[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme giggled and affectionately gave Muroki a rub on his shoulder. "You'll be fine. Besides, then it will be Delano who will be most responsible to helping Lina, and not you. You'll be able to relax a bit more then." She gave him a nuzzle before continuing. "It's not like Delano helped you out every day these past weeks. I'm sure he will understand if you won't always be available to help him either." She grinned, "especially if I will force you to stay with me and the cubs."

---

Hearing Fadhili complain about feeling old brought a grin to Moto. "You know we're not old yet," he replied, "but I do feel the same way. It really is a change to when Lina and Umeme were the youngest around." He took a few moments to fondly remember what it was like to raise the pair. "It will be interesting to see how they will deal with having to raise their own cubs up. I really do hope that they won't be too shy to ask for help when they will need it."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki woke up the following morning with a loud yawn. It was still an early hour of the morning, but it wasn't too early. Knowing Lina, his sister in law was probably still asleep at this time of the day, having always been a heavy sleeper. Unless Delano had woken her up and taken her somewhere, the two of them were probably inside their den. Since he remembered he'd promised Umeme that he would wake her up so that they could go and see them, it felt like he'd woken up at as good a time as any to do so.

The lion looked at his sleeping mate, hesitating for a moment. Yes, she did ask him to wake her up, but that didn't guarantee that she wouldn't lose her patience in the blink of an eye. Yes, Muroki knew that his mate couldn't control it, but it could still get unpleasant. Taking in a deep breath, he went ahead and began to wake her up as gently as possible by nudging her muzzle with his own and licking her around her ears. "Umeme..." he said quietly, "Wake up..."

[DGFone]

Still asleep, Umeme groaned when she felt Muroki trying to wake her up. Sure, his licking was tickling her, but that didn't take away from the fact that she really, really, really wanted to continue sleeping. Groaning, she tried to move her head away from where he can continue licking her. "Come on, Muroki, I want to sleep!" she complained. "Why are you waking me up so early?"

Of course, she had forgotten about wanting to visit Lina and Delano as soon as possible, for if she had remembered, she wouldn't have complained so much. But because she was still too asleep to remember, she rolled over away from Muroki, muttering something about getting him back for annoying her so early in the morning.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki's ears flattened against his head when Umeme began to groan in annoyance at being woken up. From this point things could either escalate for the worse in the blink of an eye (which was the most likely possibility) or they would somehow calm down. "You asked me to wake you up as soon as possible so that we could go visit Lina and Delano." he said quietly and apologetically as he crawled over to her after she'd rolled away from him. Gently placing a paw over her swollen belly, the male couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his muzzle as he nuzzled her, thinking it would be a more gentle way to wake her up. "Don't you remember? Yesterday we found out that Lina is pregnant..."

[DGFone]

When Muroki reminded her why he was waking Umeme up so early, her eyes snapped open. "Oh, that! Why didn't you say so right away? Come on, let's go!" She quickly stood up, groaning from getting up perhaps quicker than she wanted to.

Muroki was there by her side immediately, and she have him a lick of appreciation for his help. "Let's go," she said, this time quieter, "I want to see how my sister is handling all of this."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki heaved out a sigh of relief when Umeme managed to remember why she'd asked him to wake her up before things got out of hand. He also got up and was by his mate's side before she even realized it, smiling as she licked him in appreciation. Even if she really lost her patience with him, she always seemed to be able to get him to calm down about it by displaying some affection. While he too obviously wanted to see how Lina was dealing with the situation, he was actually more curious and concerned about his own brother's coping. The way Delano would react to things from now on would have a direct effect on Lina, so it was only natural for Muroki to worry about that a little more.

[DGFone]

Walking together, Umeme could certainly feel the limits imposed on her by her pregnancy. Not only was it harder to walk, but doing so simply felt... weird. "I can't wait until the cubs will come out," she complained, "I already feel really... bloated." However, despite her discomfort, she really wanted to see Lina already.

So when Delano's and Lina's den finally came into view, Umeme could almost cheer in delight. She only hoped that at least Lina would be awake enough that when they they will go in, it won't be a nasty surprise. Poking her head in the den, Umeme still chose to be cautious. "Lina? Delano? Are you guys awake?" She saw the pair in the den, and they still looked very much asleep. Or at the very least, they didn't bother to move anywhere if they did wake up.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled softly as Umeme complained about wanting the cubs to come out already. He knew that in her case it was also so that she could get her freedom back rather than just have their cubs be born as was in his case and he knew he couldn't blame her for it. He also knew that he would never understand what it was like to carry them for 3 months. What did worry him a little bit was that his mate was only about halfway through, which only made him wonder just how difficult it would be for her to walk in even just a week's time not to mention right before their cubs would finally come around.

"I think you're still the most beautiful lioness in the worlds." he said with a smile. It was a cheesy compliment, yes, but he remembered an advice his mother in law gave him - never remind Umeme that she was fat because she was pregnant or suggest that she looked fat. The lion also went ahead and poked her head into the den. "They look very much asleep to me..." he said with a chuckle. Would waking either one of them up be a good idea? "At least Delano's looking rather peaceful..." he added, taking comfort in the fact that his brother wasn't having any trouble sleeping.

[DGFone]

Seeing Delano and Lina sleeping peacefully like that brought Umeme a smile to her face. Well, that and Muroki's complement. Especially after the fight or whatever happened yesterday, she was partially worried that they had not gotten over it yet, a fear that she was delighted to find out was wrong. Turning back to Muroki, she grinned at him. "Let's wait for them outside. I don't want to rush them to wake up."

Leading him back out, she lay down and immediately placed her head on his warm, soft mane. "And, I get to sleep in some more," she said with a yawn, "so don't get any funny ideas about trying to wake them up. That might make me angry." Knowing how much Muroki feared any tantrums she might go through, Umeme licked him to show him that she meant no harm. "Let's just wait for them to wake up on their own. Okay?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki followed Umeme a short distance away from Delano and Lina's den, chuckling as she immediately rested her head in his mane when he lay down next to her. She would probably never grow tired of using it as a pillow, it seemed. His grin only grew bigger when she warned him to not wake her up until either Lina or Delano were awake. "I wouldn't dream of it." he said somewhat teasingly, licking the top of her head once before falling silent so that she could go back to sleep if she wanted to.

---

Meanwhile, inside the den, Lina was slowly starting to wake up. The events of the previous day, both the less pleasant and the more pleasant ones, were fresh in her mind despite how sleepy she still was. Letting out a yawn, she looked at Delano and a warm smile spread across her muzzle as she saw that he was still peacefully asleep next to her. She couldn't recall having been woken up by him during the night, which could only mean that he hasn't had any nightmares.

That had to be the biggest relief she'd ever felt in her entire life. Remembering that she was now pregnant, she felt even happier knowing that, even if it would take her mate some time, the two of them would be okay in the end. She was in no hurry to wake him up (or to do anything at all, really), so she gently licked his cheek once before resting her head back in his fuzzy mane.