It's okay...

Leafpool sat with her tail wrapped around her dainty paws, her head lifted to the stars, her eyes closed.

"Take me, StarClan," she whispered, a solitary tear trickling down her cheek. "I'm ready."

Only silence greeted her; the frozen lake glittered in the dying sunlight, the bare trees were still, the frosted grass didn't quiver. With a heavy sigh, the ThunderClan medicine cat opened her eyes and stared out across the lake. She felt a thorn pierce her heart as her gaze swept over the moors. Over there was a nest full of mewling kits, being nursed by the warrior called Nightcloud and being watched over by their father, Crowfeather.

"But he's your father too," she mewed softly, not to herself, but to the kits in her swollen belly. She could feel them, feel them kicking, moving, inside of her, and she knew they wanted to come out. But the sorrow they would bring... "StarClan, please!" she wailed. "Have mercy..."

But this was her punishment, and she knew it. To have loved a WindClan warrior- to have fathered his kits!- went against every rule in the warrior code. Now she had to suffer, to watch her kits grow up and not be able to guide them, to see them every day and be reminded of her mistake. How could she go on?

"Leafpool?"

Leafpool sucked in her breath automatically, letting it out when she recognized the voice. Turning, she asked, "What are you doing here, Squirrelflight?"

Her sister padded up to her and sat down, not replying. They gazed out at the sparkling lake in silence before Squirrelflight mewed softly, "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

Sighing, Leafpool replied, "They're due any day now."

Her sister nodded. "I thought as much. With leaf-bare arriving so early, you shouldn't be so plump."

Leafpool snorted. "That's putting it mildly. I'm going to have two or three, to say the least."

Squirrelflight grinned and didn't deny it. "What will you do?"

Leafpool was quiet. Her sister snuck a look at her and saw the tears glittering in the corners of her eyes. "I don't know," she whispered. "I may have to leave ThunderClan... for good."

Squirrelflight pressed herself comfortingly to her side. "There's no need for that," she assured her quietly. "I'll raise them for you."

Leafpool looked at her in disbelief. "But you can't! Won't Brambleclaw be suspicious? You'll have your own to take care of."

Squirrelflight's eyes glinted with determination. "I won't let you leave, and I won't let your kits die. So I have to."

Leafpool was speechless. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course." Squirrelflight licked her sister's ear gently. "You know I would. Now come on, let's get back to camp. There's a storm coming."

Leafpool got up obediently and began padding after her sister, but at once, a spasm of pain wracked her body, and she cried out. Squirrelflight turned around, her eyes wide with alarm. "They're coming," gasped Leafpool. At that moment, the first flakes of snow began falling from the sky.

Hissing with frustration, Squirrelflight looked around. "Then mine are coming too," she growled stubbornly. "I'll stay with you until they do come. We'll say I kitted and the storm was too bad to get home through. Come on, we need to get you to shelter."

Leafpool let her sister guide her to the warmth and safety of an abandoned fox set, gasping in pain whenever a new spasm seized her body, which was often.

Squirrelflight got her settled nicely in the den and sat next to her, purring soothingly.

"I'm here," she said. "I'm here, and it'll all be okay..."