[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano winced when Akili mentioned how much he had hurt the cub. "I'm sorry, Akili..." He really was at a loss as to what he wanted to, or at least dared to, tell Akili. Not knowing just how much he could risk by telling, he simply said, "Akili... I want to tell you why I... why I hurt you..." he had to take a few moments to calm himself down, "but... you wouldn't understand. I just want you to know... I never wanted to hurt you, and I will never want to again."

Finding it harder and harder to remain by his son, Delano stood up slowly. "Try to go back to sleep next to your mother, okay?" He watched as his son slowly made his way over to Lina before turning and fleeing the den once more. Once outside, he allowed himself to collapse on the cold ground, curling up into a ball as his emotions overtook him.

[TheWhistlerify]

Akili didn't really know what to make of Delano's answer. Did he just tell him that would never want to hurt him again? Well, what good was that considering how he hadn't wanted to hurt him this time? Feeling too confused and even scared to say anything else, the cub silently obeyed and got to his paws, slowly making his way over to his mother before curling up between her paws. He didn't even consider looking to see whether his father had followed him or not and simply closed his eyes, managing to draw some comfort from the warmth of the paws he knew would never almost crush him. It took him some time, but he eventually fell asleep.

[DGFone]

Delano fell into a restless sleep outside where he had stopped, not even realizing that he fell asleep until he felt himself being shaken awake by someone. Recoiling away from the touch, he again tripped over himself, not remembering that he was just in a tight ball. Fearfully looking up, he saw Lina looking at him, confusion and concern in her gaze.

What was even worse was seeing Akili hiding behind one of his mother's legs, looking very much afraid. Delano slowly got up, feeling ashamed of himself, but even more so, very much afraid of what Lina was going to do. She most likely knew by now of what he had done, and while she had always been very understanding before, he wasn't sure if she would be as lenient now that he had hurt their son.

"Lina... Akili..." Delano looked at the two of them fearfully. Then to make things even worse, he remembered that they were at Laini and Dakari's den. What would his aunt and uncle think?

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina had found herself being woken up at a rather early hour of the morning by a very worried-looking Akili, who had immediately turned her attention to the fact that Delano was not inside the den with them. True, Akili had gone back to sleep without paying anymore attention to his father, but he did notice the lion's absence upon waking up in the morning. While the cub still remembered the events that had taken place during the night very clearly, he hasn't said a single word of them to his mother. He didn't know what to make of them let alone how to explain them to anyone.

Lina, of course, did not suspect anything else was amiss because she concluded that her son was uneasy because of her mate's disappearance. Now that they were there, with him, she was too confused by Delano's behavior in order to notice the way Akili was hiding behind one of her legs. "What are you doing out here, Delano?" she asked gently. The way the father of her cub looked was kind of reminding her of when he'd had nihtmares, and she was starting to consider sending Akili back to the den in case his father started acting too strangely.

[DGFone]

Delano stared between Lina and Akili, starting to figure out that their son apparently did not tell her yet about what had happened during the night. Should he make something up and avoid having her get angry at him? He mentally scolded himself at even thinking about it. Not only would Akili tell the truth, but Delano really should not lie to his mate, and even worse, in front of their cub. But at the same time, he couldn't say anything with Akili watching.

"Lina... I need to talk to you," he muttered eventually, "...alone." He glanced nervously at their son, who shrank back from Delano's gaze. It really hurt to see his own son looking so afraid of him. Lina must have taken the hint, because she escorted Akili back inside the den, appearing alone back out soon afterwards.

Not able to bare looking at her, Delano forced himself to speak. "During the night, I- I had another nightmare," he said, almost in a whisper, "when I woke up... I don't know... I must have been squeezing Akili..." He glanced up at Lina nervously, tears starting to cover his eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt him!" he blurted out, "I didn't... honest!" Losing his composure, he broke down crying onto Lina's shoulder.

[TheWhistlerify]

Becoming slightly confused by Delano's request, Lina decided not to argue and took Akili back to the den, feeling like asking for his reasonings in front of their cub would only do what her mate was most likely wanting to avoid, whatever the reason. So, with that taken care of, she quietly made her way back to where Delano was waiting, not noticing the way in which her son kept staring at her with concern until she was out of sight completely.

