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The cougars looked back at the scream, looking at the body confusling on the ground before it went limp. What did they do? Elliot had said not to kill him. They looked at each other, moving him quickly onto Floppy's back and trotting, scratching at the door until someone let them in. A quick cry and Leo was being transported to the healer's room where Saegthin had taken Oliver.

"Tsume!" The hare finally ran to the man. "Oh no. I kicked too hard. Oh I'm so sorry! We need to take him to the healer's! I can't transport him like this!" and whined before gently trying to pick him up, flinching at the groan the unconscious man made. "Someone bring a healer in here!"

Elliot panted, shifting back and pulling a blanket over his frame. He had to learn that fur thing which Tsume did. "Leo... Leo!" and moved out quickly. "Watch the babies!"

"Shhh. Shhh." Alvaro picked up the whimpering children. "Don't worry. Everything is fine now. Mommy and Daddy are going to tie up the loose ends."

The rest of that day was spent cleaning up. From the windows that Tsume broke when running through to a few of the china sets the maids had dropped when specific things were heard. Kashi returned the favor, spending all of his time beside Tsume, helping him get better to the best of his ability. His upper body was resting on the bed, eyelids lowering sleepy before he snapped them back up, watching Tsume with unfocused eyes before they lowered again.

Elliot only checked up on Leo, but that was because he was spending majority of his day with his children whom he nearly lost . He had brought them to see their mother but left to go feed them. He was back now, the sleeping babes in his arms and himself leanin back in the chair, holding them tightly and silently while they seapt.

The king himself was working on giving Elliot the crown. He'd planned it a little over two months ago, but only now was he finally going to execute it. Lord only knew how much Elliot deserved it. Alvaro hadn't done a quarter of the things Elliot had done.

"Dear," came the king's voice from his paperwork, "If you keep on pacing like that you'll dig a trench into the carpet." and turned in his chair to watch the pinkette move back and forth, back and forth. "Sweetheart what's on your mind? You're more worried than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

The prince was sleeping silently, angled in the chair so the children wouldn't fall out of his arms, ears seemingly perked atop the sides of his head, but he was knocked out cold. The past three days he'd been so worried that when the babes had fallen asleep he didn't bother trying to stay up just in case. He passed out along with them and slept easily through the night. When Leo removed them the father didn't move for a second before he reached to grab them back. It was the gurgling which finally roused the prince. "Oh, thank god you're awake." He said, smiling at his husband. "Why are you crying? Leonard," and stood up, gently moving onto the bed and kissing a tear stained cheek. "They forgive you. See? They're smarter than their father with their motor skills." and wrapped an arm around Leo, kissing his head. "You're all right."

Kashi mumbled something as he was dragged onto the bed, doing an odd movement but the blanket prevent escape so he stopped, starting to pass out again until the human oven got close. He tried to live through it. He really did, but once more he started to squirm, feeling the heat become insufferable. "Tsume. Tsume let go." and struggled a bit more before escaping and sitting up, staring down at the wolf before getting on top of the covers and removing his suit jacket, shoes and socks, flopping down. He blushed a little, getting into his previous spot before moving Tsume's arms outside of the covers and wrapping himself back up again. He was too embarrassed to say anything but this was the middle ground. On top of the blankets he wouldn't burn to death with the human oven holding him. And his hair was short. Short hair was good.

Justin peeked into Oliver's room holding the stuffed toy in his hands. Yesterday his mom had taken him and the girl's out into the town and they wanted to buy Oliver a get well gift because they were all going to chip in money. Well, the princesses had an unlimited amount of money so Justin actually payed for it with his wages only after all four of them agreed on what to buy him. In the end they'd chosen a brown felt bear with moveable arms and legs. The girls drew him a card, their four heads on top of it, the present and an arrow pointing downwards towards Oliver. Justin ended up writing on the inside of the card the whole to, from' aspect, writing all of their names as carefully as possible. and now he was standing in the doorway nervously. "Oliver, are you awake?" came the soft voice, moving closer. If he wasn't he'd just put it beside the boy.

"I know it's bad timing but everything has been happening one right after the other. I'm afraid he'll die before he can be crowned or he'll just be so... tired. Does that make sense? He'll be too tired to do anything else. He has Reinette's spirit and it took a lot to wear her down but I can't keep on imagining my son to have the entirety of her spirit, Lewis." the king sighed, looking at the papers. "If anything he has more my personality than hers, and that's even worse."

"You didn't do anything wrong. From what Father told me, Uncle Lewis brought something back he wasn't supposed to. Leo you did nothing wrong." and looked down sadly. "You always think you did something wrong but you never do." and kissed the side of his head, holding him close. "You're a strong person, Leo. You're one of the strongest people I know. You're not stupid. It's always the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I..." he hesitated, curling up a bit tighter, holding onto the arm around him. "I didn't want to..." he couldn't say it, feeling his eyes burn with tears. Ipo was dead. And if he kept his long hair he'd see his brother each time. He didn't want that. To tease himself of his brother's existence when he was dead. "I didn't want to overheat with you holding me." he whispered, knowing if he spoke louder he'd choke on his tears. "If you're going to court me I might as well meet you in the middle."

Justin smiled lightly, walking forward and offering the wrapped gift. "Me and the princesses chipped in to buy you something. We hope it will help you get better. The Chef misses you too since he doesn't have an assistant chef now." and placed the gift in his lap. "Uh, so it's a get well present. It's for you. See?" and pointed to Oliver's name. "It has your name on it and Martha tried drawing what you looked like." and pointed to the drawings beside the words. "From us to you."

