[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

By then, Delano was no longer as asleep as he was before, still being the early riser out of him and Lina. So when he felt Lina lick his cheek, he smiled warmly as he felt her place her head on his mane. "Morning, Lina," he said quietly. "How are you feeling?" Even though she was resting on his mane, he gently brushed Lina off him. "I'll be right back," he told her, "just need to get out for a little bit."

Ignoring her protests at losing her favorite pillow, Delano walked out of the den, stopping in his tracks upon seeing Umeme and Muroki right outside the den entrance. "Muroki? Umeme? What are you two doing here?" He frowned, wondering how long they had stayed out here, and why they would even be here at all so early.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina began to complain as Delano moved away from her and stood up, but it seemed like there was no changing his mind. She sighed. She'd gotten so used to using his mane as a pillow that she just couldn't get comfortable without it. What was the point of even trying to get some more sleep? Still annoyed, she got to her paws as well and followed her mate, also becoming surprised upon seeing her sister and brother-in-law right outside their home.

Muroki raised his head from its position against Umeme's as his brother's voice reached his ears, gently nudging her with his shoulder in order to wake her up in case she'd fallen asleep. "We wanted to see how the two of you were doing." he said, unable to not notice the frown on Delano's face. Was his brother not calmer like Muroki thought he was? Was there a reason to be alarmed? As he and his mate stood up, Muroki slowly walked over to Delano as Lina came over and hugged her sister. "Is everything okay?" Lina appeared to be perfectly fine, but he wanted to make sure.

[DGFone]

Delano looked over at Muroki, wondering how much his brother knew about yesterday's events. After all, why else would they be here so early? "Yeah, everything's okay," he said with some hesitation, "at least, I think everything is." He didn't feel comfortable telling Muroki the same thing that he told Lina yesterday. On top of that, with Lina right here as well, he didn't want to repeat himself and risk severely hurting her feelings again. He remembered how afraid she had sounded, and it wasn't something he wanted to impose on her again.

---

Quickly waking up once more after Muroki nudged her, Umeme happily returned Lina's hug. "It's so great to see you! I head that soon, you will too look like me," grinning, she motioned at her bulge. "How are you feeling about it all? Everything is working out?"

[TheWhistlerify]

There was actually no need for Delano to explain his feelings about the situation to his brother. Muroki had already pieced most of it together yesterday (it was the only reasonable explanation for Lina's crying, really). He could also notice the hesitation in his brother's tone, so he walked aside with him a little so that they could talk more privately. "I'm glad to see you've both calmed down..." he said, smiling at his brother. "I know this is a big shock to you and that you're going to need your time," he remembered his brother often mentioning how he wasn't ready, "but just know that we're all here for the two of you."

"Also, try to remember that your cubs won't just appear here tomorrow. It's going to be a while, and you have plenty of time to prepare. So don't feel pressured." Still smiling, Muroki placed a paw on his brother's shoulder. "On a happier note; congratulations to both of you."

---

Lina couldn't help but giggle as Umeme turned her attention to her swelling stomach. "Oh no..." she said in a joking tone. She was actually too happy about the thought of becoming a mother that she didn't care about the hardships the pregnancy would bring. But those would probably start to bother her later down the road. "I'm fine now... Delano needs a little time, but we have plenty of that." she smiled. "I think we'll be okay."

[DGFone]

Delano smiled a little at his brother. "Thanks, Muroki..." He was really hoping that soon enough in the future, he would finally calm down and be able to relax, but for now, the news that he was going to be a father really put him on the edge. Sure, he was calm around Lina, but with everyone else knowing as well... wasn't exactly the nicest feeling in the world.

---

Grinning at her sister, Umeme took Lina into another hug. "I know you'll be okay, Lina," she said softly, "you and Delano have been through much worse situations than this. As many horror stories our parents like to tell us about when we were cubs, I don't think they even come close to what you have already went through." She pulled back from Lina, smiling warmly. "You'll do fine. Both of you. You can trust me on this one."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki could sense the slight nervousness in Delano's demeanor, but he wasn't going to point it out. After all he'd just told his brother that there was plenty of time, so there was no need to remind him of how unready he felt. "Would you like to head back?" he asked with a smile. Something gave him a hunch that Delano wanted to get back to Lina. "By the way, I know you've been helping me a lot with hunting and I'm grateful for that, so I wanted to let you know that I'll be returning the favor."

