there she goes }{ (Smokeheart's Kitting.)

[Sydney]

[/i] to. She was glad, and lucky, though, that Icepelt had been there to help her through some of it. She was glad for his company, grateful for it.

Grateful he was claiming these kits as his own.

(They weren't, of course. They were Alfa's kits, that rotten crowfood's, kits. She was sure of this.)

But, at least the kits would have a good father figure, whenever they got here.

Whenever being the key word. Feathercloud wasn't so sure how far along she was right now but, Smokeheart was sure she'd be having them any day now. Tawnykit, just days from receiving her apprentice ceremony, had taken quite an interest in her, too. The kit had left the medicine cat den not too long ago and, had since been following her around, making sure she was getting ready to have kits. It was kind of cute but, then, it kind of wasn't.

Currently, though, Tawnykit had gone out to organize Feathercloud's herbs while the medicine cat was out. So, Smokeheart was left alone in the nursery. It was nearly empty, Dusk-kit off somewhere alongside her mother, Fireshadow was gone as well, and Poppyfrost and her brood were out getting their first glances of the forest outside ShadowClan camp. Ivykit and Adderkit, who had become sort of foster kits of all the queens, were with them.

It was peaceful, for once. And comfortable. Smokeheart figured she could even maybe sleep in peace, for once. A nap before the others would be nice-

Ow.

What was that?

Wincing, the gray cat shifted her position, turning her head over to glance at her stomach. There had been a sudden, sharp pain there and-

Ow. There it was again. What on earth could be-

Oh no. Ohnoohno. Not now! Not while Feathercloud was gone and-

Yowling as another spasm hit her stomach, the she-cat curled up, grinding her teeth together as the pain began to die away. She couldn't do this, she couldn't do this-

”Smokeheart! Are you okay?”

”Does it look like I'm alright?!” Frowning as Tawnykit backed up, the queen let out another yelp, trying to curl up even more.

”The kits are coming, aren't they?”

”No. Duh.”

Tawnykit seemed to frown, before approaching the side of the gray queen. Smokeheart would be grateful for her help later but, right now, she wasn't in the mood to be thankful for anything.

- - -

She couldn't tell you how long the first spasms had lasted. It had seemed like forever, and most of that forever had been spent with her snapping at Tawnykit or cursing Icepelt for not showing up the moment the labor started. Eventually, though, the pain began to quicken, right around the time Tawnykit mentioned something about the first kit coming.

There had been an unnerving silence with the first one's birth, followed by a tiny 'squelch' as it hit the ground. Tawnykit had moved to pull the little kit over to Smokeheart as soon as she was born, so Smokeheart could break the sack. That took little to no time, though, the spams of pain continued even during that.

The first born was a tiny, ginger she-cat. (She-cat according to Tawnykit, at least.) There didn't seem to be any meat on her, and, it worried Smokeheart how she didn't move. ”Is she dead?!” Holding back another yelp, the gray she-cat watched as Tawnykit looked up from licking the little kit (she had taken over once it was apparent there was another kit coming), blinking.

”I- Uhm- No. She's alive.”

Well, it didn't look like it.

”Are you sure-”

”Ah! Get ready! The second one is coming.”

Great.[/ul]

[Kitty]

The moment he'd heard the news, Icepelt had been there.

Of course, that moment had been delayed by the patrol he'd been on, so by the time he'd arrived back to camp, he was among the last to hear the news.

Smokeheart had begun her kitting.

And that was when he'd shown up outside the nursery, pacing worriedly. He didn't want to disturb. These kits weren't his, of course, but he'd made a promise to take care of them like they were his own. He and Smokeheart weren't even mates, officially. When he'd made the promise it had been between friends. Perhaps it was foolish, but it was the right thing to do.

Even though they weren't his kits, he was still worried for them, for Smokeheart, praying to StarClan that everything was going alright.

Smokeheart's voice reached his ears after what seemed like moons of pacing back and forth. "Is it dead?" Oh no. Oh no.

His panicked worry was bitten off sharply by Tawnykit's voice, though. "I - um - no. She's alive." She, the first kit was a she. How adorable. Icepelt dared to poke his head inside, just as Tawnykit announced the second's soon arrival. Hopefully this kit knew what she was doing. She wasn't even the medicine cat apprentice yet, and Feathercloud was still out of camp...

Within a heartbeat, Icepelt had crossed the nursery. He would be there for the rest of the kits' births. Looking at Smokeheart was hard, though, panting and eyes glistening. But one little ginger bundle was nestled up on the ground.

After a moment, he leaned in to Tawnykit. "Is there anything I can do?"

[Sydney]

[/i]. She was half tempted to ask him what took him so long but, another sharp spasm of pain in her lower abdomen kept her from speaking. Groaning, the she-cat's eyes rolled back a bit, her paws clawing at the air as she started on pushing the second kit out. From her position beside her, Tawnykit blinked up at Icepelt, ears pulling back. She actually didn't know much about kitting- she was going on everything she remember from Poppyfrost's kitting.

If anything was to go wrong-

Well, she wasn't going to think about that.

”When the second one comes you'll have to break the sack and lick it.” Nodding to Icepelt, the scarred kit, though she was more of an apprentice now, (any day now, really), set about to help Smokeheart once more. It didn't take long for her to notice part of the second kit, and, as Smokeheart panted and screeched from above, Tawnykit moved to help the little kit out. It came out soon enough, and Tawnykit moved to quickly pull it over to Icepelt while Smokeheart moaned from behind them.

”Hurry, do what I said.”

”What is it? A she-cat or a tom?”

Tawnykit couldn't tell just yet. Whatever it was, though, this one was more like Smokeheart then the one before. Gray and white. Bigger then the first born, too. This one should be healthy, if everything went alright-

”Ow! Why won't the pain stop?!”

”I think there's one more.... did Feathercloud say how many you were going to have?”[/ul]

[Kitty]

Unable to look at Smokeheart when she was in such such, gritting her teeth, groaning, clawing at the ground, Icepelt instead looked to the kit. She couldn't know exactly what she had to do, but he remembered that she was in the nursery during Poppyfrost's kitting, so maybe she was going off of what she'd seen then. Whatever it was, she seemed to know at least a little bit about what she was doing. She told him to bite open to sack and lick the kit when the next one was born, and he gave a nod.

Daring a glance at Smokeheart, he gave her reassuring look before turning his sights away again as she let out a screech. Then Tawnykit shoved a kit into his paws and ordered him to do what she said. "Right, okay," he said, nodding and bending to nip open the sac. A tiny wet kit was revealed, and Icepelt heeded his orders and began licking it furiously until it began to move. He continued licking it, pulling it closer to keep it warmer. It was gray and white, and bigger than the tiny ginger she-cat that had been born first.

"Ow! Why won't the pain stop?!" moaned Smokeheart.

"I think there's one more...." came Tawnykit's reply. One more kit and then Smokeheart was done and they could name the kits. Three kits to name. Icepelt found himself looking forward to it.