Only Ralph came to see Melissa and the baby. Everyone else thought it would be best for Melissa to just have one visitor at a time. In her condition, multiple visitors might be too much. Also, Baby Kit was in the sterile neo-natal intensive care nursery, where only the parents of the sick babies were permitted.

Melissa lay quietly in the hospital bed, hooked up to an intravenous line. Ralph stared at his wife's still form and tried not to dwell on how close he'd come to losing her.

As though she sensed Ralph's presence, Melissa opened her eyes.

"Hi, honey." She reached for him with the paw that didn't have the IV stuck in it.

"Hi," Ralph said. His fingers entwined with his wife's. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine, just tired," Melissa whispered. "How's the baby?"

"She's fighting," Ralph said, trying to smile. He couldn't bring himself to tell Melissa that their daughter was in an incubator, and not only hooked up to an IV line but also a ventilator. The bay had looked so tiny and helpless. According to the doctor, Kit hadn't even cried when she was born. Her lungs weren't developed enough.

"I want to see her," Melissa said, her voice a little stronger.

"Soon," Ralph said, squeezing Melissa's paw. "When you're better." Hopefully Kit would be better soon, Ralph didn't want Melissa to see how small, sick, silent and still Kit was. Ralph hadn't even been allowed to hold Kit because she was so fragile. He hoped Melissa would get to hold her.

As if the Raccoons and their friends didn't have enough to worry about already, the snow came down even harder. It would be too dangerous to drive, so they were all stuck at the hospital until the weather cleared.

Everyone else was in the hospital cafeteria. Ralph's family was at one table, while Bert stayed at another table with the sheepdogs, and with Cedric and Sophia.

Cedric and Sophia quietly drank hot chocolate.

"I'm glad you're here, Sophia," Cedric said.

"I wish I'd come back for something happier," Sophia said, wiping away a tear. "I was going to come over for Melissa's baby shower. That was supposed to be a month from now."

"I know," Cedric said. He felt like he might also cry, and he made sure he had a cloth to clean his glasses, just in case. Crying made the lenses blotchy.

Bert was drinking coffee, and it was starting to make him jittery.

"You're not used to coffee, are you, Bert?" Schaeffer asked gently.

"I-I have to stay awake," Bert muttered, his eyes twitching and his hands shaking. "Can't sleep. Don't wanna sleep. Don't deserve to sleep." How could he sleep when his friends were suffering?

"I can get you some water, instead," Schaeffer suggested.

"I'll get it," Cedric volunteered, and he stood up. "I was going to get up anyway. I think I should look for Pop; I haven't seen him in hours. I hope he didn't try to drive home in this storm."

Cyril paced around in the waiting room. In one hand, he had his new mobile phone, and he held his cigar in the other hand, not caring that the cigar wasn't allowed.

"No, I don't know when I'll be back!" he yelled at whatever pig had answered the phone (Cyril never was able to tell the pigs apart. After befriending the pigs' mother, Suey-Ellen had admitted that even she couldn't tell which son was which). "You dim-witted disasters just remember not to destroy the place like you did the last time I was in the hospital! And remember to walk Snag! I KNOW IT'S SNOWING, BUT HE STILL HAS TO-"

"Mr Sneer!" Nurse Peck exclaimed. "Keep your voice down, and please put out that cigar!" She pointed at signs which said "Quiet, Please" and "No Smoking."

"I can read!" Cyril snapped. He gave a forceful push to a button on his phone, ending the call, and he stubbed out the cigar-on this leg, which hurt. He yelped, then stormed off towards the cafeteria.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE-oh."

Cyril had bumped into Ralph.

"Sorry, Cyril," Ralph mumbled. "I must have been distracted."

"I know," Cyril said awkwardly. "How are they?"

"Melissa's stable," Ralph said with a sigh, "and once the storm clears, she should go home in a few days. But the baby...she'll have to stay longer."

"I'm...sorry," Cyril said, not used to saying that word. "I actually understand what you're going through."

"How could you?" Ralph snapped, nearing his breaking point. Everything had gone wrong today, and in his worried, sleep-deprived state, he figured Cyril was just being arrogant and making things worse on purpose.

Now Cyril felt angry again.

"Look, Raccoon, you're not the only one who's had to go through something like this! At least your wife will be fine! Some peoples' wives aren't that lucky!"

Ralph was taken aback. Cyril himself was surprised that he'd let that thought slip out, and he covered his mouth, even though it was too late to take those words back.

"Pop?"

Cedric sprinted over and stepped between Ralph and Cyril, worried that things might escalate.

"Come on, Pop, let's take a walk."

Cyril allowed Cedric to lead him away.

Ralph went to the cafeteria. Bert had crashed from the coffee and had finally gone to sleep, being watched carefully by Schaeffer. Broo whined with concern for his friend. Bert had tipped his coffee over, and Sophia was wiping it off the table.

The coffee Bert had spilled reminded Ralph of Melissa. Melissa had been friends with Ralph and Bert since childhood, but then her family had moved away from the Evergreen Forest, and they lost touch for years. Then one day, Ralph had spilled coffee on a lady raccoon in a restaurant, and that lady turned out to be a grown-up Melissa.

Cyril suddenly felt like an old man. The years of smoking had aged him faster, along with the trauma of certain family tragedies. As a little boy, his big brother Simon had disappeared, and his parents had mourned the loss of their eldest son very much, and the lack of closure. Cyril had wondered if he wasn't a good enough consolation for his parents because he was adopted, and Simon was their "real" son. Cyril had hoped he would never lose anyone again, but no such luck.

"Are you okay, Pop?" Cedric asked, noting how odd it was for his father to be this quiet.

"Fine, son," Cyril said, though he was still distracted. "Just worried that those hedonistic ham hocks are lazing around when they should be housesitting."

"Is something else bothering you, Pop?" Cedric persisted.

"No." Cyril said it so sharply that Cedric decided to drop the subject for now. He decided to talk about reconnecting with Sophia, and how nice it was to see her again, though he wished it had been under better circumstances.

Cyril snorted.

"She gets a scholarship to some big figure-skating academy, and suddenly she's too good for my son and breaks up with you. Now she comes crawling back."

"That's not true, Pop," Cedric said, a little sternly. "We just didn't think a long-distance relationship would work, so we took a break. Not a break-up."

It had certainly seemed like a break-up to Cyril. After Sophia left, Cedric spent an entire week unwilling to do any accounting or even eat his favourite chocolate pudding, which his poor old Pop had taken time out of his busy schedule to make for his only son.

Cedric added, "She's thinking about coming back to stay."

"Oh," Cyril said, "that's...nice."

Cedric had expected his pop would have more of an opinion on this matter, but also noticed how tired Cyril looked.

Then, Cyril surprised Cedric by taking both of his son's hands.

"Don't take her for granted, son. I mean it."

"I won't, Pop," Cedric said. "I promise."

This made Cyril feel a little better. For all his faults, keeping promises was important to him, and he'd made sure Cedric understood that. He knew he could trust Cedric.