[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano whimpered in Lina's embrace, but she did make him feel better. "I hope so," he whispered, "I hope it will help." He had to gulp down his fear before resuming talking. "I... I won't abandon you, Lina. I'm no going to run away... but... I don't want to be a failure of a father! I don't want to do something stupid that will put either you or... our... our cubs in danger..."

He finally dared to look at Lina. He needed to tell her what he really feared. "Before... when everyone would tell us that everything is fine, I.. I believed it the first time. But what if my nightmares return, and I accidently harm... our cubs? I could easily kill them accidentally... without realizing it..." He had to close his eyes from the fear he was feeling. "What if there are still others out there who want to cause me harm? What if they will go after them instead?"

His breathing quickened in frequency as his fear grew. He glanced around the den widely, not really seeing anything either. "I don't know what to do!" he blurted out. Feeling extremely dizzy, he collapsed on the ground, his vision fading. "Lina..." he muttered weakly, "help..."

He felt her embrace him just before he blacked out.

[TheWhistlerify]

There were so many things Lina wanted to say to Delano. That he didn't need to worry about not being a bad father, that there was nothing that could possibly put their cubs in danger because the underworld has been disbanded and because Sanders was dead. However, when he suddenly mentioned the possibility of his nightmares returning, her eyes widened in shock. She'd thought this ordeal to be way behind them, and him thinking that the nightmares might return weren't going to help them not return.

"Delano..." her voice broke towards the end of his name as she tried to think of what to say. This couldn't happen. It mustn't happen. Anything but that... "Don't say that..." she started licking him around his muzzle and ears, not knowing how else to calm him down. "You would never do something like hurting them, I know you won't! And there's nothing to worry about anymore! Sanders is dead!" Tears began to form in her eyes as her words seemed to have no effect at all. She doubted she'd be able to cope with having him shut himself out from the world again. She doubted anybody would.

"You can't say that!" she continued, her voice failing at sounding commanding because of how choked up she was. She embraced her mate, feeling afraid to let him go. "Please... Don't let this happen! You can't! You mustn't! There's nothing to fear, you're not alone!" He's beaten those nightmares twice already, so he should be able to not experience them again, right? Or did that mean that he would only have an even harder time getting over them again? When he passed out she finally lost her composure and broke into tears.

[DGFone]

Outside the den, Umeme was beginning to get impatient. Sure, she wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but was it normal for Delano and Lina to be inside for this long? Still, she chose to wait. After all, her parents were right there, talking to each other, so everything was fine.

However, eventually, she ran out of patience. "I'm going to see what's going on between those two," she told Muroki, and poked her head in the den before Muroki could stop her. "Lina? Delano? What's going on, you two?" She saw Lina and Delano next to a wall, and frowned. Lina was crying over Delano, who looked to be asleep. Or worse. Nor did it seem like Lina had heard her. Deciding not to get involved right away, Umeme went back outside.

"Uh, mom? Dad? It's Lina..." She motioned with her head towards the den, hoping that her parents would understand that she wanted them to go in. All her hopes that nothing was wrong had been dashed when she saw Lina crying in the den, and Umeme wanted her parents to talk to her sister first. Eventually, they got the message and disappeared inside as Umeme sat down next to Muroki. "Something's not right in there," she told him, "but I don't know what."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was naturally confused and worried when Umeme returned outside with a concerned look on her face. The way she spoke to her parents wasn't very encouraging, and he wasn't surprised when she told him that something wasn't right. He wanted to see for himself, but he stayed where he was. It would probably be for the best if his parents in law handled this. And besides, Umeme would have probably not allowed him to go in. As worried as he was for his brother and sister in law, he knew he had to stay where he was. "What do you think happened?" he asked, his voice uneasy. "What did you see?"