---

As much as Lina obviously wished that she and Delano wouldn't have gone through all of the hardships they'd been through, she found comfort in her sister's words. It made sense. They really have been through far worse in the past so something happy like parenthood shouldn't be a problem. "Thanks, Umeme." she said, happily returning her sister's hug. Heck, Delano would probably be fine before either one of them would even realize it.

[DGFone]

Delano didn't expect Muroki to add the last part, so his brother caught him off guard. "What? Oh, that... yeah, thanks." He felt himself get embarrassed, knowing that now it would be him who would need help, and not Muroki. He glanced at Lina, who was still talking to Umeme. He thought of returning to her side, but eventually chose not to. "Actually," he said, turning back to his brother. "Can I talk to you... alone?"

He got up, and making sure that Muroki was following him, walked over to where he was confident enough that Umeme and Lina were far enough away that they won't be able to hear. "Muroki, I..." he looked down at the ground, sitting down as his legs started to feel weak, "I still don't know if I'll be able to handle this..."

---

Umeme smiled back at Lina, glad to see her sister look so confident. "Besides, you know that Muroki and I are going to be the Big Experiment." She chuckled. "The two of us will be the ones making all the mistakes in terms of how to raise a cub, while you and Delano will be able to learn from them and not make them."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was surprised to hear that Delano actually wanted to talk to him more privately, having expected him to want to get back to Lina's side. He followed his brother, sitting down in front of him as they came to a stop. "Why not?" he asked softly, sounding a little discouraged. "Look, I don't know anything about being a father either..." he said with a small smile. "But you'll have time to watch me and Umeme deal with our cubs... And don't forget that we both have our aunt, uncle and parents in law to help us." he placed a paw on his brother's shoulder. "You'll be fine, Delano."

~~~

Lina also chuckled, almost laughing at her sister's comment. "I'm sure you two won't make many mistakes..." she said reassurninly, giggling at the thought that, in the very near future, they were both going to be mothers. "Ooh! This is so exciting!" she exclaimed, unable to stop herself from acting all girly like that. "You know what would be super cute? A tiny version of Delano!" she giggled once more.

[DGFone]

Delano lay down on the ground, afraid of how his brother might react to what he was about to say. "It's just that... I- I'm afraid," he finally admitted. "I still don't know if everything is really as calm and normal as we feel it is... if we are finally out of danger or not... and... I don't know if it's a good idea to have had cubs this early on..." He let out a sigh. "What if one of us get attacked again? What- what if the cubs will be put in danger? If someone will want to get revenge... you know how vulnerable they are!"

However, as much as he feared not knowing how cautious he needed to be, there was one thing he feared the most. "But... what if my nightmares come back again? What if I... their own father... hurt them?" He shook in fear, curling up on the ground where he lay.

---

Smiling, Umeme stuck her tongue out at Lina. "You might think a tiny version of Delano might be cute, but I would rather think that a mini-Muroki would be a much cutter creature." But then of course, Lina would indeed think that Delano was cuter than Muroki - a fact that she very much disagreed with.

"However... what if the cubs look like you? What would you think of them then?" Umeme grinned at Lina smugly.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki listened to his brother silently, deciding he might as well let him finish talking first. "Nobody's coming after us anymore, Delano." he said as reassuringly as he could, lying down next to his brother and placing a paw over him. "Sanders is dead, remember? I think that, if your nightmares were returning, you would have had one last night." he smiled. "But you didn't. And no parent would ever hurt his own cubs... especially not you."

~~~

Lina frowned playfully at her sister. "No way!" she said defiantly. "I've seen Muroki nervous around you a lot of times, but you've never seen Delano when he's being really timid. That's way cuter!" She giggled. "Why, if they'll look like me they'll be the cutest cubs in the world!" Then a thought struck her. "I think we need a mini Muroki and a mini Delano." she said with another giggle. "Then we'll have the perfect duo!"