Talia wakes up in her own bed in the master suite of the big house, safe and warm. The first thing she notices is a bassinet by the side of the bed. She's confused for a moment because she still feels pregnant. She puts her hands on her swelling belly and confirms, yes, she's still pregnant. Then she remembers that Sheila was due to give birth to Cougar's son any day when she left on the trip to Air Territory. Then she sees a small fist flail in the air in the basinet and hears a soft squall.

Talia's sad for a moment. She missed going with Cougar for the birth of his son, his first child. Then there's another soft squall. Talia attempts to move to get to the baby and only ends up crying out, "Ow! Ow!" and whimpering helplessly in pain.

Cougar rushes out of the master bath drying his hands on a hand towel. He had left the bathroom door open so he could hear either Talia or his newborn son while he relieved himself. And if Talia was loud enough for him to hear, the pain she's experiencing is great.

"Hey," Cougar climbing onto the bed smiling, "You're awake. That's good. Do you want to sit up?"

Talia nods meekly as she answers softly, "Yes, please."

Cougar arranges some pillows and helps Talia into a sitting position, "That left arms not going to cooperate much right now. The bite became infected. Windwalker bit too hard and too deep. He damaged muscle and bone. I had to lance it. It had you burning up with fever and you were out cold." He wipes away her tears of pain and kisses her deeply.

"I love you," Talia tells Cougar grateful for his love and tender care.

"I love you too, always have, always will," he kisses her deeply again. "Now, what were you trying to do?"

"Get the baby," answers Talia. "I'm sorry I missed going with you for his birth."

"Don't be silly," Cougar tells her, "You're here now. That's what matters. I'll change your bandage and then you can hold him. It's about time for him to eat again. You can suckle him while I make his bottle."

"Bottle," questions Talia concerned. Even domesticated women rarely bottle feed.

"Sheila's milk will start arriving soon," explains Cougar. "But until it starts arriving, it's formula."

Talia nods her understanding. Then she watches as Cougar removes the bandage from her left shoulder. The wound smells as bad as it looks. She hasn't had too much trouble with morning sickness, but the smell coming from the wound is making her nauseous and she gags.

"This is gonna hurt," Cougar informs Talia. Then as gently as he possibly can, squeezes puss from the lance opening of the infected wound. The lance opening is oozing puss on its own. Yet, without a little help, it could take days for the wound to empty of the puss on its own. The pain causes Talia to whimper helplessly. Cougar cleans the wound carefully and rebandages it. He got all the puss he could get out for now. And he's glad it's not thick and chunky like when he first lanced it. That's a good sign. He kisses her again. She's blanched a bit from the painful squeezing of the wound.

Then he lifts his son from the basinet and says gently, "Hey there, I want you to meet your momma." He arranges some more pillows to help support the baby for Talia. She cradles the newborn boy with her good arm and he latches onto her breast eagerly. Cougar had once believed he would never see such a beautiful thing, his child at the breast of the woman he loves most in the world. "I'll get his bottle of formula ready."

Talia's eyes well up as she looks at her new son at her breast. She may not have given birth to this son, but this child is by her mate, Cougar. His birth mother is not available and won't be available. So Talia is instantly attached to him. He's pale like his birth mother and his head has a light dusting of white blond hair.

"Cougar, he's beautiful," Talia gushes, "Tell me everything. What's his name?"

"Haven't chosen a name for him yet, I thought we could choose what to call him together," Cougar informs her. "He was born at four am yesterday morning, weighs eight pounds and four ounces and he's twenty inches long."

"He's perfect," is Talia's assessment.

Cougar slides back onto the bed with the four ounce bottle of formula. He slides behind Talia so they can hold their new son together. Their new born son makes a sound of protest over being removed from his momma's breast. Cougar quickly pops the bottle in his mouth, but he still makes some disgruntled noises over the loss of the breast.

Smiling amused, Talia says, "I think he's mad."

Cougar chuckles, "He'll get over it. Now what should his name be?"

Talia thinks carefully for a minute before she suggested, "How about William?"

Cougar's a little surprised by the suggested domesticated name, "Why William?"

"Because it can cover both domesticated as well as free living, William is a good acceptable domesticated name while Will for short is good for free living. Will, will evoke thoughts of strong will and will power."

Cougar agrees completely, "William it is. Now we just need a middle name.. How about Fire?"

Talia tries it out, "William Fire Wilson.. I like it."

"Then William Fire Wilson it is," declares Cougar. He pats the baby's back, there's a small burp and they continue to feed their son his bottle. Cougar burps him again, changes his diaper and lets Talia suckle him to sleep.

Cougar places their new son back in his basinet, "Now, get some rest yourself. I'm going to get you something to eat. I'll wake you back up to eat and for his next feeding."

