowClan?" Silverkit squeaks, her green eyes wide.

"We're not going to ShadowClan," I calm her; "We're just going to the border. Now hurry along." I grab Snakekit and trot off down the old path. Ravenclaw is close behind making sure the rest of my kits don't fall behind.

We reach the border, where Smokefoot sits, waiting to finally see his kits. His amber eyes shine brightly when he sees them. I purr and sit Snakekit at his paws.

I watch as Smokefoot laughs as he gets tackled by the kits. He even helps Snakekit stand up. My chest fills with love as I watch the scene in front of me. But I feel a pang of sadness. I will never really get to see this or enjoy this.

The kits quickly became tired again, and Ravenclaw pulls them aside while Smokefoot and I discuss our situation.

"What are you going to do?" Smokefoot asks, looking over at the kits.

"What do you mean?" I say pulling back a little. If he thinks I'm going to join ShadowClan…

"Well why don't you come –"

"No." I say firmly.

"What?" He asks looking taken aback.

"I'm not joining ShadowClan. My kits were born in ThunderClan. And that is where they will stay."

"Have you forgotten that they are my kits too?" He hisses.

"How could I forget that?" I say through my teeth, "Listen, this isn't going to work."

"So you're only going to let me see them this one time? I'll have kits living in another Clan, and I'll never get to see them?" I can feel the hurt pouring off of his body. I hate that I'm doing this to him…but it's better off this way.

"Pretty much." I whimper.

Smokefoot's fur bristles, "You don't even care do you?" He shoots, his voice full of anger.

"Smokefoot," I whine, "Please, I do care." I cry. He shakes his head and gets up.

"No." Smokefoot says, his voice drained, "I'm done. I know you don't care anymore. I was a fool to ever think that this would ever work out. This is all a big mistake." I sit in shock before I jump up and get right in his face.

"How dare you call our kits a mistake." I hiss. I can feel the anger boiling deep inside of me. "They were made by love."

"Love?" He laughs, "If that's what you called what you faked this whole time."

"You think," I frown, "You think I faked loving you?" I step back, "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," He laughs again. It's not the laugh that I've grown to love. It is wicked. "You're the one who played me. You're the one stuck with this problem!"

"Problem?"I shriek, "You best leave before I rip your pelt off in front of our kits."

He shrugs and walks off, laughing to himself. I sit with a thump and pant, calming myself down.

Ravenclaw comes up and brushes up against my side.

"How could he…?" My voice cracks. Ravenclaw hushes me and reminds me that I have to get my kits back to the nursery.

I grab Fallenkit and Snakekit and rush back to the nursery, the fight still replaying over and over again in my head.

When I sit them down they start to cry.

"Why did daddy leave?" Fallenkit cries.

"Why was he yelling at you?" Frozenkit demands, his little eyes angry.

"Doesn't he love us anymore?" Silverkit moans. I feel my heart break. Snakekit just sits in shock.

"Darling I have to go. The queens are waking up!" Ravenclaw hisses in my ear. I turn but she is already a shadow in the nursery entrance.

I pull my kits close to me and shush them, my whole body tense hoping the queens won't wake up. We all have ShadowClan scent on us. I didn't even think of that. But after a few hour long minutes the queens' breathing returns to normal.

"Darlings…" I mew, wondering where to start, "You're father is not a bad cat. Of course he loves you. He was shouting at me because he was angry. Because I did something wrong. Something very wrong." As angry as I am with Smokefoot, I cannot bear to have my kits think that their father is bad. Or that he doesn't love them.

"You did something wrong…" Silverkit mews in wonder.

"You mean breaking the code?" Snakekit interjects. As it's the first time he's spoken since we got back, I'm surprised at how strong his voice is.

"Something like that…" I mew, "But darlings I don't want you to worry about this. I want you to forget about this. I want you to play and laugh and enjoy it while you can… please."

"Do we have to call that Jagged cat our daddy? He's not my daddy! I won't call him that!" Fallenkit protests.

"Rather him than someone who yells at our mother." Frozenkit mutters, full of hate. It scares me so much.

"No darling, don't be angry, please don't be angry!" I mew quickly, "You don't understand." Frozenkit looks at me and his blue eyes are no longer angry. Just lost and confused.

"Okay mommy." He mews quietly, "Can we talk about this in the morning?"

"Yes dear." I reply in relief. He nods and pulls his two sisters down to lay next to him. Snakekit just stares at me with fathomless eyes. Wise old eyes. He reminds me of Midnightstar when she was a paw and that scares me even worse than the whole Smokefoot debacle. But then he yawns, a big wide yawn, and his eyes become a sleepy kit once more. He curls up next to his siblings. I pull them all close to me and then I close my eyes and sob.

