Chapter 21
The morning was bitter and cold for the start of winter, but Gordon remembered it so well.
As always, he awoke next to his sweet little mate. He smiled and gently kissed her cheek and stroked her slightly bloated belly, with their little kittens gently kicking inside.
He grinned, and left the warmth of their shared bed down into the cold kitchen and made breakfast, as he always did.
In fact the day seemed just like any other. Everyone had breakfast; Katilda came over at around lunch time. Eve and Waffle were waiting to see if it would at all snow today (along with their pets, Gomez and Siebel), which it was meant to according to the news, but he reminded them not to get their hopes up too high.
Snippy and Rose went head to head on the Wii. All Gordon knew was they were playing 'just dance 2' but he wasn't entirely concerned about that as such, for he was spending the majority of the day with Pandora. His sweet little mate, Pandora...
Oh how much he loved her, he couldn't say. Only because he loved her so much that no words could describe how much he loved her. Best of all, they we're expecting their very own kittens very soon.
He smiled.
Ever since they had found out, he had been wondering what his and Pandora's kittens would be like, as well as names for his little ones.
Hmm... He and Pandora had agreed that they'd at least name one of them Audrey, after his dear old mother. Just as a little tribute. That is if they had a daughter among their litter. He wasn't sure how many they'd be having. He was guessing around three or four. The thought made him a little bit scared to be truly honest, the thought that he'd need to take extra care looking after a litter of four or three excitable and impressionable kittens. But as long as Pandora was at his side, he was confident he'd be able to be a good father to his kittens
Robert... That sounds like a nice name for a little laddie... A Scottish one at that too.
"Ohio, love..." He would have known she was in the room before she'd even speak. He always felt her loving presence, no matter where.
He turned to face her with a loving grin. "Hello, my darling lass." He purred gently, approaching her by their bedroom door way and greeted her with a tender kiss, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, being extra careful around her tummy. He pulled away, gently bending down closer to her swollen stomach, rubbing it tenderly with the back of his index finger. He purred gently, feeling the tiny kicks of his children.
"Hello there, my little ones. Don'n worry, Daddy's here..." Pandora giggled gently as he pecked her belly and rose back up again, holding one paw over her belly still.
Pandora sighed. "Our own kittens... Can you believe it, Gordon?"
He grinned up at her, "Oh can believe it alright, lassie... I just can'n believe it'll be only a wee bit of time before they're born into the world..."
Pandora nodded, "Hai... not long now..." Gordon smiled gently, before leaning forward and gently licking her muzzle affectionately, making her giggle.
And not very long it was. It was around midnight that Pandora awoke in hers and Gordon's bed with a jolt, a new found feeling took over. Weather it was her natural cat instincts or some other force, she immediately knew something for certain. With the sudden pain growing within her belly area she could immediately tell it was time. She sat up and clutched her stomach, the stabbing pain getting worse with her each quick breaths.
She looked over towards Gordon, snoring loudly and muttering in her sleep, though she didn't quite hear him over the blood pounding in her ears, though her sudden yelps and pain filled cries where enough to awaken her mate. Gordon turned to face her and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he yawned. He gasped slightly at the sight of Pandora clutching her stomach and moaning in pain.
"L-lassie! Oh, Pandora what's wrong?" He questioned in concern, though he had a good idea what may have been happening.
"T-the kittens..." She breathed, unable to speak through the pain. Gordon was panicking, not really sure on what exactly he could do.
"Oh! Oh, umm. Uh, lie down lassie, here...!" He said, as he helped her lie down again, grabbing two pillows from his side of the bed and placing them under her head.
"Okay, okay, umm..." He gently wiped sweat from his brow as he desperately thought of what to do.
"Uh, s-stay here lass, I'll go get help!"
She gave a quick nod, breathing heavily while trying to bear the pain. Gordon leapt off the bed and ran out into the hall, knocking desperately on the first door he came across that was inhabited by his brother.
Blik suddenly opened the door. "What is it you-?" Blik's yell was cut short as Gordon hadn't quite been able to stop his fist from attempting to knock his brother awake, only to actually knock his brother on the head.