She was about to ask him to tell her what the whole mess was about, but he beat her to it. At first she thought that what Delano was trying to imply was that he'd fled the den after having a nightmare and simply didn't want Akili to know about it, therefore having asked her to take him away. She most certainly wasn't expecting what he said shortly afterwards. "Y-you what?!" she asked, obviously shocked. Yes, she doubted he'd meant for it to happen, but... "Delano, you could have easily hurt or even killed him!" With how small Akili was, they were lucky he hasn't broken anything or worse.

[DGFone]

Delano recoiled away from Lina when she scolded him. He was already afraid that she might get angry with him, but he didn't think that she would be so blunt about it! Glancing one last look at Lina, Delano turned and ran off. His vision greatly impaired by his tears, he didn't see the rock that he tripped over, sending him falling painfully towards the ground.

Before he was able to get up again, he felt Lina approach and gently embrace him. Turning back towards her, Delano returned the hug, mumbling incoherently how he never wanted to hurt Akili, and that it wasn't his fault - that he wasn't in control of himself when he had first woken up.

After what felt like ages, he finally began to partially calm down. "Lina, can you..." he gulped nervously, "can you go and tell him that I'm sorry?" He was very much afraid that after this event, his relationship with Akili was shattered, potentially even forever. Would his own son trust him from now on?

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina, of course, hadn't meant to make Delano even more upset than he already was. But, naturally, the thought that her cub could have easily been seriously hurt or even killed was enough to make her not think as clearly as she should have. So when her mate suddenly turned away and ran off, ohviously in great distress, she immediately regretted the bluntness of the way she'd spoken to him. Quickly following him, she let out a soft sigh of relief when her mate calmed down, before slowly nodding her head and going back to the den to fetch Akili.

Their son seemed as if he was quite happy to see her, but he did display some reluctance in following her to where his father was. On the way there, she made sure to let him know that her mate was sorry and did her best to calm him down. "It's just that accidents do happen," she said softly as the two of them got closer to where Delano was nervously waiting, "but everything's okay now." The two came to a stop, and Lina's ears went flat against her head when she saw Akili hesitate. "Go on, it's alright." After getting a gentle nudge from his mother, the cub slowly walked over towards his father.

[DGFone]

Waiting for Lina to come back out of the den with Akili almost felt like torture for Delano. So when she finally came back out, his spirits lifted, albeit only slightly. While Lina was busy trying to talk Akili into walking over to Delano, the older lion was trying his hardest to calm himself down. Much like Lina, he couldn't help but notice as their son hesitated in coming over.

"Akili..." he spoke nervously, "it's still me..." in a funny way, his nervousness was better for him, because what Delano really did not want to do was order his son to approach him. He needed Akili to come over out of his own accord, and not simply because his parents told him to. "I'm still your dad... you know I would never hurt you on purpose..."

To his great relief, eventually, Akili did take those few steps over to him. Delano reached out slowly with a paw and took his son into a gentle embrace, careful to make sure that he won't accidently hurt Akili again. "I will always protect you, even if it's the last thing I will ever do," Delano whispered to his son, "you are my only son, Akili... I will never lift a paw to willingly hurt you. I want you to know that."

[TheWhistlerify]

All too reluctantly, Akili slowly walked over to his father, his own reservations still present inside his little head despite all of his mother's encouragements. He instinctively shrank when the fully grown lion's paw reached out towards him and pulled him over, feeling himself tremble ever so slightly as he found himself resting against his father's mane. It took him some time, but he eventually managed to calm down and stop shaking altogether, drawing comfort from the warmth of Delano's mane.

Lina, relieved to see that Akili had managed to relax to some extent, smiled before walking over to her mate and son. She lay down next to Delano, giving him a shorf nuzzle of reassurrance before resting her head beneath his chin, gently licking their cub a few times as he purred softly at the attention and affection he was receiving. "We both love you very much, Akili." she said quietly, nuzzling him. "Don't you ever forget that."