[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano grinned as Lina finally stuck her head out of hiding, but his grin faded when she stuck her tongue out at him, turning into a frown. "Now come on now, Lina, that was hardly uncalled for!" he said sternly, "so how about you come down here and apologize!" Somehow, he didn't actually think that this was what she was doing when she did emerge from behind the rock, for he could already see her tensing in preparation of the attack.

When she pounced, he dived out of the way and immediately bounced back to get at her. She might be good when she can catch him off guard, but when he can see it coming, she doesn't stand a chance. It was over in a few moments, with Delano pinning his mate on the ground, a wide grin on his muzzle as he stared down at her. "Honey... that was hardly an apology." He eyed her, daring her to try and escape. "So would you like to correct that, or will I have to make up a story tonight for Akili trying to explain why you won't be coming home with us?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina hadn't really expected to actually tackle Delano this time let alone pin him down, so she didn't struggle much once he managed to pin her. He was bigger than she was, obviously, so she hardly stood a chance whenever he saw her coming, which he had this time. She giggled as she stared up at her mate, still very much amused by his reaction to the way she'd taunted him just moments earlier. "No thank you!" she teased, licking him across his muzzle. It was quite clear that she didn't mind the position they were in.

[DGFone]

Frowning playfully, Delano pretended to be upset by Lina's answer. "Well why not?" he asked, "you do want to see Akili at the end of the day?" he eyed his mate curiously, as though he even thought that she was even considering not returning to their son, "do you?" he added almost as an after thought.

While he knew that Lina was just playing, he was still rather hoping that she would eventually get bored of this position. Sure, he enjoyed the contact, but a bigger part of him still wanted to hear her apologize for her unabashed attempt at shortening his life.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina giggled, playfully rolling her eyes. "What, do you really want an apology?" she asked teasingly. Delano was just too cute at times. Their son certainly had gotten that from him. "Is that why you're pouting, big baby boo?" Giggling once more, the lioness licked her mate on his muzzle again. "Okay, I'm sorry for trying to kill you." She wrapped her paws around his neck and pulled his head down so that she could kiss him. "Can you ever forgive me?" she asked once they parted, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.

[DGFone]

Normally, Delano would have given up by this point to Lina's 'apology', but he was choosing to be even more stubborn than usual this time around. "Hmm, not good enough I think," he replied, "and don't look at me like that. It's not going to work this time Lina."

While he really enjoyed the way Lina was kissing him, he lifted his head out of her reach so that he can look glare sternly at her. All part of the act, of course. "So no, I think you will need to try again." He motioned with his head at the water. "Unless you will want me to show you what happens when you don't apologize in a way that appeases me."

[TheWhistlerify]

Spoiler: show

Big baby boo :p

Lina found herself giggling yet again when Delano refused her rather lame excuse for an apology, even when he withdrew his head so that she could no longer reach and kiss him (something she obviously enjoyed). The way he made sure to mention that her staring at him like that wasn't going to work added to the whole amusing effect, too. She knew more than well that her mate was just joking around, so she played along. "I might have an idea..." she said, blushing slightly as she gave the lion a somewhat timid look.

He did say that her kissing him wasn't good enough and that she had to apologize in a way that would appease him. It's been quite a while since they'd last done that... They were alone, not to mention that the possibility had crossed her mind before they came there. It was quite nice that this was coming from him. Unless he just randomly ended up making it sound that way, which could make the situation rather embarrassing... Well, it shouldn't, now that she was thinking about it. They had a cub, after all, and he hadn't been conceived out of the blue...

Spoiler: show

When I had her think it would be embarrassing I didn't mean it in their regard. I meant it in ours, lol. It just seems like you're going in that direction.

[DGFone]

Delano lifted his head up a little higher, not quite unintentionally loosening his grip on Lina. "All right then. What's your idea?" Both the way his mate was talking and looking at him was making him very much convinced that he knew what she was talknig about it, and he would be lying if he wasn't rather looking forward to it.

...Although, if anything, he was also somewhat nervous of it too. He certainly learned a lot about being a father with taking care of Akili and his confidence was much higher than before, but they were having enough trouble as it was taking care of just one cub. What would happen if they got another one?

[TheWhistlerify]

Spoiler: show

I would have posted a lot sooner hadn't my phone decided to erase an almost complete post. It annoyed me so much that I just left it there. But I'm home now (and on a computer).

Lina felt her cheeks turn a little redder as Delano asked her to tell him what she had in mind. The look on his face indicated that he wasn't clueless, which was to be expected, so perhaps he just wanted to be sure that they were on the same page. It definitely sounded like him to ensure that he was getting her message so that he wouldn't end up putting them both in an embarrassing position in case he was wrong. Although, in her opinion, he shouldn't feel bad about bringing something like this up on his own, even if it happened to not be crossing her own mind at the moment. After all, it's not like they were new to this. The last time they'd gotten this close was back when she was still pregnant, when the two of them still had plenty of time on their paws. She sure did miss the intimacy... It seemed as if she (and perhaps Delano as well) had taken the fact that they could dedicate as much time and attention to each other as they wanted for granted.

