A/N: This will not include the Leafpool Theory, even though I am convinced as to its truth, in part. Also, in an effort to be a bit more genetically correct, and because I am not following the Leafpool Theory for this story, you may notice some different fur colors than expected for the currently unborn kits during this series.

Chapter 1

Leafpool opened her eyes slowly, unsettled by her dream and the message Spottedleaf had brought. Rising to her feet ThunderClan’s medicine cat, exited her den. Padding across the shadowed camp, her gaze sought out each of the dens, making sure that no one was watching her. Stopping at the end of the gorse tunnel, she dipped her head to Cloudtail and brushed past him out into the forest, alive with nighttime activity.

Pausing in a stand of ferns, Leafpool lifted her head, looking through the leafy canopy to the fragments of star-speckled sky above. Her heart filled with emptiness as she realized how alone she was beneath this new burden she must bear for her ancestors. A breeze rustled through the trees, pushing through her fur the wrong way.

Shaking herself, Leafpool carried on with her purpose. She needed to speak with Crowfeather, to tell him, to find a way to protect the lives growing inside her. The fierce loving fire every mother feels for her kits was already growing in her heart, but Leafpool knew she would ultimately need to let her kits grow to be strong warriors in another Clan. For their safety, and for the Clans’.

Passing from beneath the shelter of the trees, Leafpool looked across the space separating her and the rest of ThunderClan from WindClan. She stopped, a sudden uncertainty filling her as she thought of how strange it would look for her to travel all the way to the WindClan camp to speak with Crowfeather when it wasn’t the quarter moon or Gathering time. Sighing, she lay down, tucking her paws beneath her chest and wrapping her tail along her side, her amber eyes staring off into the darkness, waiting.

The moon had slid half way down the sky when motion from the opposing bushes startled the half-dozing medicine cat into full wakefulness. Leaping to her paws, upper lip curling back slightly, Leafpool prepared to defend herself if any cat dared to confront her. As the motion came closer a familiar scent wafted over her and she relaxed her guard, making her fur lie flat again. “Crowfeather,” she whispered, “I’m glad you’ve come.”

They had not planned to meet, but for whatever reason that he was here, she was happy. She really needed to tell him her news so they could figure out what to do about it. Sitting down, Leafpool watched eagerly as Crowfeather exited the bushes. When a second cat followed him, her heart sank a little. How could she tell Barkface, her fellow medicine cat and someone she respected, that she was carrying kits? Let alone the kits of a tom not from her own Clan!

Crowfeather looked startled as he glanced back at Barkface, as if the other tom were in charge of their late night stroll. Attempting to keep her voice steady, Leafpool meowed, dipping her head to each of them, “Greetings, Crowfeather, Barkface.” She wrapped her tail over her paws to hide the way she was clawing nervously at the dirt.

“Greetings, Leafpool,” the brown WindClan medicine cat greeted her. He followed her example and sat down, gesturing with his tail for a confused Crowfeather to do the same. “I had a dream, Leafpool, sent to me by StarClan.” He looked at her knowingly and she felt a rapid mixture of relief and alarm. Would he tell the other medicine cats? Would he make her leave her position as ThunderClan’s medicine cat? It seemed as if her entire future balanced in Barkface’s claws.

“I did as well, Barkface,” she replied, only the barest tremor in her voice as she said his name reflecting her unsettled nerves.

Crowfeather seemed even more confused by this exchange, glancing fiercely back and forth between the two medicine cats, his eyes boring into them. At Barkface’s understanding nod it seemed the black tom could take it no longer, yowling, “What is this all about?” Chagrined as he realized how loud he had spoken, Crowfeather pressed himself closer to the ground. Leafpool would have been amused had this meeting been under any different circumstances.

“I think you had best explain it to him, Leafpool,” Barkface meowed. She nodded and took a deep breath before she met Crowfeather’s interested and uncertain gaze.

“I am carrying a burden. I have to keep this burden safe so that one of StarClan’s prophecies can come true. It is extremely important…” Leafpool trailed off, uncertain how to go on. “I…How are things in WindClan, Crowfeather?” Barkface looked amused at her change of subject, but nudged the warrior next to him to speak.

“Sunpaw is learning quickly. She’ll probably be made a warrior soon.” The black tom’s gaze dropped from Leafpool’s, though he didn’t stop speaking. “Nightcloud told me she’s going to have kits. She said they’re probably due in around two moons.”

Leafpool felt like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out and her head was spinning too fast to even think of stopping it. Crowfeather had found someone new…he wouldn’t want their kits…he’d tell her it was her fault…. Leafpool felt as if the world was crashing down around her ears, and then suddenly, it stopped. Everything fell into place. This could be a good thing. It would mean her kits would still be able to know their real father. That had to be a good thing.

“Oh,” Leafpool mewed calmly. Barkface and Crowfeather both looked at her as if she were crazy. She went on, undeterred. “I’m due in a moon and three quarters or so. She’ll probably deliver a quarter moon after me…” Her amber gaze slipped to meet Barkface’s. If he knew and hadn’t said anything yet, she expected that he would help her for whatever reason that StarClan had given him.

“Blueberries induce labor. I could give them to both you and Nightcloud when you are close to your time.”