Fadhili and Moto meanwhile walked inside, becoming quite confused and concerned when the sight of their daughter and her mate was revealed to them. What made it even more worrying was that they couldn't think of a reason for this to have happened. Surely Delano hasn't just gone to sleep after maybe saying something mean... "Lina?" The two walked over to their daughter, both of them completely clueless as to why she was crying and as to what was wrong with Delano.

"What's wrong?" Fadhili gently nudged her daughter with her muzzle, finally getting her attention. Looking at Lina's teary eyes made her mother's heart sink. She's wanted to have cubs for so long, why was she crying? And what in the world was Delano doing?

Still sobbing loudly, Lina began to explain everything that has happened. Somehow, her parents managed to understand every word she said despite how muffled and choked up her voice was. Fadhili looked at Moto, a worried look on her face. There was a chance that Delano was overreacting, but what if he wasn't? Last time he'd had nightmares - Lina had barely been able to cope at some point not to mention that he'd even hurt himself on multiple occasions. What were they going to do if he started having them again?

[DGFone]

Umeme stared at Muroki, wondering what to tell him. "Well, Lina and Delano were in there," a rather stupid statement: where else could they be? "And Lina.. she was lying over Delano, who looked... sleeping? I don't know. But Lina was crying. So I decided to let mom and dad talk to them first." Umeme huddled close to her mate. "I hope they're alright."

---

Moto glanced back at Fadhili, both of them thinking the same thing. "Talk to Lina," he told her, "I'll deal with Delano." Perhaps it wasn't the wisest choice of words: he didn't plan on causing any sort of harm to the younger lion. In fact, all he planned to do was wake Delano up. With Lina occupied with her mother, Moto gently shook Delano, who began to groan as he started to wake up.

Delano slowly opened his eyes as he felt his body being shaken. "What's going on?" he whispered, then remembered exactly what. He forced himself to sit up, not liking the fact that Lina's parents were inside the den as well. Moto hugged him as he sat up, but Delano was too preoccupied to return the gesture. "Lina..."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki listened to Umeme without saying a single word, raising an eyebrow when she told him that his brother was sleeping, or at least looked like he was sleeping. Why would Lina be crying, he asked himself. She should be happy that she was pregnant; he knew just how much she wanted to have cubs with his brother. "Do you think Delano's still not ready?" If that was the case then how come Lina was pregnant? She obviously couldn't have done that on her own... However that would not explain why Delano wasn't awake, nor did it seem like it was necessarily something that would get Lina to become so upset. After all, it's not like the birth of their cubs was due tomorrow - there should be plenty of time for Delano to get over his reservations about becoming a father...

---

Fadhili meanwhile took Lina to another corner of the den and was doing her best to calm her daughter down (mostly by kind of unintentionally repeating what Lina had said in order to calm Delano down just before he'd passed out). However she seemed to have no success at all, and at some point all she did was hug her daughter in a desperate attempt to get her to stop crying. The thought of going through this whole nightmare thing again, this time with cubs growing up inside her, was too much for Lina to handle.

She couldn't even bear to think about what would happen if Delano reacted to his nightmares worse than he had last time or about what she would do if she had to not only take care of him but also take care of herself and eventually of their cubs as well. What sort of a cubhood and lives would their cubs have if that were to happen? If their father would just be... Lina didn't even know how to describe it. Last time Delano's nightmares had stopped after Sanders's trial, having been pretty much caused by the former leader of the underworld to begin with. This time, however, the cause was most likely going to be their cubs, and there was no undoing the fact that she was pregnant...

[DGFone]

Umeme shook her head. "Maybe, I don't know. You can try talknig to him about that tomorrow. For today, it might be better to give them time alone. Lina did say that he didn't feel ready, but that was a long time ago..." She huddled next to Muroki. "Mom and dad are still inside, but I can't hear anything, so maybe things aren't that bad..."

---

Delano hesitantly tore himself away from Moto's embrace and shuffled over to Lina. "Lina..." He forced his way in between Lina and Fadhili so that he can hug his mate. "Please, Lina, talk to me..." The fact that she wasn't was really starting to scare him.

