Diego looked at the six cubs around him. He had leaned them, making sure they were presentable.
"Remember, I want you all to behave yourselves", he said.
"But dad", Hunter whined. "Grown up parties are so boring! There's never anything to do."
The other cubs nodded as they started to grumble. Diego looked at them and sighed. How Frida was able to put up with their behavior, she would never know. He walked with the cubs to the decorated opening in the valley. Diego sighed in relief to see Frida with everyone else waiting for Manny.
"Hey", he said. "The cubs missed you."
"Hey, mom", the cubs mumbled, not wanting to be there.
Frida looked at them with a smile, happy to see Diego had taken care of them. She looked at him and sighed.
"What would I do without you?"
They looked up as Manny started looking around, finding it too quiet.
"Ellie! Peaches! Where is everyone?"
Ellie took this chance to come out of the tree she was hiding in. All of the animals in the valley came out of their hiding places.
"SURPRISE!"
Music played as everyone cheered, beginning the celebration.
"Happy anniversary, honey!" Ellie smiled.
"Anniversary?" Manny mumbled.
Frida gasped and looked at Diego surprised. Manny forgot their anniversary? Diego looked at her and shrugged. He wasn't expecting Manny to forget something as important as this.
"Okay, your turn, bro-dad!" Julian smiled as everyone waited to see Manny's gift to Ellie.
"Manny! Manny! Manny!"
Everyone cheered as they waited for Manny's surprise. Frida looked at him disappointed and shook her head. That was possibly the worst thing a husband could do to his wife. Everyone stopped cheering as Manny turned to Ellie.
"How about another hand for Ellie?" he nervously said.
"He forgot!" everyone gasped. "I feel so bad for Ellie…"
Everyone gasped and stopped what they were doing when they heard an explosion. Everyone looked up at the sky to see lights exploding into different colors. Frida looked at Diego and looked back at the sky.
"What is that?" she asked.
"I don't know", Diego said. "But everyone seems to think that was Manny's idea. Come on, let's go eat."
"What are we supposed to do?" Dom asked as the cubs looked at them unhappy.
"Why don't you go play with those kids over there?" Frida suggested, looking at the other kids that were there.
The two adults smiled as they picked up a batch of berries to eat, being polite enough not to hunt any animals during the party.
"So, listen Frida", Diego started. "I wanted to apologize for making you leave earlier today. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"I just wish sometimes you could take responsibility for the kids the way I do", Frida said. "I mean, I'm always the one who bathes them. I make sure they're punished when they do anything wrong. All you do is just hunt for them."
He looked at his mate with a sigh. Taking care of the cubs made him tired and he could understand what she went through. Diego licked her cheek softly and nuzzled her. Frida looked at her husband and smiled as she nuzzled him back. The two of them turned and watched as their cubs sat by themselves, watching the other kids play. It was almost as if they didn't want to go play.
"I worry about the kids", Frida said. "I wish they had some friends."
"Why don't they have friends?" Diego asked. "Sure, they're sabers, but they're just cubs. I'd understand if they were like us, but they're not."
The two of them stepped closer to try and hear what the kids were saying.
"You know…" Amber said. "Sometimes I wish we weren't sabers."
"Yeah", Aiden said. "Everyone's either scared of us or laughing at us. Calling us little kitties, asking when we're going to grow up into mom and dad."
"Or saying we're not allowed to play because we'd hurt everyone with our claws and teeth. It's not fair."
"Yeah…" the cubs sighed.
Diego and Frida looked at each other, worried about their cubs.