31"You're kidding!"
"Shush!" Leafpool slapped her tail against Mothwing's mouth peeking out beyond the bushes they were hiding in.
Mothwing batted her tail away, "there's no one there! But seriously! You can't do that! They're YOUR kits! How can you just give them away to WindClan? You could end up fighting them! They could invade the camp and kill you without ever knowing that you're their mother!"
Leafpool ducked her head, "you think I don't know all that? I do, okay? But, I can't keep them. Medicine cats can't have kits!"
Mothwing just looked at her.
"Look, Mothwing, there's no way I can keep them and I'm not going to abandon them. The only thing left is to give them to WindClan to raise while Squirrelflight brings Jaykit to ThunderClan."
"You do realize though, that you're going to have to stop seeing Crowfeather? There's no way you two can keep this up without raising suspicious, or worse, having another litter."
Leafpool looked pained. Mothwing pressed on,
"If you keep seeing each other, Nightcloud is going to be suspicious. There's no way Crowfeather is going to keep his admiration for Lionkit and Hollykit down. They're his kits, for StarClan's sake! And, one day, she's going to figure it out and so is the rest of your clan. You can't do this, Leafpool!"
Leafpool's tail drooped.
"You just go back to ThunderClan, back from your mission, alright? Don't go see Crowfeather EVER again, I'll tell him, okay? And, you'd better not act too weird, or Cinderpelt's going to figure it out…"
Leafpool's eyes flashed with fury.
"You can't do that to me! I love him, Mothwing, and you can't just tell me to stop seeing him and expect me to stop! He's my MATE!"
Mothwing glared back, "I'm only trying to help! Nothing but trouble has come from this! Don't try to pretend everything's good when it's not! YOU TWO HAVE KITS!"
"You think I don't know that? You try having kits! You try being away from your mate forever! It's not going to happen!"
Mothwing snarled and turned around, "FINE! Solve your problems yourself!"
Leafpool's heart sank watching her best friend stalk away. She didn't mean it like that, really. She was thankful for everything Mothwing had done. It's got to be the pregnancy hormones. (A/N: LOL. Do cats have those? xD)
"Thanks…" she whispered into the darkness, "for everything."
Mothwing paused from the other end. Leafpool didn't know she heard and Mothwing would almost feel her heart braking for her friend. It was true, she didn't know what it would be like to lose someone that special to you. She had lost Hawkfrost and that had hurt even though he was an evil cat. But to Leafpool, Crowfeather wasn't a brother who she had to love no matter what, he was her mate. And, Leafpool's not just losing her mate, she was losing her kits, too.
Making up her mind, she turned around and jumped back into the bushes.
"MEOW!" Leafpool started in shock, fur bristling and claws unsheathed, thinking that a RiverClan warrior had found her.
"Relax! It's just me!"
"I thought you didn't want to help me," Leafpool sniffed, turning to smooth her fur.
"I'm sorry, you're right, I don't know what it's like, but I really think you have to stop. It can't be good for you."
Meanwhile, back in ThunderClan, Cinderpelt was busy checking over the rogue kit that Squirrelflight had brought back.
"Seems heatlthy enough," Cinderpelt meowed, "but, don't like, Squirrelflight, where did you get this kit? The scent is strangely familiar. Almost as though I can recognize it from somewhere…"
Squirrelflight tried not to panic, "Cinderpelt, I found her on the edge of the WindClan border. Surely you recognize the smell from ThunderClan territory, after all, you go there often enough to collect herbs!"
Cinderpelt didn't look fully convinced but she dipped her head.
Squirrelflight picked up little Jaykit and brought him to the nursery.
"I'm sorry, Daisy, he's a stray kit I found, could you nurse him?"
Daisy looked him over, her eyes softened, and she nudged Jaykit towards her.
Squirrelflight sighed in relief. Now, the kits were safe… about Leafpool and Crowfeather though, they've just GOT to stop seeing each other! It wasn't safe and it wasn't right!
Back in her den, Cinderpelt was suspicious. She knew that scent. It wasn't just any ThunderClan cat's scent. That was Leafpool's scent. Surely she wasn't helping RiverClan cats get rid of kits!
Leafpool padded dejectedly back to ThunderClan. Mothwing had convinced her (more of forced) her to stop seeing Crowfeather and she was never more heartbroken in her life. First her kits, then her mate. Heading back to ThunderClan Camp with her head hanging, she heard a kits meowing. Her head immediately lifted and her eyes sparkled.
Her kits may never know her, she may never see her mate again, but she hadn't lost them. They were still with her and even if they didn't know it, they had a place in her heart – forever.