[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina couldn't help but smile when Delano accepted her offer without arguing, meaning that he wasn't afraid of going back to sleep and that he liked the idea of getting more rest. This made his situation much better compared to the last times he'd had nightmares; where he would not only wake up a lot more frequently but also be almost terrified of even trying to go to sleep again... His mate didn't even want to think about that...

Nodding her head in approval at his very understandable request, the lioness licked her mate once before placing her head back down comfortably as well. There was no reason for her to not get some more sleep. She usually woke up whenever Akili did, seeing how somebody obviously had to keep an eye on the little cub at all times. She'd gladly wake Delano up once Akili would want to go out of the cave to play. Their son was bound to like the idea of his father coming along.

And, surely enough, the fuzzy maraca woke up not much longer after his parents had gone back to sleep. Lina didn't know how much more sleep she managed to get in when he woke her up, but it didn't really matter. Smiling warmly at the sight of him leaning against her muzzle with his tiny front legs, she pulled him closer so that she could tickle his tummy with her nose. After he complained and laughed in that cute way of his, she let him go and began nudging her mate awake as the cub ran over to the exit of the den and stopped there to wait for them.

[DGFone]

It had felt like had only just fallen asleep when Lina was once again nudging Delano to wake him up. Groaning in annoyance, Delano tried to ignore his mate in order to catch a few more moments of rest, but all it did was cause Lina to nudge him even more, knowing that he was awake enough to respond to her, and therefore was already almost up anyways.

Having enough, Delano rolled away from his mate. "Alright, alright. I'm up!" He did remember how he had asked Lina to wake him up when she was going to leave the cave with Akili once their son was up. So really... "Akili, don't you know better than to torture your parents like this?" Delano asked grumpily, but was still very clearly only teasing, "you couldn't stay asleep for a little longer?"

Still, he was up now, so there was no real point in lying about again. Grunting from the effort, he slowly stood up with Lina's help, and the two of them followed their son outside.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina, obviously finding her mate's complaining to be very amusing, especially because he was the one who'd asked her to wake him up once Akili was no longer asleep, decided she might as well stop with her annoying nudging once he said that he was up, even if it was tempting to continue. Their son, clearly excited about the fact that his father was going to come outside with them, giggled and shook his head. "Nah-uh, dad!" he exclaimed, as if the answer should have been obvious.

Then, once he saw that his parents were coming, he turned around and ran into the sunlight and fresh morning air. The skies were clear and, while there was no telling just how hot the day was going to be, the air outside was chilly in a very nice and pleasant way. Smiling broadly, the little cub rushed back over to Lina and Delano, rubbing himself affectionately against both their legs before laughing in surprise as his mother gently pushed him over with her nose. Quickly standing back up, he began to trot in the direction of the nearest waterhole, which was really anything but far.

Lina, realizing that their little hairball was thirsty, figured this would be a perfect time for her and her mate to get some water as well. She saw no reason to not take the cub there. That way, she wouldn't have to leave Delano's side sometime later that day in order to satisfy her thirst and he wouldn't need to walk to the waterhole just for that, seeing how they were going there now anyway.

[DGFone]

Delano couldn't help but groan when Akili rushed off to the waterhole. While he himself was also somewhat thirsty, and wouldn't mind some water, the fact that he was still effective immobilized, and was only able to move around with Lina's help. So to have to walk even over to the waterhole seemed like a very daunting thing to do.

But no matter how much he didn't want to do it, with Lina's hep, Delano did find his way to the waterhole, and was rather surprised at how good the water felt when he finally went into it. Before Lina could stop him, he moved away from here and flopped down, sending water everywhere.

Seeing the muddy water around him, Delano realized that he must have been covered in dirt until now, which didn't really surprise him considering what had happened recently. Plus, he hadn't exactly kept up on keeping himself clean, so it was no doubt that that he was very dirty, but he hadn't expected it to be this bad.

His legs aching even from the short walk, he lay in the water, not feeling like moving any time soon, allowing the currents to wash him without needing to move.

[TheWhistlerify]

Akili, quickly going into the water as well (as deep as he could, that is, seeing how adorably tiny of a hairball he was), couldn't help but giggle as his father splashed water everywhere. "Hey, dad, you really need a bath!" he said, unable to find the situation to be very amusing. Seeing how he always tried to avoid baths, how come his father didn't get any? "Mom, why don't you bathe dad too? Why only me??"

The cub pouted, causing his mother to laugh a short laugh as she playfully rolled her eyes. "That's why we're here now, sweetie." she said teasingly, using the fact that there was a waterhole nearby as an excuse. "Water's good for cleaning."

"How come I always get the annoying baths and not this??" asked the little fuzzy maraca.

His mother chuckled and lay down next to her mate, figuring she might as well satisfy the cub's immature complaints. "Mind if I join you?" she asked softly as she gently licked his cheek once before focusing mostly on his mane. It might not be the most pleasant thing for him to clean himself with his injuries. Even with the water doing most of the work, she figured she might as well lend a paw. And, she was rather enjoying doing this, not to mention that it made their son stop whining.

