"Oh, for the love of all the stars above!"

Fireheart gritted her teeth as another wave of pain wracked her body, resisting the urge to utter a few words that should never be repeated in front of kits. Granted, there weren't any kits in the nursery as of yet, but she wasn't sure if her unborn children could hear what she was saying. Regardless, she didn't want their first word to be a curse–but did giving birth have to be so painful?

On the other hand, kits were usually born knowing how to speak anyway, so the chances of that happening were low.

"Why in the name of all things did StarClan have to make this so painful?" Fireheart demanded as Featherwhisker felt along her belly to see how the birth was progressing. "Is this a punishment of some sort? How does any queen manage this? Actually, forget that, how does any queen manage this more than once?"

"You're doing wonderfully, Fireheart," Rosetail meowed soothingly, which only served to infuriate the flame-colored queen even further.

"Don't you dare tell me I'm doing wonderfully! Not until you have to suffer through this!" Fireheart screeched. "My insides are splitting open! Can one of you tell this kit to hurry up already? Bluefur, get that stick out of my face this instant!"

Bluefur quickly retracted the stick she had placed beside Fireheart's mouth. Fireheart let out another yowl of pain as another contraction seized her body, digging her claws into her nest. The entrance to the nursery rustled and she managed to glance up to see Leopardfoot entering with a bundle of wet moss.

"How are things going?" Leopardfoot asked, dropping the bundle of moss at Fireheart's paws.

"Slow going, and I think it's starting to take a toll on her," Bluefur meowed, her whiskers twitching with a mixture of sympathy and amusement. "Tigerclaw was in here at the start, but Fireheart screamed at him to get out."

"I'm right here, you know," Fireheart grumbled.

Featherwhisker continued feeling along her belly, muttering to himself occasionally. The medicine cat's expression was serious but not worried, which reassured Fireheart. If he thought all was going well, then her kit was probably doing just fine. Even so, that didn't stop her from wanting to claw his ears off. Not that he had done anything wrong, but being in this much pain made her want to claw everyone's ears off.

"How do you feel?" Featherwhisker asked.

"With my paws, you idiot!" Fireheart snarled back.

Another contraction hit, and she screeched in agony. Gasping for breath, Fireheart stared down at the wet moss at her paws. Her throat felt dry and sore, but she couldn't even begin to imagine drinking anything at this point. She was in too much pain to think about doing much of anything.

Finally, after what felt like moons of waiting, Featherwhisker suddenly exclaimed, "It's coming! I see it! Alright, Fireheart, I need you to start pushing."

Fireheart clenched her teeth and did as Featherwhisker had instructed. For a moment, she thought she could feel something moving, but she wasn't quite sure if it was real or just a figment of her imagination. Considering the state she was in, anything seemed possible.

She was going to kill Tigerclaw when he came back. How dare he leave her when she was giving birth to his kits?

"You're almost there, Fireheart! Just keep pushing!" Featherwhisker encouraged her.

Oh, wait a moment. I kicked him out, didn't I?

"It's almost here! Just one more push should do the trick," the medicine cat meowed urgently.

Gritting her teeth, Fireheart summoned up what strength she had left and pushed as hard as she could one last time. As she did so, a wet bundle tumbled onto the mossy nest. She glanced down, watching as Bluefur began licking the kit while Featherwhisker felt along her belly to see if there were any more kits coming.

"Are there any more?" Rosetail asked.

"That's it," Featherwhisker announced, placing the now-mewling kitten at Fireheart's belly, where she latched on and began suckling. "Congratulations, Fireheart. You have a healthy daughter."

But Fireheart barely heard a word the gray tom was saying. Her attention was focused entirely on her newborn daughter suckling at her belly. The little molly was a tortoiseshell, and Fireheart knew that she would grow up to be a beautiful warrior one day. Instinctively, she curled her tail protectively around her kit.

"She's gorgeous, Fireheart," Bluefur murmured.

"Thank you," Fireheart purred. "Will one of you get Tigerclaw for me?"

"I'll go get him," Leopardfoot volunteered, slipping out of the nursery.

Barely a heartbeat later, the black-furred warrior reentered with Tigerclaw following close behind. The dark tabby glanced around the nursery, his eyes lighting up as they fell upon his mate and newborn kit. Knocking Rosetail aside, he rushed over to get a better look.

"She's beautiful," Tigerclaw purred, licking Fireheart's forehead before gently touching his nose to their daughter's ear. "What do you want to name her?"

"How about Stormkit?" Fireheart suggested, glancing up at the dark tabby warrior.

"It's perfect," her mate murmured.

Fireheart nodded and looked down at her daughter. "Welcome to the world, Stormkit," she whispered.

The next morning, Fireheart awoke to a tiny paw prodding her side. Blinking her eyes open, she glanced down to see Stormkit staring at her with wide eyes. She purred and gently licked the small molly atop her head.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Fireheart whispered.

"Good morning," Stormkit chirped happily.

Fireheart gazed at her daughter for a few moments. The little molly's eyes were blue, but she knew that all kits were born with blue eyes and that Stormkit's would probably change within a moon. Briefly, she wondered whether she would get Fireheart's green eyes or Tigerclaw's amber ones.

A few nests away, Bluefur slowly began to stir. Before Fireheart could say or do anything, Stormkit bounded over to the blue-gray queen and peered into her face. Bluefur opened her eyes slowly, letting out a yelp of surprise when she saw how close Stormkit was.

"Hello!" Stormkit meowed cheerfully.

"Stormkit! Apologize right now," Fireheart scolded. "I'm sorry about that, Bluefur. She's just curious."

"It's alright, Fireheart," Bluefur reassured her. She touched her nose gently to Stormkit's ear. "Hello, little one. I see you've opened your eyes."

"Of course!" Stormkit proclaimed, looking rather proud of herself.

Bluefur purred with amusement. "Well, I can see you're going to grow up to be quite the warrior, aren't you?"

Stormkit pointed with her tail towards Fireheart. "That's my mama," she meowed importantly, as though introducing someone deserving of high respect.

"Yes, it is," Bluefur meowed, her eyes gleaming.

"Where are your kits?" the little tortoiseshell asked, looking around to try to spot the unborn litter. "I don't see them. Are they playing hide and seek? Can I play too?"

"They won't be here for a bit. But soon," the blue-gray molly promised her. "And once they're born, you can play with them as much as you want."

Fireheart chuckled as her daughter's eyes lit up and she squealed with excitement. Even though several seasons had passed, she could still remember being just as excitable as a kit. It was clear that Stormkit was going to grow up to be an inquisitive cat–hardly a day old, and she was already hopping nests. She wondered what her warrior name would be, then brushed the thought aside. There would be plenty of time to think about that later. For now, she was content to just sit by and enjoy the next six moons she would have with her precious kit at her side.

So I checked the results and Stormkit was the pretty clear winner. But don't worry, the others will make an appearance later in the story! After all, there needs to be a little one named Beekit.

Stormkit is quite the little troublemaker, lol. She takes after her mother.

Thanks for reading!

-TheShadowedWarrior