While there were Animalians who were getting more frisky as the autumn mating season came, there were others getting ready to give birth. For some species, they should have given birth months ago if they were ordinary animals. But the Animalian virus made any pregnancy term that was short than a human's only 6 months long. It was certainly a big relief for Animalians who could give birth to several newborns.
For those who had already given birth, it was a good time to be showing their new children to their friends and family. For instance, Robert and Martha were visiting Clara and Richard again with their kits. The kits were still pretty young, less than two weeks old. As such, they tended to spend a lot of time napping. Currently Martha was rocking her daughter, Renee, close to her chest. Robert had his son, Mel, lying on his lap.
Personally, Clara thought her own cubs were cuter, but she was probably a little biased. Still, she couldn't deny that the fox kits were adorable. "He reminds me a lot of you when I first found you," said Clara, looking at Mel.
"I'm pretty sure I was older," said Robert.
"Not by much," said Clara, "You probably wouldn't have bonded with me if you were older."
"How old was he when he was first uplifted?" asked Martha.
"I'd probably say he was about 6, physically," said Clara, "Though that didn't last long." She flushed a little bit under her fur. She had been a different physical age then as well. She was more likely to have been in her 40's when she was first uplifted. But pretty soon, she and Robbie double-dosed each other in such a way that remembering it still turned her on a bit. To keep her mind off of it, Clara asked, "May I hold him for a bit?"
"Sure," said Robert, handing Mel over to Clara. Almost as soon as he did, Mel woke up and started pawing at Clara's breast, sensing the milk inside it.
"Oh no you don't," said Clara in a playful tone, "You have to get milk from your own mother."
Renee was also awake and pawing at her mother's breast. "I guess it's feeding time again," said Martha, "I'll be right back." She picked up Mel before taking her babies to another room.
"He is definitely your son," said Clara with amusement.
Robert shrugged and said, "At least he has good taste." But he did feel a great sense of pride for having a son, as well as a daughter. He could still remember the day they were born.
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Considering the mixing of human and animal pregnancy times, it was not uncommon for some Animalians to go into labor a bit ahead of schedule. But Martha wasn't in particular danger. She was only bearing two kits, which was a pretty small litter size for foxes. She was certainly strong enough to get through the pregnancy.
Still, the waiting room was filled with quite a few worried friends. Asides from Clara and Richard, there were some of Martha's fellow models waiting for the news, including Maggie. And of course, Sidney and Brooke were waiting to hear about their grandchildren.
Finally, after some nail-biting tension, they were allowed into Martha's room. She was looking rather tired, but she was very happy and had two newborn kits suckling at each breast. They were a bit small, considering they had been born prematurely, but they didn't look sickly.
"Well, I can't really say they look like me," said Sidney as he looked at his grandchildren.
"I'm sure they'll inherit something from you guys," said Martha.
"I just hope they'll be able to recognize us as their grandparents," said Brooke.
"Well, at least you won't have to compete with my parents," said Robert lightheartedly.
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"You think he'll look like you when he grows up?" Robert was snapped back to the present by Clara's question.
"Well, I know he'll have human hair, so that's going to be one way to tell us apart," said Robert.
"I've wondered what my girls will look like when they're older," said Clara, "Kinda makes me wish there was a way to give uplifted Animalians human hair."
"I don't think we're really missing out on anything," said Robert.
There was a period of silence before Clara asked something that she had thought often about, "Robert, if there wasn't an Edict about interspecies mating, do you think we would have become mates?"
"Maybe," said Robert, "But what would the kids have looked like?"
"I have no idea," said Clara.
"But I think we're both very happy with our respective spouses," said Robert, "You love Richard and I love Martha. I mean, we're still close, but I don't think we have anything to be discontent about."
"Me either," said Clara, "And I know you're going to make a great father."
"Thanks, that means a lot," said Robert.