Crowfeather x Leafpool: The Aftermath (Book 1)

Chapter 5: The Sister's Secret

~Squirrelflight's P.O.V.~

*GASP* "But.. Leafpool, that's impossible!" I said, not wanting to belive what my sister had just told me. "You call running away with a WindClan warrior as my mate and then finding out I'm carrying his kits impossible?! A coincidence, more like!" she retorted. I wouldn't admit it out loud, but I could see the sense in what Leafpool was saying; and it wasn't in a good way! "No one must know. This must stay a secret!" Leafpool hissed urgently. My mouth started working again. "Can I do anything for you, sis?" I ask, still shocked at the fact that my sister, the ThunderClan medicine cat, was pregnant with Crowfeather's kits. Those are half-clan kits! I realized. How will the Clans react to this if they ever find out??

~Leafpool's P.O.V.~

"Squirrelflight, you're my sister. I trust you with my life forever and always. Please help me!" I begged, desperate for someone who could help me and keep my secret safe. "The truth about these kits must never come out!" Squirrelflight looked shocked still, but she managed to reply. "And just how do you expect to do that!? It's not like we can run away...." her voice trailed off, the end of her sentence hanging in the air. Like you and Crowfeather did, I thought, knowing that was exactly what she had been going to say. "I think I have an idea.." I began, thinking hard. "In the mean time, start picking that catmint," I instructed her, forming the beginnings of a plan in my head. "How can you think about herbs at a time like this?" Squirrelflight asked, surprised and kind of annoyed. "I'm a medicine cat!" I snapped. "Part of my job is to collect herbs. Unless you want cats to die of whitecough or greencough this leaf-bare!" That silenced my sister. Submissively, she padded over to the fragrant plant and started to nip the stems and place them in neat piles for me to bundle up.

"Hmm.." I murmured, half to myself. Maybe Squirrelflight COULD help me after all.. I thought, though not in the way she might expect. It's a good plan though. No one would ever be able to figure it out, not even Brambleclaw! "Squirrelflight!" I meowed, gesturing for her to stop picking the catmint. "I think that's enough catmint. I can always come to get some more later," I added, a note of gratitude in my mew. "Ok, here ya go!" Squirrelflight said. "They're all ready to be bundled." I knew she was waiting for me to share my plan with her, or what I had so far at least. "Help me bundle these," I mewed. She came over and started bundling the herbs alongside me. "So.. you know how Brambleclaw is your mate, right?" I began slowly. "Yeah," Squirrelflight said, still bundling the catmint. "Mates almost always want to have kits together, am I right?" I asked my sister, who nodded her head 'yes'. "We'll, maybe you could, I dunno, pretend that you're pregnant with Brambleclaw's kits?" I said, pausing to let that idea sink in. "Umm.. Leafpool? Are you sure about this?" Squirrelflight asked uncertainly. "I don't think Brambleclaw would like me lying to him about kits..." she began, it I interrupted her. "Brambleclaw doesn't have to know." I told her. "What?! Leafpool, are you crazy?!" Squirrelflight gasped. "No, I'm a queen who is desperate enough to ask her sister to pretend my kits are hers, and not tell her mate!" I snapped again, narrowing my eyes in annoyance. "Oh." Squirrelflight said softly, unsure how to reply.

"Well," my sister said finally, "It's worth a shot, I guess." As she considered my idea, I continued to speak. "I could go out of camp with the herbs I would need with you, saying we were going for a walk or something. Then 'your' kits would come 'early', and I would 'help' you. Afterwards, we'd return to the hollow and say the kits came early and move you - and my kits - to the nursery." I finished, sitting down with a sigh next to the pile of catmint. After a long pause, Squirrelflight mewed, "Let's do it."