Feeling her mate's grip loosen , even if he was still gently holding on to her, the lioness shifted slightly so that she was lying on her side instead of on her back, a position that made it much easier for her to reach over and whisper her answer (to make sure they were understanding each other, that is). She then softly licked his muzzle and, upon reclining back on the ground, noticed something a little different in the lion's expression. He appeared a little hesitant, which seemed very out of place considering how they've done this plenty of times in the past.

Nevertheless, it didn't take her too long to figure out what was going on in his head. The first time they'd mated obviously ended up leading to them having Akili, a pregnancy Delano wasn't really aiming for at the time given his reservations about parenthood. With Lina being pregnant afterwards, he obviously hadn't had the need to worry about that anymore. Now that Akili was born, though, he was probably thinking about what would happen if they ended up having another cub. Yes, she knew that he was feeling far more secured about being a father now, seeing how they'd spoken about the subject just the previous evening, which could only mean that her mate was worried about the difficulties of taking care of more than one cub at a time.

Lina wouldn't say that they were doing a bad job with Akili, but he did require a lot of dedication. Umeme and Muroki had immediately had to get used to raising two cubs simultaneously, but adding another cub (or even two) to an already existing family was probably entirely different. She and Delano were used to taking care of one little hairball, so suddenly having at least one more to look after would be a huge change of pace.

Becoming pregnant again was definitely an option Lina was aware of, even if it hasn't crossed her mind even once since Akili had come around. After all, she's wanted to be a mother for so long and the cub's birth granted her that wish, meaning that the subject of having cubs wasn't really in her center of attention anymore. The idea of conceiving again did appeal to her but, now that she was finally sharing the experience of parenthood with the love of her life, it didn't feel like such a rush. Therefore, while she was thinking of possibly having another cub one day, she believed it would be best to wait until Akili wouldn't be so dependent on her and Delano anymore.

In a way, this meant that Delano and Lina were on the same page in that regard, at least for the time being. But, regardless of that, she saw very little reason to worry about this. Akili had only very recently stopped nursing. It would be a while longer before she went into heat again. Besides, if she were in heat, she'd know better than to just throw herself at her mate like she had last time, even with the hormones messing with her head. True, she had no doubt as to how much Delano cared for their son, but she didn't want to become pregnant again unless it was something they both wanted. For now, it wasn't, not to mention that they couldn't do that in the near future even if they wanted to. "I'm off season..." she assured him quietly, feeling her heart pounding inside her chest as she looked at the lion longingly.

[DGFone]

Delano could only stare at Lina for the longest of time, his mind racing around itself in circles. "Well, uh, I uh..." He felt himself turn red when he realized that he was so nervous that he had stopped talking properly again. Seeing Lina giggle beneath him, he almost wanted to drown himself from the embarrassment. Taking a few deep breaths, he was able to steady his nerves somewhat, at least enough to talk again.

"Well, really? Alright then. In that case..." Now feeling more confident, he grinned at Lina, flashing his wide grin at her. "I think I know of a way that you can make up for trying to drown me. I still didn't forget about that you know..."

As far as he was able to tell, Lina wasn't simply saying that she wasn't in season, so the risk was very small. Combined with the fact that especially because of having to take care of Akili, they hardly had any time for themselves, and now that they were finally alone... "So, you really want to?" He asked Lina quietly, although considering who brought the idea up in the first place, he already knew the answer.

So leaning his head down towards hers, he embraced Lina in a nuzzle, putting as much of his love towards her as he could. Not knowing when the next time they would be able to have another day like this just for the two of them, he allowed himself to let go of his reservations and to just let himself proceed unobstructed by his fears and thoughts...

[TheWhistlerify]

As always, Lina was finding Delano's nervousness to be as cute and amusing as ever. This definitely wouldn't be their first time getting so intimate with each other, and it would be a lie to say that she never got a little timid whenever they approached something like this, but her mate always seemed to beat her in that regard. Well, at least initially, because once the fact that he had nothing to worry about sunk into his head the lion returned to his very much confident self, giving her than handsome grin of his that always made her blush and gave her that weird, yet very pleasant feeling in her stomach. "Well, of course you know of a way I can make it up to you..." she said playfully. "I just told you!"

Giving her mate another quiet nod of consent, the lioness smiled and lovingly returned his nuzzle as a loud purr began to rumble in her throat. The warmth of Delano's mane and fur was always so much more enjoyable whenever they were embraced so closely together, and having the love of her life hold onto her always gave Lina this feeling of safety. She was once again regretting not having dropped Akili off somewhere sooner than they had, but this time she pushed the annoying thought out of her mind relatively quickly. She had more important things to focus on at the moment, not to mention that the past was something they couldn't change anyway.