Sootheart leaned into Rosepetal as he fully absorbed the shock of the news he'd just heard. His sister? Leaving ThunderClan for ShadowClan? How could she?

"Sootheart, there's nothing you could've done to stop her." Rosepetal murmured in his ear. Her breath was extremely hot and her breathing shallow.

"Shh… You need to rest. You need to get better." Rosepetal had gotten whitecough a sunrise ago. It really worried Sootheart-not only for the safety of her, but for the safety of their kits.

"Sootheart, go hunt or take a walk and clear your mind. I'll watch Rosepetal," Jayfeather meowed. His eyes were dark-he had not taken the news well.

"Thanks, Jayfeather." The dark gray tom rose to his paws and exited the medicine den. When he got out into the clearing, he began to look for Twigfall to talk to her.

Then he remembered with a pang that she wasn't there anymore.

"Need someone to talk to?" Sootheart whipped around and saw Bluesong looking at him.

"Yeah. I really miss her." She nodded.

"I know. It's hard to miss other cats. I miss the closeness I used to share with one." Sootheart tipped his head to one side.

"Who?" Bluesong shuffled her paws and then looked up at the tom. Her eyes betrayed the emotions her body was so desperately trying to hide.

"You. I thought we'd be together… But clearly you had other thoughts…" For the first time, Sootheart knew why Bluesong had been so cold to him lately. Why she never talked to him anymore or why she dreaded going on patrols with him. He never knew he'd hurt her this way.

"Bluesong, I had no idea-"

"Of course you didn't. I was foolish. I never gave you the signs or anything, so really it's my fault." Sorrow edged her voice as she dug her claws into the earth.

"I never meant to hurt you. I'm really sorry." Bluesong looked up at Sootheart.

"No worries. Anyway, did you want to talk about Twigfall?" Sootheart shook his head. All along he'd thought he liked Bluesong but never made his move. Instead he'd settled for Rosepetal and now he discovered he actually could've had a shot with the cat he had liked since he was an apprentice. Heartbreaking.

But he loved Rosepetal now. More so than he would ever love any cat. She meant the world to him.

Sootheart pushed into the medicine den and laid down beside Rosepetal. He laid his tail over her swollen belly and huddled as close to her as he could.

"I'll leave you two in peace." He hadn't even noticed Spiderleg beside Rosepetal when he came in.

Spiderleg and Daisy had had a recent falling out when Daisy accused her mate of not caring about her or their kits.

"So you're so involved with your warrior duties that you can't even find time to spend with your children or me?" Daisy had yowled at Spiderleg..

"They're warriors now! They don't need you or I with them all the time," Spiderleg hissed.

"Even though they are warriors now doesn't mean they wouldn't appreciate talking to you every once in a while!" Daisy's fur bristled along her spine and she arched her back.

"Oh come on, do you think they like being smothered by you all the time?" Spiderleg ranted about how she was always so devoted to the kits to ever spend time with him anymore.

"You know what, we're through." Daisy had stormed away and left Spiderleg alone, anxious eyes blazing across his pelt.

The father left Sootheart with Rosepetal.

"Rosepetal, you can pull through. I know you can." Sootheart shared tongues with her all night and all the nest day. She seemed to be getting better as time went on, and Jayfeather said she might be healthy by the time her kits come to make the kitting process easier on her.

"I don't know what you did or how you did it, but it worked," Jayfeather said to his son after he said that Rosepetal was free to move back into the nursery.

No sooner than she had got there, Rosepetal collapsed and complained of a great pain in her lower stomach. Sootheart rushed to find Jayfeather.

"I don't know, she just said her stomach hurt really bad," the gray tom mewed anxiously as Jayfeather gathered some herbs and squeezed out of the den. The medicine cat hustled into the nursery, and Sootheart followed him.

"Eat these." Jayfeather coaxed Rosepetal into swallowing the herbs. She laid her head back down and let her parched tongue flop out of her mouth. "Get her some moss soaked in water."

Sootheart nodded and raced into the forest. He collected the most lush, fresh clumps of moss he could find and drenched them in the stream. He ran back to camp, trying to shake as little water as possible from the moss.

Rosepetal lapped at the moss gratefully when her mate dropped it beside her head.

"How long will it be?" Jayfeather looked up at his son and then back at his patient.

"At least until moonhigh, considering she hasn't had kits before and she's having four," he meowed as he pressed his paw gently to her belly. Little paws prodded at their mother's side from the inside. "I'll let you know when they are coming. Go eat and rest for a little while."

Sootheart tried, but he couldn't rest. Finally, Jayfeather called out into the clearing.

"Sootheart, the kits are coming."