"Sterling! Sterling! Sterling?!"
It had been a week since Dew Petal had received the news. Of course they were Sterling's, she hadn't gotten close to any other tom.
The week had been filled with various storms and flooding, today the rain had finally let up. Clouds were still dark and strong and threatened to break again at anytime. She stumbled over the fence, new roundness of her belly on her already very-rotund body not very helpful.
She regained her breath and looked around. The garden was full of puddles. She opened her jaws to try and catch a faint scent of the tom. Instead what hit her was something sweet-smelling that made her mouth water. She followed her mouth slowly, but before she got far a meow stopped her. Dew Petal and froze and spun around, looking upward.
A gray tabby sat in the tree in the neighbor's yard, head on his paws, legs and tail swinging lazily.
"Don't drink that."
"Whatever is it? It smells like honeysuckles."
"It's antifreeze," the tom answered, Dew Petal padded closer and sat under him, "After it rained last night, the neighbor on that side-" the tom pointed with his tail to the den behind them, Dew Petal turned to look, "Snuck some in this morning."
"Why would they do that?"
The tom shrugged, "Hates cats. Antifreeze is poison, you know."
"Oh…" Dew Petal mewed, looking through Sterling's windows and hoping she could see him, "Do you know where Sterling is?"
The tom shrugged again, "ER, I'd hope."
Dew Petal blinked and tilted her head. "Eee-ahrr?"
"Sure," said the tom with a light laugh, "He took a drink of it."
Dew Petal felt her heart sink. "W-well, do you know when he'll come back?"
"No clue," he huffed, smile still not leaving his face, "Better to hope he comes back at all than worry about when."
Dew Petal's eyes went wide and she took several seconds to respond, kneading the mud underneath her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well," mewed the tom, flicking his ear as a breeze kicked a leaf into it, "If he's lucky, he'll come back but he won't be an outdoor cat anymore."
Dew Petal flattened her ears to his head. "And if he's not lucky?"
"I guess you won't be seeing him whatsoever."
Dew Petal dug her claws deep into the soil and hung her head. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears and up against her chest. She rose her paws and pressed them to her ears, desperate to stomp out the ringing. Once it was gone, she panted.
"Well, um, th-thank your for the… information… um," she looked back up, "I don't believe I ever got your name."
"Fritz. You?"
"Dew Petal."
Fritz, for once in the conversation, showed a hint of emotion, tilting his head in confusion. "Dew Petal? What a strange name."
Dew Petal shrugged, "I can say the same for you."
Fritz tilted his head, "Touché," was all he said, raising up and turning away from the she-cat, sliding off his tree. Dew Petal took that as enough reason she'd better go back.
(...)
Dew Petal took more after Star Flower than she thought she did. It had been little before a week, and Dew Petal's kits were coming early. A stick splintered between her teeth and her claws sank deep into moss. Soon enough, Dew Petal stopped to breath and a loud, high-pitched yowl rang throughout the nursery.
Suddenly filled with energy, Dew Petal sat up and looked back to Acorn Fur, licking a kitten. It-
It looks just like Sterling.
Satisfied with her cleaning, Acorn Fur placed the bundle at her belly. "Congratulations!"
Dew Petal sighed and nodded, looking down at her kitten.
"It's beautiful," whispered Star Flower. "Do you have a name?"
Dew Petal blinked and curled her plumey tail around the kit, "I'd like to name them Birch Pelt."
Star Flower purred. Acorn Fur nodded.
"You know, Dew Petal," Acorn Fur mewed, "Skystar's been talking to me about… a standardized naming system. You know, he thinks it's a bit weird leaders get a part of their name replaced with star and he really liked his Clear."
"Okay?"
"Yeah. He's going to talk about it with the other leaders, but for now he thinks that for their first six moons, kittens get the last name kit. Like, Birchkit."
"And?"
"And after those six moons they get their full name, like Birch Pelt."
Dew Petal purred. Not the worst opinion her father had. "I suppose," she yawned, "We'll see if the other leaders agree."
(...)
Another storm had kicked up. It'd been a week since Fritz had talked to that pretty little she-cat. Now Fritz had his own kitten at his paws.
It's mother's name was Checkers, she lived several houses away and now she'd never return to her owners. The rain had already washed the blood from her pelt and the kit, but that didn't make her any less dead.
D'ya think Dew Petal has had her kits? Fritz shrugged internally and picked up the kitten by the scruff, Worth a shot, anyhow.
The raindrops fell heavy on Fritz's back, not that he really minded.
He wasn't even that sure why he cared about the kit so much. He'd fathered kits before- at least one of the cats he'd mated with must have had some. It was probably the fact Checkers had died right in front of him, thinking back, and just how much the kitten looked like her.
Checkers had a pale underbelly and tan black with black spots. The kitten had a pale underbelly, dove-gray back and spots the color of Fritz's gray stripes.
"Halt, trespasser!" came a voice. Looking up, Fritz saw a small, young-looking cream-and-white tom sitting in front of a bramble tunnel. He puffed out his chest, trying to look more important that he was. "State your business!"
Fritz lifted his head up, fully showing the kitten in his jaws. The tom's eyes went wide and he moved from the tunnel, motioning for Fritz to enter. He bent his head over the kit, who cried with every step. Immediately out of the tunnel, the tom led him toward the nursery, where Dew Petal was napping inside. The tom shook her awake and Fritz placed the kit at her belly, alongside a kitten who looked just like Sterling.
So that's why she was so worried about him.
"Fritz."
"Hi, so, uh, my kit's mom died."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Yeah. Well, I was wondering if you would nurse it?"
"Only if you come and visit."
Fritz shifted his paws uncertainty. "...fine," he grumbled after a moment. "What will you name him?"
"You don't want to?"
"I wouldn't know."
Dew Petal lifted her head and looked down at the kit. "What do you think about Splashing Rain?"
Fritz shrugged, and, hesitating a moment, placed his nose to the kit and nodded to Dew Petal, backing out of the den.