It was a Mistake (Ice)

[Midnight]

Icestorm only.

---

Silent paws made their way from one end of the cave to the other. The feline gazed outside, taking note of the small white flakes falling outside of TalonClan's camp. Why now, of all times? It couldn't have happened in greenleaf, when they were much more likely to be safe?

At least the living situation was better. In LeafClan, they'd be born in a den made of leaves and branches, exposed at least a little bit the snow and wetness that came with it. TalonClan's cave wasn't much better in the way of heat, but the nursery was deep within the system, and it was impossible for snow to get in there. The entire floor was fluffy moss, replaced constantly by every generation of apprentices that grew in TalonClan. If she decided to give them up to another queen, she'd know they they were safe at all times.

Briarstar had stepped into the tunnel leading to the warriors' den by the time she'd gone back to reality. She paused, taking a deep breath before slipping in, whiskers pointed outward. Briarstar picked her way through the den, nose twitching. She was taking her time, trying to think of what she'd say when she found him, when she finally reached his nest. Briarstar placed a paw gently on Maplebreeze's flank, lowered her head, and softly whispered into his ear, "Meet me in my den."

Quicker than before, Briarstar left the warriors' den and broke into a dash through the main cave, bolting into her den and stopping only when she reached her nest. She flopped into it, curling up tightly, before forcing herself to sit up, wash her pelt, and wait.

[Icestorm]

Maplebreeze yawned as he stretched in the warrior's den, as he prepared for his nap. He had been hoping if he got to his nap quick enough, someone couldn't find him and make him do any work. After all working with his apprentice was hard enough work and the cold weather was starting to come in, bringing some bad memories with them. A nap was going to be the perfect escape for him.

Before he could shut his eyes completely he spotted Briarstar coming into the den. He closed his eyes tight hoping she would just ignore him and find someone else to do whatever job she was looking for someone to do. He thought it was odd when he felt how close she was to him, even more so when she put her paw on him.

"Meet me in my den."

By time the orange tabby opened his eyes all he saw was her tail. What in Starclan got into her? Is she stressed again? I don't have catnip and Duskflame would most likely be in her den at this time. Stretching yet again he prepared to get up. Whatever it was she wanted, he couldn't deny the sound of voice. Something was wrong, stress or whatever.

Maplebreeze didn't ask to come into her den, not when she was expecting him. He found her sitting in her nest, looking like a combination of strong and stressed to him. "Well I'm here. What do you want?" He looked around the den and smirked. "You got some more catnip in here?" He said with his usual banter.

[Midnight]

(You misspelled "Mapleshade" a few times there. ;D)

Something in Briarstar snapped. Her claws slipped out, scraping against the cave floor. In an instant, Briarstar's teeth were bared, and she lunged at Maplebreeze, landing right in front of him. She nearly lashed out at him, but instead hissed at him more viciously than she'd hissed at any cat before, "No, you piece of mousedung. Catnip is what got me into this mass. Catnip is the reason why I'm pregnant." Briarstar spat at the tom, lashing her tail wildly. How dare he make a joke? She asked him to come to her den in the middle of the night - what in the name of StarClan did he expect? "I'm promoting you as the new deputy! To the Dark Forest with Thistlehawk!" As if. "Why do you have to make a joke out of everything? Can't you be serious for once? Did you not sense my stress? I'm having kittens, Maplebreeze - your kittens. How do you feel about that? Are you going to make another joke? If you are, why don't you just leave TalonClan? We have no place for a warrior who doesn't take anything seriously, and I certainly don't want that rubbing off on my kits," Briarstar said, averting her gaze after. It was embarrassing, shameful even, that she'd had kits with a tom who wasn't her mate. Maplebreeze was her best friend, but he probably wasn't going to make a good father.

[Icestorm]

(Terribly sorry Bratstar)

Maplebreeze brought his head back as Briarstar lunged at him, his own claws unsheathing from his past experience with his mentor. He was shocked to say the least that whatever stress she was feeling was this bad.

P-pregnant?

Maplebreeze just stared at his leader, no his friend as she exploded. She just kept going and going. Honestly, what was her yelling accomplishing? Maybe it made it feel better. Either way her was a bit much.

