"Very contemplative. Very serious. You've got the buzz-kill older warrior look down perfectly."

The familiar purr of laughter carried across the cold breeze with the whisps of frost left her nose and mouth and floated around in the air everytime she breathed. Despite the obvious downsides of Leafbare, Mudthistle seemed to be taking the cold weather in stride; her normally short and silky brown fur had grown in a bit heavier and fluffier around her shoulders and neck, and perhaps it had been because Crimsonlife hadn't seen her in a few days, but the young she-cat almost seemed to be glowing as she made her way over to him. She seemed perfectly normal as she took a seat beside him, greeting her mate with an affectionate nuzzle, but there was something...different about her. A sly gleam in her eyes, as if she knew something that he didn't, a joke that he wasn't catching on to.

"Not as cold as a half-moon ago," Mudthistle commented simply, purposely avoiding the main question as she rested her head on Crimsonlife's shoulder. "Which I'm thankful for; Newleaf will be coming along just in time...I, for one, am sick to death of this dreary weather." The she-cat snorted in brief distaste, kicking up a bit of snow with her front paw and watching as the wind carried the flakes over the wide field stretched out below them. "I certainly don't remember this much snow when we were kits."

"I couldn't agree more," Mudthistle laughed, curling up into her mate. It's funny how time flies. This time last year they were still rambunctious kits; rolly-polly balls of fluff that barely reached a warrior's shoulders, more focused on the next fun adventure than hunting for food or practicing battle moves. Speaking of which... "The nursery will probably be crammed full of new kits by next moon's end," she purred playfully. "Imagine! A brand-new generation of Summerclan cats, and we'll be right there to watch them all grow up..." Her voice grew soft and wistful just thinking about it.

Mudthistle's mischievous grin slowly grew and she watched her best friend put the puzzle pieces together, until she was beaming from ear to ear as he pulled away to stare at her. "Is. Is. Um. Are." she playfully mocked, trying to hold back her laughter at the shocked look on the ginger tom's face. "I know you can use more words than that, you big goof. Come on, Crimsonlife. I can't answer anything unless I know what you're trying to ask me."

Mudthistle sighed in exasperation as she watched her flustered mate trip over his words. What a mousebrain, she thought fondly before she started laughing; not at him, but rather the whole awkward situation. "Okay, okay, I won't keep you in suspense any longer," the she-cat giggled. "I'm pregnant with your kits, Crimsonlife. I've been feeling kinda sick lately, so I went to Graythorn this morning and he confirmed it: we're going to be parents!"

Mudthistle laughed out loud from joy as she watched her mate bounce around her eagerly. "Yes! Really!" She managed to confirm in-between fits of laughter. In all honestly, seeing Crimsonlife so excited to be a father was a huge weight off of her shoulders. The first time they had talked about having kits, back when they first became mates, the tom had been quite apprehensive about the idea, so the new Queen wasn't sure just how he'd react. "By the end of the moon, most likely," she explained. "Just in time for Newleaf. He said that my timing was impressively lucky...before batting me on the head and calling us 'featherbrained newlyweds'." Her tone was fond as she talked about her adoptive father; although Graythorn was far kinder with her than the rest of their clanmates, not even she was safe from his sharp tongue.

Mudthistle nodded, growing solemn at the mention of her mate's parents. It was a feeling the pair of them knew all too well; the she-cat herself had been found alone at the Summerclan border, either abandoned or separated from her mother. She had no idea of who her parents were, if she had any siblings, or if any of them even searched for her after she had gotten lost. While on one paw she hoped her blood family loved her enough to look for her, a strange part of her hoped that her mother had abandoned her or died - she couldn't imagine, especially now that she was pregnant, the terror and sorrow her mother might've gone through when she couldn't find her. Mudthistle wouldn't wish something like that on her worst enemy. "I remember Nightraven a little bit," she replied, trying to shake herself out of that dark train of thought. "She seemed like a good mother for the short time I knew her. I think she'd be proud of you."

"A father is just supposed to be there," Mudthistle reassured him, resting her tail on Crimsonlife's shoulder comfortingly. "It's really not too different from being a mother, except for the fact that I'm the one who births and feeds them. Don't think too much about it; you'll know what to do once our kits come into the world." Smiling thoughtfully, she laid down on the grass, curling her tail around her slightly bulging belly. "It's not really a thing cat can prepare for. We'll both be learning as we go along."

"Exactly. Finally, you get it, took you long enough." Mudthistle sighed, resting her head on his shoulder, glancing up at him with a loving gaze. "You seriously worry too much. We're gonna be awesome parents. And if we ever need help, there's a dozen of cats who have done the whole thing before back at camp. For goodness sake, if we absolutely have to we could even ask for advice from cats from other clans. I'm sure we won't be the only first-time parents this Newleaf."