Alvaro looked over at the man, curious and even a little sad that he asked. "I was afraid of my feelings towards you." he responded softly. "Afraid and confused. I'd lost Reinette and I loved her so dearly. I still can't look at Elliot without thinking of her or something she'd say and his ears do that small flick hers did when she was annoyed. But she passed away and... and it just hurt so terribly." he'd hoped that maybe she had faked it or it was a joke or even just a dream. "When I thought about her and how I loved her I told myself I could never love someone that much and funnily enough my mind procured your image. And... I was afraid. You remember the kingdom then and its stance on such things." It took a few years to get them to stop the hate crimes and accept it, but it was still hardly mentioned. "I thought that my love for you was just my own mind trying to fill what Reinette left so I needed to distract myself from it and I married her." he sighed, "I was afraid to love you but being with her pushed you away. And Elliot was distant and I really, I missed you. I missed our family and I'm so sorry I did something so stupid, Lewis. I was just so afraid to love you at the time and I didn't want to accept them."

"I believe he's gone." Elliot agreed, smiling as the babies flailed. "Maybe now we can have a bit of peace and quiet." and chuckled. "A little bit of peace and quiet that lasts for more than a month." and leaned against his wife, moving his fingers over the babies' tummies and watching them flail again.

Kashi felt Tsume leave and moved his head to see what was wrong, his shoulder pushed and finding himself on his back, the wolf over him again. He questioned the other silently before the chapped lips met his own, the tears spilling as he nodded at the man. "Yea. Cotton sheets instead of wool." and wiped at his eyes, holding back his sobs and breathing deeply. "I-I think Ms. Megan," he sniffled, wiping his nose, "She might know where to find cotton sheets."

Justin tried not to cry as the other did, moving onto the bed and hesitently patting Oliver's back. "You didn't hurt him because you wanted to, right? You were forced and ordered too against your will." he went from patting to rubbing, "And, and you work for us, so it was forced. And you're our friend. No one died, everyone was healed quickly and Chef made sure your tongue got healed before he got healed. It, servants, um," he looked around, trying to find his words. "We're all family, I guess. We look out for each other."

"She was there." He admitted softly. "The idea came to me to remarry and she was the first woman I laid eyes on because, as you said, she was always throwing herself at me. 'Maybe I can learn to love her' was my thinking." and nodded, "We have the girls, and they're lovely children."

"Don't eat that." Elliot told Rin, removing the foot from his mouth and pretending to eat it, hearing the baby give a pleased gurgle and kick before stopping. "After everything bad that has happened, something good will come eventually. Ah!" he said as Rin tried again, going back to eat the baby's foot only to get more gurgling.

Kashi smiled through his tears, "Where will we put them? Do we move to a shared room with two beds. They're spacious enough, and mine's empty now." his smile immediately fell to a frown as he finished his sentence, teeth grit as he tried not to cry more but quickly moved his arms over his face. The black ears were limp against the bed and lowered to the sides. "I-It's empty. You can move in if you want. No one's going to-" but took a shuddered breath, unable to finish. No one was going to be sleeping in the other bed. No one was going to be sneaking into his own bed. Ipo wasn't going to wake him up anymore with his cheery voice. "No one's there anymore." he whispered.

Justin thought for a moment and nodded. "Family means you're safe, and people help you and forgive you easy. And they love you even if they can't touch you because you can tell how they smile at you or how they say your name that one special way. Or that, even if you're not real family, they treat you like family and drag you everywhere with them, or if you're busy they come to you and tell you bout their day and ask about yours. Family is kind." He looked at Oliver, Justin having his knees to his chest, hands and chin on his knees. "Family is just, this one big ball of warmth in your chest and when you hug them you give them that ball because you love them so much and you want to share that love. I can show you." And cautiously held out his arms.

'No, I love your stupid questions, Lewis." and stood, hugging the man from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. "I love them because they're not that stupid." and kissed his shoulder, continuing to hold him. "I love you."

"You speak baby now?' Elliot asked, nuzzling the fat tummy of Rin before looking at Yuki. "I suppose he'll be sensitive growing up. Good on him." and reached, stroking the freckle-face's hair now. "Mommy will be there, sweetheart? Won't he, Rin? Tell your brother that Mommy won't ever leave."

Kashi hadn't entered it at all since he'd woken up. For some ungodly reason he'd avoided it like the plague when he had no memories. He didn't want to get close to it but when he stood in front of him he broke down crying the feeling just hit him all at once. "I haven't even been to his grave. I'm afraid to go. It'll be real if I go and I don't want it to be real, Tsume. I want him to walk in and say something stupid and annoying and be here and alive, tsume!" He didn't want Tsume to see his face, shaking his head furiously behind his arms. "I don't awnt it to be real. I have my eyesight back, Tsume. I have two eyes and it's back and he's dead in a ditch in a coffin far too nice for him and he's dead!"

Justin held the other tightly. Family was family, they protected you they loved you they cared for you, and sure you got angry but they forgave you. But family was patient, Justin not even relaxing a bit as he hugged the other, feeling the hands finally wrap around and hold onto his shirt. "I'm family. We're brothers." and smiled. "That warmth is what family feels like. Whether you hug my mom, or Mr. Henry, or even Annabelle, family feels like this. It feels warm."