Talia nods her agreement and lets herself fall back to sleep. Cougar rushes downstairs to the kitchen.

"How is she doing," Roar asks Cougar."

"She woke up," answers Cougar, "That's good. The puss isn't thick and chunky anymore, and that's good too. Plus we picked out a name for our son together. But she's still really weak."

"Let me help you," Otter recognizing that he's putting a tray together for Talia, "I have acorn stew," reaching in the fridge and grabbing a container. "So what did you name him?"

"William Fire Wilson," answers Cougar pouring cranberry juice.

"I like the sound of that," comments Roar.

"Oh," an idea pops into Otter's head, "His tribe name can be Will of Fire."

Cougar pauses, "I like that, and Talia's gonna like it too.. So where's my dad and Greywolf?"

"Waiting for Mist to pull in," answers Roar. "I'm kind of glad he got stuck spending last night at work. And I'm very glad you can't smell deception through the phone."

"Not as glad as I am," says Cougar. "When I said 'She's sleeping, you want me to wake her up?' and he said, 'No, let her sleep. Just give her a kiss for me.' I was so relieved. I would of shit a brick if he had said, 'Yeah, wake her. I want to talk to her.'"

"He's not inconsiderate," says Otter putting her hand on her own little round baby belly where Bob's child is growing, "He knows pregnant women need their rest."

"He's going to over react," says Cougar as he lifts the tray. "And if he's here the first time Windwalker comes to visit, it's going to be ugly." He glances out the glass doors at Zenith bouncing Zulu on her shoulders as she watches the other children play. Then he carries the tray upstairs.

In preparing for the arrival of Cougar's son, they installed a kitchenette area in the master suite. It's larger and more useful than a typical kitchenette in a bachelor apartment. There's a small refrigerator, two flat burners, a small sink, a small microwave and some cabinets. Cougar places her food and drinks in the refrigerator. If she doesn't wake on her own shortly before it's time to feed the baby again, he'll wake her.

For now, he slides back into bed with her and holds her. And barely thirty minutes pass before he hears Richy's sheriff's vehicle pull up the drive to the garage. He hears the driver's door open and close. He hears his father greet Richy. But they're not loud enough for him to hear what's being said. They get louder. Cougar can tell they're shouting now, but he still can't make out what's being said.

The front door opens. Then slams shut. The muffled shouting moves closer. Feet rush up the stairs. Then the shouting is outside the door to the master suite.

"Mist!" Wildcat orders firmly, "Don't go in there upset like you are."

"This wouldn't have happened," Richy responds angry, "if you all would have listened to ME! I didn't want her to go."

"Mist," Greywolf's voice is calm, "what's done is done. She's still your true-mate. That hasn't changed. But it won't be good for you to go in there upset. If she's conscious, you'll only upset her."

"What do you mean, if she's conscious," asks Richy.

"Windwalker's bite became infected," explains Wildcat. "When we got home yesterday, she was unconscious from the fever caused by the infection."

"I'm her first, her true-mate," states Richy pissed, "and no one thought to tell me this when I called last night."

"There was no sense in worrying ya," sighs Wildcat.

Richy's face contorts with anger. He grabs the doorknob, pushes the door open, and begins to step inside only to stop in his tracks just inside the room as he's hit with the scent of how sick Talia is. He's smelled illness like this before in hospitals when people are close to death. His anger disappears instantly as his concern for Talia's wellbeing takes over. He looks back at Wildcat and Greywolf with wide eyes. His mouth forms an O. Then he looks at Cougar cradling Talia against himself protectively.

Richy approaches the bed slowly. As he sits on the edge of the bed slowly, Cougar growls a warning.

Richy puts his palms up, "I'm cool. I'm calm." Then he watches the tension drain out of Cougar as he asks, "How is she?"

Cougar wets his lips, "She woke up for the first time about an hour ago. She's too weak to bring up her guardian. She's so weak, I had to help her sit up so she could hold the baby. I had to lance the wound so it could drain. The wound's looking better, her fever's down and she woke up. All good signs."

"My bite didn't get infected," Richy trying to understand why Talia's so sick.

Cougar shares what he knows and thinks, "He bit her hard and deep.. He bit her so hard, her collar bone is fractured and he damaged muscles in her shoulder.. She probably wasn't cooperating so he used the bite to help keep her still while he mounted her. Then he probably continued to hold the bite for a while to help keep her still, but it kept the bite open which allowed bacteria to find its way into the wound. To top it off, her body was probably focused on protecting the fetus from the bacteria letting it take hold in the wound."

"Are you sure she can't bring up her guardian," asks Richy, "Have you even asked her to try?"

