The Past and The Present

Epilogue Part 3

Finally, the final chapter has come. A big thank you to all who have read this. Please read and review.

Dinky and Boomer were about to speak up, when a flutter of blue flew past them. Squeaks had drawn there attention and, in a hurry to catch him, Dinky half shouted, "Hey kid, we gonna have to finish this another time. Nice seeing you again, And stay out of trouble!" He then took off after the butterfly while shouting at the woodpecker behind him, "Come on, Boomer, he's getting away!" The pair took off in a flutter of feathers, furiously following their lost breakfast.

Tod was too fixated on his mother to bid them farewell. He started becoming impatient waiting for something, anything on his mate. Rose finally stood up and approached her son, noticing that he became more and more anxious with each step she took. She reached her son with a well devised plan to bring back sweet memories. She had been told about the day Vixey decided how many kits she wanted. She sat in front of her nerve wreaked son and asked him a simple question, "My boy, do you remember what Vixey said would be 'Just right'?"

Flashback

Shortly after Big Mama helped the two of them after a little squabble, They continued walking further into the forest. They were idly chatting, until a Quail walked in front of them. She was a few centimeters away from a crack in the ground with water in it. After she looked back to find her chicks close behind her, she jumped over the the crack with her chicks one after the other. Vixey counted as they did, "One, two, three, four, five, six..." her counting was slowed down by the seventh chick as he tried but failed to jump across, landing in the water, "Seven, haha." She let out a short laugh, took a deep breath and sighed, "Oh, I think six would be just right." Just before completing her sentence, she continued walking, leaving Tod confused. "Six?" Tod asked curiously as was unsure of what the statement meant. Once he caught up to her, he asked, "Six what?"

End of Flashback

"Congratulations, Tod Honey," Big Mama said as she floated down from her branch and landed on the fox's back, only to be knocked off by Copper as he toppled his best friend over with excitement. Chief followed shortly after, landing on his adopted son. They soon climbed off Tod and allowed him to walk inside with his mother by his side. They walked over to the basket and found a sight which would soften the hardest of hearts. There Vixey lay, her face a mixture of excitement and pride, while the rest of her body relieved pain, discomfort and exhaustion. By her side were six beautiful kits. Tod's heart raced as he darted outside to call the rest, only to find they had left. He shrugged the thought off and walked back inside. Rose lay in the basket, but left a space for her son between the two vixens. He saw that they were both asleep and tried to climb in without waking either of them up. his heart was full of joy. He lay down and soon after fell asleep, allowing him to dream about about the day he felt his children's love.

Dream (Tod's POV)

A few days after my mother and I were reunited, things started looking up. Vixey, well, I guess you could say that her stomach now had a bulge to it. Nothing too serious though. She would lay in our basket all day, as if she were expecting her kits any moment. Although my mom couldn't help but spend as much time with me as possible, she'd never stay the whole night. I guess it takes time to become accustomed to walls surrounding you. She would get up as early in the morning as Big Mama would fall asleep, just to make sure that we were alright.

But today, things were different. Mom seemed preoccupied with something. Although she was happy, she seemed distant. She scratched on the door. It looks as if she had been taking lessons from Vixey. She strolled in and thanked Widow Tweed as the old woman opened the door for her. "Hello Mom," my mate and I said in unison. Vixey looked up to the older vixen as a daughter would to her mother. Mom knew that Vixey needed a motherly figure for the upcoming weeks, so she had adopted my mate as her child. "Hello my darlings. How are you today?" Her voice as smooth as whipped cream. "We're good," replied Vixey. "Oh, Dear, you look hungry. Let Tod and I catch some fish for you," Mom said and walked to the door and waited for me to come along side her before we left.

The walk to the nearby waterhole was quiet. Too quiet. Normally our conversation was long and loud, but I'm not sure why Mom wasn't talking. Fair enough, she did try a few times, unfortunately they were minute. "Mom, are you alright? You seem down," Tod asked as they reached the river. 

"Yea, I'm alright," Mom replied, "Just a little lost in thought. I was thinking about your father, how you and him are a lot in common." Ok, wasn't waiting for that. We reached the waterhole, but our conversation was far from over.

"You are almost a duplicate of him," Mom continued, "In the last few days, I have noticed the similarities. You love your mate more then Chief loves his front seat," she said to emphasize the love Vixey and I shared, "Vixey even told me about the waterfall, when you saved your friend, and I couldn't help but notice that..." Mom stopped. 

"That?" 

"...That you have the same love as him, not just for your mate, but also for confused friends. You must never give up on what you love, and from what I've heard, that shouldn't be to hard." She looked me in the eye, Clearly as if pleading for me to listen and obey. I nodded back at the old vixen. We began fishing soon after.

The fishing went well. I had finally caught more then 1, while Mom caught about 6. Practice makes perfect, something I had very little of. The walk home was fairly quiet, but not much can be said with a mouthful of fish. As we reached home, Vixey was shrieking in excitement. Thinking she went into labor while we were absent from the farm, we dropped the fish and dashed inside. There Vixey was, laying in the old basket with her paw on her stomach. "Vixey, are you alright? We heard screaming," It was pretty clear she wasn't in pain, so why was she screaming? When we walked closer, it all became clear. 

"Shhhh, come here," Vixey said, confusing me and Mom.

We quietly walked over to Vixey. When we had come in arms reach, she took our paws and gently placed them on her belly. My heart warmed up, raced and stopped all at once. Something was pushing against our paws, something small and fragile. I looked at my mother, then at my mate. She looked up and met my happily grinning face, it was official. 

I could feel the small paws pressing against mine, I was soon going to be a father.

Authors note:

Hi all, sorry for separating this writing into more pieces. I just thought that it would make it a bit easier to read 10000+ words. Thanks for all the support.