[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

While a part of Delano was glad that Lina didn't understand the reason for his hesitation, he also didn't like lying to her by not explaining how he felt. Still, her statement caught him so off guard that he at first tried to correct her, "Lina, it's not about that. It's-" Realizing that he was about to tell her what he didn't actually want to say, Delano closed his mouth. "Never mind... Forget I said anything."

He really did feel bad about leaving her in the dark, but at the same time, Delano didn't want to risk having Lina react negatively to the knowledge that there was still a lion who most likely wanted to kill them. It was better for her that she didn't know.

[TheWhistlerify]

Blinking a few times in confusion upon being caught by surprise by Delano's accidentally blurted, not finished statement, Lina was about to ask him just what he was talking about before he spoke up once more, telling her to forget what he was saying. Now, from the look of things, he seemed to have another really good reason for not wanting to go anytime soon which she herself hasn't thought of yet. Perhaps he believed that what he'd been about to say wasn't all that important and just a result of him being a little jumpy at the moment.

She remembered how irrationally he'd acted when he had his nightmares, and thought that maybe he didn't want to once again overreact to things and had therefore stopped himself from saying something his irritated mind might believe was true but was actually just paranoia. Or perhaps something really was up... Nah, he'd tell her if something was wrong.

[DGFone]

When Lina didn't press him for information, Delano felt glad that she didn't ask him to explain why. He hoped that he didn't hurt her feelings by saying that he didn't like her idea, except that he found himself stuck. Taking a few days off with her did sound like a good thing to do, and he really wanted to do that. But at the same time, he doubted that he would be able to stop himself from worrying the entire time if they in fact went and took some time off, therefore ruining the experience.

No, it would be better to just not do that until he would know for certain that it will be safe to do so. The only problem with that was: when?

Feeling uneasy, Delano cuddled up next to his mate and tried to get some more rest. His legs were still aching anyways, and he wasn't planning to move anywhere soon, so he might as well try and help speed up his healing.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina soon shrugged off the confusion Delano had accidentally triggered just moments before and was quickly once again content watching Akili, Marini and Ubawa playing together in a small, squeaky and furry heap. While clearly disappointed about not being able to just run off with her mate to some small slice of paradise somewhere for a few days, mostly because of the circumstances rather than actually not getting to go, she was still feeling confident that Delano would be as good as new in no time, which was the most important thing at the end of the day.

"Look at him; all running about looking as happy as a cub can be." she said softly, leaning her head against her mate's as she chuckled at the sight of the cubs goofing about. "It's hard to think that he was only born a little over 2 months ago..." If they were to halve the time Akili has been with them, he would be barely able to move around not to mention speak in a way that was understandable. And then there was also the fact that he'd only stopped nursing not long ago either; a little before things had begun to get slightly hectic again. As tiny as the fuzzy maraca was, it was clear that he was already growing up.

[DGFone]

Listening to Lina, Delano smiled as well at first, but it soon very quickly faded, and he had to move his head away from her's. "Lina, please, s-stop..."

While he was very much certain that Lina had no intentions of scaring him, mentioning Akili like that had this exact effect on him. Lina's words got Delano thinking about what would have happened to their son if he had been killed in his fight with Sanders. He remembered all to painfully what it was like when he and Muroki had found their own parents murdered, and imagining Akili having to go through something like that... was too much. It was almost if imagining not being around to see their son grow up further paled in comparison as thinking of how Akili would react to finding his father's dead body.

Delano had no idea why Lina mentioning how fast their son was growing up had such an effect on him, but right now, he just had to get away from this place. Somehow getting up to his legs, he began to walk away as his strength failed and he collapsed on the ground. Trying again, he only got a short distance away before it became too hard to try and get up again.

Curling up into a tight ball, Delano whimpered quietly as he struggled to fight off the grief that he had been able to keep down for so long, but was now made even worse.

[TheWhistlerify]

Purring softly at the pleasant contact between her and her mate as they watched the cubs play, Lina couldn't help but grow quite confused when the lion at her side suddenly withdrew his head from hers, asking her to stop. Stop what, exactly? What was he talking about? Was she doing something bad or wrong? It certainly didn't feel like it and seemed very unlikely, at least from her perspective. Her confusion grew even further when Delano then stood up and began to limp away. Not that he got very far on both attempts.

She slowly got up and walked over to his side, lying back down next to him and placing a paw around him upon noticing the way he was whimpering. "What's wrong?" she asked softly, licking his cheek. Whatever the matter was, her mate seemed to be upset because of her, it seemed. Even if she had no idea why he was behaving like this all of a sudden, the lioness couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Are you going somewhere?" Hearing their son's excited voice, Lina looked at Akili and smiled. The cub was standing next to her, on the side opposite to where his father was.