Crowfeather was staring at the ground intently, seemingly deaf to the medicine cats’ conversation. “You mean you’re carrying my kits, don’t you, Leafpool?” She nodded, only a little uncertain of how he would react. She had left their relationship in the past the day of the badger attack. ThunderClan needed her and Leafpool was willing to give her life for them. Right now, her biggest priority was protecting StarClan’s chosen.

Taking a deep breath, the gray-black tom drew himself up. “How will we make sure Leafpool’s kits can become part of WindClan without being suspect?” Leafpool glanced at him, before looking back at Barkface. He’d said ‘we’! That meant he wanted to be part of this. The brown medicine cat licked one paw thoughtfully, eyeing his Clanmate.

“Perhaps Nightcloud’s birthing will be difficult and perhaps I might be out of an herb or two necessary for the kits to come.” Barkface said slowly, introducing the idea as carefully as he could to both of the cats around him. “I would need another medicine cat to come help me, and the closest one to WindClan is Leafpool.” He looked at her, and the tabby she-cat felt chills roll down her spine. To do something like that, something that might hurt a queen and her kits…but a week early would be nothing. Kits had come early before and they and their mother had been perfectly fine. There was nothing to harm Nightcloud or Crowfeather’s kits in this plan.

“I-” Crowfeather started, but then stopped, sighing. “Very well. I trust you will do nothing to harm her.” Barkface nodded and rose to his paws, vanishing back into the bushes to return to the camp and his dreams.

Leafpool rose, watching Crowfeather with some trepidation. She knew her kits would be safe in WindClan. She only hoped that she could know what would be in store for them. “I will see you, then, Crowfeather.” She turned to leave, not expecting him to say anything to her. They were done with, there could be nothing left that he would want to say to her after what she’d done the day of the badger attack.

“Leafpool,” his voice was soft in the night air. Turning back to him, her reply was the sort of soft mew a kit would use to call its mother. She still had feelings for him, as locked away as they were, and she knew that she always would.

In one leap, he bridged the gap between them, flying over the stream separating their territories. Inhaling his scent as he pressed against her, Leafpool wished that this moment would never end. She wished that it didn’t have to stop, that she could always be near Crowfeather, always think of herself as his, as the one who helped him start a family. But she wasn’t that, she couldn’t be that to him, not when they were from different Clans and he had another she-cat carrying his kits.

Leafpool pulled away from him slowly, meeting his eyes, trying to express all her feelings in that one look. Then she turned and headed back through the trees to ThunderClan’s camp.

.

Leafpool yawned, opening her eyes to the cool shade of her den. From outside, she could hear Brambleclaw organizing a hunting patrol, Berrypaw, his young apprentice, rambling at his side. Rising tiredly to her paws, she slid them out in front of her to stretch her back. Back on four feet, the medicine cat grabbed some borage leaves and thyme, deciding to visit the nursery first. Padding across the center of the camp, she dipped her head to the cats that greeted her but didn’t stop to chat. Leafpool was feeling particularly restless after her conversation with the two WindClan cats the night before. Ducking into the nursery, Leafpool’s ears were met with the oh so sweet tones of her sister, Squirrelflight, who had moved into the cozy den for queens a few days earlier.

“Leafpool, do I really have to stay in here?” the dark ginger she-cat growled. “Why can’t I just be out patrolling or something until the kits are born?” Leafpool tried to hide her laughter, but unfortunately the leaves in her mouth shook with her suppressed chuckles. This just caused her restless sister to flop into her nest with annoyance.

Sorreltail, Leafpool’s best friend, mrowwed with her own amusement, her tortoiseshell tail wrapped protectively over the rumps of her nursing kits. “Don’t worry, Squirrelflight, you’ll soon get used to it. And I’m sure Firestar couldn’t stop you from hunting for the first moon or so. After all, the Clan does need to be fed.” Squirrelflight brightened for a moment before reality set in.

“Try telling Brambleclaw that! Ever since he found out I was carrying his kits, he’s been treating me like some newleaf flower!”

Leafpool chuckled, nudging the borage over to Sorreltail. “Here’s some more borage, for your milk. You’ll want to keep those kits well fed and healthy.” The proud mother nodded, purring as she watched her four kits suckle. Turning back to her sister, Leafpool wondered if she’d ever get to have her kits suckling her milk, not Nightcloud’s.

“Now, Squirrelflight, I want you to eat these. It’s thyme, to calm you down,” she said quite reasonably. “If you don’t stay calm, your kits might have problems.” The ginger she-cat looked a little worried and ate the thyme without complaint. For all that Squirrelflight wanted to be out doing her warrior duties, she didn’t want her kits to have bad health or anything like that.

Nodding to each queen again, Leafpool turned and headed out of the camp to look for some more herbs. She found a nice patch of borage which she’d return to later. With the amount of kits the Clan had, the queens were going to need plenty of the herb that aided their milk production. Moving farther into the trees, she bit off some tansy, remembering that she’d heard Spiderleg and Hazelpaw coughing the day before.

Returning to the camp, Leafpool took care to stow all of the herbs she’d collected that day. Getting a plump sparrow from the fresh-kill pile, she ate, and then returned to her den for a nap. She was beginning to realize that the worst part of her entire situation was the waiting. The incredibly endless waiting.