Chapter Twenty-Six

Ravenpaw's P.O.V.:

I licked my paw, running it through my fur anxiously. I glanced at my reflection in a puddle lying in the twoleg's yard. Couldn't my fur lie any flatter? My stomach leaped. Despite the long and terrible waiting, excitement was not the only emotion playing with my mind. I was jittery and nervous, forcing my paws to tremble.

"You look fine," Barley assured me with the roll of his eyes. "Calm down."

"I'm perfectly calm," I lied, my tail lashing.

"You're as jumpy as a rabbit, and you know it," rebuked Barley.

"I'm just nervous," I confessed, beginning to pace.

"You know she loves you," he pointed out with a shrug. "She said so herself. What do you have to worry about?"

"What if she didn't mean it?" I blurted without slowing my pace. "Did you see how much blood she had lost? For StarClan's sake, she could hardly keep her eyes open!"

Barley's eyes softened, and he wrapped his tail around my back, forcing me to stop. "She meant it," the black-and-white spotted tom meowed seriously.

"How do you know that?" I asked desperately.

Before he could answer, his eyes flitted to the door. I followed his gaze and watched as Violet and Sunny, the one and only thing that had been on my mind for more time than I could care to count, came through the flap in the backdoor. As the she-cat limped forward into the garden, I was suddenly paralyzed.

"Go on," Barley whispered, nudging me.

Paws heavy as boulders, I padded toward Sunny. Both too lengthily and too quickly, I stood less than a tail's length away from the injured she-cat. She was covered in scratches and cuts. A pink scar ran down her face, and her stomach appeared almost raw. Yet, through it all, she was still beautiful.

"Hello," I breathed at last.

My heart thudded inside of my chest. What if I was right? What if she had never truly meant was she said? What if she had never felt anything for me? What if-?

"Is that all I get?" Sunny demanded, interrupting my thoughts. "A 'hello'?" Her eyes were narrowed and unreadable.

I gulped. "Uh, well, um," I stammered, not sure what to say. "I missed you?" I added uncertainly.

Sunny was suddenly pressed against me, nuzzling her head into my chest. There was a hint of laughter in her voice when she purred, "I missed you, too, mouse breath." She twined her tail with mine.

For the briefest of moments, I stood stiffly in shock. What in the name of StarClan was with this she-cat? She was unpredictable, reckless, confusing, beautiful, lovely, amazing, breath-taking…I relaxed and purred weakly, cradling Sunny gently. In that moment, I knew that she had meant every word. She truly loved me, as crazy as it sounded.

After a few long moments, I stepped back, and we found sunny patch of grass to sit in. Barley followed and stretched out lazily in the sunlight. Violet, however, hesitated.

"Violet?" called Barley. "Won't you come join us?"

Violet nodded, slowly trudging away from her place in the garden.

"What's wrong, Violet?" asked Sunny, who was close enough to me that our pelts brushed.

Violet stared at her paws. "I didn't tell you everything, Sunny," she finally meowed.

Sunny stiffened. "What do you mean?"

Violet pawed at the grass. "I've lived with my house folk for many years," she began unwillingly. "I can understand much of their language now."

"And?" I burst out after a few moments of silence.

"And the night Sunny arrived here," the pale she-cat continued, "they were examining her wounds and healing her the best they could, but they kept saying something about how the gashes were too deep..."

"Go on," Sunny meowed tightly.

Violet looked up, meeting her daughter's gaze unwaveringly. She glanced at me for the briefest of moments, sympathy flashing in her eyes. "Sunny," she meowed softly, "you will never be able to have kits."

A/N: I'm so soooo sorry I wasn't able to update when I promised to a few days ago. Honestly, I was in the MIDDLE of updating it on Thursday when I was suddenly hit with vertigo or something. For the last 3 days, I've felt insanely dizzy, but I'm mostly better now, so I decided to finally update. Sowwy. :c