I don't have long to wallow because soon a voice mews, "Echo darling? Echo what's wrong?"

I look up and there is Midnightstar herself, in all of her wise glory. I gape at her for a few moments. She repeats her question and my breath catches in my throat. I hadn't wanted her to know about tonight's little outing. But I need someone to comfort me.

So I tell her the whole sorry story and when necessary she probes my mind for the memories and emotions to get the whole picture. Whoopee!

I brace myself when I finish, half expecting an I told you so. But all she does is sigh heavily. "Well my dear I can't entirely blame him."

I stiffen, ready to get angry, but she fixes me with a sharp look. How she always manages to make me feel guilty and able to repent when my own mother, mentor, and brother can't I'll never know.

"You yourself said that it wasn't fair. Put yourself in his place. Loving a cat that you know you can never truly be with and fearing that she doesn't love you back. Having kits with this cat. And suddenly you're so happy because you're so ready to be a father and you'll do whatever it takes to be a good one no matter what and then being told that you can never see your kits again. I mean imagine if he came into the nursery and said he wanted them to be raised in ShadowClan and you could never see him again. Honestly if this was your plan the whole time you should have never let him see them. It would've been less painful, on him and the kits."

I sit silent for a moment digesting her words and I realize something, she's completely bloody right. Curse her bloody smartness.

"You're right." I mew half defeated, "But he wasn't completely innocent either."

She snorts unkindly and I realize that she hates his guts for what he did. She's just civilized enough to be able to feel pity for him. And to be able to figure out the cold hard truth. "I never said he was. He was a bloody fox heart to you and I'll make him rue the day he said all of that if it's the last thing I do. But something I noticed from my previous relationship with your brother – when you fight, you'll say whatever it takes; even if it's a lie, even if it's mean, even if it's bloody horrible; because you're mad as D.F. at the other cat. And you just want them to feel even the tiniest bit of the hurt that you do. You just want to make them hurt like your hurting. Even if it's a lie. Even if you don't mean it. Even if it's the exact opposite from the truth.

"I don't know what's the truth Echo. I don't know if he meant it. I don't even know if he's sorry. I just know that he might be." She sighs heavily before she continues her voice gentle, "Sweetheart it's your life. They're your kits. You have to do what you think is right, no matter what anyone else thinks."

"Just for kicks, what do you think I should do?" I ask looking at her.

"What you've been doing. Tell them the truth. Tell them their dad's not a bad cat. And when they're old enough, let them make their own decision. If they want to have a relationship with their dad that's their business and their choice. Give them the opportunity to have a dad and they'll make the right choice. What's right by them."

"Well you can't ask for more than that." I mew and she gives me a halfhearted smile. Coming from a broken family, I trust her, and everything she's said has been right. Has made sense.

But mostly I feel like if I do what she says, my heart won't be ripping in half all the time and I won't constantly have guilt pressing down on my stomach.

"Thanks for being such a good friend darling." I mew.

"Well," she says with a sigh, "I'm always going to be your friend, and no matter what I'll never be far behind."

"I know, and I want you to know, that I'll always be there for you." I mew seriously, holding her eyes with mine. She smiles at that, the first real smile I've seen in a while. It makes me smile, and for a while we're just sitting there smiling our heads off like the two mousebrains that we are.

And then I have to, because you know I must, poke that awkward subject just floating around in the room begging to be poked. "So, unless your emotions are deceiving me, you're back with Nightwhisper?" I ask with a grin and she smiles shyly, I feel her pelt warm, but she seems truly, truly happy.

"Yeah…. And this sounds cheesy but, it just feels right." She mews in a rush, her voice somewhat gushy.

"Well good," I mew genially, "You deserve it. You both do. You both were always the happiest when you were together."

Midnight smiles, but I feel a flash of doubt, a flicker of guilt. I want to ask, but she's standing up.

"Well as leader I suppose I should go back to leading."

I laugh, "Curse that stupid Clan needing to be led."

"Yeah bloody Clan. Can't they figure out anything for themselves?" Midnightstar asks with a grin causing me to snort as I watch her leave.

I'll miss her, but our talk has made me feel lighter than I have in moons. I know everything will be okay because I'll make the right choice.

I'll do what's right by me. And you can't expect more than that.


So yeah... you all hate Smokefoot now, don't you? But really look at it from his point of view…. Okay I'm going to shut up before you kill me.

Well I did some stealing again, the last line which was repeated earlier I adapted from Pirates of the Caribbean "They done what's right by them. You can't expect more than that." I really shouldn't watch TV and write. Ah well.

You like seeing the kits? I kinda know what I think they're going to turn out to be like but I want to know what you guys think=) So let us know! Well review please!

~Midnight=)