The vixen pushed, she squealed slightly then- she sighed and relaxed, she turned round to see two beautiful fox cubs scrambling over to her stomach. She smiled and cleaned them, she held them still by the tail and cleaned all over. Then she let them suckle, it tickled a lot, but she put up with it.
Then a young handsome fox walked in, "how did it go?" He asked walking to her "Just fine!" She replied fondly, putting her head up to nuzzle him. As soon as he caught sight of the cubs, his face lit up, "They're my children?! My children!!!" He cried happily, bounding around. "Our children!" She corrected and they both laughed. He came back over to her and dropped a dead rabbit in front of her, "We got lucky in more then one way," He grinned, "The humans left the door to their stock room open, I chose the biggest rabbit I could see!" He lay down with her, "Bramble! I told you not to go in there! What if they'd caught and killed you? On the day our cubs were born!" Cried the distraught vixen histerically. " Well, they didn't, ok? So, just calm down!" He said angrily, "NO, I won't 'calm down' the cubs could have ended up growing up without a father!" She said this with hot tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry... I was stupid, and I won't do it again... forgiven?" He said putting his tail round her, "Hmmm... maby." She said stubornly, "How maby?" He said playfully, she growled and pounced on him, the cubs whimpered, they had been suckling at the time and were annoyed that their meal had been taken away. The fox and the vixen rolled round, having a play fight as though they were cubs themselves. They eventually got up, laughing histerically. Then they curled up with their two cubs and went to sleep.
The vixen, Lilly, woke up in the morning and couldn't feel the cubs beside her, she looked up, Bramble and the two cubs were gone. She lept up and sprinted out of the den calling: "Bramble! Bramble!" "LILLY! I'M OVER HERE!!" Lilly turned and sighed in relief at her mates voice. She trotted threw the thistles to him. He was in a clearing, playing with the cubs.
"Bramble, you scared the life out of me!" She cried, running over to him. "Sorry, they woke me up and kept pulling on my tail, so I thought I'd take them out!" He said, he fell over and pretended to writhe in pain as the oldest and most boisterous of the cubs nibbled his neck. She laughed, pulling the cub off his father, "This ones a boy." She smiled, "I can tell, he sure loves a fight!" Grinned Bramble, watching the cub bat at Lilly's face with his tender little paws. The apparent female sloped over to her mother, she was too young to talk, but her face said it all: "Boys!" Lilly put the little boy down, so he could play. He dived on his sister. Bramble smiled affectionately and Lilly laughed.
"So, what are we gonna call them?" Asked Bramble casually. "How about... Bramble Jr and er..." Lilly couldn't think of a girl's name, "How about... Blossom?" He said suggestively, "I LOVE it!" Cried Lilly and they nuzzled. They walked back to the cave and curled up together, they talked about lots of things that day, the future of their cubs, the safety of their den, even the food shed of the hunter who lived nearby. "If we have NO food whatsoever, then I suppose we could steal from the hunter, but it must be avoided." Declared Lilly, she felt like the safety of her family was in her paws.
They were awoken later that night by a soft 'Woo-hoo' coming from outside. They walked slowly out and then Bramble said, "Big Mama? Is that you?" They looked round nervously, suddenly- "Is that my Little Bramble?" Came the voice of a large owl, "Yes, Big Mama." He said, relieved. She swooped down to them. "I'm guessing you came to see the cubs?" Asked Lilly, as Big Mama embraced them both with her feathery wings. "Yes, how are the little darlings?" She asked happily. "Oh, they're just fine, follow us!" Said Lilly and they turned and trotted back to the den, Big Mama in their wake.
Big Mama had to fold her wings to get into the den and Lilly and Bramble giggled at her a bit. When she saw the cubs, she gasped in delight, "So, how old are they? And what are their names?" She asked exitedly, not taking her large yellow eyes off their sleeping forms. "They're two days old and they are called Bramble Jr and Blossom." Said Lilly proudly, "And, no, you can't have one!" Joked Bramble and they all laughed. This woke the babies, and they looked around, bewildered. "Oh, they're so cute, I just wanna eat them up!" Laughed Big Mama, and Bramble Jr toddled over to her and jumped up.
After spending a while playing with the cubs, Big Mama left to go back to her tree before dawn. She said goodbye, for the last time. Things started to change. The den smelt strange, and they had nightmares about hounds and hunters, armed with guns. Although it was different, neither of them new that things would never be the same again.