Kits, Your kits. Her words sticking out.

Wait what did she just say? She cant be serious. Why was she yelling him. She was all over the place really. The orange tom sheathed his claws, realizing the situation. "I may not be serious all the time, but that doesn't make me a bad tom. So are you done yelling? Cause let me tell you, I do everything you ask me to do, even if I don't want to. Even before you were leader I was by your side. So calm down." Maplebreeze tried to move to look her in the eyes. He wanted to her to hear him. Was he scared? Very, but he couldn't let her see. Not with her panicking this bad by herself.

He smirked to the she-cat, "Besides you know you love my jokes! How else would you have me?" He looked up thinking about his own question before looking back to her, "Don't answer that."

[Midnight]

Calm down? Calm down?! Oh, he did not just tell her to calm down! Briarstar spat at the tom again, stomping over to her nest. She began to rip at it, claws working furiously against the soft moss, bits flying everywhere. She snarled, tail lashing fiercely, and dove her head into the moss, biting down hard. Stupid Maplebreeze. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Briarstar took one last strike at her not-so-clean bedding, pretending it was that idiotic ginger-and-white tom.

"I'm just..." Briarstar sighed, hunched over now. She was exhausted. StarClan, she was absolutely defeated for the first time in her life, and she did not like the feeling. What could she do? "I'm tired. I'm scared. It took me a while to figure out that this was even happening. I've hardly been able to eat, and what little I do get down doesn't stay for very long. I haven't had the time to talk to Duskflame about this. Trust me, though, a queen knows when she's expecting. We don't need medicine cats to tell us," Briarstar rambled, flopping into what was left of her nest. She kneaded the moss, purring anxiously. "What am I going to do? I can't run the Clan and take care of a litter for six whole moons! And what about Thistlehawk? He's still new to being deputy, so is it really fair for me to just paw the Clan over to him while I take care of these kits? What if I gave them to another queen? Oh, and what about you? Are you going to be active in this, or do you want to back out now?" Briarstar said, tipping her head to the side. It didn't matter to her if Maplebreeze was there or not. She didn't want others thinking they were mates. She wanted her kits to have good lives, but not if their father was going to mess around the entire time.

[Icestorm]

The tom watched as Briarstar took out her frustration or maybe anger out on her nest. He wanted to make her stop, before she made her nest uncomfortable, but he was fairly certain it was too late. His head cocked watching her, he may not be the smartest tom, but interrupting her at that point was nothing but stupid.

Maplebreeze stretched his body as he moved slowly to lay down thinking of what to say exactly. His initial instinct was to throw her another joke. Try and get her to lighten up, but that wasn't working. He took a deep breath, he needed to be serious with her. "Look Briarstar. I have faith in you. Ever since we met I have. You are strong, you have a good-pure heart. If anyone can be a mother, a good mother and leader. Its you. Come on pick up your head and look at what Starclan has given you," he paused for a moment lifting his head quickly, "Us. I don't want another queen taking care of these kits. If you need help I'll help. but kits deserve their mothers." Maplebreeze felt himself tense mentioning kits and mothers. His own memories flowing back to him. He really did miss her, and he wasn't going to let these kits feel that pain.

[Midnight]

He was trapping her, and she didn't like that. Maplebreeze had a point, though: their kittens deserved to know their mother. Briarstar recalled the day of her litter's apprentice ceremony: Firekit had died only a few moons prior, they'd never met their father, and now the three young ones were watching their mother walk out of the camp after their apprentice names had been called. The memory was so vivid, so burned into Briarstar's brain. Whenever the memory resurfaced, she felt a stab of pain as real and as intense as the day she watched Limey walk away.

"Okay. I'm glad this is settled, but... who will train Amberpaw? Can Thistlehawk really run TalonClan for six moons, all by himself?" Briarstar responded.

[Icestorm]

Maplebreeze felt himself relax slightly with her response. but it seemed they were far from done talking so he made himself more conformable in her den. Her question somewhat confused him. He wasn't sure what to really do. He was sure there was someone out who could handle Amberpaw if she told them to. The she-cat couldn't be that hard to train, not with Briarstar already training her.