"GAH! Blik I'm sorry to wake ye at this hour-!" Blik grumbled something along the lines that his brother would be sorry as he rubbed his temple where his brother had hit him. "-But Pandora's givin' birth!" Blik's eyes widened.
"What! Why aren't you with her then!" Gordon wasn't sure whether to be surprised by Blik concerning over this, but at the moment, he didn't want to dwell on it much.
"I-I don'n know what to do! I-I'm not sure- I don'n-!" Gordon seemed to be hyperventilating, looking back and forth from his brother to the direction of his and his mate's bedroom where his mate was giving birth.
Blik grabbed Gordon's shoulders and shook him violently, "Snap out of it you haggis filled fluff bucket!" Gordon was held still by Blik as he breathed heavily, listening to his brother, eyes still wide with fright and panic.
"Look, I'll get Hovis and the others up! You get in there and help Pandora through this, okay? If it keeps you from running around the house and waking the entire world up with your knocking and yelling then it works for me!" Gordon nodded.
"Thank you, my brother!" He immediately ran back to his room. Blik sighed in slight irritation as he began to drag himself towards the attic stairs.
"Is she gonna be okay?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Rose yelled back at Eve angrily before continuing to pace back and forth.
Eve then looked up at Hovis. "Why did you need to bring those towels for Pandora? I thought she was giving birth, not having a bath."
Hovis simply rolled his eyes, "You'll know one day. Possibly." Eve stared up at him before shrugging and looking back towards Rose.
"...Is she gonna-?"
"Say one more word- No, BREATH one more word, and I'll shut you up permanently!" Eve closed her mouth backed against Waffle slightly, who gently took a hold of her paw. Both exchanged a small smile before another scream was heard from within the doors.
"...It feels like that movie where that lady got stabbed in the shower... But in a bedroom...And without the knife..." Waffle said, causing Rose to turn red in anger.
"Do you two tumble wheels-for-brains even know what's going on!"
Both the brown and grey cat looked at her for a moment before shrugging one of their shoulders. Rose simply growled in irritation.
"Just keep quiet for the rest of the night and I'll explain tomorrow."
Waffle and Eve blinked at her, before turning to each other and smiled goofily again. It was at this point, when Rose had quietened the two energetic cats, tat Rose noticed another thing.
"Hey... Hear that?"
Everyone was silent. Even the wind seemed to stop blowing for a brief second, as though to listen through the silence that could be cut with a knife.
Silence..."
"No... Screaming..." Snippy spoke after the five second silence.
"Hush!" Rose demanded, pressing her ear up against the door. Her face, which usually held an un-approving frown, slowly seemed to brighten up as the faint sound of mewing reached her ears.
A few moments later, Gordon opened the door. Everyone could clearly see a huge smile across his cheeks as well as a little tear glistening in his eye. He didn't speak, instead, he gestured for them to follow him into the room. He took his place cuddled up besides Pandora, who was curled up like an everyday cat among the pillows and blanket of the bed. The one thing that drew everyone's attention was the three bundles of orange brown and white fur snuggled against her belly.
Waffle and Eve gasped and quickly bounded over kneeling at the edge of the bed and peeking over the bed side.
"Awww! They're so cute!" They both chorused in unison. Gordon grinned down at Pandora who smiled up at him briefly before returned back to another small kitten cradled in her arms and continued to lick it clean.
The kitten Pandora was currently holding caught Eve's attention. She thought some traces of it being a girl, having the same brown fur as Pandora and long orange tail, though it wasn't that fluffy yet as it was still only a kitten. It also had an orange patch over one large green eye; some orange fur at the peak of its head seemed slightly longer, forming three little scuffles like Pandora's. More inherited features from Pandora were a fluffy white chest and back toes, along with an adorable black triangular nose.
Eve leaned closer to the small kitten which stared at the strange creature with pure curiosity. It shuffled one of its paws out from its mother's grasp and gently reached out mewing in an almost questioning way. Eve grinned, reaching a paw out as though thinking the kitten wanted to shake paws. "Hello there my little..." She paused and retracted her paw, before looking over to Pandora, "Niece or nephew?"
"Niece. Her name's Niko." She said with a smile.
Eve's face fell. "Aw, you came up with names without us?"
Pandora laughed, "Eve, you're the one who suggested the name not long ago."