Cougar shakes his head, "Between the pregnancy and the infection, she couldn't if she tried."

Richy pushes a stray lock of hair away from Talia's face and gently caressing the side of her face in the process, "My poor baby."

Talia opens her eyes and smiles weakly, "Richy.." Then her smile falters as she remembers why she's in bed like this. Then her eyes well up with tears, "Richy, I'm so sorry."

"Hush," Richy says soothingly, "Try not to worry about it." Then he switches places with Cougar to hold her. Cougar steps over to the kitchenette to warm up the acorn stew for Talia and get her a drink.

"Tell me what happened," request Richy.

Talia sighs, "We were having a pleasant visit. Breeze was delighted to have his family back. Windwalker asked Wildcat for my company for the night."

"I didn't like it," adds Wildcat sitting on the foot of the bed, "I didn't smell deception on him, just anxiously horny. I asked to see where she would be, but I neglected to step into the room and check it out. I agreed thinking I'ld know exactly where she would be and I could check on her. Except immediately after he led her in, he rolled a big stone over the entrance, locking us out and her in with him."

"I was trapped in there with him," Talia continues, "When he tried to kiss me, I said, 'no.' I tried to run but there was nowhere to run to.. I should have fought harder, but he's so big, ever so much bigger than Mantis. Almost as big as Roar.. I'm sorry.. I was so scared. I was afraid he might beat me half to death."

Richy touches one of the platinum blond streaks in her hair, "What happened to your hair?"

Talia seems to shrink in his arms as she answers, "It happened while I was alone with Windwalker."

"Will you tell us exactly what happened to ya," asks Cougar sitting on the edge of the bed with the tray for her.

Talia shrinks back into Richy and averts her eyes as she answers, "No."

It reminds Cougar of how she was the summer she nearly died. He assures her, "You don't have to talk about it. Your job is to rest, let us take care of you and get better.." He spoons up some stew, "I've got some of Otter's acorn stew for ya. Mostly broth, don't want to overwhelm your stomach after you haven't eaten for a couple of days."

Talia looks confused as she repeats questioningly, "a couple of days."

"What's the last thing you remember Dearest," asks Wildcat.

"Eli holding me as he licked my wound," answers Talia.

"Dearest, that was two nights ago," Wildcat informs Talia.

"Two," says Talia shocked, "I've lost two days."

"Don't worry about that," Cougar directs Talia. He tests the stew on the spoon with his tongue to make sure it's not too hot and it's not. "Just eat for me please, babe."

Talia nods and accepts the spoon full of stew.

"Who's Eli," asks Richy.

Wildcat intercepts that question, "A Night Crawler male from Dark Pack. They gave us shelter from the thunder storm two nights ago."

Richy nods his acceptance of Wildcat's answer, "I was afraid y'all might of gotten stuck out in it."

"Thanks to Dark Pack," adds Greywolf, "we were warm and well fed."

"I need to pee," Talia says quietly.

Cougar sets the tray aside on the nightstand and picks Talia up. "I gotcha," he tells her and carries her into the master bath.

"This is pathetic," Talia sighs frustrated as she leans against Cougar for support while she pees.

"Hush," Cougar's Tone almost scolding, "You're ill. You haven't eaten for like two days while you were unconscious. Plus, you're pregnant. It's going to take a few days before you start to regain your strength. So you just rest. I'm going to take care of you."

"But you have work," states Talia.

"I'm on paternity leave for six months," Cougar informs her.

"Paid or unpaid," asks Talia.

"At half pay," answers Cougar. "I'm on call like a sub, but it would have to be a serious emergency for them to call me in because I'm at the end of the sub list." He helps her wipe and carries her back to bed.

Richy sits behind her to help her sit up so Cougar can finish feeding her.

"Thank you, Cougar," Talia says appreciatively.

"It's my pleasure," Cougar tells her with a smile.

"And thank you, Richy," says Talia appreciatively.

"Why are you thanking me," Richy asks Talia.

"For not being angry with me," answers Talia. "I was terrified you were going to be so angry you would punish me."

Richy knows exactly how angry he was before he stepped into the room and smelled how sick she is. And he didn't have all the facts yet, Wildcat had only managed to tell him Chief Windwalker had attached himself to Talia as her fourth mate. He still doesn't know everything that happened. Talia doesn't want to talk about what left her with white streaks in her beautiful black hair. He finally says, "You were just helping Stinger and her children return to her mate. I'm mad at Chief Windwalker, not you. I'll discuss it with him when I meet him. You just get better and finish growing us a healthy baby."

Richy kisses Talia just as Cougar's newborn son, Will, lets out a soft squall.

"Oh," says Talia, "the baby. Richy, have you seen our baby?"

