"How's it look?" Donkey called.
"There's hay everywhere," Eclair called back.
"Take your time, just try not to sneeze!"
He smiled as his kids chortled at his advice. Looking down he saw Puss walking into the room, looking distracted. "Hey, you okay?"
Puss jumped nervously and Donkey immediately recognized the look of guilt. "Uh, yeah. Yes, I'm fine."
Donkey plopped into a sitting position. "Hey, man, I get it. Just tell 'em it was a accident."
"That is all there is to it," Puss snapped. "It does not matter how this happened." He sighed, extending his paws. "They will hate me, not like I could blame them. If I had kittens..."
"Puss, man, stop. That ain't gonna help."
"What makes you think trying to see it in their perspective cannot help?" Puss demanded. "That is what an apology is. And you have no idea how sorry I am." His voice broke and he suddenly averted his eyes. Donkey folded his ears back, startled by the sudden display of emotion; and the pair was quiet.
A loud thump from above scared them both. All at once, hay fell through the hole Fiona had made, landing on Donkey and catching on his fur. As he was looking down at himself, Puss reached over and began plucking them out.
Donkey's expression softened as Puss voluntarily helped him, something that had certainly seemed impossible in the beginning. "I know you didn't mean it," he said quietly. "I'll stand up for ya."
His words only seemed to inexplicably hurt him. "This is not your battle," Puss answered, as he continued plucking out the hay.
"It shouldn't be yours either. It was just a mistake."
"Will you get it through your head? There will be not be a happily ever after this time, Donkey."
"I didn't say they'd be happy!"
Puss put one hand on his own hip, then dropped his paw just as quickly. "Alright, fine, you didn't say one sentence in all the English language. It does not make you right. If they lived a thousand years, they would never forgive me."
"Well, whatcha gonna do?" Donkey asked, turning to face Puss as he walked away.
"I need to...I need to just...be alone for a bit."
"Alright, but listen, don't stray too far. Last thing we need is ten fewer eyes than usual."
Puss gave a slight nod as he walked sluggishly from the room. As he was going through the doorway, he ducked as Coco flew in over his head.
"You find her?" Donkey asked.
"No!" Coco shook her head so fervently that her ears swayed. "It was a different dragon."
Donkey's initial expression of disbelief quickly hardened into a look of anger, and suddenly he scared everybody by shouting, "Go find your mother!"
The hybrids buzzed out of the hut, and as Donkey tried to calm down Farkle and Felicia, whom he had made cry; Puss slowly pushed the door shut.