"No, sweetie." No doubt remembering what it was like when they'd all gone to the waterhole earlier, the cub was probably wondering whether now was a chance to go off again, just the three of them. "Not now, at least." Seeing their son's look of disappointment, she gave him a quick nuzzle. "Maybe later, okay?" Chuckling as he soon shrugged it off and rejoined his cousins, Lina looked back at Delano. "W-was it something I said?" she asked quietly.

[DGFone]

Fighting to gain back some control over his emotions, it still took some time for Delano until he was able to glance up at Lina. He was able to vaguely hear Lina send Akili off back to play, for no doubt their son had followed them. Feeling glad that Akili didn't see him like this, Delano finally felt better enough to talk. "N-no, it wasn't you, Lina," he said, seeing how much he must have hurt her feelings by rushing away like that, "it's just that..."

This time needing to explain himself, Delano found it very hard not to choke up to the point of silence as he struggled to tell her why he was feeling like this. "Just that... I couldn't help but think... When our parents died, Muroki and I weren't as young..." He had to stop for a little while before continuing, smiling slightly despite his grief as Lina help his head close to hers in order to try and calm him down, "but to find them dead... it really hurt. And Akili... he-he's so young and-"

If anything, this part was the hardest to say, but Delano knew that if Lina were to understand, that he would need to tell her. "I nearly died, Lina! And while I was afraid that I might not see him or you again... how would he have..? To lose me when he's so young?" Imagining Akili having to deal with his death, compounded by the grief of his parent's actual deaths, left Delano whimpering again as Lina held him close. He shuffled closer to her, burying his muzzle into her fur.

[TheWhistlerify]

It took Delano talking for a few moments and spilling out what was on his mind for Lina to understand just what was bothering him. Since she couldn't really connect what she'd just said to him moments earlier to what it caused him to think about, his explanation really was necessary. Because, to be honest, she couldn't really see the connection between her pointing out that Akili was growing up fast to what it would be like for him if he were to lose a parent like his father had except at a much younger age.

Delano and his brother had been young adults at the time, somewhat older than Kato was now... That aside, seeing how it didn't really matter, the lioness let out a soft sigh and softly nuzzled the top of his head. "I know, Delano..." she said quietly. She couldn't blame him for being so upset about the thought of what would have been of their son in such a dreadful case, whatever it was that had caused him to suddenly think about this.

If anything, she found how concerned he was about how his death would affect the little cub rather than about his actual death to be commendable. In her opinion, it showed just how much he cared for Akili's well being and once again proved that, despite all of his initial worries and reservations about parenthood, he was a wonderful father. "But it's okay..." Lina knew how hard it must be to try and ignore such horrible thoughts when they had been so close to becoming reality, but she still hoped that he would calm down soon.

"You're alive, Kato's mother said that you're recovering at a remarkable speed and Sanders is gone..." As much as she knew how her mate hated being reminded of the fact that he'd killed the former leader of the underworld, the reminder was also of how the lion was no longer capable of hurting them anymore. "So just... take it easy, okay?" But, of course, she wasn't aware of the fact that there was a much crazier (and potentially more dangerous) lion who might still be out to get them.

[DGFone]

Delano leaned his head on Lina's as she tried to calm him down. "Yeah, but... I thought that... after I killed him, that it would finally be over..." He gripped onto his mate slightly harder, his fears rising from within him. "Why does it not feel like it?"

If anything, the physical wounds were the least of his problems. What Delano was worried about was that his nightmares had returned, and with them, the paranoia that he might accidentally hurt Akili because of one. There was still yet another lion who wanted them killed, and then to top it off, Muroki had to go all paranoid as well, causing Delano to fear for his brother as well. For what was supposed to be an ending of their troubles, it really didn't feel like one.

Glancing up at his mate again, he simply shook his head. "I try to... take it easy, Lina, but I just can't." For all the hope he had that they would finally be able to move on after Sander's death, he was being proven very wrong right now, and was not enjoying it one bit.

[TheWhistlerify]

Obviously unaware of Delano's main reason for concern, Lina offered the father of her cub a small smile. "It's only been a couple of days..." she said reassuringly as she nuzzled him softly. "Take some time, wait until these nightmares stop bugging you and get a proper rest. The way Muroki's behaving is probably not helping much, I know. But when he gets his head out of the clouds, and once we can go home with Akili after you've recovered, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Why wouldn't he be? By that time Delano would have his mobility back, he'd have allowed himself some time to move on from having killed Sanders as well as let the fact that the former leader of the underworld couldn't hurt them anymore sink in and Muroki would hopefully have gotten better as well. So, it seemed likely that his nightmares would follow and cease as well in the near future. In addition, moving back to their own home sounded like it would help him relax and return to normal as well.