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Richy smiles, "Not yet. I was a little more concerned with you."

"Cougar, bring me our baby please," request Talia.

"Of course I will," agrees Cougar smiling as he gets up off the edge of the bed. He changes Will's diaper. Then he brings him over to Talia and arranges some pillow so Talia can suckle him.

"Isn't he beautiful," Talia asks Richy.

"He's tiny," states Richy gently touching one of his little hands. The tiny little hand squeezes his finger tightly, "Strong little guy. He's got me. What's his name?"

"Talia and I have decided on William Fire Wilson," answers Cougar.

"I like the sound of that," compliments Wildcat approvingly.

"When I ran down to the kitchen, Otter had a good idea," shares Cougar. "She suggested Will of Fire for his tribe name."

"That's good," says Talia approvingly.

"We need to agree on what the children will call each of us," Wildcat brings up. "Talia, you're their mother so no problem there. But the children will have their biological father; plus, step-fathers. So we need to decide on what they'll call each of us so there's no confusion over which father they're calling for. Can't have a kid calling 'Dad' and all of us asking 'what' at the same time."

"I had just assumed I would be Daddy like my own father," shares Richy. "I hadn't thought much farther than that."

"Well Mist," says Wildcat agreeably, "you're first mate and Talia's true-mate. If you want our children to call you Daddy, that's fine with me."

"I don't have any objections," says Cougar agreeable. "How about Dyie for me?"

"That's just fine," agrees Wildcat. "And I was thinking Paw for me."

Richy and Cougar nod their approval and agreement. Paw for Wildcat is just fine with them and it suits him.

"How about Poppy for Greywolf," suggest Talia.

Greywolf is pleasantly surprised by Talia's suggestion. He's a consort, not one of her official mates. He's very touched that she would honor him like this. Richy's surprised by the suggestion too, but not quite pleasantly. Cougar and Wildcat just roll right along with it. I doesn't trouble or bother them. Both men know it doesn't affect their relationship with Talia and aren't threatened by it.

So Wildcat responds smiling, "That's fine. Should we wait until Windwalker's first visit to choose what the children will call him?"

"How about Pain In The Ass," suggest Talia none to cheerily.

"Sounds good to me," says Cougar lightly as he gets up to make Will a bottle.

Wildcat rolls his eyes at Cougar. Then he looks back at Talia and Richy, "As fitting as Pain In The Ass may be for Windwalker, Dearest, it's not proper."

"Neither was the way he made himself my mate," responds Talia unhappily.

"True," agrees Wildcat, "but it's done. The main advantage is now you can tell any male, including other chiefs, they need his permission. With him living up in the mountains, that means no. Besides, he's not a bad guy. He didn't plan to bite you too hard and too deep. He doesn't know it became infected and made you sick. If he was here, he would be just as concerned for your wellbeing as the rest of us. He didn't beat you into submission and he easily could have. And when he learns how his mark became infected and made you ill, he's going to feel guilty.. And as much as I hate to admit it because I'm angry with him for how he went about making himself your fourth, I think he's going to prove to be a good mate."

"Let's wait for him to choose what the children should call him," suggest Greywolf. "In the meantime, we can all think about what the children should call him. And his tribe may have a unique name for a father he'll want to use."

Will fusses during the switch from breast to bottle. Cougar agrees with Greywolf, "Greywolf's right. Let's leave it be for now and deal with it when Windwalker comes for his first visit. What I want to discuss is you being Will's mother."

"Cougar, I'm going to try to be the best mother I can be for all our children," Talia tells him.

"I know," Cougar nods. "You'll be the only mother he'll ever know. And here in free territory, no one will question that he's your son and mine.. What I'm concerned about is domestic society. Sheila has no rights to him. Uncle Bob saw to that. But at this moment, as far as domestic society is concerned, he's motherless. He only has one legal parent, me. I'ld like to arrange it so that you're his legal mother, just in case something happens to me. I'm a fireman. It's a dangerous job. But if something happened to me, I don't want domestic authorities trying to show up and take him from the only mother he's ever known, or Sheila's family trying to pull a fast one. Her mom's already petitioning for grandparents' visitation rights.. I've already talked with Uncle Bob. He thinks it's a good idea to make you his legal adopted mother. He says it protects him and us. And he's going to do his best to make sure they don't get visitation because they're all a bunch of 'loons'. If I had been sober, I might of noticed before I married Sheila."

Talia nods agreeingly, "That sounds fine. I certainly don't want anyone walking in here and taking my baby from me. The adoption papers will take a few months. It may take a while to fight the visitation depending on how determined her mother is, how many times she appeals, and how sympathetic the judge assigned is. But we'll get through it." Then she accepts a heartfelt kiss from Cougar.