"I'm not sure about Amberpaw, you could ask someone to take her out from your paws," he doubted anyone wanted the extra work voluntarily though, "but you know I doubt you'll let Thistlehawk drown. You're expecting kits, not leaving forever." The tom smiled to Briarstar, "Unless you're going to leave us! Oh what ever will the clan do," he joked drastically with his smirk.

[Midnight]

"I'd ask Thistlehawk to train Amberpaw, but I don't want to put too much on him," Briarstar mumbled, mostly to herself. Would Maplebreeze do it? The she-cat's head snapped up, eyes bright with the idea. "What about you? Would you mind taking her on? I need someone I can trust to train her, because she's a pawful." Wait, maybe that wasn't the best idea in the world. Maplebreeze wasn't exactly the most stern tom. Oh, StarClan, what were these kittens doing to Briarstar's brain?

"Puh, I might leave the Clan if all this kit business gets to be too much," Briarstar purred in return. Maplebreeze rarely failed to take her mind off the stress, even if it was back within seconds. "Right, so I'll talk to Thistlehawk about this whole thing. Oh, and I hope you realize that me being pregnant means you have to hunt extra prey for me in the nursery," Briarstar said, whiskers twitching.

[Icestorm]

Maplebreeze nodded his head in agreement when she suggested Thistlehawk to train Amberpaw. However when she asked him he felt his head drop a little. Of course she would ask me. Of course. "Me?" He really didn't want another apprentice. He just finished training his last one. but, she did just say she trusted him. If he said no... his eyes glanced to her bedding for just moment, "I suppose I could train her... How much of a pawful could she be?" He said with a smile.

"Aww, I would miss you if you left! Oh wait. I might not have so much work to do then!" He said jokingly glad to hear her purring at his playful joke, "Oh wait, no that wouldn't work very well. Thistlehawk would work me too." Her quick change to serious talk was nothing new for the tom.

"See you want me to do so much work," he said dramatically making it clear he was joking. He kinda expected it. After all he say other warriors do that for the queens all the time. He knew it was going to a lot of work, and he hated work. However, he wondered how this was all going to play out. Kits. "I suppose someone's gotta feed you though."

[Midnight]

"She's very adventurous. Can't sit still for very long, that one, so I know you'll find ways to keep her entertained, but you have to be hard on her, or she'll never learn to listen to authority," Briarstar warned. Could he handle it? Who else did she have to ask? Oh, right, an entire Clan of cats. Unfortunately, she didn't know most of them well enough to decide whether or not they could train Amberpaw. Maybe it was time to put more faith into her Clanmates.

"I overwork myself more than anyone else, so just be happy you're not me," Briarstar sighed, slowly making her way to the remains of her nest. She'd have an apprentice fetch her new bedding later, but for now, she wanted nothing more than to sleep. "In fact," Briarstar mumbled to herself, then spoke up, "If you'd like, you could go get Amberpaw and give her her first chore as your apprentice: grabbing me some fresh moss for my nest. I want to rest in my den one last time before I'm forced to move to the nursery." Briarstar let out a yawn and rested her head on her paws, closing her eyes. "Thanks for taking this whole thing so well," she muttered to Maplebreeze, only half-awake.

[Icestorm]

Maplebreeze held in his sigh as Briarstar explain Amberpaw to him. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, in fact it sounded harder than his last apprentice. Maybe he could try and train them the same. He wasn't the best at being stern. He hated no feared the idea of becoming his mentor. He respected and cherished his mentor as a warrior, but as a mentor and a tom not so much. "Alright. Alright. I can do this. I got it. Promise."

"I always tell you to relax," The tom said lazily, but with a seriousness in his tone. His eyes watching her for a moment as she seemed to be getting tired. He was glad to see her relax from the all the stress she carried earlier. He watched her a bit longer before getting up. He wasn't going to wake up the apprentice at this time, but he would get her the moss she needed. It wasn't too much work, at least not work he couldn't handle. "No one will force you to do anything. You wouldn't let them," he smiled as he left to grab the moss for her, "Just remember to rest more."