"Wow, Softpaw, your kits are beautiful." Yellowstripe meowed excitedly. "Who's the father?"
Softpaw hesitated, but answered with certainty in her voice. "Whitefoot. He's the father of my kits."
"Congratulations Softpaw, he's a wonderful father. Should I go get him?"
Softpaw nodded. "Yes. He should be by Smallstar's den."
Yellowstripe slipped out of the den and Softpaw looked down at her two kits.
"I love you already, my kits." She whispered to the small bundles of fur beside her belly. They nuzzled more towards her trying to get warm. She curled her body around them because she was worried about them. It was the middle of leaf-bare after all. Suddenly Whitefoot burst through the entrance of the nursery and licked Softpaw lovingly on the head. "They're beautiful! What are you naming them?"
Softpaw sat deep in thought for a couple heartbeats. "The tortoiseshell she-cat will be Birdkit." She felt warmth deep inside her body; she knew her mother would approve of the name. "What should we name our son?"
Whitefoot looked like he was glowing, he was so happy. "We should name him Cloudkit, for the black splash on his chest."
Softpaw nodded in approval. "It's perfect; it looks like a cloud on his white fur. He even looks a bit like you, what a lucky little rascal."
Whitefoot actually looked like he was going to burst with emotion. "This absolutely amazing, I never thought I would be a father."
You aren't. Softpaw thought, but she immediately reprimanded herself. He is going to be their father, so he is one. She kept arguing inwardly with herself and Whitefoot looked kind of freaked out at her facial expressions so he backed out of the nursery opening and left Softpaw alone with her thoughts and the kits. Finally she stopped arguing with herself and started thinking about useful things, like how lonely she was going to be. Thrushflight and Sweetstep were long gone out of the nursery. Acornkit and Graykit had become 'paws nearly a moon ago and would probably become warriors before Softpaw would. She closed her eyes and rested her head, trying to sleep, because she heard that she would need all the sleep she could get once her kits opened their eyes. She continued thinking and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Softpaw woke with a start as she felt coldness reaching her belly fur. She sat up and couldn't find her two kits. They were only fifteen days old and were already too much for her to handle by herself. "Cloudkit, Birdkit, it's not nice to hide from me."
The mischievous duo raced into the nursery and collapsed on the floor in laughter. Softpaw smelled herbs on them and her nostrils flared in anger and in shock. "What did you eat?" She demanded.
The two stopped laughing and stared at each other, daring one another to tell on the other. Softpaw was getting sick of their games, but she had them all figured out. "Oh well, I don't care. You can both die from eating deathberries." She sighed. Birdkit looked really worried, but Cloudkit looked like he wasn't going to fall for it.
"Did you eat those little black berries?"
Birdkit's eyes widened in fright and Cloudkit's eyes flashed guiltily. Apparently only Birdkit had eaten the poppy seeds.
"Well, I guess we'll find out when you fall asleep and don't wake up." Softpaw meowed carelessly. After a while, Birdkit's eyes started to droop and each blink looked like it took longer to keep her eyes open. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and she collapsed to the floor in defeat.
"Oh no!" Cloudkit wailed. "She ate the deathberries! It's all my fault, I told her to!"
He raced out of the den and over to Whitefoot, who had heard the entire thing. He glanced exasperatedly at Softpaw and carried Cloudkit back into the nursery. "Why do you have to do that Softpaw?" He asked. Softpaw shrugged. "Well they're always getting into trouble, so I figure if I scare them enough they'll stop. And it's also kind of funny."
"It's not that funny when they wake everyone in camp up at night, when they think that the other is going to die from a stupid thing they did." He protested. Softpaw wrinkled her nose at him. "They stopped doing those stupid things, so obviously its working. She licked his nose and his gaze softened.
"I love you." He whispered quietly, and led her out of nursery and into the darkening forest, leaving the sleeping kits alone in the nursery.