Eve blinked, "I did? Eelps!"
"W-what about the o-other's names?" Snippy chimed in, peering over Waffle's shoulder at the orange kitten which was being stroked by Waffle. On a few occasions it tried trapping Waffle's paws in its grasp.
Waffle looked at the kitten closer. It was clear to see how much it was like its mummy. The same folded ears, a big white tipped tail, white cheeks, white back paws, and a small triangular nose. A few features from Gordon waffle noticed on the kitten were its orange fur, with a few streaks of white fur on its chest. It also looked slightly chubbier than the other kittens its eyes were somewhat a mix between mummy and daddy's blue and green eyes, creating a slightly turquoise colour.
Gordon spoke up this time. "The little laddie there-" He directed to the orange kitten "-Is Scotty." Waffle grinned and gently waved to the kitten. "Heya, Scotty!" Scotty mewed gently and snuggled back up against Pandora, almost as though it were scared of his uncle.
Blik frowned slightly as he noticed one of the kittens attempting to get away from the bundle and across the bed. He lowered his head closer to the kitten. It looked almost exactly like Gordon, all the way down from its fur and patch colour, to a stubby little orange tail, which wiggled curiously. The only features from Pandora Blik could make out, was the kittens fluffy cheeks as well as bright sapphire eyes which stared at him, not showing any fear towards the larger cat.
Blik raised one brow. "So which one is this?" He said, poking one finger under the kittens chin. The kitten mewed loudly and swiped at him aggressively, falling onto its side at the attempt to warn the large black cat away. Gordon chuckled gently as he lifted the kitten into a small cuddle. The kitten seemed to struggle at first but then immediately snuggled under his chin, almost as though it recognised him as its father.
"This wee lassie here is Audrey." He claimed proudly. Waffle gasped.
"You mean just like mum?"
Gordon nodded. "Aye." He set the white kitten down by with her siblings.
Rose then pointed to another kitten, cuddled by Pandora's stomach, next to it Scotty and Audrey started to gently paw each other, almost as though they were play fighting. "What about this one?"
This kitten looked almost just like Niko, except from it plain brown fluffy chest and a stubby little tail with was brown with orange tip, it's cheeks looked less fluffier than the other kittens cheeks.
"That little boy there is Robert." Pandora said.
Blik rolled his eyes, "How did I not guess you'd give at least one of your son's a Scottish name..." he said, glaring over at Gordon who simply grinned and chuckled.
"Aye, well, altogether, we have Audrey, Scotty, Robert and Niko. That's in their technical age order, eldest to youngest." He said still grinning.
"Big whoop." Blik simply muttered.
The kittens then settled back to their mummy and began to feed. Rose grinned gently.
"I think we'll leave you guys alone for a bit." Gordon smiled and nodded.
"That would be very well appreciated, lass."
At first, Eve and Waffle protested, but were simply pushed out by Blik and Snippy, who, followed by Rose, left the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Gordon and Pandora alone with their Kittens for the rest of the night and early morning, at which point, Gordon had curled up besides Pandora, their kittens resting between them. Pandora was up for a little bit before Gordon, who was already snoring away.
She smiled down as one of her kittens, Niko, was still awake, mewing and pawing at her chest.
"Not tired, Watashi no musume?" the kitten mewed, almost as though to respond.
Pandora giggled gently, "Well, Watashi no okasan, my mother, used to sing to me when I couldn't sleep. Would you like it if I sung for you, my little Niko?"
She smiled as her kitten giggled gleefully and clapped her paws in delight before nuzzling against her mother.
She sung somewhat quietly, in a smooth melodic tune, the same song she had sung before, the shining roads. It only took her to the end of the first chorus to find her youngest kitten curled up, fast asleep against her arm.
She looked out towards the window, seeing the night sky beginning to lighten as the morning rays had begun to emerge into the sky, announcing that morning was near. She turned back and looked over at her new shining road, her darling mate and kittens.
She smiled as she rested her head onto a pillow, besides her mates head.
She smiled as she closed her eyes.
"Ay-ee, Ay-ee, Ay-ee
I'm you're little butterfly,
Green, black and blue make the colours in the sky"
The music faded as the song ended.
She had found her samurai and the shinning road...
The end.
eH
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