[DGFone]

Shaking his head, Delano allowed Lina to join him, and he soon felt her start to rinse his mane clean. The feeling was rather soothing, and he found himself closing his eyes in contentment as she cleaned him. "I really don't see why Akili complains about this," he muttered dreamily as Lina's paw ran over the top of his head, "it's not all that ba-" He suddenly yelped when his mate accidentally brushed over the area where he ran into the wall with. "Lina! Be careful!" He knew that she didn't do it on purpose, and that she can always simply stop and leave him to clean himself, which would be even more painful.

So when she quickly apologized, Delano forced himself not to feel angry at her for hurting him, giving her quick lick as well. "It's all right," he assured her, "don't worry about it. Just caught me off guard, that's all." As she resumed cleaning him, Delano was again able to enjoy it, even if she did occasionally put pressure on a painful or sore spot. Even the occasional pain was worth it, and he knew that soon, he would heal up enough that he would have to keep himself clean once more.

[TheWhistlerify]

Happily bathing her mate, Lina quickly withdrew her head in surprise as Delano suddenly yelped in pain, saying that she hurt him by coming in contact with an unusually sore spot. Now, obviously she hadn't meant to do that, but that didn't make her feel any less bad about it. "I'm sorry..." she said, allowing herself to purr and giggle slightly when he licked her back. With that little ordeal over with, seeing how Akili hadn't noticed his father raise his voice (because he was busy splashing about near the shore), she resumed what she was doing.

It didn't escape her that she occasionally went over a wound. As a matter of fact she easily noticed them and, making sure to do so more gently in those areas, figured it would help him heal faster if she cleaned his injuries. Surely it might be a little unpleasant at first but, from experience, she knew that it could quickly become pleasant in addition to keeping the gashes cleaner. "You know..." she said softly at some point, though without stopping as she stopped focusing on his head and move a little lower, to his shoulders and upper back. These parts of his body were obviously beaten up more when Sanders had pinned him and bashed him continuously... "It really is not bad. I'll be glad if you return the favor later."

[DGFone]

Delano knew there was a catch for Lina cleaning him like this without arguing. "Yeah, I guess I can do that," he replied after some time, "just not any time now I guess." He was basically unable to clean himself up right now, so to do the same to Lina was even more unlikely. But after he will get better, then he can get around to paying back this favor.

He had to admit though, he must have gotten used to being covered in dust and dirt, because as Lina and the water removed it off him, he really started to feel... weird. Looking over himself, another thing he noticed was that with the layers of dirt removed, he could see much better the extent of his wounds, and he had to admit... it wasn't pretty. "Guess I now know why everything hurts so much..." Delano muttered, wondering and hoping that not everything would scar. He was able to notice how Lina took extra care around the wounds, and especially with the nastier ones at that, and felt really grateful that she did.

Still, even with the extra care she put in, he still had to struggle not to fight her off when she got to the more damaged parts of him. While he knew that she was doing him a great favor, it still didn't take away from the fact that it really hurt as she removed some of the more stubborn patches of dirt from his fur.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina's ears dropped against her head at what her mate was saying. It would be a lie to say that Delano's fur being cleaner and therefore making his injuries all the more noticeable wasn't a very pleasant thing. She couldn't help but feel a little worse upon seeing just how bad some of his wounds were, and the odds of some of them leaving scars seemed even higher now. But, on an even less cheerful note, it meant that his recovery would probably take longer than they'd originally expected.

Briefly stopping what she was doing, Lina brought her head over to his and nuzzled him tenderly. "I can stop if you want..." she said softly. While the lioness knew that what she was doing would help Delano, it really didn't feel great to know that she was causing him pain at the same time... "I mean, I'm sure Kato's mother can do what I'm doing in a more... soothing way..." At the same time, though, she wanted to actually help him get better, even if she knew that being there for him was also a big help.

[DGFone]

Delano felt bad that he was hurting Lina's feelings. While he couldn't deny that the cleaning was hurting him, he didn't want his mate to think that he wasn't grateful for what she was doing either. "No, Lina, it's all right," he told her quickly, "It was really nice when you started, and still is somewhat. Yeah, it hurts now, but really... you're doing great, Lina. I would rather have you do it." He smiled somewhat grimly at her. "It's nothing I haven't been feeling constantly for the past couple of days now. It can only get better anyways, right?"

He moved his head so that he can nuzzle her before allowing her to resume the cleaning. "Besides, I am sure that you wouldn't mind it when it will be my turn, that it won't hurt for you." Trying to keep his mind off the pain, he tried to imagine being whole and mobile again. "I am thinking that for that, we can go to our waterhole again... Just you and me..." His mind wandered to the last time they had gone there, not too long ago. "And this time there won't be Sanders around to ruin it either."

While he was still having a hard time coping with the fact that he had killed another lion, Delano did not regret finishing off Sanders. If he hadn't, it would have been very likely that both he and Hatari would have been killed. Not to mention that no good came out of Sanders surviving his 'execution'.