While he had not felt ready for cubs, he had though of what it might be like when he would finally decide to take the next step with her. He had never imagined that... this would be how he would get the news. He had always thought that he would be delighted, perhaps not as much as Lina was initially, but certainly not... afraid.

[TheWhistlerify]

As much as Muroki wanted to find out what was happening and to see if he could help as soon as possible he couldn't help but agree that perhaps giving Lina and Delano some time alone would be the right thing to do. "I just can't help but worry..." he said, putting a paw around Umeme as she huddled next to him. "I mean... your sister has wanted this for so long... Why would she be so upset?" As for Delano, it seemed like all he could really do was wait and talk to him the following day. Whatever was going on with his brother, there was no doubt that it would explain Lina's unfitting mood as well.

---

Lina was somewhat surprised when she saw Delano approach her and his mother, having not expected him to wake up this quickly. She didn't know whether to take comfort in his presence or not. Back when he'd been having his nightmares it constantly felt like he wasn't even there (despite him being right next to her physically). Was that how it was going to be like now? Because she doubted she'd be able to deal with that again.

However, when her mate embraced her, she instinctively calmed down a little as a result of the contact between them. Her parents meanwhile slowly left the den, believing that it would be for the best if they let the two of them talk things over, but they stayed right outside in case either their daughter or son in law would need them. "Delano, I-" she tried to think of what to say as she sobbed into his mane.

"Please don't let this happen again... Please..." she knew he'd had no control over his nightmares the first two times and that he probably wouldn't have control over them should they start again, but she just didn't know what else to do. "I don't think I can take it..." Especially not if the two of them had cubs on the way. If anything that fact, which was supposed to bring them both immense joy, was only going to make things even harder for the two of them should any problems arise...

[DGFone]

Umeme thought about what could cause Lina to cry, despite the news that she had been waiting for so long for. "I don't know, Muroki," she finally answered, "but I think it's related to Delano. Was it something he said or did?" They had last seen Delano and Lina previously only yesterday, and the two of them looked as fine as ever, if not even closer to each other that Umeme could remember. Or was it all an illusion, and they were hiding something deem inside?

She frowned again as Moto and Fadhili left the den once more, this time without any smiles. This only increased her worries that something seriously wrong had indeed just happened.

---

Clutching onto Lina as she sobbed into his mane, Delano was barely able to keep his own composure up. His voice was shaking as he tried to calm her down. "I... I'll try, Lina. I don't want them to return either... I promise you... I'll try not to let them come back..."

He held onto her tighter as he finally did lose his calm and felt his own tears start to fall. He placed his head on Lina's shoulder and left it there, just concentrating on holding onto her and waiting until he could start to calm down.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki remained silent for a short moment, slowly nodding his head in agreement with what Umeme was saying. "I think it has to be..." he said, somewhat reluctantly. "I don't think there's another reasonable explanation..." Seeing his parents in law leave the den with rather gloomy expressions was quite a discouraging sight to say the least. But Muroki knew that Fadhili and Moto wouldn't have left Delano and Lina on their own unless they were sure that it was okay to do so. In a way, that did make him calm down a little.

---

Inside, Lina was able to slowly calm down as Delano hugged her tightly and as she listened to his words, as shaky as his voice was. She wished he could promise her for sure that the nightmares wouldn't return, but she knew he couldn't do more than promise to try. Letting out a sigh, she forced herself to stop weeping as she raised her head from her mate's mane so that she could look him in the eyes. She hated crying like that. They were going to be parents. Even with their worries, they should also be happy.

Despite how Delano looked (and probably was) ten times more uncertain about the future than Lina was, she managed to draw some comfort from his eyes. A small smile found its way to her muzzle as she gently licked his cheek. They've been through so much together in order to let anything ruin it all. "Do you think it's a boy?" she asked quietly, gently touching her muzzle against his. "Or maybe a girl?"