A couple of weeks later, I am near the end of my pregnancy. My stomach has grown quite large over the weeks, dampening my mood. I go to Buck. "Do I look fat?" I ask.
Buck's eye widens. "Icea, ya look as beautiful as th' day we became mates."
"Good answer," I laugh.
"Maybe we shouldn't go ou' today. I mean, 't can't be long 'til ya give birth ta th' kits. Wot if somethin' happens?" Buck asks.
"If my contractions start, there are plenty of caves and hollow trees throughout the jungle. Also, remember that we made nests in each one in case we needed them quickly. We should be quite fine," I reply.
Buck sighs in defeat, knowing that he won't be able to argue with me. We climb down the tree and begin our trip into the jungle.
Maybe an hour into our journey, we hear Rudy's familiar roar. It sounds like it is only a mile away. Glancing at each other, and deciding that a fight isn't our best option, we start racing off through the jungle. That is made almost impossible by the size of my stomach. It is being stretched far too much to be even close to comfortable. I start having pain that I believe to be the pains from running too much.
That's when my water breaks. I gasp in shock, until the pain becomes worse. "Ahhh!" I scream.
"Wot…?" Buck is nervous.
"The kits! They're coming!" I yell.
Buck's eye widens. "The-ah's a cave nearby. Do ya think tha' ya c'n walk tha' far?" Buck asks.
"I…I'll try…" I gasp. Buck helps me to the closest cave. Luckily, it's only a few minutes away. When we get there, the contractions are only a few minutes apart. I lower myself into my nest with Buck's help.
I yowl as the pain intensifies. Buck takes my paw. I squeeze his…hard. Buck winces from the pain. "Sorry…" I gasp out.
"No problem…" Buck replies.
I scream. The pressure begins to build up. I feel the urge to push. Yowling, I manage to push out my first kit. Buck takes him and cleans him off. Buck wraps him up. I give birth to another boy kit. Two she-kits follow in quick succession. Buck does the same to all three kits as he did for the first.
I lay back on my nest, utterly exhausted from my ordeal. "Four beautiful kits…" I whisper.
"Yes. Wot should we name 'em?" Buck asks with a proud smile on his face.
"We'll name them after I take a little nap," I reply. I close my eye and fall asleep.
When I wake up, I find that my energy levels are much higher. Buck is holding our two sons, while our two daughters are asleep on the kit-nest. "Now, wot do ya think we should name 'em?" Buck asks, turning to me.
"Juniper, for our first born. I want to name our youngest Sophie. You name our middle kits," I tell Buck.
"Fallon fer our middle son an' Ivy fer our middle daughter," Buck names them.
I smile. "I love those names." The kits begin to cry. They're probably hungry. I take them and allow them to drink from me. I gaze at them, happy that I'm now a mother. Nothing could be more perfect.