[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Getting up to follow Lina, Delano just about tripped and fell over his sleeping limbs as feeling slowly crawled back to them. He simply grinned foolishly at his mate when she looked at him to see why he stumbled. He quickly followed her to the den where she placed a still sleeping Akili back in the smaller inner den. With their son safely inside, he took the lead and led Lina back outside. She couldn't see that he was grinning as he would when he had something planned as he walked away even further than were they had just all lain together.

Deciding that they were far enough from the den not to have to worry about noise, he finally turned back towards Lina, letting her see his grin. "Surprise, Lina!" He quickly pounced on her, sending both of them rolling on the ground in a dusty pile. Coming to a stop, he smiled down at her from where he had her pinned. "Bet ya didn't see that one coming!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Truth be told, the reason Lina hasn't noticed Delano's unusual body language as he led her away from the den with that grin on his face was because she was still busy thinking about the silly look he had on his face when he'd tripped just a minute or so earlier. So, she was clearly not prepared enough to even think about reacting in time when her mate suddenly turned around and pounced on her, sending the two of them rolling over in a heap. As always in scenarios of this nature, she soon found herself pinned underneath the lion. "I definitely didn't!" she admitted with a giggle. She knew that grin he had on his face. He was up to something. "So... What's this all about?" she asked.

[DGFone]

Delano continued to grin as he leaned down and nuzzled Lina. "Nothing really, just felt like it," he admitted quietly as he continued to nuzzle his mate. "What, am I not allowed to play around with the lioness whom I married?" He settled down next to where he had Lina pinned, still grinning.

"After all," he continued, "it's just the two of us... alone... Akili's safe in the den. Nothing to worry about..." He grinned sheepishly. "Is it so wrong that I can't have a little bit of fun?" Especially after the morning's events, he really did feel like relaxing and not having to worry about anything for a while now.

[TheWhistlerify]

Still smiling warmly at her mate, Lina returned the lion's nuzzle, purring softly at the contact. "You're more than allowed to play around with me." she said teasingly as Delano settled down next to her, continuing to rub her head against his and taking advantage of the fact that he was lying next to her now in order to nuzzle his warm mane. Giggling at the sheepish grin he gave her, she repositioned herself on her stomach and licked that sensitive spot behind his ear again. "We're both allowed to have all the fun we want, silly."

Not that the lioness hadn't noticed that herself, but the two of them really were alone. It wasn't something that never happened all that often, what with Akili to look after. As much as she loved the adorable little fluff ball, it was a welcome change of pace to have some time for themselves. Noticing Delano squirm ever so slightly as a result of her lick, she chuckled and licked the same area again. "Akili's not here to see you succumb to my affection this time..." Delano liked it when she did that; just not in front of their son, it seemed.

Inching closer to her mate, Lina placed one paw on top of his and another on his back as she continued her affectionate gestures, savoring the sound and feeling of his relaxed purrs. "It really is not very often that we get to be alone like this..." she said softly as she stopped licking and positioned her head under the lion's chin, shuffling even closer to him as she did and flicking her tail so that it was resting on top of his.

[DGFone]

Lina was right in that Delano really didn't mind her licking when Akili was around. As long as she didn't start to tickle him again, it was a pleasant feeling that he could always enjoy. He purred gently with his eyes closed as Lina continued to lick and nuzzle him, letting out a groan of disappointment when she finally stopped.

He opened his eyes as he felt her place her nose beneath his chin. "Aww, why did you stop?" he complained, letting out another grin, "I was enjoying that..." Now that she had moved, he was feeling too lazy to actually do anything about it, but perhaps this complaining would be enough...

Not to mention her suggestion of allowing himself to succumb to her affections, as she put it, was also sounding like a very nice idea. Perhaps he can do that too...

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina found it impossible not to giggle as Delano complained. Yes, he had a much deeper voice than their son's, but everything he or Akili did seemed to remind her of the latter. "I know you were." she said cheekily, rubbing her head against his chest affectionately. Since she more than enjoyed doing something he liked so much, she decided to save the lazy cuddling for later and resumed what she'e been doing just moments earlier. "Here... How's that?" she asked softly, chuckling as her mate began to purr at the attention again.

The two of them remained in a similar manner for a few more minutes before Lina suddenly broke the silence, ceasing her displays of affection every once in a few moments whenever she spoke. "Listen, Delano..." she said quietly, getting the lion's attention. After a few more licks, she spoke again. "I know that we didn't really... plan on having Akili at the time... I mean, not you, at least, because you didn't feel ready..." She smiled. "But I just wanted to say that I think we're both doing great with him... He's always happy and in good spirits, and I like to think that you're feeling more confident about being a father than you've been before he was born..." She licked him across his muzzle before rerurning to that area behind his ear again.

[DGFone]

Delano resumed purring when Lina again began to lick him. It appeared that his complaining did work... Perhaps he should start doing that more often when he would want to get something out of her. The idea was certainly tempting, at any rate.

As he listened to what his mate was saying, part of him was wondering why she brought this up of all things. Sure, it was true, and he had a vague idea that perhaps he knew what she was wanting to say, but he wasn't sure, and it would be better to hear it from her at any rate. "Well, I do feel a lot better about it now, Lina," he said quietly, "but um, why are you mentioning all of this? Didn't we know in the end that this would have happened? Once Akili was born, that I would have become better anyways at this parenting stuff? At being a father..." Perhaps he was just thinking himself into a circle, or at the same time, perhaps he wasn't...

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled when Delano told her that yes, he was feeling more confident about the whole parenting thing now. She'd gotten that impression with the passage of time and was glad to hear that he agreed on the matter. "No real reason, really..." she admitted, rubbing her head against his. "Just to let you know that I think we've both come a long way, despite all the initial reservations." She really couldn't be happier with the way they were progressing with Akili. "So, yeah... I'm really proud of you, of both of us..." The lioness simply felt like mentioning all of that. She felt like her mate deserved to be told that, despite all of his worries, he was being a wonderful father. "I love you..."

[DGFone]

Delano grinned foolishly as he too rubbed his head on Lina's. "I love you too..." So it appeared that his assumptions for what Lina was going to say was wrong, but he didn't really mind much. He enjoyed the attention she was giving him, and in the end, it was also very nice to hear the compliment from her.

It also felt somewhat strange to look back and remember just how afraid he was of becoming a father. Sure, it was not easy sometimes, but overall, it really wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. And now that Akili was with them, it was almost hard to imagine a time before the cub was born... running around them always wanting to play his games...

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina purred in content as she and Delano carried on with their plain, yet very much enjoyful display of affection. The way they always had such a wonderful time whenever they were alone, even if they didn't always take full advantage of the privacy they had, made her realize that they really needed to clear themselves a day so that they could spend it together. Akili certainly was old enough already to be left under the watch of, for example, his grandparents, and the small opportunities they found to escape the cub's complaints were really not enough anymore after already 2 months of having their son in their lives.

Deciding to worry about that later, so to not get distracted from what was going on between the two of them at that moment, the lioness pushed the idea of 'taking a day off' to the back of her mind for the time being.